Blog Archives - A. R. Levett

Loaded with Insightful Information about Writing for Games

19/4/2015

Dr Glen Spoors’ workshop Writing for Games at the KSP Writers’ Centre on 18 April 2015 was very inspiring. After a comedic video about the realities of the videogame industry (posted below), Glen gave participants an overview of the lengthy process of constructing a games document and then delved into the concept, narrative, and player agency components.

One of the many very interesting aspects, which applies to all types of storytelling (and most of the concepts did), was the story structures he presented, from the traditional three act story structure, to the twelve step monomyth, and even some interesting takes on nonlinear narratives, such as branching storylines and narrative nodes. Another interesting aspect he introduced us to was the “trinity of interest”, which specifies the three components that engage a player’s, or reader’s, interest: curiosity, surprise, and suspense.

For writing exercises, we brainstormed a list of game concepts and created some great, and even a few hilarious, ideas. We then developed these further to determine the type of gameplay, player role, setting, structure, genre, perspective, and other features the game would use. Finally, we developed a story for the game and outlined whether it would be a linear or non-linear narrative.

Glen was enthusiastic and related his personal experience writing for and creating games. He had some wild, creative, and inspirational ideas. Most of all, he was full of insightful and in depth information so that all workshop participants went home loaded with information about writing for games, and writing in general.

'The Riders' review

19/4/2015

Tim Winton’s 1994 novel The Riders is different from most of his Australian-based stories. Starting in Ireland and moving to Greece, Paris, and Holland, Winton’s characteristic descriptions of the Australian landscape and familiar Aussie dialect are absent, replaced with lengthy descriptions of the landscapes the characters find themselves in.

The main protagonist, Fred Scully, begins renovating an old Irish hovel he and his wife, Jennifer, have brought, while Jennifer and their eight-year-old daughter, Billie, sell their Fremantle home. Readers really get to know Scully through his work and his new friendship with Irish postie, Pete-the-Post. When Jennifer doesn’t accompany Billie to Ireland, Scully panics and drags Billie to their previous homes in Europe in search of Jennifer. Scully’s friends exacerbate his anxiety, telling him tales that lead him to believe all sorts of crazy ideas about Jennifer. The more Scully and Billie race across Europe, the more Scully falls apart, turning into a different person from the one established early in the novel.

Winton convincingly portrays Scully’s increasing anxiety and deterioration through Scully’s wild thoughts and speculation. While, as usual, Winton’s writing is wonderful, sometimes the descriptions, which give a good sense of the places, feel laboured, giving the sense of overcompensation. The ending, like many of Winton’s stories, is disappointing and vague.

Halfway through the novel, Winton begins switching between Scully’s and Billie’s point-of-view without warning. While masterfully done in places, and refreshing in others, given Scully’s depressive tirades, it often occurs mid-sentence and leads to much confusion. Still, Scully’s deterioration is confusing from his perspective, so is much more understandable and heartbreaking when viewed through Billie’s eyes, demonstrating Winton’s skill at prompting an emotional response in the reader.

Overall, the story captures a man’s disintegration well, but it’s depressing, and, at times, difficult to read. While I like to encourage artists to tread unfamiliar ground, which is what Winton does in this story, it feels forced in places, is overly long, and ultimately is a depressing read. Winton fans may want to check it out, and if you want to read what it's like to fall apart, then it might be worthwhile. However, other readers should read his other works first.

2 Stars

'Black Swan' review

16/4/2015

Black Swan is a psychological thriller that suggests that for art to be perfect, the artist has to be willing to die for it, literally.

Natalie Portman puts in a stunning (and award winning) performance as ballerina Nina, who, becomes so obsessed with perfecting her dancing technique that it drives her mad. Once she gets the dualistic Swan Queen role in a production of Swan Lake, the artistic director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), pushes her to let go of her nice-girl persona and obsession with her dancing technique so she can fully inhabit the nasty Black Swan role. Nina struggles with this for most of the film, losing herself to her perfection complex and unnoticed aspects of the Black Queen role.

