Game Quest: Novel about Adventure Games launched!

Hakujin · Thu 16/03/2006 15:41:43

Ok, it was almost a year ago that I started posting chapters of my novel, Game Quest, online every week, but now the book is finally available!!! I ended up putting a lot more chapters online than I planned, but it has been a fun and interesting (and sometimes frustrating) experience. People seemed to really like it, so I'm happy about that, and it's good to have people reading my stuff. As a writer you spend a lot of time in the dark, writing for yourself. Also, I get to have the rare distinction of being the first person to write a fictional novel about Adventure Games! How cool is that?! 8) Pretty cool, I say.

Anyway, if you guys want to check it out, www.gamequestnovel.com now points to the book informational pages where you can buy the book, read a synopsis, look at a bunch of pictures of the book, download wallpapers and more... I hope you'll check it out! I've shipped about 10 books already, and it should appear on Amazon in a few days. (although, it's a lot cheaper to order through me than Amazon, cause they take %55 of the price - which means I make, like twentyfive cents a book!)

Also, I'd really like to thank everyone on this board who was following the novel, posted comments, gave advice, told friends about the book, etc... It's been really encouraging and helpful and I'm pretty sure this book would have never been written or published if it wasn't for these boards and the adventure game community in general! Thanks everyone, you know who you are!

LGM · Thu 16/03/2006 16:15:11

I plan on buying one. I am getting some money for some photo work with a band on Saturday, so that could cover the costs.

You are awesome, dude

Mordalles · Thu 16/03/2006 19:40:27

congrats, man! that's a great achievement.

The Inquisitive Stranger · Fri 17/03/2006 01:42:48

Whoa. I never knew about this novel before, but it looks rather interesting. I think I'll buy myself a copy... but only because I hate reading novels on a computer screen. And it's written by a Canadian, so I'll get somewhat cheaper shipping.

auhsor · Sat 18/03/2006 00:52:01

I've ordered it

It has been a good read so far, and it will be nice to be able to read it as a hard copy. Good luck with the selling.

Hakujin · Sat 18/03/2006 18:41:46

Lgm: Band Photography!? Sounds pretty cool to me! What kind of band? Thanks for the comments! Looking forward to your order. If it takes a little while longer to get the cash together (ie, longer than the launch sale lasts) just let me know, so you can still get the launch sale price.

The Inquisitive Stranger: Yeah, I hate reading on the screen too. That's why I found it really positive that so many people actually did follow it online every week. I find it hard to read online too. Feels really nice to have an actual book out now, too.

Auhsor: Thanks for the order! Let me know how when it gets there. I'm curious how long it takes to get to the other side of the world. I hope it arrives in good condition! In the near future, I'm hoping to put together a little 'Game Quest World Domination' page, where I'll track all the places it's been shipped to! Could be kinda fun to see where the books end up and how they're doing. I'm swamped with book stuff, but in the near future I want to add links to a bunch of the 'best of' AGS made games on the www.gamequestnovel.com site, so readers who aren't familiar with AGS and Adventure Games can try some out and get introduced. So I might run an informal little survey in the future asking for votes on the best AGS games.

Anyway, I got two more orders last night, so I'm gonna fill those now. So exciting! Thanks everyone for their interest and support! Adventure Games 4ever!!!

LGM · Sun 19/03/2006 06:01:12

Hakujin: They are called The Metrolites. http://www.metrolites.com

They are lounge/spy/rock/everything. It's hard to describe them, but they are very awesome. Predominant sax and guitar usage, and very unique usage of digital xylophone and synth pad.

I took photos of them before, as a fan. You can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilgryphmaster/sets/72057594067206348/

Tonight I took them as an actual gig. Didn't get any money tonight, though. Will get some eventually!

Gregjazz · Sun 19/03/2006 06:49:38

This is way cool! Reading the online chapters right now...

Mugs · Sun 19/03/2006 07:34:19

When I get the money...

I can't even afford a 2L bottle of Soda Pop right now!

I think it's time I get a job.

Hakujin · Mon 20/03/2006 15:49:26

Lgm: Hey, that band's pretty cool. I dig the 60s spy-like stuff and horns and geetar are on of the best musical combinations, IMO. I wish they had more samples on their website, rather than just a 30second clip of one song. Hard to get into, though it sounded good. Great pictures though! No wonder people pay you.

