>tfw finished another chapter How about you, /lit/? How's

haven't written in two days, but good overall. I got three short stories that are publishable that I need to edit, finishing another. Working on sort of a joke of a book that I want to self publish just to see what happens, then I got an idea for a total sellout market kissass book that I'm pretty positive I can get published if my other 3 books continue going nowhere.

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>>9849903
I haven't write any of my books in more than 1 year...

Have been working all year on my first novel. Finishing my final read through today, then will be prepping to send it to publishers over the next week. Feels pretty damn good desu

>>9849903

what's it about?

>>9849942
It's about this gang of cats in new york city who lead these lives like people do.

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>>9849946
illustrated by Louis Wain?

>>9849957
No faggot. If you're not going to take my work seriously you can go suck off a camel

>>9849946

Seems alright. Femshits would probably enjoy reading it

>>9849942
It's the second book in a five-book fantasy series. It takes place in a version of our world where all myths and religions are true, to some extent, and involves my protagonist having to go to Niflheimr to raise an army of the unworthy dead from the Norse underworld.

I'm probably going to take a break from the series after it's done, since I don't even have an agent for the first book yet. I'll probably write some short stories, and then work on a literary novel next.

>>9849935

just start right now then

>>9849978
>furry
>wants people to take him seriously
ahahahahahahhaahah.epub

>>9849998

Don't write short stories. Nobody's interested in them. Everything else sounds pretty good though. Also, if you can't find an agent or publisher after finishing the second book, I wouldn't bother continuing the series. Use what you learned and start another project

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>>9849978
kys

>>9849978
No one is ever going to take your work seriously everyone is a writer these days. There are 6,000 books released every day. Who the hell are you?

>>9850022
>Don't write short stories. Nobody's interested in them

I've gotten several published.....if nothing else it's a good writing credential

>>9850022
>Don't write short stories. Nobody's interested in them
dont listen to this guy. Write short stories and you can compile and release them along with your other shit. They're also a very good test if you know your shit or not

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>>9850022
>>9850043
>>9850047
I actually already have a fair number of short stories written, and I have a few published, in fact. But yeah, like I said, it's time to take a break from the series. No point starting the third book when I don't even know if it's going to happen. Besides, I think I need a break from speculative fiction. It's time to write something a little cynical and a little satirical, and of course more realistic.

>>9850009
I don't feel like it.
Lately my irl is so fucked up I don't want to write where I am at the moment...
Besides, I wanna do a extra world build before trying to start writting again.

I know how to end my current short story, but I'm yet to write it down.

>>9850393
hows it end?

>>9850411
the guy pulls a fish skeleton out of his ass, and then just kinda smiles and shrugs to the audience.

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Not bad. 85 pages into a new book.

>>9850578

Oh god....i was really hoping you were raped to death.

>>9850578
Hey Gaskun, what's the status with your old books?

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>>9849978

>>9850578
>not even 20000 words
>85 pages
Are you using a size 30 font or something?

>>9850578
he lives

>>9850665
It's double space 12 or courier new. Industry standard.

>>9850598
There's a formatting error in book one. Not typos but spacing and formatting. Pushing book 4 out is in hold until that's resolved so I can go ahead and format the paperback. Started making arrangements for the audiobook. Just had a guy walk up to me 5 minutes ago and ask me what the series name was. I told him and he bought the first three on the spot. I emailed him the EPUBs format because he said his woman reads on an IPad. Can't sell epubs on another side (going wide) until 90 exclusivity with Amazon runs out in September.

>>9850683
Bro I started reading your first book. A friend told me about you and I was like oh shit I have to read his book because I too am writing a hoverracing story and I must know what he has done. Can we be friends

>>9849903
In the middle of the second and last big revision but put it on a one week break to write the first draft for the query and pitch, and boy oh boy, this is a pain, but also helps to figure out on what to focus in the story itself, so at least it has more use than practice in sucking up to agents.

I read dozens of successful queries and most are unbearable boring. Can't tell whether I am loosing touch with popular taste and turning into a joyless piece of shit or whether the market is really so desperate for something that isn't pure crap.

>>9850874
Sure, post an email and we can talk flying cars and waifus and shit. No traps tho. There a jackass in my writers group who tried to bring up traps for some reason. I'm like, dude that's some guy in a dress showing off his butthole. If you're into "easy bake oven decepticon americans" or whatever, that's on you but this isn't the time for that.

>>9850874

50 years from now, you guys will be known as the ones who perfected the hover racing genre and brought it into the main stream, like King with horror.

>>9849903

I accidentally wrote a comedy novella. I truly love it, but none of my friends or family want to read it.

Looking forward to it being published never

>>9850902
hit me up here:

[email protected]

>>9850925
I would read it, Anon.

>>9850931
Cool. Screencapped. Shoot you something tomorrow

>>9850963
Great, thanks!

>>9849903
I read book one of the Hunger Games today, and I'm pretty sure it knocked a few points off my IQ.

>YA, not even once.

>>9850915
To be fair, racing is really niche and I'm not sure you could do much with the actual racing itself. I needed an origins story for my main character so I went back and retroactively created one but even then here's only three races in the whole book where the race itself is described. Unless something really significant happens then there's no reason not to gloss over the rest and mention them in passing. In a movie it would be a montage at best. An entire genre? Sure it could be done but then you'd have to add adventures and shit outside of the racing like some kind of episode of Speed Racer

>>9850925
>comedy
im sold. not enough comedy nowadays. whens the last time we got a comedy? confederacy of dunces?

>>9850997
well you'd be the one to do it.

>>9849903
too sexually frustrated to write -_-

>>9851010
I'd be lying if I said I didn't rewrite the :30 thru 1:45 potion of this vid to make a tense situation that helps build suspense.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hSiS93UYNuc

I write poems regularly. Got two ideas for short stories I've just gotta get them down.
Haven't submitted any of my poetry to any magazines for months. Been published in two of the three magazines I've submitted to which feels good.

>>9851054
Then by all means write them. I can't encourage others enough to get that vital first draft finished. It's really the first definable benchmark. Don't hesitate. Start today and get it done.

>>9851068
One of them is in the works, the other I've got the basic outline done. They're both so-called literary stories so I'm struggling with making sure they've got enough depth to be worth writing. I'm much more of a poet than a prose writer so I'm overly self-conscious about the whole thing.

>>9849903
Working on two right now.

I always wanted to do a comedy. It's about an evil queen set in a fantasy world trying to hold her kingdom together while her subjects are full of morons.

Those fantasy books always take themselves too seriously. I figured I might give my idea a shot, and I'm having a ball writing it.

>>9851081
Get a first draft done. It's gonna suck but that's the point. You establish a baseline and start to develop the improvements time and time again until it doesn't suck. Nobody gets it right the first time but you have to have a first time to improve upon.

>>9849936
What's it about Anon?

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>>9850997
>but even then here's only three races in the whole book where the race itself is described
>>9850931 here, that's actually one of my major issues with the story so far. The fact that you build up hype for these races and then kind of gloss over them feels blue-ballish. I guess Capeta's spoiled me with the constant super-detailed race presentations.

Also what were your inspirations for the story in general?

Current word count: 128,525
Status: incoherent mess

It's all good

Ι just can't start writing if I haven't finished the skeleton of the story inside my head.

I'm working on 2 projects right now. A cyberpunk story set in a post apocalyptic setting in Hamburg, and a story about an expedition into a frozen landmass that's set in a fantasy world.

>>9850673
>It's double space 12 or courier new. Industry standard.
Andrew you prat you don't have to format it like that until you hand it in to the publisher. That, and seeing as you self-publish, there is literally no reason for you to be typing your MS double spaced.

>>9849903
I want some coke

>>9851115
The races are the backdrop for the whole coming of age story. It's also a love story and a cautionary tale about heroes and who we idolize. As a kid I idolized Richard Petty for being the winningest racer on the planet. Then as I grew older I chose Mark McGwire in his rookie year and spent over a decade collecting all his cards. I went to great lengths to have every single one and cheer him on when he hit 70 home runs and then had to endure the embarrassment and conflict of hearing him admit he was a juicer. I learned a vauable lesson about being careful of who to put on a pedestal. To date, Trent Reznor has not failed me once.
Read the book and you'll see that there's other things besides racing. I needed a back story that would show the MC being self reliant and building character in the face of adversity as well as introduce a wild card in Akiko to be a wild card. Her song "dreams" is a carefully constructed premonition and foreshadowing of the events of the later books packaged as a pop song. It puts something profound under the readers nose without them knowing and will have a greater effect when revisited later

>>9852065
>I learned a vauable lesson about being careful of who to put on a pedestal. To date, Trent Reznor has not failed me once.
Never put a pussy on a pedestal

>>9852033
I keep it ready to present to potential agents. Also, when reformatted for an ebook, the formatting is reconfigured. It's fine.

>>9852072
Why would you keep an unfinished first draft ready to show to potential agents when you have at least 11 books already finished?
>when reformatted for an ebook, the formatting is reconfigured
Yes, making writing it double spaced all the more pointless.

>>9852071
He's a self made success story. He worked as a janitor to get studio time for his first album, he's responsible for the rise and signing of Marilyn Manson, the downward spiral is top Rolling stone 500 albums, won a Grammy for best heavy metal performance, won an academy award and golden globe for writing movie scores, did the natural born killers soundtrack, worked with David lynch on Lost Highway, handled rehab of drugs and alcohol without ending up as a rock and roll cliche, toured worked and was friends with David Bowie, worked as CFO in the creation of Apple Music, and continues to write new music and tour without having to end a knee to industry standards. What's not to like? He goes where he wants and does whatever he wants. I find that admirable.

>>9852080
The click of a button can change the whole thing. I think you're making this a bigger deal than it really is.

I couldn't think of a story to write (and I'm a novice so I'm self-conscious about it). So I've been doing writing exercises. Basically me, "The Writer," as a self-insert character and another character I dialog with. In two days wrote over ten-thousand words and had a couple of good book ideas.

But now I have to deal with the fact I might be developing creative schizophrenia. Yikes.

>>9850578
whats your older book called?

>>9849903
tfw too busy to write rn

Is anyone else worried AI will take over book writing?

>>9852760
No it'll start spouting "nigger" and "Hiel Hitler" like the others did.

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I'm writing a short satirical story titled "Elagabus: Patron Saint of 2017"

I realized this morning that I've never actually heard "Elagabus" being spoken aloud, and I don't even know how to pronounce it. Is it Ella-gabus, or Ell-Ah-gabus? I don't have a clue.

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>>9852839
Holy shit my retardation knows no ends, it's Elagabalus, not Elagabus. I'm gonna blame this one on the hangover.

I'm writing a fantasy crime story about someone being reassigned in a different city and trying to uncover a plot. I know, not original, but whatever.

>>9852765
None at all, at least not in my lifetime.

Look at all the computer generated stuff out there. Kurzweil made a program that wrote poems in the 60s. Out of the like 5 million it wrote, like 3 of them sort of resembled poetry. They were terrible, but I guess they at least looked kinda like a poem.

There's that website that generates inspirational quotes too, they're all hilariously nonsensical.

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>>9853213
I think inspirobot is intended more as a mad-libs generator than anything else.

>>9852750
Which one?

