Activity for noClue‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	Good ways to sort "rambly" notes? I know there is a name for this kind of "writing", but I just can't think of it at the moment. Basically, most of my notes are endlessly long ramblings that can go from one place to another in a heartbeat, have almost zero punctuation and make use of a bunch of made up rules, which would make no sens... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Question	—	Autocapitalize after colon for dialog? I write my dialog in this format: Joe: Why are you wearing a shoe on your head? Sam: Mind your own damn business! What's annoying here is that it doesn't automatically capitalize the word following the colon. Is there a way to automatically capitalize the first word after a colon like it's ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	Autocapitalize/correct two connected words? Let's say I have a character in my story simply called "Slime Monster". With every instance of these two words, I want both words to be capitalized and to be corrected as a pair, so if I mistype it to something like "Silme Mosnter" it will recognize the correct spelling as "Slime Monster". Is there ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	Show applied preset where the cursor is? In Word, if the cursor is in a part of the text that has some style applied to it, such as Title, the format will be highlighted in the ribbon to let you know: Scrivener, however, is lazy, and doesn't seem to show the currently appl... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Chekhov's gun, but it's just "useless" background info We all know how Chekhov's gun works: in short, it's the "rule" that whatever is explicitly shown to the audience should be important later, otherwise you should get rid of it. Don't show us a gun if it doesn't get fired at some point. I don't know if there is a specific name for what I have, but it'... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How to incorporate a silent protagonist into a chatty world? You see this a lot in video games: a silent protagonist who can somehow communicate with the rest of the world with seemingly no or few words. Usually, it's hand-waved away by simply assuming from the player that they know the protagonist and the other person understand each other somehow, even if on... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Formatting for a visual medium: Screenplay or transcripts? I have a specific way of writing when it comes to describing things in a visual medium, like video games, movies, or shows. I'm not a prose writer; I always wanted to write for visual media, not novels or short stories. I've been working on a hypothetical animated show. I doubt I would ever actually ... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How far does using the same words from copy righted works go? In my story, I have this world that is referred to as the chaos realm. A quick Google search gives me results for World of Warcraft (although only in the form of a mod apparently), War Hammer and Mortal Kombat. I like the name though, and it fits with the world I created. Could I still call my world... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Is it ok to temporarily break immersion in a tutorial for a game? At the start of a game, you sometimes have some character explaining things to you, the player, instead of the character, telling them to press A to do this and that. Paper Mario I think even makes a joke by saying that what they are about to say is for a higher being who might be watching, aka the p... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How to create a memorable line? I recently re-watched the Overwatch animated short "Honor and Glory". You can tell the writers were proud of the line "Live with Honor, Die with Glory", as the characters say it a fair few times for such a short video. I think it's a good line, even if they beat you over the head with it a bit too o... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How much should you "guide" your audience with questions? When you have your audience go through your work, whether it's written fiction, a movie, a video game or whatever, you want them to ask themselves certain questions, which you want to answer as they progress through your fiction. Obviously you shouldn't always spell out the questions they need to ask... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How to create a likable and sympathetic character, even if they are a pervert? I want to add a perverted character to my story (don't ask why), a bit like Master Roshi from Dragon Ball or Minoru Mineta from My Hero Academia. However, I want to make them more sympathetic and give an actual reason as to why they are such perverts, not to justify their behavior, but to show them i... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How to combat "uneven writing density"? I'm not sure if I would "officially" classify as a discovery writer, but I usually write very freely. I get a bunch of ideas, write them down and try to put them together to create a compelling story. I usually write characters first and create a story around them, or I start with an idea and write a... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How do you make a scene "tasteful"? Let's say you have a scene that contains nudity. There are many ways to do it wrong and have it just be a pervy scene, but there are also ways to make it "tasteful" in a way where it's slightly less awkward to accidentally watch it with your parents. Now I don't really know how to define the word tas... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How do you create a huge array of characters? Suppose you are part of a development team working on a fighting game, and you're given the role of creating about 30 or 40 unique characters from many different backgrounds from the ground up. It's more story heavy than most fighting games, and it takes place over a large universe spanning many plan... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	I have no artistic skill, but I want to write for animated shows/movies See title. I love writing stories, but I usually imagine how they are like in show/movie form, specifically 3d animated ones. I don't feel like I have the skill to write a good book, but I do think I could write well for a visual medium, however, I absolutely have no artistic talent whatsoever to pro... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Should I avoid sex scenes / nudity in my horror game (or in general)? As the title might suggest, I'm working on a horror video game, which happens to have a few sex scenes and a bit of nudity here and there - at least, that's what I planned to do. Just FYI: I don't actually plan on selling it anywhere, I plan on making it freely available and self-published. I don't c... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Repetition of information in my multi-path / multi-play-through game - how to deal with it? I'm working on a story-heavy game with lots of different paths the player can choose from. Many times, players might also have to replay parts of the game in certain ways to see the true ending. As a result, players will inevitably get told the same information multiple times. What should I do in th... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	I kinda want to completely annihilate the hero - what would speak against it? The hero in my story succeeds in destroying the villain, but not without paying a hefty prize. Not only will he die, he will stop existing and can't be brought back, at all. It's like he never existed to begin with. Nobody will remember him. Ghosts exist in this world, but the afterlife is kept vagu... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	"Stealing" jokes In one of my stories, I have a character who is a bit of a smart ass, always cracking jokes at the expense of others and sometimes even himself. I often get inspired by things I find on the internet and incorporate them into the story, either by modifying them, building on them or changing their core... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Anticlimactic ending as a surprise after climax? Note: my story is for a video game, but that should hopefully be irrelevant to the question itself. Our heroes spent a long time fighting their way to the evil demon king. The hopes of all the people in the land rest on their shoulders. If they fail, the entire universe will be destroyed! So after a... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How to describe something visual in preparation of said visual? I'm working on a video game with visual novel style "cutscenes" inbetween, where you see characters talking, usually from the torso up. Most of the things you'd normally describe in text-only media can be shown by the expressions and actions of the characters onscreen, like their facial expressions. ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How can you make an unrealistic setup as realistic as possible? Seems like a broad question, but hear me out. A while ago, I asked how you could verify information, which was mostly reserved about things that actually exist and/or happen in the real world. This question is reserved for things that absolutely don't exist or happen in the real world at all, and I w... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Gameplay clashing with story? In my game, you have a companion with you, who offers you assistance in combat. During gameplay, the companion basically acts like an activated ability, where he becomes a human shield and absorbs incoming fire for you. After receiving enough damage, the ability goes on cooldown for a few seconds. T... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	When does something become "torture porn"? I've heard this term thrown around sometimes in a derisive way (obviously), and usually not just to refer to Saw movies. I don't remember who it was, but I remember someone saying how the movie "Logan" is "dark and depressing, but never truly descends into torture porn", and it made me think about my... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How much can I trust my players to remember previous states of the story and not get confused? In my game, the player may run into deadends in the story, which causes the game to end prematurely. This can range from the player simply getting killed, another important character in the story getting killed or an important event happening or not happening. Sometimes, you might be in chapter 5 and... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How do you verify information? This is a problem I usually come across with my stories. I often worry about whether the plotlines I introduce are realistic or not, and it's usually something that can't be solved with a simple Google search. Example: One of the characters in my story, a young boy, is locked up in a cell and is on... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Slow buildup vs sudden introduction Let's say you're writing super hero fiction. The hero of your story is struggling against the villain, but suddenly awakens a power that allows him to best the bad guy! Problem: you're unsure of how you should introduce that sudden power up. You have two options. Build up to it The hero finds out ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	No time to deal with emotional trauma In my story, one of the main characters finds out that a loved one (parent, lover, friend, doesn't matter) died. Worse still: they find out about it when they find the severed head of that person. Obviously that would mess up that character pretty badly (to put it mildly), and it would take a looooo... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Dead parents: something to avoid? A lot of people die in my story, some of them are parents. One of the main characters for example lost his father (and one brother) in a car crash when he was young, which he was a part of. He became partially deaf as a result. This happened before the start of the story. Then he loses his mother in ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Is it a bad idea to mix psychological horror with action? foreword: I'm writing for a game, however it's (mostly) irrelevant to my question. Just FYI. I have three main characters in my story. One is a weak but smart child and the other two are trained martial artists. The story switches between the perspectives of the child and the two martial artists, wh... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How do you do "beta reading" for a game before the game is ready? Say I want to work on a game and, since I'm not very good at creating games yet, I want to work on the story first and foremost. Before I even want to commit to creating the game, I want to do get "beta readers" to read/"play" the story of the game first, without any of the actual gameplay. The gamep... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Introduce a character and forget about them until the last chapter? In my story, the main character gets help from / saved by two complete strangers. They don't tell the mc who they are or what they are doing, they just helped the mc out of kindness and disappear just as fast as they appeared. Later, at the very end of the story in the final chapter, I have these tw... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How do you drop a reader in the middle of nowhere at the beginning of a story? My story begins with a little girl waking up in a creepy and probably very haunted house in the middle of nowhere. She has no memories of how she got there, what happened or what the place even is, but she does remember who she is. The main goal of the character is to escape from this house and find ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Are there tools/software for planning your story using nested mindmaps and references to characters? I've been looking for a certain piece of software for a long time, but I never quite found something that matches what I need. I'm a very visually oriented guy, the best way for me to keep track of something is to see it in front of me like a mindmap. A big must for me is the ability to nest mindmaps... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Stories with multiple possible interpretations: do you plan for it? There are many stories out there that are open-ended, up for different interpretations. Many theories spawn around such stories, most of which sound possible/plausible, but are nevertheless only theories. I want to create a story like that myself, but I'm not sure on how I should plan such a story. ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Search and replace words across whole project? I'm still new to articy:draft and I want to know if it's possible to search and replace words across the whole project. I know searching is possible, but I can't find the replace function, if it's even there. Ctrl+H doesn't do anything. Of course it would be more convenient if there was a function s... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Prepare for more after the "ending"? In my story, there's this big bad, who needs to be destroyed. That is the main goal for about the last third of the video game. So the group of heroes manages to destroy him! ... but I don't want to end the story there. For as it turns out, that last third is actually the second to last quarter of th... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Is it a bad idea to have multiple bad endings and only one good ending? Background: I'm working on a game that has multiple paths for players to choose from. The choices the players make can lead them to very different endings. There are many bad endings but only one true canon ending. Only one good ending, basically. Could this be a bad idea for the story of a game? I ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Is it annoying if you write a character getting in trouble often, even if it's not their fault? I have this girl in my story, who is around 12 years old, who is the main character of the story, or one of the main characters. She is captured by the bad guys very often, and I fear this might get annoying to the reader/viewer/player. The problem is, I kinda need her to be captured this often for ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	How to keep track of character development in a character profile? I have a character profile for every major character in my story. However, I'm having trouble organizing this profile: I don't know how to handle changes to my character as he goes through the story or how to write it down in the character profile in a way where I don't do double work. Example: I ha... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Is there a name for layers of subtext? For each line of dialog, I have three pieces of text: the dialog itself, and two things I call Subtext1 and Subtext2 for now. Dialog : Self-explanatory, the only thing actually "visible" to the reader Subtext1 : Shows what I want the reader to think or what I expect them to think Subtext2 : Show... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	How can I test if an idea I have for a plot twist is satisfying for (most) people? So I have this idea for a plot twist and I really like it. I think I drop enough hints here and there to indirectly say to the audience: "Hey, I know what you might be thinking of, but maybe consider this possibility. Just saying, it might happen, you know..." However, I'm not sure if other people w... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	How do you describe your characters? I have this weird problem: I know my characters, I know what they're like, and I know how they would act in any given situation and in the plot I use them in, but I don't know how to describe their character traits. I have a history for each character, but I can't really put into words how they are l... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	How to casually reveal the relationship of two recently introduced characters? I have two characters near the beginning of my story, who are brother and sister. I want the reader to know right away, as the two are talking (they are alone), that they are brother and sister, but I'm not sure how to do this naturally without it coming across as forced. How would two siblings addr... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	Scrivener: Play gifs? So I have a bunch of gifs saved in my Research folder, but unfortunately, when I click on them, they don't play - I have to open them in an external editor to view them. Is there a way to make them play directly inside of Scrivener? (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	What format/platform/structure is good for writing for a video game? I know this may not be the best place to ask this, since it's for a game, but the game is very story driven, so I thought it would be reasonable to ask this on the writers stack exchange. The story is far from complete - I don't usually write stories for my games, so I'm unsure of how to start. I al... (more)	—	over 7 years ago