My concentration has been a bit messed up due to a cold.
Thankfully the last 3 chapters I have worked on are more or less re-writes, so I still made a ton of progress despite being sick.

Still, I can't wait until my full focus returns and I am able to write with full mental effort again.


How have your projects been going lately?

>>25604232
Little to no progress over the last three months. If I keep at this pace I should be a fat old millionaire eventually.

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>>25604252
I sold 2 books

A ship shaped like a creature with a long snout and big bulbous eyes flies through space carrying two beings with the same appearance. As the shorter of the two pretends his hand is a person running past all the stars and absent-mindedly looks around the ship, the larger one is saying “You will not ask about their planet, you will not make eye contact with them, you will not eat any of their food, you will not break anything, you will not go off on your own, you will not ride in their ships, you will not leave anything behind, you will not listen to anyone but me, you will not make any noise, you will not tell them how to make clones, you will not give them any weapons, you will not try to feed them, you will not remember their names, you will not kill any unless I allow it, you will no-”

Until he hears a crunch and sees him surreptitiously chewing on powder from a sack in the passenger's seat. “Thirteen!” He looks up at The Doctor sheepishly as he snatches it out of his hand. “Don't eat the bait you imbecile!” Thirteen begins coughing profusely. “You see? You’ve gone and agitated your airway!” The Doctor fishes through his opened glovebox and pulls out a vial of a clear liquid. The colored dust fills the cockpit and is coughed into The Doctor’s eyes making him flail around. The ship flies around wildly until The Doctor gets control of the steering back and drops some of the liquid into his eyes. He then grabs Thirteen’s still coughing snout tight and drops some liquid into it. After his bloodshot eyes return to normal and his coughing is gradually reduced to sputters he says “Thank you mast-” but is interrupted with a punch. “Are you trying to sabotage me?”
“Not on purpose sir!” He hits him again. “Impede this mission any further and I’m putting you in the binds!”
“Yes sir…”
“Now close your eyes! I don’t know how you keep figuring out the combination to this thing…” The Doctor pushes some buttons on the keypad which produce a distinct tone. In his mind, Thirteen sings “beep boop boop bahp” then “one five five nine.”
“You’re lucky I’m too busy to kill you… all the grief you’ve put me through… should've cloned a new assistant months ago… can’t take my eyes off you for one- Thirteen!” He catches him eating the bait again with the clear fluid in his hand.

>>25604291
Thirteen has his arms and body bound to the chair while The Doctor presses a gun, that also bears his face, between his eyes while saying “you will not tell them what dark matter is, you will not tell them about faster than light travel, you will not try to join them, you will not try helping them mate, you will not plant anything, you will not meddle in their wars, you will not bring any back, you will not talk to their leader, you will not build anything for them, you will not ‘help me communicate,’ you will not start a religion, and you will not be a nuisance.” He grabs his face and turns it to him while still trying to keep a hand on the wheel. “Now look at me and recite all the rules I've laid out for you.” Thirteen looks at The Doctor and sneezes into his face. “Argh!” The ship flies wildly.

It's the first page of comedy comic I'm making where these two dumb aliens have to retrieve an experiment that escaped to a human colony. Honest feedback.

>>25604232
I'm in analysis paralysis. I'm reading "Story" by Robert McKee, and now I'm paranoid about every last aspect of my story, and whether each part of it is gripping enough to keep the reader's interest. I've had reader interest in more than one attempted webnovel peter out after specific chapters, even though I don't know what I did wrong. (I bring up webnovels because it's easy to look at your reader stats & see where interest plummets.) It takes so much work to write a novel-length work, and I really want the next one to hit. It's so soul-crushing to release a novel to the world and get absolutely no reaction.

>>25604307
I read Story. Remember that it's mostly an analysis of stories (films) that worked well, so it's got techniques you can keep in mind and use when rewriting and especially when revising to make sure your stuff works. It's not a formula or blueprint to follow. I think his stuff on dialogue was the most useful, since the worst thing is reading a conversation that loops around and goes nowhere (his book Dialogue is basically the same material, but expanded a bit more).

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>>25604342

>>25604232
>How have your projects been going lately?
Writers high wearing off and entering the grind. Realizing how everything is too fast paced and gonna probably have to double the length of the book. Probably for the best anyways to make it a longer project. It's very imposing though.
Hope you feel better and stop being sick.

>>25604337
>everything is too fast paced
It's time for you to webnovel.

>>25604342
I want to get this story fixed in a way that I like because it means a lot to me. Im just shit dogshit garbage booty asshole bad at pacing and it keeps me from ever finishing anything.

This is just a really really hard story to write because the protagonist is a schizophrenic and there is a mass hysteria event and there is a genuine metaphysical horror all co-occuring at the same time and it's in first person. The plot winds back on itself and sometimes it's reality or the psychosis or the mystical.

It works good for the horror experience but it needs more space to put boundaries around it and give the reader time to process what's going on. It wouldnt really function at all as a webnovel, there would be over infinity plotholes

>>25604232
ive given up on finding beta readers for a lengthy dark fantasy novel

just preparing to rawdog it as a webnovel release and using the reader stats as feedback

>>25604325
I'm more concerned how, according to "Story", every scene (at a a minimum) has to show one of the protagonist's values go from one extreme to the other. I try to keep that going, but I have no idea how to do that for every scene without sounding pretty artificial. I'm just really tired of going through all this work, only for nothing to happen, and am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

>>25604415
>every scene (at a a minimum) has to show
You're never going to write anything if you keep following this as a checklist

Shota and anthro fox milf hijinks. Feedback welcome.

https://rentry.org/v8h5ezo7

>>25604421
Then how am I to avoid my next novel falling in the forest without making a sound? I don't want to go through all that work again, only for nothing to happen.

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My writing's been picking back up, aside from wraping up publishing of my next release I'm writing a screenplay (thank you to the anon who reccomended Fountain markup) for a feature I might actually be able to put together the resources to make happen. It probably won't go anywhere, it'll probably just be one of those weird things by me, but that is exactly why I will love it. By the way here's an almost entierly unrelated anime girl picture.

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>>25607230

How do you guys tackle writing a novella or full novel? like sections you set for yourself to get through before taking a long break.
Do you go a chapter at a time, or focus on a whole act and split it up later, or just fly through the whole thing?
this is my first attempt at a larger work, I feel like if I stop-and-go like I usually do then it'll be a structural mess

>>25604415
A few things
a. You should be outlining more ahead of time. You should know what's going to happen in each scene ahead of time and how that will affect the rest of the story... because you know the rest of the story, or at least far enough ahead. If you're just winging it... well, hope you're having fun, and be prepared to do more revising
b. You should be doing this kind of analysis in revising to make sure your scenes are effectively fulfilling what you planned out, that it's not ambiguous or meandering.
c. Not everything needs to be a Major Scene that has a massive effect on the story. You can and should have some smaller connecting scenes with minor events, introspection,or characters discussing what happened, planning, or whatever.

>>25604546
a. I outline like crazy. I then fill out more details of the high-level outline with scene-level summaries and whatnot. I try to plan as much as I can.
b. My scenes turn out as I want them to, but that doesn't mean they're going to keep the reader engaged.
c. I'm not so sure about that. If the scene doesn't keep the reader engaged, and I lose them, then that's it.

>>25604555
If you're outlining and still worried that the "turns" in your scenes aren't dramatic enough, then take that as a lesson that the way you're outlining isn't working for you. You're not preparing in a way that's helping enough. Maybe think more about the dramatic impact before you start writing the summaries. No point summarizing crap.
Having big "scene turns" isn't the only wan to keep readers engaged. You can write an easily absolutely retarded story full of big dramatic changes. Readers will also stay engaged with good dialogue or prose, up to a point.

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>>25604750 >>25605147 >>25611807

>>25604221
This female Malfoy stuff got me thinking

How WOULD a female willingly desire and want someone who she considers of an inferior blood or race?

>>25604746
she wouldn't

“Where the Hel is everyone?” Zan asked, blue eyes scanning their surroundings.

Instinctively reaching for his sword with a full hand, Rex nearly dropped months, if not years, worth of pay. “Mix men sworn to different lords and captains to fight as one. A good idea, for anything but a city sack.” He smiled in realization. “That’s why Hardin and the others didn’t want us close to the front.”

