I am not doing a good job being a writer. I want and need to do a heck of a lot better. As I go through this latest work and see how I am being bullied into reforming it as a ‘woke’ version of itself, I am also thinking that I need to get to a space where I can say the things I want to say and portray different types of characters–some of whom are not necessarily good people. I think that I have put myself in a situation to be disrespected and misrepresented by an editor whose vision comes from a place far different than my own and thus lends itself to a style of writing and a narrative different from what I am wanting to produce.
I gotta move beyond Shadowrun. It isn’t what it was or even should be. We’ve stripped away a lot of the darker and punk aspects of the genre in favor of a funner, lighter, more giddy and anime-esque atmosphere that isn’t what I want to be writing about. Cyberpunk 2077’s entire body of work from stories to the show to the game itself would not have passed to the public under this administration. It isn’t that kind of dark, but I truly feel more comfortable writing things that show the frayed edges of human nature and showing that not everyone is PC–even the so-called good guys.
But they publish me. I want to be published. If I was better, more people would publish me. So, I gotta get better.