Why Sojourner Tales?

I was moseying through my emails when something different caught my eye: A Kickstarter by Tracy Hickman. I've always loved Tracy Hickman's writing, and I'm one of the fortunate people who not only has met Tracy, but been privileged to have some personal conversation time with him. He's an amazing guy and one of the kindest people I've ever met. So, I immediately clicked on the link to check it out. I watched the Kickstarter video, and fell in love with the concept. 

One thing that seems to be common among most Sci-fi/Fantasy writers is a love of games. I enjoy the occasional RPG or X-box, but I particularly love board games and card games. I like to interact with the people playing and the round-the-table, taking turns, method is my favorite. Sojourner Tales is even better. You have a game board with all the cool pieces, people roll dice and take turns, but the play is based on decisions people make in the accompanying story. One story module offers dozens of game scenarios and if you get multiple story modules, you've got a lot of games, and every one different. It's like one of those books where you make the character's decisions in those turning-point moments, then skip to page X to see what happens. Except this is putting the concept into an interactive board game. THAT IS COOL. So I signed up. I wanted the game, but I didn't realize there was more being offered until Tracy talked about Add-ons. I could get in on the game design.

For a very reasonable price, Tracy allowed contributors to create their own story modules to go along with the game, and gave us license to sell those modules. When he offered a limited number of openings to be part of the original experiment, putting together the modules, getting the kinks out of the system, and being among the first stories available in the store front, I said, "Please?" And Tracy said, "Yes." I am SO stoked!

I already have some ideas. I'd like to use Sojourner Tales to do prequels for characters in my book, Noble Ark Something along the lines of: Aline's journey after her parents died, Ichiro and his black market activities, Nathan's escape from Daerli, and the list of possibilities goes on. None of these will be spoilers for the book, but having read the book will make the Sojourner game even more fun, and playing the game will give you a more in-depth understanding of the characters--the kind of information that would slow a story down, yet makes a great story in and of itself. Can't wait! Because I already know where I want to go with this, I'm able to make the story module available as an add-on in my Kickstarter for Noble Ark. As soon as the story modules start becoming available to the public, I'll be near the front lines to get mine to my fans.

So, why Sojourner Tales? Why ever not!

A Blessing and a Curse

We're two weeks into our Kickstarter for Noble Ark and everything is going nothing like I'd expected.

A number of contributors have donated funds without asking for rewards. That is such a blessing. I'm getting closer to the goal, and I'll have extra funds to put toward publishing the next book. I've sworn that every penny would go to publishing and I mean it, so nothing goes into my pocket.

The curse part: it means I overshot the amount I need. I'm preparing a financial report to put on the Kickstarter page and it will show that I actually need a lot less money than I'm raising funds for. If I could change my goal, I would, but Kickstarter doesn't allow it. So, I really only need about $600 more to publish Noble Ark, but if I don't raise the full $1200 then I get nothing.

The solution: full disclosure to the participants and an extended publishing plan that includes the second book.  And hope.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/203246974/noble-ark-how-it-should-end

The Plateau

Plateaus happen. When you're trying to lose weight (something that has been part of my life since childhood), there are plateaus. When you're trying to learn a new skill, like writing amazing fiction, there are plateaus...a lot of them, by the way. And in my ongoing Kickstarter, there are plateaus.

Because of some amazing contributions, the Noble Ark Kickstarter reached 60% funding in less than a week. That's incredible! And then it plateaued. That's depressing. But understandable. Plateaus happen. I reached all the people who were going to immediately jump behind me and give me full support, and now I have to work for the rest. Sounds a lot like losing weight, huh?

So, as I'm kicking myself to get going again today, I encourage you to keep going toward your goals. Don't let the plateaus get you down or even slow you down. A plateau is the level bit before the next drop or rise. As long as we keep working, we'll attain the goal. As the upcoming holiday season reminds us (and yes, I'm already listening to Christmas music), just believe.

You Can Never Please Everyone...So Just Move On Already!

Last week I talked about the necessity of waiting, but today it's all about moving on. I also mentioned the video for Kickstarter that we could talk about another time. Well, it's another time.

For the Kickstarter video, I thought it would be fun to put together a HISHE-style video about how I started writing, which is when my work on Noble Ark began.When my daughter saw it, the look of fear and revulsion told me what she thought before I could ask. It was cute, but it was also horrible.

Scene 2:  My daughter is a make-up guru so she helped me get ready and I performed a scripted monologue. I set up the camera for nice lighting, practiced (and performed) a hundred times and then packed it all up. Done!

Not!

Looked at it later. The way I'd done my hair made me look ten years older, the background was dull and washed me out, and I didn't have to ask anyone. It didn't work.

Scene 3: Different outfit, hair done nice, bookshelves as a backdrop. Everything went well, but when I looked at it later. Plain boring.

We continued on like that. I started getting people's opinions. Most of the feedback was positive, but some wasn't. We worked at it some more. I asked for more opinions. Most of the feedback was positive, but some wasn't. Repeat. Repeat.  (You get the idea)

The thing is, if I don't get 100% Love-Its on my writing, which I've spent thousands of hours studying and practicing and which I love, why would I expect to get that response on something I'm a novice at and have little interest in. With that realization, I hit the SEND button, placing the Kickstarter, and the  conglomerate video, into the review pile at Kickstarters.

The point: there's a time to wait while you get everything in order and there's a time to close your eyes and jump in. Never hesitate to the point of paralysis. I almost did, but comfortable with my face or not, with my daughter as my biggest fan, and a poor HISHE-style video, this Kickstarter tells the story and presents the possibilities. People will look beyond the flaws and see the book's potential or they won't. I'll continue moving forward.