SepulcherGeist
Villager
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I find myself wishing to help provide to the RPG Maker MV community. However, I lack any meaningful artistic ability outside of prose, characterization, plot structure, and dialogue. I’ve decided to share some quick and dirty writing tips for those who love RPG Maker, but become frustrated with certain elements of writing.
Disclaimers: I know there are already several talented and seasoned writers on this site, so a lot of my tips may seem old news if you’ve taken creative writing courses. Also, even if you aren’t an experienced or educated writer, don’t take my tips as strict methods you follow. I only offer them for your passive musings as you work, to help spawn ideas, keep you on track, and provide you with a starter “toolbox” for the given subject. As a writer (within RPG Maker or otherwise), you should always be adjusting the tools in your brain’s creative writing toolbox, adding some, and creating your own.
RPG Maker doesn’t require a whole lot of prose, but dialogue is certainly everywhere! And it should be. It’s the most fun in my opinion, both to write and to read. Therefore, dialogue is where I will begin.
When it comes to characterization and story, everything revolves around a single core concept: CONFLICT. Dialogue is an extension of both characterization and story, therefore conflict must remain at the forefront of your mind while writing it. Dialogue without conflict is flat, boring, and drops the reader’s/gamer’s interest quickly. Everything, if at all possible, should be a battle or a tug-of-war between characters. Even if they are close friends, on the same side, solving the same problem together in a respectful matter there must still be conflict.
Generating conflict in dialogue is easier than you think, as it doesn’t have to be open argumentation. It can be (and often should be) subtle. While two characters are charting their way through a nebula, for instance, their dialogue could be agreeable and bland. . . But what if one of them is trying to find the proper moment to tell the other their feels about them, and the other person is intentionally avoiding the subject? What if one is trying to hide a secret, or cheer the other up when they don’t wish to be cheered up? There is always an opportunity for a hidden tug-of-war, and it draws out character every time.
Character. Character is huge. They are, after all, the reason we care to read at all. If we’re playing a game for the sake of the gameplay alone, we often mash a button to skip dialogue when we couldn’t care less about the characters. However, in RPGs, gamers want the story and hunger for characters. Every exchange of dialogue is your next chance to leak more about those heroes and strengthen your player’s interest in them. Never pass that opportunity up. A character could simply give a quest: “Go steal the ledger for me and I’ll make it worth your while.” Alright, that does enough to start the quest, but it’s boring as tarnation. Instead, leak character: “Bloody clowns think they can run me out of town, like they even know what it even means to live on the frontier. This land calls for adaptability. If they’re so smart, let’s see how they function without that precious ledger of theirs. Hah! Imagine their panic should it go missin’.” Now we start the quest, learn more about the quest giver’s history, beliefs, sense of humor, ethics, methods of speaking, and his point of view toward other characters in the story. Far more interesting. And, as a special bonus, as you write dialogue in this manner your brain subconsciously fills in more character blanks and world information. You actively learn more about your own game’s universe! It begets more ideas, quests, histories, et cetera.
Indirectness. Dialogue should usually be indirect. Direct is bland, expected, and again, boring. “You killed my brother, I’m here for revenge” is not thrilling. “You tell them I’m coming; I’m coming, and I’m bringing hell with me” is quite the opposite. The only times I generally am direct is when it is too brief and emergent to do otherwise (“Run!”), someone is putting their foot down (“I said no”), or for a blunt, awkward comedic effect. Indirectness especially whelps when dealing with emotions. Characters saying outright that they were sad, happy, angry, or scared is just terrible writing. Implying it indirectly is far more interesting and fun to read. “I was so scared, I thought I was going to die and I’m still a little shaken up about it” is bland. Instead, consider: “I just stood there. I wanted to move my feet, but they just wouldn’t listen. I just stood there, I don’t know how long, watching my friends getting torn to pieces. . .”
Brevity. All other things considered and being equal, the briefer the better. You don’t want word salads for your readers to chew through. “So, I was walking home from work, and I stumbled upon a body. Those genocidal jerks are the scourge of the planet; it really grinds my gears” is lame dialogue for several reasons. Let’s give it a nip/tuck: “Another body. We can’t ignore this any longer.” Notice the sentence fragment. People speak naturally with sentence fragments often, and they’re wonderful to use in brief dialogue. Don’t be afraid to.
