Already been posting in Author Craft so it should be obvious, but as a background, I've written to complete novels and have to absolutely admit that they are drivel. I spent about 9 years now not writing more than the occasional short story to fill in my rollplayers in my stories with world building elements or minor plot points that tie things together. During that time, I unconsciously worked on my storytelling craft, building stories that addicting my roleplayers to my worlds and weaving complex plots that gave emmense satisfaction (at least to me) when the threads came together.
The hard part of that medium is that between when plot points are introduced and when they tie together, months or years may have passed and sometimes the roleplayers don't remember well enough the points there characters would easily put together. Now, I'm traveling, away from my family, and my daughters are avid readers interested in the genre's that I prefer. I'm writing a story so that I can tell them this story at a distance. There is no pressure to craft and publish the story in an ultimate dream of worldwide renown. I'm comfortable just being the local storyteller and using this medium like I would my vocal stories.
And, wouldn't you know it, this is the cleanest, most readible story I've ever written. I'm not sure if that's because of my years building believable and engaging characters, complex plots, interesting world settings, and straightforward rules for players to use or if its because I writing to an audience I know and care to make understand clearly what I'm saying. Either way, writing is fun again.
