Extra Nate: Bobiverse
This week (or whenever I post this, I don’t know and neither do you) we finish up the second book in the Bobiverse. A book series that’s both cringe and fascinating to me at the same time. It’s a weird combinatino of fun sci-fi ideas that I wish we got to do in Spore (and real life) and pop culture references that I have to endure if I want to continue on with the story. There’s a lot I can focus on and highlight about the Bobiverse on this blog. Do I want to bring up the sandbox and also use it as an opportunity to shit on Spore again? Well, yes, of course. But I think Ben might prefer if I bring it up in relation to our own writing, as he is the only person other than me who reads this blog. I say that because Ben thinks this podcast was originally started so that we could become better writers through reading, discussion, and analysis. I’ll have to take his word for it.
I’ll make what I will call a bold statement: I bet we could have made it as low-rent small-chapter-per-week budget authors. I’m going to jokingly say (though secretly believe it, and cry about it like a baby) that Edenverse was just too ahead of its time, man. We were out here writing short stories with the intent of making a book when we should have been writing even shorter stories with the intent of making a blog we could later compile into a book and sell once we have enough of a regular audience. That’s just because we were on the cutting edge… or something.
Alright in all seriousness we probably can do that. I mean, if we had time. We have a lot of other things on our plates now vs. when we did Eden. We also weren’t really good at making regular posts in Eden and actually getting what we got out was a miracle. Furthermore, we both admit all the many pitfalls and issues that book had. It wasn’t great, but I did enjoy writing it. I bet I would’ve enjoyed it more if anyone had actually read it.
Looking at Bobiverse, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, it’s not a drastic step-up from what we did in terms of quality. The use of the word “grin” over and over again, repetition of the same not-joke, using “grin” over and over again, the word choice is baseline, and he uses “grin” a lot in his work.
What it is, though, is fun. It’s a fun sandbox that, if you’re interested in the idea, will captivate you and it won’t matter if a Homer Simpson cosplayer is a character in the book. You’re along for the ride.
Sure it doesn’t always do what you the reader might want. Because this is clearly the author’s fun sandbox. He just plays around with the pieces. Sure, he comes into contact with a hostile alien lifeform and DOESN’T immeidately convert an entire solar system into a factory that builds other factories that build munitions and weaponry. Sure he doesn’t jettison President Cranston into the void of space for daring to challenge his authority. Sure he is a loser of a sky God… I’m not actually sure where I’m going with this.
The point I’m trying to make is, here in the penultimate paragraph of this blog, is that I’ve had half-baked writing ideas for a long time now. Bobiverse and Beward of Chicken has shown me that those dumb ideas can actually be developed and put in front of an audience that might actually enjoy the ride, even if I’m kind of a mid-writer. I don’t need to write another chapter book or whatever (nor would I really want to). I can even inspire someone else to shit all over my writing and know they actually read it becuase they’re not cowardly little trolls. Thanks for the money idiot.
Anyway, I might have something to actually show for this later this year and if it’s bad you can thank Ben talking about Beware of Chicken and the Bobiverse. If it’s good… all me. That’s just my raw genius.
