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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Murphy's Stunt Double on December 09, 2007, 09:13:25 AM
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I've hit a huge out flow of writing lately, but it's all on RPG.... so that begs the question... is it valid as "writing" or not?
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If you wrote it, it's writing. :P My buddy does the same thing. He posts on an online RPG, SHAE(swords honor somethin somethin, I think), and his vocab and description abilities have vastly improved since he started. He types out a section of storyline and posts it. I'd consider that writing, so if it's anything like what you're doing, I'd say yes, you are in fact writing.
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Yep - that's it exactly. :D Thanks.... The internal critic had insomnia last night...
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Not to mention what you learn by reading what the other players are writing and trying to keep up with them. I'm constantly looking stuff up on the internet. And after all the speed-posting I've done with some people ... I'm not sure I'll ever really have writer's block again ROFL.
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Ain't that truth!! ;D
I know more about Chicago gangsters and various assault weapons now than I'd ever thought I'd want to, and find myself watching Modern Marvels and the History Channel for research! LOL
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I don't role-play any more, after some years doing lots of it in high-school, precisely because it feeds on the same energy as writing my fiction. [ well, that and a little bit of seeing the workings of the RPG industry. ]
I am however starting to head in the direction of getting back into photography again, for the first time since my early teens; will be interesting to see how that works creativity-wise.
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Honestly I think that it would greatly improve your descriptions by playing RPG's I also know that one of the biggest best sellers Dragonlance started off as an RPG adventure.. so who knows..
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oooooo.... then there ARE those who have fulfilled my dreams before me..... *rubs hands together gleefully*
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Honestly I think that it would greatly improve your descriptions by playing RPG's I also know that one of the biggest best sellers Dragonlance started off as an RPG adventure.. so who knows..
Well, yes, but Dragonlance is rubbish.
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That's okay... then I can still aspire to doing the deed and creating a masterpiece! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
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Hey, my first for-hire job was writing short fiction for FASA for Shadowrun.
And I'm a HUGE proponent of MUSH as improv exercises for writing (online text based rp)
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I'm sorry if my comment came across as negative on people who RPG regularly or have had some professional involvement with the field, that was definitely not the intention. Just that for me, being involved in an RPG uses the same energy as writing fiction does, and right now writing fiction is more important to me.
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No offense was taken, by me, anyways, neurovore. In fact, that was one of my fears when I began playing. All the time I spend on line playing is time and energy I could spend *insert serious voice* "writing".
But I must say, the energy that I've gained in collaboration beats anything I have ever experience writing alone. Also, the accountability factor seems to be counteracting my procrastination talents wonderfully! AND... I haven't had writer's block in months! Not to mention all that I'm learning with finding historial events that I can incorporate and morph into a storyline. The challenge inherent in injecting a completely fictional series of events inside a skeleton structure of historical accuracy, without altering the real life outcome of events is .... *big smile* satisfying.
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Well, I'm not much of a writer. But I have been Gaming, and DM-ing, for about 25 years, now.
And not just D&D, but a lot of RPGs: Earthdawn to Shadowrun; RIFTS to Witchcraft, World of Darkness to Battletech; TOONS to Superheroes; more.....
Various Play-By-Post Sites have improved my (Still Limited) writing skills.
(two P-B-P Sites I run – one for D&D and one for X-Men – anyone interested can email me. BLATENT PLUG!! [sorry.])
I normally love to play with different fonts and colors. However, different fonts and colors do not always work for every Posting Site – I have yet to figure out how to do different fonts here. Colors is possible to do, but a lot of people have complained that the different colors makes it harder for them to read what I posted, and so I stopped doing it.
From what I have noticed, to write something for an RPG is like being the Uber-DM. You have to take into account everything that you want to happen, but also be flexible enough to see everything that could happen – and then figure out ways to change things in unexpected ways, so that your readers are almost always surprised by that event.
Being the Uber-DM also means that you have to look at your Villains and Monsters, and make them as “Human” – and as believable – as possible.
It also might mean letting the Baddies “win” from time to time, and then finding a way for your Hero(es) to defeat them.
Also look at unusual Races for Characters – my favorite “Monster Race” in D&D is the lowly Kobold.
This race has as much a chance to be almost any “D&D Class” as any other Race in the Player's Handbook. A Lawful “Communistic” Society, that has a lot of Racial history of being the Underdogs; and a great amount of anger, frustration, and “Religious Hype” against everyone else - remember that their only deity is evil, and hates all non-Kobolds, but especially Gnomes.
