What I Learned From A Writing Marathon

I am the Warden!!

The first draft of Fires Across the Plains is nearly complete and by nearly, I mean the gamebook itself has a complete first draft. All that remains is touching up the appendix (there will be rules for creating half-breed characters, such as half-orcs, half-elves, half-goblins, and half-giants) and provide an prologue detailing a rough layout of the landscape.

Capping off the gamebook's draft, however, required a shitload of catching up. When I originally signed up for this project, I figured there was enough time on my plate to get it done in roughly three months and this past weekend was pretty much the end of that third month. I needed to fire off a massive amount of text and get this sucker done or else it was going to require an extension and while an extension shouldn't have been a problem, I still need this project off my plate for the moment to clear room for my incredibly busy schedule. (After this, it's time to wrap up layout and final output for Killshot Files #1: Blaze of Glory and I'm getting started on an article for Savage Insider on a new Savage Worlds race build. These lead into next month when I'll be at Game Summit in Ottawa and work continues on both Killshot: Reloaded and Optional Core.)

I needed to pull a writing marathon.

Organizing the Chaos [Fires Across the Plains]

I am the Warden!!

This week is committed to the completion of Fires Across the Plains first complete draft. I have to admit that this project was not underestimated so much as my plot was underestimated. It's typical of me to overshoot my expectations and find myself adapting to the complexity (if anything, it's very inspirational and gives me a real swift kick in the butt to get going) and, in its own way, has made me more confident for another one. Down the road, after getting some other major projects out of the way (Reloaded and Optional Core).

As I've written about before, learning the best approach to handle the chaos that is a gamebook required some early research and has since been adjusted. There have been some hiccups along the way and corrections have been made, which is predominantly why this draft has taken a couple extra weeks to complete. As promised, I thought I'd take some time to go over that very process.

Stating the inevitable here, but writing a gamebook carries one major distinction to writing a regular game or short story: the chronology is out of whack. Keeping it organized is the key to not screwing it up and organization is still a significant aspect of this work I'm struggling with. (Just this past weekend, I lost my playtest character for Fraser Ronald's Centurion RPG and had to start over, despite the fact that I'm playing from home at the same desk using Skype and the character sheet shouldn't be anywhere else but my desk.) For many, the entire plot is laid out in great detail using post-it notes and flowcharts, leaving the bulk of the writing centring on filling in the details and descriptions. As previously discussed in the above link, it's a process I have difficulty with because it feels stifling. When I write, I love to experience the story unfolding as I write it. In a way, it's how I verify the errors in my plot before making a second pass to fill in any gaps, beef up the details, and flesh it into something real. I needed a way to accomplish both the organization and freedom without sacrificing either.

Let The Gamebooks Begin!!

I am the Warden!!

As regular readers may know, my current project is a gamebook adventure for the Adventurer solo RPG titled Fires Across the Plains. It turns out there's a whole slew of fellow crafters plugging away at their keyboards as well, as announced on the Adventure Games Guild (yon publisher) site over the weekend. Plus a couple more announced Monday morning. That makes a total of ten (10) gamebooks scheduled release in 2013, an impressive tally for something just starting out.

If you're an aspiring freelance designer as well and haven't considered submitting something for this line, it's a great opportunity and solid tool to display not only your adventure design skills, but fiction writing as well. In other words, you're not limited to just read-aloud text blocks to get cah-razy with da text. I'm currently half way through Fires and truly enjoying the entire process to the point that I may consider trying another one if the audience shows even a little appreciation. (If the reviews and comments indicate my need to return to my old career, I won't bother gamebook fans any more. That's my risk and a sign I need to take a step back and tackle those issues. I was actually being sarcastic when I first wrote this, but now I'm considering it a real possibility. What can I say? I'm Canadian and modesty is a national sport up here.)