Copyright © 2003 Christine Morgan

Do's and Don'ts of Writing and GMing

Writing Do's:

DO

1. Proofread your manuscript. A printed copy is easier than a computer screen for this. Have others proofread as well, because a writer is sometimes blind to his or her own habitual misspellings. Reading it out loud will force you to slow down and help catch many more mistakes than you might think.

DO

2. "Show" the story to the reader. Use point of view, character observations, character thoughts, and dialogue to convey information.

DO

3. Know your character: description, education, background, likes, dislikes. You may not have to use everything in the course of the story, but it's important that you know it.

DO

4. Care about your characters and events. If you don't, why should the reader? The characters must be interesting. Protagonists should be understandable or sympathetic to give the reader something to relate to.

DO

5. Open with a bang. The first line of the story needs to be a hook to snare the reader. It should set up curiosity, anticipation, and interest. Check out the works of Dean Koontz for several examples of brilliantly crafted opening lines.

DO

6. Use suspense. End each chapter on a cliffhanger. This leaves the reader anxious, wanting to know what happens next, and therefore the reader is more likely to keep going. How many times, despite your best intentions to read 'just one more chapter,' have you stayed up far too late and ended up finishing a book?

DO

7. Understand that "said" is okay. "Said" is actually preferable. While there are countless other words that could be used - declared, stated, retorted, exclaimed, etc. - a simple "said" becomes invisible to the reader's eye. It may seem repetitive (and it certainly does when reading out loud), but it works. If the dialogue is well-written, it'll come across as a declaration, retort, etc. all on its own.

DO

8. Experiment. Experiment with everything having to do with writing, to exercise your creativity. Play with different forms, different genres, different tenses and points of view. See what works best for the particular idea you have in mind. Challenge yourself.

DO

9. Be organized. Keep backup copies of all written work and correspondence. Keep a list of submissions with dates, names.

DO

10. Be professional. Observe the submission guidelines and strictly follow them (why give an editor an extra reason to send a rejection slip?). Write succinct query letters and allow ample time before making further contact. Make an effort to find out an editor or publisher's name. Conduct yourself appropriately.

Writing Don'ts:

DON'T

1. Assume that mistakes are for someone else to catch. That isn't just the editor's job. It's a writer's responsibility to create the best work he or she possibly can, and a manuscript that is sloppy in terms of typos and grammar might lead a reader to think that the plot and story are sloppy, too.

DON'T

2. "Tell" the reader. Avoid long sections of explanation of the setting or the characters. In descriptions, remember that a point-of-view character isn't inclined to describe him or herself, and using a mirror to present the image is cliché.

DON'T

3. Show off or preach. It's natural, especially after a writer has done a lot of background research or a story is about something near and dear to the writer's heart, to want to show off everything that he or she has learned. It's also natural to use a story to express a viewpoint or belief. But try not to, because these things take the reader out of the tale, and anything that takes the reader out of the tale is usually not for the best.

DON'T

4. Mary Sue. Look out for characters that are so impossibly brilliant, powerful, beautiful, or clever that they outshine everyone else in the story. Beware of unusual pedigrees, exceptional talents, and characters without flaws. Beings of such godlike perfection are sometimes called "Mary Sues;" they often represent an idealized form of the writer, and are not well received by readers.

DON'T

5. Open with an info-dump. This is most often seen in the fantasy and science fiction genres, when the setting is a world different from our own and the writer wants to explain all the strange and wonderful and deadly things about that world right from the get-go. Anne McCaffrey is guilty of this in many of her Pern books. This bores readers; get to the action and allow the details of the world to be revealed naturally through the course of the story.

DON'T

6. Try to please the audience. Write what you want to write. Trying to cater to a perception of popular demand leads to stories that feel both forced and false. But if the writer genuinely is into the story, odds are that the reader will be, too.

DON'T

7. Overdo it with the adverbs. Stephen King wrote a review of the latest Harry Potter book and pointed out that the author probably could have turned in a book 80,000 words shorter (that's an entire slim novel on its own) if she'd cut out all the adverbs. Like with the "said" variations, how it's said should come across in the dialogue itself, and so the reader shouldn't need to be told that it was said angrily, quietly, impatiently, etc.

DON'T

8. Misuse words, and be careful with dialects. Word misuse is a peeve of mine; "literally" is the one most likely to make me want to scream when I hear or read something like "they literally went through hell." Sometimes, I see in books the use of "could of" or "would of" instead of "could have" and "would have." As for dialects, if the reader has to stop and puzzle out what a character is saying, he or she risk being knocked out of the story.

DON'T

9. Get irrelevant or arrogant. When submitting a story or pitching a novel, don't mention that all your friends think it's great. Don't list your hobbies, interests, education, or background unless it has an actual bearing on the story. Don't call yourself the next Anne Rice or say that your novel's bound to be a best-seller and that the editor would be an idiot to pass up this chance.

