Happy New Year, and welcome everyone to our first Writer Support Thread for 2025.
It’s also my first time creating one of these threads, following in the footsteps of the legendary Brittany Kiera Martin, whom we knew here as Eiwynn. Her death on December 5 was a great loss, not only to her wife Caitlyn and those of us who were honored to be named among her friends, but to the CoG forum community as a whole.
It sort of seems to have fallen to me to keep the tradition going, and I’m happy to do it, but only if the community is comfortable with me in that role. If you’re not comfortable with me organizing these threads, you can contact @HarrisPS with your concerns, so you can say whatever you need to say without worrying about hurting my feelings.
Eiwynn used to include a couple of links to helpful articles in the first post of every month’s thread, and I’d like to continue doing that in the future - I even have some topics in mind I’d like to research for future posts. But this month, in the spirit of new beginnings, I’d like to know what all of you want and need from these threads. What do you think is important to maintain? Is there anything you’d like to see changed?
I enjoy the articles, and generally sharing goals and what’s going on with writing. I like this as a centralised area for all writers to discuss, rather than being focused on a single project like the WIP threads are.
I think the snippet-sharing in the middle of the month is nice as it’s a very low-pressure way of throwing something out there - for me it contributes to the feeling of writing being a less isolated process.
If others would like to take turns creating these threads as well that’s great - all I ask is that it gets arranged in advance so no one’s scrambling. I am happy to be a last-resort backup but would prefer that not to be the norm.
The numbers are astonishing: 30 published games, 160 brand-new WIPs, and 142 WIPs updated that were started in 2023 and earlier. I’m absolutely amazed by how much hard work and creativity is bubbling away in the ChoiceScript writing community.
At the start of 2024 I didn’t actually do a writing resolution, but just a January one. But for 2025, I won’t be releasing a whole game unless I somehow write at extraordinary speed, so my goal is to share my Project Amble WIP when the time comes, and to make as much progress on it as I can. I also want to plan out some Patreon activity well in advance so I can figure out making it a more relaxed endeavour.
For January itself, my goal is to complete a first draft of Chapter 1 of Project Amble, finalise a map of the area in which the game takes place, and send off a revised outline for another thing (which… I’ve said a lot of times and spanners have been thrown in the works. Hopefully fewer spanners this month).
Scarlet Sorceress is at 325k words now. I’ve set a target of 5k words a day during my Christmas vacation, which I’ve managed to meet most of the time, and I still have a couple of days left. I’m frankly astounded that I’ve managed to create something so big at this point. The plan is to open a full beta thread in mid-January, where I will assess the level of interest it’s getting and decide whether I should submit it to HG.
Meanwhile, I’m entering a standalone chapter in the short games showcase, and also learning some important skills in putting up a Choicescript game on itch along the way.
I hope to complete Dragon of Steelthorne 2 this year as well, in time for the Spring Thing, but I’ll also need to determine whether I’m still going to do a HG release along with it.
As in, creating the Writer Support Threads? I haven’t been overly active on the forums for the last few months, for various reasons, some personal, but I can take some turns this year.
It has been a while since I participated in the support threads. I look forward to sharing some writing on the 15th.
Here are some of @Eiwynn’s early links that she shared in the threads. This is to ensure we aren’t going without any useful links this month.
I picked these for a couple of reasons. The first is that they were her first set of links to articles as far as I can find. Second, I view making IFs like I do my table-top gaming, so having an approach like a GM to a TTRPG might give a unique approach.
There are a lot of community members that have ties to RPG and D&D gaming. With that in mind, I’d like to share a few basic articles that might help you use your gaming experience and turn this knowledge into better writing skills:
This month’s first featured article is focused on making characters for roleplay in your favorite tabletop. The goal here is to take the guiding principles explored in this article and use them to build your narrative’s characters.
If you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons or one of the countless other tabletop RPGs around, this guide will help your character shine.
