you write.

Read a lot, write a lot. Write things you want to write, it'll help speed up your learning. Start small, bootstrap on early successes and gradually go bigger.

don't self insert

much like drawing it takes practice, some people are naturally better of course but it take practice all the same.

>>25005057
That's about the long and short of it, yeah

Torture yourself.

Write about it.

Torture yourself some more.

Write about it.

Torture other people.

Write about it.

Torture yourself.

Write about it.

Well, first off, you read. I'm not sure there are any authors who aren't, in their own turn, bibliophiles. You expose yourself to a lot of different material, and it all seeps into your subconscious where you start remixing it. Just as importantly, it strengthens your vocabulary and your grasp on syntax.

Then you write. You write like a motherfucker. Everybody has a thousand pages of crap in them, and your early work is going to suck. Write it anyway. Get some feedback, figure out where you're weak points are, and keep writing.

There really isn't a lot more to it than that.

1) Write (Preferably short stories/articles up to 5k words)
2) Send to publisher/magazine for pro rates 0.10/word
3) Receive rejection correspondence telling you how fat your mom is.
4) Repeat 2-3 until all pro publishers have told you to go fuck yourself.
5) Send to semi-pro publishers .02-.09/word.
6) Receive rejection correspondence telling you how your father should have left you on the bedsheets.
7) Repeat steps 5-6 until all semi-pro publishers have told you to fuck yourself.
8) Send to token publishers flat fee/.01/word.
9) Receive rejection correspondence describing how your mother conceived you during a turgid affair with your retarded grandpa, a horse, and four goats.
10) Repeat steps 8-9 until all token publishers have told you to fuck off.
11) Send to publicity publishers - Free/No Fee
12) Receive rejection correspondence containing photographs of your mom providing the editing staff with full-service blow-jobs
13) Repeat steps 11-12 until there are no more publications to send to.

Did you make a sale?

If Yes start at step 1 until you make enough sales to start writing books and have publishers/agents invest in you.

If No, An-Hero yourself. You may get something published posthumously.

steal

write a story
write a second story
read first story, realize it sucks
rewrite first story into third story
read second story, realize it also sucks
rewrite second story until you give up
contemplate suicide
write fourth story in pit of sadness
read fourth story, think its good
cheer up and show it around
write fifth story in good mood
read fourth story in good mood, realize it's beyond awful
burn it and never speak of it again
reread third story, like it
edit it into sixth story
reread and reedit sixth story for three years
try to get it published
fail, lose faith in your writing ability
delete sixth story
write seventh story, laugh at how much better it is
write eighth story, forget about all earlier stories
reedit eighth story, be unsatisfied with it
get drunk and start writing your own literotica
be inspired by it to write ninth story while still heavily intoxicated
wake up next morning, reread ninth story
edit like a madman
send that bitch out, get it published

congratulations, you are now a writer

>>25005183

this sounds frighteningly true

>>25005022
Read.
Read everything.
Read it twice.
Then Read it some more.
Fiction for style and non-fiction for ideas.
When you aren't reading, write.
Write til your fingers ache and your eyes bleed and then write some more.

How many of you have actually got published? What is it like?

I wanted to write once. Then I realized I suck at coming up with stories and prefer building the setting more anyways.

So maybe I'll shit out an RPG some day.

>>25005222
Salty milk and coins

>>25005267

How does that work?

>>25005243

That's kind of like me. I have a ton of ideas and stories rolling around my head, but the idea of finetuning prose doesn't sound like something I want to do. So I get all that out in roleplaying games, and once or twice in comic form. I like to come up with characters and organize plots, but I prefer to direct with pictures.

Of course, I can't draw, so there you go.

>>25005286

Because you're out of electrolytes from cumming in your pants and you get a handful of coins for your effort.

>>25005321
>Because you're out of electrolytes from cumming in your pants and you get a handful of coins for your effort.

Do you write erotica?

>>25005222
Less fulfilling than writing fanfiction.

>>25005354

ouch

>>25005354

I've written fanfiction and more serious stuff, and they're more or less equal, with the exception that one can make you money, the other just gets you haters.

>>25005319
If you haven't, read Hemingway. He was a storyteller, and that works. A lot of novices make the mistake of assuming that flexing their vocabulary muscle in their diction lends credibility to their writing. It often does the opposite.

>>25005381

Fanfiction can get you money???

>>25005394

as in purple prose?

>>25005394

I've done mock Hemingway style. It's hard. At the end it's still tinkering to achieve a certain style, and I don't really like painting with words, so to speak. So I play tabletops where I can focus on character and not worry about how it reads too much.

