Trying my hand at writing
March 18, 2011
Filed as a Creative Writing entry
Creative Writing
Creative writing - the class that many of you dreaded in school. I have never been good at creative writing but if I am going to write a game I need to practice! Last November I took the NaNoWriMo challenge. Even though my book was all about Ella and Happy I still got up every morning, drank my tea, and pushed through a couple thousand words. I proved to myself that I could be creative and stay on task for a whole month. The book still stays in it's first draft but I accomplished my goal of writing 50,000 words in a month and I am damn proud of that.
Continuing to Write
Before I can start writing my game I need to work on the actual game mechanics and figuring everything out. But while I take the time to do that I feel that I need to practice my creative writing. The other day Wizards of the Coast announced the D&D Championship Encounter Design Contest. One must submit their best idea for a level 10-12 encounter under 200 words within various parameters. So using ONLY 200 words I have to come up with this totally awesome idea. This is going to be really hard.
Setting Parameters
I am putting myself up to the challenge. By only having 200 words to work with I have to get right to the point of my idea, using only the best organized words. I'll probably end up writing a ton of extra words and then pairing it down to the perfect 200. So why am I doing this? It would be pretty sweet to win but even if I don't I will still have the pride of completing it. Plus it will help me to figure out what I really want to write and give me practice for my game book. So I say to all of you - try to practice some creative writing. Enter a contest, try out NaNoWriMo in November, or just start writing. It will feel good to get your brain working and when you finally finish your project you get to feel that awesome sense of completion and pride. Good luck and happy writing!