A Bit of Expansion on My Last Post...

Just yesterday I said that exaggerated criticisms about work sometimes hit a bit hard.

Let me clarify why that is.

Y'see, writing an rpg book often is a pretty big process. Writers write, developers oversee, editors look it over, and usually other writers take a look at your stuff for their chapters as well. In truth, usually only the developers and occasionally the editors are full staff for the various companies with all those other folks being freelancers. Deadlines are less fluid than with many novels and the like, since publishing schedules and legal ownership of the properties involved means that if a writer or artist doesn't make the schedules the company in charge might just get someone else. Contrast this with a novel, where for example no matter how long George R.R. Martin takes to write his next Song of Ice and Fire novel they're still going to let him write it.

So there's a lot of places for things to go wrong, and a lot of places for them to go right. Pressure is often high and as I said before, money is not great. And a lot of people involved. Thus when I say a book is up for an award it's more common and honestly proper to say "a book I worked on/wrote on/edited on/whatever is up for an award" instead of "I have a book up for an award!" which is what a novelist might say.

Why does this matter? Usually it doesn't. People do their jobs, work on the books because they enjoy their work, and all is fine.

Except for two things. Mistakes and the internet. Or maybe the nature of fandom.

Because when a mistake happens on a book it's not just that the writer made it. Or the artist goofed. Or the developer didn't notice it. Or that the editor missed it. Or even that the other artists and writers who looked it over didn't catch it. It's all of that.

Now we can argue that mistakes should happen less often with that system than another book because of all the eyes which pass over it. I don't want to comment on that especially since before going to press at larger (that is to say non-rpg) companies many other books are honestly read by far more people than that.

The problem , or maybe annoyance if you will, comes when the mistake is noticed by someone reading the book.

And hey, I get it. Never fun to see those mistakes. And in a perfect world, rpg books, which share a fair amount in common with technical manuals with prose or entertainingly written textbooks would not have those. They'd also cost what technical manuals and textbooks cost because everyone would get paid to product that level of work. My books in law school were five hundred dollars or more a semester. And that was over half a decade ago. Undergrad wasn't much better.

But the rpg market can't sustain those costs. Many games which try to charge over sixty bucks at for the main book are passed up by many people. And supplements and the like usually can't be more than thirty five at most.

Again, nature of the beast. And not an excuse for mistakes, more an explanation of how cost benefit analysis and the realities of the system means that mistakes happen and with a bit more frequency than in some other fields.

So where was I? Ah yes, the internet and blame placing. The problem with all of this really comes when something gives or the rather delecate process creates a error or two. Then anyone who can be identified as the source of the error gets a disproportional amount of crap for it from customers or just people who didn't buy the book, but picked it up in the store, or by some other writer who is also a fan and just has to say something about it (presumably because on some level the idea that "I would never make that mistake!" Which is true, you'd make some other one. Nobody's perfect).

Now why is that so frustrating? I mean the writer, artist, or whatever made the error, right?

And yes, that's definitely part of it. Arguably the biggest part. However, editing missed it. Development missed it. Those are the other places you can probably argue is the biggest part in many cases. Other writers who looked it over missed it (this is bigger deal when the writers say something looked good and/or publically make statements about how they've worked to increase product quality). And so on.

And yet, in my experience that's not how the blame and reactions are placed. As soon as you, artist or writer or whoever make a mistake you're on the hook for all of it. It's like you personally took you first draft or initial drawing, snuck it past the editor's desk, kidnapped the developer's kids to blackmail them into not touching a word of your masterpiece, and never actually showed it to anyone else before press. Keep in mind that you also had all the time in the world, would have been paid the same no matter how much you blew the deadlines, and where given your draft back twenty times to fix after it was poured over by a team of expert ninja editors. You also got a pony and a party.

This assumes that someone wants to blame you as the writer/artist, of course. I've seen people do the same with the developer, editor, etc... But it's a lot of teeth gnashing, snide comments, and the like. A lot of crap for a few cents a word or a few bucks for a illo, huh? To paraphrase Raul Julia in his last movie: "The day you saw that ten word error in that rpg book was such an important day for you. You questioned my sanity, accused me of being stupid, and wouldn't shut up about it. For me it was about two bits and thirty seconds the day before a deadline."

So why is this annoying? Simple. Because if you do good work more often than not a few really nice folks are happy about it and say so. A lot of other people buy the books and are happy about it. Even the mistakes usually cause many of these people to just sigh quietly and then enjoy the thousands of other words or many other pictures in the product. But the people who are upset have no sense of scale. They are, on some level, working out their issues with the game line, company, and other things by giving you an immense level of shit when you consider the whole situation.

