Welcome back!
I have been busy writing the new Earth Travel Guide now that the planet is open to any and all multiverse travelers. Opportunity abounds for adventurers and entrepreneurial interests.
I have been diverted lately. And let me say, I’m baffled. Well and truly baffled.
The human writer of these tales I mentioned in my last post has spent the last three weeks frantically preparing for something called a nano. For the first half of the month, she worked tirelessly finishing a revised version of The Snowglobe Conspiracy. Laudable efforts to be sure.
I talked with a few of the people impacted by her efforts for their perspective.
Breka of Clan Kor’Ember | Orc, Battle Guardian 2nd Class, current assignment Washington Wardens | Stated emphatically that she’s really glad she met Hedy and Caleb, but questions the author’s intentions toward the pair. “Caleb is finding his place, working with Koopr. He even got a few restaurants to start doing delivery! Humans know how to make things convenient.” When asked her thoughts on Hedy vis-à-vis the author she had this to say, “She makes Hedy do the stupidest things. I don’t mind the danger and the murder investigations are a nice change of pace, but the author makes Hedy go places that result in my being assigned to Gate Ledger duty!”
Venn | Hobgoblin, Owner, The Blue Ledger | Felt getting to know Hedy has been a wonderful experience, and he’s thrilled to have someone to share adventures and sandwiches with but felt the author “overstepped” the entire second half of the book. “We began with a perfectly reasonable investigation. Somehow, this escalated into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, culminating in an incident involving a considerable amount of property damage.”
Fenlo | Gnome, Master Engineer of Questionable Solutions | Appreciated being included. His one scene “accurately demonstrated the need for redundancies and provided several opportunities for additional safety measures to mitigate the risk when Hedy is around, who it would seem is a bit of a single point of failure.”
Neris | Hydrarax, Self-appointed Mentor/Magic Teacher | She could not be reached for comment. Though my sources say she has some difficulties, so perhaps she’s off dealing with those.
Mixed results to be sure. I understand the author writes comfort prose, I’m sure it will work out for everyone in the end.
The author, on the other hand, I am concerned about her well-being. No sooner had she finished tweaking the last chapter, when she began… dear readers, I have never seen the like. The best I can figure, she lost her mind.
In a 4-hour period of time, I watched her work on a fun little story with Hedy and some friends around a campfire. Then, mid-paragraph, mind you, she started working on the outline for Book 2, which resulted in a 30-minute research rabbit hole. When the research was done, did she return to the outline or the side piece? No, she did not. She started working on a presentation for a workshop on Character Backstory.
The author did eventually get back to the outline, which I understand has been fully annotated. I attempted to chat with a few folks she’s writing about for their take on this new adventure she’s crafting. Most said they had signed NDAs and felt anything they had to say would result in “spoilers.” We did hear back from two unafraid to share their thoughts.
Caleb Parker | Human, Hedy’s brother | His message to us quite clearly demonstrates his feelings about Book 2. “We all barely survived The Snowglobe Conspiracy. Hedy was out of it for three days! They said she was fine physically, her body was merely recovering. Now in Book 2, the author has sent me off to Roanoke. Who is keeping Hedy safe? Is anyone there to slow her down long enough to consider those might be places she has no business going? All half-cocked. The whole thing.” We’ll stop it there. The message did go on for some length.
Torin Runemark | Dwarf, Master Spellcrafter | Another extremely long missive, summarized for you: “Her proposed mechanisms are fundamentally unsound.” He's considering submitting formal corrections.
It doesn’t bode well for the population of Where Magic Settles. The author is determined to prepare for this so-called NaNoWriMo. She has spreadsheets, research notes, timelines, character histories, and an alarming number of facts and speculations about ancient Earth civilizations. Apparently, all this preparation is necessary to write 50,000 words in thirty days. I have no doubt she can write 50,000 words in the allotted time. Whether she can focus on a single project for all 50,000 remains to be seen.
As someone who has published 178 editions of my own Travel Guide to the Multiverse, I am fascinated by the inefficiency and the unfettered chaos that will, apparently, result in a first draft of a book. I’m keeping my eye on the situation and will report back when there are updates.
Until next time.
Pack light and travel on!