I will always thank Marc Secchia for this.
Why? A long time ago, we were talking about the craft and what I wanted to write next. This was while I was writing Niven's War and was going to tackle Escape From Crescendo Station One after. He suggested I try writing a LitRPG novel, probably after I mentioned I had been a gamer in the past. At the time, I didn't know what the genre was, so I decided to do some research and see what it was all about.
Over the next few months, I found a number of titles and purchased them, all while getting to know other authors in the field. I listened to audiobooks like J. Arthur Klein's Extra Credit, Justin Monroe's Zee Locked In, Josh Walker's They Think I Invented Pizza, David Bushman's Darklands Online, and Ben Ormstad's Daemonorg Prison-Lab, to name a few. The authors themselves were amazingly helpful with advice and were also very encouraging. It is the one thing I will forever love about authors, we encourage each other to no end. After getting through a few of the books, I grew a massive love for the genre that invoked many memories of my time gaming, but there was one problem I could not get over.
I had no ideas.
As much as I tried to think of something, nothing came, so I eventually forgot about it. It's never good to force out an idea. They always end up crap.
At that time, Escape From Crescendo Station One was still with my other editor, and I was surfing Youtube to find something to watch. I came across a series of retrospective documentaries from a channel called Avalanche Reviews and found he had done a series on Dead Space. I had enjoyed the series very much when I had my Xbox 360, many moons ago, and decided to watch them. As I was watching the video on the first game, a single thought ran through my head:
"What would I do if I were in such a situation as Isaac?"
Before I could continue watching, my eyes went wide as an idea popped into my head.
Over the next week, I worked the idea into an outline I grew increasingly excited about. Finally, I began working on it, knowing the book would become the biggest manuscript I would write.
During that time, I spoke with the other writers about who I could get to edit such a thing, feeling that I needed an editor that knew the genre well. One of them suggested a lady named Ellen, informing me that, not only was she good at what she did, but she worked at an amazing speed. He introduced me to her via a message chat and we spoke at length about what I was writing, and that it was my first time writing in the genre. Ellen asked to see the chapters I had written, so I sent them over and called it a night. About a day later, she returned them to me, edited. She asked when she could have the next chapters, and my mind was blown. From there on, she became my editor.
Over the course of the following two months, she would keep me on my toes with questions about the story, characters, and anything else she could think to ask. It was a wonderful experience and one I came to learn from a great deal.
The manuscript was completed, polished and edited, and is now available for purchase. I'm hoping it does well. I feel like it was one of the best things I have written, and my beta readers who have read my previous works say the same thing. Time will tell.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Ataris Station. A science fiction LitRPG novel.
UK readers can find it here.
USA readers can find it here.
Thanks once again, Marc.