>>25005399

If it's repackaged and sold under a different name. Or you manage to get it published for reals under the Black Library (wishful thinking I know, but a man can dream can't he? Sureley a few fa/tg/uys have braved the BL gauntlet and come through)

>>25005208
I am working on the last two lines, so yes it is true

>>25005399

Shades of Grey sure did. People buy stupid shit and SoG provided.

>>25005340
I wrote one 40k erotica story for /tg/ years ago.

It was untitled, but I think they called it "The Radical Inquisitor."

Alright /tg/, you have 2000 characters to write a short story/drabble/snippet/scene,etc, staring now.

No bullshit, no excuses, no "But it's gonna suck!" pussy talk.

Write.

>>25005453

Obviously you weren't paid for that one. What paid work have you done, and ewhat's it like?

>>25005414
The laughable version of purple prose, yes. It's fine to use a thesaurus as long as you aren't clubbing the readers over the head with it. You're communicating, so be efficient.

>>25005473
>2000 Characters
>Short story
That's called a drabble.

>>25005519

Actually its a short short. <1000 words.

>>25005213

Thanks for posting this. Used this to give my character an internal conflict I can actually care about just now.

>>25005473
>characters

Brutus had climbed Mt. Crayson in the midst of the night, with only his grandfather's sword to protect himself. He hadn't been able to delay a moment, lest the dragon kills his fiance. When he finally reached the dragons nest, he found her alone and terrified. With the dragon gone, the lost themselves in the heat of the moment. When the dragon did not return, they stayed, staring at the stars around them, basking in the afterglow. "You know I know that you're the dragon right?"

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>>25005222

Didn't get paid as much as I'd thought, but getting paid much for writing fiction is a long shot anyway. Editing, learning the market and keeping track of what you've sent to whom is important, make sure you're organized and on top of it. Don't get too invested in your publication of choice accepting you to the point that IF THEY DON'T PUBLISH ME WHAT'S THE POINT, learn to take the rejection and send the story on to the next place. You can be an artist when you're writing, from the moment you start editing to the moment it's published think like a businessperson.

It also doesn't hurt to have something throwaway you can write to loosen up or just have fun. I run quest threads on /tg/ every now and again, some of my writer friends have ridiculous over-the-top self-insert stories they would rather die than show another living person, some write crazy pulp shit they'd never approach seriously. The point is to have an outlet for when you're rusty, you're not feeling it, or you just want to write a series of sentences down without going back with a fine-toothed comb later to check every single fucking word.

This is all highly subjective, of course. In the end do what feels right, but be ready to work a lot. Also get ready to be good friends with booze.

>>25005473

2k characters...how bad can I get?

Joseph woke up in the morning to the sound of clanks and clacks coming from a metal ass positioned next to his face with a bumper sticker which said, "Caution, avoid procreating with heavy machinery." The warning rebounded through his head as he watched his own seminal fluid drain out of the machine's exhaust. He ignored the fiery pain in his loins caused by a mix of burning oil and flesh crushed between bits of metal as he caressed the strangely shaped forklift.

"Good Morning Sweetie," Joseph said.

The Machine replied, as it did to everything, with an sympathetic, "Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

>>25005473
"You are not taking her," he was repeating it for his own sake rather than any hope that the creature above him could comprehend it. With some difficulty, he flicked his eyes from the glowing red eyes at the end of the corridor, and back to her- lone eye staring up, wide, pupil a pin prick, teeth gritted hissing breath in and out- and then glanced back to see the monstrosity of steel, flesh, and robes was trampling straight at him, twisting steel and letting sparks fly.

With an unvoiced prayer for her safety, the man shoved the girl to the side of the corridor, trying to put the gasp of pain out of his ears, and took the full force of the charge. He felt his ribs buckle, as the creature blindly grasped with great hands that more resembled iron braces. The man, for his sake rolled with the blow, gambling on the buffeted force to put space between him, the monster, and most importantly, her. He slammed in to the side of the wall, and reached blindly for something, anything- an emergency light. His gloves held true, and he only had slight lacerations as he gripped on to it, arresting his free slide. He landed back down, and crouched as the beast stopped and turned, some measure of sensation managing to make it through gene augmented muscle and fire tested armor plates.

The man crouched, as the beast turned, curious. On a certain level, the man reflected as the creature craned it's head with a distinctive 'tick tick tick' of cogs and wheels, the man had to be relieved. The beast had no malice in its thoughts. It had no desire to torture him, or her. It sought only to kill them. Gotta look at the bright side of things.

The man shifted to his back leg, and put his artificial arm behind him. He spared a glance behind him to the girl, curled around her bloody wound. How much blood had she lost? How much longer would she last? Monstrous accounting, he reflected, turning his eyes back to the red, glowing, glass eyes. He would take refuge in violence.

>>25005563

What sort of booze should you become friends with?

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>>25005473

Here's hoping we befriend brownie and later betray her trust in the most vile way possible.

>>25005758
In a morning that was actually mid-afternoon I considered the green glass bottle once more. Though my head had cleared tremendously since last night I found myself now unable to decipher the strange runes that covered its outside.

A language I couldn't speak with an alphabet I couldn't read. Neither of which I could place, save for when I was in those off hours where reality wanders between intoxication and dream. A hazy state of clarity an old friend had once insisted was little more than a deep buzz.

Procuring a nearby bottle of Jack Daniel's, I washed my teeth with the dregs and prepared to continue my day. But again the green glass bottle stole into my attentions and diverted me from my plan of action.

I could not help but be drawn to it with the odd fascination of morning after mystery. What was it? Where had it come from? Who had even given it to me?

All lost in the shadows of forgotten songs and dancers, legacy of a night that if not good would surely have been memorable to one more predisposed to such restraint.

As the green glass bottle drew my eyes back in to it, playing into some primordial curiosity or antediluvian desire, I steadied my mind. A man could go mad wondering about such things, left only to daub his thoughts about a room with bloody fingers.

A final perusal of the empty bottle of Jack made certain of my resolve. I grasped the odd squid like cap, thumb blocking what appeared to be eyes beyond reckoning in a pattern wholly nauseating, and twisted. A single chuckled thought that the seal had been both cephalic and cephalopdic was nearly drowned out as I brought the green glass bottle to my lips and embarked upon a voyage to discovery.

First, you read. Read lots. You're on /tg/, so it's a given you've been exposed to many stories and plenty of fiction. It will help to read professional works, though. Then, need an idea. You need an idea, brilliant and vibrant, full of life. This can take years of music, thousands of images, and hundreds of movies and games to develop. You need to get a mental image of what you want. It doesn't matter if you think it isn't original, all work has ripped off from the last person. In a way, we are all hacks. But some people are very creative in the way they hack.

Next, you need to put things on paper. Solidify it with ink or text, whichever you prefer to use. Get people to draw your characters or things from your story, doing whatever. Something from the backstory, something in the story, it doesn't matter. Visually seeing something really helps ground an idea. Lastly, you must refine it, fleshing out the solidified work to a grand scale into a brilliant, vibrant, and living idea, now a reality.

At least, that's what I've gathered.

>>25005473

"Oh please..." she licked her lips, slowly and deliberately.

"We both know you want to."

She closed the distance between them, her hips swaying widely with every step she took.

"I want it too" she whispered before drawing their lips together and pressing into each other.

"Every piece of me is yours..."

She drew her hands to her chest, heaving each breast with her hands, slowly massaging them.

She was breathing heavily now, long, loud breaths coming from her mouth as she teasingly began to remove her top.

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>>25005473

>>25005473
I never would have expected to come here. But, so the wind blows, and with it I go.

I stand here overlooking the Southern Land of Giants. I've always wanted to come here, and never really found the drive, yet regardless my wandering footsteps have led me to this place.

Oh, how I wonder how it all was. From here, I see structures, collapsed in ruin. Ruins of the world made for giants. I wonder how such mighty creatures could have fallen. Natural causes? Or were the legends of a colossus murdering wanderer with a magic sword true? My mind buzzed with hopes and dreams of something valuable in that land.

Unable to continue on horseback, I put the horse on a leash and leave some food within its reach. I may be gone for a while, and I don't want it to starve. Hopefully I can find food within this place, to share with my nameless horse. My steed taken care of, I descend down the cliffside into the giant territory.

It takes hours for me to walk through this land. There is a large lake in a canyon, from which I drink. Upon the shore, I see a stone heap. It was a dead giant, in armor and a layer of dust. That, or giants slept for a long while. Whatever, I just seen a giant. Moments like these is why I am a vagabond.

I begin to hear loud booming noises as I leave the safe canyon. I feel thrilled as I peek my head out from behind a rock, and I see it. A living, walking giant. What's more, is that it is headed for the exit.

I run up behind the giant, and I could do this, I jump onto its leg. It does not notice me. I begin to climb, and it does not notice. As I climb onto its shoulders, I realize that it does not care. He just wants to leave, and nothing can stop him. I watch helpless as the giant climbs and tramples my horse on its exit.

A thought passes through my head. The giant abandoned its home, when nothing seemed wrong with it. He knows nothing of the world, and yet he leaves for it. At this moment, I realize that we are kindred spirits. Wayward souls.

>>25006040
I feel like I've witnessed something deeply spiritual.

>>25005120
And then you have to commit suicide

>>25005022
You write and you read.

It's also important to understand that everyone sucks at writing- If anyone can just sit down woth a piece of paper and get exactly what he wanted onto it the first time that's a very talented and lucky inidividual indeed.

Most writers reread and rewrite their own material constantly. And it doesn't matter if you're one of those who hammers out a sentence and makes sure it's perfect before it's done or if you're one of those who spews out an entire book and then goes back rewrite the whole thing. The most important thing is to simply get words, black on white, in front of you so that you actually have something too work with.

Don't bother with being original either. This is the bane of many potential writers. Well, guess what? Most original ideas suck. I could write a story about a transexual, alcoholic mermaid who must gets stranded and watches children play on the beach and begs the people who passes by for whiskey. That would certainly be original, but it would still suck.

The fact of the matter is, just write whatever story you would want to read, and take inspiration from whatever you want. If it's too similar to something else you will notice it when you reread it, and will get your chance to change it.

>>25005473
John sat on the bench outside the little cafe he always bought soykaf at, drinking a cup of lukewarm sludge and smoking a joint. The joint wasn't part of his usual routine, but his previous 'employer' couldn't manage to pay him in anything but weed, so John figured he might as well take up a new hobby. He was told it would make everything taste better, but it wasn't working on the soykaf. John poured out the last few sips onto a homeless man and got up to go to his car before realizing he'd walked to the cafe, and then started his way home when his commlink started buzzing into the side of his head.

"Yeah? Who is it?" John asked. He had forgotten to grab his AR goggles so he didn't know who was calling.
"It's Vike. I got a deal ready for you that should pay in real money this time." John realized that he could hear the ball of saliva in the back of Vike's throat. "You can meet him in that one Italian place at 4. You know the one. Gordon's."
"But I hate Gordon's. You know that," John said.
"What the fuck does it matter, you're not there on a date with the guy," Vike said. John walked up the steps to his apartment building's door, unlocked it with a thought impulse, and made it up to his room without any further incident. He started to think he wasn't quite cut out for drug use, but the thought was cut off when he realized he still had chocolate milk in the fridge that probably hadn't gone sour yet. It turned out that the milk had gone sour, which made John sad.

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Taken from /co/.

>>25005183
Oh god, I've been rewriting this book for two years now and it always finds a new way to suck.

>>25005131
Where do you find publishers that pay per word?

Id there a listing somewhere?

>>25005213
>Actually encourages their staff writers to use the once upon a time formula.
>"Do better next time"

So much that's come from Pixar in the last few years is now explained.

>>25010430
I took that entry as a whimsical oversimplification of all storytelling in order to make it seem less daunting.

>>25005183
And then you realise, the are only good at writing when you are utterly fucking miserable.

>>25010511
Sell your soul to the devil?

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>>25010511
1. Write a book.
2. On your way to Kinko's, rob a bank.
3. Print out your book.
4. Hollow out your book.
5. Hide your money in the book.

>>25005473
“Set her down over there, by the Krayt bones.”

G3 whistled softly as he complied with the command, dropping the skimmer onto the sand. Before the droid had removed its interface stick, his new owner had already vaulted over the skimmer’s raised lip, moving towards the bleached remains. As G3 began lowering the ramp to join his master, the biologist began commenting on the dragon’s bones.

“Lack of soft tissues. Probably age greater than four days. Blaster scoring near left occipital cavity. Potential encounter with missing patrol? Nasal cavity diameter of .33 cubits. Probable age of specimen…sixteen years.”

The biologist scraped some surface bone into a small vial, which we gave to the waiting droid. “I’m going to set-up the scanner. If the patrol did kill this one, we need to find them before they kill any of the younger ones. Each one they kill is another 20,000 credits that don’t go towards our retirement.”

G3 beeped softly at the implication that a droid would be allowed to retire but followed his master back to the skimmer. While an expert in his field of xenobiology and ecological reconstruction, his master had purchased G3 specifically due to his unfamiliarity with outer rim survey equipment. As he watched his master assemble the meter-tall scanning dish, occasionally giving his master instructions through the small data-pad the biologist held, G3 initialized the scanning devices software. If the stormtroopers were anywhere within a 1.75 kilocubit radius the device would pick them up.
…..

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Do you think if you write porn then move into mainstream someone could recognize your writing style from the porn and it would ruin you?

