The Writing Thread

but how do you write unsympathetic non protagonist characters with solid logic and weight to their perspective without making them ontologically good?
Give them a motive to do what their doing. An excellent example are Batman villains, yes they're more sympathetic but they have legit motivation for doing what they're doing. When something believes in a philosophy it makes it more genuine.
 
I think you're confusing propaganda with respect. When I say serious I mean it's something respectful or realistic, it doesn't force you to take it seriously, it doesn't draw attention to itself and can stand on its feet. The reddit serious syndrome is propaganda, something which is a puppet for the writer, something which draws attention to itself and you can see from a mile away, you know, pretentious writing. A good example is tlou2 with its gratuitous sex and violence mixed with out of place subject matter and hypocritical framing. I never denied reading ancient shit is by any means bad, I just said unless you're specifically cribbing from it, it can be unnecessary.
Nah, all attempts at "serious" writing inevitably insist upon themselves to some degree or another by design even if the more skillful ones are better at making the audience forget that's what's happening. Hard disagree re; ancient texts, though I'll just leave it at that.
 
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It’s a slow night. Guests stay for less than 5 minutes before abruptly leaving. So far, I’ve made $40. I carefully expose my nipples, teasing the ten people watching me right now. I presume they’re men although I did get a butch dyke once who demanded I do anal with a hairbrush. I urge my viewers to spend the extra on an exclusive show where they’ll get to see even more. A random tipper, named Mr. Big, sends me $5 and I reveal my breasts and play with them for a minute while thanking my benefactor. They ask me if I do anal in the chat and I said no. They ask to see my asshole instead; I let out a snarky laugh and say I wouldn’t do it until I get $100. Seconds later I get $100 in tips. I hesitate but soon oblige, as I pull down my panties and bend over, I ask them what they like. There’s a long pause of several minutes. I spank my ass in a half-hearted attempt and coo “You like, baby?” They message me that they want a private show.

Cam

2

Cam

I oblige.

All the other viewers vanish as I try to contain my joy that I found a whale. I teasingly call for their name as though calling them back into bed with me as their camera loads their image. I see a white room like a hospital, my benefactor sits in a wheelchair with a blanket, their flesh melted to a crusted brown, no eyelids, and a mouth permanently open with distorted teeth. I can’t help but immediately cry and keep repeating “Oh my god.” It talks through the chat, I’m unsure if it’s automated or someone is assisting, it greets me with “Hi, my name is Tom.” I just want to leave but I feel pity for this mass of destroyed tissue. I wipe away the tears best as I can and asks him what he likes. He responds “Suck my cock.” A twisted little hand springs to life and removes the blanket, revealing a small equally deformed penis that is bleach white and scabby. I can’t help but vomit. It responds “You like, baby?”
 
Couple of questions for everyone:

First off, anyone got any good suggestions/sources for writing werewolf stories? I look on Google, I mostly get horror movies, Wikipedia, or this one Maverick guy's Tumblr; any suggestions?

Secondly, anyone else feel weird about using actual mythologies and such for making stories? Like, I keep getting ideas for basing the MC werewolf off of Egyptian myth (LONG story, it would make a bit more sense in the actual plot), but I keep hesitating because it feels... weird? I dunno, I think it's more because I'm a huge mythology fan and it just feels weird to be using it in what was ultimately an admittedly bizarre plot.
 
"I hear the authentication board is meeting tomorrow," said the woman to Bob's left - Lady something-or-other, whose voice dripped old money like her Harry Winston drops dripped diamonds.

Is this annoying? Sometimes I feel like a clever little Shakespeare with my alliteration but idk if it comes across as fart sniffer prose to a reader.
 
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Couple of questions for everyone:

First off, anyone got any good suggestions/sources for writing werewolf stories? I look on Google, I mostly get horror movies, Wikipedia, or this one Maverick guy's Tumblr; any suggestions?

Secondly, anyone else feel weird about using actual mythologies and such for making stories? Like, I keep getting ideas for basing the MC werewolf off of Egyptian myth (LONG story, it would make a bit more sense in the actual plot), but I keep hesitating because it feels... weird? I dunno, I think it's more because I'm a huge mythology fan and it just feels weird to be using it in what was ultimately an admittedly bizarre plot.
At the risk of sounding like some wine swilling Frenchman, you can't ever really be worth a damn as a writer until you stop being afraid of mutilating the things you enjoy as a reader or in general. For example, I would say I'm a huge "fan" of Al Jolson (not even kidding) and I'm not afraid of shitposting about his dead kike mummy (no mammy of mine) in my personal scribbles if I think it'll be funny.
 
