Projectstuck: How to pace yourself?

[thornofthelily]

I've been working on a single story for about the past six years, with some huge breaks in between as college and work and life got in the way. Beginning as a simple linear story, it has slowly grown, with every character having a complicated backstory (not appearing in the main plotline), private interactions off the main action that effect their behavior, and various potential endings and "expanded universe" characters, as my friends have entrenched themselves into the universe and suggested more great additions- additions I don't have room to address in the main story. It grew from a "static" story into an ambitious idea for a romantic-themed VN, with multiple romance options. I've converted the main text into game form, but I'm just one person, a beginner at that, without significant art or coding skills.

This universe is really dear to me, and I feel guilty when I put it aside for anything length of time. I especially feel bad when I try to put it aside to work on smaller, less ambitious projects to develop my skills. I know I'm not experienced enough to get my game the way I want it
(and no project ends with all plans intact). I have a hard time even plotting out new worlds, because I've entrenched myself so deeply in this one.

Anyone else fallen too hard in love with a project and had a hard time moving on? Any suggestions for easing the guilt of shelving or cutting down overly ambitious plans?

[D.ray]

I know the feeling. When I first started writing I had a similar experience. I had a story I spent a year on and I had great plans for it. I devoted all my free time to it, but I was not making progress at the rate I wanted. Eventually I ended up ditching it due to a horrible hard drive crash where I lost the story. I tried to rewrite it, but it just wasn't the same and I abandoned it. I'm actually grateful for that crash because it made me move on and write other various works which ended up greatly improving my writing. I don't know if I would have made that progress if I had stuck with that one work.

It's good to have grand aspirations and high standards, but you have to be honest with yourself and make sure they are within the realm of possibilities for you to achieve. If not, you're better off honing your skills until you can achieve those results, or bringing on outside assistance to help you out.

Another good thing to have is deadlines. Have a reasonable deadline for your project and than break down all the things that need to be done in order to complete your project, then appoint deadlines for those tasks as well. You can keep breaking down things to what is reasonable and manageable for what you can do. This makes getting things done easier and progress possible. I'm paraphrasing here, but, "a dream without a deadline will always remain a dream."

My other 2 tips would to be to stay focused and consistent on getting your tasks done. Don't procrastinate. The more time you let go by, the less motivation you will have to do it and the less likely you will accomplish it. I know this isn't the case for everyone, but it's best to avoid this slippery slope. And lastly, stay organized and make detailed notes. It's not just common sense, but can aid greatly if you are forced to stop writing for a lengthy period of time. This way when you come back to it, you can pick up from where you left off without confusing yourself or wasting time.

What you do with your story is completely up to you. If I were in your place I would take a look what I have written and and see if it's up to par with what I had in mind. If it's in the ballpark, and I know can finish it within a reasonable time, I'd continue with it. If it's not, I'd either consider outside help to assist with the quality or quantity needed, or simply put it on the backburner. I don't think I'd completely abandoned it, (unless it's really bad T.T), but I'd come back to it and rework it at some other time. In the meantime, I'd take on other works.

In my opinion, it's also a good idea to stay true to your central story and cut out any superfluous ideas, characters or paths that take away from the main story or character(s). It's good to have side characters, backstories, and subplots, but not to the point where it's such a large quantity that it burns you out from all the work you have to do. The only 2 possible ways to actually pull that off is if you write crazy fast, or have a team of writers. If it's just you, your focus should be on the main story and a reasonable amount of characters. If anything, you could always go back and write in some more interesting details, extras, or what have you, once the main story and paths are done.

[RotGtIE]

It's often said that too much ambition is what kills big projects before they get off the ground. I disagree. It's simply a matter of too little work getting done.

Your problem appears to be a lack of focus and follow-through. If you finish your current task before developing a new one, you will complete your projects.

There's no easy way to do that. You just have to start working and not stop until you're done. It's a simple prescription, but simple doesn't mean easy.

[Taleweaver]

There's really only one piece of advice I have for you:

If you want to get a project done, write at least a little every day. It doesn't matter whether it's just a single page or a single paragraph, but keep on working on it.

Essentially, don't feel guilty when putting your project aside. Just don't put it aside. Continue working on it bit by but, even if you don't feel like it. There will be days when all you manage to do is one half-way decent paragraph or two. Then there will be days when all of a sudden, the project grows by 10,000 words without you even having to put any effort into it. The important thing is to be THERE when these days come. If you always continue to work on your project, then you won't miss out on the days where everything just clicks together wonderfully.

Whether you'll have a good day or a bad day never entirely depends on you. Life can throw a wrench into your cogs. Your friends and families can be terribly distracting. You may get unexpectedly sick. But as long as you're physically able to, you should sit down to write every day. It really makes a world of difference.

[PyTom]

Essentially, don't feel guilty when putting your project aside. Just don't put it aside. Continue working on it bit by but, even if you don't feel like it. There will be days when all you manage to do is one half-way decent paragraph or two. Then there will be days when all of a sudden, the project grows by 10,000 words without you even having to put any effort into it. The important thing is to be THERE when these days come. If you always continue to work on your project, then you won't miss out on the days where everything just clicks together wonderfully.

