December 2024's Writer Support Thread

Game Development Writing and Content
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Welcome all to the support thread for December 2024.

:spiral_calendar:

:birthday: Happy Birthday to December babies.

Thank you, everyone who 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.

:open_book:

This month, I want to share:

  1. An article by @Cataphrak that is very relevant to what has been talked about for the last couple of months; writing consistently and self-care while writing a long-term IF project

and

  1. A couple of articles talking about the rise of Romantasy – swords and soulmates

First, let me begin by introducing a free resource that is available from our very own: Paul Wang:

This is a free resource, funded by his Patreon, which has a lot of great info and advice in it. If you have not looked at any of the blog’s articles, I suggest doing so.

This month, I am going to highlight the following:

I feel this article is essential to grasp and not only take in, but to internalize what is said:

Persistence, commitment, and being open to feedback from both readers and more experienced writers are fundamentals that we discuss in the support threads all the time!

Take the time to read this, and while you do, take a look at all the other wonderful articles available. I guarantee you, that there is something for every IF writer.

Those of us that are exploring the “Romantasy” genre are helping a new trend define fiction writing. What is it we want?

Such novels are typically set in fantastical worlds, with fairies, dragons, magic, but also feature classic romance plotlines – enemies-to-lovers, soulmates, love triangles.

This trend is being driven by social media and it is a prime example of how our current writing world is different from ten years ago.

It is wonderful 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 December, please let us know!

My personal goal for December is to : complete my current pass I am on for Patchwerks I got a good start in the last of November, completing 14 pages of edits, but this pass has 175ish pages of edits to go, so it will be a long journey.

The good news is that, this will be a major step forward to me getting the Patchwerk WiP thread up for everyone.

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My goal in December is to finally finish my goddam game. I feel it’s gonna be difficult, since I’m struggling with the existential dread of living in a world where writers will soon be replaced by machines, but I guess that’s another reason to hurry up and publish something while I still can.

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My goal for December is to write 10k words and post Chapter Six of Meteoric. I’ll be posting Chapter Five today :face_with_peeking_eye:

@Eiwynn That reminds me, could you open my Meteoric thread for me again? :slight_smile:

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The thread should now be open

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Getting on here early this month! WOO!

My Goals:

Progress on my 2024 goals

  • Complete Phoenix Rising - No where NEAR.
  • Begin Editing Phoenix Rising - It’s laughing at me.
  • Participate in at least 1 game jam - I’m beginning to think this is a pipe dream for me
  • Complete at least 1 game jam - definitely thinking this is a pipe dream
  • Learn Spanish enough to be able to use it at work (earn a $2 raise by doing this) - I have no idea if I even want to continue doing this…

October’s Goals

  • Finish Chapter One of Phoenix Rising - I have not finished the daydream section. It’s still making me want to rip my hair out with how repetetive it is. BUT IM CLOSER TO THE END. ONLY TWO SECTIONS LEFT.
  • Get posts on the Nascent Souls Tumblr up to end of november. - Been managing this one with aplumb!
  • Get the game to a point where I can ACTUALLY POST AN UPDATED DEMO, GODDAMMIT. – stares balefully at it It’s mocking me, I know it.
  • Bonus at work. - Bonused this month! Right before vacation time! Now I’m having nightmares about it not sticking, though…
  • Keep up with my Accountabili-Buddies so that we all make progress on our games. @RascaldeesV2 @Phenrex @eveelution @levviathan@Suyin @Eiwynn . Also looking for more accounta-bilibuddies too! Apply now!

ROOTING FOR YOU! WOO!

EXCITING!

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This December, I’m gonna continue developing Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2 (BTW, it’s now updated to include the first of five planned chapters), besides partaking in the usual Christmas festivities.

And as I am approaching 40 years old next month (and to top it all off, Global Game Jam 2025 begins right on my birthday), I need to sort out what I really want in my life – being my own boss, formally establishing my own game studio I have for almost 20 years as a sole proprietorship. That’s why I continue making games and networking with fellow Filipino developers, because as they say, life begins at 40.

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My goal is to just simply lock in.

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Goal for December: Write! Since it’s Christmas, I’ll aim for 25,000 words. :santa:

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After a pretty decent progress upgrade in November, I’m looking to dial it back this month, but stay consistent. So I can do that around holidays and travel and so on, my word count goal is dropping to sort of… the minimum one I give myself.

December Goal:

  • 30,000 words on BotL, or the end of Chapter Three, whichever comes first.

I imagine these are close to the same goal anyway, but I never know with me.

Good luck this month, everyone!

