>26 years old >still unpublished Who /panicking/ here?

>>8582649
>Every time I read about a 24 / 25 year old getting their debut published I seethe with anger and resentment.

Why don't you write about it?

Maybe you should be less worried about getting published and more focused on writing something worth reading. Literature isn't like acting; you can get published at any age as long as the writing is good. If you're looking to get published young so you can "slay mad pussy" acting like a pretentious douche at parties telling all the girls you're a "published author" then maybe the reason you're not getting published is because you're a phoney, vapid, narcissist with nothing to actually say.

>>8582670
>so you can "slay mad pussy" acting like a pretentious douche at parties telling all the girls you're a "published author"

Literally nothing wrong with this. Why do you think most musicians join a band in their youth? Why do most men do anything?

>>8582649
Don't panick, just keep pracitising. Writing isn't easy. There's nothing wrong with struggling to get your first break.

does a short story count as being published if i get paid?

>>8582678
No. A book of short stories: yes.

>>8582673

Literature is different. Literature is pure. If your main motivation for writing is to get laid then you don't really enjoy writing and you will never write anything worth a damn.

Unlike music or film, you can get into writing at any age and still find success. Also, unlike music or film, the written word is largely free from superficial image; only the content matters. You can even practice your art while maintaining a full time job. There is no rush to "break"; there is no "lifestyle" or "look" you need to adopt to help your chances of becoming noticed or successful. The fact that OP appears to be under the impression there is, shows to me he is writing for the wrong reasons, ironically which is probably the main reason he isn't getting published.

Being someone of status is a circumstantial benefit of being talented at something, not the main impetus; you have to love the thing you do and be good at it. Most published authors are nobodies anyway, so if you crave fame / recognition there are better ways to go about it. Otherwise just focus on getting a gf, you'll have more luck that way.

>>8582649
>Every time I read about a 24 / 25 year old getting their debut published I seethe with anger and resentment.

Uh....like who?

>>8582649
>20 years old
>haven't finished a single anything
>not even a short story
>five unfinished novels I glance at and add one line once in a while

Fuck I'm running outta time. Worse part is the fear someone will publish something very close to what I'm trying to write, and everyone will think I copied them.

>>8582754
YA authors, I guess

In Stephen Kings On Writing, he said he got 400k for his first accepted novel. Is this even possible anymore jfc

>>8582649
All these retards in here panicking that they won't get published before their 30s. You'll get published when you get published.

>>8582649
26 and not the least bit worried about it.

It will be ready when it is ready. Publishing isn't a race. Don't be so vain and feebleminded.

>>8582649
My sisters friend who is 4 or 5 years younger than me was published in some travel magazineor something. I experienced a flash of anger, but then I realized it wasn't literary, so fuck her.

>>8582738
>Literature is pure
No it's not. Pseuds get published all the time and are rewarded with long careers for being phony, vapid, and narcissistic.

It's taking me longer than it probably should, but mind you:

>it is hard to make a living as a writer, even if you are GOOD. The economics simply doesn't check out at this point in time

So you are forced to do it in your spare time until you are financially secure by other means. Even highly successful contemporary writers these days started writing as a second career.

>Anything worth writing is going to take some time, especially a great novel

A book of poems is one thing to publish. But publishing your first monster of a novel is extremely time consuming and dispiriting. A lot of the great novelists of posterity (Tolstoy etc) were retired old patricians with all the time in the world to roam their estates, ponder their experience in the Crimean war and write hundreds and hundreds of pages.

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>>8582880
It's totally possible. And while I'm not even a huge King fan, there are authors putting out way shittier stuff than his early work getting six-, even seven-figure advances. The girl that wrote this is in her 20s or 30s and got a $2 million advance for this shit, and it's not even that impressive in quality or ambition.

>>8582880
You misread that.

He said he got 200k for the PAPERBACK rights for christine. He had published a few other novels before that book went to paperback, but that was the first time he ever made real money as a writer.

Also most debut YA writers are mid 40s women

>>8583178
I just got my copy out, I might have been sourcing the wrong part of the book, but it says 400k for Carrie paperback

>>8582673
>Why do most men do anything?
a wild feminist appears!

>>8583306

Yeah, in any case, that was for the paperback rights. The hard cover book had been out for a while and was a huge success, that's why he got a good deal for the paperback. He also didn't make dick for the hardback sales.

I-Is it not normal to be unpublished by 26?

I only expect to get published once I'm 30-40. Not like I've begun writing yet, but still.

>>8583322
>I-Is it not normal to be unpublished by 26?

No, close to 100% of all authors that ever was, and will ever be, get published, win nobel prizes, and fuck all the popular porn stars, do so before they're 19.

>>8583314
God! Reading it again, he makes it sound like its the first monies he ever got for his work, like he won the lit lottery.

Yeah, he does write here that he didn't have an agent looking out for him, and lost a lot of what should have been his royalties. Well, in the long run it hasn't affected him any. I've stopped paying attention to his books, but Tommyknockers was great.

>>8583376
Yeah, the point of that story was he had basically been writing his entire life, he first got published when he was like a teenager. And it was until until then that he made any serious cheese off it.

>>8582673
If you so most things for pussy, you must be a pretty sad person.

Most people start doing things for themselves once they get through puberty m8

I'm already 29 but I've self-published several novels, so I can say I haven't been sitting on my arse and claim I'm only too ahead of my time/misunderstood to be picked up by a company.

I still seethe with anger and resentment when I read about a 24-25-year old or someone even younger getting published. There's no remedy to that.

>>8582974
Literature is pure because a lot of what we read and gets published is dead people.
You are only a great writer if people still read you in 200 years.
Many writers only became famous posthumously.

