Editing, oh my, editing.

I discovered a day or two ago that I had three short stories in need of editing. I've been flitting around working on so many projects that in the hurly and the burly I seem to have stopped working on these particular projects.

Incidentally, it was when putting together a to-do list that I realised that it was three stories rather than just the one I remembered.

That got me to thinking. It is actually harder for me to do editing than the original writing. Reading my work back and considering each sentence and each paragraph for re-writing or even cutting strains my faculties more than throwing words down on paper. Thus I suspect a subconscious  thingy has made me hide these stories from memory!

Anyway, today I started in on the first round of editing, and half of one story is done. It was had to start!

Am I the only one who finds this "editing" difficult?

p.s. I can recommend a to-do list for all of the writing stuff. Add a to-do item for each of writing, editing, proofing, publishing and promoting.

Planning a new project

Having recently completed and published my gamebook "Dwarven Vengeance" I started thinking about a starting another. Despite it being a lot of work, I have really enjoyed the end result, so I wanted to start another one.

This time I thought I'd do a little market research about the subject matter. I went onto Role Playing Game Geek (RPGGeek.com) and posted a poll asking which genre would they be more likely to part with thier hard earned money for.  the poll ran for 15 or so days and got 49 responses.

The options on the poll were:

• Sci fi trading and exploration: 18 votes
• Pulpy noir detective (with tentacles): 9 votes
• Marines vs Bugs: 4 votes
• Dungeon crawl/landscape crawl: 4 votes
• WWII, pilot escaping occupied territory: 10 votes
• Other: 4 votes

I was hoping for Marines vs Bugs, but the omens have dictated otherwise.

This is a new genre for me, especially in gamebook form. It's set me a challenge. A gamebook needs a "system" of rules, those rules should match the expected game play. For instance it's no use having game rules for trading if there is no trading in the game.  So now I'm going to have to spend some time debating with myself what the focus of this new gamebook will be and once I've done that, how to implement a complimentary set of rules that fit the genre without over complicating something that needs to be really simple to fit the book format.

So now I'm collecting ideas and making notes about possible scenarios that could appear in the book. At the same time trying to avoid going too far down one line of thought without considering mechanisms at the same time.

At this point I know there are some limits on story. I polled a bunch of role players and "sci fi trading and exploration" means the RPG "Traveller" to them. The Traveller game has a number of tropes and associated expectations that goes along with the name, so those will be my focus to start with...

A promo for my game book

Here's a little video promo for my game book, it includes a short reading and an explanation of what it is.

You can get the book at Lulu.com

Game book released!

My gamebook "Dwarven Vengeance" is now available to buy via LuLu.  This is a game book where you choose which path to follow and which fights to have. It's a classic "turn to page" style game book with 401 entries. It differs from some of the classic gamebooks in that it doesn't have any of the lame endings where you just die. Instead there is always a chance to win through, a small chance true, but then you pick your own fights! 

 This is currently only available via Lulu's Print On Demand printing service.

So onto the back cover blurb...

You've lost your home, your family and your future.

When you woke to find a dragon smashing through the gates of the underholm and goblins swarming in the corridors your first thoughts were of survival.

Then the anger came, and the thirst for revenge and the need to get your home back.

So starts the quest to find the Dragonbane, a mystical item that is your only hope to defeat the dragon.

Buy the book at LuLu.com

A cautionary title

A year or more back, I wrote a Gamebook and it didn't end well, and here's the story of why.