Zan clucked his tongue. “Bastards didn’t tell us.”

“Would we have listened?”

Slowing for but a moment, Zan earnestly considered the question and shrugged his pauldrons. “Nope.” He lowered a hand close to his sheathed sword.

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>>25623554 >>25623568 >>25623576

story of about 2000 words on the theme of discomfort. suggested music: dramatic by slayyyter

>>25604232
Finished a book. About 530 pages... Already going to the second one. The way I figure, I need to write way more to tell the story I want.

How do you know the paltry amount of views your writing gets is real people and not just scraping bots?

>>25604994
Speaking of your own doubts or what?

Most of the regulars of this thread mainly do full books or stick to short stories.
Basically all the web novelist stick to the web novel general.

I've tried to network with other fat fetish writers but most of them are either laughably shit, mentally ill and disappear for months or years at a time, or just never respond.

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TAMED

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>>25605137

Should I keep the Spanish/Italian in this exchange, or limit it to French/German? It's frantic fun with all of them, but less realistic.
For context, and tl;dr, there's something of a Chinese box of European languages going wherein it's wanting to come to to roost at German (if a little rushed)

>>25605136
drop the english

>>25604746
if he's really handsome, and only as long as the sex was great

>>25604994
Because the views fall dramatically after certain chapters. That's not a bot pattern.

>villains always turn out 10 times more interesting than the protagonists
How do I fix this? Is it even a problem?

>>25605202
It is if they're not sufficiently unlikable enough. Think of GI Joe where Cobra is infinitely cooler. And you root for them because they never do anything actually unlikable.

>>25604221
when I write I love it. when I'm not writing I think about the fact no one / very little will likely read my work.
I know, that isn't a good way to think, but it's there and it sucks :(

>>25605202
I feel like that's pretty standard in fiction

>>25605202
>is it a problem
Only if you consider it to be.
What the hell even is your hero like?

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I'm pretty happy with the current state of The Chemical Divorce: thank you to Teebs and /lit/ for the feedback. My friend is a photographer and is going to take a picture for the new cover when she gets out of the hospital.

>>25605202
Make the protagonist the villain and main driver of the plot.

Trust me. It works way better than it should.

>>25605202
Maybe your MC is just not defiant enough? I love my fucking MCs. Villains are fun in that they will create unexpected obstacles and be willing to break the rules and behave somewhat unpredictably (for your MC, maybe not unpredictable to the reader). But that probably means your MC is too boring and predictable in comparison. Maybe your MC just needs more surprising elements, some challenging unsavory elements

>>25605276
Fairly standard optimistic, heroic, naive hero. Gets more and more jaded and cynical as he's exposed to the vile things of the world both from the villains and the things the good guys get up to under wraps.
Sometimes it feels like the point is just for him to be a vessel for witnessing the stuff villains do, and I find myself adding more and more chapters purely from the villains POV.

Told me what to write?

>>25605398
the hero isnt supposed to be defeated lilbro
the hero is supposed to be the light in the darkness. thats what readers want. a protagonist that doesnt maintain dignity in the face of the conflict is self-indulgent to the author. even tragic heroes need something that you can say they are a champion of.

>>25605536
The heroes here aren't exactly defeated, they're just doing the best they can as the unsustainable world built up around them comes apart under the strain. The villains ideas are also ultimately fundamentally flawed and they find out victory is unattainable as they envisioned.

>>25605202
Likely your villain is more proactive than your protagonist, while your protagonist is more reactive. Flip it around.

>>>25603564
nope just one voice reads it all so its not like a audio book with voice acting

you need to tune it a little on your device its usallly pretty slow and you can tell google to use data to improve the intonation.

scroll at the bottom here to have some samples. there like a million types so the hard part is finding one you like
https://k2-fsa.github.io/sherpa/onnx/tts/all/English/vits-piper-en_GB-alba-medium.html

or just look up some sample on youtube

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>>25605147
For some reason that made me think of horse girls and how fucking weird they can be with their horses

>After lunch, when the last of the morning dew had evaporated, we started making hay. The sky was a clear blue, and a distorted voice on one of the few AM stations that the radio picked up had promised an entire week of hot and rain-free weather.
>She rode the golden jubilee, prancing like a show horse along the windrows, leaving a long trail of square bales for me to load onto a trailer. Each time she passed me on the neighboring row, she gave me a tiny wave and made a ridiculous face. One time she gesticulated wildly at the hay bale I was lifting, pointing to it and then to me.
>She stopped the tractor and when I came close enough to hear her over the idling engine, she shouted, "You like that'un? I done made it just for you."
>Before I had time to answer she cranked the hand throttle and drove off, laughing and blowing me a kiss.
>The next time she came around, I was not going to fall for the same trick, so when she pointed up to the sky I only rolled my eyes and gave her the finger. However, I sensed a seriousness in her demeanor, and looking up I saw coiling, white trails crisscrossing the sky above us. Some originated from high above and others rose up from the horizon to meet them, creating descending puffs of smoke where they collided. She stepped off the tractor and I put my arms around her waist. Together we watched the spectacle unfolding above us.
thoughts?

why don't editors write good books?

>>25606446
Probably the same reason movie critics don't make good movies.

It's a different easier skill set to critique a thing than it is to make the thing.

How do you guys avoid boring rants and monologues while keeping the story philosophically interesting?

I'm trying to write mine right now. And I'm not sure how to make sure it's engaging to read while mixing in the action

>>25606477
a. make it beautiful
b. make it an argument between two characters instead

b is super busted tech. hit them with the dualism

>>25606477
Make it a argument with real character stakes.
Or for rants, you have to build up to the rant. Like a character at their wits end having a break down moment that has been building all book long.

Lastly, classic villain monologues can be fun, especially if they are directly inverse to the hero's perspective on the issue.

That said, I mostly write and read pulp inspired stuff, so there is a lot less naval gazing in general.

>>25606446
why would you think they could?

>>25606477
>how do you avoid smashing your balls with a hammer?

stop crushing your balls with a hammer?

>>25606501
because they know all the rules, expectations, and prose

>>25606567
retard

>>25606454
>movie critics don't make good movies
Haneke came to mind first and there's also the whole FNW crowd

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>>25606643 >>25606657 >>25609417

On Halloween
Surreal horror
A student reporter unearths a deadly conspiracy
Amazon

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>>25606746 >>25607286

>tfw just finished the serialized release of the first book of my story

Now to work on the e-book.

>>25606639
How did you write a second book do quickly?:

>>25606639
Based

>>25606454
Art Buchwald was a movie critic and wrote the Eddie Murphy movie "Coming to America".

>>25606477
Reveal your rant/monologue content through story, plot, and conflict.

>>25606567
that is not why they are editors. Editors are industry cronies that assure the publisher your book will sell. thats it

>>25606642
Congratulations.

>>25606745
I usually think of them as quality assurance.

Just because someone can do qa doesn't mean they know shit about making anything themselves.

>>25606643
Not really quick, I'd been planning it since before I started principal writing on CC. I have nothing to publish after this and though I do have another novel in the works it's faaar from done and will probably stay so for a long time as I return my focus to writing for the screen.

>>25606749
You're confusing an editor with a proofreader

>>25606888
There are 4 different kinds of professional editor and typically none can actually write anything of their own of decent quality.

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I'll take that. How'd your work doing?

>>25604518
I just go ham on it for a few weeks. No brakes. Constantly writing. Don't bother with worrying about prose further than 'this sounds good and gets my point across'. Can't fix what's not written. I'm also a hard Pantser so I don't have to slow down for plotting things out. I just keep going full throttle until the first draft is done and then crash out for a bit.

>>25606477
Normal scene/set up beforehand so people know what the fuck is going on and who's there doing what. First the attention is everywhere and equal and fair. (The rant can capture the audience)

>Soft filler untill the trigger happens.
>Trigger happens.
> First denial and deflection"I don't want to talk about it" .
>Then someone reengages.
> Protag gives short non answer bait with >Dismissal. "Yeah I was never a hero"
>Bait gets taken, second reengage. "But you are! It's the Truth"
>Rant starts "Truth TRUTH?! You can't handle the truth!
>State situation objectively
>Escalate Hard blows direct personal critique, collateral damage
>Sadness "what the fuck are we doing"
>Could be better
>Solution /conclusion
>Mike drop " screw u guys im going home"
>Crowed enlightened uncomfortable silence.

