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there's always been a nag in the back of my skull, this urge to write a novel; it's been there for years, but i've always put it off as the prospect was too intimidating. over the last few weeks, however, i've mapped out some characters, a loose plot, and world (science fantasy loosely based on ancient greece); and i've written the first chapter (5k words), which i'll post later today.
my friend @Comicfarm drew some of the characters.
i imagine each chapter like an episode of a serialized anime of sorts; with a conflict, climax, and conclusion (or cliffhanger), and i plan to continue writing chapters between other projects. as always, every chapter will be available for free on my site. although, i might publish it when (and IF) i finish to see it in true book format; either way the epub/mobi/whatever will be free regardless.
I feel ya, I have plots and characters for various RPG ideas, and I really should just sit down and ernestly work on the idea sometime.
Like even if I set aside an hour every couple of days or something.
@ishambard it's very easy to get distracted in our modern blue-light world. i especially have a problem with becoming distracted. my advice is that i can't give you advice (lol), you have to convince yourself. you can do it.
@buru5
Distracted? Sorry, I was doing this fishing mini game...
But in all seriousness, yes, it is super easy to get distracted, and I do use playing games as a means to procrastinate on ideas and projects because it is so much easier to do that than think about how overwhelming it is to make a game by myself.
Even if I am using a pre-baked engine!
I need to dig up my spreadsheets for it again and tidy them up, cause stat tables and balance calculations are a massive time sink 
@ishambard i got one of the RPG Makers for free from some giveaway, and the idea of building an RPG with it comes up once and while. about 15 years ago i started building one with RPG Maker VX(maybe?), and even made some midi music for it, but ended up dropping the project for reasons i can't remember -- probably just got distracted lol.
Yeah, I have most of the RPG Makers, except the most recent one. I think part of my issue is, even if I say I want to do something basic, I overcomplicate things because I want to add additional mechanics...
The main one I am working with is SRPG Studio, which makes games more like Fire Emblem, Heck i even started learning JavaScript so I could tweak the engine myself and add custom abilities.
Perhaps I need to take a step back again, I have all the growth rates sorted for the 30 odd characters I have. Weapon and class tables. Maybe if I make something closer to the original Fire Emblem I can actually achieve it. Force some limits on myself 
@ishambard i've been seriously writing for over a year now, essays and whatnot, some fiction. at first, i would take these super detailed notes on everything, try to map it all out and get everything just right, but when i sat down to write the mapping would complicate and stress me out, so i ended up writing from a freeflow state (which is what i try to do from the start now). i have a theme, an idea, etc. then i run with it with whatever my mind comes up with and then tweak it in draft/post.
@ishambard note i am not always successful and still do sometimes over complicates things for myself.
one thing that's important for me to keep in mind is: my grand vision of what an essay or story is going to be about and how it should flow and be just perfect will never ever turn out as grand and perfect as it is in my mind; and i have to accept that and just go with the flow. sometimes i write bad stuff, sometimes it's really good(according to some), other times it's meh. happens.
@buru5
Part of my problem is that I am incredibly critical of myself, but I suppose that comes with the territory of wanting to be creative.
I think what I will try to do in the next month or so, I will find some time to put together some maps, create the foundations of a basic demo, and try not to worry about the mental negative feedback from myself 
@ishambard from my experience (and this might not apply to you): gotta start somewhere; the more you create what you think is "bad," the better you'll get; problem is, i never think anything i create is very good, and the more i do it the more critical i get of myself. Dunning-Krueger peaks and valleys are super real, in my experience.
It is funny. The Dunning-Kruger effect came up quite recently with a couple of seminars I have been doing with work
Ultimately, you are right. Whatever happens, it is building experience, which in term should mean I will get better at it and gain confidence.
@buru5 That’s a great project! I wish you a lot of luck and inspiration.
@buru5 I would be super interested to read this, honestly. I've enjoyed everything of yours that I've read recently
@COMPU73E thanks, that's kind of you. i think you'll find the first chapter interesting, if not something vaguely similar to something else i know for a fact that you've read before (lol).
Kind of like, old Star Trek? Each chapter is its own story, with a common smaller story within each chapter, showing character growth and evolution?
@Dennis5891 yeah, serialized with an overarching arc.
I love stories like that