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I really, really like that you guys do motivational threads. It's heartwarming and it makes me feel good about the community. Keep it up!

What sort of things do you guys think best motivate you to write?

The community screaming at me. :P 
I specifically requested people write in caps and make remarks at my expense for inspiration. 

I've done nearly everything this site has to offer -- read like 60% of games, commented on a bunch of them, participated in the forums / forum games; got really invested in the community. It's been almost two years and a bunch of months of me finding this site, yet I still haven't published a story, but I've been working on one since July I think. And now that I've put so much work into it I can't just give it up. So I'm pretty determined to contribute by publishing a story.

That's excellent to hear!

What's making it hard to finish? General lack of motivation or are you stuck at a particular scene?

A little bit of both I guess. This particular lack of motivation is due to me having to rework some of the older stuff I've written, as I've been rethinking the plot recently and I don't want to have to do that :P

Anyway I'm still making progress, just a bit reluctantly.

Reworking your writing is the key to writing well! Don't think of this as work that you wouldn't have to do if you'd planned better, this is work that is necessary to writing a masterpiece.

I realize, but it's just going to be a little annoying going through what I've previously written, uprooting some of it, then having to rewrite it.

But I have faith when I do complete this game... whenever in the future that is... it's going to be very well. A masterpiece, even. And while I may have little productivity some days, and I may grumble about having to rework some bits of the first few pages, I'm very happy and pleased with the way the game has gone thus far and the world I've created, and the lore which surrounds said world :D

One way or another, I'm going to eventually finish this, even if it kills me. 

Also, keep in mind that at this point in your writing career, becoming a better writer should be your goal. Writing a masterpiece is all well and good, but I'd say that you'll be better equipped to do that when you've got more practice under your belt. Focus on doing things the right way and not only will your story come out better, but you will too.

Also, try to re-frame the way you think about re-writing a page. Instead of thinking of it as annoying, think of it as grinding out experience in an RPG. All you're doing is bettering yourself.

Motivating for me? Well, hearing that someone took the time to read through my not-yet-published games and say that they actually want me to keep going. So far, I don't remember hearing that from anyone except maybe Kiel [though I may be wrong; my memory's on the glitch lately]. Quiller, who had been here for a short time and didn't even get to finish Chapter One of what was supposed to be a big ol' epic called Becoming Legend, had loads of support from various people. So has Kiel, with TOW.
I used to have a motivational thread, but...that basically turned into me replying with updates every couple days or so, with about a reply a week or two. Didn't really do much.

You really do have talent, especially for your age. I want to see your stories in their finished form because I honestly believe they'll be really enjoyable to read. Plus, the more stories you write and complete, the better you get at writing and completing stories, so ... hopefully, if you can keep up your motivation and push through, we'll all have even more good stuff to look forward to in the future. 

I think that wanting other people to be excited for your writing is really natural. Try to write for yourself though, because otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If you're writing for you, you keep the creative freedom to write however you want, if you start writing for other people, then you'll have to modify the story to be the way they want it to be and it's probably not a healthy way to write in the long-term.

A few things. I enjoy getting to know the characters I'm writing about in the context of their world, I enjoy entertaining people and giving them something fun to do, I like learning how to improve my scripting skills via trial and error ... I'm still working toward meeting all the requirements for a member trophy, so I can host contests and such to encourage the community to write, so on. 

Granted, finishing T.O.W. is becoming just as difficult, if not more so, than GOLAD's last chapters. =\ The final stretch is the worst part for me.

You can host contests any time you want. I can supply point rewards for your contests if they are well thought out enough, and if you get enough participation.
 

=) I remember. Your support of my naming contest meant a lot to me. Heck, that event is the reason Quiller and I became buds, and if that hadn't happened, not only would I feel less motivated to write and have been without the friendly rivalry in aesthetic scripting, but I would've had a few holes in both my current project and a future one that I'm not sure I could've filled without the extra inspiration, so... yeah. Thanks again for that.

However, that goal--getting a trophy for the purpose of utilizing it to show appreciation to other authors of high caliber and encouraging people to improve (partially by way of example)--is one I've had almost since I joined. It's kept me going. I don't want to have to rely on you guys for that. I want to make my own contributions to this community from my own efforts. ^^

Yeah, that naming contest was awesome. I was able to make a pretty interesting character from that, and I ripped off it also gave me the idea for cameo requests as a reward for joining Team Aman.

