A Prime's Guide to the Planes (Or: An Epic-Level Love-Story) (Updated 9-13-07)

[Tal Rasha]

Hello there.

How's the book going? If all is progressing well then I am looking forward to buying the book when it is published, and will patiently wait until it is released.

If however work on the book is not particularly advanced (>= 50%) then I would like to respectfully disagree with your decision to steriliz[e] a lot of my ideas from their specific Planescapian roots. Here's why.

IMHO, there already are quite a number of books that deal with friendship and love quite successfully. However, I do not think there are many books / stories / what have you that do so in a Planescape setting. I believe that in trying to isolate yourself from your original idea, you are removing part of the appeal and running a risk of your work being drowned in a sea of similar novels.

Moreover, if I have read your post correctly, you think that the Planescape setting will somehow hinder your creativity or your expressivity. I do not think this to be the case. Planescape is a very rich medium, and one that fully supports good story-telling and traditional as well as innovative techniques.

You might think that the prerequisite background knowledge (Planescape setting, D&D, Drizz't reference etc.) will be a put-off to your readers. In this I can only offer my opinion that a well written novel with a specific background setting will attract more readers (people familiar with the setting + people who don't know about the setting but like the writing) than a well-written novel with a generic (no offence) setting (people who like the writing and happen to find this particular item). Moreover, you can introduce people to the setting through the elf's eyes.

Long story short: I think you write well, and I really want to see well-written books in the Planescape setting. I understand the desire to do something properly, which is why I won't be too upset if you tell me "sorry, no Planescape." But please let me know what you think.

 

[A Crazy Fool]

Part of the reason is probably because he can't get a planescapey novel published because of copyright.

 

[Tal Rasha]

Yes, I did think about that. My reasoning was -- Planescape isn't in-print at this time, it's not actually used, so it shouldn't be particularly expensive to use its intellectual property right? I mean, from the owner's (TSR?) perspective it would be 0-risk income. Thoughts?

 

[humble minion]

Yes, I did think about that. My reasoning was -- Planescape isn't in-print at this time, it's not actually used, so it shouldn't be particularly expensive to use its intellectual property right? I mean, from the owner's (TSR?) perspective it would be 0-risk income. Thoughts?

WotC simply doesn't subcontract out their settings like that, particularly for novels, and even if they did, I've got a hunch that licensing would be much more expensive than you realise. They keep the fiction line very much in-house. They'd want creative control, they'd want editorial veto over sex, violence and language (WotC's novel line is aimed mostly at teens, remember) and they wouldn't want to do anything to promote the 'old' Planescape and the Great Wheel at a time when they're trying like hell to popularise the new 4e planar cosmology and pretend the old one never existed. There's more to be considered from WotC's point of view than any hypothetical licensing fee. Also remember that TGH was also referencing Drizzt in his SH, and Drizzt WOULD be expensive!

And that's not even considering to what extent copyright law would allow it.

And as a rather belated aside to The Great Hippo - very nice setup. You have a gift for language and observation, and I'd love to read more. Let us know when/if anything comes up on the original novel front, ok?

 

[A Crazy Fool]

The reference to Drizzt would qualify as a parody, I'd think.