I thought of popping this on the end of the Blackhole... thread, but it is sort of off topic, and that thread is really long, so I've started this new thread instead. Hopefully some of the well established adventure writers and/or up-and-coming new writers will pop on over and respond with answers and further discussion on the topic.
As the title suggests I have a broad question for those of you who manage to put out queries and/or full adventures, Campaign Workbooks, &c. on a consistent and relatively regular basis: How do you do it?
Just to get things rolling, I've put in a few specific questions below. Please feel free to add to them if you have similar questions or expand on the topic in any way that seems appropriate if you're responding.
QUESTIONS:
Q1
When you are working on a query for an adventure that you haven't actually written yet, how do you:
* Figure out what level it will be written for[list]
* What encounters will go into it
* Who the main villains and other important NPCs are
* Calculate what length the finished adventure
Q2
Once you start a new query, how long does it take you to complete and then submit it and, once you've gotten past the "grey render and the door", how quickly do you usually take to get the first revision of the query (if it's a "re-edit" ) or the first draft of the manuscript (if it's a "send us a manuscript") back to Piazo (And how long do they usually expect/want it to take)?
Q3
How much time do you actually spend each week bashing out queries and/or working on manuscripts?
Q4
On a slightly tangential note, when you get a new idea for an adventure/CW/&c. where do they usually come from and/or come to you?
Thanks, in advance,
-Jenni
Just to get things rolling, I've put in a few specific questions below...
I’ll describe how I do things, but I can virtually guarantee that everyone pursues the creative process in their own unique style…I think the best way to write is the way that works best for the individual.
QUESTIONS:
Q1
When you are working on a query for an adventure that you haven't actually written yet, how do you:* Figure out what level it will be written for[list]
* What encounters will go into it
* Who the main villains and other important NPCs are
* Calculate what length the finished adventure
I usually start with a setting in mind, or an overall kind of villain. Sometimes I start thinking about an unusual plot hook or story element. Once I come up with my main villain that tells me in general what level the adventure will be written for.
Once I have an overall theme for the adventure, I do a quick run through some monster books and jot down some different monsters that would make sense for the locale, the PC level, and the overall type of adventure. It is sometimes helpful to think in broad categories. An adventure set in the frozen north might call for monsters like the polar worm, white dragons, frost giants, etc.
As for the adventure’s length, I usually shoot for 10-15k adventures. This is more of an art than a science. Once a query is given the greenlight, I write the adventure, and then later pare it down to meet word count (which usually entails a lot of cutting later). The higher the adventure level, the more words needed. The more complicated the plot or setting, the more words are needed. If you use a lot of monsters with PC levels, or monsters from books beyond the Monster Manual, you need more words.
Q2
Once you start a new query, how long does it take you to complete and then submit it and, once you've gotten past the "grey render and the door", how quickly do you usually take to get the first revision of the query (if it's a "re-edit" ) or the first draft of the manuscript (if it's a "send us a manuscript") back to Piazo (And how long do they usually expect/want it to take)?
Once I start a query, I try and finish it within a day or two while the idea is still fresh, and in total I probably take two or three hours of writing, editing, and polishing to finish one. Many people prefer writing the query and then putting it aside and re-reading it a few days later so they catch any errors or omissions.
Paizo generally gives you 2-3 months to turn in the finished manuscript after they green-light a query. I have found this to be more than enough time.
Q3
How much time do you actually spend each week bashing out queries and/or working on manuscripts?
I find that it varies from week to week. Some weeks I spend 15-20 hours working on queries, articles, etc. Other weeks I spend less than 5 hours. I seem to work in cycles. I will have a busy two weeks where I generate a bunch of queries and then e-mail them out, and then a few weeks of doing other unrelated projects.
Q4
On a slightly tangential note, when you get a new idea for an adventure/CW/&c. where do they usually come from and/or come to you?
What I like to do is think about the most iconic and common experiences shared by players and characters in any campaign, and then find ways to develop one aspect of such an experience. I also like to read through the Monster Manual and other books for those throwaway lines of fluff, and use those as a foundation for an adventure or idea. The adventure “Funeral Procession” originated when I read in the Monster Manual about how a mohrg comes into being, and that got me thinking about an adventure idea.
One of the best ways to generate ideas is to ask yourself questions, and then come up with ways to answer those questions. It often helps to throw away the first two or three answers you come up with, and dig deeper for a less conventional or fresher approach. “What if” questions are fun, as are “what happens next,” and “how did this get started?” Look at a monster or magic item or unusual locale and ask questions, and then try and answer those questions.
Hope this helps. Best of luck...
--Mark
Matrissa, I pretty much get inspired by something and start writing the ideas down. I then look through my monster manuals to find something that matches the idea if it's not already with something specific in mind. The whole process kind of spirals outward from a central idea/encounter/theme.
My queries usually take 2-3 days to fully complete. I then come back to it a few days later and edit or add other things I thought of.
