Writing is certainly heavily discussed here, and something I struggle with myself. I won't bother repeating the same statements I keep hearing, or pointing to previous points. Instead, reading your post made me want to highlight something.
Pacing. figuring out 'pacing' may be the key.
Sometimes I feel like I just want to get started right away and write whatever comes to mind but other times I feel like I want to flesh out the story more by spending time planning it and detailing who each and every character is and what their role will be before I started writing it
likewise, a mix of two modes. I use to write down every idea, but now my ideas change so often that I wait and rest on them for a week or 2 before writing down what seems good, with mentions of what the previous ideas were.
Then when it comes down to how to actually writing the story, I'm never sure if I should go with a typical fiction story format, or a screenplay style format, or some other writing format that would be beneficial for someone designing the game to follow the action.
I feel like discussing these could explode into a whole other discussion post.
I will focus on the idea of a game, and less of a novel.
I have a short attention span so I can't enjoy novel like games, but then I contract myself by wanting interesting characters, which in order to be interesting you have to eventually learn a lot about them, but more importantly, experience them through the story. I try to design games I would like: minimim words, quick to get into, captivating, and some how bring ideas (particular characters or fantasies) to life. I'm sure most of us on here experiment a bit with what we make to try things out.
one thing that has started to work well for me is figuring out pacing. Often, in many games, the game mechanics act as the pacing mechanism, slowing down the story consumption with periods of gaming. I found that there can be a flow state, where a player enters 'flow' when the game is predictable enough that they can play it without pause, with suprises even now and then (story updates). This is still something being discussed in the high end game making community, nothing solid yet, but thats the summary. I like more mechanic focused games (few adult games manage this without going too far into focusing on just game mechanics), so I explore those as a pacing mechanism for stories. Its something you could exploer as well.
at one point I wanted to do this super arc with a character, as she eventually interacts with the entire cast/crew of side characters. But the project would have been way too big. I also realized that for me, constant story progression is difficult for me to write, I mostly can work with tiny neat side stories, and key turning points, but I am terrible at having a fleshed-out story. I think I have found a game mechanic that lets me just focus on writing the parts I am good at, pacing, and it easily allows me to break up the super story into parts (different games) that introduce and focus on new characters.
I've always had a hard time figuring out the middel and ends of story, but thought I could do well with intros and figuring out pacing mechanics, but my newest idea made me realize I may have been trying something too big, trying to fit it into something too small. Basically I found pacing that worked both well for players, lewd content, and worked with my story, slowing me down to the point of being required to break up my game.
so that would be my advice, if you are considering what kind of game experience you want to provide, if there is game play and not just story, think of how the game mechanics affect pacing, how pacing can affect your writing, etc.
