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Omi no Kami posted:I've always felt that writer's block specifically is, yeah- it's not an ephemeral obstacle in your path to getting stuff done, it's just something you need to learn how to get past. As Stephen King puts it, a writer's job is to write, and that can't wait on anything. The author of the webcomic The Oatmeal has this neat bit of advice where he compares creativity to breathing. If you want to exhale interesting art, it helps to inhale interesting content. Neil Gaiman also talks a lot about reading nonfiction to help feed the muse, and building a writing habit that doesn’t depend on being inspired. Other than that, I think a lot of it is often just listening to the story and the characters, and knowing enough technique and fundamentals to be able to dig yourself out of holes. And being determined enough to bash your head against writer’s block from every conceivable angle until the scene or the chapter or the arc works. That sort of thing can come with experience. But a lot of web fiction writers have less experience, absurdly demanding update schedules, and pressure to never stop, so that can be tough, and a recipe for burnout. I publish slower than most web authors, and have a lot of fun with my story, but it’s still hell to stay on top of my workflow without cutting corners. I have no earthly idea how Pirateaba stays sane. That’s just my experience, though.
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Dec 4, 2020 08:20
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madwhitesnake posted:I have no earthly idea how Pirateaba stays sane. That's her secret, she was never sane to begin with.
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Dec 4, 2020 08:23
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madwhitesnake posted:The author of the webcomic The Oatmeal has this neat bit of advice where he compares creativity to breathing. If you want to exhale interesting art, it helps to inhale interesting content. Neil Gaiman also talks a lot about reading nonfiction to help feed the muse, and building a writing habit that doesn’t depend on being inspired. Yep, techniques and fundamentals is definitely the key word there. Like, I don't want to say 'there's no such thing as writer's block,' because every writer gets stuck sometimes and that comes off as horribly insensitive, but I've always found that you're not stuck, even when you're stuck. I saw an exchange between Stephen King and GRRM at some event, this is a very fuzzy paraphrase but I really liked King's advice. (If you've never heard stephen king talk, he tends to be a very blunt, abrasive weirdo- this makes him sound like a bit of a jerk, but I think he was genuinely trying to be helpful here.) Anywhoo not an exact quote, but the exchange essentially went quote:GRRM: How the hell do you write so fast? What really works about this, at least in my experience, is that yeah- I very rarely find myself stuck on figuring out high-level structural beats and what should happen, where I usually trip is figuring out how to get from one beat to another. I have never had good results from diving deep on the problem and really turning it around in my head, so instead I just bulldoze forward: if you don't know what to write, just write anything, even if it's bad- just go "And then Harry and Ron got on the airplane to Hogwart's. They arrived ten hours later, just in time for dinner." You mark everything that you wrote just to keep writing, then once you've finished the rough manuscript you go back through it to fix the lovely stuff... and in my experience, at least 50% of what I thought was lovely filler works just fine with minimal tweaks.
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Dec 4, 2020 08:57
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When you just plow straight through with whatever lovely filler you can manage to write down, you have the benefit of knowing exactly what weak writing you need to follow up on and exactly how to smooth it over or draw attention away from it. Compare that to the normal kind of bad writing where you don't realize it's bad as you write it, and thus everything that follows it either builds on its shittiness or unintentionally worsens it Like, I know exactly when I had to do the lovely writing because I was having a mental episode at the time, but my audience has already forgotten those moments because I made them forget those moments. hosed up a character's introduction? It's cool, write them better later when you feel better and they'll be everyone's favorite character it's tough because you have to have the confidence in your ability to improve on your worst writing; on your worst day, you have to buy that no matter how lovely this writing is, you can recover the play when you're back on your A game
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Dec 4, 2020 09:13
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sometimes I got it and sometimes I don't
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Dec 4, 2020 09:13
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A strategy I heard a webcomic artist say they used is that when they're feeling cool and good and creative, they would use that time to bang out plans and storyboards to use if/when they get writer's block in the future. They described it as "storing up creativity" which is really interesting to me as a concept lol
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Dec 4, 2020 10:12
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that's what i did when i designed stuff for MUDs in my brief admin career. programming and filling out objects and fixing bugs etc was really loving boring and soul crushing since I dont actually like touching computers, so I'd just do that before bed to make me go to sleep faster. when I was excited and wanted to be creative was when i would sketch out cool ideas and mechanics in big flow charts and then psuedocode out how i expected it to work in detail. it's not really 1:1 with writing and might just be a symptom of being a mild manic depressive but it makes sense to me. have fun with the fun part but use it to set up the boring part. anyway most of them never got used lol.
