StoryMechs

An update on StoryMechs

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IMG_0909You may have noticed that things have been quiet on the StoryMechs front since we completed our first adventure under the new brand. I thought it would be good to give you a little update.

For those who haven’t been involved, StoryMechs is a project run by myself and Mr Mook, which provides adventure narratives that can be shaped by multiple users through a ‘play-by-crowd’ format. The project used to be called Tweet RPG, and has been running since 2011.

Why have things gone quiet? The answer is simple: life. One of the big realisations we’ve had about running StoryMechs is that it’s a hobby and we’re happy with that. We’ve tried to take a business-like approach to it, but have ended up setting unobtainable goals which require too much from us.

Don’t get me wrong, we want to have a level of professionalism with the project. It won’t be worth playing if the quality isn’t there. However, neither of us wants to compromise all the other stuff in life – family, friends, church, employment, voluntary work, etc – to make this happen. It isn’t worth it.

Don’t worry, we will be bringing you more awesome adventures to shape with friends online. In fact, we have one almost fully prepped and ready to go. However, we have some format changes to implement, and those things take time. Right now, both of us have other things to focus on.

We plan to take a more relaxed approach to StoryMechs than we have done, working it into the rest of our priorities in a realistic way. I have benefitted massively from turning my attention away from it for a while, as I’ve had time to work on Resolutions, my short story collection.

Keep a look out for news on the next adventure, we hope to get back on this in the Autumn. Thanks for all your support.

Happy adventures!

 

Writing update – the adventure approaches…

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Hello! I’m going to post updates whenever I get time to do some writing – so you know what I’m working on and also to encourage myself by keeping a record of my progress.

Today, I finished the prologue for the next StoryMechs adventure. I’ve gone for a very different format this time, to fit the theme of the story. All will be revealed soon!

Something old, something new

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided that I want to refocus my creativity so that I’m not working solely on StoryMechs. In fact, since I’ve made this decision I’ve been much more productive with StoryMechs.

There are some past projects which I had stopped working on, and now I want to kickstart my desire to achieve these targets.

The first of these is to self publish my science fiction short story collection, Resolutions. I picked up the draft recently, and although it definitely needs editing with a fine-tooth comb, I still love the narratives and think readers would too.

I also want to resurrect my aim to write a novel. I started writing a story called This Dark World, a young adult fantasy story inspired by the biblical theme of spiritual warfare, but I found that the theology was too dense to distill into a simple plot mechanism. However, I do have another idea in the pipeline, which I think could bear fruit. I’m currently working on the structure plan, using the A Novel Idea iOS app to set things out. More will be revealed in future.

Those are my old ideas, onto the new. I’ve become a lot more into board and card games recently, and this has sparked a desire to design a game myself. I did try to create a card game based on the premise of StoryMechs, but that didn’t pan out very well. However, lots of lessons learned there, which I’ll share at some point. I’m working on a idea for a strategy card game at the moment, so look out for some insights into my work on that.

Last but not least, I want to start a creative project geared towards a Christian market. My faith is the linchpin of my identity and existence, and therefore I want to use my gifts to serve God directly, as well as indirectly i.e. by doing everything I do as an offering to him. I have an initial idea for something along these lines, but I want to keep myself open to where God leads.

So, only five creative/writing projects to focus on! My plan is to switch focus regularly, to keep things fresh, but also to have some clear objectives to stay productive. I’ll keep you posted on how things go!

Welcome!

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Thanks for visiting my new blog, I appreciate you taking the time to have a look. I’ve set this up as a place for me to share my literary exploits and to encourage myself to keep writing and pushing on with my creative goals. I used to maintain a blog over on Blogger, which you can still take a look at, but I’ve decided to move on because I needed something a bit more flexible.

What will I be sharing on this blog? Primarily I want to use it to document my progress with a few different writing and design projects I’m working on at the moment. I also hope to be sharing some thoughts related to my faith as a Christian, and anything silly or fun I find on the web.

What projects am I working on? I’m currently working with my pal Mr Mook to refine and improve StoryMechs, which is an online service providing adventure narratives to shape via a ‘play-by-crowd’ format. This has taken up a lot of my creative focus in the past couple of years, when the project was known as Tweet RPG. However, I’m trying to make some progress with some other things as well, such as a few of ideas I’ve put on hold – a short story collection and a novel idea – and some new ideas and I would like to try out.

Have a look at my pages on this blog to find out a bit more about me and my writing – thanks for stopping by!