My Writing Background: Battletech

I am using this blog entry and the next one to talk about where most of my professional writing has been the last couple of years – Battletech fiction. I have a separate blog that deals with Battletech, but I thought a little bit of background would help understand me a bit better. For those who want to see it, my Battletech Blog is here: http://thebattletechstate.blogspot.com/

For those of you unfamiliar with Battletech, it is a tabletop game first produced in 1985. Played on a hex map, the game involves battles between walking weapons of war, (called BattleMechs or ’Mechs for short) Supported by armor, infantry, and spacecraft, the ’Mechs are the main instruments of a nearly never-ending series of wars between interstellar states.

But what make Battletech unique is the detail that goes into the universe. Over nearly thirty years, a detailed universe has arisen, tracing the expansion of humanity, the creation of interstellar states, and the rise of a central authority and the “Golden Era” of a Star League. A golden era that was shattered when the ruler of the Star League was assassinated and an usurper takes his place, After a blood civil war, the Star League is shattered into it’s components states: five major interstellar states, known collectively as the Great Houses, and the smaller Periphery states.

The amount of detail that has been created over the last thirty years is staggering: a detailed timeline from 2010 to 3145, deep background on the empires – history, economy, military forces, religious groups, and politics. Each state has it’s own identity, each has it’s heroes and villains and each has triumphs and tragedies.

A key part of the games success is based on the fiction that supports it. Over a hundred novels, and four to five times as many short stories covering several hundred years of that history have been written. Characters are born, grow up, love, and die.

What does this have to do with me? I’ve written twenty short stories that have been e-published on the Battlecorps website, a subscription-based website, and is the only place to get canon fiction based on the Battletech Universe.  I currently have over 160,000 words that have been published on the website, and one of my stories, “My Father’s Sword,” is in the Battlecorps Anthology, Onslaught (http://www.amazon.com/BattleTech-Onslaught-Tales-Clan-Invasion-ebook/dp/B00F56CLQ0/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389274732&sr=1-15&keywords=onslaught).

It'll be five years in March since the first story was published, and my success has lead me into other areas of the gaming line where I can contribute. I have written parts of the Battletech sourcebooks over the last couple of years: Total Chaos, Field Manual: SLDF, and IP3: Interstellar Expeditions. Also, I’ve written several scenarios, some unit backgrounds, and 3145 Technical Readout entries. I was the main writer for the pdf-only product, Field Report 2765: Draconis Combine, and have contributed to several other products in a non-writing capacity.

That has been the sum of my “professional” writing to this point, but I want to expand beyond that. But make no mistake, Battletech will continue to be a part of my writing for the foreseeable future.

In the next part, I’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantage of writing in someone else’s universe.

Craig

Looking ahead at 2014 — Writing Resolutions

Well, 2013 could have gone better.....

On the plus side, I did complete the NaWriNoMo for the second year in a row. But everything else....

My writing goals for 2013 fell apart around the beginning to middle of April. It was about then that I realized that my goals were unrealistic. So, let’s rethink this....

Instead of concentrating on the word count, I’m going to concentrate on real results: the number of stories I actually write. My goals for this year, 2014 are:

• Six stories based in the Battletech Universe, for the Battlecorps website.
• Six original short stories.
• Complete the first draft of two novels.

It sounds ambitious, but looking at the number of half completed short stories and novels, it’s not a matter of starting stores, it’s a matter of finishing them. I have in excess of twenty-five short stories that haven’t been finished, and three novels that each have more than 50,000 words written. I have to start finishing these stories, and see if anyone will read them.

In addition, I need to keep blogging, because I sucked last year in keeping this or my other blog updated. I actually have two blogs, this one and The Battletech State (TBS). This is for my original writing, while TBS will be about the Battletech universe and my writing in it. I want to post two entries on each blog a week, Monday and Thursdays for this blog, and Tuesdays and Fridays for TBS. That means I have to do a lot of writing about both subjects.

Isn’t this fun?

