https://www.patreon.com/NealeSourna

Neale Sourna is creating Erotica, Romance; Interracial, Multiracial; Fiction Consulting at Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/NealeSourna

 MISSION: Creating and crafting for you interesting, UNIQUE CHARACTERS of "race" who make you feel, learn, ad exercise your emotions and mind. Plus, you'll be giving me TIME and UNWORRIED FREEDOM to build and deliver more great stories, novels, and scripts for your pleasure.

       What is success? What is sustainability? Most authors, actors, and other artists cannot support themselves off what they make in a day job? Or that / those day job(s) cut into the emotional, physical, and spiritual energy required to Create and Make what you enjoy; what I enjoy creating and making and what you enjoy enjoying. But, you know that and that is why you are here.
         You know or are finding that a successful writer can win awards for great storytelling, become part of a legendary writers union, and win approvals and small jobs; but those don't equal adequate support to continue and finish long-standing or the physical materialization of new stories: novels, novella, short stories, scripts / screenplays, etc.
         Click here and check out my materials finished and in progress, before you go any further: http://www.Neale-Sourna.com

         Now, some of who I am, and my bona fides:

         I am Neale Sourna (www.Neale-Sourna.com) an award-winning author / publisher - screenwriter - game story narrative writer based in Cleveland (Garfield HTS), Ohio, USA, who "backed" into novel writing with self-prescribed short story exercises to work out ideas for TV scripts and feature screenplays. My first published work was "Hesitation" for PLAYGIRL, May 2002. I also edit and design (ebook and book covers plus interior layouts) of the character-driven stories published through PIE: Perception Is Everything (www.PIE-Percept.com).
         Some awards include my first published novel HOBBLE which won Best Romantic Erotica of the Year from BlackRefer.com; screenplay FRAMES which ranked as a New Century Screenplay Finalist; and Best storytelling @ White Nights Conference Game Narrative Awards for online video game METROPOLIS: LUX OBSCURA. http://www.neale-sourna.com/scriptgateway.html
         I am a member of the Writer's Guild of America - West (WGA-w)'s Video Game Caucus; but not WGA-w proper. No AAA games, yet, y'know the kind that have name actors and their images in them; my clients have been smaller, independent European game developers not mult-million dollar companies.
         “Characters should have depth and reality, and be unique in their own way.” And how’s this for “range”? With life experience as a temp or perm employee in various fields besides writing; including: retail, business banking and wealth management, accounting, engineering, live theatre, cinema, music (vocal, instruments, and radio), erotic photo modeling, historical and cultural research, and even microgravity research at NASA, I build characters who have unique depth, freshness, and reader memorability.
         I am also a Founding Advisory Board Member for "Creative Screenwriting Journal", studied Graduate level Film & Video writing and analysis at American University, DC, and has a Performing Fine Arts Bachelor Degree from Lake Erie College, OH. And continues studies in game design, storytelling, research and confirmation, people observation, and yoga.
         I am a graduate of John F. Kennedy H.S. in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, a former (and again) student of Cuyahoga Community College (Digital Film & Editing, Game Design Building), an undergrad-intern semester at Mount Vernon College with the National Endowment for the Arts Opera-Musical Theatre Financial Distribution Program, and an academic term alone abroad in Vienna, Austria just living, making friends, and learning.
         And all of these experiences go into my writing, editing, storytelling.
         A fun fact. I share a birthday with these sensual and sensational authors the Marquis deSade of France and Thomas Hardy of England, which says a thing or two about my take on dramatic writing; all the senses reign.
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         _Stories (mobi / kindle / epub) banned by Amazon Kindle or other vendors are available at:
        https://payhip.com/NealeSourna

Cheat Sheet to Becoming a Successful Freelancer by Bethenny Carl

https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-being-a-freelancer/

Our Ultimate Guide to Being a Freelancer

Bethenny Carl

If you’re thinking of becoming a freelancer, you’re probably bored with your day job and looking for new challenges in your life. Maybe you love the idea of being your own boss, or maybe you just need more flexibility in your work schedule. Either way, the freelance life could be perfect for you.

When you’re a freelancer, everything’s up to you. You can choose to work from the comfort of your own home, from your favorite cafe or from a shared office space. If you’re the adventurous type, you can even be a digital nomad, traveling the world with your trusty laptop. 

You can work for several clients at a time or find one reliable client who can provide you with regular work. You can work regular business hours just like the rest of the world, or sleep till noon and do your work during the wee hours of the night.

The most important thing is to determine what will work best for you, and find your own way to do it successfully. Because after all, that’s what freelancing is all about: finding your own way.

With all the different options out there, if you’re just starting your freelance career, things can seem quite overwhelming. But don’t worry – we’re here to help you figure it all out.

Your Cheat Sheet to Becoming a Successful Freelancer...

Cinema Law: What Does “Work For Hire” Mean for Moviemakers? By Gregory R. Kanaan on March 2, 2016

http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/blogs/cinema_law/work-for-hire-moviemakers/

Writers this applies to the page of any sort: short story, novel, stage play, film script, game....

Most clients I've interacted with THINK AND BELIEVE, incorrectly, that these three words together means they own your work, without giving you an outline without giving you a substantial payment, and without your name attached and hostilely shutting you down about using it as a work sample.

At least Hollywood normally attaches your name to the work for your portfolio.

Me. Always insert in your contract or notes exchanged between you and the client those hand car dealer words: As Is. Meaning this story in this exact form only, in case that short story grows into a novel or three or a screenplay, etc.
=========================================

Q: I was hired to work on a film as a DP and the contract stated that it was a “work for hire.” I’ve seen that in a bunch of employment contracts, but I never really understood what it meant. Can you shed some light on it?

The work for hire (WFH) doctrine deals with your ownership rights over the copyright to any work you produce for someone else. Unfortunately, it’s so often misunderstood by both employees and employers that I think people get it wrong more often than they get it right. And since most filmmakers make their living by creating their work on someone else’s dime, they rely heavily on the WFH doctrine, even if the terms “work for hire” or “work made for hire” are never uttered. So to clarify things, here’s a brief primer on WFH. Buckle up, it’s about to get informative!

