Just finished the first draft of Can Stuart Henry Zhang Save the World? It took about a year and half to get to this point, with lots of breaks for other things, such as completing A Dream Apart and writing The Most Boring Book Ever Written. This will likely be the last work that Daniel and I will complete together for some time–Daniel has been just too busy these last couple of years. In fact, he would be the first to admit that he has not had much time to put into our last few works. But really, it’s probably for the best if we lay off the adult choose-your-own-adventure comedies–there are only so many knock-offs needed in this world.
What’s it about? Nothing of substance, of course. However, unlike any of our previous works, Daniel and I sketched out a rather detailed plot before we wrote a single word, and so it’s more focussed, for better or for worse. It’s about aliens and zombies and realtors and turkeys. If that’s not an enticing tag line, I don’t know what is. It’s long–more than 150 000 words, which is 50% longer than either Whatley or Sturlubok. That’s a lot of words about essentially nothing at all. There are 72 endings, of which perhaps 4 involve the protagonist actually saving the world. So, the chances aren’t too good. Sorry Stuart.
As I progress through the revision process, I’ll start to give more details. I’d really like to have it finished by the summer so that I can focus on Love is Not Free. The Price is 99 Cents. And then it might be a long time before Daniel and I release something else together. When I first published The Adventures of Whatley Tupper in the summer of 2010, there were many just three or four other adult choose-your-own-adventure knock-offs available for the Kindle. I do a search right now, I see more than a hundred. I guess we weren’t the only ones with that idea!
