/lit/ - Literature

I've never read any John Greene or David Foster, who is this making fun of?

Is Infinite Jest Shit?

Can an anon get some writing tips/techniques/resources? I'm trying to get back into writing after years of impotency, but it's been hard to stay motivated.

I've come to accept that if I have any sort of talent, it's that I can write pretty well (at the very least, better than average). I use to write awful poetry and lyrics to nonexistent songs as a kid, music reviews when I was in high school, and by the time I got to college I was toying around with short fiction. Now, it seems like the only time I actually put my talents to good use its to write papers for class. I've become so abjectly self-conscious that I can only manage short sentences/vague story ideas but never see any of them through.

If good writing results from innate talent honed by practice, then fine; how does one contend with all of the amateurish, embarrassing shit that you'll produce in the meantime? It's hard to stay motivated when I see just how limited my one slight talent truly is.

The more well read you are, the better you'll write--okay. But whenever I try to write while in the middle of reading something I find myself stuck in that author's voice and the tone of their book, so that everything I produce ends up reading like a shitty parody. And the more I read, the more it dawns on me that I'm far, far away from ever writing with the same amount of depth and subtlety and honesty as the great writers.

I'm open to anything. I've been trying to freewrite for at least an hour a day, and I'm toying with the idea of starting a diary (desu). Are there any other techniques/advice that you can recommend? Have any of you found formal instruction to be helpful (books or other resources that explain plot structure, character development, etc.)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS1UV3hlvkE

Relevant part starts at 2:30.

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