The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).

After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.

Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).

MY CHECK-IN

What am I working on this week?

I’m 10k into Wail and the momentum has sprawled a little this week, largely because I’m working scenes on both sides of the first act turning point without being happy about how I’m managing the reveal. The goal is to get the story drafted to the midpoint, along with notes about how the scenes will be revised based upon changing needs.

What’s inspiring me this week?

Surprisingly, the most inspirational thing this week has been sitting down with the draft version of the Cortex RPG Rules sent out to Kickstarter backers and figuring out how to apply them to our Superhero campaign.

The Marvel version of the rules is really focused on the fight scenes, but the mechanics stumble when they’re used for anything else. Looking at the structures used in other genres (Heist stories for Leverage, soap opera drama with Smallville) really involves putting the focus on how stories work and how they can be replicated.

In game, that means locking in on how a scene should be dramatized, what’s really important in terms of the result,  and which rules will best showcase the conflict that actually matters.

What action do I need to take?

As my inspiration for this week shows, I’ve been heavily on the gamer geek side of my reading for a while now. I really need to make time for other forms of inspiration, particularly some theory works that I can use with the coming thesis chapter drafts.