Ask the Author: Ais
Answered Questions (19)
Ais
Aww that's so sweet, thank you! I'm glad you like it :) You know what, you inspired me to make a survey about this - because I've been asked over the years about whether the other books will ever be in physical print, and I always wanted to edit them before that happened. But editing them is a huge undertaking and that may or may not ever happen. So, I'm making no promises either way, but I got curious about how important editing before printing would be for folks, or if they don't really care. If you or others are interested, take the survey here - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6Z7HJ2K - and answer honestly, all :) You won't upset me, I promise! I'd be more upset thinking I wasn't doing something you all wanted than know honestly WHAT you want/don't want. :)
Ais
I'm so sorry - I just saw this! Right now it does - we always intended to do a sequel but it didn't happen. But I did put the notes of some of what was planned in the sequel online if you want to read it: https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-se... (It's on my Patreon but don't worry, it's public/free - you don't need to pay to see it. I just put it there because it was the easiest place to link)
Ais
Aww thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Unfortunately, the likelihood of a sequel is a lot lower now than it used to be because of everything that happened since :( But the good news is we did roughly plot out what the sequel might look like for about 75% of it back when we first teased the idea of it in 1/27 (btw if you didn't read 1/27 yet you should since that's the closest to a sequel we ever got). Anyway so I do know what probably would have happened, but whether or not that will ever officially be written out remains to be seen because I don't know that I see myself feeling comfortable writing the sequel on my own. And unless I ever do, it won't be written.
Who knows what the future holds on that end, but since I do have the rough plot, in the worst case scenario sometime well into the future when I know for sure the sequel won't be written out I can tell people what would have happened. It wouldn't be the same as a full book but it might bring some closure at that point. I don't want to do that until I know 100% there's no way the sequel will be written though, because it would be massive spoilers otherwise.
Either way, thank you for the interest and thank you for reading the series! I'm happy it gave you the feels, even if those feels included crying lol (sorry about that XD)
I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Who knows what the future holds on that end, but since I do have the rough plot, in the worst case scenario sometime well into the future when I know for sure the sequel won't be written out I can tell people what would have happened. It wouldn't be the same as a full book but it might bring some closure at that point. I don't want to do that until I know 100% there's no way the sequel will be written though, because it would be massive spoilers otherwise.
Either way, thank you for the interest and thank you for reading the series! I'm happy it gave you the feels, even if those feels included crying lol (sorry about that XD)
I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Ais
lol actually that would be super easy to miss. I, for instance, lost where to find author questions on Goodreads and couldn't figure out how to reply to you for like 3 months. You're doing better than I did XD In the time since you asked, though, I did make a writer master list so I thought I'd link it here in case it's helpful :) http://aisylum.com/writing-masterlist/
Thank you for your interest, by the way! <3 Oh also! Today I released a short story in the Wildwood universe which you can read on its own without having to read Incarnations, if you're curious. It's public on my patreon and also I posted it on tumblr. (https://www.patreon.com/ais and http://ais-n.tumblr.com/)
Thank you for your interest, by the way! <3 Oh also! Today I released a short story in the Wildwood universe which you can read on its own without having to read Incarnations, if you're curious. It's public on my patreon and also I posted it on tumblr. (https://www.patreon.com/ais and http://ais-n.tumblr.com/)
Ais
Alexander! I fricking am a moron on GR! I saw this message pop up in an email to my inbox, and then I tried navigating to this link on GR itself and somehow I'm a total moron and could never find it. And then I totally forgot I never replied to you :( :( :( I'm sorry that I'm the worst :( :( :( But thank you for your kindness! <3
As for your questions: Uhh... you know, I think at some point I knew the exact amount of time but I think it took us... maybe around a year? To finish the first book? But then we edited and rewrote it 3 times and in the last edit (DC version) even split it into two volumes. So I'm not sure the exact amount of time it took but it was a while lol The other books were probably around the same, I'm not sure. Some took longer because we didn't write it all at once.