>>9853213
We've already proven by the invention of the internet that the old saying about "an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of keyboards will eventually write all of Shakespeare's plays"

>>9854347

No we haven't, the programs that were designed to do that actually haven't written the work of Shakespeare yet. So nobody knows.

Once a computer actually does that then I'll shutup.

>>9852089
What you think of the new ep?

>>9849903
stephen king pushing out some pages

>>9854840
Every new album takes some getting used to. It's an evolution from one era of albums to the next. He's waxing Gary Newman/experimental david Bowie. I like it.

>>9849903
Wrote over 1400 words today, in total this latest book is around 32,000 words in, so it's 50% finished bare minimum I figure, or if it only reaches 55,000 words (entirely possible) then I'm more like 58-60% finished. Feels good, and OP's pic is probably accurate because I'm fucking addicted to writing. Been at it for coming up on a year, and this'll be my 8th book.

>>9850578
>85 pages
>17,030 words
What the fuck?

>>9850665
THIS!

>>9852072
...

>>9852096
I think you're making your books a bigger deal than they really are. Whether they're good enough for traditional publishing or not, you could be waiting years before an agent notices you. Just write for self-publication, be content and happy with self-publication, and you'll probably get a pretty damn big notice that an agent might be on the way. You'll know because you'll probably start making hundreds of dollars a day if you write a book good enough for traditional publishing. For now, it's bloody cringy that you write your first draft in a manner specifically for traditional publishing.

>>9855301
Then don't read them. The formatting changes when they go digital.

>>9856079
If 'the click of a button can change the whole thing' then why are you writing it double spaced? It's totally pointless. Doing it without thinking is excusable but even now a day after it was pointed out to you, you're arguing the point.

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>>9856098
Well then get your ass over here and YOU write the damn thing. What time you coming over? I'll have the Mrs make chicken tendies

I wish I could just take a big shit right on this board. a big ole shit right in the middle of it.

>>9856163
I'm sorry I can't, I'm too busy writing something worthwhile.

>>9856169
But will you finish it? Good luck

>>9856166
Yeah I don't care for Catcher in the Rye either.

>>9856206
Yes, it wouldn't be worthwhile otherwise. Thanks.

>>9856220
Good deal. Don't forget to double space.

Wrote half a short story last week. Thinking about drowning myself in the tub.

How do you end a thing? Nothing is coming together. He dies, but that's so easy. I'd like to subtlize my mind but I'm a fucking buffoon

Buffoooooooooooon

>>9849903
I'm... I'm almost there, /lit/. Holy shit I'm almost there! Just two more chapters and I finish my first book. I have some editing to do, but not that much. Man, I just can't wait till people read it.

>Implying anyone other than my handful of beta readers will read it

I'm not gonna query it because it's pretty much unpublishable in the current market. You know, it shits on SJWs, it's super edgy, and has a lot of anime references in the first few chapters so the ideal reader is kind of niche. I'm in the awkward place where it's too reddit for 4chan and too 4chan for reddit, so I don't know how and where to share it. That's why I decided I'm gonna release it as a free pdf. I don't think it's good, but it's not complete garbage. It's slightly above mediocre. Entertaining. Honestly, I'm just happy to finish my first book.

>>9856278
Don't kill him. That's too obvious.

>>9856312
Good for you, man. Finish it, celebrate, then put it away for about a month then revisit it

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7,000 words now. It's a script for a snes style rpg. It's gunna be an "art" game, I guess. Just imagine fans blowing on you and acid techno cascading your ear drum and also understand it's less cringe-worthy in context

:Yeah, everyone here looks like an idiot too. Ya, I’m also horny. No, I’m not on the train.

:When I think of 10 year olds I envision a snowflake, or something cyclic, like time. You still with me? And then I see these kids just whipping each other i-in that abstract shape! from 7 to 11 everyday forever. That’s really the way it should be. Just good honest stuff. Play them a little fiddle maybe. Now you got the positron emission, the sheep oil, the Morrison feedback. They even got these probability amplitudes you get from Selwin’s google.doc and they tell you where the kids are most likely to be at certain times yada yada. I’ll tell you where they’re going be. They’re going to be doing at least 40rpm and I’m going to have 40 or 60 at least working simultaneously. Oh, you're just looking for the rat's ass. I do give one, fortunately -> stranger hands you the rats ass

:Every chocolate chip I eat is like a hedonistic philosophy for me. I love hedonism, and I love to eat.

:I’ll tell you any timeless truth you think you can handle. Here's one. Women who use corner-store melee services are more likely to just do it themselves and that’s why you see so few of them with tatami riffles in grocery stores.
Bauhau: Careful, Jack-off. This guy sounds really smart. He might be insured, or have a degree in neuropsychology or something.

:Games? I love games! Let’s play one. Fallen soldier is good, or maybe wound-hurt-more-than-it-really-did. How about post-modern normalist (these are just the days of our lives!)? Ah, really makes that old spoon of yours clink with the old teeth remembering these fun games people love!
- Oh, you meant regular games?→ menu

cop: We were informed someone in the premises just,“didn't give a crap anymore”. We would like to have a word.

:Ben Shapiro was a goddamn shrimp on his home planet. Why do you think they sent him down from the higher dimensions to do the dirty work?

Zinc Finger: It is like I am being scanned by one of those dependent xRef’s dummy-toys, or whatever Tatyana and Trish would call them...those, “people”, they’re, “in my shoes”, or something. I feel… rectangular! Is it someone finally thinking about me?

:I can’t put my finger on it, but you look familiar.
(the next time you talk to him): Say, that lamppost, it looks familiar.

Traveling gypsy: Yurrrp. Uncle Lee’s got 6 copies of Diamond Dogs in his pickup. Wanna listen to all of them at once?

