Dec '22 AMA (Patreon)

Joe ? asks:

"So do Ephemeran elves have super hearing or not? Sometimes it seems like they do, sometimes it seems like they don't."

OVDT elves are a different offshoot than TGAB elves, and much less OP.  They're not immortal and don't have the enhanced senses or preternatural agility, nor are they as physically fragile and slow-healing.  Much closer to humans with pointy ears and their specific built in magic, either glowing or stealth depending on which kind of elf.

Finn Ryan asks:

"Are there beast clans for most animals or is it limited to furred animals? So far I only remember hearing about wolves cats squirrels and foxes."

Mammals are the most common by far, but for example there is a lizardfolk tribe on Dount, which has not yet interacted with Seiji due to being firmly under the political control of Shylverrael.

St Trollmore asks:

"If the system can generate images of dead Heroes and Dark Lords, does that mean Sakin could return as a Spirit ghost?"

Could, theoretically, but won't.

Yrahcaz asks:

"Are the "Isekai Cheat Powers" unique to Champions, or are they more like "prestige classes" that Champions get access to from the start?  Two of the powers of high-level Blessed that we've heard of (Spell Scroll Creation and Custom Spell Creation) seem similar to two of the Cheat Powers we've seen (Artifact Creation and Spell Combination, respectively)."

They are technically unique, while some very rare Blessed can gain enough experience and strength to achieve similar feats.  That takes decades of experience and growth, however; the few who survive a Blessed's lifestyle long enough to attain those heights don't usually have long left to exercise them.  In comparison a major advantage of the Champion perks is that a Champion can use them from the very beginning.  The Champion perks are much easier to use, as well - they usually have some built-in limitation but the process is less complicated than the jury-rigged peculiar spell interactions which are what a normal Blessed with Magic has to do to create spell scrolls, for example.

Saltymen asks:

"Whatever happened to the guy who killed Maugro? Is he still in a cell?"

He was released, as promised, as soon as Seiji gained political control of Kzidnak.  He's been keeping his head down ever since.

Dylan Schulz asks:

"Could you comment on the choice to go for a single protagonist in OVDT as opposed to the many different POVs in TGAB?"

OVDT was always more intimate to me; it was less a story about a world than about one extremely wrong person who needed to get a lot of his misconceptions corrected.  That process is taking a lot longer than I originally planned just due to stories always being bigger than I expect, but is still on track.  

Marc Juul asks:

"What kind of research did you do on the history of social/revolutionary movements for this story?"

I like history, both reading books and watching documentaries, and have been doing so for a lot of years now.  I'm no historian, just someone who's observed some broader patterns and trends.  With regard to social revolutions specifically, I began actively researching that around 2016.  I was still working at the bookstore then and had ample access to read for free.  For some reason a lot of books on the subject started coming out around that time.

Kingbob asks:

"what two characters in OVDT do you find most entertaining to write the dynamic for? and which dynamic is the most interesting?"

It's definitely two different questions.  The most interesting dynamic I think is Captain Norovena and anyone he happens to be talking to.  He's a social chameleon wearing a lot of simultaneous hats and doing some pretty intricate diplomacy with pretty dangerous people on the daily.  If I had to pick a favorite, though, it would be Seiji and Aster, just for personal reason.  I'm a sucker for the rarely-seen trope of the pair whom all established genre precedent says should become a couple, but instead become bros.

Jim asks:

"Seiji's got the spell combination perk. Given the volume of spells that theoretically exist in Ephemera, the possibilities for interesting spells are endless. What are some of your favorite spell ideas/variations/iterations that you've decided you're very likely never going to include in the story?"

Unfortunately that's not really answerable due to my creative process; I mostly conceive of spells in response to a story need or have a neat spell idea and craft some story relevance around them.  I just don't tend to think up spell ideas that aren't going to be used.  I guess the closest answer would be the general possibilities of mind control akin to Enamor, but that's a broad idea rather than specific spells, and it's an area I decided to mostly leave alone because I find it horrifying and this story is plenty dark enough.

Sleepless asks:

"What resources would you recommend for a writer to expand their knowledge base? You write about a lot of things very competently, so I was wondering where it all came from."

Personally I've approached it from the opposite direction, preferring to write about subjects that interest me and which for that reason I already know a bit about.  I think that's what most writers do, hence the old adage "write what you know."  As for actual resources, there's really nothing secret or special about that; I have to research things all the time, and I go to the same places as everyone else.  Just make sure to exercise actual research skills and fact-check things you learn from search algorithms; such functions (like Google or Youtube, I don't recommend doing "research" via social media) are designed to put information in front of you that's preferred by the most highly-motivated people.  That means top results come from either those with deep pockets or a lot of free time to sit around doing SEO.  You usually have to go deeper to gain a more nuanced perspective.

Russell Todd asks:

"What kind of comments do you like the most in response to each chapter?"

My favorites are always people reacting to, theorizing about, or extrapolating from the story.  That sense of someone, another actual human being, taking something I created and filtering a response to it through their own personality has never ceased to be kind of trippy to me, in a good way.  It always feels vaguely surreal yet affirming, a kind of validation that I exist and made something which others actually care about.  It's the same reason I enjoy fanart so much.