Hey guys i was trying to write more for my world tonight and realized i have no real method that i go about it with and i have no basic format and my notes are scattered messes.
so i was wondering what ways you guys do those three said things.
and any advice on organizing the notes would be great.
Hey, you stole my method.^^
honestly, the only advice i can give is: go with the flow, when you have enough notes, write a rough draft online, then elaborate, refining the result step by step.
if i set myself a schedule, i never get anything done, because you can't decide to be creative. well, i can't.
i'll be keeping an eye on this, tho. maybe there's a method out there that works for me, too.^^
My detailed notes go into an access database. I have history, items, weapons, armors, planars, all on a database.
*Is Jealous of Vreeg's use of technology*
I tend to just write basic outline in word with basic headers such as "General Geography," "General History," "General Races." I then refine what I have and expand upon it, going into ever smaller subsections, such as: "The History of Kingdom X," The Geography of Kingdom Y," "Notable NPCs of Republic L," etc. After that, I take all the info and rewrite/copy/paste it all into a new word document that looks much cleaner and nicer.
Of course, I always wind up having an entire folder chalk full of pictures, maps, background flavor, stat-ed out NPCs, New Equipment, New Classes, New Races, etc.
I too have a tough time with organization. I've created basic formats using the Eberron Campaign Setting and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book formats, but they haven't spurred me to inspirational heights.
A good format will ask questions of a writer, which really helps formulate ideas.
I had those 10 million notes.
Gamer Printshop will attest to seeing scans of 20 year old, coffee-stained maps. It had gotten too big.
It's a bit of a process, now. When I update a spell (Celtrician Spells (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Spell+List)), I need to update it on the access database, then on the pb wiki, and probably on the CBG wiki afterwards. But I won't lose any of it ever again.
One could use something like FreeMind, or other mind-mapping software. It wouldn't be as good as a proper database or document repository for things like spells, monsters, maps, etc. But it can be a great tool for free-associating and non-linear authoring.
For putting stuff into the computer, I use lots of notepad windows. :D
I am not recommending this method, mind you :P
There are probably as many ways to get something done as there are people doing them. Here is one of the ways that I have found works relatively well.
Using folders for general concepts, then as the creative bug hits write what it is that has to be said, then place it into an appointed folder. When you have a few minutes in your hectic day (that is if your day is anything like mine) then all you do is open a folder and attempt to define the idea that you started with. This works for me to an extent, then as your ideas start to unfold all you do is combine the folders to create the story.
Quote from: Towel_NinjaHey guys i was trying to write more for my world tonight and realized i have no real method that i go about it with and i have no basic format and my notes are scattered messes.
Hey, we do the same thing!
I keep a lot of notebooks filled with sketches and cryptic ideas, and a lot of directories full of old versions of long-decided-against digital versions of the Jade Stage. I have about five or six years of accumulated detritus at the moment, and sifting through the older things (the things I forgot I wrote) can be like an archaeological dig-- arduous, bewildering, and occasionally yielding some gleaming treasure that just needs a little polish.
Ishy has seen my notebook; it's a big, black, four-subject pocket-sized thing, with sturdy plastic covers. (I really wish I could find a few dozen more like it; I'd buy them up in a heartbeat.) Some of the stuff written in it has long since been transcribed into my digital copies of this material, but some of the pages are just full of half-formed ideas that I may or may not pick up later. The most important thing about my writing process, really, is that it's slow and multilayered; I keep making multiple passes over old material, adding new things and improving them, scouring through the notes for great ideas I never got around to using yet, and rewriting and vetoing things mercilessly.
One thing that I did a whole lot of when I got started writing and hardly ever do anymore is to study existing campaign worlds for their layout, and for the things they include. I did a lot of reading on Kingdoms of Kalamar, which gave me a lot of great ideas about, for example, what sort of details are needed to convincingly describe a city, or a religion. Eberron gave me some great things to go with when it was released, also; love the setting or hate it, the core Eberron book is incredibly well-put-together, and does an exemplary job of expressing a complex world and its characteristic tone in easily-surmountable ways.
Honestly, I think that the process of transferring information to various websites over the years has done wonders for my ability to organize it. The best thing about using the wiki is that it helps me get organized, and lets me know in no uncertain terms what gaps I still need to get filled.
My technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.
Quote from: Luminous Crayonlove the setting or hate it, the core Eberron book is incredibly well-put-together, and does an exemplary job of expressing a complex world and its characteristic tone in easily-surmountable ways.
I definitely agree with this statement. The Eberron Campaign setting is, by far, the best (published] core Campaign Setting books I have ever read (and I've read quite a few). I think it comes down to two key issues - organization and a feeling that the writer actually WANT to write about Eberron, rather than just writing about it because its your job.
Quote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.
