Experienced Bloggers: Advice for improving reader engagement?

[gregaaz]

Hi folks, I've been blogging on Loverslab for a few years now, but recently I took a break to focus on some private projects. When I returned I noticed that blog engagement seems to be down. At first I thought it was just me, but a review of the newest posts reveals that a reasonably large number of them (16 of 23 on the first page) have zero comments as well. 

 

I recognize that the nature of the Lab means that engagement is likely to be somewhat lower than other sites. Not only is the blog section secondary to the forums and the downloads sections, but I can imagine there's some reluctance to post because it might 'out' a user's interests or fetishes. So a low level of interaction is understandable and it's the price of posting to a niche platform. That said, user engagement is an important component of my writing process: it gives important insight into how users are interpreting the story, what they like or dislike, and which dangled threads they're picking up on and finding interesting. That in turn helps he shape the narrative to address areas they might think need more attention or to give more spotlight to plot directions they find exciting.

 

So... if you're a blogger on the Lab and you are getting engagement from the community, can you offer any advice for effectively building up the community of followers for your mod and encouraging them to engage more? I'd like to provide the best possible work, and to do that I'd like to develop a more robust dialogue with my readers.

[Gukahn]

I wouldn't make comments be the proof of engagement or likes, nor would I make the Like button a clear showcase if somebody likes the chapter or not.

I post entrys once a week, sometimes I get 20 likes, sometimes 10? Doesn't mean there is less people reading it, nor are the comments showing all who read it either.

It's just like some people want to interact, some don't ??‍♂️

If you need to know the level of  interest in your story, I would start a vote. Never got I so much attention as I got when making a Poll ? 

Another way would be straight up just ask after you done a story for feedback, I think many people will rather answer a question than coming out themselves. ?

[gregaaz]

43 minutes ago, Gukahn said:

If you need to know the level of  interest in your story, I would start a vote. Never got I so much attention as I got when making a Poll ? ?

 

Excellent idea, and in fact I have a good opportunity for a vote with substantive story impacts coming up. I'll have to incorporate that into my plans.

[Miauzi]

Vor 1 Stunde sagte gregaaz:

Hallo Leute, ich blogge nun schon seit ein paar Jahren auf Loverslab, aber vor Kurzem habe ich eine Pause eingelegt, um mich auf einige private Projekte zu konzentrieren. Als ich zurückkam, bemerkte ich, dass das Blog-Engagement nachgelassen zu haben schien. Zuerst dachte ich, dass es nur an mir lag, aber ein Blick auf die neuesten Beiträge zeigt, dass eine relativ große Anzahl von ihnen (16 von 23 auf der ersten Seite) ebenfalls keine Kommentare hat.  

 

Mir ist bewusst, dass das Engagement aufgrund der Art des Labors wahrscheinlich etwas geringer ist als bei anderen Websites. Der Blog-Bereich ist nicht nur zweitrangig gegenüber den Foren und den Download-Bereichen, sondern ich kann mir auch vorstellen, dass es eine gewisse Zurückhaltung beim Posten gibt, weil es die Interessen oder Fetische eines Benutzers „übertreffen“ könnte. Daher ist ein geringes Maß an Interaktion verständlich und der Preis für das Posten auf einer Nischenplattform. Allerdings ist die Einbindung der Benutzer ein wichtiger Bestandteil meines Schreibprozesses: Sie gibt wichtige Einblicke in die Interpretation der Geschichte durch die Benutzer, was ihnen gefällt oder nicht gefällt und welche losen Threads sie aufgreifen und interessant finden. Das wiederum hilft ihm dabei, die Erzählung so zu gestalten, dass Bereiche angesprochen werden, von denen sie glauben, dass sie mehr Aufmerksamkeit benötigen, oder Handlungsrichtungen, die sie spannend finden, stärker ins Rampenlicht gerückt werden.

 

Wenn Sie also ein Blogger im Lab sind und ? das Engagement der Community erhalten, können Sie mir dann einen Rat geben, wie Sie die Follower-Community für Ihren Mod effektiv aufbauen und sie dazu ermutigen können, sich stärker zu engagieren Ich möchte die bestmögliche Arbeit liefern und möchte dazu einen intensiveren Dialog mit meinen Lesern entwickeln.

 

Well, I read your story and also comment on it ... the other way round is not the case - but no one can force anyone to read something they don't want to.

Well - in the meantime your story has "sexual" elements which I can't handle myself - although I am quite "at home" in BDSM and fetishes.

I can't do anything with it ... so I don't comment on it any more.

Is there an "element of increase" with you? ... from my purely subjective point of view a clear YES ... I personally don't feel that this "faster - higher - further" is necessary for the basic tenor of your story ... From my purely personal point of view you put far too much time into it ... which is missing from the actual progress of the story.

Yes - it's a story on LL - but does there have to be so much "niche" sex in every chapter?

You are not writing a pure sex story like

@Gukahn ...

[Gukahn]

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

...

I like to tell myself I write messed up porn with a little bit of foreplay story ?

[Miauzi]

Vor 5 Minuten sagte Gukahn:

, dass ich verkorkste Pornos mit einer kleinen Vorspielgeschichte Ich sage mir gerne schreibe ?

 

really good porn does NOT need a "significant" accompanying story - it stands for itself ... and exactly THAT is what I like so much about yours

?