Director Darren Aaronosfky (Requiem for a Dream) uses a lot of subtle imagery to suggest Nina’s stresses and her slow transformation into the role, such as her nervous itching and discovery of black feathers underneath her scratching wounds. Aaronofksy has a knack for getting into his characters’ heads and portraying this on film, and Black Swan is no exception because he encourages viewers to fully embrace Nina’s struggles and psychosis as real. The striking soundtrack amplifies this.

Mila Kunis’ performance as Lily, the friend who leads Nina astray from her rigid routine and controlling mother, as well as Nina’s seductive nemesis during her madness, is very compelling. Moreover, Barbara Hershey plays a fantastic perfectionistic and controlling mother.

Overall, Black Swan is an enthralling and intense film experience that reflects on the toll creating great art can have on the artist. I highly recommend it.

4 stars.

'La Femme Nikita' review

15/4/2015

The 1990 film, La Femme Nikita, aka Nikita, tells the story of the titular young woman’s (Anne Parillard) journey from drug addict to secret service agent and explores what it takes to be part of the world while maintaining a life-work balance. Luc Besson’s (The Professional) film is a stylised presentation of coming out of youthful aggression and into maturity and civilised life. It speaks of how there is a place for everyone in society even if we don’t recognise it, as suggested by Nikita, who is originally shown as an aggressive no-hoper, eventually working for the French secret service. The film also states that sometimes it takes other people to recognise the goodness in us, as represented Bob (Tchéky Karyo), Nikita’s handler, sparing Nikita from a death sentence because he recognised how she could channel her aggression into the role of assassin.

Eric Serra (Goldeneye) provides a stylistic, electronic score for the film, using cool beats and warm synths to accentuate the film’s drama and action.

The film plays on the concept of the femme fatale archetype, making Nikita, the central protagonist, fill this role instead of being a character who tempts the protagonist.

Unfortunately, the ending leaves audiences with numerous questions and while this can be a good thing in stories, in this case, the questions concern plot holes. Fortunately, they aren’t big enough to ruin the film.

With its high impact action sequences, emotional intensity, and character driven drama, La Femme Nikita is a visually, aurally, and narratively stylistic film that I recommend.

4 Stars

John Truby's 'The Anatomy of Story'

10/4/2015

Want to know how to write a great story? Then read John Truby's 'The Anatomy of Story.' I can't recommend this book highly enough. This interview talks about the book's core concepts, which are the core of good storytelling.

Alternatively, I teach these concepts in workshops. If you're interested in having me teach them at a workshop, please contact me.

Writing for Games Workshop

10/4/2015

Where: Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre, 11 Old York Road, Greenmount.
When: Saturday 18 April, 1.00pm-4.00pm
Cost: $30 for KSP members and full-time students, $45 for non-members.
Bookings: Email kspf@iinet.net.au or phone 08 9294 1872

Crafting an experience for players is a difficult challenge that requires more skill and training than is often respected. Even games low on story, like Plants and Zombies, require much care in the development of their premise, characters and world, and games with complex stories, such as Uncharted and Skyrim, provide unique challenges for game writers. This workshop introduces some of the core concepts and techniques used when writing game design documents. It will provide standard templates for game documents, in-workshop activities, and writing exercises you can pursue in your own time.

Facilitated by: Dr Glen Spoors.
Glen is a Lecturer in Game Design and Culture at ECU, where he coordinates units in Game Culture, Game Studies, Writing for Games and Visual and Conceptual Game Design and Culture, among others. In his spare time he draws monsters, writes fiction, composes music and makes games. He is currently trying to finish a supernatural themed RPG called Eidolon and a Unity version of his boardgame Pocket Troll.

