News from Spider -Dev Log 1

It’s been a lot of fun turning one of my short stories into a kinetic novel.

For those interested, A Romance in Seven Dimensions is available for free here: https://spidertreegames.itch.io/a-romance-in-7-dimensions

I’ve also created a short YouTube video with the first three minutes of the game. Have a look if you're curious: 

Today, I’d like to ruminate a little on where my stories come from and how I write them.

Maybe some folks sit down and say, "I’m going to write a story today!" But that’s not how I work. For me, an idea usually catches like fire, and I play with it for a while.

Often, I start with a poem, a way to get the feeling around the idea. A sense of place. A glimpse of the main characters.

To help with that, I keep two books close by: Patterns of Poetry by Miller Williams The Red River Book of Haibun, Vol. 1 by Steve Hodge and Paresh Tiwari Both are fantastic references for shaping the mood and rhythm of the poems I write.

Which leads me to my next project.

Last year, I wrote a quick, silly poem for a small contest, and out of that came the idea for a new story. I’ve started to explore it as a potential visual novel. Here's a little snippet of that poem:

"Ghost in the Attic" 

 There’s a ghost in the attic, I know, 

 I believe he arrived some time ago. 

 From where he came, I can’t recall,

 I’ve tried to remember, but not at all.

Sometimes I hear footsteps walking at night, 

 The creaking floorboards are a fright. 

 I find used teacups scattered on my desk, 

 From his midnight brews, a ghostly mess!

....

My second YouTube video is just the opening menu for this story. It's still very much in the concept phase, but I learned so much from making Seven Dimensions that I’m excited to try out some new ideas. 

If that looks interesting, feel free to follow along. I’ll be posting dev logs regularly. And if you enjoy cozy, calm romances, maybe you’ll enjoy my games too:
https://spidertreegames.itch.io

Thanks for reading!