With an ever-increasing library of products available on the Foundry, have you ever stopped to consider what you’re looking at? Not the words on the page, but the visuals. The art, the paragraphs, the backgrounds, and the appearance of the document? If you have, and it fascinates you, then have we got a show for you, as we get to discuss the ins and outs of layout with the ever-amazing Katrina Ostrander.

EPISODE 6 – Laying It All Out

What tips and tricks have you found effective when self-publishing RPGs for print or digital media? Leave a comment below!

For me, the concept of the winter court has always been one of the biggest draws the L5R RPG had to offer. The endless possibilities for politics, intrigue, and betrayal made it the type of game I’ve wanted to play in—and run—the most. In 2012, I made my first attempt at running a winter court online using a web forum. In the process, I created characters such as Otomo Koryusai and Doji Hatsuhina, and my research led me to discover the Pure Land Sect, which factors heavily in the rebooted storyline as the Perfect Land Sect. I was completely flattered when the legendary L5R writer and story team member Nancy Sauer mentioned the humble site on her blog. (I couldn’t imagine that many years later, I’d have the honor of working with her).

Around the same time, I longed to play in the winter courts I saw running on the AEG forums, but the application process and lore knowledge required felt too overwhelming for someone who wasn’t totally “up” on the timeline of the Collectible Card Game. Back then, my only experience with the property was the RPG. I knew of one “Stronghold Store,” but it was two hours away. I had to postpone my dream. In my last year of college, I ran a one-shot winter court–themed LARP for my college gaming club and had an absolute blast, even if I went a little out into left field by incorporating a Black Scroll into the affair.

Yet the itch to convene a proper winter court of my own never went away, and soon after Fantasy Flight Games acquired the property, I knew I wanted to write a winter court adventure that was approachable but nuanced, where romance and relationships took center stage, and where the stakes could be high even if the player characters weren’t the movers and shakers of their clans (yet). I was lucky enough to have the chance shortly after I left the company full time as its story manager.

Once I started to dig into the project, I researched how winter court adventures had been written in the past, but I wasn’t afraid to change course to meet my own goals for the scenario. One of the biggest challenges I faced while writing the adventure was integrating a party of player characters that spanned multiple clan allegiances. Quickly, I realized that they needed to be working toward a common goal, even if, ultimately, the party could become divided as to how or whether to complete that goal. (Are you playing a cooperative game, or a competitive one?) Kakita Ryoku—and her connections—became the uniting force who could offer something of great value to any of the PCs, even if that character had felt animosity toward the Crane Clan in the past. The possible player goals listed under each of the delegations could also be used as leverage to bring the PCs to Ryoku, otherwise their existing ninjō and giri could suffice.

The other hurdle that I wanted to address was approachability. The adventure couldn’t be too complicated, otherwise it would be impossible for a GM to read, digest, and run. The cast list had to be robust but not overwhelming. The solution was to make the adventure merely the opening to the winter court—a mere sliver of the three moons a winter court typically lasts. The main action would take place over roughly two weeks, and only a dozen or so NPCs would figure into the plot. The players and GM could continue the court from there if they so choose, either dealing with the fallout of their actions or pursuing their own agendas (or both). They could make the story more complicated if they so chose—especially by weaving in the plot of the free DLC adventure, “The Scroll or the Blade”—but they didn’t have to. The plot seeds included in the “Happenings in Court” and “Rumors Swirling” marginal features for each day could be fleshed out into full scenes and adventures at the GM’s discretion.

The other method of achieving approachability was to leave room on the canvas of the adventure for the individual party to tell their own stories. Opportunities for downtime punctuate days brimming with activity and tension to allow PCs to take advantage of downtime activities, prepare for upcoming events, and develop relationships with the NPCs at their own pace. This breathing room would also afford the GM the opportunity to utilize the Discord Tracks on page 298 of the Core Rulebook, thereby highlighting the different duties and desires of the player characters. This would help ensure that the true stars of the show get their chance in the spotlight even as they move among some of the biggest names in the Emerald Empire.

One of the main goals I wanted to achieve with the adventure was to have interpersonal relationships drive the narrative. To this end, many of the NPCs can be courted, and befriending the NPCs is the main way the player characters can gain the knowledge and favors they need to achieve their goals. Notes on romancing some of the main NPCs can be found in Appendix A; each of the diverse romance options is looking for something different in their romantic relationships. A sidebar on Romance and Players gives GMs guidance for how to incorporate romance into the adventure while making sure everyone feels comfortable and safe at the table.

The final goal was to make the stakes high enough to befit an event with the gravitas of a winter court. The Esteemed Palaces of the Crane—Kyūden Doji—provided the perfect setting for such a high-profile event, and GMs would also be able to expand on the setting through the content of Courts of Stone. I wanted the player characters to be able to potentially alter the course of the Empire in their campaigns, all while engaging in the arts and culture that are so important to the courtly side of Rokugan. In Winter’s Embrace, a well-crafted poem or a deliberate Kabuki performance can carry more weight than the stroke of a sword.

You can purchase a copy of Winter’s Embrace from the FFG website or your friendly local game store. If you’ll be in the Dayton area in November, I am running three sessions of a preview of Winter’s Embrace at AcadeCon. You can purchase a badge and register for events at the Tabletop.Events page. I hope you can join us!

Additional Reading:

• The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Dennis Washburn
• The World of the Shining Prince by Ivan Morris
• The Bridge of Dreams by Haruo Shirane
• The Diary of Lady Murasaki by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Richard Bowring
• The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby
• Cha-No-Yu, The Japanese Tea Ceremony by A. L. Sadler
• Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata

Image Credits: Fantasy Flight Games and Wikimedia

2018 was a whirlwind of a year for me. I wrapped up my development work on the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before leaving my full-time position at Fantasy Flight Games to work at a textbook publisher. I was glad to continue to freelance for FFG, editing all of the L5R web fictions that were published last year plus Across the Burning Sands, writing the “Wedding at Kyotei Castle” adventure that was run at GenCon, and more. I attended AcadeCon as a special guest and put a face to a name for a ton of awesome podcasters I know and catch up with dear friends. I read seventeen books (including audiobooks). I put in over 275 project hours of creative work, including four articles at Geek & Sundry. I started using dictation software to write. I helped my husband do a near-complete remodel of our first-floor bathroom, avoided gaining weight since 2017, and purchased my first new laptop in seven years. You might begin to see why I only wrote seven articles for TripleCrit!

Although I’m not quite ready to tackle what my goals are for 2019, I’ve had a chance to review what went well this past year, what didn’t, and what I can still work on. The following are the five lessons I’ve had to learn—sometimes the hard way—about freelancing (and also life)!

Track Your Time

I’m really thankful to Melissa Sisk and Andy Christensen for introducing me to Toggl, a free time-tracking cloud app that can be accessed from your web browser or mobile device. I use it to track how much time I spend on a given project and each portion of that project, such as outlining or drafting or finding new clients. It’s been super useful to be able to look back and see how much time different assignments actually take me, and then be to able to forecast approximately how much time I’ll need. It’s also helped me gauge “how much is too much” in terms of work, freelance, social, and relationship commitments (not to mention house chores). The hope is for Toggl to help me avoid burnout and overcommitting myself, and also help me chart a course to financial stability if I ever choose to work for myself.

