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| An attendee in a costume resembling the Spider-Man villain, Doctor Octopus, at the 2015 Wizard World Comic Con Sacramento. Photo Credit: Steven Rose, Jr. |
Last week I talked a little about Wizard World Comic Con and said it wasn’t all comics but other forms of popular media such as movies, television, video games and, to a certain degree even literary fiction. It ran the whole weekend, Friday through Sunday, but I only attended Sunday. But the one day alone still had more than enough to see. Because I wanted to look through the dealers’ room, which covered nearly the entire convention hall of the Sacramento Convention Center, I had to limit myself to three of the 14 panels scheduled for that day. All three were about storytelling to some extent, but I found one particularly helpful to writers such as myself. It was entitled “Where the Synergy of Video Games, Books and Films Collide”.
Wizard World Synergy
“Where the Synergy” was a panel of artists and writers, including screenwriter Adam G. Simon, photographer Denys Ilic and author Genese Davis who was panel hostess. The discussion was about how story is behind all media types, including books, comics, film, television and video games. There was a lot of talk about how these media types are coming together and influencing each other and how opportunities for fiction writing are opening up more in non-literary media such as video games and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR).
One of the most important points that were brought up was
one by Simon who said that he normally does not write for other franchises such
as Star Wars and Star Trek because he believes a writer should create his or her own
stories using original characters. To sum up his point, he said, “Write what
you know and write from your heart.” This is something I’ve always believed in
almost more than anything else about writing. There is so much franchise-based
fiction out there which much of is written by really good writers but they are
writing other people’s stories as far as over-arching storyline goes. One of
the biggest examples is the Star Wars
novels, in which, in many instances, the authors can’t even write their own
stories within George Lucas’s story arc. That’s because under contract they
have to develop the stories by certain standards that stay true to the franchise’s
overall storyline. It’s almost like a form of fan fiction only at the
professional level.
That’s why I never write fan fiction and never plan to regularly
write for a movie or TV franchise. However, off and on, I’ve dreamed about
writing an X-Files or Doctor Who episode. This was especially so
with the former, especially when it was really big back in the ‘90s and I was
in my X-Files phase. (But don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a great
series and wish one of the TV networks, such as SyFy, would air reruns.) A lot
of well-known and really good speculative fiction authors have occasionally written
for television episodes, authors such as Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and, more
recently, Neil Gaiman (for Doctor Who). But I’m more into writing my own
stories with characters I create. So I like to tell my own stories inspired by my
own experiences, beliefs and perceptions on life. Which is the other point that
Simon brought up: each of us has our own unique story to tell based on our life
experiences. If written well and sincerely, these stories will attract an
audience.
But no matter what the genre is, whether speculative fiction
or realistic, the best storytelling is that which will affect the audience
emotionally regardless of those emotions being negative or positive, as long as
it gives them a new perspective on life. Perhaps the minimum effect on the
audience should be the age old pathos, which the panel also touched on, in which
by the end of a story the audience realizes they don’t have their lives as bad
as they often think they do when they see characters going through so much
worse.
One of the other neat ideas talked about, particularly in
light of today’s multimedia storytelling, was what Ilicit referred to as the immersiveness
of story particularly in games and that because of this they are becoming more cinematic. He said
that for this reason video games are “the future” and so there will be a lot of
opportunity for writers to write for video game companies and startups. And
because of the emergence of more cinematic video games and V.R., there’s going
to be a need for more stories and creativity in storytelling for these media
types. So the heart of the discussion was not just story as the basis of all
media types, but how these media types are influencing each other in light of
storytelling.
Some of these points I’ve heard before at past convention
panels, both at last year’s Wizard World as well as other conventions, but the
great thing is that they serve as good refreshers and motivators. They help you
to ask yourself, “Am I doing these things in my stories? And if I am, how can I
do them more and better?” Plus you have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions
that elaborate on these points.
Interview
To go off topic a little, I just wanted to let everybody know that I was interviewed by HorrorAddicts.net’s David Watson, particularly in light of my contribution to The Horror Addict’s Guide To Life. The interview is up at the HorrorAddicts’ site now, so feel free to check it out.Until next time . . .
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