HOLY FUCKING SHIT /R9K/ A SHORT STORY I WROTE JUST WON 1ST PLACE

>>35638624
Is it a porn story?

>>35638641
No, I literally wrote it in a day. I submitted two stories, one took a week to write and this took a day and this one won. I'm kind of embarrassed since I think it's a little cute and amateurish but still my god.

File: 1465512469337.jpg (6KB, 227x225px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 227x225px

>>35638624
Congrats anon! Happy for ya!

>>35638677
A story of mine won a competition once though. Sadly the only prize was to get it published in a shitty local newspaper that no one read. I also wrote it in a day and it was filled with cliches and shit like that. I guess normies just like that kind of stuff.

>>35638762
>though
too*
origorig

Alright, I'll bite...

1000 pounds of what?

>>35638728
Thank you!

I have been rejected so many times I can't believe this has happened. I wasn't expecting it. I still have to have my photo taken which I'm not looking forward to at all.

>>35638762
I'm also getting mine published but in an anthology nobody reads. I mean barely anybody besides the judges are going to read my story anyway, but still it's a feeling of validation that my low-confidence self yearns for despite my posing otherwise.

>>35638813
pencils

>>35638813
Great British Pounds m89

The downside is I have to have my photo taken and shake hands with a bunch of normos while accepting the prize.

>>35638624
was it a greentext?

>>35638624
Originally post it

>>35638677
Maybe your writing is better off the cuff.

>>35638859
It wasn't, but I did write something of a greentext "novel" on /r9k/ last year and I imagine ten times as many people read that than are going to read this short story, which I'm okay with because frankly I'd prefer it to be anonymous. I might still pull out of this as I have done once before with a book I had accepted for publication. I hate having internet presence.

>>35638863
I really don't want to read it myself again, it's too embarrassing and no doubt I'll spot a spelling mistake or something. And plus I have extremely thin skin and will take negative reactions very seriously and will likely tell them not to contact me again out of fear of being humiliated.

>>35638891
I still think my other story, which was called "The Narcissist", was better. This one was about an old working class guy who retires and realizes he's devoted his life to something he had no interest in and so he gathers a bunch of locals to form an orchestra since he always wanted to be a conductor but felt like a fag for wanting that and they rehearse and finally organize a performance but on the day it rains and everyone leaves and he's left alone with this kid who is very much like him as a young man and they sit in the car listening to classical music while it pours with rain. I mean it's sort of cliched and sentimental and maybe over-gooey but if that's all I'm capable of then I don't want to pretend otherwise regardless of the insults directed at me.

File: 86ef168c-a959-408f-b8f7-72bfd5034964.png (123KB, 250x231px) Image search: [Google]

123KB, 250x231px

Congrats! From your description, it does sound like something normies might prefer, but at least you won 1k by doing something you enjoy, so I envy you lol

What is "The Narcissist" about, if you don't mind me asking?

>>35638973
op, would be ok with emailing me the story if I kept it to myself?

I'll be nice, promise

it must have been good if you won 1k

>>35638857
I wouldn't do that for a thousand pounds

We need more positive threads like this. I was having a bad day and I'm genuinely happy for anonbro.

Always post your positive habbenins, you never know who takes joy in your success.

>>35638624
Congratulations, Anon!

I won a scholarship from my psuedo psychological writing, so there must be something to shitposting on this board all day

>>35639072
AWWWOOOO

What sucks is that I'm going to have my name on the website so normies can google me 5ever and think I'm some sort of cute lame as faggot who writes pro-normie stories in my free time. It sucks but I still have time to pull out if I need to, or I might even ask them to publish it under a pseudonym.

"The Narcissist" is about a lonely office worker who is so embarrassed at the pathetic state of his existence that he lies all the time to avoid what he feels is intrusion and interrogation from others, and to avoid an office party he tells a co-worker that his imaginary girlfriend is expecting a baby as a sort of spontaneous lie to get him to fuck off, but the co-worker remembers and brings it up again in work and the protagonist goes alone with it, and he is then forced to go to the library every evening to research pregnant so his lies aren't doubted and at the library he sees a qt girl reading always in the same seat, which is his old favorite seat, and he is exhausted since the road outside his apartment has just been widened to allow more traffic and the noise drives him insane and leaves him unable to sleep, but the women in work think he's tired from staying up late with his pregnant wife, anyway the day comes when he's forced to annonce the birth so his boss tells him to leave early to head to the hospital, but instead he goes to the library on his way home and cries over a photo of himself as a newborn baby which he is thinking of taking to work the next day to lie that it's his kid and at the library he sees the girl leaving and chases her outside through the rain and when she turns he sees the other side of her face for the first time and realizes it's severely burned and disfigured as a result and he thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

File: bowie.jpg (183KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

183KB, 500x500px

Well done anon, there's nothing better than unexpected praise is there.

