Current and future writing projects

[End Master]

Eternal

Still slowly attempting to finish Chapter 3B1. The way things are going, this chapter might have an extra epilogue. Bringing the planned total for the entire story to 11. Not sure though, the Shadow Guard path has been taking some interesting turns as I write it. It's been taking a bit longer, but I've been really trying to make it different than the soldier path. More backstabbing and secret plots going on overall.

[Locke]

I'd like to see you write something ...different at some point. But I read what you posted initially on Eternal awhile back, and did enjoy it. There's enough fighting that it does get a bit repetitive if you read through all the branches in one sitting, but that's my only complaint.

Why didn't I rate it on the main site? Not sure. Is that important to you? I mean, maybe that's an obvious question. I haven't written anything public here, but I don't tend to care too much. Given how much effort you put into these things, though, it seems like a question worth asking.

[End Master]

Why didn't I rate it on the main site?

You must have blacked out, because you clearly did rate it on the main site!

[Locke]

I was probably debating leaving a comment, then, and decided against it. The question stands, though. How important are the ratings and comments? Are they just a nice bonus? Could you stand posting your stories in complete obscurity, or is the hit counter enough?

If Sev abolished ratings and comments, would you still post?

[End Master]

Not really important, I used to routinely delete both of them the first couple years I was here, then I just got lazy and said fuck it.

I guess they're a bonus, but in the scheme of things it's all arbitrary anyway. Some people are going to like them, some aren't and that's that. I can't change their minds and I wouldn't bother. Any sort of criticism or suggestions aren't really useful to me, since I don't tend to listen to any of it anyway and just continue doing what I want. Oddly Chubby was about the only one who made a suggestion that I actually took under serious consideration which was attempting to make stories with a little more background description and less dialogue heavy. I did start adding more background, but with the extra background I also started adding even MORE dialogue! So nothing really changed, I just like writing dialogue I guess.

Not sure why you'd think I wouldn't still be posting on here if the ratings and comments were abolished though. I used to post stories on a site that got less hits than this one, didn't have a rating system at all and it didn't bother me. As it stands, people don't do a lot of rating or commenting on here in general anyway and I'm fine with that.

Besides, I already get a shitload of both at CYS, if I really feel the need for "warm and fuzzies" from worshipers raving about my stories and asking questions or on the flip-side a cheap laugh at people ranting about how my stories suck or whining that they have too much swearing in them.

[End Master]

Eternal

Chapter 3B1 nearly complete and moving on to finish up the second major story branch which is accessible in the same chapter. Trying to make sure I have three somewhat diverse paths and epilogues concerning the Shadows. I wanted one darker path for them, but I didn't want it to be the usual "Sauron conquers all" thing. As a somewhat small to mid-sized religious order, I wanted to go a different route with them.

Probably just me, but does anyone else have a hard time writing religion?

I'm not even talking about any real world religion, I mean fantasy setting religions as well. I can usually mention it briefly in passing, but when I have to write a major story-line involving it, I find myself becoming sluggish in motivation.

It's probably why I don't often make it a major theme in fantasy stories.

[mizal]

I've written fantasy stuff dealing with religious characters and never had any major problems with it. Belief X would just be another motivation (whether major or minor depending on how integral it was to the actual plot) for Character Y, along with all the regular background stuff, and an organized religion basically gets treated like a political entity once I figure out what their goals and methods are.

I've only actually read the first few pages of Eternal (shameful I know but I'm barely on the computer anymore, and hey the longer I wait the more content it gets), so I don't really know any specifics about the religion you're trying to write...is there anything specific that hangs you up about it or do you just find writing it uninteresting?

Anyway, about my own writing, after thinking about it awhile I've gone ahead and pulled my stuff from here and CYS. I'm not abandoning you guys, I swear! I still intend to pop into the forums now and then and maybe even hopefully review some of your stories, but if I ever replace my own it's going to be with something designed from the ground up to be a CYOA, and it's going to be completed before I post it. I'm abandoning my attempts at interactive fiction games for the time being as well...my main strength has always been in linear stories, world-building etc, and when I try to give it the interactive treatment all I ever do is get bogged down and sidetracked and never finish anything as a result.

Following the Walking Call and Shadow of a Bloody Moon are probably both going to be novel-length...well, novels, when I'm done with them, but I'll be happy to keep you guys updated on progress if there's any interest. I also have a few short stories I'm thinking of putting on this/ site, though if anyone knows of any other writing-showey-offey type places that are good at drawing feedback please let me know.

