Literary Ambitions: A How 2 Guide on fulfilling your author dreams
As you may (or may not, somehow) have noticed, the Literary Ambitions storylet in Veilgarden has a new option: “Work on Spec”. Choosing this will let you move to the glamorous world of ~~writing~~. Currently the only writing option is a Short Story, but more will be available later. Probably.
First things first, you start with 20 Potential. This is used later to evaluate how good your writing is, but right now your main concern is not letting it drop below 0.
There are a number of options to get you raw material (manuscript pages) which you can then edit down into workable material.
- Write: (5 actions) 5 manuscript pages
- Write Rapidly (4 actions) 5 manuscript pages. Can occasionally drop Potential by 1 even on success.
- Write frantically: (4 actions): 6 pages, lose 1 potential. Possibly other results.
- Write frenziedly: (3 actions): 6 pages, lose 2 potential. apparently sometimes no potential is lost.
- Use your Ornate Typewriter: (4 actions, ornate typewriter): 5 manuscript pages
- Laudanum!: (3 actions, 1 laudanum, 50% luck): Success: gain 3 pages + 10 potential, lose laudanum. Failure: lose 10 potential, 1CP of wounds and laudanum.
- Honey!: (3 actions, 50 prisoner’s honey, 50% luck) Success: gain 2 pages, gain 2 potential (up to 160) lose 50 honey. Failure: gain 1 page, lose 2 potential and 50 honey
Once you’ve got at least three pages, you can move on to the reworking stage, but you’ll need 10 pages to finish.
At the reworking stage you can either use raw material or items to increase Potential. All challenges are persuasive, failing probably just eats your item and maybe gives some menace.
- Cautious Edit: Increases Potential by 1, up to 25. Costs 1 manuscript page. Rare successes can increase to 40
- Daring edit: Increases Potential by 2, up to 60 (despite it saying 50). Costs 1 manuscript page. Rare successes can increase beyond 60, but again, not sure how much by.
- Incorporate romance: Increases Potential by 2, up to 60. Costs 1 romantic notion
- Spice it with gossip: 2 potential, up to 60. costs 1 intriguing gossip
- Life Lessons: 6 hard earned lessons, gives ??? potential up to 60
- Compromising document: 2 potential, up to 70. costs one compromising doc
- Add a touch of darkness; 2 potential, to 70. costs 1 tale of terror
- Include something exotic: 2 potential, to 80. costs one memory of distant shores
- Add a dash of zee adventure!: 2 potential, to 90. costs one zee-story
- Weave in esoteric elements: 5 potential to 100, 1CP nightmares, 1 extraordinary implication
- Add a dash of heartbreak: 5 potential up to 110, costs 1 touching love story
- Not an entirely fictional character: 5 potential up to 110, costs 1 identity uncovered and gives 1CP scandal
- Ask your most exalted contacts for inside information: 12 potential up to 140, costs 1 favour in high places
- Publish… and be damned.: 12 potential up to 150, costs 1 blackmail material, gives 1CP scandal and suspicion
- Seek assistance: Currently disabled. More persuasive party gets 3 potential, less persuasive party gets 12 potential. Caps at 110. Some degree of luck involved coz’ it’s probably a broad difficulty check.
- Case notes: Uncapped, provide 2 potential. however apparently it’s only possible to get 3 case notes ever
- Trade Secrets: Provided by Professions every 7 weeks, give 25 Potential uncapped
If you have at least 10 pages and 1 potential, you can finish your story off. Publishing is a potential challenge, failing degrades your story two tiers.
- Potentially Acceptable: no other requirement.
- Potentially Competent: no other requirement
- Potentially Compelling: 50 potential
- Potentially Thrilling: 70 potential
- Potentially Exceptional: 80 potential
- Potentially Extraordinary: 90 potential
- Potentially Masterful: 100 potential
- Potentially Celebrated: 150 potential
- Potentially Classic: 200 potential
(getting 200 potential is damn near impossible right now, new opportunities will probably present themselves later)
The tiers of short story and their sale prices are as follows:
- Unloved Short Story: 1 echo
- Short Story: 2 echoes
- Competent Short Story: 10 echoes
- Compelling Short Story: 30 echoes
- Thrilling Short Story: 50 echoes
- Exceptional Short Story: 60 echoes
- Extraordinary Short Story: 70 echoes
- Masterful Short Story: 80 echoes
- Celebrated Short Story: 130 echoes
- Classic Short Story: 180 echoes
Once you’ve completed your story, you’re ready to start again and write another! If you know anything I don’t or if I have something wrong, yell at me so I can go back and fix it!
A final note: It’s possible to upgrade a journalist profession to Author using an Exceptional Short Story and 25 levels of Bohemian connections. The item it gives provides +8 Persuasive and Watchful, and is a pet. The pay’s better too. Allegedly.
