Story Hour Fatigue

Funeris · May 4, 2005

Transferred here from the Viridity and Saizhan SH. Glad to see you back, Sep.

I assure you, the majority of us suffer from SH fatigue (even us small-timers

). Everyone's advice here is good, makes me want to get back to updating.

My own SH fatigue is a combination of getting caught up with sessions that occured months and months ago AND the constant writing of a handful of characters. Now, I'm not the DM for my first SH, Destan is. So, its even more difficult for me because I don't know what's going on in the background. And when I do post what the villains are thinking, its completely made-up BS. But I enjoy writing the made up stuff moreso than the handful of characters I'm limited to.

As a result, I recently started my second SH, for a game I DM. I'll have a lot more to contribute to the SH, so it won't just be about what occured during the session.

But I may be a unique example. I don't know many players that write the SHs for their games. Anyway, good luck with the new SH. And follow everyone else's advice.

blargney the second · May 4, 2005

There can be no story hour without doubt.

-blarg

Knightfall · May 4, 2005

Sep, don't worry about the raving fans begging for more updates. Write what you want, not what you feel obligated to write. The new thread is a good start but I think you should also ask people to refrain from posting bumps in it for the time being.

The welcome backs are fine, but dozens of bumps leads to the idea that you have a large audience that is waiting on bated breath for more, more, more! I suggest to everyone to not bump Sep's new thread -- just read.

as for SH fatigue, you have learned that you are not alone. All SH authors (and I believe authors in general) go through periods where writing is like having you teeth pulled out. Many, on this thread, have already told you about their own fatigue, so I won't go into great deatil about mine.

All I'll say is two words... Realmsian Dragonstar.

Cheers!

KF72

Joshua Randall · May 6, 2005

Sep -- two comments. One technical, one practical.

(1) If the constant bumping is getting you down, you could request a moderator lock your actual story hour thread except when you want to update it. Create a separate thread for discussion.

(2) If you don't feel like telling The Story, how about telling us some of what came before? Like, how did Eadric et al. first tangle with Cerothumulos (sp?) ? How did Contundor get to be such the bad-ass horse he is? What was Nym doing before he healed Eadric? What were some of Skaddius'(*) adventures?

(*) Skaddius = Mostin's player's former character

These wouldn't have to be brilliantly crafted stories. They could be just one gamer talking to another. We all dig that stuff.

Gwarok · May 7, 2005

To paraphrase:

" I do not know how to proceed.

Ahh. And how, exactly, is that different from how things were say, yesterday, or a year ago? Or five years ago?

(Profound discomfort.) Readers, I feel unworthy…

(Raised eyebrows.)

(Shame at false modesty…)

(SLAP.) (Smile.)

(Humility)

(SILENCE.)

What do you wish of me, readers?

To be active in the world. To be the Sepulchrave II. To act as a author and storyteller. To have a strong write arm.

But its like, really tough. (Guilt. Longing. Conflict of interests. Confusion. Despair.)

We appreciate your honesty and directness.

I don’t know what to do. Part of me desires to be selfish. I fear that I will resent you readers if I abandon other stuff. I fear that I will fall if I don't keep things interesting, and you will withdraw your grace from me.

It is a difficult conundrum (humour). You have the right to choose. That can never be denied.

I suffer.

As do countless fans.

I fear the work.

That is wise. It is subtle and cunning. But it is not beyond your ability to deal with.

genshou · May 14, 2005

Sep, I'm sure your intent in writing this was not to get others to START writing Story Hours, but that's the effect it's having on me. Expect to see Pledge of Tyranny showing up anytime now :lol:

I read your SH a long time ago (a long, long time ago, but in a galaxy relatively near to here). Today I downloaded all the separate threads as well as Cheiro's compilation to read later, but from what I remember, it's always been worth my time (even when, like right now, there are other things I *should* be doing

). I do a lot of freeform role-playing on messageboards, and sometimes I just can't figure out what to post. Sometimes I'll wait a week or two for inspiration. Other times, I'll just write a crummy post. Over the course of a presently 100-page story thread I've been working on (featuring the future daughter of an NPC in Pledge of Tyranny, though any more details might be considered a spoiler), it's been excellent writing for the most part, but what's kept me going isn't constantly posting exceptional material. It's been the fun of writing for that character. If my posts are exceptional, that's good. But if not, oh well.

You just have to decide that you're going to post something, and then start writing. We don't care if it's the same quality every time. We just want to know what happens next

So keep on pluggin' in your own way and at your own speed. We'll just... encourage you to maintain that speed