How do you go from being a fan of a franchise to one of the people who gets to work on it? What is it like to write tie-in fiction, and what are some of the challenges these writers face?
I’m extremely grateful to be joined by Robert Denton III (@ohnospooky on Twitter) for the next installment of the +1 to Writing series. He’s the author of the upcoming The Sword and the Spirits novella, which I worked with him on as his editor. Set in the Legend of the Five Rings setting, the 144-page hardcover is due out soon from Fantasy Flight Games. The story features the spiritual Phoenix Clan and fan-favorite characters Shiba Tsukune and Isawa Tadaka, along with introductions to Kaito Kosori, her family, and their secrets.
I tracked Robert down amid several nor’easters (and power outages) to ask him a bit about his background in writing, his process, and some tips and tricks he’s discovered along the way.
Katrina: In addition to authoring The Sword and the Spirits, you’ve written over sixty short fictions for the Legend of the Five Rings universe and have contributed to several roleplaying books for the fourth edition of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG. You’ve also written for other roleplaying games such as Tiny Frontiers and its expansion Mecha and Monsters, not to mention you’re the Creative Lead for Radiant: Offline Battle Arena. So, you’ve been busy! First of all, how did you break into professional writing (back in the AEG days—or even before)?
Robert: This is a funny story. I never believed I would ever write anything professionally. I didn’t study writing in school, I took no creative writing courses (except for a poetry class in college), and to this day I have no official training. I honestly considered having a book published to be a pipe dream. A dream I gave up on, actually. My degree was in Art.
When I was twenty-eight, an L5R fan forum called “Home of the Crane Clan” held a fanfiction writing contest. I entered completely on a whim. As it turns out, I won that contest with an entry that was mostly tongue-in-cheek. My entry might still be up actually…
Shortly after, I was contacted by Fred Wan, who was the Continuity Editor for the L5R Story Team back then, when the game was under AEG. There was an opening on the Story Team and he asked me to try out. At that time, I was already well-known among the L5R community as a frequent visitor of L5R forums and a participant in the play-by-post RPG community at the time. To cut the story short, I was offered a position on the L5R Story Team that GenCon. My tryout fiction was “Fortune of Horses,” which was published as an entry for “Scenes from the Empire.”
I’ve been writing professionally ever since. So I owe everything to Fred Wan!
Katrina: So you got noticed through your fanfiction, but that begs the question of why you write, and what do you get out of writing?
Robert: I think I write for a lot of different reasons. I like telling stories. I enjoy the writing process. I want to get better at my craft. I have a lot of thoughts throughout the day and I sometimes feel that I need to get them down on paper or else they’ll pile up in my head. And of course this is one of the ways in which I make a living, so I also write to get paid (haha).
Katrina: Fair enough! It helps when you can turn your hobby into a job!
Robert: But my biggest motivator is that others might read what I’ve written. I’ve heard many people say that they write/draw/act/whatever purely for self-enjoyment or personal fulfillment, that the ideal state of a creator is to be completely fulfilled only by the act of creation, and they don’t care if their creations are ever seen or experienced. They create purely for the joy of it and nothing more. I personally cannot relate to that. I definitely enjoy the process, and I have fun with it, but I almost never write just for myself. In fact, if others weren’t going to read what I was writing, I probably wouldn’t do it. I think it’d be disingenuous to suggest otherwise, that I’m totally punk rock and don’t care what others think. That’s not me at all.
I think on some level, everyone creates because they want to be seen, to be remembered, to be recognized. That’s what pushes me to try and get better. I keep thinking, “Someone’s going to read this someday, so you have to do better!” Maybe that’s not healthy (haha), but it’s the truth!
Katrina: I think that makes total sense—most people read books to go on a journey or have a kind of emotional reaction, so the author has a specific message or emotion they want to convey. I think there’s also a community element to it, especially surrounding the Intellectual Properties (IPs) in which people are already playing games together. Something along the lines of, “Here are what my adventures in this world look like, what about yours?” So then, what kind of scenes and characters and stories do you most enjoy writing?
Robert: I like writing all sorts of stories, but my favorites are about seemingly “normal” circumstances that rapidly become extraordinary or absurd. I like twists and unforeseen consequences. I especially enjoy mysteries, horror, and comedy (and especially all three in the same story). I also enjoy writing stories that safely provoke the reader, but this is hard to do so I only attempt it when I’m really confident I can pull it off.
My favorite sorts of characters are those who try to function in spite of huge shortcomings. I like writing about losers: the disenfranchised, the overlooked, the clearly in-over-their-heads, that sort of thing. I especially like characters that are clearly good at one specific thing, and that’s not the thing they do for a living, because life has forced them into a different path, and they’re sort of making do. To really hook me, a character needs to be relatable to me somehow, and also to amuse me in some way. So I try to inject characters with my own anxieties and shortcomings whenever I can.
