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No more Monday questionnaires and the workshop has started to pick up a lot of dust.

So the contest is around 40% done. How is your progress shaping up?

Share your wordcount here to flex. Make up something vague about all that plotting work you've totally actually done to save face. Make guesses at who's going to fail and who'll turn out an overachiever to win it all. But most importantly, if you want to share anything about those crazy storygame ideas you're having, this is the place.

Discussing unfinished games encourages lies and sloth.

(I know you like sloths but the word can mean different things.)

Only true CYStians can back their lies up in the last weeks, separating the wheat from the chaff.

Sloths are great as well, but not as cool as fucking giants.

Giant sloths are the best of both.

Probably true given that CoG writers do this shit all the damn time and then they got Cogites bitching on their tumblrs/reddits about the latest femboy or cuck simulator not being finished.

Guess I'll start. Just broke 4k wordcount. Plotwise I'd probably be at 10%. Not sure how to fix it. Probably gonna need to do a lot of cutting the choicetree.

Giants are cool though. Having fun worldbuilding with somewhat of a flimsy plot backing it all up.

I have a word count higher than 50.

Congrats!

(It's probably 50k, because you are not human.)

Probably 22k I'm writing 1.000 a day, chugging along. 

Tbf, I had planned to finish it within three months, not two (the story was meant to be around 90k). So I might cut corners again. 

Plot wise, I'm almost done with chapter 2. Still have to do chapter 3 (which will be the longest), then 4 and 5.

Didn't know they were airdropping typewriters.

Brother where do you find all this time

Today I finally decided to stop fucking around and start writing. Enough planning. So I scroll to the last page of the planning doc and find out that I've actually already started writing! I don't remember doing so...

At this point, I have thought about thinking about writing.  Sure, I have probably wasted about 3 good weeks of writing time, which is significant since End is expecting some degree of quality with these entries. I do have a rough plan and schedule for getting my writing done, and hopefully I can follow through on that.

As for predictions:

I think that Mystic will swoop last minute and deliver something that makes me cry again. If she participates, it will be a win. Unless Ninja swoops in at last minute. I'll not be surprised either way.

Mizal will scrap her initial idea after having a block at around 20k words, then rush to finish something in the last week. For some miraculous reason the story is pretty good.

Petros' story will definitely include slurs, 50 percent sure that it will be a spaghetti western and have Tarantino vibes.

Ford will ask chatgpt to write 90 percent of his story.

Either Wizzy's or DBNB's story will have significant pacing issues, mainly because he had a good ambitious idea and too little time to develop it. It's really a chronic issue for both despite them being very competent writers.

Thechef , derPrussen and Spartacus will be Shamed. For Corgi it is a cointoss. 

Suranna will include Petros in her story. Either as a character in a rushed lol random story or as a cameo Easter egg if she tries. I bet the former.

Enter: he'll just be like Mizal. Scrapping his first idea and making something in the last week. 

From the roster (excluding the mystery contestant), the winner will either be Sherbet, Tcat or MHD. Since Endmaster judges them and Tcats hasn't won a contest yet and was very close several times, it will probably Tcat who takes the win. She also writes in a style I think End enjoys.

Tcat did win a contest. Mizal's last year

I've never in my life wrote a slur, you slant-eyed Ching Chong

You're right. Unfortunately, I'm out of practice at Darius abuse. I'm gonna have to get a lot of practice in

Probably because he was in the discord before and you were competing with everyone else on a regular basis. (Mostly Malk and Dark)

He was also a bit too preoccupied with a teenage girl

You're talking crazy for a guy all worked up for his sister.

Bro still hasn't linked me her @

He should invite her to the site, she can protect him from the rest of you.

@Darius_Cornwright I'll take it from there dw

You brought Enter's obsession in becoming my brother-in-law back from the grave.

Having a mild crisis at roughly 2k words in after I realized that my writing sucked.

I'll either be at a lower word count tonight or I'll take a well deserved(lol) break.

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. Besides, you can always go back and revise once the more overwhelming part (actually writing) is done.

With every story I've written, I'll always go through an 'everything sucks' crisis and want to delete it all. Usually that happens when I've spent too long staring at the same story that I hate it.

