Why the Gears 3 story is the way it is

Posted by on September 15, 2011 in Games

The following comment from this interview with Gears of War 3 writer Karen Traviss explains a lot.

I don’t read novels. I’m a novelist, but I don’t read. I don’t like reading. I love comics. I love reading comics. I can still read comics and write, just about… But I come from a TV background.

The single most important thing anyone can do to be a better writer is to read, and specifically to read lots of different kinds of things. But if you want to write truly atrocious stuff like Gears of War 3, by all means stick to comic books and television.

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  • Len

    There seems to be a certain pride about being less well read.  I thought it was just an 8th grade thing, but it seems to be catching on.  

  • Scharmers

    Good lord.

    Irony-o-meter didn’t just peg high, the needle busted out of the glass, then ran screaming down the street.

    Methinks somebody is getting the whole wrong idea from guys who have written comic books then went on to write good novels (thinking Gaiman, here).  Either that or this is an epic troll by somebody who knows the Gears “story” is a bunch of hackneyed, cliched, Roger Corman-level bullshit aimed squarely at mouthbreathing couch-dwellers, and was deliberately written as such.

    In any regard: fuck you, Karen Traviss,  Fuck you, and hopefully die in a fire.

  • BDGE

    So it even somehow fails at entertaining the thought of underground monsters invading a space planet?

  • Ross

    This reminds me of Garth Marenghi – the only novelist to have written more books than he’s read.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-McMaster/607680289 Jason McMaster

    DARK PLACE, DARK PLACE, DARK PLACE

  • Sander

    They set up a great atmosphere and very high production values only to skimp on the story. What a missed opportunity. I feel pity for the younger generation, I really do.

  • Anonymous

    Comics and television cannot compare to novels, Tom?

  • Stuperhero

    What does that even mean?  Poor storytelling isn’t specific to any generation.

  • Juan Raigada

    He doesn´t say they don´t compare. He does advocate to embrace different media (the whole “read lots of different kind of things”). And, of course, there´s a point to be made that to be a writer it´s probably better to read a medium that it´s exclusively written rather than a combination. This doesn´t mean you reject everything else.

  • Anonymous

    As a writer, I don’t think its important to advocate any one form over the rest. If you’re going to write novels, read novels; if you’re going to write comics, read comics. Reading novels to write for a videogame doesn’t portend any clear advantages; in terms of disadvantages, the history of adapting one medium to another is filled with contentions. Gears of War 3 may not be an adaptation, but Karen Traviss has written a fair share of novels, including a book series for the franchise: It may be that she was ill-suited to writing for a cinematic, interactive medium.

  • Scharmers

    Bollox.  If this was like Gore Vidal, or Hemingway, or someone else of that ilk saying something like, “I don’t read novels,” then fine…it’s obvious that particular writer has nothing to learn from them.  But when it’s some hack saying the same thing, my response is: “Well, maybe you ought to read some fuckin novels to see how its done RIGHT.  Might get you out of the whole ‘I write stories for manshoots’ thing, which is akin to writing stories for porn.”

  • Matt Bowyer

    Hey, there’s a lot of nuance in plumbing and pizza delivery, Scharmers.

  • Blake Snow

    Translation: “If major video game producers aren’t hiring writers that like reading, we’ll continue to get comic books and television quality writing in games.” Got it. 

  • Jason Townsend

    I think basically “I don’t read novels” is the kind of statement that has to be followed up with some sort of very serious cultural vegetable-eating of some kind.  Comics have deservedly gotten more respect as a medium in recent decades but one expects some broader explanation of what kinds of prose fiction she likes and dislikes – especially since she _writes_ novels.

  • Austin Arlitt

    Karen Traviss is the author responsible for me abandoning the Star Wars EU however many years ago. Just dreadful. Her books weren’t Kevin J Anderson bad, but they were getting close.

