JOURNEY

Okay, I've tried to write this post three times without any level of coherency. First it was going to be part of another 5 video games writers should play post. Then it was going to be another ost lowdown post. And now it's just a ridiculous mess and to hell with it.

Uhh . . . Journey?
Journey is a video game designed and developed by thatgamecompany for the PlayStation 3. And I love it. Irrationally, irrevocably, and, uhh, irresistibly.

thatgamecompany describes Journey as "an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person’s life passage and their intersections with others" . . . which just sounds weird. And Journey is more than that. While there's a plot, this is a game you experience instead of just play . . . so there's a huge emphasis on atmosphere and mood and what you as a player put into it.

This isn't your standard shoot-em-up. This is a game about feelings.

And if that's not enough to hook you, there's singing and scarves and magical carpet things and ruins and sand and glyphs and mysterious other players and a mysterious history to uncover. *flail*

Let me tell you how lovely it is
Because it's really lovely. Just look at these pictures. Tell me they aren't epic. I dare you.

Okay, MAYBE I'm biased. And MAYBE I'm like a crow with something shiny . . . but still, you've got to admit: pretty! thatgamecompany may have picked a fairly simple aesthetic, but it works.

And the visuals are only half the package--the score for Journey is some of the best music I've ever heard in a video game. Yes, it's that good. I just . . . there's no way to describe this without sounding ridiculous. But if you like sweeping, epic glory, you'll love it. And if you like writing to sweeping, epic glory, you'll really love it. Seriously. And if you need one more push, you might be interested to know that all 18 tracks are on iTunes (or the PSN) for only $5.

You should care
Yes. Yes you should. And here's why: as writers we are trying to create stories that make people feel something. We want our writing to have power.

Although Journey is simple, it achieved that goal and made freaking waves in the gaming community. Not only has it become the fastest selling game on the PlayStation Network ever, but it freaking moves people (including the tough dudes playing those aforementioned shoot-em-up), and the reason you can buy the soundtrack is because fans demanded it. Craziness!

So I guess my point is that I've learned things from Journey. And it was beautiful and heartbreaking and wonderful and I want you to learn them too. So play the game if you can, or at least give the soundtrack a quite listen. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, now that I've babbled like a fangirl and italicized half of the words in this post, I want to hear from you. How do you feel about video games? Have you ever played one that moved you, or are you mostly familiar with Angry Birds? Give me a heads up in the comments!

Fanfics and FULL LIFE CONSEQUENCES

Fanfiction Week Mark 2? Apparently. Let's just roll with it.

Anyway.

Bad fanfiction.

It can be annoying. There's a lot of it. FanFiction.net is a glorified slush pile. However, bad fanfiction can also be a little like watching a bad sci-fi movie. Horrible and hilarious at the same time. *nods*

Today is a day of Full Life Consequences.

For those who don't know, Full Life Consequences is Half-Life fanfic that became an internet meme after it was immortalized on YouTube. Now, don't be scared if you've never heard of Half-Life, because honestly, you don't really need to know anything about it in order to appreciate this.

It's just the simple story of how original character John Freeman saves his brother, Gordon Freeman (the main character of Half-Life), from his "enemys." Enjoy:

See, wasn't that beautiful? Isn't your life complete now? And the moral of the story is this: next time you're hunting the net for some good fanfiction, remember that the not-so-good fanfiction can bring joy as well.

How do you feel about the hoards of bad fanfiction plaguing the internet? Amused or annoyed? Did Full Life Consequences change your opinion at all? And has anyone ever heard of My Immortal? Tell me in the comments!

Let's talk commercials

Whether they're on your television, prefacing your Hulu video, or interrupting your Livestream feed--there's no way to escape commercials. They're annoying. No one likes them . . . unless it's the Superbowl . . . but we Americans are crazy and you'll have to forgive us for that.

Ahem. Anyway. Like all things in life, some commercials are better than others. How about Volkswagon's "The Force" commercial for the 2012 Passat or the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial for starters? These are the kinds of commercials that are memorable. That started internet memes.

Well, today I'm sharing with you another pretty awesome commercial. It's for the PlayStation 3, but I think everyone can appreciate the idea that's being presented. Even if you don't play video games.


So, what do you think? I love how the commercial is selling gaming itself. Now, I'm curious . . . do you guys have any commercials that you're particularly fond of? Anything that stood out for its narrative or humor? Tell me about it in the comments!

And now for an interlude

I was deep and meaningful on Wednesday. Today you get Mario and Luigi doing the jitterbug. Because it's wonderful.


Got some thoughts on the matter? Or a nifty video worth sharing? Leave them in the comments!

I like storytelling AND gameplay

I spent a lot of my childhood playing Mario. And everyone knows the basic story of Mario, right? Princess Peach is captured by the evil Bowser and Mario is tasked with saving her. He runs through a lot of exciting places, flings fireballs at turtles, and gets a kiss in the end for all his trouble.

Can we all agree that it's not really the next Hamlet?

And it's not the first, and definitely not the last, video game that's been like this. There are hundreds of video games with sparse or even nonexistent plots. Angry Birds ring any bells? What about Plants vs. Zombies? They're both semi-mindless fun and that's cool.

However, that are also games with stories. Not simplistic Mario-style stories, but crazy intense stories that are worthy of being in a book. A while ago I talked about five video games I think writers should play, and all of them are fantastic examples of video games with stories. And I can keep naming them: Heavy Rain, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy.