Outro Here you can describe reactions and the now change scene without having interrupted the rant. You can use soft rewinds. Like " the listening leader was silent now. at first wenn protag had mentioned XYZ he was mad now? this rage felt hollow. " This way you can shape reaction after the rant.


Set build build escalate resolve absorb end

>>25606685
>and wrote the Eddie Murphy movie
So my point still stands, lol.

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>>25607329

>>25606642
How do you even go about getting serialized or published. Just show up at some place with your story?

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>>25607325

>>25607277
Oooh you're so le heckin' edgy. Not only was that movie a fun romp, but it made more money than you'll ever see in your lifetime.

>>25607293
It's shity low brow slop made for morons.

>>25607286
This is the wrong general but I bet anon is talking about Royal Road

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>>25609902

Happy almost Halloween!
https://litter.catbox.moe/gnzzzfuojtcms0xf.epub

>>25607325
>shity
illiterate
opinion discarded
also, your jealousy is palpable

>>25607325
Snob

If something extremely helpful for the protagonist appears during the climax, is it still a deus ex machina even if I've foreshadowed it? The thing in question doesn't completely solve all of the problems at once, the protagonist does have to use it themselves, but it does change the balance of the conflict...

>>25607863
deus ex machinas can be cool

>>25608151
Not really, unless you're writing comedy or satire or something like that. It usually means the writer can't figure out the ending so, they just write
>and then suddenly XYZ showed up and saved everyone, the end.
I'm trying to determine how much hinting/planting/foreshadowing about XYZ is necessary for it to not come across as cheap slop writing. Ideally, when XYZ shows up, the audience remembers
>Oh right, it's XYZ, they were mentioned at the beginning, it makes sense that they showed up now
And not
>Oh, how CONVENIENT that XYZ, who's been mentioned but absent the entire time, shows up now...

>>25608212
No not really.

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>>25609006 >>25609330

UH OH CRINGE ASS FAGGOT BLOGPOST INCOMING

I originally started writing long-form works by forcing myself.

I couldn't actually write more than maybe at best 500 words in a day, and so all my work was very very short-form. Basically microfiction. Over a summer, I wrote an okayish 20k word story.

Eventually, I managed to psyop myself into being able to say "gotta get at least 1k done" to myself, and this somehow worked to let me brute-force a steady output for a while. It had the side effect of making me burn the fuck out every couple months for "weird reasons that i don't know" and it was in retrospect myega self destructive. "1k words a day" became a restraint. I could feel that I could write more than that, but I couldn't actually. The moment I hit the goal I lost all mental energy and motivation, just shutdown immediately.

I stumbled along like this for several years, writing webnovel and even got published. I uber super turbo burned out around the time I got published because editing requires actual mental effort that my 1k-word-mantra didn't work on.

After a long ass hiatus of not really writing much of anything and just a lot of gay angst, it kind of just broke. It feels like I built up a ton of mental muscle over those years, and now the restraint that "1k words a day" had become is gone.

And now I can write several thousand words in a day. Sometimes I don't write shit all day, then end of day I think, "ok I'll sit down and write a bit" and go to sleep with 2k written in two hours.

TLDR don't use mental tricks to force things it'll bite you in the ass

>>25608151
They really aren't.

It's like I'm all of a sudden incapable of writing a good short story

>>25608974
It's temporary and part of getting better at any art or skill.
Where you hit a wall or even feel like you regressed a bit. It sucks but if you keep grinding away you will eventually reach a breakthrough and be a lot better than you were previously capable.

Trust the process and trust yourself.
The only way out of the darkness is through.

>>25608693
>CRINGE ASS FAGGOT BLOGPOST
you were right and i should have listened

>>25608998
Thanks

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Sorry for hijacking with this question.

I have various "this is interesting" blog posts, pictures, short stories, quotes etc. saved and would like to throw them into one print-ready pdf. Is there a community which shares these kinds of homemade publications? Basically "here's an interesting part of my library" but instead of 20 different books it's one zine.

>>25607863
>>25607863
Kinda depends how ist set up and how much it breaks up the story. How much is the lead up to it ? How big of a impact does it have?

Is it random but logical? Like a knights lance Breaks he stabs the enemy, turns out the enemy is a (foreshadowed vampire) this the previously useless metal weapon now delivers a deadly blow? Unintentional but effective?

Like Mulan using the rocket and avalanche to wipe out the enemy army ? Yeah that is ok she uses brain and tactics to win.

Or you can you can use fail, fail,fail fail, success as a buffer. Or it's bad for everyone but worse for you then me.


In my opinion Protagonist are allowed to have luck/fate.

>>25608693
Sounds like it worked though?

>>25608151
They can be cool.

>>25606639
ai slop

>>25609290
I'd say it's plausible but also a bit too convenient...
I guess I'll just spoil my ending (not like anyone here will read it anyway). The protagonists are urban explorers checking out an abandoned 1950s munitions factory that was hastily shut down after an accident. At the start, there's even a sign warning of possible "unexploded ordinance". The location is relevant to the rest of the story. Then, they get into a dangerous situation, and in the climax something happens that uncovers a crate of old grenades, which they use to escape.

Writing a series of pulp stories, how does one go about publishing these? Each one is about 12k words, I intend to produce like 10-15 of them before I do anything.

Trad publishing is obviously out, nobody likes pulpy barbarian yarns anymore, but what are the other options? It's not like you can just submit to a magazine anymore.

>>25609535
you could post them as a webnovel on like, RR, but they don't like obviously separate stories
if you can somehow string them together it might work tho
see Skulltaker

I'm working on a story where an anthro deer man has to scheme to stop his dumb bitch of a wife from losing weight. If it's finished before Archive of our own gets back to me with a confirmation email I'll put it there, otherwise I'll just use rentry and post it here.

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>>25609823 >>25610227

>>25609465
Seems fine. Well you could make is a situation with a shifting cost / benefit. Like the explosives are very decayed you would not want to touch them with a 10ft pole. Because you can see precipitation crystals where the explosive have bloomed and become highly unstable. (I have picture some I can post if I find it) Or they suspect a boobytrap so the avoid at first but later have no choice.

On the way in it is a extrem danger you try to avoid, on the way out it's your only hope. The cost /benefit analysis has changed sure death vs possible death of the old munitions is better then nothing.

Kinda like sneaking through AT minefield on the way in. Tension is there but slow limited danger. But dam! You wake the T-Rex and have to escape? Run back out? Now you love the minefield because if you get lucky the T-Rex steps on the mine before you make a mistake running down the path by memory.


You also make it a knowledge gap where the object was not recognized like they pass a room see "gas canister or food cans". Later they realize that those were Bouncing Betty s-mines. Or those spaghetti artillery propellant charger

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>>25610227

>>25609788
You in essence swap Deux ex machina for high risk gamble and improv.

There are many type of grenade that can be hard to recognize. Or improv triggering Japanese WWII Type 89 Knee Mortar 50mm by dropping it from the 2 floor down the stair case. Make a campfire with flares and cook a shell untill it blows etc .

Or are the grenades needed for the action or by specific function?

With improvisation you can even use marine mine in the mountains!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApJCfeipvIQ

>>25604232
Recently i relapsed again and bought some aio vape pens and one of them had 3% CBD. I've been spamming it on low power and made leaps of progress on writing 4 chapters back to back. It felt great. It doesnt even necessary get you high either, does lead to brain fog and migraine if I abuse it however

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>>25609417
SO: While most of my work is fully handmade by me, I am far from perfect. In Consumptive Cur, there's a sequence of over 50 words that are outright stolen from an excerpt posted on this very general. I heavily edited them, but the essence is still there.

>>25607423
That wasn't very long at all, here it is again for a while longer:
https://litter.catbox.moe/42nkwy6yut5m408w.epub

>>25607863
In a character driven story, no

But in a narrative/theme driven story, yes. Like, it could be a result of good karma finally paying off, or the character finally changes his ways and is rewarded for it, or vice versa. Basically the themes of the story align to make it happen, and even if it was a random helpful occurrence, it was inevitable as a result of the choices made up until that point

I will have finished that first draft by the end of the year.

