More Tall Tales

In the previous post we did go over the different role playing and writing styles, and the categories that folks often get pigeon-holed into. The intent here is not to knock personal preferences, as most of you have already noticed by now that the vast majority of online role players will fall into Group-A -- preferring the chit-chatty relationship settings over the action/adventure stories. And that's fine if that's the sort of role play that makes you happy. But for the small percentage of folks who've grown a little bored with the chit-chatty relationship settings that turn out to be the same basic scene day after day.. rest assured that there are others like you, and you're not alone.

You want thrills. You want action. You want thickly woven plots that keep you on the edge of your seat. Suspense. You want characters who keep you guessing. Villains and swashbuckling pirates. You want excitement and...

Danger!

It is imperative that you surround yourself with players who want exactly the same. That is NOT to say you want to be involved with power-mongers who try to win in every scene. Affectionately known as the God-moders, these are the ones whose characters will frequently possess mind-reading skills, supersonic hearing, and x-ray vision. They will try to kill off your character in a single sentence, but their characters are always immune to any sort of counter attack.

Instead, you want to look for and surround yourself with one or more players who possess no mental baggage or trust issues. Because in order to have high style, collaborative fiction storytelling, you've got to be able to trust as well as be trusted. It's never about winning afterall. It's about leaving a scene after an hours-long writing session with a smile on your face, knowing you moved the other player(s).

Have you moved anyone with your storytelling lately?

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Tall Tales

Best-selling novelist Stephen King was once quoted in Publisher's Weekly as saying, "Don't give them what they want -- give them what you want." By most online role playing game standards, Stephen would be labeled a God-Moder.

There seems a general consensus of late in the online role play gaming forums as to what constitutes good and worthy storytelling, where lines are drawn right down the middle. You go to Group-A if you prefer a character-based story, and Group-B if you prefer a plot-based story, where you're likely to be labeled as a God-Moder, too.

(Note: In response to thread on RPG-Directory's discussion forum thread Roleplay Talk)

Time to drag out the old college Holt Handbook and the Smartin's (pet name given to St. Martin's Guide to Writing), as well as the Guide to Writing In The Disciplines, and the latest edition of The Writer's Handbook. Folks, there is no such thing in any writer's manual that divides written stories into plot-driven stories and character-driven stories. Writing always has, and always will be divided into two classical categories from which a myriad of genres arise -- Fiction and Non-Fiction.

A fiction story must be driven by a plot AND characters. To remain interesting, it must have an amazing plot and exceptional characters. The rules have not changed in this. Nor will they.

Fiction writing that lacks any sort of plot and deals only with characters jabbering in a restaurant in one scene, then jabbering in a living room in the next scene, and a little romance tossed in for extra measure -- is not a story at all. It's a soap opera. And what you very often get online isn't even truly fiction in this type of writing element. It tends to cross over into the real thoughts and feelings of the person behind the monitor.

Don't get me wrong. I love a good true story just as much as the next guy. But even true stories and non-fiction instruction manuals endeavor to make a point by the time you reach the end. If they didn't, and they just rambled on endlessly, no one would read them. And every publisher in their right mind would be issuing the pink slip of death.

Oh but hey.. in a virtual world of pointless writing no one can ever be erroneously accused or (gasp!) guilty of God-Moding. Hmmm. Sounds like another article in the works.

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