 

What Is Work For Hire?

The WFH doctrine is a very specific legal principle that arises under U.S. copyright law. The basic premise is that in certain situations, an employer will automatically own the copyright to work you do for them as a matter of right. But the manner in which an employer can assert that right depends heavily on whether you’re hired as an employee or an independent contractor.

 

The Employee Work For Hire

If you’re hired as an employee, the work you create for your employer doesn’t belong to you, it automatically belongs to the employer. End of story. In employment situations, the ownership of copyright is not determined by the artist’s handiwork; it’s determined by the motive and desire of the employer. How will you know if you’re in an employment situation?

Look for the traditional trappings of employment: salary, benefits, co-workers, office, boss, limited control over your work, etc. If you find yourself in this situation, the only way you can retain the copyright to work you’ve created is if the employer gives it to you in writing.

For example, if you’re hired as a full-time editor at a production company, any work you do within the scope of your employment (i.e. editing, color correction, mixing) will automatically be owned by the production company. This, by the way, may also extend to work you create outside your employment too, especially if that outside work falls within the scope of work you would have created for the employer.

But you and I both know that most filmmakers don’t work as employees; more often than not they work as freelancers. And when you’re hired as a freelancer, the rules change dramatically.

 

The Independent Contractor/Freelancer Work For Hire

If you’re hired as an independent contractor or freelancer, the employer will own the copyright to your work only if all of these requirements are met:

1. The work is custom-ordered or commissioned;

2. Both parties agree in writing that it’s a work for hire;

3. The work falls into one of these nine categories: a contribution to a collective work, a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, or an atlas.

If you’re a freelancer and just one of these requirements isn’t met, it isn’t a WFH and you keep the copyright. One of the biggest misconceptions I see with freelancers is that they usually assume once the work is complete, they no longer have ownership rights and walk away, not realizing that they still own the copyright.

So for example, if you’re hired as a cinematographer on a film, as long as you and the employer agreed in writing that it’s a WFH, the copyright will be owned by the employer, since film is always a custom job and is one of the nine categories specified under copyright law.

How will you know if you’re an independent contractor? Look for factors like like greater control over the work, using your own equipment, working out of your own home or office, working on your own time, employment end dates, words like “freelance” or “independent contractor,” etc.

 

Moving Forward

Believe it or not, it’s not always easy to tell whether you’re an employee or an independent contractor, and you and the employer may have different views on it. In many cases, you might find that the employer refers to you as an “employee” even though from the outside it looks like you’re a freelancer. Maybe you work in the employer’s office and you receive a salary, but you’re using your own gear and set your own hours. How do you deal with an employment situation where it’s unclear what your status is?

Clarity is the antidote to that kind of ambiguity. Every employment contract should state whether, a) you’re being hired as an employee or a contractor, and b) whether you or the employer retains the copyright. In fact, WFH can get so muddled that I’ve stopped using the term in any contract I draft. I simply state which party retains the copyright because the actual words “work for hire” can cause more confusion than they resolve.

Film producers, take note: Be clear and concise when hiring. It’ll help avoid any copyright ownership conflict down the road. If you’re a filmmaker looking to get hired on your next job, make sure you discuss what to do with that copyright in every contract you sign with an employer. You will probably have to give it up in the end, but that’s the price for continuing to work in a field you love. And if you’re an employee in the film industry where job security is scant, you may not own the copyright to your work, but you can take solace in the fact that you have a steady job. MM


Have a legal question you want our advisers to answer in a future installment of Cinema Law? Send it into staff@moviemaker.com with the subject line “Cinema Law Question.”

Gregory R. Kanaan, Esq. is a Boston-based attorney representing artists, filmmakers and designers in Massachusetts and New York. His practice focuses on entertainment and art law, as well as intellectual property issues. He has resolved disputes involving copyrights, publicity rights, trademarks, and contractual disputes for a wide range of independent filmmakers and design professionals. 

Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Kanaan was a television producer, creating documentaries and series for The Discovery Channel, Court TV, TLC, and A&E, among others. When not practicing law, Mr. Kanaan writes for his blog, The [Legal] Artist, which aims to educate creative professionals on the legal issues that affect them most. 

The answers to legal questions provided here are for general education and information purposes only, and are not legal advice or legal opinions. The information provided in this article is not intended to create a lawyer-client relationship between Mr. Kanaan and a reader.
Image photographed by Mark Simakovsky, posted on MovieMaker‘s Instagram.

10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers by Robert Blake Whitehill

10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers

By: Guest Column | January 1, 2016

     

 

 

All writers dream of knocking out thousands of words a day, publishing multiple books a year and seeing them all skyrocket to the top of the bestseller lists across the country. We dream because it’s a difficult task and not everyone has the drive to take the right steps. But of the people who do, they generally have instituted these 10 habits into their writing life to make sure that they are giving themselves the best chance to write something great. Here are the good habits you should develop and add in your writing life if you want to find success.

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This guest post is by Robert Blake Whitehill. Whitehill is a classically trained actor, a critically acclaimed novelist, and an award-winning screenwriter. He has earned film festival wins at the Hudson Valley Film Festival and the Hamptons International Film Festival, and has written many highly rated episodes of the Discovery-Times Channel’s “The New Detectives,” “Daring Capers” and “The Bureau.”  

He lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife and son, and when not cruising on the Chesapeake, or knocking around the sky over Tangier Island in a Cessna 152, Whitehill blogs and posts on Twitter about his home waters, and has crafted a number of articles for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. 

For more information, please visit robertblakewhitehill.com.

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1. READ

Yes, this really is about writing. So, I mean it. Read everything. Authors can get so swept up in our core writing, feeding the ravenous social media beastie, and schlepping hither and yon for signings, that the window for reading narrows into a gunslit blocking all but a ray or two of literary sunlight. Focus on your subject area, but also broaden your tastes. 

