January 2022's Writer Support Thread

Currently 4,000 words into ch.3 of my wip. Aiming for 20,000 words by at least the middle of February.

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Iā€™ve been working on my WIP for sometime now. Itā€™s currently around 35,000 words with code but the word count will probably increase as I finish editing.

The strange thing about editing my game is that I enjoy doing it in the moment but dread starting it. Iā€™m not sure if I make sense.

The biggest hurdle I usually have to overcome is usually starting to write. For some reason, I find every excuse to not start. Iā€™m trying new techniques like saying to myself that Iā€™ll write for only 15 minutes or one sentence. Maybe it will help my anxiety on starting the writing process.

The other issue I encountered writing the game is its setting. The game is set in the middle east during the early iron age.

Middle Eastern culture is rich and diverse. I wanted to capture that but my story was also focused on the fantasy stuff like the jinn and magic.

So the problem I had was how ā€˜realisticā€™ should it be without coming invoking orientalism.

Iā€™m not Middle Eastern but rather South African. Iā€™ve done so much research on the time period. But again, I am constantly balancing the fantasy elements whilst wishing for it to come across as realistic.

Thereā€™s this video talking about the Uncanny Valley of portraying Asian culture in media. And what I took from is is that as an author, I must clearly set the expectations of the reader. Hereā€™s the video:

And during the editing process, the first chapter will make it clear that this a fantasy setting inspired by the Thousand and One Nights plus history of the period. Itā€™s not suppose to be a true reflection on Arabian culture in the 1000 BCE.

The game is more like a shonen set in the middle east. The research Iā€™ve done will come in handy but the focus of the story is about the MC, who is a jinni, having to fight and negotiate their way around the world. The gods exist and magic is ever-present. Iā€™m really excited to share it once I finish editing.

I think knowing the focus of oneā€™s story helps greatly.

In any case, I better get back to writing.

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I am back.

I have written 300 words I didnā€™t erase in 24 hours.

I am still in a very dark hole of depression and anxiety. But I am climbing up again.

I canā€™t live without writing. Evn If I sucks.

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Iā€™m not an author, so I hope itā€™s ok to post here: the thread title makes it unclear if itā€™s posts to support writers or if itā€™s posts from authors for other authors.

Welcome back!

This is progress! Yay you!

This sucks. :pensive: Iā€™m sorry. But this:

is great. Hope the climb up continues!

And now, for your reminder that Tolkien didnā€™t want to write The Lord of the Rings, thought it sucked, and that nobody would read it and would hate it if they did. It has sold over 150 million copies, is one of the best-selling books of all time, and has been voted Book of the Millenium. So maybe writers arenā€™t always the best judges of their own work. :grimacing:

Please refer to the previous paragraph.

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Support comes from all sorts of people, so please post in this thread whenever you desire :heart:

This is quite common among writers ā€¦ I hate my writing more than I like it, and I know authors that have multiple games published and books as well, and they hate their writing tooā€¦

Sometimes writers need others to believe in them and support them, even if they refuse to do this for themselves! That is one reason this thread is important.

Another reason is to help us remind ourselves that we are not alone, and we are not as aweful as we think we are :slight_smile:

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Any support is welcomed. To the not writers here, feedback to any game you read in the forum can be good for authors. And even if you most likely donā€™t like that work, the only fact of knowing that you have read the story will make the writer feel better.

The worst feeling is the sensation of not being read.

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Everyone, congratulations on your achievements.

@poison_mara You know you can always count on me.

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I have literally been sick for half of January (not covid).

Even so, I have still written more on my WIPs than I did in all of 2021.
Not that that means a lotā€¦

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Go for it, @The_Lady_Luck ! We all root for you!

By the way, today I published an update on my beloved Hindu-Buddhist project. Letā€™s celebrate, guys!

Always look at the bright side of life! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hope you feel better soon!

Wooo, progress.

It means SOMETHING, and thatā€™s good enough.

:tada:

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For whatever inspiration it might have, I just want to say that thereā€™s no amount of shame too great to pick something up with courage, and forge on. smirks Be the greatest necromancer. Got something sitting around gathering dust? Itā€™s not too late for it to be brought out and dusted off and given some love and care. Havenā€™t written in a while? 'Salright, sometimes a person needs time, for whatever reasons. Accept what is and has been, and seize on what could be, if you find it right and just and good.

ā€¦ Iā€™ve been away from the forums for a long time. I ā€¦am trying to write again. Shaky little steps of more-than-nothing. I had to overcome a personal blockage. And Iā€™m still shoveling away at it. If youā€™re held downā€¦ look to your karmic ties. Weird as it sounds. Sometimes, in order to do something, you need to take care of something else first. Sometimes that takes a long time to figure out. Donā€™t think things are too late.

I mean to say, I hope that you are courageous in your life and in your writing. And tenacious.

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Well, I head back to school next month, and it is going to be one of the busiest semesters Iā€™ve had yet, which unfortunately means less time to write. However, the final scene of chapter two of my WiP is now up to a whopping 100,000 words, which is an insane milestone for me (and I hope all future scenes wonā€™t have that many words, even though Iā€™m pretty sure at least two more will). Good luck on your works everyone, and keep up the great work!

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Best of luck with the semester.

More Sarah!* :eyes:

*but not ā€œMore Sarah when?ā€, because no time pressure shall be applied to creative works :slightly_smiling_face:

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So, since my last post on the interest check thread Iā€™ve noticed a bunch of isekai related wips pop up.

Iā€™m wondering if anyone would still be interested in another isekai WIP. Iā€™m about 30,000 words in on the current demo, so Iā€™m not scrapping the project anytime soon, but Iā€™m not comfortable enough with the demo to make an actual topic.

I have half the mind to make a hobby project topic for it, just for the sake of accountability on my part, but on the other hand I want to write more for people to have enough content to play with. I also donā€™t think Iā€™m at the point where I can handle the influx of attention that this would inevitably bring, thereā€™s just so much going on in my life rn that I donā€™t think it would be worth it.

Thoughts anyone?

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Welcome back, Shawn ā€“ good to see you again!

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Keep working on it; your vision is unique, and nobody knows what will happen between ā€œnowā€ and ā€œthenā€ that changes everything. Do not let what others are or are not doing be the final determinant of what you do.

I love the stories where someone from our world gets put into another, so of course I would be interested in your story too

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A familiar face! Welcome back. :smiley:

Posting in the January thread on the 31st of the month, yup, that sounds about right.

Actually, Iā€™ve had a very productive January:

Good luck in February, everyone!

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January has been quite a month! Iā€™ve been working hard on Royal Affairs Chapter 8, which has been a lot of fun and also very plotty. Going to be carrying on with it into February!

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Didnā€™t track how much, but I have written this month, so thatā€™s something. Upcoming month is going to be garbage though. Iā€™m starting a new job tomorrow, and my mom is getting eye surgery the same day, and itā€™s my birthday the day after, and my sisterā€™s baby is due in a week or two. Fingers crossed.

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Have been hidden away from this community and writing. But how do we know that we ARE writers? Simpleā€¦ you always have that thought. I MUST WRITE. I want to show this! To create this! It is awesome!

Wanting to live off from own writing and be boss of my own is strong motivation to sit your ass down and write. Also lately, I have been finding playing games as not so much fun in my free time (oh, nooooo, Iā€™m getting old?) and reading is more fun. And that idea of writingā€¦ the need to finish everything my imagination has come up with!

Anyway, good luck to everyone in the new year and the new aspirations. Letā€™s immerse ourselves in our worlds and write!

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