jennifer_brozek (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jennifer_brozek) wrote2011-07-16 11:36 am
jennifer_brozek) wrote2011-07-16 11:36 am
Entry tags:
Professional RPG Writing
Just recently, I discovered that an RPG book I wrote in 2010, Shanghai Vampocalypse, was nominated for one of the RPG industry's two most prestigious awards – the ENnie – for Best Electronic Book. I happy-danced all over the net about it.
Everywhere but here, my pro-writing blog.
I didn't realize I had done it at first. Then when I did, I didn't want to post about it here, too, because, you know, I had already posted about it. This is the lie I told myself. My real reason was that I wasn't sure how many of my writing peers would scoff at the idea of writing awards for RPGs. Despite being paid semi-pro and pro rates for most of my RPG work, a lot of writers that I know (who aren't in the RPG industry) consider RPG writing one step above fan fiction.
This infuriates and shames me. Shanghai Vampocalypse has 70,000 words of fiction—all of which I wrote. There are stories, plot lines, world building and enough entertainment in that book to keep a pack of gamers entertained for weeks. It was and still is professional writing. And yet, I was nervous about posting it here because I didn't know what my non-RPG writing peers would think.
I've been fighting against this stigma since I became a member of SFWA. I've made two proposals to include RPG credits for SFWA qualifications and, for now, they have been tabled because of internal SFWA business and such. I'm patient. I can wait but I also need to train myself out of the idea that my RPG writing isn't as "professional" as my other writing. I work just as hard, sometimes harder on my RPG writing.
Sometimes, internal lessons are the hardest to learn.
Everywhere but here, my pro-writing blog.
I didn't realize I had done it at first. Then when I did, I didn't want to post about it here, too, because, you know, I had already posted about it. This is the lie I told myself. My real reason was that I wasn't sure how many of my writing peers would scoff at the idea of writing awards for RPGs. Despite being paid semi-pro and pro rates for most of my RPG work, a lot of writers that I know (who aren't in the RPG industry) consider RPG writing one step above fan fiction.
This infuriates and shames me. Shanghai Vampocalypse has 70,000 words of fiction—all of which I wrote. There are stories, plot lines, world building and enough entertainment in that book to keep a pack of gamers entertained for weeks. It was and still is professional writing. And yet, I was nervous about posting it here because I didn't know what my non-RPG writing peers would think.
I've been fighting against this stigma since I became a member of SFWA. I've made two proposals to include RPG credits for SFWA qualifications and, for now, they have been tabled because of internal SFWA business and such. I'm patient. I can wait but I also need to train myself out of the idea that my RPG writing isn't as "professional" as my other writing. I work just as hard, sometimes harder on my RPG writing.
Sometimes, internal lessons are the hardest to learn.
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I received congatulations from the writers at MisCon this year for my RPG publication success, but they all wondered when I was going to get back to writing. Like you, I hope to do both. I love writing and designing games and I love writing fiction
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It's not easy to do both. I speak from experience. But it can be done.
And it is real writing.
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It's OK to be happy and proud.
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Some of the earlier RPG offerings based on established works were really little more than Fan-Fiction with a slick cover. Some of the Star Trek stuff was horridly non-Canon even by Star Trek standards (and you really have to work to put yourself outside the realm of what could be canonical for Star Trek!) I wonder if some authors got soured on the market because of that.
Others have used licensing to cash in on the Q&A market: RPG books based on their works were good places to answer some of the fan questions about the "Authorverse" they had created while getting readers to actually pay for the privilege. GURPS Uplift was a solid example of this: David Brin got some interesting backstory tidbits in there. GURPS Vorkosigan Saga is another good one.
So for some professional writers, their experiences with RPG writing have been in the context of "spin-off products" both good and bad, and that is certainly one valid view. There are also some original stories out there told as part of the framework of an RPG (Vampire/Werewolf/Mage/Wraith/Changeling comes to mind) that stand on their own and are deserving of recognition in their own right.
Perhaps there is a market for a seminar/course/talk/what have you: "They want to turn my book into a game. What now?"
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Therefore, don't lose sleep over the snobs. These people were jerks long before they became writers. Just keep telling good stories and selling them. That's what really irks 'em. :)
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Also, I know and love fanfiction. You want to call RPG writing fanfiction, you'd have to call everything ever written in a world the author did not create all by her lonesome fanfiction.
Not the same thing, man.