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Month: November 2019

A Welcome Bit of Publicity

A Welcome Bit of Publicity

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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Timothy Pike, the editor of Books & Buzz Magazine and the associated Chapterbuzz website, offered me the chance to be the subject of a cover article in an upcoming issue. Since I had done well in the October writing challenge on Chapterbuzz, and The Curse of Steel was making strong progress, he thought I might be a good subject for an interview article. He sent me a bunch of questions, about a week ago I sent him back a few thousand words of responses, and now here we are.

I was pleasantly surprised at the article – Mr. Pike did a pretty good job of pulling my comments together and building a pep-talk for other would-be authors out of them. I’m certainly not going to argue with a bit of free publicity!

Here’s a link to the article itself: How author John Alleyn gets lost in his own worlds. It’s free to read at Books & Buzz.

Status Report (28 November 2019)

Status Report (28 November 2019)

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It’s been a while since I posted here, but there hasn’t been that much new to report. I’ve been making steady progress on the first draft of The Curse of Steel, and I strongly suspect I’ll be finished sometime this holiday weekend. At that point, I’ll be taking a short break, and then launching myself right into the second-draft rewrite.

Oddly enough, I’ve been thinking about reviving my Patreon account. The main reason I let that lapse, a few years ago, was that I wasn’t producing content consistently enough to warrant asking anyone to pay me for it. I was mostly writing fan-fiction (which I can’t legally accept payment for), or doing research for the Architect of Worlds project (which didn’t give rise to useful content on a consistent basis), or generally messing around with one-off world-building or writing projects. Why should anyone want to support that kind of desultory work?

On the other hand, now I have this novel I’m working on, and world-building and constructed-language material to support that. Since I’m going to be self-publishing the finished work, patronage could help me gather an audience, and might also help offset some of the costs of professional support. That might be a thing in the new year.

One odd thing did come up over the past few days.

Apparently, about a year ago, someone downloaded the complete text of one of my fan-fiction novels (Memoirs: The Reaper War), reformatted it as an e-book, slapped a cover image on it (also stolen), and published it to Amazon UK under their own byline. They even stole my blurb for the novel! Naturally, this did not work out well for them. Within a few days, someone noticed that the e-book was fan-fiction, with no sign of consent from the Mass Effect IP owners. The violation of Terms of Service was reported to Amazon, and the e-book was taken down in short order.

(It still appears to have a Goodreads entry, though. I wonder if Goodreads has any mechanism for taking those down, if the book turns out to be fraudulent?)

One annoying part is that I didn’t hear anything about the incident at the time. Several people apparently looked closely enough at the plagiarized e-book to recognize that I was the original author, but none of them thought to let me know what was going on. I only came across the discussion on Reddit by accident, earlier this week while I was searching for something else entirely.

More annoying is the thought that this could put me in a very bad position someday. Suppose Amazon puts two and two together and concludes I was the idiot who tried this in the first place. The last thing I need is for them to decide to pull the original work I’ve actually published with them!

No news is good news, I suppose – if I didn’t notice this situation in over a year, it’s probably not going to blow up in my face. Still. I’ve dropped a note to the Organization for Transformative Works, to see if this kind of thing has ever come up before and if they have any advice for how I should handle the situation.

Meanwhile, if I ever find out who “Cole Price” or “C. P. Price” is, we are going to have words.

Status Report (11 November 2019)

Status Report (11 November 2019)

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Not much to report from the last week or so. The Curse of Steel is still moving strongly toward its conclusion – I’ve passed the climax of the story and am now well into the denouement, setting up the next novel in the series. I might even be finished with the first draft before the end of this week.

A small surprise. Timothy Pike, the fellow who runs the Chapterbuzz website where I’ve been posting the draft, has asked me to be the subject of the cover feature in an upcoming issue of Books & Buzz Magazine.

That’s probably not as big a deal as it might sound – as far as I can tell, the magazine’s subscriber base isn’t all that large – but it should be an interesting adventure. It’s not costing me anything but a little time, at any rate. He’s sent me a pile of interview questions to respond to; I think what he’s really looking for is the kind of story that can encourage other would-be authors to push forward with their own projects. I can certainly speak candidly about my own journey as a writer. If and when that comes to fruition, I’ll post a link here.

A Change of Plans

A Change of Plans

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As I work on The Curse of Steel, I’ve become increasingly aware that my original plot outline was a bit too ambitious. I had a certain amount of the overall story arc that I thought I was going to tell in a single 120-kiloword volume. Actually writing the story, though, has worked out differently.

Right now I’m at about 72 kilowords, and I’m just getting to what I originally thought of as the midpoint of the first novel in the series. More importantly, the dramatic beat that’s coming up soon is feeling more like the climax of a novel’s story, not so much like a mere mid-second-act plot twist.

I think the solution is obvious: treat the upcoming dramatic moment as the climax of a shortened novel, then push a chunk of the original outline into the first sequel. I think the tone of each story will end up feeling more coherent as a result. The move leaves The Curse of Steel unified as a story of heroic action, intrigue, and tribal politics, whereas the next book will be almost entirely about long-distance travel on a quest.

