Week 1 Update: Gravesong Book 2

My working title for the book is ‘Huntsong’. It was gonna be ‘Warsong’, but this sounds cooler.

I have been working and I needed the month off. I need at least a month off. I have been working very hard.

This is an update to you Patreons, and I hope it’s already informative. I am not, as of this moment, ready to post any parts yet, but I thought I’d share my progress report.

Like I’m some child, or a game developer. And yes, I know not everyone cares, but I care. That’s probably why they write those things. Speaking of my personal life, let me tell you about Casette Beasts, a game I played in the few hours each day I wasn’t writing.

It’s got a Pokemon-theme to it, but it’s different in that you turn into monsters via the power of old-fashioned cassettes. I really liked it.

It was actually a smaller world than I wanted, and less Pokemon (though still around as many as the original games, so I guess these were just me wanting more and more). But the game was fun. It took all the things Pokemon fails at like movement systems, HM’s, even combat and added a fun twist to it. I played through the entire game without getting bored and I felt like it was just—balanced.

It’s not a game for wasting all the hours ever, or the depths of complexity but it has enough of all of it. The storytelling is good. There’s little sadness in it; at its heart it is upbeat over anything else and if there is sadness, it’s enough to hint at, and the melancholy is the most you’d get. Not high-drama in short, and yet…if Pokemon were to vanish tomorrow and this company were given the budget for a sequel, I’d play it in a heartbeat whereas if Pokemon Legends…3, or the next Pokemon game comes out, I’ll probably ignore it. I took one look at the motorcycle Pokemon in the new game and passed.

That’s my small rec/review. Back to the project I did. I am writing my update to tell you I have broken all records and written 88,000 words in one week. That is…one arc in Huntsong. There are likely three.

I hope that the next two arcs are smaller. But if I had to come up with a theme, it would be…‘dark’? I didn’t realize it fit so well, and I hate the term because it calls to mind Warhammer 40k and grimdark…and those stories suck. I’ve read the books. The books suck.

But the backdrop, the universe, and world-building are iconic for a reason. I just think you have to balance hope with despair, victory with defeat. The books of Warhammer 40k and the lore in detail is where it falls apart. The ‘desperate flailing Imperium of Man’ tends to win a bit more than a dying empire should. The good guys get to have ridiculous victories at times, and yet there’s also moments where great triumph is reduced to nothing.

Sort of like complaints of The Wandering Inn? The ridiculous victories, at least. Seriously. You want to complain to me about my characters living? The eternal war of Warhammer 40k has everyone survive. And it’s a war.

…I just feel like the large picture sort of works, and the details suck really hard for that franchise. Seriously. I’ve read their fight scenes and ‘arterial blood spray’ was used in almost every fight in one book. The stories are just about war, or so it feels, and you know what? War is really boring. The characters are all soldiers, and what I think the writers forget is that soldiers are people. Don’t tell me about how many times they polished their lasguns. Tell me why I should care about them beyond them being really, really brave.

This isn’t grimdark. Grimdark is the void without hope, and I would argue that Warhammer 40k doesn’t even really go there, just tells you it’s at the bottom. Grimdark is not as easy as saying ‘we have terrible, messed up stuff happening’. It’s establishing a good world and pulling you down below bedrock and I have never read anything in 40k’s lore or stories that truly go deep. The concept is there, but it’s like a dream the universe never achieves. Sorry, that’s my second rant. I have read a lot of lore and books and sometimes it feels frustrating, like wasted potential.

For instance, why did they unveil the new Primarch guy, Lion El Johnson by announcing he’s back then writing backstory? I have not read it yet, but it seems like it was designed to announce his figurines and books are coming out--instead of building to it.

That entire guy is Arturian in nature--he should have had each and every book released in the last 3 years hinting or building up to his return. Disparate arcs bringing characters together into one amazing final book that does justice to the character. A quest to bring hope to a dark universe. (Again, not so grimdark if every Primarch comes back to life.) Foreshadowing. Build up. Payoff. I can do it with one book. A gigantic franchise should do no less.

Warhammer 40k notes aside—my shoulders are stiff. I’ve worked hard. I am working very hard and this is my update. I can’t wait to play Breath of the Wild 2 when I have time. From the little I’ve seen, it’s going to be an amazing game, probably one of the best I’ve ever played if it meets expectations—and Breath of the Wild 1 was great.

And despite that, Nintendo are a bunch of copyright-striking bastards who also behave in incredibly unethical ways at times…and they make amazing games sometimes, when they feel like it, and terrible games you buy for nostalgia the rest of the time. I’m not exaggerating, either. They behave in ways no company or people should act and at the same time, are willed with wonderful creators so the company is a bad one in my mind, whereas I admire a lot of their employees quite greatly.

It’s a complicated relationship I have with them. And with writing. And with all kinds of stuff. For now, I’ll get back to work.

—pirateaba

…Here’s the link to the entire Arc 1 draft. Enjoy.

Password:

arc1EarlyAccess

https://wanderinginn.com/2023/05/10/huntsong-arc-1/