Special Ops: The Writer of the Future

Flint Dille (Writer/Game Designer, Ground Zero Productions)

The writer of the future

The main thing facing writers in today's media-rich atmosphere is change. Constant, unending and rapid change. Therefore, adaptation is key. This, according to Flint, is the main trait that writers have to have to be able to succeed in today's industry. Having written for over 25 years, Flint brings a lot of experience to the table, and not just in terms of games – he's also done various other media including TV, movies and comics. This versatility has allowed him and other authors like himself to keep pace with the evolving industry, especially during a time when everyone is able to express themselves on the internet through blogs and personal websites.

These days, extensibility is also a key trait for writers in terms of the material that they create. Products today are not staying within one medium any longer. Books become movies, movies become TV shows, games become books or movies – there are no more one-off stories. Everyone is looking for the next franchise or a way to move a story beyond the medium it was originally created for. Not only that, but everyone's still crazy about prequels and sequels and spin-offs.

Flint also points out the the line between fiction and non-fiction keeps getting blurred more and more. The DaVinci Code can have you believing that it's real, and a lot of it actually is. This mixing of fiction and non-fiction will give people pause and make them think about what's real in a story and what is fake. Some may even get it wrong. With interactive mediums like games, this can become even more surreal – take for example the Pini Society.

Only in the last few years have games reached a point where story has become as involved with the game as the gameplay itself, and developers have been brought to task for blending the two in a not-so-favorable manner. To allay this, more studios began hiring real writers from movies, TV, books and other media to create more compelling stories for their games.

Becoming a writer

While many of you reading this no doubt seek to become involved with writing for games, Flint spoke more about being a writer in the general sense. Sure, you can say that you specialize in games, but don't plan on writing just for games. There still isn't so much of a demand for writers that finding a job at a studio will be easy. I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Start off by gaining cred, as in credibility. Make sure you have published work to shop around to people in the various media industries. If you're not good at the whole networking thing or don't yet have a lot of contacts, you'll probably going to want to look into getting yourself an agent that can sell you properly. You can even take an entry-level industry job as a means to build cred and make contacts in the industry – it doesn't have to be a writing job so long as your getting experience working in teams and on games.

While you're building your cred, also be sure to work on your persona, or the distinctive traits that people can recognize as you. Flint pointed to a guy in the room with a fedora hat and was like “I'll remember the guy with the hat.” I have a friend who likes to wear orange shirts to conferences. Besides appearance, make sure you come off to people as like-able and easy to work with. Be humble above all else.

Once you're established, you have the choice of going freelance or exclusive. Flint warns against signing any sort of exclusive deals early on in your career, even several years into your career. Why? Well personally Flint just doesn't think he could stand working on the same project for 2 years. Besides that, there's also the facts that you won't be seen as “on the market” and your contacts may dry up, and once the job is done – then what? There's no guarantee you'll have another project starting up right afterwards.

Going freelance means you're working more than one project at a time, possibly even across more than one type of media. Not only do things stay fresh, but your constant searching for work brings more people to you and allows you to grow your network of contacts so that one day you may actually have people calling you up with projects to take on. If you're a freelancer, it will also be worth joining up with the Writers Guild of America. The WGA can provide you with the benefits you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. These benefits usually come with an exclusive deal when working at a studio.

Writing lifestyle

Once you're established, you want to keep a steady stream of projects coming in to pay the bills, but you also want to keep a side project or two active that will really revitalize your career. Don't focus so much on pulling down the dollars that you lose sight of any of your own goals. Flint is friends with Frank Miller and cited how Frank walked away from many a lucrative contract when he finally could afford to, in order to retreat to Virginia and work on his graphic novels. Now he's back into movies and doing better than ever, because he was able to stop chasing the money.

Make sure you realize and address your weaknesses. Not good at editing your own editor? Make sure you find a good editor to work with. Not good at selling yourself to get work? Hire an agent to take care of that for you. A lot of companies only work through agents anyways. Take classes to improve your writing in areas you feel you don't have a lot of confidence. Not good with the legalese? Hire a lawyer. Generally you should always consult a lawyer when dealing with contracts, especially when you first start out – but if you deal often enough, having one on tap is beneficial.

There are a few cardinal rules to keep in mind when writing:

• Never ever miss a deadline, either by simply failing to submit work on time or rushing and handing in work that is not up to par.
• Write every day. Whether you decided to write for a certain amount of time, a certain number of pages or a certain number of words, set a goal and stick to it.
• Have something deliverable each week – whether you wrote it all in a day or over the entire week, this is the only tangible progress you are able to show to a client.

Flint also likes to use templates, like a script layout or a novel outline, to quickly draft ideas and in a format that people will expect and be able to interpret.

Don't forget to keep developing your “soft skills”, as Flint calls them, or your people skills: working/relating in a team or group. Flint says one of the most common traits that he finds among writers of his experience still active in the industry is that they are willing to do favors, many times for free, with the understanding that they will be repaid in kind eventually.

Flint described his workspace as simple – a laptop that traveled wherever he went (the proverbial hat you hang) a phone, Internet (although he does admit it can be more of a distraction than anything these days) and quiet space. He also like to shake up the environment to keep

Coverage by Drew Sikora

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