Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 3999. page

A French realist embodied by Russian culture.

>>7891723

Alright I appreciate that, I did some more reading up on it all, thanks m8. I'll keep it in mind when reading him. The writing seems very simple throughout so far, i'm halfway through fathers and sons. I wonder if it's the translation or just his style

Turgenev was a great prose stylist. Who is the translator?

You learn how to write by writing and reading a shitload. These two activities, in proportion to the time you spend on them, will make you a better writer, regardless of where you're at now.

It's not possible to know how far you can go when you embark. You have to just go for it.

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>>7891659

>you will never breed a qt viking chink

>1) How hard is it to become a decent writer who can live off his writing, if you put in a respectable amount of time each day?
Even if you're good, or you are the next Nietzsche or something, the market is only reasonably "safe" for commercial schlock about teenage vampires fisting each other

>2) Is good writing an acquired skill or is it an unreachable goal for most people despite hard work?
No amount of skill can replace talent, and some people are lucky enough to have talent innately, but skill can hone talent, and skill + vision can be fine even if you're talentless. The problem is that vision is hard to come by (what do you want to say that's really unique, important, or interesting?), and again, mostly comes to talented people without their really trying.

>3.) I'm 25 and working construction. I really want this monotony to end. Where would I start?
That's a tough one

>>7891658
finish the book first anon. also one page a chapter seems a bit short. if thats the way you want it then thats fine.

>>7891658
Agents won't even consider taking you on unless you have a complete manuscript, and at least a second or third draft of it at that. If you're talking fiction, anyway. Nonfiction is different.

As for Amazon, you can put basically anything up there but all the work of promoting it is up to you.

>>7892079
No no, I'm doing every 10 pages is a chapter.
I'm saying, 100 pages, 10 chapters.

>>7892087
That I've heard too. I've heard they read the first 10 pages and the last 10 pages and say if the book is good or not. Then again, this 1 girl I knew back in culinary was able to publish a book about as think as a common rule book or so and made a few bucks of it. She was a high schooler and a snob. She would never talk to me. Trying to get some work done now. I'm procrastinating way too much.

Is pic, uh, related?

>>7891650
Yes, black hole is a graphic novel, a coming of age novel about a STD condition which gives mutations to those who catch it. The condition can be seen as a part of growing up and becoming an adult since it passes to those who have it and have sex. It's great. None of this superhero bullshit that comes with comics usually.

>>7891650
well it certainly depicts the potentially grotesque consequences of sex

Otherppl is a great book podcast. Interviews. New American fiction, some mainstream, mostly alt/independent. Has had on George Saunders, Jonathan Lethem, Tao Lin. Recently had on Hunter S. Thompson's son because he wrote a memoir. Like the host a lot. Maron-like monologues about life at the beginning are maybe even more crucial to me than the interviews. Interviews are good 95% of the time. Conversation focused on biography of the writer, sometimes craft. Sometimes the guest is annoying and you have to stop, but it's rare. Great podcast, listen to it all the time. Highly recommended.

>>7891627

sounds interesting, I'll check it out.

I should probably say a little bit about the podcasts I listed in case anyone cares

The Daily Shoah - keep an eye on what /pol/ alt-right guys are up to. can be funny.

Chapo Trap House - new left wing podcast hosted by 3 funny twitter guys. 99% of the show is them being disgusted by and mocking garbage political analysts like Peter Daou and Jonathan Chait, highly recommend.

Hollywood Handbook - satirical "hollywood insider" podcast, good guests and funny hosts. check it out if you like the Earwolf guys because they make up the majority of their guests.

Uhh Yeah Dude - THE original podcast, since 2006. two funny neurotic dudes sharing stories and going over wacky news stories.

I'm only subscribed to In Our Time, Samurai Archives and Myths & Legends. All well worth listening to.

Try Buzzfeed

if you want literary personalized journalism go for the new journalism movement
Martha Gellhorn, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, etc.

these are writers who saw no need for the objectivity of journalism and interjected themselves into the narrative, which is where a lot of things like today's news commentary or blogs essentially stem from

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unfortunately can't really recommend anything from the past decade or so, but definitely check this out if you haven't

>>7891524
what's your identity?

Is it as glamorous as the idiots on here think it is?

Roughly what percent of your book sales do you receive once your agent and all that has been considered and how much do you end up making a year.

Also do you have any say in the cover art.

