Re: Fantasy Books may be on the way!
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:52 am
Just got back from GenCon, had a great talk with Matt. Wayne, and Kevin about Bizantium and going over a few changes and
additions. As I said before, I leave it in their well capable hands. Even got a chance to talk to a reporter I'm guessing from
Germany about the book
that was fun.
Here some advice I was giving I'm going to share with anyone else out there who wants to try their hand at publishing
anything for Palladium.
Regardless whatever word processor you use, stick with the simple things (bold, italics, underline, etc). Don't use any fancy
fonts, size changes (stay with 10-12), bullets, attempt to make columns and charts etc. The reason the program they use to
convert and set the paper into what we see as a published book has a heck of a time with all the unseen computer code that
occurs during a conversion, and it takes a lot of time deleting the stuff. What I mean for those who don't understand
is you press the TAB key, on the screen and on your printed page, there's just space. But hidden there is computer code
(lots numbers and characters that make up the space) that when another WP program reads make visible. So Wayne has to
spend extra time deleting it so it doesn't show up as text in the final work. So lesson learned and I'll try to avoid. Wayne and
them will put all the columns, charts, etc needed for the material.
Along those lines, the same thing happens when you cut and paste something. If you want to be lazy (like I was in some
places), and just want to grab some text from some source (wikipedia or a downloaded section from Palladium Book on PDF),
you going to put computer code between the sections of what you typed and what you cut and pasted. Meaning it will be
recognized as a cut and paste, and it say something about your work. Another lesson I will try to avoid in the future (a hard
one for me though
).
Here's another. Eric in his original piece of Bizantium from High Seas did a lot of great stuff, and I wanted to preserve it. So I
retyped what was said before. Nope, Kevin wants everything resaid with a fresh face on it, no matter how great it was said
before, it can be retold in a newer way. Now that's a slap on the forehead moment for myself. Because some stuff in High
Seas was like, "well what would any player character want to be involved in any of this for" so I kept it and add some
material to it from other sources, and put it into the work. But now having learned I could have left it out or completely
reworded it makes me want to shake my head in annoyance. Another lesson learned.
The map my friend and I made which took over a gig of memory using Adobe Photoshop had TOO much info on it. A simple fix
for us and another lesson learned for any future maps.
The more passion, research, and thoroughness you put in your work, it will show to those like Matt, Wayne, and Kevin. It
gets them excited and want to do more to the piece. Again for those who think their the next R.A. Salvatore just relax. Its
not Palladium is coverting their material to fit in your interpretation, its your work being converted into their interpretation. So
don't get hung up on stats, names, retooling an idea, even the not use of characters, event, vehicles, etc. Their intent will
always be to keep the original intent, theme, tone, and spirit of the manuscript. As a proofreader at Purdue University Writing
Center and Columbia College in Chicago, I did the same thing with student's research paper. I wasn't "writing" their paper nor
editing it, I was make subtle grammar and literacy changes in order to communicate their intent more clearly to the reader
(namely the college professor you had to turn the paper in). And it worked. Yes some people were upset and wondered why
you made the changes, and after a simple explanation and "B+", "A-", A, or best of all an "A+" on their paper they were really
happy. A student would come up to me and say, "Look at what you helped me get." And as most of my colleagues would say,
"You wrote the paper its all your work, we just keep your ideas in tact and focused in the direction you wanted to go in."
Finally let me say my "masterplan" of getting Kevin excited about fantasy "seems" to have worked. Took a while, and yes I
know there are other areas of Palladium saying they feel neglected (like HU for example, infact I know this guy who
submitted 3 manuscripts several years ago whose eager for something to come out
), but with all the work this one guy
has to do and the juggling of 10 projects at once and dealing with life in general running a small business and such, I have to
cut him some long slack. But when opportunity knocks, open that door, put down whatever you doing and seize the moment.
I saw it with some of Chuck's artwork and "hearing rumors" of his and Kevin's conversation. Also have to give a big shout out
to Madman Mike as well for his assistance with his awesome paper miniatures. And I didn't catch him name, but I met this
awesome artist at GenCon that Kevin hired on the spot when he showed his professional looking portfolio (yes it can happen,
that's why you go to conventions like this folks
). This guy is on par with Chuck and he seems to have a thing for
Dwarves and Barbarians (hmm).
So that's it for now. Matt's doing his final edits and readthrough, artwork will be assigned, and Kevin will go through his final
readthrough and add, subtract, or reword somethings. But please let the man finish with Gen Con, finish getting Robotech
Tactic shipped, and some time this fall/winter (October-March) we should have fantasy material with us. And like I said, I'm
hoping the pokes I made at him to do Land of Damned 3, Old Kingdom Mountains, Old Kingdom Lowlands, and revealed "what's
beyond" the Black Wall will start seeing ideas applied to paper (or a computer monitor).
additions. As I said before, I leave it in their well capable hands. Even got a chance to talk to a reporter I'm guessing from
Germany about the book
that was fun. Here some advice I was giving I'm going to share with anyone else out there who wants to try their hand at publishing
anything for Palladium.
