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Writing Excuses 9.24: Side Quests

Writing Excuses

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How to Avoid Side Quests in Your Book

A lot of video games, role-playing modules, MMORPGs have lifted the whole concept of side quests from really well-written fiction. "I got to go collect Wolfbelts for what's his name before I can," is a common joke among gamers. A book in which there was a side quest where they were traveling from point A to point B and accidentally stumbled into some poisonous plants failed because it impacted nothing in the overall story. It didn't change their character relationships to each other or anything like that.

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