  • Claybob

    She ain’t Warren Ellis thats for sure

  • KeysE2S

    I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards. OK?
    - Garth Marenghi

  • KeysE2S

    You know what else I heard? Lady Gaga hasn’t listened to anything but commercial jingles since 1997.

  • Juan Raigada

    Or maybe it’s the opposite. If you are going to write novels, read novels, and watch movies, and read comics… Limiting oneself to the medium one works in can lead to stagnation or replication. As a beggining screenwriter, I did become much more aware of the form’s specifity precisely by reading novels, not scripts. Scripts were extremely useful, novels were enlightening.

    She writes novels and games. I do not plan to read her books, but maybe they are well written and plotted.

    The game though…

    Videogames have comics and movies (the mainstream kind, in both cases) pretty figured out. But, judging at most releases, they would benefit from some more literary influence, as film did in the 60s.

  • KeysE2S

    And let’s face it, sci fi is the toughest genre to read. The last time I tried to get through Startide Rising, my eyes bled and I think I had a mild stroke.

  • Samuel Leighton

    You don’t want a novel style story in a video game anyway, especially Gears of War 3 where you’re probably aiming for an action movie type story.

  • Juan Raigada

    How do we know? Ever seen any?

  • Barac Wiley

    She may not read novels much, but she writes damn good ones. Her Republic Commando books are about the only good thing about the Star Wars prequel era (that and Matthew Stover’s valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rescue Episode III in his novelization). Her Gears of War novels have actual characters and a real sense of place and generally bring the setting to life in a way the first two games (or what I’ve experienced of them, and that’s much more Gears #2 than the first one) completely fail to do. I had high hopes for Gears 3′s story after hearing that she’d be penning it. If it fails to live up to that standard, well… that’s sad, but hardly unprecedented. I also love Richard K. Morgan’s novels, but I suspect little of what makes his work good made it into Crysis 2, for example. It may be that Traviss simply can’t write videogames. It may be that her script was amazing but didn’t survive the transition into the game and the tampering of the rest of the team. Who knows? Not me.

  • Steven T

    I don’t play Gears or read the books but a good writer is a good writer whether they work in television, video games, movies, or novels. A couple of my favorite writers are Zach Stentz and Ashley Miller whom are primarily television and more recently movie screenwriters. When I see their name attached to a project, I have faith that whatever project their name is attached to, it’ll be worth a viewing. Where was I going with this?

    Oh yea. From watching others play Gears, and watching various videos and reading forum postings, Karen Traviss probably is just an average writer, good enough for video games and cheesy sci fi but nothing more.

  • Tei

    I have not read a book in english either.  I learned to write english talking to other counter-strike players.  FIRE IN DA HOLE!. 

  • Anonymous

    The whole “nothing good comes out of television or comic books” is extremely intellectually lazy, Tom, and frankly I expect better of you. Even if that’s not what you mean, it certainly seems to be what you’re saying.

  • Anonymous

    I’m worried people are going to judge her work (both past and future) on this one game. Her Star Wars stuff does things that are legitimately interesting, and challenge a lot of the ideas of what “Star Wars” is.

    No author is completely consistent. William Goldman followed Heat (the Burt Reynolds movie, not the Michael Mann movie), a movie no one remembers, with The Princess Bride.

  • Anonymous

    Mr. Unchosen One, I’m not saying that at all. I’m am intellectually industrious enough to acknowledge contributions like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Richie Rich, and Gilmore Girls.

  • Richardlgaines

    Hmm I must have missed the comics turned to literary art decade — to compare a 1000 word comic book to a novel (even a lowly science fiction novel) seems ridiculous. 

    Every bit of writing has its own merit — what Ms. Travis has admitted to be doing was not reading.  Being proud of not reading seems the height of inornce to me –whatever her so-called writing skill is novel-wise.  lol

  • Richardlgaines

    misspelling “ignorance” is also a height of ignorance when calling someone ignorant as well.  Heh.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-McMaster/607680289 Jason McMaster

    Garth Marenghi: We’re doing all we can. but I’m not Jesus Christ. I’ve come to accept that now.