>>25010568
Hmm, that didn't take as long as I thought it would. I might just go ahead and run a quest soon.

>>25010573
Well, it happens to artists.

is there a site for 40k porn fanfic?

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>>25010573
So soft.

>>25010652
http://games.adultfanfiction.net/main.php?list=1714

>>25010573


writing porn used to be the go-to for authors during dry spells or starting out because it was an easy and reliable way to get at least a LITTLE income. Pretty much every big name writer from ye olden days did at least a little. If they got away with it, you can too!

not that writing porn will keep the lights on anymore. the internet has absolutely wrecked the market.

>>25010675
>>25010573
I'd probably be more offended by this if the official instakill cut-in for her in Arena didn't show her tits poking out from her catsuit...

>>25005267
>salty milk and coins
>It feels like whenever that was again

>>25005758

The cheap stuff. Not the cheapest stuff, that's for winos, but the stuff one rung above the cheapest stuff.

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>>25011171

?

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>>25005449

>mfw I see that book in every store that sells things even tangentially related to books
>mfw they sell it at the uni bookshop

>>25010815
Imagine reading porn by Tolkin or GRRM

>>25005449
>>25011265

I see that shit read in public transit all the time. Sometimes it makes you wonder, how contrasting the response would be if a man sat down to read Hustler for the articles. After all, it is the same thing.

>>25011286
>GRRM porn

Jon Snow sex scene?

>>25011312
No, just elaborate descriptions of what they are wearing and the decor of the room.

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>>25011303

How dare you. Hustler is a dirty porn magazine, whereas 50SoG is literary classic, a work of art!

Who allowed you to put substance in front of form and social acceptance?

>>25011264

>Tito's

Fucking delicious. That's actually a pretty good vodka for the price point.

>>25005473
“Tonight, we can be as one, tonight-”

The sound cuts off as he steps on my headphones, crushing them. Grinding them with his heel. I can still hear the music ringing in my head, bouncing around with the sound of a gunshot. I knew what it was the moment I heard it. I've heard plenty before. I just didn't expect this one to be for me.

My mind is speeding along like never before, as if it's trying to get as much thought in as possible before it ends. I've been shot in the back. The shooter is standing right in front of me, holding a big, black, heavy-looking gun. He's wearing a white mask with no eyeholes. It's daylight, and nobody's helping me. Too scared, untrained, not armed, whatever.

I'm about to die, and I don't even know why.

Bang. Bang. He fires twice, aiming at my chest. He seizes, and the gun comes up a bit, as if he's been surprised. I realize there are no new bullets in my chest, only a cold, clammy feeling, like wet metal against my skin.

I look down. Where I expect to see a dorky t-shirt that says 'Don't Blink' in bright red letters, there's a chestplate. It looks like plastic, but it's way too heavy. There are three white lights on it, right over my sternum. There are two little bits of metal suspended over the lights.

>>25011987
Oh. Those are the bullets. The masked shooter hasn't had time to lower his gun yet. I must be thinking really fast.

I'm glad I'm not dead. Thank you, weird magic chestplate, for saving my life. You couldn't have come a little earlier? Like when I was shot in the fucking back?

Something happens. There's a sudden jolt, pressing me back into the pavement. My head hits the concrete. There's a squishy, crunching, tearing sound. The shooter's gun hits the ground first. Then he does.

Slowly, I raise myself back up, and my vision clears. Aside from the horrible throbbing pain in the back of my head, and the stabbing ache in my lower back, I'm fine. But the shooter's lost most of his skull.

I try to stand up. I vomit. I sit back down. My eyes close. I'm out.

[2000 characters according to LibreOffice]

>>25011264
I miss when that stuff was sweetened by saccharin. It used to taste like a weird cinnamon doctor pepper. Now it just tasted like a generic diet cola.

>>25011303
Thing is not everyone knows 50SoG has porn in it. Everyone knows Hustler does. So most people see you just reading a book instead of reading porno. That's how they get away with it.

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>>25010496
damn, you're right.

>>25010496
I believe you mean "And then you realize that you are only good at writing when you are utterly fucking miserable"

Which makes sense, because a lot of authors were drunks, drug addicts, or diagnosed with a serious case of depression when they wrote the work that made them famous. Sad, but true.

>>25013074
well, my best writing has happened
>right before finals
>at 3 am when I'm deathly tired
>when I'm trapped with my family
>when I've been mulling over the idea for months
>drunk
>when I really really should be doing something else

>>25013346
I believe that story proves the point I was making. For some reason happy people tend to not be able to write good fiction. People who are immersed in suffering and despair, on the other hand, seem more likely to turn out good shit.

