Every once and awhile you hit on something that is just extra-awesome. When you're writing, you always want to do your best, but sometimes you really hit on something that's just 11. I was stuck on my last encounter of the interactive, a role playing encounter just before the final battle and I didn't know where to hold it. I figured out the answer to that on the way home and that got me excited. But there was still something nagging. What if things are too hard? What if I TPK the entire interactive in the last encounter?

This morning it clicked (this time on the drive to work). There was a plotline we never got to use and I was disappointed. But if fits here!!! Not only does it fit, but it explores a plot hook from Slavers that we never even got to. This will be awesome! And if we TPK the interactive after that, it's their fault for not taking us up on the offer (or doing better in previous encounters). :)

So Michael has asked me to finish the interactive a week early. He's been writing a lot, so this isn't an unreasonable request. I'm mostly finished with Day 3 and am only writing part of Day 1. He's written Day 2, part of Day 1 and the other contributors have written one encounter each that were always intended for Day 1, so that seems like a well-executed plan.

So why haven't I gotten any writing done today? I downloaded the "compiled" version of the interactive as it currently stands and I saw the byline.

by the Dyvers Triad
Contributors: One Encounter Writer, Stat Blocker, someone who agreed to help but hasn't, One Encounter Writer, Me.

Oh hell no! Give credit where credit is due. When all is said and done, I'll have written half the interactive. Yet the primary byline goes to three people that doesn't include me.

Now, you might think I've stopped writing out of spite, which isn't the case. I made my case to Michael and I'm confident he will agree with me. I can't write because I take that kind of thing seriously. I won't take credit for your work. You don't take credit for my work. I'll give you credit for your work. You'll give me credit for my work.

My motivation has disappeared. I've been tweaking my website rather than writing. That's a bad thing, but I'm irritated. Who would even consider that acceptable to begin with?

Grrr.

When it comes to adventure writing, I'm only a prima donna because I'm always right. :)

I'm officially done with my adventure. Now to work on the interactive and then I can get back to my novel! I went down to Jackie's for a late breakfast this morning. I find that by the time I'm done, the library is open and I can just go down the street and get a few hours of writing in. It works fantastically. I had to do treasure division and the epilogue paperwork such as AR content (with a fun little item I came up with the other day that just tickles me).

I couldn't do any of that at Jackie's, though, and I write while I'm at the counter. What to work on? That's right, novel baby! It was time to answer the one question that I kept avoiding. Why does Bear take Angelique south? I know why Skere Khane follows them, but why did Bear take her to begin with? Certainly playing on the death of his mother that early in the book would be cheap. You can't just introduce it and then immediately use it. That's what television is for. This is literature!

And that's when it came to me. I do each chapter from one POV, so a chapter name will be "Bear in Watertown." Well, the chapter where he rescues Angelique was so named. And that was a mistake! It is now "Angelique in Watertown" and is written from her perspective. Not only does this allow me to come up with a way for her to convince Bear to take her south (she is Haen, and thus innately magical), but it also allows me to add a dimension to her character I would not have otherwise added. Take that false accusations of sexism!

So here are the ~180 words I wrote tonight. I hope you enjoy.

( Chapter 15: Angelique in Watertown )

Supposedly the new style of stat blocks is easier to use. After years of using the old version, I find the new version difficult.

The RPGA has an even more complex version that includes "hidden" fields that help track your math. This is very useful but it makes stat blocking take forever. And when you've only done one set of stat blocks (not one adventure, just one set!) in the last year, you tend to make a lot of mistakes.

I'm exhausted! 4 hours, 6 APLs, and it was lightweight compared to what I've done before (my record is 120 NPCs; this current adventure includes 17). Stat blocks are my least favorite part of writing adventures.

(And the chairs at the library get hard after awhile. My ass is killing me!)

A woman from Jen's office organized a trip to New York City. Pay $46 a person and a charter bus will drop us off in the morning and pick us up in the evening. With the exception of the exhaust-saturated air that makes me feel like I've been smoking for the past ten years, it was a good day. I saw some inspirational stuff at the Met.

But the real reason why I'm posting this here in addition to my personal journal (which has a full breakdown of the day's events) is because on the drive down there I had the breakthrough I've been waiting for. I knew early on what I wanted to do for Dyv8-05 Gleaning the Cubes. I had a good start, a good ending, but no middle. Well, that's not totally true. I had a middle, but there was no reason why players would be inclined to do the middle part unless the GM forced them to. There was nothing that pointed them in that direction. They could just as easily come to other conclusions that pointed them in the opposite direction and there was no way to get them from start to finish.

Until yesterday. Yesterday I realized that something I was doing at the end needed to be done at the beginning, and once that happened, the players could figure out (or at least follow along) to get them from start to finish. With the luxury of the adventure not premiering until next May, I was able to put this on the shelf and let it marinate until it was properly seasoned. Well it's a good flavor now! I just need to put it in the oven and cook it. It shouldn't take me too long to write it. And the better part, it's mostly Monster Manual monsters, so no new stat blocks. YAY!!!

Dyv7-04 Throw Open the Gates of Heaven is almost finished. Sometimes, I wish writing adventures was satisfying enough for me. Because I'm so GOOD at it. Yes, that may sound arrogant, but damnit, you should read this thing! It's so good because it's minimalistic compared to my usual 45-50 page adventures. I'm clocking in at 25, but it doesn't lack any substance! It doesn't have any NPCs that require stat blocks (a first--maybe second--for me) and has no new rules items. Most of the rewards are entirely role-play based, meaning the players' decisions have genuine consequences that they will immediately see the impact of.

I'm mighty fine at this. I wish I could go to WiD and participate in its release the subsequent interactive. It should be a really good time.

Getting back in the swing of things has been a little difficult. After so much time off, sentences seem flat and slow in coming. So, as a warm-up exercise, there was an intercalary chapter I had been meaning to write for the Dyvers folks for some time. So, I figured now is as good a time as any to work out some of the kinks with some short, easy fiction. I have provided my first draft below. I call it first draft so that if you don't like it I can just say it's a first draft, but I doubt there will be a second one, so... ;)

( Dyvers Intercalary Chapter #14: Quo Vadis )