Hi Leone! I hope the detective thriller novel is going well!
I’ve been inspired a lot by your IF to try dabbling with writing a short story in IF fashion! I’ve mostly been using itch.io but I’ve been having a difficult time trying to come up with consistent deadlines for each update (I’m not great at estimating my production time since I’m kind of disorganized).
Out of curiosity, how do you usually plan ahead for when your next update comes? Do you usually announce dates that extend your estimate for how long it takes you to complete your update goals (i.e. announce your planned update a few days/weeks after you finished writing it) or do you usually come up with a deadline before writing/coding?
I’ve been doing the former just because I think that the deadline would help motivate me to write more but I’ve been finding that it’s quite stressful. I’m tempted to try announcing a date after writing everything but then I’m anxious that perhaps readers would get annoyed without a set date during the silence…
Anyways, I wish you luck with the contest and thank you for inspiring me!
Hi!
First of all, it means so much to me that my story could encourage you to write your own! I love hearing that and would love to read it someday.
It's funny that you've asked me about deadlines, because that is something I struggle with as well. Literally just changed the HAT demo deadlines right before answering this.
I'm going to be a bit vulnerable with you for a second.
In the beginning and even now, I set deadlines based on my estimate, however these deadlines are very much alive. They are estimates and as much as I wish they were firm, I could not predict some of the things life would throw at me. Failing to meet a deadline for my writing was disappointing to me, but in front of an audience it felt like failure.
I've tried both ways that you mentioned and I can't say I have a good answer. Other authors that are better at communicating with their readers and time management might be better to ask haha!
I will say this though, some people will always be frustrated and impatient. If you set a deadline and don't meet it, you might lose readers, but you might also lose confidence in yourself. Still, you have to keep writing. Update it eventually, as long as you update it. Move the date if that's what it takes to create something that is good in your eyes, or don't set a date until you feel ready too.
If I could go back in time, I would have created a big backlog before starting my update schedule, but that would have been difficult with the amount of coding and testing required. You'll find your rhythm. Just keep going!
(Also fun fact, I intentionally missed the competition deadline, because I realized that I just really wanted to finish a book this summer, and submitting an incomplete book would help me reach the deadline, and y'all's votes could have even helped me win, but it wouldn't address the main thing I wanted to accomplish. So I'm halfway done with the mystery novel and quietly working on other things in the background. I'm trying out the silence until it's done method, so we'll see how it goes!)
Thank you for your ask and kind words!! Hopefully I'll be able to see your story one day!
I wanted to update on 2/22/22 Tuesday, but several pictures from the game broke and disappeared, and I noticed some major coding mistakes. Y'all are so patient and I'm so grateful for it. I'll talk to y'all later this week, hopefully with some good news.