>>25609788
Thanks. I guess my hidden grenades is fine. Your post kind of went off the walls, but some things to think about. The grenades working/not-working is already a bit of a factor (one might(?) be a dud), but the idea of them being too scary to touch is a good thought.
>>25609823
They're in a crate labeled "Grenades", so it's clear what they are. They use them to fight back against the antagonists, because up until they find those grenades, they're trapped.
>>25610154
Thanks. I haven't really decided on the theme of this story yet. Right now it's just horror/action slop. Maybe I can base the theme off of that element showing up in the ending. One of the characters is an unreliable piece of shit, so maybe them finding some unreliable 70 year old grenades makes sense.

>>25604221
Dunno if this retarded way, but it seems some japs are using this structure.
>book has 4 chapters
>every chapter is ~10K word
>every chapter divided into 5 sections
>each section corresponds to kishotenketsu

>/wg/ is just blog posting for validation now
Go be aspiring female "authors" on Twitter. You're already doing all the work, you're just in the wrong place.

>>25607456
A snob on /lit/?
In the writing thread no less.
Inconceivable!

>>25610579
There are a lot of ways to tell a story or structure a book.
As long as the actual story is good and the writing used to tell it is decent then whatever format is chosen is just decorative packaging on a bar of gold.
Presentation is nice and all, but the actual value is the gold inside.

On the flip side, a guilded box containing a turd is a insult to whoever it's given to unless they happen to love shit.

>>25610868
What exactly are you whining about?

This thread doesn't need to be a constant battle ground of assholes and shit stirs.
The constant over the top hostility over literally everything all the time got boring.

>>25610974
>over the top

says you faggot. It is just the right amount. the proof is in your post

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>>25610227

Since I don't know the story I just imagined high quality content. Jokes aside I think it helps the most with out of the box thinking. There are many paths of details that can shape a later action. Im more on the "realistic smart characters story that do everything right and still fail" side of my writing and try to adhere to the principle of fairness. All clues and tools must be visible, expected or given. Like while Sherlock Holmes stories are generally kinda fair, occasionally the writing withholds specific physical observations or chemical analysis details until the final deduction that the reader has no way of knowing beforehand. *Holmes smirks and picks something up from the floor and hides it in his pocket*

The trick I use often "it's a obviously expected object that will be there it was just not mentioned because it was not relevant" like every dam car has a frist aid kit by law, breaking a window and getting it is a option. The window acts a barrier easy to break but property damage is for many a hurdle. Or every work place should have fire extinguishers.
Or Kitchen/cleaning supplies can be aggressive chemicals and you just have to know your ABCD Ammonia and Bleach make Chloramine- gas and Death.

Or like I said cost benefits shifts. Or perception shift. I'm not looking for loose bricks or wire everywhere I go... But once I'm locked in a room and handcuffed? I'm gonna start doing that.

>>25610868
always has been
i've had this retarded thread open in the background for 7+ years
it's always been this
the only change has been for the good, that being less fucking bakkerposting

>>25610968
What makes story good?

>>25611412
Short hyper oversimplified answer is that it's entertaining/interesting all the way through.

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>>25611533

“The tricky part is that this labor can actually be quite enjoyable,” Miyamoto added, warning that, with lower barriers to entry for [...], some will mistake the satisfaction of building something for the achievement of creating something genuinely good.

>>25611400
>bakkerposting
Wut?

>>25611477
Wasn't he talking about super Mario maker in that quot?

>>25611450
>entertaining/interesting
which itself subjective
But like I said before.
For me, interesting comes from mystery.
E.g., if you start a story with travel and gradually drop hints about the nature of the journey, it is interesting.

>>25611784
There's no formula. Mastery is only interesting when it's interesting.

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>>25604746
Racial taboo. The "thrill" is knowing that you're "lowering" and "debasing" yourself for someone who is (supposedly) of a lower standing/lower race. It's the same thrill as a proper Victorian lady getting a shagging from the gruff sailor, and other such scenarios

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>>25611834 >>25613547

Finished the rough draft for a Supehero-Romance book awhile back. About 70k words, intended to be book 1 of a trilogy

>Superhero girl in a ridiculous, satire world of Superheros
>Basically a supergirl expy, alien backstory except she landed on the ranch of a pair of grifters who basically turned her into a childhood-star
>Now an adult, she's severely socially stunted, but super strong has a bright and wholesome public image
>During one save, she becomes fixated on an ordinary dude who shows remarkable heroism saving others, and treats her just like anyone else
>Afterwards, she begins to stalk him using her super-senses, becoming gradually bolder and trying to get closer to him...

It's called "My Super-Stalker and Me"
Think it could do numbers with the BookTok crowd?

>>25611533
recent quote in ai related interview

>>25611823
I see.

>>25611822
very cute image

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>>25612270

LLM advice makes me want to kill myself.

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I like that out of context the summary of what I'm working on sounds like utter fucking nonsense.

>>25611875
so stop using it.

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>>25612505

litrpgtools says I have a 90% chance of hitting Rising Stars this week

I've been consistently posting nice and chunky chapters almost every other day

I will buy a big chocolate bar from lidl tomorrow

>>25612459
Let me know what your work is so I can accuse you of using Ai

>>25612505
I am too autistic to use AI

retribution engine

>25612459
>25612517
Go back to your containment thread

>>25612667
wang is the thread of RI glazers
nobody writes there
and barely anyone reads there
but then wg is barely better, and only by virtue of the dregs having concentrated in wng

I'm 20k words into an experimental novel which changes form each chapter, and therese are averaging 1.2k words. Is this too little? I'm aiming at 50-70k maximum, something short ao people can read before bed and still have something to think about.
My last 2 novels were 100k long and I felt too overwhelmed to edit them, ao they are stuck into the first draft limbo. Also, they are >my diary desu, so I also cringe too much reading that shit. This new one is a real story, not only my life but fictional.

>>25609712
Are you the same guy who wrote the fox milf story?

>>25612812
I am.

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>>25613182 >>25613185 >>25613252

How do you keep your creativity going without any friends?

I've been surrounded by people obsessed with AI slop and AI has infiltrated just about everything online. I could cut myself entirely and go offline but I have no friends and can generate nothing creative of my own anymore. I'm revisiting chapters and I'm pulling completely blank.

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>>25613264

>>25613173
I'd read about writers/artists who went through the same feelings of isolation/alienation.

>>25613173
>How do you keep your creativity going
Maladaptive daydreaming
>without any friends?
What the fuck do friends have to do with your creativity?

>>25613173
Maladaptive daydreaming, most of the time assisted with music. Many starting points or ideas plucked from movies, books, or games i've played over the years and expanded or swapped or mixed from there, sometimes ending up at a place that could turn into a respectable story.
If you really do need friends, there are still some people out there that both hate ai slop and aren't misanthropic enough to not want friends anymore. Some might even make for good friends.
It's good you're trying this hard to avoid slop. Falling into a brief creative pit is much better than, you know, the alternative.

>>25613182
A lot of the fantasy authors I respect had writing partners so I'll look for one. I know solace can actually be really good. I'm just not good at using it.
>>25613185
>>25613252
>Maladaptive Daydreaming
I will definitely try and channel it more and get lost in it. I'm definitely still able to creatively function but it is extremely unfocused. I struggle to connect it.
>If you really do need friends, there are still some people out there that both hate ai slop and aren't misanthropic enough to not want friends anymore. Some might even make for good friends.
Don't know where to find any in my surroundings. The Internet feels like a trap especially at this point too.
>It's good you're trying this hard to avoid slop. Falling into a brief creative pit is much better than, you know, the alternative.
Pisses off so many people you have no idea. I just refuse to sound like a robot and surrender my creativity. Writing that connects with people relies on being able to connect with the reader which AI removes.

>>25610954
Snob? More like a pseud.

>>25611822
So, somewhere between "The Boys" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend"?

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>>25613876

>>25613264
>A lot of the fantasy authors I respect had writing partners
what kind of fantasy do you like? if you're macabre/edgelord enough id be interested in being acquaintances

>>25613529
Now you are just upturning your bait box in the hope that a random insult gets a bite.

Fish is already gone. You missed your chance for a witty reply.

>>25613665
Nah, he's still here. He never leaves.

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>>25613547
Nowhere near as dark as The Boys. The overall tone of the world is pretty light and fantastical, which is contrasted with the very real psychology of the characters.