Handgun: You found a handgun →Rabbi: Whoa, whoa whoa. Not sure which source code you’re predicated on, but that’s not fucking okay in the future.

Rabbi: Our most ancient knowledge of the promise land comes from the text, "Gernsback"

idk I have fun it's my smash bros fan fic autism Ulysses

haven't worked substantively on the stories i said i was going to over the summer. my priorities are too conflicting, with this tech internship and looming job interviews. im very undecided what my future holds. also just lacked the motivation to edit. words havent been coming to me the way they usually do, and its pretty sad

>>9850043
>>9850069
published where

>>9854378
algo-generated lit is a thing and within the next decade or two will be on par with children's books

>>9856524
too bad, ive got a messenger bag and journal also filled with schizio garbage

>>9856481
wha....?

>>9856596
I don't see why something like this is so simplistic in the context of Superjail! or something but always ineffable from me :(

>>9856604
Keep writing

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>>9849903
>writing in chapters

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>>9858108
>Not writing in chapters

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>>9850963
gaskun, I just finished Fusion Heart and I want to give you some feedback and pick your brain please respond >>9850931

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writing is hard

>>9858291
Writing is fun :D

>>9858291
What do you write?

>>9858291
If it was easy it would be called your mom.

https://pastebin.com/VUGvTgL7

Just finished that and I have no idea how to proceed

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OP here, update: the book is fucking DONE. I'm super excited, I've been working on it for a little less than two years now.

>>9858546
Good deal, man! Celebrate your accomplishment.

>>9858249
Sent you an email

how do you know when you're finished?

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25281 words, passages ranging from note form outline to heavily revised.

hoping to bang out a complete draft by the end of this week though, get the damn thing completed and off my back. been following me around for years and it will be nice to have a completed piece of writing regardless of quality. just so i can finally get onto the next one.

feels exciting bros

>>9858546
Now you can finally kill yourself.

>>9858546
post it, faggot

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>>9853213
>nonsensical

Flash fiction, short story, novelette, novella, novel... How long would you guys define each of these?
I've never "finished" anything longer than a poem and I'd like to change that. I'm working on a character study and I'd like an arbitrary word count to shoot for so I can feel like I'm making progress.

>>9859037
Best advice I can give is to stop giving a fuck about word counts and start giving a fuck about telling a story

A strong enough story will carry itself to the end, you just have to be the medium.

>>9859089
But I kinda want to start giving a fuck about word counts. I severely lack structure and it's slowing me down. It's not that I'm struggling to think of what to write, but rather procrastination and motivation prevent me from keeping up with my story. The words just need to get on the paper, and I feel like my horribly video-game-conditioned brain would appreciate a number to shoot for -- some kind goal to reach each day.

>>9859129
Aim for 500 a day then. That's 2 pages. Some people say aim for 1000 or 2000 but that's bunk. It's a reachable goal and if you get caught up in the writing process, will help you shoot way past that.

>>9859175
B-but I average 1500-1900 words a day... explains why I've finished 7 books within 11 months... soon to be 8 books within a year.

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>>9858291
but it feels so fuckin' good man

>>9858291
Editing or translating is. Writing is piss easy and fun.

>>9859037
>novella, novel.
If I recall it right, the line is at 40k. So my out of the ass guess, would be 20k for a huge short story but I read many that were under 2-3k. If it's a novel, try to stay under 100k.

I write 6 sentences a day. They're so good, though, that I uncontrollably bash my arm back and forth every single time I read them. It's like I have tourettes or something when I read them.

>>9860121
I love the sensation of losing all track of time, pumping out paragraph after paragraph, page after page, and by the time you look at the clock again a half hour or an hour has gone past. Wrote 10,000 words in 6 hours once... felt amazing.

>>9860567
>I love the sensation of losing all track of time
And then you remember that you haven't eaten in 18h.

>>9860722
Woah now, I don't much go THAT far. I'm just talking maybe an hour, but to go 8 hours (I assume including 8 hours of sleep prior)? That's pretty intense.

>>9860877
Well ... I am a mess. Sleep, depends a lot. Got everything from 4h to 10h as "normal". When doing something that needs less attention to detail, 48h days are game too, and honestly, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds when you brain restarts somewhere around 5-7am. Being too dumb to eat regularly affects me much more.

>>9860999
Tell us more, Mr Trips.

>>9851006
I thought Paul Beatty's "The Sellout" was pretty good last year.

>write first 3 chapters
>write last chapter
>too lazy and untalented to write the middle where everything important happens

>>9863696
This is why you need to ignore the faggots who say you should skip around in your writing and just commit yourself to writing the novel straight through, from beginning to middle to end. This may mean that at various points you get stuck when you're not quite sure how to move the plot forward, but it also means that you won't be in the spot you find yourself in, where you have a great beginning and a great ending but no middle at all. If you shove yourself through that middle portion, by the time you get to the end you'll be in the clear.

>>9863714
my middles can never live up to my ends let alone my beginnings

>>9863696
>write last chapter
Fucking masochists. I get planning ahead but actually writing it down, instead of letting the hype to write it carry you through the middle?

Also try doing it in a very, very rough way. Almost like a screenplay, then add further details bit by bit. Then rewrite it until it feels organic.

>>9863714
It's certainly not efficient but for the very first novel it's probably the best approach.

>>9863730
I'm more of a 'discovery writer'. I get a basic idea, and I run with some. While writing sometimes I come with ideas for the short-term, or for the medium-term, but rarely do I know how the book is going to end even when I'm halfway finished. I tried 'outline writing' once and even then things changed as I went, with the ending providing quite a surprise.

I have no idea where to begin. I come up with an idea for a story but then have to plan out the details in my head (the setting, the time, the current technology) and I just get uninspired for some reason.

