hi everyone! i'm going away to the hospital for a few months and will have very limited online time. i think it's a great opportunity to spend time writing again and developing my pets, stories, a short story, art, TC ideas, etc. any advice on how i should start to go about that? i'll have lots of free time to write and draw, but if anyone knows any method to the madness that could be helpful, let me know!

goodluck in there, for me I liked my lil' net book. but it is also handy so you can download your subeta account and 'take it with you' so to speak. otherwise, a coil note book with a list of your pets name, color and species is always handy to have with you for writing.

I usually create a design first, based off what I see in the pet. But I've know people who prefer to list random facts of the character they want to create before anything, and from that elaborate a story and desing. I think that works better.

For example, you want to write about X pet. Write down everything you can think about X, from the color or name, things that come to your mind when you see that pet. Chances are the rest comes flowing from that.

I hope it helps! Wish you best of luck in the hospital, ! <3

Have any ideas, guys?

hope everything goes well.

For my pets I usually start with the idea that I want to write the story about, sometimes is the character first and sometimes it relates directly to the name the pet has. The rest depends on if they are an informational pet or if they are based on something from the real world. If they are then I research the topic so I have information about the things I'll write about in their story, make sure to keep a list of your references so they can be included in the credits!

Based on their story/idea is then how I get started on their TC. For example Dimetri is a nature spirit, so he has rocks, minerals, insects, plants and things like that. Dervish is from a desert culture so she has things related to that, like jewellery, glass bottles of perfume and marble statues of animals she is familiar with.

Once I know their story and who they are, what they're interested in I can usually then pick out a colour and or design for their other forms. Truthfully I'm very haphazard in how I do things with my pets as sometimes the inspiration will strike me for pet B when I'm trying to work on pet A. Don't let that phase you, work on what you feel like working on at that point. Forcing it doesn't help in my experience.

My General Steps: Idea/Name Story TC Artwork Profile

Don't forget to have fun with it. Imagination has no limits.

i personally find that i work best when i'm multitasking!! especially with writing, so i tend to cycle between 3-4 stories at any one time :> still on the topic of writing, i also don't really write things chronologically anymore lmao, i usually write chunks and then string them together at the end because inspiration does whatever it wants i suppose

like in general for me i don't really follow schedules or anything when i want to get stuff done, i just go with whatever i feel inspired to do in the moment |D

^^^I totally do the multi-tasking thing too.

sorry you're gonna be laid up for awhile! I hope you're feeling good when it's all done. :) Like Thespian I am a cycler! (lol) I always have multiple characters going at once. For me it keeps things fresh! But once I get to a certain point I usually force myself to button down and finish it all at once. (no matter how many hours it takes haha)

My method is not that... organized.. lol. I usually start by choosing the pet that inspires me the most and leave the more blank ideas for last because they take longer. I start with the name and use that to build a character. Once I have the character I can figure out why they are how they are and flesh out a backstory and what I want their profile to represent about them. I make a wishlist for them, begin building the tc, and writing the story. Art gets worked on off and on while doing the rest. I hate coming up with the profile layout itself so that always gets pushed to last. Once I figure that out I work on the art for it, hopefully by this point the character art is done. not likely, haha. Once I have the profile looking good, then I do the coding. Lastly I do final proof reading, link checking and all that jazz. :) I say just do it however works for you and your schedule!

If your time online is limited I'd def. recommend a using a notebook. Another thing I've used was flash cards for when you have random ideas. That way you don't have to rip out pages or erase, you can re-order them however. If you don't mind apps I like having pintrest boards and tumblr tags for images that inspire my characters. It's really nice to be able to look through for when I'm having an art or writing block. You could also make a google docs spreadsheet to keep track of what you want to do with each pet. I like those because u can access them anywhere with the internet which is really convenient. :) If I think of anything else I'll stop back in.

Good luck! I hope your time there goes well!

If you're going to have a laptop or something without much net access, I would utilize some of the programs that come with your system- otherwise you might want to pick up a couple of cheap notebooks before you head in. Typing is faster and more convenient, especially if you're prone to forgetting things quickly but there can be something really therapeutic about physically writing down your thoughts and it's easier to include a quick scribbled visual.

If you're starting off with no ideas at all, try thinking about some of your favorite shows/movies/books/etc and what common themes they have that appeal to you. Recall if there's ever been any character whose personality or choices really got you thinking. Keep a few pages of a notebook or a separate document for half-formed ideas that you might want to come back to later, even if they sound silly.

If you have a basic idea for a story and a character or two for it, but you haven't figured out many other details about it, write about the things you do know and ask yourself questions about the story (also on paper). Include a list of possible scenarios if you don't have a solid answer for something yet. It should start to come together. Like others have said, you can work on more than one story at a time- I frequently come up with something for a character while I was in the middle of writing things for another.

Whenever it inspires you, plan out the kinds of things that you want to see your pet have- whether or not you want them to have an overlay or a huge TC, the profile to represent a certain mood, or if you'd rather keep the visuals low-key and have the focus be the story. Maybe you can take a list of the pet species along to make remembering them easier. You can write down themes of TC items or certain words that might apply to your character to look up later.