# August 2024 Writer Support Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Writing and Content\ **Created:** [August 1, 2024, 6:50am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237 "2024-08-01T06:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eiwynn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/eiwynn/32/221334_2.png) [@Eiwynn](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Eiwynn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 6:50am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/1 "2024-08-01T06:50:09Z")
Welcome all to the support thread for August 2024. šŸ—“ šŸŽ‚ Happy Birthday to August babies. Thank you, everyone who continues to participate in these threads ā€“ 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. šŸ“– This month, I am going to give myself some support as well as link a couple of articles to help everyone in general. First up are two ā€œgeneral helpā€ articles, much as you have grown used to me posting. > **[Creating Character Arcs in Games Writing - SFWA](https://www.sfwa.org/2021/12/02/character-arcs-game-writing/)** > > In game writing, how do you create a character arc for a character you donā€™t know, controlled by someone you canā€™t know? This article is by Natalia Theodoridou, a prolific and award-winning author that has released several games in the CoG library. Since the article is written with Choice Script games in mind, it is highly recommended. The sections from this article I often review are: ā€œNon-Player Charactersā€, ā€œGoalsā€ and ā€œChoicesā€. The second article is titled: _33 writers on why they write._ > **[Hereā€™s 33 writers on why they write.](https://lithub.com/heres-33-writers-on-why-they-write/)** > > Itā€™s 2021, but (surprise!) essentially nothing has changed: COVID is still ravaging the United States and no meaningful government aid has arrived. Oh, one thing has changed: a new, more contagiousā€¦ While this article has a COVID tinge to it, the core of the issue (During times of crisis, carving out time to write can feel silly, pointless: why do your morning pages when you could be, say, inventing a vaccine?) it addresses is something that many, if not every writer goes through at one time or another. I found this article last week when I was asking myself why I insist on writing and feeling extreme imposter feelings as I grappled with a request from a bereaving friend who just lost her brother. Which is a self-serving lead in to me posting an article that spoke to me and has helped me fight back against these imposter feelings: > **[The Author and the Eulogist: On Love and Death in Nonfiction - Public Books](https://www.publicbooks.org/the-author-and-the-eulogist-on-love-and-death-in-nonfiction/)** > > Authorial responsibility to a real subjectā€”living or deadā€”is one of artā€™s unresolved and probably unresolvable ethical questions. Iā€™ll leave off this post with an excerpt: > [@](#): > > Authorial responsibility to a real subjectā€”living or deadā€”is one of artā€™s unresolved and probably unresolvable ethical questions. It is more difficult in the latter case, because to author is to authorizeā€”to create, yes, but more precisely, to create, and then vouch, for something from a position of authority. To author and authorize a new version of a dead subject, one that will enjoy a kind of immortality in the space of the text, may feel like inflicting a second death on the original. * * * * * * * * * My main goal for August is to continue to work on my first editing pass of my Patchworkā€™s project. I started this goal last month, but I did not have a clue how long it would take to complete this milestone. At the start of this month, I see the daylight at the end of the tunnel; there is still a lot to accomplish, and it still will be a challenge, but the skeletal structure for my success is there and now it is a matter of execution (an ironic choice of words since I am naming this pass ā€œThe Deathsight Passā€). Happy writing for the month of August. . šŸ’ž ---
**Author:** ![Havenstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/havenstone/32/198451_2.png) [@Havenstone](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Havenstone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 7:39am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/2 "2024-08-01T07:39:24Z")
> [@Eiwynn](#): > > I started this goal last month, but I did not have a clue how long it would take to complete this milestone. At the start of this month, I see the daylight at the end of the tunnel; there is still a lot to accomplish, and it still will be a challenge, but the skeletal structure for my success is there and now it is a matter of execution Ditto! (except the number of months when Iā€™ve been asserting the same goal has been rather longer, proportionate to my cluelessness) ---
**Author:** ![anon64559722](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@anon64559722](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/anon64559722)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/3 "2024-08-01T07:54:38Z")
Oof, starting a new month is kind of scaryā€¦ Iā€™ll begin with a humble goal for August: mapping out the next chapter. Itā€™s going to have lots of branching and things to account for, so just that feels like a daunting task already. Iā€™ve been messing around in Blender yesterday, thinking of making some Prismatic (my WiP) scenes in Unity. My storyā€™s idea started as an idea for a video game, and part of me still wants to make itā€¦ If I were to ever publish the game with CoG, would I be able to do it one day, or would there be some kind of rights conflict, I wonder? šŸ¤” Itā€™s a long shot, of course, but Iā€™m curious. Were there cases like that? Regardless, good luck in this new month, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Eiwynn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/eiwynn/32/221334_2.png) [@Eiwynn](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Eiwynn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 8:08am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/4 "2024-08-01T08:08:47Z")
