Интервю с Майкъл Дж. Уард

Кой е Май­къл Дж. Уард?

До пре­ди някол­ко годи­ни той е редак­тор на спи­са­ния на сво­бод­на практика.
Той е дъл­го­го­ди­шен фен на бор­до­ви и кни­ги-игри жан­ра в Анг­лия. Като хоби оби­ча да пише крат­ки фен­тъ­зи раз­ка­зи, кои­то с вре­ме­то пре­ра­бо­тил до кни­ги, но така и нико­га не ги издал. Един ден пишей­ки поред­на стра­ни­ца от раз­каз му идва на иде­я­та да се опи­та да напи­ше исто­рия в сти­ла на кни­ги­те игри. Така се раж­да пър­ва­та кни­га от нова­та въл­на в Анг­лия Дес­ти­ни Куест – Леги­о­нът на сенките.
След напис­ва­не­то и авто­рът се реша­ва да я пуб­ли­ку­ва без изда­тел­с­т­во на соб­с­тве­ни нача­ла. Кни­га­та жъне нео­чак­ван успех като за него час­тич­но се дъл­жи на лес­ния достъп до кни­га­та чрез онлайн сай­то­ве за пазаруване.

Све­та в кой­то се раз­ви­ва сюже­та не е нещо непоз­на­то на фено­ве­те – Свят в кой­то гос­под­с­тват меча и маги­я­та, свят изпъл­нен с опас­нос­ти. Глав­ния герой няма спо­мен за сво­е­то мина­ло , но напред­вай­ки с кни­га­та мал­ко по мал­ко сгло­бя­ва­те общия пъзел за него­ва­та тъм­на исто­рия. Въп­ре­ки три­ви­ал­ния сюжет кни­га­та ком­пе­си­ра с инте­рес­ни логи­чес­ки зада­чи, просто­та и ефек­тив­ност на бой­на­та сис­те­ма, как­то и нов под­ход към под­бо­ра на куес­то­ве, гра­ни­чещ до някъ­де със стра­те­ги­чес­ки­те кни­ги и комю­тър­ни­те игри.
За послед­ни­те два еле­мен­та кри­ти­ка­та е голя­ма, но и не вина­ги обосно­ва­на, тъй като под­бо­ра на куес­то­ве се добли­жа­ва до някъ­де със стра­те­ги­чес­ки­те кни­ги и комю­тър­ни­те игри голя­ма част от фено­ве­те са при­вър­же­ни­ци на общо при­ети­ят факт, че маги­я­та на кни­ги­те игри се губи кога­то ком­пю­тър­ни­те игри навли­зат в тази тери­то­ри­я­та им. От глед­на точ­ка на бой­на­та сис­те­ма тя е бази­ра­на на мно­гок­рат­но хвър­ля­не на заро­ве ‚а не все­ки е люби­тел на чес­то­то изпол­з­ва­не на зар по вре­ме на игра.
Обек­тив­но поглед­на­то Дес­ти­ни куест е кни­га-игра в коя­то са вка­ра­ни мно­го часо­ве труд, носе­щи на чита­те­ля рабо­те­ща игра и ори­ги­нал­на бой­на сис­те­ма, уплът­не­ни с доб­ра исто­рия. Ако оби­ча­те да раз­ви­ва­те и гра­ди­те умения,сили на герой, да под­мя­та­те и наказ­ва­те чудо­ви­ща наля­во надяс­но и няма­те про­тив да хвър­ли­те някол­ко зара то дес­ти­ни Куест със сигур­ност ще ви допадне.

За кни­га­та могат да се кажат някол­ко инте­рес­ни факта.Тя е изда­де­на вто­ри път за по-мал­ко от годи­на след като изли­за на паза­ра. Тя е и пър­ва­та кни­га-игра няко­га изда­ва­на с раз­ме­ри над 650 стра­ни­ци и пове­че от 900 епи­зо­да, с кои­то дър­жи рекорд за най-голя­ма­та кни­га-игра изда­ва­на някога.
Рекор­дът съв­сем ско­ро ще бъде счу­пен от вто­ра­та кни­га от поре­ди­ца­та Дес­ти­ни Куест : Сър­це от огън. Как­во може да очак­ва­ме от нея? Май­къл обе­ща­ва да наблег­не на по дъл­бо­ка исто­рия, чие­то раз­ви­тие ще се вли­яе голя­ма сте­пен от реше­ни­я­та взе­ти от чита­те­ля. Във вто­ра­та кни­га авто­рът ще ни запоз­нае по под­роб­но с инк­ви­зи­ци­я­та и отпе­ча­тъ­кът кой­то тя е оста­ви­ла вър­ху све­та. Бит­ки­те ще бъдат по-смис­ле­ни и зара ще бъде огра­ни­чен до извес­т­на степен.
Очак­ват се още изда­ния от поре­ди­ца­та като с вся­ка след­ва­ща кни­га под лого­то Destiny Quest авто­рът ще ни въве­де в исто­ри­я­та на раз­лич­ни герои. Вся­ка кни­га ще обо­га­тя­ва позна­ни­е­то на чиа­та­те­ля за все­ле­на­та. За раз­ли­ка от доб­ре позна­ти­те ни поре­ди­ци Fighting Fantasy и The lonely wolf, с вся­ко изда­ние на Дес­ти­ни Куест ще бъдат вмък­ва­ни нови еле­мен­ти на игра и ще бъдат подоб­ря­ва­ни старите.
Напус­ка­ме Анг­лия и отива­ме нада­ле­че към Авс­т­ра­лия, къде­то една ком­па­ния се опит­ва да даде ново лице на жанра.

Tin Man Games е авс­т­ра­лийс­ка ком­па­ния, коя­то раз­ра­бот­ва при­ло­же­ния за iPad, iPhone и смарт теле­фо­ни с опе­ра­ци­он­на сис­те­ма Android. Цел­та им е да пре­не­сат кни­ги­те игри в нова, елек­т­рон­на сре­да, при кое­то да се запа­зи въз­мож­но най-мно­го от ефек­та на чете­не на кла­си­чес­ки­те кни­ги игри. В също­то вре­ме, апли­ка­ци­и­те позво­ля­ват авто­ма­тич­но воде­не на днев­ник и реа­лис­тич­но хвър­ля­не на голям брой зарове.
До момен­та, ком­па­ни­я­та е пус­на­ла на паза­ра десе­ти­на кни­ги игри, кои­то нико­га не са се появя­ва­ли на хар­ти­ен носи­тел. Автор на част от тях е Джо­на­тън Грийн, кой­то е напи­сал някои от послед­ни­те кни­ги игри от сери­я­та Бит­ки Без­б­рой (за съжа­ле­ние, тези най-доб­ри про­из­ве­де­ния не са пре­веж­да­ни на бъл­гар­с­ки език).

Eдин от осно­ва­те­ли­те на ББ — Йън Ливинг­с­тън се завръ­ща след дъл­го­го­диш­на­та си почив­ка и пуб­ли­ку­ва нова­та си кни­га-игра blood of the zombiez екс­клу­зив­но чрез Тин Ман. Ком­па­ни­я­та обя­ви, че ще пред­ста­ви нови про­дук­ти с опрос­те­ни пра­ви­ла, с кои­то се надя­ва да впе­чат­ли чита­тел­ки­те тинейджърки.
Тин Ман Геймс спон­со­ри­ра таз­го­диш­но­то изда­ние на кон­кур­са за раз­ка­зи игри на анг­лийс­ки език – Windhammer Prize. Най-доб­ри­те 3 раз­ка­за, опре­де­ле­ни чрез гла­су­ва­не на пуб­ли­ка­та, ще бъдат изда­де­ни в общо при­ло­же­ние. За пър­ви път в исто­ри­я­та на кон­кур­са има­ше и бъл­гар­с­ки участници.

Здра­вей­те Май­къл, изми­на доста вре­ме откак­то пус­нах­те пър­ва­та си кни­га-игра! Сега кога­то сте обгра­ден от тол­ко­ва мно­го успех, с вто­ра кни­га, коя­то е на път да изле­зе от печат и тре­та по коя­то ще рабо­ти­те, дали нещо все пак се е про­ме­ни­ло за вас? Пре­ди една годи­на сте поста­ви­ли нача­ло­то на нов път към лич­но и про­фе­си­о­нал­но раз­ви­тие, кое­то може би не е най-труд­но­то нещо кое­то си пра­вил, за да пре­ми­не­те пра­га, кой­то сте си поставили!

