What kinds of talents and personality does it take to succeed as a Game Writer?
With ANY writing career I always have the same advice – learn to be honest with your own work. When people are learning to cook they often say “I don’t know what’s supposed to taste good!” but, obviously, when people cook or eat food they know what tastes good. Writing is the same, we know when our writing is good and when it’s not. Never be afraid to dissect your own work, figure out why it works and why it doesn’t. Ask advice from people you respect.
You’re also going to need some thick skin. Great ideas are going to be thrown out, your work is going to be mercilessly edited – that’s part of the job, and it’s always in service of making something better. Perseverance is king.
What advice would you give somebody who’s thinking about becoming a Game Writer for fresh graduates or juniors like me?
Specific to game writing – learn overarching concepts of game design. Understanding different mechanics, game-play loops, and design philosophies will make you a better writer. Try to understand what makes a good game tick on a game-play level and start to understand how the writing reinforces it. Also, start to pay attention to writing outside of dialogue or cut scenes – how does the wording of something push a player towards the desired “game feel”? Board games are actually a wonderful way to dive into this. A well “written” board game, puts players in the mood the developers want in very subtle ways. It’s magic, really.
Now, specific to students: you, like me when I was in school, thought I was going to graduate and become a damn rock star. It won’t happen. If it does, congratulations. Writing in particular is a skill that takes a long time to develop, but takes even longer to actual make money on. Never stop writing, but expect that it will take a LONG time to break in with writing alone. If you can develop other skills related to game design in addition to writing – that is your best bet to get your foot in the door. Me, on the other hand, I am a dumb dumb who came from video production so I didn’t have that luck (but even knowing how to properly format screenplays etc is seen as valuable – so there’s that).
What would you recommend for education, books, or other learning to start down the Game Writer career path?
I’m always hesitant to recommend “how to” type books. And even any advice I’ve given here…if it works for you, great. If not, that’s fine. Every writer is different, embrace what makes you unique. The best education for writing is reading great writing. Don’t just read what you like or what’s popular – that’s like trying to found a business on SEO keywords alone – it only gets you so far. Read challenging fiction, read nonfiction and learn history – often the stories of history are weirder than anything anyone’s come up with in fiction.
But most importantly – WRITE. Every writer will tell you the same thing, but you simply can’t get better at it without doing it all the time. Try and write every day, in whatever format works for you. This not only will help you stay fresh, but when you do get an opportunity to prove yourself, you’ll have some samples of work to show. Getting a good writing gig does involve a lot of luck. But as I often say: you can’t predict when lightning is going to strike, but you can walk up to the top of the nearest hill with a big metal poll.
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