- You proposed your work to someone you trust.
- You presented your Stories to many people.
- You tried to summarize & to arrange them in their terms so that they don’t get bored too easily.
- It never seem to catch their interest.
Summary – 5 steps to Always Continue to Write
- Realize you are Necessary to Entertainment
- Try a different Genre every Month or every Year.
- Write at least a page a day.
- Create a new likeable Character every Month.
- Ask these 3 Questions to receive detailed Feedback:
- Which Characters/Environments will you remember the most?
- How do you relate to these Characters/Environments?
- What would you do to make them more Memorable?
- If you can write, at least a page, every day.
- And you are willing to Experiment.
- You have all the reasons to Continue.
You are needed, as a Writer
- The Need for Writers
- You may have noticed but…
- Entertainment is not really entertaining.
- All’s not to attribute to poor Writing.
- But most of the Issues could be Soothed by better Writing.
- And, namely, the Will to Improve & Experiment.
- Why you shouldn’t give up as a Writer?
- We need more Writer who are willing to Evolve.
- Who are willing to value their Work.
- No one else can stop you
- You want to become a Professional Writer.
- Even so, financial compensation wasn’t your 1st goal.
- You started for another reason : Satisfaction.
- The Satisfaction brought by Writing your Stories.
- As long as you find this Satisfaction in your Game, there’s still a Game.
- The Real Reason : Recognition
- You doubt because your Work hasn’t been Validated.
- How to get this Recognition?
- Entertain the Public.
- How do you Entertain the Public?
- Present them a frame which seems Familiar and insert elements of Interest.
- How do I know what the Public’s Interested by?
- As animals, we have a set of common interests : Sex, Sustenance & Sleep.
- As people, we have different leisure & passions.
- Even so, we have all common interests.
- For example we all prefer Likeable Characters.
- What makes a Character Likeable?
- We all prefer Reliable & Consistent human beings.
- Treat Characters like Human beings.
- How else can I please the Public?
- Create Relatable Characters.
- Create Character can Identify with.
If you want to know how to become a happier Storyteller.
You need Assistance
- A Team
- You need Support.
- You want to have a Team.
- You started to Write because you wanted to share.
- On whichever scale.
- If anything else, your Team will be your Public.
- Make the best Story for them, and the rest of the Public may just come.
- How can they support you?
- By Writing with you.
- Introduce them to Writing.
- Share your Work with them.
- Ask for detailed Input.
- Who do you need?
- A set of passionate people.
- 1 for Narration.
- 1 for Graphical elements.
- 1 for Animation.
- 1 for Music & SFX.
- 1 for Game Design.
- Game Design is essential if you want to create more Interactive Stories.
- Eventually Programming, if you plan to make Video Games.
- Of course, you could do all the aforementioned by yourself.
- There’s still 1 task for which you’ll need partners.
- Feedback Partners
- Having a Team allows you to adapt your work progressively.
- Ask for Immediate corrections.
- Listen & Implement.
- Listening & Implementing is the Most difficult part when it comes to Feedback.
- Most of the time people will be Focused on Issues.
- They won’t tell you what works well.
- Ask them these 8 Questions:
- What would they change?
- How would they change it?
- What will they remember from your Story?
- Which Characters will they remember the most?
- Which Environment will they remember the most?
- How to make it more memorable?
- What would they add?
- How would they make it coherent?
If you want to know more about managing a Team.
Focus on the Process
- Focus on getting better
- Not on the Quality.
- How do you know you’re getting better if you can’t Qualify?
- 1st, the More pages, the More chances you get to better yourself.
- Then, forget the word Quality.
- Quality is almost always used in an Arbitrary way.
- If someone tells you that your work is bad or good, and they can’t argument, their words are useless.
- It may look counterintuitive, but being told that your Stories are Good without arguments is useless.
- How can you get Better, then?
- Play.
- You are creating Entertainment Products.
- You are creating Experiences.
- If you’re not Entertaining yourself, you unlikely to entertain others.
- Balancing Short & Long term
- At all point, enjoy it.
- And make it enjoyable.
- You want results.
- And the 1st result you’re expecting is Fun.
- Then, Produce.
- Produce as much volume as you can.
- Fix yourself a page volume and commit to it.
- Fun & Volume are the only Results you can rely on.
- Process over Results
- Become Driven by the Process.
- According less importance to the Results, means less disappointment.
- It develops your sense of Long termism.
- And broadens your Perspective.
- Listening to detailed Feedback develops your Curiosity.
- Meaning, you need to listen.
- Focus on your Skills development.
- That’s what detailed Feedback is for.
If you want to deal with Writer’s Block efficiently.
Your new Routine
- To continue to Write… you need to write
- Write a Page every day.
- Whatever the Quality.
- In fact, focusing on the Quality may be the real Issue.
- Write & Play.
- Write a Book a Year.
- Production & the need for immediate result
- Writing a Book every year Writing just 1 page every day can lead to a 300+ pages book at the end of the year.
- Diversify your Work
- Diversity makes the Public happier.
- It entices them.
- Diversity creates Immersion.
- Diversity of Genre.
- Diversity of Characters.
- Diversity of Environments.
- Diversity of Stories.
- Write Short Stories
- Write a 5 pages short Story every month/week.
- Write a Poem/Song every week.
- Short Stories are more motivational.
- As your Stories are so short.
- The Public reaches the end faster.
- Ask for useful Feedback
- Short Stories allow you to finish faster.
- And get the Public’s Insight faster.
- Remember that people will always use their own References when they comment your Work.
- As it is, their comments will be extremely specific and sometimes unusable.
- You’ll have to generalize their remarks to turn them into rules.
- Even so, ask for a Procedure.
- What need to be Changed?
- How should it be Changed?
- How would they implement these changes regarding your Constrains?
- How do you get Useful Feedback?
- Just ask.
- How do you know if someone is motivated to give you Feedback?
- Pay attention to their words & rhythm.
- Do they seem to speak freely?
- Are they anxious to disappoint you?
- Do they use their usual expressions & phrases?
- Or do they try to adapt their speech to help you?
- Do they look bored?
- Do they look enthusiast?
- Do they share anecdotes with you?
- Do they compare your Story to another one?
- How do they relate to this Story?