Yes. It’s certainly been an eventful couple of years! I’ve been incredibly lucky and blessed that there was an audience for DestinyQuest. The support from gamers and bloggers has been overwhelming – and that really helped my self-published version to sell and come to the attention of the larger UK publishers. Getting the book deal with Gollancz/Orion Books was a dream come true. DQ is not the first book I have written and tried to get published, so I know the frustrations of the process – so to finally get that approval from a major UK publisher was a very big moment for me.
I still think there is a long way to go. This is something of a military campaign – I might have won the first battle/skirmish, but there is still a lot that needs to be done to win over more people to the gamebook format. US publishers are still unsure about the format, so that is a hurdle I am currently trying to get over, but at the moment my focus is just producing the best books I can and hope they get the attention of reviewers and bloggers – and of course, please the fans!

We know that writing started as a hobby and by employment you are web freelancer. How do you manage working on both? Sometimes dedication to one goal causes lack of motivation for another.
Is it possible writing to become your main employment?

I’ve always been writing, but it is difficult to balance the two. When I was working full-time in publishing (as a magazine editor), I really struggled to write (I write best in a morning, so I had to set my alarm extra early and try and do some before I went to work. Not always achievable!)
I went freelance so that I could manage my schedule better and make more time for my personal projects, such as DestinyQuest. Freelancing is difficult – sometimes there is lots of work, sometimes it is very quiet. The economic climate here is rather gloomy so finding work (even freelance) is hard. I focused on the writing as at least I felt like I was working towards something when there wasn’t anything else on offer.
When I completed DestinyQuest, it almost became a full-time business for me – setting up the website, sorting out signings, contacting publishers, doing all the self-publishing. It very much took over my life. When I started the second book, The Heart of Fire, I was still trying to juggle the freelance work with the writing, which is frustrating when you just want to focus on one thing (I am dreadful at multi-tasking!). However, once I got the call from Gollancz about the book deal and was given my deadline for the second book (plus a deadline for the extra content for Legion of Shadow) there was no longer time for freelance! So I really had to focus on the writing every day.
It is hard. I think every writer dreams of that moment when they can write for a living. However, the reality is more difficult. Knowing you have a tight deadline means you have to try and produce something everyday (even days when the last thing you want to do is write). Staying motivated is the key – but I’ll confess I went through some tough times with the second book, mainly due to the stress of getting it all done on time. But stress can bring out the best in you. I am so proud of the second book – a significant improvement on the first in every way. It is my proudest writing achievement to date; people will be very surprised (I hope) when they open that book and start reading and playing. I want each book to set a new standard for gamebooks.
So, writing every day leaves no time for freelance – so I am now a ‘full-time’ writer (at least 90 per cent of the time) and living off my advance from the publisher (which isn’t much, I promise). But I am happy to be doing what I love doing – and I hope the hard work eventually pays off with increased sales and interest.

Talking about DQ: Any thoughts on how many books from this series you will write and what diversity will there be? 

At this point it is hard to say how many books there will be. I originally had plans for seven books, but because some plot elements have already changed (in the writing of the first two) then there is potential for a lot more books. However, the future of the series is dependent on popularity and sales. Gollancz has a lot of faith in the series, so I am hopeful I will get to write them all – but the sales of The Heart of Fire, I think, will be pivotal in their decision. I’m already signed for a third book, so that will definitely happen.
I think each book will be very different to the last. You play a different character in each – and I want every hero/character you play to be as interesting (or more interesting, I should say) than the last. You will also experience different environments in each book – each one giving you more of a view of Valeron and the history/geography of the continent. Each book will also introduce new rules. For example, in The Heart of Fire, there are added rules for the Team Battles (where you team up heroes together to take on larger ‘raid bosses’) and also rules for runes and glyphs that you can use to boost your items. In the third book, there will be death penalties when your hero dies (which link to the lore of the hero). So, each book is a discovery – but the core rules will remain the same.

