I always liked the idea of using dice to drive a story along. I first got the idea from dungeons and dragons and such other pen and paper RPGs: while I never enjoyed actually playing the games, I loved the way stories could be allowed to develop through the dice, and the clashing of unpredictable decisions coming from 4 or 5 people. While these complex systems were the inspiration, I prefer - and use - a looser way of doing things, just using dice to answer simple questions as the story moves along, either by letting chance answer simple yes/no questions, or by consulting some sort of tables, if I'm in the mood to spice things up a bit more. I find it is a great way to force you to be creative, and to get out of your comfort zone: maybe an important character gets hurt at a particularly awkward moment in the plot, maybe the main characters do not find that one secret which was meant to give them that one clue to drive the story along, maybe the person your characters were meeting is not there after all; what then? It might not lead to the best story you've ever written, but I think it's a fun creative writing exercise. I really like doing this, but I don't think I've ever found anyone else who did the same thing, so I was wondering if it is something others do, of if I'm just a looney playing RPGs alone. Thoughts and experiences?
You know, my first impulse was to condemn this idea for violating and outright ignoring the internal logic of a story, but the more I think about it the more I realize that that's the point. Some of my best ideas and stories were spawned from writing prompts, and I think it's important to recognize the value of working in constraint, because it does force you to really use that noggin of yours to create something of value that traverses these borderlands. If nothing else, you're right, it's a great creative exercise, but I think it has the potential to be much more than that. It's funny, when I was a kid I made up pencil-and-paper fantasy worlds for my friends to explore and play games on, not realizing I was copying the format of Dungeons and Dragons. I was copying these videogame RPG's (role playing games) that I grew up playing, and thought it would be cool to have my friends play one of these games with a world of my creation. Just a funny aside, because I had to be told later on that I came up with Dungeons and Dragons without knowing what it was (I mean, I had heard the name before, but never gave it much thought to what it actually was, especially because videogames were just becoming a thing when I was a kid).
I like this idea. Give me an excuse to get my dice out. Though there is something a bit sad about the mental image of me sitting at my desk alone both DMing and playing a solo campaign.
Writing prompt or games can be fun, and I agree that they can generate and jumpstart some great ideas. But there comes a time when you the writer know the best direction to take your story and it's not worth rolling the dice. Sure, if you're stuck, I can see how this couldn't hurt to try, but I certainly am not going to base my writing career on a complete game of chance.
I've not used dice for generating story ideas, but I have used tarot cards. Same principle basically.
Same here. For "filler" characters I do a tarot reading so they feel more real to me, and occasionally this info shines through. I think it is a very good idea to have a whole bank of data and back story to hand. Even if you don't explicate all the nuances of the character you at least believe in them yourself more and can therefore write more easily about them. As a means of creating a narrative and characters from scratch I cannot see it working out well unless you actually have something to say. It is certainly possible that randomly generated scenarios can spark an idea for a whole novel. Personally though, I don't see how actual life experience can be considered less rich than randomly generated data sets; but again, such randomly generated data sets may allow you to access more comprehensively your life experiences and bring old memories to the surface as you contemplate the dynamics of the randomly generated scenes and characters.
Not a role-player myself, but your post reminded me of this article by writer Chuck Wendig: Why writers should play role-playing games. His theory is that it makes you a better storyteller.
Didn't Philip K. Dick claim that The Man in the High Castle was written using the I Ching? Followup question: Wasn't Philip K. Dick pretty much continually off his head on drugs?
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I have read several different novels where I could plainly see references to the I Ching, Tarot reading and other such oracles. This is more commonly seen in sci-fi and fantasy though because you can well expect people interested in those genres to have done some research into more obscure periods of human history and the development of scientific methodology and Gnosticism (which bleeds into/from all religious practices in one form or another.) WEecan also state that all stories revolve around more ancient narratives lain down long ago in Christian mythos stemming from ancient Greece and Egypt. To the east the I Ching, and in Australia and other places the oral traditions also would've possessed the same generic basis for narrative structures. Appreciation of the development of written language and pre-written narratives, as well as the purposes they served human organization, is well worth studying if you have the time and inclination. It will certainly help you to be a better composer of literature if you really understand the process of it's development.
Spoiler: for the web serial Worm The author of Worm literally rolled dice during a huge battle to decide which characters would die, including his main character. He'd have continued the story with someone else if she hadn't lived: "When it came to this arc [Extermination], though, I rolled dice. Barring those who stayed out of the fight, I rolled to see if they lived or died. Just went through the cast as it had formed, to date, and rolled for every participating cape, then worked in their deaths as was possible."
I mean as a person who co-GMs two different RPG groups I'm no stranger to this. I use it on occasion, but my Fiance(the other GM) absolutely loves the dice method. I just like control and usually know how I want a certain events or characters to play out early on. Tabletop RPGs definitely teach one work fast and stay open and flexible though. I've however never used dice in an actual novel or novella. Nothing like that feels like it's needed to me. I tend to plan things out thoroughly before I begin so I already know what will happen because I tend to shy away from things happening without a reason behind it.
Nobody is saying you should base your writing career on a complete game of chance. The whole point of the exercise is that you'll still have to come up with a worthwhile story while not having access to that "best direction" you were so excited about using, maybe even coming up with something even better afterwards. You aren't using randomly generated data sets, you're using random queues to break from your usual mindset. Unless you are going to use really detailed tables and charts to do this, you're still going to have a lot of interpreting and thinking to do. I've thought about using tarot cards and cards in general before, but never to create characters; what a cool idea!
I have been writing short stories and improv acting sketches using story dice. This is not an endorsement, but the brand I use is called Rory's StoryCubes. I have a physical set of the starter pack, but these are just for my personal use (no group play), so I find I use the smartphone version most of the time, and the app in purchase addon packs are more affordable than getting additional physical sets. These are different than numbered dice in that they have icons on their sides instead of numbers. So, they act like those madlib-style improv acting 'I need a X' fillins.
Personally, I think this would be a very creative way of getting a basic plot to take shape, or to get some ideas if you hit a roadblock, but at some point you have to put the dice away or your story would probably end up wacky. It may not, but I guess it's just how much you're using the dice.