Why is that so annoying? Because this leads to things like someone accusing you of basically plagarism and being stupid, mouthing off about it, and then maybe apologizing to you about out of the public eye with something like "Well, sorry I said that stuff...but I was really angry at these other people tangentially involved and man I was mad! So yeah...what was I doing? Oh yeah, apologizing that you were offended by the stuff I'm totally not actually retracting and certainly won't admit publically was out of line! Sorry. Did I mention how mad and hurt I was?"

Anyone want to think I just made that example up? Ah, I like to dream too, Hank.

Seriously, this leads to encounters with people that if I ever run into them in real life will go like this:

Them: "Hey, nice to meet you." (totally avoiding all the shit they said before)
Me: "Oh hey, I remember you. You're a cock. Anyway, love to chat but...I don't want to."

Note it's not just writing. The anonymity of the internet leads to this too. Which never helps.

And so all that, combined with a desire to just own up to the error, say "oops", maybe have other people involved chime in with "yeah he messed that up, but we didn't catch it which we should have, and the other work is top notch" and cash the fat paycheck (yes Virginia, that's sarcasm) factors in. Because rarely is the work worth the crap. Especially since more often than not that crap comes with other baggage you didn't help load onto the plane in the first place.

None of this is helped by the fact that unless you're in a very small group of writers and artists the general reaction to good product is much more diffused across everyone involved. If anything, it weighs in more heavily on the companies as a whole. So if it's good, usually you're one part of the team who did a great job. If there's an error or mistake, you suck. And by then the team usually has evaporated.

And if you say any of this you're a whiner or whatever. But who gives a crap about that really? You're already the crazy sucky guy. At that point seems sensible to just say "To hell with it! My fault, but not just my fault. You want to blame me that much? Pay me more or give me more credit when it goes right. If not, then make your complaints and then shut up about it, will ya?"

So yeah, Ennie award nomination...that's my mantra. Because if not I'm gonna bust a blood vessel laughing the next time someone says "Wow, you're writing in the industry? That must be really fun!"

And don't get me wrong. It is. Except for all the times it's not.

Melancholy and the Infinite Mehness

So I'm up for an award at Gen Con for Scion Ragnarok. Well, okay the book is. But I wrote a good chunk of it so hey!

Which is awesome and cool. Unfortunately, another book I just wrote came out as well and the responses have been...mixed. Many people seem to actually like it but a few errors and perhaps a misjudgment or two crept in.

And of course that's most of what many folks are talking about. Which is fine...come to bury Jack and not to praise him and all. But it's kind of a buzzkill as well.

RPG writing is a curious beast. It pays pretty bad for writing gigs. And it's not a ton easier to get jobs and keep them coming with the big companies than with some other fields. For example, despite being now an award-nominated writer my schedule is currently pretty much clear for projects. Add to this that at least online many fans (and some other writers) have expectations that would make a utilitarian economist fall on his pen and it's not always easy to be super up about the process.

Which is a rather tough pill to swallow. On one hand you get the message "Wow, your stuff is so good we're going to put you up for an award at the biggest gaming con!" on the other you get "You made these two mistakes out of tens of thousands of words written! How could you? Are you crazy? What's wrong with you?" and so on. And while the accolades make the deadlines and weak money mostly worth it, the criticisms also sometimes hit a bit hard. Especially given I've been doing this for over 10 years off and on (during law school and much of my marriage it was more off than on, but even then I got some work out).

But anyway, Gen Con and a possible award are coming up. So bonus!

Man I Have a Lot of Movies...

So I'm putting up new DVD shelves and I discovered that I have an obscene amount of movies.

Now of course I already knew this, but the more I sort and put away them the more I realize I not only have a lot of films, I have them from all eras, genres, etc...

You want to watch a Jimmy Stewart Western? Come to my place. A western period, really.

Vampire Hunters? Got 'em.

Swashbucklers? From the forties to current decade I'm good.

And then if gets weird. French alchemist digitally rendered thriller? Yep. Vikings v. Aliens? Yep. Lots of HK action films, including some stuff I'm not sure is commercially available here in the US? Why, yes, I have that too.

I know why all this is, of course. I love movies. A lot. I watch many films of various quality the way many people read magazines, watch reality TV, and the like. It's my "go to" entertainment and often it causes me to "got to" weird and wonderful places.

Still, it's a bit odd to realize you own not one, but two copies of a Pre-Revolutonary France Kung Fu Serial Killer Monster movie. Or Thomas Jane's Punisher (the second copy had an animated prequel included!).

But yeah, so movie party at my place...pretty much any time after I get all this stuff put away again.

Your Internet Sucks...

Recently I've been realizing that I don't use the internet for a lot of things other people I know do. And since we're talking a lot of geeks here, the net of what people do use this crazy series of brass tubes and trained messenger squirrels for is cast pretty wide. This tendency of me to be the old guy on the porch sometimes causes issues. Usually not, but from time to time I simply refuse to be informed about some things via the net that others seem to love.

