Someone asked me recently about breaking into the video game industry as a writer / narrative designer. There's so, so much good advice out there that I only tend to hit this topic on rare occasion. But it's been a while, so let's go!

(Why my answer is worth anything: I've been doing this for about fifteen years and I've hired a lot of writers and editors. Why my answer isn't worth anything: My view of the industry is fairly narrow and I haven't tried to break in for a while, so I'm arguably out of date.)
First: Write, write well, and write video games. Published non-games material is great, but at this point there's no reason not to put together a Twine game or similar to add to your portfolio. Show you're interested in the medium.
If you're applying to a job that requires a writing test (most companies serious about narrative will require one), do what the test says. Follow instructions. Show you can deliver what your client is asking for. Do it well.
If you're submitting other samples, make them diverse in style / tone / character voice--show range. If you want to be artsy and experimental, you can INCLUDE that but it shouldn't be the focus. I want to know someone can tell a straightforward story adeptly. Basics first!
I'm going to highlight that "character voice" part for a second. A lot of game writing is dialog writing. If your characters all sound the same, you've got a problem. Plenty of other advice out there on how to differentiate voice, so I won't belabor the point.
Also, uh, don't offer up samples that aren't your best. If you're a mediocre humor writer and the company doesn't specifically need funny writers, don't include your mediocre "funny" sample.
I always prefer to see a writer who has some professional experience already--even if it's not in video games. Journalism, pen-and-paper games, advertising writing, whatever. Give me proof that you can write for an editor, on deadline, and get paid.
Why does this matter? Because some writers are brilliant but when they arrive in an office and are told to deliver a 3-page plot summary by Friday, they wilt under pressure. If I know you can produce on deadline and take feedback, I'm reassured.
Don't be afraid to showcase your expertise and passions in your samples, either. Do you have specialized knowledge in a subject related to the project? Are you able to reach out to an underserved portion of the audience?
If I've got two equally skilled writers applying to a job and an existing writing team that's not terribly diverse (in pop culture diet, in cultural background, in professional background, in ethnicity, in gender, etc.) I'll favor the applicant I see bringing new perspectives.
Not every company will feel that way, granted. There are places that want a monoculture. Their games tend to have obvious weak spots, and you may not want to subject yourself to working in such a place. Your call.
If you're straight out of school and have no professional writing experience, you're not doomed! If you can write well and work with others, there's a place for you out there. But that brings me to the second big point...
If you're a writer looking for entry-level jobs, don't set your heart on working for a specific company (or on a specific franchise!) Maybe you want to make open world AAA games about '80s cartoons?
That's a fine goal, but your first job may be writing for a mobile Match 3 game with a regency romance theme. Be okay with this. Be excited about this! It's professional experience, and it'll make finding the next job easier.
(This is another reason why having a diverse range of creative influences and familiarity with different genres and audiences can help. If all you care about is writing space marines, you've made your job search much harder... and you'll be a bad regency romance writer.)
There's a lot of work out there for game writers--maybe more than there's ever been. Look at studios in AAA, in mobile, in VR, etc. If you can't find permanent work, maybe you can find contract or freelance work. Maybe you can team up with a tiny indie studio.
Getting the second job may not be easy, but it'll likely be easier than getting your first... so long as you've got a good track record.
Third big point: Be a good human. If you're skilled at socializing and networking, apply your good humanity there. If you're not, well, that's okay, too. Follow people on Twitter, lurk in the back of conferences, and pick up knowledge that way.
Most important, though, is that you come across as a good collaborator. Game development is not for auteurs. It's for people who can sit down together, passionately invested in their differing ideas, and work out compromises.
You don't need to be charming. Social awkwardness is fine. Stubbornness can even be fine. But I need to feel like you're someone who's going to work with me to solve problems, not fight with me over those same problems.
That's everything off the very top of my head, I guess? Man, it's been a while since I've done this. I know there's a dozen game writers who follow me who tweet better advice than this daily... feel free to out yourselves here and drive traffic to your fonts of wisdom!

More from Writing

I can second this observation through personal experience. I was only able to start writing because "it's just dumb weeb fanfiction quests, who cares." 100,000 pages of dumb weeb fanfic later, and I actually got better... but only because I was trying my best with every page.


"It's dumb weeb fanfiction" gave me permission to be bad, to vomit things onto the page that I knew fell far short of what I wanted it to be. To just write and write instead of laboring over six paragraphs for weeks like I'd always done before.

But I still *wanted* to be good.

Writing is HARD. And unfortunately, most people don't appreciate just how hard writing (or communication in general) is, and that cultural attitude infects writers, too.

You must give yourself permission to be bad. And realize that all writing is practice.

IT. COUNTS.

And as the folks in my mentions are pointing


... it's an excellent way to find out what actually resonates with other people - putting work out there. Even your early bad stuff you'll cringe at later.

What resonates is NOT easy to tell, because we all, inherently cringe at ourselves, a lot.

You May Also Like

🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖

Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W


Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela


The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.


One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.


Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"
Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.