Writing, Reading and Gaming

What could be more self-indulgent than a post about what I'm writing, reading and playing, as if anybody gives a shit? But I'm a pretty self-involved guy - a classic only child - so that won't stop me.

I beat Fable II and moved on to Dead Space in my continuing effort to touch base with the big titles from 08 before trooping down to GameSpot to trade 'em in for the upcoming 09 releases. I like Dead Space... the easy pitch is "Resident Evil meets Alien." The game play is very, very similar to RE4, but since I loved that game this doesn't bug me. The sound design is excellent. The tech sounds a lot like the stuff in Alien... the heavy-breathy/staticky nature of the communications, the clicky old school sounds the computers make, etc. And the soundtrack quotes both Alien and The Shining. But the game would be way creepier if the threats were supernatural. The basic set-up here is some space miners unearth an alien parasite that turns into monsters. Boy howdy, that's exactly the set-up of RE4, except in a Spanish village instead of a space ship. And how did we come to a state of affairs in which a game like this makes me think, "Wow, yet another gang of slimy evil xenomorphs?" Starcraft, Gears of War, Resident Evil, Warhammer 40K... I'm as much of a Alien/Aliens geek as the next geek, but fuck - is there really no other inspiration in the entire world? At least Doom's xenomorphs came from Hell.

I think we could use more ghosts on space ships. Let's get some email into NASA and let them know. Also - vampires. Anyone remember the episode of Buck Rogers that had a Demeter-style ship full of vampires land? I saw that when I was about four years old, and it scared the living shit outta me.

I'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke. I'd read some great reviews and kinda filed the title in the back of my head. I saw a copy for seven bucks on a holiday clearance shelf in Barnes & Noble and snagged it. It's a thick book, lit-by-the-pound, but it's quick and easy reading. The back cover blurbs repeatedly mention Jane Austin, but I haven't read any Jane Austin (I know, I know...) so I can't say for sure if there's a similarity. Though I have read Oscar Wilde, and Strange is reminiscent. Most of the action takes place among London high society in the early-1800s. All of the characters are witty and snarky and polite and veddy, veddy British. There's a supernatural aspect - the title characters are magicians - but this ain't Harry Potter... It's more of a society farce that uses a fantasy conceit, a la Gulliver's Travels, Candide, The Canterville Ghost, etc. It's a fun book, and the writing is excellent.

I've spent the majority of my holiday time working on the second draft of DEAD RIGHT THERE. It's been a challenge - there were a lot of notes, and the story has a lot of moving parts. It's not quite a page-one rewrite, but almost might as well be for the work this one requires. The basic beats remain unchanged, while lots of other stuff (character motivations, backstory, etc.) is completely rewritten. Some of these things seem like minor notes, but the ripples are large. For example, in the first draft, there's a bomb that's set to go off in three minutes, and now we want the bomb to go off in only one minute. No big deal on the face of it, but the minor act of shaving two minutes off the time bomb has huge repercussions in terms of how the scene plays.

Rewrites are like playing Jenga - you pull out a block at a time, trying not to spill the tower.

Despite that, I've been steadily hacking at it over the holidays. I'd be surprised if I didn't wrap it up this weekend and hand in the second draft on Monday. Meanwhile, I'm working on a treatment for the next one down the road, kinda working-titled-for-the-moment THE AGENTS. And I still want to wrap up FIGHT SCHOOL and squeeze in rewrites of DEMON and PAR FOR COURSE. I blew off submitting anything to the Nicholl in 08, but I think I'll get a bunch of titles into the 09 contest. We'll see.

And I think I'd like to write another novel this year, too.