Redrafting, and related wittering

I recently finished checking through the latest draft of the book-yet-to-be-titled (I will think of a name. At some point). As expected, there was the odd error in the old stuff and some changes needed to make the new bits fit in better, but overall not too much to do. Earlier today I began actually changing the documents on the computer, and I’ve got to say that the Kindle’s bloody convenient when it comes to this sort of thing. Before I had to use a level arch-file, a pint of ink and seventeen oaks’ worth of paper (and my printer’s ancient, so it would take literally hours to get that much printed). I’ve probably saved more money redrafting using highlights and annotations (avoiding ink and paper and file costs) than I have actually buying books.

Assuming another snag doesn’t arise then the text itself (title excepted) will be done relatively shortly, leaving me with all the finickity practical things at which I am useless. Off the top of my head there’s the ISBN number, whether I can use a pen name on Amazon, whether I can copyright it using a pen name, deciding on cost (I’m thinking of £1.97 at the moment) and (probably the most fun) sorting out the cover. Oh, and trying to make it readable in multiple formats (Kindle should be alright as I can fiddle with and test that myself).

My cunning plan is to try and get all the chapters done (18, including a brief epilogue) before Skyrim comes out, and then taking a couple of days off as a reward and break before getting stuck into the other thingummyjigs.

The first time the technical stuff might be tricky and time-consuming, but hopefully it’ll become relatively easy for the next book.

The present draft is number 5, which isn’t all that high a number, and I think I’ve become a bit better at redrafting (admittedly, I was bloody awful when I first started doing it). Being objective is hard twice over; firstly because it’s your own work so it can be difficult to stay on the straight and narrow between being too harsh and too over-confident, and secondly because liking books is very subjective anyway.

When it comes to promotion I’ll obviously bang on about it on this august blog and emotionally blackmail, er, encourage people I know to buy it. I might try hunting down magazines and offering them a sample. Hmm. Now I think of it, when I get the cover done I could get extra art work and that might help to drum up some interest, especially if it’s particularly dramatic and thrilling.

So, the plan is to update the chapters with the latest changes, then take some time off to play Skyrim (and think up a title).

Thaddeus

Review: The Final Empire (Mistborn Book One), by Brandon Sanderson

This is the second book by Mr. Sanderson I’ve read, after The Way of Kings (which is the first part of a separate series). It takes place in a world reigned over by the Lord Ruler, an apparently immortal tyrant who has held sway for a thousand years or so. Under his rule the nobility have held their position for generations and the majority (called skaa) have been oppressed. The sky is darkened with ash clouds, the volcanic precipitation making the entire landscape dismal and grey.

A chap called Kelsier and his criminal associates are intent upon on bringing down the Lord Ruler, and hatch a plot to do so. Magic plays a significant role in the book, and, as in (although different to) the Way Kings, the system the author has invented is simple but works very well. Essentially, there are 8 basic metals and 2 higher metals, and these can be swallowed and burnt by mistings or mistborn. The former can only use one specific metal, the latter can burn any or all of them. Each metal has a different advantage, and some burn faster than others.

The Lord Ruler is quite interesting, and I’m glad that he wasn’t overused. The author’s use of small passages from an ancient journal recalling the Lord Ruler’s journey (before he became Lord Ruler) at the start of chapters is a small touch, but one to which I always looked forward.

Generally, the world is well-described, and the obligators and Steel Inquisitors were interesting. I think some more instances of the skaa oppression might have helped, but that’s probably a bit picky.

The last third is definitely the strongest part of the book. Along with a few unexpected twists, the pace is more rapid and events more engaging. After the initial set up of the book’s premise it feels a little slow, and although the protagonist is well-developed a few of the main characters could perhaps use a little more fleshing out.

Thaddeus

Gaming: how much is too much?

Bigger is better. With a bigger game you get more playing time, and hence better value for money. More customisation increases replay value, and a bigger map means that you can discover things on playthrough number 7 that you never saw before.

However, I do think we’re pretty much at the limit, and going further might actually make games inferior.

Take map size. I’ve played a few free-roaming games, where you can go anywhere on the map, such as GTA: San Andreas, Oblivion and Fallout 3. The bigger the map, the more varied and interesting you can make the landscape, the more nooks and crannies you can put in to intrigue and delight exploring players and so on.

