Q&A 7 (Patreon)

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Q: What are your favorite stories or stories you would recommend? Cultivation or otherwise. They can be from any medium.

Cultivation-wise, Virtuous Sons is a definite recommendation from me. Moving away from that, I really enjoy manga. Berserk, Naruto, and Houshin Engi are names off the top of my head. Also, School Rumble. Also also, not manga, but the original Lee/Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man is amazing.

Oh! I really like The Importance of Being Earnest. It’s super funny.

Q: Do you plan on using a different synopsis for the eventual Amazon release? If you do, some of us can help with writing a few!

Probably, yeah, and I’ll probably ask for suggestions eventually.

Q: Is there a large file for 9 to 5 villainy? I remember enjoying the beginning a lot but then lost the tab. And with Patreon UI being what it is…

There is none. I might make one. Right now, the only way to read the whole story is using the Collections tab.

Q: You've mentioned wanting to publish an ebook for Ave Xia Rem Y. Have you given any thought to doing a physical book as well, or was that already part of the plan?

Yeah, I have thought about it. If it’s possible, I’ll go for it. Right now, I’m more focused on finishing the first draft.

Q: Is writing your job? If so, how do you survive on so little money? If not, how do you write so consistently without life getting in the way? I'm trying to start writing as a hobby and it's hard to be internally consistent with just myself. I can't imagine how it feels with hundreds, if not thousands of people waiting for you every week. I think for some people this novel is the reason they go to work every Monday, it's kind of like a reward for starting the week.

That’s mighty kind of you to say, but I am sure Monday has all sorts of wonderful things I can’t compete with. Probably.

Anyway, writing is my hobby. Then it became, “Hey, I can pay my health insurance with this.” And then, “Hey, I no longer have to worry about all the MRIs my insurance won’t fully cover.” Now, I’m thinking of devoting myself full time to it, but haven’t made that leap yet.

Finding time to write is tough, and the way to solve that is different for everyone. For me, I need to make a schedule, and I need to keep it. I thrive in routine. Believe it or not, knowing there are people waiting for me to post the chapter makes it easier to keep to the schedule.

If you want to start writing, set a goal and keep it. That’s the advice I can give because that’s what works for me.

Q:  Why did you name the story “A Very Cliche Xianxia Harem Story”? Was it the direction you were going in the beginning? Is it to lower the expectations of readers so that you can impress them with your story? Why is it? Because obviously this story is not cliche at all. And also, that 200 chapters in, it still doesn't qualify for a Harem. A Harem story is 99% of the time an expression of lust. It is used an overwhelming amount of times to hide a bad story. If it were not for the enormous amount of good reviews, I would have not given this the time of day. And given that I have now read this story, I can say without any doubt that it is great, so why name it that way?

Okay so, the harem is taking longer than I expected to assemble, but I stand by the title in that this is a fairly cliche story.

Let me explain what I mean. I am not trying to break the wheel. I’m just making a wheel, and I’m okay with that. Wheels are our friends. The building blocks of Ave Xia Rem Y, the plot points, and the developments are not things unique to it. They are something you see repeated in every story. Kind of like how Luke Skywalker and Frodo are both small-town boys who get a call to adventure.

Ave Xia Rem Y is me doing the things Xianxia often does. I’m just giving it my own spin, I guess.

Q:: Why do you not advertise your story more? Either as ads on royal road or asking your readers to talk about it? Are you waiting to have a physical copy ready so you can start advertising?

Honestly, I never thought about it. I have a natural distaste for ads. I have gotten this far relying on word of mouth. I think if people like your stuff, they will talk about it, and that’s ultimately the best publicity you can ask for.

I might get some ads when I release the book version. I don’t know.

Q: What does your writing routine look like?

The rough draft of a chapter is done in two to three days. It can be done in one if I have free time, but that’s not a thing I have much of nowadays. Proofreading and editing come next. That takes longer.

Q: What were your main sources of inspiration going into Ave Xia Rem Y (any specific books/novels/films etc...)

Reading too many xianxia.

When I discovered the genre and saw there were several 100+ chapter stories out there all translated, I lost weeks of my life reading everything I could get my hands on. Of course, I always hit the point where the protag went too far and switched to the next book. Then the process kept repeating, and that was annoying because there were just so many cool ideas in there.

One thing led to another, and yeah.

Q: What would be your top 3 tropes that A. Grind your gears B. Are a guilty pleasure C. You find underrated?

Okay so, I‘m going to pick grind my gears, because it’s easier to talk about stuff that bugs me. That’s probably not a good thing.

I dislike betrayal stories in general. The latest evolution of that would be all those ‘kicked from the party’ stories. I get the source of inspiration there is all those people who got fired and never felt appreciated by their companies, and like I said, I get it. No one likes to feel underappreciated. But repetition breeds contempt. Now, I read those summaries and I’m like, “Maybe you deserved to get kicked out. Ever thought of that? Maybe you suck.”

Most romcom tropes annoy me, but the main one has to be that one moment where the gay/gal sees their love interest talking to someone and just automatically assumes they have hooked up and runs away all teary-eyed. Really grinds my gears. If they’re going to be that gutless, maybe the other guy should get the girl instead.

Last one… there are just so many to pick. I have seen so many stories with an evil church it just bugs me now. The entire reason I got into Dresden Files is because the holy knight was a super nice guy with a wife and kids. That was so new to me that it worked as a selling point.

But no, let’s see… Okay, villainess stories. I feel it’s false advertisement because they aren’t. It’s even worse when the original heroine is revealed to have been evil all along. Not that there can’t be good stories of that type, but all too often, it’s just another brand of ‘look at my poor misunderstood character who is just being misunderstood by everyone, and they’re big jerks for misunderstanding her.”  I don’t want to root for someone out of pity. Pity parties are the worst.