Writing Fiction Based on Video Games

I've been playing World of Warcraft for a couple years now... I played for a few months before I discovered that novels have been written about the lore behind the game. And that is one hefty lore, I tell you what.

As of March 2014, WoW had 7 million subscribers.
This means there are about 7 million people in the world
who know this dragon's name.

It's nothing new for novel versions to follow the popularity of a video game, movie, or TV show. Novelizations of other pop culture mediums are a great way to get non-readers interested in books. (It also gives fans something to do once they're max level and are waiting for the next expansion to drop... I'm looking at you, Warlords of Draenor, release date "on or before December 20, 2014.")

Most of the time, these novels are officially sanctioned by the creators of the video game in question, because fans will take the novels as canon and they should back up what actually happens in the game.

For example... this guy is one of my personal heroes. If you're totally lost after watching that, basically this was a guy at a panel at Comic Con asking the Blizzard (WoW) developers about the lore. He read the book The Shattering (by this week's author, Christie Golden) and he noticed that the character Falstad Wildhammer (who was on the Council of Three Hammers in the book) wasn't there in the updated version of the game, and he wanted to know why. The men who make this game for a living (who are amazing, don't get me wrong) slipped up and thought Falstad was dead. So this fan's attention to detail in both the books and the game led to the fix... and in honor of him, they actually copied his character, gave him a red shirt (because we call him Red Shirt Guy) and placed him next to Falstad in the game, with the title "Wildhammer Fact Checker."

So I guess what I'm pointing out here is sort of like life imitating art imitating like, except it's one form of art imitating another form imitating that first form. Each enriches the other, but either can be enjoyed on its own as well.

If you're interested, here's a list of novels based on video games (it includes all the WoW books). If you're the kind who keeps up with the gaming world, you'll notice that a lot of the games renowned for their complex and enjoyable storytelling are on this list: Silent Hill, Halo, Assassin's Creed, Diablo, Fable, Bioshock, Dead Island... Okay, I don't know about the game, but the trailer told such an incredible story, the game barely even needs to try.

Favorite Video Game Storyline

When video games first became huge, they were pretty basic, storyline-wise. A giant reptile kidnapped the princess; go save her. You're part of a pie-chart; avoid the ghosts and eat the fruit. A giant primate kidnapped the princess; go save her. You're a paperboy; deliver the paper. Play soccer. Play bowling. Play football. Play tennis. Stack the blocks and make lines of them disappear.

But with better technology came the ability to show more... everything. Actual dialogue can take place. Bigger, more detailed settings are possible. More complex over-arching storylines are actually doable.

Enough of my proselytizing... let's see which video game storylines are our favorites!

Despite having spent nearly 3 solid weeks of my life logged into WoW (seriously, the /played says 20 days, 7 hours, 34 minutes, and 2 seconds... but I'm writing this two weeks in advance) I can't choose WoW, because it has so much storyline. Several novels' worth, actually. And then some. A lot of some.

I haven't played Portal myself. I've watched my husband play it (and Portal 2) and no matter how hard he tried, I was exposed to spoilers, so I know the story, and I love it. I will not pass the spoilers on to you, but here's the jist:

Chell (the character you play) wakes up from stasis and is guided through tests by GLaDOS, a computer AI system. As Chell progresses, GLaDOS gets pretty sarcastic and sounds more... sinister. I can't really tell you much more than that, unfortunately. I can't even tell you to listen to the excellent songs from the credits of each game (but I'll link for those who don't care or already know: Still Alive and Want You Gone).

Call me predictable or a fan girl or whatever, but Final Fantasy X is my jam.  Now, you should know up front, video games aren't really my thing.  Don't get me wrong: I enjoy playing them, I like them, and I own more than a few, but at the end of the day, I get bored pretty easily (I think the last one I played all the way through was Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.)

But FFX was the first video game I ever bought with my own money.  It was the first game I ever played consistantly and, what's more, it's the first game I ever FINISHED.  Which is saying a lot, because the game isn't short.  It's a LONG freakin' game.  However, it was also a very snowy winter and my school basically shut down for the month of February.  So FFX it was.

Tidus comes from a different world and is dropped into his world in the future.  He doesn't know what's going on or where he is or why anything works the way that it does, but he meets great friends like Waaka and Yuna (the love interest), and LuLu, the girl who can kick your butt with fire.

I won't give any spoilers (if, for some reason, 12 years later you don't actually KNOW the spoiler), but it's sweet and complex and heartbreaking and pretty much just a wonderful story.

Favorite Fantasy Setting

There is an unusual, dark, weird, unique fantasy setting in the story of Coraline, so we're picking our favorite fantasy settings!

So I'm going way off the deep end with this one, friends. Follow me, here. At the heart of why we love books is the fact that we love stories. (Neil Gaiman himself said "We owe it to each other to tell stories.") It's really the essential part of reading, and most other forms of entertainment. And there are other ways of telling stories. For example: video games. They're immersive story-telling.

So instead of choosing Middle Earth, or the Ministry of Magic, or Westeros, or Narnia... I'm choosing Azeroth, the world of World of Warcraft.

For non-gamers, I'll explain that a game like WoW has a huge, overarching story that is moved along with each game update. For example, with the Pandaria release, a whole new continent was discovered. Practically speaking, that means new zones to explore, new quests to complete, new dungeons to run, and a new playable race. But narratively speaking, there's a lot to contend with, too: how does this race fit into the world? Why didn't we ever see this continent before? How do the others discover it? How do they react? How do Pandaren react to being discovered? How do you reconcile them with the rest of Azeroth?

There are named characters who are part of an ongoing narrative. Do you remember Red Shirt Guy from Blizzcon a few years ago? Everyone thought he would be this annoying fanboy, but he actually pointed out an overlooked plot mistake regarding the death (or actually the non-death) of Falstad Wildhammer, beause he read The Shattering (a novelization of some of the stories from WoW). Reading the story and applying it to the playable game got him cheered. People asking a panel questions never get cheered.

The game developers actually put him IN GAME,
next to the character he "saved" (the one they wrote
as dead but who hadn't actually died) as his fact checker.

We read The Night Circus quite some time ago.  But the thing that stands out to me, more than anything about this book, is the setting.

Technically, it takes place in England during the 1800s.  But really, it takes place at the Circus, which has all those amazing, absolutely fantastic tents, where some pretty amazing things happen.  Take the Ice Tent, for instance.  It's this beautiful, shimmering tent where everything is made of ice.  Flowers, trees, everything.

Or how about the maze inside the tent that goes higher and higher, yet simultaneously, brings you down to the bottom.  And let's not forget the fire that never burns out or what about the contortionist that has her own powers?

I can't wait for the movie, because the tents are just the kind of thing that Hollywood is good at and I want to see the circus come alive SO BADLY.