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I did better than anticipated in November. The case I wrote ended up doubling the current word count of Wonderland Noir. I plan to edit it and post it within the week. My overall December goal is scaled back due to impending holiday plans, but hopefully I can finish the rough draft of the next case. Congratulations to everybody that attempted their goals!

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Amen to that -seems like a lot of amazing work was done last month. Bravo all!

Same . . . Nano was fun but I’d need a very different works schedule to do that every month, nice as it would be to get that level of progress this month.

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Starting this month as I switch from one project to another I am refocusing my reading from 90s horror to Regency & Sword & Sorcery, which takes a while. Sadly I haven’t had much time to read other peoples WIPs lately, but I’m leaning towards making that one of my resolutions next month.

For this month I have the following goals:

  1. Finally get the next update for Do Not Dally with the Dead done … it’s underway but I have lots more to do.

  2. Get a small update to Sense & Sorcery done…I’m thinking a little file restructuring, planning on variables, maybe filling in the blanks for a couple scenes, and then starting the new chapter with the dinner party…probably.

  3. if I somehow impossibly ended up with more free time I’d probably try to sneak in a teeny tiny update for one of my other games, but that’s a clear pipe dream unless someone invents time travel and gives me access stat.

Looking forward to checking out this months articles as writing-work-life balance has been a continuing challenge for me…probably will be even harder next year until I find a new job as the hospital I work at is literally - and I cannot make this stuff up - converting to a mental health hospital, I.e. psychiatric hospital … which will be challenging and introduce new stressors considering the stressors I get from delivering to our current mental health floor.

Spring boarding off of that, does anyone know if we have any articles or forum posts discussing the best jobs and careers for writers and in particular IF writers? Probably not going to switch careers at my stage of the game but nice to keep things open.

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I love the romantasy articles, @Eiwynn, but then I would. :rofl: That’s what I read and what I write.

It’s funny, because long before Sarah J Maas started publishing I was reading books like Green Rider, which has a lot more fantasy than romance, but the forbidden love trope is STRONG with that series. I crowned the author, Kristen Britain, the queen of slowburn on FB because she made me wait SIX BLESSED BOOKS before the MCs kissed and she actually responded to my post. We’re Facebook friends. Pretty cool, imho. I also love The Fionavar Tapestry, which again is more fantasy than romance but definitely has elements of both.

When I read ACOTAR and then devoured the Throne of Glass series, my love of romantasy was cemented. It also helped me see a way to connect my standalone stories into a single world. I do have two Rebecca Yarros books on my shelf that I’ve not yet read, but I’m hoping to wait until the series is complete, or at least more books are out, before diving in. I don’t like waiting for the author to finish the next installment in a story. Drives me crazy. :laughing:

My current WIP has flavors of many of the books I’ve mentioned here with a hint of Cinderella retelling thrown into the mix. Forbidden love, rags to riches, reincarnation, fate (if you choose to believe in such a thing), and rebellion are all tropes that add to the fun. Slowburn with optional spice at the end.

My goal for December is to respect my body’s need to rest, and write as much as possible without putting pressure on myself. Hibernation and progress in reasonable balance. I’d love to have a demo ready for Christmas, but such goals feel counterproductive to the self-care and no-deadlines rules I’ve given myself for this WIP, so we shall see what happens.

Happy writing, all! May the words be with us! :revolving_hearts: :christmas_tree: :snowman_with_snow:

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I really need to find some good romance books. :person_facepalming: The ones I have at hand are either boring or gross, or this one series that luckily is funny instead but the dynamic between the leads changes completely after they get together and I just don’t like reading about them anymore because I liked the original dynamic.

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Ah, I sometimes say I wanna hibernate. Oh, if only I could. I am working on bettering my sleep schedule, at least. Speaking of which, I should probably go after I post this. It’s hard because the chores demand to be done, and it’s a bit of a mess that only grows, but… I really also need to sleep. It’s like I kinda accepted myself as being in a state of constant sleep deprivation and I’m like, “UH, that’s not good!!”

Anyway, I have some books from the library, which are due back on my friend’s birthday, Dec 8. Hopefully I’ll remember. And hopefully I’ll read all of them before I need to return them. They’re research! I have a vampire book, a Celtic faerie book, a book about oceans (I’m only reading the pages about seals—thank the gods for indexes—indices…? Man, that word looks wrong), and a book about fairy tales and disability (I’m pretty sure I’ve read part of it before). I read a couple chapters of the vampire book while waiting for/taking transit home after hanging out with a friend, which is fantastic. Getting myself to read physical books is hard.