It's basically
>imagine if supergirl was your stalker lmao
taken to its logical conclusion, with tropes like "what if Superman were evil" played with, but ultimately refuted. My hero-girl's not some lite-Homelander, she's intended to be a genuinely good person who, nevertheless, is capable of some pretty messed up stuff. But she only does those things because the people who were supposed to raise her instead wanted to profit off her, and all her dysfunction stems from her stunted adulthood

>find out the story I abandoned months ago
>find myself liking and wanting to continue
>recall I was told it was shit
>throw it back into the trunk

>>25613558
I'm mostly into epic fantasy and historical fiction, my favorite thing I like when writing is blending metaphysics into magic systems to help simplify truths about reality.

Death and suffering actually play a huge role in what I intend to be the last book(s) in what I'm working on, dealing with tormented souls and people who specifically aim to farm it for political power. In my system there's a cure for suffering even beyond death, and I focus on character(s) who are optimistic about existence despite everything being bleak.

The biggest issue I'm coming across actually is that I have to do introductions and that makes the series much lighter right now. I'm setting up both how the main world became uninhabitable and how the main character got the optimistic mentality to begin with. It's got serious elements right now but it's a lot lighter than I expected and feels more like a standard YA novel. That's probably a good thing, but is way out of my writing comfort zone.

Hey guys, im in kind of a predicament here.

I met an old woman in a writers club i joined recently, and i think she's kind of retarded. Im not trying to say this disparagingly, but the work she pretty much made me read is pretty bad. Theres no plot really, and the whole "story" seems to just be a series of events of a character in where things happen to them. Its so weird and schizo it almost impossible for me to even try and diagnose whats wrong. Also im fairly new to trying to be a writer, but i think the organizer of the club might have made me sound better than i actually am, because she was instantly trying to have a conversation with me and ask me questions about what I thought even when he had never met.

This matters because I retardedly agreed to meet with her at lunch in an hour so we could talk more about her story. The thing is, i dont actually hate what she wrote. Maybe my neurons are fried, but i liked her stuff more than the others in the meeting the other day, since the work is so bizarre that i dont have any frame of reference for it. I just genuinely dont think she has the ability to understand what a story is aside from "events happening to a character", I almost feel like there would be some kind of audience for her weird schizo story, maybe she would get a small amount of notoriety online somewhere. I want to help, but im unsure how i even could.

>>25613876
i fuck with it

it actually sounds rather similar to my story, especially the mix of YA and mature themes. except i focus more on religious themes and about what agency the powerless have against higher powers, where magic is mainly about controlling information, and disinformation is power. the mc is a war orphan girl resisting the temptation to use cruel methods to survive

im interested in being writing buddies, swapping stories to read and spitball over with and shit. wanna swap contact info? (throwaways are fine)

i should do some writing today i guess

>>25614085
>except i focus more on religious themes and about what agency the powerless have against higher powers
Same, I start out by exploring the positive aspects of religion and metaphysical claims, explore the negatives towards the later half, and then try to offer a balance towards the end. I'm a big fan of perrenialism/traditionalism and I use that interpretation of many real world religions as my basis.
>im interested in being writing buddies, swapping stories to read and spitball over with and shit. wanna swap contact info? (throwaways are fine)
Do I need to do age verification stuff for Discord? What's the best app for a throwaway? I don't use social media at all in an attempt to rid myself of brainrot, not even the aforementioned Discord, so I gotta figure out something. Not the biggest deal if there isn't one though.

>>25605202
>The protag keeps on ending up the villain

>>25613944
Do tell us how this went, I'm curious. What you're describing sounds almost like it's approaching outsider art tier, if it really manages to fall into the common trap of things just happening but still remain readable and good to some people. Especially interesting if she managed to make something more compelling than everyone else there who presumably more strictly adhered to how a 'proper' story should be written. It's a lot harder to suggest for her to go online to places that might appreciate her work if she's indeed older and likely not nearly as tech literate as you or I, so I'm not really sure how to help here either really.

>>25614105
[email protected]
here's my throwaway email, hit me up. im ok with moving to discord or wherever from there, or even just sticking to email. i only use twitter for porn and discord for semi-anonymous socializing, idk any better social media sites
>age verification
i have no idea lol, its certain countries that got hit by that

>>25614480
It went, well? I think.

The conversation was pretty informative, but probably not in the way she was hoping. She's apparently planning on merchandise, an audiobook, a children's book, a YA series, all planned out. The plot of the children's book branches into a YA series for some reason. She apparently fell in love with some guy on Facebook and convinced him to record the voiceover for the audiobook, paid him 300, then the guy blocked her. She rambled about her story, and got upset when I tried to ask her questions so i could follow along. She said "I cant think when I get asked questions", this annoyed me pretty bad that i almost considered leaving. I decided to try and write down some kind of outline, and then she stopped me because her story was "copyrighted" I didn't know what to do at that point so i figured I'd just let her ramble about her story, no harm no foul.

Apparently, there's a character named "Rodrigo" or something that travels around and meets different characters, leading to some kind of event that happens that's a "spiritual awakening". What's the nature of this spiritual episode? No idea. The main character goes fishing, He also meets a peacock, monkey, wolf, some queen of "Love Land" and a guy named "King Somewhere". She pointed outside the coffee shop window to crackhead who was walking around, and said "See? That's king somewhere! like.. where did that guy come from? Somewhere!" which actually made me laugh. "King Somewhere", in her head, represents the people she has met that just wander around with no clear goal.

I let her ramble some more before i ignored her request to not ask any questions and asked "So why does Rodrigo need to have this spiritual awakening?" She had obviously not thought about it, but i think the question got through to her a bit, because she started to seriously think about it. She said something about "hope" and how the main character needs to learn how to live with hope, or something bro lmfao i have no idea. I asked about her characters wants that conflict with their needs, and she didn't have any idea of what i was even talking about. I then started to explain basic things like what an antagonist is.

When it was time to go, she actually apologized for stopping me from asking questions, because it literally is just difficult for her to think when someone is interrupting her. This just increased my suspicion she might have some kind of learning disability or something. She thanked me for talking with her about her story multiple times. And then texted me saying she would email me her "books" which was surprising, i then received an email from her thanking me again, with no attachments. So i guess ill have to show her how to do that next time. I don't know what i did that made her change her mind about her "copyright", but i guess ill have something to post about if she figures out how to send it correctly or when we meet again next Monday.

Speaking of Outsider Art, I was reminded of something. Some time ago, I was contacted, among some others, by a certain man, requesting promotion and reviews of his novel.

That novel was titled Night in Zaghreb.

After investigating, I found that he self-reviewed this thing on many puppet accounts on goodreads.

I still have the copy he sent me. I still dread to open it.

>>25614630
sorry, no h. It's Zagreb.

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>>25614934 >>25618102

>>25614619
You described any given anon on this board. mentally deficient, ideas guys. whats the point of your story? just to blog?

I do I date women writers?

>>25614780
You do you

>>25614823
who is you?

>>25614827
You's on first.

>>25614741
Because he met this lady in a real-life writer's club >>25613944. Did you miss that?

>>25614934
what difference does it make? Is meeting a brainlet writer in reel lyfe supposed to be suprising?

>>25614998
You were comparing her to "any given anon on this board", so yes.

>>25613793
If you like it, keep at it. Even if it's shit, finishing something shit can be good practice. Passion is valuable fuel, why squander it?
And it's also possible that the person who said that is just a dumb asshole

>>25615081
This. This board is filled with dunning-krugers and that applies to the real world. Especially so with the rise of AI making everybody think writing is 100% technical.

>>25615081
Maybe I should.
>>25615085
>Especially so with the rise of AI making everybody think writing is 100% technical.
this
I fucking despise AI rewrite suggestions. It makes me feel like I can't write anything decent, because it always rewrites it. And half the time it misses the intended purpose of prose. It gives the impression that a certain writing style is naturally superior.

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>>25615895 >>25615898 >>25616950

I made a writing rubric to avoid "therapy speak" that everyone seems to hate in modern media now.

I would also like to say, that for the writing advice I'm gonna give, do not look at these as an objective rubric or write your scene around this rubric. Write in the way you want to first, and then look at any of these things and consider if adding any of these things would improve the emotional talking scene.

I'll call the person comforting the character the "giver" and the person receiving the advice as the "receiver".