Hope you enjoy the money, don't blow it all on drink and drugs. But make sure a sensible portion does so that you can properly appreciate the money

>>35639143
Sorry m9 but I've been here too long to trust random anons, plus I'm just too paranoid of a curtain being pulled back and a crowd full of staceys and chads pointing and laughing for me to do that. I once emailed a manuscript of my failed novel to someone on 4chan and they never replied and I still feel fucking stupid for doing that. I may post it if I agree to accept the award, at the moment I still think I may pull out and focus on writing something I'm proud of rather than some cliche prize bait. I mean I am thankful but I had such high hopes for my "debut" appearance IRL, but as it turns out I may be pigeonholed as an amateur writer who covers sentimental shit decently but has no hope of tackling darker or more serious subjects. The thing is I can be quite funny so after writing The Narcissist I decided to write something "feel-good" and light.

If you want to know what my writing style is sort of like, I wrote the "Escortbro" story on /r9k/ last year, albeit LARPing as a Frenchman and in broken English to reflect that.

File: pandaaaa.jpg (80KB, 500x605px) Image search: [Google]

80KB, 500x605px

>>35639244
I think the story that won sounds better desu, it's far more innocent and wonderful than your second, sorry man.
Maybe it's because the second sounds a lot like my life and I prefer to escape that thanks also the disfigured face thing is cheesy as fuck

>>35639176
A scholarship for what? And congratulations!

>>35639161
I hate posting like this since its equivalent to namefagging also but I am literally in a shitty place in my life right now and have to make a major decision in the next 24 hours or so as to what my life is going to be like for the next year at least. For this to happen is just stupidly, irrationally nice. I mean I may not accept the award. I pulled out of publishing a novel when I wrote when I was 21 because I realized in retrospect how lame it was, and I feel so glad I did that. But now I kinda feel the same thing and I feel like pulling out again and writing something literally honest but less likely to be published. But I don't have time to do that, which is why I rushed this shit out as prizebait, although to be fair the feelings of the protagonist (wrong career, lost hopes, failed potential, sellling out) are feelings I am intimately familiar with

>>35639369
Presidential Scholarship four for years at a private college

>>35639261
I don't drink alcohol and I refuse to take any more drugs for the rest of my life. I'm pretty much an ascetic in many respects.

I guess I posted this in part because I have become convinced over many bitter years that I am LITERALLY incapable of "making it" in even the most basic respects. I feel incapable of even achieving the most entry-level shit that qualifies you as a human being. To achieve something like this is literally nothing when compared with most other accomplishments but still to me it's like being the ugly fucked up dog in the kennel who finally gets picked for a walk in the park or some shit.

>>35639321
I guess that's a relief but still I'd rather be known for writing a dark and uncomfortably familiar story that is more pscyhologically challenging than a story about an old guy who does cute shit with a bunch of nomals.

>>35639244
Nice!

I love how realistic the idea of the MC lying about his home life is, and I believe that it's a shame that it didn't get any more attention..

I hope that I got this right, but is the library girl there to show the MC how even imperfect things/humans can be beautiful? The whole disfigured face thing seems a bit sappy to me, but I also think that it fits nicely together with the overall gloomy atmosphere of story

Personally, I would use a pseudonym, but that's mostly because I don't like my name being attached to things that other people will recognise me by, especially if I were to improve later on.


//Also it's very refreshing to see someone being this positive on /r9k/, so thanks for that!!

>>35639655
>I hope that I got this right, but is the library girl there to show the MC how even imperfect things/humans can be beautiful?

Pretty much, and it's also about how you can never really "be" in love with a static image that your mind has produced as a consequence of the carefully concealed actions of others, including the protagonist. He is lonely in part because he has spent all his energy and attention desperately reinforcing this image of himself for others while his actual life, in private, has become entirely barren, fruitless and without event. When he sees the girl he sees exactly what he needs to see, which is this hideous thing about her. But he realizes he isn't too far gone because he finds it beautiful, and relieving, and realizes perhaps that he needn't perform his life as a series of lies, manouveres and poses simply out of fear that his sincere self is disgusting or pathetic or incapable of being loved.

