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Friday, May 29, 2015

FM5 Question and Answer Session

Spoilers if you haven't read FM5, obviously.

Ask anything about FM5 or the series as a whole.

I reserve the right to RAFO you, but will try not to.

Don't be shy!

And don't leave me hanging!

Edit June 1st:  Taking a couple weeks off the net to get back into writing a little bit.  Will answer any more questions when I get back and also probably have an update on what I'll be working on for the next three/four/five months.

25 comments:

  1. What was your most enjoyable scene to write in FM5?

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    1. Third Place = Catherine and King Henry in the Holding Room. It was a great moment to write, a very harsh and no-bullshit moment for Catherine to break free of just being another Queen and come into her own as a character. Turning the tables on KH is also always fun.

      Second Place = KH walking in on Vicky and T-Bone. I laughed so hard writing this scene. I cut so many jokes or didn't even bother writing so many jokes that I thought up. Good times.

      The Winner = KH and Paine on the phone. Yup, I don't need a huge fight scene to make me happy. Just give me KH and an enemy having a conversation. Paine's also really the only character that instead of writing that I sit in front of the laptop and actually perform aloud. His broken cadence and thoughts, his slowly boiling rage. It's really hell on my jaw to get the overly pronounced words out. Another tic I use to help me get in the character, even if Paine doesn't use it himself, is to sit there with my left hand clawed, fingers shaking from the strain, wrist slowly grinding back and forth. I always hope that all of it somehow comes out just a tiny bit on the page.

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  2. Did KHP tell the group about Project Cassandra?

    Does the Mancy type and Ultra/Intra make a difference with Poly shifters and/or will we find out what Jo Jo's Mancy type was?

    Would she revert back to a Mancer if she decides not to change and loses her Were Anima?

    What happens to a Were Nation if their Totem is destroyed?

    And damn if the Prophecy is not fitting more and more now that we have a shit load of Queens to figure out...

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    1. Nope, he did not. King Henry mostly told HIS secrets. Even with his breakthrough he's still not going to be blabbing everything he knows to everyone, especially if other people are concerned. Plus, Project Cassandra really wasn't on his mind at the time. It might be in the future though...

      Power level = number of possible Poly-Shifts. RAFO on JoJo's Mancy type.

      Very bad idea. A part of her anima would still be sacrificed to the Totem and unusable. No backsies.

      No more Were Nation and a ton of anima is released. RAFO on the finer details :)

      The Prophecy is really just there to fuck with fantasy fans that pay too much attention to prophecies and not the rest of the story. I'd be careful not to go down that rabbit hole too deeply.

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  3. Is Heinrich or anyone else aware of his relation to Catherine? I wasn't sure if I missed that.

    When Vega was trapped by the Curator, the curator killed some of Vega's coyotes. When Vega shifts, does he shift into the same number of weres each time? Or does he now have a reduced number?

    With poly-shifters, is there one particular animal that if killed, kills the shifter as well?

    When will Susan be making another appearance in the series?

    King Henry mentions three classmates that died while he was in school. When will he go into more detail on what happened?

    I'm almost sad King Henry's store didn't get destroyed this time around. Does he even bother with insurance at this point? I can't image what his rates must be like.

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    1. Moira and Frederick von Welf are aware, so are Ceinwyn and the Lady. Heinrich and Vicky are not.

      Vega still has his full amount and just like a mancer can pool to certain levels, can decide on a lesser number or go all out if he wants to. Also just like King Henry with a large pool, more werecoyotes = harder to control.

      You have to kill all the animals within a certain time to kill the Poly-Shifter.

      Soon ;-)

      Correction: King Henry mentions that only twenty-eight classmates graduated as Ultras. Isabel is one of the ones who did not. All the details on what happened will take place in FM6's school story. FM5 and FM6 basically tell one story over two novels, which is why FM5 ended with little resolution.

      It only gets destroyed in EVEN numbered novels. We'll have to see if it survives FM6!

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  4. Was waiting to see if anybody else had questions but here are a few more.

    Are there more than one Maximus of each anima type at any one time? The Divines mentioned that if they killed him another would just show up. And then the possible passing of the mantle of Moira to Heinrich.

    In Troubled Boomworm KHP gives one of his titles as Ultra Magnus Maximus. Is that just the Maximus title or is it more?

    Is there a limit of anima capacity on Fairies? How big can Mini Meta get? Did Meteyos anticipate mini feeding on the shakey stick?

    As a side note I did love the texts he got before the fight, feel free to make a side short with some good text messaging conversations...

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    1. King Henry would really like answers to those questions too. ;)

      That's a fifteen-year-old know-nothing King Henry having fun with some Latin and accidentally hitting the nail on the head with half of what he was saying, don't look at it as anything more.

      There's no actual capacity limit, just a feasible capacity limit. Given thousands upon thousands of years, Mini could have his own mountain like many other geo-anima concentrations, if he wants to accept being stationary and trapped by his own power, as is often the case with anima concentrations.

      I don't know if I'd go that far, but cell-phones are usually the bane of my Urban Fantasy existence, so it was nice to use instant contact between characters as a plus for once.

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  6. After reading FM5, I went back to FM1 and was trying to establish the 3rd timeline...I am sure you said the years for school KHP and shop KHP, what is the KHP married with daughter's (could there perhaps be a ginger in the bunch?) timeline?

