Writing Education

[Soban]

Ok, so I read a lot of writing advice and tips stuff. I thought it might be interesting to talk about how to improve what we do every day here on SARP. So here are nine tips from a video I watched recently.

Tip 1: Write history of objects
So I think this one is interesting and something we should think about more.

Tip 2: pause in the thick of action
I'm not 100% on this one as it can murder your pacing.

Tip 3: Write a dairy of inner of characters
This can be a fun exercise in letting our characters just think about stuff and get in their heads.

Tip 4: take key scene write it with only dialog
I think you might also want to try this with only description as well.

Tip 5: rewrite a scene from the perspective all characters in the scene
This is an interesting one, especially for a event that is going to have a lot of different perspectives on it.

Tip 6: ground your story in key players, motivations, and outcomes.
Goal, Motivation, and Conflict are pretty important.

Tip 7: cut at climactic moment
Again, I'm not 100% on this as it seems like it can kill your pacing.

Tip 8: add culture, recipes and shit.
This is a lot of what we do, and we should do it more.

Tip 9: different perspectives
Like from an object in the scene or a personification of death.

 

[Soban]

Found this as one of those stupid text style meme images, but I thought it was worth salvaging and posting here.

20 RPG Plot Hook Ideas
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark:
Find the thing before an evil larger force finds it first.
2. Seven Samurai / Magnificent Seven.
Defend a town from an overwhelming force.
3. Jaws.
Hunt down a powerful beast.
4. The Hobbit.
Rout a villain and restore a location to its rightful owner.
5. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
You and two other groups seek the same treasure.
6. Yojimbo.
Defend a town from two different competing factions.
7. Oceans 11/Inception.
Break into a vault and steal something.
8. Apocalypse Now.
Hunt down a former hero who became a cult fanatic.
9. Aliens.
Find out what happened to a location that stopped responding.
10. The Thing.
Uncover enemies among us.
11. Mad Max Fury Road.
Rescue people from tyrannical villains.
12. Kill Bill.
Hunt down a squad of master assassins.
13. Escape From New York.
Rescue someone from a prison ruled by the inmates.
14. The Princess Bride.
Save someone from a fixed marraige and bring them to their true love.
15. Saving Private Ryan.
Recover a soldier behind enemy lines during a war.
16. Jurassic Park.
Escape a park of monsters gone wild.
17. Star Wars/Rogue One.
Acquire secret information and get it into the right hands.
18. Children of Men/Willow.
Save a child from a world trying to destroy it.
19. Die Hard/Dredd.
Escape from a building overtaken by villains.
20. Homeworld
Find your way home.

I think one of the things that we can learn from things like this is that when you boil them down to just a few sentences, there are a lot of very similar plots. The same plot can be just a single chapter, or the focus of an entire series. Given this information, the key to good storytelling isn't an original idea, but excellent execution on that idea.

 

[Ametheliana]

I think there are a lot of good examples of pieces of literature that started an explosion of copy-cats and, for the most part, the literary world and entertainment industry aren't better off for it. Think of the “children forces into a death match that serve as unwitting political pawns” that Suzanne Collins started with Hunger Games. There were tons of copy-cats but none of them stood up to the thoughtful narrative she had created (nor the box office succcess). When trying to research if any of those copy-cat books and movies were as successful, I came across this answer to another question on Quora:

Here's my take on science fiction as a genre... Truly great science fiction does one of two things:

1. Explores a theme or idea in such an astonishing and unforeseen way that you cannot help but be overwhelmed and appreciative if for no other reason for the sheer scope and audacity of what the author accomplished.

If you're doing something that came before you, is it immediately no longer astonishing or unforeseen. You're immediately setting off on a back foot because there is no element of surprise, nor thoughtfulness. You see, if you come up with the original idea then you know why you want to tell your story. You know what makes this idea interesting in its small minutiae and in its grander inspiration. It makes thinking through its later hurdles and more complex twists something your brain has been doing from the start and those challenges are ones you're doing because you've seeded this—who else but you would know how to see it grow? If you borrow someone else's, you don't know that depth of the concept. You just know the broad strokes that you want to see in your imitation, not the foundational aspects that make this story something only you can tell!

I say this as someone that's ripped off Star Trek episodes and also spent months just brainstorming. I know which of those feels better longterm, but pulling from others is ultimately good for beginner GMs and writers that don't have the whole process figured out and need to just execute and write rather than think before they write. Whether it's your latest 500 or first 75,000 words, writing will always be a hobby with a learning curve.

 

[Soban]

So one Idea that I've been using recently to improve my posts is the idea of the OODA loop.

Basically, each of the letters stand for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. This is also a good format for a role-playing post.

Observe: What is it that is happening around your character? What have the other players and GM posted? You may want to summarize the important points in the first part of your post.

Orient: How does your character feel about what is happening around them? What is their gut reaction? What previous experiences have they had that might be relevant? Cultural and other influences on your character might also be put here.

Decide: Have your character lay out the options. In a planning type post, this might be something your character says. Two is a bare minimum, three is better, and five is the most you should include. Depending on the importance of the decision, you may want to have a internal back and fourth about which one to pick.

Act: With the decision made, what does your character do? What do they say in response? How do they fight? Ideally, this act will force reactions from other characters in the scene or larger plot.