Writing A New Solo: Thoughts And Practical Advice

It's been a long time since I even looked into writing a solo; but as I'm getting back into writing after taking an extended break, it seems both a fun and worthwhile outlet. Also, as with all my previous solitaire adventures; it'll be free.

In truth, I'm not sure how long it'll take till I have something to release, but my guesstimate is that 6-8 hours worth of work can produce something pretty good. Not a Fighting Fantasy novel by any stretch of the imagination, but something that will be enjoyable to play through certainly.

So far I have a plot (which I won't spoil by saying too much at this point), and a rough plan of the narrative flow. If it were just a short story, we'd be ready to start drafting at this point; but being interactive fiction there is need to throw a few divergent paths in there. Which is where things become tricky.

You still want the reader to have a coherent experience. Which means you need them to hit key paragraphs where the plot points of the story are, but you don't want to railroad them into always picking the same path; as that somewhat defeats the point of interactive fiction. So, it's a real juggling act in that respect.

You also need to be mindful that the divergent paths don't dilute the story. Spending several paragraphs fighting goblins for no real reason for example; when the adventure is about recovering an idol from a cult that has set up base in a disused temple. The goblins may well fit into the ecology of your dungeon (they could be slaves of the cultists or something similar), but if they only detract from the adventure itself; then do they really warrant being included?

Replayability is a big thing that I like to weave into my adventures, and I have a few ways of doing this; randomly generated paths and tables of random content included with the adventure for example.

Random tables are probably one of the most commonly employed tricks by writers who want their adventure to be good for more than one pass, but I do feel that random tables aren't always used to the best effect. Sometimes being poorly balanced, or overly random.

In some solitaire adventures for example, to generate a random monster or random loot; you roll 2D6. Which seems simple enough. What's often overlooked however when populating these tables is the weighting of the dice rolls. You're mathematically going to see a lot more 7's than you will 2's and 12's; so this should be reflected in the results generated by the table if this is the method you're going to use. It seems fairly obvious when it's laid out in such simple terms, but I have seen it overlooked.

Overly random tables is also a bit of a personal bugbear. Whether this be in terms of content, or the relative disparity of difficulty; I don't really like it when the range goes all the way from rats to T-Rex's, and said rats can kill the T-Rex's in a straight fight. There's no harm in mixing it up a little; that is what random tables are for, but just because it's a random table it doesn't mean that logic goes out the window. Yes, this may be a magical land full of wonder, but there is no surer way of severing your readers connection to your work and that place than by throwing something at them that is either unfair or completely out of touch with the expectations of that world.

Admittedly,  what I have planned so far is a bit mad cap when compared to traditional fantasy writing; but it does have its own internal logic. This is where Tunnels & Trolls really shines through (which will be the system that I am writing adventure for). It allows for both serious and farcical adventures.. The trick being to decide which you're writing ahead of time; and to stick within that framework.

My forthcoming adventure will be within the genre of the intentional B movie, but with a fantasy flavor. I've chosen this not just because I really enjoy those kind of movies (they're so bad, that they're good), but because the combination of genre and setting gives me a wide scope to work within. There is a passion here, and a crossover of styles that is largely unexplored.

Possibly for good reason, but we'll see. One thing is for sure though, and that's that Tunnels & Trolls is the perfect vehicle to traverse this new terrain; being as it is geared towards humor and outlandish adventures.

Hello World... It's Been A While

Years in fact!

Writing is a fickle muse though. Whether it's a blog , a novel, or even a journal; very few people write consistently. There are breaks and blocks, and it's all par for the course. Even when the fire burns dim however, the spark is never lost; and a writer is always a writer. They just need inspiration.

Mine came from a random Google search. In truth, I can't even remember what I was Googling, but what I found was to set in motion a chain of events that would lead me here. Now.

I found.. The 10 by 10 challenge (I bet you thought it was Jesus with the melodrama I cooked up there).

Whilst I can't find the original blog, or the original post that inspired me (if you know where I can find it, I'd love to give credit); I do remember the gist. It was a discussion around what the author described as "The Cult of the New", which I also consider myself a fully paid up member of, and how they were going to use the challenge to tackle the mountain of games that they'd bought but were yet to play.

I also remember thinking that this would make for some pretty solid blogging content.

When I made the discovery however, it was September 2016, which left little in the way of time to pick up the gauntlet. It did however give me plenty of time to plan ahead for 2017.. And here we are!

It was also only the beginning!

Since I last blogged anything in 2013, a lot has changed. I've learned new things, my lifestyle has changed, and so has my outlook on life. So, I've decided to give this blog a wider scope than my previous efforts. Instead of just talking about Tunnels & Trolls, and the occasional boardgame; I'll be taking the opportunity to share the things I've learned, and to my share my life with you all.

So in addition to the Tunnels & Trolls content (because it wouldn't be me without it), I'll also be blogging about..

• My Life - People say "write about what you know", so inversely maybe through writing I'll get to know myself better.. Plus you wouldn't believe some of the weird and wonderful things that happen around me day to day.

• The 10 x 10 Challenge - I'm really looking forward to this, as I have a LOT of games that I'm just itching to break out.

•  Better Living - Diet, lifestyle, and anything else that falls into the remit of making life, well better!

• Techy Stuff - I've learned a lot about technical stuff in the past couple of years. Some on the job, some at my leisure; but all of it useful. So, it'll be good to pay some of that forward. For those of you wondering if it'll be for you though, the general areas covered will be Gamemaker and Doom modding (the original game, not the 2016 reboot).

• Movies and TV - I did a stock take the other day, and found that I had 265 unwatched DVD's.. So I'm sure I'll be writing about those too.

• Random Stuff - Never limit yourself! So expect the unexpected, and the unknown unknowns.

Well, I'm sure you'll agree that's more than enough to be getting on with, and I still have a few tweaks I need to make to the blog before the day is through. Stay tuned, and if any of this sounds like your cup of tea why not follow this blog? (or bookmark it if you're not a blogger yourself). I hope to see you in the future.