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Dec 4, 2020 10:17
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Pirateaba is taking a lot more breaks now. She still writes more than conceivable, but at least there’s a week or ten days off a month.
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Dec 5, 2020 03:06
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Is there anything like The Daily Grind, but with focus on applying all the arcane skills they get in real life, rather than on infinite chapters of actual grinding?Velius posted:Pirateaba is taking a lot more breaks now. She still writes more than conceivable, but at least there’s a week or ten days off a month. And yet I'm pretty sure her monthly word count is higher than before she started taking breaks, lmao
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Dec 5, 2020 08:19
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Argue posted:And yet I'm pretty sure her monthly word count is higher than before she started taking breaks, lmao Several months ago someone on discord bullied her into finally upgrading to a mechanical keyboard and her wordcount basically doubled overnight.
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Dec 5, 2020 19:28
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Are any of y'all still reading he who fights with monsters? I dropped it around the time the author had the break, after finding the Lord builder stuff really terrible. Wondering if he managed to improve it after returning?
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Dec 5, 2020 20:40
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Bullet Proof posted:Are any of y'all still reading he who fights with monsters? I dropped it around the time the author had the break, after finding the Lord builder stuff really terrible. I'm still reading it and enjoying it, it's a completely different story now.
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Dec 5, 2020 20:51
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It's gone back towards the style at the beginning with focus on Jason and no team fights. It's better than the builder arc, but I can see it easily crashing down if the author starts adding more characters that can fight and it goes back to a focus on fighting.
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Dec 5, 2020 21:00
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The author wrote himself into a corner a little with the abilities, by giving everyone, what was it, twelve of them? Something like that. That quickly adds up if there's a full party of people. I personally just skimmed through the ability-heavy combat bits when those were happening, though, so it didn't hinder my enjoyment much.
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Dec 6, 2020 00:33
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Twenty-six including Racials, plus items, plus every ability gets a new feature at every given advancement level.
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Dec 6, 2020 01:15
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Yeah the abundance of abilities and equipment and stuff sucks so much, but I think some of his most die hard patreon supporters read mostly for that stuff.
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Dec 6, 2020 01:22
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Silynt posted:Twenty-six including Racials, plus items, plus every ability gets a new feature at every given advancement level. This plus you get a bunch of combinations when you have a party. It just makes the whole thing ridiculous. The author doesn't even use them all, probably less than ten per fight, and it's still stupid unless there's only one person involved.
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Dec 6, 2020 02:55
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LLSix posted:I thought that ended a decade ago. Look at him go! Two whole pages all last month. The first 1000 pages were finished in 2006. They've done 800 pages in the 14 years since. That would be an entirely reasonable one page a week if they weren't mostly frontloaded in the earlier years. It's been on an upward trend the last few years, but yes, you'll find more of those 800 in the first half than the second. It's me, I'm the guy who is still keeping up with Megatokyo.
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Dec 6, 2020 03:06
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Wittgen posted:Yeah the abundance of abilities and equipment and stuff sucks so much, but I think some of his most die hard patreon supporters read mostly for that stuff. Is the internal system at least consistent/reasonable? One of the things that really bugs me about a lot of Japanese/Korean web novels (I know that the one you're talking about is an English serial, but most I've seen are Japanese or Korean, with the obvious major exception of Wandering Inn) is that they'll have game systems that only really exist as an excuse to explicitly quantify how strong the protagonist is. "I'm a Spider, so what?" is a prime example of this, though to its credit it makes the game system a plot point, which makes this less obnoxious than it would otherwise be (though still pretty obnoxious). Forge/Threads of Destiny is sort of the ideal in this regard, where there's some gamification going on, but the author ensures that the protagonist is operating with the same "rules" as everyone else, and everyone else is constantly developing in parallel to her. The "gamification" can be fun/interesting if it's adding a sort of "controlled randomness" to things. From a certain perspective, PracGuide could also be viewed in this manner, with Named aspects. There's a clear and consistent underlying logic that determines how effective aspects are.
