This is a podcast for the serious writer. You wanna learn about technique and the basics, go here. I believe this one is subscription based, but it's worth it if you wanna be a writer.
http://michaelastackpole.com/thesecrets/podcasts/
I had no idea who any of the people running these seminars were, but I left being impressed with some of them. Let me say that Michael is very passionate about what he does. He loves to write, and it shows. He's not up there giving a line of bull. He's up there for the love of writing and the desire to see others be successful. I wouldn't hesitate to go to another one of his seminars next time.
The Writing Career and 21 Days to a Novel were two of Michael's seminars. The latter was maybe the most useful, but all three of them had information. I'll highlight some stuff.
1-21 days covers all the steps you need to take to outline what you want to do with your novel. It covers creating characters, giving them backgrounds, plot development and that sort of thing. Let me just say that I will be using these 21 steps to outline my future writing projects.
2-Michael advocates short chapters, around 2500 words, with endings that get people wanting to start on the next chapter. At 2200, he recommends looking for a way out of that chapter.
3-Michael wasn't the only person I heard say this, but 90,000 to 120,000 words is the recommended length of a book. The publishers generally pay by the word.
That's just a small example of what I learned in a little over 3 hours of Stackpole seminars. He says it's best to write about what interests you. Don't let anybody tell you you can't do it. Never start editing your book before you are finished writing it or you'll never get done. It sounds pretty basic, because it is. But, you'd be surprised at how many people lose their way in writing and never get done.
But, I don't wanna give away all of Michael's secrets. You really should check out his web site if you are interested. You won't be disappointed.
Colonol Louis Zocchi gave a seminar on how to sell your game design. Lots of useful information and lots of territory was covered. Zocchi is a dice manufacturer and an award winning game designer. He covered area such as what you need to put on the box of your game (don't use a bunch of flavor text. Briefly describe what is it, how many players, how long does it take to play and that sort of thing.) Originally, until just before I left for Gencon, the back of the HotDC Quick Charts book had flavor text on it.
He covered Copyright, Trademark, what the law is on copyrighting a game (The Anti Monopoly lawsuit was covered briefly), what to sell your game for and how the money is earned from writer to publisher to distributor, ISBN numbers, the dangers of printing too many copies of your game with your own money. He also explained why it's better to ask your printer how much to print 1000 copies (instead of 100) and places to get cheap boxes for your game.
There is a little bit about Zocchi over at this web page if you are interested:
http://www.advancinghordes.com/about_gamescience.php
Bringing Your Game Design Concept To Life, Game Design Theory & Principles and Getting Into Game Writing were the three other seminars I went to that focused on game writing, and all three were panel discussions. I found the Stackpole and Zocchi seminars to be more useful to me, but there was much information at these three as well. Let me just throw out a few observations as we are running long with this post too.
Bringing Your Game Design To Life
Mike Gray (Hasbro), Matt Forbeck (Author, Game Designer), Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering), Reiner Knizia (Game Designer, Board Games) were on the panel.
Gray offered lots of information on getting published by big companies, such as Hasbro. It's not easy, but I didn't think it was. You need a business agent to get your stuff submitted. They don't deal with designers. You have to go to a broker (Costs $100 or so). At this level, you're not just walking in there. Do you want to make a lot of money, or a little. It's about mass appeal, not just what you like. He had other helpful information for dealing with the "big boys" of game making.
Reiner jumped in and said that if your strategy is to get published by Hasbro, listen to Gray. His strategy was to get a few games published, so he went to smaller companies. Smaller companies are more easily approachable. There is better contact with smaller companies, because they live and die by these deals.
Richard pointed out that self publishing is a good way to go, because you will learn how to do it. The tools are so easy now in the age of in demand printing. Then, big publishers can look at a game that is published.
Matt pointed out that you don't have to have art to make the presentation, just use clip art. He adds that your art may be used, depending how good it is, but companies have their own artists.
It wasn't a bad seminar. I'm looking at self publishing at the moment, but it doesn't hurt to know this stuff.
Game Design Theories & Principles
There were four people on the panel here, Luke Johnson (Freelancer), Chris Pearson (DragonLance Writer), Don (RPGA Staff) and a guy whose name I missed (TSR, Wizards of the Coast).
There were fliers on the table when we came into the room, including a contact list of companies, Publishing 101, A Few Basics and Game Design Theory & Principles. This seminar highlighted some of the things you need to know about designing a game. Offer balanced choices for the players. Risk vs. Reward. Player Control vs. Designer Control. Make sure your design plot is forwarded regardless of what the players do. It gets too boring if the players have it too easy. You want them to seek out options for some challenges. Make sure the DM knows what the main plot is supposed to be so he can adapt things to his player's actions. There was more, but you get the general idea. All in all, good information here.
Getting Into Game Writing
Another panel. Part of my challenge getting to these things on time was booking some too close in time, but not close enough from building to building. Getting to the Embassy was a pain, and I was late for one of Stackpole's seminars by about 5-10 minutes. This one I was a few minutes late for as well, so I don't have panel names.
Like writing and playing. You have to be able to look at it analytically. Figure out what you like and go with that. You have to know the product front and back. Five years ago was the D20 boon, but it's not going to be that easy now. You have to be comfortable with writing on demand and deadlines. If you make deadlines, return calls & e-mails on time, you will be more popular with companies. Be professional. Have a friendly attitude, but not too friendly. You are just a cog in the wheel. There are others in the process. Hit your word limit. Don't go over or under it. Sometimes you can get into companies by doing a few things for free. Write reviews for games. Develop a good reputation in the forums. Companies notice that. You get the gist of it. Another good seminar.
When I learned of Dave Arneson's calling in sick for the Blackmoor seminar, I was disappointed. Dave Kenzer showed, which I'll get into in the next post. However, I was hoping to see Arneson in the 40 Years of Gencon seminar later that Friday. I went early. In fact, I was an hour early and ended up in another seminar, From, License To Game with Andrew Parks. I actually had to look for this yesterday, because I had no idea what this seminar was, and it wasn't listed in the book for this room at this time.
I had every intention of just bailing on the Gencon seminar if there was no Dave. I could have left Andrew's seminar, but I didn't want to be rude. There weren't that many people here, so I figured I'd listen. Andrew does card games, which I don't play, but I admit to thinking about the idea. Could I design a card game? Hmmm.... Well, Andrew discussed getting licenses for games. He did a 300 game based on that movie. The Harry Potter Card Game was another he mentioned. He's working on card games for Gremlins and Office Space. He talked about the challenges of getting use of the Intellectual Property for these games. Sometimes certain things are expected by the IP holder, because they don't want their characters acting in a way hat goes against how they are depicted on screen or in books.
It was an interesting seminar, and I'm glad I stayed. I see I have run long again, so we'll have to add another part to this ever growing Gencon Series.
Next
The Entertainment Seminars And Stuff
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