Geoffkhan: Hey, cool. I'm really glad people are liking it. This self-publishing thing is nerve-wracking. Anyway, I'll probably leave the existing 39 chapters up for another week or so, and then pare them back down to 19 or so, just to make it more manageable and give people incentive to buy the book. Just a warning! I hope you like the other chapters.

Mugs: I know what you mean. I barely have any cash either...particularly cause I droped $4500 on printing these books. Anyway, if any AGS member wants a copy of the book in the future, after the price goes up, just send me an email with your screenname and you can still get the 'launch' price.

Thanks guys, your comments mean a lot!

auhsor · Tue 21/03/2006 02:09:50

The book just arrived... didn't take too long at all. 6 days to Australia (4 working days). It arrived in great condition except for the top and bottom of the spine which are a little worn, but thats ok. It's a bit of a surprise how thick it is, I can't believe I read so much on a computer screen. It will be nice to be able to read it properly now.

I shall post my impressions on the rest of the book when I get to reading it. Uni is really taking alot of my time atm.

ps. I love the bookmark.

Hakujin · Tue 21/03/2006 02:23:31

Wow! Holy crap! That is fast! Especially since I just came online to tell you that the post office said it would take 6-8 weeks!! I think this is the first time Canada Post ever exceeded my expectations. :o

Thanks for the update on how the book survived. I'd like to find a better way of packing it. Maybe I can get ahold of some carboard to protect it a bit better. Or maybe some bubble wrap. But it sounds like it arrived mostly in tact.

Yes, I'd love to hear your (and anybody else who has ordered it) thoughts. If you've got a moment or two, a quickie 'I liked this book' (assuming you like it!

) on Amazon.com (search for Leopold McGinnis - only way to find my book) would really help me out. I understand about Uni, though. I don't think I read anything 'fun' for my entire university education...

So glad you got the book. Really weird. Friends in the US haven't even received it yet...

Hakujin · Thu 23/03/2006 00:03:13

Feh! I was all excited today because I thought someone bought one of my books off amazon.com, but then it turned out that one of the books was listed as 'unsellable' because it got damaged in the mail. Which is weird because it was packed better than Amazon packs its own books and the other 3 books arrived fine.

Oh well. :'(

Hakujin · Tue 28/03/2006 17:14:17

The Inquisitive Stranger just wrote an AWESOME review of my book on her website!! You should check it out cause it's a pretty cool blog and her latest game is pretty cool too, if you haven't checked it out either.

Kweepa · Sun 09/04/2006 04:08:40

I got the book on Wednesday and have spent all available spare time reading it.
It even dragged me away from my obsessive Oblivion playing!
Highly recommended!

auhsor · Sun 09/04/2006 16:49:44

Hey, I'm really sorry I havn't posted what I thought of the book. I've been busy and things slip my mind and I'm lazy.

I thought it was really good and I do recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading and well especially to everyone here as it is about something we all know alot about. I think that the ending was great. I don't think that you could have done that in a better way, and I really enjoyed the epilogue thing. It was a really nice touch that I wasn't expecting. I also had a look at the bonus things on the web the other day and had a good chuckle at a few of the bloopers and your comments on them. Good stuff

I'll post a review up on Amazon in the coming weeks when I become unlazy.

Hakujin · Tue 11/04/2006 23:02:15

The results are in folks! Game Quest! More addictive than Oblivion!

Thanks for the compliments, Steve. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

Auhsor, no problem with the laziness. I envy you, actually. Ever since I started this friggin project my life has been devoid of free time. Enjoy it while you can! Glad to hear you enjoyed the novel. Personally, I hate novels that have no or crappy endings. I avoid that in all my work. I think it turned out quite well in Game Quest. Originally that epilogue was about twice as long, if you can believe that! I spent months just whittling away at it, trying to get it down. As it stands now it's 25 pages, which is still way long. I was worried one of the biggest criticisms of the book was gonna be that the 'ending is boring or too long' but so far I've had great reviews for that part.

