Did I tell you I love to play video games? Of course, I can’t play the ones in first person because I have motion sickness. Yep, it’s not just for amusement parks or long rides. For me, it’s that same sickening feeling when I’m not playing a third person video game.
I love the RPG games because I’m always surprised to see where they lead me. It didn’t take me long to realize some great authors are responsible for these quests. And character development? Wow! Most of the games I play involve killing people. That’s something I would never think to do in my own life. I don’t own a weapon and don’t believe in violence. I’m the one who always looks for alternative methods while I’m bursting inside to do like the RPG characters.
That’s what I like about writing. I can be young, old or any character in my books. I can be all of them – I’m omnipotent. As my story develops, I can be the hero or the victim. I can save the hour or make it worse than it was before my fingers touched the keys. There’s this great feeling of power when I write. I meet one challenge and then I’m faced with another, just like in my video games.
However, sometimes I have to repeat a “level” several times before I get it right. I decide exactly where I want to go with my story, but after I get there I realize that’s not where I want to be at all. But, I don’t throw the game away because I can’t beat the level. I just try the level again.
When I play my RPG’s (and no, I don’t do MMORPG’s) I have a goal, at least for each level. When I reach that goal, I quit. There’s no sense pushing it, right? Sometimes the goal is easily attainable, but most of the time it requires several chapters to set up the goal and several more to reach it.
Another thing I love about playing RPG’s, is that I’m sometimes surprised at who I meet along the way. This reminds me very much of real life scenarios. For my own personal information, I’ve been asking friends and co-workers for years where they met their significant others. Now these are people that I feel comfortable asking, of course, but I’m always surprised by their answers. Some have been married for years, yet met in the most unlikely places (considering where they are now). I’m also surprised by the type of people they were and who they are now. Some of my friends were WILD in their younger years; a few still are, I’m afraid. So when an RPG character sometimes does something I don’t expect, I’m as shocked as when my friends tell me where they met.
I guess the best part of the RPG’s is when I beat the game. It doesn’t happen that often and I take soooo much longer than my children to beat it, but I’m proud to finish just the same. That’s how I feel when I finish a book. I sit back and allow the glow to wash over me. Sometimes there are tears, like I’m leaving an old friend. Other times I’m dancing around the room for joy. And the best part about this? Those are the same reactions that my “informal editors” (my friends whom I have preyed upon to read my next work) act as well. Sometimes they cry and sometimes they are elated! That’s when I know I can’t stop writing. And it’s just like when I finish a good RPG – I can’t wait for the next one to begin!
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