It was! Partially because of your participation. I really look forward to moving onto M.A. to work more on your request, too ... and I may host another contest like that in the near future, we'll have to see. T.O.W. does have a few interesting secrets buried in it. 

  

A burst of inspiration or a competition...though I quit halfway through the last contest so I guess it doesn't work well. When I get a sudden burst of inspiration it's usually listening to music - any music - that would go well with a scene. I think of my stories like movies, what looks good and what sounds good at the same time as making the dialogue interesting. So if I find a song that goes to one scene that I want in my storygame I'll write the scene while music plays in the background. Thus motivating me to keep going - after all, I started already, might as well keep going while I have the inspiration.

I think I'm most motivated to do something when people put me down or doubt me. I can't really explain it with my current knowledge, but for lack of a better phrase - I feel euphoria when people are against me or there's a challenge in front of me; even if I know I can't win or succeed I find it fun just to watch myself struggle. It makes life a whole lot of fun - but no one tries to deny me when I say I want to make a new storygame. So I end up doing a few pages then stopping for months until another burst of inspiration comes.

So I never make a motivational thread because I want to be anti-motivated.

Such is life.

World building -- Definitely inspiring when I manage to draft a new part of a story and develop the backstory of my games. By the same token, it also is hard to be motivated when you're stuck with no new ideas. Usually, after rapidly drafting new ideas that I want to implement, more ideas will develop from that and before you know it, epilogue!

Oh, and definitely motivation from the community. It's always inspiring to see that someone other than yourself wants to see the completed product brought to life.

Ironically I find staying off the forums and internet generally helps me to write as I have the attention span of a Cocker Spaniel and get easily distracted (literally just wikied cocker spaniel out of interest to see how they got their names...). I didn't find my Motivational Thread very motivating, more just a list of stuff I've written in my head that hasn't quite made the transference onto paper yet. Generally I think they're a good thing but for me the most motivating thing is starting to write and then losing myself in it while I conjure up worlds (it sounds a bit like being on drugs but when it's right it's easy to lose track of time, especially if you keep the curtains shut, then you have that great feeling of glancing at a clock, seeing 4 and wondering if it means 4 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon and trying to guess if it's light or dark out) :)

I'm right there with you, Will11!

I agree, I feel like I get distracted by extraneous stuff like "if this were a TV series, who would people ship?" XD 

MaryAnn or Ginger?

Oh wait, that's not what I meant to type at all!

I do find that when a story in my mind is ready to come out, it often pours out all at once -- so I end up avoiding the forums entirely when the story is really flowing. I've had a few ideas come out of forum posts, I do have to say, but not when I'm writing.

I don't know if that actually made any sense. Maybe I should be writing.

Yeah that makes sense, it's best to write when you're in "the zone" and calling in sick to work/school and pretending you're not in when people visit are perfectly valid ways of staying in "the zone" :D It's hard to merge creative writing and socializing on forums I think, the idea of co-operative writing sounds very challenging unless you and your co-author are completely on the same wave length :)

I agree! I can't see how two different people can work on the same game. The co-authoring thing never works in my opinion.

Really? I'm sure I've seen at least a few popular works on here written by more than one person. *checks* Mhm. Of the featured games on this site, three are co-authored works:

Achilles
Hell Girl: The Shattered Mirror
Locked Out (The Movie) Episode Two

And that  pesky Homo Perfectus 8 thing...

Hmm. My mind is already so busy there are probably currently 14 and a half ideas running through my head going "wee! Weee~ notice meeee!". The problem is just picking the best one out of those. I get inspired by literally anything whether that be a turtle or a coffee cup with this special kind of shape that makes it look like a penguin.. I see options and opportunities everywhere and I have to force myself to stop and think about it. Then it usually goes well. I mentally set a rule that I must still feel good about an idea when I get up the next morning, and that after. When I get a "meh" feeling it's probably rubbish. I don't trust myself with the choice of good/bad idea so that's where everyone else comes in :D

I personally love to create my own worlds through literature. That serves as my motivator.

Motivational threads are one of the ways to keep yourself inspired. But I don't think I need a motivational thread myself.

My motivational thread kinda went ke-blop since I recently discovered my storygame wouldn't be allowed. Maybe some other time, I'll come up with a good idea, but as for right now, school's starting soon, so that'd be in a while.