The problem is that if you make a map too big then a few things start getting worse. For a start, unless you have (and use) a fast travel system, it can be a pain in the arse to trek a huge distance. Secondly, it makes the work of a completionist (ie someone who likes to do, collect and experience every part of a game) almost impossible. Last, but perhaps most importantly, it makes a game’s production time longer, meaning that by the time it’s released it may be nearly or actually outdated by other releases that took years less to create.

Then there’s customisation, both in terms of character creation and options for variable gameplay (in Skyrim terms: the archetypes of warrior, rogue and mage and various mixtures between two or three of those). Would you want to play a game with 100 races to choose from? I wouldn’t, because the team making the game would have spent a hell of a long time fiddling with microscopic racial differences instead of spending their time on more important things. Likewise, a one-handed and two-handed (or blunt and blade) categorisation of melee weapons makes sense, but if you had specific skillsets for umpteen weapons (daggers, spears, halberds, maces, morning stars, swords, longbows, shortbows, crossbows, cestus, slings etc etc) character management would, for most people, become bloody tedious.

Whether a game is free-roaming, entirely linear or something in between (Skyrim, Final Fantasy Whatever The Last One Was and Dragon Age: Origins, say) also affects how big a game can be before it’s just become as fat and bloated as an oaf who gets a documentary made about how they have to be lifted in and out of bed with a crane. Skyrim (and its predecessor, Oblivion) will get away with being 300 hours long because if you play a character for 100 hours and then start a new one, the remaining 200 hours of questing, exploring and murdering poor people can instantly be got at with your new character. But if you’re playing Linear Fantasy 19 and forgot to do something important (I’d offer a specific example, but didn’t buy it and therefore cannot) in the 127^th hour then your options are to play for another 173 hours of regret, or start a new game and plough through 126 hours of gameplay to do the thing you wanted to do, but missed.

So, let’s assume I’m right (no sarcastic comments, loyal readership!) and games such as Skyrim have pretty much reached the natural limit of geographical size and character customisation (there are 10 races to choose from. Any more would just be silly). That’s actually a good thing. Because instead of trying to make Black Marsh (or whatever the next Elder Scrolls will be) even more enormous the development team will be able to spend the extra resources they have on things that make the game better, rather than just bigger. Things like de-fusing trousers and shirts, for example, and making even more intriguing quests instead of standardised quests.

I wasn’t going to write any more Skyrim stuff until I got the game, but I did hear a snippet (it’s a non-spoiler) worth mentioning. Unlike Oblivion or Fallout 3 you don’t get to fiddle with your character at the end of the intro, so make sure you get everything right at creation, or you’ll have to quite and redo it.

Thaddeus

Alphas, on 5* at 10pm

A while ago I saw a discussion about this programme, but, as is often the case, it wasn’t on Freeview. I don’t watch 5* often, but yesterday caught some of the 2007 CGI Beowulf film and saw an ad for Alphas.

The next episode (airs tonight) is number 3, and the second can be seen (for a few hours anyway) on the Channel Five website. Unfortunately I didn’t see the first episode, but there we are.

The premise is not all that original (people suddenly start developing cool mutations that give them strange powers), and will be familiar to anyone who watched the excellent X-Men films or Heroes.

Episode 2 was a little hit and miss, but it is a new series and I’ll probably give it a go for a few weeks and see how it progresses. Some of the powers do look to be a little more interesting than usuak (one chap has a sort of rational predictive power, not quite prophecy but similar to it), although there is the obligatory strong man and persuasive woman.

I hope it ends up better than Heroes. I watched almost all of series 1, but missed series 2 (it clashed with House) and didn’t really feel the need to watch it later. People not getting killed (in both books and series like this) is something I dislike and (Isaac, I think his name was, aside) Heroes was pretty bad at that. It’s hard to build up dramatic tension or feel worried for someone if you know that the man next to them who has just been introduced and is wearing a red Star Trek uniform is going to be the one taking the bullet.

The Walking Dead has also made a return, but has jumped from Channel Five to FX (not Freeview) so hopefully, like Alphas, it will make a free-to-air appearance in a little while. I enjoyed the first series, but was surprised by how brief it was (just six episodes) given the American habit of mega-series with 20 or so episodes.

I hope the next time a British firm tries making something they spend a little less on special effects and a bit more on writing. I tried to like Outcasts. I did. It even had the (occasional) good moment, but you can’t transmit a virus by vibrating air molecules and even if you could the virus wouldn’t stop being there when the transmission halted.

Last (but very much not least) The Big Bang Theory returns this Thursday at 8pm on E4.

Thaddeus