Weekly Update - May 24, 2024

Novel

Good progress.

The session count keeps increasing, since the words left are calculated backwards from deadline.

Plotting and world-building are still a priority - they both are the scaffolding upon which the poetry happens.

I think a lot of narrative is the context - I am pretty sure I have written more than 110,000 words in the past 1 year, especially in cover letters.

But for 110,000 words to carry weight, they need to be specifically chosen.

They need to be crafted in the very fires of Mordor, with dwarven craftsmanship, elvish finesse, tempting the race of man, without being a Lord of the Rings derivative.

They need to be arranged to convey a compressed world - that is, 3000 words in, the reader should no longer exist - only 80,000 words should.

The 110,000 words will be a up-hill battle, especially keeping in mind my weakness for abstracted communication.

Needa

v1.1 is over!

Design phase is over. The core game loop is sound - it's actually fun, not just in my mind.

Now comes the development phase.

Some publishers accept a designed product, because there is a prototype, and I am saying it's fun.

Once they accept a prototype, they work with the designer, or even in-house development, so the company can make it better. Then the company moves to publication, especially by providing art, professional play testing, and retail sales.

Due to market conditions, and long timelines, I am considering developing the game myself.

This will add value to the design, because I can understand the game from a player's perspective, and increase balance, and fun.

Some publishers also want rigorously tested games, with balance and edge cases already taken care of.

Finally, when I said the game is fun, and not just in my mind - so far, I just played it against myself.

If pain is in the mind, then I guess fun can also be in the mind.

If not, the development phase will make that absolutely clear.

Random Resources

Graphic novel creation - I have been considering writing a graphic novel since college. I tried, but doing more than a few panels was difficult.

The article I am going to reference goes into the business aspect of 'the reality of mainstream creator owned comics'.

If you want to indulge yourself in the colors of the wind, and the storytelling of a child, then I encourage you to read it and understand if the hard work is worth the price of the color and creativity. Link here.

I found an article I think beginner writers should read. It's about food in fantasy.

I don't follow that advice....I think thinking about food like that is good, but I feel it leads to derivative fantasy very easily.

If you want to write something very original, especially in world building, then that's not good advice.

It's not like I have good advice - after all, world building is my sore point, and my own article is called 'Fantastical Evolution: A Perfect, Unreasonable New Standard & Alternatives'.

If I figure out how to create worlds better than Tolkien, I'd teach it and implement it, but I don't have that awareness now.

If world-building is something you take pride on, above plot, characters, and writing, then it's likely you felt something off about that article, like me.

I have been fantasizing about fantasy for as long as I remember, so going past Tolkien is part of my ambition.

Conversely, if world-building is not important to you, and you'd rather focus your energy and time on magical systems, character arcs, and finishing your novel, then this is good advice.

And it will be the wiser choice.