You’ll have a deeper reservoir of tropes and details in which to dip your quill. Refreshing your inner author with invigorating reading will help prevent your style from becoming stale. The evocative power of reading is what inspired you to write in the first place, isn’t it? Stay connected to that wellspring of fresh ideas.

2. MANAGE TIME

When will you write? Before work, or after? On the weekends, or during the week? One hour-long session each week? Longer? More often? Be very specific with yourself, especially starting out, about the time you will commit to writing. 

Log and track your hours if you need to. Act like your own unreasonable boss. A few weeks of practicing mindful diligence will teach you how many pages you can produce in a given time period, and help you understand how to set and meet your goals. 

One thing effective, productive writers do not do is wait for inspiration. They go looking for it on a schedule, usually finding it very close by their computers or tablets.

[Here are 7 reasons writing a novel makes you a badass]

3. SET GOALS

You somehow knew that was coming, didn’t you? Set goals you can easily achieve. Set the bar low, then lower it even more, so you always step away from your writing session with a success, with a win, with progress. Whether you commit to two pages a week, or to twenty-five, as I do, make sure you get your pages done. 

If work, family, or any other facet of life glints you into distraction, stay up a little later that night, or get up a little earlier next day, so your goal is achieved. Fast or slow, stay on track like a freight train.

4. MANAGE SPACE

What kind of writing space do you need to be productive? In the past, I sometimes wrote in busy cafes. For a time, I wrote between calls in the map room of the Montclair Ambulance Unit where I served as an EMT. Later I rented an office at C3 Workplace, where the only sick people were the characters in my head. Now I happily work in my home. Find or create the right space, the feng shui, the décor, and the soundscape that helps you do the work before you.

5. SET BOUNDARIES

Family and friends must get used to the idea that your writing is important to you. [Like this quote? Click here to Tweet and share it!] It requires time apart from the folks you love best, and who love you dearly. Repeat as kindly, and as firmly as you can that whatever else your roles in life might be, you are also a writer. Writing is not your hobby. It is not something to do to pass the time while waiting for folks to be available to distract you. Honor your calling. Honor your loved ones. 

Demonstrate a passionate devotion required by this consuming commitment to your people, and to yourself. They might grumble now and then, but they will get used to it. They will also share in your pride of accomplishment down the road.

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Need an idea for a short story or novel? Look no further than The Writer’s Idea Thesaurus. Organized by subject, theme and situation categories, it’s the perfect writing reference to break out out of any writing funk. Order now from our shop and get a discount!

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6. FINISH

Complete your drafts! Don’t be the writer with that over-edited first chapter that’s been spun into absolute gold, but has nothing readable following it. [Like this quote? Click here to Tweet and share it!] I had a chance to hear Professor Charles Stegeman tell his Haverford College painting students over and over again to cover the whole canvas right away, then go back to polish the details. Was I painting then? No, I was modeling for the class, naked as a jaybird, and still as a stone, so I heard this exhortation plenty. By the end of every class, I also saw the wonderful results. 

Some days, yes, I warm up for writing by rereading the last couple of pages from the day before. Sure, I might toss in an easy edit or two. Then my daily goal beckons me forward into mysterious new territory, ever onward to completion of the draft. Now please stop thinking about me naked. That was many cheeseburgers ago.

7. NO SHOPPING

I learned this from my father, short-story author, and novelist, Joseph Whitehill. Do not shop your story ideas. Tell not a soul. Keep your thoughts secret. Say nothing until that first draft is complete. Don’t fear your idea will be lifted and plagiarized. That is possible, but unlikely. 

There is another kind of thief much closer to home. If you try to beguile and fascinate your family, friends, or lovers with the precious coin of your creativity too soon, it’s possible you will vitiate and squander that soul-twisting impetus to get it all down on paper. Ignoring my father’s advice, I regaled this friend, or that object of my desire, with some very juicy plots. Didn’t I have to justify calling myself a writer somehow? These cool plots were ample proof I was the genuine article, right? Wrong. 

It had the opposite effect on my output, and on my self-esteem. On more than one occasion I awoke the next day to discover that I could not even remember what my grand idea was. It was gone, leaving only a smoky, taunting wisp of a notion behind, like a half-forgotten dream receding into oblivion. 

To make matters worse, no one to whom I blabbed ever asked how that idea I confided had turned out, or when it would be published. Sit with that agonizing hot clinker of story burning in your gut until you’ve written it all down. Then, tell your friends. Hell, tell the world, because now you’ve earned the right.

8. CULTIVATE YOUR TEAM

In addition to helping your loved ones understand how important writing is to you, you will need a few folks in your corner with specific roles beyond missing your face while you are holed up at your work. Your committed listener will field your emails or calls about how you are sticking to your page count goals every week, or even every day. 

Your editor, as Richard Marek (Robert Ludlum’s editor on the Bourne series) did for me, will tell you the truth about your work, and offer suggestions on how to make it better. 

Your proofreader will give your manuscript that polished, professional look, as Suzanne Dorf Hall does for my stuff. 

You will need a cover artist to make your book leap off the shelf into a reader’s hands, as Studio042 does for my work. 

Perhaps you need an agent, or a manager, like my indispensable friend and confidant, Liza Moore Ledford. 

Whether you opt for independent publishing, or a legacy publishing deal, you will need a brash, dazzling PR team to help the world find you. For that, I go with Shelton Interactive every time. Find the people, the companies, who understand your work, and who are committed to your success not only as a writer, but as an author.

[The 12 Dos and Don’ts of How to Write a Blog]

9. LOVE YOUR READERS

I don’t mean that you necessarily should have warm feelings for your readers. Real love is not just a feeling. It’s a job description. For the sake of argument, let us imagine a reader can comfortably tackle one page of a book every two minutes. 

This imaginary reader has an average heart rate of 70 beats per minute (except during the riveting parts of the story where that rate better shoot up. A lot.) So, that 400-page book will take about 800 minutes to read, or around fourteen hours for those of you playing the home version of our game. 

