Becoming a RPG Writer

[Christina]

I've been trying to get freelance work, any freelance work in the industry for about 10 years now (I'm a poor excuse for a 27-year old, eh?). I respond to every open call that I possibly can. I send in ideas, I send in articles. It's so bad that I get rejected by free websites....

Networking might work, but I am in a weekly gaming group with 4 full-time designers/artists for two good-sized d20 companies (who also produce other games too). And those guys, though some of the best people I have met in the last 10 years, haven't pulled me into the fold....

If you've got access to folks in the industry, why not get them to tell you "why" your stuff is not getting accepted? They should, at least, be able to give you some pointers.

Also, are you getting any feedback from the people you've submitted to? If your stuff is *close* to acceptable, then one of them is bound to take the time to explain to you what's not quite right about your work.

 

[Christina]

Btw, at last year's Origins, Steve Creech organized some great seminars on freelancing in the industry. If you attend any of the big cons, check to see if they have something similar. I think you'll get a lot out of it.

 

[mroberon1972]

Well, I can admit something about my past in writing...

When I was young, oh about 10 or so, I hated to read. Yup! You heard me: Books were for dopes.

I still remember when I found he first book that actually caught my attention: A little Marvel Hulk 'Half Novel'. While I had read comics up to then, I had never sat down with a book that had more words than pictures.

I was stunned. It was GOOD! (Actually, it was pure tripe, even over 20 years ago... But heck, I was ten!)

I remember walking up to my parents, and demanding more books. NOW.

I got them.

I began grabbing every fiction I could get my hands on: Asimov, Tolken, sci-fi, fantasy... I lived in books, to the point of neglecting my social life and not being willing to go anywhere without a book.

I learned the special ability to feel my way down a crowded school hallway with my nose in a book. Never bumped into a soul...

Now, many would think this would help me to become a good writer. You're right, it does help, but it's only about 1/3 of the key.

Reading does not teach you the rules of grammar and spelling that a good English education does. You get to see it in use in the book, but the book never explains the difference between to, too, and two. It doesn't give you anything but the context of a word you have never seen before. It can't teach you how to WRITE...

The problem is during my youth, I was lousy at spelling. Rotten. I sucked, royally.

It has taken over twenty years to get my writing skills to an acceptable level. And it hurt every step of the way. Now, I can write without causing editors to die of author poisoning. I understand not only proper grammar, but common grammar as well. I also know when to use each.

I have figured out what editors mean by a writer having a 'voice'. It means a consistent style of writing that is natural for him. I have not only found my own, but how to fictionally make one for characters I am writing about. Voice is important in any writing. Learn this trick if you want to create fiction that 'talks' to the reader.

But learning to write only gets you two-thirds of the way there...

The last item is only needed if you want to write fiction. At this point, you can write tech manuals and guides about real people and places with good results.

The last item you need for fiction is a working imagination. You have to be able to dream up new places, make them belivable, and populate them. You have to develop a plot, character personalities, and then (shudder) name them all...


So... What do we have? You need to read to build up your personal background, have an imagination to think up your own fiction, and writing skills to put them down on paper (or PDF... heh...) in a usable manner.


There you go, the 'secret' to writing. Read, think, and write...

Get to work, and don't forget to enjoy yourself!


Mr. Oberon

 

[direheroics]

If you've got access to folks in the industry, why not get them to tell you "why" your stuff is not getting accepted? They should, at least, be able to give you some pointers.

Also, are you getting any feedback from the people you've submitted to? If your stuff is *close* to acceptable, then one of them is bound to take the time to explain to you what's not quite right about your work.

Ooooh, the tough question....

First, the guys on Weds are there to game, same as me, not to give me pointers on my feeble writing skills. I do take the time though to listen to their most common complaints about freelancers though, and avoid those mistakes if I can: rehashing old stuff you've done so you can resell it, missing deadlines, not writing to spec, etc.

Second, I am close enough to get pointers in most rejection letters (something that spurs me on, to be honest) but the most common are "Not enough dungeon elements" (adventures with too much plot, not enough rooms), bad timing, or no need for a particular item.

Luck and timing are my main issues. I did make a sale in a book published last year, though, so even though it was small, it did finally happen.

