Revenge of the Gamer

Being a perfectionist sucks, but being a perfectionist with a complete lack of patience is infinitely worse. 

Yesterday I began the fourth draft of The Bond of Jhordil, my first original novel.  I’m frustrated because I was hoping the third draft had finally nailed down the plot, and that once it was finished I could sit back and begin the loooonnnng editing process.  Unfortunately it was not to be.  I got through about two thirds of the third draft before I had to stop and re-examine the plot due to feedback I’d received.

I showed the early chapters to about a dozen people.  Six of them told me exactly the same thing.  We like it, but it feels like we’re starting in the middle of a book.  We need to know more about Aranthar and Briana, the new leads I’d added.

Why is this so frustrating?  Because Aranthar and Briana weren’t even in the first two drafts.  It originally centered on the town of Mountain Shadow, and the main characters were the offspring of The Dark Lord(tm) killed in the prologue.  Yet the more I wrote the more I realized the brothers couldn’t sustain a novel on their own.  The book was ok but it wasn’t amazing, and the sad reality of today’s publishing market is that if your novel isn’t amazing it simply will not sell.

So I went back to the drawing board.  I realized that neither brother was cut out to be the main character.  The lead in a compelling novel is one that the readers empathize with, laugh with, cry with and love to read about.  They are human and flawed.  Neither brother fit that closely enough, which meant I needed a new lead.

I’ve played Mass Multiplayer Games like Everquest and World of Warcraft for many years, and my all time favorite character was Aranthar.  He was an irrevrent drunk who wanted to do the right thing, but had a hard time putting his wineskin down long enough to do it.  During the years I played him the ladies in these games loved the character, as evidenced by the stories they still tell years later.

I decided to modify him and insert him into The Bond.  If I could bring him to life the way I did in those games I figured I’d have a pretty compelling lead.  The good news is that I was right.  Everyone who read the new draft liked Aranthar, and it was universally agreed that the book was much stronger with him in it.

I also realized that for him to work I’d need a foil, someone for him to argue with.  As Aranthar is the world’s biggest ManHo that character would naturally need to be female.  So I created Briana, a character that still needs work but one the readers really like so far.  The interplay between them works, and people enjoy reading their adventures.  Great news for me!

So I created four chapters with Aranthar and Briana trying to reach Mountain Shadow, but kept the rest of the plot intact.  The two vampyr brothers and the complete cast of characters I created in the town are still there.  The plot is still the same, though now its Aranthar investigating the mystery instead of the brothers.  It seemed to work perfectly, and I was very proud of myself.

Then came the feedback.  Readers liked Aranthar and Briana, but they had no idea why they were traveling to Mountain Shadow.  They wanted to know how the pair met and why they were traveling together in the first place.

The good news is that I have the answers to these questions, and writing those chapters is cake.  They’re also really fun to write, because I have a blast with the interplay between Aranthar and Briana.  However, it going to take me at least an extra month and will probably be closer to two.

Worse, adding these chapters creates some serious problems later in the book.  You see in the publishing world fantasy novels are limited to 100,000 words.  I’m already at 120,000 and adding these chapters is going to put me at closer to 150,000 words.

That means I need to cut nearly a third of the novel, all of which is going to have to come from the last part of the book.  That’s why I’m so frustrated >.<

I’m sure I’ll be able to find a way to do this, but its hard to effectively start over with the plot of the novel.  I’ve already done it three times, and a fourth is both tiring and daunting.  I’m not giving up mind you, but I do feel like banging my head against my desk.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Ok I feel better now.  Focus on the good, Mr. Fox.  The new version is way better than any of the previous versions!  Besides, I knew going in what I was getting myself into.  The publishing industry has changed a great deal in the last twenty years.

It used to be that any moron could slap together a fantasy novel, and if it was even close to readable it would get published.  Books as a whole are dying, and the epic fantasy genre is on the endangered species list.  That means only the very best of the very best will get accepted.

If I want to get published I need to master my craft, and that’s going to take years.  In the end it will be worth the investment of time, and I just need to remind myself that the payoff will make it all worth while.

The good news is that the first of the Rifters I’m published in arrived!  One of my Evil GM Tricks articles was the very first in the issue which felt good!

I’m also on schedule as far as my short stories go.  I finished The End of All Things in January, and am just about done with There is No Such Thing as Werewolves for February.  March’s short story is entitled Sacred Duty, and should be done before the end of the month.

So I am meeting the goals I’ve set for myself.  My work continues to improve by leaps and bounds, but while the short stories are getting picked up the novel needs at least another year of improvement before it will blow people away. 

Guess I’d better get back to work on that!