Sometimes it takes an unusual source of inspiration to kick that stubborn writer’s block to the curb. Check out the second in a series of articles sharing weird ways to improve your writing craft.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been writing; every creative struggles with a mental block at some point. Some days, the inspiration flows freely—and sometimes, you wonder if you ever had it at all.
In this special multi-article series, I’m going to dive deeper into some of the strangest methods that I’ve used to generate writing motivation and refine my craft. You’ll probably laugh at some of them, and you may have even tried one or two. I’m hoping, however, that we’ll find at least a few new tools to add to your artillery. Let’s boost that writing confidence and get your stories told!
My Unusual Method #1, Google Slides Outlines, shared a new way to push past that intimidation factor when starting a new story. Feel free to check it out if that idea intrigues you!
Otherwise, embrace your innermost nerd (as all the best sci-fi and fantasy writers do) and grab the fanciest set of dice you can find to prepare yourself for the next Unusual Method.
Unusual Method #2: Playing Dungeons & Dragons (or other Tabletop Role-Playing Games—TTRPGs).
Though it has surged in popularity this year following the release of the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the game itself has been around since the 70s. Dozens of publications have been released for Dungeon Masters and their players to explore new worlds, monsters, character races, abilities, spells, and more. The universe of Dungeons & Dragons is vast and ever-expanding.
Here’s a brief explanation of the game for those who have never played: the player that the group has designated as “Dungeon Master” (or “DM” for short) designs a campaign—story—for the rest of the group to play through. The other participants use the game’s rules and guidelines to build their own characters, complete with backstories, motivations, personality traits, weaknesses, and supplies. The DM introduces them into the world through vivid descriptions, then presents the players with a variety of choices to begin their adventure.
There are several different ways that D&D can help us improve our writing craft—here are just four that I’ve noticed since I started playing in February.
First, you practice in-depth characterization as you design and then roleplay your characters.
I didn’t know what to expect from my first D&D campaign, so I played it safe by designing my book’s protagonist, Khona, as my character. She had the same backstory, horse companion, and magical abilities as in the book. Throughout the 14 multi-hour sessions we played before she ultimately died, I got the chance to imagine myself in her place under a variety of different circumstances, test the boundaries of the character, and get to know her better.
Roleplaying as my character wasn’t anything fancy; I didn’t ever dress like I thought she would, or talk in a different accent (even though I’ve always imagined her sounding very Scottish). But I did learn how to step into her train of thought, test her logical thinking, and develop her hobbies. For example, as a farmer’s daughter, she loved to forage for herbs and edible plants.
Khona’s character in my book became deeper and more tangible to me as I approached her development in different ways. The experiment proved extremely effective, and helped me to finish my manuscript faster because in each scene, I knew exactly what she would choose, what she was afraid of, and what she would feel as events transpired.
Second, your imagery and world-building skills are put to the test.
The words of the DM are often the only thing that orient your character in the realm of the story (visual tools can be used, but nothing replaces the descriptions and narrative). As you pay attention to the way the DM builds the world for you, your sensory skills and imagination are challenged.
This is a great opportunity to experience the power of descriptive words through the reader’s perspective. It helps you better discern the differences between sharing useful information and info dumping as you try to uncover the DM’s plot clues and devices. When I return to writing projects after a recent session of D&D, I find it easier to put myself in the reader’s perspective and uncover more places where the writing lacks clarity or conciseness.
Third, and this is a big one, the mechanics of the D&D world teach you how to keep your character accountable.
For being the most open-world game you will probably ever play, D&D has a surprisingly sound structure when it comes to things like magic, natural character abilities, currency, travel, character moods, rest/exhaustion, and of course, combat. When playing within the game structure, your character will inevitably have both internal and external challenges they run into as they make choices and try to resolve the campaign. The dice-rolling game mechanics ensure that for every strength, there is a weakness, and in every action there are odds for both success and failure. As a writer, this sort of accountabilityis huge for your readers; it keeps your characters realistic and consistent throughout the story, making them more relatable.
I particularly enjoy testing the boundaries of my characters’ skills by rolling a die to see how well they perform a certain task, such as sneaking past an enemy, cooking a meal, pitching a tent, or climbing a tree; a character’s skills will play into each of these things. Khona has a very high “Nature” skill as a farmer’s daughter, but rolling the dice means that no matter how good she is at foraging, there is always the chance she will make a mistake. High proficiency in a skill simply means that her odds of messing up are lower, never zero.
We need to write stories that adhere to some kind of rule structure—and characters that have consistent strengths and weaknesses—in order to strengthen the believability and the impact. It gives the reader a set of expectations to understand how the world works, regardless of whether it has magic or not.
Consider this: the first Harry Potter book came out in 1997 (25 years ago), but today’s readers everywhere still mourn over not receiving their own letter to Hogwarts. Why? Because the world of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and J.K. Rowling’s other lovable characters, as fantastic and imaginary as it is, adheres to a predictable structure that every reader can imagine themselves in. The same can be said for stories like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Ready Player One, Star Trek, The Giver, Ender’s Game, and even A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Our worlds need structure, and our characters need to make mistakes in order to change. Even if you’ve never played D&D and have no intention of doing so, I suggest taking a look at the list of Skills from the game and considering how you might use them to build your character’s accountability. The six Abilities and their associated Skills in D&D are:
- Strength (bodily power, athletic training, extent of one’s raw physical force)
- Athletics
- Dexterity (agility, reflexes, and balance)
- Acrobatics
- Sleight of Hand
- Stealth
- Intelligence (mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason)
- Arcana
- History
- Investigation
- Nature
- Religion
- Wisdom (attunement to the world around you, perception, intuition)
- Animal Handling
- Insight
- Medicine
- Perception
- Survival
- Charisma (interactions; charm, confidence, eloquence, etc.)
- Deception
- Intimidation
- Performance
- Persuasion
- Constitution (health, stamina, vital force)
Fourth and finally, roleplaying as your character is quite a big step outside of most people’s comfort zones—particularly if you’re an introverted writer like me.
For all the writers out there with great stories who have yet to be published, every opportunity to step outside your comfort zone and share your creativity with others is one to take advantage of. I loved getting to share pieces of Khona with the other players and see how they reacted to her character, but those first few sessions of sharing were very intimidating.
The best storytellers are not afraid to get uncomfortableas all the best stories share elements of discomfort. Through our characters, our worlds, our conflicts, and our resolutions, we explore every faucet of the human experience and demonstrate how even the hardest of days and the darkest of nights can be overcome with enough courage, perseverance, strength, and hope. That requires us to face fears, darkness, demons, and sometimes stigmatized (potentially even controversial) topics.
Let’s sum this up.
As you continue seeking out new ways to improve your writing, I encourage you to explore the world of Dungeons & Dragons. These are four of the most impactful storytelling lessons I’ve learned while playing it over the past eight months:
- Designing and roleplaying your character helps you get to know them better.
- Listening to and/or participating in a roleplaying session improves your grasp on worldbuilding and imagery-rich, immersive narratives.
- Holding your character accountable through realistic strengths and weaknesses, with the ever-present possibility of failure looming over their heads, makes them realistic and relatable. Providing your world with structure helps readers imagine themselves as part of it.
- Regularly stepping outside of your comfort zone is an important and necessary part of being a writer.
The most important thing to prioritize when improving your writing is finding the tools that make your workflow easier; after all, there’s a reason most people use the expression “I could write a book about it!” to exaggerate or emphasize. It’s going to take a considerable amount of time and effort. Find and use the methods that will set you up for success.
Hannah L. Ackerman
Hannah L. Ackerman Portfolio 
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