>>25013379
which really doesn't help if you want to write noblebright instead of grimderp

>>25013379
Oh the happy stuff was written by suffering people too. Some people try to communicate their suffering, resulting in grimdark. Others try to imagine a better world where things are just peachy in an attempt to alleviate the suffering, resulting in noblebright.

>>25013379
I've also written pretty well when I'm horny

I think it's any strong emotion helps you write

>>25005719
If nothing else- you have made my fucking day sir. Cannot stop laughing.

>>25013420
Pretty much true. Strong emotions make for powerful prose. It just seems that most writers drew upon their darker emotions. Lust is a gray area but hey, gotta be rock hard to write good porn.

>>25013391
>which really doesn't help if you want to write noblebright instead of grimderp
I think a lot of people writing happy shit are pretty unhappy themselves.

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Type fast, but not too fast. Type way too fast and you'll end up with some major spelling mistakes every so often - this increases by tenfold if you're sleep deprived. Checked through my novelization of The Dark Eye and found quite a lot of grammatical errors; stuff you'd be able to point out really quickly after some sleep.

>>25013536
I disagree with this.
Let it FLOW.
You can edit later.

>>25005022
Look around at the world, find something interesting.
Research the shit out of it so you know what you're talking about.
Write.
What you just wrote isn't good enough, have someone honest read it and tell you what's good and what isn't.
Write again.
Repeat steps 3-5 until it's perfect.

>>25013560

I follow that approach but it does pay to be prepared.
You'd be surprised how many times I've written "teh" instead of "the" while "in the zone".

I don't really think that I can give an insight that anyone else here hasn't really already mentioned. I would like to further emphasize that pain, suffering, and strife is not only necessary for the genesis or art, but in order for one to develop and grow as a human being. Look up Neil Gaiman's speech where he says, "Make Good Art."

Beyond that, it's just to write, and to write often. In an effort to motivate myself to make sure that I am constantly writing, I started up a blog where I have to update it once a week with new material, though I'm probably about to move it up to two updates a week, such that I have to write even more. If anyone is interested, go to fabulaebreves. blogspot (4chan thinks this post is spam, this is really annoying)

Another thing, actually, is that in order for something to be well written, I believe that lots of research is necessary. If you're having something set in a historical, fantastical, futuristic, or even modern world, research is necessary. If you screw something up, someone will know. You're going to screw up. If you screw up something major, and often, it will make people not take your work seriously. Also, by putting that extra detail in, it makes the entire world more believable, and more immersive. Others may disagree with me, but that's how I feel.

Don't think it's been mentioned yet; there's a podcast called Writing Excuses that has some great advice.

It's done by some ofthe bigger names in fiction right now, and they know what the're talking about, it seems. They also get a lot of guests on.

The first few seasons aren't terribly useful, but you can look in the archives for subjects that apply to you.

Something else useful maybe, is that they give a writing prompt after each episode. It's great to get yourself in the habit of writing every day.

>>25013679

Research does depend on both how realistic what you're writing is, and how serious you want the piece to be.
Wild West story? Research is definitely recommended, if not necessary.
Cyberpunk story? Not as much research but it does help.

>>25005473
“What? No dude, that’s totally wrong!” Said Mike, caught off guard by his friend’s fantastic ideas.
“No dude, no, you don’t get it. You don’t get it at all!” Replied Joey, hand on his chin, already lost in his imagination.
They sitting down, arguing about which character from “Super Mega Yes Double”, a cult action cartoon they were long time fans of, would be the strongest in a battle royale. According to Mike, it would be Kelvin C. Fahrenheit, known for his incredible temperature manipulation powers. Joey, however, claimed it would be Tony, who had some control over space itself, being able to erase or bend it.
“Come on, Kelvin could just make his blood boil before he even got close enough to pull off his lame space tricks.”
“Yeah, except he could use these ‘lame space tricks’ to ERASE the distance and then give Kelvin a good old fashioned ERASURE.”
“Kelvin would just bring the temperature to some dangerous level and fry or freeze him anyway.”
“He could just create a vacuum barrier around himself.” Joey quickly answered, with a smug, self assured face.
“Bullshit, he can’t do that.” Mike answered, troubled.
“He can. In fact, he did it in the fight against Wyrn Fluw, don’t you remember?”
“Oh, that. It was a shitty way to end it in my opinion.”
“Maybe it was, but my point still stands. Tony would definitely win a battle royale.”

