The process of putting different ideas from different sources like throwing ingredients together into a blender. Fine-tuning the story and dialogue afterwards is, of course, required for cohesion.
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12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Politics Thread (Part 5)
I managed around about 1500 words last night, it was probably a lot more than that as I ended up writing in several different places in the files so it’s hard to get an actual count without counting the individual scenes and adding them together and I haven’t got around to doing that yet.
I’m currently trying to decide how I want to approach the romance scenes in Quiver. Originally I wanted this to be a Heart’s Choice so I was considering making it spicier than what I’ve written before but now I more than likely will release it as a Hosted Games game I’m thinking I will need to write a more toned down version albeit maybe more spicier than the fade to black in my UnNatural series.
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1000 words sunday, 500ish words yesterday, 300 words today. good progress.
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Thanks for the reminder @Cecilia_Rosewood - I’ve moved a line of discussion about politics in media to the Politics thread. 
Separating this bit from the politics chat:
I’d go with whatever spice level you think feels right for the story and what you’re comfortable with. There are a lot of very explicit released Hosted Games titles so I doubt there would be problems.
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I wrote about 2000 words today, and am now about a third of the way through my chapter. I’m very pleased with how it’s going, while also being pretty conscious that it’s very first-draft-y. Happily, I like editing a lot so it’ll be fun to polish it once it’s down on the page.
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Im finding it increasingly difficult to continue writing my main WIP with no criticism being given.
Ive only been told of making too many WIPs that’re just dead now but not on the quality of the game/narrative themselves.
Part of the reason why i kept making new WIPs last year was to see if the first game im writing was that good or not enough people were interested to begin with.
Im even making another wip because im getting nothing out of my first one.
Im going to finish it on principle of being my first work but its going to be much shorter and smaller than it wouldve been.
Waste of time figuring it out.
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There are many things about writing that I love, but right now, I especially love coming up with excuses to use relatively rare words, like “hew”, “deride”, or “tithe”. The kind of words I never get a chance to use in everyday conversation.
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At this point I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of getting feedback. I’m now writing because I enjoy it and that’s it. As long as I keep at it, I’ll get better.
Thus, my advice would be to write what you enjoy, learn to analyze and edit your text so you can improve on your own. Yes, not getting feedback sucks, but if there is anything I learned after repeatedly giving myself depressive episodes over it is that I don’t want this to destroy the joy I get out of creating my story.
- doing research for my work. I learned a lot of stuff this way.
- worldbuilding. Taking different ideas and reshuffling them into something unique but coherent. There’s a reason Morrowind is my favorite TES game
- writing dialogue, especially small insignificant lines that are just there to breathe life into the world. Descriptions I put thought/research into. Tense and emotional scenes.
- when things just click into place lol
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Its still going to be shorter than originally. Frankly too burnt out on working this paradox of a game that only i enjoy.
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I understand what you two are saying . More than what you think.
But I think that the writer shouldn’t wait for feedback from their readers. I mean your players are here to see what you got for them. They aren’t here to tell you what to do or how to make your game.
I mean think about your game as a ship and you are it’s sole captain with all the power and influence. If you think about it like that then any reviews you get will be more than enough.
I don’t know what to say it’s good that you aren’t abandoning it all together but if the sole reason behind limiting your expectations for your game is not getting enough reviews then maybe you should reconsider your options .
Of course this is only my advice. And I hope that you do well with whatever decision you make 
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Getting to ramble about planets, moons and other space stuff. It’s probably not very beneficial to my writing (I don’t imagine people read Saturnine for an explanation of how Saturn is actually more liquid than gas) but if I can endure writing seven different romance routes then the player can endure some astronomy.
The reality is, steering a ship with no passengers and nobody to buy your cargo gets boring after a while. Writing for yourself is a fine sentiment, but in practice, it’s difficult to get an entire IF finished without some form of support, critique or encouragement.
At least for most people I know. Including me.
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Yes - that’s the best part in my opinion. Especially seeing the different language varying people have used throughout history. The language a people use truly shows a hint of the spirit of the times.
A few things here . . .
With the closing of Dashingdon forver I, like most of you, have no doubt been scrolling through many of the games soon to be lost (save for a few efforts on private computers) more or less forever. It is both inspiring and disheartening.
Granted, there is a good portion of these games that give me a feel for what editors and publishers must call the slush pile; short little games that had high ambitions but either were cut short very, very soon, or are non-existent, or just didn’t make it somehow.
But there is also so much creative energy here - so many posibilities. And it is noteworthy that a lot of these games DID make it - I’m honestly not sure of how many games have gotten published, but I would think between COG, HG, HC, and itch, probably a few hundred at least? So, success can happen.
I think what is particularly challenging is the shortened permative nature of these projects - CS changes, the internet changes, whatever - suddenly the game no longer works and if no one takes action it is gone forever.
Granted, books and literature suffer the same thing inevitably, there the permanence can be counted with the word centuries (Shakespear, Beowulf) or even melenia if an author is particularly lucky (ancient roman authors). It would be very nice if something were done to make these CS games more durable to the ravishes of time, but what can be done?
