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Any time someone answers a question in improv with a shrug, or an “I don’t know”, they’re wimping. Or more precisely if you are on the receiving end of an idea or suggestion you roll with it and don’t just answer with something non-committal. This isn’t to say you need to dominate any writing room you’re in, but rather that you don’t just react passively. It’s Princess Leia moving from a captive and reactive character in A New Hope, to an active one when she grabs Luke’s blaster rifle and takes charge. In stories a character is an active participant when they generate ideas and make decisions, basically they don’t rely on others to do everything for them. The entire idea of Wimping and Pimping stems from the idea of being an active participant. Or at you may even be doing narrative triage in which case you really don’t get to pitch ideas but have to work with what you’re given. And even if you are the only one you’ll inevitably being taking into account the ideas and story pitched by others on the team.
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The latter being vital to larger teams where you aren’t the only writer. Rather in improv, they’re about relying on others to do the creative work and think up new ideas.īefore we go further, these technics apply to both writing and working with others. These two are very closely related, and not just because they rhyme. We’re going to cover four points lessons from improv. But with other people relying on us for scripts, it’s understandable that things are a little more contrived.Īnd speaking of contrived, how about some contrivances of our own for this lesson. It sucks that it’s rare that as writers we’re allowed to freely explore and see where characters take us. Or at least it is when it comes to video games. Writing on the other hand is about planning. Though it is not without consideration of what came before, nor what you’d like to see happen in the future. You as an actor choose your actions based on what is happening before you.
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Mainly because improv is about immediacy. But applying some of those lessons to writing requires a bit of thought. Of course they’re also useful for helping you understand and empathize with others, or just do better at team work. They can be great fun, improve your ability to communicate with others or perform. Take a look online and you’ll find plenty of improv classes or lessons. You have to listen in order to see where the other person is going.” - J.B. Some people just concentrate on what they’re going to say next, and they’re not listening. “Improv relies just as much on listening as it does you delivering dialogue. That’s why we’re looking to Improv for how we can improve our game writing.