June 2021's Writer Support Thread

  1. Ristalya
  2. Avery
  3. Steve/Stacy

Have you ever read any Wild Cards novels, perchance?

2 Likes

I don’t think so, what are Wild Card novels?
Thanks for the Name suggestions

2 Likes

I’ve written exactly 3k words this month. It’s great, if it wasn’t for the fact that if my arm wasn’t bonked, that number would be closer to 20k. I’m way behind on my schedule.

Anyway. My muse is dwindling. I’ve realized that the world I’ve built is excessively vast and takes a lot of actual thinking to explain due to the lack of our modern things, like a shower, or actual food.

Another point I noticed is that I completely forgot to add the most important thing to the story: A catalyst for the adventure. Why would these characters go where they’re supposed to go? Everything else is carefully planned but that teeny tiny detail I forgot. Wow.

Oh well, that’s the life of an artist, sometimes the muse takes a break.

@Kaelyn

What part of Europe are we talking? Even if it’s formerly European, there’s a big difference between where they’re placed.

Here are some names I could come up with, and found in different generators:

Eastern: Mezivice, Donnesti, Szarhad
Western: Rothran, Kaisernau, Beneheim
Northern: Kolivik, Rommelsjö/o, Ö/Ostervalla
Southern: Gilucia, Zaligesa, Caladova

On the subject of names, I’m really bad at coming up with things without an ethnicity behind the name, heh. The demon could well be something entirely fantasy-based, like Zevokh, and then use Zev as a nickname. Gender-neutral and saves some variables.

Hope this helps a bit! Feel free to DM me if you need any more :clap:

3 Likes

The city lies in the east of Europe, but building it ( the Dome) was an all european projekt. The east european landprices were just cheaper than in the rest and there was more Land available. It would be located in todays romania.

2 Likes

Maybe the city could be called Dacia (the ancient Roman name for today’s Romania). Although, on reflection, isn’t that a cheap make of car? If it is, that’s a shame: would have been a good city name.

2 Likes

Funny thing is, I used Dacian, Daci and Daciana as the Name for one of the chars in the story

2 Likes

I’ve finished the animation, and completed the bio test, and handed in my English collection of work draft!!! So… I suppose I can start writing again!

Say, anyone have any tips for writing a fight scene, one of my friends has advised me to keep the sentences short. Dose anyone else have any more tips?

8 Likes

It’s a series of superhero novels and short story collections that started in the 80’s and still goes today. George R. R. Martin edits a lot of them. Just made me think of it because it also covers something raining down on people (a virus in this case) that kills 90% of people, mutilates 9% and then gives the remaining 1% a power of some kind.

2 Likes

Never heard of it before, but the coincidence is funny. Maybe I will change the numbers to be Safe. Thanks for the explanation :kissing_heart:

1 Like

Yeah, I think if the numbers changed a bit, no one would really make the connection, so probably a good idea.

1 Like

Yeah plus thinking about it, 9% chance to be immune seems to be not lethal enough for the Story. I will do the maths again.

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Unavoidable NPC deaths - what’s your opinion?

@armadillidium – You already opened a thread titled: “Unavoidable NPC Deaths” … your recent posts belong there, so I moved them out of this thread to your original thread.

Hi everyone,

June is a very busy month for me, so I hope this is finding everyone well. I read everyone’s responses, even when I do not have the ability to reply right away, so keep the conversation flowing.

@Kaelyn – One source for names (place or character) I go to is historical records. Inspiration will often strike after seeing how an area (for places) or popular names (for characters) has evolved over time.

Also try using different cultural sources to cross-reference each other. I often compare Greek with Turkish sources, because often a place will have names from both cultures and I can get inspiration from contrasting and comparing them.

@Adrian_Waruinge - Welcome to the community and writer’s block is a shared experience that most of us, if not all, go through. Everyone in the thread has given you ideas to chew on and mull over.

The only thing I can add is: When I have writer’s block (and not just procrastination) it is usually one of two things: Fatigue or my subconscious has identified an issue that needs addressing.

