4 Narrative Video Games for Writers by Alex English

Here in Paris, we've been in Coronavirus lockdown for nearly three weeks, which should be the perfect opportunity to read lots of wonderful books. Unfortunately for me and many people I know, I've completely lost my reading mojo. Instead, I've been losing myself in the stories of video games.

There are heaps of brilliant narrative games around. Here are a few of my current favourites.

1. Thimbleweed Park is a nostalgic, pixelated murder-mystery that harks back to Monkey Island and many favourite games of my 1980s childhood. There are plenty of clever puzzles to work out and a whole lot of humour.

2. Firewatch is a spooky, Stranger Things-esque adventure game with a great script and stunning visuals. You play a fire lookout, stuck on your own in a national park and investigating peculiar occurrences. I haven't played to the end so I have no idea what's really going on here... but safe to say I'm hooked!

3. Night in the Woods is another character and story-focused adventure game. You play Mae, a college drop-out who has returned home to find things in Possum Springs are not quite what they used to be. The tone is melancholy and the soundtrack is beautiful.

4. Fallen London is my latest favourite. It's a free, online text-based adventure set in a grimy alternative Victorian London. The perfect place to lose yourself when you can't get out in the real world.


Alex English's new middle-grade series SKY PIRATES launches in July 2020 with Simon & Schuster. 

Her picture books Yuck said the Yak, Pirates Don't Drive Diggers and Mine Mine Mine said the Porcupine are published by Maverick Arts Publishing. More of her picture books are forthcoming in 2021/2022.
 
www.alexenglish.co.uk
www.twitter.com/alexthepink

Playing games by Tracy Darnton

I love games and puzzles. I play board games, do quizzes, sudoku, codewords, word games. My idea of fun is an afternoon in an escape room. My favourite board game shop has opened a branch a mere ten minutes walk away from my house - with a cappuccino machine! I realise this is a wholly irresponsible way to spend my time...


But, in my defence, I think all these games and puzzles keep me sharper and feed into my writing. I write complex plots. I don't write much description. I like the satisfaction of a complex web and clues well-laid. Someone in my crit group spotted a subtle clue early on my WIP the other day which gave me a huge amount of satisfaction. But I'm also convinced that 'playing' aids creativity and we can all benefit from it. One day I shall do a PhD on the link between playing games and writing books. These are the things that work for me as a writer, that keep me fired up to keep writing. And you have to do what works for you. 

An escape room proprietor asked me recently if I'd be interested in being his literary consultant on a Jane Austen themed escape room. One of my kids blurted out before I could kick him in the shins: "Pay her? You don't need to pay her to do that - it's, like, her fantasy dream job!" 


Even now as I write this, my head is whirring with puzzles based around dance cards, harpsichords, smelling salts and the Napoleonic wars - and a touch of Mr Darcy - whether or not the 'job' materialises. I've given up caring whether this is normal behaviour for a woman of my age.


This time of year is peak game season. The clans are gathered back at home, round a warm radiator and a biscuit selection tin. Visitors have to be polite and join in. Here are my suggestions (updated from last year's blog) of literary games for this festive season: 

Quiz! Inspired by being on an author team for the South West heat of #kidslitquiz in November, I've got this little lovely to try: 

The Hidden Books game. 

I had a completely lost morning in November when this year's hidden book titles puzzle was released by National Book Tokens. Luckily, my publisher gave me an extra clue to my two outstanding ones to put me out of my agony and make sure I got back to working on my actual book. Have a go, but be warned they're addictive. Hidden Books Puzzle

The Great Penguin Bookchase – I bought this at the Hay festival many years ago and it’s basically trivial pursuit but much harder and slower with usually at least one visitor disappointed that no actual penguins feature. The kids groan when I get this one out but don’t be deterred because, look, you collect little books for your little bookshelf! How sweet is that!

Story consequences – pen and paper.

First fold – Once upon a time there was a …………..

Second fold - who wanted to ………

Third fold - But ….

Fourth fold - So he/she …..

Fifth fold - And in the end….

Who am I?

We played a version of this on a Sassie winter retreat and it works well for large groups. Split into two teams. Everyone secretly writes down at least five authors or literary characters or any famous people if you want to widen it out, on slips of paper which are folded and placed in a bowl/hat/Christmas stocking.

Each team takes it in turn with one member having one minute to describe as many of the names on the slips as they can without using the actual words written down. They get a point for each correct one and they can pass once. Carry on until all the slips have been used once. 

Now, it gets trickier. All slips go back into the bowl. This time you’re only allowed to use one word to describe the person/character – though remember that everyone will have heard them described in full once. Carry on until all the slips have been guessed. 

The final round has all the names back in the bowl but this time no words are allowed - only actions. The team with the most points across all three rounds wins.

Don’t forget all the classic word games like Pass the bomb! Taboo! Bananagrams, Boggle, Scrabble and Codewords.  And of course no Christmas games session would be complete without Charades! Books only. 

Quick round of Elmer bingo, anyone?

Merry Christmas!

