We had both new and returning after long absences writers post last month! Welcome
Many have worked hard and achieved important milestones this past month, thanks for sharing, everyone.
Thank you, everyone that continues to participate in these threads – it helps others when you do participate, sometimes more than you think.
If anyone has specific questions or concerns I may help with, please let me know.
Emily Short is one of interactive fiction’s greatest writers. Her blog is a wonderful source, both in general and to help figure out some tough concepts, such as the role of non-choice in IF.
Here is her blog’s homepage:
and here are two of my favorite articles of hers:
and
You might have seen one of these articles before – I believe @HarrisPS had linked one or the other in the past.
It is awesome to share everyone’s journey during the month; both highs and lows help each one of us realize that we are not alone in our journey.
If anyone has something special going on in April, let us know!
My April goal is to continue to work on my Patchwork’s project — I have a lot of work to do on it still.
Congratulations to everyone that made their March goals, and to any who didn’t, the slate is wiped clean and opportunity presents itself anew.
I managed to hit my 10k last month on the 31st. My goal remains to do it again, but I also would really like to at least get through the big battle scene in Day After. I feel like I have been adding side stuff and dancing around it for some time out of nerves on how to incorporate combat into a game with no mechanics for it, but it is time to just do it. Hopefully I can have the first draft done by the end of next month and submit it sometime thereafter. I’m antsy to write Grandparenting.
Thank you for making the new month’s thread, @Eiwynn, and good luck! I absolutely second the recommendation to check out Emily Short’s blog and work - always so useful to learn from.
My plan for April is to get going on Noblesse Oblige Chapter 5, and to do my Royal Affairs Ch 7-8 edits when they come back. NO Chapter 5 is going to involve a lot of thought as well as potentially tweaking some earlier chapter scenes, so it’s quite a task ahead but I’m also looking forward to returning to that world after a few months on RA. Not sure if I will complete the Chapter 5 draft, and I’m trying to be kind to myself to prepare for if it doesn’t happen, but I should at least have a solid plan for Chapters 5-6 which will be the plot ramping up and the game’s climax. Having a good grounding of what’s coming will mean I’m in a more confident place going forward!
Non detailed medical mention: In mid April I will be going through a surgery (nothing worrying) and although I’m not looking forward to the discomfort, I’m HUGELY looking forward to it being done. Afterwards I will be having a couple of weeks’ Enforced Rest Time during which I hope to watch some films and TV and play some games that I’ve not had the time for, which I think will give me inspiration, plus being generally revitalising.
My goal will be to release two separate but still very large updates in the month of April, due to my project The Operative reaching points in the story with a lot of pre written things I am optimistic with reaching this goal.
My other goals is to get some artwork done for the stories characters.
Realized I have given the proper love to @Eiwynn for making these in the first place, so cheers to you! I’m sure these threads help make everything at least a little bit more manageable and palatable for others, just as they do for me.
Starting off this month with a head start into part one of Chapter 3 of my WiP with 10,000 words already done in it. Most likely this first scene is going to be out fairly soon, so yay for that! This chapter has especially hit close to the heart, and just reinforced how much we as people need to be there and support each other during great tribulations in life. So this thread is especially appreciated this month and in the coming months that I’ll no doubt still be working on this chapter, because it is going to be a rough ride.
But, healing can’t start until grief has, so the saddening must be written. Good luck to everyone this month!
I’ve been hiding/lurking for the better part of two months focusing on getting Talon City over the finish line. That will require me to write about 10,000 to 15,000 words in the next 10 days and then spend the rest of the month tweaking/adding/fixing stuff. I’m almost there, as I’m currently writing the last chapter. My goal for April is to start beta testing (April 10th) and finish beta testing (April 30th). That would put me in a position where I can submit the game files to Hosted Games in early May. I don’t have a map yet, but that can be done this summer.
@hustlertwo, do you have any motivation mechanics at least, where battle results could hinge on what your MC is trying to accomplish instead of the nuts and bolts? Just a thought!
Uncertain of the genre: the setting is a real life near future, with soft scifi (soft cyberpunk) elements, super heroes, aliens… but also demons and mysticism.
