ssscreamingwrites

[ssscreamingwrites]

the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil

Fallen Angel, Alexandre Cabanel | The Fallen Angel, Willem de Zwart | Angel of Grief, William Wetmore Story | Fallen Angel, Roberto Ferri | The Lament for Icarus, Herbert James Draper | Art & Lies, Jeanette Winterson

[ssscreamingwrites]

day 9

note: forgot to post this yesterday!

time spent: 15 min overall mood: fatigued. music: n/a. written line(s) that i liked: n/a.

i only managed to do the prophecy fic on my phone. i couldn't get up from my bed to do it on my laptop;;; honestly, i just wasn't feeling it.

i feel the urge to snip and edit the doc. mostly because i've been heavily focusing on writing not editing. so, there's just a bunch of words / paragraphs / etc that's out of order or unfinished solely because i've been following my thought tangents / stream of consciousness. will do that outside of draftdash time then.

[ssscreamingwrites]

Day 8

time spent: 15min exact! overall mood: tired. i wish i was a cat napping away underneath the warm sun. music: ... i listened to this TEDtalk bc i was surprised by who was giving the tedtalk about. oh, and i listened to a new kind of love covers- i think it's a trend? idk. written line(s) that i liked: 0

i tried working on my lady instead of the prophecy fic. which, was more difficult? i think it's because it's technically not in the drafting stage yet. i worked on one of the main characters' sheet as well as brainstorming the setting- i decided to reuse an old idea for it.

i think... i'm going to work on both this week. i will try to use the fifteen-minute time to write for prophecy fic and then once that's done, work on my lady on the side until it's ready for the drafting phase. this is mostly because i felt like i was just... faffing about this session? i could just jump in and try writing a scene, but it didn't feel right since there's 100% chance of me editing it right out.

[ssscreamingwrites]

Day 7

note: forgot to post this yesterday!

time spent: 15 min. overall mood:  music: West Coast by Lana Del Rey. written line(s) i liked: none for this session!

i skipped yesterday’s :;(∩´﹏`∩);: so, for this week i technically did only 4 days & the streak restarted. gonna try to not skip anymore. i thought i could do one before i went to sleep but completely forgot i had a D&D session that night. so, yeah, after said D&D session i just conked out.

i think i’ll try to work on my lady instead of prophecy fic next week. mostly because i’ve been focusing on only on the latter this week and my lady’s doc has been… empty.

today’s sprint i did in the car. i wrote using my phone instead of the usual laptop because i had the time and knew that when i got home i’ll too tired(?). i didn’t edit a lot— mostly because i skim read to just know where i’m at instead of reading it fully.

i managed to write about half of noyedas’ dreams in A1. then, another freaky dream for him in A2 and was happy there was a minor callback to A1— is it symbolic? IDK just thought it was cool & good suffering™️ for the man. but there is some on the nose symbolism of anwyn (the POV of side B for prophecy fic) that got me going yeah, that’s cool. i’m struggling with making lore-dumping natural/cohesive with the scene.

[ssscreamingwrites]

Super detailed character profile chart

Character Name:

First Name:

Last Name:

Nickname (if any):

Basic Information:

Age:

Gender:

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Nationality:

Physical Appearance:

Height:

Weight:

Build:

Hair Color:

Eye Color:

Scars or distinguishing marks:

Personality Traits:

Positive Traits:

Negative Traits:

Background and History:

Family Background:

Parents:

Siblings (if any):

Childhood:

Education:

School/College/University:

Major/Area of Study:

Favorite Subjects:

Least Favorite Subjects:

Career/Profession:

Current Occupation:

Previous Jobs (if any):

Career Goals:

Hobbies and Interests:

Hobbies:

Interests:

Relationships:

Marital Status:

Romantic Relationships (if any):

Friendships:

Closest Friends:

Relationship dynamics:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Goals and Ambitions:

Short-term Goals:

Long-term Goals:

Fears and Insecurities:

Common Fears:

Insecurities:

Quirks and Habits:

Quirks:

Habits:

Beliefs and Values:

Religious or Spiritual Beliefs:

Moral Code:

Political Views:

Favorites:

Favorite Foods:

Favorite Books:

Favorite Movies/TV Shows:

Favorite Music:

Favorite Color:

Dislikes:

Disliked Foods:

Disliked Activities:

Pet Peeves:

Miscellaneous:

Talents or Skills:

Secrets (if any):

Motivations:

What drives the character forward?

What are their ultimate aspirations?

Character Arc:

How does the character change or evolve throughout the story?

Feel free to adapt and expand upon this template!

[ssscreamingwrites]

Day 5

note: may edit this post since i'm thinking of adding another sprint later today.

time spent: 15 min. overall mood: well rested (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧. music: Exile by Taylor Swift, ft., Bon Iver. written line(s) i liked: A sharp smile bloomed across her face. It was unladylike, unsporting in this game of war, but she could not help it. She won.

i did a sprint! i missed the past two days because i was super tired. i usually do them late at night before taking a shower or before going to sleep. but i've been out these two nights and haven't been sleeping much. honestly, there isn't an actual schedule for these sprints- i'm thinking i should have one instead of leaving it to last minute?

but i did this one during the noon. and might do another one at night to make up for the lack of sprinting for the past two days. we'll see!

i'm still writing for prophecy fic, 1A. i wrote some lines for the endings of both A and B because they were just in my head. i knew what kind of endings they would be, but i needed to write down the lines in case i forgot or go off-course. but they're both on the opposite end of the spectrum of utter defeat and relieved triumph.

i'm thinking of the hierarchy and the larger grand scheme of things. i remember the basis of it from the old game, but not the nuances such as rank, etc. so, started skimming through the tv tropes page and looking through an old save file of mine (surprisingly still intact!) to go over some questions i had.

but, felt very productive in those fifteen minutes? i definitely wrote more than the first two days, that's for sure!

[ssscreamingwrites]

The Writing Tracker and Statistics spreadsheet for 2024 is here!

What is it?

The spreadsheet is a way for writers who like statistics to track their daily wordcounts and writing habits (and also, probably, don't want to or can't pay to use software for this purpose). The idea is, once you've got the workbook set up and customised to your tastes, all you need to do is input your daily wordcount per project into one sheet and let the rest of the workbook populate from there. I originally designed this in late 2022 because I wanted a way to track my writing habits while also comparing how much original fiction VS fanfiction I wrote. It has since expanded to be more flexible, with a comparison function that's easy to adjust or scrap entirely, and a variety of other neat statistics besides. Key features include:

Line graph that displays your daily writing across the whole year.

Total word counts for each month displayed in stacked columns so you can see which projects you worked on.

Counters for your current daily writing streak and longest daily writing streak.

Pie chart to show which projects were worked on the most overall.

Ability to separate projects into "types" – i.e., personal and academic – and compare type totals each month.

Words-over-time progress charts for specific projects, with the ability to help set and track writing goals.

Daily and monthly averages.

You don't need to be a genius (or even fairly confident in using) Excel/Google Sheets to make this work for you. I've written up a detailed set of instructions that walk through each sheet and explain how to make a variety of changes, as well as breaking down how certain aspects work.

If this is something that interests you, follow the link below to my Payhip. It's a free resource; Payhip just gives you the option to leave a tip, should you feel like it and have the cash to spare.

Want to know more? Keep reading below the cut for a closer look at the features.

Daily graph to see your writing habits across the whole year at a glance:

Your top statistics: monthly and daily averages, top writing days, longest writing streak, current writing streak, and daily averages by month.

Monthly writing totals displayed in a stacked column chart so you can see which projects you worked on each month:

Clustered column graph to show one type of project compared to another, and a pie chart to show which projects you worked on most across the year:

Project-specific progress charts that show words over time, similar to the NaNoWriMo graph. (Plus, there are instructions on how to add goal lines to make it even more like the NaNoWriMo graph!)

[ssscreamingwrites]

Day 2

time spent: 15 min exact! overall mood: refreshed but also kind of nauseous. music: Persona - School Days (extended) (been listening to persona ost because i've been watching marsh's megaten experiences videos!) written lines i liked: In its place, Noyedas felt a wave of shame pulling at him. / Death has been haunting her sleep since the moment she could comprehend fear.

worked primarily on prophecy fic because i'm procrastinating on my lady;;; i worked primarily on section A and only wrote one sentence for section B. but was very satisfied with that little line, though it may be chopped off in the future. i made more progress on the 1/5 of A. Speaking of which, both sections have five parts to them! i'm still unsure how much detail i want to put on the 1st part of A. it's very focused? a zoom-in? idk, all i know is that i'm trying to focus on more show than tell but i don't think that's going so well.

decided to add a word count because i think that's a fun thing to track! also, made me realise i'm the type who likes to edit while writing. like, i knew before. but i tried to not edit and just keep on writing, but if the sentence isn't updated to its latest new and approved version, it'll keep bugging me, y'know? so, instead of words written it's dubbed as 'new' words written so whatever minute details i edit won't count (for example, replacing a word/fixing tenses).

i lied! edited that out because i kept thinking how tedious it would be trying to separate editing and new words written;;;

[ssscreamingwrites]

Day 1

time spent: 30 mins approximate. overall mood: pikachu face. music: persona 4 chill/study mix. written lines i liked: Azure blue that burns almost as bright as fire. / She was never meant to rule.

happy new years!!! may 2024 be fruitful and kinder than last year.

i worked on The Eyes That Haunt / The Ghost That Bleeds (otherwise known as prophecy fic from now onwards). prophecy fic has two parts (just decided to split it into two lol):

A; the eyes that haunt

B; the ghost that bleeds

i started the timer and spent a few minutes just staring at the screen. i haven't written in a long time, so i was struggling with how to write the starting line. or, really, what to write as a whole. it was like... trying to move a sliding door. but the wheels had rusted. so the sliding was less sliding and more janky yanking.

i had a plan drafted but i immediately blanked out. but the timer was ticking by, so i just wrote down whatever was in my head instead of looking at the plan (only glanced at it once or twice to see if my rambling was on track).

but once i started, it flowed. kind of. a lot of scenes came to mind that weren't necessarily in the plan. but i wrote it out anyway for future editing. and i would just write small snippets because i was still struggling with the opening / first section of A. so, i managed to write bits of A and B. while writing, i checked the timer and was super surprised that i didn't notice it ended??? i think i didn't notice because the timer's noise was hidden underneath the music.

looking back on it. 15 min really is a short duration.

[ssscreamingwrites]

DraftDash Intro

hi hi hi! i'm joining this writing challenge where you spend fifteen minutes just writing. for this, i'm focusing on two different wips:

The Eyes That Haunt & The Ghost That Bleeds. a fanfiction one-shot of an interactive fiction that i used to adore called the war for the west. the planning of said fanfiction has been in my drafts for a while and i've mostly forgotten the entire plot of the IF itself, so i've been developing and adding my own things. i still label it as fanfiction because that was the starting point and focuses on one of the 'main' characters from the IF, though he'll largely be OOC / seen through my interpretation since... i don't remember much and am pretty sure he did not have much screen time. i ultimately want to finish this because i want to get back to being able to write one-shots or short storied while having fun. i've been a writing drought for years now, and i'm eager to actually write and complete my creative projects instead of just daydreaming about it!

My Lady, an interactive fiction made for the queer vampire jam and technically would be my first foray in IF (do not look at running from elysium, the entire reason this blog exists, because i'm reworking the lore / worldbuilding on it since... forever. teehee). i'm still largely brainstorming the idea and the title is still a work in progress. but the main idea is that you'll play as handmaiden who has been brought along with your lady to her new home, where she is arranged to marry a vampire. the story is largely planned to be a w|w story with your lady as the main love interest. as her closest confidant, you have the ability to advise, comfort, and influence the decisions she may or may not make as both of you try to survive in this new and fairly hostile environment. the story's inspiration draws from dracula's brides (a dowry of blood by S. T. Gibson, to be specific) and love the guard, be the king (it's a good game, i recommend you check it out!).

okay, that's it! sorry for the large slab of text. i hope you found them a teeny bit interesting. i'm hoping to finish up both projects in january (especially the first one) and hope that by the end of january, i find it easier to set aside time and just go at it in writing!