  • Geoff Matteson

    Yeah, sorry for the monocle-pop here, but I’m not really sold on the idea that writing a bunch of video game novelizations and Star Wars spin-off books makes a very strong case for “I have nothing to learn from reading.”

  • Sander

    It’s not a wonder why people in general believe that the average age of a gamer is much, much younger than it actually is.

  • Anonymous

    I think I came across more hostile than I intended to (it was late and I was sleepy), so I do apologize for that. What I was mostly objecting to was the phrasing, and the general idea “All X is bad” tends to put me on the offensive.

  • Sander

    When I was a kid, games didn’t have nearly as much narrative ability as they do today. “Your princess is in another castle” couldn’t be as heart felt as a fully realized depiction of humankind’s final battles for survival. It’s the reason why games need ratings these days.
    There’s simply a lot more writing in one title so there’s a lot less room for interpretation. A poorly written story in a game today has a much lower bottom than a poorly written story from 20yrs ago.

  • Anonymous

    I guess you did miss it. It was about 60 years ago. Probably before your time.

  • Brooski

    Agreed

  • Dontspamme

    I can only speak from experience about one novel, but Tom once played a joke on me by hiding a Gears of War novel in my luggage one time when I was visiting LA.  I read part of it on the plane home out of curiosity.  It was so bad I can’t even think of a clever put-down for it.  In that context, the fact that she admits to “not reading books” is pretty unsurprising.

  • Brooski

    Oops that was by me.

  • Brooski

    Bah

  • Anonymous

    Ha ha, Bruce Geryk owns a Gears of War novel.

  • Anonymous

    No problem.  I’m just pulling your leg.  I hope you don’t really think I’m saying “nothing good comes out of television or comic books”.  What I’m saying is they’re mostly awful and anyone interested in becoming a better writer would do well to branch out.

    By the way, I do feel the craft of writing in both television and comic books is compromised by the very medium.  In the case of television, so much is sacrificed on the alter of the episodic format and advertising business model.  And in the case of comic books, beyond the fact that the subject matter is so often juvenile, I suspect most “readers”, and therefore creators and publishers, have a disproportionate interest in the artwork.  Of course, as a writer and not an artist, I would say that. :)

  • Anonymous

    Mr. Gaines, we can all be excused the occasional typo.  However, not capitalizing the first word in a sentence is another matter entirely.  Would you perhaps be interested in writing the story for Gears of War 4?

  • Barac Wiley

    She also wrote a six book original SF series which is pretty good, if heavy on (somewhat preachy) philosophy and unconventional romance and low on action.

  • Barac Wiley

    I’m assuming you saw the dreadful movie adaptation of League but have not read the original comic? (Which, to be fair, is mostly a silly in-joke laden love letter to 19th/early 20th century genre novels.)

  • Mono

    I don’t have many (any?) specific comics that I’d rank up there with the finest films I’ve watched or novels that I’ve read, but still…    This stance about the medium of comics undermining the craft of writing is inane.  It’s akin to claiming films compromise the craft of writing.

  • http://twitter.com/ward2000ad KellyWand

    The greater the mind, the greater its leisure needs. 

  • Anonymous

    Well, I didn’t use the word undermine, but you’re on the right track. I do think that filmmaking also makes necessary compromises to the craft of writing. The difference is that movies are mostly aware they’re their own medium. You don’t see movies calling themselves filmic books, or visual novels, or whatever.

  • Anonymous

    I have neither seen nor read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  The closest I’ve come is having played League of Legends.

  • Mono

    Tom, I can’t reply to your reply for some reason.  If only there was a forum more appropriate for ongoing discussion…

    Unlike film, comics use the written word.  Graphic novel seems as good a term as any.  I suspect your issue with the medium isn’t a semantic nitpick about what they call themselves.  Unless I’m misreading you, but as this is an awkward spot for an exchange… I’ll be on the boards if you ever care to elaborate.  :)

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