1. If the receiver is having an emotional breakdown, have the giver stand back and let the emotions play out first. The crying, the screaming, the panicking, as it might help the pacing and make sure the audience feels the emotions with the character instead of it being immediately interrupted.

2. Make it so that the giver is acknowledged either through meta-text or through their own personality, behavior or just outright saying it that they're imperfect and don't know all of the correct advice to give, or know entirely what the receiver is going through.

3. If the scene is one of one character trying to comfort another, have the giver acknowledge the receiver's positive traits/actions instead of just jumping straight to giving them the perfect advice.

4. Allow the giver to demonstrate their own vulnerability. Either bringing it up, or meta textually acknowledging them or even the receiver mentioning it.

5. If the receiver is unwilling to open up about their problems, the giver could get them to open up about it naturally, through conversation, probing, even pushing them. Unless they're super psychologically manipulative, the giver should make these topics appear through natural means.

6. Make the receiver open up at their own pace or even able to decline talking all together.

7. Make it a genuine conversation between two characters. Too often these kinds of scenes involve one person dominating the entire conversation and effectively infantlizing the person receiving the talk. Hence the Gameoverse criticism.

8. Allow humor, teasing and even disagreement between the giver and receiver. Especially if the receiver disagree with the giver, this gives the receiver more agency.

9. End it off with substantial emotional development either positive or negative instead of it being an instant fix.

>>25615739
I think this fails at step 1

Having an emotional breakdown in the first place is fundamentally therapy-pilled. 'Realistic depiction of a panic attack' is basedboy nonsense. Real people bottle their shit and evade all accusations until they explode and get into arguments/fights. There is no "we just talk it out" until after they fight. There has to be some sort of fight

>>25615739
You have written more words of this rubric than you have of your actual story

>>25615895
That's why I said it's not completely objective. Pick and choose what fits the characters/scene and what doesn't. They're more like suggestions after you've already written it.

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>>25615895

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>>25618974

Fuzzy's muzzle was pinched together, the edge of his left flew trapped between the two points of his teeth. At his instinctive movement he felt a thin solid piece of metal being pressed against his belly. When he tried to buck away from the edges that pushed uncomfortably at the insides of his legs, he felt two thick belts over his back holding him down.

Opening his eyes, all he could see across the bottom of his vision was a strange black thing covering the entirety of his nose. Extending out of it—looking like the carcass of some kind of snake—was a tube trailing off to a location he couldn't see. He was enclosed on two sides by white blinder-walls. But from his previous experiences, he knew other beagles were on the other side. The dulled sounds of claws scratching against table were only coming from the right side of Fuzzy's fixed face. Whoever is on the left side must still be asleep. Or had fallen asleep.

He didn't know which side he wished was Missy.

"Mi—"

He yanked at the nozzle stuck to his face. It was wrapped securely around the back of his head as well, and with every kick and attempted claw to the base he felt his stinging lip get crushed by his own teeth. Ahead of him was another row of dogs with nozzles, snake faced beagles in a line between blinders made of tiny white walls. The square ahead of him contained Bad, and next to him on either side were Whistle and Magroll. Only Bad was moving, thrashing at the restaints that held him down in a mirror image of Fuzzy's own.

Seeing it suddenly made Fuzzy aware of how many devices were in place to fix him down, plant him like some hairy writhing thing on a set of hooks and leather belts. The young beagle ahead of him was unable to move his head from side to side, try as he might. Every time he jerked against the holster, he came dangerously close to bashing one of the metal hooks that pressed against his temples into his eyes.

I want to go back to the fields.

Fuzzy couldn't tear his eyes away from Bad, watching him struggle and forcing it to keep him from moving himself. With every painful looking movement, he took it as an assumption that his own wouldn't work. His eye began to itch against the bottom of the mask.

Why did we wake up?!

Despite the fact that he knew the fields were only a pretty pathway to death, he didn't mind them. Missy had welcomed them for what they were when they were both pups, despite their lessening memories of the experience. Was the gas in the Playroom not enough? Was ingesting those horrible liquids not enough to melt something important?

Pungent gas began to flow, flooding his nose and mouth and causing him to slobber relentlessly. Bad growled and kicked at the metal plating against his belly, scraping his back leg claws horribly against the rough surface.

I can't fight it. I have to breathe it in. Maybe I'll go back.

Bad's kicking turned into a frenzy. Fuzzy shut his eyes when he heard the beagle's scream turn into a whining cry.

>>25615895
Ah look another fucked up 4chan user who thinks he's normal because of limited outside contact

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>>25616882

I have been posting my slop on /r/DestructiveReaders, which operates under a feedback-for-feedback model.
It was a mistake... Authors do not make good reviewers, especially since feedback needs to have a minimum word count. So, the feedback you get is extremely superficial and the same generic critique tends to be created. It's like a game: how many shallow things can you say about 2K words you read to reach the word count.
One of better pieces of feedback I got there was a roast, but it was kinda so comedic I couldn't really take it seriously; it's like AngryReview-style feedback.
Quite sad that place is probably best place to get someone read your work.

>>25616596
its leddit. of course every subreddit is going to devolve into a cringe contest.

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>>25615739
these are good for pacing these scenes, which brings me to the conclusion that you're talking mostly about modern animated shows that do this. overall it's more of a pacing issue than a content (therapy speak) issue. I think these are good points to keep in mind even though you're saying a few of them more than once.

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2500 something words today. lol. lmao.

How are you supposed to write this,
>I loved the smiles on John's and Jill's faces.
Are both 'smiles' and 'faces' plural? I guess for smile I'm pretty sure, but 'face' or 'faces' I'm closer to 40/60.

>>25616964
I was about to call you out for being an ESL, but after careful consideration, I'm pretty sure you're just stupid. First of all, fix the possessive:
>*...on John and Jill's faces.
Now, count the faces in the scene your sentence paints. Wow, there's one there on Jill. And hey, there's one on John's face, too. That's two faces. There is no single face; hence, it is not singular. There is a plurality of faces; therefore, the noun is plural.

>>25616988
There's a face on Jonh's face...

>>25616988
...how am I stupid if I got it right? I just wanted to double check. So my sentence is fine? Thanks for the help.

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>>25616994
KEK

>>25617000
Even giving it a second thought, much less taking the time to post asking about it, is a sign of low intelligence. I'm sorry anon but ur dum

>>25617000
>So my sentence is fine?
Only if by "fine" you mean "not fine" and "erroneous in a fashion completely unrelated to your center of concern"

>>25617016
>>25617020
pls no bully

>>25616964

ur fine anon :)

next time just ask chatgpt so you get a straight answer

>>25617048
I've never used AI in my life and don't intend to until I absolutely have to or it's become unavoidably ubiquitous, necessary, and expedient.

>>25617055
u deserve your suffering

>>25617058
I deserve the frowns on my faces?

>>25617062
yes

>>25617055
Based. You might be flawed, but that's a process all souled creatures must deal with.

>>25617055
then you may as well have been using it your whole pathetic life. cattle. You bringing it up is pointless

>>25617094
>You bringing it up is pointless
>>25617048
>next time just ask chatgpt so you get a straight answer
?
I didn't. So this is what AI does to your brain.

>>25617103
Some weird reason, people get irrationally mad if you say you don't use AI in these threads

>>25617130
Reminds me of the heated arguments I used to get into with some of my friends who used cheats in a video game I used to play. Similar defensiveness, indignation, rationalization, and projection.

ive never willingly used AI unless you count googling word definitions and getting raped by google's AI

ive been sullied by AI

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AI sux

I like AI when it's doing shit like sorting algorithms or controlling video game NPCs. It's generative AI that I can't fucking stand no more

Sorry I derailed your guys' general. Just needed help on that one sentence. Thanks for the help. Closing tab...

Thoughts on this excerpt I've written?