Katrina: So there’s a little bit of tragedy mixed in there, or at least, a strong sense of adversity. The characters you describe sound a bit like player characters from a roleplaying game: specialized, has a few distinctive disadvantages or drawbacks… Do you ever find that your roleplaying or card games inspire your writing, or does your writing mainly get channeled as inspiration for game-related fiction or supplement writing?
Robert: I think it’s important to write about one’s interests in order to maintain inspiration or motivation. Right now, writing is at the intersection of all my gaming. The vast majority of my work is for L5R, either promotional fictions or roleplaying supplements. The rest are roleplaying supplements for other franchises. So one could say my interests in gaming and my writing overlaps significantly!
I am definitely inspired by my roleplaying. Ideas pop up at the table that lead to other ideas, and these will find their way into my drafting. Sometimes I’ll play with a character that is surprisingly fun to depict, so I’ll tuck them away to write about later. It’s surprising how many useful ideas come up when you don’t intend for them to.
Katrina: Absolutely! I think that’s the case for a lot of RPG gamers (myself included). So that covers what you really enjoy and where you get some of your ideas from, but what about the elements of writing that challenge you? What do you feel like you still struggle with as an author?
Robert: Wordcount, definitely! (Haha.) In all seriousness, succinctity is a challenge for me. I’ll get spontaneous ideas while I’m writing, something to add or a way to elaborate upon what I’m describing, and before I know it my wordcount has tripled.
Katrina: Hahaha, yeah. Usually you’re, what, 50% over the target word count for a story? It makes my life hard as an editor, too, because the stuff you’ve added is usually pretty fantastic and I think to myself, “Do we have to cut this? Surely we can squeeze it in.” So if our readers have ever wondered why some of the Phoenix stories run long…
What other challenges do you face as part of your writing?
Robert: I tend to suffer from confidence issues as well. Especially with my first drafts, I’ll look over what I wrote and think, “This is awful, no one will like this.” Intellectually, I know that first drafts are not your good drafts, but anxiety over the final result can get in the way of my productivity, my ability to generate ideas, and sometimes even my drive to get started. I’d like to say that as years have passed I’ve gotten better managing my self-doubt when writing, but that’s really not the case.
Katrina: I think it’s easy to fall into the trap of expecting too much from the first draft, and then agonizing over all the places where you feel you’ve fallen short. And when you’re spending your energy worrying, it can be hard to muster up the energy to be creative. I’ve found that I really do need to give myself conscious permission to write a shitty first draft, sometimes in order to even get words on the page.
But then again, you’ve already succeeded in writing a novella, not to mention the sixty-plus other fictions you’ve already published! What advice do you have for people who want to turn their writing into a published work and become professional writers?
Robert: It feels odd to give advice in regards to breaking in to the industry. What worked for me was being noticed, being willing, and making myself as easy to work with as possible. Once I had a regular gig, I started networking and making connections, and slowly that led to more work. In many ways, I got very lucky.
But if I had some advice to give, it’s this: trust your editors. I’ve been surprised by writers who thought they knew better than their editor and resisted feedback. I watched these writers lose gigs as a direct result. Most of them were better than me. The only thing I did better was follow directions. No one wants to work with someone who makes their job difficult.
Here’s a secret they never told me that I had to discover on my own: professional writing is collaborative. It’s not just you, it’s you and your editor. Especially so when writing for franchises. Don’t look at your work as your “baby,” something you cannot compromise with and refuse to change. Look at it as a collaborative work you will eventually present to others. Don’t think of your story as something you own. Find an editor you trust, build a professional relationship with them, and then listen.
Katrina: It’s true that there’s a big difference between editing original work versus editing work in an IP that is ultimately owned by a whole studio. For the former, the editor is really focused on asking what the author’s vision is and then evaluating whether the work is fulfilling that vision effectively. But in the case of franchises, the editor also has to consider the goals of the different product lines and the particular product, and work toward fulfilling those. But luckily, there’s usually a lot of room for the author’s unique vision, too!
Do you have any other advice for new writers?
Robert: Make friends with other writers and absorb everything. You want to do what they do, so learn everything you can from them. In business, connections and networking is king, so take advantage of conventions and local writing groups and be as visual as you can be!
Katrina: Shifting gears somewhat, what does your process look like? How do you brainstorm and research?
Robert: I have a weird process, I think. I’ve been writing professionally for about six or seven years now, and I’m still figuring out what works best for me. A lot of what I do is instinctual, for lack of a better word. Maybe that means I don’t really have one (haha)!
Usually, I’ll start with a general hook or idea, and I’ll sort of let the ideas generate while I’m doing other things, if that makes sense. I find that inspiration strikes me spontaneously when I’m not really thinking about the story. I’ll be driving my car, talking to friends, reading a book, or just walking and observing people, and something will happen that just makes me go, “Hey! What if I do this?”