More to the point, that means your reader expends at least 56,000 irretrievable heartbeats on your work, out of a finite allotment of 2.25 billion lub-dubs. Put that way, you can see this is a truly enormous commitment. Honor and appreciate your readers’ investment by doing your very best work. It cannot be about the money for you. Be sure that your readers’ time feels well-spent, and not a pointless sacrifice.

10. COMMUNICATE

Be available to your readers. Give them an email address where they can reach you, confident of your eventual reply. In addition to doing your best work, this is how you build a community of devoted readers. It may sound tedious, but after writing my first book alone for so long, I found that meeting and hearing from readers—my very own readers—made it all worthwhile, far outweighing a considerable financial return. 

Some writers might believe that good work is all that’s due and owing to one’s public. 

Now you know I disagree. In addition to hearing from readers, you might find yourself fielding questions from other writers in need of advice. This is a great compliment. Offer what thoughts you can. Be the author you wished you could talk to when you were starting out. 

As evidence of my sincerity, I can be reached at rbw@robertblakewhitehill.com. It would be a pleasure to hear what you think of my Ben Blackshaw Series, or to answer any questions that come to mind.

LinkedIn Group: Game Writer Exchange 1,025 members

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2578390

Writers are often THE LAST TO BE CALLED into the game planning and development process, but are expected to pull a gigantic elephant out of the tiny hat.

Just like art graphics and programming code good writing and especially GREAT WRITING needs time to build its understructure and then layer on muscle and flesh.

The more WE WRITERS share and give one another a hand up to get each and every one of us into projects earlier, the better our writing will be and THE BETTER THE GAMES WE WRITE WILL BE, and the sooner we’ll be asked to the party.

No more last minute literary rescues and trying to piecing together plots that makes all the already chosen graphics work. Which can be great—if it works—and disastrous and a blame on the writer when it doesn’t.

Let’s all move ahead, together.

[game writer group, game writers group, writer, games, game, narrative]

Writing in Games: It’s Much More Than Narrative_Why some of the best writing has nothing to do with character or story. By Tim Biggs

22 Jun 2014  Warning: This feature contains a minor spoiler for The Last of Us: Left Behind.

Writing can make or break a game. It takes many forms - from dialogue to in-game literature, voiceovers or even scripted environmental events - but in almost all cases it aims to move the game along, distil complexity into something meaningful, give justifications for gameplay conceits and keep the player attached to the characters and scenarios through story.

When it comes to pointing out ‘good writing’ in games though, we don’t always look to the examples that do these things best. More often than not we associate ‘good writing’ with well-crafted story content and entertaining text or dialogue, and while this obviously isn’t a negative thing in and of itself, it leaves room for the idea that there are games with great, skilful writing that we don’t think of as such because they aren’t literary or don’t tell a gripping story. So is there a problem with the way we evaluate the quality of writing in games?

With the exception of pure narrative, writing in games must be function first; less to do with crafting a story and more to do with non-literary concerns like player retention and awareness.

 
Often when we talk about writing, we refer to the bits between or on top of the gameplay, where the characters talk to one another or you read some text to gain exposition. Yet while that kind of writing is easier for us to identify and analyse (by looking for the indicators of quality we recognise from literature and other media), the more game-specific, more technical (and depending on the game, more vital) form of writing that takes place during and informs the gameplay can often be overlooked.

With the exception of pure narrative (for example in a cutscene), writing in games must be function first, which is to say it’s less to do with crafting a story and more to do with non-literary concerns like player retention and awareness. Concerns like how does a player know the only way to exit the room is through a ladder in the roof? What does an AI character say to alert the player to incoming danger? How will the game explain to the player that a particular area is off-limits?

Whether these concerns are addressed seamlessly depends almost entirely on the quality of the writing which, like most other art in games, is usually there to build part of the scaffolding as much as part of the pretty façade. For example having a character deliver a “no, this doesn’t go here” or a “just three more to go” or heaven forbid a “hey, listen” serves a gameplay purpose rather than a literary one, and so should be judged on whether that purpose is realised.

Ride as fast as you like, you can't get away from Navi...

Even if an offhand character remark gives you exactly the information you need at the right time to have things click into place and make you feel like a genius or a badass, such writing is unlikely to be called out as ‘good’, and I think it boils down to the fact that this kind of functional writing only really exists in video games.

As a baseline, consider Naughty Dog's Uncharted trilogy and The Last of Us, which are generally very well regarded in terms of writing and storytelling. This can be seen most recently in The Last of Us Left Behind DLC, in which the narrative cleverly negotiates our familiarity with coming-of-age stories. 

Although stories of this type tend to be predictable and hard to pull off owing to the sheer number of times they’ve been told, the characterisation and literary restraint in Left Behind allows an experience that feels exciting and surprising while still managing to convey something deeply universal. Had the characters been written more salaciously or more in line with traditional young love stories, the player would surely have anticipated this and the impact of Left Behind would have been undermined.

Such a believable relationship.

Stories like these show that video games are just as capable of incredible storytelling as film and literature, but it’s plain to see that the cleverness and skill with which the game’s narrative aspects are handled are satisfying to us in all the ways we recognise from those purely narrative forms. We recognise them as hallmarks of good storytelling. So what about the cleverness and writing skills unique to video games as a form? For an example of that I’m going to jump to a game similar to The Last of Us in many ways, but also very different.

 

The Gears of War games, not always regarded as having ‘good writing’ (“Never thought it would end like this, huh Maria!?”) make an interesting example in my argument that the way we measure writing quality in games might center the discussion mostly on the overtly artistic or narrative kind.

Whether or not the story being told in the latest game - Judgment - was of a high quality in the traditional sense, the writing was exceptional. Take the declassified missions for example, which appeared in each chapter and offered an optional set of parameters to the player, increasing the challenge but also the reward.

The parameters obviously had to be fun from a gameplay point of view, but their in-game justification required scenarios that made sense to that exact part of the narrative, could be left out entirely if the player so chose, and delivered a reasonable explanation for why visibility was suddenly limited or the mission had to be accomplished under a certain time constraint. In addition to this, voiceover had to be written that explained these ludicrous happenings from the perspective of one of the main characters, bringing in their own perspective and personality.

