September's Writer Support Thread

I’ve done about 1000 words of Chapter 3 code today. I think I’m around a third through coding the chapter so am making progress!

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I created a .txt file in my game called ‘fun’ and it’s where I’m keeping all of my cool ideas stored for now. I’m not letting myself worry about if these fun scenes will make the cut or not or if my story will do weird plot inconsistencies to make these scenes happen. I’m just jotting them down for now if I want to use them at a later point.

I revisited the scenes I described to Eiwynn and rewrote them - instead of just copying and pasting - into the file which gave me the opportunity to tweak/refine them. I do plan on having some high skills checks in these paths, but I’m not worrying about the exact numbers right now.

All I focused on right now is making sure to write these ideas down in as much detail as possible for player agency/choice/consequences so that I don’t have to struggle to remember at a later point.

Like I also told Eiwynn, I’m removing the character customization choices because I feel like I need to replicate what Bacondoneright has done for their WiP and I’m just feeling too lazy to input all that variation. Instead of having character customization options, I’m adding variables for the prologue where you’ll be playing a different character - temporarily - and some of the small choices you make there will (hopefully!!) have an impact at a later point.

As of right now, I have no idea if those smaller choices you make during the prologue will have as much of an impact as I think they will, but I can only hope!

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I finally finished chapter 2 of my game! I admit, I may have rushed the ending out of frustration, but overall I think it’s an alright chapter (I even laughed out loud at some of the ridiculous things I had written). It has almost 49k words without code, so obviously I was desperate to get it done.

Hopefully after a little break I can move on to the next chapter and do a quick revision of the ending sequence of the second one.

I hope you all are having a good time writing!

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My cat has been extra cuddly today, which means I didn’t get much done. I couldn’t bring myself to move him, he’s just so cute, and fluffy, and adorable!

Why is it so difficult to write with a cat sleeping on you?

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I have two, and this speaks directly to my soul.

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I’m late to this thread! I have finished rewrites for Voltaic up to the first half of Chapter 2 (something I literally never thought I would accomplish). This version is a lot leaner, but it also represents the exact vision that I wanted to begin with. The characters are more consistent, there’s more intrigue, and the setup to the major confrontation is going so swimmingly. I got to work with an amazing fiction author as part of my new job, and her book helped me out a ton. I’m excited for where this chapter is going.

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I hope this finds everyone doing well.

2020 is a year that finds new ways and old ways to keep throwing shade at us, doesn’t it? My outlook this week started out really positive but by week’s end, it has suffered. All those 50+ fires in California, the 20+ fires from Oregon and the 10+ fires in southern Washington sent their smoke and ash my way… This weekend’s air quality is the worst in the world … even worse than huge cities like L.A. or Beijing.

I haven’t been in the correct frame of mind to write, so I struggle to do more than the minimum of two sentences a day right now. Instead, I’ve been reading reports like the following:

This is necessary, because even indoors and with all the windows and doors shut, we need to run “clean air” fans and filters.

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Now back to writing…

Here is what I was working on this week:

Struggling as I have, I have continued to refine my stats, evolving the details as I write the story to hopefully give the player a better and more comprehensive idea of what they mean and do.

I was hoping to get enough of this project done to consider opening a WiP thread on this project, and if I get inspired enough and fortified enough to crank out some major writing, there still is an outside chance of doing this before I switch back to the other project for the month.

I sincerely doubt I’ll achieve this, but the possibility is still here.

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Thank you @HannahPS, @AChubbyBlackCat, @Lidell, @The_Lady_Luck, @Jaybirdy and @trevers17 for your updates.

They are inspirational and needed.

@Eric_Moser – training a new pup is essential for a long life of happiness for both a dog and its owner. It is great knowing your pup is receiving the attention he needed.

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Everyone – remember @poison_mara is running a Halloween Jam from now until Oct. 31st … if you are in need of motivation to write or just want something casual and without pressure to participate in, it really is a good thing to look to.

Here is the link:

O.k. … Time to go back to staring at my blank page for the day

:slight_smile:

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I’ve started writing skeleton code for choices for multiple parts and then going back and adding the meat to them. I find it helps try and keep each path a similar length.

By skeleton code I mean something like this.

The fan approaches you with your latest book in his hands. There is a wild look in his pale blue eyes...
*choice
    #Choice One - fight.
        [ToDo].
        *goto next_scene
    #Choice Two - flight.
        [ToDo].
        *goto next_scene

It also helps set up the basics of a scene if you struggle writing a scene so you can skip and come back to it later.