Katrina: You’re not the only author I’ve talked to who gets their ideas while on the move. Sometimes you have to just get away from the computer desk in order for the creative juices to start flowing again.
Robert: At the same time, I’ll be sure to research subjects relevant to my story. I’ll discover something I didn’t know and that will lead to a plot point or some inspiration. The internet is a big resource for me, but I also check out books at the library or talk to people with similar life experiences. Since my goal is to write from a position of authority, emotionally centric information is more useful than the purely academic. So I look for personal accounts and small details that would be useful in a narrative sense.
For instance, when I was writing a story about an archer from a family with strong Japanese-influenced archery traditions (and those archery traditions were an important plot point), a friend put me in contact with a kyūdo archer living in Japan. Talking to him led to all sorts of great insights. I asked him things like how it specifically felt to practice for a long time, how his archery applied to other aspects of his life, what aspects of archery he thought were most commonly misrepresented in fiction and movies, and other stuff like that.
And of course, I tried my hand at some archery myself, because that’s the only way I could really make the visceral connections.
Katrina: Wow, that’s definitely a level of hands-on research that not every writer has the chance to partake in! So once you have some ideas floating around, what happens next?
Robert: When I sit down to write, that’s when all these ideas and experiences come together. Sometimes I just open an RTF file and write without thinking and then organize my thoughts into a narrative later. Other times, I’ll write scenes and story events down on notecards and then organize them into a “timeline,” filling in gaps with other necessary scenes until I have something resembling a story outline. For The Sword and the Spirits, I used notecards again, but this time I wrote out multiple storylines, one for each spotlighted character and then the main plot, then mixed them together into a single stack of cards. That provided an outline and some direction.
When I’m drafting out my story, my goal is to write freely and constantly, whatever comes to mind and whatever I want, without regard to the finished work. The idea is to get all the stuff down and form a general narrative out of it. Sometimes I’ll even act out scenes in my study and improvise as all involved characters just to see what makes sense or sounds natural to me in a scene, which I’m sure would look insane to anyone who witnessed it!
Then, I’ll go back, read what I’ve written, and cut anything that doesn’t work or that I don’t like. I usually do this a day or so later, just so I can approach it with a fresh mind. I try to find more succinct ways to say something, cut stuff that isn’t relevant or characterizing, and so forth. Sometimes that means something that took me all day to write gets reduced to one page. If I find I really can’t cut something I’ll leave it in, but the goal is to get rid of the chaff.
There’s a lot of chaff.
Katrina: That’s the case for a lot of authors, honestly. They say “writing is rewriting,” and it’s totally true.
Robert: I also rarely write chronologically. More often, I write whatever I’m inspired to write about at that particular moment. If I’m particularly moved by how my story ends, I write that first. If I have a specific scene in my mind that I’m in love with, I write that. When I resist my inspirations, I get stuck, so instead I sort of go with the flow and smooth everything out later.
Katrina: What goes into your outlines? Do you usually stick to them, or do you find yourself being surprised partway through? How do you deal with that, how do you decide when to stick to your script or veer off in a different direction?
Robert: I find it hard to write bare-bones outlines. Usually, I’ll have specific ideas in mind or a specific “vision” of a scene, and I’m usually afraid I’ll forget them, so I elaborate on the outline to a significant degree. Details are the most important thing, after all. Broad strokes don’t make a story interesting. As a result, I’ll usually end up sticking to my outlines pretty closely.
But if I get a spontaneous idea or something inspires me, I’ll absolutely abandon the outline. The only reason for the outline, at least to my mind, is to let your employers know what you have in mind when you start drafting and to help you with direction and organization. So if my writing process takes me elsewhere, I just go with it. If I don’t like where I end up, I can always delete it and return to the outline, but typically I go with it and trust my instincts.
Katrina: Once you’ve got your outline in place and you’re ready to begin fleshing out the manuscript itself, what does a typical day look like when you draft?
Robert: I have to be in the right mood to draft. If I’m not inspired, it shows in my writing. So my task is to arrange things in my day so that I become inspired. I always write in the same place (my study, my living room, or outside), during the same times of day, and when I’m in the same mindsets.
I usually start in the shower, if you can believe it! Something about the shower gets my mind running. It’s almost like a kind of sensory deprivation. You only feel the water, you can’t really hear anything, and there’s nothing to interact with, so ideas come easily. I’ll take a shower, talk to myself about the story, and start drafting that way.
Starting is the hardest part. I’ll take frequent breaks in the beginning, usually to walk around and generate some energy. But once the ball gets rolling, I forget myself and just write. I don’t eat, I don’t move or take breaks—I just write whatever comes to mind. That’s the state I’m trying to achieve, when there’s no “thought process” happening. I don’t think, “now I’m going to write X,” I just write.
