The Pen (Keyboard) is Mightier Than The Sword

Help! Tips for my first story? Think of is this as if you’re giving your past self advice :slight_smile: What would your current writing self tell yourself newbie writing self??

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Study up on coding. There are tutorial playlists on Youtube, there are how-to code threads in the Directing Tips & Help section, dara’s website (dara-amarie.com) is great and definitely one to add to your bookmarks and there are playable/readable tutorials in the portal. Use all the resources you can until you feel you have a basic understanding of coding in Episode. Seriously, you will thank yourself later when you aren’t spending hours trying to figure out tools or waiting hours for help (not that it happens often here, but it can.)

Even if you are a 'by the seat of my keyboard" style writer, have a beginning, middle and ending outlined – not all the little details but the broad strokes of what needs to happen to move the story along. Could be helpful when you have writer’s block later. Seeing your basic thoughts of how the story moves through the major stuff, might give some inspiration. :slight_smile:

When you save backgrounds/overlays – Keep a Google Doc with the Artist name/Credit info and the PORTAL name you give the background --that way you won’t be “does anyone know who made this” later on. :slight_smile:

Also:

  • Don’t be hard on yourself - everyone, even the most advanced coder around, starts out at the beginning and knew nothing. It’s a learning process.

  • There are no stupid questions. If you need help, you need help and there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. The forum is full of helpful people

  • Take breaks during the writing process and find some inspiration in other aspects of life. Sometimes focusing so hard on what you want to accomplish, you burn yourself out before reaching the finish line - breaks and doing other stuff helps prevent that a little.

  • Have at LEAST 6 episodes coded, proof-read, beta-tested and ready to publish BEFORE you publish the first 3 episodes. That gives you a 3 episode buffer to promote your first 3 episodes, write/proofread and code new episodes without feeling rushed to throw out content.

  • Write for YOURSELF first, audience 2nd. Write the story you want to tell and worry about the rest of it later. You can’t please everyone, but you can please yourself with your own hard work and dedication to making a great story.

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I love/appreciate this post not only as a new writer but because I just jumped into coding and figured out I’m good at it, not everybody can do that so if anybody needs help I got a lot of free time at the moment so I’m usually available :heart: (still learning new things tho)
Also I’ve gotten little feedback on my advice post so if anybody got any ideas please check it out :fire:

Links

New Story Cover/Description | feedback/advice - Would you read this? ❤️

Writing a New Dark Fantasy story - What do you want to see More of?

Find inspiration by reading other books, watching TV movie/shows, (or my favorite) Listening to music.

Don’t be afraid to put a spin on something that you have seen before! Most art (for example music) is a remix of other peoples ideas anyway.
(just make sure you make it yours/different don’t want any stolen works.) :sweat_smile:

Start with a completely out of the box idea even if it seems impossible chances are you can make it happen.
(Make a feedback post about a description in the forums, ask if anyone else is also interested/ what could you add or improve.)

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Moved to Episode Fan Community since this doesn’t fit into any Creator’s corner categories. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about creating topics, and feel free to PM me if you’ve got questions. :grinning:

You mind>>>>>

I will for sure be posting more in the future, as I love the community here.

My favorite thing you said is the bullet regarding taking a break and experiencing life; I know exactly what you mean. And I wholeheartedly agree! I can see how that would inevitably help. Who knows the people you will encounter, the sunsets you will see, and the possibility of finding an idea in a dream is there too!

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Thanks Syd!!

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Exactly. It’s really important to avoid burning yourself out - if coding and writing start feeling like a slog and not enjoyable, take a day or two and refresh - do literally anything else but think about writing- lol! I keep pen/pad in my bag and a Notes app on my phone so when ideas pop up, even ones I don’t think work in my story at the moment, so that I can re-read them later if I get writer’s block. :slight_smile:

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