Schedule the Things that Are Important

The other (and potentially more vital) half of tracking your time is carving out the time to work on those projects. Knowing that something takes ten hours to complete won’t help if you don’t have ten hours to spare that day/week/month. I’ve had a lot more success putting my freelance work on the calendar and sticking to that schedule than I have “just winging it” and working when the mood strikes me (spoilers: it isn’t often enough). It took me way too long to realize that freelance work isn’t the only thing important enough to need to be scheduled in around everything else. Relationships, too, need time, and when both partners are working and have their own hobbies and social life to enjoy, scheduling dates or game time can be helpful to both manage expectations and also ensure you get to spend quality time together.

Ask for Help or Ask Questions

When I was preparing for the interview for my new job, one of the questions that frequently appeared on lists of questions they ask is, “what is your greatest weakness?” I couldn’t tell them it was being afraid to ask for help or ask questions for fear of looking incompetent or worse, stupid—and so I would risk being incompetent and stupid by forging ahead anyway and making mistakes that could have been prevented. My reluctance to admit to that flaw was yet another indicator of my fear of looking less-than-perfect. Not being willing to show weakness or imperfection is still something I struggle with, but I’ve begun to make myself more vulnerable at work by raising my hand when I don’t know something or how to do something. I reached out to a tax accountant when I still couldn’t wrap my head around all the advice I’d read online to wrangle my freelance income, expenses, and taxes. I’ve gotten better about asking for an extension on an assignment or what my editor thinks would be a better solution to a problem, even if I still worry that I look dumb for doing so.

Say No Sometimes

One of the best pieces of advice I heard this year was (if I recall correctly) from the Write Now podcast episode with Sarah Rhea Werner and Joanna Penn, in which Penn explains that if something isn’t a “hell yeah” for her, she is wary of agreeing to do it on top of everything else because it could turn into a dreaded obligation. Taking on too many things definitely contributes to our overall sense of “busyness,” and this year was the first time I started really being conscious of my true desires versus what I feel pressured into doing. I only have so much time, so I really only want to spend it doing the things I love. That might mean not appearing on every podcast that invites you on as a guest, covering every Kickstarter project that looks cool, or accepting every freelance job that comes your way. But it does free you up to do the things that are most meaningful to you.

Appreciate What You Have

I think it was after reading Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (or maybe rereading The Gifts of Imperfection) that I really started being mindful of the things that others do for me and all the things I have. I’ve never said “thank you” or “I really appreciated that” so much in my life as I did in 2018, and I’ve also been less depressed than ever. I think that creatives in particular are more likely to struggle with this, and whether you have personal ambitions or freelance goals (perhaps even New Year’s Resolutions), it can be easy to get stuck in the scarcity mindset of “never enough”:

• “My blog/podcast/social media page doesn’t have enough followers yet.”
• “The projects I’m working on aren’t high-profile or lucrative enough.”
• “I need this computer/software/reference book in order to be creative.”

These concerns aren’t insignificant, but they tend to crowd out and overwhelm all the good that you have. I’ve found that it was especially easy to forget to slow down and enjoy the fruits of my freelance labor—you know, to actually play the games, read the books, and take the trips I earned through my efforts.

Happy New Year

So here’s to putting some of these freelance and life lessons into practice in 2019. What about you—what did you learn from 2018? What are you hoping to learn in 2019?

Image Credit: Canva

Ability Scores

Title: The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide
Author: James D’Amato
Page count: 272
Price: $14.99 Softcover, $10.99 Kindle edition
Dimensions: 5.5” x 8.4”
ISBN-13: 978-1507208373
Publisher: Adams Media
Publication Date: October 2, 2018

Ramp up your role-playing game and make your character your own with this fun, interactive workbook—an essential addition to any RPG player’s gaming kit.

You’ve chosen your class, bought your weapons, and rolled for your stats, and you’re now the proud owner of your own RPG (role-playing game) avatar. But before you begin your adventure, there’s so much more you can do with your character to make him or her your own! Just how evil is she? What does his dating profile look like? Where did she get that scar? What does he want for his birthday? With fill-in-the blank narratives, prompts, and fun activities to help you customize your character at the start of the game, or build out your backstory as you play, The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Book will help you fully imagine your character and bring them to life for the ultimate gaming experience!

It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination

True to its word, The Ultimate RCBG guides players through the process of creating a detailed backstory for their role-playing game characters with the lightheartedness and whimsy of most Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Readers will enjoy the comedic tone of many of the exercises, from the adventuring party formation app called “Ventur” (“Whom does your character swipe right?”) to the “Damn Merlinials” prompt that explores how older generations of adventurers might look down on those newer to the lifestyle.

The book leaps from topic to topic—“What is your character’s catchphrase?” segues into “What would you do to save a cat?” before proceeding to “What unique holiday do you celebrate?”, for example—which means readers don’t have to worry about getting “stuck” on one portion of their character’s life. You can easily skip ahead to a prompt that interests you, or open up the book to a random page for an unexpected adventure. If you want to work through the book in order, the activities are organized based on character level, which makes sense when you consider that the experiences of a fifteenth-level hero will differ compared to a first-level novice fresh from the farm. There’s also some great guidance in the introduction for the types of feats your character will be capable of accomplishing by level.

A reader needs only the loosest of character concepts in mind to complete the activities—and honestly, you could go in with a blank slate and have fun seeing what sort of character you generate through the prompts alone. I think this is especially helpful for readers who may be intimidated at the prospect of crafting an epic backstory worthy of a George R. R. Martin novel (and having to generate a treatise numbering in the dozens of pages, like that one player always does). Even after completing only a handful of activities, you’ll produce an emergent narrative for your character’s past in much the same way that a series of rolls and card draws creates a story over the course of a board game. Contemplating how the different episodes in a character’s life might be linked makes for an organic and unique backstory, although it might not have quite the elegance and resonance of a character whose histories have been tightly plotted.

Where many character backstory generators focus on the who, what, where, and when, the activities are structured to let readers focus on the how and why, which is much more useful when figuring out how to actually role play as your character. (Consider how two characters with a similarly tragic childhood might respond to those formative events very differently.) I was pleasantly surprised by how the activities also engage the rest of the adventuring party, inviting the reader to think about how their character relates to or potentially clashes with their fellow travelers. This is an aspect absent in similar types of character-writing advice books for novelists, and it’s something Amato’s book does especially well.

Who Should Get This Book?

This book is especially geared toward players who want to continue enjoying the tabletop gaming hobby on their own time, players who are new to role-playing and Dungeons & Dragons specifically, and players who don’t normally consider themselves creative. The latter type of reader will appreciate jumpstarting their inspiration with fill-in-the-blank prompts, short-answer questions, multiple-choice options, and tables to roll on to generate random results. If you do consider yourself especially creative and enjoy writing, your answers to the activities can serve as the foundation for a slew of short stories or scenes. The sheer variety of activities, as well as the range of prompts, makes the workbook fun and exciting to work through, since you’re genuinely curious to know what the next questions will be.

Who May Want to Pass?

This book won’t appeal as strongly to gamers who are turned off by fantasy tropes or settings, role-players who want a very serious or dark tone for their characters, and people who want to create novel-worthy characters efficiently (you can totally use these prompts to create a protagonist for your next writing project, but you won’t get there as efficiently or cover all the bases needed by a novel). That said, there’s still plenty of gaming goodness here for players of games other than D&D.

Between the Pages

The very first thing I noticed upon opening the book was the interior design, which is elegant and well-balanced on the page. The sans-serif font is easy to read and not too small. The dual ink tones (black and orange) makes the product look good without the cost of a full-color production. The spot gloss on the cover and spine also provides a touch of class.

