Writer’s Diary #44
May 17th, 2024
This is going to be a longer one so grab your beverage of choice and perhaps a snack! I am, as mentioned, on a brief hiatus from regular posting until early June, but I am still writing and wanted to send out a longer update post to fill you in on everything new. If you don’t care to read my full blabbering, there will be a conclusion at the bottom to get the main points to you.
First of all – please wish The People’s House a very happy 3rd birthday! Three years ago today, I made my first post about this idea in the interest check thread under another title (I believe it was “In The Oval” or something to that effect). That first demo had no individual states, just regions, only one spouse option, and very little content to it – it is so incredible to see how far this WIP has come, and I am forever grateful for all of your support.
If you also haven’t gathered from their incredibly helpful responses on this forum, I also ask that you give kudos to @Snowflower and @11110, who have helped me out with bug testing and so much more throughout the duration of this long process. This WIP would not be where it is today without them!
Now, onto the actual updates and news.
The Updates
- The opposition and player’s party conventions have been fully written – there is a pretty wide variety of choices to tailor the convention to your liking, with those choices determining the size of your post-convention bump
- In this sequence is also the ability to choose from three new Vice Presidential options if you decide it’s time for something new
- In all, I’ve written all the way to the beginning of the general election, where a certain event will demand your attention and time away from the campaign trail
- On the agenda for Chapter 5, covering your re-election campaign, will be your handling of this crisis, an economic forum where you’ll be able to lay out your stances on more economic policy items, the Vice Presidential debate, and then the Presidential debate – with a few surprises mixed in along the way
- Chapter 5 will end with the results of the election, win or lose
Now, onto the bigger update!
TPH: Book One, Coming Soon (?)
After a whole lot of thinking and going back and forth, I’ve finally settled on it: I will split up the People’s House into two books. I know this idea had a lot of support when I first talked about it, but I hope to explain my reasoning to those of you who may be disappointed with this choice.
Truly, the biggest source of this decision is TPH’s length – it’s already a lengthy book as is (around 350k words and not yet finished) and I think it has a lot in it to make for a compelling stand-alone story worthy of being published and read while book two is written. Having already spent three years working on this project, I don’t think it makes sense to keep all of you waiting who knows how long for a full, finished, polished product. On my end, I’m definitely ready to work towards polishing it myself.
Splitting the story into two books is also going to give me a lot of information: 1) how much support for this kind of story exists within the Choice of Games readership base, and 2) what a bigger pool of readers believe to be missing. As an added bonus: going down this route, I hope, can lead to a release date of the Presidential election here in the U.S. (November 5th, 2024). Still, this point is a lot less important given that I’m already anticipating that the editing process will take longer than anticipated 
A lot of people expressed earlier worries that I would abandon TPH after releasing one book – and that will certainly not be the case. I already have a solid outline for Book 2 written and fully intend on writing and publishing it.
Short Term Goals & Feedback Requested
With all of that in mind, I have some big short-term goals. The first of which is going to be to finish Chapter 5 (what I’m currently writing), by the end of August. As a reminder, Chapter 5 is the chapter focused on your re-election. Given that this will be a two-part series, I’ll also include several (somewhat) open-ended epilogues if you win re-election so that the ending isn’t abrupt.
Assuming I’m able to finish up a rough draft by the end of August, I’m planning on opening up a public playtest (as required by Choice of Games), which will include the entire story open to everyone. While CoG only requires one month for edits, given the length of this story (and the fact that I already have a long list of changes now), I want to give as much time as possible to polish things up before sending it off to the copy editors.
In Need of Illustrators!
Lastly, I am starting the process of looking for illustrators now! I know that the process of getting all materials ready can be fairly lengthy, so I’d like to start this process sooner rather than later. If you aren’t an illustrator yourself, but you know one, I’d appreciate it if you sent along their information so I’m able to reach out!
From an illustrator, I’ll need all the lovely things that CoG requires: a game Icon, Splashscreens, Promo Art, and Steam Capsules. I would also like some pretty simple chapter headers made. I’m somewhat flexible on pricing, but from what I’ve been able to gather it seems like around $100-$200 is around what authors have paid in the past. Again, I’m happy to work out the details and more specifics with an illustrator!
In Conclusion/TL;DR
- The People’s House will be split into two books, with Book 1 covering your first term, and Book 2 covering your second, final term.
- I’m hoping to finish writing by the end of August and establish an open play test in early September.
- If all goes to plan, TPH: Book 1, will be published around November 5th of this year, which is the day of the Presidential election here in the United States.
