So, I noticed a problem I have. I have ideas that always, in my head, appear as a vague shape or idea, but I can never get a concrete idea of how something would go. or look I can only detail pivotal moments, but I can never picture the hours in between each event.
I have Autism. Over the past year, I had been trying to write, but I could never effectively translate my ideas. Every time I get to the keyboard, it seems my flowing mind grinds to a halt. I have been working alone, so that doesn’t help much. I am good at designing character designs in Heroforge, but not so good at putting them to writing, because I will need a constant concrete foundation for how something would look. And I have trouble coming up with how something would be without any kind of foundation or starting point
It was watching two episodes of The 2005 ‘The Snow Queen’ anime today, that I realized that my creative forte was not in writing a book without a helping visual aid. However, I cannot make visual art either.
I had the idea of somehow making a visual novel format, where there is an emphasis on character dialogue and interactions. Is there some program or software where I can show a story in a visual novel format? That is, showing lots of still backgrounds and characters with lots of text?
Edit: External Aid! That’s the concept I was looking for. I can’t formulate something solely off the top of my head. Whether it’s bouncing ideas by sharing with others, collaborating with others, or just having a picture of something, any kind of external stimuli or aid is something I always need to be able to have ideas at all.
Writing is also just hard. I love writing and often have ideas bouncing around in my head. But the second I start trying to type out my thoughts…nothin’.
I’m not sure how autism intersects with the preexisting challenge of writing, but you’re definitely not alone in being unable to just sit down and take your thoughts and put turn on paper.
I suppose I could try and storyboard each pivotal point, expand it.
I’ve heard good things about Ren’Py as a visual novel maker. It’s basically a simple programming language though so you’d need some computer skills.
Also, in visual design there’s a concept they call a mood board, which is like a board with a whole bunch of different pictures that each inspire some sort of vibe or feeling you want to capture in a work, then you can look at it for inspiration when creating. Maybe something like that would help as a easy starting point to give you a concrete, visual point of reference?
Regarding visual novels, there are two standard types: ADV (Adventure) and NVL (novel). There are plenty of NVL type visual novels that contain tons and tons of text, while still having characters and backgrounds.
Also, what helps me write is pretending to switch “narrators” in my head. Like if I’m being descriptive about my world, I think of what a history documentary narrator would say about a subject. Or if a character is telling a casual flashback, I think of my friends telling stories of things that happened to them. It doesn’t have to be the specific text that you write, of course. It’s just a general tone and style guide that I found useful. You can get creative with it, like being a fashion contest judge assigning “points” for an outfit that you’re describing.
Finally, if you have the means, you might want to invest in a second or even third monitor if you do your creative work online. Having multiple screens open for quick reference helps. It’s not super critical or anything, especially with budget considerations.
The use of AI (i.e ChatGPT etc) can be a way to help with quickly creating an story outline from your basic idea.
Give it your basic story context, the characters (even if it’s just a vague description) and the essential idea of the plot.
The AI will then create a storyboard you can use as prompts for your writing 👍