The upshot of all this is that I’m reducing my estimate for the total word count for The Curse of Steel, to 90 kilowords. Which means I’m a lot closer to being done with the first draft than I thought.

Earlier I was thinking of using November (National Novel Writing Month) to crank out 50 kilowords of content for The Curse of Steel. That would have brought me pretty close to the end of the story as originally planned. Now, it looks more likely that I won’t be formally participating in NaNoWriMo. Instead, during November I’ll finish the first draft of this novel, start working on revisions, and also start doing some world-building and constructed-language work for the second novel in the series. I’ll need at least two more naming languages; Kráva will be visiting two new major cultures in the course of that story.

It seems even more likely than before that The Curse of Steel will be finished and ready for release very early in 2020. The working title for the second novel in the series will be The Sunlit Lands.

Two Demigods

Two Demigods

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I’m taking a bit of a break from working on The Curse of Steel directly. One of the things I’ve done is to tinker a bit with representing some of my characters in GURPS terms. A bit of a challenge, since these are clearly superhuman characters (they’re the descendants of gods, in a setting where that basically makes you a superhero). As a sample, here are what are shaping up to be my two lead characters, at least so far:

Kráva the Swift (400 points)

Age 20; Human; 6′ even; 160 lbs.; Strong, athletic warrior-woman, usually wearing fine-quality clothes decorated with raven feathers.

ST 22 [120]; DX 14 [80]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 14 [40].

Damage 2d/4d; BL 97 lbs.; HP 18 [-8]; Will 14 [10]; Per 12 [0]; FP 14 [0].

Basic Speed 7 [0]; Basic Move 7 [0]; Block 9 (DX); Dodge 11; Parry 11 (DX).

Social Background

TL: 2 [0]. CF: Tremára (Native) [0]. Languages: Tremára (Native) [0].

Advantages

Ally (Raven sent by Sky Father) (25% of starting points) (12 or less) [2]; Ally (Raven sent by Sky Father) (25% of starting points) (12 or less) [2]; Ally (Tarankláva) (150% of starting points) (15 or less) [30]; Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Blessed (Heroic Feats of ST) [10]; Charisma 2 [10]; Combat Reflexes [15]; Enhanced Move (Ground) (1/2) [10]; Fearlessness 2 [4]; Patron (Sky Father) (6 or less; Highly Accessible; Minimal Intervention) [15]; Status (+2) [5]; Super Jump 1 [10]; Wealth (Wealthy) [20].

Disadvantages

Bad Temper (12 or less) [-10]; Code of Honor (Tremára) [-5]; Enemy (Servants of the Dark God) (medium-sized group, some formidable or super-human) (9 or less) [-30]; Vow (Hold and defend the Thunder Blade unless its rightful owner should appear) (Minor) [-5].

Quirks: Chauvinistic; Headstrong; Proud; Vow (Shield-woman’s oath) [-4].

Skills

Animal Handling (Equines)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Area Knowledge (Ravatheni Lands)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Bow-15 (DX+1) [4]; Broadsword-14 (DX+0) [2]; Climbing-13 (DX-1) [1]; Current Affairs/TL2 (Ravatheni Lands)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Hiking-13 (HT-1) [1]; Intimidation-13 (Will-1) [1]; Knife-14 (DX+0) [1]; Leadership-14 (IQ+2) [2]; Navigation/TL2 (Land)-12 (IQ+0) [2]; Politics-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Public Speaking (Oratory)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Riding (Equines)-15 (DX+1) [4]; Running-13 (HT-1) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Tremára)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Shield (Shield)-15 (DX+1) [2]; Spear-13 (DX-1) [1]; Stealth-13 (DX-1) [1]; Survival (Plains)-12 (Per+0) [2]; Swimming-14 (HT+0) [1]; Teamster (Equines)-14 (IQ+2) [4]; Throwing-13 (DX-1) [1]; Tracking-12 (Per+0) [2]; Wrestling-13 (DX-1) [1].

Kráva is very much a physical hero – very strong and fast, with a bit of Extended Move (Ground) and Super Jump to make her very mobile. She’s by no means stupid, but her talents mostly involve punching (or cutting) her way through problems.

A couple of notes about her Allies: I’ve drawn up her raven familiars as characters, and they both come in well under 0-point characters, so they’re fairly cheap.

I’ve also drawn up Tarankláva, her sword, as a character. As a practical matter, it works as a fine-quality broadsword with a bonus to skill rolls, but it also has certain powers of its own, which it uses to feed her information. The “curse of steel” has to do with the fact that it doesn’t feed her all the information it could in theory gather for her. On the sword’s character sheet, that’s set down as Reprogrammable and Slave Mentality, with a Divine Curse that prevents the sword from telling its bearer everything it sees.

Lóka the Clever (400 points)

Age 25; Human; 5′ 7″; 150 lbs.; Well-built man in a white vaita‘s robe.

ST 11 [10]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 15 [100]; HT 12 [20].

Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP 11 [0]; Will 15 [0]; Per 15 [0]; FP 12 [0].

