James O’Hara
@jamespoiv.bsky.social
Writer & Narrative Designer based in Los Angeles, CA
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Screenwriting background, currently undertaking my first solo dev project in Unreal 5
www.jamespohara.com
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Screenwriting background, currently undertaking my first solo dev project in Unreal 5
www.jamespohara.com
Glad to dive back into unreal after these last writing focused months. Going to start back in with some small ambient scenes.
#unrealengine #narrativedesign
#unrealengine #narrativedesign
November 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Glad to dive back into unreal after these last writing focused months. Going to start back in with some small ambient scenes.
#unrealengine #narrativedesign
#unrealengine #narrativedesign
Another a forgiving notion: making time for idleness is also essential for creative work.
#writingnotes
#writingnotes
November 17, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Another a forgiving notion: making time for idleness is also essential for creative work.
#writingnotes
#writingnotes
Friendly reminder, from someone who struggles with guilt as it relates to productivity: social engagement (networking, even gently) can also count as work and is part of the creative job.
#writing #notes #narrativedesign
#writing #notes #narrativedesign
November 17, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Friendly reminder, from someone who struggles with guilt as it relates to productivity: social engagement (networking, even gently) can also count as work and is part of the creative job.
#writing #notes #narrativedesign
#writing #notes #narrativedesign
Okay -- I'd even take a tenth 😆 (2/2)
November 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Okay -- I'd even take a tenth 😆 (2/2)
Also played through Still Wakes Deep over the weekend (it's been raining in LA).
Incredible visually, very cinematic. The level/atmosphere design is tip-top.
Now, if I could manage to apply, let's say, a fifth of that artistry in my own application in Unreal...
#stillwakesdeep #unreal #narrative
Incredible visually, very cinematic. The level/atmosphere design is tip-top.
Now, if I could manage to apply, let's say, a fifth of that artistry in my own application in Unreal...
#stillwakesdeep #unreal #narrative
November 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Also played through Still Wakes Deep over the weekend (it's been raining in LA).
Incredible visually, very cinematic. The level/atmosphere design is tip-top.
Now, if I could manage to apply, let's say, a fifth of that artistry in my own application in Unreal...
#stillwakesdeep #unreal #narrative
Incredible visually, very cinematic. The level/atmosphere design is tip-top.
Now, if I could manage to apply, let's say, a fifth of that artistry in my own application in Unreal...
#stillwakesdeep #unreal #narrative
Playing What Remains of Edith Finch and admiring how (so far) each bedroom serves as a vivid character portrait without any onscreen characters.
If you need an example of character design done through environmental storytelling, this has it.
#characterdesign #environmentalstorytelling
If you need an example of character design done through environmental storytelling, this has it.
#characterdesign #environmentalstorytelling
November 17, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Playing What Remains of Edith Finch and admiring how (so far) each bedroom serves as a vivid character portrait without any onscreen characters.
If you need an example of character design done through environmental storytelling, this has it.
#characterdesign #environmentalstorytelling
If you need an example of character design done through environmental storytelling, this has it.
#characterdesign #environmentalstorytelling
Reposted by James O’Hara
And BY THE WAY... @adamdolin.bsky.social and I are giving a lecture about EXACTLY THIS PROBLEM at GDC 2026: schedule.gdconf.com/session/writ...
WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES: Writing Games for a Media-Illiterate World | Agenda | GDC Festival of Gaming
TheGDC Festival of Gaming program blends expert insight with interactive formats designed to spark ideas, sharpen skills, and connect communities.
schedule.gdconf.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:46 PM
And BY THE WAY... @adamdolin.bsky.social and I are giving a lecture about EXACTLY THIS PROBLEM at GDC 2026: schedule.gdconf.com/session/writ...
November 10, 2025 at 8:06 PM
"...Doris Tsao, a neuroscience professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told me. “The advances in machine learning have taught us more about the essence of intelligence than anything that neuroscience has discovered in the past hundred years.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Case That A.I. Is Thinking
ChatGPT does not have an inner life. Yet it seems to know what it’s talking about.
www.newyorker.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:24 PM
"...Doris Tsao, a neuroscience professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told me. “The advances in machine learning have taught us more about the essence of intelligence than anything that neuroscience has discovered in the past hundred years.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
October 16, 2025 at 10:33 PM
This is interesting. On why sentences stick: "They found that meaning, not any other trait, is the most important feature when it comes to memorability."
news.mit.edu/2025/mit-cog...
#writing #narrativedesign #mitstudy
news.mit.edu/2025/mit-cog...
#writing #narrativedesign #mitstudy
MIT cognitive scientists reveal why some sentences stand out from others
MIT neuroscientists find sentences that stick in your mind longer are those that have distinctive meanings, making them stand out from sentences you’ve previously seen.
news.mit.edu
October 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This is interesting. On why sentences stick: "They found that meaning, not any other trait, is the most important feature when it comes to memorability."
news.mit.edu/2025/mit-cog...
#writing #narrativedesign #mitstudy
news.mit.edu/2025/mit-cog...
#writing #narrativedesign #mitstudy
From Cormac McCarthy on The Road:
“The Road is about … a United States decimated by an extinction event. What happened is unknown:
“I don’t have an opinion,” he said when asked about it.”
#theroad #cormacmccarthy
“The Road is about … a United States decimated by an extinction event. What happened is unknown:
“I don’t have an opinion,” he said when asked about it.”
#theroad #cormacmccarthy
September 26, 2025 at 7:41 PM
From Cormac McCarthy on The Road:
“The Road is about … a United States decimated by an extinction event. What happened is unknown:
“I don’t have an opinion,” he said when asked about it.”