I am thinking of using a pseudonym, but I know other people get pissed off if you demand things like that. I asked in work if I could avoid using my real name online and they thought I was being a difficult weirdo. Thank you. Again this thread is sort of selfish in that it's a one way form of communication aimed at me but still I hope it encourages other robots if they desire to have their work appreciated in whatever sense.

>>35639748

Now I really want to read it.. I hope it'll get published someday, so other people will be able to read and appreciate it, anon!


Don't be too harsh on yourself, I'm sure other users also enjoyed reading something positive on this board + I saw another anon post something nice they achieved, so your thread hasn't been in vain

Idk if I'm being too paranoid(or smart), but I also try to use my real name as little as possible online, since it's easily traceable.

>>35638973
Sounds like a movie

>>35638973

That old man story actually sounds really good.

>>35640254
The synopsis is probably more interesting than the writing, maybe that's why they turned it down for first place. Hopefully they'll tell me what they thought of it when / if I meet them.

And yeah I hate having anything about me online. At the moment there is close to nothing which I'm relieved about. The fact I'm potentially going to have my photo and whatever on there is very discouraging. I had to submit a bio with my submission and I wrote "Anon is from [town]. He is a private person". I thought they'd refuse my story right away after reading that but apparently not. Past winners have written stuff like "He's a young professional working in [city], he likes hiking, coffee and The Smashing Pumpkins" but I hate quirky forced shit like that. I accept nobody gives a shit about me and I don't want to act like I don't realized that by posting some lame 140 character summary of my existence, though again that might just be my autism making me stubborn and paranoid.

Another funny thing to me is that my story is going to be published in an anthology and the publishers who are publishing it previously accepted my first novel (but I withdrew) and then rejected my second novel, but luckily I submitted both under a pseudonym. I had to submit this under my real name due to the rules of the competition.

>>35640293
I agree. I sort of wrote it in a way that is easy to visualize, which I knew would make it more likely that I won. I avoided complexity and just wrote about this old guy who realizes too late that he has messed up his life and is forced to do something with all this regret. My mom was born poor as hell and she was very sensitive and quiet, but nobody encouraged her to be intelligent or creative or anything so she ended up working as a receptionist for all her life. She's retired now and reads a lot but I can tell she has a lot of regret, which is one of the reasons I guess I could write it so quickly.

>>35640343
Thank you.

>>35638624
Congrats m9 enjoy those well-deserved bongs

That's a rare pepe you got there OP

Ayyy, I just submitted a story i wrote for a contest as well.

I did it on a complete whim, sent in a story I wrote for a creative writing class in high school, I should know if I won sometime next month.

I don't write at all in my free time but the stuff I write for class people say is pretty good, even won myself a little medal for C.W back in high school.

The award for winning is like 500 bucks, it's not much and I don't really expect winning but the confidence boost that would give me would be pretty big.

>>35638892
>I did write something of a greentext "novel" on /r9k/
Are you escortbro?

Kek be praised young anon

>>35638624
Congrats dude
orginazi

Burger here, much respect, anon. I'm really glad for you, it sounds like you deserved your newfound money. Maybe this is a sign from Kek that you should continue cultivating your writing. From the sounds of it, you're pretty good. I'm sure a lot of us wouldn't mind reading your material based off of what you've relayed to us already.

>>35640672
Good luck m8.

>>35640689
Well I wrote the escortbro story, but Escortbro was a trip I adopted for the sake of seeming legit.

>>35640777
Thanks. I'll take those trips as a blessing from Kek.

>>35640775
It really isn't a story written for a robot audience, which is why I feel sort of ashamed of this since I wrote in a way that I thought would win the prize, not in a way that would articulate my thoughts or in a way that seems a natural form of expression to me.

>>35640819
Ah, no worries mate. I don't blame you. I guess if you wanted to, you could possibly put some of this money to writing things you feel better represent material you prefer. In any case, good on you.

>>35640777
Marina wasn't real?

>>35641055
Nyet

Oreginaldo

OP here.

I've just done some research and it looks like I'm going to be asked to read my entire story to the audience on the awards night, which will consist of at least 100 people.

Would it be autistic if I somehow had a child read out the story on my behalf while I stood nearby? The award is for "young" writers (under 30) so I might say that I'm not much of a speaker so in the spirit of the award here's a kid to read it out. I'm really thinking of pulling out if they need a photograph, a biography and for me to read this in public (with the video uploaded to youtube by some callous normie)

Nice job!
Can we read it?

