Checkpoint 3: Offer & receive

[nepenthee]

Hello! How is the challenge going for you?

We have had some more sign-ups in the last while, and it’s nice to see that the event being well underway isn’t deterring people from joining. :> The event playlist is also coming along; if you happen to listen to something fitting while working on your site, do consider sharing with us!

This checkpoint’s theme is as follows: Post a WIP of your challenge shrine and ask something you’d like hear about from your fellow webmasters, web-related or not. This can be as specific or abstract as you’d like (e.g. a paragraph, a crop of the layout header, a colour scheme; coding input, style concerns, writing advice, tools etc.).

You are welcome to use this post to chat about anything related to the challenge even if you do not take part in the checkpoint theme.

Comments

[larissa]

I... have not been working on my site at all, oops. To be fair I've had a lot of life stuff going on, but I gotta get moving. Thanks for the checkpoint to help motivate me, haha.

In any case, here's an excerpt from one of the pages I already had written:

What Shadowbringers does, and what is most obviously emphasized by Ardbert’s character, is to actually have you grow and change as a result of the narrative. Yes, the Scions are concerned that their Warrior of Light is slowly turning into a Lightwarden, but they’re pretty hands off, as far as friends go. They leave you to your own devices a lot. Part of this is to emphasize the player’s ability to interpret each scene as they like — to keep this feeling like a self-insert story. You don’t want to be pigeonholed into a storyline that takes that freedom away from the player.

But because you don’t have a voice, you can’t tell the other characters in the story that your character is struggling with these revelations. Ardbert, therefore, exists to bridge that gap. Ardbert actually cares about how you’re doing, and checks in on you after every major plot point. In-universe, this is because you’re the only person he can talk to. Of course he’s invested in your well-being: he doesn’t want to be alone again.

How it actually comes across, though, is that it feels as though you genuinely have a friend who cares about you. You may feel the same way about the Scions (individually or as a whole), but Ardbert’s the one who gets what you’re going through. He’s literally there every step of the way. This is your journey together, not one you’re on alone. Just because Ardbert is a ghost doesn’t make that feeling less real.

I have a lot of feelings about the role of a silent protagonist, okay. We love a narrative foil.

My question for the week is: does anyone have advice on editing text you've already written? I struggle with this a lot; once something is written, I have a hard time changing it, even if it needs tidying up. What methods do you use when you need to revise or edit something you've written?

[nepenthee]

STORYTELLING ANALYSIS YES! Gimmeeeee. I am looking forward to getting a better sense of FFXIV's storytelling and style when all the FFXIV shrines in this event are eventually made. :D Also, kindly let me know from what point on you can be regularly kicked into website work and it shall be done.

Hm, I must be the opposite when it comes to editing; I edit so much and frequently, even to the detriment of actual writing progress. Either way, I think editing is easier, more efficient and more effective when the text has rested for a while and when you're editing a large chunk rather than single paragraphs at a time (e.g. as you're still writing the page). Editing should also be in service of the site and its flow/narrative/message as a whole, so knowing how the segment you're editing slots into the whole and where it needs to lead next (and therefore what it should avoid mentioning or repeating) is of immense help.

I like to have a separate document (or even just Scrivener's notes sidebar) for phrases or thoughts that I like but need to discard/alter because they no longer fit; that way, nothing feels lost, and I may later move them to a different section where they are better suited. When rereading paragraphs, be it as I write or during sessions where I'm reacquainting myself with the project, I often highlight passages (or even just terms) that need editing later.

I don't know if any of this is helpful. What do you mean by tidying up? Style/language, context/transitions or something else? What bothers you that requires editing?

[larissa]

You should probably start kicking me sooner than later, tbh, I need the push...

Anyway, I've been looking at the first few pages of the site and going "I should punch this up and rewrite it," and yet I have a strange attachment to what I've already written. I know the answer is just to toss it in a separate file and keep it in case I need it, but that's always been so tough for me for some reason... I struggle with the same thing in fiction writing.

In any case, I'll take another stab at it and try to figure out how to convey what I want. Thank you for the advice!