Advice For Writers Thread

I visit these forums fairly regularly: and one thing that really strikes me is the amount of terrible posts in this writing section. The responses aren't hugely positive and it doesn't help the craft of writing for games in general - which I think often gets a bit of a bad rep.

So I thought I'd post some tips and advice about how to better promote yourself as a games writer. Please, please, please skim over these points before posting here - it'll improve your chances and the quality of this forum. If a mod would see fit to pinning this, I genuinely think it would help a lot. Thanks.

• You will be judged on every word you write. You are not "off-duty" while posting on forums or writing emails. Game developers will read your forum posts and judge whether they think you can contribute. They may do this subconsciously. Writing is your most visible skill (although not necessarily a game writer's most valuable one): make the most of it. Pretend five hundred people will read every single forum post you write. Now go back and get rid of those "lols".
  
  
• Always write in full sentences, with good punctuation and grammar. Always. Yes, this is exactly the same point as the previous one. No, I can't believe I have to say this out loud either. You are applying to be a WRITER. So write correctly, clearly and concisely. Every typo or error robs you of credibility.
  
  
• Choose a language and master it. An unfair fact of life: if English is not your first language, you are at a huge disadvantage when applying to write for an English-language game. I would suggest you have four options. 1) find a team creating a game in your native language and get experience there. 2) Practice the fuck out of your English until you can write better than the average native (fun fact: learning English as a second language, you will probably develop a better grammatical and etymological understanding of the language than most English speakers). 3) Offer a skill beyond writing to convince you can improve the project. If your grammar is weak, convince us that you are a storyteller first and a writer second (I actually think all writers need to do this, but maybe it's more urgent if your grammar is weak) 4) Look for work in translation, rather than creation. If any of these sound like hard work, maybe you shouldn't be striving for a career in games writing. Sorry pumpkin.
  
  
• Writing for games isn't easy. There's a misconception - among writers, game developers and gamers generally - that anyone can write, and therefore anyone can be a games writer. [lexluthorwrong.jpg]. Everyone can count but we're not all mathematicians. We can all sketch a tree but we're not all artists. Good games writing is about world-building, storytelling, level design, game design, consistency, simplification of complex ideas, and communication. Know this before you start, and don't think that writing is an easy way into the industry.
  
  
• Get experience. Since games writing is tricky, you should probably practice. It's easier than you think. Google for Twine and use it to prototype branching dialogue. Use it to simulate player interactions with the game world. Create short interactive fiction stories. Pick up RPG maker and make a five-minute game which makes the player laugh, or cry. Publish it on itch.io. Create a Twitter account in-character (wait, aren't they all?!) and use it to practice writing concise, effective dialogue within 140 characters. Short stories and static scripts in Google Docs are OK - they let you practice storytelling at least - but gaming is an interactive medium. Develop an understanding of this.
  
  
• Show experience. If you've got it, flaunt it. Bring your past experience and work front-and-center. The most common complaint I see on this forum is that people have to ask a writer for an example of their work. Don't make it difficult for recruiter! Provide examples, show off. Demonstrate critical thinking and a methodical approach. Clearly list prior work. Don't boast about self-publishing (unless you've self-published a hit). Link to your strongest work and say why its strong. Oh, and if you don't have any experience, see my previous point. Do try to keep up.
  
  
• Don't say you can write "anything". That suggests you don't understand the constraints, expectations and styles of genre and form. It actually suggests you can't write anything. Programmers don't say "I can program anything". Artists don't say "I can draw any style". Identify your strengths and lead with them. Can you be funny? Can you write horror? How's your dialogue? Don't be afraid to specialise: it doesn't mean you're pigeon-holing yourself. If someone likes you they'll probably invite you take on a different style. I can't write crime - haven't the foggiest. Would I try to write a game set in a modern police department? Only if I had time to fail a couple of times before I got it right.
  
  
• Be professional. Get the basics right. Respond quickly and politely to emails. Follow-up on things. Do what you say you're going to do. Top and tail documentation nicely, put names and dates on things. Establish conventions, colours and layouts to help communicate ideas.
  
  
• Don't try to be funny. Seriously.
  
  
• Know when to break these rules. Experience, skill and judgement will guide you here. If you really have to be funny, make sure that a) you are very, very confident that you're actually being genuinely funny, and b) you are very, very confident that your audience will get the joke. Ill-judged humour can make yourself look bad and your audience feel bad. Tread very, very carefully here.

This will help you promote yourself, become a better games writer, and help you find a better class of project to join. Bottom line: take it seriously, get experience, practice in any way you can. Also: read more! Google "games writing" and you'll find plenty of helpful resources.

Good luck!

Edited by: jjc_uk

+ 2

This post is monster. I have writing skills but I program, so my criteria looking for writers is

A) Their personality "as a writer".

B) Some hint that they understand how to appply this to games.

Good to see that writing does have respect in this sad age of non-storytelling.

Yeah...

I know I write, but I would never be a game writer. Now don't me wrong, I might do things based on my /own/ stories, but if I was just given a story and told to write dialogue and stuff based off it... No way would I be able to do it.

Nice advice. It definitely looks helpful for those doing game writing.

Edited by: TyphonBaneOfTheGods

Write a will with lots of stuff coming for Stimor

Edited by: Stimor

Great post, I'm bookmarking this!

Thanks folks: great to hear that this is helpful for someone!

Good post. Paragraph "Get experience." especially (you've mentioned interactive fiction and I like it)

"Choose a language and master it" is important too. Sometimes you just need to find a native language speaker who will check tons of your text. And you are lucky if you have native language speakers friends.

I am a writer and one of the most noticeable things that I see in many games that have been produced is a bad story. I can piece together the missing links of the story line in many cases, but not all, they are just bad stories with good graphics and sound; a waste really.

A game story has to be worked on and adapted as the story evolves. Writing a story does not always work out when it is implemented for a game.
Some feature of he story has to be worked around to make it workable in code. An imaginative writer that has coding and game dev experience is worth his/her weight in gold.

I cannot think of any game that does not have a story.

Practice makes perfect.