Drew’s AMA

Here it is, my first AMA. Thank you for all the questions.

I put all the general, random and funny questions at the beginning and the ‘spoilery’ ones in the second part. I ordered them so the further you read, the more spoilery the question. It’s mostly details about general world-building that have not been revealed yet and little about the plot. But if you prefer to read the story completely blind, be warned.

PART 1 – The Random and The Funny

• Do you have a dog? Pics or it didn’t happen.

Unfortunately, I have no furry friends in my life right now. But I have a rabbit living in the garden of my condo XD.

• What were the circumstances under which you were last picked up? (like your buddy picking up up to prove he can).

It’s been a while. You are welcome to try if you can find me :p. I’m 62 kg (137 pounds for my American friends) so it’s pretty easy.

• Loving the story! Instead of a story question, mine is this. How has writing the story affected your daily life? Also hope you’re doing well!

Thanks for the question! Let’s just say publishing Elydes has been a bit of a trial by fire. I didn’t really know what I was doing and had to learn a lot of things on the go. Most of all how to deal with trolls online. But I’m getting better at it.

Creating interesting worlds and stories has always been one of my passions. The part where I have to put what’s in my head on the page not so much, but I enjoy working to improve my writing (most of the time).

• What are the chances of getting 1 chapter per day?

Well… the short answer is no. But let’s give a little background. I think some people might already know, but English is not my first language. It takes me quite a while to write and do 2-3 edits, by the end my mind is completely fried. (If you notice strange expressions and a mix of UK and US spelling that is the reason XD).

Following RR, Patreon, Discord and dealing with the publishers also more hours each day. I’ve been nearing burnout a few times. I’d love to put out more chapters, but I don’t think that’s a promise I would be able to keep.

With that said, Elydes is my first novel. I’m slowly improving and building a better routine, losing less time obsessing after the numbers. As some of you must have noticed between the Yellow and Blue Patreon tiers, Green is missing. It is going to take a while, but I plan to add a Green tier with more advanced chapters. After that, I’ll continue to increase the number of chapters in both Yellow and Green.

This is going to take a while. So you’ll need to be patient.

• Do you have a plan for the entirety of Elydes?
• How long do you think this series is going to be?

I have plans for the next 3~ books and a few key plot points after that, characters I want to introduce and scenes I want to write. The series will be around 10 books long, but that’s just an estimate, it could be more or it could be less.

• (1) Will you ever take suggestions or run a poll to allow readers to pick skill names? (2) Will we be able to read some sort of short chapters with other points of view like how his sisters are doing, his sister’s reaction to the death of that guy, and what his mother does on a day-to-day basis?

1. I think that’s a great idea! If anyone wants to suggest skill names and descriptions in the comments I’ll make sure to take them into serious consideration. I can also add a discord channel dedicated to that if you want.
2. If there’s an interest, I’ll be happy to write side POVs when I get the time. Just let me know which character you’d like to know more about.

PART 2 – SPOILERS

• This is very important to me, what is the main staple food on the island, and in what flavors is it usually prepared?

In general, I’d say seafood and fish are the main staples of the Baquire Archipelago, plus tropical fruits like mangos, papayas and coconuts. Seafood is preferred fresh, while fish is often roasted or salted to keep it good longer. It changes a lot depending on which island and town you’re on. For example, Greenside and Sylspring’s inhabitants get meat from the Veeryd jungle, other places don’t have access to that.

After the Merian Republic took over, many more dishes and spices are currently being introduced. So the cuisine of the archipelago is evolving, especially in Yanlun and Higharbor.

• Are you using the standard roygbiv color spectrum for tiers? What would subred and ultraviolet be?

Yes. Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet – ROYGBIV. Never thought about sub-red and ultra-violet. Those would belong more to a scientific world and the color system was created by humans on Elydes, who generally are not that well versed in the light frequencies they can’t perceive.

• Do Kai’s relatives from the mainland not care about his family, do they know about Kai and his family?

Kai’s paternal grandparents cut ties after their son chose to marry a local and stay on the archipelago instead of pursuing his career. It’s possible Kai’ll meet this side of the family when he goes to the Republic.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

• Do people have the same race and profession grade? Like will Kai automatically get a profession matching his race grade at 14 or will he have to build it up?

He will have to build it up from Red. Naturally, if he has a higher race, it will be easier to improve till it catches up.

• How many skill slots does each race level have?

At the same grade, each race has the same number of skill slots. However, some races are only born at higher grades, so they have immediate access to more skill slots. The true difference between races is their average stats and talents, here not all races are equal.