Right there with you. And I think the same would be true of writing a straight-up novel, for me at least.
I’m personally happy to settle for good enough interspersed with “wow”–and your good enough is really good (when it comes to IF, and I’m sure it would carry over to regular novels).
I wrote a narrative nonfiction book, and can agree it was fun to hold and easy to explain–but I’m going to earn a lot more from writing for CoG than I did from writing it. Despite a terrific promo campaign for that book that had me on Bill O’Reilly, Fresh Air, All Things Considered, an NY Times review, etc.
It’s simply much easier to stand out as an author of IF, and CoG’s royalty terms are extremely good. So in terms of livelihood considerations, just explain to those confused people that you’re writing computer games because the money’s better than it is in novels.
Or designing games for the App stores … all of which are true and if you live in tech areas of the world (ex Silicon Valley or PNW) they actually understand game design.
Edit: “Someday” I’d like to write a traditional work involving Fantasy/Sci-Fi themes of one nature or another. Right now all my efforts are focused here on the contest.
Finished a first draft of a novel last year. Have been sitting on it for a while to get some distance for the second draft (which is going to have some substantial changes). It’s a project close to my heart and has been a part of my thoughts for the past 5-6 years, so I really want to make sure the final work is as good a representation of the story I want to tell as I can make it.
I have about 2 and a half pages of a apocalypse novel that my English teacher is checking to see if it has any potential
plot
After the world gets overrun with monsters and essentially everyone with a gun rendered useless a (possibly insane) teen and his friends have to go across the country and see if they can figure out what the litteral hell is going on
I’ve completed one novel, and I’m currently rewriting several sections of it, and I have close to 30 others planned that I flit between as and when I please. I have a fantasy series, a supernatural series (which I tried and failed to adapt into a CoG), a dystopian series, and my YA high school series, which is my favourite, as it contains my completed novel, and it’s probably the most fun to write for.
I have considered attempting to get my novel published, and it’d be awesome to think of people reading and enjoying it, but I’m a little too attached to it and the characters are all my babies and I want to keep them all to myself.
The basic plot of my novel is a teenage boy is in a love triangle with his childhood best friend and new boyfriend, and he doesn’t realise until the last chapter. I have two sequels in progress, which turns it into a love hexagon. I love my melodramatic plots. It’s also the only story I’ve ever finished writing, and I’ve been writing for about a decade, so it’s very precious to me.
My fantasy story’s main characters are Ander the Grackle, an alcoholic, drug addicted sellsword and Half-Blind Talenn, a butch lesbian blacksmith and Ander’s elder sister. The nickname Half-Blind refers to the fact that, when she was a child, her and Ander’s father burned one of her eyes out with a white hot knife for breaking an expensive jug of wine, after which Ander murdered him by stabbing him half a hundred times. With that very knife.
At least that’s what it is at the present moment, I’ll probably realize I hate it all in a day or two and then rewrite it all again.
I’m looking for any books that people have written that are like their WIP, or published games. Or just suggestions for books, and WIP games. I’m bored and really want to read something unique…
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone (Choice of the Deathless and City’s Thirst) is excellent. The authors of A Study in Steampunk, Welcome to Moreytown, Werewolves: Haven Rising, The Road to Canterbury, and and T-Rex Time Machine have also written book series, though I haven’t got round to reading them yet. Natalie Theodoridou (Rent-a-Vice) and Tracy Canfield (I, Cyborg) have also published quite a few short stories.
I find myself working on the the universe that I have created then actually writing a novel and then switching back the wip I started and rewriting it in context of that universe. So, can it be called procrastination? As it seems I never finish anything to the end just switch between and for the hell new ideas of stories come in and its super tempting to start something new. ^^’’
I have a steampunk fantasy trilogy set in the same world (and with the same main characters) as my Hosted Game, “Attack of the Clockwork Army”. In fact, every time I learn a new story system I tend to write another steampunk fantasy novel. There’s a full list, with reading order and links, here.
How did you get your stories out there? Did you hire a literary agent or just shop a manuscript around on your own?
I’ve literally thought about writing a novel for decades, but it’s only on the past year that I sat down and got serious about it (in the form of an IF, oddly enough).
Still not sure how well my story will be received, but I’ve definitely been bitten by the writing bug and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t daydreaming about the future.
I have a fantasy standalone novel that’s been on the back burner for the last six months, or so. I’m gearing up to start work on it again, soon, now that I have a better idea of where things got derailed last time.
