I didn’t edit as much or post a big update for May like I planned, so…
June Goal: Update!!!
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My plan for June is to flesh out my ideas and ideally finish a draft of chapter 1 that can then have ChoiceScript added.
Question to anyone reading: Does anyone have experience writing on the side with a job that already heavily involves writing? I am doing a PhD and want to have something close to publishing by the time I finish, but what holds me back the most is the motivation to write at night after already spending an entire day writing a lot. Of course, the writing is of a different type, but equally tiring. Any tips or tricks that worked for you?
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I’m not writing for a job, just my master’s thesis, so I have more leeway in how I spend my time so I can schedule both in if I want to, but if I’d have to write full eight hours for one, I… don’t think I’d even try for the other at the same day - there’s only so much text my brain can produce in a day without burning out. And please please don’t sacrifice your sleeping time. Your brain needs sleep. Especially if you’re doing research! (Or math. Please never do math without enough sleep.)
What I’d do is: spend the working days with the working stuff, then schedule Saturday for creative writing and Sunday for gaming. Prep work could be done whenever the idea (or mood) strikes though (stuff like drawings, outlines, plot diagrams, random scenes etc.) without it being disruptive for anything, and not writing an idea down because it’s a wrong day would just be a good way to forget it anyway.
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If you’re really busy and tired after a long day, trying to get those words in at night might not be the best idea. Writing can be difficult, and if you’re trying it after a long day of work, it is easy to lose focus or get distracted, and you might not be able to produce a good output even if you manage to overcome that.
If you really want to optimize your time, you could do the writing on weekends, and the lower-energy stuff (touching up the text, self-playtesting, art) on weekday nights.
Agreed. Pick a day where you have less work and more free time to work on it, so that you are fresh and ready.
Also, inertia is a real thing here. If you haven’t started, it is difficult to start. But once you start typing and getting those words in, it gets much easier and you’ll be much more motivated to work again. Once you reach the stage when you get some momentum going, it might even feel easier to open your laptop for an hour every night to get some additional work in.
Usually, what I do is build the plot and events while daydreaming over meals, walking and taking the bus. When it’s time to write, my brain is thick with ideas from countless daydreams, and ready to convert it all to words.
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That’s what I do as well, although then I end up with the kind of situations I’m in now… that when I dump it all together, I find myself with multiple variants of the same character running around the same world.
I wonder if that’ll annoy my readers. 
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End of June is exciting for me as I am going on reeeeeeseeeearrrrch trrrrriiiiip.
I had intended to include an ancient deity but decided a trip to Iran wasn’t feasible. Instead, I am off to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Should be interesting.
In the meantime I am questioning my sanity as, having written several thousand words of dialogue only if you can talk to animals, it turns out one of them is sassy af, one of them is strangely philosophical, and one is immensely stupid and solely devoted to humping shoes.
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My goals for June are to finish and post my already quite large chapter 1, and move on to an even bigger chapter 2. Hopefully a full first chapter will draw more feedback on my WIP thread.
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My goal for June is to complete First Bull Run. I want to add all of the art, maps, and additional features, and submit it for publishing.
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In today’s news, I’m settling a waking non sequitur for a supervillain, trying to decide between “Dolphins!” and “Ice cream!”
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Dolphins selling ice cream!
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Goal for June is to finish the prologue to the IF I’m working on. I have so many rambles written down for later in the book, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to start the book. Aughhhhhh 
I’ve started just fleshing out the MC and the multiple backgrounds they could have, and I’m sorta hoping inspiration just comes to me as I’m working on that.
Coding… will be it’s own beast. Haven’t coded anything in a few years, so it’s gonna be a little rough getting back into it, but I don’t even wanna think about that right now 
I’ve been using Obsidian to keep track of all the variables and world building stuff, and honestly it’s really nice to have everything sorted and easily accessible, rather than going through a bunch of different word docs.
Anyway, best of luck to my fellow writers this month!! Let’s crush those goals!
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Just start it. I know that sounds flippant, but it’s the best advice I can give. It’s so easy to get lost in a sea of prologue and worldbuilding and scene setting, I’ve found the best way to get moving is to throw the player into some action, then backfill as you move forwards. That way you eliminate the “spinning your wheels” feeling that can plague a more drawn out intro, while hooking a reader early.
(OFC this is just what worked for me, everyone writes differently)
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What’s Obsidian?
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I saw it on TikTok, and was like “fuck it. I wanna get back into writing. maybe this will help” and it did! It’s free and a great platform.
This… I might just do. When I get back on my computer I’ll just open up a document and start typing. If anything, it will be a great building block to go off of. I’ve got a rough idea that I need to stop overthinking haha
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Guess I’ll throw my hat into the ring for this month’s thread. I used to frequent this forum a long time ago and even started my own IF back then (though never published any of it to the forum, just interest checks and question). Well for the last couple of months I’ve been getting back into IF and last month I decided to try my hand back at writing one again, only this time more prepared. So far it has been going good. I’ve only got about 2k words done for now, but I feel better prepared than I did last time I tried this. I’ve said a goal for at least 500 words a week, which might not be a lot, but I decided to set my goal low to start out.
Just like unCrunch I’m using Obsidian to keep everything organized and it has helped me a ton (their post has been part of the reason I decided to post in this month’s thread). I already used it before to keep things organized for work, but using it for my writing has helped me a ton.
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“That was the day when everything changed.”
This is cheating, but I am a great proponent of cheating methods, when they work, and this one works a treat. You can just edit this sentence out later, but it serves two purposes: 1) side-stepping the dreaded “blank page anxiety”, and 2) pinpointing the starting point of the narrative. Stories are about change and growth, and the day when everything changes is where the story ought to begin. And even if it isn’t the perfect starting point, it’s the starting point to finding the starting point.
And you can always change it later.
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You most likely will change it later, I’d say, but maybe that’s just me.
(Although now I kinda want to make something where the first sentence is “Blank page anxiety.”)
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Write something about the life of a writer, then you can use it as a first sentence.
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@Sailingshells Happy Birthday Month, from one June birthday to another!
@DDrum75 Welcome back and good luck on your writing!
It’s June! I get to celebrate both my birthday and pride which is always really fun!
My goal for this month is to outline the aroace, the ace and the aro paths for the MC in the story and a cute challenge for pride, and to do a quick outline pass of the first few chapters in CSide.
Good luck to everyone else with the start of their months!
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Thanks LilacRebel and good luck on your pride challenge. I completely forgot my username on here was that till I read your mention. Haven’t used that one in ages. I should probably see about changing that to one I’ve been using more recently.
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