I have been an avid fan of fantasy novels, comics, and video games for most of my life. My favorite book is The Hobbit, which I first read in the 7th grade, and that set me off on an adventure where I hunted for new worlds that I could get lost in.
It was rabbit hole season. Oooooh…*finds hole…*jumps.
The first such rabbit hole was the original Dragonlance book series, The Dragonlance Chronicles. I feasted on literary Draconians for months, as I followed the companions on their adventures to save the world of Krynn from the Dragon Queen.
This was right about the time I was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons, a TTRPG (tabletop roleplaying game). D&D has changed a LOT over the years, but the essence of the game is derived from the idea that a group of players must stop something bad from happening in a made-up fantasy world filled with monsters and magic. Hash the details of that out however you want, and the variations are endless, but it was about playing a hero and doing cool stuff using dice, miniatures, and maps. It all relies heavily on using your imagination, also known as “theater of the mind” in the D&D world.
The person who runs the show is called a dungeon master. This is the person who attempts to control the chaos and apply some sense of mechanical structure to this beautiful mess.
This was my first real taste of creative writing. For me, this didn’t happen until much later in life, but I started being that person. I started being a dungeon master. I started writing quests, storylines, secrets, deep character backgrounds, and regional lore. I started building my own little worlds that players could explore.
The more I read, the more I would gain inspiration to create works of my own. Being a dungeon master gives you a creative sandbox to play in…a test lab, so to speak. I write, they play, I learn, and I write again.
If you like to write stories, then running a D&D game where you can offer that work to players as they explore their world is the ultimate testing grounds for that work. It is organic, it is honest, and it can be edited and scaled in real time. Characters and stories can be honed to perfection over the course of multiple sessions, and even multiple campaigns.
I liken this to a great joke. A comedian will often tell the same basic joke to vastly different audiences as they travel around the country, making subtle changes to the joke and slowly crafting it over time. Eventually the joke is perfect and good enough for all audiences, and it is then used as part of something like a Netflix special.
Crafting characters and storylines as they are interacted with by players over and over, sometimes even in different settings, is like honing the perfect joke. You get to a point where you just know it is going to work.
I am currently running Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden for my group. It's one of the best D&D adventures ever released, and it's been a great sandbox to play in. I use this campaign as a creative tool to produce some of my content, so please check my YouTube channel and sign up for my free newsletter if you would like to see more about this evolving project.
So, all of this is really cool right? Sure. But how in the world did I get the idea to try and turn this into a business? Well, there is a longer story that’s part of that narrative, and I won’t discuss it here because it would turn this blog post into a novel, but the short of it is that I came to the realization that I was ready to roll the dice and work for myself.
Getting good at something so I can get a raise, or a scheduling advantage, has real value, and it is a perfectly acceptable and well-respected way to earn a living. It is what most people do. I just didn’t fit into that box anymore. Maybe my introspective journey was pandemic induced, but something inside me wanted to be on the other side of that financial relationship, and I was willing to take the risk.
I am not a tech guy. I am not an inventor (at least not in the physical sense). I thought about being a consultant, but that would require me to work in my old field (managing bars and restaurants) and that’s kind of a hard NO. If I already had wealth, I would be building more of it, not writing this blog. So, what in the world am I going to do?
Oh…I know…I will start a business where I write about stuff. Then I will make YouTube videos on some of the stuff I write about. Then I will sort of bring it all together with a website and social media platforms, where I’ll generate revenue through advertising and monetization. Then I will be able to create content that people can view for free and slowly build a conversation on how to become a professional storyteller.
Yup. That’s it. *Looks at business plan on piece of scrap paper.
*Tells family and friends.
*Everybody thinks I am crazy.
*I do it anyway.
And this is the beginning of my journey as a content creator, freelance writer, blogger, and entrepreneur. I will be sharing my challenges, failures, lessons, and successes, along the way. Think of this as part content creation and part docuseries, with a focus on growing the conversation so we can all learn from the experience.
I bet you thought this was going to end with some “secret to my success” kind of thing. You did, didn’t you? Sorry to disappoint you. The secret is that it is not about the end. It is about the beginning.
Just start.
Cheers.
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