Leaving Grandilar
I had plans for the rest of “Storybook Orc”; I had a vague outline of the entire plot, and detailed outlines of the next several chapters. Brindle was going to turn out to be a Tigrean, and Pepper and Tayma were going to form a partnership, becoming a Vermite-Elf-Unicorn. Quill was going to adopt a dead horse as a familiar. But the writing process stalled after I finished chapter 14…
There were problems with writing in someone else’s world, and they got worse as time went on. Black Dragon was managing the world with game marketing as a primary concern, and this conflicted significantly with my desires. I went through several cycles of getting drawn back in, and becoming very active in the game, and then getting frustrated and walking away again. The last time I walked away, the rift was deep enough that I believe it is permanent. There were things going on in the world that made it hard for me to believe in it, and I didn’t have the authority to fix them.
As much as I love this story, and this world, and these characters, it is simply foolish of me to invest my infrequent creative impulses into something over which I have so little control. One of these days, maybe, I will be able to incorporate the best of my work here into something which I do own and control. I certainly hope so. In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed the trip.
Paul (Uncle Hyena) Haynie
January 18, 2006