I've been writing a novel on and off for about 6 years. To clarify, I just turned 20 and have had a lot of other shit (including addictions) going on, so this isn't really a "I'm a novelist, I swear, I just need inspiration" kind of thing. I've started and scrapped several iterations before landing on the one I'm finally going with, and it's gonna be a fucking long one, with several different points of view from seemingly unrelated characters, a little like Game of Thrones but post-apocalyptic, and self-contained, and not really like Game of Thrones at all. Anyway, I'm on chapter 4 of 8, of part 1 of 3-5 (haven't quite decided yet), not including brief interludes in between chapters. But I've been having trouble finding the motivation to keep going. None of the characters are really traditional protagonists, I guess they could be called anti-heroes at best (including, but not limited to a mercenary, a half-crazed scientist, a sociopathic zealot dedicated to a religion that doesn't exist yet, and an imprisoned serial killer who's slowly going insane because the only thing he's given in his cell is a pen and paper that gets replaced every few days for no apparent reason, without giving away too much of the story), and their stories aren't exactly happy ones. I'm just finding it difficult to put myself back into the mindset of the characters I've made, regardless of the (significantly) larger plan I have for them later on. I'm still ultimately in the "get to know them" portion of the book, and I'm depressing myself just trying to get to part 2.
Tl;dr: I need motivation to write about fucked up people in a desolate wasteland with no hope and very little will to exist beyond their own various delusions.
Maybe you can ask someone to read your current draft and once they give you their opinion you'll feel more motivated?
>>17224691
Couple problems with that. First and foremost, I have nobody to show it to. And secondly, I feel like it won't really be worth reading until it's all done, considering how the book goes. It starts out as a bunch of random, seemingly pointless stories, but over the course of the book the interlocking threads become a spiderweb. Certain things happen a long time before or after when you're originally made to believe they happened, there's a really complex time travel element mixed into every single character's narrative that doesn't actually reveal itself until somewhere near the end, hell the entirety of part 4 takes place about 300 years before the main characters even exist. So if someone were to read the original draft so far, they'd have to be willing to spend the time to understand everything I have planned, and I doubt many people want to invest that much in something like that.
So you think someone who read it as is wouldn't be drawn in or intrigued at all?
>>17224786
Not necessarily, it's just a case of me being my own harshest critic. I've been laying the groundwork for this thing for a long time, it would just feel weird giving someone the first 5% without letting them experience the parts that actually make it worth reading.
Of course you do, it's entirely normal. But a simple word of praise can go a long way in rejuvenating your motivation. And a simple word of criticism can go a long way in helping you improve.
>>17224803
I'm intrigued by it. What's the name of your work in progress, if I may ask? I would love to grab it if you ever publish it.
Now, some advice: give it some time. I also wrote a book, which was loosely inspired by Hospice, y'know, the album by The Antlers. It took me 7 years to finish it, and there's one thing I can tell you: when you're not feeling it, you start writing like shit and your prose loses its essence.
So, what to do? I don't know if it'll work for you, but I usually wrote and read something else, generally short stories.
>>17224841
Fair enough, fair enough.
>>17224849
Unrelated, that's my favorite album of all time.
Anyway, I'm thinking of calling it Dust. It's kind of a multi-tiered symbolism thing, considering it takes place in a massive Fallout-esque wasteland made up of, mainly, dust, but there's also the fact that (spoilers) everyone dies at some point in the book, so there's the whole "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" thing, and there's the whole dust on the winds of time element of it, etc.
As for your advice, you're probably right. It's just that I'm still searching for a job, which I desperately need, and I feel like the sooner I finish it and see if I can find someone to publish it, the sooner I can either use it as a primary source of income or stop relying on it in the back of my head as a way out.
I've been doing the same thing as a mean of escapism, only been writing for about a year though. I haven't really written much of a story yet I've focused more on the setting and the world behind it, I've scraped it countless times and merged different ideas back and forth, I don't know if I'll ever finish it but working on it makes me feel better and that's the way I think it should be, you shouldn't write striving to create a masterpiece, you should write because you find joy in it.
