Write for 3 months

>write for 3 months
>20,000 words
I hate this. Why am I doing this to myself?

>open a document
>whole day
>by bedtime written 5 sentences

You'll have a novella in 6 months if you stick to it. Stop pretending that's bad. I haven't written much in the last 3 months except for homework. Be glad you even have the motivation to write. If you pumped out four short stories (20k each) a year, that would be very good.

>open word document
>write 5 pages
>open second word document
>write 5 pages
>repeat unto death

>You'll have a novella in 6 months if you stick to it.
If I could stick to it, I wouldn't be making this thread.

I have a really bad problem with padding stories. Not that I do too much of it, but that I can't bring myself to do it enough. As a result, a good chunk of the action will have occured within only 1,500 words or so and I'll have wasted my best lines.

Help.

>tfw I never know if my prose is too purple or too dry
>tfw I can't write dialogue for shit

God, yes. That's the problem I have too. I CAN write a fully fleshed out bullet point story outline, but the second I try to write the actual story? Nothing. Instead, what I end up with is 10 pages of random scenes. That have some nice sentences, but are completely worthless on their own.

I'll write, what other authors use for an entire chapter, in two pages. I don't understand. It's horrible. I don't know what to do.

Boy, if you figure it out, tell me.

>start writing
>get to 15,000 words
>lose interest and give up
Every time

You shouldn't be padding. You should be adding stuff that adds to the scenes, plot or the themes.

What is it that's making you want to write in the first place?

I want to write a story I enjoy reading. In the beginning, I probably wanted to write something people would love, then, what even 1 person would enjoy. At this point, I just want to finish a fucking story.

>write for 1 hour
>1,000 words
>they're all complete fucking garbage and i hate myself

>Be me
>Write 2 novels
>Reach 60k words
>put down
> start writing short story collection
>get half done
>put down
>Start writing poem collection
>get half done
>put down

I'm starting my first short novel. I decided to start with the ending, then do the beginning, then work backwards.

Is this retarded?

No. Not necessarily. It's all about execution. I've heard it said that you should outline that way before. I'd definitely suggest outlining, especially if your story is primarily plot and character dependent, as opposed to a highbrow literary screed on some abstract notion (i.e. Infinite Jest with addiction).

Not necessarily.
I did it. But, that's just cuz I dreamt the ending. Go for it.

I just started writing the final 7 chapters because I pretty much have that down. Gonna work on an outline later. I'm also writing the ending first to see if my retarded ass should be writing at all. I'm terrible. Fairly confident that I write on a 2nd grade level.

>Fairly confident that I write on a 2nd grade level.
Yelp. I'm not much better, so whatever.

write for your own private joy.

>I write bad
Then go for minimalistic prose.

If you want purple prose, use a thesaurus and find synonyms which sound good together. purple prose isn't hard

>tfw I don't even know what purple prose is
Maybe I shouldn't be writing.

eh. maybe, but who cares? art is for everybody, user.
purple prose is that really fancy shit. You know, the kind of writing that is really annoying if it's not done well.

It took Vergil 11 years to write the Aeneid.

I really don't think I'm as good as virgil, but I appreciate it anyway.

Then you shouldn't be writing, simpleton. Stick to your Veeky Forums posts.

I'm just saying that even the greatest writers need time and have to put in a lot of effort.

hey! rude

Thanks. I'm trying, at least.

It's just an industry term for people who write with really fancy words as opposed to simple straightforward speech.

Some people are impressed by floweriness of language, others by how gripping a plot is, others by cunningly developed the characters are. I've been writing for about 10 years on and off. You just get better with practice, and by reading, and by reading about writing. Being smart or having something original to say is not a prerequisite, though it helps, like anywhere else.

u will be fine my man

How would categorize HG Wells?

How would you*

Haven't really read much HG Wells, truth be told.
Why do you ask?

I'm just really fond of his work and I was going to try to write similar to his style.

Purple prose is poor. Don't mistake the phrase as an injunction to just write like Hemingway. It's overwrought, not just stylistic.

Nothing wrong with imitation. especially starting out. Your inspirations will eventually come together to form your own personal style after a while. Picasso said great artists steal.

There are books full of writing prompts, and even (dare I say it) a really corny writing prompts subreddit, if you need practice but don't know what to write about.

You can also adapt stories that have already been written to your own style. It's fanfic-tier but it makes for good throwaway practice.

Good luck dude, I've been doing this on and off for years. It can be fun even when you don't sell.

Friend, I appreciate your input.

If he tries to write using fancy words, as an amateur it'll likely be purple prose. I wasn't trying to confuse the man with the nuance of what purple prose prose is. It's just that, as he practices his purple prose will develop into something more. As he learns the twists and turns of meter, assonance, consonance, rhythm, character, tone, depth, etc. in writing, his purple prose will grow less purple. I'm just saying he can go for a simplistic hemingway-esque style or go nuts with big words. Starting out, without the nuance of years of practice, those are basically the choices.

I'd say one shouldn't be afraid to try and just go nuts with whatever you feel like, but also to keep those principles in mind so that when you look at what you've written, and it feels off to you, you can look at it through those lenses and tweak your approach to see if helps you write something you like a little bit more.