I’ve got like, four or five of those outlines from this year alone. I can usually burn through them in a day or two, which means I don’t lose too much time on [REDACTED].
Maybe one day, if I ever become GRRM-levels of rich and famous, I’ll be able to pursue each of my whims to the end like he does, but I’m a long way off from that.
Sorry to hear that. Personally, I find a lot of your insights on here valuable. That said, writing is a hard gig - it is very challenging as we all need to be on our own headspace for a long time in order to be productive. I find its sometimes challenging to do my best writing without talking to some of my own demons. As for the second guessing, while its good to think critically about word choice, best not to let it be paralysing - if a word is wrong or there is an error somewhere, that’s fine; it can always be eddited or changed later. There is a school of thought that all writing is never truly done, some writers, such as Emily Dickenson, would rewrite their creatiosn throughout their whole life . . .the point being, that it is never going to be perfect, and that’s okay. I truly think most pieces will find their reader eventually. If one reader doesn’t like your work, probably another one will. Hope that helps a little, but overall, I think a lot of writers deal with these things. Imposter syndrome is a thing for sure.
Sorry to hear that. The world can always use more Robinhood games, in my opinion, and that title was amazing.
Ha, as for the talk of people having WIP ideas but no time to write them, I feel that pain. I sort of feel like if I’ve been thinking on the idea for over a year and it won’t let go I probably should eventually give it a try, but unfortunutly each WIP is a monumental amount of time and effort, so most will have to remain in slumber.
End of September check in:
-Got part II of Do Not Dally with the Dead done (linear fiction for Sense & Sorcery); started writing part III.
-Got a few more scenes for Dice & Dungeon Masters done, but need to finish up more before its even a mediocore update. To little content for a new update thus far - combat is still a hang up, as is letting the NPC Roleplayers make their own characters rather than running pregens. Dubious that I will get both of those matters resolved before the update. Thinking of trying to get that update out in a week or two, which should synche nicely with the new season of Vox Machina being released.
-Got three short linear sword & sorcery stories done, two of which are part of anthology that I am working on. Got substantial progress done on a fourth story for that anthology as well.
Looking forward to nano in a month for now and excited on what I might work on.
Lastly, and I’ll try to keep it brief and maybe make a longer post on it on the AI thread, but my new computer has microsoft’s CoPilot AI - oh, what an amazing thing on one hand, and underwhelming on the other. I had a lot of fun asking it to write various strange combinations (i.e. write this style of writing in the spirit of this tv show, or have this genred writer write something in this completly other genre, etc. , or even have some genred work be written by multiple authors that never could have coauthored something.) Probably some of the best pieces it came up with was writing sword & sorcery a la Hemmingway and the same with Ann Rand; in those cases it made insightful pieces that seemed reminiscent of what one would have half expected. Granted for every plus there was a minus - the AI continually reused words, character names, couldn’t write longer works, would crash if I tried to make it write anything that vaguely hinted at being riske’, and often told the same story just a little differently . . . at its worst, it seemed like a lazy creative writing student kind of half@$$ing an assignment, but at its best, it did some very impressive things.
In today’s news, I’m trying to figure out how to introduce to the player a character the MC has known their whole life, without making any assumptions about their relationship, so that the player can make informed decision on the matter.
Also trying to sort out… source… references? You know, the list where you list the sources you use as references. I’m pulling a blank here, guess I do need to go and cook something since my brain is being uncooperative.
What about having them call (or use whatever setting-appropriate means of communication which involves receiving a message without knowing the contents of the message) and allowing the player to respond with “Oh hey, it’s my dear friend X”/“It’s X, who I’ve known for a long time”/“Oh fuck, it’s that asshole X again.”?
Good on the choice front, bad on the informed decision front. I want the player to see what kind of person the character is first, to avoid the player realizing after-the-fact that no, their MC wouldn’t be friends with them.
Also now I want to add carrier pigeons. (…microraptors? Archaeopteryx?)
I would approach this by creating a couple of scenarios where the MC and the other person were at together (let’s randomly pick ice skating) and then let the MC observe the person “in action” (let’s say a person bullying another on the ice rink and the MC’s companion intervening) …
A couple of these scenarios, and the reader should be able to confidently chose the type of relationship they desire
The “Works Cited” page, “References” page, and “Bibliography” all work for that.
Maybe the MC promised to do something or go somewhere with the character. The character needs help with something, they have a mutual connection that hosted an event, or they’re partners in a work/school project? Etc.
This would allow the reader to get to know the character without any assumption other than their acquaintances.
It’s called “references” on the actual page, my brain just blanked on how to use that in a sentence. 
I’m currently having the MC and the NPC ride in a motorcade that gets attacked by interdimensional monsters. Need to plan a couple more scenarios, but it’s good, I did need more meat at the beginning of the story anyway.