cont'd

>>25013809
A lady dressed in white was walking down the hall where the two men were chatting. She suddenly stopped upon hearing that last sentence, and after quickly and stiffly turning around, she approached the men with an angry look to her face. Forgetting her function and responsibility, she raised her voice.
“Tony? Win a battle royale? Have you gone senile already? He was too dumb to even use his powers correctly.”
“Dumb? I think ‘kind’ is the word you’re looking for. He didn’t ERASE people often because he felt it would be too evil to not even leave a corpse.” Joey replied, also getting heated.
“And that was the death of him.” She angrily answered.
“What? He dies?” Mike was confused, for he did not remember such event.
“Yes.” The lady and Joey replied. They exchanged searing glances, bringing to fruition their predestined rivalry.
“Oh ok then.” Humbly said Mike, having noticed the unspoken insults, flying through the short distance between the lady and his friend like machine gun fire.
“The one who would definitely win a battle royale between all the characters would be Huell Rolex, with his cunning and time manipulation abilities.” Said the lady, attempting to regain her composure. “That is a fact.”
“We weren’t even counting him because the creator himself admitted he was the strongest.” Mike justified.
“Very well, then I guess maybe it would be Kelvin.” She pensively replied.
“Oh please!” Cried Joey.

Oh shit, way past 2000 characters already, guess I fucked up.

>>25013718
From the perspective of someone who not only has never been published, but has also never finished anything, I disagree. Mostly.

If you're writing about Peter Cottontail, nothing is really required. A cyberpunk story? I'd say that you'd need to know a good deal about the technology which would feasibly be available, notably the human augmentation and information technology.

I feel it necessary for the world I'm making to know how plate tectonics work, how weather systems work, what sort of plants grow and animals live in different sorts of environments, such that one would know what people eat, what clothes they wear, what sort of pack animals they use.

It's all about the little details for me. However, as I said, for me. I love that sort of stuff, either in what I read or write, but I understand that it's not for everyone.

>>25013843
“But anyway, I got caught up and forgot why I even came here. Lunch is ready, do you need any help getting up?”
“No, we’re good. Thank you, Miss Nurse.”
The two old men grabbed their canes and got up with some effort. It was a lovely noon at the St. Paul Asylum.

I'm so sorry.

>>25010340
Stop rewriting it. Finish it.

It's far more important that you finish something, move on to something else, and then rewrite the first one later ,if you still want to. It might seem like your best idea ever now, but that won't remain thus.

>>25013856

Understandable - everyone is different in their approach; I myself just sit down and start writing if I have an idea - although I do have rudimentary knowledge of a few areas I can't say I'm an expert.
I do have a friend who wants to start writing and he always over plans (IMO). This is his cycle:

>Plans work; begins feverishly brainstorming and talking about iy
>Finally starts; is very happy
>Writing and brainstorming; lasts a week
>Hits a wall; can't write anymore/doesn't write anymore
>Complains about it verbally; scraps initial idea and moves on to next (which always incorporates old ideas)
>Stories I've read don't get more then 5 pages tops.

>>25013890
I agree - there's nothing worse then stopping something and reincorporating it with some other ideas in an almost infinite loop.
When you finish a piece you'll probably get that "satisfaction feeling" that'll push you onto something else. Rewriting and rethinking with one particular story can come later.

You need to write.

Just sit down and pound it out.

It's going to suck. That's fine, that's not the point. What you need is practice, because practice makes perfect.

People have this silly idea in their heads that writing is a "talent" and you either have it or you don't. That couldn't be further from the truth. Writing is a skill, and, while some people are naturally better, it can be learned and perfected by anyone, just like any other skill.

Use these guidelines to get you started:

1) Write all the way through to the end. You can make major changes or edits to earlier sections if you get new ideas, or get stuck, but avoid line editing until you get the body of the story totally written. This helps you get it all done before you get bogged down in editing.

2) Wait several weeks before doing line-editing of a story you've written. This will help you look at your writing with fresh eyes. You'll be able to spot errors and awkwardly phrased dialogue much more easily.

3) Write different things. Try writing a play. Try poetry. Or just write descriptions of things you see around you for practice. Try a comic book script if you're daring - that's fucking hard, you have to imagine every single bit panel by panel.

4) Create sensory-rich descriptions. Sight is a powerful descriptor, but the world you can touch, hear, smell, and taste is more immersive. Don't worry too much about overwriting, you can always cut it later.

