cryx wrote:Hey Warwolf, How you uh, how you comin on that Sourcebook you're workin on? Huh? Gotta big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice little story you're workin on there? Your big sourcebook you've been workin on for three years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling morphus table? Yeah? Got some new monsters for the Nightbane to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yeah. Talking about that three years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning middle and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end, your main character is richer for the experience? Yeah? Yeah?
No, no you deserve some time off.
Hey there Cryx,
You seem a little upset with me for the length of time being taken on Dark Designs. I've apologized a few times already here and abroad for the delays, but let me address the points of your post:
First, no there isn't much of a "story" with this book. It's more a Powers Unlimited-style book with a LOT of new Talent and Morphus stuff and a few additional surprises.
Second, actually I haven't been working on the manuscript for most of the last four years (I first started in late 2009). I still haven't detailed why because it's a bit personal and I'm not sure quite how I want to discuss that particular topic yet. In reality, I had to take a long hiatus from writing almost ANYTHING not school-related for a few years. During most of that period I was also embroiled in an intense Master's program that ate-up the majority of my free time. While I had some minor projects I accomplished, including the article for Rifter #50, every time I got back to Dark Designs and started to make headway (including when I first started this thread) it turned out to be a false-start. Even when I found myself able to write full-bore again, a secret Rifts project drew me away from Nightbane for a month or two. When the Nightbane material started to really flow last year not much of it related to Dark Designs, necessitating my taking copious notes and laying out future books rather than this one or risk losing that inspiration. It wasn't until that task was done that I was able to devote serious time to Dark Designs for more than a week or two at a stretch.
These days I work pretty crazy hours in a pretty stressful job and have had another string of personal misfortunes that came out of the blue to steal time away from writing. I believe I mentioned before the death of a close friend earlier this year, but add to it the failing health of close family-members, having to move other family in with me and help support them, and still fighting with a degree program that hasn't yet yielded me the degree I've all-but accomplished due to circumstances largely beyond my control.
So, while you are pretty clearly frustrated with me, don't think that I'm not equally if not more frustrated with myself and the circumstances. Certainly don't think that I'm sitting back on my haunches being lazy or purposely tormenting you and the rest of the fans by not finishing Dark Designs. I assure you, I am not. I want to get this book done. I want to jump into the future books I've planned. Unfortunately, as a Freelance Writer this isn't my full-time job. This isn't how I support myself. Thus, real life has to come first and my real life hasn't been very forgiving of my wants in recent years.
You know, a friend of mine alerted me to this post since it's often hard just getting the time to swing by the boards these days. He said he hadn't responded despite being angered by it. You see, he felt you were being snarky and condescending about the grinding delay and his knowledge of its origins made him want to jump to my defense. Perhaps you did mean to harass, but I want to thank you for giving me the chance to highlight a couple of the overall points I wanted to make with this thread. They are as follows:
We Palladium Freelancers are not staff-writers or staff-artists. We do this work largely in our free time between work, family, friends, civic organizations, etc., so that you all may take it and enjoy it. I can't speak for the rest of my colleagues, but for me what profit I see from writing for Palladium is far outweighed by the time and effort expended doing so. This, however, does not upset or discourage me. Why? I write for you guys and gals because I love doing it. I love Palladium and its games, I love the fans (for the most part), and I love it when you all get a kick out of something I've helped create. There seem to be some rampant misconceptions about how these creations come about so as I mentioned once before I hoped that in providing an ongoing update about the manuscript it would give fans and aspiring Freelancers a peek into the real process complete with setbacks and mis-steps. What I didn't know at the time is just how profound a setback it might encompass... but that's a story for another day.
At any rate, you and everyone else are certainly free to be disappointed, aggravated, and even downright upset with me for not giving you this book sooner. I would ask, though, that you keep in mind that this work is but one aspect of who we Freelancers are as people (albeit the facet that you as Palladium fans most often see). And as people we are flawed and vulnerable to the chaos of the world that surrounds us. So sometimes, try as we might, things just don't go according to plan. But I promise you and the rest of the fans that I am giving it my all. I hope that in the end it will be enough.
Sincerely,
Mark "Warwolf" Oberle
Freelance Writer
Palladium Books
Yeah, everytime I see a blazingly obvious moron walking the streets... I think, "score one for the creationists..." ~ DLDC
Warwolf is right... you can sig that. ~ TGK
I refuse to participate in a battle of wits with an unarmed man. ~ Me