#theroad #cormacmccarthy
“The Road is about … a United States decimated by an extinction event. What happened is unknown:
“I don’t have an opinion,” he said when asked about it.”
#theroad #cormacmccarthy
Just learned about the life of spiders:
“A spider's lifespan ranges from a few months to over 20 years, with most common spiders living about one to two years, while larger species can live much longer, with some recorded specimens living for decades.”
#spiders 🕷️!
“A spider's lifespan ranges from a few months to over 20 years, with most common spiders living about one to two years, while larger species can live much longer, with some recorded specimens living for decades.”
#spiders 🕷️!
September 23, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Just learned about the life of spiders:
“A spider's lifespan ranges from a few months to over 20 years, with most common spiders living about one to two years, while larger species can live much longer, with some recorded specimens living for decades.”
#spiders 🕷️!
“A spider's lifespan ranges from a few months to over 20 years, with most common spiders living about one to two years, while larger species can live much longer, with some recorded specimens living for decades.”
#spiders 🕷️!
I wish I could see the art that will be made hundreds of years from now, retrospectively, about America— the fall or rise or what have you, about America. An ancient, foreign nation state, both distant and ever present, in the future landscape of things.
September 20, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I wish I could see the art that will be made hundreds of years from now, retrospectively, about America— the fall or rise or what have you, about America. An ancient, foreign nation state, both distant and ever present, in the future landscape of things.
Finished the first draft of a half hour drama yesterday.
I always feel sapped after a first draft is done, but this marks three pilots written so far this year. 🙌
#screenwriting #writing
I always feel sapped after a first draft is done, but this marks three pilots written so far this year. 🙌
#screenwriting #writing
September 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Finished the first draft of a half hour drama yesterday.
I always feel sapped after a first draft is done, but this marks three pilots written so far this year. 🙌
#screenwriting #writing
I always feel sapped after a first draft is done, but this marks three pilots written so far this year. 🙌
#screenwriting #writing
I do find there is a lot of “design” thinking in screenwriting. And it can be hard to find a regular rhythm, as opposed to prose.
But one area screenwriting can be very rhythmic and vivid is in dialogue, in character.
#screenwriting
But one area screenwriting can be very rhythmic and vivid is in dialogue, in character.
#screenwriting
From BEE: A novel as consciousness and style versus screenwriting as structure and narrative.
September 16, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I do find there is a lot of “design” thinking in screenwriting. And it can be hard to find a regular rhythm, as opposed to prose.
But one area screenwriting can be very rhythmic and vivid is in dialogue, in character.
#screenwriting
But one area screenwriting can be very rhythmic and vivid is in dialogue, in character.
#screenwriting
I was so taken with the pilot script for Normal People I went online and bought the season’s worth.
I haven’t watched the show yet (I will after reading) but the pilot was the best script I’ve read in a while. Incredibly focused and clean and restrained.
#normalpeople #screenwriting #writing
I haven’t watched the show yet (I will after reading) but the pilot was the best script I’ve read in a while. Incredibly focused and clean and restrained.
#normalpeople #screenwriting #writing
September 15, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I was so taken with the pilot script for Normal People I went online and bought the season’s worth.
I haven’t watched the show yet (I will after reading) but the pilot was the best script I’ve read in a while. Incredibly focused and clean and restrained.
#normalpeople #screenwriting #writing
I haven’t watched the show yet (I will after reading) but the pilot was the best script I’ve read in a while. Incredibly focused and clean and restrained.
#normalpeople #screenwriting #writing
Sometimes I feel like writing is like sculpting.
The language begins from a broad rough-hewn base, then takes on different dimensions as you chisel at it until it finally settles and refines into a specific form.
The language begins from a broad rough-hewn base, then takes on different dimensions as you chisel at it until it finally settles and refines into a specific form.
September 7, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Sometimes I feel like writing is like sculpting.
The language begins from a broad rough-hewn base, then takes on different dimensions as you chisel at it until it finally settles and refines into a specific form.
The language begins from a broad rough-hewn base, then takes on different dimensions as you chisel at it until it finally settles and refines into a specific form.
From BEE: A novel as consciousness and style versus screenwriting as structure and narrative.
September 2, 2025 at 5:28 PM
From BEE: A novel as consciousness and style versus screenwriting as structure and narrative.
That said, very much looking forward to hermiting into fall and digging into some writing and reading.
September 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
That said, very much looking forward to hermiting into fall and digging into some writing and reading.
It’s been an eventful summer, with traveling, camping, a wedding, a broken foot, a car accident, etc—still, managed to get two pilots drafted and another polished/into submission cycle (currently quarter finals in final draft).
September 1, 2025 at 9:22 PM
It’s been an eventful summer, with traveling, camping, a wedding, a broken foot, a car accident, etc—still, managed to get two pilots drafted and another polished/into submission cycle (currently quarter finals in final draft).
It’s been two weeks and I’m walking fairly well now, though with a limp, and not over any great distance. I also started working on a crime mystery pilot set in a coastal Oregon town. #july
July 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
It’s been two weeks and I’m walking fairly well now, though with a limp, and not over any great distance. I also started working on a crime mystery pilot set in a coastal Oregon town. #july
Recovery observations: It's remarkable how quickly the body forgets itself. Over the course of six weeks, my right calf has become twig-like, and the muscles in my right foot feel asleep.
July 14, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Recovery observations: It's remarkable how quickly the body forgets itself. Over the course of six weeks, my right calf has become twig-like, and the muscles in my right foot feel asleep.
Graduated from the boot and crutches yesterday after six weeks!
July 11, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Graduated from the boot and crutches yesterday after six weeks!
