And that's a wrap! Or a shroud, or whatever it is pirates are wearing this season! Thanks so much to @Muse986 and the team for allowing me to ramble on, and of course to everyone who has taken the time to ask questions today. I hope you all have a blast with the book, and who knows... we may run into one other in the future.

Possibly literally, once the fog arrives. Cheers!

@katttruewalker said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW - 10 mins remaining:

@taskbaarchitect

More personal question here, what do you enjoy most about playing Sea of Thieves?

I don't get chance to play Sea of Thieves as much as I probably should, which is why my pirate is still wearing some really low-level gear. That and it helps to be incognito. :P When I do play, my favourite moments are the way random discoveries can completely take us off from what we intended to do and into an adventure none of us imagined happening. That was definitely the case with the Devil's Roar the other evening when we got engaged in a stand-off with another brigantine having spotted one another at a distaince.

And then, the volcano erupted! Our ship got hit, and the other crew were quite alarmed to find us suddenly swimming to seize their vessel instead. Sadly they weighed anchor before we could sneak aboard... :(

@taskbaarchitect

More personal question here, what do you enjoy most about playing Sea of Thieves?

@thor-von-blitz said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@Taskbaarchitect
As a writer what is your take on some of the community-made nautical terms and jargon:
Floof(ing) the sails instead of billowing them; Booms Booms instead of Gunpowder Barrels; the Farlooker instead of a Spyglass; a Shouthole instead of the Speaking Trumpet; and the Monkey Tower in place of the Crow's Nest? 😉

I think it's great to see the community coming up with their own jokes and terms for objects, strategies and so on - I know that's exactly what the team were hoping would happen right back from the first days of the game. It's a shame that Ramsey never got to hear any of them, although I doubt he'd think very highly of anyone who asked him to floof his sails. :)

@captainlogun said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

Ahoy there @Taskbaarchitect Curious to know what the reasoning behind having two separate storylines. Was there a reason you didn't want to focus specifically on just the pirate lord? (in context I'm still reading through the book) Thanks!

Hi Captain Logan! The twin storylines ideas was something I pitched to Rare right from the start. On the one hand we wanted to take the opportunity to expand the lore and touch on ideas and explanations that go beyond the scope of the game.

On the other hand, you guys are the main characters of Sea of Thieves so we felt it was important to have Larinna's crew follow the kind of journey that players follow - starting in the tavern and seeking Athena's Fortune. The advantage of a full-length novel is that there was space to explore both ideas, and once I got the idea of things one crew did affecting the other crew in the future in my head, there was no stopping me! :)

@katttruewalker said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@taskbaarchitect

We have a lot of good and aspiring writers in the community, what would be your top 3 tips for creating a great piece of writing?

Blimey! That's a megalodon of a question.

I don't think any writer is ever truly satisfied with anything they write and feels there's always room for improvement, so one tip is to know when it's time to let go of a piece of writing and publish it, even if you're not completely happy. Instead, remember what you weren't satsified with and make a mental note to improve it next time.

Second tip would be to read as much as you possibly can, even if - especially if - it's a genre you're not particularly interested. If you like fiction, read some biographies. If you like sci-fi, grab a Western. It's just as valuable to have a good understanding of what you don't want to do.

Third tip: always proofread after a good night's sleep!

@Taskbaarchitect
As a writer what is your take on some of the community-made nautical terms and jargon:
Floof(ing) the sails instead of billowing them; Booms Booms instead of Gunpowder Barrels; the Farlooker instead of a Spyglass; a Shouthole instead of the Speaking Trumpet; and the Monkey Tower in place of the Crow's Nest? 😉

@aithemed said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

Hi, plans on the near future for add other languages like Spanish?

Hey there. We'd love to know if there's demand for the novel to be published in other languages so let us know if you'd like it yours!

@taskbaarchitect said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@captain-faicore said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

Did any of SoTs content creators give you inspiration for the storyline?

Hi Captain Falcore! Believe it or not, most of the story was locked down before the game was actually released, because book publishing can take a surprisingly long time, so there weren't any content creators around to take inspiration from - everyone was under NDA! That said, it's always fun to try and work homages to Sea of Thieves Insiders and Pioneers in as easter-eggs (Hi Clumsy George!) and it's been fantastic to see all of the lore videos, game shows, streams and everything else that have cropped up since the game launched. :)

I was fascinated to see current tactics "discovered" by players (re: a certain cursed chest, for example) turning up in the book.

@dumy2008 said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

Ahoy Chris! Was there anything (a character, a story, etc...) that you wanted in the book but were unable to fit in for any reason?