[Gukahn]

24 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

 

really good porn does NOT need a "significant" accompanying story - it stands for itself ... and exactly THAT is what I like so much about yours

?

[gregaaz]

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

 

Well, I read your story and also comment on it ... the other way round is not the case - but no one can force anyone to read something they don't want to.

Well - in the meantime your story has "sexual" elements which I can't handle myself - although I am quite "at home" in BDSM and fetishes.

I can't do anything with it ... so I don't comment on it any more.

Is there an "element of increase" with you? ... from my purely subjective point of view a clear YES ... I personally don't feel that this "faster - higher - further" is necessary for the basic tenor of your story ... From my purely personal point of view you put far too much time into it ... which is missing from the actual progress of the story.

Yes - it's a story on LL - but does there have to be so much "niche" sex in every chapter?

You are not writing a pure sex story like

@Gukahn ...

 

Much appreciated, @Miauzi - this is the kind of feedback I was looking for. It sounds like I owe you a bit more engagement with your own work, as well as making sure I'm putting together a story that everyone (or at least a broader audience) can find accessible. 

[Miauzi]

Vor 6 Minuten sagte gregaaz:

 

Sehr geschätzt, @Miauzi – das ist die Art von Feedback, nach der ich gesucht habe. Es hört sich so an, als ob ich Ihnen etwas mehr Engagement für Ihre eigene Arbeit schulde und außerdem dafür sorge, dass ich eine Geschichte zusammenstelle, die jeder (oder zumindest ein breiteres Publikum) zugänglich finden kann.  

 

That You and @Gukahn alongside @Alter Native inspired me to write stories myself in the first place ... of course I would be very grateful for feedback from you myself ... so the term "blame" is wrong in my view.

 

Currently I have a massive writing block for months - I just can't finish for the last chapter of my "Isekai" story.... I can't get a decent sex scene designed.

It's not so much the technique to create the pictures - @Gukahn helped me a lot here ... no - I am currently lacking any inspiration.

And I just don't want to "throw down" anything.

Is that a hidden cry for help?

Um - yes - a little bit...

 

---

In my view, your main story in Fallout 4 is in danger of completely losing its thread.

That a new "faction" has now appeared in Salem ... makes it more and more confusing to see where the story could go.

Especially since they have already drawn the card "Nakano" with Nick and thus "Far Habor" can come into play at any time.

It seems to me as if you are juggling too many balls at the same time ... they have "felt" at least 10-12 loose ends

This massively drags out the story and as a reader you lose the overview.

That's why I was very sceptical when they opened the "Cabot" path to get to the "Railroad" ... It was clear to me that this was not directly possible.
In addition, there is the problem with the actual main part with the "Madhouse" -> draw the map with the "Valkyrie" mod ... or not??

You have already rewritten so much ... why now also the access to the "railroad"?
i don't even see a reason for it ... from the storyline I've read so far, it's not compelling for me!
So why - from my point of view - make it unnecessarily complicated.

Well - I have a different narrative approach with my story about the Chinese agent "reawakened" as a synth - but in my chapter on the "Freedom trail" I showed that this rather boring quest can be used for other things.

[Alter Native]

Don't do blogs or stories for user engagment.

Do them because you like doing them, for yourself. Otherwise they are a giant waste of time.

 

Best thing you can do for getting some more views is advertise new entries of your blog in other threads such as the sex screenshot thread of the skyrim counterpart one.

 

[Miauzi]

Vor 8 Minuten sagte Alter Native:

Erstellen Sie keine Blogs oder Storys zur Benutzereinbindung.

Tun Sie sie, weil Sie sie gerne für sich selbst tun. Ansonsten sind sie eine riesige Zeitverschwendung.

 

Das Beste, was Sie tun können, um mehr Aufrufe zu erhalten, ist, neue Einträge Ihres Blogs in anderen Threads zu bewerben, beispielsweise im Sex-Screenshot-Thread des Skyrim-Pendants.

 

 

Or in threads that deal with mods that they themselves use in their stories.

so I created a "solution path" for the mod "Laura's Bondage Shop" - in which I integrated the quests of the mod into my story.

so some chapters came together - which I linked accordingly as "possible solution" of the quests

(I had discussed the procedure with the author herself in advance).

 

[Stanoth]

Hello there!

I'm not an experienced blogger on LL but I can share my thoughts from my own work on Fallout 4. I think there are some factors to consider: the game, the genre of your story and the story itself. Fallout 4 got less attention than Skyrim, it's a fact. And from what I've seen those few months, it looks like Skyrim community is bigger and so people willing to comment and talk about the author's work. 
I would like to know what my readers had to say about my story but well... I have to deal with the fact that I'm the only one satisfied overall, and that's fine with me. ?

But I think you got it right when you said: "I recognize that the nature of the Lab means that engagement is likely to be somewhat lower than other sites." I have posted my chapters on DeviantArt too and it's similar: on 100 views, I got maybe 2 or 3 likes and once in a while a comment (and usually the same people). 

If you want some feedback about your work: I've read some of your chapters because I like your vanilla approach on Fallout 4 but well, it's quite huge to follow through! Between all the characters, what are they doing, the places... You have done a lot and I can understand why some readers might feel lost (myself included ?)