Today, I am trying to clarify what a “bushel” of apples is …
So, it is a basket of apples … no… a cylindrical basket wider at the top than bottem … no … a wooden slat cylindrical basket wider at the top than bottem full of apples … and thus my word count increases… and that’s a good thing, yes?
. 
Okay, Thread MARA IS CALLING YOU TO ACTION.
I cant understand multi replace. And I am making Eiw lost her mind trying to explain me how it works.
So, can any of you find a funny explanation of Multi replace even Me The Stubborn queen of old code can understand?
The prize is cat dance and cookies
*create gender 1
*comment 1 = fem, 2 = nb, 3 = masc
You are a @{gender woman|person|man} of interesting taste.
An important thing: when you have @{gender a|b|c}, you have to always have as many options as you do at the variables highest point. If I *create gender and decide half way through the game that there are now 4 genders (1 = fem, 2 = nb, 3 = masc, 4 = alien) then every time I use the @{gender a|b|c} it has to be @{gender a|b|c|d}. Every time.
Another important thing: you can’t nest @{}
so no: @{gender a|b @{othervar a|b}|c|d}
but you can call other vars
so yes: @{gender a|b ${namevar}|c}
Sorry, I know that wasn’t funny, but I hope it was clear.
Technically, in modern usage a “bushel” is usually a unit of dry measure rather than an actual container. So a bushel of apples is about 120 apples, between 40 and 45 pounds.
A great explanation. But my head is empty.
I dont understand how multi variables work and how call them.
I can work with 100 diferents normal variables with no problem I dont mistake them or anything. But I look multi replace and I get five minutes thinkinh
HOW IN THE SEVEN HELLS OF CODE THESE WORK?!!!
I make comments under all my multireplace variables so I can remember what’s what, but I also tend to do them in logical progression, like if I were doing one for hair length, I’d probably do 1 = shortest, 2 = medium, 3 = long. You get used to it the more you do it. Once I figured it out, it made everything so much easier and now I use it all. the. time.
Edit: also for states. It’s probably easiest to start with stuff like gender or appearance descriptors, but you can also have it work for things like “is this person present in the scene or not/is this person still alive or not/is this person alive and being romanced or alive and not being romanced or were the romanced but they’re dead or dead and the MC didn’t romance them.” It’s a nice way to combine multiple normal variables into one variable.
To compare it to normal vars, the same way you’d be like
*create hair_color “blonde”
*set hair_color “brown”
You have pretty ${hair_color} hair.
You can also do
*create hair_color 1
*comment hair color 1 = blonde, 2 = brown
*set hair_color 2
You have pretty @{hair_color blonde|brown} hair.
Nope, I prefer my 2013 old code. I moderniced enough to use create command and achievements.
If you want to see old code in action is me… Lol.
And Yes, old code works like charm. I try each year modernize but no avail. 120 or 200 variables are far far easier to me
It’s like a spreadsheet (or array, but that one probably doesn’t help you).
Let’s say you have @{var a|b|c|d}. “Var” is a number (1, 2, 3, or 4); the a|b|c|d are the cells in the spreadsheet row. The number in the var tells which column (cell) you need to pick. Like this:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | b | c | d |
But! Nothing wrong with having 200 variables if that’s what you prefer. It’s not even much!
Here are some templates/examples.
If you have a boolean variable (where it can only be true or false), in startup you’d have *create cat_pet false
Then you can have:
@{cat_pet You petted the cat!|You didn't pet the cat.} How lovely!
The left-hand sentence before the | is what displays if the variable is true, and the right-hand one displays if it’s false.
So it is the equivalent of:
*if cat_pet
You petted the cat!
*goto next_paragraph
*else
You didn't pet the cat.
*label next_paragraph
How lovely!
Then if you have an integer variable, you could have:
In startup you’ll have *create cat_colour 1
And you can have the following. Between each | is a word/phrase that corresponds to the value of each value that the variable can be. 1 is orange, 2 is white, 3 is black, 4 is tabby.
The cat is @{cat_colour orange|white|black|tabby}. How lovely!
This is the equivalent of:
The cat is
*if cat_colour = 1
orange
*goto next_paragraph
*elseif cat_colour = 2
white
*goto next_paragraph
*elseif cat_colour = 3
black
*goto next_paragraph
*else
tabby.
*label next_paragraph
How lovely!
Then you can have a bracketed variable like this:
The cat is @{(cat_colour = 1) orange|not orange}. How lovely!
Which is the equivalent of:
The cat is
*if cat_colour = 1
orange
*goto next_paragraph
*else
not orange.
*label next_paragraph
How lovely!
I love you with all my heart… But I am a only social studies lawyer. I didnt understand anything.
But sound useful if you understand it.
I am a word memory person I can memorize an entire law article before learn five numbers
OHHH I UNDERSTOOD THE COLOURS … Thanks to use a code I can understand. Harris
Yeah, it’s probably more readable for an accountant.