"There was a family, centuries ago, in the Veridian Province. Casata Mors. Not as grand as ours, but old. Proud. They had two daughters, much like you and your dear oafish brother. When the patriarch died, the contest was set. A duel, as was the custom. Not with proxies, with their own hands."
"The entire province gathered. The fight was brutal. By the end, one sister had the other disarmed, blade at her throat. The clear winner. The crowd roared for the killing blow. The older sister, the victor, she looked down at her sister, bleeding in the dust, and something... changed."
Cruellia paused, letting the silence hang in the air. The only sound was the faint whir of her eyes.
"The victor dropped her blade. She knelt, helped her sister to her feet. And before the entire court, they announced they would refuse the tradition. They would not rule one over the other. They would share the inheritance, the titles, everything. Equally."
I stared at her, my breath caught in my throat.
"But the entire court and nearly all the other casates where in an uproar and would have none of it. They came together as collective and took the two, and after deliberation held a competition of their own. Open to any and all male pawns of the province it was. Whoever won the bloodbath would have the honor of having his spawn be the inheritors of the mantle of casata Mors."
The question escaped me, a bare whisper in the air. "And the sisters?"
A slow, deliberate sad frown spread across Cruellia's face, a chillingly expression on her normally lighthearted demeanor. "Ah, the sisters," she said, her voice a low, drawn-out gasp that sent a shiver down my spine. "They were the grand prize. The two daughters of the fallen casata, turned into nothing, and given to the new, pawn patriarch. The other casates only count a child that shares the blood."

>>25613944
I think the core issue you're describing is that there's no plot. It's just an Odyssey of experiences without a Ithaca or a Penelope to return to or drive the main character.

>>25617203
Don't worry about it. This general derails itself.

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>>25617856

>convert the .odt file of my book to an epub file in Calibre
>give it a table of contents
>open it up again today
>table of contents isn't there

This is annoying as fuck. Apparently you have to deliberately split the files?

>>25617595
I don't get it, are you trying to make the table of contents appear as a page near the beginning like in a physical book? If so... why? Reflowable pubs don't have consistent page counts and every epub reader should have a table of contents viewable from anywhere in the book at the press of a button.

Domestic comedy about a meathead scheming to sabotage his wife's attempt at weight loss. Feedback is appreciated.

https://rentry.org/8wrv8yue

>>25614741
>mentally deficient, ideas guys
what do if smart talented writer with no ideas or willpower guy

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>>25604232
Two more scenes and I'll be done with draft 1. It took me from 7/18, now it's 10/28. I'll be done either today or tomorrow, meaning it took around 70 days. I'm not sure what made this novel so different than every other novel I attempted, that I managed to literally see the finish line. Oh, it has problems, 100%. But there's a first draft.

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There's finally a good argument for self publishing.

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>>25618889 >>25618989 >>25621100

Since there is no worldbuilding general anymore:
I think I finalized my cosmology and tried to create a diagram to explain it and how it underpins my understanding of magic/divinity.
>material reality was a circle once, but then got turned into a crescent by the gods to protect the "inner" part of the material world.
>actual material world is the inside of the circle/crescent
>mortals (black figures) exist in this while surrounded by a neutral spiritual realm (green)
>the dark blue outside is the unshaped chaos from before creation
>the bright blue is a calm inner bay where heaven has access and can protect the mortals
>the yellow isle is the gate to heaven
>demons must exist outside of material reality but can project into the green spiritual world or possess mortal people
>projecting inside to influence mortals is easier if if the mortals are in the outer part of the material realm
>demons in the inner bay are instantly smitten by divine angels (yellow figure)
>if mortals die while on the outside area of the mortal realm, their souls (White figure) can be devoured by demons
>if mortals die while on the inner area of the mortal realm, they can cross over to the isle
>grey tower exist to guard both the inner bay from demons and also prevent mortals from walking into the outer area (they manifest as geological features in the material world).
>the rgeen spiritual realm is also accessible via dreams for those who can dreamwalk
What do you think? Does it leave any questions open? I wanted to include 3 kinds of spiritual realms with 3 kinds of magic and 3 kinds of supernatural interests (self-serving nature, divine order and subjugating opposition)

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>>25618341
>no wurldbuilding general
>wurldbuilding fags realise scraping together spreadsheets and encyclopedia entries is also too hard

lol. lol.

>>25616427
When he opened his eyes again, Bad's paw was quickly becoming covered in blood. A nail had bent back, tearing skin and breaking.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Breathe deeply.

Teeth clattering. Cold chest now. Spit thick, dripping on the chin, hot against the mask.

I have to move.

Breathe. Breathe deeply. Breathe. Breathe deeply now. Do it now.

Pain spiking in his chest, distracting from all else. Strange smell, warm around his teeth, migrating to his nose. Blood on the tongue. Mingling acid and warmth.

Hold it in. Hold it. Suffocate now. Suffocate and you can go back there. Suffocate, don't breathe even a little bit and maybe it'll work.

But for how long? How long? How long would make it worth it?

How long does it hurt?

I've never tried this before.

How long does it take?

How long does it take?

How long does it take?

Barking, coughing, rasping with a raw throat against the confines of the mask; breathing deeply and deeply again, gasping for air that doesn't do what it's supposed to. More dogs are waking up, more to witness, more to join in on the noise. It's going to become deafening soon. Magroll is awake. She is slumped against the restraints, legs dangling like dead meat, folds piling over the metal and the leather and she's back to sleep, so lucky, luckier than he is, luckier than Missy and Bad is still whining—won't he shut up!?

A wail, a howl, Fuzzy closes his eyes and hears Missy crying out something he can't understand through the muffling of the snake face. Oh god Whistle is awake now. Please soon. Please it has to be soon. The smell is unbearable. My throat is coated in death, don't let it burn a hole inside me. Just let it take me.

When Fuzzy opens his eyes he sees grass growing warm and radiant on the places where the beagles stand. Their bucking turns to dances as their bodies move from side to side, painful colors mixing with the reeds until they become red sunflowers dancing in the breeze. Fuzzy blinks away tears as they flood over the mask.

It isn't going to take me quickly.

I need to make it faster.

I can do it.

I can.

The dog convluses in a whiplash, plunging his shut eyes against the metal that presses against his head, the holster that pinches down with the belts at his sides. Fuzzy lurches like a horse until the metal bars pull at his abnormally long hair and one of the metal hooks stabs into his eyelid. His frentic movements become even more violent until his sides are sleek with blood, and although he hears them, Fuzzy's mind doesn't process the words being shouted to his left.

"Fuzzy!?"

"Fuzzy!"

"Fuzzy, stop!"

"Stop it!"

"Don't do that—please you have to stop!!"

"Please—!"

"Don't leave me here!"

"Fuzzy!"

>>25618341
>actual material world is the inside of the circle/crescent
>neutral spiritual realm (green)
>green spiritual realm is also accessible via dreams
where the heck do normal guys just live normally. seems like green is for peasants and light blue is for the elites but why is green also the dream world

>>25617856
>and every epub reader should have a table of contents viewable from anywhere in the book at the press of a button.

That's what I'm trying to do, I thought I had constructed such a page the other day but when I open the file now in Calibre it says there's no table of contents.

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2100 words today. I'm on a roll.

>>25619006
Oh, in that case you probably quit without saving

>>25619178
Hmm. Okay. I'll try again tonight.

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>>25619271

Am writing a historical fiction of Marshal Bernadotte's rise to the Swedish throne. Would you guys read prose like this?

>Between their marches through the streets of Ajaccio, the men returned each to his own camp; and Bernadotte, by a happy accident of the roster, was not then set to keep the watch. There was little enough to guard against, yet he valued the leisure no less for that. He would sit beside his small fire with a few books, and read on until his eyelids fell. One of these told of Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico, a land which had before been held under the dominion of the Aztecs. Sailing from the Yucatán and from Veracruz, he marched inland through Tabasco, Cholula, and Tlaxcala; he gathered intelligence among the peoples of the country, and fought some and bargained with others, until, having set foot upon the mainland, he seized Montezuma the Second, the emperor himself, and held him hostage. Other books spoke of Abraham de Fabert and of Nicolas Catinat: the first, a commoner, was the earliest of his rank to rise to the marshal’s staff; the second, a man who was thought to be bound for the bar, and who became a marshal likewise by his own merit.
>What was his reason for keeping to these books? When the day’s garrison duty was done, he would sit down to the codes and customs of the Bourbon regime under which the army was ruled, and there he learned, to his lasting vexation, that whoever could not show the four quarters of nobility was held unfit to wear an officer’s commission. In his tent, then, he would dream of better days, while another ox was led to the slaughter.