The routine was basically that we'd set a time to both be online and theoretically we would both show up and not leave the other hanging. And then when we were both on, we usually had a google doc open which we used to both write in at the same time. I always also had a second or third document open where I often compiled my replies/parts I was writing separately because 1) I'm a packrat and like to keep all variations of everything, and 2) I'm weirdly shy about people reading what I'm writing live as I'm writing it, even if it's a co-writer. But eventually we'd end up with a document and then we'd both edit it in some form, and then eventually we'd share it online. Which meant initially putting it on AFFN, and later meant putting it on our site.
I think the story came pretty easily to us, for the most part. I think if you start with a strong feeling of the psychology of your characters, the world and story unfolds pretty naturally as long as you do your best to stay true to them, and let the plot reflect the characters instead of making the characters reflect the plot.
I'm not sure if that answers your question but hopefully it does! :) Thank you for your interest and I'm sorry, again, for being such an idiot I couldn't find your question again after I'd seen it existed, in order for me to reply.
As for your questions: Uhh... you know, I think at some point I knew the exact amount of time but I think it took us... maybe around a year? To finish the first book? But then we edited and rewrote it 3 times and in the last edit (DC version) even split it into two volumes. So I'm not sure the exact amount of time it took but it was a while lol The other books were probably around the same, I'm not sure. Some took longer because we didn't write it all at once.
The routine was basically that we'd set a time to both be online and theoretically we would both show up and not leave the other hanging. And then when we were both on, we usually had a google doc open which we used to both write in at the same time. I always also had a second or third document open where I often compiled my replies/parts I was writing separately because 1) I'm a packrat and like to keep all variations of everything, and 2) I'm weirdly shy about people reading what I'm writing live as I'm writing it, even if it's a co-writer. But eventually we'd end up with a document and then we'd both edit it in some form, and then eventually we'd share it online. Which meant initially putting it on AFFN, and later meant putting it on our site.
I think the story came pretty easily to us, for the most part. I think if you start with a strong feeling of the psychology of your characters, the world and story unfolds pretty naturally as long as you do your best to stay true to them, and let the plot reflect the characters instead of making the characters reflect the plot.
I'm not sure if that answers your question but hopefully it does! :) Thank you for your interest and I'm sorry, again, for being such an idiot I couldn't find your question again after I'd seen it existed, in order for me to reply.
Ais
First, I have to say - your name is awesome! I love it! <3 Secondly, thank you, that is very sweet of you. I'm sorry if there has been anything difficult for you to have to deal with during any of this... I hope there hasn't been, but you never know.
Technically I do have a Facebook but I deactivated it, or tried to. I'm basically never on it and haven't really touched it for years. I think the only time I popped back on was to link that post because I'd heard from others that some people on Facebook were wondering if I was okay and it seemed unkind to not post something directly there if I was already posting it elsewhere. You can technically find me at https://www.facebook.com/ais.icos but I won't be posting there much, if ever. I'm mostly on tumblr usually (http://ais-n.tumblr.com/), very occasionally on twitter like once in a blue moon (https://twitter.com/aisness), and otherwise am on my patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ais). Now and then I'm over here on GR too. I'm sorry I'm not very helpful on facebook :( That platform just makes me feel crappy so I stopped using it a long time ago. But I know it works wonderfully for other people so I hope you can continue to have fun on it :) Or wherever else your heart lands you. I hope you have a lovely day!
Technically I do have a Facebook but I deactivated it, or tried to. I'm basically never on it and haven't really touched it for years. I think the only time I popped back on was to link that post because I'd heard from others that some people on Facebook were wondering if I was okay and it seemed unkind to not post something directly there if I was already posting it elsewhere. You can technically find me at https://www.facebook.com/ais.icos but I won't be posting there much, if ever. I'm mostly on tumblr usually (http://ais-n.tumblr.com/), very occasionally on twitter like once in a blue moon (https://twitter.com/aisness), and otherwise am on my patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ais). Now and then I'm over here on GR too. I'm sorry I'm not very helpful on facebook :( That platform just makes me feel crappy so I stopped using it a long time ago. But I know it works wonderfully for other people so I hope you can continue to have fun on it :) Or wherever else your heart lands you. I hope you have a lovely day!
