[Let's Babble and Blog] About Writing!

Some people may know this already, but for those who don't: I play a lot of videogames with intent to phase out of reality and fall into a world of imagination and creativity. For example: I can spend hours in Minecraft, digging tunnels, mining for diamonds, but in my head I'm not in the game — I'm lost within my own thoughts daydreaming of stories, fictional characters, and weaving events together to form an exciting book I might like to write one day. The game is just a conduit.

I've been playing a lot of My Time at Sandrock lately, and unintentionally I've found myself drifting off into my own little world... inspired by the game to start writing again.

My Time at Sandrock is a cute little life-sim, a sequel to My Time at Portia, and is set in a post-apocalyptic world where there are monster hunters who fight the mutated animals, relic hunters who search for items from the modern-day past, and builders who scavenge the ruins of old and build useful furniture, amenities, town improvements, etc, for the people.

I love it. I loved the first one too... but this one has been improved upon in every way. Highly recommend!

Anyway.

I've been daydreaming of my own little post-apocalyptic world whilst playing through this one. I've been imagining a post-apocalyptic Australia. There's a young adult who joins an effort to build a new settlement in the wastes, who wants to be a food producer for her new settlement, and who fails in her endeavours. Overwhelmed by failure, she mindlessly runs off into some nearby ruins... and ends up making discoveries that really help society to overcome their lot in life and take steps towards a brighter future.

It's gotten to the point where I've actually semi-plotted it out and I have a whole series sitting here, waiting to be written. I never plot things out! I'm the Queen of PANTSING! It helps that I'm writing this as more a Slice of Life than anything else. I didn't even realise until last week that "Slice of Life" was a legitimate genre.

That makes everything amazing.

If I had known that it was a legit genre earlier, I would've felt more comfortable with writing Joey and Jenny rather than trying to force a nonsensical plot just for the sake of it.

✨📚⭐️📝⭐️📚✨

Part of every Riverian’s education was learning about the Time Before and how the world had transformed over the centuries: it was a necessary lesson that instilled a sense of community into all the young minds who would one day take over from their forefathers. Lily had semi-listened to the elders for uncountable hours, daydreaming as they prattled on about the darkness that had encapsulated the earth and nearly destroyed all life. Occasionally she heard bits and pieces about how people lived in fear without electricity and luxuries that they could not even imagine these days, how when the sun shone once more the bloodshed began as man set upon man to fight for limited resources, and how eventually small pockets of people came together and worked as one to reclaim society… despite the bands of anti-social pillagers who preferred to take rather than contribute.

While Lily strove to be a contributing member of society, she didn’t see the point in focusing so blindly on history. The past was past and they had the future to look forward to now. Her future specifically. When news broke of a settlement being built upon the ruins of Old Maryborough, Lily had jumped at the chance to be a part of the effort. Her family owned the most popular bakery in the River Cities and the thought of being the one to bring food to the hungry stomachs of the new world was most exciting… and she wouldn’t say it out loud, but the thought of being free from her parents was pretty exciting, too. She was twenty-two; it was time to begin her own life.

The boat drifted along the river, sails buoyed by the wind, and brought Lily ever closer to the Valley. Flat grasslands strewn with broken buildings and cars, overgrown with green vines and twisting trees, slowly transformed into dust with misshapen mounds buried beneath the brown dirt. Beige mountains rose up on either side of the river then spread outward, showcasing the settlement in the distance — a pile of ramshackle constructs backed by one of the mountains.

It was a colourless, lifeless, and highly uninspiring region a far cry from the lush, green River Cities. Lily moistened her lips and swallowed, ignoring the sudden home-sickness that swept through her. This was what the new world was all about: transforming the old wastes into something magnificent. This was just the beginning and she was a part of it.

✨📚⭐️📝⭐️📚✨

I'm optimistic!

It would be nice to actually finish something I'm writing one of these days instead of being one of those people who starts and stops fifty thousand different projects. But in saying that, I do have quite a bit on my plate at the moment with photography, christmas and the very lengthy and chaotic christmas school holidays, my son's recent severe ASD diagnosis, and just having some "me time" where no one expects anything of me is taken up by having fun rather than staring at a blank document and hoping at least one sentence comes out.

I'm hoping I can better sort myself out next year. Get a routine going. I like routine and it's been sorely missing the past few months. 😩

 

Cheers for reading my babbles. 😅

Until next time! 🙃

 

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