Can you Imagine a Gnome/Kobold "Romio & Juliette"? Write out the viewpoint of each, Before, During, and After they "fall in love".
First try a Gnome boy and a Kobold girl, and then try the reverse.
Also – decide if they are going to (1) break up, (2) suicide to be together, or (3) simply elope.
I once had a wonderful (IMhO) story (and not the R & J, above) about how a young Kobold becomes a powerful “Hero” of several “Normal” Races, as well as his other Kobolds.
But the story was lost years ago, from moving around so much, and technically it is nothing more then just “Fanfic” anyway.
My point was – that inspiration can come from a lot of sources, including playing RPGs.
Well, yes, but Dragonlance is rubbish.
After the first two trilogies (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning; and Time of the Twins, Test of the Twins, War of the Twins) I would tend to agree.
A few of the first Prelude “Histories” - and a few Short Story collections – were ok, but most sucked rotten eggs.
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throw my two cents in as of late.
I actually Play some random Text-based RPG while writing on a story. I'll load up word and just start working, and I'll write as much as I can before whomever I am RPing with replies.
I don't know exactly why this works for me, but having a "second Story" being made where I am only responsible for half the action keeps my mind working fresh on my main tale. Provided I have a good partner in the RP, I can write for a good 7-8 hours (though it might be more like 5-6 if you subtract time spent on the RP and not the story)
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Well, yes, but Dragonlance is rubbish.
While this might be true depending on who you ask, it didn't change the fact about how well they sold and how the books got started..
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I actually Play some random Text-based RPG while writing on a story. I'll load up word and just start working, and I'll write as much as I can before whomever I am RPing with replies.
I don't know exactly why this works for me, but having a "second Story" being made where I am only responsible for half the action keeps my mind working fresh on my main tale. Provided I have a good partner in the RP, I can write for a good 7-8 hours (though it might be more like 5-6 if you subtract time spent on the RP and not the story)
Gosh. That would be totally impossible for me, it would completely break my concentration. But then, I generally do not take coffee breaks or lunch breaks at work, because working a day straight is about four times as productive as breaking the day up every time I get some flow going.
Kipling hit the nail on the head:
"There are nine-and-sixty-ways of constructing tribal lays
And every single one of them is right."
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While this might be true depending on who you ask, it didn't change the fact about how well they sold and how the books got started..
We care about sales ?
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a few publishers might.. personally I like the 1st 6 books and stopped reading them after that..
did the same thing with the Wheel of Time series..
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Gosh. That would be totally impossible for me, it would completely break my concentration. But then, I generally do not take coffee breaks or lunch breaks at work, because working a day straight is about four times as productive as breaking the day up every time I get some flow going.
I think it works for me because I cannot do any one thing for so long. I naturally multitask (probably ADD or something, never got tested as a kid, never gonna be). If I sit to work on a novel and do nothing else, eventually I'll drift off mentally and not go back, self-imposed writers laze. When given something equally engaging to focus on from time to time, I go back to my story with a fresh mentality every couple of minutes.
.... I feel I should also mention the TV runs in the background so I don't miss my favorite shows
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Heh- I think they call that Sesame Street Syndrome - what resuts out of young brains trained to focus on information in short snippets and move on to the next bit of information.
Wholly different from, yet probably the precursor to ADD.
*PS - I totally just made that up.
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a few publishers might.. personally I like the 1st 6 books and stopped reading them after that..
did the same thing with the Wheel of Time series..
I was being snarky, but seriously, the most consistent advice I've hear from the most authors, editors, and other publishing professionals is; write what you have to write, not what you think will sell. Your job as an author is to write the books; publishers have marketing departments, and you're not doing their job.
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Interesting.... just this last week at my writer's group one of the leaders said something to the effect of keep in mind, the publishing business is a BUSINESS and publishers are looking for books that will SELL.
Not that I think either perspective is "right" neurovore. But I think the smart writer will keep a blending of both perspectives in mind in producing something created from the soul that will make a profit.
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Not that I think either perspective is "right" neurovore. But I think the smart writer will keep a blending of both perspectives in mind in producing something created from the soul that will make a profit.
Nah, the smart writer grasps that the genre fiction market in the US can support about forty full-time professionals, and keeps a tight hold on the day-job.
Most successful senior editors at major publishers have grasped that William Goldman was right; when it comes to what will sell, and to how what sold yesterday will sell tomorrow:
Nobody
Knows
Anything.
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Heh - ;D