#bcs you've grown too much as an author during the writing that it just falls apart - and trying to remove the First Chapter

[racke7]

Writing as an RPG

I got to thinking about weird metaphors in the shower, so here we go:

How to become a better author (Explained as if writing is an RPG and the goal is to do as much DPS as possible.)

So, first thing you want to do is soft-cap your “Formatting”-stat. This lets you grab more targets for your main DPS, and so is essential for the build. However, once it hits the soft-cap, putting any more points into it is basically completely useless.

Second thing is that you want to focus on your “Character Interaction”-stat. This one is kind of complicated to level, because after a certain point it requires you to equip and master the “Character Insight” armor-set, which can be a pain since the level will sometimes randomly reset because the devs are bastards. However, before that, the general advice is to just grind out a bunch of “Small Scenes Quests” in order to get to the higher levels.

If you try to push for longer and more complicated “Story Quests” whilst still at the lower levels, your DPS might drop unexpectedly, and that can really tank the overall XP you get from the completion. Unless you go back and redo parts of the quest, which will in all likelihood end up being a massive slog, because changing any stage of a quest might force you to play through the entire quest again.

So, keep grinding out “Small Scenes Quests” until you reach the point where the story forces you to upgrade it into a “Story Quest”, and then do that then. Don’t go around trying to make plans for it, because “Small Scenes Quests” are notoriously unpredictable in how they play out, it’s why they’re so good for grinding.

That said, try to be somewhat wary of upgrading a quest like that, because it’s hard to tell what really needs to be upgraded until you’ve already been doing a lot of actual “Story Quests”. Though again, do remember that everyone makes something stupid at this stage, so don’t beat yourself up about it.

#writing #games #rants #laughing #srsly though - nr1 advice is ''formatting'' bcs it's the First Thing any new reader sees - and so becomes an accessibility issue #the more complicated (aka divorced from the norm) you make your formatting - the worse the impression you leave will be #and 2nd is ''write short scenes - not LOTR'' bcs writing big projects are just... bad #either your creative fuel runs dry before you hit the End - or you're stuck with a First Chapter that you think is garbage-tier by the End #bcs you've grown too much as an author during the writing that it just falls apart - and trying to remove the First Chapter? #that would just cause the rest of the story to implode - bcs everything is based off of that First Chapter #so... if you want to learn? write small scenes instead - have fun with short arguments / write someone falling in love in a moment #and 3rd on this list is ''understand your characters'' bcs that's... kind of necessary to write an _engaging_ story #bcs otherwise you end up with shit like super-hypocritical black-hole characters - who are loved and adored by everyone #4th on the list however is... ''empathize with _real_ human beings'' #which sounds absurd until you realize that that empathy is necessary to make characters who are ''truly believable'' #like... there's a pretty big difference between someone writing a romance when they've only watched romantic comedies #in comparison to someone who's actually listened to people talk seriously about their own experiences with ''what makes relationships work''