[ssscreamingwrites]

personal info is the easiest to me bc, in my head, it’s basically just one answer? like, filling in general knowledge or just surface level view of how ppl see the character. i think the hardest for me to nail either the backstory / personality bc i see them as two cogs in the machine. if one doesn’t make sense, then it just doesn’t work. & backstory = trying make it plausible in the world which often leads to trying to rationalise some form of world-building (i struggle a lot with world-building). a general vibe of how the character is / how they act is easy — so daydreaming about an OC & their adventures without the pressure of writing that shit down is fun. but it’s hard for me to narrow down specific intricacies bc i like it be almost like an explanation(?) for why they act the way they act. tbh, it’s usually just me overcomplicating things and then getting frustrated i just spent hours trying to justify why they’re being a little freak. but it’s also me going… this is the third girlfailure that is propelled by external factors to end up wanting to eat / kill / be god, i need some diversity.

quick question 'cuz I am losing my mind a little with my WIPs right now...

I'd appreciate reblogs with explanations, or an addition to what is the hardest for you to do.

[ssscreamingwrites]

Reblogs to improve sample sizes would be greatly appreciated.

[ssscreamingwrites]

DraftDash: A 15-Minute Daily Writing Challenge

As we approach the final days of 2023, some of you may already be considering your New Year’s resolutions. Rather than setting intimidating goals, let’s make them more feasible. Enter DraftDash—a 15-minute daily writing challenge designed to make writing manageable. No need to wait until the penultimate month to churn out an entire novel. Let’s start this journey gradually, embracing short but consistent sessions, and cultivate a daily writing habit✨

Details

Who: Ideal for story writers working on their first draft, but anybody who writes is free to join

What: Write for 15 minutes daily. Don’t worry about word count, and don’t go back to edit. Just write.

When: The entire month of January 2024, but if you’re on a roll, you may keep going.

Where: You can set your own timers and write on whatever platform you prefer. But there will also be a Discord Server, where you can sprint and chat with other writers on Tumblr. (I’m currently setting it up, though. I’ll post the invite link when it’s ready.)

How to Join

There are additional instructions for those participating in the Discord group sprints (you can find these in the server), but for Tumblr-only peeps, here’s how to do it:

Day 0: This is anytime before January 1. Introduce the project you’ll be working on. Tag your post with #draftdash and #draftdash intro. I’ll be reblogging all the intro posts, so be sure to tag!

Day 1 and beyond: Set a timer for 15 minutes each day and write as much as you can. You may extend the time if you want. Just make sure to hit that minimum 15-minute mark. Afterward, post about how your sprint went. Tag it with #draftdash.

Final Day: Recap your entire DraftDash journey. Tag it with #draftdash and #draftdash recap. I’ll be reblogging all recap posts, so tag them right!

Event run by @lizonkawrites / @lizzieonka

Divider by @saradika-graphics

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[ssscreamingwrites]

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Ib, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[ssscreamingwrites]

Announcing the Queer Vampire IF Jam!

This is a month-long game jam that will run from January 10 - February 20th. The goal of this jam is to create more interactive fiction games about queer vampires, focusing both on queer relationships and queer experiences as told through a vampiric narrative.

JAM RULES:

Your project must focus on queer characters and vampires. Queer relationships, romantic or platonic, as well as other queer experiences, whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, ace, aro, trans and nonbinary - this is an inclusive jam. 

You can write from a human or vampire perspective (or both!)

This jam will accept any medium, so long as the work is an Interactive Fiction.

This jam will accept adult content as well as games covering heavy & uncomfortable topics, but please be sure to properly list trigger warnings either in-game or on the game page.

Entries that promote any kind of bigotry will not be accepted.

Games should not include any AI generated content.

You can submit as many entries as you'd like.

You are allowed to start working on your project early! That's why I'm announcing it now. This jam is unranked and it's not a contest, this is just for fun.

Submissions open midnight, January 10th EST. They'll close February 20th at 11:59pm EST.

Join the jam here!

🩸​Get dark and bloody and nasty.​🩸​

hosted by me, @nyehilismwriting, @attollogame