>What mistakes do most beginners make when writing?
I want to skip past the embarrassing period of learning how to write.
>>8021636
Thinking they can write.
Not using the semicolon
ahhhh the frenchhhhh chhhhampagne
it is a californiaa champagne by pauulll masssssonnnnnn
>>8021636
>learning how to write
You can't learn how to write. You're either a writer or you're not.
Asking /lit/ for advice.
>>8021663
I'm writer
>>8021663
Disagree. But also, there's no such thing as skipping the part where you suck. First you suck, and then you don't. If you're not willing to put the work in then it's not for you.
>>8021681
(sorry)
>>8021643
Kek
>>8021663
Oh fuck off.
>>8021672
This.
It really depends on what you want to write. I think alot of writers start off with way too much dialogue. Also no sense of tone so that it sounds bland or awkward. Also emulating their favorite author way too transparently without any sense of their own identity as a writer.
>>8021636
1. They use greentext wrong.
2. They think using longer words and more words is better.
>>8021692
I know it'll suck either way because I'm a beginner. I guess what I meant to ask was: What do I avoid?
>>8021703
>It really depends on what you want to write. I think alot of writers start off with way too much dialogue. Also no sense of tone so that it sounds bland or awkward. Also emulating their favorite author way too transparently without any sense of their own identity as a writer.
Oh fuck off.
>>8021703
The semicolon is what separates hacks from actual writers
>>8021663
Innate ability is simply the minimum requirement. You still need to work. No one is born talented.
>>8021740
Ok? Fuck you buddy.
You need to have a clear plan before you write. Chose your tools and see what you can do with them. Take stock. Chose your epistemological stance, philosophy, chose your political sympathies, chose your literary movement, and finally, your style. If you do this first, instead of waiting to fish these traits out of your writing, you can craft a story organically because you will have an end in mind before you begin. For example, I am a relativist, an anarcho-social-communist, an post-Butler epicurean, a post-Barhtian postmodernist, and an imagist fiction stylist with Don DeLillo-Mira Gonzales hybrid prose. This lets me, in the novel I am currently writing - American Pathos and Other Opiates of The Masses - write with greater precision because having the hard stuff already figured out, now it's just like connect the dots. My publisher has already given me an advance to finish the book by September when it'll go on the presses.
>>8021747
>chose your worthless ideology and force it down people's throats
Teenagers don't get to talk about writing.
>>8021636
You need to write bad to write good.
>>8021764
Pretty much this. You can't just skip being mediocre at something, no matter what skill you're trying to develop. If you want to bench 400 pounds, there are no tricks that will let you start at 250.
>>8021772
Yes you're '''''''''''''''''18'''''''''''''''''''''
>>8021747
>Mira Gonzales-Don Delillo hybrid.
Kek. It is honestly hard to imagine worse advice than this.
>>8021643
Worse yet, not using colons or emdashes.
>>8021808
Emdashes are my favorite tb h
>>8021820
part 4 of gravity's rainbow taught me to love em dashes and . . . 's as opposed to ...'s
>>8021740
i didn't realize that your genetic sequences determined the words you choose and the message you choose to convey with them. writing isn't some athletic feat that is much easier with a certain body, it is literally choosing the right words and what to say with them which is 100% improvable.
>>8021820
Same. My favorite author--William Gass--author of my favorite novel--The Tunnel--uses them quite masterfully, though I also enjoy how Hawkes utilizes them.
>>8021747
>Don DeLillo-Mira Gonzales hybrid prose
i want to read this novel
>>8021636
A question about writing: if something is "accepted" in the literary world as an archetype would changing it be the worst thing ever? Will it just be shit because it's not the normal thing?
>>8021647
This
>>8023744
It depends on the reason for changing it. If it's got a purpose within the story beyond sheer contrarianism it should be fine, but literally anything can be shit if you write it badly enough.
>>8023749
I just have an idea and I want to go with it because it's something I haven't seen before even though it's basic fantasy schlock.
>>8021636
You can't skip being shit. There's no golden road etc.
I'd say the most prevalent mistake beginning writers make is not writing. If you're not all ready compelled to write constantly, you probably won't make it.
The key problem that nearly all amateurs have is that they don't have an actual story to tell. They're usually just making descriptive pieces of writing that don't come together to do anything.
Having a story to tell is fundamental to good writing. It all starts with plot. You then have a character that needs something which gives them motivation which makes conflict and drama, which gives the things you say weight and gives the story momentum.
Writing is a very instinctual thing so you need to create the right conditions for it. What happens in the story and why it happens will guide you in how to describe things and in creating characters. It's only once you've got something actually written that you can refine it and become a good writer.