For more information, see: http://kspf.iinet.net.au/eventworkshops.php#games

Dealing with Criticism

8/4/2015

Receiving criticism on your stories and poetry is never easy. And yet, as published young-adult fiction author Kate McCaffrey said at a recent workshop, it never gets any easier. From my experience receiving feedback, I agree.

When I first joined a critique group, I would sleep restlessly for the week between submitting my story and receiving the criticism, fretting about what I could have done to make it better or what obvious mistakes someone else would pick up. During the group meeting, I would be so tense that I could barely speak, let alone properly take in the feedback. Yet, joining a critique group was one of the best thing I did as an author. Overtime, the anxiety’s intensity lessened, so that although I am still anxious the night before receiving criticism, I am more open to it. Joining the group vastly improved my writing in a way that going it alone ever could have. It allowed me to broaden my horizons as a writer. And, by providing criticism of other people’s work, I not only helped improve their writing, but also saw how to improve my own.

Receiving feedback might not get easier, but you can deal with it more effectively if you learn about the different types of criticism. In her book, The Artist’s Way, which I highly recommend, Julia Cameron delineates two types of criticism: criticism that is appropriate and work-enhancing, and criticism that is shaming and damaging.

According to Cameron, ‘[p]ointed criticism, if accurate, often gives the artist an inner sense of relief: “Ah hah! So that’s what was wrong with it.” Useful criticism ultimately leaves us with one more puzzle piece for our work.’ (83). In other words, it shows the writer ‘a valid path for [the] work’ (Cameron 80).

Shaming and damaging criticism, on the other hand, ‘disparages, dismisses, ridicules, or condemns. It is frequently vicious but vague and difficult to refute’ (Cameron 81). Moreover, it ‘leaves us with a feeling of being bludgeoned. As a rule, it is withering and shaming in tone; ambiguous in content; personal, inaccurate, or blanket in its condemnations’ (Cameron 83). Recognising these differences during a critique session can make all the difference from coming home in tears convinced you don’t have what it takes to be an author, and coming home, a little hurt but resolved to improve your story.

It’s also important to recognise that the artistic part in us is a child and needs protection, much like a parent protects a young child. Therefore, it’s vital you find a critique group in which you feel comfortable to receive feedback. As Cameron says, ‘as artists, we must learn to be very self-protective … we must learn to create our own safe environments. We must learn to protect our artist child from shame’ (81). This means learning ‘to comfort our artist child over unfair criticism’ (Cameron 81) and understand that we cannot control the criticism we receive, only our reaction to it (Cameron 81).

To do this, Cameron recommends the following steps:

'Receive the criticism all the way through and get it over with.
Jot down notes to yourself on what concepts or phrases bother you.
Jot down notes on what concepts or phrases seem useful
Do something very nurturing for yourself—read an old good review or recall a compliment.
Remember that even if you have made a truly rotten piece of art, it may be a necessary stepping-stone to your next work. Art matures spasmodically and requires ugly-duckling growth stages.
Look at the criticism again. Does it remind you of any criticism from your past—particularly shaming childhood criticism? Acknowledge to yourself that the current criticism is triggering grief over a long-standing wound.
Write a letter to the critic—not to be mailed, most probably. Defend your work and acknowledge what was helpful, if anything in the criticism proffered.
Get back on the horse. Make an immediate commitment to do something creative.
Do it. Creativity is the only cure for criticism' (83).

For anyone who feels their critique group is mistreating them, either speak up or get out of there. A good critique group might offer feedback that seems harsh at first, but will do so in a respectful and professional manner. The sacred bond between a teacher and student, of reviewer and reviewee, needs to involve trust. If this trust if violated by people using shaming and damaging criticism, then you are being emotionally abused (Cameron 136).

