My Novel And Game Writing Are Almost the Same Process

Image Source: Pixabay

This may seem a bit strange to other writers out there, but I have become so used to writing for games that I take almost the same approach in the structuring of my novels. This is specifically true for my horror, dark fantasy and epic fantasy novels where my novels have been inspired by games. It helps with developing locations in the novels where characters will travel to, or specific abilities they need to acquire.

In the first instance, let me take my published novel, Silent Hill: Betrayal . By its very essence, this novel required some determined planning. And as I developed it, I kept in mind what it would have been like playing it as a game. This meant including an ammo count for firearms, making sure items like melee weapons and medical packs were readily available at the right places, and creating a bestiary of creatures and a list of all the characters and their traits.

I even went so far as planning and tracking each clue and puzzle, together with all the items that needed to be found to solve them. I was basically developing the game already, and then translating it into novel form. The romantic fantasy novel I am working on, Dream Whispers, also has some heavy development, but not to that extent. Dream Whispers is planned out more like a film, by preparing the 3 main acts with their turning points, pitches, revelations and resolutions.

Yet, when we turn to my dark fantasy novel currently in development, namely Malum: Rise of the Deadly Sins, there is more of a focus on game development. I always have a bigger goal in mind when writing my novels, and I know many of them will not stop at simple book publication. The Malum series is inspired by the Blizzard game series, Diablo. Malum is latin for evil and is the name of the dark force orchestrating all the events that will happen in the planned trilogy.

The Malum series calls for a more complicated planning process than Silent Hill: Betrayal, as there will be several main characters in the first novel all bent on the same main quest: To stop the rise of evil and deadly sins corrupting a mining town. There are various levels these characters will reach in their abilities, as well as harder and harder enemies for them to battle the further they progress. This is one of my ambitious projects yet, and I feel will be greater than my first epic fantasy series, Celenic Earth Chronicles.

Those who follow my blog will know that my creativity in writing and graphical representation is linked close together in tight bond. I cannot write without releasing some graphical teasers. On my Patreon page, I created two videos for my upcoming horror novel, Silent Hill: Obversion. In the same way, I released a new teaser poster for Malum: Rise of the Deadly Sins, featuring the dark master of envy.

Heavy symbolism is placed in the poster, which will be revealed by the wise masters to the chief characters in the novel, so I will not spoil it here. With all the planning going into this novel though, I may have to release a compendium alongside the novel, featuring all the lore surrounding the creatures, the land, the deadly sins and the chief virtues.

So yes... writing is never an easy fix for me. Sure, I could whip out a quick novel in a matter of months if I just wrote without any in-depth planning. But where would the fun be in that. :)

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Kind regards

Shaun M Jooste

Joint-Owner: AIR Entertainment (https://airentertainment.biz)
Director: Celenic Earth Publications (https://celenicearthpublications.wordpress.com)
Author, Screenwriter, Gamewriter, Journalist (https://celenicearth.wordpress.com)