THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 118 - MOVING RIGHT ALONG

I’ve been writing a lot of lore, missions & my first short story for DUNGEON DEGENERATES. As more detail is amassed for this already detailed world my goal has been to keep it entertaining & not so thick like dull history homework. I’m avoiding the Silmarillion effect, just because I know that’s my tendency. The Hobbit is Tolkien’s best story, the Lord of the Rings starts to get Biblical & the Silmarillion is like the Dead Sea Scrolls & the Book of Enoch. More reading for advanced students. I decided when I was fourteen or so that I would become a Tolkien scholar so I read everything he wrote, & everything that was written about him & the Lord of the Rings. Still, I realize that most people just watch the movies now. Yet, the whole thing benefits greatly from the depth & detail of the work. It’s just that the enjoyment of the thing is more superficial. Most people don’t want to know all the things that go into making the thing they enjoy, just as long as the end product is great. Sausages are the perfect example of this. So it becomes a question of what kind of stories can be told with the pre-existing material. This has been my theme in life of late. Using what’s already there. For so many years I would just make a new thing instead of figuring out how to move the old things, breath new life into them. Don’t be confused, I’m still working on tons of new things, just spending more time on them & being more intentional. So much of my tendency in life has been “moving right along” fueled by this manic impatience. The thing is, I know this tendency is directly related to my heart issues, which lead to the stroke & even if I feel “more myself” when that manic, impatient energy is driving me forwards like a frenzied Goblin charioteer, lashing at the wolves pulling him forwards, the crew barely hanging on, I must remember that I am just an oh-too-human vehicle for these things & I don’t need to/can’t match that energy & survive.