Story advancement. If the scene or dialogue doesn’t advance the story, it shouldn’t be in the story. Great stories are lean, with the fluff chopped out and only the best of the best making it into the final draft. Cut the fluff and strengthen what’s needed is the golden rule of thumb for writers across the planet for a reason. Even if your fluff has great characterization within it, that can be salvaged and worked into the required scenes (there’s always a way to have your cake and eat it too!). Don’t settle, keep reworking scenes and dialogue until they can justify their existence. As seen in my quest-giver ledger example above: we had dialogue that advanced the plot of the quest AND helped to define the character and even some region history. Some writer’s would rather take the time to drag the reader through the region history first, create a non-consequential scene to show that character’s personality, and then further the plot. Why? That’s not entertaining or economical. Have it all at once. It sounds great, reads well, is fun to write, is less wordy, and is easier to accomplish than you might think.
Speaking of having it all at once: my final note in dialogue is just that. Every line of dialogue should aim to have as many as the above factors as possible:
Conflict, characterization, indirectness, brevity, and story advancement.
Each time it’s a character’s turn to speak: make it their game, their goal, to hit as many of those points as possible. You’d be surprised just how easy it is to grab most, if not all of those items in just a couple brief sentence fragments. Once you get the knack you won’t be able to stop, and great dialogue will pour from you like a waterfall.
I’ll leave with you a scene I just saw the other day from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. You’ll notice as you watch television, film, and read books, that the above items I’ve gone over are followed rather universally. Professional creative writers learn what I’ve gone over (or something similar to it) over and over again to get down good dialogue, and you can hear it even in this random scene from a random old 90s western.
(Paraphrasing)
Prisoner 1 is reaching out from between jail bars with a long tool to try and snag the keys off the collar of a sleeping guard dog. Prisoner 2 is watching him do this.
Prisoner 2: “I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Last guy who tried that, well, let’s just say he isn’t clapping at any operas.”
Prisoner 1: “Yeah? Well I hate operas.”
Notice the brevity and indirectness of the last line. He could have said, “Yeah, but I don’t care about the risk, I’m going to try to do this anyway because I’m in a sore mood and want out of here.” Instead, all that was implied in a brief, funny little line of dialogue.
Notice how it also established the character’s personalities: one is cautious and wise, the other is brash and blunt.
Notice how it furthers the plot: it establishes what the prisoners are doing, and what is at risk!
Notice the conflict: one warning the other and the other brushing them off.
A couple of lines of dialogue, and every item on the great-dialogue tips list was hit.
While you watch shows and read great books, pay attention: you’ll see this pattern everywhere.
Disclaimers: I know there are already several talented and seasoned writers on this site, so a lot of my tips may seem old news if you’ve taken creative writing courses. Also, even if you aren’t an experienced or educated writer, don’t take my tips as strict methods you follow. I only offer them for your passive musings as you work, to help spawn ideas, keep you on track, and provide you with a starter “toolbox” for the given subject. As a writer (within RPG Maker or otherwise), you should always be adjusting the tools in your brain’s creative writing toolbox, adding some, and creating your own.
RPG Maker doesn’t require a whole lot of prose, but dialogue is certainly everywhere! And it should be. It’s the most fun in my opinion, both to write and to read. Therefore, dialogue is where I will begin.
When it comes to characterization and story, everything revolves around a single core concept: CONFLICT. Dialogue is an extension of both characterization and story, therefore conflict must remain at the forefront of your mind while writing it. Dialogue without conflict is flat, boring, and drops the reader’s/gamer’s interest quickly. Everything, if at all possible, should be a battle or a tug-of-war between characters. Even if they are close friends, on the same side, solving the same problem together in a respectful matter there must still be conflict.
Generating conflict in dialogue is easier than you think, as it doesn’t have to be open argumentation. It can be (and often should be) subtle. While two characters are charting their way through a nebula, for instance, their dialogue could be agreeable and bland. . . But what if one of them is trying to find the proper moment to tell the other their feels about them, and the other person is intentionally avoiding the subject? What if one is trying to hide a secret, or cheer the other up when they don’t wish to be cheered up? There is always an opportunity for a hidden tug-of-war, and it draws out character every time.
Character. Character is huge. They are, after all, the reason we care to read at all. If we’re playing a game for the sake of the gameplay alone, we often mash a button to skip dialogue when we couldn’t care less about the characters. However, in RPGs, gamers want the story and hunger for characters. Every exchange of dialogue is your next chance to leak more about those heroes and strengthen your player’s interest in them. Never pass that opportunity up. A character could simply give a quest: “Go steal the ledger for me and I’ll make it worth your while.” Alright, that does enough to start the quest, but it’s boring as tarnation. Instead, leak character: “Bloody clowns think they can run me out of town, like they even know what it even means to live on the frontier. This land calls for adaptability. If they’re so smart, let’s see how they function without that precious ledger of theirs. Hah! Imagine their panic should it go missin’.” Now we start the quest, learn more about the quest giver’s history, beliefs, sense of humor, ethics, methods of speaking, and his point of view toward other characters in the story. Far more interesting. And, as a special bonus, as you write dialogue in this manner your brain subconsciously fills in more character blanks and world information. You actively learn more about your own game’s universe! It begets more ideas, quests, histories, et cetera.
