gamelit | No Wasted Ink

Author Seth Ring is an up and coming science fiction writer. I am pleased to feature him here on No Wasted Ink.

Author Seth Ring My name is Seth Ring, I’m a writer based out of Pennsylvania, in the USA. I’m married and have two children. No pets right now, though I have ambitions to get a cat. I try to send my wife cute cat pictures whenever I can but no luck so far. I grew up moving around a lot and spent a good amount of the first half of my life overseas, in Ghana, West Africa. I also grew up without a TV, so for entertainment, I read constantly. I have a day job that supports my family and have only recently started releasing my writing into the world for other people.

When I started writing I released all of my stories as serial web novels for people to read for free. Around September of 2018, I transitioned to Patreon where I have a growing community of supporters who are interested in exploring the world of Nova Terra with me and the characters of my books. Rather than wait until my books are completely done, I post as I write to get feedback on how things are going. My patrons also get to contribute to the story by helping me decide how things will turn out.

When and why did you begin writing?

I began writing about three years ago as a way to help deal with my depression. As much as it might sound like it, I am in no way a tortured artist. Instead, I find that my stories come from a place of joy and deep gratefulness for what I have. The power of a story to transport the reader to a different, magical world is one that I find deeply satisfying. I try, as much as is possible, to produce that in my own writing. Writing, for me, has been a process of showing the hope that I feel. Our world can often look and feel broken, but there is hope in it and I want to share that with other people.

Ever since I was little I’ve loved exploring stories with other people and my writing is really just an extension of that.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I first considered myself a writer when people started discussing what a character was feeling in a story that I had put out on the internet. I had uploaded it on a whim, not expecting anything in particular, but a number of comments made me realize that the characters were good enough that people were able to invest. If a writer can create a character that people care about, then they are a writer in my head.

Can you share a little about your current book with us?

This past December (2018) I released the first book in the Nova Terra series, Nova Terra: Titan. It is part of the GameLit subgenre of Science Fiction and revolves around Xavier Lee, a young man with disabilities who is sent to live inside a virtual reality game called Nova Terra. As with all stories, the main character embarks on a journey of discovery to figure out his place in this world. The game’s setting is fantasy, so it is a fun blend of future tech and swinging swords. In my opinion, the most fun part of the story is the interactions between Thorn and the other players that he meets in Nova Terra.

I am also currently getting close to finishing Book #2 in the series and have already posted up through Chapter #23 on my Patreon. I don’t have a release date for Book #2 yet, but it should be coming out in the spring.

What inspired you to write this book?

A google search. I had been watching a documentary on the strongest men in the world and ran across the name of Robert Wadlow, who is considered the tallest man to have lived. Because of my background, I started wondering how a computer would treat someone that tall in a full-immersion virtual reality game. The rest wrote itself.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I find my descriptions tend to be short and to the point, not littered with extra words. I try, as much as possible, to show that the characters are real people, who react in real ways to their world. Last, I believe strongly that language should be evocative, bringing the feelings of the characters from the page into the mind of the reader.

How did you come up with the title of this book?

Picking Nova Terra: Titan as my title was not intentional or even particularly well thought out. Instead, I had intended for this book to be a short story and was planning a series about the world that would be written with different main characters. I labeled the original manuscript Nova Terra: Titan to indicate who the main character is. Then, instead of moving on to a different story, my main character kept having more adventures. I plan on keeping the first two words for the next books so they will be titled Nova Terra: [something].

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

If I could convey one thing through my stories, it would be that no matter what your experiences, no matter how dark the world might seem, there is hope. Hope for life, hope for improvement, hope that things can be better. In a way, I feel that books naturally draw us into a different world where we can see the world clearly, where we can see the hope. Often in life, it is really hard to see through the fog created by our experiences and feelings. I just want to reassure my readers that there is life on the other side of that cloud. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl tells us that humans need a purpose to live and that without it we face nothing but oblivion. Hope is the vehicle that carries us from the present toward that purpose.

Are experiences in this book based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Partially. I wish I could answer with a resounding yes, but sadly, the technology for full-immersion VR does not yet exist. Maybe someday. However, it is important to realize that there is little fundamental difference in the human experience. We all suffer to varying degrees. We all have to deal with disappointment, with broken relationships, with difficult challenges. The emotion that my character’s feel is real in the sense that I have felt it before. I think that is what allows us to resonate with them and to understand their choices.

What authors have most influenced your life? What about them do you find inspiring?

Growing up I read a lot of Louis L’amour and Georgette Heyer, two drastically different writers. Louis L’amour was a pulp western writer who was known for his short, clipped, action-focused writing and the way he showed the character of his heroes and villains rather than telling it. Very different from Louis L’amour, Georgette Heyer wrote the most wonderful Regency Romances. In fact, many credit Heyer for popularizing the genre. Heyer had a particular knack for writing out conversation that revealed the inner workings of her character’s minds without being obvious. Add to that my adoration of G. K. Chesterton’s ability to invoke feeling through language and you have my three biggest influences.

If you had to choose, is there a writer would you consider a mentor? Why?

Absolutely, though writing is not something that he does full time. My father has always encouraged me to write the truth which was highly influential in how my writing style has developed. We can write difficult things, so long as they are true things. We can show the world for what it is, so long as we do not distort it for our own agenda. We can write about darkness so long as we show that light exists as well.

Who designed the cover of your book? Why did you select this illustrator?

Originally, the cover for my book was put together by someone on one of the sites that I was using to post my book. However, they had used some images that were not available for reuse, so I took the cover to Fiverr and a lovely lady from Germany recreated it for me at a great price.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write every day. Come join the #5amWritersClub on twitter. If you have to work at 5 am, get up an hour earlier. Don’t worry about crafting something perfect, instead, write something silly. Write something that brings a smile to your face. Write something that sparks joy in you. If you enjoy it, you’ll do it. If you enjoy it, someone else will as well. Practice hard, practice often, and as you do your craft will get better and better.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I can’t stress how appreciative I am of their continued support. Especially those that have joined me on Patreon to explore Nova Terra. We’re having a lot of fun and it is adding a dimension of enjoyment to my writing that I never imagined could exist when I started writing.

New Terra - Titan Book Cover Seth Ring
Lancaster, PA