Anatomy of a Cliffhanger

[loopy777]

I posted this to my tumblr a while ago but forgot to cross-post it here. However, a recent post by LJ Lee on Legend of Korra's meaningless action sequences reminded me of this, and so I'm digging this back up for everyone here to enjoy.

How to Create Meaningful Conflict

Comments

[ljlee]

Dang, I really should be hanging out wih the the cool kids at Tumblr, shouldn't I. But I like my text-based mediaaaa

[loopy777]

Actually, I've been pleasantly surprised at how much play my essays have gotten on tumblr. For all that it's an art-oriented service, and that I only have a handful of followers, my essays get surprising play. I could probably get even more response if I really engaged that community, but I'm content with my little corner. I hear that the trolls and haters are especially virulent over there.

"The Burning Wheel" is another such RPG. I actually learned about it at a geek convention, at a panel titled "Losing Should be Fun," which was about both RPG's and video games. I've never been able to play that system, but hearing about it was one of the major influences that got me thinking about the stuff in this essay. The other is the 2008 Guardians of the Galaxy comic book (the one that inspired the movie), where the writers (Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) were especially adept at constantly putting the team into interesting failure states.

[ljlee]

Tumblr seems to have virulence built into it, both in the sense of stuff going viral and people getting worked up into a frenzy. I've revitalized my account and followed you, in case you didn't realize it's me. ;)

I've never played BW either, but it always seemed really cool. A lot of these indie games have worked in ideas about story that apply to writing as well.