Marianne Krawczyk

Hot off the heels of God of War 3′s release, lead writer Marianne Krawczyk took some time to answer a few questions about writing for video games, the God of War series, and her experience as a woman in the gaming industry.

GamingAngels (GA): How long have you been writing as a career?

Marianne (MK): 0000ff;">I’ve been writing for a long time. Long before my work in games.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: What inspires you? Who have you learned from and how have they helped you better your career?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: I always have a hard time with this question, because everything can be a source of inspiration, and you never really know where it’s going to come from. Kids, dogs, people, art, music, stories… on any given day, something could catch my attention and set me spinning.

0000ff;">There are numerous people who have encouraged me along the way, but the ones who helped me the most are the ones who told me to quit. I think I had something to prove to those guys.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: What would you say are the toughest challenges you have faced as a female in the industry?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: My first game was working with David Jaffe on God of War, so I’m completely spoiled. David was great to work with, and when God of War is your first title, it lends a certain credibility. That said, I don’t think I’ve run into many obstacles due to my gender. Periodically (and I’ve heard female TV writers say this too) when I’m in a room with a bunch of guys, sometimes it feels as if my voice is a dog whistle. Like they can’t seem to hear it. Although that is the exception rather than the rule.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: With the growing number of females playing games, why do you think companies still have problems marketing non-stereotyped games towards women?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: When I worked in children’s TV, the general thought was that boys will never watch a girl show, but girls are willing to watch boy shows. I’m not sure that still applies in TV, but I think maybe it crosses over to the game space a bit. Women are playing more games, and many seem to enjoy (or at least put up with) the more male driven titles.

0000ff;">At the end of the day, though, I think change comes incrementally. The more women are willing to plop down 60 bucks on games that reflect their sensibilities, the more the industry will be forced to consider those consumers and their needs.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: You are best known for working on the God of War franchise. How did you approach writing for these games?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: Through character. I’m lucky that these games are character driven. On GoW 1, it was figuring out Kratos’ back-story and what made him tick. On the subsequent titles, it was trying to keep that consistent.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: How many hours of research would you say went into preparing the first draft or outline for the first game, and how has that grown with each installment in the series?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: I really don’t know how to answer that. It seems I’m always working even when I’m not working. Ideas float in and out all the time. So it’s never just hours spent in front of the computer. It’s having brunch on Sunday morning and seeing something that makes me think about the story or what we are trying to do with the story. It’s doing research and finding a way to incorporate interesting concepts. It’s as simple as watching a movie or playing a game for diversion and realizing that how the content was handled was good (or bad) and taking lessons from that. I feel like I’m constantly working.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: What are you responsible for when you write for games? Do you work on every aspect of the story or just on the storyboards?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: More and more I am called on for story and character development as well as dialog scripts. But it all depends on the game, the dev team and what they need of me.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: When it comes to writing content that some might deem offensive or promoting stereotypes, how do you respond?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: I try to write the scene as honestly as possible, and at the end, I hope, there is a little more depth and truth to it. Sometimes that doesn’t come through, and sometimes, even when it does come through, it doesn’t always stay in the final cut.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: How do you write scenarios like the orgy scenes or other sensitive material so that it is tasteful?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: I’m not sure they are ever tasteful, are they? More to the point, I’m not sure they should be tasteful.

0000ff;">But seriously, in the case of all the God of War sex games, almost all the directors wanted the passion to erupt from a fight (or some kind of argument), but with a powerful male character like Kratos, passion from a fight quickly begins to feel abusive. So I was always concerned that female characters be equally interested in Kratos and that the sex not be born out of any kind of violence or argument. That was always my 2 cents. From there, the guys would come up with the sex scenes, and I think they handled them well.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: Is there a story you would want to tell in the God of War series that hasn’t been told yet?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: Oh, there may be a couple out there still, but I’m trying not to think about GoW for a while.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: Are there any other mythological tales that you would be interested in writing a game based on?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: Yep. I like all mythology. I like how it’s similar and how it really reflects the human condition, whether it’s from ancient Greece or from the Yucatan.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: Is writing for video games catching up or has it surpassed writing scripts for movies?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: Man, there is a lot of good game writing out there these days. I think it’s catching up for sure. In some cases, it’s already there, but the nature of games is so completely different. It’s a bit of an apples and oranges question. In a film, you don’t need to tell the audience to go pick up some dynamite (or some other directive), but you will have to ask that of the player. It’s hard to keep that kind of exposition fresh.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: Where do you go, or what do you do, to find inspiration to write? Is there a certain place you tend to frequent or a sort of “ritual” you go through to submerse yourself into the world you are creating?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: I hate to dispel the romantic writer’s myth here, but quite often it comes down to this is my job and people are depending on me to deliver to the best of my abilities.

0000ff;">Are there days when it’s clicking and everything is working? Sure. Just like there are days when nothing feels like it’s working and you have a deadline that day anyway. It’s a matter of exercising the muscles, even when you don’t feel like it.

0000ff;">To get into the mindset, I keep an outside office. This helps to keep home life separate, and when I’m at my office, I know I’m there to work.

0000ff;">To prep, I do try to submerge myself in the tone and mood of a piece. Through research, through fiction, everything I can get my hands on. Then I stop and let the world and the characters tell me what they want to be. I try to let theme bubble up rather than forcing it down on the page. Quite often it’s about allowing the work to show up. At a certain point, if the material is strong, I feel like the typist, and the story is telling me what it wants to do. Of course, those are on the good days, when everything is clicking.

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Game Development Essentials: Game Story & Character Development

GA: What learning aides can you recommend for those who want to learn more about writing for video games?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: My book, of course (shameless plug). Also, there are several good books on the topic, but the best thing to do is play games and analyze why the stories work or don’t work.

0000ff;">000000;">GA: Do you have any advice to share with our readers who are interested in video games as a career?

0000ff;">000000;">MK: Write. And learn every kind of writing from novel to screen to games. Then once you know these, apply what you can to games.

Women in Gaming Weekends is an interview series with women working in various positions throughout the video game industry. These interviews are to help answer questions that female gamers interested in pursuing a career in gaming might be looking to have answered, provide helpful information and inspire healthy debate.