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Creative Process War Stories

    • 184 posts
    February 16, 2016 1:02 PM EST

    O gosh man, I didn't know you were going through this. 

    When I've lost touch with a character, I try to rediscover them through writing, music and daydreaming. Legion's and John's advice is very good, I hope you'll try those out and get some good results!

    • 184 posts
    February 16, 2016 1:26 PM EST

    For the first time, I will use this weird emoticon with retractable arms.

    My writing process seems to be somewhat similar to yours, at least on a superficial level. If I don't agonise over every sentence for a suitable period of time, my heart doesn't deem it worth the effort. It is a sadist, it wants torture. It wants me to slit my palms and bleed into the story. Everything must be perfect. My own melodrama infuriates me, but I don't know how to fix myself. Alack for the pain of perfectionists!

    I don't know much about character building but I feel that it would be like writing an arduous, meticulous essay. Even if you like the topic, so much research must go into it and it must all be put together just so, but at the same time it must also being readable and engaging. In that regard, I can see how it would be really frustrating.

    • 54 posts
    February 18, 2016 9:30 PM EST

    Gather around children, as I tell you the tale of me having the easiest time on here by far. For my blog, so far it's been smooth sailing. When I'm not in the mood to write, I just don't. I play a game, or write a different story, or something. I feel kind of bad reading all of your bad times now... Man, I'm kind of sleepy now.

    • 184 posts
    February 19, 2016 4:27 AM EST

    Enjoy it while it lasts, Lyall! 

    • 700 posts
    February 19, 2016 9:27 PM EST

    Is...is that a hug? I've read about those! :P

    The Artist's Curse is a pain. It's present to some degree in every creator and it's inescapable. I still edit one or two words in chapters I posted months ago when I look back at them and realize that something would sound juuuuust slightly better if said in a different way.  

    Yeah, building can be a bit of a pain. It's like writing a story within assembly instructions and doing it in a way that isn't dreadfully boring. 

    • 321 posts
    February 20, 2016 5:53 AM EST

    Well, I think it's time for me to hop aboard this train.

    Many would say creating a Build is easy, but it's not for me. After my first build, I had more ideas but how I execute them was poor. Before I released my second build, I had 3 more WiP, all which had been deleted due to running out of ideas or how to "skyrimize" it more. I called it "Builder's Block". Even my second build took nearly a month and that was because I was running out of ideas.

    So, I decided to do three things if I ever create another build:

    1. Play test it. (I know, that's like CB building 101)

    2. Get some more inspiration.

    3. Find some time to fit it all in.

    Now for my story side. The hard part about the story is probably where I started it. When I came up with CotD, all my ideas where based on mid-game so it's hard trying to start from the beginning until I reached to that point. I admit that the Prologue and Chapter 1 was a bit of a mess (might need some time to re-edit it a bit.) When I write (or type in this case), I always have the idea but how I connect it is difficult. 

    Let's say this chapter focuses on killing a bandit leader. I've already got the idea of the fight and the bandit. But how am I going to write what happens before and after the fight is the difficult part. Sometimes, when I feel that the chapter is too short, I add something extra like an encounter with a thief or an interaction with the character's companion. Sometimes, they end up good, sometimes they don't. 

    The other thing about making a chapter is figuring out how to add suspense, emotion... you know, all those things. I just sit in front of my laptop for hours just to think of a paragraph or two. (I'm still doing it right now.