I’ve been thinking about friction recently.  Not in the engineering or physics since as the resistance force due to roughness, but as the general term that makes things hard, and in particular with regards to creative endeavors.  The origin for this has been thoughts I have recently had with regards to video games, a common topic here on Fey and Bard and my second most favorite past time after my writing.  In video games, I see friction on both sides of the gaming industry, in both the creators and the consumers.  The former, even now with current technology, is up against limitations due to tech, timelines and budget which restricts what the creators are able to do.  On the Super Nintendo there was a game where you flew around a fighter jet and the shadow beneath that jet was achieved by programming something on the “edge of the processor”.  This strange method has resulted in that shadow, and its assistance in knowing where you bombs will hit, not being present in emulations of the game.  It’s a version that creativity in some ways needs limitations to force its occurrence, that if there were no limitations one would struggle to be creative due to the infinite impossibilities creating a paralysis of choice.

On the other side, with the consumers, friction seems to play an important role in making a game something special and worth playing.  Friction can create difficulty, it can make those little frustrations that build up the create the “realism” that so many games go after.  Go too far and just like physics things grind to a halt, but not have enough of its and it’s almost something too smooth, too effortless and flawless to the point that the game doesn’t feel satisfying.  Friction makes challenge, and challenge is part of what makes a game enjoyable to play.  That’s not to say that everything should be a beat-my-head-against-a-wall Dark Soul experience but for a game to stand out it has to have hardships and/or challenges that create moments that are memorable.  In recent memory I think about how Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth every so often has a fight that unexpectedly leaves my characters with barely any hitpoints left, or how Dragon’s Dogma 2’s reduction in total hitpoints unless you rest forces you to slow down and either return to town or find a camp in order to return your party to peak fighting shape.  Friction can create changes in pacing and focus which helps a game be memorable simply due to the differences.

What this all leads me to is wondering how friction exists in writing.  I don’t think most books ramp up their reading level in certain moments to create a challenge, but when I think about good books I’ve read they create disparities in their narrative that help certain moments stand out.  All of us that have read Lord of the Rings remember the palpable tension in the very words as the Fellowship trekked through the Mines of Moria.  Writing fiction doesn’t have limitations imposed by hardware, it may have a deadline but that’s certainly not the case for me.  When one is putting word to page you can create anything and so where does that creativity that comes from limitations rear its head?

I’ll be honest, that I don’t really have a great answer to this question that I’m posing.  I think there’s some aspect that this is why in creating a setting one needs to have rules that establish and bound it, because otherwise things can run into the paralysis of unlimited choices.  I also think that it’s worth noting that video games are an interactive media, and novels a purely receptive one.  So, what it takes to entertain someone with one vice the other can be different.  However, I can’t help but still feel that there’s a point here I haven’t uncovered.  That there is some aspect of friction which is in everything, but maybe that’s the engineering side of me rearing its head.

I’d be interested in your thoughts and perspectives on this.  As I said, I feel like I haven’t reached the end of the thought, I’m just not quite sure where to go next and some assistance would be appreciated.  In the meantime, we have had some fun Keto and Quartes stories and I would expect more to come.  Though, looking at my hopper some may be a bit more serious.  I have some thoughts on where I may want to see all these drop stories going, but much like my thoughts on friction I haven’t finished them yet.  Certainly something I’ll be mulling over this week and sharing soon…at least I think.  Until then, it’s nice to be amongst the familiarity of the Fey and Bard and the friction imposed by the very definitions of their characters.

Go forth and do good things,

Sean