Do you have any plans on writing something different than DQ in the future? New game book series with different gameplay, time setting and story or may be just a regular book? Usually the authors in this brand in UK prefer to stay in the boundaries of what is considered successful by the audience – Fighting fantasy series , Lonely Wolf series etc.
I would probably write something completely different. I have outlines for two novels that are more in the thriller/suspense category. I’m happy to write gamebooks as long as I feel the audience is there – but I also want to challenge myself as a writer. I’d certainly like a chance to write a regular book. I’d also be interested in scripting for computer games, if I got the chance.
Your first book was recently published for a second time. Is this a sign that the game book market is awaking after a long hibernation? Are you aware if other writers will take their chance in this genre? 

I think the fact that Gollancz took a chance with DestinyQuest is a very positive sign, but I think it is a very small step on a long road. I’m not aware of any other UK publishers taking on gamebook properties at the moment (perhaps they are and I don’t know!). I think a lot of eyes will be on DestinyQuest to see how well it performs. If it does well, I would not be at all surprised to see a new wave of gamebooks emerging. But if the response is lukewarm then I doubt other publishers will take the chance. Having said that, I have sold rights for DestinyQuest to French and Spanish publishers, both of whom are very excited about the concept – so that is another good sign. I think the mobile/app market is also helping to get gamebooks noticed again.

Do you know about the company “Tin Man Games”? They are creating book-game android applications for phones. What is your opinion about moving on the genre towards the modern world? While Tin Man Games are claiming this trend has brought them fortnight success it is claimed that the magic a game book brings is ruined.

Yes, I’m very much aware of Tin Man Games and I’ve been impressed with their Game Book Adventure series. I think the gamebook is a perfect fit for the app market, as you will get players who prefer to have all the rules and mechanics done for them. I still have mixed feelings – not only about apps but eBooks in general. There is a magic to rolling dice, turning pages and having something physical to play/read. I find with playing an app, my attention span is lessened so I tend to skim read the text because I just want to get to the next button (or dice) to click. I think apps are great for making the game-side of it accessible, but I don’t think they always do justice to the words or the story.
I would like a world where there are both – apps and print gamebooks, so there is a choice. However, I worry that publishers/writers are increasingly looking towards e‑media to deliver books/games so this might seriously damage the future of paper-and-dice gamebooks. If the two can support each other and co-exist, then I think that would be great for the hobby.

Are you going to leak any teaser for the fans awaiting the upcoming second part of Destiny Quest?

Ooh, I love teasers! Well, the second book takes place a year or so after the events in Legion of Shadow. Your hero has a power that has put them in trouble with the church, so they start their adventure as a prisoner in the dungeons of the Inquisition. Of course, I am sure you can guess what happens next…
The second book puts a lot more emphasis on your choices – something I know I didn’t do as well as I could have with the first book. To give one example, there is a quest in Act 2 where you make several pivotal decisions early on – each one leading to a completely different quest and series of outcomes. I really wanted to add that replay value. In Legion of Shadow, the replay comes more from wanting to try new heroes and builds, and find new items. In The Heart of Fire, it is the story that will draw people back, to play it a second or even a third time. It is impossible to play once and see everything – there is so much content packed into this book, even veteran gamers will be surprised, I promise. It’s bigger than the Legion of Shadow special edition!

Lastly, would you share a few words for the Bulgarian game book fans?

A massive geek hug to you all — thank you for supporting me and helping to keep the gamebook genre alive. I know Bulgaria had its gamebook craze a while back, but I think and hope that it is coming back – and coming back with a vengeance! We’ve just got to keep fighting the fight – and rolling those dice, and hope the rest of the world wakes up to how awesome gaming is.
I’m just sorry there isn’t a Bulgarian translation of DestinyQuest. Nothing would make me more happy. Perhaps you should all get onto your Bulgarian publishers and convince them to take a chance on it – I’d be happy to talk to them!

Thank you for the great interview! All people from our small society wish you luck in your writing career!

I’m honoured to be asked – and hope you enjoy the rest of the books in the series!

MJW