Unfortunately, a lot of the beauty and visual interest is lost in the Kindle version, and I was disappointed by the low resolution of the bullet icons (likely done to keep the file size low, but storage space usually isn’t a concern for me on my Kindle or tablet). On the plus side, the tables are sized properly and don’t break awkwardly in the Kindle reader like I’ve seen in many other professionally produced e-books. Nevertheless, this book is definitely worth getting in print, or in a PDF option if one becomes available.

Finally, I think any true workbook would benefit from a lay-flat binding, and some readers may find it awkward or impossible to write in their copies without breaking the spine. However, coil binding would have greatly increased the cost, and customers who really want this experience can take their books to their local office supply store or print shop to rebind it for ten dollars or so.

Final Thoughts

All in all, this book helps fill a gap in a burgeoning hobby where most of the how-to books are directed at game masters. Most importantly, this book provides a vehicle for many more hours of fun when you don’t feel like you have enough role-playing in your life. The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide by James D’Amato rolled three straight crits (but would get 4 stars out of 5, since it was a little too whimsical for my personal tastes and didn’t quite blow me away). Pick this book up at your local bookstore or for your favorite e-reading device, or ask your library if they’ll order in a copy!

A complimentary copy of the softcover was provided to the author for review purposes.

Last week, as part of the continuing +1 to Writing series, I asked Robert Denton III (@ohnospooky on Twitter) about how he went from being a fan of a franchise to one of the people who works on it. We talked about what it’s like to write tie-in fiction, and what are some of the challenges writers face. If you missed it, you can catch up on Part 1 of our conversation here!

In addition to authoring The Sword and the Spirits, an upcoming Legend of the Five Rings novella that I worked with him on as his editor, Robert has written over sixty short fictions for the Legend of the Five Rings universe. He has also contributed to several roleplaying books for the fourth edition of the L5R Roleplaying Game, including Secrets of the Empire and Imperial Histories 2. Robert has also written for other roleplaying games such as Tiny Frontiers and its expansion Mecha and Monsters, and he is currently the Creative Lead for Radiant: Offline Battle Arena.

This week, we dig deep into the art of writing itself and get a glimpse into what it’s like to work on these projects from start to end. Robert also offers some insights into how longer-form fiction differs from writing short stories, and how to make your tales feel genuine so that they resonate with your audience emotionally.

Katrina: What does your process look like? How do you brainstorm and research?

Robert: I have a weird process, I think. I’ve been writing professionally for about six or seven years now, and I’m still figuring out what works best for me. A lot of what I do is instinctual, for lack of a better word. Maybe that means I don’t really have one (haha)!

Usually, I’ll start with a general hook or idea, and I’ll sort of let the ideas generate while I’m doing other things, if that makes sense. I find that inspiration strikes me spontaneously when I’m not really thinking about the story. I’ll be driving my car, talking to friends, reading a book, or just walking and observing people, and something will happen that just makes me go, “Hey! What if I do this?”

Katrina: You’re not the only author I’ve talked to who gets their ideas while on the move. Sometimes you have to just get away from the computer desk in order for the creative juices to start flowing again.

Robert: At the same time, I’ll be sure to research subjects relevant to my story. I’ll discover something I didn’t know and that will lead to a plot point or some inspiration. The internet is a big resource for me, but I also check out books at the library or talk to people with similar life experiences. Since my goal is to write from a position of authority, emotionally centric information is more useful than the purely academic. So I look for personal accounts and small details that would be useful in a narrative sense.

Kaito Kosori by Pavel Tomashevskiy
©2017 Fantasy Flight Games

For instance, when I was writing a story about an archer from a family with strong Japanese-influenced archery traditions (and those archery traditions were an important plot point), a friend put me in contact with a kyūdo archer living in Japan. Talking to him led to all sorts of great insights. I asked him things like how it specifically felt to practice for a long time, how his archery applied to other aspects of his life, what aspects of archery he thought were most commonly misrepresented in fiction and movies, and other stuff like that.

And of course, I tried my hand at some archery myself, because that’s the only way I could really make the visceral connections.

Katrina: Wow, that’s definitely a level of hands-on research that not every writer has the chance to partake in! So once you have some ideas floating around, what happens next?

Robert: When I sit down to write, that’s when all these ideas and experiences come together. Sometimes I just open an RTF file and write without thinking and then organize my thoughts into a narrative later. Other times, I’ll write scenes and story events down on notecards and then organize them into a “timeline,” filling in gaps with other necessary scenes until I have something resembling a story outline. For The Sword and the Spirits, I used notecards again, but this time I wrote out multiple storylines, one for each spotlighted character and then the main plot, then mixed them together into a single stack of cards. That provided an outline and some direction.

When I’m drafting out my story, my goal is to write freely and constantly, whatever comes to mind and whatever I want, without regard to the finished work. The idea is to get all the stuff down and form a general narrative out of it. Sometimes I’ll even act out scenes in my study and improvise as all involved characters just to see what makes sense or sounds natural to me in a scene, which I’m sure would look insane to anyone who witnessed it!

Then, I’ll go back, read what I’ve written, and cut anything that doesn’t work or that I don’t like. I usually do this a day or so later, just so I can approach it with a fresh mind. I try to find more succinct ways to say something, cut stuff that isn’t relevant or characterizing, and so forth. Sometimes that means something that took me all day to write gets reduced to one page. If I find I really can’t cut something I’ll leave it in, but the goal is to get rid of the chaff.

There’s a lot of chaff.

Katrina: That’s the case for a lot of authors, honestly. They say “writing is rewriting,” and it’s totally true.

Robert: I also rarely write chronologically. More often, I write whatever I’m inspired to write about at that particular moment. If I’m particularly moved by how my story ends, I write that first. If I have a specific scene in my mind that I’m in love with, I write that. When I resist my inspirations, I get stuck, so instead I sort of go with the flow and smooth everything out later.

Katrina: What goes into your outlines? Do you usually stick to them, or do you find yourself being surprised partway through? How do you deal with that, how do you decide when to stick to your script or veer off in a different direction?

Robert: I find it hard to write bare-bones outlines. Usually, I’ll have specific ideas in mind or a specific “vision” of a scene, and I’m usually afraid I’ll forget them, so I elaborate on the outline to a significant degree. Details are the most important thing, after all. Broad strokes don’t make a story interesting. As a result, I’ll usually end up sticking to my outlines pretty closely.

But if I get a spontaneous idea or something inspires me, I’ll absolutely abandon the outline. The only reason for the outline, at least to my mind, is to let your employers know what you have in mind when you start drafting and to help you with direction and organization. So if my writing process takes me elsewhere, I just go with it. If I don’t like where I end up, I can always delete it and return to the outline, but typically I go with it and trust my instincts.

Katrina: Once you’ve got your outline in place and you’re ready to begin fleshing out the manuscript itself, what does a typical day look like when you draft?

Robert: I have to be in the right mood to draft. If I’m not inspired, it shows in my writing. So my task is to arrange things in my day so that I become inspired. I always write in the same place (my study, my living room, or outside), during the same times of day, and when I’m in the same mindsets.

I usually start in the shower, if you can believe it! Something about the shower gets my mind running. It’s almost like a kind of sensory deprivation. You only feel the water, you can’t really hear anything, and there’s nothing to interact with, so ideas come easily. I’ll take a shower, talk to myself about the story, and start drafting that way.

Starting is the hardest part. I’ll take frequent breaks in the beginning, usually to walk around and generate some energy. But once the ball gets rolling, I forget myself and just write. I don’t eat, I don’t move or take breaks—I just write whatever comes to mind. That’s the state I’m trying to achieve, when there’s no “thought process” happening. I don’t think, “now I’m going to write X,” I just write.

