5 Tips on Writing: With Jack Lindsey
I’m a narrative designer for Apocalypse Studios. I’ve written on the development and journalist sides of the games industry.
Hooking Your Audience
I’d say beware of the trap of thinking this can be learned by following tips. Good writing will hook your reader, but good writing is an emergent phenomenon. It’s more than the sum of its parts, irreducible to aphorism, unreplicable by following instructions. Can it be learned? Perhaps. Can it be taught? That, I doubt.
Mastering Plot Development
It all depends on the needs of your story. Any tip, guideline, rule in writing can be broken if it’s broken well.
Effective World-Building Strategies
I’ve no “best tip.” Do you write like a gardener? An architect? Some mixture? You can document it all in your own little Silmarillion, or you can hold all the details in your head as you go along. You can design hard magic systems and detailed geopolitical histories, or you can play it loose. There’s no wrong answer. You must do what is natural to you. It will flow from there.
Techniques for Character Development
Not all characters need it.
Crafting Meaningful Decisions
Better to have no choice than false choice. But this is largely going to be out of your hands in game development, because meaningful choices mean additional development. So, unless you’re in some kind of lead role, and still even then, meaningful choices arise from multi-department cooperation, and you are but one of the components in implementing them.
What are your strengths in writing and narrative design?
Brevity.
Which games or stories have you worked on?
I’ve worked on Death Carnival and Deadhaus Sonata. I also write video stories to deliver lore and worldbuilding for games (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfkY3zZi9w).
Exploring Favorites
I couldn’t pick one. I really liked Eternal Darkness, Blood Omen, Soul Reaver, the first two Mass Effects, the Witcher trilogy, Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Trigger, the first three seasons of Spongebob, to name just a few.
A Wish for Interactive Audio Stories
Hmm, probably an older IP, something shielded from modern tropes.
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