Read one of the books off the "New Bestseller's" shelf at the bookstore

>read one of the books off the "New Bestseller's" shelf at the bookstore
>"Man, this shit is considered a best seller? I can do way better that this!"

>Spend some time writing out the first part of a novel
>read it over
>it's even worse shit

Yeah, writing is difficult, not particularly enjoyable, and surely not as rewarding (in all senses), but halting your own efforts after comparing your work to focus-group-tested prose is the worse thing you can do.

Write your shit, self-publish your shit, and don't check if others think it's shit. Good luck, OP.

this is good advice that turned into bad advice really fast

Is self-publishing really that much of a meme?

no but disregarding criticism is.
Plus if you're considering writing to make money in 2017 you're going to be very disappointed I'm afraid. Write because you cannot not do it.

Write more.

>And it is to be noted that it is the fact that Art is this intense form of Individualism that makes the public try to exercise over it in an authority that is as immoral as it is ridiculous, and as corrupting as it is contemptible. It is not quite their fault. The public has always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity. Now Art should never try to be popular.

>Plus if you're considering writing to make money in 2017 you're going to be very disappointed I'm afraid. Write because you cannot not do it.
This sounds familiar. Isn't it from Rilke's letters to the aspiring young poet?

Nigga, I gotta pay for food to survive so I can keep writing

No, its from zenpencils

>writing is difficult
I have never understood this meme. Writing is extremely easy, and I for one find it very enjoyable.

That's half the problem. Because when I'm doing something for enjoyment, I have a different mindset from when I am doing actual work. I feel no responsibility not to flit between activities at whim, because it's all fun. Fun-time is when you're supposed to flit between activities, because the only purpose is to maximize your levity second by second.

So when I write, because I am having so much fun, the instant it occurs to me that I want to play XCOM 2, I do so. Then as I am playing XCOM, I decide I want to call someone a niggerlover in Twitter, so I do. Then I decide that I want to write another paragraph in my book, so I do, then I go back to XCOM 2, because I like the sound Sectoids make when my dudes cut their bellies open with machetes. Then it's 4:30 in the morning, and I have to go to sleep because I have work tomorrow.

If writing were actual work, and not fun, I think it would be easier for me, like a grim obligation.

I made it up on the spot, but it's banal enough that it wouldn't surprise me if it had been used before

>writing is easy
>why is it so hard to keep writing?

Huh?

>not being a literal starving artist
more like starving autist amitrite

>considered a best seller

Kek, most people are both

Best way to make money is to follow those who've made a shit ton of mint

No dumbass. Something isn't considered a bestseller. Either it is or it isn't.

By what list?

Sounds like it

>buy a best-selling highly recommended horror novel
>it's hot garbage
>it's terrible to the point that I start writing
It was going really well too until I found out that some asshole used all my original ideas 30 years ago

So they weren't very original then, where they?

Besides, no one is original. Just do the idea better than that guy did 30 years ago and you're golden. Hell, you can probably even do it worse and still be good, doubt anyone remembers those old ideas anymore. If you ever get called out on it, just say the dude was one of your biggest influences and your works are a homage to him.

dont remind me
>struck with brilliant inspiration to write about a detective visiting an insane asylum but it turns out he is the insane one
>made it elaborate but accessible, extremely proud of it
>show it to a friend
>"this is great but uhh.. it's a lot like Shutter Island"
>mfw I had never heard of Shutter Island before
>my fucking face when I rewrote a slightly worse Shutter Island with different characters

See they are censoring Wojacks now!

jej

That's a fells bad user

you poor bastard
your fault for thinking anything involving an insane asylum was an original idea