January 2023 - Q&A Session (Part 1) (Patreon)

Hey guys 👋 Here are the answers to the Q&A questions from last month. Sorry for the delay 😅 Since there are a lot of questions and most of the answers are more than a few sentences, I'll be dividing it into two parts.

Part two will go up tomorrow since I still have a couple of questions left to answer, but they're RO reactions questions, so they'll be a bit long. But for now, I hope you guys enjoy the first part 😄💖

* * * * *

"Are we able to go ham and be with all four ROs?"

No, sadly 😅 There’ll be no harem route 😆 Except for Ash and Rin, who knows each other since they were both kids and whose vision and moral compass actually align, the other ROs don’t really get along with each other long-term. And I don’t think MC would want to be in a relationship with bickering S/Os who are at odds with each other often.

* * * * *

"In terms of writing process, how do you plan out the outline of each chapter? Do you do all of one ro's scenes right to the end or do each one in the scene to the next? do you write major points in first then tackle the in-between or try to write it as chronologically as possible?"

I usually already have a pretty clear outline of how the chapter will go in my head before even starting on the chapter. But still, there are always those serendipitous, unplanned scenes and moments that I just got once I actually sit down and write the part.

So far, I’ve always written chronologically from scene to scene, no matter how small and including all the variations of a scene. I feel like it’s neater to do so and it ensures that I won’t forget a scene or that I have to go back to add or forget some sort of new variables.

* * * * *

"I have been picking up writing myself and have noticed that I kinda fell in love with all of the RO's in my story... I feel that it was inevitable, but it does make me wonder if it's the same for you? Has each and every one of them capture your heart? Or do you perhaps have a favorite?"

I’m already in love with all of the ROs in my story 😭 Not only the ROs, but a lot of the other characters as well, like Luka, Jackal, Grandpa, Takashi. I feel like they’re all my babies 🥺 And I want them all to be happy in the end.

I don’t really have a favorite, but I might be most familiar with Ash right now because they’re the one that I’ve written the most, and the second is Rin because I just noticed that a lot of side stories involve Rin as well 😆

* * * * *

"I was also wondering if you put a little bit of 'yourself' into one or more characters. Things like traits or certain opinions etc. Is any of the characters a bit 'like you'?"

Ooh, interesting 🤔 I’d like to say no because I never do any self-insert, even when playing as MCs in other stories. In fact, a lot of my MCs are the complete opposite of who I am. But still, maybe subconsciously, little things like some beliefs and opinions may have leaked through without me noticing.

As for the character that might be a bit like me… I’ll say probably Santana? I take my duty seriously, am always tired and lacking sleep, and have a ruined sleep schedule 😂

* * * * *

"Would you consider yourself an emotional person or not? How does this affect your ability to write, if at all?"

Hmmm… I think I do consider myself to be somewhat of an emotional person, but not really excessively. But I am a sentimental person, though. I don’t think it really affects my ability to write. In fact, maybe this is one of the reasons why I enjoy writing angst 😆

* * * * *

"Do you have any particular method of getting into the mind of your characters? Trying to figure out how they react or think about certain things for example?"

Nothing much really. This might sound super obvious, but every time I need to figure out how the characters would react or think about something,  I just remind myself of what the character treasure the most are or what they believe is right or necessary, and which one of those is their priority.

Some of them might compound with each other, further strengthening the character’s belief in their action, for example Ash in Chapter 3 if MC decides to spare the commissioner. Ash’s priority has always been MC’s safety and well-being first and they really think killing the commissioner is necessary and right to ensure that, so they did it without hesitation. They see it as a “necessary evil” (the “evil” here being making MC upset 🥺 not really the killing part 😂)

Sometimes, what they treasure and believe is necessary are at odds. Such as Grandpa and Luka, who believe that it is necessary for MC to be the head of the family for the greater good of the family, but they also care a lot about MC. So, even if MC doesn’t want to be the head and is decisive about it, then they won’t force them because MC is more important for them and they don’t want MC to resent them or run away and end up like Viktor.

* * * * *

"Whenever you get stuck while writing, how do you get out of it?"