    Will there be Shorts to elaborate on Ceinwyn the younger years, or the war Plutarch was in, or Annie B's rise to Baroness?

    The whole disclaimer regarding this is a work of fiction and any resemblances blah blah blah. BUT you also thank 4 of your friends at the beginning of the book. Where does the inspiration come from for the characters? They each have credible personalities. Could they be the basis of Pocket, Raj, T-Bone, & Welf or maybe.....Val, Miranda, Isabel and Ceinwyn?

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    1. The Father Timeline isn't something that will be explored in The King Henry Tapes.

      I've had thoughts about doing a Counter-Culture War novel with Plutarch, Fines, and Annie B as POV characters, but just "thoughts" nothing even remotely nearing reality. You will of course continue to get more stories and hints on those characters, plus Ceinwyn, as the Tapes continue. It always seems that prequel novels are something fans and authors think are good ideas that usually turn out badly in practice.

      The people I thank at the start of the book are my D&D RPG high school friends that I have lots of good memories of, but none of the characters in this series are based on them at all. In fact, all of the characters in The King Henry Tapes are made up. I thank you for saying that I'm doing such a good job at making them deep and realistic however.

      The Betrothal has some aspects pulled from my real life: friend who went to Chile for a mission, the no-ID booze story, the boat entrance at the wedding, the hippo zoo story didn't actually hit anyone in real life but it was too close for comfort, the Crazy McDonalds stories, probably a handful more I'm forgetting.

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  7. *SQUEE* of delight at FM5. You certainly delivered!

    Many interesting challenges for the characters to overcome. All hail for villains gaining interesting personalities!

    Was rooting for KH to finally overcome his disinclination to trust his pals with horrifying information. I mean, there are large organizations that have come together over the centuries to cope with some of these things, and lots of ESLED agents and recruiters doing so...KH needs some of his pals in his corner.

    The thing with Val right at the beginning was weird and...off. I felt very unbalanced reading it, going WTF?? And it was weird in a "this is part of the plot" fashion as became clear later. Thumbs up for poking the readers in the eye!

    Applauding the reveal about Pocket and Jesus. Very believable. And much appreciated.

    The beat-upon rock was very much a "Chekhov's gun" thing. Well done.

    Almost bust a gut laughing with Mini giving KH a massive scolding. Awesome. Even the fairies give him grief. :D

    Love the way things keep unfolding layer upon layer of OMG not another mystery.

    And the puns just keep coming. Arr arr arr arr.... Love that too.

    As always, thank you for the Indie Writer inspiration.

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  8. Uh oh, JK Rowlings is getting into Asylum territory....

    http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/09/413127228/hogwarts-hops-the-pond-rowling-reveals-u-s-version-of-wizards-school?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150609

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    1. Suppose that's fair, since a chunk of FM6 takes place in the UK.

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    2. Hi,
      i just finished reading FM5 and missed the opportunity to ask questions here.
      Maybe you can find the time to reply sometime in the future.
      (read all FM books, love em, not a native Speaker)
      Question: who is supposed to be the mancy martial artist?
      I mean fanged Lady, headless hunny, troubled boomworm I got. But who is the "MMA"? the serpent assassin? the Serpent leader? conan sapa or KHP himself? please enlighten me :)

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    3. When I started writing the novel it was meant to be Conan Sapa, but by the time I finished writing it I did really like the double meaning that it could be either Sapa or King Henry himself.

      I mean, I come up with the titles usually years ahead of writing them, so...sometimes they're just a catchy title that ends up having multiple meanings. Headless Hunny was actually just another name for Annie B at the start of writing that, but by the end it of course morphed into Inanina.

      Current titles of the rest of the series:
      FM6 = The Artificial Court
      FM7 = The Most Obvious Trap
      FM8 = The Big Bird Bash
      FM9 = *spoilers*
      FM10 = The Last True Dale
      FM11 = The Queen's Revenge
      FM12 = The Asylum Ascendant

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  9. KH in the UK? Shame there isn't a really famous ring of big stones here for him to play with...

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  10. As a side question, can Poly Shifters pool anima?

    If they do are they now not limited to their original mancies anima type?

    And if they don't can they feel when a mancer pools?

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  12. really enjoyed the books so far.

    Am starting to get exhausted however, by the on again off again, constant up and downs of the KHP and Val relationship. Are you planning on stabilising this some time soon? Don't need to know which way the cookie crumbles, but am hoping the issue gets resolved soon, one way or another, as it is starting to distract me from enjoying the rest of the story

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    1. The more romantic aspects of King Henry's life will always be part of the novels, and I think a good many fans focus in on them and theorize over who could possibly be the mother of his children from the clues I've given of the future. So, of course, just like everything else, I enjoy giving them the lollipop and snatching it out of their hands occasionally :)

      However, I think it's obvious to many that A LOT of plot points are coming to a head in the next couple novels, and KH and Val will be included in that. One way or the other, much will be decided in FM6 and FM7.

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  13. Random question that popped into my head the other day:

    King Henry hates the time it takes to charge up the fan he made because it's too much flapping, right? Would he be able to charge it if he held it out the window while driving his car around the block?

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    1. I suppose. I mean, if he really wanted to, T-Bone could have made him a robot arm to do it for him. We'll never know since that design got thrown in the scrap pile though. Maybe one day a bit of epiphany will make something similar return.

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