In the end the player has an understanding of the option, the consequences and the story, and they’ve stayed immersed in the artifice of the game throughout. It’s a great (if not very subtle) example of games writing acting as the carpenter’s hammer rather than the novelist’s pen. While none of it hit you in the gut, brought a tear to your eye or made you gasp with an unexpected twist, it was good writing nonetheless.

Turns out DudeBros can also be effective communicators too.

Zooming in from the overarching scenario-type writing to the minute-to-minute experience kind, you can also see a vital role that’s easy to overlook. We’ve all had experiences where the entirety of what’s happening in a game fails to be communicated to us coherently, either because we haven’t grasped an important mechanic or are just not looking at it the intended way.

Often in fast-paced action-heavy games where that doesn’t happen a lot (like Gears), it’s because your focus and understanding of the scenario is being shaped by mission directives or context-specific character speech. For all its malignment, “RAZOR HAIL” is a pretty stunningly effective thing for a character to scream at you if you need to be told “keep yourself covered from above at all times or you’ll be ripped to shreds”.

Whether a particular game is built around mechanics or a story at its core (or both), the function of this seemingly incidental writing is to connect the player in their limited perspective to their place in the immediate scenario and the wider game world.

A poorly written or communicated aspect of the game will break the player’s ability to experience the game as intended, even as the disruptive and unpredictable tendencies of the player will break any writer’s attempt to focus attention too absolutely or tell a story too linearly. Yet for all this, if the writing of a game is absolutely nailed the player will hardly even notice it’s there while they’re playing.

It’s this unique relationship between players and game designers - each affecting the way the other creates and experiences - that makes the supporting writing in games so largely unlike the writing in any other media, and it’s why that writing is just as worthy and just as deserving of our analysis and attention as the more literary kind we tend to focus on. 
 


Tim is a freelance writer based in Sydney. You can catch up with him on Twitter and why not join the whole IGN Australia team on Facebook?

Tips for Writers / Ubiblog Columns by Richard Dansky | Central Clancy Writer | on September 19, 2013 |

http://blog.ubi.com/the-write-stuff-september-2013-advice-for-writers/

Columns by Richard Dansky | Central Clancy Writer | on September 19, 2013 | 5 comments | in Blog Updates

The best resource you have as a writer is other writers.

For those of us of a certain age (which is to say, those of us old enough to remember typewriters, buy music on vinyl in a non-ironic way, and have fond memories of non-CGI Transformers), the image of the lone writer holds a romantic appeal – one that’s definitely echoed in the wider audience. The idea of a solitary wordsmith – locked in a room with only a typewriter and a blank page – plays to a certain fantasy of the artist, and for some forms of writing there’s some merit to it.

But even the most supposedly solitary forms of literary expression, be they novels or short stories or naughty limericks that include the word “Nantucket,” aren’t entirely solo efforts. There are editors involved. First readers. Copy editors. You get the idea. And that’s for forms that involve no other asset besides the words.
And believe me, it’s a good thing to get those other folks involved.

Most writers, in their more candid moments, will simultaneously admit to being their own worst critics and getting so wrapped up in what the writing should be that they can’t edit it properly. Having other eyes on your work is a tremendous help. Good readers and editors will mercilessly uncover the weak spots and the cheats in your narrative, will relentlessly expose places where you got stylistically lazy, and call out the places where you shortchanged the reader.

Also, if you’re lucky, they’ll catch the typos.

The trick is, of course, finding readers and editors who can do that for you, who can read what you’ve written and provide feedback that is not only not yours, but also actively useful.

Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to games.

 

Don’t Go It Alone

For a long time, most game writers were solitary creatures, whether they wanted to be or not. The role of narrative in game design wasn’t necessarily highly regarded, and a dedicated writer was viewed as a luxury. The idea of two – or more – on a single project was mind-blowing in its extravagance.

Good readers and editors will mercilessly uncover the weak spots and the cheats in your narrative [Digression: At the first Game Writers Conference, now the Game Narrative Summit, I walked into the conference room before Marc Laidlaw’s opening talk and my first thought as I scanned the room was My God, I’m not alone. Every other person I’ve talked to who was there that day has told me roughly the same story, often using the same words.]

Which meant that when a writer wanted feedback on something they were doing, they weren’t getting it from writers.

Now wait a minute, I can hear you saying. Most of the people who are going to play the game aren’t writers, so feedback from writers is kind of key there, Spartacus. And yes, that’s true – knowing that things are or aren’t working for an audience is vitally important. If a reader hates the protagonist, it doesn’t matter if they’ve memorized Strunk and White or not; that feedback is useful.

But.

What that feedback is not, is directed, which means it’s not necessarily phrased in a way that makes it actionable. I don’t like the main character is feedback; there’s a serious disconnect between the way you position your protagonist’s backstory and her diction in the dialog you’ve written is actionable.
Let’s rewind a bit. Imagine you’re an artist and you’re showing someone your work. Their response, quite reasonably, is that they don’t like it and something’s wrong with the way the sky looks. Now, this is useful feedback insofar as it A)suggests that the project needs more work and B)calls out a rough area that could use some improvement. However, what that feedback is lacking is technical criticism, using the language of the visual arts. There’s nothing there about composition, about color, about tools – in short, it’s not couched in the professional context that would allow the artist to use it as a clearer roadmap to iteration and improvement.

And just like art, or engineering, or any other discipline within game development, writing has its own professional and technical language. Here is where the romantic notion of creation-exclusively-through-inspiration breaks down; writing is first and foremost a craft, requiring sweat and iteration and technical skill.

Like any other craft, it has techniques and best practices and standards, and the people best equipped to give feedback that addresses the needs of the craft are – wait for it – other writers. They do the job, they speak the language. And just as artists get valuable feedback from other artists, and engineers get better feedback on their code from other engineers, some of the most directed, useful feedback a writer can get will come from another writer.

