The Elements of Good Storytelling

[Rachiel]

I wanted to toss out a topic for discussion on storytelling in relation to an excellent article by Kimberly Appelcline called Elements of Storytelling, located at: http://www.skotos.net/articles/

This is the first in a series of articles.

Let's hear what you all think about it!

Rachiel
Customer Experience Host

[Jeff]

Excellent article! Care to give a hint as to what stories you are working on for Skotos?

I would like to comment on a couple of things. Starting the story "in the middle" is important. Role playing games break this subtle rule far too often- either starting the game too early or too late. For example, TORG is set after the invasion of Earth by half a dozen other realities. You were intended to start your campaign after the initial invasions had happened, and the sense of the different realities had been characterized (presumably so that the PC's could be from any of the universes). They missed a golden opportunity. The truly interesting times were those first choatic days of the invasion, where no one knew what was happening. But there was no support material to run your game from that point.

Shadowrun also has the problem of starting too late. Reading the history of the world, the most interesting times were when magic was returning and the nations were crumbling from outside forces. The time in which the game is set is far more stable- and less interesting. I wonder if this happens in published settings because the authors have fun writing the tumultuous history, then when they resolve the major conflicts, they publish it and tell us to, "take it from there".

LARPs often have the problem of starting too early. I used to start my games the this way- with a dreary cocktail party-like period where the players mill about, introduce themselves, find their contacts, and discuss "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". Then in one LARP I ran, I gave the players their information while I was setting up, making it clear that the game had not started. I then positioned each of them within the gamespace (it was a space station) with an action (you are on your way to talk to the captain concerning labor relations), brought up the lights and everyone jumped right in- 5 seconds later the station was hit by a freighter and the game roared forward. Peaple had a purpose, and the game was filled with action- not meandering.

Start your story at the interesting part!

[Kimberly]

Jeff --

I'm glad you enjoyed the article! In your post, you give some terrific examples of the importance of choosing an effective beginning point for any story or game. I can see some potential for differences between what would make the best beginning for a game vs. a fiction story. (Your LARPs example was especially interesting.) It's definitely worth some thought! But I definitely agree with you that -- whether in a short story or in a game -- starting in the middle, at an interesting moment in the action, is crucial.

You may also be interested in reading the fourth article in my series, "Plot Strategies," which talks a bit more about this issue of appropriate story beginnings. (That article will be posted on the Skotos website in a few weeks.)

In answer to your question, I'm not currently planning on writing any stories for Skotos. I'm just writing this series of articles for them, which is all I have time for right now. But I never say never ... things may change in the future! I'd love to write a modern-day magical-realist adventure story game ...

Thanks for the feedback!

Kimberly Appelcline

[JeffCrook]

Concerning character and characterization -

Recently, I was reading a number of fantasy novels over a rather short period for the purpose of catching up on what had been written of late. In doing so, I noticed something that I had never really thought about before. There was something about many of the characters that was bothering me, but it took some time for me to put my finger on it.

Many of the characters in these novels were not human. But they just as well could have been. There was nothing about the characters, other than the fact that the various authors refered to them as such, that told you that these were gnomes, elves, haflings, whatever.. In other words, if an editor had changed all the races to human and made them taller or shorter, the reader probably wouldn't have known the difference. There was nothing about the character that said, hey this guy is an elf, you'd know him in the dark as an elf.

In fantasy and sci-fi, this is a mistake. Not so much in modern, but it even applies in historical. It is a subtle thing, because those who write these things are human, and so it is hard to say what is human and what is elven, exactly, barring stereotypes (the gruff dwarf). And since so much of Skotos is likely to include this, finding a way to address methods of non-human characterizations might make a good forum for discussion.

My own method is to ask myself a question about each character in the story. What is it about this character that makes him or her particularly elven (or dwarven, or ogre, or draconic for that matter)?

Lovecraft did a great job in getting across the concept of the alien mind, the alien motivations of his most-definitely-non-human antagonists. As did Tolkien with his elves and such (If you replaced 'ent' with 'human,' wouldn't Treebeard strike you as one weird guy? Nothing he did would make any sense at all. But because he is an ent, it makes perfect sense). The same is true of many other great writers who venture into speculative fiction. So what are their methods? How do they make this magic happen so that you don't even notice it?

[ShannonA]

For those of you who haven't seen them: the third and fourth articles in Kimberly's series are now available at http://www.skotos.net/articles/.

The topics are:
* Writing Dynamic Settings (#3)
* Plot Strategies (#4)

Take a look; as always, comments are welcome here.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

The last article in Kimberly's series on Good Storytelling is now available at http://www.skotos.net/articles.

This one is on backstory. Here's an excerpt:

As discussed in the first article in this series, The Elements of Good Storytelling, most stories start somewhere in the middle of events, when things have already gotten interesting, just when a crucial turning point approaches. And this means that a whole fictional world of events took place before page one of the story. "Backstory" is the history behind the story, the past behind the settings, characters, and events brought to life on the page.

Comments here, as ever!

Shannon