Couple of questions for everyone:

First off, anyone got any good suggestions/sources for writing werewolf stories? I look on Google, I mostly get horror movies, Wikipedia, or this one Maverick guy's Tumblr; any suggestions?

Secondly, anyone else feel weird about using actual mythologies and such for making stories? Like, I keep getting ideas for basing the MC werewolf off of Egyptian myth (LONG story, it would make a bit more sense in the actual plot), but I keep hesitating because it feels... weird? I dunno, I think it's more because I'm a huge mythology fan and it just feels weird to be using it in what was ultimately an admittedly bizarre plot.
I'd say that if you're putting your werewolves into the real world, then referencing real-world mythology helps ground your fantastical creature in reality. I'd also say that you don't need to strictly adhere to any particular myth, but you can use those myths as a jumping off point (after all, it's folklore that will get twisted and changed as it's passed through the ages) for whatever you want to do.

And if you're already a big fan of reading various myths, you'll probably have a bunch of elements that you can draw from to develop your werewolf and possibly other supernatural creatures and pieces of plotting and worldbuilding.

Is this annoying? Sometimes I feel like a clever little Shakespeare with my alliteration but idk if it comes across as fart sniffer prose to a reader.
I like the metaphor, but the alliteration of 'drops dripped diamonds', along with the repeated 'dripped' trips the rhythm up for me.
 
I'd say that if you're putting your werewolves into the real world, then referencing real-world mythology helps ground your fantastical creature in reality. I'd also say that you don't need to strictly adhere to any particular myth, but you can use those myths as a jumping off point (after all, it's folklore that will get twisted and changed as it's passed through the ages) for whatever you want to do.
Make your own mythology. So long as it doesn't deviate too far. When John (lower the helicopter) Landis was making An American Werewolf in London he went up to the original screenwriter for the Wolfman and asked him where the idea for silver bullets killing werewolves came from. The guy goes "Well, I was listening to the Lone Ranger on the radio and he used silver bullets and that sounded like a good idea."
 
First off, anyone got any good suggestions/sources for writing werewolf stories?
Do what sounds cool and fits the type of story you want to write. There should probably be a core of traditional folklore that you build off of (eg, a person turning into a wolf-like monster for werewolves) otherwise you'll just be making a new type of creature.
Like, I keep getting ideas for basing the MC werewolf off of Egyptian myth (LONG story, it would make a bit more sense in the actual plot), but I keep hesitating because it feels... weird?
That sounds cool as hell, do it. Meld your two (or more) interests together, use the best of both worlds and make something unique. If you respect the myths you're stealing from, I don't imagine anyone who matters is going to complain. They used a lot of ancient Egyptian culture as inspiration for Stargate, and people love that series.
 
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Been on a literature hunting spree lately, was curious about what the publishers look for in an authors work/book. Let's take a look at Elsevier, I mean they have some math and physics books, can't be that bad right!?

> "Use of inclusive language"
> "Sex and gender reporting"
> let's look at an (((random))) example...
> "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation"


I hate publishers, it's all so gay. No wonder students feel repulsed reading shit in school when its authors are forced to type in the gayest and most retarded way possible. Yeah, this "guideline" sure will make the youth read more and learn stuff...
 
...keep getting ideas for basing the MC werewolf off of Egyptian myth but I keep hesitating because it feels... weird?
Sounds like you just want a solid grip on the symbolism so you don't insert a werewolf where it doesn't belong.

I'm no expert™ but if the themes of 'the animalistic side of man' and 'chthonic forces at work in our affairs' are applicable, then an Egyptian werewolf sounds like a decent representation of those themes.
 
Carl Jung comes highly recommended if you're looking for the significance of symbolism and self-discovery.