Been writing a short story for the past while, best I can describe it as is a scifi / dystopian relationship drama. Guy is a shut in who spends his day gambling on prediction markets for stats like citywide street deaths, number of jumpers, etc. His girlfriend arrives home close to the cutoff and he's short of his target deaths for payoff. She cracks a window to escape the reality of that dead end cigarette smoke filled apartment, he tweaks out from the sounds of the city and how real it makes life feel, counters by blasting the police scanner for bet updates which break up parts of their argument. Yada yada, they fight, she tries to turn down the scanner, he tweaks again and grabs her arm too hard and she flees the apartment, never to be seen again. His fear of the city stops him from chasing her.

I use that beat to reflect on their past and how he got to this state. Now, I'm at an impasse for the ending. Originally, I had planned on him tossing her out the window at the climax of the fight as the last minute of his bet ticked down, trading her life for the winnings. This felt mean spirited and didn't really convey any real changes in the characters, so I swapped it to her leaving, him reflecting on the past, and tossing himself out the open window, the winnings going to her so she could finally escape the crumbling apartment and concrete city.

I'm happy with that ending, but I'm feeling out something which I think makes the whole story feel more cohesive, which is her leaving, him reflecting on the past, only for that to be interrupted by a scanner update of a hit and run near the apartment which matches her vague description. He ponders if it's her, but also wonders if it really matters whether it was her, or just someone similar to her that he was betting on. Ends up hopping outta the window in remorse over not following her. I could have him transfer the winnings to her account and keep it ambiguous as to if she died.

Any thoughts?

>>25619231
feels odd for a schizo shutin to have a girlfriend
maybe changing it to his mom would make a more riveting story

>>25619231
If it's dystopian, you want a dystopian ending.

Don't try to cheer the audience up with a happy one. At least them both dying is a Romeo & Juliet rip off.

>>25619202
historical fiction is better as close 3rd. having it as omniscience narration makes it sound more like a textbook than a fiction narrative.

>>25619271
Maybe for character driven historical fiction but I think omniscient is good for most other styles of historical fiction.

Though in reality it just comes down to taste. A good historical fiction story can be told in all styles of POV with the exception of 2nd person.

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These are the dot points I have jotted dowm from what I think about during the day. I want to write a scathing report on the shortcomings of people in general, I describe my self as a Thielist (Peter). Do I seem smart enough to go through with it? (yes I am a narcissist) I need to know how to turn these dot points into long sentences, I don't like people who talk and write long winded things, I prefer dot points. How do I expand each topic?

>>25618989
Blue isnt the dream world tho, it says specifically green is.

Alright for my next story I'm got two ideas. One would be a bratty anthro girl getting her comeuppance via a fattening tentacle plant. The other would be a reporter (also anthros) doing a news report in the world's fattest town.

>>25619271
Tbf I'm aiming for a Tolstoyian feel to the narration instead of just being a dry textbook because, as said, it's meant to be historically authentic rather than accurate (the throughline is a little thin but eh).

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>>25619857

>>25619602

>>25619820
Fine. You'll see one or the other at some point in the near future.

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the nature and content of this general has changed vastly over the years. I'm kind of into it. Anyway here's some cover concept art.

>>25619602
I have to ask, because my opinion on you as a person changes greatly based on this answer, is that extreme narcissism and aggressive shtick you pull here and in /wfg/ a bit or is it your actual personality? When you were joking about accepting academy awards and the like when posting your basic furry smut (which is what it is, the writing quality is serviceable at best and even distractingly poor in a few spots) I could see it as being self aware, but being as outwardly aggressive as you have been since then makes me reconsider.

>>25620241
I posted anthro fat porn and said I'd be accepting an award at the chicago writer's conference. If you genuinely couldn't tell I was being sarcastic, you need to be wearing a rubber helmet for your own safety.

>>25620245
See, this is what I'm talking about. When you respond with this much anger and hate to a simple question it really does raise several questions about who you are as a person.

>>25620251
No it doesn't.

In any case, here's my latest work. I'll probably write the plant story next to give myself a rest with something more straightforward.

https://rentry.org/8wrv8yue

The light consumed everything in Fuzzy's head. Then, in a merciful movement above him that darkened the overpowering white, Fuzzy saw through his bleary vision the outline of a human, two humans now, standing over him. Underneath his body was metal, not the grass and dirt that he felt before. It was cold and he couldn't move as he heard them speak.

"Should be stabilizing. Tell him to have someone in the room next time."

"Never know when they're gonna go into a frenzy like that."

"I don't care. Next time stay in there yourself and watch them. You can't just set them all up and leave them there, I don't care how good your restraints are—they obviously weren't enough."

"I get it."

"They cost money, you know. I'm not getting any more dogs until next year, so quit giving me close calls like this or I'm moving you over to the box project."

"I said I get it! Where do you want this one?"

"Bandage it up and put it back with the others once it wakes up. And put the collar back on."

"Got it."

Fuzzy felt himself being lifted from the cold steel table into warm hands all rubbery with gloves, his body folded within sleeves that crunched with each movement. He felt the quick beating heart of the human carrying him. His sides burned with pain as he felt his skin stretch bare, the only warm spots on his otherwise clammy body. For a moment he imagined that he were being brought back home, from his vacation on the lake, and that they were punishing him for running away again. One ugly, searing stitch for every bird he had killed.

I promise I'll be a good dog. I won't chase the ducks anymore.

He whined into the human's chest and wish he would hold him closer.

I'm sorry.

>>25618989
>where the heck do normal guys just live normally
On the inside of the crescent.
Im not talking about the green parts, I am talking about the side of the black line that is facing inwards. The stickmen are drawn in black like the screscent because they are a part of that material realm, but they extend into the spiritual realm (green). Kind of like humans live on the ground but their heads are in the air, sort of. If you jump, you're doing magic of some form. If you try to do that on the OUTSIDE (dark blue or light blue), youll get possessed or torn apart by demons, or you get told by lesser angels to get back inside respectively.

>>25618341
>Since there is no worldbuilding general anymore
It's on /tg/. They don't mind writers over there ether.

The one on /lit/ has always had issues of most of the regulars of that thread not actually building anything and being resentful of those who did.

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>>25621265 >>25621267 >>25622118

Let me guess, you need more?

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>>25621573 >>25622118

>>25621257
I suppose a pen would be useful…

>>25621257
Never liked these things, could never have clear and easy access to the inner edge of the page. Even though that's hardly a problem it triggers my tism. A good quality spiral notebook would be much preferred.

>>25621267
Spiral notebooks are too easy for pages to tear out and lose work

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>>25621572

Finally finished writing the last scene of the first draft of my second screenplay. 92 pages. I have to go back and make some corrections to earlier scenes, then the first draft will be 'complete'. It's a horror, and I stretched the final fight with the "monster" to like 11 pages...

>>25621399
That's nice. I'm writing a screen adaptation of a theater classic with a legally distinct special twist. I stopped prewriting and started writing ten days ago. Now I'm almost 40 pages in.

>>25621265
>doesn't scrawl with his finger using his own bodily excretions as ink
ngmi

>>25619602
Good luck, anon. Your clear passion for fat furries is honestly pretty inspiring. And the stories are at least pretty funny, even if one isn't into those types of things.

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>>25621687 >>25621694

>>25604221
Is First-Person present tense too limiting?

I've mostly written first person past tense and third person past tense, but i'm curious about First person present

>>25621675
Depends on your audience
I don't read any present tense stuff; I know Red Rising does it well though, so read that first

>>25621675
It's fine if you're writing low brow smut fanfiction. On that note, it's also fine if you're writing low brow mass market young adult fiction.
But I've tried it a few times, and even in those two 'genres' past tense just feels so much nicer to both read and write. Obviously there are plenty of exceptions where great authors have done great things with it, but I find it both annoying and hard to avoid the awkwardness present tense oft presents. Ultimately up to you and what you're going for, of course, as is most things.

>>25621673
Thanks.

>>25621572
Nice, have you written any before?

>>25621257
>>25621265
ngl, there is nothing quite like the feeling of just filling a journal full of ideas. No deleting, no internet connection, just you and your work

So this ended up being my most popular work with 640 views. I'll take it. I'd like to do more in the vein of 90s Goosebumps style light horror.

https://rentry.org/4vap6x43

>>25622173
I think I'd rather pour boiling oil into my eyes

>>25622173
the fat fetish anon should do a goosebumps style novel where you have to 'choose your own adventure' the correct way to get to the single saucy sex scene.

do you "levy" or "level" a criticism / accusation?