My diagnosis? If you despise everything, even scenes or phrases you loved before, you might be experiencing what I call 'writing tastelessness'. It's kind of similar to how food no longer has taste when you're sick and you can't tell the difference between good and bad (unless you're Dutch and food has no taste 100% of the time). When this happens, I literally lose the ability to identify 'good writing'. Nothing I read makes sense to me anymore.

Maybe it's a form of burnout, in which case, go and take a break. But after a day or two has elapsed, make sure you get back into writing so you don't blur the line between necessary breaks and procrastination. Another thing that might help will be to look at comments on your past storygames. See what worked, what didn't, etc. It would restore your confidence in your writing, or at the very least, it'll give you feedback for how you can improve. A last tip I use is to read some really bad stories on the site. That will definitely make you feel a lot better about your writing (though be careful that the mistakes of those stories don't accidentally bleed into your own). 

Sometimes, it might be that a scene/ the general concept isn't working. Take a break before jumping to this conclusion since you'll want to assess this objectively. You might need to change something fundamental in your story: could it be better to start with a different scene, to show your character in a new light? Or maybe you need to change the writing style because it no longer serves the character/ atmosphere/ purpose.

I'll also add that writing style doesn't have to be a certain way. Some of the best writers have a very straightforward, to-the-point way of storytelling. Other equally good writers may be more focused on rhythm, descriptions and literary devices. In fact, I believe writing style should change to some extent with every story you're writing, but that's besides the point. A piece of advice I've kept with me is that writing should be like a windowpane. While it's nice to have a beautiful windowpane, it shouldn't distract from the view (which in this metaphor is your story). 

Essentially, focus on the story you want to tell and remember the words are just there to convey it. Once you've gotten some sentences and paragraphs on paper (or an online writing software), go ahead and edit, rewrite, proofread, etc. First drafts are seldom perfect. Don't compare them to the finalised versions of other authors. In fact, some of mine are so bad, I re-read them to laugh and tell myself not to put too much pressure on writing sessions.

You've got this.

Also, all these writing discussions are seriously making me want to write again, but I've overbooked myself for this month. If all goes well, I might be able to play catch up in February (no promises though).

Thanks a lot, Mystic. I struggle with imposter syndrome often (and rightfully so, considering all the talented writers here), but your words of encouragement and advice are very much appreciated. I'll stop procrastinating and begin writing again, hopefully.

tl;dr

Coming back to this after publishing to say that your advice was immensely helpful.

I tend to overthink the things that readers would notice when I write ("Oh, a comma splice! What a terrible writer!"). The way I started off writing made me hyperfocused on the fine details and the little 'clues', so much that the first 2k was essentially suffering.

Then, I read the post, took a short(lol) break, and came back a lot less concerned about the little things. After all, if I, the writer, can't remember or notice after a break, the readers certainly won't. There's definitely a change in writing style. The last chunk of the story, though rushed due to time, went a lot smoother. To me, it read just as well as the first few thousand if not better. Part of it, as you mentioned, is due to me actually enjoying parts of the story that I was writing about.

I’m currently at about 5k words - I didn’t write for two weeks because I was sick. Excuses, I know. I have been able to do a big chunk of it at work, surprisingly, so there’s still hope for it to come out length-wise. I’m reasonably happy with what I’ve written so far, at any rate. There have been a couple issues with trying scripting, but that’s February me’s problem tbh. I keep jumping around with scenes, so I have about 80% of chapter one done, and about 10% of everything else.

Mostly I’m just trying to not get shamed (at least due to not turning anything in) for my first contest entry.

I'm at 11k words now. Trying to write 2 pages every day. It has 61 pages so looking good so far. About half done.

My birthday is on Saturday, so I've been writing extra this week so I can hopefully just take this weekend easy.

My entry is coming along pretty well, I've been a lot more consistent than usual (aside from a little hiccup in the first few days). I tend to be part of the crowd that only starts a week or two before the deadline, so I am pleased with myself. So far.

Sounds like you have plenty of time to write if you dont have to work or go to school cause you're sick!

Mystic literally has cancer and is getting her masters rn bedridden in the hospital getting bald as fuck and still writing

That's a wild thing to assume.

You shouldn't leak someone's medical info online without their permission. There are better ways to demonstrate Ace's incompetence. Ford Bad.

Really sorry to hear your sister caught the monkeypox from either Dark, Enter, or Malk by the way, that stuff is no joke.

Must be from Enter, the only orange Belanda

Got to her

F

Me too!! I did get to stay home from work but I was so wiped out I couldn’t do anything but sleep for three days. :^( I hope you feel better soon.

