“For the last time, my name is Ulv and I’m not supposed to be here!”

“Whatever you say D’nuk, whatever you say.”

Ulv was busy working a leather hide that he and T’Sichk had obtained from downing a large caribou. It was a good find. Ulv had been here for weeks. He didn’t know how he’d gotten here but for some reason, he was now in the far north. Ulv had a sinking suspicion that this was a vision, but it felt much more real than that. 

Everyone in the village called him D’nuk and since Ulv had no way of getting back to Herlia and Hipam, he just lived life in the village. To be honest, Ulv wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. 

Judir was dead. Cojari, imprisoned. The Kingdom, still under the rule of his stepbrother. Ulv had no idea what to do, so he continued working on the leather hide. 

“You know, you can’t run from it or hide forever.” T’sichk said.

Ulv froze. “What did you say?”

T’sichk looked at Ulv and said, “I know you’ve been thinking about the Elder’s challenge. The village needs you D’nuk. You have to join the council. You have to attempt the trial.”

This was the first Ulv had ever heard of that.

D’nuk walked over to Ulv and put his arm on his shoulder. “Look, brother, you are wise and strong like the bear. The trial is difficult, yes, but you can overcome it. You should not think of the task in front of you, but the people behind the task waiting for you to stand up and be a bonfire to all who sit in the cold darkness. We need you brother.”

What would you like to do?

Intro

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you create better stories as you DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons.

Main Topic

In one of my previous episodes, I talked about tips on improving your writing skills. As a Dungeon Master, you are one part writer, one part performer, and all parts crazy. You’ll need to know how to craft a story correctly and that means writing. So today, I’m continuing my discussion of how to improve your writing skills with these tips:

Join a Writing Group

My cohost, Tanner Weyland, and I joined a writing group in college. While we had both met working at Papa Murphey’s when we were younger, we really developed our relationship by going to this writing group together. At the time, I didn’t have any particular project I was working on, but being in the group forced me to write something. That exercised both my ability to just put pen to paper as well as my ability to think up creative things. You too should look at forming or joining a writing group. The culture of writing groups is generally one of constructive criticism that looks at how the story is written. It is immensely helpful for those who have never shown their work to others before. It allows you to see how people perceive and accept your writing, thus giving you an understanding of what is or isn’t clear.

The simplest way to join one is by starting one, but to join or start a writing group, you need to know people who like writing, so ask your friends and family. If that doesn’t work, you can try apps like Meetup or try posting it on social media.

Kill Your Darlings

Originally coined by Arthur Quiller-Couch, the term “murder your darlings” means sometimes you need to kill your favorite part, character, scene or aspect of your story. I once worked with a colleague who loved to draw. His love for animation ignited in me a desire to try and draw. So I started, and when I thought I had something spectacular I’d show him. He ended up saying, “Try changing this or that.” I wouldn’t because I was too afraid of messing it up. He eventually told me to not be afraid of messing something up, because my best work will always be in the future, and I could always draw something better. Well, with my pitiful drawing career behind me, the same rings true for writing. You need to sacrifice your favorite parts of your story so you can write the best parts of the story. It may be a cool idea, but does it fit? Is it what your players really need right now? Take your writing and then as an exercise, imagine what you would write if you took your favorite thing out.

Write Outlines

This tip has helped me in writing podcast episodes, Instagram reels, and D&D sessions. You can think of it like the building of a house. First is the foundation and the framing (or the concept and the outlining of the concept) then all the important details are filled in (full disclosure, I’ve never built a house and may not know what I’m talking about). The point is being able to think on a macro scale and then slowly fill in what you need allows you to make sure the timing works and you’re hitting all the parts of the story that you want to. You don’t necessarily need to think up every single detail but having an outline can really help. One simple outline is the 3 act play outline. As defined in Writing Excuses, a podcast all about writing better, Act 1: Put your characters in a tree, Act 2: Throw rocks at them, Act 3: Get them down. This is a great way to think about story arcs both in and out of D&D. You can even simplify it down to 3 part sessions. Each part in your D&D session will either be an exploration part, combat part, puzzle part, or roleplaying part. There’s really not to much else that D&D can be. It can also be more fluid and less structured, but using this can help get you started.

Write More than you Think You Should when it comes to character development

A good writer generally creates much more for a specific story than what they publish. The audience might only see a quarter of all the content the writer has prepared whether in their mind or on paper. I believe that this is because that’s what is necessary for something to feel real. You have to feel like the shopkeeper on the edge of town has a fully fleshed-out backstory because in real life that’s how it would be.

So with your main NPCs, make sure you prepare a whole lot more about their character than you think you should. This means filling in their memories, adding in character quirks, and answering silly questions about them like what’s their favorite color. That last question might not be exactly pertinent but you get the point. Fill out more info about the character because if you’re player ever asks, you need to have an answer that makes sense and rounds out the character in a complete way.

Take a Writing Course

There are thousands of writing courses online and therefore thousands of options. You could even find free Youtube videos online that might do the trick. If you’re considering this option I would encourage you to consider a paid writing course because then you’ve actually committed. You will likely get far more out of it than if you didn’t pay.

I will also mention that not every writing course or writing instructor is the same. You may like some more than you like others. That’s ok. Try and vet them before you pay that way there is less buyer’s remorse. Also, taking writing courses with friends can help you to stay committed.

Take an Improv Class

As a Writing course can help you write better, an improv class can help you become more creative. There are generally improv classes as comedy venues but sometimes you might have to find a local group that hosts it. 

This will also push you out of your comfort zone and help you get comfortable showing your creative work to other people. As humans, we are naturally scared of what people might think of what we’ve created. It’s almost like showing a baby to someone who doesn’t care. Taking an improv class can help you get comfortable with that and become more self-assured so you don’t care as much about what people think.

Conclusion

In the end, there are countless ways to improve your writing. I only mentioned a few more on this list but I bet you could think up way more. I’d love to hear your suggestions so email them to me at howtobeabetterdm@gmail.com.

The important thing is that you keep working at it and you keep getting better. Because then you will be the world’s greatest DM. We’ll be back next week for another great episode. Until then, let’s roll initiative.

Mentioned in this episode:

Introducing Wolfgang

Meet Wolfgang. This is who Tanner will be playing in our upcoming Actual Play Show, Pact and Boon. Go to Session0studios.com/pactnboon to learn more information.

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