Basic Speed 6.25 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Block 7 (DX); Dodge 9; Parry 9 (DX).

Social Background

TL: 2 [0]. CF: Tremára (Native) [0]. Languages: Lake Country (Native) [6]; Sea Kingdom (Native) [6]; Tremára (Native) [0]; Vaita Script (None/Native) [3].

Advantages

Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Blessed [10]; Cultural Adaptability [10]; Detect (Divine presence and children of the gods) (Rare) [5]; Eidetic Memory [5]; Magery 2 [25]; Modular Abilities (Cosmic Power) (Per point of abilities (+6); Trait Limited: One specific trait (Languages Only)) [30]; Musical Ability 2 [10]; Patron (Kórsata) (6 or less; Highly Accessible; Minimal Intervention) [15]; Social Regard (Respected) 1 [5]; Vaita Rank 1 [5]; Voice [10].

Disadvantages

Secret (Child of a god) (Utter Rejection) [-10]; Sense of Duty (Friends and companions) (Small Group) [-5]; Social Stigma (Second-Class Citizen) [-5]; Vow (Never admit his divine ancestry or the name of his divine parent) (Minor) [-5]; Xenophilia (12 or less) [-10].

Quirks: Congenial; Despises slave-owners and slavers; Likes to show off his cleverness; Proud [-4].

Skills

Current Affairs/TL2 (Ravatheni Lands)-15 (IQ+0) [1]; Diplomacy-15 (IQ+0) [1]; Esoteric Medicine-14 (Per-1) [2]; Fast-Talk-16 (IQ+1) [1]; History (Tremára Lands)-15 (IQ+0) [4]; Knife-13 (DX+0) [1]; Law (Tremára)-15 (IQ+0) [4]; Literature-15 (IQ+0) [4]; Musical Influence-15 (IQ+0) [2]; Musical Instrument (Harp)-16 (IQ+1) [2]; Occultism-15 (IQ+0) [2]; Performance-18 (IQ+3) [4]; Poetry-16 (IQ+1) [4]; Politics-16 (IQ+1) [1]; Public Speaking-18 (IQ+3) [3]; Religious Ritual (Tremára)-14 (IQ-1) [2]; Riding (Equines)-12 (DX-1) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Tremára)-15 (IQ+0) [1]; Singing-18 (HT+6) [4]; Staff-12 (DX-1) [1]; Swimming-12 (HT+0) [1]; Teaching-14 (IQ-1) [1]; Theology (Tremára)-14 (IQ-1) [2]; Writing-14 (IQ-1) [1].

Spells

Analyze Magic-15 [1]; Apportation-15 [1]; Counterspell-15 [1]; Create Fire-15 [1]; Cure Disease-15 [1]; Detect Magic-15 [1]; Detect Poison-15 [1]; Dispel Magic-15 [1]; Divination (Oneiromancy)-15 [1]; Enchant-15 [2]; Extinguish Fire-15 [1]; Find Weakness-15 [1]; Great Voice-15 [1]; History-15 [1]; Identify Spell-15 [1]; Ignite Fire-15 [1]; Know Illusion-15 [1]; Lend Energy-15 [1]; Lend Vitality-15 [1]; Light-15 [1]; Loyal Sword-15 [1]; Major Healing-15 [2]; Minor Healing-16 [2]; Rejoin-15 [1]; Relieve Sickness-16 [2]; Repair-15 [1]; Restore-15 [1]; Seek Air-15 [1]; Seek Earth-15 [1]; Seek Fire-15 [1]; Seek Magic-15 [1]; Seek Water-15 [1]; Seeker-15 [1]; Sense Danger-15 [1]; Sense Emotion-15 [1]; Sense Foes-15 [1]; Sense Life-15 [1]; Shape Fire-15 [1]; Simple Illusion-15 [1]; Sound-15 [1]; Thunderclap-15 [1]; Trace-15 [1]; Truthsayer-15 [1]; Voices-15 [1]; Ward-15 [1]; Weaken-15 [1].

When I was developing this story, and considering how to represent magic, I messed around with a bunch of different models. In the end, I decided to go with bog-standard GURPS, at least for now. Some characters will have superhuman powers that are innate to them, represented by very high Attribute scores and Advantages. Other characters will be able to use “charms” or “spells” that are learned, powered by personal resources – hence, standard GURPS magic. So far, that seems to be matching the story I want to tell pretty well.

One note about Lóka: in the story, it’s a plot point that he seems to be able to understand, speak, read, and write any language he encounters. That’s kind of difficult to represent in GURPS, but the Modular Abilities trait used here seems to be the best way to proceed. As it stands, Lóka knows two or three languages by natural means. He can also “miraculously” use other languages that he’s never encountered before, although it takes him a few seconds to switch to the new script or tongue (he has to “get the trick of it”). At the moment he could get native-level fluency and literacy in one language at a time, or speak two strange languages like a native and act as a translator (without being able to read either of them), and so on. Useful!

More characters to come, I think, and I may make a post or two about world-building assumptions. This setting wouldn’t make a bad GURPS world-book, actually.