In my case I’ve been on a long journey with my project. Revising it is very difficult and I’ve taken a lot of wrong turns last year. Sometimes I’ll have a great idea, write ten thousand words on that subplot only to realize that I’ve made changes which will entail rewriting the whole game or that I’ve needlessly complicated things.
Recently I’ve been embracing a creative organizing principle that has helped me enormously
Creativity is Subtraction
Sometimes to make something function we have to cut away what is causing the tangle. I deleted 4,000 words last weekend (I put them in a slush pile). It felt great and made the game flow much smoother.
This month has been surprisingly productive thus far, it’s not like I have gotten much done, but I have been writing, which when compared to my previous months is a huge step up.
OMG, I cannot believe it, I FINISHED my first ever cog project! I just need to add achievements, but so far the random test went well and the quick test too!
What do I need to do now? Should I create a new Beta Test thread?
THANK YOU everybody for supporting me, teaching me, and enduring my ramblings! I love you all!
I’d like to be halfway done with the first draft of my current WIP by the end of the month. It’s another 30k and 4-5 chapters to get there but most of the outlining and storyboard is done, it’s just a matter of getting the words on the page
Since being a teenager I always knew I would be a writer, absolutely no doubt in my mind. There was just one problem. I never wrote anything.
20 years later and my total written probably amounts to less than 10k words. It’s safe to say I’ll never be a novelist.
For the past week I have put more thought and actual work into any story idea than ever before. This is coming off the back of significantly increased motivation since December.
My idea is different from the typical choice scriot game. My plan is to have a tech demo (my core game mechanics) ready in the next few days. Then to release a wip by the end of the month.
It’s been a while since I commented here. As always, I’m a slow writer, but this month I’ve implemented a ‘write consistently, but write less’ methodology which has worked for now. My schedule includes writing my IF novel from Monday to Friday, and taking weekends off to just do what I want or need to do (this weekend it was writing my traditional novel). I know this schedule will have to change soon, when I’m forced to find a real job, but for now I’ll enjoy it while I can.
The end of the chapter is so close, yet so far. I really want to finish it this month, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to, considering all the variations I had planned to implement for the last segment.
Like everything in life, I guess I’ll have to wait and see.
I need experts’ help (probably one of the admins?) to clarify a doubt about Hosted Games procedures.
I just (hopefully!) finished writing my first ever (hopefully!) hosted game. I need to add achievements and graphic headers, and it’s hopefully done.
My questions are: what should I do now? Should I open a new beta-testing thread? Should I rename the previous WIP thread and use it for beta-testing? Should I contact CoG now before opening a beta-testing thread?
I am so confused, I don’t know how I should go on, and I don’t want to mess up with procedures.
My game’s WIP thread is further down: I hid it to avoid unnecessary spam in this thread. Please, I wish anyone who’s an expert about procedures helps me figure out how I should go on.
I’m not the best person for this, but I can refer you to the people who are.
You can contact the CoG Moderators through the Forum’s message feature. Go to your profile and select the “Messages” folder. Click on “New Message” and send it to “moderators.” This will send a message to the CoG forum’s moderators and any of them can reply to you.
I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask this, but I’m getting worried that I’m writing a huge chunk of exposition. You just arrived in some foreign place, and a friendly soul who’s been there for a couple of years offers to bring you up to speed on how things work around here.
Not all of that will have a bearing on the story, but a lot of it is where terms and stuff get defined, and helps the reader get the atmosphere of the place. So you’ll know what is referred to when someone says Chef (not a cook, that’s your colour-sergeant) or “Joyeux” (that’s the penal battalion), or what sort of punishments happen when someone gets put in cellule, and so on.
It’s optional, you can just pick the “thank you” option and move on with the story, but it’s still a lot of exposition…
Perhaps you could break up the exposition by topic and hide each bit behind a choice, kinda like the MC asking several questions or something like that? That way you still get the exposition in but it feels more interactive than just passively reading a wall of text.
@armadillidium Don’t worry about it right now. When you do the rewrite you may find that you can cut down or cut it up.
I had something like that in my wip. Where you go into this basement and there’s LOTS OF STUFF to think about and consider. I thought this is really important and I can’t cut any of it out. But on the latest past I found a way to cut 70% of it out via a combination of
A) I can move this bit to an arc specific scene later only if and when it’s relevant
B) I thought the story needed this but it doesn’t snip
I don’t like exposition hidden behind dialog choices because then I’m not sure what the reader knows. If it’s important to the main branch, it should be trunked in the main branch. If it’s only relevant to one specific branch then it should be mainlanded within that branch only (so it doesn’t clutter all the play throughs)
Thank you to everyone contributing to this thread, it’s so affirming to know that I’m not alone.
I’m having a blast with my project. I’ve written about 50,000 words since November. I’ve also done a lot of axing, rewriting and restructuring.
My project was a mess, I have had a habit of making things too complicated for my own good. I think I’ve sorted it out, lots of note taking, lots of late night walks in Valencia to think, to organize and to focus. Basically I’ve pantsed a 400,000 word wip…it’s been a learning process to say the least.
Right now I’m rewriting and foregrounding the romance subplots. @Eiwynn You’ll be glad to know your feedback a week ago has been enormously helpful.
I think that’s the best course of action. You might as well clear up any concerns you have before getting into it. Maybe also clarify some parts of the publishing process so you could plan ahead.
I’ve been trying a new thing lately which I’ve found helpful and which I would like to share with you.
At the end of every writing session I sign off with notes for the next day. Starting at the top I write Chapter X Line XXX Below that I have a list of things to do.
This helps me organize my thoughts. When I start my writing session I don’t have to waste any time thinking Where was I? What did I decide needed to be done? I reread my thoughts written down the night before and I know exactly where to go to continue working.
Perhaps you could break up the exposition by topic and hide each bit behind a choice, kinda like the MC asking several questions or something like that? That way you still get the exposition in but it feels more interactive than just passively reading a wall of text.