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!
One thing I like about the new GTD edition is its emphasis on method rather than toolset. For example, lots of people like mind-mapping software for project planning (Twine or Omnigraffle or whatever); I find those tools hard-edged and annoying. For me there's no substitute for pen and paper, or notecards-and-corkboard. A physical object has the right ephemerality--you can rip it up and start over, or tape together different pieces, and if things are getting too complicated you SEE it. There's none of that cruft that accumulates in digital tools--"Oh, but if I replace this I have to change all the dependencies" or whatever. A piece of paper can hold a diagram, a list, a spider map... anything, or everything at once! But the right tool is whatever one helps you navigate.
Whatever you use, I do think it's important to leave room for what you don't yet understand about the project--here that's captured in the review process, where you act, then turn back to the planning materials and ask yourself what needs to happen next. Sooner or later, you answer those big questions--or you realize you should have been asking other ones this whole time. Maybe this adventure doesn't need a dungeon at all!
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!
One thing I like about the new GTD edition is its emphasis on method rather than toolset. For example, lots of people like mind-mapping software for project planning (Twine or Omnigraffle or whatever); I find those tools hard-edged and annoying. For me there's no substitute for pen and paper, or notecards-and-corkboard. A physical object has the right ephemerality--you can rip it up and start over, or tape together different pieces, and if things are getting too complicated you SEE it. There's none of that cruft that accumulates in digital tools--"Oh, but if I replace this I have to change all the dependencies" or whatever. A piece of paper can hold a diagram, a list, a spider map... anything, or everything at once! But the right tool is whatever one helps you navigate.
Whatever you use, I do think it's important to leave room for what you don't yet understand about the project--here that's captured in the review process, where you act, then turn back to the planning materials and ask yourself what needs to happen next. Sooner or later, you answer those big questions--or you realize you should have been asking other ones this whole time. Maybe this adventure doesn't need a dungeon at all!
Yes! Exactly, very well said!