DON'T

10. Think that everyone's out to steal your idea. I'm told that few things offend editors or publisher so much as receiving a query letter from a writer who expresses this sort of distrust and accusation. Ideas are plentiful. What makes a story unique is the combination of the idea and the way you handle it with your own particular style, skill, and voice.

GMing Dos:

DO

1. Know your game system. At least well enough to fake it if you have to. And have the rulebooks near at hand for the times when you do need to look something up.

DO

2. Know your game world better than your players do. Otherwise, especially if your game is set in a universe of someone else's design (Middle Earth, Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, etc.), you run the risk of being caught off-guard.

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3. Balance your adventures. A good adventure has a little something for every PC to do, so that no one feels useless or left out. Intersperse combat with puzzle-solving or social interactions.

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4. Be prepared for anything. Have all your materials ready - notes, maps, handouts - but also be ready to wing it if the PCs take things in a different direction. Some of the best games I've ever run have come out of the PCs pursuing a path I hadn't planned for, forcing me to be fast on my mental feet.

DO

5. Encourage and reward good PC behavior. A player who plays and stays in character is a wonderful thing. Character histories provide insight into personality as well as possible adventure hooks.

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6. Bring out the toys. Make use of props and terrain whenever possible. Raid toyboxes or thrift stores for cool monsters to put on the battlemat. Use music or sound effects or even food to help make the experience more real.

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7. Create interesting NPCs. Everyone in a game world should have something special about them, and those quirks can often spontaneously generate new adventures. Keep a list of names handy, because the PCs always decide they want to talk to the NPC you least expect.

DO

8. See to the physical comfort of the players. Choose a space for your game that has ample seating for everyone, is warm enough or cool enough, has decent lighting and air flow, and access to a bathroom. Make sure everyone has the chance to eat and drink - a fed gamer is a happy gamer. Minimize distractions such as televisions, video games, and the interference of pets or children.

DO

9. See to the mental and emotional comfort of the players. Make sure that the levels of sex and violence in the game aren't upsetting anyone. Watch out for hot topics and issues; what may be acceptable in a game world might still be personally offensive to a player. Communicate, and invite feedback.

DO

10. Keep notes of each session. I keep a calendar of game-days, and make a brief note for each one to show what went on. Every so often, I will flip back through it and, at the start of a session, remind the players what their characters were doing "a year ago today." This helps everyone stay plugged in, and when the inevitable questions come up, gives the GM a handy way to go back and find the information.

GMing Don'ts:

DON'T

1. Get bogged down in the rules. If all the hundreds of minute details of combat or spellcasting or whatever are too overwhelming and interfere with the flow of play, take shortcuts, use house rules, or switch systems.

DON'T

2. Let NPCs be the stars of the show. PCs like to feel as though they are the center of things, and resent being upstaged by NPCs. If you find that you're too often taking the focus away from the PCs so that you can show off your own skills at character creation, try writing a story instead.

DON'T

3. Railroad the PCs. If your adventure has only one way to solve a problem, and one path that the PCs must take, and nothing else they try will work … you'll be infuriated, your players will be frustrated, and nobody will have a good time.

DON'T

4. Panic. Stay cool. If the players spring something on you and you're caught completely flat-footed and unprepared, feel free to tell them that you need a few minutes to think. Take a break, send people on a soda and munchie run if you have to.

DON'T

5. Play favorites. Not even if one of the players is a child or significant other or someone you're hoping might become a significant other. Too many games break down because the GM shows preferential treatment to one player over the others, and too many players are more than willing to take whatever advantage they can get.

DON'T

6. Run combats without the battlemat. Unless it's a really quick encounter, a one-on-one fistfight in an alley or something, bring out the figures and pens. It may seem like unnecessary aggravation, but it's far more aggravating to spend the rest of the combat arguing about who was where and how far away. Being able to visualize the scene is better for all involved.

DON'T

7. Be afraid of stereotypes. There's a reason that they are stereotypes, and sometimes they can be a GM's time-saving friend. Try to avoid hot-button racial or sexist stereotypes, but cultural ones - a biker, a portly innkeeper, a schoolmarm - are usually still fine.

DON'T

8. Overdo it. Many of us aren't as young as we used to be, and can no longer game for 18 hours on end. Start and stop the game at reasonable times. Remember that not everyone has the same amount of leisure time, and schedule around work and family as needed.

DON'T

9. Bring personal grudges into or out of the game. Why should a character suffer because of something a player did? If my husband and I have a fight, I don't take it out on his character. And vice versa - if I capture, rob, and humiliate the characters, I don't want the players to think I'm personally mad at them.

DON'T

10. Allow tiny dice or ones with nearly invisible numbers. Not that I'm saying players cheat, but I have had a few too many incidents where someone way down at the other end of the table makes a difficult roll on dice that nobody else can read (or scoops the dice up at once, before anyone else has a chance) and proclaims a success. On the other hand, I do feel that it's permissible for the GM to fudge a roll once in a while, when it's in the best interest of the overall story.