i have a book

So, this is the "landing page" for my story. The left column has my "poster", and underneath that is the summary I have on my info page on my blog. The other two columns, on the right, have links to the boards that make up this mess.

This is the "outfit catalogue" board. It has pics of the outfits for every sim involved in the story, along with notes on how I have used / will use them. (The order here is meaningless. The top row is just the order from my character page on my blog, and the other ones are just grouped by their relevance / if they actually show up.)

This is what part of the outfit catalogue actually looks like. I note what I might use the outfit for, and also any notes about it. (Is it out of character for said sim? Would it only be worn for specific occasions? Is it formal or casual? Is it for warm or cold weather? etc.)

This is the main worldbuilding board. Each kingdom on the continent has a section, and there's also a place for all my rambles about the world. (Anvia is on there, just cut off.)

Each kingdom's board looks like this. There's a couple more sections underneath, along with a doc for more in-depth rambles.

Now onto the actual planning portion!!

I've shared this pic before, but this is my overall timeline for the story. (It really needs an update, though.) I have mapped out the dates of when certain key events occur, as well as when the transitions between the Acts happen. (Blurred for spoilers.)

This is the main landing page for my planning though. Each Act has a spot that includes the timeframe, a summary of events, as well as what I want to accomplish during that act to move the story forwards. (Acts 4 and 5 not included for spoiler reasons, plus Act 5 doesn't fit on the screen without scrolling.)

Each individual Act looks like this, but with more chapters (again, they don't all fit without scrolling). This is a look at Act 2. I have a column for each chapter, with a list of scenes, as well as the timeline of the chapter.

The board for each scene looks like this. I have a super short summary, the location (including which of the 6 copies of Windenburg said lot is in), who's involved, and what they'll be wearing (cross-referenced with the Outfit Catalogue, ofc.). Then there's a more detailed summary that summarizes the beats/themes of the scene, as well as has some insight into what the characters are thinking and feeling. The poses section varies from scene to scene, but the top section is for me to list any accessories I need, or any existing poses I have that might suit my needs, as well as rambling about the poses I might need to make. The checklist part is for the poses I need to make myself, usually. The writing section contains two versions of the scene. A full-length prose version (since I do that sometimes for fun and practice), and the actual script. The script is essentially what I type on the screenshots, as well as was goes in the transcript under the cut.

This is what the scratch board looks like. It's where I dump all of the screenshots I take for the scene, and sort them out. I decide which ones I actually want to use, and put them in the right order. Then I decide what portion of the text is going to go on which screenshot. (Better example below)

Phew! Okay, that's everything!! (Except for the character boards but those are kind of spoilery and I'm in the process of replacing them anyways.) Hopefully this was at least kind of fun to look at. It honestly amazes me how organized this is, because literally nothing else in my life is even remotely organized, lol.

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Hi everyone, if you've been with me for a while you might know I'm a fan fo NaNoWriMo... The event, no longer the organization. I was wary... but willing to see how new policies and restructuring shook out after the major scandal last year (if you aren't aware, I won't be going into the details here, but you may find them triggering).

It's this second issue that I feel that I can actually speak on... Because NaNoWriMo has a new sponsor... and that sponsor is AI.

When I first heard that NaNo was okay with AI, I was wary but... not too upset. After all, NaNo's big thing for a long time was just "Just write" basically however you had too, whatever tools you need. I know that there are AIs designed to aid with grammar and clarity. And that seemed... if not fine, than understandable. NaNo (for me) is a major source of motivation and I could completely understand why NaNo wouldn't want wins invalidated because they used some kind of AI to help them along. Then I found out that NaNo picked up an AI sponsor and that completely changed the story for me. It went from the people NaNo served... to supporting one of the organizations that might be ripping off writers.

As I've said in the notes of my fics when I reluctantly took steps to protect my work from AIs like ChatGPT, putting my work in an AI is essentially monetizing my work without reimbursing me and other writers and undercutting jobs in writing that people like me truly want. I don't know what this sponsor's actual AI is like. But it is a massive red flag that they are sponsoring an organization that's focused on an event that generates thousands of potential books to train their AI on.

NaNo's official stance is "We also want to be clear in our belief that the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege." NaNo is experiencing a lot of backlash.