Once again this post will be based on Jesse Schell's The Art of Game Design. In this section, Schell talks about "problem statements" or statements that determine both your goal and any constraints. It's clear why these statements are useful since they give you something to work towards and also so that you know your limits before you start. This post will be about I time I started a long term project without a problem statement, and why I wish I had had one to begin with.
So, way back in sixth grade, little me decided that I wanted to write a book. I sat down at my computer and began typing. I didn't know where the story would go, or what characters I wanted to have; the plot was entirely based on whatever came to my head as I was writing. Now, the average person probably would have given up on this book at some point, but miraculously, I stuck with it. Sure, there were long periods where I didn't write anything, but around the end of ninth grade, I finally "finished" the book. I say that because I knew there was a lot of editing to do if I wanted it to not be a piece of crap. Obviously, my writing style had come a long way since I started writing the book, and it was good to go back and fix all of the grammar mistakes my younger self didn't know needed to be fixed. But it wasn't just that. Somewhere along the way, I had come up with a problem statement: "How can I write a book (series) that challenges the idea of good and evil?" Originally, all I had wanted to do is write for the sake of writing, and for the first seven chapters, the story had just been floating around aimlessly. I wouldn't say these chapters were boring necessarily, but they had no greater purpose, they were just about my main character's life. In chapter eight I finally introduced my main antagonist (that took a while!) and from there things started to pick up and that's why I really solidified my problem statement. Reading back through it, I realized I was going to have to entirely rewrite the beginning of the book, because it wasn't working towards a purpose at all. Had I started out with a clear idea and problem statement, this editing wouldn't take so long, and I could probably be done by the end of this year. Now, I'll be lucky if I can finish the book before the end of high school. Having such a clear problem statement now will help me during the editing process though since I'll be able to make sure that what goes in the final cut is all important, and helping me reach my goal rather than meandering. Overall, if I can stick to the problem statement, the end result should be much more interesting.
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AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
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