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New, and with a few questions

2 years ago
I'm fairly new here, and I'm aware that newbies tend to get a bad rep (based on some things I’ve seen) so basically here's a few questions I have about the site overall

1) what tends to be the best way to organize a CYOA book in the planning stages? What applications do you use, or what is your planning thought process?
2) Is it worth learning the advanced editor as a newbie, or should I just stick to the basic editor until I have a bit more experience with that?
3) In your experience, what is the best way to get past writer's block? What do you do to keep going on when you really don’t feel like continuing to write?
4) What's the best way to structure a CYOA book? I saw this website and I looked at all the different types, but which one is usually the most fun to experience? https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/standard-patterns-in-choice-based-games/

Thanks y'all, have a good one

New, and with a few questions

2 years ago

I will say outright that the learning curve for the advanced editor is more like a speed bump. The only thing that's really different is that you save on tabs and infinitely more information is available to you. You don't need much of a tutorial, it's really been talked up overly much- keep in mind that the advanced editor was invented when the internet was young, when men were giants and death was but a dream, and it was possible that many users didn't know basic things about navigating on a computer. The only things in the advanced editor that require some learning are the things it allows you to do, namely scripting, which you can't do effectively in the other one.

New, and with a few questions

2 years ago
I was wondering if he just meant scripting, because I thought the advanced editor was default for new accounts now and classic was gone, precisely for all those reasons.

New, and with a few questions

2 years ago
We've seen that link before and adopted many of those terms, but around these parts Cave of Time, aka Endmaster style reigns supreme.

I'll try and answer the rest after work if everyone else hasn't piled on their two cents by then. Pure writing ability and the amount of branching I'd say is the most important thing to focus on though. Scripting isn't especially difficult and can enhance those things, but you can't fix a dull or poorly written story with any amount of fanciness.

New, and with a few questions

2 years ago
First, if you haven't seen it, I'd point out the general help page on the site. It's not well organized and there's some not-so-useful stuff there, but there is also some good stuff if you feel like reading a bunch. Next, for structure and organization, I'd point out this article that, coincidentally, has a link to the structure you have in question number four. Also, there's a bit longer article that talks about embracing the writing process. That might help you as you progress from having an idea to actually getting it on the page. For writer's block, I might suggest this story... oh, wait, that's not the right one, it's this one. That actually does give a lot of ideas on how you might get your creative juices flowing, even if you don't actually "win" in the story. The advanced editor is fine, not scary at all. It will only get more complicated when you decide you want to script and use items. Pro tip: don't decide to use those things, instead wait until you come to the point where you cannot make your story do what you want -- then you will have a purpose for using them instead of just using them because they're there. Have fun and good luck with your writing!

New, and with a few questions

2 years ago
Yeah, I'm a newbie too, and I think, with the advanced editor, just skim through the pages of information about chapters, pages, items, ect, but don't get too caught up in all that stuff, just write!

About the writer's block, I once got it for two months, and what helped me was focusing on something else creative, then channeling that into my writing.

Hope this helps!