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Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit
Feb. 1st, 2024 10:00 amI spoke with R. yesterday about my desire to write at least 30 minutes every day and how I could use some help trying to make it work with the schedule. He brought up that I watch YouTube a lot and maybe the time I spend there could be better used toward writing.
He's not wrong, but I did notice a flash of annoyance there that I thought it'd be good to investigate. At the time, it felt like he was dismissing the problem I presented him with -- that with the packed schedule I have to adopt some weekdays it can be really hard to find regular dedicated writing time. I was hoping we could find a way to agree on making writing "sacred". Instead, he confronted me with his perception of how I spend my time.
I'm not sure if that perception IS true -- if there are vast amounts of time I'm wasting to the algorithm, or if I'm actually as crunched for time as I feel. I do know that I could be a lot more efficient with my time, and setting myself up for success could do a lot to dispel that perception. Instead of having a window open for YouTube, say, I could instead have Google Docs up to work on my D&D game, write notes down on percolating stories, or engage in small touches that add up to a more creative mindset overall. Even if I *am* crunched for time, there are little opportunities I could be taking more advantage of.
Today the plan is to work on my D&D campaign, Unlicensed Adventures, and the first serial I'm planning for the relaunch of the Jackalope Serial Company, Swiftie's Intergalactic.
With Unlicensed, I received an unexpected gift of two more weeks' prep time due to a player's inability to get Fantasy Grounds working. That's enough to make sure the scenes are built as much as they should be, so I at least know the stakes, the NPC motivations, and where to slip in little hooks for the characters. We're building up to a big heist on the Leonin Embassy, which I'd like to position as a delicate bit of statecraft. Making it stealth-only potentially leaves our Barbarian without something to do, so I'd like to plan at *least* one unavoidable combat with additional stakes to make it interesting.
But more than that I'd like to spend some time really digging into the world and setting so it's a little easier to keep momentum. I don't like the feeling of spinning wheels in a game, and though I've had no complaints so far I think the pacing of the story could use a little tightening.
With Swiftie's, I keep getting in my head about how the setting works and how hard it is to imagine a place where a six-foot human can casually chat with say, a thousand-foot-tall space alien. It also feels like the characters aren't really themselves but shadows of some representation I still can't identify. There's also this...feeling that if I present a macro/micro relationship that I like reading about people will categorically reject is as base and boring. That fear makes it hard for me to actually enjoy writing about these people, and you can tell that on the page.
The obvious solution is to write the story I would want to read and hang the rest. But it can be a little hard identifying that as well. So many of the stories out there right now lean hard into these tropes that I just can't get into, and the folks paying for commissions tend to get the same things. It's not that interesting, reading about arrogant macros being cruel and careless because the only thing they want is to be bigger. I mean, it can be HOT, but there are too many stories where that's it, that's the plot. I'd like to do more with the consequences, the way people have to settle with the change in situation. The best stories find a way to balance that escalating power with the more internal considerations.
Anyway -- for Swiftie's, I think the main character needs to learn how to be OK with ceding control and being vulnerable. His journey has to be one where doing that allows him to have the experiences he's always wanted but hasn't gotten up until now. Thinking about it through that lens gives me a potential direction for the story; we'll see how it feels when I work on the beginning today.
After work tonight is gym, writing, and dinner. There might be time for an episode of DS9 or a little bit of FFXIV, but ONLY if I've done my writing and reading ahead of time. Wish me luck!
He's not wrong, but I did notice a flash of annoyance there that I thought it'd be good to investigate. At the time, it felt like he was dismissing the problem I presented him with -- that with the packed schedule I have to adopt some weekdays it can be really hard to find regular dedicated writing time. I was hoping we could find a way to agree on making writing "sacred". Instead, he confronted me with his perception of how I spend my time.
I'm not sure if that perception IS true -- if there are vast amounts of time I'm wasting to the algorithm, or if I'm actually as crunched for time as I feel. I do know that I could be a lot more efficient with my time, and setting myself up for success could do a lot to dispel that perception. Instead of having a window open for YouTube, say, I could instead have Google Docs up to work on my D&D game, write notes down on percolating stories, or engage in small touches that add up to a more creative mindset overall. Even if I *am* crunched for time, there are little opportunities I could be taking more advantage of.
Today the plan is to work on my D&D campaign, Unlicensed Adventures, and the first serial I'm planning for the relaunch of the Jackalope Serial Company, Swiftie's Intergalactic.
With Unlicensed, I received an unexpected gift of two more weeks' prep time due to a player's inability to get Fantasy Grounds working. That's enough to make sure the scenes are built as much as they should be, so I at least know the stakes, the NPC motivations, and where to slip in little hooks for the characters. We're building up to a big heist on the Leonin Embassy, which I'd like to position as a delicate bit of statecraft. Making it stealth-only potentially leaves our Barbarian without something to do, so I'd like to plan at *least* one unavoidable combat with additional stakes to make it interesting.
But more than that I'd like to spend some time really digging into the world and setting so it's a little easier to keep momentum. I don't like the feeling of spinning wheels in a game, and though I've had no complaints so far I think the pacing of the story could use a little tightening.
With Swiftie's, I keep getting in my head about how the setting works and how hard it is to imagine a place where a six-foot human can casually chat with say, a thousand-foot-tall space alien. It also feels like the characters aren't really themselves but shadows of some representation I still can't identify. There's also this...feeling that if I present a macro/micro relationship that I like reading about people will categorically reject is as base and boring. That fear makes it hard for me to actually enjoy writing about these people, and you can tell that on the page.
The obvious solution is to write the story I would want to read and hang the rest. But it can be a little hard identifying that as well. So many of the stories out there right now lean hard into these tropes that I just can't get into, and the folks paying for commissions tend to get the same things. It's not that interesting, reading about arrogant macros being cruel and careless because the only thing they want is to be bigger. I mean, it can be HOT, but there are too many stories where that's it, that's the plot. I'd like to do more with the consequences, the way people have to settle with the change in situation. The best stories find a way to balance that escalating power with the more internal considerations.
Anyway -- for Swiftie's, I think the main character needs to learn how to be OK with ceding control and being vulnerable. His journey has to be one where doing that allows him to have the experiences he's always wanted but hasn't gotten up until now. Thinking about it through that lens gives me a potential direction for the story; we'll see how it feels when I work on the beginning today.
After work tonight is gym, writing, and dinner. There might be time for an episode of DS9 or a little bit of FFXIV, but ONLY if I've done my writing and reading ahead of time. Wish me luck!
