Other than finishing Soulcage, 2022 has not quite been my year (so far) when it comes to writing. I’ve lost plenty of creative steam for a few different reasons. Ultimately, the story of my writing this year can mostly be summed up in three parts: my stalled project, my secret project, and my strange project.
My Stalled Project
I’ve actually announced this project already: Alixe Morse and the Dual Mirrors, although I did decide to retitle it to Heartsinger, leaving the first title as a sort of alternate one. It’s a fantasy novel about a teenage girl with a muscular disease who discovers her lifelong disease is the result of a parasitic curse laid upon her as a child by a dark lady. She sets out on a quest to defeat the dark lady and, in doing so, hopefully remove the curse and save her own life.
I got nearly seven chapters in, but ended up getting stalled in the writing of this one. Why is that? Well, ultimately it comes down to a loss of direction. Hopefully it’s all temporary; I don’t think the book is doomed necessarily. I’m sure I’ll get my mojo back and finish it sooner or later. Part of me was just burnt out from writing Soulcage, and if you’ve read it you probably understand why that is.
But there are other reasons I’m stalled on this book. I would like to get back into writing and finishing it as soon as I can, and that’s why I’m taking this opportunity now to share several sample chapters from the book and ask for your feedback on it. Please find the (first draft) prologue and 7-ish chapters from my unfinished novel Heartsinger at this link here. If you’re willing to leave feedback on any portion you choose to read, I would find it greatly beneficial and I’d be eternally grateful. Please see the Endnote included in the link for further information. Thank you!
My Secret Project
My secret project is what I’m doing for work, what is paying the bills. In just a few short months we should have something to show for it. All I will say is it’s a creative project that I am extremely fortunate to be a part of, and I think it has great potential to be successful–far more potential, in all likelihood, than anything else I’m doing!
I wish I could say more, but I think it will be better to save it for the full reveal.
My Strange Project
My strange project is what I’ve been spending a lot of time on most recently. I don’t consider it ready for public release, even as a “beta,” largely because I’m not even totally sure how to go about it, or honestly, whether I even want to go forward with releasing it or not.
But I’ll partly rip off the bandage here: my strange project is a tabletop roleplaying game based on classic sci-fi/horror like The Twilight Zone. If you aren’t familiar with tabletop roleplaying games (or TTRPGs), you’ve most likely at least heard of the most popular TTRPG, Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a style of game in which friends gather, usually in person, to play a structured game of imaginary problem-solving. (Yeah, it always sounds bizarre when you describe it mechanically.) All but one of the group members take on roles of made-up characters of their creation who take part in a story and solve problems within a game world created and moderated by the remaining group member (called the Game Master). Dice are rolled to introduce random chance of success or failure in the characters’ attempted actions. Although D&D (the original and most popular TTRPG) is a medieval-fantasy genre game, TTRPGs can be pretty much any speculative or action genre.
If you aren’t familiar with The Twilight Zone, it was a science fiction/horror anthology series in the early 1960s created by Rod Serling. It has seen three revivals in the decades since then, as well as one movie. It helped bring the concept of smart, clever, socially-conscious, and often scary science fiction to the masses, and was greatly influential and successful. For example, it inspired recent films like Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), and probably lots of others I’m forgetting.
Ever since I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in middle school I’ve liked TTRPGs. I never really thought I’d create one myself until it just sort of happened. I honestly am not sure why I decided to make this game. I just started doing it for fun, and then…didn’t stop.
Again, I don’t want to get into major details because when I’m ready, if I decide to, I’d like to do a big reveal of the game and get it out there so people can start trying it out and I can create a following. But that’s not today, because neither I nor the game are ready quite yet.
As I said, the game is inspired primarily by classic sci-fi/horror like The Twilight Zone. Its inspirations go beyond that, however. Actually, I have a list of “inspirational media” included in the project file:
Inspirational Media list:
Film—
A Quiet Place (2018), Alien (1979), Back to the Future (1985), Blade Runner (1982), Coraline (2009), Get Out (2017), Gremlins (1984), Inception (2010), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Jumanji (1995), Jurassic Park (1993), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Planet of the Apes (1968), Psycho (1960), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Shutter Island (2010), The Blob (1958), The Descent (2005), The Invisible Man (1933/2020), The Matrix (1999), The Others (2001), The Ring (2002), The Thing (1982), The Truman Show (1998), Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010), Us (2019), 28 Days Later (2003).
Television—
The Twilight Zone (the original 1959-64 series and its later revivals), The X-Files, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Stranger Things, Scooby-Doo, …
Video Games—
Fallout series, Bioshock series, Deus Ex series, Half-Life series, Silent Hill series, Alan Wake, Limbo, Inside, …
Authors and Novels—
Works by Isaac Asimov, works by Stephen King, works by Ray Bradbury, works by Phillip K. Dick, works by Richard Matheson, works by Edgar Allen Poe, 1984 by George Orwell, Psycho by Robert Bloch, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, …
The list isn’t all-inclusive. I’m sure I’ll add more as I go. Basically the vibe I’m shooting for is “sci-fi and/or horror with (usually) a mind-bending twist.” I really enjoy that style of sci-fi, probably most purely exemplified by The Twilight Zone, so I wanted to create a game like it–where often-ordinary characters are thrust into horrifying, strange, intense situations and have to solve mysteries, defeat monsters, and/or survive insane encounters with the unknown and the incomprehensible.
The closest TTRPG comparison (that I’m aware of) is not D&D, but rather Call of Cthulhu, which ironically enough I have never played. I’m somewhat familiar with the game, but I think a more rules-light game in that sort of general style could be more approachable both for myself and for others.
That is my goal with my TTRPG (which has a title that I’ll choose not to reveal for now): a somewhat rules-light game with gameplay based around mystery-solving, loss of sanity in the face of the supernatural, survival against incomprehensible evil forces, and deadly combat. Though I have relatively limited experience in the broader world of TTRPGs, I think what I’ve come up with is pretty good, and other people who are inclined to play TTRPGs may enjoy it too.
Well, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. Thanks so much for checking in. I appreciate it!
– Noah Gallagher
arcreonis.com 