When we think of professional writers, perhaps we think of authors or journalists. Screenwriters, playwrights, and poets might come to mind—maybe even copywriters or bloggers. However, among the topics of today’s interview is writing that is at once unexpected and right under our noses: the text of games.
As a fantasy novelist, a co-author, and a game writer, Harry Heckel is not only a busy man, but he is a man of many talents. No matter what you write, the advice he shares in the following interview is worth a read if you want to up your game—literally or figuratively.
Harry Heckel started by writing pen and paper roleplaying games, notably for White Wolf Game Studio, before moving into novels. As Lee Lightner, he co-authored two Space Wolf novels set in the Warhammer 40K universe. He is currently half of the writing team of Jack Heckel, and under that name has written The Charming Tales series from Harper Voyager Impulse. His latest novel from Harper is The Dark Lord, a parody of epic fantasy, stuffed with geek references. He is currently writing the next book in the series, The Darker Lord, and preparing for The Darkest Lord, both scheduled for release in 2018. He also has a few independent novels under his own name and does freelance work for roleplaying, board game, and miniature wargame companies. He lives in central Virginia with his wife, daughter, and two cats.
Q&A with Fantasy Author and Game Writer Harry Heckel
Kris: When you think of “editing” your work, what does this word mean to you?
Harry: Most of my time “writing” is actually editing. For me, editing encompasses everything after the words first appear on the page. It means reading through my draft and fixing story elements, polishing my prose and making sure my grammar is correct. Sometimes, it can include a major rewrite or three, and I often add as much as I cut. Once I’m at a point where I believe further changes have diminished returns and I’m fairly happy, I’ll send my work off to my editor who will invariably send it back with further edits. After those edits are made, there will be a final copyedit, and I’ll give the book a last read.
Kris: Walk me through your editing process step by step.
Kris: How does writing with a partner change your editing?
Harry: The trick to being a successful co-author is all in the editing. I worked with Jeff Smith as a co-author under the name Lee Lightner, and I’m currently working as a co-author with John Peck under the name Jack Heckel. When Jeff and I wrote together, we’d read each other’s chapters, and edit (or even rewrite) each other’s work to make sure that we kept the voices of the characters the same. John and I follow a similar pattern. In the case of The Charming Tales series, we both wrote certain chapters, and I would rewrite his chapters and he would rewrite mine, blending our writing styles and creating the voice of Jack Heckel. It worked out well for us. With The Dark Lord, we had to change things up due to real life, so I ended up doing the first pass for most of the book. John edited the chapters that I wrote, adding elements to them and changing them as he went, blending our voices once again. I went through a final pass behind John, editing what he had done, and we both did a final read-through and edit together.
The biggest difference in having a partner is the need to communicate the changes. For example, John called me earlier to talk about The Darker Lord and let me know that he had changed a professor in the novel to allow for a Time Bandits reference. He also asked about a reveal that he decided should happen earlier than our outline suggested. That communication is crucial, and he was ready for me to object and negotiate with him. Fortunately, I liked what he had done, but there are times when we have to spend time going back and forth before we reach an agreement. Grammar isn’t an area where we tend to disagree, as we are both horrible with commas, but we do have occasional conflicts in our writing styles. When that happens, we both try to accommodate the other person.
Kris: Is editing books different from editing text for games?
Harry: What a great question! I’ve never given it much thought. It can be.
When I’m writing a novel, I have a great deal of freedom with my fiction. I can change the world and write in whatever tone or style I want, as long as my co-author and editor are willing to put up with me. However, most game companies have a particular style or tone that they want in the game. They may even have samples of fiction and their own style guides that they want you to follow.
When I wrote for Star Wars, I had to be careful about my language, and I had a number of rules that I needed to follow, including at that time, not mentioning the Clone Wars, and not doing anything that might paint the Empire in a good light or the Rebel Alliance in a bad light. For Star Trek, the hardest part was continuity and not writing anything that would conflict with any of the TV shows, movies, or novels. They also had rules about their tone and how Star Fleet should be presented. My most recent board game projects, Arcadia Quest: Inferno and Arcadia Quest: Pets, needed a fun comedic tone with lots of injections of parody, and I certainly wasn’t about to write something serious.
Kris: Are there any additional editing considerations for role-playing games?
Harry: Beyond the style, tone, and continuity for any shared settings, the major consideration has to be the game rules. You don’t want to do anything that doesn’t make sense within the rules of the game. In Vampire: The Masquerade, nearly all vampires would burn in sunlight, so even with artistic license, I couldn’t have a vampire who went outside every day to work as a lifeguard. That’s an extreme example, but the rules of the game are the laws of physics for that universe. If you don’t obey them, your writing won’t make sense to the people who play the games.
Kris: That makes sense. Now, from novels to games and everything in between, what is your best tip for making the most out of settings in the final revision phase? I know this is a big part of your writing.
Harry: I’ll give two. First, use all of the senses in your descriptions. Make sure your characters hear and smell things instead of just seeing them. Have them touch and taste their environment. Second, read over your setting, and imagine you had to explain the world to a child. Why is Mysterium University at the center of the universe? How do all the dungeons have monsters? Where do wizards live? The better you can describe and explain your setting, the easier it will be for your reader to suspend disbelief and join your characters there.
Kris: Are there any clichés or over-used words that you always try to cut from your work if they accidentally sneak in?
Harry: Actually, there are really only a few, of course, that I started to have just come to mind…okay, I’m being silly. Words such as “actually,” “very,” “really,” “just,” “then,” “a lot,” almost anything with “–ly,” and the dread passive voice are the first things that come to mind. I think every author has words that they overuse, and I encourage everyone to work to identify them. “Just” is one of those words for me, so I’ll do a find for the word “just” and track down and evaluate every appearance of it in my text. I also run through “its” and “it’s” to make certain that I don’t use the wrong version.
Since I write comedic fantasy, clichés are my bread and butter, but what I try to do is make sure that I’m being respectful in my writing. I don’t want to put women in refrigerators or show disrespect for anyone’s culture. That’s not always easy when you are trying to do comedy, but words have an impact. I strongly recommend doing diligent research to make sure that your details are right in your book. I also recommend sensitivity readers if an author has any concerns.
Last question for you: What do you wish that you knew earlier in your career about the importance of editing?
Harry: I wish I had known how important it was. I didn’t realize that most of writing is editing. So many books that are self-published or published through small presses have grammatical mistakes or story errors that could have been avoided with another round of edits. Even in my books from major publishers, there are still errors. I don’t think you can ever eliminate all of the problems, but I believe that it is the responsibility of the author to provide the reader with the best material possible. If you are willing to buy my book, I want to entertain you, not have you wonder how my protagonist saves the day with the pistol that she lost two chapters before or have to reread a paragraph because I didn’t use proper punctuation. I can’t emphasize how important it is to have good grammar and spelling. I’m so thankful for my editors over the years, and I hope each of them realizes that they have made me a better writer.
I don’t think Harry was just sweet-talking me at the end here. These are the subtleties that matter so much. We have to pay attention to our plot details and we have to carefully proof every line—whether the fate of the kingdom relies upon it or simply for the sake of clarity in our ideas.
Thank you so much, Harry Heckel, for taking the time to share your ideas, and happy writing, everyone!
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