Pinks, The following parts of the Hosted Games contract should answer your question: > [@](#): > > You cannot publish the same story in a competing format (Twine, Renā€™Py, Choices/Chapters/Episodes, CYOA book, Visual Novel, etc). > > - You can publish sequels, prequels, spin-offs, etc in a competing format. > > - You can publish the same story in a non-competing format (traditional book, side-scrolling computer game, _animated computer game_). > **[Write a Hosted Game](https://www.choiceofgames.com/looking-for-writers/write-a-hosted-game/)** > > Writing for Hosted Games Anyone can publish a game under the Hosted Games label. Hosted Games are written without editorial support from Choice of Games, and you do not need to submit your ideas inā€¦ So, it depends on if you use Unity to design a ā€œgraphical novelā€ type of game or use Unity to design a more traditional ā€œgraphics basedā€ game. If the game resembles: _Nighthawks - The Vampire RPG_ Iā€™d think it would be prohibited. If the game resembles: _Balderā€™s Gate 3_, then Iā€™d think it would be allowed. Iā€™m not a staff person, so realize this is just my opinion and that Hosted Games staff would be making the call when all is said and done. ---
**Author:** ![anon64559722](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@anon64559722](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/anon64559722)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 8:24am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/5 "2024-08-01T08:24:47Z")
Thank you for your answer, that helps! I do wonder if something like Life Is Strange would be considered a competing format. Or maybe Necrobarista? Still, thatā€™s fair, and if I ever get there, I think Iā€™d be able to work with this! First, I should actually finish the story anyway, so there is a long way ahead šŸ„“ ---
**Author:** ![Samuel\_H\_Young](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/samuel_h_young/32/275971_2.png) [@Samuel\_H\_Young](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Samuel_H_Young)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 8:45am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/6 "2024-08-01T08:45:39Z")
For August, my goals are to write 10k words of Meteoric and put Chapter Four on the demo ---
**Author:** ![HarrisPS](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/harrisps/32/240120_2.png) [@HarrisPS](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/HarrisPS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 8:47am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/7 "2024-08-01T08:47:30Z")
Thank you for sharing those articles @Eiwynn, and for setting up the monthly thread as ever! I reached a big milestone at the end of July, which was finishing my first full draft of Honor Bound. At this stage I become more responsive to other people - Iā€™m waiting for editorial notes, and once Iā€™ve done my revisions, Iā€™ll be waiting and responding to beta tester and continuity reader feedback. In the meantime, Iā€™m doing any Honor Bound edits that feel necessary as I get the last of the public playtester feedback in, helping Fay with some line-note revisions, and thinking gently about what game I want to make next. Yesterday I fleshed out an idea that Iā€™d been rotating in my mind for some time in various ways but hadnā€™t come together yet, and I feel like it really clicks now. (Itā€™s a Creme-setting idea set in Zaledo, not set in a school but sort ofā€¦ university-adjacent is maybe the word.) So I now have two ideas that Iā€™m confident have legs: this new one and the dark-fantasy one about being a warlock-knight-thing. Iā€™ll be having a think about both while I donā€™t have writing to do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lady\_Luck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/the_lady_luck/32/212891_2.png) [@The\_Lady\_Luck](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/The_Lady_Luck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 9:33am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/8 "2024-08-01T09:33:58Z")
My goal for August is just to write and draw every day. No target numbers, since I also have a big cleaning project, and two big social things this month as well. This is also the first month where I am seeing the raise in my monthly income. It is a relief. ---
**Author:** ![LiliArch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/liliarch/32/120749_2.png) [@LiliArch](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/LiliArch)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/9 "2024-08-01T11:28:00Z")
I had something I was planning to write in my first post in this monthā€™s thread, but now that the thread is up, I have no idea what I was going to say anymore. Hrmph. Anyway, I finally managed to find good examples for different types of games for my thesis, which is great. Also Iā€™m terrible at actually playing parser games. (_Also_ also went ahead and rambled in interest check thread, if someone is interested in my fantasy world feel free to check.) ---
**Author:** ![Basketball\_Fanatic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/basketball_fanatic/32/140032_2.png) [@Basketball\_Fanatic](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Basketball_Fanatic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/10 "2024-08-01T11:28:04Z")
My goals for August are relatively straightforward, but ambitious nonetheless. If I can complete at least two of the below Iā€™ll be happy. - Complete ā€œThe Game of Warā€ prologue - Bugfix ā€œThe Game of Warā€ name and save systems - Finish my entry for Halloween jam - Finish the first chapter of my next game titled ā€œApocalypseā€ - Reinstate the work on ā€œLast Shotā€ ---
**Author:** ![Nocturnal\_Stillness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/nocturnal_stillness/32/100414_2.png) [@Nocturnal\_Stillness](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Nocturnal_Stillness)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/11 "2024-08-01T11:57:08Z")
My goal for August is continue my recovery from open-heart surgery and also start work on UnNatural Season Three (this also includes fixing some bugs reported for season two) ---
