Doesn't have to be anything major, the little wins are the nicest:
>be me
>publish stuff online in somewhat insular but still populated circles since the early 2010s
>started off at around 14, in mid 20s now
>gained some notoriety in the scene but never really went anywhere, wasting my life now
>beginning to think I should just wash out and be a wagie, the book's not coming, journalism and critique is the hackiest shit imaginable, too stupid to write nonfiction or even do video essays
>just wasting my time with my dumb poems and stories and getting circlejerked
>19 year old zoomie who likes some of my stuff gets to talking with me
>recommend him Infinite Jest since that was the last book I got into that really clicked with me
>zoomie loves it
>constantly messages me to talk about stories and about his daily reads
>tells me about how much of an inspiration it is
>asks me to proofread his stuff
>asks if I've written anything lately and if I say yes always genuinely interested in reading whatever it is
Feelsgoodman. It may not be much but it's mine.
That's badass. I haven't read any of Wallace yet, but I would like to. I loved your story.
Start with his short stories, then go to his essays. Unless you have phenomenal amounts of free time Infinite Jest is definitely something to work up to. You'll have to reread a lot of it, and take breaks to chew on what you've just read—it's part of the ethos of the book and what it's trying to comment on vis a vis consumer culture and entertainment addiction. But it's worth it. Even with some big missteps (like thinking we'd all still be using cartridges in 2010 and misjudging the ubiquity of the internet) so much of it feels so spot on, especially if you have addiction issues of any kind—and in this day and age, we all do. Even if it's just to posting. He's actually a fantastic short story writer despite the monolith that IJ is. That comes through in the book too, some of the scenes are brief and cut right to the bone, but he's a master at taking 500-200 words and using every single one in a self-contained narrative. Similar to how Joyce is known for Ulyssus and Finnegan's Wake but still wrote Eveline, a six page work completely concise and laser-focused on what it wants to tell.
Gay.
>be me
>first year out of law school
>get assigned some client doing specialty work under the ERISA Act
>no one else wants to do it
>see a legal texbook on a related topic but it has no ERISA chapter
>write a letter (yes it was that long ago) to the publisher
>hey I'm doing this specialty work, and you need a chapter
>anon we just happen to be updating the book, submit your chapter
>gets published
>feels good man
>next job
>partner says hey anon want to co-write a chapter on our firm's specialty
>hells yeah
>get published in another respected legal textbook
>keep the ball rolling
>join a legal group committee on another specialty
>has a magazine (yeah I'm that old) that's circulated to about 30,000 lawyers nationwide
>anon can you write us an article for the magazine
>hells yea
>wind up getting eight articles published in the magazine, 30k circulation, over the next few years
>keep the ball rolling
>move to a new city
>has a great business monthly magazine, full glossy
>about 20k circulation
>meet the publisher at a networking event
>tell him he needs me to write an article on [business topic]
>wind up having four published over the course of a few years
Never got paid for it, but I have my name in lights in all those publications
>Never got paid for it, but I have my name in lights
kek
>kek
"submissions" in law are rarely paid
But I've got bragging rights in having done something very few others have done. Would you rather hire the guy who wrote the book, or the guy who read the book?
don't be jelly
>never got paid
Dumbass
I got my second poem published by a journal and I got the contributor proof from them today. It feels good especially after being rejected ein tausend times.
Nice, good job Anon. Care to share?
Bump, I wanna hear some real shit from people who tried (thank you to the anons and op who contributed)
Post it, Anon. I want to read it. I'll even give you an honest review.
>joined local writing workshop
>usual mix of people who don't read and people who have nothing to say, a few strong writers of various ages
>really softball tastes all around
>tom spanbauer's workshop, this is not
>write a short story about a vacation that ends a friendship
>really softball experience
>I shit you not, most of the no talent assclowns feel personally attacked at me describing a mashup of two different trips to the beach
>apparently they can't make their own fun and spend hours in the bathroom every morning or something
>I don't know, the discussion got heated and sides were taken over every little hot button issue
>group pretty much dissolves after that, still keep in touch with everyone else
That was weird, but I liked it. I've never seen a story have that kind of effect. I consider it my only writing success.
Truly this IS a success in provocative writing, IDK what the frick is wrong with normies but the story sounds inoffensive as shit. Care to share? What were people's grievances?
This was like 10 years ago, I'd have to dig around for the hand typed manuscript because I was a hipster. Basically, I set up the story where the narrator is sharing a rental with 3 of his friends from high school. One spends hours in the bathroom making his woolen hair try and do something it can't, shoots down every idea for something to do, and pisses and moans the entire time. The other goes out to frick strange and comes back with a bunch of degenerates partying all night. They argue about what to eat (never a good sign). The narrator and the other one go out without telling them and have a good time doing practically nothing, which makes the two buttholes even shittier. It starts to rain and they all b***h at each other in a drunken fight. A hurricane cuts the trip short. Six hours of well earned silence. ~20 pages, single spaced.
