Gaming and writing home for Dave Sokolowski
For the past year, I have been focusing on writing and developing ‘He Who Laughs Last,’ a Cthulhu Dark scenario that I plan to release via Kickstarter in early 2014.
I have created a page for the whole project and updates will be forthcoming. I am planning for a Kickstarter in early 2014 and am in the process of recruiting a top-notch list of contributors. I cannot wait to show you what we have in store.
Anyone who has talked Rush with me in the past ten years has heard me ramble about how I loved the much-maligned Vapor Trails album, despite its horrific mastering. I always hoped Rush would find the time to go back and fix the record, and recently they delivered the goods.
The 2002 album finds the band recovering from the death of Neil’s wife and daughter, and the songs erupt with his long emotional recovery, breathing fresh air (at a huge cost) into a band whose lyrics had grown *Very* stale (‘Net boy/net girl’ I’m looking at you). Everyone’s playing is top notch, and the lack of guitar solos, while indicative of the time it was recorded, compresses the 12 tracks into a full set of tight, power trio rock that is still sorely lacking in our world.
The album has some of Rush’s best work in their career, and now you can finally hear it. The new mastering isn’t perfect, as the damage done to the album’s overall sonics cannot be entirely erased. But there is so much more clarity and room to breath in the records, you can actually – and finally – listen to it without losing your mind. It was worth the wait.
Nine years ago I sent out a chance email for a shot to interview one of my favorite authors, Max Barry. Just that the guy would take time out to answer an email from a fan like this is amazing. Clearly he’s awesome. Read:
Update October 2004
Pie Driver interviews Max Barry
When you were 12 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be the newsreader on TV. That guy really seemed to have his shit together.
What’s your daily writing regiment?
I roll out of bed about 7:15am. I iron my wife’s clothes for the day (she’s a school teacher), because yes, I am just that sensitive. Then I go into my study and start writing. I stop when the words do, or when I start to feel faint from hunger, both of which usually happen around 11 o’clock. Sometimes I write in the afternoon, but more often I do all my creative stuff for the day before noon.
Do you outline before or during your writing? While Syrup has a more evolving storyline, Jennifer Government seems more structured. How are your story-telling techniques evolving?
I start with an initial idea, usually about a couple of characters and what they might want to do, and go from there. I very rarely know what’s going to happen more than a couple of chapters in advance. That helps the story from becoming too predictable, and, more importantly, keeps me guessing. I can’t think of anything more boring than planning out an entire novel, then having to write it. As much as possible, I try to avoid ending up pushing characters around like chess pieces, trying to get them to hit particular plot points. I much prefer they take the lead.
It’s funny that Jennifer Government seems more structured. That’s only because I rewrote it so hard; those story threads didn’t come together so neatly in the first draft, I promise you that. This is the downside of not doing outlines.
What has made Syrup and Jennifer Government keepers as opposed to the other novels that were shelved?
Mainly that they were not crap. That’s a big reason. Crap novels, onto the bonfire. Good novels, I call my agent.
How did it feel to finish Jennifer Government and yet have no publisher want to publish it?
My SYRUP publisher (Penguin Putnam) didn’t want it; other publishers were much more receptive. But yeah, it was pretty shocking. When I first got published, I felt so pathetically grateful to everyone that helped me there that I swore I would always stick by them, even if I became hugely famous and popular. They were all so very nice. But they had to make a business decision, and they made it. Tough for me, because I seriously thought my career was over. And I’m very attached to my career. But it was a rough time for Penguin Putnam financially. If I’d been in their shoes I might have cut me, too.
Has Jennifer Government been a success? By what standards? Do you think it will help sell your next book?
Any novel that allows me to keep doing this for a full-time job is a success to me. Getting good reviews is nice, too. In terms of sales, yes, Jennifer Government has done great. I get a stack of fan e-mail, which is just brilliant.
I have a feeling that the sales of novels tend to reflect the quality of the one before them. If you like this one, you buy the next one; if you don’t, you won’t. So very possibly Jennifer Government was just a reaction to Syrup. But hopefully not. Hopefully my next one will get out there and do even better.
Has NationStates been a success? What the future plans for it? Did this evolve as a game or a marketing ploy?
Oh yeah, very much so. I created it as a game to hopefully attract 1,000 people, and so far somewhere it’s had around 400,000 players. I’m not exactly sure what to do with it, since it has become such a big deal all by itself — many, many more people have played the game than read the book — but I’d like to do something.
The idea for NationStates.net — that you get to see what a country based on your idea of perfect politics would look like, and play with it — was one I’d had for a while. And it tied in to the concept behind Jennifer
Government. But I probably wouldn’t have ever coded it unless I could justify that time and expense as a way to promote my novels.
Who do you see as your peers, whether in story-telling or as a novelist? Any authors that you model yourself after?
It really depends on the novel. Two writers I adore, though, are Neal Stephenson and Chuck Palahniuk.
Has being a young author been an asset or a detriment to establishing your career?
I think it’s an asset on the promotional side. The media is definitely more interested in talking to young authors. But as for the actual writing, I think I’ll be creating better novels with another ten or fifteen years’
experience. I sure hope so, anyway. If I’m not, I haven’t been paying attention.
Now that making shit up is your profession, what do you do for fun?
The thing is, though, making shit up is fun. I have that rare and amazing thing: a fun job. But these days, when I’m not writing, I’m trying to maintain NationStates.net. That thing is a real time sucker.
What’s so bad about being Australian?
There seem to be an awful lot of us, wriggling our way into the bastions of American culture. It started with Aussie actors, then came directors, now we’re all over the place. You can’t take five steps in the US entertainment industry without tripping over an Australian. So I apologize for being yet another one.
Max.
I have been a Toastmaster since February 2013, and it may very well be the best professional decision I’ve ever made. If you don’t know, Toastmasters International is a world-wide organization dedicated to helping its members develop their speaking and leadership skills. For a relatively cheap price (~$100/year, which most employers will pay for), TM will help you grown your public speaking and leadership skills, yes, but they also develop your ability to think on your feet.
One of the key elements of the weekly TM meeting is Table Topics, in which someone brings a list of questions that you are asked to answer within one to two minutes, without having known the question ahead of time. The first few times can be pretty scary, as you wrack your brain to answer a random question in a thoughtful and organized manner. But then it gets easier, after you do it five or six times, and soon the fear is gone. Yes, it’s always challenging to think on your feet like that, but when you know you can do it without panicking or just saying um over and over again, you become confident in your abilities.
This ability directly applies to Game Mastering RPGs, which is really just a series of answers to other peoples’ random questions based on some loose parameter (the game). When the PCs take your well-planned and strictly-plotted scenario for a ride way the hell outside of where you though it would go (which happens all the time), having confidence in your abilities to go along for the ride without being rattled is a critical skill. And that confidence directly relates to your ability to run the scenario and own the table, allowing the players to thrive in a thoughtful and imaginative environment.
If you are looking for an unconventional way to improve your GM skills, I highly recommend joining a Toastmasters club (there’s bound to be one near you – check the website). For just an hour a week, you’ll be quite surprised.