Many fans of the Artesia: Adventures in the Known World role-playing game are aware that ASP has reviewed its submission guidelines and hired a games editor (Thor Olavsrud) to work on developing ASP’s gaming brand. The company’s submission formula seems pretty simple: Read the instructions about what ASP wants to receive, write it out, submit your work, ca$h in. No sweat, right?
The reality of taking on this type of project or virtually any other polished writing is that it takes significant amounts of time, effort, and the ability to accept criticism.
These are some questions that I wish I had asked myself before Ryan and I began work on our scenario-for-submission, and that other people may benefit from asking themselves:
1) Do I have the time to write this scenario pitch?
It’s taken Ryan and I between two and three months to finish our pitch. The finished work obviously falls within the submission guidelines (i.e. 1500 words, or less), which means we produced roughly 500 words of polished material per month, and we spent at least a little time on the pitch five nights a week. Divide that production number by two, as there were two writers.
250 edited, polished words per person, per month of development. Is this crazy slow? I don’t know. The end may justify the means, it may not – at this point we don’t know. Regardless of outcome, we couldn’t have moved quicker and felt comfortable with the writing/editing cycle.
2) Who’s on my “team?”
Ryan and I worked together as creative equals, with neither party having a veto over the other in any aspect of the scenario’s development. I feel this created a significantly stronger end-product, but added to construction time. We’ll see how it fares, but that’s how we operated.
It could be argued that one author would be quicker, as one writer means one creative voice, with no discussions taking place over what elements should be included or disregarded. But, it could also mean a lot more time in the editing phase, or simply a lower-quality product due to “writer’s blinders,” where the sole writer cannot fathom that his/her ideas are anything but wonderful. Having more than two writers or editors? I don’t know what would happen, but at three or four people, you’re beginning to have “a lot of cooks in the kitchen.”
3) Do I/we have an editur editor to review my/our work?
No one writes perfectly on the first draft. Most people don’t produce pure gold on the second, third, or even fourth draft. If you are uncomfortable with others editing your work, recall that ultimately your piece will stand or fail based on how it reads thematically, grammatically, stylistically. (I’m going to have to look some of those words up.)
4) Do I know the story background?
This one seems like a no-brainer… most people who write scenarios for submission are going to be intimately versed in the world. I would consider myself to be very close to this description, yet I repeatedly had to refer to all of the source material that I had on hand. Ryan and I tried to verify every factual statement made in the scenario proposal, to make sure it complied with the “canon” of the A:AKW sourcebook. It cannot be stressed enough: no proposal that makes serious errors about fundamental principles behind the game’s background or mechanics are likely to succeed. Do I know this to be true? No, I am not privy to the inner workings of ASP’s gaming department. That being said, a failure to demonstrate “doing your homework” will probably result in FAIL.
5) Am I prepared to fail?
We are, but it will still sting. We’re human, and no human likes to strive for a goal and be denied accomplishing that goal. The ultimate desired outcome of crafting a scenario proposal shouldn’t be money or fame (as this project will not likely result in either, no matter what level of success you obtain), but about producing a piece of work that adds your voice to a wonderful game and story. If you think you’ll be turned off from Artesia, A:AKW, or ASP if you’re turned down… don’t do it! Why artificially separate yourself from such a bad-ass piece of work? It’s not worth it.
NEXT: Part #1: Sewing the field, planting the seeds.
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In an e-mail received today, Robb, sales director of