/lit/ - Literature

>>10625811
read more
write more

>>10625811
definitely read more, and above your reading level at that.

>>10625815
dur jus reed more and writign wil mak u good writter i didn no how play ches so i playd ches adn i got godd chss playar

not OP, I read Hemingway's 'the Old Man and the Sea' and now everything I write sounds pretentious because he uses such plain language. Help?

>>10625811
Post in critique threads. Type out entire short stories written by good writers. It really helps, I think it was Hunter S Thompson that typed out the entire great gatsby before writing fear and loathing in vegas.

>>10625825
that's literally what you're supposed to do to get better at writing you nigger

>>10625825
not sure why you're mocking that guy. It's not hard to understand. Reading more allows you to pick up the nuances of the written word, expands your vocabulary, and exercises conceptualization over time.

Writing allows you to put the former items into practice using your own voice.

>>10625841
durrr yus i goot in the nBa becus i playd baskitbal adn i didn hav coach adn i jus playd baskitbill to get butter

>>10625825
>Implying playing chess and observing others' chess games won't make you a better chess player
Well, it will if you're not retarded. That may be more than can be said for you.

>>10625838
but the Great Gatsby is shit in every way apart from form

>>10625853
du yus i agee thas al yuo ned to do tobee greet wroter u doneed anytihgn els

>>10625837

Read Anton Chekhov in a translation other than Constance's, Turgenev, Somerset Maugham's short stories and "Of Human Bongage," Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, and Frederick Barthelme.

>>10625855
Self-analysis and analysis of the classics are your coach, you braincuck.

>>10625863
>implying I said you don't need anything else.

What I said will *certainly* help though. Stop being a fucking dolt.

>>10625855
>>10625863
this is good
now people will be forced to give real answers

>>10625859
yus ches mastirs don reed boks the too smat too reed chuss book adn they hav no ches teechur

Reported

>>10625874
>tfw dad to turn me into a girl

>>10625871
Every time this question gets asked the only thing people say are "read more." or "just write".

>>10625881
That's literally how you do it. Do you think the greatest writers to have ever existed have MAs in English or Creative Writing? Give me a fucking break.

>>10625872
>too smat too reed chuss book
>Simultaneously criticising learning by reading and not learning by reading
So this... is the power... of severe autism... whoa...

>>10625862
>it's an example

read more
stay off the tubes

>>10625893
Do you think the greatest piano players simply practised what they thought were intuitive methods? No. Because intuitive methods don't get you anywhere

>>10625953
this. You don't learn music just by playing random crap, you study music theory.

>>10625953

>>10625837
Literally, just read and write as much as you can. Absorb as much as you can from as many authors as you can. Putting that into practice will help you reach a level of idiosyncracy that expresses your ideas in a satisfactory way. If you keep reading and keep writing then you keep evolving.

>>10625953
>>10625958

Poor choice of comparison.

Music is based on a system that requires memorization and rote practice to become better at.

Language is natural. You don't need training to understand it. You simply read and write more and you become better at communication.

>>10625953
>Creative Writing major

>>10625970
Agreed. Will add that formal study of lit/philosophy and art are helpful too.

>>10625811

1-Write every day

2-Read every day (in the beginning the classics of world literature)

3-When you find a writer (or writers) whose style you like and is the example of what you want to do, take them by model
3.1 Do not bother imitating your favorite author or authors in the beginning: whenever you are in doubt, ask yourself "What would Tolstoy (example) do in this situation", and consult his work. Do not worry about imitation: your own style will emerge with time.
3.2-Read works of literary criticism about your favorite author (on the techniques that make up the body of his master's works). Example: books on the use of metaphors, on versification, on the structuring of plot in Shakespeare.

4-Do not give up. Keep walking forward, even after rejections and defeats. Endurance is one of the keys to success as an artist (and even in any other activity).

5-Worry more about:

a) How to use language
b) How to structure stories
c) Formulate stories and plots that are interesting and significative
d) The creation of characters, fictional beings that captivate readers

than to pass complex and profound philosophical messages or to bring to the world new ideas

Be aware that literature always deals with the same issues: life, death, sex, love, search for power, rise and fall of careers and destinations, youth and old age, etc. The general questions are the same, but each author exposes them with his own language, with his own history, making his own characters live what is common in all mankind.

7-There is no worth on trying to to innovate just for the sake of innovating.

>>10626015
Thats....

Thats kinda it.