Katrina: That sounds like the flow state, when you can let the writing almost guide itself in a way. Once you’ve gotten “pen to page,” so to speak, and have a full manuscript on your hands, how do you tackle revision?

Robert: The most important thing is to be as unattached to what you’ve written as possible. That’s easier said than done, but the truth is that very rarely is a draft satisfactory on the first try. My writing is only as good as my editor. Sometimes I get a revision back that requires removing something I thought was good, or something I was very attached to. 95% of the time, removing that thing is the right call.

I find redrafting and revising to be sort of like gamemastering a tabletop RPG. You might spend weeks creating the perfect boss encounter or puzzle room, only for players to completely trivialize or bypass it. One could twist things in gameplay to force the encounter back in the way you envisioned, and that’s certainly a temptation given all that you’ve put into it, but I find that’s a pattern for bad GMing. Instead, a good game master will let it go, and maybe put those ideas back into their pocket for later implementation.

Revising is like that. You may be really attached to something, but if it’s pointed out as a problem it’s better to cut it than to try to force it to work.

Katrina: That’s such great advice for GMs, and it’s interesting to hear it applied to writing as well! Sometimes, including something you thought was cool feels forced, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up on it forever. What other lessons have you had to learn as a growing writer?

Robert: I think one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was that the biggest mistake a creator can make is to explain their creation. I think writers want their work to be interpreted in specific ways, and personally speaking I definitely did! But the writer’s intention is not the objective meaning of the work, and by imposing a specific interpretation, writers make their work less engaging and sometimes expose shortcomings that spoil the work.

Katrina: A lot of readers are familiar with your short L5R pieces from the AEG days, as well as the short stories “Risen from the Flames,” “Family Duty,” “Fireflies,” and “Repentance Does Not Come First.” The Sword in the Spirits is the longest work you’ve written for FFG yet. How does writing a novella differ from a short story or a novel for you?

Robert: In some ways, writing a novella was easier than a short story. Short stories require everything to be very condensed, and with the novella, I had a little more room. The pacing is different, however. In a short story, I feel more like I’m elaborating on a specific set of limited experiences, while the novella felt more like I was presenting a character’s entire transformation or journey. Short stories tend to stay in the same place and keep the same amount of action throughout. With the novella, I had to know when to speed things up, when to slow things down, and not to use the space to just chew scenery.

I started writing the novella thinking I would approach each chapter as though it were a short story, then just string them all together. I did that for about a week before I trashed the entire draft. That method doesn’t work. The story seemed disjointed and the constant buildup and slowdown in each chapter made it exhausting to read. I’m glad I dropped that idea early and decided to approach writing it completely differently.

Katrina: Flexibility is a great skill for any writer to have, as you said before. What advice do you have for other writers who are just getting started or who want to develop better writing habits?

Robert: I feel that I am just a beginner myself, so whatever insights I may have are very limited. But I will suggest one big thing that has helped me so far.

Be genuine when you are writing. The reader can tell when you are “faking it” or making things up, and your prose will suffer if it isn’t from a personal angle. Even if what you’re writing is speculative or abstract, directly relate to the scene and write from your own experiences and observations.

For instance, I tend to write in genres that frequently depict people hitting one another with swords. Personally, I have never been in a sword fight. I’ve never had to take a life. I couldn’t begin to tell you what it’s like to be in that sort of fight. So if I tried to describe a sword fight in that way, I wouldn’t have access to the real-world experiences or insight to depict it convincingly. Even if I read first-hand accounts of swordfights, I still wouldn’t have true insight. I simply don’t know what it’s like.

But I have had to risk my own well-being for my principles. I have had to fight circumstances that I felt were unfair. I’ve had to confront people who held my wellbeing in their hands. I’ve had to argue a point upon which my future depended on whether or not I could convince others of my rightness. In other words, I’ve had to fight in different ways. So when I write about swordfights, I draw upon those experiences. I try to relate to the fight in some personal way. Then I write from that angle.

Whatever you’re writing, be genuine about it. Write from a position of authority. Many writers’ shortcomings can be readily forgiven if what they write is compelling, and the easiest way to craft compelling prose is to directly relate to the subject. If you can find a way to see the character’s challenge like those you’ve personally faced, then your writing will be that much better.

Katrina: That is some great advice, and it gets to the core of those emotion-centric details you talked about earlier. That advice could probably be applied not just to writing, but to roleplaying as well. Whether you’re an author or a GM, tapping into our lived emotions and drawing on that as a creative wellspring will make our stories resonate all the more.

I appreciate you taking the time to talk, and I can’t wait to see what writing you do you next!

If you’re interested in reading more of Robert’s work, you can check out his Goodreads author profile, and there’s still time to pre-order his upcoming novella from Fantasy Flight Games! Thanks again for joining us, Robert!

How do you go from being a fan of a franchise to one of the people who gets to work on it? What is it like to write tie-in fiction, and what are some of the challenges these writers face?

I’m extremely grateful to be joined this week and next by Robert Denton III (@ohnospooky on Twitter) for the next installment of the +1 to Writing series. He’s the author of the upcoming The Sword and the Spirits novella, which I worked with him on as his editor. Set in the Legend of the Five Rings setting, the 144-page hardcover is due out soon from Fantasy Flight Games. The story features the spiritual Phoenix Clan and fan-favorite characters Shiba Tsukune and Isawa Tadaka, along with introductions to Kaito Kosori, her family, and their secrets.

I tracked Robert down amid several nor’easters (and power outages) to ask him a bit about his background in writing, his process, and some tips and tricks he’s discovered along the way. Next week, in the second part of this interview, we’ll dive into more of his writing process and more advice for aspiring authors.

Katrina: In addition to authoring The Sword and the Spirits, you’ve written over sixty short fictions for the Legend of the Five Rings universe and have contributed to several roleplaying books for the fourth edition of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG. You’ve also written for other roleplaying games such as Tiny Frontiers and its expansion Mecha and Monsters, not to mention you’re the Creative Lead for Radiant: Offline Battle Arena. So, you’ve been busy! First of all, how did you break into professional writing (back in the AEG days—or even before)?

Robert: This is a funny story. I never believed I would ever write anything professionally. I didn’t study writing in school, I took no creative writing courses (except for a poetry class in college), and to this day I have no official training. I honestly considered having a book published to be a pipe dream. A dream I gave up on, actually. My degree was in Art.

When I was twenty-eight, an L5R fan forum called “Home of the Crane Clan” held a fanfiction writing contest. I entered completely on a whim. As it turns out, I won that contest with an entry that was mostly tongue-in-cheek. My entry might still be up actually…

Shortly after, I was contacted by Fred Wan, who was the Continuity Editor for the L5R Story Team back then, when the game was under AEG. There was an opening on the Story Team and he asked me to try out. At that time, I was already well-known among the L5R community as a frequent visitor of L5R forums and a participant in the play-by-post RPG community at the time. To cut the story short, I was offered a position on the L5R Story Team that GenCon. My tryout fiction was “Fortune of Horses,” which was published as an entry for “Scenes from the Empire.”

I’ve been writing professionally ever since. So I owe everything to Fred Wan!

Katrina: So you got noticed through your fanfiction, but that begs the question of why you write, and what do you get out of writing?

Robert: I think I write for a lot of different reasons. I like telling stories. I enjoy the writing process. I want to get better at my craft. I have a lot of thoughts throughout the day and I sometimes feel that I need to get them down on paper or else they’ll pile up in my head. And of course this is one of the ways in which I make a living, so I also write to get paid (haha).

Katrina: Fair enough! It helps when you can turn your hobby into a job!

