IF Seal: When should I start a blog?
Hello Wise Seal,
I'm currently victim of the following conundrum: my first IF ideas were too ambitious, so I set them aside for the moment.
I came up with another idea (or, to better explain, the idea crept up on me) which would be much more manageable for me. I already have the characters, the general plot, hell even the title!
Now, onto the main two problems:
- I'm not sure I can write (comedy especially, since english isn't even my native language).
- I know I have limited time and resources. I have work to attend, projects to follow, a family to look after. I'd have to learn how to code (I have some basics, sure, still...) and I'm keenly aware of my limits.
I wouldn't want to open a blog and potentially lure some people only for my project to fail.
I just discovered that I can make secondary blogs password protected, but I'd have to create another email specifically for my ifs so that would mean having to create two blogs.
I don't know, I think I'd like a blog to rant about the learning process and everything, but at the same time I'd like for it to go unnoticed as long as possible, until I grow more confident in my abilities and I can prove it with at least the prologue and one whole chapter.
Thank you for your patience, o Wise Seal, may your day be full of fishes.
Dear Ambitious Friend,
I am so excited for you to explore your new game idea! It sounds like you have a lot of enthusiasm for it too which is marvellous: the starting moment where a story is beginning to germinate is such a lot of fun. I entirely understand feeling a little uncertain though.
Here are some thoughts and encouragement below:
I think it's sensible to be cautious about starting a blog and making your game "official" if you do not know whether you will continue the game beyond the ideas you have.
Equally writing can feel lonely if you are doing it without speaking to anyone about it.
So I wonder whether a compromise might work for you: try coding and writing a scene or two at first, no blog. It could be a scene from your project idea or something completely different. If it is from your project, it doesn't have to be the first one the player encounters.
This is how you can learn the basics: in a low-stakes way, without pressure from the outside.
Then once you feel more confident, it may be more beneficial to start a blog.
Or you could also begin your blog sooner, framing it as "I'm learning to code and will be starting a project in the future, I'll share more about it later".
Because what I have observed is that a lot of first-time writers begin a blog about their first project, and get overwhelmed or realise the project isn't actually what they want to do (regardless of how many followers have got excited about the game idea). They may end up only writing a little bit of their idea, or never sharing any at all and quietly fading out, or starting many new projects that don't go far, because they haven't made a solid foundation for themselves.
(Most first projects don't get completed and that's OK. It's all practice. But it may feel less stressful to move through some of that practice done quietly rather than in public.)
Finally, about whether you can write: your question is eloquently written, and you may say "but it's not the same" which is true... But you will only grow in confidence by trying and practising. It won't be perfect to start with, but no draft is. You will start writing and some of it will flow easily and some of it will be hard. Some will feel wonderful when you look back on it and some will need a lot of detangling.
But I think you can do it.
I believe in you.