All posts by Josiah

About Josiah

Josiah Lebowitz is a writer and game designer. He currently operates his own indie studio (Pen and Sword Games) while teaching game design and doing contract work for various other companies. His past projects include tie-in novellas for EverQuest Next, the game Car Washer: Summer of the Ninja, and the books Interactive Storytelling for Video Games and The Verities Silex trilogy.

Don’t Give Too Much Away

One of the trickier things to get down as a writer is how to handle plot twists. Specifically, the buildup and reveal. If you don’t foreshadow a plot twist, it will probably catch everyone by surprise, but it can end up feeling forced. On the other hand, a well foreshadowed plot twist will fit naturally with the story progression, but you run the risk of giving away the twist long before it happens. Being able to adequately foreshadow a plot twist without ruining the surprise isn’t easy. I’m better than some, but I wouldn’t consider myself anywhere near Rowling’s level. Anyway, how I want to handle certain plot twists and reveals is just something I’ve been thinking about lately. So far, I think they’ll work well. But there’s no way to tell for sure until the game is finished and I start getting some feedback. Of course, it’s not only the game itself, I need to be careful what I say on this blog as well…