The noblest instincts, the purest sympathies, are reviled and persecuted, and if ever two poor souls do meet, then everything is organized to prevent their union.
For his pleasures had so trampled over his heart, like schoolboys in a playground, that no green thing grew there, and whatever passed that way, being more frivolous than children, left not so much as its name carved on the wall.
There were many moments when I thought I didn’t have it in me. But I kept at it… and I made it! I finished the rough draft for “Ghost in the Machine” at about 63000 words yesterday evening. It’s been an amazing month. I’m almost sad that it’s over.
A quick run-down: “Ghost in the Machine” is a Mass Effect AU in which Nihlus doesn’t die on Eden Prime. It came out comfortably T-rated, and I hope, quite plausible. Summary & excerpt here!
Not going to lie: more than a few chapters are crap, because I had to force myself to write things I didn’t want to write in order to get to those I did want to write, and since I started out with nothing but the broadest idea possible, I had to make plans as I went. There was no time to go back and fix things, even after I’ve gotten deep into the mindset and started generating fix-ideas like crazy. But the closer I was to the end, the less cringing I had to do.
So now I need to rip it apart edit, a lot, make some additions, make some decisions… like, do I want to write a sequel, eventually? And then I’ll post on FFN, hoping it will be as fun for others to read as it’s been for me to write.
I think, therefore I am. I think.
You don’t know what NaNoWriMo is? The horror!
NaNoWriMo (I’ll be caalling it “nano” from now on) is short for “National Novel Writing Month” and it’s a really simple, really nutty notion: you sign up for it and try to write a short novel (50000 words) during November. There are no verification systems in place; you could copy paste lorem ipsum until you reached the target word count and the site would list you as one of the “winners” so it all comes down to what the challenge can do for you, not the other way around.
There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
A bridge-building book that connects the literary genre of the romantic quest narrative (exemplified by the Arthurian legends), and the wide category of “quest games” that includes, but isn’t limited to, RPGs and action-adventure games. The parallels are undeniable and familiar to any person who enjoys playing such games, but it’s a real pleasure to see someone publish a book filled with good arguments and examples to use in debates with game critics who dismiss games as an art form and just a “waste of time”.
Continue reading Quests – Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives
