Writing Writing Freeform Larps

Genesis

I’ve thought about writing a book about writing murder mystery games for some years. Something that would help our authors at Freeform Games, who often need guidance.

While I directed them to various freeform-writing articles I’ve written over the years, they were scattered across the Internet and had a few gaps. I wanted to pull them all together into one place and fill the gaps.

At the same time, everything I planned to write about writing a murder mystery game also applied to freeforms. Only there was more to include in a book about freeforms – I often use rules and ideas in a freeform that I would never use in one of our murder mysteries (because of the extra complexity).

As I didn’t want to write two (very similar books), and because I wanted to include those extra bits, the book became Writing Freeform Larps (with sections that talk about murder mysteries).

Writing

I started by grabbing everything I had previously written and dumping it into a folder on my laptop.

I then started a blank MS Word document and created the chapters I thought I would need. I based the chapters on the basic process I’ve used for years. Not all steps needed a chapter, but I knew I would have chapters on writing plots, characters, and rules/mechanics.

Once I had a rough structure, I dropped in the articles I felt went in that section.

One thing I did was change the emphasis of those articles. I realised from the beginning that this book was how I wrote freeform larps. Other writers do things differently, and I didn’t want the book to come over as if my way was the only way to write freeform larps.

As I worked through the book, I realised that my articles didn’t cover as much as I thought they did: there were more gaps than I had thought. So I kept myself busy for a few weeks filling those gaps.

Early drafts

By January 2023, I had a first draft ready and asked for comments via the ukfreeforms mailing list. I got some great feedback – and spent the next month incorporating it. (I find the process of receiving feedback, and my reaction to it, interesting. I wrote about it on my blog.)

By mid-February, I had incorporated the comments and uploaded the files to Lulu. I created a temporary cover using Lulu’s own cover generator, and ten days later, I had a print copy in my hands.

I then read through the whole thing, making notes for things that didn’t work. For example, I needed an extra page early, so the chapters all started on an odd-page number.

I pulled together a better cover using Affinity Publisher and had a second draft to review in early March. (While it might have been a “better” cover, it’s not a great cover. It’s workable and legible, but designing covers isn’t my forte.)

This time, while the interior was fine, I wanted to tweak the cover as it felt unbalanced. So I did that and ordered another test copy. While waiting, I uploaded the pdfs to Itch.io and DriveThruRPG and submitted the files for approval.

Trying out different covers