I don’t know if I’ll have any actual writing goals beyond doing the research before the return date, and figuring out my ding dang title, because of life things that’ll need to be handled as well. I’ll probably watch some movies and shows though, and I’ve been writing (inconsistently) about the stuff I watch from like a craft perspective in some notebooks I have, so I hope to do that more consistently when I watch stuff.

At work, we have been moving stuff around a lot, so that we can remove more and more shelves to be returned to the warehouse. When my manager told me the news that we’re closing, I took it really well, but now, as shelves get sparser, and we sell out of items like laundry nets and shower caps and coffee filters, it gets sadder.

I think I had more thoughts I wanted to express but now I’ve forgotten, and that means it’s really time for bed.

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Romantasy is funny to me as a category because a lot of outlets talk about it like it’s new when it’s not - but I’m always happy to see more books, so whatever helps get them get seen is good!

I associate the romantasy category with cosiness as well as having a romantic/steamy focus, but I’m not sure if I’m accurate with that. (I also associate it with a YA to adult romance reading/writing pipeline, but that may be just because that’s what Sarah J Maas did. I’m a bit out of the loop with publishing to be honest.)

I’ve been hit with some health/pain issues so am going to be focusing on trying to mitigate them for the near future. But I’m excited about Honor Bound coming out next week and am going to be sharing some more stuff about that in the lead-up to Thursday!

Aside from that, I’m going to continue revising my outlines throughout December. Looking ahead, the timing is such that I probably won’t release a game in 2025 so I’ll likely lose my 2022-24 streak… But that’s OK, a game a year is ridiculously fast and not really sensible to aim for :sweat_smile:

Today I’m being a tremendous nerd and playing in a Hunter: the Vigil LARP so I’m looking forward to that :bat:

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Tentative December goal:

I’d like to finish a fanfiction story that’s been left by the wayside for months because of circumstances (for the most part that though my new job is a lot of fun, it also drains most if not all of my energy).

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At the very end of November, I met a milestone for a secret project, so I’m pretty pleased with November’s progress. I got a lot done, even though I was sick twice and spent more time than planned reading, rather than writing.

I expect to spend part of December working on the same secret project, but while I’m waiting for feedback, I set myself some interim goals:

  1. Continue working on the unfinished third chapter of Fairmont.
  2. Review at least one of the queer historical romances that I read in November.
  3. Revisit one of the story outlines that I created months ago, to see whether it still holds water.
  4. Try to keep up the reading streak by finishing some books that I started reading months ago.

Since I’ve been binging gay historical romances, I also spent a few fair hours reading author KJ Charles’ blog, where she posts some very interesting articles about the writing crafts. There are two that I wanted to highlight, which might be of use to us here:

Character In Action: A close reading exercise: this post analyzes the opening passages of Slippery Creatures to demonstrate some subtle elements of characterization.

Let’s talk about sex (scenes): what the title says. This post uses examples from several different books to discuss when and why to use sex scenes as a tool of characterization in romance books.

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Have you tried Sarah J Maas’s books? Some love them, some hate them, but if you’re into fantasy they can hook you in. I enjoyed the ACOTAR series but was obsessed with Throne of Glass once I started that, until the last book which was devastating. Only read that one if you’re willing to have your heart broken, stomped on, and wrung out before the end. There’s also the Cassandra Clare Shadowhunter books, Stephanie Garber’s Caraval, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and others, all well known and well done, imo. I didn’t actually read the first Shadowhunter books, but started in on Lady Midnight, which is the first of the Dark Artifices series. Enjoyed that one considerably.

I think you’re right that there have been a lot of YA/Adult crossover titles in romantasy. Not all are steamy, but of late I think there’s been more of a push to include explicit scenes. I do wish the lit industry would allow for a NA genre (new adult) rather than squishing some titles into YA when the subject matter is clearly adult even though the characters are aged down. I think there’s more adult romantasy now, and that it certainly isn’t a new genre, but perhaps one that has gained more momentum with its new name.

I hope you feel better! I’ve been dealing with some pain for weeks too (injured myself pushing too hard in a workout—silly me, I’m not in my 20s anymore) and every massage therapist in my area is booked through til the end of January. :upside_down_face: So I do what I can and tell myself “this too shall pass.” :revolving_hearts:

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I’m back. :slight_smile: I hope November went well for all of you; sorry I wasn’t around for it.

All I want this month is to finish my third chapter. I’ve been chipping away at the thing pretty much the entire last half of this year and I still haven’t finished. The longer it takes me to write it, the more I think about how quickly readers will get through it in comparison and I just begin to sink. Plus last month was… a lot.

Anyway, I’ll be working on that this month. If I’m not around much to like all your posts and be encouraging, know that I am with you all in spirit still. Good luck everyone!

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I haven’t, thanks for recommendation(s).

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