Carl Jung.PNG
 
This is very stupid but Im having a bad time and wrote some TedK style nonsense. I hope its of some value.
These are the 2020s, a quarter way into the 21st century, very much like the previous century the world is on the cusp of a paradigm shift propelled by forces similar to the ones in the past. There is mass stagnation; discontentment; cultural dilution; educational dilution; divisions among people based on a variety of different characteristics be it intrinsic, extrinsic, immutable, behavioral, ideological among so many other factors, divisions which are cultivated and exploited by very nebulous entities for a variety of reasons; a vast deluge of poor quality produce; the tampering of entertainment art and history; the trampling of various inalienable rights from privacy to free communication to existence; demoralization and ultimately mass suffering and death. This is by no means a unique phenomenon but some might say this is the end of a road, a road which humanity sped along. The second Industrial revolution which occurred at the cusp of the 21st century was responsible for setting in motion the forces which led humanity to this cliff edge. Some were wise enough to foresee it and the consequences it was to have, some knew its outcomes in advance and purposefully supported or opposed it and the others were completely oblivious to anything of the sort. Just like the industrial revolution before it, this revolution brought about a variety of boons and banes with society liquifying temporarily when faced with such innovation. The populace was introduced to older paradigms of thought as well enabling them to interrogate the culture and powers that be even if they were completely powerless to attack either. But what is liquid must eventually solidify, in our imperfect world the forces that be would never allow such a utopian liquid society to function. Economists call this phenomenon calcification and despite it never being associated with a liquid fluid state, causality forcibly links both in chains. This fact is something which has been a universal truth for a very long time expressed in phrases like “rise and fall” and “what goes up, must come down”. Calcification therefore should be an inevitable process due to human nature and the greater forces that be. But is it really? Are materialistic progress and change really forces of entropy dedicated to decimating free and prosperous societies? In the 2000s despite the widespread problems of the time period, society was observably more prosperous with widespread promotion of freedom, self empowerment, truth seeking and other positive values. Compare that society with the today, the post covid 20s society and the differences are quite visible. This must prompt a question, what happened?

The Industrial Revolution of the late 80s and early 90s was a revolution in technology. Technology made a 30 year leap in the course of 10 as the societal conditions allowed the young hyper-competents of the world to exert mammoth efforts towards manifesting the impossible. Thus they were able to create a virile counter culture which was able to change the world for the better like many cultures before it. The magnum opus of this industrial revolution was the automation of communication which came to be called the internet, similar to the automation of information or the computer which preceded it. The internet in the early days was a pure liquid. Its free Brownian nature allowed for people to realize a strain of freedom which was previously perceived as conceptual. With it and its older brother the computer came an innumerable number of benefits for the average person and to say it had no improvements would’ve been a false statement. Populations around the world had an opportunity to evolve, to be more efficient, intelligent and greater than the sum of their parts. And indeed they did for a short period. That was the prosperity which materialized in the 90s and 2000s, a time when average people could hold their own against the problems of the world. But at the very same time, there were hidden forces at play, which sought to utilize and exploit the revolution to satiate their own sinful desires, be it greed lust envy sloth or anything else. They knew they could not manage that in a free and prosperous society and resorted to the oldest conquest tactics in history. The second industrial revolution brought about an opportunity to unite people no matter how different, to grant them freedom and power. These sinister forces sought to divide people no matter how similar, make them surrender their freedom and belongings for a smidgen of security. With a very coincidental balanced set of events in the late 2000s, society was poisoned and the hyper-competents sold their souls to the powers that be. In return they were granted an empire, an impenetrable fortress which could imprison the people of the world and the keys to the hearts and minds to the populations of the world. Thus the industrial empire was formed which created problems left right and center, promising the populaces governed security in exchange for their freedoms. Slowly but surely each problem ensured the people surrendered their freedoms, being herded into a prison where their new overlords would turn them into chattel to be profited off. They were lied to, abused, turned on each other, forced to fight their brothers and made into animals who could be commanded. The internet, an unparalleled paragon of freedom, became a rotting prison complex where people fought to survive while the wardens profited off them.