5) Cut, cut, and cut again. This is particularly important for elegan/tg/entlemen to keep in mind, because we like creating and sharing worlds - but frankly, most of those details are unimportant, and should be kept out of the narrative. Cut your story down to the essential, vital points that it needs to succeed. Your work is not set in stone; save copies so you can go back later if you'd like.

con't

>>25014580

6) Keep writing. Don't write one story and sit on it, editing forever. Write another story. Then another. Then another. As you put hundreds of thousands of words under your belt, your writing will improve by leaps and bounds. No amount of editing will correct that crap that is your early works; even if you like the general plot, it's easier to rewrite it from scratch. But more importantly, after you've written five stories, you'll have the experience to look back at that first story, scratch your head, and think "what the hell was I doing?"

bump

>>25010845
Wait, what, that's an actual game character of some sort? I need to get my hands on that shit.

>>25018609
/tg/, expanding borders and selling vidya

>>25011330
god, I'm gay and all, but orc females are pretty damn fine. I would definitely anytime of the day tap (be tapped by) that...

File: 1369454616147.gif-(3 MB, 280x157, 1358187776969.gif)

3 MB GIF

>>25010363

Look around. Usually not publishers, but magazines do.
My schtick is sci-fi, and the two main publications I read are Strange Horizons and Clarkesworld, both of which take submissions. The rundown:
Clarkesworld pays $.10 per word up to 4000 words, Strange Horizons pays $.08 per word.
Clarkesworld updates monthly and is too frighteningly professional to submit to, and Strange Horizons will take a month and a week to tell you they didn't want your story.

>>25005449
>>25011303

Eragon also made a killing. It 'aint about what you write, it's about who you know. 50 Shades didn't get ads on the tube because it was a masterpiece, it got 'em because someone with money to burn knows a killer marketing guy.

>>25024347

To be fair, the parents of the eragon kid were in the publishing business.

It was basically a birthday gift.

I have another suggestion if OP or other Anons want a more academic approach: Try reading the book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. A kind anon suggested it to me about a year ago, and I'm working my way through it. Despite having "Screenwriting" in the title, it's a general purpose introduction to and explanation of the mechanics behind good storytelling. Best purchase I've made in years.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060391685?selectObb=used if you're interested.

>>25005022
visualize and learn to play your visualizations like a home video. Pause, play, fastforward, reverse. You need complete control of your own images before you can start. Walk yourself through the set, zoom in and out of your characters' heads to see what they see, smell what they smell, feel what they feel. When you can see all that, feel all that, you start writing. Then you write. And write. And you write some more. And when I say that I mean you write everything. No matter how shitty. You write on impulse. You write stream of thought. You write everything you see, hear, feel, and smell, and taste from start to finish, from scene to scene. You go back and edit it, trim it down, embellish it later. To start, you just write. Then you read it out loud. You hear yourself read it. Hear yourself speak it. You figure out where your pacing issues are, how the voice of the piece works or doesn't work with the intended mood or tone. Then you rewrite. Then you figure out what's unnecessary to the piece and you clip it out. Then you rewrite. Then you read it again, maybe run it by someone else, take their questions into consideration. If you feel compelled to answer their questions as they ask them, DON'T. Those answers should be in your writing. If you have to answer them yourself, your writing just needs work. (if the answers were already accounted for and just happen to come later, then good job, you've baited your audience into asking the right questions) Then you rewrite.

Okay, how do I into believable characters?
When I create a character I make it the way so I will have fun - it can be bland, with cardboard backstory and very simple motivation, but I can have lots of fun roleplaying it.
Yet I'm absolutely sure that readers would be bored to death by them.
So, how do I into it?

Also, how do I into plot? I can make a setting, I can even make some characters, some points where it should start and how it should end - but I never have any idea what to put in the middle. I can sit looking at a blank sheet of paper for ages and just write on top of it, with big letters, PLOT.

>>25034521
there are a couple approaches, depending on what you specialize in

If you can make a setting, then your plot is the resolution of that setting's conflict as your characters impact it and/or are impacted by it.

You set up some checkpoints of plot progression so you know where you are going, and let the characters live between there. Sometimes they will tell you your checkpoint is bad and wrong, listen to them

multi-dimensional characters are hard to make. There are a million and a half ways to do this though. Try listing off their beliefs and how they act, they shouldn't line up perfectly

or put them in bizarro situations and let them react, short shorts that will never see the light of day, they don't even need to be related to your story, they just let the character live and let you watch them

characters fill the pace between the plot

Anybody think this deserves an archive at suptg?

There's no such thing as a good story, only interesting interactions between characters. Try to write and conclude a giant elaborate story and it'll just end up feeling shit.

>>25035553
This is a good thread and therefore could use archiving.

>>25035553
Do it.

>>25025558

Right. Maybe not the best example, but I stand by "it's who you know".
Though if your parents get John Jude Palencar to do your cover art, that's a hell of a birthday gift.