User blog comment:LoganWoerner/A User Who Needs Encouragement/@comment-2026417-20130825170146

Well, I know how stories can be. The only big story I've actually completed here was Quest for the Masks, and it had nothing to do with my original characters. My original storylines usually seemed to fall short of what I wanted them to be, and I just quit them.

As for characters (Niha verbigatia), I think you do something myself and a few of my friends do at times. You see something cool in a movie, book, or show, and you decide to add it to one of your characters with your own spin on it. I think Niha just falls victim to this most often, having her backstory and personality changed to fit with that new 'thing' that you want her to be.

What I think could be done to remedy this would be simply writing down a list of traits you want her to have permanently. That way, the character remains the same 'being' rather than an amalgamation of traits subject to change at any time.

When it comes to making stories, brainstorming and then writing down ideas often works best. When you find an idea or ideas that seem good for a plot, right those down, and start slowly building a story around it. Outline the plot and whatnot, and make sure you've got the whole thing planned out. That way, you have a goal set to get to. Oftentimes, if I make stuff on a whim, it dies after the first few chapters. However, stuff I've outlined heavily often survives.

With discussion points:
 * 1) I think her design was pretty cool, and the use of the Tryna on the character looked good. The idea of her being a naive, Xian machine was cool, and showed a lot of promise for searching for purpose or coming to terms with reality.
 * 2) Probably more Toa, since you can build them pretty well. Maybe some more 'Artificial Toa' or prototypes that preceded Niha's creation. You have some decent designs, and it'd be cool to see them get used or modified more often.
 * 3) Mostly, I just work out and outline a plot and view the end as something of a challenge. I also write out scenes I want in my head, and then work towards those, trying to produce the best links I can to that scene.

Not sure if this helps, but this is what I can think of at the moment. Good luck with your future on the wiki.