Robert: But my biggest motivator is that others might read what I’ve written. I’ve heard many people say that they write/draw/act/whatever purely for self-enjoyment or personal fulfillment, that the ideal state of a creator is to be completely fulfilled only by the act of creation, and they don’t care if their creations are ever seen or experienced. They create purely for the joy of it and nothing more. I personally cannot relate to that. I definitely enjoy the process, and I have fun with it, but I almost never write just for myself. In fact, if others weren’t going to read what I was writing, I probably wouldn’t do it. I think it’d be disingenuous to suggest otherwise, that I’m totally punk rock and don’t care what others think. That’s not me at all.

I think on some level, everyone creates because they want to be seen, to be remembered, to be recognized. That’s what pushes me to try and get better. I keep thinking, “Someone’s going to read this someday, so you have to do better!” Maybe that’s not healthy (haha), but it’s the truth!

Katrina: I think that makes total sense—most people read books to go on a journey or have a kind of emotional reaction, so the author has a specific message or emotion they want to convey. I think there’s also a community element to it, especially surrounding the Intellectual Properties (IPs) in which people are already playing games together. Something along the lines of, “Here are what my adventures in this world look like, what about yours?” So then, what kind of scenes and characters and stories do you most enjoy writing?

Robert: I like writing all sorts of stories, but my favorites are about seemingly “normal” circumstances that rapidly become extraordinary or absurd. I like twists and unforeseen consequences. I especially enjoy mysteries, horror, and comedy (and especially all three in the same story). I also enjoy writing stories that safely provoke the reader, but this is hard to do so I only attempt it when I’m really confident I can pull it off.

My favorite sorts of characters are those who try to function in spite of huge shortcomings. I like writing about losers: the disenfranchised, the overlooked, the clearly in-over-their-heads, that sort of thing. I especially like characters that are clearly good at one specific thing, and that’s not the thing they do for a living, because life has forced them into a different path, and they’re sort of making do. To really hook me, a character needs to be relatable to me somehow, and also to amuse me in some way. So I try to inject characters with my own anxieties and shortcomings whenever I can.

Katrina: So there’s a little bit of tragedy mixed in there, or at least, a strong sense of adversity. The characters you describe sound a bit like player characters from a roleplaying game: specialized, has a few distinctive disadvantages or drawbacks… Do you ever find that your roleplaying or card games inspire your writing, or does your writing mainly get channeled as inspiration for game-related fiction or supplement writing?

Robert: I think it’s important to write about one’s interests in order to maintain inspiration or motivation. Right now, writing is at the intersection of all my gaming. The vast majority of my work is for L5R, either promotional fictions or roleplaying supplements. The rest are roleplaying supplements for other franchises. So one could say my interests in gaming and my writing overlaps significantly!

I am definitely inspired by my roleplaying. Ideas pop up at the table that lead to other ideas, and these will find their way into my drafting. Sometimes I’ll play with a character that is surprisingly fun to depict, so I’ll tuck them away to write about later. It’s surprising how many useful ideas come up when you don’t intend for them to.

Katrina: Absolutely! I think that’s the case for a lot of RPG gamers (myself included). So that covers what you really enjoy and where you get some of your ideas from, but what about the elements of writing that challenge you? What do you feel like you still struggle with as an author?

Robert: Wordcount, definitely! (Haha.) In all seriousness, succinctity is a challenge for me. I’ll get spontaneous ideas while I’m writing, something to add or a way to elaborate upon what I’m describing, and before I know it my wordcount has tripled.

Katrina: Hahaha, yeah. Usually you’re, what, 50% over the target word count for a story? It makes my life hard as an editor, too, because the stuff you’ve added is usually pretty fantastic and I think to myself, “Do we have to cut this? Surely we can squeeze it in.” So if our readers have ever wondered why some of the Phoenix stories run long…

What other challenges do you face as part of your writing?

Robert: I tend to suffer from confidence issues as well. Especially with my first drafts, I’ll look over what I wrote and think, “This is awful, no one will like this.” Intellectually, I know that first drafts are not your good drafts, but anxiety over the final result can get in the way of my productivity, my ability to generate ideas, and sometimes even my drive to get started. I’d like to say that as years have passed I’ve gotten better managing my self-doubt when writing, but that’s really not the case.

Katrina: I think it’s easy to fall into the trap of expecting too much from the first draft, and then agonizing over all the places where you feel you’ve fallen short. And when you’re spending your energy worrying, it can be hard to muster up the energy to be creative. I’ve found that I really do need to give myself conscious permission to write a shitty first draft, sometimes in order to even get words on the page.

But then again, you’ve already succeeded in writing a novella, not to mention the sixty-plus other fictions you’ve already published! What advice do you have for people who want to turn their writing into a published work and become professional writers?

Robert: It feels odd to give advice in regards to breaking in to the industry. What worked for me was being noticed, being willing, and making myself as easy to work with as possible. Once I had a regular gig, I started networking and making connections, and slowly that led to more work. In many ways, I got very lucky.

But if I had some advice to give, it’s this: trust your editors. I’ve been surprised by writers who thought they knew better than their editor and resisted feedback. I watched these writers lose gigs as a direct result. Most of them were better than me. The only thing I did better was follow directions. No one wants to work with someone who makes their job difficult.

Here’s a secret they never told me that I had to discover on my own: professional writing is collaborative. It’s not just you, it’s you and your editor. Especially so when writing for franchises. Don’t look at your work as your “baby,” something you cannot compromise with and refuse to change. Look at it as a collaborative work you will eventually present to others. Don’t think of your story as something you own. Find an editor you trust, build a professional relationship with them, and then listen.

Katrina: It’s true that there’s a big difference between editing original work versus editing work in an IP that is ultimately owned by a whole studio. For the former, the editor is really focused on asking what the author’s vision is and then evaluating whether the work is fulfilling that vision effectively. But in the case of franchises, the editor also has to consider the goals of the different product lines and the particular product, and work toward fulfilling those. But luckily, there’s usually a lot of room for the author’s unique vision, too!

Do you have any other advice for new writers?

Robert: Make friends with other writers and absorb everything. You want to do what they do, so learn everything you can from them. In business, connections and networking is king, so take advantage of conventions and local writing groups and be as visual as you can be!

Katrina: This is all fantastic, Robert, thank you so much for joining us!

Next week, we’ll take a look at Robert’s writing process from start to finish, as well as some insights into how longer-form fiction differs from writing short stories. In the meantime, you can check out Robert’s Goodreads author profile and pre-order his upcoming novella from Fantasy Flight Games!

Here are five takeaways from teaching (like a pirate)—five “pieces of plunder,” if you like—that you can apply to your game to better engage your players and boost everyone’s creativity.

Takeaway #1: Share ALL THE ENTHUSIASM

The very first chapter in Burgess’s book is on the topic of passion, and his own passion for teaching practically vibrates off the page. Later, he touches on this topic again and again, discussing the importance of always being “on” (or “bringing it”) and doing that by lighting your inner fire (exploring what interests you). From my own experience, the number one thing you can do to engage your players and change the vibe is to showcase your excitement and energy for your game. You’ve likely taken a class or listened to a lecture about something that hadn’t interested you before, but the enthusiasm of the speaker or leader becomes infectious, and suddenly you want to know what exactly they’re so pumped about. Conversely, even a topic you’re super fascinated by can become a slog if the teacher is quiet and lethargic, or worse, doesn’t seem to care about what they’re talking about.

