So, I'm an unknown writer (obviously, I'm here) and I was thinking about entering a fiction/poetry contest in a pretty big name journal.
I was about to do it until I started second guessing the entry fee.
I'm not saying I lack confidence in my work, it's just a pretty steep fee for something that's, ultimately, subjective.
Are writing contests a scam?
>>8050472
Traditional publishing is all a scam.
>>8050549
Maybe. I don't have enough of background knowledge to argue otherwise.
>>8050573
It's true. The whole setup they have, whether it's a magazine, publishing house, or what have you benefits editors and critics far more than authors.
>>8050472
Get a sponsor to cover expenses.
Why would you want people outside /lit/ to read your writing?
>>8050613
Because...
I want the fame and the fortune and everything that goes with it. I want the women. I want the drugs. I want the travel. I want to crash and burn and be reborn as a sober recluse living on my palatial country estate, espousing the benefits of zen and meditation. I want to be the old philosopher giving interviews to the New York Times about the state of the country and society as a whole from my front porch while smoking a pipe and sipping coffee as the fog lifts on a brisk morning. I want to be 100 years gone and have teenagers still posting my quotes over images and sharing them on their social media or whatever they use.
I have no shame admitting this. Can /lit/ give me that?
>>8050647
buckle up laddie
>>8050647
You were born 5-8 decades too late to get those things out of writing. Take up acting or something instead.
>>8050647
This sounds good to you?
I want to die alone as drug addict and then have my work be regarded as one of the greatest pieces of literature ever like 30-50 years after my death.
>>8050647
A friend of mine is living that lifestyle, the guy makes video fucking games.
>>8050668
Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Not like a "le wrong generation" thing (I don't really believe in that), just more like a "le wrong career" thing. I've been thinking how many writers of history would still actually be writers today and how many would say, "why the fuck would you want to be a writer in 2016? There's no money."
>>8050671
Yeah.
>>8050685
Sounds pretty cool, to be honest. Good business to be in right now. I wish I were better at making video games.
>>8050707
Well, if it's just a "career" to you or some more vaguely defined vehicle to reaching that lifestyle, you'd be better off doing just about anything other than writing. The heyday of writing as a gateway to a glamorous life came and went long before you were born.
>>8050730
>Well, if it's just a "career" to you or some more vaguely defined vehicle to reaching that lifestyle, you'd be better off doing just about anything other than writing.
I mean, if it really were and I wasn't fucking around, I would be.
>The heyday of writing as a gateway to a glamorous life came and went long before you were born.
Yes, I know.
>>8050741
Are you sure you know? Even if you're shitposting, your choice of shitposting topics reflects a cocksucking-your-way-to-fame-and-fortune impulse.
>>8050647
I don't know how you could expect anybody to care what some vain young dipshit has to say
Here's something I've learned:
The only people who win those are the people who submit. Your writing is nowhere NEAR as bad as you think it is. The only truly successful people are ignorant as shit and they're better off for it.
>>8050790
>cocksucking-your-way-to-fame-and-fortune impulse
I couldn't sink that low, but I don't think less of someone who does if that's what they want.
>>8050846
Wasn't everyone a vain young dipshit at some point before people started looking/reading more into what they had to say?
>>8050856
Thanks, dawg. Price is still pretty steep, though. I guess I have to weigh the pros and cons. I don't think this journal's contest is for me.
Read winning stories from previous years or similar contests and then decide if your work is of same or better quality as them. Maybe let someone else read it and give you honest opinion about it. If the entry is really that expensive, it may not be even worth it.
The last contest I went to, the winning text was quite litteraly a copy and paste of Le Dernier Jour D'un Condamné by Victor Hugo.
>>8050472
what country are you in?
>>8050647
Tell me: what do you plan to write that will grant you this lifestyle? You could try your hand at something avant garde and maybe make a small dent in MFA culture. That's a long shot of course, but it'd be the only way to be remembered as an artist, in my opinion. Or you could write shitty serial novels and actually make some money. Again, another long shot.
The contemporary author is an absurdist, embracing futility and writing anyway. In your rejection of this reality, you prepare yourself for disappointment. There's nothing here for you.
>>8050472
depends on the contest in question, op
a lot of entry fees are very legitimate--they get hundreds (if not thousands) of entries, and all of these need to be read by several different people
some lit journals also offer a subscription to the entry fee, which is always nice
>>8050671
I often find myself thinking like this. Wouldn't it be nice to be the Van Gogh of 21st century literature? In reality, though, I think it's a harmful perspective. It shirks off all responsibility for greatness during the limited time we have. It's an excuse to give in to delusions of grandeur, a reason not to improve. It allows one to assume that any dissent directed toward their work, any criticism, is simply a lack of understanding rather than a genuine critique.
So, yes. Maybe you'll be posthumously recognized as the greatest author of your generation. But it occurs to me that we'd all be better off aspiring for greatness before death takes us.
I'm very new to writing, where do you guys find these contests? What are some of the best ones?
>>8050980
United States of America
>>8051015
>The contemporary author is an absurdist, embracing futility and writing anyway. In your rejection of this reality, you prepare yourself for disappointment. There's nothing here for you.
I suppose it's a fact we'll all face, eventually.
>>8051056
I realize that. This one does offer a subscription with the entry fee.
>>8051057
For the most part, I agree with you. There's a fine line between compromising for an audience and creating true art, though.
I'm waiting for a contest result in my country. It's one of those that changes the writer's life. I won't win most likely, but if I did, it'd be fun to think it was /lit/'s fault since I've become a much better writer due some recommendations I got from here.
Anyway, OP. I think it depends. This contest I'm running for has a lot of rules to avoid this kind of situation. I don't trust them completely, but better than nothing.
>>8050647
I was hoping this was gonna be Nickleback.
It wasn't.
0/10
>>8051057
What even constitutes a "genuine" critique in this day and age? Today's literary criticism is an absolute joke.
>>8051107
Nobody can help with this?
>>8051443
Really interested in this. I've been wondering about critique lately and hell, today's standard seem to be fucked up for some reason.
>>8051443
Haven't you heard? Everything is art now. There is no criticism. Post-Modernism teaches us that it's all subjective. Art, life, philosophy, experience, etc. All subjective. With Post-Modernism, you or I or anyone can do anything and everything and no one can tell us otherwise. There are no rules. No silly conventions. No aesthetics. Oh God, especially fuck aesthetics!
And is that not a better life? Isn't it beautiful?
I, for one, thank you, Post-Modernism. Long live Post-Modernism.
>>8051932
Join Writers Market or Duotrope or just go on twitter and follow the account @submittable.
You're welcome.
Just so you know, contests cost money to enter.
>>8051960
Thank you anon