[End Master]

Nothing that I can place my finger on, just stories where religion plays more than a major role tend to bog me down. I tend to go back and forth writing and re-writing stuff a lot.

While I hope Mizal continues to stick around on a semi regular basis, her mention of a departure has inspired me to create a whimsical thread!

[Dragavan]

I've decided that I am never going to finish From Darkness It Comes in its current form, so I am working on a new version of it. Unlike the fist time, however, I am not going to post any of it until I am done with it (and won't allow the option of others adding to it). The only question I have is if I should delete the old one and start over, or try and overwrite the old one. Either way I will want to reset the ratings.

To make it work cleaner and flow better, I am also making a full flowchart of the whole thing before I try to rewrite it (in addition to the full spreadsheet I always do for story notes and layout settings). I have already added several pages to clean up flow and connections. Once I have this all booked out I will start writing the pages from the start again. Here's what it looks like at about half laid out. Because of the size all the text is grayed out.



As it stands right now (in this image) there are only four dead ends, since I like to have the story flow in and out from a central core (adding variety, but not altering plot greatly), and only rarely truly branch off in a new direction. The yellow circles with grayed out text are the areas I plan to expand into with one of three possible major diversions from the central plot. As I add more to the chart I keep moving the three circles to the end of those lines.

No idea how long this will take to finish though. The flow chart has taken two day already, and that's before any of the actual writing is done.

[donteatpoop]

I like the current one, so I would say rewrite that rather than scrap it altogether. But maybe I'm alone on that, I know I love that it had a subtle creepiness to it that was building up, and the characters you introduced were relate-able.

[Dragavan]

I like the current one, so I would say rewrite that rather than scrap it altogether. But maybe I'm alone on that, I know I love that it had a subtle creepiness to it that was building up, and the characters you introduced were relate-able.

The new version won't take all that away. It will mostly be the same story and characters (although I did change the name of one of them), just better written, organized, and (most importantly) finished. The old one will never be finished. It will never resolve. I mostly ask because having two stories with the same name could confuse people.

I also wonder if I should start a new one, having a "creation" date that is newer, or overwrite the old one to keep the original creation date. Odds are I will either overwrite the old or delete the old and start a new one to replace it. I just wonder which way would actually be the better way to do it. Most likely just start a new one.

If you actually think I should keep the original "draft" around I might have to go in and rename it (if I can) to mark it as the unfinished and abandoned draft.

[Dragavan]

I finished making the flow chart, planning each page and connecting them all the way to the three possible endings. If my count is correct, it will be 306 pages in total. Most of them will be of fair to long length too (as you will realize is my usual). That's a lot of writing I now have ahead of me. I'm not going to start on it today, but tomorrow or the next day. I need a break for a day or so.

So, here's the final flow chart, in case you care. It's shrunk down even smaller to fit it all in a decent forum image size. All text is still grayed out.

[Usoki]

Good Lord. The only time I've ever come up with anything like this was when I was mapping out how many branches I would need to break the 20 room minimum for contest pieces. Or, sometimes, I'd create it as I went to see how well the story was balanced. If I put this much effort into planning it, I'd get bored and lose all desire to actually tell the story.

I'm really tempted to write a "Because Fuck You" story, though. I'm really bad about only writing CYOA for the contest, and this might be the first project I've actually had enough enthusiam to power through since Rentyre. I'll be interested to see if I'll be able to return to my Teatime roots with this one... I'm still that random, but I'm nowhere near that naive anymore.

[End Master]

Drag's flow chart reminds me of those tech trees for civilization simulation type games.

I think it's cool, but yeah I wouldn't be able to organize like that though.

If you're making a completely new version you could put the original story on private so it doesn't pop up on the reading list, if you don't want to delete it outright yet, but I figured you'd just keep the old one up until you were completely finished with the new one.

[Dragavan]

Drag's flow chart reminds me of those tech trees for civilization simulation type games.

I think it's cool, but yeah I wouldn't be able to organize like that though.

If you're making a completely new version you could put the original story on private so it doesn't pop up on the reading list, if you don't want to delete it outright yet, but I figured you'd just keep the old one up until you were completely finished with the new one.

Oh, the old one will be staying up as it is until either I start to overwrite it with the new one (not as likely) or I post and make the new version public (more likely)... The question I had was about weather I should overwrite (and use the old "creation date" and other info) or post new and start completely over on everything. Either way, I always planned to do away with the old one when the new one came about. Since the story is the same story, just redone, I had not planned to keep both up in the end (although DEP seems to think I should).