Katrina: That sounds like the flow state, when you can let the writing almost guide itself in a way. Once you’ve gotten “pen to page,” so to speak, and have a full manuscript on your hands, how do you tackle revision?
Robert: The most important thing is to be as unattached to what you’ve written as possible. That’s easier said than done, but the truth is that very rarely is a draft satisfactory on the first try. My writing is only as good as my editor. Sometimes I get a revision back that requires removing something I thought was good, or something I was very attached to. 95% of the time, removing that thing is the right call.
I find redrafting and revising to be sort of like gamemastering a tabletop RPG. You might spend weeks creating the perfect boss encounter or puzzle room, only for players to completely trivialize or bypass it. One could twist things in gameplay to force the encounter back in the way you envisioned, and that’s certainly a temptation given all that you’ve put into it, but I find that’s a pattern for bad GMing. Instead, a good game master will let it go, and maybe put those ideas back into their pocket for later implementation.
Revising is like that. You may be really attached to something, but if it’s pointed out as a problem it’s better to cut it than to try to force it to work.
Katrina: That’s such great advice for GMs, and it’s interesting to hear it applied to writing as well! Sometimes, including something you thought was cool feels forced, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up on it forever. What other lessons have you had to learn as a growing writer?
Robert: I think one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was that the biggest mistake a creator can make is to explain their creation. I think writers want their work to be interpreted in specific ways, and personally speaking I definitely did! But the writer’s intention is not the objective meaning of the work, and by imposing a specific interpretation, writers make their work less engaging and sometimes expose shortcomings that spoil the work.
Katrina: A lot of readers are familiar with your short L5R pieces from the AEG days, as well as the short stories “Risen from the Flames,” “Family Duty,” “Fireflies,” and “Repentance Does Not Come First.” The Sword in the Spirits is the longest work you’ve written for FFG yet. How does writing a novella differ from a short story or a novel for you?
Robert: In some ways, writing a novella was easier than a short story. Short stories require everything to be very condensed, and with the novella, I had a little more room. The pacing is different, however. In a short story, I feel more like I’m elaborating on a specific set of limited experiences, while the novella felt more like I was presenting a character’s entire transformation or journey. Short stories tend to stay in the same place and keep the same amount of action throughout. With the novella, I had to know when to speed things up, when to slow things down, and not to use the space to just chew scenery.
I started writing the novella thinking I would approach each chapter as though it were a short story, then just string them all together. I did that for about a week before I trashed the entire draft. That method doesn’t work. The story seemed disjointed and the constant buildup and slowdown in each chapter made it exhausting to read. I’m glad I dropped that idea early and decided to approach writing it completely differently.
Katrina: Flexibility is a great skill for any writer to have, as you said before. What advice do you have for other writers who are just getting started or who want to develop better writing habits?
Robert: I feel that I am just a beginner myself, so whatever insights I may have are very limited. But I will suggest one big thing that has helped me so far.
Be genuine when you are writing. The reader can tell when you are “faking it” or making things up, and your prose will suffer if it isn’t from a personal angle. Even if what you’re writing is speculative or abstract, directly relate to the scene and write from your own experiences and observations.
For instance, I tend to write in genres that frequently depict people hitting one another with swords. Personally, I have never been in a sword fight. I’ve never had to take a life. I couldn’t begin to tell you what it’s like to be in that sort of fight. So if I tried to describe a sword fight in that way, I wouldn’t have access to the real-world experiences or insight to depict it convincingly. Even if I read first-hand accounts of swordfights, I still wouldn’t have true insight. I simply don’t know what it’s like.
But I have had to risk my own well-being for my principles. I have had to fight circumstances that I felt were unfair. I’ve had to confront people who held my wellbeing in their hands. I’ve had to argue a point upon which my future depended on whether or not I could convince others of my rightness. In other words, I’ve had to fight in different ways. So when I write about swordfights, I draw upon those experiences. I try to relate to the fight in some personal way. Then I write from that angle.
Whatever you’re writing, be genuine about it. Write from a position of authority. Many writers’ shortcomings can be readily forgiven if what they write is compelling, and the easiest way to craft compelling prose is to directly relate to the subject. If you can find a way to see the character’s challenge like those you’ve personally faced, then your writing will be that much better.
Katrina: That is some great advice, and it gets to the core of those emotion-centric details you talked about earlier. That advice could probably be applied not just to writing, but to roleplaying as well. Whether you’re an author or a GM, tapping into our lived emotions and drawing on that as a creative wellspring will make our stories resonate all the more.
I appreciate you taking the time to talk, and I can’t wait to see what writing you do you next!
If you’re interested in reading more of Robert’s work, you can check out his Goodreads author profile, and there’s still time to pre-order his upcoming novella from Fantasy Flight Games! Thanks again for joining us, Robert!
