How long does it normally take to write up one installment of your Story Hour?

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Celtavian

Dragon Lord

• Jan 21, 2003

• #1

Question for some you story hour authors. I am writing a story hour for my current campaign, and it seems to take me a number of hours to craft a decent installment for my new story hour.

How long does it usually take to craft a story hour installment? I would love to get some idea of how long it takes other authors.

Does it get easier as you flesh out the characters and practice writing?

Trying to cohesively put together a series of events that occurs in a D&D campaign in an entertaining manner is more difficult than I thought it would be.

 

Last edited: Jan 21, 2003

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LostSoul

Adventurer

• Jan 21, 2003

• #2

It usually takes me somewhere around an hour, maybe less. I'm trying to just focus on the writing rather than trying to edit as I type. That way the ideas flow out faster. I always go back and edit once I think I've finished the installment.

 

Sammael99

First Post

• Jan 21, 2003

• #3

Celtavian said:

Question for some you story hour authors. I am writing a story hour for my current campaign, and it seems to take me a number of hours to craft a decent installment for my new story hour.

How long does it usually take to craft a story hour installment? I would love to get some idea of how long it takes other authors.

Does it get easier as you flesh out the characters and practice writing?

Trying to cohesively put together a series of events that occurs in a D&D campaign in an entertaining manner is more difficult than I thought it would be.

Click to expand...

I would say ten hours. Keep in mind that one installment for me is one full game session. I obviouusly don't write it in one sitting. Most of the time, I try and get my players to write them these days...

I found that dialog is the best means to life for PCs, so I focus a lot on dialog. In the past, I also spent a lot of time describing combat, but I decided to cut back on that in the future, for lack of time and also because ultimately, I think it's not the most interesting part of a Story Hour...

 

Zad

First Post

• Jan 21, 2003

• #4

Generally what happens is I take extremely brief notes on my laptop during the game - mostly just to help my memory.

Then Monday morning I sit down and type up the story hour, which covers one game session (4-5 hours is normal for us). That takes me a good couple hours - usually I'll have it posted before lunch.

 

Dr Midnight

Explorer

• Jan 21, 2003

• #5

Takes me several sessions of 1.5-2 hour typings.

Just keep my sig in mind, and you'll do fine.

 

arwink

Clockwork Golem

• Jan 21, 2003

• #6

About an hour, maybe longer if I type while surfing other threads. But I generally have a run log typed up for every session, which takes the better part of two or three hours, and I only type a fraction of the game at any time.

 

NiTessine

Explorer

• Jan 21, 2003

• #7

Once I actually get around to typing, an installment will take about an hour. It's the 'getting around to typing' part that's so time-consuming...

 

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Shayuri

First Post

• Jan 21, 2003

• #8

The actual writing of an update doesn't take too long. A couple or three hours, perhaps, depending on the length. It's actually finding the time and inclination to sit down and DO it that's a challenge for me.

It begins a vicious circle. The Story Hour is updated infrequently, so not too many people read it...which leads to a certain lack of motivation to write the next installment...which leads to an infrequent update cycle...etc.

 

diaglo

Adventurer

• Jan 23, 2003

• #9

one six hour game session takes about 9 hours of writing/organizing.

 

ForceUser

Explorer

• Jan 23, 2003

• #10

diaglo said:

one six hour game session takes about 9 hours of writing/organizing.

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That sounds about right. One eight hour session breaks down into four to six updates, each of which take about two to three hours to write.