We're about halfway through the time for the contest.
Does anyone remember what prompt they took?

And who the hell can be that consistent anyway, so I doubt I'll have it.

Mystic, ninja, even Cel

and Sherb and Darius

End

Wrote that much in 2 days on my first story lmao. Probably not so much consistency as it was a pure burst of energy and inspiration.

Not bad for an hour, I typically need an hour just to shift my brain into gear for writing at all.

Bro be burning those calories!

Rooting for truffles is hard work.

I see a lot of whining and complaining in this thread more than anything else. "Oh I'm sick!" "Oh I have to study or I'll fail school!" "Oh I'm working to avoid homelessness!" "Oh I got arrested for being a degenerate!" "Oh my parents died!" etc.

Some of you obviously entered the damn contest knowing full well you weren't going to be able to follow through. And a few of you even picked prompts you aren't even motivated by. What the fuck are you lot thinking, you weren't as usual.

Can't say I'm surprised by this usual pathetic display though. Not even sure why I bother at times.

Deadline is extended to April 1st and now I expect even BETTER quality stories. No fucking excuses.

Can't wait for "April Fools! You're all SHAMED!"

I can definitely put this to good use though, I've been writing but was going to run into issues with the pace before long.

At least you’re self aware (can I say that yet?)

Godspeed.

:)

Whoa. Did not see that coming. Thanks End.

I'm having to write on my phone, so this is very welcome news. I should even have a computer again by the time I need to paste it over to the site.

1 caramel frappe is 420 calories. 420 calories times 5 is about 2100 extra calories you're drinking. Just a fun fact! 

At McDonalds, that's only for the smallest size.

Maybe people order their liquid sugar enhanced sugar in tiny shot glasses in the Netherlands, but here you've got another thing coming.

(And also the calories are already posted on menus and websites for any chain restaurant so the math lesson is unneeded anyhow.)

I actually have never been to a Starbucks, but I always marvel at people paying $5 a pop for their tiny bottled frappeccinos.

Just not much of a coffee drinker and never liked it sweet though.

Been pretty sick all week but mostly over it now, and of course had to have the power flickering in a thunderstorm when I sat down for the morning writing binge, but I'm still intending to get the most out of this weekend. I made a mistake I think in putting in logistical choices early on that don't advance the plot, spent awhile bogged down in those.

What often worked with me to finish stories before the deadline, was to first focus on writing the story's backbone. So cutting out all of the side branches and purely focus on finishing the main branch(es) and the main endings. It will look kind of like a gauntlet style at first. If there's time, I'll go back to do the other routes and stuff to give readers more choices

Currently the story I'm writing has swats of pages where no choices put in, so I could move quickly through the plot.

Yeah, now that I'm clear of all that I'm trying to use the Endmaster method and just power straight through some paths.

There's a free writing program called FocusWriter I'm having some luck with. It's pretty simple and maybe not the ideal thing for organizing CYOAs, but it doesn't have a minimize button and blocks your task bar and it turns out that's exactly what I need.

If it makes you feel better, he's probably not REALLY going to read these.

I love the little scottie dog critter

Same, and I want photos if it's real.

After you weigh it (to determine the tare, I assume), I hope that your writting goes well.

I've found that sometimes if I really can't get anything out in a chronological fashion, I'll hop between scenes I'm more excited to write about. Definitely wouldn't recommend doing this all the time, or you might just end up with a pile of the less-thrilling-to-write scenes, and drag your feet even more on those, and it can be easy to write yourself into a corner. However, I think it sometimes help just to be writing something different, but still in the same project, so you're at least making some progress on it.

Alternatively, maybe you could try writing in a different area? That helps me sometimes too.

Regardless, you know what must be done. :^( Keep pushin' my testudunic acquaintance.

I'll just add links to my writting advice above and the one in the perfectionism thread. Though I suppose if all else fails, there's now more than enough time to tare it all down and start again.

Don't worry about it too much. It's meant to suck a lot at this stage. So your decision to keep writing is good.

Meanwhile I'm stuck with the dread that I have stolen yet another prompt from someone again and this person is definitely going to kill me once they find out. Some of the prompts just mesh pretty well...

