Yes! I was a little lost in the analogy at first, but once I got there, it reaaally worked for me. Especially with my current project, which, it sounds like, is not all that different from most projects. I've been chasing a vision in the game I'm writing, and went through probably over 50k words only to find myself lost.
I despaired a little -- where were all the cool ideas? Why am I getting bogged down in mechanics and characters?
I told myself to trust the process. I put the project down for a little while (conveniently, I had to move, and had no time to write). And when I came back, I found my vision again -- found what was missing. What's even better, I found that all the distractions and rabbit holes I had blamed myself for going down were useful. I had a much better sense of the world after writing them, and I found I could take shortcuts that I didn't know were there three or four months ago. I'm seeing the game take shape, and break out of the crutches I was using when I started this project. It turns out the gazelle was always there, after all :)
Thank you, I really really love posts like these, and I hope to see more!
:) I'm glad it got there for you! I don't think any work is lost, not really. Even (especially?) the parts of the project that don't end up in a final draft, that disappear into the mulch of the mind if that's not too strange of an image.
Yes! I was a little lost in the analogy at first, but once I got there, it reaaally worked for me. Especially with my current project, which, it sounds like, is not all that different from most projects. I've been chasing a vision in the game I'm writing, and went through probably over 50k words only to find myself lost.
I despaired a little -- where were all the cool ideas? Why am I getting bogged down in mechanics and characters?
I told myself to trust the process. I put the project down for a little while (conveniently, I had to move, and had no time to write). And when I came back, I found my vision again -- found what was missing. What's even better, I found that all the distractions and rabbit holes I had blamed myself for going down were useful. I had a much better sense of the world after writing them, and I found I could take shortcuts that I didn't know were there three or four months ago. I'm seeing the game take shape, and break out of the crutches I was using when I started this project. It turns out the gazelle was always there, after all :)
Thank you, I really really love posts like these, and I hope to see more!
:) I'm glad it got there for you! I don't think any work is lost, not really. Even (especially?) the parts of the project that don't end up in a final draft, that disappear into the mulch of the mind if that's not too strange of an image.