Are you in a mafa program? I think 100% of the recent examples you're talking about went to iowa or columbia, don't feel bad that they have a leg up. I don't see how a regular 25 year old who has to support themselves financially and isn't spending years in an environment where they can just focus on writing can be expected to pop out a masterpiece before they turn 26.

>>8582649
>muh feces

>>8582678
>>8582681
as an author? I guess not, as a writer, yes, you're now a professional writer
>>8582830
>>8582974

chill out

>>8582938
You a hero

>>8583046
>A book of poems is one thing to publish. But publishing your first monster of a novel is extremely time consuming and dispiriting.

Maybe just a throwaway collection but one that links? That's harder

>>8582754
If you knew anything about contemporary literature you'd be able to name at least 5 authors published since 2010 who were 25 or under

I have done a little freelance journalism so I am technically 'published,' but no, I haven't written a book. I'm thinking about writing some short stories and submitting them in various journals to build up my literary profile.

>>8582649
Why should anyone be interested in your mediocre writing anyway?

>>8585757
buzzfeed?

Most things published are trash and only faggots care about age.

>caring about the age one get's published
>being mad of younger people than you getting published
too immature for being a writer. grow up, learn to write, get published, care less.

We're having a lot of this lately

>>8579567

>>8582738
Whew, youngun

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>tfw 29
>tfw just this year got three short stories published
>tfw not paid for any of them

At least I'm a published writer now, which I wasn't before. I'm still searching hard for an agent for the book I've written.

>tfw won a prize in my country
>tfw sold less than 5000 books and had to pay back most of the money my publisher gave me

>>8582670
>as long as the writing is good
It's this naive little retard again.

>>8583466
>self-published several novels
>still seethe with anger and resentment
Of course you do.

How long have you been practicing, OP?

My biggest excuse is that I'm in the middle of writing fanfiction for practice.

Just got to get to writing, man!

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>>8582738
>literature is pure

>>8583168
Seems hard to believe. Unknown fiction author? Were the rights already bought up by big movie/tv producer or something?

>>8582673
Whether or not it's wrong is beside the point.

Someone like the person described will have nothing of value to say until they do some more growing.

I have yet to see anything published by anyone under 30 that's worth a damn.

>>8582830
>elaborately plan out screenplays
>huge plotting charts and character sketches
>timelines all around my room
>have every minute of a movie planned out
>sit down
>write one page
>get to dialogue
>don't look at it for weeks at a time

I'm 22 right now. Does everything go downhill when you turn 25? Because things are pretty shitty right now desu

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>>8588302
This. I suck at making timelines and what not, but I've written so much on the plot and the characters. Put so much thought into their names, written chapter outlines, done all of the busywork for a novel, except actually write the fuggin thing kill me

We're gonna get there anon, we can do this... Soon...

>>8582670
Narcissism can be quite a useful motivational factor, I believe. At least, it makes a confident mask over the shitty mundane life of loneliness and pointlessness that we all have.

>>8588693
Only if you don't take care of yourself. 30's when it really hits hard even if you do.

>>8582649
uh I write short horror stories on reddit. people don't even like them that much, not viral material. I don't have delusions about being published, I'd like to write, but it's better to go about it without the thought of reward and pursue it more as an art. Gabriel Garcia Marquez didn't write a book until about age 50.

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>>8582670
Truth right here. I'm not a writer really at all, (as in I've never written more than a few short stories). I'm more of a drawer/painter, I've created some half decent work that people like, but I know it isn't at the level of the artists that I admire. I simply strive to dedicate my life to being more them and the great masters.

>>8586670
Links to stories?

>>8588693
let's see... at 25 a number of my close friends started dying and the rest became too busy with work and school for things ever to be the same again. as the quote goes "most people die at 25 and aren't buried until they're 88" or something like that. Try to do adventurous things, travel and meet people. If you're able to get your life together by 30, you can live decently. By 25 the harsh reality that you need to make a lot of money and work very hard just to afford a decent permanent place to live, food to eat, health insurance and so forth, really sets in.

just make something in an easier medium like art or music

you will get your name out

>>8589248
As in literally dying? Like they got cancer and shit?

>>8582649
I haven't even written a whole thing yet

>>8588146
link me to your fanfiction you dirty fuck

>>8582670

Nailed it.

This meme is actually a very useful bellwether to weed out the fakes and clowns who care more about the passing social recognition of being a "writer" than spending the needed amount of time to craft something of real depth and skill.

Read more you covetous bougie wannabes.

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>implying I'm not published

>>8589339
Grats anon

>>8582673
It actually is pretty bad, for a lot of reasons. The women are meh, the sex is meaningless, there's risk of a child and you have no rights, getting women is easy as FUCK without literature, I could go on.

>>8586670
>tfw you're lying

>>8589339
congrats on whatever you published but god damn science textbook have cringy colors

one of the reasons i dropped out desu

no regrets

>>8589617
>I dropped out of STEM because of the colour scheme.
You did everybody, including yourself, a huge favour.

>>8589623
>colors
i meant imagery more like. the way they market the whole thing

not that that was necessarily the crucial reason but it irked me greatly

no hate for STEM tho just not my thing. you do you

>>8583309

a wild fag appears

>>8588302

would you ever consider collaborating with somebody?

>>8582649
Don't panic. Look at me: I've never even written a complete post on 4chan yet I'm still almo

>>8582673
>lmao art is superficial amrite haha
Fuck off

>>8589982
this is the redditest post I've seen in a while

>>8589990
You didn't lel? Apologies then good sir. :^)