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Dec 6, 2020 03:47
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Bullet Proof posted:Are any of y'all still reading he who fights with monsters? I dropped it around the time the author had the break, after finding the Lord builder stuff really terrible. I still read it, but Jason is insufferable. The author really took the whole "He's a master puppeteer! You only think/feel that because that's what he wants!" thing and ran with it. e: Also yeah, the fights tend to drag on a lot, I tend to skim them to make sure I don't miss anything important. Narmi fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 04:17
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Ytlaya posted:Is the internal system at least consistent/reasonable? One of the things that really bugs me about a lot of Japanese/Korean web novels (I know that the one you're talking about is an English serial, but most I've seen are Japanese or Korean, with the obvious major exception of Wandering Inn) is that they'll have game systems that only really exist as an excuse to explicitly quantify how strong the protagonist is. "I'm a Spider, so what?" is a prime example of this, though to its credit it makes the game system a plot point, which makes this less obnoxious than it would otherwise be (though still pretty obnoxious). I'm pretty sure Wandering Inn's rpg-system empowering people will be a plot point at some point. We've seen multiple beings from outside the WI world scoff at the system, namely fey and an old dragon.
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Dec 6, 2020 04:39
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Kalas posted:I'm pretty sure Wandering Inn's rpg-system empowering people will be a plot point at some point. We've seen multiple beings from outside the WI world scoff at the system, namely fey and an old dragon. I'm only up to somewhere in book 3 but it's been implied that the leveling system in the world is a result of ancient mortals seizing the power of the dead gods, and since there's a still-alive god waking up in the Blighted Continent there's definitely a plot hook for that to become relevant at some point.
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Dec 6, 2020 04:52
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:I'm only up to somewhere in book 3 but it's been implied that the leveling system in the world is a result of ancient mortals seizing the power of the dead gods, and since there's a still-alive god waking up in the Blighted Continent there's definitely a plot hook for that to become relevant at some point. I always looked at it as something the gods left as they were fleeing / dying. Or it was something they put in to keep mortals at a manageable state as the system has been shown to discourage social/tech advancement until they returned. It will be interesting to see how it works out.
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Dec 6, 2020 04:55
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Kalas posted:I'm pretty sure Wandering Inn's rpg-system empowering people will be a plot point at some point. We've seen multiple beings from outside the WI world scoff at the system, namely fey and an old dragon. Don't forget it's tied to the goblin storyline. When he became a king, Velan the Kind went mad and wanted to kill all the "playthings," which is also what the fae called those who took part in the system. ch 2.19G posted:No quarter! No mercy! The playthings must die! Kill them. Burn them. All that the Gods have wrought must be destroyed.
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Dec 6, 2020 05:00
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Argue posted:Is there anything like The Daily Grind, but with focus on applying all the arcane skills they get in real life, rather than on infinite chapters of actual grinding? Tower of Somnus might be what you're looking for? Less interesting/weird dungeon stuff but the skills earned in the dungeon get used in the character's real life which is set in a cyberpunk dystopia.
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Dec 6, 2020 05:09
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Kalas posted:I always looked at it as something the gods left as they were fleeing / dying. Or it was something they put in to keep mortals at a manageable state as the system has been shown to discourage social/tech advancement until they returned. It will be interesting to see how it works out. my theory is that the leveling system itself is the sleeping god, and participating in it/having faith in your Skills counts as worship. it creates new species in rhir to keep everything turbulent so that people are more invested in leveling.
