They say you should write everyday, even if you don't feel like it.
Do you senpais write everyday?
I definitely didn't feel like it today, so just started typing one word after the other.
I felt it was going to be a shit session though, so didn't work on my novel. Just started typing up the following. I hope you enjoy it /lit.
1/2
“I need your help.”
I'm not entirely sure who I'm talking to. No living, breathing, human being. I'm in a cemetery. It's some time past midnight. I was frustrated and didn't know where to turn. I had no friends close enough to help me. I've always felt bad asking family for help. But I needed help. I was drawn to the cemetery.
“Please. Help me.”
Am I asking God? Or the spirits of those buried here? Am I asking demons? Or angels? I don't believe in any of those things. But I stopped here because it felt like a magical place. Burying our dead. Ritual. Tradition. Superstition. What I need help with is vague. I can't pinpoint the exact problem, or problems, I'm having. It just feels big. All encompassing, but not clear. Fog.
“Will you help me?”
No one, nothing, answers. It is quiet here. It is cold. That big magical desperate feeling begins to fade, and more grounded, and immediate, concerns come to mind. What if there's a night watchman patrolling here? And what if he sees some crazy guy talking to himself in the middle of a cemetery at midnight, long after he's locked the gates? How conspicuous is my motorcycle in front of the locked gate? Would people passing by notice? Would they call the police? Maybe they'd think it was the night watchman's motorcycle. If there is a night watchman. If there is, I wonder where he parks?
“What do you need help with?”
That wasn't my voice. I freeze up. I should run. I should run as fast as I can to the front gate, jump over, and ride out of here before he even has a chance to unlock the gates to come after me. He'd see my plates. Unless I was really fast. If my bike would even start up right away. No. I'll have to talk my way out of this. Tell him I was visiting a relative's grave? This isn't good. I turn towards the voice. It's not a watchman.
“You came here for help,” the corpse says, “so tell me how I can help.”
He doesn't look well. Not even for a corpse. I don't know if the mortician just ignored any cleaning up, or if that type of open casket grooming just wears off after awhile in the dirt, but he looked horrible. He stands a little under six feet tall. He's wearing stained blue pants, and a stained denim long sleeved shirt. The stains seem to be equal parts blood and dirt. They still look cleaner than his face. His skin looks like yellow tanned leather. It's tight over the top of his bald head, and wrinkles around his mouth, nose and eyes. The yellowish color is broken up with a bruised black color around the eyes and mouth, and this color is splotched around other areas of his head and face. The blood in his teeth look fresh.
“I have to go. Please. I'm just going to leave. There might be a watchman.” My voice was steady. But I was scared.
“I'll help you. I've helped you already. With the night watchman.” He opens his mouth wide, like a strange exaggerated smile. There are strips of meat in his teeth.
>>7468676
2/2
I wake up on my bed. I don't remember getting into bed. I don't remember what happened after I saw the corpse. Did I see a corpse? Was I at the cemetery? It feels too real. The dirt on my boots give evidence to this feeling. I'm wearing the same clothes that I left in. Was the corpse a dream, or a hallucination? Part of some blackout that eventually led me here? Maybe it was some guy fucking with me. I'll find myself on some prankster's YouTube video. What time is it? Fuck.
Seven forty two in the morning. I'm supposed to be at work at eight. I can try to work out what happened last night later. I'm still wearing my black Dickies work pants from yesterday's shift. I don't even bother with my lower half; pants, boxers, socks, and boots all stay on. I throw off my hooded sweatshirt, and shirt, spray some deodorant under each arm, and put on my barista shirt. I don't even bother to brush my teeth. I'd almost feel bad about my lack of hygiene while working in the food industry. Except I hate the customers, hate my boss, and hate myself. I'll brush my teeth later.
My keys are still in my pocket. I grab my barista cap, and head out the bedroom, into the living room, and see my door wide open. I didn't even close the door when I got home? I look around to see if any of my scumbag neighbors happened to enter and steal any of my shit. Not that I have a lot of shit. My five year old laptop is still on my desk. I look around for a bit before I realize there really isn't anything to steal in my apartment. A few plates and forks, some old paperbacks, vitamins, and a couch. I walk out, and make sure to lock the door. There is dirt on the doorknob. I leave.
What do you think fellas? That's almost 900 words!
>>7468672
it's not good but keep writing and maybe it will be
>>7468691
Keep writing this thing, or you mean in general? Keep writing everyday?
>>7468696
shut up faggot just do some stuff
>>7468672
I think it's a good goal to aim for, but I find there are just times where I'm forcing it. I'd rather write something solid every other day than force it every day and end up wasting time writing crap.
Then again, I've always been about balance. One day to write, the next day I read. Left foot, right foot. That's always been my method for progress.
>>7468672
I do it, it may not be substantial sometimes but at least I'm writing. Also helps if you have a project that's just for fun that you can go back to.