Just wanted to give hope and advice from the bottom of the ladder. If its what you want to do, don't let anyone stop you.

direheroics

 

[d20Dwarf]

1) Talent. I am a firm believer that writers are born moreso than made. Not only does it take a command of the language but a desire to write that just doesn't exist in folks who just think writing would be something cool to do. Everyone I know who writes does so because they love to do it; same reason I keep beating my head against the proverbial wall.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Writing is a craft, and as with all crafts you get better with practice. Not only do you get better, but you get faster as well. Some people may have an intuitive grasp of how to communicate through writing, but for a lot of writers it's simply the result of hard work and reading and learning and writing. There are skills and techniques that will improve your writing, and they are different for different types of writing (short fiction, long fiction, game design, or technical writing).

Frankly I'm not particularly fond of writing, but I like it better than programming and customer service, so I do it. One of the old pulp writers, I forget which one, wrote every morning from 5-8 like clockwork, then went to his job. For him it was purely a job, and the story goes that at 8am he would quit writing, even if he was mid-sentence. If he finished a book at 7:14am, he put a new sheet of paper in the typewriter and started the next book by 7:15. To me that's craft, not passion.

 

[direheroics]

I'm not sure I agree with this. Writing is a craft, and as with all crafts you get better with practice. Not only do you get better,

And I can draw from 5-8 am but that will never make it look like anything but stick figures... But I see your point.

direheroics

 

[Christina]

And I can draw from 5-8 am but that will never make it look like anything but stick figures... But I see your point.

direheroics

Yep, it does take putting butt to chair for several hours a day to get better. I spend at least 4-5 hours every night either editing others' works or writing my own. It's a definite committment.

 

[Morgenstern]

Some randon musings...

It's no joke that writing is the best practice for writing. Prior to publication, I joined an RPG mailing list and started commenting at length just for the practice! Banging out 1-2k words on unrelated/converstional e-mail is still my warm-up exercise for work each day. If you want to make a living at it, you will need to achieve some awesome speed. These days I generate about 1,000 presentable words an hour. But... I only write for about 2-3 hours a day if I can help it. You also need to take time to think about your text. I often spend as much to about double the amount of time spent writing just brainstorming or musing over it and editing in my head. That's half-a-million words in print and better than 20 books talking .

Recognize the different skill sets involved in RPG writing. Organization, editing, basic writing, fiction writing, and game design are all different abilities. Any and all of them can be improved by study and practice. You can be deficient in one or two, maybe, but you should try to improve your craft in all of them, not just the ones that caught your fancy when you started. Proofreading your own stuff is also an essential skill. Save those editors pain at every opportunity .

Be aware of what you are writing for. All of my hired work starts with "This is a piece of a product that must sell". If you are working for money, you have to create something worth buying . As you gain experience, that simple maxim has progressively more and more profound effect on how you approach a project...

Lots of good advice already, but do not underestimate the importance of the shmoozing skill set. There is a lot of talent out there, so learning how (and where) to show off yours is an essential step. As someone who now hires freelancer from time to time, I'm not interested in specific ideas, or enthusiasm so much as a good demonstration. People who tell me "I want to write" get a half grin and a "that's interesting..." look most of the time. People who write 4-5 pages of good stuff for a game I'm working with and ask "Wadda ya think?" catch my eye. After doing that 3-4 times then there's fate. Those people are the ones I remember and are far more likely to get a letter saying "Hey, I've got a hole and I think you can fill it. Wanna give it a try?" than someone who tells me "I have this great idea" but doesn't do the work of writing it out before comming to me. Even an unpublished writer can (and should) build a portfolio.

Another thing to consider is that there are going to be days, weeks, and sometimes months were its not fun - its work. Getting crushed by a deadline or having to step in and clean up someone else's mess sucks. Hitting a writer's block for two hours sucks (two weeks is kinda life threatening..). If you don't plan to love it, honestly, don't even start. You can still save yourself .

Do not make light of deadlines. Rule number one is after making an intelligent and educated estimate of how long in a reasonable universe something should take - double it. Tripple it if you're doing it for money. Its that simple .

Hope this helps,

 

[Word]

One of the old pulp writers, I forget which one, wrote every morning from 5-8 like clockwork, then went to his job. For him it was purely a job, and the story goes that at 8am he would quit writing, even if he was mid-sentence. If he finished a book at 7:14am, he put a new sheet of paper in the typewriter and started the next book by 7:15. To me that's craft, not passion.

Yeah, Wil, I read On Writing, too. There's some advice for the starry-eyed writer: read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

word,
Will

 

[d20Dwarf]

Yeah, Wil, I read On Writing, too. There's some advice for the starry-eyed writer: read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

word,
Will

Ok, that's where that's from. I read it on the plane to Pentacon a couple of years ago, and couldn't remember where the reference was from. I enjoyed that book a lot, actually, even though I'm not a huge Stephen King fan.