Yes, but Dvalor’s game is in first person (for the MC’s part).
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I posted my demo! A big step for me as it’s been so long since I last put anything creative out into the world. I hope to get some feedback to help keep my momentum going.
My aim for this book is to craft deep, relatable and likeable characters that you can really get attached to. Each of the eight main cast members will have their own unique story that unfolds during the book and changes depending on your level of interaction with them.
If anyone is interested, please check it out and give me some feedback in the WIP thread!
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Congrats for the new demo!
In my news, I’m considering naming this one MC who has a canonical given name Jordan, if I could figure out whether or not it’s a gender-neutral name in Serbian, or if it would be better to use Jaylin.
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Conversely, if you give them the choice to skip, and they do, they are giving themselves less content.
In that case I think using a lot of hyperbole probably works for your purposes.
I should have some time this weekend to check it out. Also, congratulations on the demo release!
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Congrats. I can’t wait to check it out. We’re in the same boat because I’m also trying to do my best to make the characters feel fleshed out, like real people with their own stories and motivations. I’ve always felt that good side characters can make or break any book, show or movie.
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I’m definitely not there, yet. I need mine to be very explicitly named or I forget why I even had them. It takes longer to type them out but it saves me so much heartache. 
Hmm. This sounds tough because you want people to understand what’s happening. Maybe not the true events, but a more exaggerated version – or maybe even an outright lie? The only things I can think of as suggestions are: less, but more crucial hyperbole/metaphorical use on things that will cause conflict in the narrative once MC is challenged on what they thought/saw. (As well as MC being challenged on their thoughts so that things become clear – maybe an ah-ha moment for the reader.) This is mostly to keep comprehension in scenes.
Second would be to have a running commentary or joke from either MC themselves or other characters about MC being extra, delusional, or an outright liar to give the MC that level of unbelievability (and then at some point subvert it by making MC be completely truthful at random points).
I almost feel guilty this week because I certainly have not been as productive as usual – in either reading nor writing. I’m choosing to blame the good weather and the need to prep garden plots etc, and a hundred other excuses. I’m really hoping for a more focused weekend, though.
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What a terrible rush hour. A total of three cars passed me on my way to work!
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Where I live, in rural Nova Scotia, that WOULD be a terrible rush hour.
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More of my progress and fleshing things out. I have a pretty diverse casts now. They don’t really have a set age, but I’ve put them into age ranges. There used to be four but I’ve removed the 42-50 because it’s too much romanceables, so I’m setting with these three:
18-25 - young adult and still figuring out themselves.
26-35 - their in their prime, but struggling with responsibilities.
36-45 - seasoned adults with more experience, but still longing for more.
The romanceable: I have 3 Females, 3 Males, 1 Nonbinary as established characters now. But I’m still thinking of adding 1 more of each gender identities, but they don’t have roles in town or personalities yet.
I’m struggling a bit with my female casts because I think I need to rework them. They heavily leans into the ‘caretaker’ trope with an older sister and a mother, and another one is a town-drunk (which is not a caretaker but still doesn’t portray female casts in a positive light). That’s why I’m adding another female, but I can’t think of other aspirations for her that fits in the small town yet.
As for my nonbinary character, I’ve never written one before, but I want to give it a go. I have their characterization figured out. Though I’m still thinking how to portray their unique identity without making them feel isolated or treated differently from other identities. To help with this, I’m going add a second nonbinary romanceable, to prevent Rylee being both ‘the first’ and the ‘only one’ and showing showing more variety in nonbinary identities. Still thinking how represent them differently from Rylee though, and some forum posts here have been helpful in learning more. Rylee is already set as genderfluid, so this new character might lean more masculine or feminine but still identify as nonbinary, I haven’t decided yet. Their exact role and age-range is still undecided too.
My overarching plot, I’ve figured it out. It’s nothing grand, but it ties to the relationship the MC have with the townfolk. And it’s a low-stake story that focuses on everyday relationships, so I don’t think high-stakes plot will fit my story.
And, I’m also playing around with *gosub_scene and *rand commands so that’s fun. I have ideas on how to implement them in the scenes.
That’s my progress so far. I think my characters are fleshing out well. You all having a good writing process too.
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I’m actually having an exceptionally good writing day, which one would not guess by how little I’ve actually written 
but I’ve gotten past some bad writing locks I’ve been struggling with for months, so that’s awesome (even if my shoulder hurts because it hasn’t yet healed properly from being dislocated last month).
A question, though: if you had downtime on a Star Trek’s Enterprise -style spaceship, what would you want to do?
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It depends. Why am I on the spaceship in the first place? Assuming I’m a crew member (so I’m not just bursting with excitement because omg I’m on a spaceship for real), I’d probably do something super mundane like read a book. Especially if I was just getting off my shift at what’s probably a moderately stressful job at best, I wouldn’t be in the mood for any cool science-fictiony stuff.
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I don’t know how Enterprise-style spaceships work exactly, but if stargazing while floating around in 0 G is an option, I’m in,
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I’ll be on the holodeck.
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Crew member, yeah. 
I currently have only a single path because I want to get the main plot down, but there’ll be three options you can be: you’ll be a lieutenant in charge of a security team, a medical team, or an engineer team.
The main idea is that it’s big, sciency, and can handle itself in a fight.
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If it’s something not related to any role and just something to enjoy personally, I’ll probably be stargazing and maybe learn a new alien language or two while floating aimlessly in space lol
If it has to relate to my role though, as a medical team, probably to learn more alien biology. Or discover new alien species.
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It doesn’t! (You can do your work-related studying on your working hours. You’ll actually get paid for that. I know, utopistic future.) This is your relaxing time, I just figured your role might affect what you want for your relaxation time.
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One of my readers asked me for the main character’s favorite desserts, and I went down the rabbit hole of researching baking history to see what kinds of things they could feasible make with their technology level. It was a very interesting research session, but it made me hungry. 
I don’t think this is necessarily problematic unless that’s their entire personality.
I’m probably also in the mundane category, but I think having some cards or a board games would be great downtime.
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Pancakes!
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I’d be wondering how I got there tbh, I got zero applicable skills.
Whatever has me talking to absolutely no one, that’s what I’m doing-
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Mm I hope so. I think it’ll be potentially problematic with Yvette, since she’s in the 18-25, and doesn’t have other careers to distract her from being the older sister, I’ll be working on that. Wendy at least have being a teacher, since she falls in the 36-45 category.
Edit: (Sorry for replying long on a single statement, mostly thinking to myself hehe. You gave me more things to consider though, so thanks)
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