As long as you're satisfied with the writing you do, whether or not there are committed readers, that's all that matters! ?

[gregaaz]

Oof, that's some serious feedback, but thank you - this is the kind of perspective I was missing.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

 

That You and @Gukahn alongside @Alter Native inspired me to write stories myself in the first place ... of course I would be very grateful for feedback from you myself ... so the term "blame" is wrong in my view.

 

My fault was that I didn't follow your blogs so I wasn't getting notified when you uploaded stuff, and consequently I was often reading them long after you wrote them  I've rectified that so that in the future I'll be able to reply in a timely manner.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

Currently I have a massive writing block for months - I just can't finish for the last chapter of my "Isekai" story.... I can't get a decent sex scene designed.

It's not so much the technique to create the pictures - @Gukahn helped me a lot here ... no - I am currently lacking any inspiration.

And I just don't want to "throw down" anything.

 

I feel your pain on that - it took me a good week or two after I really committed to restart the story for the same reason... I had a lot of ideas and a general outline of where this was going, but I couldn't get enough traction to really start writing. Of course, that relates to your comment about the plot thread further down...

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

Is that a hidden cry for help?

Um - yes - a little bit...

 

Let me know how I can help - I'm not great at planning ahead beyond broad outlines, so a lot of what I do is kind of spontaneous, but I'd be happy to offer feedback or advice.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

---

In my view, your main story in Fallout 4 is in danger of completely losing its thread.

That a new "faction" has now appeared in Salem ... makes it more and more confusing to see where the story could go.

 

Salem, and by extension Anna Gray's descendants, are part of the Alexia Gray/Brotherhood of Steel storyline. I've been very slowly dribbling out this plotline back to about Chapter 61, and for what its worth they are still background and foreshadowing material at this stage. Sorry if they made things confusing   

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

Especially since they have already drawn the card "Nakano" with Nick and thus "Far Habor" can come into play at any time.

 

Yeah, originally Far Harbor was going to be kind of swept under the rug in this story, and this arc was part of that plan, though @Gukahn has given me an idea that I may be significantly revising my plans for that. I'm sure this spoiler is unrelated.

 

Spoiler

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

It seems to me as if you are juggling too many balls at the same time ... they have "felt" at least 10-12 loose ends

 

By my count, there are 5 significant plotlines running - so it sounds like if you're perceiving a dozen loose ends I'm not doing a good enough job making the related plot points come together. While there are a lot of side stories (because the game is full of side stories) I've tried to avoid writing completely novel content if it isn't advancing one of these five.

 

1. Charley's search for Shaun (i.e., the main quest), which necessarily intersects with the Institute and Railroad quests
2. The "statecraft" story for Concord, which includes the relationship with Vault 81 (and Vault 88???). This includes the Sim Settlements 2 main quest (which is being rolled very slow) and the plots dealing with The Cabinet and Charley First.
3. The Brotherhood of Steel storyline (is conflict inevitable?), which includes the Alexia Gray and David Hunter plots, and tangentially involves Salem as a minor player/location. This story is part of the 'critical path' for the first two stores, since Charley's decisions at certain key points are informed in part by her relationship with the Brotherhood - good or bad.
4. The Minutemen storyline, which intersects to varying degrees with all the other plots and which is kind of in its infancy right now.
5. The science and technology storyline. This story involves learning the truth about Charley's health condition, as well as unraveling the secrets of the power suits. The Breeders tangentially fall into this storyline, as well as intersecting story 3.

 

Spoiler

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

This massively drags out the story and as a reader you lose the overview.

That's why I was very sceptical when they opened the "Cabot" path to get to the "Railroad" ... It was clear to me that this was not directly possible.

In addition, there is the problem with the actual main part with the "Madhouse" -> draw the map with the "Valkyrie" mod ... or not??

 

Just to set expectations, none of ThuggySmurf's mods feature in this playthrough. I went back and forth on it a lot, but in the end the technical problems with implementing them just overwhelmed any potential benefit they offered to the storyline... and as I'm sure you appreciate, they add a ton of plot content that I'd have to heavily rewrite - much like Boston Breeder, I couldn't make their stories work without heavily rewriting them.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

You have already rewritten so much ... why now also the access to the "railroad"?

i don't even see a reason for it

 

Part of it is because I like to take a fresh spin on things and not have the story be completely predictable (even if we have a general idea of where it'll go in the end). The other reason is Charley is 'scheduled' to learn more about the Gray sisters, and since the asylum is geographically close to Salem, connecting the Cabot House plot helped allowed me to use vanilla characters as part of that process rather than just having Charley wander up that way at some point.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

... from the storyline I've read so far, it's not compelling for me!

 

I'm sorry to hear that, and I'll try to do better going forward.

 

12 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

So why - from my point of view - make it unnecessarily complicated.

Well - I have a different narrative approach with my story about the Chinese agent "reawakened" as a synth - but in my chapter on the "Freedom trail" I showed that this rather boring quest can be used for other things.

 

The Freedom Trail quest isn't bad in its own right, but its better experienced first-person by the player than recounted. I'd toyed with including it more explicitly; in an early draft of the story, prior to the 'spheres of influence' plot and me having to remove a lot of workshop locations from the game for technical reasons, the Freedom Trail story involved Concord blazing a safe corridor along the Freedom Trail and exploring the area until they found the Old North Church and discovered the entrance. 

