Harmless Question for Narrative: How many pages have you written this week?

OuttaControl56·7/12/2015, 2:08:43 AM·15 votes·3,157 views

Now this appears to be a loaded question, but I'm just curious. You can include pages/work that you've deleted or thrown away or being edited, emails, sticky-notes, what have you.

I really don't want this to sound like a rude sort of question: you obviously work, but I just want to know more about the details. As someone who writes about LoL Lore and the Narrative department's work I'm genuinely interested.

INB4 "no pages 'cause lore is dead."

8 Comments

RiotFauxSchizzle7/13/2015, 5:14:13 PM22 votes

{quoted}

Now this appears to be a loaded question, but I'm just curious. You can include pages/work that you've deleted or thrown away or being edited, emails, sticky-notes, what have you.

I really don't want this to sound like a rude sort of question: you obviously work, but I just want to know more about the details. As someone who writes about LoL Lore and the Narrative department's work I'm genuinely interested.

INB4 "no pages 'cause lore is dead."

I believe you when you say this is not a loaded/rude question and that you're genuinely interested. It feels like you're curious about creative process, and I love process talk.

Since you posted this on a Sunday, the answer is 0 pages this week ;)

Let me also state that I am speaking about my own process and not that of any other writer on the champ team or within Riot, nor is it emblematic of Riot's process. Others may have a different POV or disagree on thoughts on the matter.

When writing novels or screenplays, counting pages to measure forward momentum is a clear indicator of progress towards something complete. But page count alone does not a good story make. I've found this even more true here on the Champ team, tracking page count as progress isn't a good indicator. We also use many different programs to write (excel, word, final draft, white boards, post it notes, torn up scraps of printer paper, IA writer on my phone on the toilet, Writerduet, my trusty moleskine, that old composition book, legal pads, and one time, a bar napkin), so that makes the true answer to your question harder to gauge.

Today, I've written one page so far, but it's a research page where I'm trying to find a character's voice and motivations, to feel them out. It will never see the light of day and nor should it. But it's gas in the tank to get me closer to the story of this character, to unraveling who they are and understanding their point of view. It's hard for me to read what's already been written about the character and apply it, my style simply doesn't work that way. I gotta take characters out onto the open road and test drive them in order to get a feel for how they move/talk/feel/act/etc.

Last week, I wrote about 9 pages of script-format work, about 3 prose style pages, about 3(ish) excel pages, I cannot and will not say for what, because it's possible none of what I wrote will not be released. Almost all of writing is rewriting, and most of rewriting is throwing away, whittling down, or simplifying.

On average, if I have to toss a ballbark number, I'd say between 10-15 pages. As Jaredan pointed out once, a lot of that is work on story sketches (think narrative concept art) which is meant to inspire the team. It's probably the best part of my job as it affords me the opportunity to take a lot of risks and write outside my comfort zone (in my case this comfort zone is screenplays and short minimalist fiction). I've written first-person shorts, poems, fables, mini-plays, and straight short stories. I believe how you tell a story is just as important as what the story is about and all stories are character vehicles. Each medium means I have to think about the character differently and opens up a lot of possibilities as to who they are and how they're viewed by others.

Impetual7/12/2015, 9:07:28 AM4 votes

Sadly, I'm pretty sure they won't answer you.

From what I hear from Jaredan, I'm pretty sure that the Narrative team (which may or may not exist as the Foundations team) isn't actually assigned to develop Runeterra.

From what Jaredan's said, it sounds like writers are assigned to specific teams that are work on champions, events, and maybe locations?

It sounds like the Story of Runeterra is being written around what the other teams are doing. In other words, the Narrative team just plays catch up and tries to write lore that fits whatever the other teams are producing.

It sounds like quality lore isn't much of a priority anymore.

Daxterr7/12/2015, 3:21:29 PM2 votes

We are not making pages of lore anymore. Oh, no. We like to think outside the box, plus we think that is outdated. All the new lore will be brought to you in the form of interpretive dance! We have been working years to bring this to you and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

~love, Rito