For example, I thought of writing a story that's set up in a realistic fantasy world where a warden (basically a guard leader) gets involved in a plot within a secret society, but when I think about it it's similar to True Detective.

>>9849903
I finished half of a word.

>>9864231
Over 1000 words this morning, feels alright, but I need to get more done before the day is out. Also, thinking about getting ridiculously drunk tonight.

>>9863730
>>9863718
>>9863714

If you're worried that your middle will be boring, or it doesn't excite you to write it then trying to trick yourself into writing it with treats or hype for later chapters is the last thing you should be doing.
If the middle is boring to write, it will be boring to read, so why are you putting it in your book *at all*? You need to go back and plot a middle that you're excited to write.

>>9864243
Surpassed the 1500 mark, so I've reached my daily minimum, but really hoping to get more writing done before the day's end. Still morning though so lots of time yet, and I have a fairly good idea how things are going to progress in the short term so things are looking good. Might see to doing some dishes as well I think, made some dirty when I made hummus 2 days ago... hummus is fucking delicious.

30000 words into first draft. been doing speed and writing like a madman since my typing is retard tier slow

>>9864384
I think I average around 60-100 words per minute, typically coffee helps, and of course when my imagination is working overdrive so that I don't have to pause or slow down as I actively think about what's going to happen next. I think I can generally write a paragraph between 1.5-3 minutes or so, maybe one every 5 minutes if I'm particularly slow. Just keep typing anon. The more you type, the better you'll get at it. Just like sex.

I would really like to get into writing but I'm so horribly shit that reading any of my attempts feels painful. Can someone link good lessons for beginners so I can escape awful prose, meandering stories and flat characters?

>>9864644
lol just write faggot

I've finished my sixth book, but nobody wants to publish it.

>>9864644
Immediate Fiction
After that pick up Invisible Ink

I wrote a short story. It is the best short story ive written in my life. Not a single wasted word. Entirely self-contained.

>>9864664
Write a seventh.

>>9864644
Characters don't matter

>>9865230
he mumbles as his manuscript is tossed into the garbage.

Better luck in nonficiton.

>>9865230
Who the fuck says that? Characters are nearly everything.

>>9865230
You will never succeed as a writer.

I haven't written in years since I finished my last novel. I just can't write any more and I don't know why.

>>9865401
Writers shouldn't write their whole life. They should make a contribution to literature only when they're truly inspired to create.

>>9865401
was it published?

>>9856098
It's easier to read and edit, dipshit.

>>9865401
are you gay?

I've been writing and editing a novel for about the last 10 years. Got to about 180000 words at one point, but lately I've been cutting it back and filling in little gaps so now it's around 130000.

Aiming to get it down to a tight 100k but I've been distracted by family and career lately. Plus I've lost motivation being close to the end because I have NO idea what to do with the final draft other than keep re-reading it myself and wishing someone else would discover it and share it for me. I hate the idea of never sharing it, but I hate all the options from agents to Amazon. I'm so close to done with about a decade of fucking hard work and now I feel lost with it.

>>9866041
I can relate to a lesser extent. My novella is mostly finished and I want nothing to do with it. I've looked at it so long it seems to have completely disappeared. I have no objectivity or sense of the whole anymore. The ideas have changed so drastically since I first started it. It's complete but it feels like a failure even if somewhere within the many rough drafts is something of value, and I will probably never show it to anyone.

>>9866115
See, I go through those phases of hatred but overall I am really proud of what I've done. And every time I edit it gets better. I get a more complete vision of the totality of the piece. I also know there would be a small group of people who would be fucking thrilled to come across my work, I just feel hopeless about ever getting it in front of their eyes.

The advice here is usually to just write the next project to get better, but the problem for me I not "becoming a writer". It is about sharing THIS piece of work. As I get closer to a final draft, this process daunts me more and more.

I just got to the half way point, 26k words in a novel that I am trying to keep tight, trying to get the next three chapters done, which would put me in the final stretch. But my god its so hard to keep going, the only thing that helps is that the ending is about a feeling I want to express, going to sit down and pound some out now. Thanks for this thread.

>>9849936
Aren't you supposed to query agents first?

Wrote a novel. About 50k words, call it what you wish

I printed it off and haven't done anything with it. Been sitting under my bed. It's alright as well, not that bad. Could do with a minor tweak here and there, not much actual editing to do either

I write poetry now. Have about 16 poems now. A couple only need minor work, most none. Fucked if i know what to do with them. I'm thinking about compiling them in a book, in two parts because they are about work and love and parallel them against each other. Then the question of what I do with this once I've finished it comes up

>>9866294
>query agents first
It depends on what kind of book you're writing. Small/medium presses are a million times more likely to publish unagented work.

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How do I reconcile the fact my novel needs to start with a cliche beginning in order so it could make sense in hindsight?

>>9867130
Just roll with it as it is now. Rewrite once you're a better writer and found a way.

>>9867130
Make everything else not cliche: write compelling characters, put it in a unique setting described with great clarity of prose, and so on.

I got stuck. Haven't written more than 20 words in a week because I ended up in an violent interrogation scene. I have no idea on how to handle such a scene, hadn't planned on including one, but it could fit the story well.

Just can't seem to get a real tension of fear and dominance

>>9867289
>He was violently interrogated.

>>9849978
>>9849946
You expect to be taken seriously with a premise like that? Look, it's a charming idea and it can definitely be done well, but you're going to have to do something pretty damn special with it to make it anything but pure retarded. The average person will laugh when they hear that idea. In order for it to be respectable, the writing itself has to be good. Otherwise they'll just keep laughing the whole way through, and/or put it down after 10 pages.