At your game table, it’s the same thing. Make sure you’re well rested, well fed, and have the (caffeinated) beverage of your choice to keep your energy up throughout the length of the session. Make your voices animated, whether you’re narrating the description of a location or speaking as if you were a non-player character. Stand up and gesticulate at your table if that helps, and vary the volume level to keep everyone on their toes and paying attention. You’ve probably passed by GMs running games in this manner at convention before and stopped to see what was going on—it’s arresting. Your curiosity is piqued, and you want to find out what is just so damn cool or interesting about the game or scenario that makes the GM that enthusiastic.

Besides radiating energy, it’s also important for you to actually be excited about the game you’re running. If you find yourself beginning to burn out, or if the campaign just isn’t interesting to you anymore, find a way to bring in a cool new element that does interest you, or take a break and run some one-shots for a game you are interested in. If your group isn’t interested in playing different games (a complaint I hear a lot from GMs), there are lots of possibilities for finding other games who do want to try out the systems and setting you’re excited about. As the GM, you should be having fun too, and if you’re not, you deserve to make the changes you need to in order to enjoy your games.

Takeaway #2: Encourage Outside-the-Box Thinking

How many of us have had classes we wanted to—or did—skip because they consisted of copying notes from an overhead projector or powerpoint, or the professor simply reviewed the same exact material that was covered in the previous night’s reading? How much imagination was required to engage with the class content? Zero. What was your engagement level with these types of classes? Probably also zero.

One of the main points of Burgess’s book is how this style of teaching is problematic:

“We need risk-takers, outside-the-box thinkers, and entrepreneurs; our school systems do the next generation of leaders a disservice by discouraging these very skills and attitudes. Instead of helping and encouraging them to find and develop their unique strengths, they’re told to shut up, sit down, put the cell phone away, memorize these facts and fill in the bubbles.”

His answer is to provide hooks to engage with the students’ imaginations and problem-solving power by having them learn through doing. Several of these hooks allow students to have some agency in their own learning (see Takeaway #4). The thinking is that students are more engaged when they get to come up with their own answers instead of simply looking up the answer in a book.

Imagine an RPG adventure that consisted of a series of pre-determined checks loosely strung together by a quest, and all you had to do to succeed was roll high enough each time? That probably sounds pretty boring—it’s the equivalent of checking to see if you’ve memorized a fact or not. It’s a binary outcome: Are you correct or incorrect? Did you pass or fail?

When the answers to the questions aren’t determined in advance, when the players have real agency to decide how they want to tackle a problem or solve a mystery, the players’ imagination gets to come out to play. “Can I use this spell in this unexpected way?” “Can we evade this obstacle instead of losing precious resources by confronting it directly?” They get a chance to think outside the box. And because the characters get to choose how they want to approach a given encounter, the players themselves have to engage with the game.

Takeaway #3: Make that Space Safe and Fun For Everyone

The big caveat when encouraging people to think outside the box (read: be creative) is that they need to feel safe while expressing their creativity, knowing that not everyone is going to create gold from nothing on the very first try. In Burgess’s classrooms, he knows that “all of the fun will come grinding to a stop” if the environment stops being safe and supportive, especially if people are only just (re)learning to use their imagination.

As the GM, it usually falls to you to keep the game fun for everyone and recruit the rest of the players to support you in that goal. Safe space means making sure no one feels uncomfortable or excluded during the game because of the content or the way the game is run—everyone’s here to have fun, after all. If it’s a home campaign, this can be done by discussing the social contract. For home games as well as convention games, resources like the X-card, “lines and veils”, the support flower, and others can help your group navigate around potentially difficult topics.

Another challenge to making games feel like a space people can express themselves is to create and enforce what Burgess calls a “no meanness zone.” I’ve seen bullying at the table take place among kids as well as adults, and previously I haven’t known how to intervene and get everyone back to the same page of having fun together. One way to help deal with this is to set the expectation of a “No Meanness Zone” from the get-go and explain what that means. For kids, this means they’re not allowed to say or do things to one another to intentionally hurt another person’s feelings or put someone down. If it happens unintentionally, kids should speak up and talk it out (“sorry” is often a term kids are learning to use appropriately). For adults, the ground rules to lay down are: make sure everyone gets a turn, don’t speak over each other, and give everyone your full attention and respect. By setting expectations early, you won’t feel awkward about enforcing those expectations later.

Takeaway #4: Engage with Multiple Gaming Styles

The entire second half of Burgess’s book includes hooks for engaging with different styles of learners and keeping things interesting. Whether that means developing props or creating avenues for artistic expression from art to writing to acting—or even taking the lesson outside or getting students physically moving—teachers can benefit tremendously from getting to know their pupils and what interests them in particular, and then catering to those interests. Burgess likens it to hosting people for dinner—wouldn’t you make sure your guests like steak before offering it as the main course?

For roleplaying games, there are two dimensions to engaging with different players’ tastes. The first is fairly straightforward: does your group prefer combat encounters, social intrigues, investigative mysteries, or a combination of all three? Examine the choices players make in regards to their characters, and you’ll be able to fine-tune the adventure to highlight the skills they’ve chosen to take ranks in, as well as the particular abilities their characters possess. You can use a player survey to help gauge what kinds of playstyles your group prefers, and then use that data to plan game sessions.

The second dimension is to look at the players’ interests outside of the game. Do you have a group of minis gamers on your hands? Artists? Writers? Crocheters? How can you bring in this external hobby into the game and let them enjoy two of their favorite pasttimes at once? I know some groups who put a lot of emphasis on miniatures combat during the game, and when they aren’t playing in a session they get together to assemble and paint those miniatures. When they finally get to see a set piece battle happen with the minis they labored over for hours, there’s an even greater sense of accomplishment.

When artists have a chance to compose character portraits and post them on a group website, or when writers get to chronicle the sessions through journal entries, you’re engaging those players on a whole ’nother level. When the climactic session is run as a live-action roleplay instead of a regular session, you’re giving the actors and improvisers a chance to truly shine. If you have crafters in your group, be it calligraphers or crocheters or woodworkers, you have an amazing resource at your disposal for creating props! The rest of the group will be blown away when you bring in a physical representation of a cue or plot point for them to interact with.

Takeaway #5: Showcase How Failure isn’t the End, but the Beginning

While I was initially reading teach like a pirate, this quote really hit home for me (especially because I struggle with perfectionism): “Do you want a guaranteed formula for disappointment in life? Set up the rules of your life so that you have to win every time or have one hundred percent success in order to feel fulfilled.” For students, it’s unhealthy to derive all their self-worth from their grades. As an adult, expecting success all the time means you can feel sidelined when something is hard and failure happens again and again—or god forbid, you have to compromise.

In roleplaying games, this mindset can crop up when players are confronted with bad things happening to their characters, particularly permanent penalties in the form of “corruption” or “insanity” or whatever they’re called in the system. Other times, this arises when the dice just don’t cooperate or poor choices were made, and the group is on the verge of a total party kill (TPK) or letting the win condition slip through their fingers. I’ve struggled with this myself in cases—it isn’t fun to lose. But in RPGs, if you’re having fun, you can’t lose.

One thing I want to try to show in my games is that if you don’t win the combat or catch the villain, you don’t lose the game entirely—or at least, you don’t have to stop playing. The GM just has to figure out how to adapt the story. It helps to consider that not every enemy wants to slay the PCs outright, and so the villain might leave the PCs incapacitated or, better yet, capture them. If a villain gets away or an investigation stalls out, that might mean that the situation and stakes get escalated. When planning adventures, brainstorm a couple of avenues that the group could venture down should they “fail” their main objectives.