 

In any event, thanks again for the honest feedback. I can't promise I'm going to totally rewrite my plot outline, but this gives me some important things to keep in mind as I progress.

 

1 hour ago, Alter Native said:

Don't do blogs or stories for user engagment.

Do them because you like doing them, for yourself. Otherwise they are a giant waste of time.

 

@Alter Native, I totally agree. My first consideration is telling the story of my game experience (including the headcanon stuff that might not literally happen emergently in the engine) and highlight some of my private modding work, especially stuff that I can't necessarily upload in a playable form.

 

That said, for the reasons I mentioned above and in the upper part of this point, I value engagement because it helps me sharpen my writing and exposes me to new ideas that I might not have considered before.

 

1 hour ago, Alter Native said:

Best thing you can do for getting some more views is advertise new entries of your blog in other threads such as the sex screenshot thread of the skyrim counterpart one.

 

That's an excellent idea, thank you for the suggestion. I think also keeping in mind the potential for sharing screenshots will also help ensure that the sexy action is more accessible. 

[gregaaz]

1 hour ago, Stanoth said:

Hello there!

I'm not an experienced blogger on LL but I can share my thoughts from my own work on Fallout 4. I think there are some factors to consider: the game, the genre of your story and the story itself. Fallout 4 got less attention than Skyrim, it's a fact. And from what I've seen those few months, it looks like Skyrim community is bigger and so people willing to comment and talk about the author's work. 

 

 

That's definitely true, and I try to keep that in mind when I set my expectations.

 

1 hour ago, Stanoth said:

I would like to know what my readers had to say about my story but well... I have to deal with the fact that I'm the only one satisfied overall, and that's fine with me. ?

But I think you got it right when you said: "I recognize that the nature of the Lab means that engagement is likely to be somewhat lower than other sites." I have posted my chapters on DeviantArt too and it's similar: on 100 views, I got maybe 2 or 3 likes and once in a while a comment (and usually the same people). 

 

 

Yeah, posting my material on other platforms is something I've been toying with for a while. When you share material on DeviantArt, do you include your screen shots, or just the text of your stories? I'm always paranoid about running afoul of site rules (so many sites have 'no mixing sex and violence' rules - one of the reasons I've never been able to seriously consider streaming either FO4 or Skyrim), or of mod authors or artists getting upset that their work is featured in this context. 

 

1 hour ago, Stanoth said:

If you want some feedback about your work: I've read some of your chapters because I like your vanilla approach on Fallout 4 but well, it's quite huge to follow through! Between all the characters, what are they doing, the places... You have done a lot and I can understand why some readers might feel lost (myself included ?)

 

 

Haha, yeah, to be honest I was a little lost when I came back after a 6 month break - that's part of why I had to put together that index of what everyone was doing as of my last pre-break chapter. As I mentioned in my response to Miauzi, I'm going to try and do a better job connecting the different threads of the main stories so things aren't as overwhelming, and as you'll see in the next couple chapters @Gukahn's idea about having votes for engagement will give me an opportunity to move some of the action off camera and instead focus on a particular story track.

 

1 hour ago, Stanoth said:

As long as you're satisfied with the writing you do, whether or not there are committed readers, that's all that matters! ?

 

That part is definitely satisfying. I've learned a lot about modding from doing the grunt work that I needed to propel this story forward, and I don't think I could have maintained that motivation if it was just for my own enjoyment. Being able to share the hand-crafted assets and innovations definitely helps keep the whole project going.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gregaaz

[Gukahn]

Reading feedback about your story.. Let me tell you something about multiple storylines to follow, It's hard and you run yourself into a wall sooner or later. I did that with my first blog attempt, got so bad I lost fun in writing it. I also run into it on my second attempt, Vargr is my third and I just now began to clean house and cut loose ends I created along the way.

I would try to make Seasons or "Arcs" of every bigger problem and try to work through it before beginning a new one. With "Sidequests" To let your creativity take you places (This is the real fun in doing blogs anyway. Straight up only following one line is boring.) But it stops you from creating big problems you have to deal with alongside the current main event.

 

What I'm trying to say.. Best example would be my college Arc.

I've put the than two Main characters into the College, I let the Male lead do all the naughty things I wanted him to do while the female lead was used to introduce Side and future Main Characters while also providing important story elements.  I used 2 Thirds of my entry for them and the last One for my Main Antagonists in the first parts of this Arc.

But without one or two Sidequests that weren't important, just mainly for fun and to do them because I want to, I stayed at this "Questline" until it was finished and only then I started another, I kept that up until the current Arc and try to do so in the future since.. It really puts unnecessary stress on yourself and your readers. 

 

But remember, Sidestorys. Best way to get something off your mind you really, really want to do because as AlterNative said,  we're all doing this for our own fun

[gregaaz]

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

 

Or in threads that deal with mods that they themselves use in their stories.

so I created a "solution path" for the mod "Laura's Bondage Shop" - in which I integrated the quests of the mod into my story.

so some chapters came together - which I linked accordingly as "possible solution" of the quests

(I had discussed the procedure with the author herself in advance).

 

 

I've thought about reaching out to The Kite, since her mods feature so prominently in this story, to see if she'd be interested in either just reading it for her own enjoyment or in sharing the story with the fans of her artwork, but I admit I'm a little anxious about rejection ? 

