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Thresholder Update/Notes
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 21:56:51 +0000 UTCNote: This was originally going to be the author's note for the chapter, but it got long, mostly because it's a bunch of stuff I've been thinking about. This is also public, rather than patron-only, so if you have a comment, no current-chapter details please.
I am very tempted to just present this chapter without comment, because I think "writing's not going so well" posts are terrible to both write and read. But I've also been trying to diagnose, so ...
Moderate series plan-level spoilers follow, along with some of the stuff that will be in the post-mortem.
I think one of the big problems I've had with Book 4 is that it should have been two different stories. This is not the first time I've written something that was actually two different plots, but it's always something that I try to avoid. At most, there should be an A plot and a B plot that follows, which is how most books of Worth the Candle were intended to be structured (A and B being related either logically or thematically).
Instead, we have Fenilor and Third Fervor, and I don't know what a disentangled version of this would look like, but separating these into two different worlds would have streamlined both of them and made them better, I think. Add in the Farfinder, and it's too many moving pieces, even if we're at the point now where it's simplified down. The overarching plan was to move through this world in thirds, with the first third being the near-utopia (with all the dissonant elements you get from looking at any utopia for long enough), the second third being in a country that's just barely post-transition, and the third third being a country that's on the cusp of revolution. And maybe it's been because of the delays, but it feels like the split has been less equal than I feel like it should have been.
There are also a lot of details to track, which was always something I knew was going to be an issue as Thresholder went on, but I definitely shot myself in the foot with this book. Why did I do that? Because I thought it would be cool. I'm a big fan of going large, of having lots of stuff, of having things be on the edge of just too much. There are a few narrative functions that it serves too, from better fight scenes (in my opinion) to being able to include some red herrings, to just being pleasant to read. I am willing to shoot myself in the foot for a better story, the problem here is that 1) I'm not sure the story actually was better for it and 2) it's probably one of the main things impacting writing speed and my negative feelings toward the project.
So, here's the news: there's going to be a book 5. I think there needs to be, narratively. Writing-wise, I am apprehensive about it, because the writing has been glacially slow, but I'm telling myself I'm coming off an unplanned sabbatical, and I'm not as worried about burnout as I was, and I've tried to make a plan going forward that will help to deal with some of the overhead/friction in terms of the story itself.
This biggest thing is leveraging the leap between worlds to do some resets. This was always supposed to be one of the strengths of Thresholder, so I'll be invoking it here, stepping down the "number of things" quite a bit ... in order to make room for more things. I am willing to go as low as one magic system, along with all the existing powers, plus enemy thresholder powers, plus some other stuff, which as I write this now still seems like it'll be a fine number of things as far as complexity goes.
The plan is also for a shorter book, and I know my track record isn't great on doing that, because I like longer books. I guess we'll see: plotting it is still a work in progress, and I want to make sure that the plot is well-baked before I actually start writing, just to see if I can iron out any problems beforehand. Realizing a book should have been two books is really the sort of thing that would be far far better to catch before any writing whatsoever has taken place.
There's a line in the show Barry where he says that he's done doing bad things, that he's going to be a better person, and then he inevitably does some bad thing, then he says "starting ... now". He does this over and over. It's the main thing that stuck with me from the series. And as far as writing goes, this is sort of how I'm feeling, like I'm going to will myself into higher output somehow. And of course, that way lies burnout and frustration. I think one of the lessons of the show was that this is fundamentally not a willpower problem, it's not something that's going to be changed just be gritting your teeth or whatever, it's either an underlying problem or structural force or just something that needs to be changed in some other way.
And still, my feeling for the last week has been "starting ... now".
Comments
waldvolllauterbaeume
Thanks for the update! I would love for thresholder to continue, but I would be just as happy with a new cool story. If you find it difficult to write then maybe just write an epilogue for Perry like you did for Maya. I really liked all the background stories and it would work well for Perry and the crew. Best wishes!
Tristan A
Thanks for the update! I do agree with some of the comments in terms of I hope you're planning a book 5 because it is what you would like to do next and think it would be good for yourself and not because you feel you have to out of some sort of obligation. I think from being a reader of many series, both traditional novels and web, I have realized over the years that while the joy of finishing stories is awesome, at the end of the day I'd rather know that those authors are happy and content with themselves. Irregardless I hope whatever you choose to do next and beyond that bring you less stress. Whether it be Thresholder, or a biography of the short of a fly, I'll be reading.
Lorenzo
Yes, I meant the pace of writing, not the pace within the story (which has been fantastic, and usually is at the end of AW's stories.)
Marc
I’d say I’ve always noticed the opposite re:pacing - as AW near rhe ends of books, the pacing acclerates - if I had to guess, you might mean that the pace of written _output_ slows, and I’d further guess that these two are linked - AW does what he can to close out the story before burnout costs too much, no longer being as expansive and no longer interested in esp,oring every new angle when his enthusiasm is waning. Of course, I’ve at times read AW comments that have indicated otherwise, intellectual story-driven rationale for choices that draw things to a close quickly rather than lingering, and nobody wants a story that wears on under the weight of its own narative momentum alone.
Timothy Dana
Will worth a candle seires get another kindle release?
Lorenzo
"So, here's the news: there's going to be a book 5. I think there needs to be, narratively. Writing-wise, I am apprehensive about it, because the writing has been glacially slow" I have to ask...does there actually have to be a book 5? In my opinion, you are passionate about create worlds, and you are passionate about creating new stories. A book 5 certainly fulfills the former...but I don't think it fulfills the latter. I've noticed that, as your stories go on, your pacing begins to drag more and more. You start writing in a fury, but by the last sections of your last 3 stories, you've slowed down significantly, and really seem like you're struggling. So...even if you think that writing a book 5 is necessary, and even though I love the story, I think you should move on. More precisely, here's what I would do in your position. You should leave the story in a good place, a place where you can continue in the future, once you're less burned out, but still give the book a satisfying conclusion. Then, you can begin writing the new series that you've been thinking about, and come back to Thresholder later. I think for your own mental health, and for your writing output, it's the right move. Think about it, at least.
Darryl Greensill
Thresholder is great and I would love to see it continue. However the thing I love most about it is the remix of existing game world settings that it lets you do; Vampire being the example that got me hooked, and your take on clans/archetypes as body part consumers deserves to be at least a FitD or PbtA hack. Which I don’t have time to do, but maybe someone does. Making werewolves, illithids and harpies all fit the same system was inspired. Similarly, I feel like we got a glimpse of your takes on Battletech and Exalted and the prison world Jeff was in seems somehow familiar but I can’t quite place it. A concordance of inspirations, the reverse of the Appendix N, would be great as part of the debrief/post-conclusion. If I can tell you “stick to your knitting” in a nice way, this is your particular knitting; taking old tropes and making them fresh and new and interesting again. Thresholder is a great structure for that, and Perry with his more-or-less Neutral morality (with flashes of Good) is a great protagonist to explore with. That said, if you want to take a break, you pitched a bunch of story ideas that all sounded good- my own favourite was the Dungeon Keeper story but I’ll read any of them! :)
