Bit of a change of direction today as this weekend I sat down and started writing a draft of the novella and back-story that will support my game.
Game novellas serve a couple of purposes, similar to tabletop RPG and wargames "fluff".
First, the goal is to excite the prospective player about the game world and the mission.
In doing so, the second outcome of a novella should be delivered and that is to provide the information or exposition that the player will require to understand how to play and what to expect.
For me there is a third purpose and that is to set up the "lore", as previously mentioned, because I would like to explore this world that I have created and barely touched upon here.
I wasn't really sure exactly how to go about organizing and writing fiction. Writing non-fiction is more my wheelhouse, I have written a few factual/educational books in the past.
As I am a programmer, I went and created a github repo to get everything safe and established, using Markdown as my document format.
For the actual novella I took my markdown and I started a google doc. This isn't ideal - I would prefer everything in one place - but it does lend itself more to writing and exporting as PDF, which is what I need.
Once I had a first draft written, I sent it off to a friend, my brother, and my wife to look at.
Sharing a story is scary. I want feedback but I would be crushed if they laughed or hated it.
Of course, immediately I discovered in my formatting I had messed up some paragraph order so that the story made no sense in one spot. I had to "unsend" but again, of course, they had already opened the PDF.
So far my wife has read it and approved, but of course she would, she is my wife.
That's where we are at now.
Do I dare share it here?
Well, I have to really, otherwise what is the point. But as I say, it is scary.
With that in mind, here is chapter 1. Let me know if you would like to see more or if you hate it.
The Last Sorcerer
“You are here to learn about magic. Real magic. Not rabbits and hats or
sleight of hand, but the secret and fundamental rules that govern our
reality.”
Edric Algarson had a serious, almost stern tone, in contrast to his usual
casual manner. This made the four students seated around him sit up
and take notice.
He exhaled sharply, studying the faces of his students. Their
expressions ranged from curiosity to uncertainty, but none of them
truly understood—yet. After a beat, he leaned forward, lowering his
voice.
“I need to warn you of the dangers. Yes, magic can give you absolutely
everything you want. Power, fame, money, and every physical pleasure
you can dream of.”
He let the words settle, then added, “It can also take
everything from you. It can bring pain, suffering, and misery in ways
you can’t yet imagine.”
The young people looked at each other cautiously, then back at their
usually kindly professor.
Meera, the eldest of the group and often their unelected spokesperson,
furrowed her brow, glancing at the others before leaning forward
slightly.
“Sir, are you … ok?”
He sighed before continuing, rubbing his hand through his messy
salt-and-pepper hair.
“I am fine. But there’s no more time to wait. We need to move up our
timeline. Which means I need to teach you this. Today. Right now. I
need to tell you about my father and the story of the Last Sorcerer.”
Seems like a good start. It did pique my interest.
The only thing I would change is from
to rabbits in hats.
But either way is fine. Good work!
Thank you 🙏
It's a cool opening.
Not badly written. All it needs is more of it!
Thank you, sharing fiction is scary
I would have the same fear but by now I have shared 100s of fiction blogs on Hive. 🤣🤣🤣
On the other hand I am not sure if people read it 🤔🤔🤔 but it DOES get votes and sometimes curations!