Our "tutorial" start

 (Feel free to use this as you wish! Take it as a prompt, grab an idea or two and run with them, or copy verbatim - it all works):

You wake up in a strange bed. You find a hearty breakfast laid out complete with hot steaming beverage. There's a note tucked under the mug:

Welcome!

Congratulations! You are the new Guardian of the Land. I hope you enjoy your new life here. I've placed a few items in the chest at the end of your bed to get you started.

*****

It's at this point that you can put items into that chest for your character to find. The items are going to help direct who your character is, what they do, and give an idea as to what sort of world they are in -  there's going to be a huge difference between finding peasant clothing, a spacesuit, and a futuristic set of armour. When Parz and Aleesha wrote their first story, they chose to set things in a low- to no-tech setting. Their chests contained basic peasant clothing.

Does your world have technological/scientific/magical properties? Make sure to seed your chest with an item or two to reflect that. Parz and Aleesha went with a low-key magical world, more focused on alchemy/potion-making (plants and animals). The chest had a book of potions, a few potion ingredients, some potion-making tools/equipment, and a few other odds and ends.

The place where you wake up is going to provide a lot of clues as to who you are and the world you live in - something your character will discover once they open the door to see what is outside of their room/apartment/house/cottage/wherever.

Suggestions on How to Begin

 We've covered the Pips World system. Now let's talk about where to start!

There are a few places where writing can commence, so let's work through them!

Writing... A Good Story

This one is obvious, right? You've read the ideas in this guidebook, you have your first pod lined up and ready to go for the first segment, but... how to start actually writing the story? You've got ideas but no firm way to get things going. You stare down at the blank page and all it does is stare back up at you. (Have you ever noticed just how disconcerting it can be to have a blank piece of paper intimidate you?)

Here's an idea - don't worry at this point about writing a good story or getting all the ideas in your head onto the page. Just write something. Make it small - perhaps take your imagined protagonist and write a flash fiction piece featuring that person. Cover a small snippet of their life. Get to know them and the world they live in. Then look at picking a place to start your 'good story'.

Writing... Any Story!

You've read the ideas in this guidebook, you have your first pod lined up and... you don't know what next. No worries! Here's Parz's method - hopefully it'll help you too.

It's a three-step process:

1. Observing
2. Scribing
3. Editing

For Observing, take time to let the ideas in your pod to develop. Let them interact with each other. Allow your mind to think ideas, plot, setting, and a healthy dose of nonsense. (Parz is inclined to say the more ridiculous, the better). Within all that, pay attention to things that catch your fancy and that stick around in your head. Observe the ideas until they resolve into something you're willing to work with. (With time and practice you'll get to a place where you are happier sooner with ideas).

Once you have something that is ready to be written, it's time to actually write it. Parz calls it 'Scribing' - the act of taking the idea in your head and moving it to the page. Whether it's on a data processing platform or fountain pen and notebook (Parz's preference) or anything in between, just write it down. It's tempting to stop for grammar mistakes, spelling, things that are contradictory - the distractions that will get in the way of putting things on paper. Because that's what they are - distractions. Just get things written! Clean them up later.

Once you've got your ideas down, then pay attention to making things better - do the Editing. Whether you do a light edit (for more personal work) or heavy editing (for something that will be published), this is where you find all the parts that aren't working and make them work. Spelling, grammar, that small plot hole that needs an extra sentence or two to close. All of it.

Writing... Anything!!!

You've read the ideas in this guidebook and... you've got nothing.

No worries! Here's an idea:

Write a portal fantasy (like Alice in Wonderland) or an isekai (Japanese for Another World). It makes sense, right? New system, new environments/settings, new characters (potentially) - so why not make it official and set up a new world while you're at it. 

This is not to say you are now burdened with figuring out the whole new world. Nope. Start small, make a decision or two (pips), then give it a go. 

When Aleesha and Parz first envisioned Pips World, they'd played Apothecaria - they had witches as main characters, healing patients, making potions, and getting to know the world around them. From that idea, here's the one they envisioned as a starting point - you are the Guardian of the Land! What that means to you or how you choose to do you guardianing is up to you - but that's a way to start. (The next post lays out the details...)

Prior: Prompts/Inspirations

Prompts/Inspirations

Now that we've covered the nuts and bolts of the Pips World system, let's take a moment to talk about the ideas you want to express in your writing - the Prompts and Inspirations that are both generating the desire to write about something (whether it's the overarching idea or a small plot point or anything in between) or to mention something (whether it's a reference or an easter egg). 

If you already know that for a given chapter you want to move your protagonist from plot point A to point B, then that is your prompt. For example, your character survived the little kid kicking their seat for 5 hours on the airplane (plot point A) and are now making their way to the vital presentation where being well-rested is vital (plot point B). But what if you don't know where to take the story? Or you do know but want to have something unexpected or surprising. Enter Prompts.

