Newsletter April 2024 - Roll the Dice
I planned a final adventure where you find out that he's a mind flayer feeding on your brain.
In Case You Missed It
This month I posted:
My original Star Trek script
Sheet music and mp3's for the original score I composed for the Star Trek video, as well as the story behind the composition
The Star Trek Routine Mission video itself
Writing Progress
This month, I've completed detailed character sketches of all the main characters. I've also mathed out the number of scenes I'll need to write, as well as how many will go in each act. Now I'm going through and figuring out which plot point will go where. After that, I'll fill in the rest of the scene list as needed. Something important has to happen in each scene, and I'll need to figure out who will be there, where it will take place, and who will be the point of view character.
I realize that all sounds very dry and mechanical, but remember, this work is all to help me generate a first draft. It's all about making it easier for me to get words on the page and maintain the plot cohesion so I don't have to rework as much during the second draft. I promise that I'm not over thinking all the fun out of the story.
Phase 4 of My Writing Life - Game On!
During one of my breaks from traditional story writing, I detoured into making board and video games. Though game development is a different beast, it did allow me to tell stories in a new way.
My most prolific game works were custom adventures using the in-game tool for the online Dungeons & Dragons game Neverwinter. Unfortunately, they sunset that tool and you can no longer play my adventures. They were a series of mystery adventures where you did jobs for "the man in grey". I planned a final adventure where you find out that he's a mind flayer feeding on your brain, and I dropped hints in the earlier adventures, but I never had a chance to finish the series. Ah well. You can read reviews of some of my adventures and there's even a YouTube walk through that someone made of my first one, if you're interested.
On the boardgame front, I was a play tester for several of the Mice and Mystics sequels, and have a writing credit on one of them. It was fun to write little bits of fiction in that world. Kind of like fan fiction writing, but for money. So I guess professional, not fan, though I am a big fan of that series and the designer. Ultimately, though I prefer to make up my own universes to play in.
Next month, I'll share a few short stories that I wrote in the Warmachine fantasy world. The game is set in a fantasy version of Europe during World War 2, with magical powered mechs taking the place of tanks. I love that setting as well, since it's not the standard Tolkein-esque fantasy. I enjoyed Tolkein, but it's been a bit over done.
In A Clockwork Murder, I wanted to do a different fantasy setting, so I thought about what a standard fantasy world might look like if it were allowed to evolve and reach an industrial revolution time period. From that, the plot idea sprang forth pretty quickly. There are lots of sources of tension when technology is on the rise and magic isn't the most powerful force in town anymore.
But that's a story for next month, when I plan to release A Clockwork Murder here on the site. Until then, think of the possibilities. Also, gnomes.
