Writing Partners

In 1974, inspired by mythological tales and the writing of contemporary fantasy authors, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created a system to build stories around the miniature-figurine wargame, Chainmail. This system developed into the first modern roleplaying game, known today as Dungeons and Dragons or D&D. The game provides individuals the chance to create a story around personalized characters in a shared narrative. Many narratives are started by a pre-written adventure hook, but each story is open enough to allow the characters to take on a life of their own.

The adventures of characters such as these have been developed through the imagination of the players at Chapman Branch Library in Salt Lake City. Each week, librarian Sean Carrico assists a group of local teens in the development of an ongoing tale. Recently, however, the pace has slightly changed—the players, interested in creating their own little corner of the D&D world, have given up one game night a month to start the building process.

Sean and the Community Writing Center’s Jeremy Remy provide feedback and time for these young writers to inscribe their ideas. Moreover, they assist in giving the tools needed to help write such an epic: discussing the invention ideas, working out character hooks and motives, developing and structuring plot, revision techniques, game design, and editing skills.

The writers themselves were already familiar with a variety of character creation tools and the plot-driven storytelling necessary to play Dungeons and Dragons. Their experience as players has helped make them quick to pick up on the methods used to create a story.