I feel like I’m in school all over again, but instead of actually sitting in a classroom, I’m sitting in my bedroom. I joke around that I’m home schooling myself. Well, technically I am.
The book that I am writing is a fantasy fiction novel based on my Gnome Wizard character in EverQuest. Although, it will not be based in that world, instead I will be creating a brand new world.
In order for me to write this with a solid foundation, I have to read 5 books in the “Write Great Fiction” series. I bought these ebooks on my Nook to help me learn to write fiction. But it’s not just reading books, I have to also create my characters. I mean, I could just say here is Joe Schmo and this is Tom Jones, but they are not regular people. The characters that I am creating are all fantastic creatures like gnomes, halflings, elves and centaurs etc. They all have specific talents that only certain races and certain classes can have. Each race and class can also only equip certain armor, weapons and spells and they have to cast the right spells on the mobs in the story. It has to be right, otherwise people will know and put the book down and say this is BS. You can’t put a Warrior in cloth, or silk, or you can’t put armor on a wizard. You can’t make your wizard throw fire balls at a fire creature, it will absorb the fire and won’t do any harm, you have to throw ice at him. I literally have to go by the book.
The character sheet you see is for a game called Challenger RPG. I downloaded 2 ebooks for that free game last night, so I will read those books and see if it will teach me to play that game. If that game doesn’t work for me then I will try the Dungeons & Dragons. I have many D&D books that I will need to read to create my characters from. And no, this is not going to be a Dungeons & Dragons story, but I can use that game to create my characters and to teach me what I need to know. I printed 12 of these character sheets to put in the notebook so I can make notes on each of my characters. I am sure I will make some mistakes, which is why I printed so many. I will print more as needed.
I played EverQuest from 2002 to around 2008 or 2009. I have played a wizard, shaman, warrior, enchanter, necromancer, druid and shadow knight. I have played a gnome, vah shir, barbarian, half-elf, human, high elf, drakkin and halfling. I don’t know what I am doing with many of the classes and races though. Just because I have played the game for nearly a decade, doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing. And it has been many years since I’ve played, so I am a little rusty, so that’s why I have the character sheets and why I plan on using another RPG game to create my characters.
I also intend on using the RPG games to create my fighting scenes. I’m not going to use it to create my plot or my story or dialog, I just need a little help with the battles. I do have a good imagination, but it’s not that good.
You can see a Trapper Keeper in the image at the top, but unfortunately I do not own one. If they sold them in the store then I would buy one, but I haven’t seen them so far. I still have lots of notebook paper from many years ago. I kept a notebook for my crochet patterns, so I have some school supplies. I don’t need to buy new notebook paper because my printer can print that out for me, it can also print graph paper which I also intend on printing so I can draw my maps, houses, cities, castles etc. I will need those to help me decide where my characters are going so it doesn’t seem like I’m going just anywhere in the world.
I never knew how much work went into writing a book. This project has opened my eyes to everything that a writer must go through when they are creating a fictional world like I am. Never take for granted what other people go through so you can have even a tiny bit of entertainment.
Diary of a Gay Nerd 