Indirectness. Dialogue should usually be indirect. Direct is bland, expected, and again, boring. “You killed my brother, I’m here for revenge” is not thrilling. “You tell them I’m coming; I’m coming, and I’m bringing hell with me” is quite the opposite. The only times I generally am direct is when it is too brief and emergent to do otherwise (“Run!”), someone is putting their foot down (“I said no”), or for a blunt, awkward comedic effect. Indirectness especially whelps when dealing with emotions. Characters saying outright that they were sad, happy, angry, or scared is just terrible writing. Implying it indirectly is far more interesting and fun to read. “I was so scared, I thought I was going to die and I’m still a little shaken up about it” is bland. Instead, consider: “I just stood there. I wanted to move my feet, but they just wouldn’t listen. I just stood there, I don’t know how long, watching my friends getting torn to pieces. . .”
Brevity. All other things considered and being equal, the briefer the better. You don’t want word salads for your readers to chew through. “So, I was walking home from work, and I stumbled upon a body. Those genocidal jerks are the scourge of the planet; it really grinds my gears” is lame dialogue for several reasons. Let’s give it a nip/tuck: “Another body. We can’t ignore this any longer.” Notice the sentence fragment. People speak naturally with sentence fragments often, and they’re wonderful to use in brief dialogue. Don’t be afraid to.
Story advancement. If the scene or dialogue doesn’t advance the story, it shouldn’t be in the story. Great stories are lean, with the fluff chopped out and only the best of the best making it into the final draft. Cut the fluff and strengthen what’s needed is the golden rule of thumb for writers across the planet for a reason. Even if your fluff has great characterization within it, that can be salvaged and worked into the required scenes (there’s always a way to have your cake and eat it too!). Don’t settle, keep reworking scenes and dialogue until they can justify their existence. As seen in my quest-giver ledger example above: we had dialogue that advanced the plot of the quest AND helped to define the character and even some region history. Some writer’s would rather take the time to drag the reader through the region history first, create a non-consequential scene to show that character’s personality, and then further the plot. Why? That’s not entertaining or economical. Have it all at once. It sounds great, reads well, is fun to write, is less wordy, and is easier to accomplish than you might think.
Speaking of having it all at once: my final note in dialogue is just that. Every line of dialogue should aim to have as many as the above factors as possible:
Conflict, characterization, indirectness, brevity, and story advancement.
Each time it’s a character’s turn to speak: make it their game, their goal, to hit as many of those points as possible. You’d be surprised just how easy it is to grab most, if not all of those items in just a couple brief sentence fragments. Once you get the knack you won’t be able to stop, and great dialogue will pour from you like a waterfall.
I’ll leave with you a scene I just saw the other day from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. You’ll notice as you watch television, film, and read books, that the above items I’ve gone over are followed rather universally. Professional creative writers learn what I’ve gone over (or something similar to it) over and over again to get down good dialogue, and you can hear it even in this random scene from a random old 90s western.
(Paraphrasing)
Prisoner 1 is reaching out from between jail bars with a long tool to try and snag the keys off the collar of a sleeping guard dog. Prisoner 2 is watching him do this.
Prisoner 2: “I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Last guy who tried that, well, let’s just say he isn’t clapping at any operas.”
Prisoner 1: “Yeah? Well I hate operas.”
Notice the brevity and indirectness of the last line. He could have said, “Yeah, but I don’t care about the risk, I’m going to try to do this anyway because I’m in a sore mood and want out of here.” Instead, all that was implied in a brief, funny little line of dialogue.
Notice how it also established the character’s personalities: one is cautious and wise, the other is brash and blunt.
Notice how it furthers the plot: it establishes what the prisoners are doing, and what is at risk!
Notice the conflict: one warning the other and the other brushing them off.
A couple of lines of dialogue, and every item on the great-dialogue tips list was hit.
While you watch shows and read great books, pay attention: you’ll see this pattern everywhere.
As a writer, dialogue isn't really my forte, but I'm constantly listening to other people's everyday speech for ideas. That's the best way in my opinion.
