This week: Roleplaying Games Edited by: Jeff  
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"You never know what you can do until you try,
and very few try unless they have to."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the Noticing Newbies Official Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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Roleplaying Games
September is just about a week away, and it's by far one of my favorite months of the year here at Writing.com. Not only do we have the birthday week festivities, but the "Wdc 23rd Birthday Masquerade Party" opens for another year. If you've never participated before, Brooke  did a creative take on the old "murder mystery dinner theater" concept and has turned it into an annual event full of characters running around creating all kinds of chaos and mayhem. 
Participating in the Masquerade every year is the closest I get to my early years of playing roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, Rifts, Pathfinder, and others. The appeal of those games for me, like Brooke's Masquerade, is in the ability to tell a collaborative story with others. Writing.com has a number of special types of items to facilitate community storytelling (campfires, interactive stories, etc.), and as much as I enjoy those for what they are, it's hard to compete with the rush of telling a collaborative story in real time with other writers. In the Masquerade, there's an suspect journal to track the official entries/narrative, but those entries will often draw from what's going on in the forum, where guests can contribute to the events in the story as well.
Writing can be a really solitary endeavor, between the writer and the blank page. While there's definitely an aspect of that dynamic that I enjoy, I also think it's important to collaborate. I love the idea of a writers' room full of screenwriters on a television show trying to break a season's worth of episodes on their show before going off to write their individual assignments. I love the idea of writers groups and formal seminars/classes where writers can have their work evaluated by others and read others' to provide feedback in return. There's something reassuring about being "in it" with other writers, and activities like the Masquerade and other roleplaying games are great for fostering community while also developing your storytelling abilities.
If you're looking to mix it up and try something a little different than the usual short story or poetry writing contests here on WdC, I'd strongly recommend checking out the Masquerade and that you consider participating. Diving into a character of choice and navigating them through the ups and downs of a chaotic environment while others are doing the same with their characters is an incredible creative challenge; especially if you're writing material that combines the contributions of other participants! In order to do that, you have to be really good at writing in the voice of a variety of characters, which is a skill that serves writers extremely well.
And whether or not you participate in the Masquerade specifically, it's definitely worth checking out roleplaying games in general if you want to be a writer. Similar to how a lot of writers are advised to take an improv or acting class to better hone their writing skills, I'd put roleplaying games in that same category. Being able to adapt to telling a dynamic story effectively, building on past elements and expanding on them, and trying to keep everybody interested without sending the story off the rails... all of those skills are valuable additions to a writers toolkit. If you ever have a chance to play a tabletop roleplaying game like Dungeons & Dragons with a group of friends, I highly recommend it. If you want to go a step further, there are live-action roleplaying games (where you actually act out your character's actions with others who are doing the same), and both single-player and multiplayer online roleplaying games where you evolve a character throughout the course of the game.
All of these roleplaying activities can be a great way to learn how to better develop and voice the characters in your writing, and if you're already here on Writing.com anyway, I'd recommend starting with the Masquerade. As a guest, you can be as active as you want, contribute where you want to, and enjoy the experience of telling a collective story together (while trying to solve a mystery!  ).
Hope to see some of you over there!
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
I also encourage you to check out the following items:
EXCERPT: The sun cast its scorching rays as it sneaked past the tree line on that early July morning. The immediate oppression of the heat carried the promise of the day ahead. I was perched on the tailgate of the old white pickup parked along the weathered fence that bent and bowed from age. Next to me, my son explained psychological war tactics as he regaled me with his most recent deployment in Call of Duty.
EXCERPT: In Volume 1 of the story, 8-year-old Mario finds himself amid chaos as the St. Beauty Planet is invaded by the Post Apocalypse and MultiFaction war. The devil also establishes control over the realm. Despite his young age, Mario is a former rebel with a strong motive: to locate his mother and sister who are in the City of St. Beauty. During his journey, Mario's life takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally transfers his blood onto a large Pearl rock. This results in the emergence of a beautiful angelic girl whom he names Pearl.
EXCERPT: Programming has become a crucial talent in the ever changing world of technology. Learning to code or program is a vital skill whether you want to work as a software engineer, web developer, data scientist, or in any other tech-related field. The need for knowledgeable programmers is greater than ever as 2023 approaches. Here are the top five ways to become a programmer in 2023 if you're trying to start or develop your programming career to enhance your skill.
EXCERPT: A classical masterpiece creeps from my pocket as my phone starts vibrating violently. Huh, a phone call at this hour of the day? Slipping my phone out of my pocket I can already feel the disappointment rising through me like a tidal wave. Guess it’s time to be pinned to another worthless assignment, why did I even sign up for this garbage in the first place? I slide the green circle of misery upward, and immediately hear my pain begin to play through the speakers.
“Agent Michael Hastings, your assistance is required effective immediately, located at the western mountains” explains the man on the other end. I don’t really have any other choice, declining an assignment could cause numerous unexpected casualties. “On my way boss, make sure nobody enters the scene before I arrive” I tap the red button on my phone. Breathing a heavy sigh, I swing open my car door and climb inside, there isn’t much time to lose, I turn the ignition on and press on the gas, my car flies down the road at great speeds.
As I cruise down the western roads, I reflect on the circumstances that led me to my current position.
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Feedback from "Noticing Newbies Newsletter (July 26, 2023)" about the benefits of handwriting:
When you hand write, you're enhsncing both cognitive and kinisthesic learning. In some people (e.g., those of us who're visual-brain dominant), this can increase creativity. ((Personally, I think they co-evolve.))
Thanks for this intriguing news letter! I never thought my mother was so right about handwriting being important ti cultivate!
Hello Jeff, another very good and useful newsletter. I started self-teaching myself ten-finger typing when I developed as a writer. I was already well into my thirties, but like you, being able to type at a good speed hurt my handwriting legibility. I also think that I make more spelling mistakes now, even when writing by hand, because all text processing devices have spellcheck included, so it's no longer necessary to remember the correct spelling of difficult words. "Exercise" is one of those words that I always get wrong. This is especially jarring because I exercise almost every day, so not being able to spell it kind of reinforces the whole idea of "all brawn, no brain." LOL.
I notice when I am in college classes that only a few people take notes on paper. I also noticed that those who take notes on paper are usually the best students in class. I am definitely never going to stop using pen and paper for learning because it helps me learn faster as I don't have to go over it several times. Writing things down does create a mind-body connection that makes the whole being remember things instead of just a cursory glance on a screen.
I will follow your example to try and write something every day onto paper. But I will not do three pages. One page will be enough for me for starters.
Thanks, Jeff for an interesting article. I agree with improved creativity. I learnt to touch-type in my late teens (for no particular reason and in no-way foreseeing a digital future). It was a time of Bill Gates and Microsoft selling home computers. To this day, I'm grateful as watching Doctors, estate agents, and motor mechanics with a two-finger typing skills is excruciating.
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Noticing Newbies: August 23, 2023 Issue [#12145]
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