This is a selfish post, asking for advice, just so that we are honest here. I work as a game-designer for a small AAA-quality UK studio. As a result of a few side-projects at work, my writing talents have come to the attention of the management and I have been given certain opportunities for self-improvement. They want me to go from being a designer with writing experience to an expert in my field, so they are willing to pay for my training. Only... I need to work out what training I need. I spent years in theatre as an actor, a director and a playwright. I was even published (back in the nineties by a small publisher) as a novelist. I have studied creative writing, English Lit, took a degree in Entertainment Systems (Media Studies but with a focus on games) and never stopped writing. So what do you think could make me a better writer / narrative-designer?

Hi Cat, you wrote:

>This is a selfish post, asking for advice, just so that we are honest here.

I don't understand why you think it's necessary to apologize. This is the perfect and expected reason for posting. And you've perfectly expressed your question, too. I'm insulted that you thought you needed to apologize!!

> a small AAA-quality UK studio... want me to go from being a designer with writing experience to an expert in my field, so they are willing to pay for my training.

Awesome!

>Only... I need to work out what training I need.

Even better.

>I spent years in theatre as an actor, a director and a playwright. I was even published (back in the nineties by a small publisher) as a novelist. I have studied creative writing, English Lit, took a degree in Entertainment Systems (Media Studies but with a focus on games) and never stopped writing.

That's the PERFECT background, don't you think?

>So what do you think could make me a better writer / narrative-designer?

Practice. Do more writing. Write an imaginary game voiceover script that actually delves into character rather than backstory. Write one for kids, one in the sci-fi genre, one about street thugs, and one about magic elves who are unlike all the other kajillion magic elves out there.

Write a comic book. Write a TV show episode. Just write. And remember it's gotta be about character growth through emotional crises. Read Laurie Hutzler's emotionaltoolbox stuff. Read Lee Sheldon, David Freeman, Christopher Vogler, and re-read Joseph Campbell.

Edit: and of course you could take some classes at the nearest university or college, maybe work out a tailored program with the instructor.

If you can write a play or a screenplay, you can write the script for a video game, so I'm not really sure what more training you would need, unless they want you to take more of a director role. I suppose a course in content editing or group constructive criticism of fiction would be helpful if you haven't taken one. You could certainly pick out a shelf full of books and ask them to buy the books and give you paid time off to read them. Most helpful thing would be if you could shadow/apprentice with someone who is currently doing the job they want you to do for a few weeks.

If you could describe more what you are supposed to know that you don't already know, I'll try to come up with more useful suggestions.

What you should probably do is get involved with a good critique group. Find people who will tell you your work is shit, and tell you how to fix it. I'm not sure how good your grasp of fundamentals is, but you could try getting a "ground" in the underlying mechanics of drama and story.

Getting better is about concentrated practicing.

Quote: Original post by Pete Michaud
What you should probably do is get involved with a good critique group. Find people who will tell you your work is shit, and tell you how to fix it.

I did slightly better than that; I helped found one. I don't trust it 100%, but I do get picked up on my mistakes.

Quote: I'm not sure how good your grasp of fundamentals is, but you could try getting a "ground" in the underlying mechanics of drama and story.

An admirable goal, but how would you recommend I do this?

Quote: Getting better is about concentrated practicing.

Yes, this I agree with. Keep practising until you a) die, b) succeed or c) lose the use of your brain.

You can find "ground" by reading advice about structure from experts. I highly recommend a book called "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's very helpful and quite approachable. Also, there's a product called Dramatica that helps you form the structure of your story, so getting a feel for that would give you some insight into one method of crafting a story.

There are a couple articles that I wrote recently that help address structure; they may be basic for you, but they might help:

On Drama

The Story Conversation

Good luck!

Quote: Original post by Pete Michaud
You can find "ground" by reading advice about structure from experts. I highly recommend a book called "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's very helpful and quite approachable. Also, there's a product called Dramatica that helps you form the structure of your story, so getting a feel for that would give you some insight into one method of crafting a story.

There are a couple articles that I wrote recently that help address structure; they may be basic for you, but they might help:

On Drama

The Story Conversation

Good luck!

Nicely written and presented articles. [smile]

I'd be more cautious about recommending Dramatica - I personally think it's quite interesting and have spent a good deal of time studying it, but never managed to make it work for developing an actual story I want to tell. Dramatica has a very long learning curve, and has been known to stall out the actual writing of people new to it for months while they try to get their understanding of Dramatica sorted out and make it fit with all their previous understanding of how to create a story. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who didn't already have a solid grounding in the simpler theories of fiction, and wouldn't recommend it to someone who is already steadily producing fiction they are satisfied with.