What are some tips you'd give to your past self?

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everyone has been a amateur writer before…

…so to help a fellow writer…give some advice you would give to your past self as an experienced writer

useful codes, commands, tips, tricks etc!

i’m an amateur myself & i would appreciate the help! :two_hearts:

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Please don’t use “@MC enters from left to screen center”

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I’d tell myself to stop being a perfectionist and caring too much on what other people think about my writing.

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I’m not that experienced right now, so I don’t even know…?
But probably that @transition fade in black 3 goes after the background, not before, so that the transition is smooth. I used to put it before and I just went nuts trying to fix it…

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why not ?

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Spot directing is really easy so there is no need to use these basic commands. It looks much better and shows you put time into your directing if you use spot directing.

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very true i agree i just wanted to know why not lol

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Yeah, my answer would be reason not to. I mean people have said it won’t help you in the long run. There was a whole thread on it, so people must dislike it for themselves and others. It looks way more realistic.

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I would say that I picked up coding pretty quickly but my problem is not planning. But it took me awhile to understand the & command so maybe it is something you should learn before going all in. Also don’t try anything you aren’t ready for.

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i was lucky enough to come across this AMAZING website that has all sorts of templates, command & codings tricks etc. i think everybody should check it out because when i found i literally thanked God!!! :joy:

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Yeah, I love her templates but youtube is a good place for visual learners like me. :hugs:

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im definitely a visual learner as well staring at directions to code will make my brain go durrrrrr :drooling_face::woman_facepalming:t4::joy::joy::joy:

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Yeah I’m a beginner, I’m still learning donacode. The & command is confusing.

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It definitely was when I was learning it for the first time since all the tutorials were written out and that just doesn’t work for me. But when I saw people asking for help and experienced directors responding I finally understood what it was meant for and how to use it.

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  1. Use the guidebox when previewing, but don’t change the zooms completely. If part of the body/head/hair is poking out of the box, OH WELL!!
  2. Don’t use the screen center, screen right, exit left, exit right, etc.
  3. Take time designing outfits and characters! Small details matter, too. Not a good idea to give a character with a tighter financial situation 5 different pairs of shoes.
  4. Aim for at least 1,000 lines of basic storytelling (which includes dialogues, animations, and not long lines of spot directing or character customization). If shorter episodes work better for you though, go for it.
  5. Try to add 3 choices per story (excluding outfit and customization choices) to encourage reader engagement.
  6. Having an Instagram account for Episode is super helpful. You can meet a lot of talented artists and authors on Instagram while also being able to promote your story.
  7. Finding your own backgrounds and overlays isn’t that hard. At worst, ask someone on Episode Forums or Instagram for help. Just don’t use Pinterest.
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OMG, I agree so with that @Solarnetic!!! :+1: And also no black screens with narration!! (Only when your MC is few days in coma I can understand black screen with Narrator… But aside from that black screens are a no go area for me… :mask: )

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this is very helpful !!! thanks for the tips :kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart:

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Don’t spend so long making characters and outfits since a lot of the time, they’ll look great without spending 30 minutes per one :tired_face: :joy:

Also, don’t spend ages making outfits & characters up front! Make them as u need them! I fell for this and I wasted a lot of time making characters/outfits for no actual reason :sweat_smile:

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Why not? I like making outfits lol. I need to spend ages on them… I’m kind of a perfectionist when it comes to outfits :joy:

Besides, outfits can tell a lot about a character’s personality, style, and class (I mean like upper-class middle-class those things.) I put lots of time into them but of course you don’t have to.

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Yeah, but around 30 minutes per outfit/character was a bit excessive whilst trying to code :joy: Add on to the fact that I was a perfectionist so it took me ages to code a little scene :tired_face:

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