A Sort of Writing Hiatus

In 2019 I released not one but two novels: Crown of Blood (the final part of The Bloody Crown Trilogy), and Sir Edric and the Corpse Lord (the latest entry in the comedic Hero of Hornska series).

That sounds incredibly productive, but of course all the writing was done far earlier, and 2019 was spent editing and proofreading, as well as sorting the covers.

Making money from creative writing is very difficult. Even the relatively successful make less than £10,000 a year on average, and I am not, alas, relatively successful (which is annoying, not least because most of my books have ratings of 4.5 stars, but there we are).

On the plus side, I have been making something through writing on other matters (mostly travel and gambling, but also the odd spot of science, and financial news in the past. If you’re interested, do hit me up on Twitter, @MorrisF1. Also available for creative writing, particularly fantasy/sci-fi).

Naturally, this takes up a lot of time, and involves a lot of writing, with more emphasis on good places to eat and less focus on dragon attacks. Because of this my creative writing time has been massively reduced. Every so often I manage to get a little done on a completely new work-in-progress in a new setting, but that’s moving very slowly indeed.

I’m not so bad at the writing business, but the self-promotion and marketing is another story entirely. And in a marketplace that’s saturated, that means I make very little from creative writing. I’m not stopping entirely but it’s very much on the backburner.

You can still find my many excellent books (including assorted anthologies) at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thaddeus-White/e/B008C6RU98 and (solo works and the Prey anthology) https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Thaddeus6th

They may be available elsewhere too, thanks to Smashwords’ distribution system.

Similarly, this blog isn’t dead, but it will be a bit sleepier. After a day of writing a lot for work, the desire to write a lot for free is less appealing (besides which, I’ve rambled here for a decade so I’ve said quite a lot already).

Anyway, I thought it’d be courteous to write an update. There is a very low chance I’ll be releasing anything creative next year. Beyond that depends on how things go.

Thaddeus

Review: The Outer Worlds (PS4)

I finished my first playthrough of this game a few days ago, playing as a high intellect sniper type of character.

I’ve got to say my expectations were pretty high, and they were met. This is a great sci-fi game, with a range of options in main and side-quests, as well as varying combat playstyles and a lot of freedom (you can kill a lot of characters, maybe everyone, whereas other games in this genre might make them ‘essential’).

Downsides: it is shorter than some comparable games. However, it still clocks in at something like 30-40 hours, and Obsidian were totally up front about this. They never claimed it was a 200 hour game. Textures on an old, fat PS4 can take a second or two to show up. And if you do the vast majority of quests, as I did, you’ll end up feeling overpowered relatively quickly (which suited me as I have the combat skills of tortoise stuck in a bucket).

Dialogue is an area where the excellent character creator (in terms of setting up strengths and weaknesses) really shines. You get special dialogue options for lots of skills, such as Engineer prowess, and the Dumb option if you make your character a little bit dim.

In combat you can go for a melee approach, sniping, guns blazing, and I’d guess full stealth would work too (I have zero experience of the latter, the others all work fine). Be sure to get the tinkering skill (Engineer 20, I think) to improve your weapons/armour, as this’ll help out quite a bit. Enemies come in the form of automechanicals, mischievous people, and rabid creatures (alien apes, dogs, and insects). The variety could be a little better but it works fine.

The world-building is another especial strength, creating a plausible corporate dystopia in which perfectly reasonable people are constrained by the bounds of a hyper-capitalist society. It does a great job of making the inhabitants of the Halcyon system credible, rather than 2D cardboard cut-outs, and nowhere does this work better than with the character of Parvati, who was my ever-present companion in the first campaign.

Genuine moral (and personal) dilemmas are presented, with legitimate choices either way, and often scope to be pretty evil if you want to be (not that I was).

During my first run I didn’t encounter a single serious bug, no hangs, freezes, crashes, or offers to pay $100 a year for a game I’d already bought.

Although not the longest RPG in the world the decisions with consequences plus varying play styles in combat and dialogue means it’s easy to envisage multiple playthroughs (I’ve just started a ‘dumb’ run).

The Outer Worlds a very good game.

Thaddeus

The Outer Worlds – Early Thoughts (PS4)

Yes, yes, pre-ordering games is generally a bad thing. But this game, by Obsidian (makers of Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity) looked very good indeed. And, so far, I’m not regretting the decision at all.

At the time of writing I’ve played about six or seven hours or so, and have left the starting area.

The Outer Worlds is set in a new alternate reality future, in a distant star system which is run by corporations in a rather dystopian way. You play a chap or lady thawed out from a ship where hundreds of people ended up as popsicles rather than colonists.

There’s a lot I like about the game, and a few minor gripes, so I’ll outline the downsides first. The subtitles are too small. Doesn’t affect me personally but if you rely on them I can see that being frustrating. Textures take a little while to load in. It does make the fat PS4 scream a bit, although this is a console rather than game problem, and the inventory menu helps it to calm down.

The plus side is that all the big stuff, so far, is good. Sometimes very good. The setting, the story, the dialogue, all are great. The combat is fine (this isn’t my area, really, but it’s fine on the standard difficulty setting). The cold, bureaucratic nature of a corporate dystopia contrasts brilliantly with the exotic and vibrant alien worlds. When you leave the office of the first bigwig you meet, having been invited to do him a dubious favour, you can look up and see the dazzling sky of another world.

The whole colony is run by a few major companies (with only one space station excepted), where people are seen as biological components in a corporate machine. But despite this, the members of corporations often come across sympathetically, as decent people stuck in a difficult place (not unlike the real world, where perfectly good people can get lumbered with less than lovely work). This adds depth and plausibility to the world, and is enhanced by the humour. This brings another dose of realism, without being over-egged.

I’ve kept stuff story-light because I don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’ll say is that the early stages are promising. Side quests and main story missions often have varying potential outcomes, and you can screw up tasks entirely (I believe you can kill anyone, but I’m playing as a nice ex-elevator technician so I haven’t tested it myself). The companions seem to be quite diverse in their personality (when it comes to combat you can mould them as you wish, so only personality matters when picking who to take).

In short, it’s really rather good.

Thaddeus

Sir Edric and the Corpse Lord – out 22 October

Yes, kids, two books in one year. Veering dangerously close to looking productive (as an aside, things will be quieter afterwards).

In the latest volume of the eponymous knight’s biography, Sir Edric Greenlock, the Hero of Hornska, takes advantage of opportunity to leave the city and avoid getting murdered for a recent bout of adultery. Aided by his trusty manservant Dog and annoyed by squabbling mages Drusilla and Cecil, Sir Edric heads south to Lake Longsoul. Caught between the undying lord of countless walking corpses and the vengeful attention of an elven prince, Sir Edric will need all his cunning just to survive. And if he fails, the whole world could turn to a twilight of undead…

So, it’s the usual fun and games, but with added dialogue from William Shakespeare, and some old faces making appearances too.

I’ve tried something a bit different with the Smashwords page, where readers can pay what they like. Hoping it encourage more downloads, and if people like that, they have other books to pick up too.

In the long term one thing I’m toying with is a hardback anthology of all Sir Edric’s nonsense, with some pencil sketches (either by proper artists or perhaps drawn by me if I can get to a sufficient level). But that’s very much off in the future, if it happens at all.

For now, buy Sir Edric and the Corpse Lord. The Dread Nine-Horned Goat of Pung-Fek commands it.

Linkery:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/961013

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edric-Corpse-Lord-Hero-Hornska-ebook/dp/B07YN4DBB9/

Thaddeus