Craig

NaWriNoMo -- Day 2

Day Two is done and I've added another 2,000+ words to Merlin's Legacy. Chapter One is done, and in Chapter Two, the hero is just finding the small charming town in Maine he's come to see and is about to be greeted by the locals!

Later!

Craig

Written today: 2,010 words
Word to Date: 3,875 words 

NaWriNoMo -- Day 1

Day one is nearly done, and I have 1,865 words written --- about two-thirds of Chapter 1. I will write some more tonight, but the NaWriNoMo official word count will show the above number. I may post a scene on Monday, so you can see what I've written.

Later!

Craig

Written today: 1,865 words
Word to Date: 1,865 words

NaWriNoMo Comes Around Again....

Sorry for a lack of entries, but things have been busy....

NaWriNoMo is back, starting Nov. 1, and I'm not only going to participate again, but complete my novel this year. I have 95% of the book plotted as of this minute, so when Nov 1 starts Friday, I'll be off and running. The novel is Merlin's Legacy, and it's a modern day paranormal story abut a guy who suddenly finds himself the newest heir of an old legacy, and finds some inheritances have strings attached....

And to get this blog moving, I plan to update this blog daily, so anyone who reads this will know what's going on with my NaWriNoMo attempt for 2013. I also plan to post some of what I'm writing, so you can see what's happening.

On to Nov 1!

Craig

Politics -- Not on this Blog!

After this last week, after what happened in Boston, I wanted to make it clear that this blog will be about my writing only. Real-life politics and religion are not part of my writing life, and thus has no purpose here.

Real-life politics and religion (To seperate them from story poltical and religious subject, which might come up in this column) are very touchy subjects. They are the sole provence of the indiviudal, and discussion about either subject tead to quickly degenderate into vicious verbal attacks and flames as both sides throw themselves into the fight.

I have very strong political views, but this is not the place to espouse them. This blog is about my writing and my journey to be a (hopefully) sucessful writer. To sidetrack it into political debate would be a diservice to anyone who reads this blog. There are plenty of places to vent political opinion, I don't need to do it here, and you don't need to read it.

Like politics, religion is a personal subject and choice. It is not my place to state my views here, because they are mine, crafted through my experences and thoughts. It is a personal journey, only one I can make. They are personal to me, no one else. Looking back over the centuries, wars between people based on religion are very common occurences. It continues today and cannot be willed away.

This is supposed to be a nice blog, with my blogging about writing and the descovery process. I refuse to allow religion and politics to interfere with writing about that journey, and I can do that by keeping both subjects far away from here. This is an oasis for people to come to. I refuse to hit you the reader over the head with my views on these two subjects.

That's all for now....

Craig

Website to visit for the Self-publisher

(I was going to post this yesterday, but in light of what happened in Boston, I thought it best to delay this post by one day.)

Publishing these days is not the same, dreary, years-long odyssey of submit, wait, get a rejection letter ansd resubmit somewhere else. With the appearence of the E-reader and tablet, the surge of self-published cannot be ignored. People who would have been ignore by traditional publishing have taken their novels and short stories to the people directly, in what is become a major part of Publishing.

Below are a trio of websites where you can start learning about this new world.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch  http://kriswrites.com/

Kristine Kathryn Rusch Is a well known writer, editor, and one of the first people who I found on the web talking about the new publishing model. Every Thursday, for the last four years, she has written a column called "The Business Rusch" in which she writes about the business of being an author and the new self publishing business that is coming into being.

Dean Wesley Smith http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/

Dean Wesley Smith is Kris' husband, and an author in his own right. He also is one of the first people I came across talking about the shifting publishing field. As I write this, he is preparing to ghost write a novel for another author and promises to blog about it several tiems a day.

The Book Designer — Practical Advice to Help Self-Publishers Build Better Book. http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

Writing a story is just the beginning. An Author has to do more in this new world, as they also become the designer of the cover and the formatter of the text. This website is a great place to start leaning about the other steps that an author need to take to give their book the best chance of becoming a book worth buying.

That's all for now, have a great week!

Craig