The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).
After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.
Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).
MY CHECK-IN
What am I working on this week?
I’m 10k into Wail and the momentum has sprawled a little this week, largely because I’m working scenes on both sides of the first act turning point without being happy about how I’m managing the reveal. The goal is to get the story drafted to the midpoint, along with notes about how the scenes will be revised based upon changing needs.
What’s inspiring me this week?
Surprisingly, the most inspirational thing this week has been sitting down with the draft version of the Cortex RPG Rules sent out to Kickstarter backers and figuring out how to apply them to our Superhero campaign.
The Marvel version of the rules is really focused on the fight scenes, but the mechanics stumble when they’re used for anything else. Looking at the structures used in other genres (Heist stories for Leverage, soap opera drama with Smallville) really involves putting the focus on how stories work and how they can be replicated.
In game, that means locking in on how a scene should be dramatized, what’s really important in terms of the result, and which rules will best showcase the conflict that actually matters.
What action do I need to take?
As my inspiration for this week shows, I’ve been heavily on the gamer geek side of my reading for a while now. I really need to make time for other forms of inspiration, particularly some theory works that I can use with the coming thesis chapter drafts.
I’ve ended up taking a short, unscheduled break from writing newsletters over the last fourteen days. Regular GenrePunk Ninja transmissions will resume
Like many of you, I have good weeks and bad weeks on the writing front. This week has been rocky, and if
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter, especially if they’re
3 Responses
Peter: maybe it’s the echoes of Anatomy of Story, but it sounds like the Cortex rules and their shortcomings are an interesting mental puzzle for identifying where the meaty conflict should be in a game, and its underlying story structure. Did you end up reading any of Robin Laws writing around removing randomnness and adding more interesting failure with Gumshoe?
I haven’t, but it’s illuminating looking at all of this after reading his book on fiction structure (which is basically Gumshoe with the mechanics removed). it’s really helped pin down one of the big problems we’ve had in the game, in terms of non-combat stuff where one person (usually me) is missing the subtext of what the other person is trying to achieve with the scene.
What am I working on this week?
This week is lead generation & marketing, starting work on a potential talk for GCAP (to quieten fear about approaching deadlines in my head) and work on building narrative skills.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I’m continuing to watch through Taboo, although TV-time was a little short last week. Still reading through The Expanse series, and loving it. The real passion that’s gripped me at the moment is playing through the new Spider-Man game has been an absolute joy so far. The writing team has nailed what makes the character so engaging, and so heartwarming at his best, and the design of the game thus far really reinforces that feeling. On the apocalypse reading front, I finished the audiobook of The End, which was equal parts interesting, frustrating and terrifying.
I’ve put down Anatomy of Story for the moment, and gone back to Story by Robert McKee in order to revisit the fundamentals of scene structure and story spine, with the aim to come back to Anatomy of Story and feel more comfortable writing guff in the meantime.
What action do I need to take this week?
Two in particular:
1) Making sure that I get back to red-line activities happening every day. I’ve given myself a bit of a vacation from some parts of routine, and I need to get back to an unshakeable core.
2) Lead generation & marketing activities, as I’ve been remiss on these for a while.