It’s also important that you learn to let go of your work when submitting it for feedback. Many authors have likened writing a story to giving birth – in each process, you are creating a new life form that has a will of its own. Like a parent has to let a child go out into the world, have their own experiences and make their own mistakes, so too a writer must let a story grow in its own way. This means letting other writers read it. Cameron labels the inability to let go of a piece of work, perfectionism. ‘The perfectionist is never satisfied … To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement’ (128). However, this pursuit of perfectionism isn’t a pursuit for the best. Rather, it’s a never-ending quest that brings out the part of us ‘that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough’ (Cameron 128). This leads us nowhere. Instead, Cameron recognises that '[a] book is never finished. But at a certain point you stop writing it and go on to the next thing … at a certain point you let go and call it done. That is a normal part of creativity—letting go. We always do the best that we can by the light we have to see by' (128).

Cameron’s final piece of advice on dealing with criticism is to deal with it. Otherwise, it will block your creative endeavours. ‘[A]rtistic losses … must be mourned [because t]he unmourned disappointment becomes the barrier that separates us from future dreams’ (Cameron 136). So forget about the damaging criticism and accept the appropriate criticism for what it is: an opportunity to improve your work. As Cameron says, ‘[t]he artist within, like the child within, is seldom hurt by truth … much true criticism liberates the artist it is aimed at childish’ (136). The antidote to criticism, then, is to love yourself (Cameron 82). The best way to do that is to be creative and get on with the work.

In my time receiving criticism, I’ve discovered a few other things that make receiving criticism a little easier.

First, give any feedback you receive a few days to settle in. You’ll be amazed at how much more clearly you can interpret the criticism and see that something does need to be changed once you have some space from it. I’ve received criticism I detested only to be inspired by it a few days later.

Second, while I have never found anything to ease the anxiety of having your story reviewed, I have discovered that maintaining a positive attitude and acknowledging that any feedback you receive is ultimately going to help your story helps you get through the feedback session.

Third, learn to trust your gut because it will tell you if a piece of criticism is useful or not. Often, a little voice in your head will go ‘Aha!’ and a feeling of truth and obviousness will resonate through your body. On the other hand, if some feedback doesn’t evoke an emotion of some sort, it probably has no value. The exception to this is grammar and punctuation.

Fourth, remember this is your story and that you have the ultimate decision of what to change or leave as it is. Further, if some criticism rings true for you, don’t feel pressured into utilising it the way the reviewer has suggested. Instead, take the advice, but feel free to implement it in your own way.

Fifth, never feel afraid to express why something in your story should remain the way it is. At best, your reviewer and you will gain some insight into your story. At worst, you can always come to a compromise.

Sixth, and most importantly, remember that the criticism is aimed at your work, not you. Yes, it’s natural to feel like your story is part of you because you’ve put your heart and soul into it, but it is not you. Detach yourself from it. Most authors recommend allowing three months between writing a draft and reading it. I recommend the same for submitting your work for feedback.

So, while receiving criticism doesn’t get easier, it can make you a better writer if you open yourself to it. It can help you release your preciousness about your ideas. And, as you get used to the people in your critique group, you will learn who’s opinion to trust about certain elements, and whose to pay less attention to. Thus, if you’re an author, I highly recommend seeking out a critique group, which can be found at Writers’ Centres and the like. Just keep the above in mind.

References
Cameron, Julia. The Complete Artist’s Way: Creativity as Spiritual Practice. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, 2007. Print.
See also: http://juliacameronlive.com/

'The Pianist' review

5/4/2015

The Pianist is a horrifying true story of someone’s triumph over oppression. Through its brutal imagery, minimalist soundtrack, and Adrien Brody’s believable portrayal as a persecuted man just trying to survive, it reveals how strong the human will to live is.

The film tells the story of acclaimed Polish pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman (Brody), during World War II. Szpilman plays piano for the local radio station when the war breaks out. The Nazi’s discriminate against Szpilman and his family by forcing them to wear an armband identifying them as Jewish. They soon force the family and into a tiny two room ghetto apartment where they struggle to make enough money to buy food, while many other people die in the streets. When his family are forced into slave camps, Szpilman is fortunate enough to escape. However, he is forced to live in locked-in apartments to remain alive. Szpilman eventually escapes after the Nazi’s blow holes in his building, and he wanders the ruins for some time, scavenging for food until the war ends. Eventually, he returns to playing broadcast pianist.