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Yeah, I always skeleton the code of my chapter before writing! I always include the multireplace text in there as well.

It has sometimes led to me missing placeholder text and my editor pointing it out, luckily Rebecca is always very patient with me!

I’ve planned more of Chapter 6! I just need to work out the shape of the romance scene with Remi and then I’ll be ready to build my skeleton.

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Take care. :tea: :pray:

Where I am there’s nothing externally threatening, just the unpredictability of the invisible anxiety storm. One day it’s fine to see/hear some stressful news online, the next day body goes nope just for being alive. Starting to alternate between standing and sitting while working on the project now, otherwise the back pain will be worse. :older_adult:

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Oh no; the smoke thing sounds so miserable. I’m sorry you have to deal with that, Eiwynn. It’s awful how bad the fires have gotten, and how little it seems to be showing up in the news cycle, too.

I definitely know the staring-at-a-blank-page feeling. Consistency is important; that’s true enough. But by all means please go easy on yourself too; that’s such a stressor on top of literally everything else about this year. :worried:

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Oh my. That’s sounds pretty devastating, @Eiwynn. Please take care.

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As for writing, i’m asking a friend to review the Act 1 of my short/novella. She commented that, since there is no obvious dialogue, my writing can be deem as not traditional. i’m hoping to hear more on the plot pacing and the characters soon.

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I think a lot of us have done this, at least once. My placeholder text is always xx xxx xxxx xxx xx … so before I do anything else, I do a search of the document for xx xxx xxxx xxx xx …

My biggest fail is not replacing the variable text holder with the live Choicescript variable. The pronouns are an example … I am self-blind to the he/she/they I try to write for every pronoun and I often forget to do the search for the he/she/they on my second pass… so my testers will say …“there is some weird text here…”

Ooooh … the shape of such romance I assume will be physical… lol. can’t wait for your update; i love your character building so much in that cursed arena.

@brushmen, @Jaybirdy, @Abe – thank you very much… I must admit, I never thought I’d live through such a scenario… looking outside you’d think there was a local fire, but the orange tint and foggy mush actually came from thousands of miles away.

The creepiest thing is running my hands through my hair, I feel the gritty ash in it, so I feel obligated to wash it often, something that stresses it and thus me even more… sigh.

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I think editing is the worst but so far so good working on two WIPs at the same time plus work lol

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For the last couple of weeks, my motivation has really started to flatline. I tried to sit myself down and just make myself write because I know sometimes that’s the problem, but for whatever reason I’m just staring at the screen. It doesn’t feel like the other time’s I’ve run into writer’s block before, though…I’m still happy with what I’ve written so far, more or less. But I also have zero confidence that I can write the story that I want to. But it’s less that I’m worried about skill and more worried about … I don’t know, something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Almost like I’m worried I’m not a good enough person to write the story?

Sooo, anybody got advice on how to boost one’s confidence a little in this way? I’ll keep trying to get something started and see if I generate some momentum, but I’m curious if this brand of writer’s block is familiar to anyone here.

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Realize you are not alone in feeling this way.

Many writers (even long time professional writers) feel what is called: Imposter syndrome.

The best way to combat feeling this way is to acknowledge the feelings as you have, then to accept this is something normal. Once you think of it as something normal that a lot of people go through, it should be easier dealing with these feelings.

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Haven’t been able to write all week because of school and other things :expressionless:
Which means my monthly goal of getting 12k words has to be dashed into a more realistic goal of 5k there about :pensive: or even 4k
At least if I write something it’s still worth it

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Let’s be strong and focused, everybody!
This weekend has been terrible, I hope next week is better.
If we keep encouraging each other, we will triumph in the end! :medal_sports:

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Amen to that!
You have a strong mind and it’s great you’re doing all these things but subjecting yourself to to a lot of stress isn’t healthy as you said.

Do you have a post in the interest check thread?

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I started my new WIP this week, and I’m loving it! However, It’s hard to find the time to write though, what with 6 AP classes, a steady job, college apps coming up, playing two sports… its a lot haha. (Not to mention the fires have been keeping us inside, the air is quite literally gray and we can’t see the sun. Any prayers for us California,Oregon, and Washington folk would be much appreciated.) I’ve been writing from like 12 AM to 4 AM every night, catch like 3 hours of sleep, then start the cycle again. Its not healthy, but I’m happy!

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