In the case of fatigue, finding activities that replenish your mental resources is the key to success. Listening to the rain is one such method I am able to give my mind a rest. I’m sure you have developed go-to activities – and so I will leave this here and move on to the second reason.

When I have true writer’s block, it is because subconsciously, my writer’s mind is telling me there is something I need to address with what I just wrote.

My approach to handling this is much like @Jaybirdy’s … I break everything down into smaller and smaller bits … and then, and only then, refocusing on the big picture and starting over. It takes experience and being honest with yourself to get better at this aspect of writing.



Now to address something that I am extremely qualified to speak on:

Release and update expectations and actual dates:

@Schliemannsghost, @hustlertwo and others have expressed frustration and/or concerns regarding this.

First, just like most developmental and writer issues, this is something that most, if not all, experience. So, please never feel as if you are alone.

Second, the situations where you are under contract (such as @GreekWinter gives us a glimpse of in his post) or where there are milestones tied to a development schedule is different and the following advise does not apply to these cases,

So, with all of that said, what is a new writer/developer to do when it comes to updates, releases and the expectations?

  • Communicate – the most important thing to do is to communicate clearly with your testers and fans. This means:

    • setting up realistic expectations: if your updates are going to be sporadic and seemingly random (for whatever reason) it is best to be upfront and tell everyone this.
    • consistent replies and actions: if you change how you do things constantly, the only certainty you give people is uncertainty.
    • posting the expectations in accessible and easily seen locations: Not only your OP, but on your Tumblr and Discord home pages as well – this will be able to be something others can point inquiring minds to, even if you are not there to do so yourself.
  • Make it clear that an update is ready when it is ready. Even the best, most experienced and knowledgeable writer/developer will have updates that need to be delayed, withdrawn, or even both delayed and then withdrawn.

When all is said and done, the most important thing to do is to make sure your update is ready and not to push it live from pressure, external or internal. Cyberpunk 2077 is a relevant case-study for anyone interested. CD-RED (the developer and publisher) broke every point made above at least once, and even multiple times, and has suffered the consequences of doing so.




Now to my personal progress and goals:

  • Despite being swamped with life, I have managed 5,000 words or so this month… this is more than my admittedly low expectations, and it feels good accomplishing writing despite life’s intervention.

  • One project keeps getting encouraging developments, so I am happy about that, even if the developments are slow in coming; there will be a speed-up in this project, patience is just needed until then.

  • My other project is at a stand-still for now. Testing and editing is the most draining aspect to development for me, and I will not have the willpower to do this until next month. Again it is frustrating, because I want to show everyone this project, but as I said above: it will be ready when it is ready, and it is in my best interest to recognize and accept this, instead of pushing something live that I will regret.

Thank you all for keeping this thread going positive and in a forward direction.

:two_hearts:

21 Likes

Ah, oops. Haven’t used that thread for a while.

1 Like

That view of writer’s block is really interesting! I’ve always considered a writer’s block to be when I’m unable (or able with only very much difficulty) to write anything more than short notes and shopping lists. :thinking: (Which is… something I’d had going on for over a decade, and what I’ve only recently gotten over. Still reeling.)

1 Like

Hello, everyone!

I finally started working on an idea that I had for a long time now but always put off. I thought it would be boring, and no one would want to read it because it’s not some epic fantasy story but something that is meant to relax. Life has been pretty stupid, so I stopped caring that it isn’t the most exciting idea and just started writing.

My dream goal for this month would be to get a demo up and running, but that is a pretty unrealistic goal. So a more realistic goal for me would be to finish the character creation.

15 Likes

Okay, I am going to try and use the Snowflake method to ‘outline’ one of my game ideas, to see how well it works, for me specifically and for non-linear stories in general.

I will start with the most linear of my game ideas, which is pretty well developed, just to make it as easy as possible for myself.

10 Likes

I did it! i will never glance at the horrid pages of this nightmare again!

(i’m sure it’ll come back for edits. that’s ok.)

20 Likes

Congrats!!

2 Likes