Fans of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series were treated on Saturday of New York Comic Con (NYCC) to a spotlight panel with author Matt Dinniman and Travis Baldree. The panel offered a unique opportunity for readers to learn more about upcoming projects for the series and ask Dinniman questions about his writing process.
To start the panel, Dinniman explains his journey to becoming an author, having published his first book in 2003 and developed the concept that inspired Dungeon Crawler Carl in 2007. At the time, he didn’t publish it because it sounded too similar to Stephen King’s already published novel, Under the Dome, but he held onto the ideas, carrying them over to what would become the fourth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Once he developed the characters of Carl and Princess Donut, after finishing his other book, Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon, in 2019, he decided to workshop the characters further and came up with the premise of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
For those wondering how the series took on the form of a LitRPG (a book with game-like systems), Dinniman explains that the inspiration initially came from the Russian novel series Way of the Shaman (by Vasily Mahanenko). After joining the LitRPG communities, he became a fan of the genre and decided to self-publish Dominion of Blades. He also cites Royal Road as a platform to find tons of material for those interested in starting their own LitRPG series.
After going over more of his own process and how he tries to avoid the tried-and-true formats for storytelling, he shares that he’s working on a new non-LitRPG novel with Penguin Random House, called Operation Bounce House, which is scheduled to launch Feb. 10. The basic premise of the novel revolves around a man named Oliver Lewis, who wants to enjoy his life on the planet New Sonoma. When the planet’s transfer gate to Earth finally operates, he realizes that Earth’s current government and the contracted mercenary company, Apex Industries, have other plans in mind for his home planet. Oliver and his friends must fight against gamer-operated war machines who pay to experience the “eviction action” game, known as Operation Bounce House, from the comfort of their homes.
The duo then discusses the ways that Dinniman writes his LitRPG series for audio, noting that fans also follow the audiobook versions of the series as closely as the books.
“I would say it’s the same thing,” Dinniman shares. “Andrea Parsneau (the narrator for the Dominion of Blades audiobooks) is such an amazing narrator. But I didn’t know her when I wrote the first book; only when I wrote The Hobgoblin Riot (the second book in the series), so that was when I began writing with the narrator’s voice in my head. Now, with Jeff Hays (the narrator for the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook series) and us being eight books in, I can’t get his voice out of my head. Every character I write—his voice is literally in my head. I rewrite things because I know his cadence and how he structures his sentences. It’s important to me because I want the audio to come across really well. If he does a voice I don’t like, I just kill off the character.”
The next topic addressed is how the success of Dungeon Crawler Carl has impacted Dinniman’s writing. He shares that he has had to develop the skill to write in airports since he travels extensively for book tours, and that it has become a helpful skill to have in order to keep the series’ writing process streamlined.
When Baldree asks Dinniman whether or not he’s ready to finish the series at the tenth installment (as is the plan), the author says that he’s more terrified of book nine, since it’ll primarily focus on the Dungeon’s 12th floor. He believes it’ll be unlike any of the other books so far, and while he currently has no idea where the 10th book will go, he knows it’ll depend on the events of the ninth book. Rather than plotting out the events of each book ahead, Dinniman chooses to write them as the story progresses. Baldree asks if writing the chapters and posting them on Patreon feels like laying tracks while on top of a speeding train, and Dinniman shares that while it does feel that way at times, the setting of Dungeon Crawler Carl is a televised post-apocalyptic world, working well with that kind of writing process.
Dinniman refers to the audience: “Raise your hand if you’re on my Patreon…you assholes vote for things that can happen and you always choose the second most popular choice, and as a result, I always have to pivot, and that’s fun to me.”
Fans were then greeted by Jeff Hays, the narrator and voice behind most of the characters in the audiobook version of Dungeon Crawler Carl. He pre-recorded a small video to share that he will be returning to voice the main antagonist in the audiobook version of Operation Bounce House. Travis Baldree will take on the role of the narrator for this novel, with a voice direction request from Dinniman: “You should probably just pretend you’re reading cowboy erotica.”
The panel then shifted to a Q&A session with the fans. One fan asked if Dinniman was an experienced gamer/player of role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Dinniman’s joking response sent the audience into a roar of laughter: “I don’t hang out with nerds.” His more serious answer included his years of gaming experience, as well as reading Dungeons & Dragons modules, which enabled him to write his various LitRPG series. With Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon, Dinniman shares that the plot was based on an idea for a game he would like to play.
When asked how he feels about Dungeon Crawler Carl being the entry point for LitRPGs for a lot of readers, Dinniman responds: “It’s hard to answer. I mean, I wish my mom were here, because she only read the first book and hated it. LitRPGs have been around for a very long time, and there are so many amazing ones out there. All of us who were obsessed with the genre remember the first one we read. After Dungeon Crawler Carl was published in physical editions by Penguin Random House, it was around the same time that TikTok picked it up and started talking about it. The book having that cascading effect is really neat but also humbling.”
Near the end of the panel, a brief (but major) announcement was made that a Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series is in the works, possibly with NBC Universal. However, it’s so early in development that details couldn’t be shared, except that it’s intended to be a live-action show. He would like to have as much say as he can with the series, hoping to write a few of the episodes, but acknowledges that he can only have so much control over the property. With each expansion project, such as the upcoming graphic novel Dungeon Crawler Carl: Crocodile and the TV series, he aims to have the writers and creators be actual fans of the series, rather than simply doing the job for a paycheck.
With Dinniman’s ever-growing to-do list seeming endless, it appears that Crawlers will have tons more to explore in the near future.
