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.

  • AlkaliMarxist
    ·
    4 months ago

    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?