Sustainable Storytelling Archives - Page 7 of 33

Aurora’s Gamble: Video Gaming and the Written Word

November 12, 2013November 12, 2013 by David Mark Brown

I’ve recently flown a sortie into the gaming realm and given the medium my best shot. The result is Aurora’s Gamble, a short story now being parceled out as part of the release build up for AErena: Clash of Champions by Cliffhanger Productions.

While I’m by no means a hardcore gamer, I’ve had my addictions over the years. The one I’ve never been able to completely kick is the turn based game, Civilization. Not a lot of great backstory to be written there (other than our world’s history, which has already been written about a fair amount from what I’ve been told). The other game I enjoyed for several years was StarCraft. (If you haven’t googled “zerg rush” give it a try. Hilarious.) That game always had the greatest backstory worked into game play via video clips, etc. Since then, I’ve been enamored with the idea of mining video game backstory.

But as a yet-to-be-famous schmuck writer, I was overlooked for the Halo contract which was handed to Greg Bear instead (Sure, he’s okay, I guess.) Since I’ve never lasted longer than like 5 seconds in a round of Halo, I suppose that’s fair. (I’m always the guy running around with his gun pointing at the ground and his POV at the sky.)

Due to my multiple dips into the stylish world of dieselpunk, my writing came to the attention of Cliffhanger Productions. In turn, they contracted me to help bring their cleverly imagined backstory into focus. I had a blast doing it. It’s a great world to explore, even if you aren’t a gamer.

Is Fiction Within a Game’s Universe Limited to Gamers?

And there in lies the gambit. When writing backstory within a gaming universe that has already breached the consciousness of pop culture, there are a few clear advantages: 1.) established readership 2.) some defined boundaries 3.) jargon, terms and culture built up among the fans. 4.) even non-gamers know about the game and its universe.

But when writing within a gaming universe yet to see the light of day, bold risks must be taken upfront.

The Gospel According to Mal

October 23, 2013October 23, 2013 by David Mark Brown

Malcolm Reynolds may very well be the most good-natured, and pure-hearted antihero ever to be imagined. He joins such bad boy favorites as Han Solo and the Duke boys on the pedestal of our hearts. (Mal owe much to the forerunner of the genre, Northwest Smith. But that’s for another post.)

Unlike Bo and Luke Duke, Malcolm Reynolds is driven to dark places of rumination through trauma, failure and vast disappointment. With the help of those few who Mal trusts, he emerges an immovable man built on a bedrock of beliefs. Those beliefs form his worldview. That worldview is the focus of this post.

I invite all those who sympathize with the cause of the Independents to read, ponder and debate.

Introducing Captain Malcolm Reynolds

Raised on a ranch on a world called Shadow by a mother figure and a few dozen ranch hands, little is known about Malcolm before his stint in the resistance. After unification, his ready association with the defeated Browncoats pushes Mal to the fringe of the civilized universe, otherwise known as the core planets. There he purchases a Firefly class space ship which he names Serenity. And the stage is set.

Writing Novels for Niche Audiences (Browncoats)

October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 by David Mark Brown

It isn’t a new concept. I’ve been reading posts about it for the last year. These posts usually say things like, “Learn to identify and leverage niche audiences in your novel.” What does that mean?

Well, if you’ve written a novel about an individual who overcomes an alien abduction and goes on to become a champion marathoner before saving the human race when the aliens invade, you would not only market your book to lovers of science fiction, but also to survivors of alien abduction and to people who enjoy running marathons.

Writing a Book for Millions of Readers is Bad

It turns out, writing a book for millions of readers is a bad idea nowadays. Writing a book for the 12,863 individuals who claim to have been abducted by aliens in the last 5 years is a much better one. Now that the modern marvel known as the internet (not the inner netting of men’s swimming trunks) allows writers to market to such specific clumps of people via Facebook, etc., it makes much more sense to narrow the target audience.

Being the proactive individual I am, I asked myself, “Self, if it is good to identify niche audiences within my novel after I’ve written it, wouldn’t it be better to write my novel with specific niche audiences in mind from the beginning?”