One of my favorite campaigns of all time featured an accidental TPK very early on in the story, courtesy of the group staying in character. Rather than punish the group, the GM let us keep our XP to spend on new characters, and the very first mission we had to confront after we rolled new characters was to clean up the mess our previous characters left behind. This meant that the story itself continued, even if it was told through a different point of view.

It helps everyone cope better during games—as well as in life—if failure isn’t treated as an insurmountable defeat. It’s an essential part of learning and growing, after all.

Are you an educator, and if so, what lessons have you learned from teaching that can apply to roleplaying games? If you’re a game master, which of these takeaways are most helpful or even surprising to you? Leave a comment below!

If you want to check out the rest of the book for yourself, you can purchase the book on Amazon. As an Amazon affiliate, I get a portion of the sale price if you use the above link, which helps me offset the costs of TripleCrit like hosting and the domain. Thanks for reading!

Image Credit: Amazon.com, Canva

In the very first entry in this series, I caught up with author, editor, and tie-in writer Jennifer Brozek after her appearance at Norwescon last weekend to ask her a bit about her journey as a writer and what advice she has for people looking to get into the RPG industry. If you haven’t had the chance to read any of her work before, you’re missing out! Her works have twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker award, and she’s won the Scribe Award for best tie-in Young Adult novel for BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident. She’s also an active member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), HWA (Horror Writers Association), and IAMTW (International Association of Media Tie-In Writers).

Her latest book, which I had the pleasure of editing—To Fight the Black Wind—debuts today! The story revolves around psychologist Carolyn Fern from the Arkham Horror Files series of games, whose most recent case is to cure the Ruggles family heiress of nightmares that seem to leave her bloody and wounded. As Carolyn delves into the possibility that the wounds are not self-inflicted, the two women are drawn into the Dreamlands and an even deeper mystery. But can they outrun—or outwit—the Black Wind and its horrific agents? Of course, while in the Dreamlands, the Cats of Ulthar can make for powerful, if petit, allies.

You can pick up the hardcover novella from your FLGS today, or download the ebook from Amazon or DriveThruRPG.

Katrina: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, Jennifer! I wanted to begin by asking you a little bit about your history with writing: How did you start, and why? What does writing mean to you?

Jennifer: I’m not someone who has always written. Somewhere in my late twenties I began to write character stories and discovered I liked writing. Really liked it. I started professionally publishing by writing RPG reviews of Black Gate Magazine. From there, I was hired to contribute to Dragonlance sourcebooks for Margaret Weis’ Sovereign Stone company by Sean Everette, and my career was off and running.

As I continued, I wrote both games and original fiction. I discovered I had a lot to say in stories. Writing has become my life. I am a storyteller, a bard, a wordslinger, and wordsmith. I enjoy outlining, writing, revising, and editing. I’ve seen the publishing world from author, slush reader, editor, and publisher roles. Each job has informed the rest. All of it has made me a better author and it is a job I’m not willing to give up.

Katrina: That’s fantastic that you’re able to hop between so many roles! I hear from a lot of writers who struggle with revision, or from editors who are challenged when faced with unleashing their creativity. But in addition to being an author, you’re also an editor of anthologies such as Grants Pass, Human for a Day, and Shattered Shields. How does one role feed into to the other, or do you see them as distinct?

Jennifer: I’ve been doing this long enough that I’ve compartmentalized the two jobs. They are two distinct modes for me. When I am editing, I have a completely different mindset. Especially when editing other authors. You need to keep your own authorial voice out of another person’s story and let their voice shine through. When I am writing, I try to keep the editor side quiet. I don’t need the critic looking over my shoulder as I draft. But I do need to channel the critic when I’m in revision or edit mode.

I will say that editing others has made me a better writer and writing has made me a more understanding editor.

Katrina: So after you’ve quieted the inner editor, what does your process look like as you begin writing? How do you brainstorm, research, and outline?

Jennifer: When it comes to tie-in fiction, it starts with an idea and a pitch. For short stories, after the pitch is accepted, I immerse myself in the IP’s universe for a bit before I write. If it is a novella or a novel, I usually am required to submit a full outline and/or synopsis before I write. This step can be extremely detailed as the particular editors and line developers make certain you will write a story that suits their world.

If it is original fiction, especially a novel or novel series, I tend to think about them for a long time, even 1–2 years before I write them. Sometimes this is because I’m writing other things. Other times, this is because the idea is big enough I need to really think about it first. Then, I outline. I usually start with a “what if” idea and built the story from there. In one case, I commissioned a map first because the location itself was so important to the story, I needed to see it before I started writing.

In either case, I have an idea, then I decide an act structure (three or five), then I outline. I must outline, but I am not extensive in this process: bullet points for each act, and bullet points for each scene in each act. In general, each scene bullet point is a chapter, and I tend to write two to three thousand words per chapter.

When the draft zero is done, I sit back and look at what I have. I look for plot holes, weird pacing, and dangling subplots. I’m an adder. I go back and layer in details, foreshadowing, more action, and such like that. THEN I get to work on fixing it for draft one.

Katrina: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” then, huh? It sounds like it definitely beats having to rip up entire chapters’ worth after you’ve written them, especially when you’re freelancing and are getting paid per word! Once you’ve got your outline figured out, what does a typical day look like when you draft the manuscript? How about when you revise, or do you do a little of both each day?

Jennifer: On a day when I’m drafting, I tend to edit the last three paragraphs I wrote (but no more). By the time I’m into writing, I’ve reset my tone and thought process to where I left off. I try to write fast, getting through all of the mini-scenes I’d plotted for myself that day. I plan these mini-scenes out the night before so I can think about them all night. While I’m writing, I remember the phrase, “I can fix this in post.” If I run into a problem such as not having blocked out a fight scene, I will say, [Fight here between X and Y. Y wins. X dies.] I will color code it in red for the next draft.

After the first draft, I sit and read it from beginning to end. I want to hold the whole story in my head at once. I make notes on the manuscript and in a notebook on what needs to be added or subtracted or changed. Then I start again, polishing, editing, and revising. I like to do this with a top-down approach, although I can move scenes around as needed.

I do not revise a work I am drafting. If I do drafting and revising work in the same day, it is on two different projects. I draft in the morning and edit in the afternoon.

Katrina: That way, you can compartmentalize the creative versus the critic? That makes sense. So what does the critic look for in particular? What do you feel like you still struggle with as a writer, or what is the most challenging thing for you to do?

Jennifer: The more I write, the more I realize what I don’t know how to do. Writing is one of those skills you get better at the more you do it. I know I struggle with fight scenes, especially technical ones. I will block them out and write them, but they tend to come out like grocery lists. Thus, I will often send them to someone I know who excels in fight scenes and ask for help—for an edit or a rewrite. I’ve learned there is no shame in asking for help. For my BattleTech books, I have a BattleTech Think Tank who help me with the ’Mech fights and help me with particular details of the IP. When I write for something with a rabid fandom, I know I want to get the details correct. Details matter. Subject experts are gold to an author.

Katrina: Given how many hats you wear and how many works you have under your belt, do you have a preferred length of story or genre to write in? What is it and why?

Jennifer: When I write novellas, the draft ends up between 25,000 and 30,000 words. For novel, it is about 75,000 words. As I tend to write for the young adult market, 75,000 words for a novel is fine. If I need to do more, I know I need to weave in a secondary plotline that is, in essence, a novella.

Choosing a favorite genre is harder. I like to write cross genres. I write everything from science-fiction military to urban fantasy to cyberpunk and apocalyptic and horror. Most of my writing has a dark bent to it. That’s just the way I am. Those are the stories I like to read and write.

