July's Writers' Support Thread

Some humor for all you writers out there! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: You’re doing great today!

6 Likes

Got a functional computer again and my tooth infection has receded to background annoyance. Maybe I can start to get some writing done…

Alas I am also in the middle of a kitchen renovation that I started when I couldn’t write…

8 Likes

I’m almost ready to update my demo with the bit I’ve been slowly chugging away at for months… but even though I do feel creative, I also feel like I’m stalling. Not simply procrastinating, like stalling myself. I’ve asked like three friends if they’d be willing to take a look at the new stuff before adding it, but like… I don’t even mean it? I’m not as unsure as I feel I should be, basically? it feels like a way to delay things or prolong things --well I’ve only got a few things left to fill in and write out, but I can’t update the demo until X, Y, and Z give me their feedback, and I can’t even get that until they find time to read it, so there’s no rush in even finishing this.

It’s my first time writing action (I guess?) and violence in 5ever and my first time actually sharing that type of writing in longer than that. I think I’m just insecure it’s actually bad, which is normal? But I haven’t actually struggled very much to write those parts, so when I read them over, my creative brain is like “why the hell are you worrying so much.” but I feel like not thinking it’s bad means I’m missing something crucial?? like maybe I’m vain? or blinded by my own inexperience? hubris? over-confident? I always feel like I have to spot my own writing flaws way way ahead or I’m a terrible writer who shouldn’t be sharing their work in the first place -_-

fuck it, I’m gonna finish the shit today. why am I wasting my creative energy being anxious about something I’m enjoying writing!! I know alphas are drafts, but I’m very used to only sharing final (or at least damn near final) drafts. but especially because of the scale of the project, I think I’m gonna have to… sigh :nauseated_face: loosen up and perhaps even go easy on myself :nauseated_face: :nauseated_face: lest I get held up making minor changes to word choice for a thousand years and become upset at myself for my glacial progress

ugh, I shudder to even type that :sweat:

5 Likes

We have all been there and most likely still will be @hotmess.exe … we all just experience it in different ways.

My guess is that you’ll reach a tipping point with yourself, update the demo, receive some feedback and then you’ll be asking yourself… “That is it?” “All this worry and fret for this?” Then, next time, hopefully, it will be easier to overcome these feelings when they occur.

5 Likes

I am in a similar situation. I am writing a story for a contest, and even if I am going well… I just don’t feel like I am not doing enough. That I am dropping in quality instead of improving. It is a very bitter feeling. As I can’t really do anything about it, I work all I can but it is never enough.

4 Likes

Aw, I’m sorry to hear that! It’s always hard to be at a standstill and feel that terrible sense of self-doubt and stress…I feel like writers try to be self-aware and catch any mistakes before we publish stuff, but sometimes that means we get overly analytical. It’s definitely a thin, difficult line to walk. I doubt you’re being vain or over-confident, it could just be that you’ve made something that you enjoy. I mean, we are our first audience, so we do cater to ourselves in some respect.

Best of luck finishing your draft! Definitely go easy on yourself. Even a minor change or a slight word difference is still one step closer to your finished project.

GenuineJoyousFoal-small

3 Likes

Just because I was curious, I went and actually played Venetian’s tears a couple of rounds (just grabbed a random one of yours), and I feel like you’re selling yourself short. Yeah, there are issues, but none of them huge or unfixable, and above all, the central idea is good. I’d take a fascinating idea over a boring but correct one any day. If you’re interested in talking about your writing, I’m game, because there’s something very unique in your viewpoint that would be interesting to see flourish. Drop me a dm if you want.

4 Likes

I told her this – I even thought this very game, you chose at random would be a great concept to expand into a Hosted Games title…

But who am I to tell her this? :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes

Hey, I started the prototype is about 20k or so. But this contest made me drop it for another month. Also, I am still not sure how Cog fans will accept a game without stats.

1 Like

Honesty, that’s an interesting discussion in itself. Do stories need stats? What is their purpose? Nothing should be added to a story just because people expect it, at least not unless it’s small quality of life things that’s easy to include.

3 Likes

I think they are a heavy anchor that in most stories burden the storyline. People stop reading the game clues and thinking about Punch is my main state Time to punch barehanded a fucking dragon. What could go wrong?

3 Likes

Well if you do not have stats then how can you tell if you can or cannot do any damage for example? Of course they are not needed in every game out there, but they also cannot be completely cast aside. “Games” are games, because of stats, characteristics that make your character - your character, they are a core on which the character is build. But of course, every game and their use of stats is different. Still, I think that without stats, it’ll be no better than a simple traditional book or a novel.

There are published games that don’t have stat mechanics… it really depends on the game’s actual design.

“Creatures Such as We” is an award winning game without stats.

3 Likes

That’s why I said, that it varies. If someone can pull that off, then why not. Some people may like it, some people may not, the main thing is for it to be any good. Though I don’t think I personally would like games to go off stats completely, but its just you know, my opinion

1 Like

Yesterday update: i wrote 80 words. yep, that’s right a whole 80. incredible.

7 Likes

At least you have write something that is important not get a block

2 Likes

I do not think a game without stats would be like a novel. It just means that you are able to choose just the answer you like, without getting told that you had better trained dexterity to be able to jump. A Story might get a lot more customizable to your liking without stats.
But of course it gets less gamey since you do not need try and error to get the stats you need for a good end.
Personally I would like that. It is more story focused that way. And that there are no stats does not mean that there are no variables.

5 Likes

Daily update: wow, after yesterdays 80 words, today I write over 4,000, That brings my little story to >360,000 and still I am pushing onwards. The problem here is that what I wrote was all fill in stuff where it was debatlable if I needed to make any changes and none of it was the difficult stuff I actually needed to write. But, contra to that I now have 4,000 more words written out with zero duplication and that’s no bad thing.

7 Likes

Happy birthday @Alice-chan! :birthday: :birthday: :birthday:

Hope you have a nice day!

1 Like

Wrote 2k words yesterday, then woke up today and read through everything I have so far. Realised I hadn’t really given scenes time to breathe and as a result everything is…not great!!

It’s fixable though! I think I was too conscious of trying not to tell the reader how they felt, but also trying to have an engaging narrative voice. Trying to find a balance between that now and shoving back the voice in my head that’s telling me my work is crap. I don’t feel as bad as I normally do about that though, probably because I’m writing mostly for fun at this point.

4 Likes