(Perhaps a fun idea for a future prompt contest; people have to take two prompts and try to mesh them together)

At least this time I'm decently sure it's not my prompt that was snatched

Is it me? Killing you sounds like me

Frankly I don't think that frequent visitors of the site would care all that much. I think that I had multiple pages in some stories that went beyond the 2k mark.

I guess it depends if you want your stories to be noob friendly or not (not like I'm one to talk but...you know...)

When I first first came here I'd get turned off if the story had wall of text after wall of text...as it seemed to clash with the "choice" aspect of story games. (ie...the choices get in the way of the story and the story gets in the way of the choices) Now I don't really mind very much as long as its not written like garbage (and if I can tolerate the prose...though I'm sure that will get easier with time! haha!)

Though to be fair I say that last part cause I was recently reading one of Mystic's stories and she seemed to find a way to make the text smaller (idk if that's a setting or if it just gets smaller if you put too many words...either way it made it way more tolerable for some reason...)

Like most things it would depend a lot on context; how invested I was in the story by that point, whether events within the text wall seemed to be taking choices from me, or whether any obvious option to split the page wasn't happening because there had already been several linear pages in a row.

But also, good luck having anyone even reading that far to begin with. Can't help but notice Equator City is still sitting there after four days with only three ratings, and one of them is mine and one of them is Ford's.

I shouldn’t have to say this to you pigboy since you’ve been active long enough, but I’m going to tell you what I already told Ben and Snowfall. Just fucking write and believe in it, you’ll either get SHAMED or you won’t.

Second guessing yourself and relying on the “community” for shit like this is for Cogites. (AKA faggots)

Keeping a constant element of fear is actually a side benefit, my main point of my last post was more or less a disguised positive reinforcement of "believe in your vision"

Seriously, besides the usual culture of faggotry that Cog (and its many puppet states and "rebel" fifedoms) has cultivated in the IF community, it's also encouraged this culture of "writing by community" faggotry where every fucking writer is too scared to write anything for fear that it's not going to be good enough or it's going to offend someone. 

As much as I don't want to see shitty half assed stories written in an attempt to avoid SHAME, I don't want any writer here not writing something because they're worrying about how it's going to be perceived. Just write. You might fail, you might succeed, but you at least did it your way.

I guess I'll finally start.

I guess I'll pick up Inscryption again.

starting as soon as I'm level 20 in my latest vault hunters run

How many mental breakdowns do you need to have before your allowed to complain that writing your story is "hard"? I can only keep up this "haha lol ebic funni" persona for so long. This crap is hard!

I only had one...so I suppose I should be surprised I got further than I thought I would...

Though quite frankly. I haven't posted in here out of fear that it would make me come off as fishing for attention rather than someone who is willing to put in the work for their storygame.

But I suppose I can give myself some self predictions while I'm here...

I'm either going to succeed in writing the story I want and be satisfied in writing something masterful within the confines of my story's scope...or break down and not get something competent enough out...though given how many days we have left and my rate of writing being...fine...this whole time...I kinda doubt that will happen. I suppose its just because this is the longest I've dedicated myself to a writing project of this kind.

Though really...I think my prompt is kinda limiting...I have some ideas for it but like...something about it just seems kinda flat. Unless I want to characterize the dinosaurs as actual people or make them all parts of different tribes or something...I'm stuck with all these "animals" that need to be in an interesting story (No I'm not turning the dinosaurs into mechas...that's stupid even by my standards!) (If for some reason anyone feels ballsy enough to suggest to me a premise...then by all means please do so! Worst case scenario is it'll give me something to think about.)

Another possibility is the core of my story changes drastically as I write. I'm a natural discovery writer...but its admittedly harder to write that way when you have a deadline and multiple paths to consider! So I'm trying to convince myself to just "write whatever" and let future me edit it into something cohesive...but that's easier said than done.

I mean… the dinosaurs COULD be mechs… it’s your world, we’re just reading about it. Does making the dinosaurs sentient count as “furry faggotry” or no? Who’s to say? …Also, I think that veers slightly more into ~scalies~ territory).

Also without knowing anything about you or your story except that there’s dinosaurs, I think you’re being too hard on yourself. Because after all… whosgonnaknow.mp3. And tbh, it sounds like you’re trying to make it too big. Maybe try scaling (haha) it down, especially if it’s your first or second cyoa story. Which is not what you want to hear, but if you can’t even commit to an angle…idk chief. Does not bode well. And I get it, I do.

What are your current ideas that you feel the most interested in?