Hi DuMy2008! One aspect that ultimately hit the cutting room floor was Ramsey returning from the Sea of Thieves late in his life to gift Rowenna with the cursed pistol seen in the Sea of Thieves comics - the same pistol that stops weapons working in her tavern. It would have been a cool piece of continuity but really slowed the story to a crawl, so ultimately I decided to leave it up to the readers to make that connection. And then I spoiled it by talking about it on a forum. D'oh!

@taskbaarchitect said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

SPOILER ALERT(!)

As you'll learn later in the book, Thieves' Haven is strongly hinted to be the safe harbour that Ramsey and his crew discover on their first night in the Sea of Thieves. I spent a lot of time wandering around there during the game's Technical Alpha phase trying to work out how pirates could set up camp.

In reading I got the impression that was before they split the island into two? (Crook's Hollow & Thieves' Haven)

@katttruewalker said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@taskbaarchitect

Couple of questions here from someone who can't get on the forums at the moment;

Can you tell us what timeframe the novel covers and where this is within the overall history of Sea of Thieves?

Does the novel reference existing lore or is it an add on to that in the Tales/Comic books?

Answer the first: in terms of timeframe, that's a tricky question when you reach the Sea of Thieves, as it's a mysterious realm full of curses, supernatural spirits and really good skin-care treatments. Stitcher Jim has certainly been around for a while and looks in pretty good health. As such it's tricky to pin any one tale down to a particular date, even if you have a copy of the Pirate Times...

Answer the second: The novel makes a few fleeting references that tie it into the Tales book and comics, both of which I had the good fortune to help oversee before staring to write this story, but we wouldn't to keep spinning you the same yarn over and over so each instalment has its own tale to tell. And that's why you should definitely buy them all. ;)

Will you guys had stats to weapons/Items/clothes that increase damage to AI

Ahoy there @Taskbaarchitect Curious to know what the reasoning behind having two separate storylines. Was there a reason you didn't want to focus specifically on just the pirate lord? (in context I'm still reading through the book) Thanks!

@a-cranky-eskimo said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@taskbaarchitect are there any creatures/enemies that are in the novel that are confirmed to be included in future updates? Such as evil mermaids or cannibals etc?

Havnt read it those are just examples, but would like to in the future, will there be a way to read this online at any point?

You can buy it as an e-book!

@katttruewalker 30 years before present day SoT for Ramsey

@capt-soul-beard said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@muse986 Will the book go into what brought the demise of the Pirate Lord or will it explain why he's a living ghost?

Hi Cpt. Soul Beard! Athena's Fortune mostly focuses on the life of the Pirate Lord and how he came to earn that title. His untimely demise is another story...

@musicmee said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@muse986

Ahoy Chris!

What was the hardest and possibly easiest part about writing a book about a pirate based video game?

Hi Musicmee! The easiest part for sure was coming up with names for places in the world, because the dev team had already done the heavy lifting there! The hardest part, at least at first, was trying to strike a balance between having character who felt like pirates but didn't spend the entire novel growling and saying "Yaarrr" to one another. That'd get really irritating by the end of chapter one!

Hi, plans on the near future for add other languages like Spanish?

@katttruewalker said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

@Taskbaarchitect

Ahoy there and welcome to the forums - I don't have the novel yet, still waiting on delivery but could you give us some idea of how you went about planning this work?

Also, who is your favourite author of all time?

Hi Katt! Having worked at Rare I already had a good idea of how the game was shaping up and things that people, both on and off the team, were curious to learn more about. The first step was to create an outline that detailed the basic premise of the book (split over two time periods, with one half following the same journey new players go on with the other half exploring the very first days of the Sea of Thieves) and then write a list of bullet points for what would happen in each chapter.

That then went off to Amanda, my fantastic editor over at Insight Editions, and also over to Rare for their approval. Once everyone was happy that the story matched the tone of the game and what was planned for launch (and beyond) I was able to get to writing the first draft, which then went off to Rare for feedback and review. The rest, as they say, is pirate history. :)

@Taskbaarchitect
So, what are you writing on next? 😉

Can we expect more SoT Novels from you or are you done with Pirates?

@taskbaarchitect

We have a lot of good and aspiring writers in the community, what would be your top 3 tips for creating a great piece of writing?

@captain-faicore said in Live Q+A: Chris Allcock, author of Athena's Fortune - LIVE NOW:

Did any of SoTs content creators give you inspiration for the storyline?

Hi Captain Falcore! Believe it or not, most of the story was locked down before the game was actually released, because book publishing can take a surprisingly long time, so there weren't any content creators around to take inspiration from - everyone was under NDA! That said, it's always fun to try and work homages to Sea of Thieves Insiders and Pioneers in as easter-eggs (Hi Clumsy George!) and it's been fantastic to see all of the lore videos, game shows, streams and everything else that have cropped up since the game launched. :)

@taskbaarchitect

How did you choose the particular writing style used in the novel?