It sure has been a while, eh? That’ll happen between semesters. We got together a few times in that space, but tonight was the first time we got everyone together at once. But we played In a Wicked Age to shake the cobwebs off. I couldn’t find my Skype-recording software, but it all worked out; it went a little zany, so I don’t know if anyone would want to listen to it anyway. We should be back on the podcast soon, so don’t worry!
I want to chart unexplored territory, territory I’ve found myself surrounded by but never really ventured into. Story. To start weaving and playing in story and drama, dancing in improv without tripping over my feet so much. I’ve got an almost contradictory nature, on one side, shy, quiet, lacking in my social skills, and lately finding I fall almost dumb when put on the spot. And well, that bothers me, because for my other side, my mind races and thoughts pour into my head and I’ve found I can write off pages and pages, and I want to blend this in to my everyday and in the moment. I’ve done theater, starred as a ’scooby doo/con artist’ dark butler in Ha Ha House and sang and danced as a Sailor (and bartender) in Anything Goes, as well as writing and playing two albums in the band Femantiks.
I love jamming and improv, I love when the magic happens, and I feel a bit rusty at it, and want to improve. I think practicing in any help all of them, but I like them all, and I haven’t done much musical jamming (with others) or dancing of late. As far as roleplaying games go, I’ve played minimal amounts of D&D, but had a fun time doing so. With story jamming I intend to start feeling, seeing, and playing with story around me, to take the story brush and start painting my canvas. Here goes to losing my story gaming virginity.
Cheers
My main goal: to unleash as much creative chaos as possible. To tell bad stories - I believe we have a bank of half-assed art in us, that we have to burn through before we get to the good stuff. So lets tell a bunch of average, bad stories!
Or something like that. I think you know what I mean - unleash play, rather than hobgoblins of consistency. I have to constant play whack-a-mole with my personal hobgoblins. But when I’ve whacked ‘em good, what fun!
Also, once I’ve told a chunk of bad stories and finally get to the good stuff, I want to bask in the golden light of storyland, and wander wild green paths of agony, despair, joy, and insight. I like the stories that draw and quarter one’s heart.
Yep.
You may not be able to tell from my oft-sarcastic writings on Teh Intarwebs, but in real life, I’m painfully shy. When it comes to social skills, well, I have none, and when it comes to my writing, I’m such a perfectionist that more often than not, I worry myself into not writing anything. I’m hoping that participating in this story band at least rounds off the sharp edges of these personality flaws. Story jamming is a very social activity (even long-distance over Skype), so hopefully this will make me more comfortable opening up to people. And the spontaneous nature of cooperative storytelling doesn’t leave much room for perfectionism. I’m already worrying about whether I’ll be able to come up with the kind of lush, synaesthetic descriptions that our game calls for on the spot, but as Willem has pointed out, you do this well by aiming for average, not brilliant. Hopefully through story jamming, I can gain some much-needed confidence in both my writing and in my life. And hopefully I can do it without driving the rest of the Mythweavers up a wall. 