I think, for myself, what I’ve gradually come up with is to not put all my eggs in one basket - while I intend to keep working on my CS projects, linear writing and other projects are neccesitated as well if I am to have a better chance of having my writing last for any longer time.
I mean - feedback is great. But there is a school of thought that it can be detrimental to the creative experience too. I guess I’d probably rather get no feedback than a ton of feedback that is destructive to the creative process. But that’s me. While it is good to learn a little each time we write, the main thing is to keep writing, keep creating. If you keep at it, the thought is, eventually it will come true, one way or another.
It can be disheartening though - right there with you all onthat.
Yes - and I’ll add to that good advice a little.
And I’d add to it to read what you enjoy and can learn from and do the same - there is a nearly infinite amount of great writers you can read. Try to see what worked for these great writers, what didn’t; you’ll be surprised. Literary conventions come and go; what is the best practices for writing at one time will not be the same a few decades later. You can gain wisdom and experience by seeing what worked and didn’t work from the great writers and plenty of energy too.
I think we’ve all been there - creating these things can be a trying and lonely experience and I feel like there’s a lot of luck to it in addition to the craft. My opinion, but I think truly succeeding and getting noticed is a bit like trying to catch lightning - you might, then again you might not.
It gets doubly frustrating with IF creation in how much time we toss at making these things - if I let scope creep run free, its an infinite black hole.
But at the end of the day, seeing the game take shape is sometimes enough to remotivate me.
Granted all of this is from the writer with I think two or three of my games with the bottom most viewing on the new website, so all well I guess . . .
Honestly, this sounds like good bits to me. While I certainly can improve on this with my own writing, I think adding bits of real learning can enhance a story, especially for IF where the player and characters can really emerse themselves in the study of the objects in question.
For me, the thing I like best are the words. Sounds a bit odd, espeically for me with all my grammer and spelling faux pas, but there is something beautiful and magical about the different arrangement of words, a power and life all their own. So, that’s one for me - not that I always pull of beautiful or poetic wordings, or even ones that sound all that great. But ideally I would, if I had better energy and balance.
Secondly, I think its the plot becoming clear and sorting itself - writing always feels a bit like archeology to me . . . a gradual digging, dusting, and sweeping to uncover some long-lost treasure, perhaps never seen in the world before. That’s the fun of pantsing - while some plot points I have planned out, a lot is revealed to me as I go.
Thirdly, seeing the world and characters come to life - insidental and key to the second point mentioned. While the characters often feel like charactetures when I’m writing them, I find they often sound much better when I 'm rereading them later. While I think this third point is true for any ficitonal prose writing, it is even more strong for IF, as here the characters and their world really have a chance to shine and come to life.
Not really asked for, but I would say editing is my least favorite aspect of writing (and yes, it shows) - while necessary this feels like work and is work for me, while a lot of the rest can be hard and challenging but has a core of fun and the discovery of mystery, bright and brilliant.
Progress continues on Sense & Sorcery - still filling in a lot of the holes. If I end up with more time, it would be nice if I could fix the clothing section sometime this quarter, and if I really, really got enough time, I would love to finish the giant holes in chapter 3 and 4 with the travel section, but this is going to take a lot of research if I want to get it half way right. As time is ever a primium, I continue on with some of the easier holes to fill for the time being.
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Yes that’s right but gaining an audience large enough to criticize your game and give you a much needed support takes time and @Sylents puplished their game in November.
My point is the writer shouldn’t wait for criticizing especially in the game early stages.
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First: Thinking about the plot and deciding how to advance the story feels like watching a movie of my own as I imagine the scenes in my mind—even though there are times when I feel lost in my own game.
Second:Rewriting and editing until the words I read truly resonate with me.
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Actually, it might be better to simply release the game once it’s content complete.
Personally, I’m also pretty bad at sorting through the WIPs on the forum and looking for some to comment on. If I see a WIP I don’t recognize with a substantial number of comments, I subconsciously assume it’s something which didn’t catch my interest sometime back and ignore it. That’s also why I tend to comment on new WIPs, even if most of these will never make it to the next chapter. Perhaps I need a way to fix this. 
But… if anyone wants feedback on a WIP, feel free to reach out. (But I reserve the right to decline if your project has plenty of attention already or if I’m busy.)
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I’ve learned from my experience writing Honor Bound where I had to retro-engineer some dogs when I reached Chapter 8, and, for practicality reasons, have introduced a dog earlier rather than later in Project Amble.
This is my visual reference:
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OMG DOG
(Yes, forum software, that IS a complete sentence.)
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A complete sentence and a good one 
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Unrelated to this dog, who’s a bit-player, I’m now feeling a bit like… there’s a natural point coming up where the PC could adopt a dog for practical and/or altruistic reasons… but I don’t know a ton about caring for dogs in the wilderness and it’d be complicated to write, plus it’d be a significant branch that wouldn’t always get seen if players didn’t want one… and a dog needs to eat, I wouldn’t necessarily want to write dog-suffering if the PC runs out of food… but it would also be very cool and cute for people who did want one and a dog could also end up being useful…
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