Michael Leask

I have been working on a new novel. It is my fourth novel but will be my second to publish. I have 67K words so far and might be at the midpoint. I’m still working on describing the plot, but the idea is this: Jules (my protagonist) crash lands with his crew on a mysterious planet that jumps from one point in space to another, and he has to find a way home.

I started working on this story while taking my Creative Writing Certificate from the University of Calgary. This story must have had 8 versions. One version started the story 10 years after the crash, to what it is now, the day after. Fast forward to version 8, and I eventually got writer’s block. I had to pause my writing. Even though I was writing 2,000 words a day and reached the low point of 60K words, I realized the motivation for my antagonist wasn’t strong. I had to re-look at my protagonist’s journey and the antagonist’s motivation for inhibiting that journey. I took a couple of months off to make notes and try re-writing the story differently (version 9). Still, I really enjoyed the characters and situations in version 8. So now, I am combining versions 8 & 9 with a new direction (version 10), which I like. It flows better and is more substantial with motivations for all the characters.

Why so many versions? Why not stop at three if it wasn’t working out? Well, for one, I really enjoy this story, and I want to see it through to completion. I’ve also worked on it long enough to abandon it, meaning all that time spent was for nothing. The other reason: this is the writer’s journey. When I started with version 1 in class, the inherent knowledge I now have to craft an engaging story was missing. That took time. I took the time to re-write and paid attention to why a sentence wasn’t working, or the scene in my imagination wasn’t being defined well in words—even if it was emotion. While I was writing, I was reading. I looked at other writers and how they crafted their words until I read Stephen King’s book On Writing, a Memoir of the Craft. It’s one thing to read someone so accomplished; it’s another to pay attention to what was said and try his techniques in my writing. I re-read the book every year and pick up something more I can improve on each time. I finally got it and am confident in telling my story’s last version.

Once I have completed this novel, I will be working on a second edition of my first novel. I am a better writer than when that book came out. I like the story and want to see it written how it was supposed to be rather than how it is now.

The other project I am working on is learning to create video games using Godot. I greatly support FOSS (Free Open Source Software) and enjoy Godot’s architecture and analytics. Plus, the power it has. I learned from courses I purchased on Udemy and from Brackeys on YouTube.

Ultimately, my career goal is to be a novelist and indie video game developer. I love telling stories; both mediums are an excellent way to do that. Literature is terrific when words are used to describe scenes, enhance vocabulary, and organize word choice to express the human condition. The visual medium gives the player agency to discover those emotions and situations with the controller. It is just as powerful as literature when telling a story right.

The game I’m working on is a Mario-like platformer. Why that? I want to start with something simple and not complicated. This gives me experience in publishing (shipping) a game, learning how to use the program effectively, and understanding the logic and architecture of using the tools and code in Godot to produce the desired result. I would fail if I started making something like Halo with all its enhanced graphics and enemy script to attach and defend against the player. I would fail because I didn’t try to make something realistic to my abilities. The actual games I want to make are RTS, like Starcraft and Halo, but I need to understand how to get there first. I can acquire those skills by building arcade-style games with small amounts of story and building up. But just like writing literature, I must keep practicing to improve.

I continue to write my novels, but I will also create some arcade-style games to give myself that experience before moving on to the games I want to play. I hope you will accompany me on this journey, and I look forward to seeing you there.