 

But yes, this is a great idea and I will keep it in mind.

[gregaaz]

1 minute ago, Gukahn said:

Reading feedback about your story.. Let me tell you something about multiple storylines to follow, It's hard and you run yourself into a wall sooner or later. I did that with my first blog attempt, got so bad I lost fun in writing it. I also run into it on my second attempt, Vargr is my third and I just now began to clean house and cut loose ends I created along the way.

I would try to make Seasons or "Arcs" of every bigger problem and try to work through it before beginning a new one. With "Sidequests" To let your creativity take you places (This is the real fun in doing blogs anyway. Straight up only following one line is boring.) But it stops you from creating big problems you have to deal with alongside the current main event.

 

This is actually what I try to accomplish with my story. Basically, each 25 chapters (approximately, the first arc's "hand-off point" was a little wobbly) covers one story arc with various side stories sprinkled in. So the first 25 chapters were about settling in Sanctuary and surviving the winter, then the next 25 were about taking over Concord, and the third arc was about taking down Kellogg. The fourth and current arc, as its name impasse suggests, is about Charley dealing with the aftermath of Kellogg's untimely death and trying to get the search for Shaun back on track, which was originally scheduled to culminate with meeting the Railroad -- though based on your previous advice I've mapped out two different ways this could go.

 

That said, based on the feedback it sounds like I have an opportunity to improve how I communicate those overarching themes. 

 

1 minute ago, Gukahn said:

What I'm trying to say.. Best example would be my college Arc.

I've put the than two Main characters into the College, I let the Male lead do all the naughty things I wanted him to do while the female lead was used to introduce Side and future Main Characters while also providing important story elements.  I used 2 Thirds of my entry for them and the last One for my Main Antagonists in the first parts of this Arc.

But without one or two Sidequests that weren't important, just mainly for fun and to do them because I want to, I stayed at this "Questline" until it was finished and only then I started another, I kept that up until the current Arc and try to do so in the future since.. It really puts unnecessary stress on yourself and your readers. 

 

But remember, Sidestorys. Best way to get something off your mind you really, really want to do because as AlterNative said,  we're all doing this for our own fun

 

Yeah, again, definitely what I'm aspiring for. Salem, for example, is basically written as a 2 chapter side story, with maybe a single chapter follow-up down the line a little bit. Quartercut, as much as her existence is important to Alexia's plot, isn't a character that I plan to give tons of visibility to. At the end of the day, she's a peripheral character, both in terms of her place in the overall story and literally in the sense that she's parked in the corner of the map. 

 

Your concept of balancing 2/3 main arc and 1/3 sidestory is a good one, and that's something I'll keep in mind when I'm working out future chapters. It can be tricky since the current site setup really penalizes you for not banging out the story in a single sitting, but I think it will help with the issue of keeping the arc-story visible and accessible.

 

[Stanoth]

15 minutes ago, gregaaz said:

Yeah, posting my material on other platforms is something I've been toying with for a while. When you share material on DeviantArt, do you include your screen shots, or just the text of your stories? I'm always paranoid about running afoul of site rules (so many sites have 'no mixing sex and violence' rules), or of mod authors or artists getting upset that their work is featured in this context. 

I've posted my story first on DeviantArt then on LL because I wasn't a big fan of blogs at first. ?
Screenshot with the text under it, like on my blog! Policy have changed on DA regarding some content and a lot of artists are leaving the website because of it (and also IA artists). 
But thanks to this website, I had someone who posted a comment regarding one of my chapter then gave me an idea with a shipwreck so I went with it in my story! ?

[Miauzi]

Vor 27 Minuten sagte gregaaz:

Uff, das ist ein ernsthaftes Feedback, aber danke – das ist die Art von Perspektive, die mir gefehlt hat.

 

 

Mein Fehler war, dass ich Ihren Blogs nicht gefolgt bin und daher nicht benachrichtigt wurde, wenn Sie Inhalte hochgeladen haben. Deshalb habe ich sie oft lange gelesen, nachdem Sie sie geschrieben haben Ich habe das korrigiert, damit ich in Zukunft zeitnah antworten kann.

 

 

Ich spüre Ihren Schmerz darüber – es hat ein oder zwei Wochen gedauert, bis ich mich aus dem gleichen Grund wirklich dazu entschlossen habe, die Geschichte neu zu starten … Ich hatte viele Ideen und einen allgemeinen Überblick darüber, wohin das führen würde, aber ich konnte nicht Ich bekomme nicht genug Traktion, um wirklich mit dem Schreiben zu beginnen. Das bezieht sich natürlich auf Ihren Kommentar zum Handlungsthread weiter unten ...

 

 

Lassen Sie mich wissen, wie ich helfen kann – ich bin nicht besonders gut darin, über grobe Umrisse hinaus im Voraus zu planen, daher geschieht vieles, was ich tue, irgendwie spontan, aber ich gebe gerne Feedback oder Ratschläge.

 

 

Salem und damit auch die Nachkommen von Anna Gray sind Teil der Handlung von Alexia Gray/Brotherhood of Steel. Ich habe diesen Handlungsstrang sehr langsam bis etwa zu Kapitel 61 zurückgedrängt, und was seinen Wert angeht, sind sie zu diesem Zeitpunkt immer noch Hintergrund- und Vorahnungsmaterial. Tut mir leid, wenn sie die Sache verwirrend gemacht haben   

 

 

Ja, ursprünglich sollte Far Harbor in dieser Geschichte sozusagen unter den Teppich gekehrt werden, und dieser Handlungsstrang war Teil dieses Plans, obwohl @Gukahn mich auf die Idee gebracht hat, dass ich meine Pläne dafür möglicherweise erheblich überarbeiten werde. Ich bin mir sicher, dass dieser Spoiler nichts damit zu tun hat.

 

Meiner Zählung nach laufen fünf wichtige Handlungsstränge. Wenn man also ein Dutzend lose Enden wahrnimmt, kann ich es nicht gut genug hinbekommen, die zugehörigen Handlungsstränge zusammenzuführen. Obwohl es viele Nebengeschichten gibt (weil das Spiel voller Nebengeschichten ist), habe ich versucht, das Schreiben völlig neuartiger Inhalte zu vermeiden, wenn sie nicht eine dieser fünf voranbringen.

 

1. Charleys Suche nach Shaun (dh die Hauptquest), die sich zwangsläufig mit den Quests „Institut“ und „Eisenbahn“ überschneidet
2. Die „Statecraft“-Geschichte für Concord, die die Beziehung zu Vault 81 (und Vault 88???) beinhaltet. Dazu gehören die Hauptquest von Sim Settlements 2 (die sehr langsam voranschreitet) und die Handlungsstränge rund um The Cabinet und Charley First.
3. Der Handlungsstrang der Stählernen Bruderschaft (ist ein Konflikt unvermeidlich?), der die Handlungen von Alexia Gray und David Hunter umfasst und Salem am Rande als Nebendarsteller/Drehort involviert. Diese Geschichte ist Teil des „kritischen Pfads“ für die ersten beiden Geschäfte, da Charleys Entscheidungen an bestimmten Schlüsselpunkten teilweise von ihrer Beziehung zur Bruderschaft – ob gut oder schlecht – beeinflusst werden.
4. Die Minutemen-Geschichte, die sich in unterschiedlichem Maße mit allen anderen Handlungssträngen überschneidet und derzeit noch in den Kinderschuhen steckt.
5. Die Geschichte von Wissenschaft und Technologie. In dieser Geschichte geht es darum, die Wahrheit über Charleys Gesundheitszustand zu erfahren und die Geheimnisse der Power-Anzüge zu lüften. Die Züchter fügen sich tangential in diesen Handlungsstrang ein und überschneiden sich auch mit Geschichte 3.

 

  Verborgene Inhalte aufdecken

 

 

Nur um die Erwartungen zu wecken: Keine der Mods von ThuggySmurf ist in diesem Spiel enthalten. Ich habe viel darüber nachgedacht, aber am Ende haben die technischen Probleme bei der Implementierung einfach jeden potenziellen Nutzen, den sie für die Handlung boten, zunichte gemacht ... und wie Sie sicher zu schätzen wissen, fügen sie eine Menge Handlungsinhalte hinzu Ich müsste sie stark umschreiben – ähnlich wie bei Boston Breeder konnte ich ihre Geschichten nicht zum Laufen bringen, ohne sie stark umzuschreiben.

 

 

Das liegt zum Teil daran, dass ich den Dingen gerne eine neue Wendung gebe und die Geschichte nicht vollständig vorhersehbar sein möchte (auch wenn wir eine allgemeine Vorstellung davon haben, wohin sie am Ende führen wird). Der andere Grund ist, dass Charley „eingeplant“ ist, mehr über die Grauen Schwestern zu erfahren, und da die Anstalt geografisch in der Nähe von Salem liegt, hat mir die Verknüpfung mit der Cabot-House-Handlung dabei geholfen, Standardcharaktere als Teil dieses Prozesses zu verwenden, anstatt Charley einfach umherwandern zu lassen irgendwann so weit.

 

 

Es tut mir leid, das zu hören, und ich werde versuchen, es in Zukunft besser zu machen.

 

 

Die Quest „Freedom Trail“ ist an sich nicht schlecht, aber sie wird vom Spieler in der Ego-Perspektive besser erlebt als erzählt. Ich hatte darüber nachgedacht, es expliziter aufzunehmen; In einem frühen Entwurf der Geschichte, vor der „Einflusssphären“-Handlung und der Tatsache, dass ich aus technischen Gründen viele Werkstattstandorte aus dem Spiel entfernen musste, beinhaltete die Freedom Trail-Geschichte, dass Concord einen sicheren Korridor entlang des Freedom Trail ebnete und erkundete durch die Gegend, bis sie die alte Nordkirche fanden und den Eingang entdeckten. 

 

Auf jeden Fall nochmals vielen Dank für das ehrliche Feedback. Ich kann nicht versprechen, dass ich meinen Handlungsentwurf komplett neu schreiben werde, aber das gibt mir einige wichtige Dinge, die ich im Laufe der Zeit im Hinterkopf behalten sollte.

 

 

 

The blockage is related to a drug (blocks testosterone production) that I have to take ... it banishes any thought of "libido" from the brain ... that's why I can't create sex scenes - they can't help me with this problem - unfortunately - thanks anyway for your offer.

