GOOD MORRRRRNING FIERCE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

GENTLELADIES AND FIERCE MEN!!!

Gender stereotypes are unnecessary and cause glorious chaos to break 😁

(Friendly reminder to just be a person not a gender :)

(I'm going to get letters about this)

​

So. I am late.

Computer crashed. Again. (I almost lost. ALL. my writing.😬)

This is why I'm late...(and saving for a standalone tablet for my animation and art and maybe even music, like $380 to 500 taking in a sturdy cover and all)

​

But hey, it made me think about why I do all this.

See, so many people start out climbing to reach their dreams and trying to succeed, but when they win they don't notice.

I don't want to write to be a published author. I want to write because I love it. I want my dream job to be enjoying myself, and the process of growing. Yeah, discipline means you won't always want to do your dream job but it should be a favor to your future self, not the fear of being a failure if you don't succeed.

​

Friendly-and-totally-not-aggressive reminder to love a mission not a success 🙂

ANYWAY!!!

I think last email I mentioned my first episode might drop in what October? Weeeeell, in light of *actually researching how long webtoons generally take to produce* um, no.

No, like no, like WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING no. Webtoons can take up to fourteen years to write and I'm in college and a slow writer too!!!

Next hurtle is I'll start designing my own interactive website for Steam and Legends when I make past 50 subscribers (That is a dare, yes.)

​

AND FINALLY!!!!!! (edited to make more coherent, this was over the course of several days and many of the comments overlapped so it was like three conversations at once sometimes 😂)

INTERVIEW WITH ROSE

First question: What is the biggest core message in your story?

[Rose aka Troll Duchess] Okay I'm going to answer for the whole series unless specified otherwise.

I'd say it's "Doing right, no matter the consequences"

[Me] Nice! What kind of decisions do characters have to make to do what's right in your story?

[Troll Duchess] Well, frequently defying evil or giving up an easy solution for the right ones

[Me] Oh! Tell me about some of the biggest decisions your MC or some other important character makes to do the right and not easy solution.

[Troll Duchess] One of the characters *cough* Aydin *cough* gives up his safety and the only family he's had because he didn't agree with their actions and morals.

[Me, overlapping] Oh Aydin!!! He's a great character! I remember he came from a fairly abusive family and he was part of an assassin guild's guild. Where's his first action to change in your story?

[Troll Duchess] His first action to change takes place years before the story itself, when he realizes he will never be able to make them proud without becoming exactly what he feared.

He refuses to cooperate in what they're doing and faces punishment for it. I love that decision because it was such an instant moral backlash. He knew the consequences but he still didn't hesitate, and that's something I love about him as a character!

[Me] That's cool! I can't wait to start reading about him in your novel!!

[Troll Duchess] At one point Liorah (the Main Character) decides to (insert spoilers here) even though she knows it will endanger not only herself but also her family. The alternative is safety for her and them, and will give her the freedom she's always wanted, but it will mean betraying people who depend on her.

[Me] Ooooh Liorah, she's cool! I like that dilemma, especially for Liorah who wants freedom so much. She'll have to make a lot of tough decisions to keep her resolve, won't she?

[Troll Duchess] She certainly does! She ends up facing the consequences of that decision for two more full books, she still keeps choosing right even though she now knows just what it'll cost her.

[Me] See that's one of the best things you can show in a theme, I think: That every action has consequences and even good actions can have bad consequences but you have to do them because it's the right thing to do whatever the price.

[Troll Duchess] You're completely right there, since it often APPEARS as though characters are being "punished" for good actions because they have negative consequences.

This isn't the case, it's necessary for their growth, and usually it's a result of a bigger issue that just came crashing down.

Eventually, justice does happen, but it's not instant. Sometimes it takes full books and more work to work out.

[Me] Amen, that's it exactly!

Okok, tell me, how's the story changed the way you think and made you grow as a person?

[Troll Duchess] I think it's really made me reevaluate how important people are to each other.

Even in a country torn by war, there'll be some farmer by the wayside who offers help for no reason other than kindness,

[Me, overlapping] YES!!! That people really do have lives outside of plot relevance, every life has value and everyone has a story and needs someone, that's beautiful and your story explores that a lot, doesn't it?

And I like that, it sounds like a realistic depiction there, like hard love, like Christ's Passion.

[Troll Duchess] That's exactly what I was going for, it was difficult to portray but I'm happy with how it's progressing!

and that even though people make mistakes, they're all trying and struggling and growing.

I try to! When unnamed characters give their lives, they still deserve to be mourned. Even if they opposed the main characters, they have lives and dreams and morals, even if they're just a face in the crowd who doesn't get more than a paragraph.

[Me] Absolutely yes!

[Bonus from Troll Duchess] (Besides that I also meant that distant side characters, also those on the "evil" side are inherently good people.

They may be ignorant or scared or otherwise motivated and their actions are wrong but that doesn't make them less human.

It's something I notice a lot in novels, they try to dehumanize the villians because that's so much easier to deal with.)

​

Aydin is such a complex character, what were some of the hardest aspects of his character or his character arc for you?

[Troll Duchess] I struggled to show how he IS a kind, gentle person, who has suffered and bled to stay that way, while also showing how his circumstances have scarred and changed him, but also teh hope as he grows through and with it!

Something else I struggled with was how many sides he has to his personality. He will change and shift depending on circumstances, to such a degree I struggled to find him beneath it.

[Me] *nods* His character, personality, and circumstances are all so different really but melded together for a very real and engaging character.

And his ideas of right and wrong and his instincts to survive at all costs are constantly at war, aren't they?

[Troll Duchess] Thank you! He's probably one of the most vivid living characters I've eer written and I love him with all my heart!

Exactly! And often he makes the wrong choice, which has devastating consequences on other characters!

Sometimes he'll panic and the worst part of him takes over, the part that cares for nobody else and will betray everything he loves to survive, no matter the cost.

[Me] Dang that's so much inner conflict that makes him so alive and interesting!

[Troll Duchess] That's what I love about him! He's so kind and desperately tries to protect others!

​

Lol, ok, we've talked about the characters but now let's move a little into the setting.

I know you've got a fairly complex and well developed fantasy world so tell me a little about the Tribes you've got...

[Troll Duchess] There are seven tribes, and six of my main characters are from different tribes!

[Me] Ooh that's great, we'll get a sampling of pretty much every tribe then!

[Troll Duchess] Exactly! It's really fun to see the differences and clashes 😂

Two of those tribes are nomadic, the others are mainly settled!

[Me] Ooh cool! Is there a history behind those tribes being nomadic?

[Troll Duchess] Not particularly! The context is that their largest produce is livestock, and since the southern part of the country is sparse, they have to move!

[Me] Ah, that makes sense!

Tell me more about their differences and similarities!

[Troll Duchess] Well, they all have different governing systems! The Gitakan (Acyn's tribe) have an elected triumviracte.

[Me] Oooh that's complex!!!

[Troll Duchess] The Orme elect a family with a patriarch and matriarch who rule the tribe as king and queen (always both, not one of the two)

The Lehabim have a monarchy with some quirks in the ascension.

[Me] What happens if one of them dies in the Orme elect? Oh, and that's Sahar's tribe, right?

[Troll Duchess] Spot on!

They elect a new family, they believe there can only be balance and harmony in a family structure!

The Sanat are ruled by guild leaders and the Nebatan have a vaguely feadal system.

[Me] OHHH THAT'S COOL!!!!

Those governments sound super complex and immersive!

[Troll Duchess] It was so much fun to design and gives so much conflict!!

The Kezbes have a really cool system!

They have a king, but if he's beaten in a duel the winner takes the throne!

[Me] Ohh tell me more!

Has there ever been a queen before?

[Troll Duchess] I honestly no clue 😂 I try to keep them fixed structures instead of adding conflict

[Me] If beaten, do they have to just be defeated or killed?

[Troll Duchess] Well, THEORETICALLY defeated, practically, it's almost always to death.

[Me] That's probably a good idea; if he's still alive he can just come back and keep challenge you or assassinate you.

(skip wrapping up)

[Troll Duchess] That was really fun I enjoyed ranting about my world 😁😁

[Me] Absolutely! I can't wait to learn more about your book too!

(End Glorious Chaos)

​

Next up! Scarborough Fair, the song Troll Duchess picked for me to cover that I overcomplicated absolutely :)

But really fun.

​

With this one more piece of information I shall leave you.

My professor-and every professor in the world no doubt-told us all it was impossible to finish the entire semester in the last two weeks.

I just aided and abetted a classmate finishing the ENTIRE SEMESTER on the last week while she works two day jobs and plans to build a house with her fiancé...

KNEEL BEFORE THE THRONE OF LAST-MINUTE PREPARATIONS AND DIEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Not sure if I'm more impressed or absolutely terrified of this human with paranormal capacity to cram last minute...*

*I am so impressed I am horrified*

So, uh, here's a takeaway: You never know what you can do until life gives you no other options. So don't wait until life gives you no other options. Seriously...

But I sorta finished my portfolio!!!

(ignore the sorta part)

(probably...)

​

(Also was rifling through my old art and projects to do a second portfolio for bonus points and I found this darling!!!!

Mr Brian was my inspiration, when he said something like "Sometimes you just gotta cram your inner critic in a bucket and wack it with a spoon every time it starts complaining"; a beautiful lesson in not being critical while writing, like do that afterwards...

​

Thank you for your valuable time I probably just wasted

And God bless whether ya like it or not!!!

(I need to turn that into a promotional GIF...)