Hearing Bizarre Voices: Monica Valentinelli on Gaming & Writing

Monica Valentinelli is a freelance writer and game designer with an abiding interest in mythology, archaeology, and philosophy. You’ll see these influences in her e-book Queen of Crows, which is available from DriveThruHorror.com.

Valentinelli contributed an essay on Gloom to Family Games: The 100 Best. For more from Valentinelli, check out an interview I did with her over at Flamesrising a while back. Below, she talks about what gaming and writing have taught her.

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What has playing games taught you about writing (of any sort)?

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Monica Valentinelli: Whenever I play a game, I immerse myself in another world either through its visual aspects, like a video game, or through collaborative storytelling. Those aspects of the games I’ve played taught me how to value a story for its setting, the mood that has been created, and the story (or goal) that’s being represented.

Now, when I’m writing a story or designing a game, I ask myself how the reader will respond to what I’m working on. Can they experience a particular mood in that same, intimate way? Do they enjoy the story’s world? Can the story integrate these pieces without overwhelming the reader? These sorts of questions are important to me when I’m writing.

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Is there a game every writer should try?

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Monica Valentinelli: In Family Games: The 100 Best, I had written about a game called Gloom. This game is a stellar example of how a dark mood or story can be presented in a way that’s still funny without being tripe or obnoxious. Playing the game also allows a writer to hear the voices of these bizarre characters and their families out loud. In my mind, the design of the game offers writers a chance to see what great writing is all about. Exceptional characterization, good storytelling, and never a dull moment.

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In what ways does playing games enhance your creativity?

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Monica Valentinelli: My tendency is to be drawn to things that are visual or audial in order to find inspiration for what I’m writing. If I can’t use my senses – then a story doesn’t turn out the way that I want it to because I can’t “hear” the characters in my head or “see” what they’re going through. Playing games allows me to tap into a different aspect of creativity because it allows me to enter a character’s world from their eyes. That ability has proven to be invaluable to my writing in many ways.

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Jeremy L. C. Jones is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.  He is the staff Interviewer for Clarkesworld Magazine and a frequent contributor to Kobold Quarterly.  He teaches at Wofford College and Montessori Academy in Spartanburg, SC.  He is also the director of Shared Worlds, a creative writing and world-building camp for teenagers that he and Jeff VanderMeer designed in 2006.