Volunteer Writer Thread

I'm an aspiring writer who is currently working on my own urban fantasy novel, I have a publisher who is lined up and interested, I just have to finish the novel. I have plans for a science fiction novel as well, once I finish the first one. I can write to a very high standard of English and find it easy to adopt different styles depending on the circumstances required. I am a hard working, intelligent person who can absorb information rapidly. I am unafraid to ask questions or to find answers when asked questions. I am a tenacious worker and demand the highest standards from colleagues and myself. I work well within a team or as an individual and can communicate effectively within the work environment. I find it easy to motivate others as well as myself.

Over the years I have always enjoyed writing, producing fan fiction for the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe and the Star Conflict universe. Recently my life has changed dramatically, 3 years ago I was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 3 which 18 months ago turned my life upside down. I went from a fully fit and active person running my own company to a wheel chair. This has prompted me to concentrate more on writing as I am no longer able to work being disabled. I am a passionate reader and an avid gamer, with a love for cinema as well, I am looking to see if there was anyway I could combine 2 of my passions.

I would be very interested in helping in anyway I can as a volunteer and have no expectation of receiving any payment. Being able to be involved in a game in any capacity would be payment enough, especially as the experience would be invaluable to me. Should anyone be interested I can supply examples of my work on request.

Hi Mowerman,

A word of warning first off: writing for games is very different to writing novels. Aside for from the problems of interactivity and agency, and the many distractions of gameplay interrupting story, you also need to understand that you have a lot less control over the story. You need to be able to work with (and often do glorious battle against) game designers, level designers and artists.

If you're interested in writing for games, you need to understand that it's not easy. Technically, artistically or socially. You might have more success and satisfaction staying with novels, or perhaps looking into screenplays.

If that doesn't put you off, then I wrote some general advice in a forum thread here (I'd appreciate a bump on that actually, it's sliding down the forum and out of sight!).

Basically, if you want to write for games, you should start by writing games. Go solo a while. Pick up Twine or Stencyl or Ink/Inkwriter and take a shot at creating your own stories. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty and pick up new skills, they'll benefit you in the long run. It's important to learn what goes into making a game, and to both earn and demonstrate experience of writing interactive narrative. Not only will this make you a better games writer, it'll make it easier to find a team to work with.

I'd suggest that good game writing projects are quite hard to come by. When you first start off, you're constantly battling the desire to get experience versus the need to release a project and get some reward for your effort. Pick your projects carefully. There's some merit in volunteering your time to the first project you see - but not much. Lots of indie projects fail, or are five years in the making. They don't give you a line on the CV. It's the ones you finish that count.

When a worthwhile - maybe even paid! - project comes along, having some kind of portfolio is critical to getting the gig. And until that kind of opportunity comes along, devote your time to practising on your own things. Twine is a brilliant prototyping tool, even if you're not interested in interactive fiction stories.

I wish you luck!

Hi

Thanks for the advice, I do understand that writing for a game is different to writing creatively, at the moment I'm producing unofficial guides, walkthroughs as well as copy writing for games via the Steam community. It was from there that I came across this site. I do understand that a lot of Indie titles don't make it. I'm looking for experience and something to fill my time as I have an awful lot of it at the moment. I'd like to gain experience anyway I can, I'm happy to do copy editing, instruction manuals anything. From there I can raise my level of experience and get a clearer picture of what I enjoy doing and also more importantly what I am capable of.

My personal view of the challenge that writers face when working with an interactive game environment is crafting a rich enough story and depth to enhance the gameplay. There are so many titles out there even AAA ones that fail utterly to deliver this and as an avid gamer I find it deeply frustrating that an entire team has spent thousands of hours to create something, yet out of all that no one can come up with enough of a story to make the whole thing hang together.

Thank you so much for the feedback and advice it is very much appreciated. Should you need any assistance at all please let me know. Even if its another pair of eyes to look something over.

Many thanks.

Mowerman wrote:

My personal view of the challenge that writers face when working with an interactive game environment is crafting a rich enough story and depth to enhance the gameplay. There are so many titles out there even AAA ones that fail utterly to deliver this and as an avid gamer I find it deeply frustrating that an entire team has spent thousands of hours to create something, yet out of all that no one can come up with enough of a story to make the whole thing hang together.

Well, I think you'll find the truth is a little more complicated than that. Ain't it always?

In a AAA game, there are many people and many teams combining to produce the finished product. The writing team may turn out a beautiful script with a surprising plot - but it's up to the creative director and/or production lead to unite the team around it. In practice, corners will be cut, plots will be simplified, scenes will be lost and scripted sequences will fall flat. It's a constant compromise, in other words, and gameplay should always comes first. It's not a case of not thinking of an interesting story: it's making that story work well within the game's framework and implementing it effectively, across all aspects of design and development, and within the game's budget.

In other words, it's a project management problem as much as it is a creative one.

I'd also suggest that depth and richness aren't necessarily the hallmarks of a good story, and certainly not a good game story. A complex, twisting story will lose players half-way through - but a simple one, like SAVE THE FLIPPING PRINCESS ALREADY, will always be understood and will contextualise the whole game with minimal effort. Even something like Uncharted has very simple story - find the thing, get the treasure - it just has a really strong script and a few easy-to-understand twists backing it.

There's definitely a place for deep, meaningful and complex stories in games - but it's probably not the AAA space. Sometimes it's enough for the story to just contextualise the gameplay and provide a little superficial entertainment.

Hi Mowerman, how r u doing?

So, I'm a 2D and pixel artist. My wirting and coding skills are lame...

But I really want to develop something simple and fun, like a short point and click RPG.

What do you think? can we talk about it? If u are interested, e-mail me!

Thanks