Ais
OH MY GOD HELLO FRIEND HELLO CAN I GEEK ABOUT OP TO YOU I HAVE A LOT OF FIGURINES CAN I SHOW YOU???? *_____* lol sorry XD Any time someone's like "Yes I know OP and also like it" I'm like STOP EVERYTHING I'M READY TO TALK :D lol (currently DYINGGGGGG because this week is on break, no chapterrrrr T_T #dedinside)
Anyway, onto your actual question XD I'm really glad you liked ICoS! Thank you for taking the time to read that long ass series lol And I'm glad you appreciated the diverse cast--that's super cool your ancestry is the same as Hsin's!! I feel like I don't see that represented super often which is such a shame. I'm sure for you it's even more frustrating. As for when there will be more, I don't know :( I'm sorry :( At one point we thought this summer we would be editing Afterimage for the DC version but then that didn't happen. When we wrote 1/27 we had vague ideas we'd take a break for some amount of months and do the sequel, but that didn't happen.
It's just one of those things where we're both working on solo projects, which presents different issues. Santino is like the most boss person I know at super productivity and getting a lot of stories out there, which he's always been awesome at and he's really able to shine lately. But because of him being an Actual Author he has a lot of other stuff he has to do a lot too, which I think takes up a lot of his time. As for me, I just started patreon last month and am still trying to figure out how to make sure I get all the things done I wanted to do or said I would do, plus random things I get inspired to do throughout the month. I changed jobs within the past year and the new job is a lot more draining on my time, energy, and everything, so it's kind of fucking up my capability to be consistently inspired because I've always been a lot slower and more ridiculously emotionally involved in writing. It's really frustrating because it slows me down significantly compared to a lot of other people, but it's just how I write. I get super into the mind of the character to know every nuance of their thoughts and feelings and etc and that makes me +100 slow. (Not that I'm saying other authors don't get into the mind of their characters, they definitely do, they just seem to be better about not getting dragged down into molasses in the process and somehow I never learned that skill). Also, I finally started releasing Incarnations which is the LGBTQIA+ fantasy story I started literally 20 years ago, so I've been having a lot of fun finally getting a chance to share that with people.
That was a long thing (sorry!) but I am, as always, honest almost to a fault lol I don't like misleading people and I always do my best to answer as honestly as possible. Right now I have no idea when a next ICoS thing will happen... it's not something definitely off the table by any means, because I do personally still really want to do the sequel sometime, and other random specials are not off the table because we did write the shortest story ever a few months ago for Santino's patreon, but as for a dedicated time I can promise 100% we will do a thing and it will be out there... unfortunately, such a thing does not currently exist. But that doesn't mean it won't in the future :) And if it does, it will probably be super randomly decided, and we'll definitely let others know :)
Sorry for the longest reply ever omg
Anyway, onto your actual question XD I'm really glad you liked ICoS! Thank you for taking the time to read that long ass series lol And I'm glad you appreciated the diverse cast--that's super cool your ancestry is the same as Hsin's!! I feel like I don't see that represented super often which is such a shame. I'm sure for you it's even more frustrating. As for when there will be more, I don't know :( I'm sorry :( At one point we thought this summer we would be editing Afterimage for the DC version but then that didn't happen. When we wrote 1/27 we had vague ideas we'd take a break for some amount of months and do the sequel, but that didn't happen.
It's just one of those things where we're both working on solo projects, which presents different issues. Santino is like the most boss person I know at super productivity and getting a lot of stories out there, which he's always been awesome at and he's really able to shine lately. But because of him being an Actual Author he has a lot of other stuff he has to do a lot too, which I think takes up a lot of his time. As for me, I just started patreon last month and am still trying to figure out how to make sure I get all the things done I wanted to do or said I would do, plus random things I get inspired to do throughout the month. I changed jobs within the past year and the new job is a lot more draining on my time, energy, and everything, so it's kind of fucking up my capability to be consistently inspired because I've always been a lot slower and more ridiculously emotionally involved in writing. It's really frustrating because it slows me down significantly compared to a lot of other people, but it's just how I write. I get super into the mind of the character to know every nuance of their thoughts and feelings and etc and that makes me +100 slow. (Not that I'm saying other authors don't get into the mind of their characters, they definitely do, they just seem to be better about not getting dragged down into molasses in the process and somehow I never learned that skill). Also, I finally started releasing Incarnations which is the LGBTQIA+ fantasy story I started literally 20 years ago, so I've been having a lot of fun finally getting a chance to share that with people.
