Jump to content

How to Write (or run) a Pulp Story


UltraRob

Recommended Posts

Re: How to Write (or run) a Pulp Story

 

Once you get Pulp Hero' date='[/i'] in the GMing chapter you can find a gaming-friendly summary not only of the Dent metaplot mentioned above, but of similar "how to write pulp stories" advice from a couple of other well-known pulpsters. ;)

I thought that website had familiar information. So it was one of the people in the Pulp Hero section. There was another one that Steve Long has included in the latest book that I felt covered the matter much better. But I'm pretty sure I don't have the PDF anymore to look it up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: How to Write (or run) a Pulp Story

 

Somewhat in the same vein, Gamasutra had an article a while back on What Every Game Developer Needs to Know about Story. (Free registration required.)

 

The author relies hevily on Story, by Robert McKee, who is apparently some sort of Hollywood writer extraordinaire. I have no idea who McKee is, but he likely knows more about writing stories than me, so his book might be interesting to check out. The Gamasutra article gives a pretty good summary of the book, but an even quicker summary might be:

 

Story isn't dialog....Story is CONFLICT. ...
  • First, there's a protagonist, a hero.
  • His or her world is thrown out of order by an inciting incident. (Look at the sabotaged dope deal in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for a good example of this.)
  • A gap opens up between the hero and an orderly life.
  • The hero tries the normal, conservative action to overcome the gap. It fails. The world pushes back too hard.
  • The hero then has to take a risk to overcome the obstacles that are pushing back.
  • Then there is a reversal. Something new happens, or the hero learns something she didn't know before, and the world is out of whack again. A second gap has opened up.
  • The hero has to take a greater risk to overcome the second gap.
    A
  • fter overcoming the second gap, there is another reversal, opening a third gap.
  • The hero has to take the greatest risk of all to overcome this gap and get to that object of desire, which is usually an orderly life.

 

Joe-Bob says check it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...