How do you write?

[HigurashiKira]

For those of you who are writers, how do you like to write your scripts?

Do you like it in the Third-Person where you can focus on the whole picture, or do you like to write in First-Person and place things in your characters Point of view?

And also, how do you pace yourself?

I myself like to write in Third-Person since it gives me a bit of flexibility with my storytelling, while in First-Person I feel more like I'm role-playing as a character than writing about one.

For my pacing, I do a bit of work on the script for 2 days, then take a break for 2 days to allow me to refresh myself.

[Camille]

I prefer writing in third person because it lets me describe the thoughts of more than one character, but also mostly because I'm used to it. I feel awkward writing in the first person and it's much easier to write about a character than write as if you are the character. Also, strangely enough, I have to code and write the script at the same time in TextMate in order to be at all productive. I'm not the type of writer who can write the story out first and then convert it to Ren'Py script later.

As for pacing, I generally write non-stop until I'm finished with a scene or arc. I don't like leaving things half-finished because I easily lose momentum and forget what I was going for, so I try to finish a whole segment as soon as I can ... rather than leaving in the middle of a sentence/dialogue/scene. Of course, this is after lots and lots of brainstorming, outlining, and the like. (Evernote is pretty much indispensable for these tasks) After completing a larger chunk of the script, usually somewhere around 5,000-8,000 words, I give myself a 2-3 day break to recover my creativity, and then the whole thing starts again.

[Lady_Arthemis]

For those of you who are writers, how do you like to write your scripts?

I usually write the story first in paragraph form, and then I break the paragraphs down and I write a detailed script/conversation about the character's situation situation.

And also, how do you pace yourself?

I always carry a notebook with me (it's a notebook containing all the scripts of a specific story). whenever I feel the "itch" of the urge to write, I bring out that notebook and write.

[Glasskitten]

I wish I knew how to pace myself. x_x

I also vaguely envy those who know how to write in third person, now that it's been brought up. I seem to always be locked in someone's head, whether I'm writing non-fiction from my own point of view or portraying something from a character's perspective.* It never even occurs to me to detach as an observer, so I don't know if I would know how if I tried.
On the bright side, I'm equally comfortable writing in paragraphs, NVL lines, and ADV lines. (I do often omit the markup (e.g. "show bob breakdancing at left with irisout", indentation, engine-oriented punctuation, etc.) for the latter two until I know what I'm doing and am sure of the text I'm about to modify, however. I might not need to postpone all that if it's a fairly small/straightforward document, but other times it's a hassle.)


*That can admittedly be frustrating sometimes when it necessitates writing the opposite of what another character is thinking because the designated narrator doesn't know them well enough to read them correctly. "That John Doe is such a heartless jerk and he always will be!" "You idiot protagonist! He was trying to save his dying mother from flying space monkeys carrying flying space rabies but got bitten and is slowly turning into one of them against his will! Show some respect!"**

**Made-up example. In THIS case. ^_^;***

***Why did I just footnote my footnote? o_o;

[Kura]

Good questions! I've been wondering about this kind of stuff too for a while. I remember, on one of my first attempted VNs, I was really torn on whether to do first or third person and wanted to ask people how they choose, but I never actually did.

I pretty much always write (or think of writing) visual novels in the first person, which is odd because almost all of my regular prose is in the third person. Something about visual novels just feels very intimate and personal, and if I choose to make a story a visual novel rather than a regular old chunk of text, it's because I want the reader to really see through the protagonist's eyes and feel what they feel. I guess it has to do with the idea of making choices--the way I see it, if you're going to make a choice for a character, you're actively involving yourself in their story, and it feels wrong for the 'passive observer' reader implied by the third person to get involved like that.

I don't pace mysef at all! I just write whenever inspiration strikes. For my current main project (script about half done), I came up with the characters four years ago, the premise two years ago, wrote about 1000 words of the script a year and a half ago (the beginning and the crisis), didn't touch it for several months, then suddenly remembered it and now have been "commitedly" working on it for about 8 months. Which means that maybe one week I'll at least look at it and think about it every day, and write 1000 words over the whole week--then the next week I might not touch it or even think about it at all--and the week after that maybe I'll just work on it one day and write 100 words, or even just add a few lines of dialogue, or outline a new scene. For me, writing happens spontaneusly; I can't just sit down and make myself write.

I write really non-linearly, too. On my current WIP, the opening scene is done, all the endings are done, and one middle scene is done; a few other scenes are 30-80% done, and several more are simply a few disconnected lines so far. It's unusual for me to write a whole scene straight through in one sitting.

Also, I write straight into the .rpy file, in the proper Ren'py formatting. Writing a visual novel and writing normal prose feel really different to me, so I don't try writing it as regular paragraphs first. I do usually omit code for anything but text while I write, though--but if it's non-obvious and I think I'll forget, I just put in a comment like "#fade to black, wait 2 s, flash white, play sound".

I don't follow a "write then edit" plan either. Per every time that I open the game file and write, there are probably four times that I open the game file and just think about it, or made minor edits.

[lordcloudx]

I generally write my scripts in the point of view that would best suit the story. I do have a personal preference for third-person past tense, though, since I come from a traditional text-only story-writing background.

As for pacing, it depends on the length and the type of story that I am writing. For a short story, I generally just get everything done as quickly as possible within 1-3 days. For multi-chapter stories, I like to take my time and I don't really set deadlines for myself most of the time. I do try to get something done each day though. My daily progress usually ranges anywhere between 200 words to 5000 words depending on my mood.

[clannadman]

It all depends on the plot. A third person point of view offers an air of neutrality and allows far more for description of surroundings. However, for visual novels I tend to write in first person simply because I believe a player wishes for a game to be interactive and first person can allow them to empathize and place themselves within the story far more. First person also allows you to deceive the player simply because most games tend to follow a certain point of view that can lead the reader to believe in one thing, which can then be undone later.

[KomiTsuku]

I generally write my scripts in the point of view that would best suit the story. I do have a personal preference for third-person past tense, though, since I come from a traditional text-only story-writing background.

As for pacing, it depends on the length and the type of story that I am writing. For a short story, I generally just get everything done as quickly as possible within 1-3 days. For multi-chapter stories, I like to take my time and I don't really set deadlines for myself most of the time. I do try to get something done each day though. My daily progress usually ranges anywhere between 200 words to 5000 words depending on my mood.

See above. Almost exactly, word-for-word, what I was going to say.

[Junker-Kun]

Hmmm...
Usually, I just remember thing that comes into mind. Of course, sometimes I forget something but it can't be helped - I'm thinking about plot mostly when I'm in road to the university.
As to the first or third person point of view... Mostly it's third person. I kinda like to "be a character myself" - to place myself on character's place and try to feel what he feels. And if I think it's better to write some parts in first person view I do so.

[manga_otaku]

First person - never tried third xD Maybe I will one day...

Don't pace - just type whatever fits? But I go through it about fifty times before moving on xD I really should plan my ideas...