**Author:** ![aventurine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@aventurine](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/aventurine)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:08pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/12 "2024-08-01T12:08:39Z")
But if we donā€™t sign a contract with hg we can publish it in a competing format right? ---
**Author:** ![HarrisPS](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/harrisps/32/240120_2.png) [@HarrisPS](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/HarrisPS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/13 "2024-08-01T12:16:59Z")
Yes, unless youā€™ve signed a contract you can do whatever you like, legally. Some people have written part of a game in ChoiceScript and decided to publish the game using different IF tools instead. Thatā€™s legally fine. Not many of those have ended up with full releases, though (I can think of maybe two of the top of my head?) - as with any WIP, the proportion of games that are completed are unfortunately low, plus I imagine itā€™s not the most fulfilling/easy work to translate a complicated piece of IF into another format, whichever way round it is. Itā€™s come up a couple of times elsewhere so Iā€™ll add that CoG/HG/HC authors retain their ownership of the IP (unless someone else is the IP holder like the TTRPG licenced games). Theyā€™re able to do things like write a novel or make a game using the IP, they just canā€™t make the same thing in the competing format. If for some reason I wanted to torment myself by making the story of CrĆØme de la CrĆØme in Twine, I couldnā€™t, but I could (and do sometimes) make Twine or Ink stories featuring the characters and setting, or even make a whole longer game using a different format if I wanted. ---
**Author:** ![LiliArch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/liliarch/32/120749_2.png) [@LiliArch](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/LiliArch)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/14 "2024-08-01T12:27:18Z")
Speaking of, I still havenā€™t decided if I want to do a text game or a VN or interactive comic insteadā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Jaybirdy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/jaybirdy/32/124926_2.png) [@Jaybirdy](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/Jaybirdy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/15 "2024-08-01T12:28:13Z")
Birthday month is here! Not that I have anything major planned, but you know. Itā€™s also the end section of winter where I live, which is one of my favourite times of year. Anyway, Iā€™m setting another single, simple goal this month, because it went fairly well for me last month: - 30,000 words on BotL I have a sort of ā€œsecretā€/side goal to do a little more than that, but the one Iā€™m holding myself to is this one. Does anyone else do that? I feel like it might be a side effect of general overthinker-brain, but anyway. In any event, good luck this month, everyone. I donā€™t _say_ a lot in these threads, but I do read them quite often, and itā€™s really encouraging to see people grappling with the process and making progress and things like that, so thanks for being here. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![aventurine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@aventurine](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/aventurine)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/16 "2024-08-01T12:32:17Z")
My goal for this month is to improve the pacing of my story. No word count goals for now as I have reached that last month. Trying to become the best version of myself so that my readers can have a quality experience playing my game. šŸ¤ž ---
**Author:** ![LiliArch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/liliarch/32/120749_2.png) [@LiliArch](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/LiliArch)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/17 "2024-08-01T12:32:59Z")
> [@Jaybirdy](#): > > Does anyone else do that? Might be superstition, but I sometimes try to avoid stating goals in order to avoid affecting their success chances that way. Call it hidden plan guarantee, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![HarrisPS](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/harrisps/32/240120_2.png) [@HarrisPS](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/HarrisPS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/18 "2024-08-01T12:38:52Z")
> [@Jaybirdy](#): > > I have a sort of ā€œsecretā€/side goal to do a little more than that, but the one Iā€™m holding myself to is this one. Does anyone else do that? I feel like it might be a side effect of general overthinker-brain, but anyway. Yes I do - I like when I can get ahead of where I was aiming for, so that if something unexpected gets in the way I donā€™t lose too much momentum. And if it doesnā€™t, I can have the advantage of being ahead of myself šŸ˜€ ---
**Author:** ![LiliArch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/liliarch/32/120749_2.png) [@LiliArch](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/LiliArch)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/19 "2024-08-01T13:10:20Z")
> **How does this description sound?** > > He looked like a 45-year old human man, skin tanned and leathery from spending too much time in the sun and carrying a collection of scars a Northern warlord could be proud of. ---
**Author:** ![poison\_mara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/choiceofgames/user_avatar/forum.choiceofgames.com/poison_mara/32/271676_2.png) [@poison\_mara](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/u/poison_mara)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237/20 "2024-08-01T13:12:36Z")
Can I be sincere and honest like for real? I donā€™t want to offend you or something [Next page](https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/august-2024-writer-support-thread/157237.md?page=2)