I'm a big fan of this advice. The best way of sticking to this is something I heard (not as a comedy bit) from comedian Jerry Seinfeld. And that's that the best way to do this is to get a calendar, and each day you do your habit, you write an X on the calendar. It's best if it's a physical calendar (not an app), and you use a magic marker to make the mark. It makes things physical.

After a week or so, you'll have a streak going. And you'll be rightfully proud of it, and you'll learn to push yourself to not break it.

Another key is to make the amount of work required minimal - write one usable word, one usable line of code. Draw something usable for a minute. This works because the hard part is often setting up to work. Launching your editors, and getting yourself caught up and in the mindset to create. Once you have the first usable word written, the second and third probably come easier.

Ps. I now have 748 consecutive days of Ren'Py development. Rather than giving it up, I managed to find little things to do during 2 anime cons and a 2250 mile road trip.

[thornofthelily]

Thank you for all the advice everyone! I used to write crazy fast, working almost every day on some writing project or another, but then I just... feel out of habit of it, and it's been really hard getting back into it. I know it's just a saying, but the idea of 21 days to form a habit... that's just what I need to do. I've just been thinking about this a lot as NaNoWriMo approaches.

I used to just write the storyline as it came to me, with a beginning and an end, but no middle planned out. I'd inevitably stall somewhere in the middle of a project, get bored, and move on. In this case, I think I am getting overly focused on details. At work (where I'm also writing all day!) I work best under strict deadlines, but I never give those to myself in my "fun" writing.

I appreciate the feedback, and I'll see if I can develop some kind of plan for a NaNoWriMo project to get my writing habit back in gear.

(Also I've seen people talk about NaNoRenO... when/how does that usually take place?)

[Taleweaver]

(Also I've seen people talk about NaNoRenO... when/how does that usually take place?)

Every March. March 1st to March 31st, create a VN. You may plan as much as you want to in advance, but do not start producing any actual assets before March 1st.

Informal rule 2: When you finish your VN before March 31st, spend the time until the end of the month to improve your game. Make additional CGs. Write bonus scenes. Write "Developer's Notes" sections. Do what you can to use the time you have left.

[Katy133]

I've been using Habitica (a free productivity app/website) since last year, and it's helped me keep track of my daily work for personal projects. It's satisfying to visually see your progress on something.

[pinto minto]

I'm in a bit of a similar situation as OP, and this thread has really helped me! Thank you.

[Mammon]

Personally I'm always wary of large projects. When someone says they're going to make it incredibly interactive or with several endings/vastly different routes I usually advice them to rationalise their script, add bottleneck scenes for ease and make sure they can keep track of it. ESPECIALLY if it's their first project. I myself have three-four large projects that can theoretically expand infinitively, and I do hope to make at least one of them one day. However, I know how easily that can become an impossible task. (Although I do realllllly hope to make Herald (name pending) one day, screw the issue of an 30+ cast with personalised routes for each and all combinations between these routes possible.)

Doesn't mean you can't make it. If you've been working on this for 6 years, with breaks or not, you've got the enthusiasm to stick to it rather than just giving up after the first hiatus. Maybe it will be of help, here are a few of the most common and simple problems and tips I've seen around LSF and encountered myself:

-Losing track of the story and coming up with too many additions. Write an outline. Write all your ideas in a separate document, as expansive as you want without actually writing the scene itself. You can find your stories back, it's easier to scroll between ideas, easier to edit, easier to set them chronologically or change the story to fit a new idea. And you'll have ideas that you think are awesome and start writing that same day, put them in that outline and let them stew there for a while. If you're still as enthusiastic about them after a few days add them, if not you avoided spending time on a plan that wasn't as good in hindsight.

-The story isn't advancing enough/at all, and will never finish Never begin rewriting before you finish the story. If you keep going back to the first scenes to rewrite them, you'll never get to the end. Only rewrite them once you finish the story. And start with the main route, doing additions after you finish it.

-It's not good enough, or even rather crappy. A first draft always is, only start finetuning and making sure the story is awesome around the 3th draft. Tell this to yourself while striving to write at your best in the first draft, and don't reflect on your work until you've written the ending.

[Larry Jones]

There's really only one piece of advice I have for you:

If you want to get a project done, write at least a little every day. It doesn't matter whether it's just a single page or a single paragraph, but keep on working on it.

Essentially, don't feel guilty when putting your project aside. Just don't put it aside. Continue working on it bit by but, even if you don't feel like it. There will be days when all you manage to do is one half-way decent paragraph or two. Then there will be days when all of a sudden, the project grows by 10,000 words without you even having to put any effort into it. The important thing is to be THERE when these days come. If you always continue to work on your project, then you won't miss out on the days where everything just clicks together wonderfully.

Whether you'll have a good day or a bad day never entirely depends on you. Life can throw a wrench into your cogs. Your friends and families can be terribly distracting. You may get unexpectedly sick. But as long as you're physically able to, you should sit down to write every day. It really makes a world of difference.

Wonderful post!