I was more subtle and factual with the presentation than it sounds in summary, made these people likable and someone the narrator wanted to agree with and appease. I also wove in every little thing, every straw that adds up to a miserable trip. It's a common experience. What divided them was what you are entitled to do on a group vacation like that and who was in the right. The food thing was a wedge issue. You could tell who came from a dysfunctional family with that one, and who was aware their family was dysfunctional. Who has what rights to a shared space was a wedge issue. you could tell who had roommates and what kind of roommate they were. That only informed what was underneath.
The real grievance was I think, and I've discussed this to death with other writers so it's total bullshit, that a story about how seemingly strong friendships aren't tested until you see the private, dirty side of them and have to live and work together is exactly like meeting a bunch of strangers in a creative writing class. How you have total shitters who can only critique but offer nothing, braggarts trying to appeal to the worst kind of audience, and those that make the sublime out of nothing but have their own flaws. Did I intend to write that at that time? Not consciously, hence why it's bullshit.
Really, I think it was that I wrote something pithy and humorous. The big fish and shitters were neither. It wasn't "literary" and everyone else liked it and liked talking about it. The group was already on the way out before I got there, I only ignited the tinder of resentment.
I do get a little chuckle out of the idea that your story acted as a mirror that showed the wedges that were present in the writing group you were in. That is very funny. Well done.
It made me very conscious of who I seek critique from and how to evaluate it. Kind of a tangent but the experience taught me how to give useful criticism and that not many amateurs ask 'writer questions' or critique their own work from the top down.
Good thing to take from that, many just get butthurt
nice! nice! nice!
Yeah, just Pastebin and I'll hit ya with one. Going to a concert tonight so it might be in a few hours but as long as the thread doesn't 404 we should be fine.
>be me
>Only like Victorian era novels
>Aside from some IQfycore, I don't read any postwar literature
>Get demotivated constantly because everyone hates Victorian literature
>Love writing more than life itself
>live in a country that larps as French
>dual citizen from the US and this country
>Zero work opportunities for anglophones
>Have no other joy in life but writing
>Only write dense, esoteric books about aristocratic cybernetic lesbians
>post a few samples in /wg/
>some love it, some hate it
>At least there's a niche
>Devote my time to my writing
>Decide to just upload it all online because no agent will represent my planned 875k word novel
>hope to finish in 90 days because I write 10k a day
>When I'm done editing it, i wanna release a new chapter everyday
>Am motivated but uneasy
I have no literary successes. I don't even enjoy writing. I wish I did.
Do you enjoy having written?
No. Everything I've written just feels embarrassing after.
I relate
That's why I dont tell my ideas to people
That' how you know you've written something good
>be me
>creative writing subject in university
>really like the teacher
>write a short story for a class
>it's one of five texts that the teacher liked the most
It's not much but warms my heart.
That's genuinely very sweet. I flunked out of the only creative writing class I ever took in college because I couldn't finish stories on time
i finally wrote. mostly just outline, but lots of it. finally getting going is big.
Hell yeah brother, what're you writing?
>try writing muh big serious literary statements
>blanket rejections
>type up some goofy story my dad told me about his time in the airforce
>accepted immediately by the first journal I sent it to
The best literature is the one about the little things. Picking something ordinary and making it extraordinary is the real art of writing.
I think there's a little more to it than that but it really is about taking little things and setting them in a context that highlights them. Too many immature writers, especially now, mistake all the flash for the meaning.
After 5 years of posting stuff on IQfy writing threads, I finally started getting consistent positive reactions from my work instead of being ghosted or called Black person. They are just practice sketches, but it feels good to know I've improved my skills through honest effort.
>https://pastebin.com/qmHU0uGs
I liked it anon. Good work 🙂
I do not write even though I would like to, but yesterday I wrote out a little 2k summary of my friend group's new DnD campaign from the pov of my character. It made me feel accomplished, even though I know it is nothing compared to what many anons here do regularly. Still, it makes me happy. I hope everyone here is doing well, and can feel happy with their progress however small.
Love this thread. Great to have a good vibe going for our budding writers.
Personal successes? None atm but wrt to failures I recently got rejected from a short story competition for what I think is a badass fricking story.
Post an example of an author who had a great idea, but then failed to explore and expand said idea during the development stage.
My contribution:
'Bears discover fire' by Terry Bisson
Reply with a similar contribution.