Writing About Writing Isn't Enough

Not much to report. After all the waffling and navel-gazing last week, I decided it was time to sit down and get cracking with actually trying to learn a thing or two. I signed up for a ninety minute webinar that discussed building a game writing portfolio and a broad overview of a "day in the life". There was some useful information in it, but nothing revelatory.

I've also begun reading "Narrative Design for Writers" by Edwin McRae. I'm a little more than halfway through it and it's well worth the $6.99 price tag. His writing is very grounded and the book itself is filled with useful tips and suggestions.

What I'm finding, is that even with the most helpful and sage advice, it's difficult to keep it all in mind without having a structure to hang it all from. There's no syllabus, no coursework to tie it all together. Nothing to build upon. I think that's probably going to have to come from me.

I had planned on beginning to assemble thoughts on a fictitious game as something I would do after I had already learned and absorbed everything I felt I needed. Instead, it's looking like this may need to be an earlier step so that I have something "tangible" to apply my skills to.

There's this lurking danger in writing of any kind that I've always been susceptible to– writing adjacent activities. Researching, reading, outlining, pontificating all feel like part of the writing process. The trouble is, they help scratch a writerly itch but in the end you're still no closer to having completed anything. Eventually, you have to just start making things happen and that's terrifying because trying is the first step toward failure.

Also, maybe success, but what kind of monster thinks of it like that?

I guess this week is rubber hitting the road. I'm going to do my best to try and actually write words that aren't solely contained in a blog about writing and actually try writing. God help us all.