?

The "grey sisters" ... I admit I didn't get the connection to Anna Gray when I read it.

The story of her life so far I saw no reason to assume - that descendants of her would exist.

The "drumbeat" in Salem initially caused me a "what's this all about now?" ... complete confusion

Yes I know - they play a lot with "sudden" turns in their story ... but you lose your readers bit by bit ... we just can't keep up.

Do you know the cycle "Wheel of Time"? There too, in the last 1/3 of the epic, the plot lines piled up ... at some point I was just out of it ... I just couldn't keep up any more

For me, the question was then -> Can the author himself still cope with the abundance of storylines?

---

 

You could make independent stories out of EACH of the 5 main strands of her narrative -> that's how extensive the content is when you ... told ... in the sense (or better expressed -> in the style) of the novels of the 19th century.

 

 

[Miauzi]

Vor 32 Minuten sagte gregaaz:

 

Ich habe darüber nachgedacht, mich an The Kite zu wenden, da ihre Mods in dieser Geschichte eine so wichtige Rolle spielen, um zu sehen, ob sie daran interessiert wäre, es entweder nur zu ihrem eigenen Vergnügen zu lesen oder die Geschichte mit den Fans ihrer Kunstwerke zu teilen. aber ich gebe zu, ich habe ein wenig Angst vor einer Ablehnung ?  

 

Aber ja, das ist eine tolle Idee und ich werde sie im Hinterkopf behalten.

 

I, for example, have "The Kite" installed - but deliberately NOT used in the Fallout story.

I'm fine with the Ivy and Heather stories - especially as I can NOT re-construct my installation (as you do).

I had stopped writing at that point - when my character got to "Darlene" - which would be the 3rd complex companion

all three companions relate to the Institute in their own way - each in a different way

to handle that alone with a main story that is about an "infiltration" of the institute ... is hard enough for me

(we have very different approaches to our stories)

Unfortunately, "The Kite" doesn't fit in for me then - which I regret in the end ... because there are 4 great mods to companions - but all 4 in one story don't work for me

[gregaaz]

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

 

The blockage is related to a drug (blocks testosterone production) that I have to take ... it banishes any thought of "libido" from the brain ... that's why I can't create sex scenes - they can't help me with this problem - unfortunately - thanks anyway for your offer.

?

 

That's frustrating. At one point I was on a medication that had the opposite problem - it didn't interfere with libido at all but scrambled all the physical processing so taking advantage of licentious impulses was challenging. Not fun at all. 

 

Your situation was kind of an important background plot point in a manuscript I half-wrote several years ago, where there's an underground trade in testosterone patches in an arcology that have essentially become a 'recreational drug' in the face of draconian birth control measures. I really should finish writing that story some time.

 

But I digress. I'm sorry to hear your medication is interfering with your creative process  Hopefully in the future alternatives will be available that won't have such pronounced side effects.

 

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

The "grey sisters" ... I admit I didn't get the connection to Anna Gray when I read it.

The story of her life so far I saw no reason to assume - that descendants of her would exist.

 

In retrospect, Alexia and/or Cabot probably should have offered more insight into the circumstances around their parting to better foreshadow what Anna might have done after the CPG massacre. 

 

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

The "drumbeat" in Salem initially caused me a "what's this all about now?" ... complete confusion

 

That was somewhat deliberate, but it seems like I could have done a better job setting it up and executing on it.

 

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

Yes I know - they play a lot with "sudden" turns in their story ... but you lose your readers bit by bit ... we just can't keep up.

Do you know the cycle "Wheel of Time"? There too, in the last 1/3 of the epic, the plot lines piled up ... at some point I was just out of it ... I just couldn't keep up any more

 

So I've heard.

 

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

For me, the question was then -> Can the author himself still cope with the abundance of storylines?

 

That's a valid question. Like I said in an earlier response, I had to "re-learn" the fine details of the story before I could write more, lest I just abandon whole plot lines or wildly recharacterizing anyone (except for one case, where it was deliberate...)

 

4 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

You could make independent stories out of EACH of the 5 main strands of her narrative -> that's how extensive the content is when you ... told ... in the sense (or better expressed -> in the style) of the novels of the 19th century.

 

For sure. If I wasn't depending on the unpredictable element of "living the story" through the game, that might have actually been a more productive approach, telling several parallel stories within the same world. Though to some extent I'm planning on doing a bit of this to reign in the scope of book 5 after reading through the previous advice on this thread.

[Miauzi]

Vor 7 Minuten sagte gregaaz:

Rückblickend hätten Alexia und/oder Cabot wahrscheinlich mehr Einblick in die Umstände ihrer Trennung geben sollen, um besser vorherzusagen, was Anna nach dem CPG-Massaker getan haben könnte. 

 

Das war etwas Absicht, aber es scheint, als hätte ich es besser einrichten und ausführen können.

 

 

Now I'm sitting here with my mouth open ... I didn't even notice that (through my own fault) - that's on my own head!

[gregaaz]

5 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

 

I, for example, have "The Kite" installed - but deliberately NOT used in the Fallout story.

 

Sometimes that's the right move. As I mentioned earlier, I decided to not use Thuggy's stuff, and I'm really conflicted as to whether or not I'll eventually run the Fens Sheriff Department quest.

