On the Process of Learning and Growing as a Writer

Last weekend, I completed Game Writing Master Class II created by The Narrative Department. Hosted by Susan O’Connor (a writer for games such as Bioshock and Far Cry 2), the class provides an advanced level perspective on game writing that delves into topics like the concept of story genre versus game genre, branching narratives, cinematics, quest design, and more.

It was a phenomenal class, with some excellent lessons and insights presented by some amazing and knowledgable games industry veterans. However, what really makes this class so wonderful is the community of fellow students who support each other during the class — and long after the class has ended.

Since the class, I’ve allowed myself some time to decompress and relax (which was sorely needed). Over the next several weeks, will be working on refining and editing my analyses and creative exercises for publication and portfolio pieces.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of ways that the class approached the learning process. While not new concepts, they’re ones that I sometimes need to be reminded about, because I think they’re useful in growing as a writer and a creative in general.

Exploring Outside the Zone

One of the first lessons from the game writing class involved looking at story genre (mystery, scifi, romance, horror, etc.) versus game genre (role-playing game, action, platformer, etc.), with the idea of bringing these two aspects of game design into alignment. For this lesson, however, we stepped away from games and took a look at some feature films that exemplify their story genre—The Matrix as a scifi, Mad Max: Fury Road as action, and Knives Out as mystery. We selected one of the three movies and performed an analysis looking at how the movie fits within the beats and/or tropes of their perspective genres. The result of this analysis resulted in some incredibly valuable discussions into how genres are applied and subverted by creators (which is something I’m hoping to write more on later).

Bringing film into the discussion of game design provided us with another avenue for exploring these concepts. And it didn’t stop there. During our discussion sessions, other forms of creativity were brought up, including theater, art history, and (if I remember correctly) puppetry — all of which provided interesting insights into our exploration of narrative design in games.

Whether your a novelist, a poet, a filmmaker, or a game designer, it’s useful to explore outside what you typically create and enjoy. If you’re a thriller writer, this may mean exploring cozy romance stories. If you’re a poet, maybe attend some theatrical plays. If you’re a game designer, visit an art museum or the opera. Explore works outside your immediate zone of interest and see how other genres or mediums utilize art, narrative, and performance to share a specific story or experience. What lessons can you take back to improve or experiment in your own work?

Performing Deep Story Analyses

Alongside the video lessons and group discussions, the class also presented a series of exercises each week. This included one of my favorite exercises in the class, which was performing deep analyses into a specific movie or game to determine how the designers implemented narrative elements to tell their specific story.

Some of my personal favorite analysis projects included:

• Rewatching Knives Out to dissect how the movie adheres (and strays away from) the mystery genre. (And in particular looking at how a single narrative can utilize multiple genres to add surprise and depth to its story.)

• Replaying Inside (developed by Playdead), one of my favorite puzzle-platforming games, to examine how the game uses level design, sound design, and gameplay to provide an emotionally resonant narrative without the use of text or dialog.

• Exploring the “Fatal Inheritance” quest in Horizon: Zero Dawn to better understand how dialog and narrative beats are woven together with gameplay to provide a satisfying quest experience.

I learned an incredible amount from these show analyses alone — and I know that performing these kind of deep dives has the power to provide further insights. And I’d like to make a habit of looking at the works I consume (games, film, books, art) with a more critical eye.

One way of doing this is to allow myself to enjoy the media on its own merit the first time around — and then, if some aspect of the narrative or design is interesting to me, perform an analysis on that aspect and how it fits into the whole.

Growing Community

As I mentioned at the top, one of the best aspects of this class was being able to work and engage with my cohort of classmates. Some of these folks are already professionals in the games industry, while others are just starting out. Wherever we all were on our journey, the conversations we had were often fun, useful, and enlightening, because we all brought our unique backgrounds to the table.

When you’re trying to grow as a writer, game designer or creative, it’s helpful to have folks who are learning alongside you. Whether it’s through going to local open mics, creating a writing group, or joining a Discord or online community, it’s so helpful to have folks around with whom you who you can discuss the creative process and bounce ideas off each other.

Announcements

Preorders for Necessary Poisons will be open soon. In the meantime, reviewers can access a free digital copy of the book on Netgalley.

In addition, Interstellar Flight Press will be hosting an online book launch event on Friday, October 4th at 4 pm PT (6 pm CT). The event is free to all attendees and you can gain access to the zoom link by registering here.

Good Reads

In “My Mental Health Is Like Playing a Metroidvania Game,” Martin Cahill talks about how dealing with anxiety can sometimes feel like the challenging games he loves: