Sagiro's Story Hour: Now That It's Over

RangerWickett said:

I Took My Licks: An Adventurer's Biography, by Dranko Coaltongue

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Wait -- who?

Let me fix that for you!
I Took My Licks: An Adventurer's Biography, by Dranko Coaltongue, author unknown.

Hi Sagiro, happy new year! I was wondering if you've had any developments on the novel front, such as potential distribution channels. I hope your work is going well, I'm definitely looking forward to being entertained by the adventures of Abernathy's Company once again.

I suggested to a friend in mid-November that they might enjoy the story hour as a great example of what a game could be. I sent SteveAC's compilation PDFs, and then, just on a whim, started browsing through part 1 once again. Which turned into a full re-read. Which included all the other parts as well.

Thanks for your work on this, I'm looking forward to seeing something both new and familiar - kind of like the Veronica Mars movie. Same characters, familiar story but still new things to see and experience. Have a great weekend!

SolitonMan said:

Hi Sagiro, happy new year! I was wondering if you've had any developments on the novel front, such as potential distribution channels. I hope your work is going well, I'm definitely looking forward to being entertained by the adventures of Abernathy's Company once again.

I suggested to a friend in mid-November that they might enjoy the story hour as a great example of what a game could be. I sent SteveAC's compilation PDFs, and then, just on a whim, started browsing through part 1 once again. Which turned into a full re-read. Which included all the other parts as well.

Thanks for your work on this, I'm looking forward to seeing something both new and familiar - kind of like the Veronica Mars movie. Same characters, familiar story but still new things to see and experience. Have a great weekend!

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I just finished a fairly serious revision to some early chapters, and now I'm going through the process of dealing with "aftershocks" -- that is, places later in the novel that need to be tweaked based on those early changes. Altogether I'm on something like the 11th or 12th revision now; I've kind of lost count. I'm leaning more and more toward releasing the book using Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, with a print-on-demand option for those who like a physical copy. (I think I probably said all that last time I posted!)

I appreciate the interest!

-Sagiro

Hey Sagiro, I recently completed a complete read of your entire Story Hour. I'm obviously a fan, and I wouldn't hesitate to include the Adventures of Abernathy's Company as one of my favorite fantasy stories, regardless of its origin as a retelling of a tabletop game. The characters in it feel a lot more 'real' to me than most in genre fiction . I do wish the ending was on a more certain note, since some of my favorite characters ended up kinda dead, and not knowing if they come back is sad, as well as not knowing what kind of life the Company builds for itself in the underground...I mean, who was left? Ernie, Aravis, and Flicker? I especially liked the flashes into the war on the surface (P's death was frickin' awesome).

So when you feel the Ventifact Colossus is ready for publishing, be assured that at least one person is going to buy it (plus all the friends I have who still pay attention to my book recommendations). I'm waiting for it's release with bated breath, and curious as to how you end up fictionalizing some of the D&Disms of your game. I would guess that there'd be some trimming down of the spell lists, and characters end up getting wounded far less often.

Also, I'd like to add that a dozen edits of a book is pretty impressive (and a little intimidating, since as a writer with a bloated, fragile ego I can barely stand three passes over my works). Good luck with the editing, and better luck with the marketing afterwards.

Hammerhead said:

Hey Sagiro, I recently completed a complete read of your entire Story Hour. I'm obviously a fan, and I wouldn't hesitate to include the Adventures of Abernathy's Company as one of my favorite fantasy stories, regardless of its origin as a retelling of a tabletop game. The characters in it feel a lot more 'real' to me than most in genre fiction . I do wish the ending was on a more certain note, since some of my favorite characters ended up kinda dead, and not knowing if they come back is sad, as well as not knowing what kind of life the Company builds for itself in the underground...I mean, who was left? Ernie, Aravis, and Flicker? I especially liked the flashes into the war on the surface (P's death was frickin' awesome).

So when you feel the Ventifact Colossus is ready for publishing, be assured that at least one person is going to buy it (plus all the friends I have who still pay attention to my book recommendations). I'm waiting for it's release with bated breath, and curious as to how you end up fictionalizing some of the D&Disms of your game. I would guess that there'd be some trimming down of the spell lists, and characters end up getting wounded far less often.

Also, I'd like to add that a dozen edits of a book is pretty impressive (and a little intimidating, since as a writer with a bloated, fragile ego I can barely stand three passes over my works). Good luck with the editing, and better luck with the marketing afterwards.

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First, thanks for taking the time to post. I'm glad you enjoyed the Story Hour! As for the book, I've reached the point where I'm handing it off to a copy editor, assuming (perhaps naively) that it's past the point of needing a developmental edit. I'm trying out an editor a week from today; we'll see how that goes, and if it goes well, I'll probably have only one more pass through the book before I start all the fiddly details of actually publishing it. Short version: it's close! I think!

As for the D&D-isms, and translating it generally from game to book, it's been challenging, but not quite as awful as I once feared. The magic system, such as it is, will feel familiar to D&D players but is not the Full Vancian. There are, as you surmise, fewer combats, though the Company get into armed tussles on several occasions. And I had to scale way back on the ubiquity of healing, as (I felt) the function of traditional D&D clerics would sap too much of the tension out of a novel.

When I started this project, I expected I'd just be rearranging the furniture of the Story Hour, but otherwise hewing closely to the source material. Instead, I found myself writing a whole new story that, while heavily based on the original game, is really it's own work. All sorts of stuff happens differently, scenes get merged or cut, characters are altered, side quests generally get jettisoned, and of course all the game-ist stuff gets stripped out as much as possible. Oh, and there are no "races" per se -- no elves, dwarves or halflings, at least. (Though one will not have to peer too closely to see that if you scratch at Kibi, there's something Dwarf-like underneath.

It's been a fascinating process, and I'm very excited about how it's shaping up. Also, I'm working on Book 2, "The Crosser's Maze."

I'll post more details as they become available.

Sagiro said:

First, thanks for taking the time to post. I'm glad you enjoyed the Story Hour! As for the book, I've reached the point where I'm handing it off to a copy editor, assuming (perhaps naively) that it's past the point of needing a developmental edit. I'm trying out an editor a week from today; we'll see how that goes, and if it goes well, I'll probably have only one more pass through the book before I start all the fiddly details of actually publishing it. Short version: it's close! I think!

As for the D&D-isms, and translating it generally from game to book, it's been challenging, but not quite as awful as I once feared. The magic system, such as it is, will feel familiar to D&D players but is not the Full Vancian. There are, as you surmise, fewer combats, though the Company get into armed tussles on several occasions. And I had to scale way back on the ubiquity of healing, as (I felt) the function of traditional D&D clerics would sap too much of the tension out of a novel.

When I started this project, I expected I'd just be rearranging the furniture of the Story Hour, but otherwise hewing closely to the source material. Instead, I found myself writing a whole new story that, while heavily based on the original game, is really it's own work. All sorts of stuff happens differently, scenes get merged or cut, characters are altered, side quests generally get jettisoned, and of course all the game-ist stuff gets stripped out as much as possible. Oh, and there are no "races" per se -- no elves, dwarves or halflings, at least. (Though one will not have to peer too closely to see that if you scratch at Kibi, there's something Dwarf-like underneath.

It's been a fascinating process, and I'm very excited about how it's shaping up. Also, I'm working on Book 2, "The Crosser's Maze."

I'll post more details as they become available.

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My mind first rebelled against the idea of no elves, halflings, and dwarves...weren't Ernie and Flicker the iconic halflings of 1e/3e? And wasn't Kibi the one and only dwarven wizard of the setting (kinda)? Dropping elves, well, Kay and GW were only half elves, and it's not like their heritage, well, THEIR racial heritage at least, figured into the story much. But then I figured that it's not like Ernie needs to be a halfling to be the short, nice, bully-hating hero from a quiet town where nothing bad ever happens. And Flicker, assuming he makes the cut into the story (sad as it is, I could actually see him not showing up in the book ), could also be changed into a normal human without much difficulty. And Kibi doesn't need to be a dwarf to practice some strange Wild Earth Magic that no one's ever seen before, although Kibi is pretty much a dwarf's dwarf, except that he's a wizard instead of a warrior...and it'd give you the chance to really differentiate Kibi's Earth Magic from everyone else's Air Magic.

I figure the Orcs probably get called Kesh full-time, but are largely unchanged as the evil, allied-to-the-Emperor humanoid race (maybe with some long lost Adversary connection?). And Dranko still gets to be part Kesh, if you wanted to (his background doesn't demand that, just that he's unwanted).

Cool to hear that there's a Book Two in the works as well. Part One would be what, 3-4 books? You'd have the initial conscription and mysterious errands in Book One, leading to the Colossus and the Future is Written in Water (one of the best lines/prophecies in the game). Book Two would be the journey across the Uncrossable Sea and the Crosser's Maze. Book Three could be all about betraying GW . And Book Four could be all the events leading up to the Battle of Verdshane, the epic battle, the victory celebration, and the rug getting yanked out from under everyone's feet. Though my instincts say that maybe Three and Four might be a little sparse, depending on what gets focused on. I just hope you stick with the writing long enough for all of us to find out .

Sagiro said:

Oh, and there are no "races" per se -- no elves, dwarves or halflings, at least.

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Why is that? Ease of writing? I found that curious, wondering what the reason for no races might be.

SolitonMan said:

Why is that? Ease of writing? I found that curious, wondering what the reason for no races might be.

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Use of standard D&D "Tolkien" races felt a little *too* derivative to me. Also, I didn't want to spend the time developing and explaining the cultures of non-human races, which would have been hard to avoid. I have plenty of story to tell already, and the existence of demi-humans didn't seem like they added enough interest to be worth the extra hassle.

Hey, would you like to a) help me test my stub website for the book, and at the same time b) sign up to get an e-mail from me when the book goes live?

If yes, go here: The Heroes of Spira and fill out the form. If something goes wrong, or it doesn't seem to work, post here and let me know.

I also do solemnly swear that I will not use your e-mail address for any other purpose, or share it with anyone.

Thanks!