Worldbuilding is easy, Stories are hard

I’m in a bit of a logjam with this project. Worldbuilding I can do. I can endlessly create characters, magical items, monsters, and write little blurbs about them, but without writing any actual stories, no one is ever going to care about Carbunkle! but me.

Stories are one of the few things humanity has left that still keep us connected to one another. With an endless stream of hyperbolic nonsense fed to us 24/7 through our devices, I feel like a good story, in whatever form it takes, can still rise out of the mud and the muck and shine through the darkness. If only for a moment before it's dismissed by the all-powerful algorithm or, worse, devoured and regurgitated into a never-ending stream of content slop. (Keep that in mind, Dungeon Crawler Carl fans.)

I’ve started and stopped so many stories recently that my draft folder has a draft folder, which has a draft folder. I’m an artist first and foremost. I’ve spent my entire life honing my artistic talent. I know my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to art. I can see what I want in my head and then successfully create it.

With writing... not so much.

I start, then I stop. I doubt, I question, and then I start over. I remember what that used to feel like as an artist. In trying to write, I find myself battling that particularly annoying gremlin of self-doubt once again. I pummeled it into submission before, so I suppose I can do it again, but right now I’m stuck in an infinite loop of writing but not creating art, or creating art but not writing.

It’s frustrating, to say the least. I’m not quitting though, just complaining. I like complaining. It keeps me young.

While I’m hacking away at writing a story, here’s some art I made when when I wasn't doing that.