Thankfully, I haven’t really experienced this real bad so far. But for me, I’ll sometimes listen to songs that fit the vibe of the chapter or scene I’m stuck at or the characters involved, and just let my mind play out some potential scenes or scenarios.

* * * * *

"How worried are you that success might get to your head and affect your writing?"

Well, the way the success has been getting to my head is that now, I’m constantly worried about my writing not meeting the readers’ expectations 🥺 But I try not to think about it too much, or else it’ll stress me out all the time 😅

* * * * *

"What were the biggest challenges when you wrote the Santana spicy side story?"

For Santana’s side story, the biggest challenge is that it was literally the first time I wrote smut. So, I was constantly embarrassed while writing and being really conscious about the words I was using 😂 But other than that, the scenario itself was very clear in my mind.
"What, if anything, was easier when you wrote the Takashi + Viktor spicy side story?"

By the time I wrote Takashi x Viktor’s spicy side story, I was less embarrassed. But the story has its own challenge, which was this pairing is so wholesome in my head that I often got tempted to write some fluffy scenes instead of the horny ones 🤣

* * * * *

"How often do you feel that you're in over your head? You take on quite a lot of things to write :D"

At least once a month 😆 I know what I promised to the Patrons and I’ll always try my best to keep my word and deliver them unless I have some real crazy or consuming real-life emergency that prevents me to do so.

* * * * *

"If I remember correctly you are planning for a second IF set in the Vendetta universe. What can you tell us about it?  (if I'm remembering wrong just ignore this kekw)"

Yes! Actually, I have more than the second one now, but let me just tell you guys a bit more about the second IF set in the Vendetta universe. So, it is the sequel spin-off I was talking about. It is set around twenty years into the future and it features a new MC. I'll also make sure to include this in a progress update post to make sure those who haven't read this Q&A can know about it as well.

Right now, my plan is that the MC will be Luka’s and Jackal’s adopted child. They’re also a haemokinetic like Jackal and trained by him to follow in his footsteps. This is of course the main reason why I had to reverse the ages back a bit for this story to the way I first planned them, so the characters right now that might make some cameo appearances can still do so and so Luka won’t be a really old man by the time this spin-off rolls around 😭

I still have a lot of other ideas on stories set in this universe too and I’m also thinking of even making some sort of shorter interactive stories with the current Vendetta MC set after the story in the future too 😁 Kinda like DLCs, like little stories with their own separate arcs.

* * * * *

"Why did you end up picking deagles as our signature weapons?"

I kinda like their design, I think it looks iconic. Plus, handguns that can chamber .50 caliber cartridges 😆 Enough said.

* * * * *

"More Rin. When?"

I feel like I’ve written so many Rin in January’s side stories (even a spicy one) 😂 But of course, there’ll be more Rin in the future and in the next chapter.

* * * * *

"People that use old saves when explicitly told that they need to use new ones should be sent to jail". Yes or no?

Well, maybe no need to be sent to jail because how would they read my new update! 😆 But really, old saves can be really fickle. Before every update, I always run both Quicktest and Randomtest to make sure no game-breaking bugs will occur. Unfortunately, they can’t really detect those strange bugs that could’ve been caused by playing old saves.

So, if you encounter some weird bug, there’s a big chance it’s caused by old saves. But still, please do report if you encounter any bug so I can investigate it.

But yeah, back during Chapter 3 update, old saves were outright broken and I’ve written in big, bold letters on the Forum and Tumblr to play from the beginning to prevent the game-breaking bug, but still, there were people who didn’t do that and ended up reporting the same bug over and over again on both sites 😂 It’s certainly… something. I just wished they could’ve read the warning and it would save us both the trouble and time.

* * * * *

"What is your favorite- and least favorite character tropes?"

Well, I have a lot of favorite tropes and I can’t really recall most of them just like that. But, related to Vendetta is the trope where the ‘evil’ people still love and care for their family or loved ones a lot. I feel like there are a lot of characters with this trope in Vendetta, the clearest ones, of course, being Luka (and Jackal), Grandpa and Grandma, Ash, Rin, Takashi, Cara, some MCs, and I think there are a few more maybe. It’s like half of the Vendetta cast 😂

Least favorite… Hmm… This is harder because it usually pops into mind when encountering said character instead of being thought about. Plus, there’s also a matter of execution. But I can safely say, right now, the characters that really grate on my nerves two times now are the ones who are hypocrites, have the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude and vision, and condemn the protagonist or other characters for not having the same belief as them 😆 I don’t know whether that’s a trope, but it’s a type of character I’ve seen a couple of times. Oh, and also badly-executed enemies-to-lovers that don’t really make too much sense.

* * * * *

"Did you have a hard time deciding who would be the ROs in your story, and their personality?"

Franky, the ROs in this story came pretty naturally and easily to me, along with their personalities. Ash and Rin came first, and then Skylar and Santana.

I already knew what kind of character archetypes the ROs were going to fall into even before some of them have names (except for Ash, because clearly, I need to name a pyrokinetic Ash 😂), and then from there, I tweak them to be more fitting with their backstories and stuff.

I also try to find names that really fit them too whenever I can. One example is Ash. Rin is also another perfect example because depending on the kanji used, the name Rin can mean a lot of things, including “dignified” and “cold”. I’m no expert in the Japanese language, but if I were to write Rin’s name in kanji, it would be either of those meanings. Skylar because they can fly and their more cheerful and bubbly nature just reminds me of the clear, sunny, summer sky.

* * * * *

Which RO would you say turned out the most different from what you originally planned? [Ex: Rin being tall asf while Ash was basically "The Napoleon" trope (Hot-blooded, aggressive and short)]

As for whether the ROs turn out differently, they are mostly the same, especially in their physical appearances. In terms of personality though, there are little tweaks and little differences here and there simply because I get to know the characters more the longer I spend time in this universe. But I would say Ash probably has the most differences from the very first time I came up with them.

Ash was first planned to be more prickly to MC as well, although not as prickly as they are to other people because MC has always been their soft spot. They were also supposed to be more… obsessive and yandere-like. But as I write them and get to know them more, they just kinda… take a life of their own.

I realized that they can’t have said qualities above, especially the yandere aspect, because Ash is not prioritizing themself and their own happiness, but MC’s instead, and MC is the person that they care a lot about.

Yandere ROs are selfish most of the time, which is why they are the way they are. They care more about themself and their own happiness to the extreme point where they don’t care if it’s at the expense of the person they supposedly love (although they mostly don't notice that with their distorted view). And Ash is clearly not like that.

But still, some little aspects of yandere leak through in Ash in the way they’re really protective of MC and will be willing to do anything to make sure they’re safe and hurt those who hurt MC. This makes them feel as if they’re toeing that yandere line 😂 and maybe they are.

In my other future works, though, I would love to explore more on Yandere and obsessive characters and ROs. I think they are interesting 🤔

* * * * *

"BONUS: Were there any characters that almost didn't make the "cut"?"

When I first planned the story, I only had the most crucial characters in mind, so there isn’t any character that doesn’t make the cut or almost doesn’t. Actually, the reverse happens, which is me having to come up with names and even some additional details for some side characters just as they appear and I’m writing them.

One such example is the twin bodyguards, Ivan and Boris. They were supposed to be just guards, but thanks to some readers who ask questions about them, they have more details and personalities added to them: Ivan is the more serious and responsible twin, while Boris is the more playful and carefree one.

* * * * *

"Apart from the ROs, were there any characters that turned out differently from how you originally planned them to be? [Ex: Luka being more serious than he currently is]"

As for the characters that turn out differently, yes, Luka is one. Well, actually not really 🤔 He has always been more serious and intimidating when interacting and talking to people he isn’t close with. It’s just since we’re playing as MC, we’ve always seen his more mischievous and caring side because we’re really close to him 🥰 But yeah, if we’re playing from the perspective of characters other than MC, Ash, Grandpa, Viktor, Cara, and Takashi, he’s still going to be his usual serious, broody, intimidating self 😆

Jackal is another one. He was supposed to be more serious as well, but then, as I was writing him, I changed my mind and thought his more troublemaker (borderline unhinged), teasing, and sometimes-sassy nature would be more fitting with Luka and would make for a more interesting dynamic between the two of them.