bottled thoughts (lightly fizzing)

Yesterday became a "break" day on account of 19.5.0 finally being put out to public!

If you haven't already gotten in on it and you're itching for some more Reborn, now's a good time... Here's a thread.

Writing-wise, today became a planning today. I've been hand-wringing about an upcoming segment., not quite feeling good about any of it... Finally figured out at least part of what I need to do last night, so today I spent the time drafting an outline of events and trying to get a little bit more of a solid history to work from properly tomorrow.

It's definitely been a very stuck-feeling moment, but I think by just Putting Myself In The Room and I've at least gotten some movement on it. We'll see how it pans out.

In the meanwhile, we can talk about another way to unstick yourself.

Options do not breed creativity. Limitations do.
I mean, heck, just look at our Reborn challenge runners. They out there doing, like, no EXP monospecies inverse pulse2 blindfolded-with-your-hands-tied-behind-your-back lockes.
The fun of it is in having to get creative within the bounds of your restrictions.

So in a case like this when I am not quite feeling The Spark, here's what I like to do:

• 1- List out all the goals of a given segment. These goals could be things like (introduce a character), (express a theme), (get character X to do Y), etc.

• 2- List out all the restrictions. These could be, (must be expressed in a certain length of time) (must connect to X plot point), (must be humorous), (must establish a motif for repetition)...

• 3- Keep adding more restrictions until it clicks. Stretch for more and more idealized ones.

But, continue to express them as restrictions rather than ideals: "It Must do this."
Have to.
It is a hard wall you set for yourself, and thus, create foundations in which to build.

Usually I find something clicks in step two. I can't think of when I've had to go to a ridiculous extreme of adding restrictions, but if I were to, that would probably tell me that one of my core goals is wrong (in a writing the wrong thing sort of way) and to revisit that step.

Today I didn't get to step three-- found a click before then. Now I have an outline.