Contents:
Espionage, terrorism, corruption, jail abuse, jail rebellion, torture, “human trafficking and experimentation” (for luck of better terms).
Aims:
The story is a flashback with some interruption during the present day. Already written the main ones.
Write an investigation part (more scenes), goal is “are you who I’m looking for?” it includes various character introduction and sneaking scenes
Write a jail rebellion, preparations during the “investigation part”, the actual riot after the torture scenes
Write a torture sequence one part involves an animal cage and a hydrant of cold water, an other part involves the same victim chained in a coffin full of ice and frozen water, the last scene shows an other person burned alive in a fornace after a beatdown
Write an action part, it involves at least an escort, more fighting (with superpowers) and shooting scenes, and a couple of personal confrontation. The fights follow the Rule of Brutal.
Finish the action part with a jailbreak for the protagonist
Word count so far: 1983 words
Already written the start and the end set in the present day.
PS Is “Hamohi” a plausible name for a fictional Pacific island?
I have some hidden stats to cover the size of their following up to this point, which fit for both if they are defending the castle or attacking it because of alternate reality shenanigans. Other than that, the stats are mostly personality ones. There’s a story course for what they want to do which will determine their end status after the fight, but the action itself feels like it will be tough to work in without making it a predetermined outcome based on their group size or the potential unfairness of a die roller. I think I can work it out, I just need to take the time to sit and do it without worrying about making word counts. Goals are good but can constrain.
Good luck with Talon! I can’t wait to see this bird fly the nest.
My goals are much more conservative than most of you - simply to take things slow, and to finish writing and polishing the prologue (I’m about 75% done now, excluding editing).
I am unfortunately not the kind of writer with a fountain of flowing words, and trying to force my brain to become one makes my words sound incredibly lacklustre. So, while I do hope to finish the prologue by the end of April, I too want to remind myself that it is important not to rush the process - even if it means maybe managing only 10 words a day, or throwing away 1k of them.
I’m starting this month as I spent most of March: on the road, doing my final round of visits to the field offices of the organization I’ve been heading for the past six years.
My wife and sons are with me this time; we’re combining the work trips with visits to three of Nepal’s lesser-known national parks, Rara, Bardiya, and Khaptad. There’s a lot of hiking and rare animal spotting and medicinal plant sampling (my wife’s new gig). Not so much writing.
But from the 26th, I’ll be officially and 100% done, and I’m not planning to take on a new salaried job in the coming years – just child care, house work, and as much writing as those allow. So while I don’t expect to get much of XoR 2 done in April, from May it should be a whole different story.
March was a month of recovery, as I attempted to put my schedule together. In April, I’m doing three important things that aren’t writing, including a major family holiday where I’m cooking two dishes I’ve never tried making before. All the same, I hope to keep working on Turncoat Chronicle, and after the holiday (on the last week of April) I’m planning to switch gears to editing and improving the earlier parts of the game, after months of being focused on the final chapter. I have two specific improvements that I want to add.
April’s plan:
Pesach, which somehow involves three different holiday meals, in my family.
Preparing for a round of home improvement projects on my apartment.
Keep working on the (first) coronation scene of TC.
Replay and retest chapter 1 of TC, taking notes about possible improvements.
Wrapped up the beta process for the next IF, so I’m going to be swinging back hard into traditional writing in April. On the docket:
A novelette/novella for a charity anthology (Dachshund shifter FTW!)
Anthology story about an Eldritch hotel
4 more shorts for a Secret Squirrel™ political sci-fi project I’m involved with
Hopefully getting back to my Norse demigod PNR series
I’m figuring/aiming for about 60K words for the month. That should keep me squarely in the “you can still meet all your goals” range.
Also have to start setting up some serious promo for some launches in May, and try to prod my newsletter to life again. So I may end up writing some free content for them, too.
And you never know when a cool anthology call is going to open up, so that’s always a possibility. Always.
In other good news, got a lovely acceptance letter on a short story I’ve been shilling for 6 years. Details have to stay hush hush until the publisher announces things, but they’re big, gorgeous, fancy books, so I’m excited (Plus 8 cents a word has never hurt my feelings. Not even once.).
Much luck to everyone, and thanks a million to @Eiwynn for putting up this thread!
Happy Birthday to April babies.
