[Twilight Time] Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities

[Heather Grove]

Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities
January 25, 2005--Volume 6, Issue 2

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Good afternoon!

It's been a weird week already, and it's only Tuesday. We got lots of 
snow recently (for Maryland anyway). I've been reading review books and 
making recipes from cookbooks we've been given for review. I just put 
up two lists of recommended writers' books, which I've intended to do 
for quite a while; the first one is books for beginners, and the second 
is books for inspiration.

I also put up an article on using tarot decks to create player 
characters and fictional characters for writers, as well as a new 
writers' exercise--which made me think, "gee, writers' exercises can be 
awfully handy for coming up with roleplaying material too. Hmm. That 
could make an interesting Twilight Time article..." and so here I am. 
Hopefully you'll find it useful!

Have a great day!
Heather



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Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities

One of the things writers love is little prompts and exercises. Why? 
Because they're fun. They're also great for "loosening up" your 
thinking. Creativity requires you to make interesting thought 
connections and think in new directions, and choosing some random 
inspiration rather than having to come up with things from scratch can 
jump-start that process.

There's no reason game masters can't make use of the same thing.


Ways to Make Use of Writers' Prompts

The questions in a character questionnaire are just another form of 
writer's prompt, albeit a particularly directed form. So you can use 
prompts to help you come up with characters. Hold your needs firmly in 
mind, for example, "I need to come up with a stylish villain who's 
smart and effective." Then pick a prompt at random, mentally hold it up 
next to your requirements, and allow the two to mix.

If it helps, take a piece of paper and write the two things down at the 
top of the paper. Then set a timer for five or ten minutes and 
free-write. I.e., set pen to paper and don't stop writing. Don't worry 
about grammar, punctuation or spelling. Don't worry about whether the 
ideas are any good. The point isn't to use this wholesale--it's to go 
back through it afterward and mine it for the one or two gems among the 
random cruft that spills out.

You can use prompts in the same way to come up with plots, plot hooks, 
plot twists, and plot complications. If you have a particular need to 
fill, again, hold the prompt up next to that requirement and 
"cross-breed" the two to see what emerges. If you don't, just put the 
prompt at the top of your sheet of paper and free-associate directly 
from that.


Example

Need: "I need a stylish villain who's smart and effective."

Prompt: "What is her favorite restaurant? Does she go often enough for 
them to recognize her?" (Selected randomly from our character 
questionnaire: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php )

Free association: Perhaps the villain owns a popular niche restaurant 
the player characters (PCs) frequent. He's a businessman with a taste 
for elegant food and when he can't find what he wants, he feels the 
need to do it himself. So when he couldn't find a restaurant that quite 
satisfied his tastes, he set up his own. It takes a slight loss, but he 
supports it out of his other business endeavors because he believes in 
its long-term viability and enjoys spending time there.

Hmm. Okay. So far we have some nifty character-building stuff, but we 
don't know a lot about what makes this man a villain or what might set 
him at odds with the party. Thus:

New need: "What makes this man a villain?"

Prompt (again selected randomly from the questionnaire): "What did your 
character want to be when she grew up? Did she realize that dream? If 
not, why not? Does she regret that she never made it, or regret that 
she did? Does she still have a chance to get there if she didn't?"

Free association: He wanted desperately to be something that he isn't 
or couldn't be. Since he seems to be pouring money into a restaurant 
that can't sustain itself, maybe he wanted to be a chef. He had talent, 
but then he injured one of his hands, and of course his parents refused 
to support such a frivolous endeavor, instead insisting on his going to 
business school and taking a job in investments. Now he delights in 
using his considerable business skills to ruin competing businesses, 
almost as though he was trying to take other people's dreams away the 
way his were taken away. Perhaps he's trying to ruin a business owned 
by or important to the PCs or their allies.


This obviously isn't perfect. The "poor me, I didn't get what I want 
and everyone else will pay" motivation is a little tired, although it 
still might make interesting background color. It might be more 
interesting if instead of having a "poor me" attitude about it the man 
has grown into an unrepentantly and delightedly wicked person who 
enjoys the thrill of the competition and hunt. He has embraced the life 
of the businessman instead of fighting it, and his restaurant ownership 
is the only trace left of that once-important dream of his.

But that's my point--you pick your prompts, do your free association, 
and then go through, weed out the material that won't work, pluck the 
parts that will, and craft them into something interesting.


Online Prompts

Some sources of online prompts and exercises can be found at:

Our selection of writers' exercises:
http://www.burningvoid.com/write/exer.php

Writer's Digest weekly prompts:
http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp

Writing Fix's Random Daily Prompt Generator:
http://writingfix.com/dailypromptgenerator.htm

Writing prompts from CanTeach:
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html

Creative-Journal.com uses a slightly different approach of visual 
prompts:
http://www.creative-journal.com/visual/

Creativewritingprompts.com:
http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

Journal Sparks:
http://journalsparks.com/


Books of Prompts

If you'd prefer books with exercises in them, there are plenty of them. 
Take a look through our reviews of writers' books for some 
possibilities:

http://www.burningvoid.com/review/writing.php

Good ones that I believe would work well for game masters include "The 
Pocket Muse," "Story Starters," "The Writer's Idea Book," "The Book of 
Questions," "Inner Outings," "The Writer's Block," "45 Master 
Characters," and "Fast Fiction."


What's Your Opinion?:

Comments on this issue's topic? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic 
requests? Drop me a line. If I pass any of your suggestions on (either 
through the newsletter or the RPG resources page), I'll attribute them 
to you. Be sure to tell me if you don't want me to use your name and/or 
comments!


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