>>9851964
You shouldn't do the skeleton thing. When you have an idea you should immediately start writing and flesh it out as you go. Then you can rewrite it and rearrange it when you've written as much as you can. Once you do that, you can write more to fill in the gaps and it's much easier to manage. Don't bite off more than you can chew. And if you're eying a bite that's too big, you're more likely to never start.

>>9867342
Skeletons are incredibly valuable amd time saving if you know what youre doing. Its just setting up a basic framwork so you can juat cut loose during the actual writing, and any structural problems can be mitigated ahead of time. Its outlining without the autism brain freeze.

>>9867353
It's kind of a style thing. Free form is a perfectly valid form of writing and I prefer it to planning. I'm sure you can write a good novel either way.

How the hell do you pull off an effective climax when the character is good at dealing with loss, pressure and the likes? What use is an deadly situation if the fucker doesn't care whether he kicks the bucket or not.

>>9867408
Give him something that he does care about, it dosent have to be his own life. Maybe its someone else, or a certain value he holds dear

>>9867408
This should help very much.

https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2602466

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>>9849903
I feel like I would be a decent write & enjoy it, but I don't know what to write about or how I would get people to read my stuff.

>>9867456
You don't need to know what to write about, or for people to read your work. Just do it because it makes you feel good. Trust me, it feels good to make progress on a story. Writing is where the real pleasure is. Recognition is just a nice bonus.

>>9867297
The thing is that I want the interrogation dialog to be shown in its entirety. This is because one of the interrogators doesn't know as much as the others (he belongs to another faction) and he misinterprets what the interrogated man says

I suffer from a desire to show every second of every event though. How do I stop being this autustic?

>>9867464
I am the opposite, I care so little about small details, when reading or writing. I love large scale, low resolution.

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>>9867166
>Make everything else not cliche:
Only the beginning is really Cliche ( And that in itself is pushing it.)

>write compelling characters
Writing two p.o.v for the Novel. Whether they are compelling or at least interesting is mostly to the reader.

First P.O.V is a narcissist, deluded, and a self-righteous protagonist who believes themselves to be in a story of a tyrannical empire and herself the plucky hero going to topple it down. (It's going to be more subtle than what I told you.)

Second P.O.V is a Person who lost their family and is unable to cope with the loss properly, so they start to believe they were destined for something greater.

>put it in a unique setting described with great clarity of prose
I don't know about the Setting (generic European Fantasy world, perhaps I will expand upon it later), but the Lore, character's history, Character's Motivation, Morals, and Themes are what I'm aiming for.

>and so on.
Got it

>>9867798
The second POV is edging on cliche, although their goal is decent.

>generic European Fantasy world
Jesus, why.

>120+ pages into my novella
>Almost finished
>Look back at it and re-read some sections
>Realize that there's no plot and it's just the daily routine and a series of shitty events that happened to some depressed twat

What do?

>>9867813
market it as Kafkaesque

>>9867812
>The second POV is edging on cliche.
can you expand on this?

>although their goal is decent.
Thank you

>Jesus, why.
Mostly because of the Lore

>>9868102
>can you expand on this?
The backstory is just so common for the genre and the setting. How many protagonists actually had not dealt with some tragic loss, no family and all the shit? It obviously helps to tell the story and jump to the goal, so I wouldn't even say it's problematic, just not original in any way, which is perfectly fine. Being overly anal, one can say that the first POV is just Don Quixote with tits, which isn't shockingly original but still pretty cool and not a big issue since there is still enough room left to make the characters stand out.

>>9868163
Thank you for the clarification.

After deleting and starting again and agin for the past week im finally doing some progress since yesterday

I have an idea about a novel. The Protagonist is basically a young man in his mid twenties who attends one of his relative's funeral. After that he gets approached by two of his cousins and the fact that the family has been running an illega business is revealed to him. Being a law abiding citizen but also loyal to his friends and family he is stuck in a moral dilemma.

I don't if it's original though.

>>9868663
Idk man, just write it for yourself. Anytime you get an idea that drives you, put it to use. Worry about others accepting it later or never.

>>9868845
Sounds like pretty good advice.

>>9868663
Just write it dude. The premise is interesting yet mainstream enough to become a book AND a movie

Check em.

>>9849903
>tfw just want to write web novels
>can't get the prose right

>>9867798
>Whether they are compelling or at least interesting is mostly to the reader.
No this is part of the craft of writing, creating engaging, three dimensional characters that readers get emotionally involved in and want to see succeed.

>>9859037
standard lengths i've seen publishers refer to

flash, <1,000
short story, <18,000 (or 17,500 for some reason)
novella, <40,000

novel, no limit

not sure about novelettes, doesn't seem like a real established category desu

>>9856501
amazon

I'm currently in the outline phase of my novel and I'm stuck. Here's the greentext version:
>Setting is 19th century colonial India
>MC is a mahout, an elephant tamer.
>Mostly entertainment gigs (ride, tricks, etc.) with the elephant, occasional hard labor
>MC meets a visiting British historian who tells him about Hannibal Barca, specifically how he got his elephants over the swiss alps
>MC obsesses over the story
>MC starts pretending he's one of Hannibal's lieutenants
>Gets more and more engrossed in the delusion.
>It culminates in a rampage through the streets, injuring a few people (one of them a Brit)
>The historian vouches for the MC in the trial, ensuring that he won't be jailed or executed.
>The blame is pushed to the innocent elephant instead.
>The court rules that the elephant must be put down
>MC is filled with guilt and shame. Can't bring himself to let this happen.
>He releases the elephant and runs away with him, heading for the Himalayas
>Ending ambiguous on whether he replicates Hannibal's feat or perishes in the attempt

I'm stuck on generating material for the middle parts, where the MC falls deeper and deeper into his delusions. I want that fall to be caused by specific contradictions in the MC's life which cause him distress. e.g MC feels a strong sense of mediocrity despite his exotic profession, he feels powerless despite being master over such a powerful animal, he feels nothing when he sees other wild elephants being "crushed" for domestication, despite caring deeply for his own elephant. I just can't find ways of making these abstract ideas into story events.

