On Game Writing - I Got Rejected

At this point in time the field of Video Game Journalism is a wild frontier. A wild bunch applying every method in the book to find success. There is no set tried-and-true framework to do it right. We haven't had centuries of time to establish game writing the same as scholarly writing or prose/poetry. This leads to the big question: What makes a good game writer? Recently, I was rejected for an internship with a reputable video game news outlet. Rather than be mad or upset or depressed,  it just made me think harder about my approach to game writing and how to answer that big question.

You truly need to find your own way in this field; forge your own path. While it is very important to learn from what works in established game writers, you need to forge your own style and personality that can be felt through your words. Personality is incredibly important to game writing because it is a very subjective medium. Your potential reader needs to know what kind of person you are to develop a connection and give your opinions and musings meaning. Anybody can say "This game is cool". You need the reader to feel your enthusiasm. This means putting in a lot of practice and thought, while still keeping up the distinct flavor of you. You will stumble and fail in your approach, but you use that to build on moving forward.

Previously I had been trying my best to style myself after my potential employers, but after that failed I realized that I need to be more personal in my writing. Their styles work great for them, but I need to find my own style. I'm the wizard just lookin' for my wand to take to Hogwarts. I'm the young padawan tryin' to build his lightsaber. I'm the [nerd reference, you get the point].

The whole experience of this rejection has filled me with determination(Is that a reference?) to become better than what I have been and do it on my terms. I approached game writing in a very scholarly way that led to other saying my writing was too dry and lacked personality. Well screw scholarly writing, I'm just going to be myself and throw down as honest and personal opinions and articles as I possibly can. This is a whole new era in my writing career and how I tackle the beast that is game writing and I owe it all to a, honestly, very kindly worded rejection letter.

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Garett Mefford   

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