So basically you need a plot before anything else. "A 22-year-old sat in his room feeling lonely" isn't the basis for a story. If you cannot tell someone else what happens in your story then you do not have a story.
You can do all the other basic amateur shit like using 19th Century English, over-describing a character's actions or emotions, or including pointless bits of description; but the basic problem I seem in all amateur writing is that they don't have a story to tell. I usually just want to say, "Okay, your prose is fucking dogshit, but go and actually write something before you start showing your work to me."
You'll only start creating interesting plots as you get more experience, but make sure that at the very least you have an idea of what the hell is going on in your story. Oh, and fucking read a single short story before you write one. It's beyond obvious that most of you wannabes have never read one before. Notice how something happens in nearly all of them?
>>8021808
Colons and semicolons are usually failures in style when it comes to fiction. It most likely means your sentences are going on too long and you don't have enough discipline.
I'd bet if you went a flicked through a few of your favorite novels right now you wouldn't find many at all. Especially since editors will often cut them out.
>>8021663
You can't learn how to shitpost. You're either a shitposter or you're not.
>>8023801
..........
>>8023771
>all ready
/lit/ at it's finest.
>>8023801
Virginia Woolf's writing is festered with semicolons and it sounds alright to me. Maybe a little bit chaotic, but i sense that was what goes for anyways.
>>8024150
that's what she goes for*
>>8023801
I have a ton of colons in my writing. I just like making multi-segmented sentences and I can't stop doing it.
>>8024236
Did you really just upvote somebody on 4clams?
>>8024253
Yep I'm a savage like that.
>>8023791
>It all starts with plot
That's cute
>>8024236
Who do you think you are?!
>>8024299
Beckett is a very interesting writer, but he's an awful model to teach yourself about writing, as is anyone considered avant garde or experimental.
Personally I think Beckett's prose fiction is pretty crap and not really worth reading, but what's interesting about him in general is how he plays with plot. You'd have to be pretty retarded not to see that.
I can guarantee that anyone who approaches fiction thinking "plot is unimportant," is not writing anything people want to read.
>>8021636
>>What mistakes do most beginners make when writing?
not reading enough
>>8021636
You don't get to.
>>8023791
>Notice how something happens in nearly all of them?
Except in Dubliners. Nothing at all happens in those stories.
>>8021747
top fucking kek
>>8025039
>being this retarded
>>8025061
>being this upset someone doesn't like his favourite meme-writer
>>8021636
Trying to create something original instead of copying the same shitty story prototypes to make loads of money.
Thinking that your idiosyncrasies are distinguishing and or interesting rather than just what everyone else has edited out of their work.
Plus
> The moon bellowed out a noxious plume of quicksilver, from antiquity I hear its plangent moan.
>>8024899
Actually this
Analysis please, I read some guy's thesis online but it was pretty superficial.
Jumping off point: in COG Paul Austre tricks the author by placing Quin ( who didn't exist )'s note book ( which Paul had written ) in Stillman's apartment. This would be an analogue of his Don Quixote theory.
>>8025256
Fuck meant to post this as a new thread, Sorry lads
>>8021636
trying to skip stages of learning is the most common mistake
>>8024893
>>8024893
>>8023791
>>8021764
>>8023791
reading for plot is gay, but if ur writing u still better have one
What do you think about this advice?
>>8021735
>mozart
>>8021636
>What mistakes do most beginners make when writing?
Looking for quick and easy ways of improving. Betterment is a function of time AND effort.
MWWWAAAAAA YES, the frensh shambain has always been praised for its eggselence
>>8023801
>discipline is good
lol statist
>>8021636
Using too many adverbs. That was the only worthwhile lesson I learned in my creative writing class.
>>8021681
haha no, i'm righter
>>8021636
>I want to skip past the embarrassing period of learning how to write.
keep it up buddy, shitposting is the way to go.
>>8023791
It's really frustrating that this is the only sincere, non-shitpost on this entire thread.
On Writing
The Elements of Style
Bird by Bird
Writing Down The Bones
>>8023791
>It all starts with plot
>>8021772
I'd read it
butcher your work
that sentence you wrote that you think is just so beautiful? it isn't, or it is. either way, get in the mentality that nothing is sacred.
assume you're the worst, that there is always something or someone out there that you do not know.
be self-aware (not self-conscious). the former will keep you critical, the latter will hinder your productivity
lastly, fuck the canon. take what you like from it, but you will not find your own voice if you're reading the same shit every other lardass has read for the past 100 years.
oh and stay away from /lit/
