The Writing Process
Author: Gloomy Ghost Studio [1]
PREFACE
Other things may work better for other people, this is what works for me.
1. The Idea
There’s a file somewhere in our GG Google drive with the whole premise for SOP. When I read back on it now, I laugh at some of the stuff that is written there, because a lot has changed since then - apparently we used to call Tony “Anthony”, which he would hate, but we just didn’t know him well enough to know that. But that was it, that was the backbone for the whole story, the original pitch that gave birth to this whole thing. And that file only came to be thanks to many, many hours of brainstorming.
I had a whole day off and I dedicated it to thinking of nothing but the story and characters I wanted to create. As I was lying in bed, showering, cooking, walking, on the train, in the car, I would think about this and ask myself questions. Who are these people? What makes them interesting? What makes them likable or unlikeable? Why should I care for them? And then, by the time I reached the keyboard, I was shamelessly vomiting ideas onto it. This is the reason why sometimes I’ll struggle with writing - I’ll just “forget” that ideas come a lot more easily when you’re doing mindless tasks than when sitting in front of a blank page.
I’m lowkey proud about having written a lot of this thought process as it happened, no matter how lame it sounded, until I found something I liked. The most clear of example of this would be how I came up with the title:
2. The Notes
Memory is a very futile thing. And therefore, my most used app on my phone may just be “Notes”. I do my best to always, always write down things that I notice, hear, or come up with that click with me. And I try to be as clear as possible, so I don’t end up with more of these notes:
To be fair, I was half asleep when I wrote that, but I still have no idea what that was about. If you do, please hit me up.
Now, for actually useful notes, most of them are very random quotes, lines of dialogues or facts. One note from last week says “Apparently passion fruit makes you sleepy”, something a friend brought up in conversation and that made me bring my phone out. And then there’s entire paragraphs that came to me out of nowhere and had to be recorded somewhere. Even if I don’t end up using all of these notes, I feel like they keep that ‘noticing’ part of my brain on. The same way I’m more likely to take more pictures if I have my camera in my hands instead of in my backpack, I’m more likely to come up with things I want to write if I’m more aware of what catches my attention.
3. The Mood
It’s all fun and games until we get to this part. My mood, and especially how confident and how open and “myself” I feel when I’m about to write will dictate how the process goes. When my confidence is low, everything feels like a struggle and it takes hours to come up with something that I may not even like in the end. But fear not, I have curated a medkit for these situations that consists of:
Actual humans: I’m very fortunate to have people in my life I can turn to with the very specific feelings that make me doubt myself - and especially for this project that includes Grogu, who never fails to reassure me and remind me we are creators and that alone makes us awesome. Then, the next day, he will be the one to second-guess it all, and I’ll have to put on the armor for him. At least we take turns.
Character sheets: Writing down about my characters’ life story, their path, their fears, their quirks and more, helps me get easily back into that fictional world. The specific facts I’ve written in these sheets about them come from going through several online resources about character creation, plus random ideas that pop in my mind. This is either something I will turn to for inspiration and reminders, or to sit back, add notes to and feel like I’m writing even if it’s not the actual script.
Therapy: I’m not even joking. Finding a therapist that worked for me and that helped me develop tools to trust my inner voice changed my life.
More mindless tasks: Sometimes it just takes some more brainstorming. Going for a walk, taking a long shower, or cooking while exploring a specific idea in mind helps a lot.
4. The Actual Writing
Finally! Remember that initial brainstorming file I talked about? So that one has a general outline of the story. Then the character sheets I mentioned have character-specific outlines. And then when writing time comes, I sit down and I write… Something I never took notes of in any of those outlines. Yeah, writing can be a bit unpredictable, but that’s my favorite part about it. I do my best to follow the outlines, but some conversations end up taking up a lot more lines than I initially thought, because these characters just end up taking over. Honestly, that’s the best thing that can happen. When things just flow, it’s more like I end up taking rushed notes while eavesdropping without knowing what the other person will say next, only to go “She did not just say that!” at a revelation while choking on my popcorn.
I believe the most important thing is to go with that flow and see where that takes me. This means most times I won’t write scenes in order - as for Chapter 2, I have currently written the first scene, part of the third, and then part of the middle and ending of Amy’s path scenes. I also have a lot of dialogue lines written for both paths in each character's “Future chapter notes” files. There’s… a lot of files. I’m not the most organized person, but it works. Most times it’s a matter of taking some lines from that “future” file into the actual scene file and then expanding on it.
Another thing that helps me work with the flow is using asterisks. Whenever I don’t feel confident about a line, can’t think of how to finish it, or can’t remember the word I want to use, I’ll leave an asterisk and move on. I can always go back to it while editing and search for the asterisk specifically, but sticking to the flow is a high priority here, since once I lose it, it’s hard to get back on track.
When it comes to the characters, Grogu has asked me before whether I have specific people in mind when I write them and the answer is… yes and no? I do like taking certain things from people. For instance, I have a friend whose immediate response every time someone says “sorry” is to say “don’t be!”, and I think that’s endearing, so I wrote that into Tony. Each character is a collection of little mannerisms and quirks and traits that I have seen in others or possess myself, but none of them is one whole person being recreated, and I think that’s what makes them feel more real. At the end of the day, that’s kind of what we all are, a patchwork of pieces of others who have made a mark on us brings out phone to take a note on that for a future chapter.
5. The Editing
This may be one of my favorite parts of the process. Once I have “finished” a scene - there may be some missing lines or details, but there’s a beginning, middle and end - I leave it untouched for as long as it needs to so I can go back to it with fresh eyes. I write absolutely everything on Google Docs, since that way I can access it from my laptop, PC or phone and like to use specific tools from it to make it easier on both Grogu and I. For instance, this is when I’ll use the “comment” feature to add notes on how characters react, move or behave in a scene, especially when it’s not clear in the script (more on this on the next log). This is also when I search for any “*” in the text to be replaced. And this is also when I rewrite entire passages. Sometimes I may have an idea that sounds great when I first write it but not so great when I read back on it once the hype has died down. I don’t usually delete them at once, but leave them in a “discarded lines” file to await a sentence as I revisit them in the future. The main reason this part is so cool is that I get to read everything almost as if I hadn’t even written it myself, and gain a whole new appreciation for the story and confidence in my skills.
6. The Re-Editing
You thought we were done? HA! Since SOP is a visual novel, there’s an extra step here that takes place once I see the images together with the text and find that some things just don’t work. It’s usually more about deleting or adding a line or too, rewording something and so on. Come to think of it, this may be my favorite part, since there’s nothing like seeing the striking images Grogu puts together to recreate whole scenes that only existed in my mind before.