[This assumes, of course, that the writer in question is good at critique and isn’t a jerk. But for the sake of continued employment of all concerned, we’ll assume both.]

I’ll confess, the first time I was put in the harness long-term with another writer (while working on Splinter Cell: Double Agent), it was a weird feeling. I’d gotten used to working alone, to the point where I wasn’t sure how to interact. I’m fairly certain Taras Stasiuk, the other writer in question, felt something similar. This was something new and different and challenging. (Which is writerese for What if they don’t like my stuff?)

 Then something weird happened. I passed Taras some of my stuff. He passed me some of his. He sent back comments on mine, which were very useful, and I sent him a few on his. I didn’t agree with all of his notes, but we discussed the places where we disagreed, which made me lay out why I’d made those choices and what they implied, and that led to some new discussions about where the characters were coming from, and before you knew it A)we had a great working dynamic and – this is the important part – B)the work was better. And I’ve relished having other writers to work with ever since.

Writing is first and foremost a craft, requiring sweat and iteration and technical skillThis is, of course, old hat to folks who’ve worked in TV writers’ rooms or found that mythical beast, the useful writers’ group. But for too many writers out there, there isn’t or hasn’t been a professional peer they could turn to. That means learning to rely only on themselves, to set up perimeters around their work, and – after too many rounds of being told I would have done it this way, and you should totally add a few dinosaurs – learning to view feedback as not necessarily in the work’s best interest. Those are hard habits to break.

They’re worth breaking, though, and that ultimately circles us around to the original premise, namely, that the best resource you have as a writer in games is other writers. Specifically, other writers who know and understand the sort of work you’re doing and who can give you the targeted feedback that will allow you to improve specific aspects of that work. So if you’re lucky enough to be on a team, or in a studio with multiple writers, then the best thing you can do is use them. Share your work, and let them share theirs with you.

Because they’re the ones in the best position to give you specific feedback you can use to make your own writing better.

columnsrichard danskythe write stuff

the author

Perhaps best known for his brief stint as the world’s leading authority on Denebian Slime Devils, Richard Dansky has been with Red Storm/Ubisoft since 1999. His first game was Shadow Watch and his most recent one is Splinter Cell Blacklist. In between he’s served on the advisory board for GDC’s Game Narrative Summit, helped found and develop the IGDA Game Writing SIG, and appeared on Gamasutra’s list of the top 20 game writers in 2009. He has also published six novels, one short fiction collection and a ton of tabletop RPG sourcebooks, which is why you should never tell him about your character. For a tantalizing taste of Dansky's inimitable insights, read his recurring column on the UbiBlog ("The Write Stuff") and follow him on Twitter: @RDansky

Passion, purpose, and power: a pep-talk for writers by BookBaby on October 22, 2013 in Writing Tips

[This article was written by  guest contributor and award-winning author Beth Barany.]

I just got back from a writer’s conference. I love going to them. I love speaking there and helping other authors. But I’m tired. I’m an introvert. As I wade through all the post-conference activities of following up with all the cool folks I met and getting back to the business of running my business, I also want to get back to my writing.

But I feel depleted. What’s a girl to do?

I have to get in touch with my true purpose for my own fiction, connect with the passion for my story, and there I will find the power to get writing.

 

What is your true purpose for your writing?

When all is said and done, regardless of what the world thinks of your work, would you keep writing? I would. Some writers I’ve worked with say that if their story only touches one person they have done their work, they have left their mark upon the world. I know that if I can inspire one writer and empower one girl or woman to take charge of her life because she read my fiction, I have done what I came here for.

Good writing is full of heart and connects from one heart and mind to another. What are you passionate about? Does it come across in your writing?

One of my clients is passionate about the underdog in boxing and writes compelling tales set in gritty 1950s LA. Her love of the sport and the times comes through in her fiction.

I’m passionate about exploring the responsibilities and choices of a strong young woman. How can she be a true hero in the face of her inner demons?

So, are you writing about the things that fire you up?

 

Lastly, what are you focused on?

You may have heard, “What you focus on grows.” You can choose to be focused on what’s difficult, or you can be focused on solutions. Even the smallest step pays off.

Are you stuck in your writing? Acknowledge where you are and what you’re feeling; feel it, then focus on spending a minimum of twenty minutes writing. Just get moving and allow yourself to write whatever, however. Progress not perfection.

Are you confused about all your publishing and book marketing options? Then get clear about your main purpose, your passion, and also your goal. Write it down. What is the smallest step you can take today, now, in the next twenty minutes that will move you toward that goal?

We writers have the power to change the world! Let’s start today.

Bio: Beth Barany is an author coach, keynote speaker, and the award-winning author of Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, a YA epic fantasy. She’s passionate about helping novelists create successful careers. More at www.BethBarany.com.

From BigThink.com_Why Women Should Write Screenplays by Andrea Chalupa June 27, 2013

This week, Business Insider wrote about a study reporting the sad news that women are just not selling screenplays at the rate of men. In fact, they’re grossly being left out of misogynistic Hollywood:

According to Suzana Orozco’s analysis of recent sales of spec scripts — scripts written with no deal in place (hence speculative) — women make up a smaller percentage of those sales than any time in the last two decades.

While the spec script market as a whole has cooled from its heyday of the mid-1990s, the impact on female writers has been even more severe.

Between 1991 and 2000, women accounted for 14 percent of spec script sales.  The numbers remained high in 2001, 2002 and 2003 as women sold more than 20 spec scripts each year.

Since then the bottom has fallen out (see the chart below). Only three times — 2004, 2007 and 2009 — have female scribes sold more than 10 percent of specs. Female writers sold the same number of scripts in 2001 as they did in 2011 and 2012 combined.

Between 2010 and 2012, the last three full years this has been measured, scripts written by women constituted just 9 percent of sales. [Emphasis mine.]

Why so low? The usual suspects (pun intended) have been blamed: women like to write romantic comedies—a genre that isn’t in high demand in a Hollywood ruled by epic futuristic apocalyptic space action adventures.