For a novel, a literary agent is your best route to publication by a traditional publishing house! You have to shop your manuscript to agents, too: you send a query letter to agents you’re interested in, outlining the ‘stats’ of your novel (word count, genre, inspirations, title) and its ‘blurb’ (a short hook and synopsis of your story). If they’re interested, they’ll ask you to send your work for them to read, and from there it’s just about finding an agent who will sign with you!
Speaking as someone who’s worked for a literary publication (and who just went through the process of getting an agent a few years ago), it’s quite difficult to get a publishing house to look at your manuscript without the recommendation of an agent. It’s not impossible per se, but I always recommend trying the agent route first if you have your heart set on being picked up by a publisher.
There is also self-publishing, which can always lead to traditional publication down the line–Andy Weir’s the Martian and Christopher Paolini’s Eragon are just two examples of books that were self-published at first before being picked up by major publishers later.
Those two routes are almost always one’s best bet for getting their work out there!
Of course, it’s different for IF–COG and HG is the best way to get interactive stories published, imo–but I hope that’s useful info for you!
For me I sent a LOT of opening chapters to a LOT of publishers (keeping careful records is key, as most don’t allow simultaneous submissions and all frown on re-submissions). But it was pitching novels in person at writing conferences that got me over the line at last. Still with a small publisher, but that works for me (barely any advertising and a tiny distributor, but I had a lot of creative control and I can sell them at festivals, which I like).
I gave up on traditional novels a long time ago. I’m only interested in writing something if it’s got a really weird format to it, like a choice game or an RPG zine.
Congrats, Felicity! I have several friends going a similar route, and they enjoy that mix of freedom and support. Are book fairs opening up again down there? They are here.
I think I’ve finally found my novel subgenre, but I need to do a lot of reading in that subgenre over the next couple months to make sure. I will probably just do it indie style, but again I’ve got to make sure I can write for market. I have no interest in spinning my wheels or genre-hopping.
Edited to Add: Wow! I just read the OP and realized I started this thread four freaking years ago! I still haven’t written a novel, so it’s sad to look back at that first post.
I went to one book fair this year and it was very noticeable that people were spending more than usual, which was sweet of them. Lots more have been cancelled.
But overall, yes things are opening up a bit. My city (Canberra) officially came out of lockdown last Friday and kids start back to school Monday but I’ll be keeping mine home as they can’t get vaccinated yet and kids are… not hygenic.
Eric Moser wrote:
Edited to Add: Wow! I just read the OP and realized I started this thread four freaking years ago! I still haven’t written a novel, so it’s sad to look back at that first post.
I think you’re a LOT better at writing to market/understanding the assignment than almost anyone I know, so I’m sure you’ll do well. One of Australia’s few well-known authors (Tim Winton) typically takes ten years to write a book. I used to average one per year, but things have been peculiar the last few years.
It took me fifteen novels before I wrote one I actually sold, but I DID start real early. And it’s been relatively easy for me in the gaming world, because I definitely had the ability to form a sentence and a story before I found IF. My weakness is the gaming side.
Around here, I’d say the vibe is pretty much “back to normal.” My whole family is double vaccinated and the kiddos must be masked up all day at school, but honestly schools are the last refuge of mandatory masking. Most small businesses don’t require it at all, they just seem thankful to have customers again. And we have gatherings of 60k+ people for things like football games and horse races.
I appreciate you thinking that I know the assignment, and yes I definitely try my best to do that, but I’ve realized for years that the Amazon ecosystem is incredibly different from us writing games for CoG/HG and so basically I know that I don’t know much. What I do understand is that I need a genre (really, a subgenre) and I need to stay in that lane for maximize the chances of getting traction. And that’s challenging for me (and probably lots of others) when you think, “wow I’m essentially marrying this subgenre for at least a few years.” I don’t like feeling confined, but I don’t make the rules either.
You have 15 novels?? So you’re way over the 1M written-word mark, I’m guessing? I think it shows with your prose! And we’re alike that way, in that our prose/writing is probably more developed than our gaming sides. Personally, I don’t want to write games that couldn’t stand on their own as novels/comics were they to be stripped of all the choices/interactivity.
Yeah, Australia is definitely not back to normal. We’re still under some pretty heavy travel and gathering restrictions here. (Although now I’m allowed out after dark and can choose to exercise more than walking distance from my house within reason. It’s kind of starting to open up again now, sorta, kinda. Still no book fairs though. Maybe next year )
Thought you might appreciate this Felicity (and anyone else in Australia at the moment who needs a smile.)
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