Katrina: That’s a lot of different genres, but it makes sense considering you’re pretty active in the SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW, both as a volunteer and as a member. What role do professional organizations play in your writing business? How have you used conventions as an author? Can you speak a little to how an emerging writing might benefit from these groups versus how they help you as an established author?

Jennifer: At first, membership in these organizations was the goal; a tangible mark that I’d made it. Once I joined these organizations, networking and using the resources offered helped me level up as an author and editor. There are opportunities for learning, PR, publication, networking, and volunteering that all allowed me to grow as a professional.

As an emerging author, you should be aware that even before you are a member of SFWA or HWA, their websites are full of resources you can use to help you: advice on contracts, subject matter blog posts, etiquette in the industry, reading series as well as sponsored conferences that include pitch sessions, how-to panels, and critiques.

As an established author, these organizations give you a community that understands what you are going through. Many of them have gone through the same things and you can learn from their mistakes/triumphs. There is a sense of comradery even if you don’t agree with every point of view expressed. Also, there are opportunities to volunteer and help shape the way the organization moves and what they focus on.

Katrina: So these groups really focus on the inside half of the industry and how to “make it” and succeed. But it seems like there isn’t really a dedicated organization for RPG writing and freelancing (the closest I’ve seen is the Freelance Forge). In 2012, you wrote a whole book on professional writing for RPGs and anthologies titled Industry Talk. Do you find the industry landscape has changed much since then, and what would be your biggest piece of advice for aspiring writers now—besides that they pick up the book for themselves?

Jennifer: The industry itself has expanded. Patreon, Kickstarter, and Drip were not as prevalent then as they are now. The role of the indie RPG publisher has grown and is much more accepted. But much of what I write about in Industry Talk has not changed… the business aspects, networking etiquette, and the nitty-gritty of dealing with publishers, editors, co-authors, deadlines, conventions, contracts, payment, and the like are still the same.

My biggest piece of advice for writers would be to understand what they want to get out of working in the RPG industry and how much control they want over their own project. There are a huge number of paths into the industry and many roles that contribute to a single project, so prospective writers need to know what it is they actually want to do. The more control you want, the more you should go indie. The more indie you want to go, the more you need to know how to get your projects funded in a non-traditional way because you need to pay your artists, editors, authors, and layout people. You also need to know how to get your products to the public.

Katrina: Along those same lines, one thing I keep on hearing over and over is how women and other underrepresented voices want to get into the RPG industry and create the games they want to play. In 2014 you helped edit Chicks Dig Gaming: A Celebration of All Things Gaming by the Women Who Love It. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing women in games now, in 2018? What advice do you have for women who are entering the hobby or are looking to start working in it?

Jennifer: Our biggest challenge is still to get our voices and our point of view heard. Movement has been made but we need to keep pushing, to amplify our voices and the voices of the marginalized creators who are still being ignored. Women play games and women want to write them. My advice is to figure out what you want to do and go for it. Don’t let anyone stop you. Also, help other women… all women of every type. Amplify their voices, too. Repeat what they say and repeat your own point of view. There is room at the table for all of us. It is not a zero sum game.

Katrina: I agree wholeheartedly: we just want to make games too. We’re not trying to kick anyone else out. I’m really hopeful for the number of women who are joining our hobby as players and what the future holds for us.

Finally, do you have time in between all your writing and convention appearances to still wear the GM’s or player’s hat? If so, do you find that your writing informs your roleplaying, or vice versa, and how?

Jennifer: I prefer to be the player rather than the GM, though I will GM upon occasion. I have discovered that I want to game in areas I don’t write in. I love playing Pathfinder/D&D for a regular game. I like my fantasy game and I hate to take notes on the plot. I’ll keep the loot count, but I need the play aspect and nothing that feels like work.

Actually, I lie.

I love playing Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror as well as Shadowrun. And I write in both games. The thing is, I want to play them occasionally rather that all the time. I’ve learned I need my downtime and separation between work and play.

Katrina: It sounds like when you’re wearing multiple hats, from author to editor to player to GM, it helps more if you can focus on each one separately and enjoy it on its own. Work versus play, writing versus editing, the whole bit. Hopefully that helps some of our readers reconsider their own work!

Thank you again for your time and for coming to talk to us! You can check out more of Jennifer’s work at jenniferbrozek.com, and keep an eye out for her next projects!

Image Credits: Canva, Fantasy Flight Games, JenniferBrozek.com, Mrinabh Dutta

“The heroes go on a dangerous quest and are fundamentally changed by the challenges they face.”

That sentence could be describing either the plot of a novel or a synopsis of a roleplaying game campaign. That’s because they’re both built using the same fundamental ingredients of story—characters, goals, and obstacles. In both cases, the audience wants to find out what happens next, and players and authors alike must decide how the story will unfold.

As it turns out, the tricks for crafting a good novel can be applied to roleplaying game campaigns, and roleplaying games can provide endless inspiration for books, movies, and comics. At the same time, there are plenty of places where writing and roleplaying games diverge, and pit traps await those who misapply advice from one medium to the other.

This blog explores those points of similarities and differences and aims to help writers, roleplayers, and gamemasters navigate their way around both. It is primarily interested in storytelling more broadly, which lies at the heart of fiction and—increasingly—of roleplaying games.

I began this blog as a writer who found her way to roleplaying and gamemastering. And I’ve talked to countless GMs and players who come to writing to flesh out their character backstories, chronicle their campaign, or detail a fictional world and its inhabitants. So no matter whether you’re a brand-new gamemaster, an aspiring author, or an enthusiastic roleplayer looking for more ways to enjoy the hobby—welcome. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.

If you’re a new game master just learning the ropes, you’ll want to read A Glossary of RPG Campaign Terms for New Gamers, Find Your Ideal RPG Campaign Organization Method, and follow these 5 Tips for Gamemastering an RPG System for the First Time. Most importantly, Don’t Let Fear or Anxiety Keep You Out of the GM’s Chair. And when you’re ready to take the next step, here’s How to Become a Better Game Master According to Science.

If you’re a game master interested in using narrative structure and the ingredients of story to help you write RPG convention scenarios, or even adventures to put on sale, check out these articles on Crafting RPG Adventures from Scratch, The 3-Act Formula as a Mini RPG Campaign Template, and How to Create RPG Campaign Subplots.

If you’re looking to write fiction or possibly become a freelance RPG writer, you’ll want to follow these Five Tips for Submitting to a Freelance Writing Open Call, avoid these Five Freelance Writing Pitfalls, learn What Happens in the Different Editing Stages, or dive in headfirst to novel prep with the 31 Days of NaNoPrepMo.

If you’re a roleplayer, you’ll want to read these 5 Steps to Writing a Killer RPG Character Backstory, download the Seven Steps to Character Creation Worksheet, and possibly Discover the Narrative Worlds of Play-by-Post Roleplaying.

If you’re looking for something different, you can “Search the Stacks” using the dropdown menu to navigate by category, otherwise you can “Browse by Keyword,” which includes the most popular tags used on this blog.

If you can’t find a blog post related to what you’re looking for, I encourage you to submit your questions and ideas for articles through this contact form. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the journey!

A Brief History of TripleCrit

TripleCrit has been the personal collection of musings, resources, and ramblings by Katrina Ostrander since 2011. The name refers to the concept of a triple threat in football or theater, as well as the RPG house rule that says if you roll three natural 20’s in a row you instantly kill whatever you were attacking. Here, the three “threats” are the three ways I express my creativity: writing, roleplaying, and gamemastering. Each is a unique vehicle for storytelling with its own challenges and rewards.

Image Credit: Canva