What I've come up with is also a post-apocalyptic setting but nothing like Mad Max or of that kind. It's more obscure and more philosophical than action oriented.
I find it very hard to just sit down and write, the urge usually comes when I'm about to go to bed, I'll lay down and write for a while then I try to puzzle it all together another day. I also find it easier when I feel really down, can't do it when I'm happy.
>>17224890
There's already a post apocalyptic novel called Dust fyi
>>17224906
...are you me? Honestly that's the exact mindset I had when I first started, our ideas even sound similar. It's just that after 6 years it's kind of become my masterpiece, and at this point there aren't very many puzzle pieces left to fit together. It's become almost entirely about fleshing it out into a full-fledged story. I still have a project that I like to work on for fun (it's called Psychopathy: A Love Story, I think you can guess what it's about), but this is my Ender's Game, my Hyperion, my Dune.
>>17224940
Well I guess I'll go fuck myself.
>lurk on 4chan more
>get depressed
>find motivation to write about fucked up people in a desolate wasteland
Another writefag?
...
An old thing I was working on a while back, any feedback?
>>17225478
Fuck, forgot pic.
I don't have a complete thing either, but I like to imagine my characters speaking amongst themselves. I take a bus ride from one end the other and watch interactions on the bus or those outside on the street. I put on headphones to drown out people and I try to "create possible dialogue.
Another factor is sharing your story. Make a summary, and explain it to someone using gestures, and explaining it as lively as you can. Like if you were to read to a child and you want to intrigue them.
Watching a good animu or show. Or just weird shows. Wayward Pines and the Monogatari Series anime are ones I like to admire/study.
>>17224941
Your Dark Tower, your John Carter, naturally it's your magnum opus.
>>17224890
I like the "ashes to dust, dust to dust" shame that Dust is taken.
It reminds me of a mantra in my religion, "if everything reduces to nothing, what does nothing reduce to?"
I have a similar predicament, sometimes my novel was so depressing and just bleak to write, it made it hard. Show your work to other people, and write short stories or a novella of something cheerful to create a cycle instead of it being mind numbingly one tone all the time.
>>17224277
You should have the complete story line complete before you've even started writing, the complete series. Do you have that done?
>>17225467
I'm already depressed, that's not really the issue.
>>17225484
It's interesting, if not kind of incomplete. I feel like if you were to add a bit more detail, more purpose if you will, then it might work better as a story. It's a great representation of your character's mindset, gives firsthand insight into the dominant parts of his mind and all that. Basically you have a good concept, now you just need to take your character and see how he interacts with the world around him, and then give him either some sort of catharsis or an ironic tragedy to wrap up his particular story.
>>17225495
I already know what they're going to say, I've been molding them in my head for so long they've practically become alternate personalities. And as for watching tv, that's literally all I do. Literally. I've seen every movie and tv show you've ever heard of, and then some. I don't go outside much so I have virtually no shortage of inspiration. But thank you regardless.
>>17225514
That's an interesting concept actually, I could find a way to work it in somewhere. Maybe not into the title, but somewhere.
>>17225855
You're probably right, it's just that it seems like whenever I write something relatively happy, it always morphs itself into something sad at some point in the creative process. I mean the most upbeat short story I have on my hard drive is from the perspective of a zombie. Still, I get your point, I'll move on to something else for a little bit.
>>17225875
Well it's technically going to be just one big book, but yes, I have it done. I know how everything starts, all the minor and seemingly insignificant things that happen in the middle, and how it all ties itself together in the end. It's actually more or less a culmination of about 10 different ideas I had, now all existing in the same world, and tweaked just enough to have a singular thread running through all of them.
I wrote three novels before the age of 20, when I still wanted to be a novelist.
Just write you fucktard.
>>17226156
Maybe that attitude is why you're not a novelist anymore.
>>17226167
I'm not a novelist as a career because I realized I love writing as an art, and absolutely abhor the whole process of writing queries and submissions and trying to sell my work.
I still write, I just do it for my own satisfaction. I know how it fits into my life because I just did it, instead of pontificating about how I wanted to do it.
>>17226176
I love it too, and always have, ever since I was a kid. But I can write for fun whenever I want, this is going to be my masterpiece. As pathetically naive as it may be, I like to think that this is going to be the thing that finally breaks me out of shitty dead-end jobs and puts my name out there. I'm not going to fuck it up just because I want to get it done quicker, if I'm going to write it I need to want to.
>>17226191
>if I'm going to write it I need to want to
even professional writers will tell you that at the end of the day, writing is still a job. there are times where you won't like it but you still have to do it.
>>17226233
I know, but if I'm forcing myself to then there's a pretty high likelihood of a decrease in overall quality. Which is why I made the thread in the first place, to see if there was something I could do to motivate me to get back into it.
>>17224277
>'ve been writing a novel on and off for about 6 years. To clarify, I just turned 20
>novel haphazardly written by a 14 year old
It's probably shit.
>with several different points of view from seemingly unrelated characters, a little like Game of Thrones but post-apocalyptic
Yeah, it's definitely shit.
>None of the characters are really traditional protagonists
Oh god.
>I guess they could be called anti-heroes at best
Please...
>(including, but not limited to a mercenary
I can't die like this...
>a half-crazed scientist, a sociopathic zealot dedicated to a religion that doesn't exist yet, and an imprisoned serial killer who's slowly going insane because the only thing he's given in his cell is a pen and paper that gets replaced every few days for no apparent reason
I have a wife and kids...
>and their stories aren't exactly happy ones.
Mercy!
>>17224777
>I feel like it won't really be worth reading until it's all done, considering how the book goes. It starts out as a bunch of random, seemingly pointless stories
Then whey should anyone keep reading to get to the pay off? If you don't think it's worth someone reading the first few chapters, no one's going to get past the first few chapters to read the rest.
> time travel element
WOULD THAT THIS DESK WERE A TIME DESK...
>>17226240
I wish there was a way to delete other people's posts. Do you get off on being an ignorant cunt, or is it just a part of your personality?
Also I'm calling bullshit on the wife and kids, you went full fucking neckbeard. if I'm wrong, that's even worse, and may god have mercy on whatever child happens to be raised by someone like you.
>>17224849
>loosely inspired by Hospice
This thread is putting me in more immense pain that I have ever known but I can't look away!
>>17226241
I was trying to make the point that the beginning gets far more interesting the further you read, I obviously made the first few chapters with enough hooks to keep people interested. And points for the community reference.
>>17224890
>massive Fallout-esque wasteland
Every time I think it can't get cringier!
>>17226242
>I wish there was a way to delete other people's posts.
That's a great attitude for someone trying to do creative work.
>>17226245
You must be remarkably bored if this is how you spend your fucking time, and on /adv/ of all fucking boards. Lets see what you've done with your life. You better have a Nobel fucking prize if you think you're justified to shit all over people you don't even know for no reason other than you're trying to keep your own fucking depression at bay.
Tl;dr: fucking get out, nobody cares that you're living in your mother's basement.
Okay fuck it, I'm going to make a new thread once this guy's done jacking off to himself, he apparently has his heart set on replying to every single post.
I genuinely feel sorry for you. You have the mentality of a lonely 12 year old, and you're almost definitely at least 30.
>>17226167
>writing novels is why you don't write novels
wut
>>17226266
You done?
>>17226256
I'm actually done, hit the bottom. I realise I'm being a horrific faggot, but holy shit you're a douche, I don't even feel bad now, thanks. Quit whining, faggot, holy shit.
>>17226268
Mhm, bye.
Consider consulting /lit/
Slow ass board too, so threads will last forever and follow ups are easy
>>17226285
Good idea, just figured it couldn't hurt to consult you all first.
To me it sounds like you're best off going straight for your audience. I bet there's websites where you can post excerpts, or a beta version ebook. Once you are certain that people would be interested in it you can find a good editor etc.
>>17226903
Any suggestions? I mean I could just start a Kickstarter, but if there's something more specific out there, I'd be up for that.
