WWJCD?
Filed under Writing Journal on December 8, 2004
Keywords: Dungeons and Dragons, Maiden of Pain
Several of the revisions Phil noted in his notes deal with expanding fight scenes. His advice? “WWJCD?”, which stands for “What Would Jackie Chan Do?”. Translation: fights are never as simple as “left, right, knockout.” At least not interesting ones, and why even include a fight unless it’s going to be interesting. Fans of Jackie Chan movies are familiar with how frenetic and dizzying his fights are. He is all over the room, dancing up walls, flipping and tossing furniture, using his opponents against each other. I get tired just watching them.
I think my biggest problem is struggling against the whole turn-based, fighting in rounds system D&D uses. As a long-time player and DM, it’s pretty deeply engrained, but that doesn’t translate very well into a literary framework. I can see why some authors are leery of statting out their characters. It makes it that much easier to bind oneself by the rules of the game, and while you don’t want to offend readers familiar with the rules, you’re writing a story, not a gaming product.
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