 

5 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

I'm fine with the Ivy and Heather stories - especially as I can NOT re-construct my installation (as you do).

 

They're both great stories - though I'm undecided if and when I'll ever "activate" Ivy. Her quest is so in-depth that right now it would be hard to incorporate into the narrative without adding a whole new level of complexity to everything. Perhaps if I'm still writing this when one or more of the major faction quests gets wrapped up I'll have more bandwidth.

 

5 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

I had stopped writing at that point - when my character got to "Darlene" - which would be the 3rd complex companion

 

I can understand that. Beyond just the game balance and issues with pathing and blocking, I really try to keep my party size at 3 or fewer companions. Sometimes you can do fun interactions with a big group, but the game isn't designed to deal with that and it gets weird... to say nothing of the added writing pressure.

 

5 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

all three companions relate to the Institute in their own way - each in a different way

to handle that alone with a main story that is about an "infiltration" of the institute ... is hard enough for me

(we have very different approaches to our stories)

 

I agree. It's easy to write the Institute story - but I think it's difficult to write that story in a way that makes a lot of sense (since the vanilla version falls down on the whole 'making sense' part in a bunch of places). Your whole setup, both with your character in general and that aspect in particular, was pretty novel so I understand how it would be challenging. I'm still trying to nail down a lot of how I'm going to handle the events around "Institutionalized" when I get there.

 

5 minutes ago, Miauzi said:

Unfortunately, "The Kite" doesn't fit in for me then - which I regret in the end ... because there are 4 great mods to companions - but all 4 in one story don't work for me

 

I've used a lot of her costumes at this point... Vault Slave, Healthcare Division, Militia Woman, and now most recently Charred Vault Suit, plus Niero's Handmaiden which I think she was involved with to some extent. I'm pretty happy with them, but they're definitely situational. Sometimes a certain look just doesn't work for a certain story... nothing wrong with that. I've gone through that with Skyrim a lot where I pick different outfits for different builds based on the kind of visual storytelling I want to do.

[Miauzi]

Vor 16 Minuten sagte gregaaz:

Ich habe zu diesem Zeitpunkt viele ihrer Kostüme verwendet ... Vault-Sklave, Gesundheitsabteilung, Milizfrau und jetzt zuletzt der Charred Vault-Anzug sowie Nieros Dienerin, an der sie meiner Meinung nach bis zu einem gewissen Grad beteiligt war. Ich bin ziemlich zufrieden mit ihnen, aber sie sind definitiv situativ. Manchmal passt ein bestimmter Look einfach nicht zu einer bestimmten Geschichte … daran ist nichts auszusetzen. Ich habe das oft mit Skyrim erlebt, wo ich verschiedene Outfits für verschiedene Builds auswähle, basierend auf der Art des visuellen Storytellings, die ich machen möchte.

 

And here comes my "bad" memory again ... I got something mixed up ... I meant this companion mod

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/30488

 

and not the clothes of "The Kite" - I apologise for the misunderstanding.

apart from that - I had already written before - that the "fusion girl" version of the "slave suit" crashes my game...

...I then had to redesign all my planned scenes for the "re-education" of the captured female raider bosses

the solution then allowed me to be a bit more generous with the mod "Tao-Catsuits" ... which then served more my latex fetish

davon mal abgesehen - hatte ich ja schon mal geschrieben - dass die "Fusion-Girl"-Version des "Sklaven-Anzuges" mein Spiel zum Absturz bringt...

...ich habe daraufhin alle meine geplanten Szenen zur "Umerziehung" der gefangenen weiblichen Raider-Bosses umgestalten müssen

 

die Lösung gestattete mir dann den etwas großzügigeren Umgang mit dem Mod "Tao-Catsuits" ... was dann mehr meinen Latex-fetisch bediente

 

---

 

since you can change your own face in the game via "surgery" ... my half-Korean spy has now become -> Nora

(a bit of pre-war experimental super-agent stuff made this possible within 2 weeks (time for the surgery wounds to heal)).

Edited October 2, 2023 by Miauzi

[gregaaz]

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

apart from that - I had already written before - that the "fusion girl" version of the "slave suit" crashes my game...

 

A different author than the original FG conversion just posted one last month, might be worth checking out. I didn't use it because I've already so heavily modified the old FG version, but this one seemed to have some minor improvements to it, such as the very smooth shape and shiny texture of the latex parts.

 

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

...I then had to redesign all my planned scenes for the "re-education" of the captured female raider bosses

 

I've had some scenes like that where an outfit just refused to cooperate. Super frustrating  There was a whole scene in Chapter 71 where Red prolapses Charley's uterus because she didn't release the probe on the vaginal plug before trying to remove it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the uterus parts to work correctly with the tech suit and I had to shelve that scene after putting quite a lot of work into it.

 

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

the solution then allowed me to be a bit more generous with the mod "Tao-Catsuits" ... which then served more my latex fetish

 

It's hard to go wrong with a good latex outfit!

 

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

since you can change your own face in the game via "surgery" ... my half-Korean spy has now become -> Nora

(a bit of pre-war experimental super-agent stuff made this possible within 2 weeks (time for the surgery wounds to heal)).

 

That's a great feature. I've made some gradual changes to Charley's body over the course of the playthrough though I haven't done anything really drastic all in one go.