This a great discussion of pantsing (panthering?), plotting, and everything in between :) I've waxed poetic enough about Twine that I worry about overselling it, and it is a method that works very well for *me*, particularly, not for everyone. But I do think that some sort of visualization helps really well with precisely the process you've described -- some notion of the general outline of your goals, your brainstorms, and some hint at unfilled spaces.
That last part is particularly important to me, as a writer and anxious person! One very specific example: in the game I'm writing now, I feel I've written an awesome intro, where the PC gets a glimpse at the Mystery. The Mystery, I've decided (back in Brainstorming phase), is going to lead the PC into a dungeon. But I have had trouble connecting the two. The transition did not occur naturally to me. With a visualization like Twine, I felt more comfortable creating (a virtual, but still very real) space for that missing transition, a placeholder link that fit nicely into the structure even if it (yet) had no content. When, much later, the transition occurred to me, I had the immense satisfaction of fitting it, puzzle-piece style, into the placeholder. The whole process was a big milestone for me: I felt for the first time like I could let go of the perfection of every beat of the story, in the linear process of writing it, and trust that a good enough beat would come later. I am not sure if there is explicit support for these kinds of leaps of faith in GTD, as you say, it's not a book on writing, but it does feel very much relevant to the topic of your post!
This a great discussion of pantsing (panthering?), plotting, and everything in between :) I've waxed poetic enough about Twine that I worry about overselling it, and it is a method that works very well for *me*, particularly, not for everyone. But I do think that some sort of visualization helps really well with precisely the process you've described -- some notion of the general outline of your goals, your brainstorms, and some hint at unfilled spaces.
That last part is particularly important to me, as a writer and anxious person! One very specific example: in the game I'm writing now, I feel I've written an awesome intro, where the PC gets a glimpse at the Mystery. The Mystery, I've decided (back in Brainstorming phase), is going to lead the PC into a dungeon. But I have had trouble connecting the two. The transition did not occur naturally to me. With a visualization like Twine, I felt more comfortable creating (a virtual, but still very real) space for that missing transition, a placeholder link that fit nicely into the structure even if it (yet) had no content. When, much later, the transition occurred to me, I had the immense satisfaction of fitting it, puzzle-piece style, into the placeholder. The whole process was a big milestone for me: I felt for the first time like I could let go of the perfection of every beat of the story, in the linear process of writing it, and trust that a good enough beat would come later. I am not sure if there is explicit support for these kinds of leaps of faith in GTD, as you say, it's not a book on writing, but it does feel very much relevant to the topic of your post!