Tracy Darnton is the author of The Truth About Lies. Her next novel, The Rules, is based on her short story in I'll Be Home for Christmas. She wastes way too much time doing games and puzzles.

Literary games for the festive season by Tracy Darnton

Christmas jumper? Check! Tin of Quality Street? Check! Captive audience? Check!

It’s literary games time! I come from a family that plays games. Big time. I could open a board game café with all the ones in the cupboard. And at Christmas time I can make even more people join in because it’s my house and they’re trapped here for the festive season. So here are my suggestions:

Quiz! The papers are full of these as Christmas approaches. I like The Guardian Review Literary Quiz and The Telegraph does a good one too. Previous years are available online so try this Art and Literature quiz for kids from The Telegraph and this Fantasy Teen quiz in The Guardian.

The book tokens hidden clues game. Every Christmas, the book token people produce a picture rammed with references to twenty book titles. Some are obvious - settings like Gilead and Darkest Peru on a signpost for instance - but others require more lateral thinking like 'extremely angry vineyard'. Previous years puzzles are on the site along with a simpler version for kids. Check it out at: Hidden Clues 

The Great Penguin Bookchase

I bought this at the Hay festival many years ago and it’s basically trivial pursuit but much harder and slower with usually at least one visitor disappointed that no actual penguins feature. The kids groan when I get this one out but don’t be deterred because, look, you collect little books for your little bookshelf! How cute is that!

Story consequences – pen and paper.

First fold – Once upon a time there was a ...

Second fold - who wanted to ...

Third fold - But ...

Fourth fold - So he/she ...

Fifth fold - And in the end …

Who am I?

We play this on the Folly Farm winter retreat and it works well for large groups. Split into two teams. Everyone secretly writes down at least four authors, literary characters or any famous people if you want to widen it out, on slips of paper which are folded and placed in a bowl/Christmas stocking.

Each team takes it in turn with one member having one minute to describe as many of the names on the slips as they can without using the actual words written down. They get a point for each correct one and they can pass once. Carry on until all the slips have been used once. Now it gets trickier. All slips go back into the bowl.

This time you're only allowed to use one word to describe the person/character - though remember that everyone will have heard them described in full once. Carry on until all the slips have been guessed. 

The final round has all the names back in the bowl but this time no words are allowed - only actions. The team with the most points across all three rounds wins.

Don’t forget all the classic word games like Pass the bomb! Taboo! Bananagrams, Boggle, Scrabble and Codewords.  And of course no Christmas games session would be complete without Charades! Books only.

Quick round of Elmer bingo, anyone?

Merry Christmas!

You can follow Tracy on Twitter @TracyDarnton

Memory Games - Tracy Darnton

I’ve been having fun lately playing memory games as part of the promotion of The Truth About Lies and thought I’d share some of them.

First up - the memory game, or Kim’s game.  

This gets its name from Kipling’s book when Kim is taught to quickly assess the precious stones on a tray. We played this at parties when I was little - just after hunt the thimble and before pin the tail on the donkey (all part of my wild, misspent youth). I use items which appear in the book such as a postcard and lipstick, give 10 seconds and then take one away.

Kids these days are more likely to have adrenaline-rush trampolining parties so when I used it at a school book camp with Year 10s I did have to explain it, but they really enjoyed playing it. We then used the items as the basis for their own stories in a mini-workshop where each of them picked one from the tray and answered a fun set of questions about who it belonged to before putting it into a short piece of writing.

So far the prize for speedily spotting what was missing goes to the ladies at my recent trip to the Bath WI book club who had played it in childhood and were much quicker than the teenagers.

My next activity is memory pairs using the blank cards (from Tiger) which the kids can illustrate to match books and characters as pairs.

While making the cards was fun it requires a bit too much time and space to play. Lesson learnt.

DIY MEMORY PAIRS

I’ve also been teaching quick techniques for remembering. I wrote an article for TEEN Breathe magazine called Picture the Memory and I’ve been using that and the fab illustrations to demonstrate how to remember names, PIN numbers and lists by assigning striking images. That went down well at the WI too.

The brain and I out and about

With the help of my trusty crocheted brain all these games serve as a warm-up for discussing memory. I’ve touched on how memories are formed and recalled and are dynamic rather than a true recollection of events, how we see things through a prism of our own ego and whether we are contracting out our memory to our phones and Google etc. There is so much to talk about and people can very much contribute with their own experiences of memory and what they themselves find easy or difficult to remember.

So what have I learnt so far with the broad range of 13 to 73 year old readers I’ve engaged with?

Mainly that an activity based around your book seems to appeal to everyone, young and old, and is a good ice-breaker, if nothing else. I’ve learnt that there’s plenty to discuss about memory which can easily be tailored for the age of the participants. I should probably develop a PowerPoint which would widen what I could talk about and the potential size of the audience, maybe exploring our memory for faces and images. But so far I’ve enjoyed the more hands-on playful approach with small groups.

So how did you do at the Memory Game? No looking back, but what’s missing?

Tracy Darnton's The Truth About Lies is a YA thriller about the nature of memory. Follow Tracy on Twitter @TracyDarnton