That was a long thing (sorry!) but I am, as always, honest almost to a fault lol I don't like misleading people and I always do my best to answer as honestly as possible. Right now I have no idea when a next ICoS thing will happen... it's not something definitely off the table by any means, because I do personally still really want to do the sequel sometime, and other random specials are not off the table because we did write the shortest story ever a few months ago for Santino's patreon, but as for a dedicated time I can promise 100% we will do a thing and it will be out there... unfortunately, such a thing does not currently exist. But that doesn't mean it won't in the future :) And if it does, it will probably be super randomly decided, and we'll definitely let others know :)
Sorry for the longest reply ever omg
Ais
This answer contains spoilers…
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Ais
Hi Iness :) Thank you for reading ICoS and reaching out! I'm glad you still like it all these years later :) I wrote Boyd and his family, Lou, all of the JG folks, about half the Janus unit and level 10 people, and a smattering of other random characters. Sonny wrote Hsin as his main character and then a bunch of other people :)
Ais
I'm so sorry!! I'm so terrible lol I got distracted working on this other book first ^^;;; So... I'm not sure exactly when it will be done ^^; The good news is
1) the book I want to finish is part of a series BUT that book and the second book are already about halfway or more written, and I don't know yet if I will finish writing all of those books in a row or if I will take a break to do Julian Files in between, and
2) Julian Files is around 1/2 or 2/3 finished. A lot of what I have left to do are a bunch of scenes that just sort of make sense to write but the majority of the really integral scenes are done. At the same time, since I won't get a chance to explain the whole setup with Cedrick and the rest of that another time as well, I wanted to really explore it in a way that was most interesting to me. Julian Files is going to have more of an Interludes vibe than any of the other ICoS books because it's like a collection of various scenes integrated together into one overall story. Originally I figured it would be a really short book since I was planning to sort of utilitarianly tell the story, but then as I started writing it I had fun being able to do a bit more with Julian than planned, and getting to pull in Vivienne from a different viewpoint than in ICoS, and being able to show better what Boyd's little baby Boyd life was like, and showing Cedrick and everything he was doing. I think it'll ultimately be a more interesting story for exploring all of that BUT it does mean it made the book itself longer/is taking longer to write because I wasn't initially planning to do all those things.
Also the good news is I've been periodically working in Julian Files when I don't feel inspired for the other book I'm working on so I didn't forget about it :) I really appreciate that you're interested in it! Seriously, thank you so much and for sending the question! Because it's easy for me to feel like I'm the only one invested in finishing it so then I get lazy ^^;; But if I keep remembering that other people care and want to read it, it makes me more motivated and excited about it. Maybe I should do for Julian Files what I did for my other book and find some betas to send chapters to so I'm more forced to work on it... Hmm....
