Look Ma! I'm Writing!

[(contact)]

I meant it to be funny, but I wasn't joking, if that makes sense. I'm no l33t writer by any stretch, I meant that my weaknesses are addressed by the story hour format.

Not for me brother. . . Like I said before I use the story hour not only as a record of my game - but as a way to keep my writing chops up. . .

I can dig that, and I think I do that as well. Anyone doing anything should work on their skills, right? But in my case, the most difficult part of the story is the story; what is it about, what happens and what does it all mean?

Writing D&D logs means that those questions are already answered-- my wonderful group plotted my updates and provided the dialouge at the gaming table. If it's poignant, it's because they are poignant players. If it's funny, it's because they are funny.

All I have to figure out is how to say what I already know I want to say. I don't frankly know where my 'chops' are at, but for me the largest struggle writing fiction is already taken care of.

I also think that this forum creates a reader base (all three of them) that understands without having to be told the basic expectations of the form:

There will be heroes, they will have things like magic missile spells and +2 flaming keen longswords, and they will chop and burn villains. Rogues can sneak. How? Well, hell, they just can and everyone knows that. I don't have to 'convince' a reader that Mung the Malefecant can get behind the group's carefully planned tactical formation, I just have to say "the rogue snuck to the back of the room", or "Unfortunately for all that is Good and Right, there isn't a man amongst the brave men with a Spot check of +12".

And, since it's D&D, the primary conflict will be understood to be 'do they succeed' or 'do they succeed in a cool way'.

Seasong's quoted passage communicates what happened to those orcs as well as a masterful passage would, if not as artfully. We all know what 'total attack +8' means, and why the orcs are all going to die.

The larger game conciets of D&D can be played upon as well, without pages of supporting text.

As an example, my Risen Goddess campaign has a plotline where the PCs are involved in this radical shake-up of the native D&D elven pantheon. That's the crux of the conflict, and drives the plot. I can do that here, because I don't have to establish at some point what the elven pantheon is, who its members are and what they're about-- they are already "written into" the expectations of the readers.

When we shake that all up, the readers understand the history and sancity of the ideas that the PCs are challenging.

Now, could I do all that from scratch? That would be intimidating to me.

So by "easy", I guess I mean "crutch".

 

[(contact)]

And if that post wasn't long-winded enough, there's also the concept of ad-lib performance as opposed to scripted performance.

The DM is mostly in charge, but the tension of the game lies in the PCs choices-- the stories are thereby organic, and I can't think of another written format where that organic nature exists. Bad DMs squelch this aspect, but the good ones encourage it.

That makes these forums (and RPGs in general) a unique vehicle to do what humans have always done-- talk about themselves.

 

[el-remmen]

I guess I approach things diferently than you do, (contact). For me, ideas are always rushing to me, characters, motivations, developments, subplots, etc. . .

But it is the nuts and bolts of writing that is hard for me - the getting down to it and crafting those sentences, creating the rhythm of words that helps to convey the feeling of the scene as much as the adjectives or the dialogue does.

So, the fact that these stories are re-telling D&D games only makes it easier for me in a very basic way.

I spent an evening a few weeks ago writing an outline and chapter notes for a (non-fantasy) novel - but I doubt I will ever write it - because the hard part is still to come even though I know what I want to happen to the main character, his name, relations, and even how the chapters will be structured.