Being able to write a story about literally anything as long as it has dinosaurs isn't what I'd call "limiting" really. Seems more like an invitation to just have a little fun with worldbuilding.

Having to provide a plot all on your own might be less direction than desired, but that's a separate issue.

I gave what I said some thought and realized that I preemptively limited what kind of story I could tell for...reasons I might detail in another post if I feel like it... (mainly tonal fixation combined with the way I develop new ideas as I write)

But besides that...what I said still holds some weight. Given that the prompt says "involving dinosaurs" and not "having dinosaurs". I mean sure...I could just put dinos in a random scene and never mention them again and call it a day. But not only is that not quite the same thing...it would kinda feel like cheating regardless...

The short answer to "Who cares just put them in anyways" is that I wanted my story to be good...and that's where my hiccup began. Now I know better...but I suppose I should have made it more clear that it was more of a personal grievance rather than an objective limitation! lol :P

I usually start by thinking of an interesting character...or an interesting character interaction...and then let the character's theme or motivation be the driving force of the story/plot/narrative (the whole base idea needs to flow well instinctually before I actually decide to commit to it). The setting is just...there to faciliate all of that...as I make it up along with the plot as I go...for better or worse. When I'm assigned a premise straight up...I gotta think of characters that are interesting within the context of said premise...which is a lot harder to do.

I actually had an incomplete dinosaur story in my head before the contest...hence why I picked that prompt. But turns out the idea wasn't very good AND it ironically had too many undeveloped characters. I had to cut out almost all of them and change a lot of the plot for what I'm going with now...essentially cutting almost everything and starting from scratch.

Anyways that's the short version which I wrote after I wrote a much longer post which I'll copy paste here (PC shut down randomly before I clicked on post...luckily I saved it somewhere else first!)...idk why but your post just got me to think a lot so hopefully you find it interesting as well:

I'm not sure what it says about me that I didn't end up going with any of the suggestions you listed. (Though admitedly 13 is pretty close to what I did...though still not quite there). #1 is definetely the most obvious...as that one popped into my head multiple times. I suppose I didn't go with it because I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep it interesting for long enough...and given how wacky my story has ended up becoming...I was probably right! (Though now I'm tempted to start researching whatever the heck thunderbirds are as that sounds kinda cool!)

To answer your question though...I don't think I've ever started with the premise before in my life when coming up with stories (or attempting to...finishing a fully fledged story is pretty hard as I'm sure your aware). I've always started with characters and built everything around them...a common theme among discovery writers. We want every scene to feel as natural as possible...we'll make compromises if we have to...but we don't like doing it...

To stop grouping myself with other people for a second though...the simple answer is that that's just what comes natural to me. But the intellectual answer to why I write like that might be more interesting so...

It might come from this idea I heard from film analysis a while ago that in order to get the audience to care about the story...you have to show them why the characters care first so they have a frame of reference to latch onto. In other words...if my characters don't give a crap about what's going on around them...why should anyone reading my story care either?

Admittedly this is reflective of the kinds of stories I'm engaged with also (Character driven stories) but...I'm very blatantly bad at world building...thus I don't usually engage (if at all) with stories where that is the main focus. (Though ironically having to gamify my story has forced me to try writing differently...thus needing to apply a shared in universe logic between paths for obvious reasons). Case in point I usually make up my world as I go along. (and if it needs to be said...I also usually/mostly come up with the plot as I go along...for better or for worse...)

Now the funny thing is that I say all this and your probably hoping that my characters in my story are super fleshed out...well...that's unfortunately not really the case. And it would probably be easier to fix that if I was only writing one path instead of...several...its hard to sell to an audience that your character is a "real person" or "fully archatypical" when your expected to have them make different choices in the story. And I know there's ways to do that properly...but still.

In any case there are a few paths where my characters arguably act out of character...simply because I realized that having them act the same in every path would be very boring...(Thus I normally would focus more on moral choices...but given all the dinosaurs being involved I've included logistical ones as well)...in order to try and "hide" this I literally came up with an in universe reason for this happening...as a means to exagerate the characters flaws in certain scenes for the sake of making a more entertaining story (since I clearly don't have time to make it super nuanced).