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Dec 6, 2020 06:08
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New TWI Oh, come here my little GobChamp
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Dec 6, 2020 07:25
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tithin posted:New TWI I'm only like a quarter of the way through the update, but Lol at Erin's response to someone wanting to 'court' her Edit: Okay, normally I hate romance arcs in web serials because they are usually poorly written and not entertaining but this is hilarious and I love it Peachfart fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 08:16
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Ytlaya posted:Is the internal system at least consistent/reasonable? One of the things that really bugs me about a lot of Japanese/Korean web novels (I know that the one you're talking about is an English serial, but most I've seen are Japanese or Korean, with the obvious major exception of Wandering Inn) is that they'll have game systems that only really exist as an excuse to explicitly quantify how strong the protagonist is. "I'm a Spider, so what?" is a prime example of this, though to its credit it makes the game system a plot point, which makes this less obnoxious than it would otherwise be (though still pretty obnoxious). The internal system is consistent, but there's so many skills that if needed some combination will allow punching way above the weight class they should be able to and the bad guys don't really get the same benefit. With the high number of skills most don't get used either so the bad guys really only have 3-5 skills. It definitely feels like someone took a game and wrote a novel about it. With Prac Guide it's much more story driven where the aspects can be used in different constrained ways and less like a novel about a game. TWI is hilarious and amazing as always.
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Dec 6, 2020 10:33
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Posting this here as well on advice from the web novel thread. Heyo everyone. Author of Forge of Destiny, Yrsillar here. I know my works been discussed a few times in this thread and others, so I thought I'd put out notice here. In addition to publishing the first portion of Forge of Destiny in e-book format with some more editing and touch ups over even the royal road version. I've also been picked up by an audiobook publisher, and said audiobook, narrated by Natalie Naudus will be up on December 22 if you have an interest. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P8175Z1 Also to weigh in on the conversation that occurred a bit ago in the thread on writing, I think Mr. King has the right of it. The most helpful thing I've done as a writer is set myself a work schedule and stick to it. Even if sometimes it means that I make flubs or have weak sections in the first draft (Quest) version of things, keeping my writing time consistent is the most effective for pushing through any block. That said, I've also learned in the last year that at some point you are going to burn out a little, and you definitely need to take a short vacation before you burn out completely. I don't know if this method works for everyone, but it's certainly the one that works for me.
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Dec 6, 2020 17:53
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Argue posted:Is there anything like The Daily Grind, but with focus on applying all the arcane skills they get in real life, rather than on infinite chapters of actual grinding? The Humble Life of a Skill Trainer and The Devil's Foundry might interest you. Maybe Metaworld Chronicles? I like it, but I'm not a fan of the main character and her "capitalism will solve everything!" approach to life. Narmi fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Dec 7, 2020 |
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Dec 7, 2020 01:36
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Narmi posted:Maybe Metaworld Chronicles? I like it, but I'm not a fan of the main character and her "capitalism will solve everything!" approach to life.
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Dec 7, 2020 07:58
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90s Cringe Rock posted:It has to be a bit, right? At some point it turns out that capitalism is bad? The spam obsession was just part of the joke? I guess? It's still early stages, and has lifted some people out of poverty, but it's also helping make the rich richer. A few side characters have pointed out (internally) that the main character is being incredibly naive by expecting the best from people when past history has shown that greed trumps empathy, and her "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" worldview won't survive their actual world. In one case one of her projects almost crashed because the people left in charge starting treating it like their personal piggybank.
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Dec 8, 2020 06:25
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Metaworld chronicles is the atlas shrugged of web serials - so bad, it feels like satire. It's not satire. It's absurdly right wing, and full of loathsome poo poo.
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Dec 8, 2020 07:43
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Rob Filter posted:Metaworld chronicles is the atlas shrugged of web serials - so bad, it feels like satire. It's not satire. It's absurdly right wing, and full of loathsome poo poo. I remember the opening Story Arc being at least alright but that was before the world view stuff showed up and the MC started getting described every chapter in super creepy ways.
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Dec 8, 2020 09:31
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it's not really a good fic
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Dec 8, 2020 09:41
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TWI patreon: wew
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Dec 9, 2020 06:31
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TWI has just been knocking it out of the park with every chapter as of late, drat.
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Dec 9, 2020 09:02
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jfc that's a loving helluva chapter
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Dec 9, 2020 11:09
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TWI non-patreon:tithin posted:jfc
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Dec 9, 2020 12:40
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