>>35641254
OP here. I am not even going to look at this story again unless I have to. I am very sensitive to criticism and having someone reply "lol that shit is cringey OP kys" would make me want to email the judge right now and tell them I'm withdrawing. I might post it in the future but right now I'm still hesitant that I'm even going to accept it.

>>35638624
Congrats anon. And I understand why you are sweating over it.
My favorite writer ever (may he rest in peace) said something like this happened to him when he was just a kid (13 I think). And as great as it was, it was also about the worst thing that could happen. Because it made him thing writing for a living would be easy.

>>35641346
Not everyone on this board is a douchebag, but i understand your feelings. If you won a award for it its obviously good, you should own it.

>>35641346
Not like anyone here has had any accomplishments. You should be proud anon

>>35641483
Who was that writer? Also fortunately I have no delusions that I can making a living out of writing ever. I mean 1000 pounds is great but my rent is 600 pounds at the moment and that's considered cheap.

>>35641521
I realize that, but the inevitable comment that I should kill myself is the one I'll take to heart right now. The thing is previous winners of the award haven't always been great. At least two of them have been under 19 years old, which makes me suspicious, and one of those was a girl who was a year younger than me in the school I attended.

>>35638857
just do it anon! this is your time to shine

>>35639143
>>35639315
I would like to register too, please.

>>35638624
Well done OP! I'm happy for you.
I can't imagine how I'd feel if something like that happened to me, I'd probably jump for joy.
God bless you.

Congrats Anon.

Where do you find these places to subit stories and stuff. Thought about trying my hand at it many times.

>>35642034
OP here. I just googled "short story award [my country]" and it was one of the top results.

Which country are you from?

Also I've been rejected a ton of times, most frustratingly for a novel that took me a year to write in the few hours I had after work etc. I mean I'm pretty burned out and not really trying to "make it" as a writer, especially given the current literary culture.

File: NZT-Limitless-Prome-Bradley-Cooper.jpg (42KB, 598x242px) Image search: [Google]

42KB, 598x242px

>>35642099
Take the pill your ex brother in law gives you.

>>35641139
I'd probably die if I had to read a story that I wrote out loud in front of at least 100 people desu

I feel like I'd be awkward for you to just sit there while some random kid reads it, since it was you who wrote it. However, most books fans that I've met are quite quiet and introverted themselves, so I think that they'll understand if you feel the need to do it.

But then again, it's 1000 quid, so..

>>35641139
You could try to find someone with a good speaking voice, I think the audience would accept that.

>>35642823
>>35642709
I've watched literally over a hundred videos on youtube of writers reading out their work, and only once or twice in those videos has it not seemed awkward, pointless and embarrasing for everybody involved. I know some writers try and be funny by adopting weird voices, some make it a "wild" event by leaping around etc, but I just don't see the point of reading something aloud when books are for reading. It's like asking a musician to accept an award and then having the audience read a pamphlet with their lyrics printed on them. It's not the point of the music.

>>35641139
lool you are fucked

>>35642911
I totally feel you on that, books are always better when I read then on my own

I guess it's so that the audience can get to know the author or something

>>35642911
Well yes anon, it could be getting a little bit unpleasant. See it as a challenge or something. You need to get this price.

>>35639244
it's Hanako, he just meets Hanako

Really cool to hear about that, OP. Did they give you writing prompts at all or you just submit whatever?

Hopefully in the future you can continue to find little successes. Not that 1000 GBP is small..

>>35643618
OP here. No prompts, but the story had to be under 2,000 words. I misread the entry form and wrote both stories under 3,000 (like 10 words under in each case) and then read it again and had to anxiously edit both of them down to 1,999 words.

File: HD HARAM.jpg (65KB, 853x960px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 853x960px

>>35643702
post the story you turbohomo

What was the competition? I'm an aspiring writer and I'd love to enter competitions with cash prizes

>>35643748
No, not now at least. I'm feeling okay despite it being Sunday evening and despite me potentially handing in my resignation tomorrow (which I was going to do anyway) risking a safe, well-paying career in a field I can't stand to go back to college later this year. I can't risk accusations and insults right now, my sense of wellbeing is too fragile.

>>35643809
It's a competition specific to my country of birth.

What country are you from?

>>35643832
North West of the UK

>>35638973
that sounds really good, i would read it.

i also like to write, but i never have any ideas for a story.

>>35643848
Hmm. I'm not sure. I know Comma Press publishes a lot of newer stuff and they're based in Manchester.

>>35638624
nice one anon! good job!

what is the story about?