>>7468672
It's pretty crap but most things people write are crap so it's fine.
The best thing out of writing everyday is you might pick out scenes, characters, lines, or ideas that are really good and carry those into something bigger.
It's bad but at least you can understand it
Keep writing OP I believe in you
To answer your question: no I don't write everyday.
I'd say I write about 5 times a week on average.
I'm going to go write something right now.
>it felt like a magical place
how old are you? That sounds like a 7 year old girl desu.
>>7468672
Go to bed, Daria.
>>7468745
You've got the right idea. Just the act of writing alone even if its to the lovely self absorbed fucks on /lit/ is an accomplishment.
Never give up, use our angst to fuel your magical journey into the cosmos.
Last year at my peak I wrote 6x week for 1.5 hrs each. This year I barely wrote.
Writing is a craft. It requires discipline to develop. If you aren't taking classes, you should be reading books about writing.
I'm not a writer, so why would I?
For me it was entretaining and i want to read more. Its good ,maybe not patrician but who gives a shit?
I just did! I wrote something creepy.
I thought I'd try, feedback is ALWAYS welcome
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g_01K3-ktgezpvudBishzN5uugz522BNQL9QdJmEXps/edit?usp=sharing
>>7468672
Yep.
Been doing it for 6 months now.
i feel like i've improved so much since i started.
can't wait to see what my writing looks like in another 6 months.
Does anyone else use r/writingprompts?
I know it's >reddit, but sometimes it's been enjoyable.
>>7468934
Any suggestions?
I've picked up the war of art, but it's mostly just telling us to persevere, nothing that could replace a writing class (which I've never taken).
>>7468672
What's the point? If you're a shit writer and you write shit every single day that doesn't make you a better writer.
>>7468672
Its to meandering, you seem to be trying to feign depth, but it obvious that its a visard.
>>7469109
Calm your ass mane. Dosto was kinda mediocre at the beginning; things were gettin better when nigga was sent to prison.
If you write 10 tons of shit during a year you'll maybe get half a ton of fine shit desu. Just don't give up, OP.
>>7468672
By the way, read other shit that's not tumblr edgy wannabe shit. Shit seems like a creepypasta mane, everytime I read that short phrase shit "It cold. I enter the graveyard. Silence. I hear a voice. It aint mine. Cold" I just cringe my shit out. Also why the fuck you change verbal time when you telling a story? Read your shit after you write, wait some days if you've been much into it. You'll realize it's complete shit. But if you really wanna tell that story you'll just do your best to write it again in a fine way.
Read shit mane.
I tried writing in English, although it's not my first language. I basically wrote the first thing that came into my mind:
''Such was the horror over my companion's face that no words, however vivid and precise, could properly describe it, and no painter, no matter how deep his dexterity on his craft, could ever portray it. I myself have since then spent many a sleepless nights recovering its image and toying with its various colors and aspects on my mind, analyzing and reanalyzing the smallest of the details in search of some new dose of understanding. Not many seconds did it last, but so much did it reveal that I have not yet attained the whole meaning of it. And, sometimes, when I am quietly reading on my armchair under the flaming lights of the candelabrum it comes to me again, with many of its features born anew, and even after all these years I can still feel some small and elusive vestige of the very terror that struck my heart that dismal night.''
Can I write in English? Is it comparable to the writings of other posters?
I sometimes play with the idea of writing in English, but I am never sure. It looks dangerous.
Don't be harsh, I did it in twenty minutes or so.
>>7469070
For starters I'd recommend linda seger and syd field's books on screenwriting. I don't write sreenplays but the concepts are the same. If give got something in progress maass' around the breakout novel/workbook is fantastic.
>>7469707
>Damn you auto correct
*Writing the breakout novel
>>7469702
>Such was
dropped
>>7469754
Is it too bad?
>>7469070
Anne Lamott, "Bird by Bird"
Great advice on writing everyday, what to do when stuck, tips like just writing something very small if you're stuck, say you're gonna just work on one paragraph where you meet your hero or what have you. Good book
>>7468878
Yeah, this.
>>7468672
I think the general idea behind that is just be consistent, if you don't have a system you end up not feeling it for a week and even a month and you get nowhere, I think that you might wana keep a sort of a diary with thoughts on your novel which you write in every night just to keep you always thinking about it. Just pour in some emotions and and thoughts and ideas and then if you get stranded on the novel just read the whole thoughts diary through
>>7469803
I could never connect with Lamott or her advice.
As a software developer, reading Coders at Work inspired me. It's crucial to get insight into how successful people do their jobs. Not just the vague shit like "work hard" or "don't give up" but the day to day tactical and technical reality of how the work is done.
Most professions pass on this knowledge, but for writers it just amounts to "write every day". I think there's a lot missing from actual working writers.