And there’s also the problem that, in Hollywood, the prevailing dogma is that it takes a famous actor, not a famous actress, to get a movie funded. So it’s largely assumed that women screenwriters want to write about women protagonists—and who’s going to want that script? It’s difficult to fund. Actresses don’t sell movies. (Ironically, Calli Khouri’s Academy Award-winning screenplay for Thelma & Louise is held up in screenwriting classes as the gold standard.)

A few years ago, I took on the quixotic journey of writing a screenplay. I was motivated to do so because the story—a Soviet thriller—was inspired by my beloved grandfather’s memoir and the stories he used to tell me about surviving Stalin’s famine in Ukraine that starved to death millions. So I was on a mission. 

Eventually, after years of hard work and rejection, my script was finally optioned—“rented” for a few years—to an Academy Award-winning production company.

Along the way, I met other women who wrote screenplays. Tellingly, none of them wrote romantic comedies. 

They were writing historical dramas driven by complicated male protagonists, gruesome horror stories, dark comedies staring serial killers, and stoner comedies. In fact, I also met quite a few macho straight men who were passionate about writing romantic comedies.

The point is that it’s not the subject matter that’s keeping women screenwriters out of the Hollywood system. Not at all. Anyone who believes that is ignorant.

The study also said that “women have better luck selling books and TV shows than film spec scripts,” according to Business Insider. Why is that? For years women have had role models to look up to in literature and television: from Jane Austen to Marcy Carsey (Roseanne; That 70s Show) to Marcy Kauffman (Friends; Dream On) and Tina Fey. 

There are certainly famous women screenwriters working today; Diablo Codey and Brit Marling come to mind. But they're the minority, according to this latest research.

For those aspiring to break into an industry it makes a big difference if you can see “your kind” already achieving great things in that industry. It’s classic identity formation psychology. When we see others like us—in my case, other female screenwriters—succeeding, then it seems more likely that I can navigate and succeed in that industry. 

Unfortunately, I was writing a historical thriller—a genre dominated by old white men, often old British white men. This only fueled my conviction that I had to succeed with my script. My project became not only driven by my love for my late grandfather, but also my desire to help other women.

My education of becoming a screenwriter consisted of reading countless scripts. The vast majority were written by white men. When I studied to become a journalist and a book writer, I had a far more diverse education. Isn’t it time that women and people of color sold some scripts? And isn't it time that producers around the world helped them?

by Andrea Chalupa

10 Query Letter Tips for Writers by Chuck Sambuchino from WRITER'S DIGEST (Writer Better, Get Published)

Today's guest newsletter is from Guide to Literary Agents editor (and our Instructor of the Month) Chuck Sambuchino, who is one of the leading experts on how to land a literary agent. 
 

You can find hundreds of pieces of advice on querying an agent, but when push comes to shove there are really 10 main tips that you need to know before testing the waters of the literary agent pool. Here they are.

----------

Querying Agents:
10 Tips For Writers

1. If you write across categories (let's say you write both picture books and adult fantasy), look for an agent who handles everything you write. She might just be your perfect fit.

2. Mass mailing (or e-mailing) agents without considering each one's specialties is a waste of time and postage. Not every agent listed here will be a good fit for you. In fact, the fewer true matches you find, the more you've done your research. Agents love when you query them individually and provide a reason, such as, "Because you represented such-and-such book, I think you'd be a great agent for my work."

3. Make sure your work is edited, revised and polished. Rewriting is a crucial step to bettering your work, so be sure to have trusted peers give you an honest critique, or consider seeking a professional freelance editor to evaluate it. And never query an agent for a novel until the work is complete.

 
4. Single-space your query letter, and keep it to one page. Double-space your manuscript and synopsis.

5. If you lack a good opening for your query letter, just give the facts. A simple yet effective opening line would be, "I am seeking literary representation for my 75,000-word completed thriller, titled Dead Cat Bounce." In one sentence, you can tell the agent the length, genre, whether it's complete and the title. After that, follow with the pitch and a little biographical information.

6. Follow submission directions to a T. If an agent requests "no attachments," your query will likely be deleted should it arrive with an attachment. If they say "query first," do just that. If they reply to your query and ask for an exclusive read of your manuscript for four weeks, make sure you give them that exclusive look.

7. If you have an automatic spam filter, turn it off. If you're lucky enough to garner a reply from an agent interested in your work, the last thing they want to deal with is a spam filter requiring them to prove their existence.

8. Remember that publishing is a business and there's much to learn. If you've finished a novel, make sure you know how to construct a good synopsis. If you're pitching nonfiction, you'll likely be asked to submit a full proposal detailing the book and how you intend to sell it. If you don't know everything that goes into a book proposal, now's the time to learn.

9. Realize that listings are an excellent start, but there's still work to be done. Research the agent's website to confirm that he is indeed still seeking "electronic queries for romance novels," etc. Also, remember the frustratingly sad reality that the publishing industry is constantly in flux. Agents quit; they switch agencies; they suddenly stop representing fiction and move completely to nonfiction. The best way to deal with this is to cast a wide net.

10. Be persistent. Every famous author has a story about how many agents rejected their work before they made a connection. Work hard, work smart and don't give up.

5 Ways To Stay Motivated in Your Writing Career by Molly King

As humans, we all struggle at times to stay excited about certain tasks at hand. We get bored; we get frustrated; we get distracted (ooh, cat gifs!) and our art suffers for it — we stop writing our novel, we stop writing our next song.

Sometimes you just have to stop and remember why you are doing it in the first place.

But seriously… we recently dug up an old article on Lifehack that reminded us of some simple ways to stay motivated. The article is mostly focused on general life motivation, but it can easily be applied to your creative career as well.

You can read the article in its’ entirety here, or check out our summary below.

How to keep your writing life fresh and active

1) Remember the reason(s) you’re doing it in the first place: A feeling of accomplishment?  Personal gain? Cold hard cash? One little step closer to your bigger goal?

