Terry Borst is a terrific writer of new media and motion picture screenplays. I met Terry in the mid-1990’s when I was working as a multimedia publisher. With a college major in English and an impressive resume of writing credits to his name, I thought it would be fun to touch base with Terry again after so many years to see what he’s been up to. If you’re a fan of interactive stories, Hollywood movies, or educational simulations, you’ll enjoy what Terry had to share. Read on!
Q: What types of writing projects are you working on these days?
A: Books! I’m currently co-writing my second book for Focal Press, on the topic of serious game and simulation development and production (from an independent game/low budget perspective). The book will probably be published in late 2009 or early 2010, and follows up on my earlier co-written book, Story and Simulations for Serious Games. (See the Amazon listing, or go to my LinkedIn page or terryborst.com to find out more).
The 2 books derive from several of the projects I’ve worked on the last few years: scripting videogame simulations for the military and first responders. These are pretty exciting because, as a writer, you get to enter new worlds and then see if you can build a convincing enough replica for professionals to test out tactical and strategic decision-making. You’re quite involved with the design of the experience from the ground up, which is very creatively satisfying.
Q: Tell us about some of your previous projects.
A: For 20+ years, I’ve worked as a professional screenwriter and scriptwriter. I co-wrote a sequel to the feature film MIDNIGHT RUN, and for years wrote episodes of a BBC action-adventure series syndicated in dozens of countries (which I still receive royalties for). I scripted other independent and TV films, and got paid to write a lot of feature screenplays and pilot scripts that didn’t get produced. And more than a decade ago, I got hired to co-write scripts for one of the most popular videogames in the ’90s: WING COMMANDER. I’ve written scripts for other entertainment videogames since then, before the recent migration to the simulations mentioned previously. (You can find out much more about these titles on my website).
Q: What inspires you as an artist?
A: I think it’s impossible to answer this without lapsing into gauzy sorts of cliches. Life inspires me; great art inspires me; all those moments when “a terrible beauty is born” (to quote Yeats).
Q: What creative mediums do you prefer to work in–and why?
A: While I may aspire to art, I pride myself on being a professional writer – and so I prefer to work in creative mediums where I get paid! That said, there’s nothing like executing a feature screenplay really well: creating a great story arc within a contained world is an incredible challenge. I believe in art that takes us on a journey and provides closure: a great painting or sculpture or piece of music can do this, and a feature screenplay is a kind of sculpture through time and space.
Q: Briefly describe your creative process–how do you get your ideas…how to you develop that idea…what steps do you take to bring that idea to lifeﾅwhat tools do you use?
A: Ideas are everywhere: the trick (for new, original work) is to find the ones you’re willing to obsess about. If I’ve got an obsession, then I keep thinking about it, and start to think about the kind of journey that can be taken within this obsession. If necessary, I’ll do research, and I’ll start writing down ideas about scenes, parts of scenes, and characters. You build something like this over time, and eventually you try to find some dramatic structure for the story that’s been accreting.
I’ve been fortunate that most of the work I’ve been doing the last 15 years has been work for hire. So the initial concept for the project might not start with me. Still, I have to brainstorm how to get into and get out of a scene. Or, I might know that I want a videogame player to undertake a new mission. But what’s the setup for the mission? And what obstacles will confront the player on the mission? Ideas are then frequently found by 1) figuring out the obvious way to reach my goal in a scene or sequence, and 2) then throwing out the obvious way and looking for the surprising way to reach my goal.
As to tools: At a very early stage, I still use 3×5 index cards to capture story beats, scenes, moments, etc. But I’ve also used StoryView to construct outlines, and I’ll use Word for other outlines. Then it’s on to Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter, or sometimes other tools for more interactive projects. These days, you could use a tool like Google Notes and use your cellphone to outline acts or missions or scenes.
Q: Do stories really need to be told interactively? What’s the advantage of this medium?
A: Interactive storytelling offers us (as creators) a new way to engage the “receiver”. We can create new kinds of immersive narratives, and entertain and teach in ways we never could before. WORLD OF WARCRAFT, BIOSHOCK and GUITAR HERO all create unique and even profound experiences for players, just as The Canterbury Tales, Dream of the Red Chamber, Middlemarch, Waiting for Godot and 2001: A Space Odyssey created unforgettable experiences for earlier generations.
Q: Looking back on all that you have accomplished throughout your career, what are you most proud of working on? Would you do anything differently if you could? What was your greatest lesson learned?
A: Most proud of working on: 1) The WING COMMANDER series, because we really did break some new ground; 2) a screenplay for a historical novel called The War Train, which sadly went unproduced to a regime change at Paramount.
Would I do anything differently? Probably lots, but all of this is about career management decisions, and hindsight is always 20-20.
Greatest lesson(s) learned: 1) You can’t write too much. 2) Plan for a career: always consider where you want to go, and what can get you there. 3) Be entrepreneurial.
Q: Any advice you’d like to provide to people hoping to find work as a digital storyteller?
A: I think you have to find your own work. The tools are within everyone’s reach now. You should know how to shoot video, edit media, and work in Flash. If you’re a good enough creator, you can launch your own YouTube channel and wind up making money. If you’re just starting out, you need to wear multiple hats to succeed.
Q: Do you know of any useful online resources for budding digital storytellers?
A: Interestingly, my wife (Carolyn Handler Miller) actually wrote the book (literally!) on digital storytelling, titling it Digital Storytelling. You’ll find a lot of references to it online. That might be a start.
Game Developer magazine has most of its content online; gamestudies.org gets into the more esoteric side of videogame theory.
Assuming we’re really talking about interactive storytelling, then the novice creator needs to immerse him- or herself in interactive experiences. Play games, spend time in Second Life, study webisodics. You should discover what’s unique about interactivity when married to narrative (whether structured or post-hoc).
As a college English major, I always knew that reading the Cliff’s Notes was no substitute for reading the book. Get in the game! as the console advertisement used to go.
Links:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/tborst
http://www.terryborst.com
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