Over the last few years (and particularly during the pandemic), I’ve discovered the joy on on-line workshops and co-writing groups. There are a lot of writing exercises and prompt workshops which are common to several teachers, and the Picture Game has become really popular. I’ve seen it used to wonderful effect by the instructors at Writing the Other, one of the most important on-line schools to improve the craft of fiction. I’ve also seen it used by instructors teaching on-line classes and co-writing workshops for Clarion West.
So here is my first attempt at the Picture Game! I’ve made a series of images which suggest relationships. The game is to pick one image, set a timer for three minutes and study it, taking in all the details you can. Then sit down for fifteen minutes and quickly write something about the image you’ve chosen.
What you write can be anything: a vignette, a poem, a scene, a bit of dialogue—it’s up to you. After you’ve had a chance to play, I’ll put in some comments about how I use games like this, and brainstorming sessions on new characters, in my own work.
Let’s go!
Okay! Now that you’ve had a chance to try it, some notes from me.
Some questions that tend to cycle through my mind when world-building around images, particularly ones where we have to “read” a relationship through body language.
Who are the people in this image? What is their relationship to one another? How long have they known one another, and how did they meet?
When I look at this image, am I seeing Stasis or Crisis? To put it another way…am I seeing a comfortable dynamic that is settled and stable? Or does this image represent a moment when the relationship changes in some important way?
What are all the individuals in this image trying to achieve? What are their goals? Does this relationship move them forward toward their goals, or hold them back?
When working in a large milieu like an epic novel or a game, where you can have a large cast of characters (including Players), you can apply these questions in fun and structurally useful ways. In a lot of the games I’ve made, the NPC’s exist in a web of relationships—these are often political or institutional, as when you create a cadre of soldiers in a military unit, but sometimes the connections are deeper and stranger.
When introducing a new NPC to a group of established characters, I like to look at the people who already exists and ask myself…is there anyone in the group who would have reason to know this new person? If so, what is their history likely to be?
Did they grow up together? Were they rivals in school? Did they date at some point—and if so, did it end badly? Did they meet during boot camp or serve in the same unit during military service? Work a summer job or help pull a heist?
More importantly…how could this past connection affect the events that are about the unfold in the present? In what way will the established relationship change, for better and worse?
That’s it for this week! I hope that this little game and the notes have been fun. If you have anything to share in the comments, I’d love to hear from you. And you can always request other topics!
World Forge Friday: Relationships
Love this article, will try it. The pictures remind me of The Last Human (which you may already know, for you are you). But in case you don't, here's a strip from that comic which you may like:
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-last-human-in-a-crowded-galaxy/mother-knows-best/viewer?title_no=403136&episode_no=1