I'd say play around with your chosen development
system for a while and create a few small useless
bits of adventure first. That will give you a feel
for what's involved. Then you'll be in a better
position to know what sort of development style
suits you best - different people seem to work
in different ways.
By the way, I don't believe that programming and
creativity are mutually exclusive. Quite the
contrary - successful programming itself requires a great
deal of creativity. (Although it may be of a different
kind from that required to write good prose.)
In any case, I doubt very much that learning to
program is going to destroy your literary abilities
forever...
|> Chris
Greg