The other thing I focus on when I'm not focusing on characters is themes...and how those themes cross refrence each other as the story progresses...basically a lot of the pretentious writing stuff you'd see in YT video essays but not the actual experience to actually back it up...aka...mastering the basics. Case in point...most of my stories end up being genre mixes since I can't be bothered to stick with one genre if my story goes on for too long...as its admitedly a lazy way to advance a theme since your just coming up with a new one and calling it progress. (though this can be very brilliant in the hands of a good writer...execution as usual is what tends to make any of these ideas work.)

But I get what your saying with just using a setting and developing characters as you go...I've probably tried that at some point...but I just don't like starting with a character that comes off as bland in any way. If its a secondary character that just progresses the plot...fine...but beyond that its like...no...just no! I've tried developing said character...but I suppose I feel that if I can see the logistics of how the character operates too clearly then the audience would see it too...even though I'm very aware (especially nowadays) that a lot of people are willing to overlook that sort of thing. The exception to this obviously being if the character is deeply rooted in an archetype...since devoloping a character like that is very natrual.

Anyways sorry if the post was too long or redundant! I guess I'm getting used to talking on here and just so happened to have a moment to post here and...well...I guess your post inspired a flow of consciousness of sorts and...yeah...I reafirmed quite a bit about myself by typing all of this out so...thanks for that I guess! lol :P (Also number 9 reminded me of an idea I had regarding raptors having guns strapped to them that I somehow forgot about so...I may reincorporate that now...)

Also...to briefly explain the tonal fixation thing. I have an older brother who’s very adament about taking stories as seriously as possible…I suppose I end up feeling such an influence even when I’m doing something entirely by myself…as I’ve learned from writing this story that that’s just not my style…at least not entirely anyways…

I'm not sure I understand what you think makes characters interesting or bland. And I think a lot might fall apart for you as it progresses because of how little you say you focus on plot and the world.

I mean it's fine not to start off with a fully fleshed out world and plot, but you should have a general idea and key points that define it. The world isn't just backdrop, it's what defines a character in a way. Why is your character X way? It's likely because of the world he lives in, people around him, etc. He's not an interesting character in isolation, he's interesting because of how he interacts with the world and characters around him.

I usually start with a character idea, and that changes and then I draw from that and define the world a bit, and that in turn changes the character and then I add what journey is the character going on, what are his motivations, weaknesses and what is the world like, and all of this just interact with each other and keep changing one another, until I have a starting point and general idea of where this is going. It's going to get fleshed out later, detail will be expanded. But I generally have a good idea of the key plot points and key ideas for the world before I start writing. Cause even smaller things about the world, like what I base the culture on can drastically influence the character not only appearance wise, but even choices they might make. It's all world building, their past, everything, it doesn't just stop at like some generic backdrop.

And obviously, then you kind have more historical or current day settings, with an established world, but even that you have to ask, how does this current world instance and its ideas and problems influence the character, is it reflected on them and why? I feel you treat the world and plot too much like an after fought, and that might lead to why you feel characters end up underdeveloped later on since they have nothing to interact and conflict with.

And this bothered me, because maybe I misunderstood it but "if I can see the logistics of how the character operates too clearly then the audience would see it too" what do you mean by this? Are you talking about characters being well developed and logically consistent as bad? I don't think people being able to tell what a character might do in a situation is bad, in fact that is a very good sign of solid writing. An act does not have to be unpredictable to be enjoyable. In fact, a lot of modern media has an issue with having characters act out of character just to create tension or surprise/twists. And it is bad.

In any case, sorry about throwing my own unrequested advice/argument, just bored and thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

This is a really good post. I’d also like to add (kind of in line with your last point) that sometimes people AREN’T logically consistent. Like you don’t have to go so far as to have them become an Issue(TM) for the sake of it, but if you let your characters have a little “reach” and don’t put them so tightly on a leash, you might be surprised as to what they do, in a way that really IS organic.

Again, if this is what works for you, that’s fine, obviously, and I can tell that making sure you have a plan is important to you and your process. That being said, I do think you’re overthinking it, to the point where maybe it will come off as forced to your readers? Though I guess I haven’t read it yet so maybe disregard that. :^P

Yeah, and obviously I didn't go in to that last point as much. Sure sometimes people appear not to be logically consistent, but it could just be you don't know their internal logic. So that's a bit muddy in and of itself.