That IS a good method but its inherent problem is that the method is rather slow :(
Johnn Four of roleplayingtips.com swears by Milenix's Myinfo. http://www.milenix.com/
I haven't yet sprung for that one, but it's been on my list for a while. In the meantime, I've been using MS Binder, which comes with Office. You have to kind of hunt for it, though; it's not part of the default installation options. It's a little clunky, but it does allow you to keep several related documents together and switch between them relatively quickly. I generally keep several spreadsheets and Word docs, and a database if necessary.
I keep almost nothing for notes. Most of the time what gets me to write a new setting or new material ends up being half a paragraph of information and accompanying ideas locked inside my brain. My philosophy is if I can't remember it within five minutes of trying to recall it, it probably wasn't all that great anyway. :/
So in short, really what I keep for notes and prep is nothing, though I may have some world maps lying around. I rarely even type up information in a file before putting it on here.
Quote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.
Hey! My patent on that method is pending!
I guess my method is based on two principles:
1) Never throw anything away.
2) Do very little organization or housekeeping of your personal space and thus lose a lot of things.
Some of the things for Tera can trace their descent back to my middle school years.
I have tried to collect some of the random notes and put them into one binder and then organize that binder, but it can be difficult because of the randomness of the notes. For example, there's at least one page that belongs in two different places in the notebook because one thing is one side (like part of my lists of Gods) and something else is on the other side of the paper (like a part of the timeline).
My working method for creating new bits of my world is to take one of my idea notebooks with me when I have time to myself and decide to head over to a fast food place that offers free refills on soft drinks. My muse likes caffeine and sugar. Then I get a booth to myself, spread out my stuff, and camp out for an hour or two and maybe write one or two pages of campaign material. I think the timeline for my world of Tera (linked to in the sig) is the product of a few of these sessions at Quizno's.
Well, specific suggestions would depend on what you have so far - world map, one or two countries, religions, races?
I tend to develop most things, projects (of any sort) somewhat top down. That is, I start with a big-picture overview. However, once I have that general framework in place I usually go down to the small local detail in some particular area that interests me - flesh that out rather fully then move back up - looking at how it influences the big picture (if at all significantly) and then how it shapes and is shaped by it's immediate surroundings - expanding alot of what could be considered the middle level. This reflects more my personal thought processes than any formal design rubric though.
Generally - just start with what interests and excites you most conceptually and follow that for a while - it will suggest a lot of related tangential material during the process.
If you're wanting to have something playable quickly (and your group doesn't really need a big picture of the setting right of the bat) then a bottom up approach will serve you better. Focusing on one or two nations and some adventure plot lines within them can have you up and running quickly. If the characters don't know a lot about the world at large this can be considered a rather realistic perspective - and if you decide to change some things about the larger world from what you initially tell them then finding out that what they believed was incorrect is likewise realistic. (Believing the world to be flat and circled by the sun did not prevent a great deal of culture and history from developing in spite of such a huge, glaring fundamental error in cosmological perspective. . .)
If you have the time, working top-down can speed things up in the long-run as most of your initial work will remain in place at the more local levels, or help clarify the reasons for the local variations, helping to see how the pieces fit together as you shape them.
I prefer working on computer since it allows cut and paste editing and rearrangement of material on the fly - I find it easy to keep the info organized as I develop it. Before having access to one I had done a lot of writing long hand and ended up with a lot of repetition and poorly organized trains of thought that required extensive editing when I finally typed the material up (flipping through and scratching out various paragraphs as I went so I could see what was done. . .) I take basic notes longhand but once thought development moves from keywords and a few complete sentences into building paragraphs I pull up the word processor. I haven't used Free Mind for my setting but will probably experiment with it some in the future.
Quote from: Elemental_ElfQuote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.
That IS a good method but its inherent problem is that the method is rather slow :(
You're telling me! :P
Quote from: KindlingQuote from: Elemental_ElfQuote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.
That IS a good method but its inherent problem is that the method is rather slow :(
You're telling me! :P
I have to admit that this is the only way I can write anything work keeping. Everything else seems to come and go.
thanks for all the posts its helped me work out a rough system that i might be able to make work >.>
yeah currently i just keep a folder titled rp shit. and i dump everything in there...atcually half the time i cant find anything in there.
thank you midgard for letting me know about that program and i now plan to purchase it. btw there is a trial version so i would suggest using it becuase you will like the program.
I attempt to spread my notes out as much as possible. I have ideas in paper in many many places, in a wealth of documents, in several folders, on three different computers (plus two USB flash discs), a few on various wiki's I have been playing around with and the rest stuck inside my head.
Obviously I can't suggest my method to anyone.
Midgardsormr: I used MyInfo long ago and it worked quite well. Only problem is I don't remember where I put those files now.. It's on some harddisc, somewhere.