Writing Fiction Is Hard

In September I posted about writing fiction again:

So I've decided to try and write about an idea that has been rolling around in my brain for the better part of 5 years.
God, its hard. Writing a short story in the EVE universe is liberating because you have do not have to build a world and you can to cut right to the point. But writing a story that is going to require you to build a world in the process and decide how that world works and what living in it would be like is daunting.
But I'm not getting any younger, and now is the time to try.
Wish me luck.

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that I've been making progress at this project; the bad news is everything else.

I don't have as much free time as I thought, life is just busier than anticipated and a bi-weekly teaching position at the dojo I train at has sucked even more of that precious commodity. And I'm tired like all the time from everything.

But most of all writing is hard!

I mean, writing short stories in the EVE universe has some advantages: I don't need to build the story's universe because all the readers know about it, I don't need to flesh out characters very much because its a short story, and even the long form story telling I did had the advantage of not having a larger overarching plot, they were small self contained events.

What I'm trying to write now requires me to not only tell a story, but introduce a universe, its unique rules, what it feels like, how it works, is it logically consistent, where everything is, what everything is named, and will it all fit together in the end.

And then I could get past the block I ran into in the second scene of chapter one. *Sad face*

I find as I make progress my confidence in this project has diminished somewhat, as in am I making a good compelling story? Or am I just indulging the day dreams of a middle aged man?

Gah.

But I am making progress. Slowly, word by word, and hopefully I can complete at least this book, even if no one reads it.

Graphics Talk

A commenter named hirebrand in this last post linked two images I just need to share: Phoenix and Chimera. I especially like the Chimera one with the schematic labelling.

In the 16 Fighting Spacecraft articles I've done, the main graphic is intended to feel like an image labelling important systems on the craft for DED cadets or new officers. When the new "view ship" tool came out recently that allows you to inspect any ship from any angle, I was tempted to up my game and create a more elaborate schematic similar to this old eve image:


So I loaded up Eve and took a bunch of screenshots from the cardinal directions and an isometric one as well:











The problem is that I worried stitching them together into a single graphic that looked professional AND fit into the 512x512 area of the usual main graphics for the articles would be too time consuming and/or look shoddy. The current graphic takes about 30 minutes to create using GIMP 2.0 and looks clean if not overly complex. Since the article itself takes hours spread over a week or two to put together, having to spend more time for the graphic is untenable.

Fighting Spacecraft Series III done

Coming out in this week's or next week's issue of the Eve Tribune will be the Gallente Vexor Fighting Spacecraft article representing the last one of the series III and the 12th one overall.

I've started planning for series IV and work has begun on the next Caldari ship. I originally considered doing the Ferox but since I had not done a tier II battlecruiser yet (in fact I've only done one battlecruiser, the Brutix in series I) so I upped the ante to the Drake.

The Amarr haven't seen a battleship article yet and I've not done a tier II battleship either so the Apocalypse will get the treatment. For Minmatar I might do the Thrasher destroyer but I'm leaning towards another cruiser first, most likely the Rupture to highlight some of their more advanced vessels as I've looked at older classes a lot for them.

Finally we will be back to Gallente who haven't done a frigate yet. Looking at the selection, I haven't done an interceptor yet so the Atron is looking like a decent choice.

I really enjoy writing these articles, it allows my creative side some room to roam while not tying me to plot or character development. Plus its given me a chance to play with the graphics program a little bit and get better in that regard.

The process to writing one of these is fairly simple but time consuming. First I spend a little while looking at the ship in EFT and EveMON, then visiting Battleclinic and the Eve-O forums to see players fits. Once I have an idea for how the ship is generally used, I roughly map out the variations such a vessel might have gone through in the service to its respective navy, understanding that they are less likely to have solo-capable ships but work in actual squadrons and fleets. I also see if I can work in some left-field versions to try and reflect research and innovation and the result progress.

Typically most ships have options of long range versus short ranged weapons (heavies versus HAMS, blasters versus rails, etc) so I make sure to cover the options if they make some sense even if a player pilot would not ever fit in such a manner. For example, rails on a Brutix.

Once I have the variations and timeline worked out, I work on the actually fitting for the variation I have deemed the current fleet standard, coming up with technical sounding names for systems and the possible producers of these items. This is the hardest part, trying to be original while not disregarding anything I wrote before; often I will compare to previous articles to see what I wrote there to keep some internal consistency.

Variations come in three types: precursor classes that are obsolete or near to it, optional weapon fittings for the standard class, and advanced versions which encompasses Navy Issue and Tech II. Some hulls have pirate faction versions which I fit in as however seems reasonable, like the Scorpion / Rattlesnake. I use the variations sections to describe how the class came about, how it is different from the standard class, and what ramifications (if any of import) it had on the New Eden political/military scene.

Once its all written in a first draft I re-read it and look for typos, sections that need further extrapolation, clarifications, etc. This doesn't take too long usually. After all that is done I open up Gimp 2.0 and make the main ship graphic that adds some spice to the otherwise dry technical article.

The end result is something that I hope is a cross between a technicial readout and historical record. For me its not enough to know what a ship can do, its also important to know how it came about.

* * * * *

For those who are looking for quick links to the discussed articles, here you go:

Caldari	Amarr	Minmatar	Gallente
Griffin Caracal Scorpion	Punisher Coercer Augoror	Bellicose Typhoon Breacher	Brutix Hyperion Vexor