Character should generally have enough dimension to them, to where you have some leeway. but still... it's important to keep a character mostly consistent within their principles and ideals, since when the key moment, the stressful or traumatic moment happens and they do break character for good reason in that case, then it is all the more impactful. If your character is just wishy-washy and just basically does random shit, it doesn't work anymore and can even break a story, especially if it's a main character. But yeah, there has to be an inciting incident/event, to push a character to act "out of character" so to speak, at least that's how I feel.

And obviously it's harder to keep consistency in a choice based story. I've had to think a lot in mine, how to do it, since the main character is older and very well defined in who she is. So she's not someone that will easily change or is impressionable, but I hope I've given her enough depth so that it works. And I had to think a lot on how to make choices that are impactful and stay within the character's core principles and loyalties. And I think I'm doing a fairly decent job so far. But there some instances in which I just removed choice in some key moments, just because there are certain things about her that are absolute. Like her motherly love and loyalty toward a character, and it would just ruin the character to go with anything else but the "cannon" choice in that moment. And a lot of the choices are just not going to be character defining choices and more how she deals with the resources available and what that leads to.

Agreed, these have been great. I've been trying to get in here and reply to some things, and I will after I hit my word requirement today.

Might end up splitting the topic if it keeps going so that it's not all buried in the middle of this thread.

Writing is hard. But whenever I have a mental breakdown, I write about it and the next day, I'll transform it into a new insecurity for my MC. If I feel like I'm failing at everything I do? Well, guess what, the protagonist now feels that way! Makes for some emotional scenes.

If your storygame feels flat, it might help to make a list of the elements or scenes you like the most about it. I've heard some writers like to skip ahead to the more exciting scenes to keep writing sessions interesting. Another method could be to add a new element/ plot twist/ character detail to refresh your story. It could be anything from a concept (two siblings facing against each other on different sides of a war), a plot element (the narrator has been the villain all along) or a character (a scientist that creates monstrosities so he can get into the 'species creation' club). Not only does it add complexity but it could completely change your perspective on your story. And you can do anything with the dinosaurs. There are no genre restrictions, so you could write a mystery, a sci-fi, a thriller, etc. 

Just as a tip, try to set mini-deadlines for yourself especially if the core of your story constantly changes. The last thing you would want is to be stuck with three different half-written stories when the deadline arrives. 

Oh yeah.  Contest entry.

Day 24 of "not having covid".

Still "don't have covid".

Feels like I've been swallowing sandpaper after being hit by a truck, and still having uncontrollable coughing fits at inconvenient times. Everyone at work still vexingly difficult to infect with this not covid though.

Really going to try and push myself this weekend though, I hope to at least have something passable by the original deadline.

I have officially started my entry. If you are reading this and have not started, kill yourself.

I have done nothing since starting

Update: Right now I have less words than Eternal and more words than Gay and Depressed.

Same!
Seems we're neck and neck then, huh?

I, too, have less words than Eternal.

precieved

on

Anyone that End ranks lower than Ace or Ford is gonna lose some fuckin points, let me tell you that much right now.

I swear to god I saw these somewhere at some point. I have no idea where I got this idea from.

 

What you're looking for is this. Or more specifically, Gower's response to ImpiriTonggali.

I took a break from the whole site after I finished my 25k word story (should be enough for a first try, I'm not Mystic), now it's March and I will have to proofread it. By proofreading it means struggling over tenses and the pages which I had a stroke on. Current progress is 5/60 pages proofread.

That's what I should've done 

Oh it hurts me so to think of a good idea but it can only be used in one branch ToT

Also my prompt is "A story involving a peaceful day in the park."

Would it work if the peaceful day in the park only appears on one page where not all readers might see it if they don't read every page?

A peaceful day in the park can be a backdrop for a lot of plots. And not every plot has to be an action movie.

I would at least start the story off with the park so that you're at least vaguely on theme.

With the original deadline now staring us in the face, how's everyone doing with their entries?

Bet I can finish it

Yahoo!

I think it's about time to change my entry to a a smaller, less ambitious one.

Yahoo!
(I mean, if that raises your chances of finishing, anyway)

Corgi btw has done the "abandon game halfway through and start new game when time is almost up" thing.

Tradition dictates it must always be someone, this time it's him.

Tradition also dictates that the person doing this still has better odds than the 50% of you that haven't even started yet.

I thought the rule was that there was only one person who DIDN'T do this

I'm now at 7,000 words. I MIGHT actually turn in a valid entry this time around! I haven't done that in eight years.