>>35643902
I'm not sure if I should submit my idea to a random publishing house, or specifically go after publishers that do the genre I'm writing.

It's hard to know what to do as an aspiring author...

File: honk honk.png (282KB, 2000x1410px) Image search: [Google]

282KB, 2000x1410px

>>35643812
dude you won 1000 poundaroos for writing that story, how bad can it possibly be?

>>35643972
What genre is it? It's best to build up a portfolio of published short stories, then write a novel and send it to an agent who will try and find a publishers. Then again the literary industry is largely about sucking up to people you don't know or like in the hope they'll print your shit. It's rare to submit to a publishing house directly, as most say they are unwilling to receive manuscripts directly (in the old days they did, but these days you have to get an agent, which is very hard if you don't have a contact in the industry, since agents have two piles of works, a "slushpile" from people they don't know, and another special pile from friends, contacts, journalists, MFA graduates etc).

>>35643905
Thank you. The story is about an older working class guy who retires and regrets he wasted his life doing something he had no interest in, so he advertises in a local newspaper and hands out flyers asking for musicians, actual or potential, to form an orchestra with him, since from childhood he just wanted to conduct an orchestra, so he assembles a bunch of retired amateur musicians, kids from a local school, elderly folk from a care home, random people who want to give it a shot etc and eventually they organize a performance, but it gets rained off and everyone leaves and he ends up driving this teenage kid home who is the last to stick around and in the car they listen to classical music at high volume as it pours with rain.

pastebin it so we can make fun of it m8

you already won the 1k gbp so who cares

>>35644105
Fantasy. It's hard to know what to do with your short fictino these days because so much can be self published on the kindle store.

I'd love to quit my job and write full time. My main idea for a story is basically collections of short stories anyway

>>35644021
A lot of shitty stuff gets published and wins awards etc. I've seen better stuff written on /r9k/, albeit in greentext form or in the form of a 400 word rant against normies, than in many of the contemporary literature I read. And some of my favorite books weren't published for several years because publishers turned them down. It's much easier to get published if you're willing to "play to the crowd", that is write upbeat, humorous, relatively cliched stuff. Not that it isn't possible to write good stuff that can be described like that, only that it's easier to be an insincere writer, to whatever extent. Welcome to the NHK for example is a fantastic book IMO but the reason it doesn't get promoted and so on is because it's anti-normie and pretty non-PC, which makes publishers dismiss it in favor of some summer time interracial romance novel.

>>35644157
>>35644157
Fantasy sells well but it's not mainstream in the UK. There's a guy on /lit/ (gas-kun) who lives in Kentucky and works minimum wage at a gas station but has written a 12-book fantasy series about a kid who essentially becomes a professional podracer and fights in an intergalactic war. He just decided to self-publish but I'm not sure if he's earning that much.

Also, quitting your job to write in 2017 is literal suicide. It just isn't possible unless you write extremely normie shit or unless you're willing to live hand-to-mouth and beg for government arts grants.

>>35644222
Yeah I guess that's true. I'd love to make some money off writing at least. Luckily, I have a pretty good job as a teaching assistant (and because I'm a man, it's easier to find a job), which offers me a lot of free time to keep writing.

I'd just love to be on a shelf in a store, but I dont know
A) How sustainable that is
B) How I'd even get my work published

It's a hard life

>>35644311
A) Not sustainable at all. Author's earnings in the UK are at an all-time low. Plus there is so much competition these days. If you have an "angle" then you're more likely to make it, e.g. a guy just published a best-seller about his autistic son, Matt Haig (a fucking retard) makes a lot of money selling self-help and mental health related stuff, Kate Tempest makes money promoting herself as da voice of da urban youf etc.

B) Do some research into magazines or websites which publish fantasy, and just keep submitting your stuff to them. Otherwise, self-publish and organize a promotional drive to try and get it spreading via word of mouth. I tried to make money with a small group of people from 4chan a couple of years ago writing niche erotica and then promoting each others work by leaving 5 star comments, but even then it would have taken ten times as much effort and time to make barely a liveable wage via earnings.

>>35644311
Oh and Philip Pullman was a teaching assistant too and won some fantasy competition when he was 25 / 26.

>>35644572
I'd love to enter my work into competitions but I'm not sure where to look

>>35644651
>>35644651
WWW.britishfantasysociety.org

>"I am pleased to report that details are agreed for this year's BFS Short Story Competition, which will open to entries from 1 April to 30 June. [...] I am very much looking forward to receiving and reading your submissions."