I sort of faced a similar thing while doing my story! Iād written out a whole introduction, complete with choices and all of that, but half way through realized my first scene was a little weakāand not as fun as Iād wanted it to be. I couldnāt figure out a way to make it right.
So I skipped it.
I went straight ahead and plotted out the rest of my chapters, and kept it all in point form. Whenever I had any ideas, I wrote them aaaalll down into a ādumpā document.
I think that kept a lot of the stress at bayāknowing I wouldnāt lose any ideas because Iāll always have em in the dump doc if I ever decide to pull em out again! I think most of the time (for me at least!), I freeze up because I donāt want to erase anything, in case Iād regret it later. Having all of them floating around in the dump doc helps with that anxietyāafter all, you can always just copy and paste it back if you hate the new things you wrote!
While doing the rest of the chapters, I eventually found a better idea for the introductory scene. It came when I figured out just how exactly I wanted to pace the gameāwhich only happened because I went ahead to work on the other chapters! But Iām pretty sure Iād still mess around with it until Iām really sure I like itāI think it really helps to work in āpatchesā. Writing scenes out and then stitching them together like a quiltāmoving pieces where you need them. Dump docs are perfect for that sort of thing.
TL;DR: Work on other chapters first, and always keep a dump doc! Itās 12 am here, and I donāt know if Iām making sense, but I hope it helps!!
Iāve never written fanfiction before but at the beginning of this month I had an idea for a character and basic plot for an existing IP and decided to go for it. I started writing it because I wanted to see how my idea would play out in an already established universe. Almost 35 pages later for just a single path really got my creative juices flowing. There are more scenes to fully write out, but I have them outlined for now. Thereās plenty of branching out I could do, too, if I wanted to fully go for it. Iām just not sure if focusing on fanfiction should be my main objective at this time.
It was nice to have some inspiration and freedom to explore characters and dialogue without the slog of creating an entirely new universe from the ground up. It has also helped inspire me to actually go through the slog of creating an entirely new universe to see if I can incorporate some of the things I wrote into a work of my own. Iām enjoying the premise Iāve thought of and want to now focus on it being my main WIP.
Focusing on the Heroes Journey in choicescript was a surefire ticket to emotionaly misery and project chaos for me. It held me back by six months, caused lots of problems before I realized that Heroes Journey was my problem.
Iād reccomend ditching the heroes journey and focus on writing scenes you enjoy. Worry about pacing when youāre doing editing and rewriting. Scene structure, stakes, interesting dilemmas all of these things are ten times more important than Heroes Journey.
Heroes journey is better suited to movies than games in my opinion.
The last few days, I have actually been writing a bit.
I have also been assembling some new miniatures I bought, and I think using my hands that way is making it easier to wrap my head around the writing process.
Iām rewriting, hoping to get to the 25% mark in the projectās rewrite at the end of the month. Itās a major rewrite and restructuring. Iām really enjoying it and I feel like Iām making good progress.
January has been tough for me. I planned to post an update for my WIP at the end of the month, but flu got in the way. Still, the portion I uploaded got meaningful feedbacks, so Iām still grateful. Iām also averaging about 1k-2k words per day, so I guess thatās a good thing, too?
Nevertheless, Iām enjoying everything I write and the characters Iām about to introduce to the readers.
Well I guess Iām scrapping my entire chapter 2. Writing down all the scenes and describing every action and dialogue that I can see in my head apparently isnāt a good way to go about this. Or giving every little thing background info. Explaining what this is and what that is so that everyone knows. The pacing is completely off, too slow. There goes 16k words.
This is so very different than article-writingā¦ I very much do not like to have any loose ends in my articles at all. Everything has to be neatly wrapped up in the end.
You should see this as a good thing, you are learning about pacing and how get the flow. The chapter could always be used later on as a lore index.
I really think that most games should be kind like a newspaper highlights. When, who, what, and that should be the main content. And let the hints player throughout dialogue and other charactersā behaviour the why and deeper reasons.
Because most players donāt care about deep lore about Mountains if is not something that deeply moves into a player.
It is comparing The Silmarilion with The hobbit. If Tolkien would have Started writing the first nobody would have known him.
Thatās a good idea! I think Iāll just move off this entire thing to a glossary or something like that, and rewrite this entire thing. Itās not deep lore, so Iāll try my best so that readers can understand the words from context.
In all seriousness though, I am a little disappointed, but I had mental health issues to work on.
My draft will be there when Iām done sorting through the beautiful mess that is myself and after that I can hopefully tackle it with more enthusiasm than I wouldāve had if I had forced myself to work on it when I wasnāt mentally all there.
Also I think I need to make this a sticky note or something.
The mentality that my writing is boring in comparison to others is something that plagues me every single time I writeā¦ and then I read my stuff months later and canāt believe that I wrote this because itās pretty decent/not horrible
I have a Pusheen calendar that I am going to make the most of this upcoming February!
Iāve just resumed writing my story Under the shadow of Extinction! Now I have breached the 4000ās word mark. Although most of said writing is solely trying to get the scale right of my antagonist, Extinction. He is very BIG. And Iām trying to give my primary antagonist a suitable introduction.
Beyond thatā¦ I have/am trying to get the road to the climax of chapter 3 done, the climax is of this chapter is what I kinda need to get perfect. (Yet Iām still not finished writing chapter 2)
Writingās a funny thing. Just when I thought Iād mapped out my first chapter perfectly, a new idea comes creeping up. I love it. I love this whole process of cutting, shifting, planning, balancingā¦ The only part that scares me is the actual writing the prose part. Itās my biggest weakness. Oof. But! I shall not be daunted!
Writing is something that gets better as you keep doing it. Thatās really one of the few ways to improve. Itās scary at first, but also fun when you manage to get the words out.
If itās the actual writing thatās hard for you, you should try scanning your favorite books. That can help you feel more at ease and learn how to create your workās structure.
The scariest thing for me was the first time I posted the beginning portion of my WIP earlier this month. I was so scared Iād get hurtful feedbacks
Everyone has been helpful, though.
Iāve had a really good week. A couple of fun things Iāve been doing.
Google Street View: Iāve used Google Street View to locate interesting streets and neighborhoods and replaced my generic descriptions with real places.
Cut cut cut: I cut 2500 words today and replaced it with 300 new better words.
My new update is coming out on time. I might even be a day early. Basically Iāve reworked the first 25% of the game. Itās a major revision both in terms if content and style. Itās also much leaner and fast moving. My goal is to get the 25-50% of the playthrough in similar shape in February.
Good fortune to everyone with their writing this weekend.
Iām in a similar boat - I got about done with the first act of my work and am now basically rewriting it to accommodate the suggestions and critiques people have given me, cut out stuff that didnāt work or go anywhere, reorder some things, etc. Itās been intimidating, because this is the first work Iāve actually gotten to anything like this stage with and I donāt totally know how, but also really exciting that Iām at a point where I care enough about a story I wrote to try and level it up, if you will.
Still trying to kick myself into gear in productivity in general, but I think Iām slowly starting to slide back into some of the habits I slipped out of in December. Ready to head onward and upward.
20k words
So not absolutely awful, but Iām going in a better direction and I learned a ton from my first attempt. RIP Realm of Steel, you will be remembered (by probably just me haha)
