At 12:05 AM 8/11/2001 -0500, Meera Barry wrote: > I hate reading game-related fiction. There are about > three authors, total, who write game-related fiction > that I can stomach. > > I'm not naming names. > > I'm fairly well known for some of my game fiction. This > is horribly shameful and I whip myself regularly for it. > [Erm. Let's not go there.] > > What I'm actually asking is, "Are there resources for > breaking out of game fiction and writing actual, good, > readable fiction?" > > Besides Ye Olde Average Writer's Group, of course. I > have a lot of good links, but none of them seem to prepare > for the fact that as a GM I can write 30 pages a day, but > it's all game-related. I think I could focus that energy > into something else (like readable rpg.net columns [grin]) > with a little guidance. > > Any thoughts? I have advice, but not from a resource standpoint... more from an experience standpoint. I've considered myself a writer a lot longer than I've been a gamer. And I took a lot of heat (in a very caring sort of "are you every going to write anything else?" sort of way once I discovered game fiction and spent too much of my time writing that and not concentrating on my own short stories and novels. And I admit, its still a problem with me. I've found that GMing and playing both take up so much of my creative resources that the biggest problem is that there isn't that much left over. Its not a question of not knowing what to do but that rather, my brain's busy doing other things. Because basically, the rules are the same as for gaming. You find something that inspires me, you do a what if in your head, and you follow it, and write it. You still have to create worlds and the rules that those worlds are true to... so that your people have a place to live. However, I've found my own way around it. If gaming inspires you, then use that. But first figure out the difference between game related fiction and *gaming* fiction (my own terminology). For me, gaming fiction explores the game itself, and the gaming of the plot. But game related fiction is fiction that is inspired by the game, but overall, actually isn't *about* the game. Its about the character, and about something else outside of the game. Something that can be so far divorced from the game that the average reader isn't going to be able to even realize that the character was born from something you may well have played every week for a year. *smiles* Gaming for me has created people in my head who have lives, and who have become very "real". They will always be a source of inspiration, and they will always have things about them that aren't a part of the game they came from. That are their own stories. And don't test these stories on your friends who know the game and would recognize the character. Test them on someone who isn't a part of it and see if they just like the story of it. There are others out there who can probably give far more advice than I can on the writing of fiction. About outlining, and planning, and especially some books to recommend (my references are all upstairs right now, unfortunately, and I know there's a new one out I haven't bought yet). But my biggest recommendation is not to give up the things that inspire you. Find ways to take the game out of the fiction, and make it into a story instead. But still use it to explore. My babbling two cents... D. (who now suddenly has this strange urge to write) ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