This is just me pointing up at this post.

8,000 words today guys! WHOOOOO!

Going to laugh if Ben beats all of you and given the topic he picked, he's got a good shot at high entertainment value.

You all are going to either be highly entertained with my story or be highly disgusted with me. (Or both?) Eh, either way, I've gotta go write another terrorist scene involving educating your father on the joys of peanut butter in the middle of a massacre at some Congressional gala

10,500 words today! I have enough of a word count and story branching to turn in a valid contest entry! Although to be honest there are a few story paths I want to complete and plan to do so before the deadline, but regardless, I WILL be turning in a contest entry this year!

Yay! I’m excited(?) to read that whole excerpt you posted, now with extra context.

Make that 11,500 words today. Literally have three more pages to go on a branch I'm working on. After that there's a side branch that's gonna be pretty short (four or five pages long) and then I'm done. Final entry should be about 15k to 20k words.

Fuck

Replace "Fuck" with "I want to suck fat dick" and then I find your comment to be extremely relatable.

Its funny cause emotionally and sexually it basically means exactly the same thing.

No...it wouldn't be more funny if I didn't explain the joke...your stupid for thinking otherwise (I would call everyone stupid but that's taking it too far)

Anyways I'm very very tired now as I spent all day awake and then some literately doing nothing but slobbin on gigantic knobs...while I still had write block so I basically wasted the entire day! I've had worse days but still...I feel a strong urge to chow down on some delicious ween when I'm tired so I suppose that leads into whatever I'm typing now.

Should I detail more of what I've been up to? Is that a good idea? Probably not...at least not right now. I held back detailing how many peepees I've been servicing each day for so long I don't even know if its impressive anymore.

block mental. I spent so much time blowing just to suck I never took the time to enjoy any of it. I'm paranoia about possibly not being able to enjoy my job when the deadline comes...literately because I never enjoyed a sesh in my life before! Is it easier to add saliva or remove saliva? Should I add too much saliva when gawking and then suck it down later? Should I add too little and then fill in later?

What about when I have two characters doing it and my brain gets stuck on the specifics about how the conversation goes...inevetiably stuck between "Who cares this has nothing to do with the plot!" and "Without good character interactions noone will give a crap about your plot anyways!"

What about when I'm writing a fuck scene and my "brain" gets really excited imagining the scene in my head so I end up pacing back and forward in my room over and over and over again and am barely able to write the darn thing down...if I'm even able to write it down at all with sticky keys eternally on...

None of this matters anymore though. Everyone is coming and there's no time to worry about the details anymore...at least...not the details that don't actually matter.

I suppose there is one thing I've learned about all of this...though I suppose its not surprising.

You can give me all the time in the world to prepare for something. Practicing constantly everyday for the past month (a bit more than that)...not counting last week...and my brain will still find a way to not actually focus on what really matters until the last second.

I shouldn't be surprised. All it means is that I worked a lot of dick instead of a little bit of dick. We'll just have to see if I can manage to turn said work into something entertaining. Cause that's what matters at the end of the day right? (interpret this as sexually as you want) No way I'm going to convey how I actually feel about anything unless I actually take my time or put myself in the right place.

Anyways I will regret posting this. Will probably make more "normal" commments later...whatever that means I guess. (Yes that includes replying to other people's posts...kinda anyways)

EDIT: I already regret everything! :O

EDIT 2: Also I'm gay! :O C===8

k

If you just replaced gay with autism you would have had it. But sure...dick jokes work too I guess.

(I should probably mention my comment was edited by someone else to anyone else who reads this)

lol, fag

Should've stuck with a simple "yeah same bro"

Dude is like one step away from shoving gay frogs up his ass.

This used to be a wholesome Christian site, when did we start allowing homos*xuals. :[

When our moderator started calling people fag, maybe they took it as an order?

I'm finally done with proofreading, and my story is now complete. Time to let it sit there until the deadline

Congrats! And you could always publish early to pick up a few readers before the deluge on the 1st.

my contest entry just dropped Terrorist

Words begin to flow
Three long months approach an end
One tomorrow left

I'm a time traveler from 2023 and this is a comm-worthy post in my time

That's an impressive three-syllable haiku you have there!

Fuck.

Ten years ago, I set myself a goal that I would write a story that was ranked at least a six. Today, that goal has been realized! Fuck yes!

that's fucking awesome

Locked.