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Write a novel instead!


Elena

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One hears it so often from RPG partners - "If you don't like it, go write a novel (or fanfiction) instead!" But is this really the solution, instead of talking with the writing partners and finding by negotiation and compromise a solution matching everyone's writing needs, halfway?

Writing a novel? Been there, done that (in my mother tongue) - several novel-length stories. (The list is somewhere here, in this blog, but given that it doesn't allow me to past links in words anymore, I give up searching for it. Breaking my blog entry with http links splashed as such isn't an aesthetic I prefer.)  And yes, I do finish what I start. But writing a novel is a lonely endeavour. Just me and the computer (or notebooks before) and the research sources. Then, it stays somewhere in a corner of the computer and this is it. If in the past some people were curious to read the manuscript, even when it was handwritten on paper because nobody had a PC (and the existing PCs were writing on colourful cards, not on paper at that time) now people don’t read as much in general, I have noticed this.

Since I discovered that RPGs do exist, ie one can write a story together with other people, and get it published on the internet for more people to read it and to discuss about it, I have no more interest in writing alone. (I might return to it some day, I don’t dismiss the possibility. But maybe something would change in order for me to return. Maybe at that moment I’d have around me a support group interested in reading and discussing characters, plots, motives, literary techniques).

I like more writing with others instead of writing alone, plotting with others instead of doing it alone, making come true both my stories and the others’, negotiating and finding a midway for aspects where the expectations are radically different, so that it keeps being fun and interesting for all of us, discussing what’s behind the story and the research process, gossiping and discarding several alternatives after choosing the one with the most ripples for the plot. Finding online likeminded friends of any ages, places, cultural, social and national background, interested in writing and reading, when there are none around me.

So yes, this is the answer why I wouldn’t write a novel alone, but one with others (a RPG, how writing with others is called) but still applying the rules of creative writing to this writing endeavour, planning included (just planning together, no more alone, and writing together, no more alone).

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I would say people say this more often to people who completely disregard what their partner is doing?

I have had one particular partner who would write long posts moving and speaking for my character without any kind of previous communication, because he wanted the story to go a certain way and if I didn't follow his script, he would just take matters into his own hands and move my character to do whatever he wanted.

So, yes, if a person can't accept any minor deviation from the plot they have in mind and see their partner only as a tool to achieve what they want and not as someone who can and should have a say too, they would be better off writing a novel. I don't feel it's an attack on roleplayers as a whole, just on a specific kind of roleplayer?

Edited by Shadow Lady
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As I saw it, it is an attack on the planners in general.

I think people can plan in 2-3 or more, depending on the thread, and arrive to a common agreement which suits them all. Yes, sometimes a person can have a scene in his mind, and in that case he should communicate with the others and listen to their ideas as well. Usually several people's ideas enhance the scene. In other times, we write your scene how you see it, you'll write next ween another scene how we see it. It's always about mutually interesting stories.

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Might be. I have never experienced this very much aimed towards general planners. I think unless someone is doing what I mentioned, single-handedly planning everything without allowing input from their partners, it's just rude and petty to say that. After all, most people have a vision and like to have a general idea about how to reach it. And most people are flexible and know that sometimes the story will take its own path and not go 100% according to plan.

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