Skip to main content

Acclaimed Author Raven Leilani Explains How Video Games Taught Her About Storytelling

By March 14, 2021Authors, News

Raven Leilani’s debut novel Luster was met with critical acclaim when it was published in 2020. The story follows a young black woman in her 20s who begins a relationship with a middle-aged white man in his 40s in an open marriage. In just her first publication, Leilani proved her talent as a writer and there are many readers out there eager to see what she’ll create next. In a recent interview, the American author credited an unlikely source for teaching her about storytelling; video games.

A hint at Leilani’s enthusiasm for video games can be found in a pivotal moment in Luster, when the protagonist, Edie, is walking back to her partner’s house with his adopted, black daughter Akila. They are soon stopped by two police officers, which ends with Edie being restrained on the ground. Following the scene, Edie and Akila go inside and relieve the tension by playing a video game together.

In an interview with The Guardian, Leilani revealed that she has been playing video games since she was five years old and that her brother introduced them to her with the Nintendo Entertainment System and games such as Duck Hunt and Super Mario. “He’d absolutely obliterate me,” she recalled. “He was living away from home by then, so, in between his visits, I’d train so that I could beat him.” She later began gaming on the original PlayStation, which left a lasting impression on her. “Just booting it up, the sound it played – I still feel like I have that sound in my head. I started playing Tekken and Street Fighter. Me and my cousins would gather round the console and get really involved in the stories. It was how I learned to relate to other people, emotionally.”

In particular, Leilani enjoys the popular Japanese role-playing games (RPG) Final Fantasy, the first game of which was released in 1987 and has seen many instalments since. The series inspired the fictional video game that appears in Luster, which centres around an amnesiac army mail clerk trying to find his family. “It’s totally a Final Fantasy rip-off!” she confesses. “I was hoping for it to feel familiar to readers. I definitely lean heavily on Final Fantasy VII as the main reference point, especially as that game has so much to do with memory – it gave me a portal to talk about Edie and Akila’s formative contexts.”

The character of Akila is inspired by Lailani’s own experience as a young girl who loved geek culture. “When I wrote Akila, I was writing toward that younger version of myself – when you’re a part of a fandom and you love something so much, there is love but also a sense of ownership and discernment about the games you like and the games you feel other people shouldn’t like. Akila and Edie have their own tastes, but they are able to bond and find communion through gaming.”

Role-playing games are traditionally single-player experiences but many gamers enjoy watching one another play, offering advice and encouragement. “I grew up playing them in a room full of my cousins and friends,” said Leilani, “and we identified with different characters in the party. So when I was writing those scenes that’s what I was trying to replicate – that feeling of being on a fantasy journey with another person and the way that can parallel the development of an interpersonal relationship.”

Another important plot point sees Akila notice that Edie shows kindness and empathy towards the characters she meets in the video games she plays. This gives her the courage to reveal to Edie that she wears a wig due to a burn on her scalp.

“Video games allow a different kind of vulnerability,” explained Leilani. “When you’re playing with another person, the engagement you have with the character, the story, the journey – it makes for a collaborative, communal experience that Edie and Akila are desperately searching for. It’s also worth noting that these are two black women who move through the world with that layer of self-protection who are gravitating toward this safe space. The fantasy game provides a place for them to relate to each other where they don’t have to be concerned with the curated self.”

It’s no coincidence that the confrontation between Edie and the police officers ends with her playing video games with Akila. “Games are not simply an escape from the real world, they’re a place to process what has happened in the real world,” says Leilani. “That’s how it has worked for me. I’m extremely introverted and I’m naturally inclined to more solitary activities. I want to be sucked into an experience.”

When asked if she feels video games have influenced her writing, Leilana agreed wholeheartedly. The writing in her novel pays close attention to detail and notes different types of brands, music, and other important pieces that paint the reader a picture of the scene, something she was inspired to do by video games. “You follow a character on this journey of self-discovery, and I like the work that it entails. I like going into villagers’ houses and finding what’s there, I like talking to NPCs and exhausting my options. I love being rewarded for that attention and rigour … It’s hard to articulate the magic of a world that responds to you in that way.

“RPGs represent something that is central to making art, which is data collection and attention. You have to be rigorous and curious – because curiosity, too, is central to art,” she said. “You have to seek out the gifts that are built into the world. Playing those games and seeing how they work and knowing how to advance not just the game but the character in their journey, helped give me patience for the accumulation of small epiphanies and small interactions.

“All of it means something – that’s the most succinct way I can put it. Small things matter.”

Leave your vote

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.