This next article is an interview of Amy Vorpahl, one of more than a dozen writers on the Candlekeep Mysteries anthology which challenges us to look at writing in a different perspective:
An exclusive Candlekeep Mysteries interview with Dungeons and Dragons writer Amy Vorpahl
The final article for the month is from actor-turned-game developer Stephen Ford, in which he discusses his core philosophy for writing a game narrative.
I’ve never been much for new year’s resolutions or even announcing deadlines because of plain bad luck I have with that (The year ended with me not meeting one such deadline because the day after announcing it my PC decided it’s been too long since it last broke). But maybe the way to break that streak is to make a proper long term resolution so here goes.
By the end of the year I want to complete the main story of act 3 of my game alongside at least 3 side quests and for January I’m going to publish the first chapter of act 2 and two more side hangouts after finishing the 2 that were supposed to come out already. Here’s hoping I won’t get struck by a meteor after making those claims.
BTW for those interested, I was crunching some numbers on the release/WIP digests:
the average number of updated WIPs per month was approx 30, and it never fell below 20
the average number of brand new WIPs per month was 12-13
There were spikes in people sharing new WIPs or updates in January, July, August, and November; I think this was probably the effects of starting a new year, NaNoWriMo, and people in education having summer holidays. June and September was the lowest, which makes me think of exam season and the start of a new school year respectively.
Each month, there was always an average of least one new WIP or update put out per day; often quite a bit more. That’s huge. I was aware there was tons of writing going on here, but I’m really pleased I decided to start tracking it because there’s so much to keep an eye on!
Those numbers are honestly fascinating; I never would have guessed they’re that high, in spite of thinking there’s always a lot of activity going on here!
I think, this year, I will once again try for an annual goal set. So, what I hope to accomplish in 2025 is:
Make it to Chapter Seven of Blood of the Living. Maybe Eight at a stretch.
Get a serviceable demo in order for my secret side project thing.
It’s so hard to gauge what’s possible in a year, but fingers crossed I’m being at least a little realistic, here.
As for this month, a little more obviously-feasible:
I’m going to aim for 35k words. If I fall short of the mark and only hit 30, it won’t be too big a deal, I don’t think, but pushing for the little extra can be helpful, sometimes. I am certainly not capable of 5k a day anymore, so we’ll see how I do.
Good luck this month, everyone. And thank you, @AletheiaKnights, for being the first one to step into these particular shoes. It’s really appreciated.
Thank you @AletheiaKnights for creating the thread and @Dvalor53 for sharing the links I’ll add a ‘hear hear’ to everything said above about people enjoying the threads, articles, snippet shares, etc.
My goal for January is to slow down a little after the kind of insane amount of work I did last month, but to still keep going. I’ve got a lot to do irl prepping for a cross-country move and I’m trying to manage my health, writing, and time with friends all with that. Ideally I’d also like to prep some patreon content so it’s ready to go when the move happens. Fingers crossed ~
I thoroughly enjoyed the end-of-year digest. It’s like our own forum newsletter, how awesome! Thank you for putting it together @HarrisPS
First of all, thank you @AletheiaKnights for setting up this month’s support thread.
Second, @HarrisPS thank you for you kind words after my surgery last month. (I meant to say that earlier.) There were so complications and thr first week of recovery was rough, but I’m much better now.
I was not able to add those pesky 600 words yesterday to meet my December goal, but I’m still pleased with my progress.
My 2025 goal:
Get out 2-3 chapter updates. This may not seem like much, but I’ve been averaging one a year, so this is very ambitious for me.
My January goals:
Finish Chapter 3 of Guardian of Time
Post an updates demo with Chapter 3
Finish setting up my Patreon Page, and launch it with my demo update.
Shout out to @HarrisPS for the incredible full year WIP and release digest! That’s a pretty amazing amount of work, and it’s a great thing to have!
Thank you, @AletheiaKnights for taking up the torch. These threads have been a constant source of support for many, and they’re well worthy of being continued. I hope we can all honour Eiwynn’s memory by keeping the spirit of support going.
First off, I’d love to thank you for doing this. These threads are sometimes the only thing that keeps me going on my game, and I appreciate you holding it up.
I’d love to seea continuiation of articles designed to help us be better writers and game designers. I also really loved the day 15 snippets and the WIP update thingie that Harris does. I can’t think of anything that could make this better.
Thanks again!
Holy wow, this is amazing.
We’re rooting for you!
XD holy shit, same. GO YOU!
As Usual, here we go:
Progress on my 2024 goals
Complete Phoenix Rising - No where NEAR. Same as last year, really. Still working on the first chapter. At this rate, this is gonna take me 40 years.
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 officially stopped doing this. I tell myself it’s because ‘duolingo is doing the wrong thing by using AI, so I’m boycotting’, but that doesn’t change that I’ve given up.
My 2025 goals
Complete Phoenix Rising - This isn’t really realistic. But I’m gonna do my best.
This is an estimated timeline, PLEASE do not get your hopes up for it. This is to break it down for me, so that I can make plans and hopefully get it all done… but probably won’t.
Finish Demo Update - End of January, roughly.
Finish writing code skeleton for Chapter 1 - End of February, roughly.
Add Flavor-text to Chapter 1 Code Skeleton - End of March, roughly.
Edit Flavor-text to Chapter 1 & Debug round 1 - End of April.
Debug round 2 - End of May.
Upload full Chapter 1 demo - Middle of June.
Code Skeleton Chapter 2 in it’s entirety - End of July.
Flavor-text out Chapter 2 - End of September. (If I’m going by how long it took me to finish the first chapter, this is WILDLY optimistic)
Bugfix & Edit Chapter 2 - End of October.
Upload Chapter 2 demo - End of November.
Code Skeleton Chapter 3 in it’s entirety - End of December.
Get posts on the Nascent Souls Tumblr up to end of March. - My posts are out to February at this time! I hope I can keep this up.
Bonus at work. - Still a requirement to keep my job.
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!
For those curious, I said this in the December post too, but I don’t think I’m ever going to remove Eiwynn from my list. She was on it when she left us, and she’ll be on it until I do. It’s a sign of respect.
write faster or, rather, get further in the book than I did in Dec. I think that means simply finishing the first chapter - a draft of all four floors plus the skills check (behind the scenes visit). We’ll see!
2.It’d be great if my main permission holder starts the next step of the conversation with me about rights.
My 2025 goals are:
No matter what DON’T STOP WRITING. I have a major book coming out in the fall, with an associated podcast series and related book tour, but Exit Through the Gift Shop is my current next project, and I need to keep my eyes on the entire writing pipeline. That means not getting too distracted by any one part over the others - I want to advance them all.
I don’t think it is reasonable for me to plan to finish the draft of EXIT by the end of the year. But I think it’s reasonable to expect to be 3/4 of the way through, have a finalized structure for the entire thing, a release plan, and resolve any lingering rights issues.
Thank you @AletheiaKnights for taking over the Writer Support thread. I know Eiwynn is looking down with a smile knowing that someone worthy is following in her footsteps.
For my goals for January 2025, I intend to start writing 1666 words a day split between two projects UnNatural Season Three and Quiver which works out to 833 words for each project which should be manageable.
My 2025 goal is to finish and publish XoR2. Pretty simple. The breakdown of what I’ve got left to do is here.
Thanks so much for being willing to take on these threads, @AletheiaKnights. They’re such a valuable forum tradition, as well as a wonderful way to honor and remember Eiwynn.
My goal for January is to write 10k words of Meteoric and post Chapter Six. My goals for 2025 are to publish Meteoric and release updates to Trial of the Demon Hunter and its sequels to wrap up the trilogy.
My resolution for this month is to put out an update for AToH. I don’t know how long it’ll be, but I’m not worried about the length in this case, I just want to get something out there so I can get back on the horse and make sure the game continues.
I’ll add a ‘hear hear’ to everything said above about people enjoying the threads, articles, snippet shares, etc.