2) Have fun: Ask yourself, “what can I do to make whatever it is I am doing more enjoyable for myself (and maybe others)?”

3) Take a different direction: there is likely more than one way to do whatever you are doing, so try approaching your task from a different angle. Ask yourself how other people do this same thing. Try it that way.

4) Baby steps: In order to not become overwhelmed by the larger task at hand, split tasks into smaller goals and celebrate each goal once you reach it. For example, if your goal is to write an entire novel, set a goal of writing one chapter at a time, or just writing for one hour at a time, and celebrate when you’ve done it. You’ll be stoked that you reached your goal and be motivated to move onto chapter two (or hour two).

5) Reward yourself: once you’ve reached a goal, make sure you take time to reward yourself. Whether it’s something as simple as taking a break or buying yourself a lil’ sumpthin’ sumpthin’, it’s important to recognize progress to stay motivated.

So, there are 5 ways to stay motivated. Does one resonate with you more than the other? Do you think you’ll mix and match a few to keep inspired? Or maybe you have another idea for staying motivated – let us know in the comments below.

["Possible" image from Shutterstock.]

5 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Writing a Book by Brian A. Klems at Dana Sitar's blog

by Brian Klems (@BrianKlems)

When writing my book, Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters, I ran into a lot of roadblocks. I’d like to place the blame elsewhere, but the truth is, they were my fault (Okay, I’ll place part of the blame on TBS for airing all those reruns of “Scrubs” — seriously, I just can’t get enough of that show).

Most of the roadblocks, though, were from avoidable mistakes I made during the writing process. Thankfully, now I know better.

To help you out, I’ve pulled together the five things you shouldn’t do when writing a book. These are tips that I wish someone else would have told me before I started writing Oh Boy. To save you a lot of time, do not:

1. Tell Anyone The Plot of Your Book

When you’re writing a book, occasionally someone — like a family member, friend or that loaded guy sitting next to you at the bar — will con you into talking about your book while you’re writing it. Wrong move. They will offer unsolicited pieces of advice like, “You should name your main character Booger.”

While most are honestly trying to be helpful, the majority of them — who have never written a book — will likely be offering bad advice. Best to stay hush-hush about it until it’s finished and you can have it edited or work-shopped by other writers.

2. Get Attached to Any Part of Your Book

As writers, we often fall in love with our own writing and plot points. This happens to me all the time. I write an awesome first paragraph and continue writing a chapter. As I go along, it’s clear that the chapter has taken a decidedly different turn and that first paragraph doesn’t quite fit. But I love that first paragraph. So I spend countless hours rewriting the rest of the chapter, even though deep down I know the only real solution is to cut that first graph.

It’s brutally painful, but not cutting it is a mistake rookie writers make. And if you want to publish your book, you’ll cut anything that doesn’t quite fit — even if it’s a part you love. [Like this idea? Tweet it!]

3. Set Unreasonable Goals

I believe in goals, so no matter what you are writing — a novel, nonfiction book, memoir, poetry chapbook, an article on how to write a blog (which I did) — you need to set some. That being said, don’t set goals that are nearly impossible to reach. Unreasonable goals will only cause you to get mad at yourself and will, in fact, slow your process down rather than speed it up — after all, if you feel like you’re letting yourself down, you’ll be less motivated to write.

I like to set time goals as opposed to word-count goals. For example, if you only have 30 minutes a day to write, just sit down and write as many words as you can in that 30 minutes. Some days you may only walk away with a couple hundred. Others you may knock out a thousand or two. But if you walk away with any words, you’ll feel more confident knowing you worked as hard as you could that day to get that many words out.

And eventually, they will add up.

4. Only Save Your Book in One Place

Like every writer, I have a very love-hate relationship with computers — as in, I love them when they are helping me work more efficiently and I hate them when … well … nearly all the rest of the time. It’s not intuitive to me to continually hit “save” when writing, especially when I’m in the zone. So when I forget to save (which happens all the time) and my computer crashes (which seems to happen every time I’m finally satisfied with my work), I lose everything.

I finally started writing using Google Docs, where it not only automatically saves your work but it saves it online, so you can access it from any computer you want. After writing the first few chapters of Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl in Word and losing nearly 50% of my writing, I fell in love with Google Docs because they took away the unnecessary stress of worrying about my computer crashing. Now my computer could reboot all it wanted and I’d still have all those wonderful words I worked so hard to write.

5. Take the Fun Out of Writing

Too often writing a book turns into a chore. That can happen for many reasons — stressed over a self-imposed deadline, trouble defining a character, dealing with writer’s block, afraid that the book just isn’t good enough so far, etc.

I once got stuck on one sentence — one sentence – because I didn’t think it was “funny enough” and used it as an excuse to stop writing for days. That’s a true story.

And now, looking back, I see how absurd that is.

The important thing to do is forget all of that — all the worries and stresses and self-induced headaches. Just focus on the reason you wanted to write a book in the first place: Because you’re a storyteller and you have a story to tell. Remind yourself of that every day and you’ll have fewer roadblocks to finishing your book.

What mistakes have you made — and learned from — when writing a book?

---

Brian A. Klems is the online editor for Writer’s Digest magazine and author of Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters (Adams 2013).

He’s also the editor of The Writer’s Dig and hosts the popular parenting blog, TheLifeOfDad.com.

You can follow him on Twitter @BrianKlems.

Arabian Nights Tale of Princess Perizhade or Parizade [The story of Princess Parizade and the Magic Tree]

All who are stuck as to what courage and destiny can look like in a woman [for game writing or any writing] should read the Arabian Nights Tale of Princess Perizhade or Parizade [The story of Princess Parizade and the Magic Tree] compiled with the other tales in the 1700s!

Not all tales need be violent, guy porn, nor about a girl stone object.

http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=ATkQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA543&dq=princess+parizade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kg9aT-aBPYa-0QXxqejSDQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=princess%20parizade&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Thousand_and_One_Nights

Donna Summer FOREVER!! The Queen.

Donna Summer at YouTube

Great writer.
Great performer.
Did I say "great writer"!