I don't know about you, but I think the best games are the ones that have good stories AND good gameplay. Because as much as I love me some Tetris, a little drama always makes things better. If we think about this in book terms, then I adore novels with delightfully complex plots AND fantastic craft elements. Two out of two isn't 100% necessary for success, but the combination can be golden. Or, at least, I think so.

But what do you guys think? Video games with good gameplay or with good stories? Or maybe a nice combination of the two? And what about books? If gameplay is writing craft and stories are, well, stories, which option do you like the best? Let me know in the comments.

"Yikes-o-wowie!"

Let's talk about sports.

I've never been big into sports. You know that kid in every gym class? The one that gets hit in the face every week, be it with a basketball, a dodge ball, or even a hockey stick? That was totally me. And yes, the hockey stick incident very much hurt.

Yet, despite this disinclination, I was on a swim team.

The best part about swim team was not the fact that you were never sweaty. Or that your nasal cavities were permanently sanitized thanks to the constant inhalation of chlorine. Or even that swim team helped me letter in high school despite being a straight up nerd. No. The best part was how easy it was to mark my progress.

Let's be straight here. I was not the best person on swim team. I wasn't even close. But every second I could shave off of my lap time was a victory. It was child's play to memorize my fastest times and compare them to the instant results at swim meets. I knew when I had done my best. It was easy to see that I was getting better.

Writing, on the other hand, is not like that.

There are no numbers to tell you that you've improved--no empirical way to write a chapter and know that it's better than anything you've written before. Every sentence is different and fluid. Something that seemed wonderful a week ago might be terrible now. It doesn't help that your judgment is completely warped when writing and everything seems a thousand times better or worse than it really is.

There is, however, one way to tell. It's a bit more time consuming than comparing stats, but it definitely works. Go read your old work.

I recently finished a full-length manuscript and in the process of avoiding it, I've been piddling about with old writings. Some were better than expected. Most were far worse than remembered. The key thing they all share though: when I wrote/edited them, I thought they were awesome. Now they mostly make me cringe.

Where were my storytelling skills? How on earth did I think that word choice was good? What was I thinking when I re-wrote that entire section?

But looking back on something old is great because it reaffirms that I have been improving. It's not precise like comparing swim times, but I can tell that my writing has become more concise, more controlled than it used to be. Maybe it's not perfect, but I'm definitely not writing dialogue along the lines of "Yikes-o-wowie! It's dang dark in here!"* anymore.

So the next time you're feeling down about what you've written, go back and read something old. If you're like me, there will be rampant cliches and dialogue that'll make you wince. Then you'll definitely feel better about what you're writing now.

Have you done this recently? Does your old writing horrify you, or is some of it surprisingly salvageable? Or should we spend more time reading and absorbing how the masters wrote instead of reflecting on our old follies? Tell me what you think in the comments.

*This decade old line is by far the best thing I have ever written. Totally.

5 video games writers should play

Now, I'm a video game geek. Unfortunately, video games are one of the things that get the most flak in entertainment media because a lot of people think they're vapid and childish. I won't deny it. This assumption is, at times, correct. However, like most stereotypes, it is not always correct.

In fact, I think we as writers can learn a lot from video games. Writers spend so much time absorbing elements of books and movies, but we rarely look at video games because of the aforementioned reasons. But video games can have all of the good things: dialogue, atmosphere, world-building, etc. Video games have just as much potential as books and movies.

As a writer, there are video games you should play. Lots of them. Far more than I'm listing here today. But if you're curious, here are five to get you started:

Beautiful, beautiful box art, yes?

Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves (PS3)
The story of Nathan Drake is basically the story of Indiana Jones with a modern twist and less of a religious focus. So even though it's well-executed, it's not particularly original. But that's not the reason you should play this game. You wanna play this game for the characters and the dialogue. The banter is witty, yet natural, and all of the characters stand on their own two feet. The original, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, is also pretty sweet.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3/XBOX 360)
Enslaved is loosely based on the Chinese legend Journey to the West and the characters in this game are awesome. But world-building baby, this one's about world building. Post-apocalyptic society in the ruins of New York City? Sign me up. Here we have foliage amongst skyscrapers, remnants of technology, crazy mechanical creatures that want to kill you, and the ever-looming threat of the "slavers." It's pretty, it's lush, and I wish there was a sequel.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS/Wii)
This game is basically Law & Order on crack. It's also awesome enough to have two sequels and two spin-offs, with a third on the way. Why play this game? To remember the simple things again. Phoenix Wright is surprisingly heartfelt and genuine. Your story doesn't have to be the Next Great Novel--it's okay to talk about siblings, murder, and long lost friends. The game is also hilarious and makes you use your brain to solve mysteries and such.

Bioshock (PS3/XBOX 360/PC)
Okay, I'll admit, I haven't actually played Bioshock, but I watched someone else play the entire game while doing homework. If you want to study up on setting a mood, then this Bioshock is for you. For one thing, the game takes place in a egoist, underwater, utopian city-gone-wrong named Rapture. It's also populated with insane people that want to kill you. And that sums up everything, because the entire atmosphere of the is gorgeous and horrifying at the same time.

The World Ends With You (DS)
One of the best things about The World Ends With You is the fact that you don't know what's going on half of the time. In a good way. Play this game for the story because it will not let you go. That and there's crazy plot twists. As writers we need to focus on what makes a story grab people and what makes an awesome climax. Another perk? The gameplay is the best I've ever seen in a Nintendo DS game.

So, what do you think? Video games: a waste of time, or a good investment? Have you ever played any of these games? Tell me in the comments.