The film brutally depicts the Nazi’s inhumane actions and this graphic imagery and intense acting is very shocking. However, the film contains some touching moments that remind audiences of what it means to be human.

The soundtrack is very minimalist, allowing the superb acting and seriousness of the situation to show through. However, it also allows for the rare moments of music, especially when the protagonist plays piano, to shine all the more brighter, allowing the audience to recognise that despite all of the horror Szpilman endures, there is still beauty in humanity.

I recommend The Pianist because it’s a very touching and sensitive film on surviving cruelty, showing humanity at its worst and best. However, it is very gruesome and horrifying, which may deter some viewers.

Three stars.

'Melancholia' review

2/4/2015

The title of Lars von Trier’s film Melancholia sums up everything about the film – the tone, the characters, and the situations. The film is delivered in two parts. Part one shows us the wedding of Justine (Kirsten Dunst), a quirky and unconventional woman, who struggles to be happy on the happiest day of her life. Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and John (Kiefer Sutherland), her sister and brother-in-law, respectively, try to run the event successfully, constantly reminding Justine not to make a scene. Yet, Justine does some strange and unexpected things. Like most weddings, the attending guests are full of quirks, such as the boss who tries to sell his business to everyone in his speech, the sexually promiscuous father, and the mother against Western rituals like marriage. Throughout it all, there’s a sense of melancholia.

Part two occurs at a later time when the planet Melancholia is set to enter Earth’s orbit. Justine returns to Claire and John’s home in a seriously ill state. Claire, who this part focuses on, tries to care for her ailing sister, while failing to deal with her own anxieties about Melancholia potentially crashing into Earth, despite John’s reassurances it won’t. Strangely, while Claire seems to be in control during part one, it’s Justine who seems saner in part two because of her connection to the planet and her acceptance of their fate.

The cast put in a fantastic performance, with Dunst creating a great portrayal of an eccentric person, Gainsburg a control fanatic, and Sutherland a subtle, money-grabbing astrologer.

Most of the film is shot with a steady cam, creating a home-movie quality with its abrupt cuts, zooms, and pans, and wind on the soundtrack. This deepens the characters’ anxieties and creates a more intimate film. The soundtrack is minimalist, featuring only one piece of music played at appropriate times, while the long stretches of silence create a greater sense of anxiety and make the situation seem more real.

Melancholia isn’t for everyone. Its anxious tone will put off some viewers and its departure from conventional storytelling techniques will deter others. However, if you seek something different that explores mental health issues, then I recommend it.

Three stars.

We Have a Winner!

1/4/2015

Congratulations Claire! Your response to which of Stephen King's 22 Writing Tips was most relevant to you has won you a copy of On Writing by Stephen King.

Claire offered an insightful response about dealing with the self doubt generated by people who trash your writing. Read Claire's response below:

'No. 2 is the tip most relevent to me:
“If you write . . . someone will try to make you feel lousy about it . . .” writes King. And they do. It's really important to be strong in yourself. This comes by putting yourself outside your comfort zone. Getting rid of the tv and developing a positive and assertive attitude. I am astounded on a weekly basis that people who present themselves as friends offer outcomes that are negative for my writing. “Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure” writes King. I agree 100%. I don't regard 'failure' as failure. To maintain this positive and constructive attitude takes a lot of awareness and a lot of effort, physical as well as mental and emotional. I highly recommend it. The positive outcomes for all your hard work maintaining a positive attitude pay multiple dividends. Bravo!'

I hope to write up an article on how to deal with criticism soon. Look out for it.

Again, congratulations, Claire. I hope you enjoy the book and find it helpful with your writing. Please email me to claim your prize.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition.