Write Your Way into Animation and Games: Create a Writing Career in Animation and Games [Paperback]

Write Your Way Into Animation and Games: Create a Writing Career in Animation and Games is a book that contains pieces from several other books printed by Focal Press, as well as some new material written by Christy Marx to tie everything together. The title says the book covers both animation and games, which it does; however, only the first nine chapters actually cover animation. The remaining seventeen chapters focus on writing for games. But it should be noted that there are times in the game writing section where concepts from the animation section are referenced, so the animation portion does need to be included.

The animation portion of the book contains writings by two writers: Christy Marx (who has nearly 30 years of experience developing, story editing and writing animation series and features) and Jean Ann Wright (whose experience includes work with Hanna-Barbera, working as a freelance animation writer, and having her own business as an animation preproduction consultant). Both of these women provide great insight into the basics of writing for animation, as well as providing information on writing structure, character development, and information and advice for anyone who wants to try to break into the animation scriptwriting business. While some of the information provided by both of these women overlap somewhat, it turns out that one of them may only give a brief mention to a concept, while the other provides more in-depth information to flesh out the basic concept. As I read this section, I felt that both writers' information was very helpful and useful for an aspiring animation scriptwriter.

For the game writing portion, five writers are represented: Terry Borst (who has credits for game writing, as well as for screenwriting), Timothy Garrand (a principal user experience architect), Nick Iuppa (a designer of instructional media and game-based training), Christy Marx (who was written for games in the PC, console, and MMOG categories), and Carolyn Handler Miller (a pioneering writer in the field on nonlinear entertainment). The game writing section goes into more detail about the basics, because there's a lot more that goes into designing a game as opposed to an animation script. It also talks about how to create a work for digital storytelling, how to write and format a script for a game, how to go about writing and presenting the narrative for games, as well as what to expect when working as a digital storyteller and tips on potential ways to try to enter into the business of writing for games. Like with the animation section, some of the concepts are mentioned by multiple authors in different chapters, but one author is able to expand on a concept that another writer only touches on briefly in their chapter. For someone who is interested in game writing, the information included in this book is quite helpful; however, it probably would make the most sense to someone who already has some kind of knowledge about videogames.

This book is definitely designed to be used either as a textbook for a class or by someone who is interested in learning this information on their own. Some of the chapters include exercises at the end of them, which is why I think this could potentially work as a textbook for a college class. At the end of the table of contents, it mentions there are multimedia components for the book, and it lists a website where the content is located. I visited the site, and discovered that in order to access the information, you have to register at the site; registering for the site is free. At this point in time, I haven't registered to access the multimedia components, so I can't comment on how they enhance the information provided in the book.

Overall, this book is well done and well written, and provides a lot of helpful information from professionals who demonstrate that they are knowledgeable about their respective topic. However, this book is probably a better resource for someone who is interested in starting a career for game writing. For someone who is interested in starting a career in animation writing, they're probably better off locating a book that focuses more exclusively on animation.

Before I can properly apply the book (which is textbook format, though a lot more interesting and fun than normal textbooks) here's a little background. I'm a lifelong writer, just now getting serious about publication, with an abiding passion for film (particularly animation) and video games. While I'm not bad on the designing end of the spectrum, writing is definitely my stronger suit. I researched screenwriting and animation writing in my teens, but, figuring I'd learn all this in film school (all of which accepted me, none of which helped me pay) I never took it seriously.

Fast-forward a few years. I'm still in love with writing; it's still a creative pursuit at which I excel (assuming I work very hard and polish each piece); I still love film, but that expensive hobby understandably got pushed onto a back burner. A few weeks ago, I began to wonder seriously, not idly as I've done for years, about what I could do to write for animation and games. Coincidentally, I stumbled across this book.

"Write Your Way into Animation and Games" is a fabulous resource for beginners, and even intermediates depending on what you're looking for. I was frustrated by the first chapters, which cover screenwriting basics and how to craft a simple story. I read them anyway (in case skipping would cause me to miss something). And I have to say, the advice is clear, concise, brief, thorough, and necessary. It was material I'm highly familiar with, but once I banished the "been through this before" conceit, the refresher did very well for me. I'd urge anyone not actually working in animation (not that you'd be picking up this book if you were) to please go over it. It's a little irritating at times, but the information is still valuable.

After the basics, it delves progressively deeper in terms of technique and resources. The information on animation writing, from script format to page count to dialogue and action balance, was fantastic. Without setting out any unbreakable rules, it gives a very clear idea of expectations and guidelines, which is much, much more helpful that something along the lines of "you always have to do this exactly this way."

My only disappointment--and it was fairly minor--was a relative lack of gaming resources. Writing for games and for animation is obviously very similar, but I was more interested in games than in animation at this point. I wish it had been more balances, or even biased in favor of game-writing. That said, given the amount of information and resources in this book, that really was a minor disappointment.

"Write Your Way into Animation and Games" is set up like a textbook. At very rare times, it reads like a textbook, but it's still a lot more interesting than most of the textbooks I have/am dealing with now. If the format would, for some reason, put you off, don't worry about it. This isn't dry reading. The writing is professional but vibrant, and bursting with examples (which I definitely need.) I can't promise this will be a perfect read for any beginner. But, overall, this was a really great guide for me, and I know I'll be using it in the future.

I am someone who really enjoys writing and have for a long time considered doing it a bit more "professionally." As an outsider to the writing profession, I am not at all familiar with all the ways in which creative writing could lead to a career, or at least a fulfilling and enjoyable hobby. I picked up this book to see what animation and game writing is all about, and even thought I'll probably never do any of it for a living, this book still taught me many valuable lessons about these very exciting creative fields.

This book contains a truly remarkable amount of useful and actionable information. About a third of it is dedicated to animation, with the rest covering video games. Material is aimed at the beginners in these fields, although many later concepts may require some prior experience with animation or game writing. The book is filled with thorough and detailed examples and case studies, and it gives a very good overview of what sorts of assignments and work are the game and animation writers expected to encounter. In my opinion, this is not exactly a book for absolute beginners, and some prior experience in writing, animation, or game design would be highly recommended. The book ends with a few excellent tips and suggestions for actually finding animation and writing jobs. The bad news is that there are no easy shortcuts and the straightforward entry points into these fields. One needs to be very dedicated and willing to take a lot of different assignments and routs before really making it as a writer.

The book comes with a companion website, with a lot of additional material. It is overall a very comprehensive resource. Animation and game writing is definitely more art than science, but a book like this one can help avoid much of the aimless wanderings and learning by trial and error. It is very well written and exceptionally helpful. I highly recommend it.