It's weird that, in a way, by writing about video games, I get to develop them, too.
Interpretation
Writing about video games allows the author to explore and influence the creative process behind their development.
Ernest Cline's quote highlights the unique relationship between writing and game development, suggesting that the act of writing about video games can be an enriching experience that informs and shapes the creation of those games. This interplay between narrative and design reflects the deeper connection between storytelling and interactive experiences, emphasizing how creators can engage in both roles through their creativity and insights.
In practice
In a speech about creativity in technology, I used this quote to illustrate the interconnectedness of storytelling and game development.
As we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. Weβd known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. Weβd connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.
When you're hanging out with your friends, you reference books and movies, and you don't always know if your friends know what you're referencing. But you throw it out there, and if it connects, it makes people laugh.
I notice when I'm at a party where I don't know anybody - even if I have nothing in common with somebody - we can still talk because we were raised by the same TV and cartoons and movies.
I felt like a kid standing in the world's greatest video arcade without any quarters, unable to do anything but walk around and watch the other kids play.
In a book, you can describe a scene and have any song you want playing on the radio and have any painting you want hanging on the wall. That was really freeing to me when I was writing 'Ready Player One.' I could throw in everything that I love.
'Vogue' and 'Vice' may appear to some to see the world through different lenses. But in my view, both are fearless and breathtaking, with unquenchable curiosity and vigor.
An incinerator is a writer's best friend.
It is not enough to place colors, however beautiful, one beside the other; colors must also react on one another. Otherwise, you have cacophony.
A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'
A beautiful dress may look beautiful on a hanger, but that means nothing. It must be seen on the shoulders, with the movement of the arms, the legs, and the waist.
In the big picture I write for an audience of people I've never met. By the final draft I'm looking for anything in the prose that's prospectively boring to strangers.
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