Regardless whatever word processor you use, stick with the simple things (bold, italics, underline, etc). Don't use any fancy
fonts, size changes (stay with 10-12), bullets, attempt to make columns and charts etc. The reason the program they use to
convert and set the paper into what we see as a published book has a heck of a time with all the unseen computer code that
occurs during a conversion, and it takes a lot of time deleting the stuff. What I mean for those who don't understand
is you press the TAB key, on the screen and on your printed page, there's just space. But hidden there is computer code
(lots numbers and characters that make up the space) that when another WP program reads make visible. So Wayne has to
spend extra time deleting it so it doesn't show up as text in the final work. So lesson learned and I'll try to avoid. Wayne and
them will put all the columns, charts, etc needed for the material.
Along those lines, the same thing happens when you cut and paste something. If you want to be lazy (like I was in some
places), and just want to grab some text from some source (wikipedia or a downloaded section from Palladium Book on PDF),
you going to put computer code between the sections of what you typed and what you cut and pasted. Meaning it will be
recognized as a cut and paste, and it say something about your work. Another lesson I will try to avoid in the future (a hard
one for me though
). Here's another. Eric in his original piece of Bizantium from High Seas did a lot of great stuff, and I wanted to preserve it. So I
retyped what was said before. Nope, Kevin wants everything resaid with a fresh face on it, no matter how great it was said
before, it can be retold in a newer way. Now that's a slap on the forehead moment for myself. Because some stuff in High
Seas was like, "well what would any player character want to be involved in any of this for" so I kept it and add some
material to it from other sources, and put it into the work. But now having learned I could have left it out or completely
reworded it makes me want to shake my head in annoyance. Another lesson learned.
The map my friend and I made which took over a gig of memory using Adobe Photoshop had TOO much info on it. A simple fix
for us and another lesson learned for any future maps.
The more passion, research, and thoroughness you put in your work, it will show to those like Matt, Wayne, and Kevin. It
gets them excited and want to do more to the piece. Again for those who think their the next R.A. Salvatore just relax. Its
not Palladium is coverting their material to fit in your interpretation, its your work being converted into their interpretation. So
don't get hung up on stats, names, retooling an idea, even the not use of characters, event, vehicles, etc. Their intent will
always be to keep the original intent, theme, tone, and spirit of the manuscript. As a proofreader at Purdue University Writing
Center and Columbia College in Chicago, I did the same thing with student's research paper. I wasn't "writing" their paper nor
editing it, I was make subtle grammar and literacy changes in order to communicate their intent more clearly to the reader
(namely the college professor you had to turn the paper in). And it worked. Yes some people were upset and wondered why
you made the changes, and after a simple explanation and "B+", "A-", A, or best of all an "A+" on their paper they were really
happy. A student would come up to me and say, "Look at what you helped me get." And as most of my colleagues would say,
"You wrote the paper its all your work, we just keep your ideas in tact and focused in the direction you wanted to go in."
Finally let me say my "masterplan" of getting Kevin excited about fantasy "seems" to have worked. Took a while, and yes I
know there are other areas of Palladium saying they feel neglected (like HU for example, infact I know this guy who
submitted 3 manuscripts several years ago whose eager for something to come out
), but with all the work this one guy has to do and the juggling of 10 projects at once and dealing with life in general running a small business and such, I have to
cut him some long slack. But when opportunity knocks, open that door, put down whatever you doing and seize the moment.
I saw it with some of Chuck's artwork and "hearing rumors" of his and Kevin's conversation. Also have to give a big shout out
to Madman Mike as well for his assistance with his awesome paper miniatures. And I didn't catch him name, but I met this
awesome artist at GenCon that Kevin hired on the spot when he showed his professional looking portfolio (yes it can happen,
that's why you go to conventions like this folks
). This guy is on par with Chuck and he seems to have a thing for Dwarves and Barbarians (hmm).
So that's it for now. Matt's doing his final edits and readthrough, artwork will be assigned, and Kevin will go through his final
readthrough and add, subtract, or reword somethings. But please let the man finish with Gen Con, finish getting Robotech
Tactic shipped, and some time this fall/winter (October-March) we should have fantasy material with us. And like I said, I'm
hoping the pokes I made at him to do Land of Damned 3, Old Kingdom Mountains, Old Kingdom Lowlands, and revealed "what's
beyond" the Black Wall will start seeing ideas applied to paper (or a computer monitor).