>It's like holding a shit for 3-5 years straight.

I don't know, dude, you sound pretty eloquent.

>>7891415

I don't have a lot of "stuff" to say philosophically. I don't put myself up on a pedestal compared to anyone else really.

However, I will admit my day dreams are very lucid, and I have the feeling I may be alone on the way I perceive the world, or at least "feel" about it.

I want to write in hopes of connecting my feelings to someone as best as possible, and maybe probing a reader's mind will help me in knowing if I am truly alone or not.

Yes I actually feel the same way sometimes.
This is in large part why I read. It's in me. The world and its wisdom is all in me, but there are times it feels trapped within my vessel. And so I read to gain knowledge to gain wisdom to say and speak the virtue and glory that I know is deep down in my heart.

Didn't read. Didn't think. There's no discernible talent.

The voice of a generation.

A light fun read, never thought of it again after I finished it

>>7891401
You need to work on your "fuck it"s.

I'm doing Greeks. Whenever I can't decide between philosophical texts, I just grab a play more or less at random.

>>7891401
Grab whatever book is literally closest to you and begin reading.

>>7891401

Stop right now.

Please read "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler.

I fucking promise you, you have been numbed to how to properly read by all the videogames and media you have consumed all your life.

This book changed my life, it's like learning how to "lift weights" with your brain, in order to achieve a higher understanding.

Don't be afraid to read for entertainment, but please get a grasp on the art of reading itself before trying to act "patrician" in this board by reading some heavy works. There are a lot of people who read lots but understand little.

>>7891389
find them to be, I mean, not how do you locate them.

>>7891389
>Is there any value to reading science books from the past?
>Is there any value to reading science books
>Is there any value to reading books
>Is there any value to reading
>Is there any value

>Is there value
you tell me

only ones worth reading are aristotle's and de rerum natura to be honest

You gotta read it again. Wallace said it was a book that was designed to be read at least twice. That's why the jest is infinite. You keep reading it over and over until you're sincere.

>>7891357
tbqhwy maybe. There are many routes you could take when you start reading books. Maybe you'll start thinking you're better than everyone because you've read some fucking meme books. In that case, no, you'll remain or become a condescending dick. But for the most part, I think books help to teach you to empathize with people. The "human condition" meme seems like bullshit, but I do think that reading has actually helped me understand people and myself a lot ever since I started to read.

rehabs for losers bro. you don't need that shit. rehab isn't something you chose. the people I've known who went to rehab were fucking pathetic sorry sad excuses for human beings who have lost everything. I can you ain't there yet nigga.

Also to keep it /lit/ related make posts with your favorite poem

Fra Lippo Lippi

—That is—you'll not mistake an idle word
Spoke in a huff by a poor monk, God wot,
Tasting the air this spicy night which turns
The unaccustomed head like Chianti wine!
Oh, the church knows! don't misreport me, now!
It's natural a poor monk out of bounds
Should have his apt word to excuse himself:
And hearken how I plot to make amends.
I have bethought me: I shall paint a piece
... There's for you! Give me six months, then go, see
Something in Sant' Ambrogio's! Bless the nuns!
They want a cast o' my office. I shall paint
God in the midst, Madonna and her babe,
Ringed by a bowery, flowery angel-brood,
Lilies and vestments and white faces, sweet
As puff on puff of grated orris-root
When ladies crowd to Church at midsummer.
And then i' the front, of course a saint or two—
>and so on

>>7891341
>for humans to fight without Artificial intelligence
Look into Mutually Assured Destruction, op. It might be close to what you're thinking.

>Jews in the Land of Israel

>>7891341


check out some of Charles Stross' short stories. he, too, has come up against the idea of conflict in a world with AIs.

AI is a little like having God appear in the book. strong AI renders everything meaningless, because it can do anything, solve any problems, and if AI can solve your problem then there's no conflict for the protagonist to deal with, and no story.

perhaps you might like to consider the idea of AI that isn't perfect... that is fatally flawed by the limitations of the people who made it.

check out Bruce Sterling's short story "In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Digital"

(prolonged, stormy applause)

why is the fasces a symbol of power? it looks really unwieldy. anybody with a sword could just come fuck you up if you were trying to swing a huge pile of sticks around.

Ezra Pound by The Cantos.

Wow dude lmao

everyone on /lit/ reads to feel superior

Does it matter?

>>7891326
case closed lads