how many words is your novel so far?

>aiming for a word count

I'm sure it's going to be pure gold.

Damn she's hot

>>8415232
Close to 80k at this point.

>>8415246
I know how it sounds, but it's a very reasonable thing to do if you're aiming for traditional publication.

>>8415232
what a nice, self-validating instagram post.

>>8415232
0. Still working through the outline and mulling the general idea to ensure I'm not writing just to write. I feel my ideas could come across as very adolescent when really I'm trying to say something more in depth. So I'm just unsure of the framing.

Why do Americans give so much importance to word count?

Fucking ~6k, haven't written in two days because I'm a shit. I'll make up for it by hitting 10k words minimum this weekend

>>8416044
>"notices a negative characteristic shared by at least two North Americans"
>"why do Americans..."
worst 4chan meme tbqh

>>8416044
It is measurable. Americans derive enjoyment from measuring things.

>>8416069
Americans sure are precious

>>8416086
Europeans sure have an inflated sense of themselves

>>8415232

Word count is impossible with my work and would be meaningless anyway even if it could be measured

>>8415232
I'm not writing a novel; I'm an academic. Fiction is for pseuds.

>>8416069
If I'm asking it's not because of these two cases, but because I have seen it a lot here and elswhere. It is not an isolated phenomenon. No need to get so flustered.

>>8416044
Self-help, self-improvement culture. We tell plebs that they can do anything if they just work hard and apply a few brute force principles (you can write a book too! Just practice for 1,000 words every day...). It's nice in a sense; it's an non-hierarchical way to perceive the process of creating art.

>>8416044
NaNoWriMo, paid-by-the-word pulp tradition revived for the internet, publishing targets, one objective measure of progress in a highly subjective process.

I'm not sure it's limited to Americans.

>>8416044
It's a European tradition going back all the way to the serialized novel, where authors were payed by the word

>>8416094
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilisation in between.

>>8416302
Western decadence isn't either exclusive to or primarily developed by America. In fact, Europeans look down on Americans for not subscribing quickly enough to the practices that lead to that cultural decay. America is still one of the few Western nation that retains a sense of Old World morality, and we're made fun of for it.

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why would I care about someone's upcoming novel if I have no idea what there writing is like or if they are of any value as an author? she's attractive, young, popular, and female, so I find it very unlikely that anything she writes will be good.

>>8415232
>80k
That's nothing. I do 20k just for a single paper. No wonder american colleges are shit

>>8416350
>No wonder american colleges are shit
Literally best in the world by most measurable criteria

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>>8416070
>>8416364

>>8416371
seconded

>>8416070
Nice to see other people noticing this shit. Though the culture I live in doesn't even fucking measure.

>>8416364
>We rate our own colleges as the best in the world
>Most of our scientists and intellectuals come from Europe
You Americans are in a serious need of a reality check. It's not like the american higher education system is a big diploma mill and if the constant self-promotion stops they lose funding and students.

>>8416400
>You Americans are in a serious need of a reality check
And you seem to be in need of a fact check.

>>8416408
Sick burn and comeback, my dude. You really showed me

>>8416302
>the Americans are barbarians meme
hello Victorian reactionary

>>8416400
>>We rate our own colleges as the best in the world
There are international organizations that rank colleges

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_and_university_rankings

>Most of our scientists and intellectuals come from Europe
It's not the 1950s anymore; we're past the Manhattan project. We are a buglight for European lefties, but that's only because our universities provide these charlatans with higher tuition-funded salaries.

>>8416417
Sick burn, my man. A list from wikipedia saying that there international org that rank colleges! Completing disregarding that no one gives a shit about them and only care about the american ranking organisations! Oh, man. You really got me there.

>It's not the 1950's
I will translate this for the other posters [it's NOT the current year].

>>8416487
what a useless post

>>8416417
>but that's only because our universities provide these charlatans with higher tuition-funded salaries.
In general that isn't so much of a draw. A lot of people go for research funding or get a PhD there and stay. American pay is not always so good.

>>8416490
S A V A G E. OUCH
>>8416503
I'm not only referring to salaries.

Why the hell would I write anything when far more intelligent men have already said any words of wisdom than I could add to the public consciousness, in ways far better than I could possibly hope to ever achieve?
>muh immortal legacy as a writer

>>8416544
christ you're pathetic.

