I’ve been kinda quiet here lately for good reason. Most of February was spent working on a longer term project with the guys at Team BG which we’re all pretty excited about. Progress is steady, which is a pretty significant surprise coming from my end, and we hope to pick it back up right where we left off once April starts.
But the current development was our attempting that wily ol’ challenge, Nanoreno, for this year. There was a bit of talking and planning in that last week of February when suddenly Enerccio hit upon a really exciting idea that we all thought was worth pursuing. And now that things are beginning to wrap up, I can look back and say it definitely was. The writing for this project was quite a ride and it’s been really fun. There’s this pretty long span in the middle that I had to write that I couldn’t stop thinking on, getting more and more excited. “Oh, maybe I can include this…” “I definitely have to touch on that…” “If it were me, I’d bring up this…” “Damn, man, this is too much fun.” For what’s usually a high pressure time for most of the EVN scene, I sure had a blast. ‘Course, having a co-writer takes off a bit of the pressure.
Fufufufufu… only 10 days into the new decade, and I’ve already finished a very small game, one that I had quit before… Much like Araiah had, this one was given a chance at a revival, and I took it, surprising myself. AND I actually managed to finish it… I dunno if they put anything in the water around here recently to make me get so much more done instead of lazying away for months, but I don’t hate it ( unless whatever chemical causes cancer… and then it’s a very passive hate ).
In the end, it is significantly different and significantly smaller than the original plan, but that’s the move you have to make to see some things to completion. I didn’t like where it was going, so I sent it in the opposite direction, thanks to a little outside suggestion that’s come since quitting it in round one. And man, has it turned out better. At the very least easier to write. I pounded away a surprising 1500 words one night to finish the thing up, which is way beyond my usual attention span.
But I’m keeping it to myself for a little while~~~ I do hope that those who haven’t seen the cookie wrapped inside this little project get a kick out of it, and I hope those that already have, get a kick out of the wrapping. I did… it was a really fun and breezy experience. Now if all things can go so smoothly for me.
October was a rather unproductive month for me overall, like most of my months if we’re being honest, so I thought to try and make it all up this month. But November means NaNoWriMo, as many already know and are still sweating over. I thought this would be a great chance to get back on track with my writing, dedicating a whole month to it. I’d spent the tail end of October trying to think up new vns ideas, but the concept of just pure novel writing sure sounded enticing…
I thought and thought till I could thunk no more over the first two/three days of November for just what story I should write or to even do it at all. And it then dawned on me that this was just another form of procrastination, in the guise of being productive. It was only keeping me away from the stories I’ve already started and were avoiding for a whole month. So with new fervor, I decided to either finish or quit what I left hanging, and knock off all the pushing-aside hiatus business that’s plagued me for about forever. For the most part, I feel like I’m back on top of things like I should be, the “slightly more common than occasional” slack-off day excepting… It’s all certainly more work than I put in during October anyway…
But lately, I’ve put aside the pen to tackle a different beast: Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo. Having just finished it last night (though there are still some endings and maybe a loose end or two), I can easily say it was brilliant. In fact, I can’t remember the last vn I enjoyed as much as this one that wasn’t Umineko [ for the record, Rance does not count, because I didn't play it for the story... ]. It was just resoundingly well done, I think I can proclaim Looseboy as my 2nd favorite scenarist and writer now.
Yes, though, I did end up wasting a lot of time on it. And yes, it was poorly timed after my personal vow to get more shit done and cut out the crap, but this wasn’t a complete waste either. I actually felt like I learned quite a bit about the writing craft just from reading this piece, and it has given me a lot to think about regarding scenario writing and especially character creation and development. Everyone of these characters has this weak and dark side to them that comes out during the roughest moments, so much so they are almost revolting or pathetic in a way, but they always come back in the climax and are astoundingly beautiful people, real people. This is the kind of thing I have to think on every time I sit down to write now, instead of just creating some cute archetypal girl with a sad twist hidden in her that manages to cheat tears out of the readers a la a Key work. I can only hope I can accomplish it to any sort of degree as presented in Sharin. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, so hopefully I can lay off all the distractions, productive or not.
A lot of people take notes when they get a new idea for a project. It certainly isn’t a bad habit, and I definitely jot things down in the pre-production phase, if only to get the ideas I have out as opposed to on paper. ( I feel these ideas are given a sort of permanence because I wrote them out with my own hand, a kinetic memory sort of thing perhaps, rather than the ideas having been written. The nuance is completely different, right Senjougahara? )
But as for keeping notes on actual ideas themselves, the ones you’re putting off for later, I admit to having done that too. But I don’t really believe in the practice. I beleive that if an idea is meant to be, it’ll stay with you without the need for notes or reminders. And if you do happen to forget something, well that’s a chance to improve upon what you lost ( even though you lost what you are gonna compare it to… ).
As it goes, I actually had the opportunity to test my very belief recently, as I was hunting for ideas. Of course, I went right for my notes… which turned out to be missing. I’m very sure I already tossed them out, thinking much along the lines above and thus didn’t need all this paper clutter. Realizing this, I was actually rather surprised with myself at my ability to just shrug it off. I remember some details of some things, but know I’ve forgotten some for others. And yet, I don’t actually feel like anything is actually missing. By now, I’ve come up with better stories, more important ideas, that need to be invisioned far more than whatever was on those notes. And what I feel was worth keeping on those notes is being kept, inside the inner chambers of my memory ( which for some odd reason, I’m placing my trust in… I hope this doesn’t blow up in my face… ).
I ended up going with something a lot more recent that there weren’t any notes on ultimately, but this actually provided me with both an interesting situation and some real supporting base for my beliefs on ideas. Some people might not be able to operate this way. But it is working for me, and I hope it continues to.
Next Page »