OK today for inspiration Tuesday I want to do something a little different. The video is the trailer for the video game Mass Effect 3. The final game in a space trilogy that was released for the Xbox 360 last year. I’ve played this game and to talk about how immersive an experience it was would be an understatement. I WAS commander Shepherd and I was saving the freaking galaxy!
For the purposes of our blog today, I want you to take a look at each scene in the video. Each is actual footage or a rendered scene from the game. Now imagine these as scenes in your novel. Listen to the video again, this time without the music. Does it have the same impact for you? Probably not. Because music moves us on a level that images do not.
Take any given scene, and write several paragraphs describing what you see. Now add one paragraph that takes the story in any direction you want.
Note the variety in all the scenes, there’s love making, death, alien armadas, ground action. Does your novel contain such scenes. Listen to the dialogue. Someone had to write it for the video game. What dialogue would you change? What would you add to each snippet of action you see?
It’s inspiration Tuesday ladies and gentlemen, and this is how we roll.
D