In fact, the only criticism I've received is that I could have described the characters in more detail. Probably I could have, but one of my pet peeves is when you're reading a book and you get a picture in your head of a character, and then you turn the page and suddenly they have a moustache. That always drives me nuts. Am I the only one like this? One of the advantages of a book is that you get to let the reader use their imagination, so I try to do that every now and then. I'd be curious to hear what people's reading pet peeves are, actually. As both a writer and a fellow reader.

Anyway, a zine out of texas had a really good review for my book. You can read it here: http://www.musea.us/review60.html Also a bookstore here in Edmonton picked it up, as well as a bookstore in Chicago. So that's pretty cool.

Of course, auhsor, if you get to a point where you don't feel lazy, posting your thoughts about my book here or anywhere would be super helpful. But no pressure. You bought and enjoyed my book. There's nothing better than that.

The Inquisitive Stranger · Wed 12/04/2006 00:30:07

Quote from: Hakujin on Tue 11/04/2006 23:02:15
In fact, the only criticism I've received is that I could have described the characters in more detail. Probably I could have, but one of my pet peeves is when you're reading a book and you get a picture in your head of a character, and then you turn the page and suddenly they have a moustache. That always drives me nuts. Am I the only one like this? One of the advantages of a book is that you get to let the reader use their imagination, so I try to do that every now and then. I'd be curious to hear what people's reading pet peeves are, actually. As both a writer and a fellow reader.

I'm inclined to completely agree with you, actually. When reading, I practically never pay attention to the descriptions of how characters or surroundings look; I just get engrossed in the story and let my imagination fill in the details. It seems as though a lot of people like lengthy descriptions, though, and I suppose this might have to do with having sensing rather than intuitive personality types. Oh well, you can't please everyone.

Kweepa · Wed 12/04/2006 00:50:27

I didn't have a problem with a lack of descriptions. That was fine.
I thought there were too many explanations of motive (or perhaps it was thought process). Occasionally it got repetitive. I think you could have cut 25 pages or more from the book by trimming some of that out.
And once or twice, towards the end of the book, you succumbed to the fad-du-jour of starting a chapter with a "cliffhanger" then flashing back to the meat. You don't need to hook me - I've already read 300 pages.

Hakujin · Sun 23/04/2006 06:56:52

Yeah, trying to please everyone is the quick route to producing crap! In the end, you always just gotta go with what you feel is best.

Steve: Haha. Is that the fad du jour? So, am I to assume this is one of your pet peeves?

I actually wrote all those chapters about 4 years ago, so maybe I was cutting edge! Actually, I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Maybe they were hooks â€" but probably more in the sense of keeping myself interested in writing than worrying the reader was gonna go away. I like to make my chapters like mini-stories in themselves. Sometimes you run into a chapter which has a lot of lead up which isn't interesting, to an ending that is pretty good, but the reader will get bored of all the build-up unless you let them know it's going somewhere. Giving a bit of the ending away helps them forgive all the boring lead up you've got to do. Just like I look at the entire novel and ask myself â€˜what's the best way to tell this story', I also try to look at each chapter that way.

If you limit yourself to linearity, I think you cheat yourself of the best story, sometimes. Sometimes the most interesting and entertaining narrative flow is nonlinear. Of course, if everyone is doing it, or you use it over and over, or use it because you can't be bothered to find another way of telling the story then, yeah, it's gimmicky. Part of the problem with making mini-stories out of my chapters is bloat so maybe I use tricks to make the bloat seem less...er...bloaty?

Yeah, I was going to say I think I tend to go overboard in description of character thoughts. I really enjoy getting inside their heads and spending time there. Sometimes too much time. I worked a lot on weeding out repetition and cutting these â€˜thoughts' down to the bare minimum. I think I did a pretty good job, seeing as I knocked about 20,000 words out from my first draft! The thing is, every time I pick up the book, I can see room for improvement. But eventually you've just got to let it go. No novel is perfect and I'm pretty confident I got it in the best shape I could. Maybe in a couple years, in the highly unlikely circumstance that the book will be reprinted, I'll go over it with fresh eyes and tighten it up some more. But right now I'm pretty happy with the book and glad that it's being received well. I know I don't have an AGS game (yet!!), but I consider this book â€˜my adventure game baby.' ; )