Creative Writing Programs and genre/game writing

[takyris]

Old One: Exactly.

Here would be the qualifications that'd make it interesting for me:

1) Not a public board. I don't mean that people have to try out -- I just don't want to put a story up and have it viewable to anyone in the whole world who wants to see it. So an "Only members, who have signed up and stuff, get to read the Submissions thread" rule would be good. It would also effectively weed out the people who were just interested in egoboo, as opposed to people interested in writing, rewriting, and getting that bad-boy published.

2) Probably a separate area for the stuff that WAS just fanfic, humorous essays, or story hours -- since I'd still wanna read 'em -- but I'd want a differentiation between "Here's a story based on my D&D campaign that I want to shave the serial numbers off of and submit to Black Gate (S&S Fantasy Magazine)" and "Here's my story hour, dang there are some funny ideas in here."

3) An informal but recognized "Critique to Post" ratio. If you can't be bothered to crit anyone else's works, I don't wanna read yours.

4) Critique ettiquette. I've got some info from Clarion and from a bunch of old writing workshops that are good for getting across what is helpful and what isn't. The Clarion stuff is nice because it's geared to genres -- critiquing genre fiction is often tricky because it gets so segmented that you can really have someone saying, "Well, I'm probably a bit biased, because I don't like 'Turns into a Vampire Voluntarily to Fight Evil' stories...."

More as I think of 'em.

-Tacky

 

[toberane]

Old One: Exactly.

Here would be the qualifications that'd make it interesting for me:

<SNIP>

More as I think of 'em.

-Tacky

I think these are all excellent suggestions. I particularly like making the submission board private, which should encourage more honest and straightforward critiques, as well as protecting intellectual property that you may want to try to sell one day.

As to the following quote:

In my experience, the ones who talk about intangibles like talent are the ones who don't actually write enough -- but that's just my experience. If you sit with your butt in the seat and don't get up until you've finished scene x, you're gonna be a better writer than when you started. Writing, critiquing, revising. Can't make you great, but can always make you better.

I don't know if this comment is aimed at me, since I have been talking about talent in my last few posts, but if it is, you need to realize that I agree with you. I know my shortcomings. I know I don't write nearly as much as I should. I know I need to develop the discipline to become a real writer. As I have said, the desire to succeed and the drive to keep working beats natural talent every time.

I also know that when I am working with a group of people that have similar goals, my productivity goes up and so does the quality of my work. I have been working with a friend of mine who is also trying to write a novel. We've been getting together periodically to read each other's work and offer critiques, and in the last couple of months I've taken a novel that I have started to work on about 10 times over the course of the last few years, and I have developed the storyline and characters far beyond any of my previous attempts.

So, anyway, even though the idea was just presented today, I'm anxious to see this writer's group up and running. If I can be any help in getting it started, let me know.

 

[Voneth]

I vote for private

 

[Ruined]

I have just created a Forum on my messageboard, tentatively titled 'Genre Writing'. It is currently unlocked, but I will lock it within the next few days. This will give everyone a chance to go to the site, set up and ID and email it (or private message) it to me. The board has very little traffic, as you'll see, so the nicks here will probably work just fine.

What I would like us to do is select a Moderator for the group. That way I can give them privileges to control who is allowed on the forum at any time, the ability to delete posts, etc. I figure one of those respectable types who wants to spearhead the project should get the job, if they want. Myself, yes it's my playground, but I have no desire to lead. I merely want to participate. =)

And the disclaimer: this option is available to us, but we may always choose a different route, such as critters.org. I am merely opening a door.

Ruined.Net Message Board

Any questions or IDs can be emailed to me at: ruiner@ruined.net

 

[TruffleGrubber]

My own approach to writing original adventures for my campaign centers around character – the characters of the major NPCs in the adventure. I try not to plan the plot out too much ahead of time – the major bad guys are as developed as they can be, and then I ad lib their actions and reactions as the story unfolds.

I approach my games in a similar manner- basically I set up the major conflicts of the campaign, a time table for their resolution without player intervention and potential roles the players might play in thier resolution. In addition I come up with a list of 10 to 20 side plots that are specific to each character and his or her background that I can interject when the central action hits a lull- these are also things that can suffer due to the character having to pay more attention to 'larger' things. I then start the campaign. I view my role as playing the environment and reacting to the players, complete ad-lib. I prepare for games by considering the effects the players have had on their environment, potential repercussions on the characters and generating any major NPC's that I need to.

My point in going into that much detail, is to illustrate the fact that comparing games such as yours and mine to writing works of fiction (literary, genre or the realm in between) is like comparing Quantum Mechanics with Newtonian Physics.

Of course, when I sit down to try to write something that I might submit elsewhere, for other DMs to run, I need to write out a lot more, lay out a lot more plot than I usually do for my own games.

This is something I don't understand. There are alot of GM's out there (myself included) that don't buy published adventures simply for the fact that they are (almost without exception) too structured. I think writing for those GM's would not be any harder than writing within the current style of modules. Basically one would write the adventure for a specific setting (Harn -gotta get my plug in , Kalamar, or whatever). Have an introduction of how to approach and run the adventure. Then detail the adventure's setting, the conflicts and NPC's. Provide good solid content (maps, background, character detail, etc...) rather than page after page of Grey Text Boxes to be read to the players or flow charts that will ultimately fail to depict the path your players will take.


A bit off the subject of your thread, but those parts of your post reflected something that's been on my mind lately.

 

[Wicht]

Bump

 

[Leveau]

Creative Writing

I have been reading this thread and I would like to add my .02. I would be interested in having a forum to put some of my writings up. I would like to have the chance to participate if this gets off the ground. I would like to hone my skills as a writer and from what I have seen you guys are very good.

Thanks...

 

[Ruined]

Everything's set on the board so far. Those who have registered and gotten an ID, I have added to the Genre group. Once we have all of the sign-ups we think we'll need, I will close the forum so that only we can see it.

Takyris, go ahead and register and I'll give you complete access. Unfortunately I can't do that for those who post as a Guest.

 

[takyris]

Hey, Ruined-mon,

Yeah, that occured to me roughly at the same time as the board disappeared. Brain fart on my part.

I'm registered, though. Not fully incapacitated by my own stupidity.

-Tacky

 

[Ruined]

Not to worry, takyris. I've added you to the forum so you should be able to see it now.