Mostly I'm wondering if anyone has any methods for brainstorming ideas. I'm also wondering if I should just make into a short story instead, or insert some other subplots. Feel free to shit on the idea too, if it's bad.

>>9870274
To get into that level of delusion you need to actually roleplay the character, i.e., fucking start writing.

>>9870298
I'd like to start writing, but I don't know what scenes to write.
As I said:
> I just can't find ways of making these abstract ideas into story events.

Which is why I asked for methods for brainstorming

>>9870328
Writing IS a method of brainstorming.

OK, so for example, have a scene where someone is asking the MC to justify his current perspective, and then just write the MC response. If he starts to go into a past event, just transition into writing that past event and drop the conversation (flashback style).

None of it needs to look like that in the final edit, but you will get more ideas by opening yourself up to telling the story creatively rather than pressuring yourself to "brainstorm". This will also mean that your ideas about the scenes will emerge from the mindstate of story telling rather than isolated abstract thinking.

>>9870363
Hmm, OK I think I get what you're saying. I'm gonna try and write out a couple of scenes and see what I get. Thanks for the help.

>>9849978
I completely forgot I posted in this thread and did not expect this reply to me posting a Louis Wain picture.

>>9870452
Don't forget to have fun, anon. Or at least, whatever kind of emotion is fun for you, anyway.

>>9868163
Not that anon but how is his novel like anything like Don Quixote? Don Quixote is a novel of a man filled with hopeless noble ideals in an increasingly cynical and materialistic world. Whereas his novel is none of that.

>>9870328
one method:
think up 10 possibilities for the idea you want to write. don't stop at three or four, push yourself until you have 10.

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>>9869598
Anything over 110k better be high fantasy

>>9869598
>Short Story
Within 7499 words
>Novelette
7500-17,499 words
>Novella
17,500-39,999 words
>Novel
40,000+ words

>>9871584
My longest book thus far had a 1st draft of 77,000 words, and by the end of the edits was... I can't remember, I think 83,000 words? About 235 pages in 5x8" format, so that's a respectable size, longer than the first Harry Potter book which is about 77,000 words. I look forward to writing my first 100,000+ word book but I have no idea what it'll be about. All books combined, I've written around 350,000 words in total I think, around there.

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Why do people hate cliche? Aren't they just springboards for stories? Why the unnecessary hate?

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Where does one learn how to write well?
I cannot afford university so I cannot take classes (would not consider that to be a wise investment).
Any good books that /lit/ can recommend for learning to write? A crash course in jargon and technique perhaps? Maybe a book about creating a linguistic elegance? Really anything and everything because I am starting from scratch.

>>9872677
Marie is a such a cutie

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>>9872677
>reverse search that image
>No other sizes of this image found. Best guess for this image: cartoon
>search 'drawn by mumaya'
>pic related
>Hunab Ku is a Colonial period Yucatec Maya reducido term meaning "The One God".

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>>9872695
Here I will trade you sauce to this anon's image >>9872677 if you answer my (>>9872689) question!
https://chan.sankakucomplex.com/post/show/5501700

>>9872719
Sorry meant to link this page too https://danbooru.donmai.us/wiki_pages/66428

>>9849903
wrote a paragraph today at least

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>>9872719
>>9872727
Sure, here:

Suggested for short stories:
>"Notes on Writing Weird Fiction" by H. P. Lovecraft

For constructing a solid basic novel and avoiding shitty pitfalls:
>"How Not to write a novel" by Mittelmark & Newman
>"How to write a damn good novel" by James N. Frey
>"How to write a damn good novel II" by James N. Frey
>"Self-editing for fiction writers" by Browne & King

For writing poetry:
>"The ode less travelled" by Stephen Fry

"Motivational" whatever:
>"Zen in the art of writing" by Raymond Bradbury
>"On writing" by Stephen King

Academic procrastination:
>"The hero with 1000 faces" by Joseph Campbell
>"The golden bough" by George Frazer
>"The morphology of the folktale" by Vladimir Propp
>"The art of fiction" by J. Gardner
>"The book of legendary lands" by Umberto Eco
>""The elements of style" Strunk & White

Autismal worldbuilding procrastination:
>"The language construction kit" by M. Rosenfelder
>"The planet construction kit" by M. Rosenfelder

Actively avoid:
>"The writer's journey" by C. Vogler
>"How to books" anything with a logo that looks like pic related.

For anything of genuine worth:
>Be a naturally good writer, work hard at it and read widely.

That last one is the most important. Read and write a lot and actually think about how the text you're looking at is constructed as you do - you'll notice that the billion-word ridiculous fanfiction shit that gets written never really improves and this is because they're not reading other things and they're not really thinking about the text itself.

>>9872785
Excellent, thank you anon

>>9872689
>>9872695
>>9872719
Gee thanks for answering my question

>>9873079
I thought I had answered, what's the problem anon?

>>9873238
He just needs encouragement.

>>9849903
Got a gig working for a game, $20 per 1000 words sort of deal. Could be fun but I'm also quite lazy. Hopefully I can crank out what needs to be made on time. I have a gradually growing commission backlog.

>>9874350
Jesus, I can write 1000 words in like 30 minutes if I'm on a roll. I once wrote 10,000 words within 6 hours, and wrote about 77,000 words within around 5 days which averages over 10,000 words a day. Wish I had a job like that, especially if it involved writing about firearms.

>>9872653
40k is very short, more like a kids or YA novel.