>>8416546
You'll never amount to anything if you didn't realize that already

>>8415232
I aimed for 50k, but I've stopped at 45k because it really doesn't need to go on for any longer.

>>8416503
Generally American funding far outpaces European funding, whether it be for salaries or just for general research. American colleges just generate so much more than the state-funded schools over in Europe do. The operating budget of many American universities are in the billions of dollars.

>>8416538
Salary is potentially the only good bit tho. You have shitter health care, shitty compulsory education, shitter pensions, shitter rents and commute times... not to mention that most go on a work visa with shit regulations attached and even if you do get a green card you still have to fuck about with the IRS even when you don't live and work in the US anymore.

>>8416585
>You have shitter health car
Wait, what? Rich Europeans come to America in order to get treated for certain diseases. We objectively have incredible heathcare, it's just its accessibility and cost that are the problems.

>>8416585
Americans having the highest spending power in the world (4th highest average income, but the other 3 have higher taxes) is a direct result of all of that other shitty stuff. Making these services the responsibility of the state would necessarily decrease people's income.

>>8416594
>it's just its accessibility and cost that are the problems.
Unless you have some weird rare disease or need a complicated surgery, these are much more important.

>>8415254
g-go talk to her Anon. invite her over.

>>8416565
Exactly. Gotta keep the stockholders happy, right babe?
>>8416585
Are you retarded? I'm obviously European.
>>8416594
>Rich Europeans come to America in order to get treated for certain diseases.
Nice b8

>>8416611
>cancer is rare
Not really. We give free healthcare to the poor, and we force everyone else to pay for insurance out of pocket. These are small prices to pay for same-day examinations and expedited waiting lists.

>>8415232
-70,304

52652

>>8415232
If its anything like modern fiction, its a 80,000 words of fresh, steaming shit.

>>8416324
Perhaps he made fun of it because old world morality is a farce and should be done away with and America is absurd for holding onto that tradition?

>>8417508
>>8417508
Wouldn't that contradict the notion that America went from barbarism to decadence? You can call 19th century morality many things, but decadent isn't one of them. Europe, with its public nudity, declining birth rates, and high divorce rates is a much more salient example of decadence than conservative America is.

>>8417639
>not wearing clothes, not procreating and being single is decadent
How does he get his ideology so pure?

>>8417647
Refusing to obey your basic biological imparative to spread your genes is precisely why you have to dilute your culture by importing economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East. There couldn't be a more apt descriptor for the situation than 'decadence'

>>8417647
It's more like abortion for not having children, not wearing clothes as in promiscuous and being single as in forgetting the good of your children and devorcing just to do it all over again 1-2 times during your life leaving scars on those whom you should care for the most.

None. Not even sure how to begin.

It's sort of a memoir/essay about how I became monomaniacal about a girl and continued to pursue her even though part of me knew it was wrong.

I'm autistic.

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>>8415232

I just hit 8k words!

>>8416324
>>8416302
>America is x
>all 50 states of america and their various cultural contents can be reduced to x

t. reductive


haha!

>>8419591
America is probably more culturally diverse than most countries given its size and ethnic and racial diversity, but the notion that you can't make generalized statements about America is retarded. Obviously any statement doesn't apply to literally everyone who happens to live in one of the 50 states.

>>8419919
>America is probably more culturally diverse than most countries given its size and ethnic and racial diversity
understatement
>the notion that you can't make generalized statements about America is retarded
you can within reason, but saying that the entirety of the USA retains old world morality is retardo
Does New York? Does California? Maybe you'd have an argument for the bible belt but that wouldn't be nearly as significant if you acknowledge the other countries in the West that have some affinity for traditional morals

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>>8419919
>le proud to be backwards small town inbred america
>muh southern belle values
>muh mangled conservatism

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>>8420090

>That shirt

>>8416302
Lol

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>>8415254
u wanna get fisted, punk

>>8420090
>attempting to retain everything that made Western culture great in the first place
>"backwards"
I'm sort-of sad that a secular Europe won't be around for my great grandchildren to see. You guys had a good run.

>>8420084
No one said the entirety of the US. A couple costal cities can be the exception, especially given that the US isn't as urban as the average European country, so the percentage of Americans that live in New York or San Francisco happen to be comparatively low.

>>8416070
>derive enjoyment from measuring things
>still use imperial measuring

>>8420153
If possible