Fiction Writers tracker thread

[Darren Grey]

Want to keep up to date on where all the official books are? Well, here's a spreadsheet to make it easy for you:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai4woBhgpQ7hdEdpMGdTdVRkWkc0enQ4ODViVWQ2Qmc&usp=sharing

The colour coding is subjective based on my perceived risk of the project failing:

Blue - Draft completed
Green - Nearly there
Yellow - Some distance to go, but still okay
Orange - Some worries
Red - Severe worries
Purple - Unknown! Probably okay though.

I'll keep the spreadsheet up to date from time to time, especially if there are major changes in any project.

 

[drew]

Excellent work, Darren. Bravo. I'll give you some of those kudos point thingies if I can figure out how.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[Susimetsa]

A word of humble advice to the authors in the red sector:

- If you are struggling and feel uncertain about your ability to finish what you started, be open about it. It is better to say it out loud than leave the backers guessing.

You can also either

1. openly state that you will have to postpone your novel until you have proper time to write and finish it, or

2. change the direction of the project. I'm positive that FD and the backers would not have any problem with you switching your goal to produce a short story anthology or some other type of work instead of the novel that you intended.

 

[JohnStabler]

A great summary. Thanks Darren.

Also I'd like to tell Susimetsa that his hat rocks.

 

[Allen Stroud]

Andre gave an interview to Lave Radio back on the 31st of March.

http://laveradio.com/podcasts/laveradio-wi04.mp3

Some of us are aware that Dave Hughes has some real life issues. We (Lave Radio) have contacted him and he is still very focused on project.

 

[Susimetsa]

Also I'd like to tell Susimetsa that his hat rocks.

Thank you! People need to wear more hats!

Some of us are aware that Dave Hughes has some real life issues. We (Lave Radio) have contacted him and he is still very focused on project.

Indeed, I have no doubt that he will finish his project. Real life issues take precedence on many occasions in all of our lives.

 

[Philip Coutts]

Good work, the ones highlighted in red need to get in touch with their backers soon and let them have some information, even if it is news of delays. People will generally accept delays to projects like these but the lack of information is another thing. A lot of folks will also offer to help out if needs be, for example the books could be altered to be collections rather than just the work of 1 person. I think we all appreciate that life can be really tough and throw out some severe curve balls but it only takes a minute to send out some information to backers.

P.S. I am also in awe of Susimetsa's hat and wish I could carry it off

 

[Oss133]

I am in favour of hats generally. They are the mark of a gentleman and should be held in high regard.


Except baseball caps, natch.

 

[Alien]

"I wear a Fez now ... Fez's are cool."
"I wear a Stetson now ... Stetsons are cool."

 

[Darren Grey]

A word of humble advice to the authors in the red sector:

- If you are struggling and feel uncertain about your ability to finish what you started, be open about it. It is better to say it out loud than leave the backers guessing.

They can't hear you, they're not here This is the real worrying thing about Nathan and Boz in particular. You can see from their profile they've not been on the forum in many months, which means they've missed out on a huge amount of vital information from Frontier in the writers forum and the DDF discussion. Writing a book is a hard job anyway, but as any of the authors will attest it's even harder when you have to deal with Frontier's constantly changing guidelines. If they're not up to date on that stuff then there's really rather little hope for them!

Not to say they won't make a book next year or the year after, but clearly they're far behind where they should be.

Sorry to hear Dave is having some personal issues. Having met him I'm very confident he'll see the project through, but at the current state one must worry if he can make it on time for the game's release, especially given the huge scope and complexity of what he's taken on. Similarly I'm sure Lin is dedicated to Elite Chronicles, but it's hard to imagine it completing on time.

Andre has checked the forums within the last month. He hasn't posted anything but it could be that he's still on track and being quiet about it. I have him in red because it has been so long since contact, with no indication that he's actually written anything yet (I seem to remember from his Lave Radio interview that he said he was still working on the overall story structure).

 

[ianw]

Interesting spreadsheet on the progress.

On the subject of hats - they work very well on people with great hair - the sort that bounces back into shape when the hat comes off.

And on people with no/shaved hair who don't have to worry about the hat effect.

People with rubbish hair like me just end up looking ridiculous when they de-hat.

 

[Ratio]

AH HA!!!
I was looking for exactly this (although I did not know it was this) yesterday.
I wanted to catch up on all the books as there are quite a few I need to subscribe to
Perfect
ta

 

[JeffRyan]

AH HA!!!
I was looking for exactly this (although I did not know it was this) yesterday.
I wanted to catch up on all the books as there are quite a few I need to subscribe to
Perfect
ta

Yeah I've already backed Allen and David Hughes (best of luck man, hope things improve!) and want to really back Harper and Drew.

But I've just taken over 50 percent of the school I worked at and right now... money's REALLY tight until courses start and students pay up. Though I'll get to Drew and Harper in a month or two.

 

[graham.reeds]

Who is the AWOL author on the TftF?

 

[Darren Grey]

Who is the AWOL author on the TftF?

I'd rather not say at the moment. We're trying our best to get in touch but it isn't working out too well :-/ Everyone else has stayed engaged though, and overall the project is looking positive.

If it turns out they're definitely dropping out, or we reach a point of no return, then we'll make an official announcement to our backers.

 

[graham.reeds]

I've mentioned my willingness to take on the task of writing a short story.

 

[Allen Stroud]

Might be nice if you could update the spreadsheet with the extra information posted here Darren.

 

[Darren Grey]

I've mentioned my willingness to take on the task of writing a short story.

As have many others, but I'm afraid the person involved has paid for their slot and not cancelled that contract, so we're not in a position to offer it out. On a personal note I'd be wary of taking on anyone new at this stage as we need finished drafts very soon. It's also rather hard to be fair in picking one person. I don't want anyone getting their hopes up about this.

I'll tweak the spreadsheet, Allen.

 

[Alien]

It's also rather hard to be fair in picking one person. I don't want anyone getting their hopes up about this.

If I recall correctly, Graham is the person who was supposed to have my slot.

 

[Darren Grey]

If I recall correctly, Graham is the person who was supposed to have my slot.

Oh? I've always been confused about what happened around that. I thought someone else (Slawkenbergius?) paid for the slot and then retracted it, and then it got snapped up by another person on the Kickstarter.