>>9872785
>recommends Hero of a Thousand Faces but not Writer's Journey
they're both cliche

>>9874690
I don't think I'd disagree with that assessment, 40k is indeed quite short, in fact I consider Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to be a pretty short novel and that's something like 75,000 words.

>>9873238
That wasn't me, you did answer my question and I have found and started to read some of the books you recommended.

>>9850022
Speak for yourself. I love short stories.

>>9872785
Has Stephen Fry even written any poetry?

Sounds like a meme to me.

>>9849903
It isn't OP.

I've just started trying to write poetry, and I really don't know where to start. I read a lot of poetry, and sometimes I'll get great inspiration for poems of my own, but when I try to come up with a structure and then fit my words into it - well, I can't so far.

I occasionally journal my ideas into roughly poetic essays of sorts, and I have had several ideas for fascinating ways to structure poems, but not once yet have I managed to combine these two aspects of a poem into a whole.

The only poems I've written have been highly casual, spur-of-the-moment ones - where I was just playing around.

Any advice anons?

>>9875022
I highly recommend Western Wind by Nims. It breaks down poetic techniques and has tons of poems to read. It is a textbook so you can get a previous edition more cheaply.

If you want to write in poetic forms I see The Ode Less Traveled by Stephen Fry recommended a lot here. I've only skimmed it but it seems ok if overly breezy. It's available at b-ok.org

>>9866915
Curious about why you would do this. How much would they pay and how many people will read your book if published?

>>9866915
Also, what are some good small presses?

>>9875407
Sometimes you have a niche book. Or the Big Five publishers don't think there's a market for your book.

Smaller presses give you larger percentages on royalties but advances are smaller, if any.

A good smaller publisher will focus their marketing efforts and work with you on promoting. Some authors have gotten better sales with the smaller presses than the big. The Big Five will probably use a standard marketing package--spend a few hours, run a few ads, and mostly tell you to self promote on social media.)

here, read this
https://janefriedman.com/key-book-publishing-path/

>>9875524
it depends on what you're writing

Wish I could write good.

>>9875654
>The Big Five will probably use a standard marketing package--spend a few hours, run a few ads, and mostly tell you to self promote on social media.
Got any more info on this? I've put my hopes into them because of the marketing and reach. Any kind social media shit sans giving interviews to bloggers or AMAs really, really turns me off.

Do people really want me to shitpost about Trump on Twitter and occasionally mentioning that I got a book in stores?

>>9849903
Great. Been working on completing a short story a month since April (as a break from working on a novella). I have good start on my story for August.

>>9875686
Unless the publisher thinks you're the next big thing, you're going to have to do a lot of self promotion. It's been like this for years now. Books, especially first books, may not earn out the advance so any marketing costs by the publisher are just more lost profits.

You should at least have a Twitter and Facebook page. If your book isn't political, stay away from tweeting/posting about politics. That's just throwing away readers.

What a lot of authors are doing is promoting each other. I saw a "Class of 2016" group of new authors who interviewed each other for their blogs, had giveaways for their books, etc.

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>>9849903
I really need to finish Chapter 2.

how do I continue? I get so tired after a while

Every time I try to write something it ends up a 2 page short story.

>>9876290
>he's actually able to finish something
wew lad you dont know how good you've got it

i set out to write a 2 page short story and end up with a 10 page incoherent prose poem because i tell myself i'll wittle it down and tie it together in editing and then i never revisit

>>9876290
You think that's strange?

I tried writing a short story and it ended up being a 2 companion chapter micro-story.

>>9874690
Hero attempts to do something new, applying Jungian theory to the material in Golden Bough. Writer's Journey is merely a self-help book for writing formulaic trash based on those ideas in the most infantile manner possible. Vogler a shit.

>>9874999
I imagine he has. It's more of an analysis and pop introduction to poetry than anything. Fry did have a good English Public School education and does know what he's talking about. If you have a better suggestion I'll add it to the list next time someone asks.

>>9876295
Pessoa did just that. Just sound as crazy as possible and you are good, nigga

>>9875396
thx anon

Finished a novella I'd been toying with in July on Tuesday and easing into a novel now, about 4k written on it though I'm having some difficulty getting back into the groove.

>>9877080
>pop introduction
>le public school education

I have plenty of better suggestions. Don't chastise me, boy, if that is the best defense you have.

>Poetic Meter and Poetic Form; Paul Fussel
>The Poetry Handbook, John Lennard
>Mimesis, The Representation of Reality in Western Literature; Erich Auerbach
>The Force of Poetry, Christopher Ricks
>Other Traditions (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures), John Ashbery
>The ABC of Reading, Ezra Pound
>Ezra Pound: His Metric and His Poetry, T.S. Eliot

>>9849946
Are you trying to do something similar to Heart of a Dog?

>>9875654
I'm writing an absurd literary fiction novel. I'm curious if these small presses would help.

>>9878913
Well, God would be my first call but afterwards, yeah, small presses are your best chance.

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>>9849946
Top Cat!
The most effectual!
Top Cat!
Who's intellectual!*
Close friends get to call him "T.C.,"
Providing it's with dignity!

Top Cat!
The indisputable leader of the gang.
He's the boss, he's a VIP, he's a championship.
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat.

Yes, he's the chief, he's a king,
But above everything,
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat!

Top Cat!

>>9878621

No, even though I don't think I ever read that. The cats like sing songs and stuff, but I don't really know how to translate that into writing yet.

>>9879864
>>9879840

>>9879840
Wat

>>9849903
Wow, this post reminded me i have a half written novel, i got 200 pages in and forgot about it two years ago.

>get excited to write on the way home
>get home
>don't write

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>>9853342

>>9877496
I wasn't chastising you. I'll add those next time.