Authors Creating the Universe of Elite: Dangerous: Tim Gayda
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Tim Gayda's story, The While Maledict, adds plague and cultism into the world of Elite: Dangerous. Read on to learn what makes the author tick.
The developers have very kindly provided the writers with a huge wealth of information that has taken quite a while to sort out and research. One of the great things about the Elite universe is that it’s very rich, vibrant and full of detail. Frontier Developments have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that everything is consistent for Elite: Dangerous in terms of its history to fit in with the previous games. The main point of contention at the moment is that a lot of the writers need the much anticipated “Starmap” to determine locations of planets and systems etc., which we’re told is incoming very soon!
You said that you’ve written lots of unpublished short stories in the past. What’s different about writing a story based on a game compared to your previous work?
For me, the main difference is that I have to take into consideration a different person’s creative vision of the future and universe. With my own stories I have creative license to do whatever I like by creating the fictive world according to what I want the story to be about. However, with the Elite: Dangerous Universe I have to be careful that I write within the accepted canon of Elite. Although like the other writers I have creative license to come up with my own planets and technology, I still need to ensure that it’s all consistent within the Elite universe. Because technology works in very specific ways in the game fiction, it’s important to get these aspects right, which involves a lot of reading and discussions with the developers and fellow writers.
The other issue is that stories based on games don’t always transfer well into written fiction, so the challenge is to tell a convincing and entertaining story based in the Elite universe with characters and situations that people can still relate to. It’s a case of getting a happy balance between combining details of the game with a fully fleshed-out fictive world.
Frontier is planning to include aspects of the fiction into the game. Do you have many ideas of what details of your short story you might want to see in the game? Are you willing to reveal some of them at this point?
Well, my story features a rather deluded cult, so it’d be nice if Frontier could get a reference in the game somewhere, perhaps in a planet description or a few details within the game history and lore. Once all of the stories are finished, the writers will be looking to make connections with not only the game but also their stories to ensure consistency. For my own story, I’d like to see an in-game mission connected to the plot somehow, but that’s something to discuss with everyone involved in the development process when it’s nearly finished!
What are the next steps in your writing process until your story is delivered onto the readers’ hands?
I need to finish writing the third draft first, go through some final checks with my fellow Anthology writers, and then send it to Fantastic Books’ editorial department for the first round of editing. When I receive the story back, I’ll need to edit the piece in light of editorial suggestions and so on, until the story is developed and polished enough for Frontier Developments to check and make sure it remains faithful for inclusion into the Elite canon.
Thank you, Tim Gayda, for taking the time to respond to our questions. If the readers want to learn more about Tim and his story, head over to the official Tales from the Frontier site.