Hello everyone :> September ended on a good note for me! I have a bit of free time before my next assignment of work and I have spent that time getting back into hobbies I have neglected. A worryingly large chunk of it was put into grinding Destiny… The guiltiest of pleasures but oh, so, so cathartic. Spooky season also beckons so it is time to play both Darkest Dungeon and my new favorite, Inscryption. I can’t get enough of the atmosphere in those games. dreamy sigh I really love autumn. Anyway!
On writing: September had its ups and downs when it came to motivation, one day I’d be pumped for my progress and the next completely disheartened because of low self-esteem. I spend way too much energy comparing myself to authors that are able to not only pump out massive amounts of writing each month, but also maintaining a solid presence on varying social media. I know that will never be me, and I know that my own project is valued too… But I can’t help it. I want to be the Fantastical Writer with fingers in every pie. To combat that, I have gone on a strict reading(or gaming) diet that allows for minimal braindead-browsing time. Currently reading The Golem and the Jinni after very indulgently reading the Southern Reach trilogy twice back to back. Heh.
On writing, for real this time:
I am continuing my wordsprints but changed from words counted to minutes worked: I set a timer for 20 minutes and spend those editing, without distractions. On average I do about two a day, and I’m guessing(hoping) that I can do more of them now that I have free time in October. I still have a bit of writing left to do for my next wip update, but I am starting my editing now to not get so intimidated once it’s all done. It’s all about pushing through the boring bits for me now, editing and making sure that it all ties together and isn’t an incomprehensible mess like this post is. Have some stupid jpegs as a bribe.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually posted anything in any of the monthly support threads, but I’ve been lurking for quite a while now, and I’ve always appreciated the atmosphere. I feel like it might be time for me to get out of my comfort zone (cough…anxiety) and finally write something.
Well, here goes nothing.
October is going to be rather busy for me. I’m pretty close to finishing the latest round of edits for The Hidden Sanctum, and when I’m done with that, I’ll be able to announce the closed beta. I probably need another five to seven days of editing.
I’ve also been preparing things for my next project (not announced yet), and I’d like to start working on the demo as soon as the closed beta for The Hidden Sanctum starts. I’d like to write the first 20k words by the end of the month.
There are some other things, but these are the most important points.
I have to figure out what view point I’m writing. Right now, I’m writing third person, present tense. It’s good for outlining but it feels I’m commentating football. I considered writing it like it was a cog but it’s not interactive. Just one lonely path from start to finish with no choices along the way.
@Kelly_Seastar To help you choose, have you considered the impact of person and tense on the amount and reliability of information you want to relay to the reader?
What I mean is, for example, if you do first-person narration it’s easier to make it an unreliable narrator than if you do a third-person one (unless the narrator is also a character in the story). The character’s perceptions being unreliable is not a fudge; a third-party narrator (that isn’t another character) conveying the reader false information is, well, just lying to the reader.
I’m happy to read that things seem to be going well for a lot of you!
As for myself, I think I might be quite finished with the first draft of my first game ever; a fun and funny feeling, that is. I didn’t exactly expect it to reach 60 000 words. It’s been a lot of fun, and a lot of goofing around. Perhaps a bit too much goofing around from time to time, but I’m fine with that.
@poison_mara Well done! Anxiety is a big buffoon indeed, so I’m happy for you.
Well, the holidays are always a busy time and as usual, I have a lot going on, as well as some recent back trouble that I need to nurture through judiciously cycling between walking and gentle stretches, and lying face-down with a heat pack on my back. Parents, talk to your kids about having a spine before somebody else does.
Writing goals for October:
Attend the local autumn convention (always interesting and inspiring).
Outline the [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] scenes.
Finish the last variation of the coronation scene (solo coronation for routes 2 & 3).
Catch up on Dracula Daily.
Complete my pre-writing for NaNoWriMo 2022. This year, I’m writing a novelette.
So, yeah. That’s quite a lot, when I factor in medical stuff and family occasions.
So I moved some stuff around to fit an idea I had so hopefully it won’t come off as “wtf where did that come from???” But when I deleted stuff and moved stuff around, my progress tanked. I did manage to get back up to where I was, but Writer only started counting once I got out of the negatives. I managed 270 words today.
:sigh: Progress is progress. I’ll write more later.
Well I can’t believe it. I’m finally done with the prologue of my WIP.
It feels so strange. I’ve tested it so many times. The only thing left is to press the button to publish.
But I’m going to sleep instead lol. I want to be able to respond to bugs quickly when they inevitably pop up and I can’t do that if I’m sleepy.
I know I don’t update much here. It’s been a couple of months since I last posted about my game here in the Writer’s Thread. It was always nice seeing others post about their writing journey as it gave me the boost to continue writing.
Anyway, I guess I’ll publish tomorrow. It feels so strange now thinking about it that other set of eyes instead of my own will read my WIP.
It can be so strange to finally put out there something you’ve been working on by yourself. It’s easy to say ‘that’s how you improve!’ and it’s true, but it can definitely be true in the way that pulling a bad tooth improves the state of your mouth.
Here’s hoping for good, thoughtful feedback from courteous, insightful people. That stuff feels like a gift.
So um, I believe I made a very small embarrassment of myself at my intern job yesterday, but I made significant progress on my WIP today, so I feel slightly better… it cancels out. Math…!
No writing today due to taking quizzes and uploading papers — but hopeful and excited to write on the offdays next week!
This month I hope to path out all the major scenes for C2 and finish coding first half (estimating 25,000 words to sort out and heavy edit) minus studying for the midterms in 2 weeks, about 1,200 words a day? Not so bad.
Just a tad scared that new scenes will pop up as I go and drastically add up the workload. It’s a good problem that always shows up like trick-or-treaters.
I think it has been well over a year… but I’m back!
So um, I believe I made a very small embarrassment of myself at my intern job yesterday, but I made significant progress on my WIP today, so I feel slightly better… it cancels out. Math…!
