making up your own fictional universe
creating an entire history for it
creating characters who have complex back stories
RESEARCHING NAMES WITH MEANINGS THAT CORRESPOND TO THE HISTORY AND UNIVERSE AND BACK STORIES YOU’VE COME UP WITH
then never writing or doing anything with it at all ever
THIS A MILLION TIMES THIS!!
Choosing the protagonist
Making their childhood hell
Making them lose nearly everything
HAVING THEM SUFFER THROUGH SEEING ALL THEIR FRIENDS DIE AND HOMES DESTROYED AND ONLY GETTING A BITTERSWEET ENDING AT BEST
Never actually writing this down and only replaying scenes in your head