The Absurd Played Straight (Talking About My Favored Brand of Unusual Writing)

A lot of folks think that to write a funny story your manuscript needs to be full of jokes. They think of all the double entendres in many of Shakespeare's plays, for example, or of the laugh tracks you find in both audio and TV sitcoms, and believe that's the basis for what makes something funny.

I would offer an alternative to that, which may appeal to those who still want to tell a story that many would find silly on its face, but who don't want to be cracking wise in the text. And it is what I call The Absurd Played Straight.

And as you can see, I have some experience with it.

Before we get into it this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! To be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, make sure you check out my Vocal archive for several hundred other articles about geek ephemera, weird history, writing, and more!

In a Distant Future, Man's Best Friend Seeks Answers

If you're a regular reader, and you're a fan of my work, then you've probably seen the way I execute this particular style of writing. Whether it's in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, two hardboiled crime novels where the entire cast are made up of NYC street animals like stray dogs, cats, pigeons, and foxes, or you've come across my tabletop RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic where you take on the roles of plastic people in a plastic world fighting for their survival, you're already familiar with my take on The Absurd Played Straight.

However, perhaps the best way to explain how this style of humorous writing works is to point at one project that I think did it really, really well... a little game called Pugmire.

Seriously, check it out if you haven't!

Now, for those who have never come across this game before, Pugmire is a sci-fi RPG set in the far, far future. Humanity is long gone, but dogs, cats, and others have evolved (possibly through the help of laboratory experimentation) into bipedal creatures living in a medieval-esque civilization. Bits and pieces of ancient technology have been discovered, referred to as magic, and are used as potent tools. Humanity is a myth that has taken on a god-like position to many of the good dogs, who are adventuring throughout the world in search of treasure, and knowledge of the lost and distant past.

We, as the players, know the truth, but the characters we play do not. However, while this world is very silly from our perspective, the flip side of that coin is that it can still be used to tell very serious stories. Because while we can sit there and laugh at the puns, and the misunderstandings of these adventuring canines, we can still get wrapped up in the drama of their lives. Whether it's the stray who's lost their pack time and time again until they can't get close to anyone, or the adopted young noble trying to prove he truly belongs among the city's purebred elites, or just watching the big, drooly mongrel sacrifice themselves to save their friends from certain doom, it's possible to take a ridiculous set up, and still tug on one's heartstrings with it.

In fact, I'd argue that it's a little easier in some ways. If you have an absurd setup for a story, it lowers the audience's guard somewhat, and makes them even more susceptible to plot twists and impactful moments because they simply aren't expecting those things.

A Final Note on Defying Expectations

Throughout this entry I have referred to The Absurd Played Straight as a type of comedy writing, because that is the typical reaction we have to taking the absurd at face value. If you see a black, undulating horror from the void beyond time rear up out of a summoning circle, and it gets a pat on the head while being referred to affectionately as Icky by the occultist it snuck up on, that is a jarring mismatch between tone and expectation. The result is that, more often than not, we laugh. Juxtaposition like that is funny.

But funny is not all this kind of story has to be.

Like I said above, what may seem fun and silly on the surface (because many absurd concepts are very silly) can often get serious or poignant once you've gotten the audience to dive in with you. To return to my own work, you can tell a gritty, horrors-of-war story rife with trauma and post-traumatic stress using my Army Men RPG, if that's the route you want to go. And, to be clear, the idea of your plastic army men toys breaking down while thinking about the squad mates they've lost on the line is absurd... but it's an absurdity that hits on a tragic truth, and lets you tell a story that might be too real with flesh-and-blood characters in a "normal" war story. Similarly, I've had to tell multiple buyers that Marked Territory is not a children's book, despite the absurd premise. Because when it comes time to throw down, as happens in every good noir mystery, Leo fights like an alley cat... and alley cats leave crushed skulls and spilled guts in their wake. There's not a lot of violence in his books, but when it happens it's nasty, brutal, and visceral, which hits the reader much harder because they're not really expecting it while reading a story about a Maine Coon solving an animal mystery in the heart of New York City.

Support The Literary Mercenary

For folks who just want to do their part to help keep me making more content, please subscribe/follow me in these locations:

- My Facebook

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Community Content Programs For RPGs Are Another Avenue For Authors To Get Paid

If you're an author, you know there are basically two roads to make money when it comes to writing stories. The first is to submit your work to a publisher, have them do the brunt of the heavy lifting (formatting, art, editing, distribution, etc.), and share the profits with them. The second is to go it alone, and to self-publish your work. You don't have to share the profits that way, and with the variety of tools available today there are all kinds of roads you can take to getting your books out there.

Pick your path, and start storytelling.

However, this hasn't been the case in the past for roleplaying games. For creators who've wanted to work in this field, you've either had to design your own game from the ground up, or work with a publisher who was willing to let you use their intellectual property. Sometimes they would have an open game license (or OGL) that lets you use parts of their game to make your own, but even those licenses don't let you use everything in an existing game.

If you've ever wanted to try your hand at writing stories for games like Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Pugmire, and others, though, there are some community content programs you should be aware of, though.

Who With A What Now?

A community content program is, essentially, a way for anyone willing to put in the time, energy, and sweat to create supplements for a roleplaying game, and sell them. These programs allow you to use the rules, setting, and other intellectual property as part of your supplements, giving you the creative freedom to add your own touches, flair, and stories to the setting.

Within the rules of the agreement, of course.

And then money?

Yep. As long as the content you create falls within the program's guidelines (every program has its own specific rules about what you can and can't do within their specific games), you are allowed to publish it through the community content program, and to sell it to the gaming community the same way you would other self-published work.

There are a few caveats, though.

The first is that if you create something through these programs, you don't get the rights to that material. It's made as part of that game's setting, and with their intellectual property, and all the rights to that content stay with the company. You'll still get paid for your sales, but the company might decide to make reference to your work in other editions, or outright re-publish it in later releases. And the parent company is more than allowed to do that without consulting you. Secondly, you can't just throw up anything your heart desires. Each community has specific rules about what kind of content you're allowed to make, and what sources you're allowed to draw on. In some cases you may be allowed to write additional rules, for example, but you may not be allowed to create new races, or to make new locations that have not been detailed in the game's canon. You may also not be allowed to put up fiction.

If you can work within those guidelines, though, and you're willing to sweat the details in order to create attractive, fun, playable content for some of your favorite games, then you should check out the Drive-Thru RPG Community Content Program rules. Remember, each one is unique, so make sure you read the fine print before you get started on your next project.

Also, if you'd like more information on tabletop RPGs (playing, running, and working in the field), tune-in to my sister blog Improved Initiative. And if you'd like to open up your options for making money writing whatever you want to, I'd also recommend taking a look at my previous posts Make Money Writing (By Joining InfoBarrel.com), and Want To Make Money Writing? Check Out Vocal!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing. If you've got advice on how to work within these programs, or if there's something else writers should know, feel free to leave it in the comments below. For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and to keep up with my latest releases follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to support my work, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, or Buy Me A Ko-Fi.