Like what sorts of things? Funny you asked, I just happen to have a list:

1) Comics

This is the big one. Please stop trying to talk to me about comics based on internet rumormills, previews, discussions on places like Newsarama, and so on. Especially comics that aren't out yet. I don't mind the occasional facebook note or thread on a forum but I am so sick of net-based comics culture I want to fucking scream.

Why? Two reasons: Everything is a big fucking deal and nobody wants to actually read the damned books anymore. Before a single issue of a remotely popular book comes out these days it's been previewed, discussed, spoiled, dissected, and bitched about. The artist and writer have been demonized, insulted, and the like. The issues and plot points raised in the story have been torn into itty bitty pieces and everything has been reacted, and overreacted to, and anyone who doesn't agree with the prevailing opinion is of course mocked and insulted. Hell, when the issue comes out it's almost anti-climactic and virtually nobody who had already pre-judged it has anything new to say. Their minds are made up and it's all just months more of the same "Look at me!" spectacle.

Now I realize this makes me a bitter old man on the subject. Y'know what though? I am a bitter old man who thoroughly enjoys many a comic book. Who gets to see stories actually unfold and plot twists actually happen. It's totally worth it. Really. People should try it, unless it's really the drama and attitude that attracts. Then go nuts, but shut the fuck up around me about who dies, who comes back, who's the "real bad guy", and most of all how "bad and poorly written" the whole thing is. Because really, I'm not listening to you. At all. You're just getting in the way of my personal interaction via funny books with the artists and writers. And it really seems like my way is more fun.

2) Video Games

See comic books. Now here I like to see some dev diaries and the the like a bit more than comics, but then those are basically a mixture of self torture and whetting my appetite for the game to come. I don't care if you played my favorite game and just have to tell me how bad it is or talk about how stupid the developers are and how they are going to mess it up. Because, at least on this subject, to me you have absolutely nothing useful to say. So stop bothering me. Go play some game you like...maybe I'll even play it and we can talk about something positive.

And no, I don't care what some friend of yours told you who is a beta tester. He might be an idiot. If he can give me actual reasons, cool and maybe I'll want to hear it then. But mostly it's more of the same "he says it sucks." Shrug. I say tomatoes suck, but I know plenty of people who love them and to them my declaration doesn't mean dick. Same applies here.

3) Movies

Noticing a trend? Much the same but with one exception. I like to talk about the actors, plots, and craft of filmmaking. I really do. I'll do so online or in person. But if all you can say over and over again are vague and annoying comments like "You liked it? It was so boring! Really it was bad!" to me? Shut up. That's not a conversation, that's the end of a conversation. And without more info, it's a nearly useless thing to say.

Also, movies and games both suffer from much the same prejudging crap as comics. The number of times I've seen someone say "I don't need to see/play/read this to know how bad it is, I just know!" online is legion. And every time it makes the person who says it that much dumber. This goes double for people who've never done a creative thing in their life outside their livejournal or a class project who go on and on about how they could do things so much better than a particular director, actor, etc... Because generally they can't. In fact they can't so aggressively the attempts to prove they can are often simultaneously hilarious and heart-wrenching.

Because no you don't know. You might have a guess based on limited information. But that's it. And unfortunately the net is all about limited information. There's a wealth of info to be sure, but it's buried under lies, opinions, crap, and sometimes blocked by the user's inability to research or reason through it all. This is why people like citations in technical internet discussions. Because most people are wise enough, no matter how foolish they otherwise are, to want something to back up crazy talk.

Anyway, getting off track. Other things:

4) How hot or ugly someone is.

After the sixteenth "Why do people think Megan Fox is hot?" internet query followed by some chubby girl or guy squeezed into an ill-fitting outfit who looks like they haven't slept in days being met with "OMG, you are a goddess!" I have determined that nearly none of you motherfuckers can be trusted to tell me how pretty someone is. I make some exceptions for friends, but after a buddy of mine told me Pauly Perette was, and I quote "Not hot at all" one time I decided that I need to be careful there too. I mean no offense by this, you probably shouldn't listen to me on this topic either. Though at least I think Megan and Pauly are damned pretty, so that might at least tell you I'm not totally mad.

5) The Law

Yes, I'm a lawyer. No, I don't want to talk about it. I went that route before and even occasionally do in some cases but after being told I didn't know my chosen profession despite the facts that I went to a top tier school for and have been practicing in for several years now because of something someone read on Wikipedia...well, I just have to say fuck it.

What's more, as a lawyer I caution all of you reading this to not listen to anything told to you online from anyone you don't know who is a lawyer. It's a recipe for getting into trouble. Because while Uncle Bob might have heard if you wave your penis at the cops and yell about molesting children they'll just assume you're nuts and leave you alone I can tell you that most of what laymen like Uncle Bob tells you is crap. It's, at best, half right (and that example is not right at all, by the way).

There are more, and some day I might write them all down. But that's good for now.