I'm almost constantly writing adventures which I use for my home campaign. Since I've been running a game continuously for the past 10 years, there tends to be a lot of them. If it happens to be one that I think is REALLY cool or WAS really cool if I already ran the adventure, I go through and fix things I think need fixing and send off a submission query.
If I get a green light, my manuscript gets some finishing polish and gets sent in pretty quickly. The usual deadline is 3 months from the time you get the green light. So even if nothing has been written yet, that's plenty of time to do it.
As far as judging the level it's for and how many words, the main villain/monster/antagonist of the adventure sets the level, which is usually a CR roughly 2-4 higher than the APL. Most other encounters will be at the APL I've set. Word counts are simply a guessing game if I haven't already written the manuscript. I almost always estimate 12,000 words if it's unwritten. It's kind of a safe place between 10,000 and 15,000 words. Knowing my own writing style, anything less that 10,000 is unrealistic.
Kobold Press
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I'm doing a bunch of adventure design essays and a step-by-step behind the scenes how-tos at my Open Design site at http://customadventure.livejournal.com. The result will be an adventure that people have seen grow from concept to query/outline to testable text to final.
Stop on by and join up if you like. There's a lot of tricks and tips, plus I'm answering specific questions on why certain choices work and others don't.
I mostly agree with Mike and Steve on your questions. Q2 maybe about 20 hours a week on adventures. Some of those are for WotC, though, which are much longer.
Q4. For me, adventure ideas come from a great NPC or monster idea, and more rarely from a specific place. That's just a starting point, of course. Having the idea is the easy part; developing it and fixing it into a concrete, readable text is the hard work of design.
Q1: Almost everything I try to write is for the low to mid levels. Our group usually quits about 12th level. Its more fun to be constantly in danger of dying...in my experience, after about 8th to 10th level you are pretty much a demigod and nearly invincible (I play in a magic-rich world though).
Encounters and NPCs in my writing are where I start (a scene in my head or a cool entry in the MM III or Fiend Folio sparks the beginning of the story).
The length equasion is in the guidelines somewhere, but the other people answering here are pretty much right on the money.
Q2: dunno. I got in the mag once but that was in '03, so everything is different now...(back then I sent in the query in an outline form and it got chopped from 6000 words down to 3000).
Q3: Sadly (or not), about half of my day is thinking about scenes. You know the scene from the first LoTR movies when the fellowship comes over the mountain top in dramatic slo-mo? That kind of crap is stuck in my head all the time....don't ask me who my governor is or anything important like that...But really, about 2 days of 2-4 hours in front of the compy is all the 'writing' time. Don't count the other time, that's built into my head.
Q4: The copout answer is 'all around', but it kind of makes sense. So and so at the Kwicki-Mart acting all weird becomes the village fool...People killed by a train derailment mixed with a little of the movie 'Con-Air' becomes "Chimes at Midnight" (I'm guessing).
'Borrow' from other forms of lit (movies, books, whatever). Just change it enough (or take from obscure enough titles) that it becomes yer own thing.
Now, take all this with a big bucket of salt (yummy)! I have sent in about 40 or more proposals since I started and only 1 made to print and one or two others made inside the Renton Compound beyond the render's reach.
QUESTIONS:
Q1
When you are working on a query for an adventure that you haven't actually written yet, how do you:* Figure out what level it will be written for[list]
* What encounters will go into it
* Who the main villains and other important NPCs are
* Calculate what length the finished adventureQ2
Once you start a new query, how long does it take you to complete and then submit it and, once you've gotten past the "grey render and the door", how quickly do you usually take to get the first revision of the query (if it's a "re-edit" ) or the first draft of the manuscript (if it's a "send us a manuscript") back to Piazo (And how long do they usually expect/want it to take)?Q3
How much time do you actually spend each week bashing out queries and/or working on manuscripts?Q4
On a slightly tangential note, when you get a new idea for an adventure/CW/&c. where do they usually come from and/or come to you?Thanks, in advance,
-Jenni
1- I cheat, horribly. All that matters to me are the memorable encounters, and really their ELs speak for themselves. You want a wiz that can fireball? EL will be minimum of 5, need him to do it three times though? Push it up to 6 or 7. From there the rest comes easy. Setting the level is the easy part, it's really just number crunching.
2- I have to admit, I cheat. I write a fair bit of Convention stuff, so queries and idea blend easy on the page. I've only submitted about 6 queries in the last 4 years, but one has been published and the other is coming up in the next few issues. I spend a lot of time on #1 submission, then usually the rest of it is 5-10 min fixes.
3- Um, a minute? If I have a good idea, I'll write it down. If I push myself it comes out badly.
4- My fiance, usually ragging on the D&D rules. "Why does this happen?" "If this is such fantasy why doesn't it have that?" So I fix it so she becomes quiet, for a little bit...