You might still ask, how this happened, why this happened, how you can see it, perceive it? That can be illustrated
  • Your streets were filled with criminals, rapists, sadists and animals of all kinds who steal your children from you, ravage them and keep you in fear and terror. Your safe secure homes, hard earned money and treasured legacies were stolen and given to people who never worked a day in their lives and squandered what was so graciously granted to them. Your humble neighborhoods were defaced and ruined by people who don’t care about you and yours.
  • Your friends, neighbors, colleagues and family were turned on you. One bad word, one bad thought, one bad action could get you thrown to the wolves and torn to shreds. Your thinking was taken from you by the media and their constant bombardments of consensus. Your children were taken from you, defiled and changed against your will.
  • The media you love was taken from you, held hostage, defiled against your consent and thrown in your face with threats of force to constantly surrender your hard earned money to grasp at the illusion of ownership. The very same media are made larger and larger while they deliver less and less, like a bloated corpse, as they demand more. Your childhoods were poisoned and forcefully spoonfed back to you.
  • Your education is filled with lies and useless information, actively disincentivizing flourishing thought, as the powers that be demand educators to turn you into neutered obedient chattel, incapable of producing genius. They do this as they brandish their incompetence as virtue and create unstable useless produce of no value.
  • Your property is made increasingly useless as it betrays your command, betrays your trust, constantly breaks down your privacy and steals your most important personal information. The powers that be take that information, pried from your vulnerable hands, and gives it to other exploiters who use it for their own ends.
  • You are kept on a leash, like a caged animal, fed treats and enticed by betterment, only to be kicked to the dirt by oligarchs and organizations of size and power beyond imagination. You are no longer allowed to think, to be free, to be self sufficient, to stand apart from the crowd, to be left alone.
The Industrial empire needs its chattel to be satiated, to be suppressed and held in chains as theyre convinced of their own empowered freedoms while getting flogged on their backs. This is not the state of things, this does not need to be the state of things. The free willed people of the world have more power than they can imagine and it is possible to crush the empire so everyone maybe emancipated. Reject the things which satiate you, reject poisoned conveniences, steal what you can, sabotage what you can, interrogate the things which are imposed upon you. You are not obligated to surrender anything you worked hard to earn, especially if you don’t want to. Read more, learn more, think freely. Most importantly embrace empowerment forcefully, work constantly and consistently towards self improvement. The weak are easy targets to conquer, reject weakness and embrace a positive vision of the future. We are on a cliffs edge, being forced to take the plunge. What is done is our choice to make, to let the rot subsist and destroy the world or to destroy it and remake society anew. Choices have consequences, choose wisely. Join or Die.
 
Bit late, but; thanks for the help on the werewolf question, guys! Been going through a VERY large number of story-related problems right now - trying to create a shapeshifter race, and I'm currently stuck on the MC's design - and I appreciate any assistance anyone is willing to offer.

Speaking of, I need another little piece of advice really quick; when it comes to character designs, do you prefer going with either a design that you persoanlly prefer, or a design that's more "symbolic"? I ask, because there's two separate character designs that I like that I can't really choose between; ones got a lot of symbolism and fits well with the story but honestly feels pretty boring. The second is more of a design that I like, but it's a little more difficult to work with and might not have the as widespread appeal as the first. I like them both, and they will both be used in the story, but I'm questioning which one ought to be the "main" design; any advice?
 
Werewolf: the Apocalypse
If I have any advise for you, don't go full autistic with it, especially if it involves...animals too much. You'll attract the wrong audience.
Also, the cat design keeps reminding me of furfag shit, unfortunately...
For this exactly reason. Why I don't like adding "intelligent" animals or "animalistic" aspects to my writing, too much of a risk.
 
If I have any advise for you, don't go full autistic with it, especially if it involves...animals too much. You'll attract the wrong audience.

For this exactly reason. Why I don't like adding "intelligent" animals or "animalistic" aspects to my writing, too much of a risk.

Oh, trust me, I know WAY too much about how the fandom operates. Especially in Werewolf; check Page 99 of the World of Darkness General thread if you don't believe me: https://kiwifarms.st/threads/world-of-darkness-general-vtm-wto-mta-etc.78643/page-99.

But back on topic; I just always enjoyed a lot of classic werewolf stuff in general. The "human turning into violent monster" bit was something I thought was neat in stories - especially with how many myths and such worldwide there are of stuff like that - and I genuinely hate how furfags ruined it. You could have some genuinely neat themes of humanity and such, but no; animal fuckers have to ruin it all.

Also, funnily enough, I actually got an idea in mind shortly after posting the original post; I ended up deleting it as a result. Sorry!
 
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