One way to get things moving in an unexpected direction is to pick three words and use them to guide what happens in the story, even if it's a small plot point. And if that sounds good but you don't know how to pick the words, try this (Parz calls it Seed Word Germination) - start with one word. When in doubt, start with 'I'. Then make a list of words, with each word being somehow related to the word prior. Maybe like this:

I

Eye (homonym)

Sight

Sigh (sounds similar)

Breath

Out

Outsized

and so on. When you've written down a list, maybe twenty, pick three words that jump out at you, or that seem fun and interesting to stick into your story. Remember that these are prompts - they are there to guide the story (but bonus points if you actually add them!)

Another way to incorporate prompts into your writing is to add references to things related to what you're writing about. For instance, if you are writing about 'running down a dream', maybe see that there is a song called that too. You can incorporate lyrics, band member names, whatever you think appropriate.

There are as many ways to include fun elements, references, prompts, and easter eggs, as there are people who write. There's no wrong way to do it. Give it a go!

Prior: Chapters - Sections and Segments

Next: Suggestions on How to Begin

Chapters - Segments and Sections

 Now that we've got a system for creating the content of your story, let's next talk about how it all fits together. 

When Aleesha and Parz began developing Pips World, they were still playing Apothecaria, a potion-making journaling solo role playing game. In that game, weeks were divided into two parts: the portion of the week dedicated to healing someone of some affliction (the Cure episode), and the other part of the week that was more or less downtime (the Rest episode). In Pips World, we think in terms of five episodes coming together into a greater whole. (Why five? Because Parz has this thing about the number five, especially with his Square Breathing).

Each individual episode is a Segment. 

Five segments makes one Section.

When numbering a 'chapter', we use the following notation: Section.Segment. For example, 2.5 is Section 2, Segment 5 (within Section 2). The next Segment that gets written would then be 3.1. 

For a prologue, Parz uses 1.0. Or you could use 0.1. Whatever makes sense to you, use!

For an epilogue, use what makes the most sense. Maybe it constitutes a new Section. Maybe it's just another segment. 

Outside of the numbering, if you'd like to also name the Segment, go for it! (So maybe 2.5 is titled The King is Mystified, and so you could label it like this '2.5 - The King is Mystified').

Back: Content - Pips and Pods

Next: Prompts/Inspirations

Content - Pips and Pods

 When you read a piece of writing, you may notice that there were decisions made that are carried through it. The longer the work, such as a novel, the more obvious those decisions generally are.

For instance, if an author wants to be able to switch between characters' thoughts and feelings, as well as their actions, they may opt to write in 3rd person universal. If they want a more intimate feeling within one character, having the reader experience only what the protagonist experiences, they may choose to write in 1st person.

What person you write in is only one choice an author makes. Pace, default tense (usually either past or present), setting - these are all decisions that are made initially and carried through the entirety of the work. (Usually. There are exceptions!)

In this system, each decision is called a Pip. 

Here are a few decisions you might make:

• Person: 1st (protagonist, incidental), 2nd, 3rd (universal, limited)
• Point of View: who are we following, if anyone, in particular
• Default Verb Tense: past, present, future
• Style: prose, poetry, or take inspiration from an author you admire
• Prompts: add a few words into the writing that you decide on beforehand (this is a great way to take your story places you'd never expect)

The collection of the individual Pips constitutes a Pod. 

In Pips World, you are encouraged to make a different Pod for each chapter/episode.

At this point, you may be wondering if the continuity of a work will be interrupted by having different pods in each chapter. Maybe. But we think the freedom of using different pods for each of your chapters/episodes is what makes this fun. 

Try it. Experiment. Have fun! 

Back: Introduction and Background

Next: Chapters - Segments and Sections

Introduction and Background

 Hello and Welcome! to Pips World.

This first entry is to introduce the system and give the background of where it came from.

Introduction

Pips World is a system which can be used to explore creative writing by mindfully and deliberately trying things out. Use it like a game (like a solo journaling role playing game), use it to write your next novel (Parz has already written a short-ish novel and will be using Pips World for writing a longer one), or simply as a way to creatively explore creativity. It's all up to you.

Background

The two creators, the brilliantly amazing, wonderful, and oh so modest, Aleesha and Parzival Sattva wrote their own stories based on the journaling solo role playing game, Apothecaria. As they wrote their stories, they discovered many elements of the genre to be positive - consistent settings, a bit of world-building pre-made, prompts to help direct action. But over time, they found that the negatives, such as over-detailed prompts, and their desire to expand their stories beyond the given prompts, made playing the game tiresome and cumbersome. Their solution was the creation of a system, this system, to give them the ability to be as creative as they want, to expand their stories in the way they desire, and yet still have elements to help guide story (sometimes into unexpected but delightful places).

The elements of the system are straight-forward. At least they think so. Hopefully you do too!

We hope you enjoy using Pips World as much as we enjoyed creating it. 

Next: Content - Pips and Pods