Anyway thank you again for your interest! <3 Oh btw just in case you didn't already see them all, there's a bunch of excerpts from Julian Files here: https://aisness.wordpress.com/categor... -- if you hadn't seen all of those yet, I'm not sure if you will hate me more or less for giving more excerpts but having no finished product XD
Oh lastly, so for a general idea of when it may be finished--honestly I have no idea. BUT, my goal is to try to finish this first book I'm working on by the end of April. That may be a bit too difficult to achieve because it ended up being a monster of a story but I'm doing decently well on writing it so far. Assuming I do finish that, assuming I even try to finish the second book next, that book is already partially done so it should be easier to integrate things than starting from scratch would be. And like I said Julian Files is already finished. So here's what I'll say: I will try (TRY) to finish writing Julian Files by the end of this year. I'll try to plan for that to be the book I work on this NaNo in November if I haven't already finished it before then, so then I'll end up being forced to focus on it more for that whole month. And if I can achieve the 50k goal of NaNo, then I would assume that is around the amount left to write in the story, give or take, so that should theoretically help me finish it :)
1) the book I want to finish is part of a series BUT that book and the second book are already about halfway or more written, and I don't know yet if I will finish writing all of those books in a row or if I will take a break to do Julian Files in between, and
2) Julian Files is around 1/2 or 2/3 finished. A lot of what I have left to do are a bunch of scenes that just sort of make sense to write but the majority of the really integral scenes are done. At the same time, since I won't get a chance to explain the whole setup with Cedrick and the rest of that another time as well, I wanted to really explore it in a way that was most interesting to me. Julian Files is going to have more of an Interludes vibe than any of the other ICoS books because it's like a collection of various scenes integrated together into one overall story. Originally I figured it would be a really short book since I was planning to sort of utilitarianly tell the story, but then as I started writing it I had fun being able to do a bit more with Julian than planned, and getting to pull in Vivienne from a different viewpoint than in ICoS, and being able to show better what Boyd's little baby Boyd life was like, and showing Cedrick and everything he was doing. I think it'll ultimately be a more interesting story for exploring all of that BUT it does mean it made the book itself longer/is taking longer to write because I wasn't initially planning to do all those things.
Also the good news is I've been periodically working in Julian Files when I don't feel inspired for the other book I'm working on so I didn't forget about it :) I really appreciate that you're interested in it! Seriously, thank you so much and for sending the question! Because it's easy for me to feel like I'm the only one invested in finishing it so then I get lazy ^^;; But if I keep remembering that other people care and want to read it, it makes me more motivated and excited about it. Maybe I should do for Julian Files what I did for my other book and find some betas to send chapters to so I'm more forced to work on it... Hmm....
Anyway thank you again for your interest! <3 Oh btw just in case you didn't already see them all, there's a bunch of excerpts from Julian Files here: https://aisness.wordpress.com/categor... -- if you hadn't seen all of those yet, I'm not sure if you will hate me more or less for giving more excerpts but having no finished product XD
Oh lastly, so for a general idea of when it may be finished--honestly I have no idea. BUT, my goal is to try to finish this first book I'm working on by the end of April. That may be a bit too difficult to achieve because it ended up being a monster of a story but I'm doing decently well on writing it so far. Assuming I do finish that, assuming I even try to finish the second book next, that book is already partially done so it should be easier to integrate things than starting from scratch would be. And like I said Julian Files is already finished. So here's what I'll say: I will try (TRY) to finish writing Julian Files by the end of this year. I'll try to plan for that to be the book I work on this NaNo in November if I haven't already finished it before then, so then I'll end up being forced to focus on it more for that whole month. And if I can achieve the 50k goal of NaNo, then I would assume that is around the amount left to write in the story, give or take, so that should theoretically help me finish it :)
Ais
Hey lovely! Thank you for your interest <3 It's doing okay! I am the slowest loris in the writing zoo so I keep getting distracted and/or bored in the writing of it and pause. But part of that is because, being me, this thing is complicated as hell and I have to keep stopping to double check multiple note collections to make sure I have the details right. Right now I'm on chapter 9 which doesn't sound far but I made stupid long chapters, so that equates to 103,000 words. I had a plan for how far this would go in the plot but all the stuff leading up to that is taking longer than I expected, so now I actually don't know how far I'll go before I finish the book. I already know it's part of a series so it's not the end of the world to put some of the plot in the second book. It's mostly a question of mechanics.
One problem is I haven't yet done a full chapter summary write-up, which is probably really dumb and part of what makes me slow and periodically bored. But every time I go to write it I'm like OMG TOO COMPLICATED and just go back to writing chapters as I'm interested. Not the smartest way to go about this, I know lol In fact, probably the stupidest way. sigh -_-
I feel like I need to be further along and much more dedicated if I actually want to meet my self-imposed deadline. And yet, knowing that, I keep dinking around watching X-Files on Netflix or reading manga or whatever. So I'm glad you asked and you should feel free to ask again because man, we need to keep in touch more to keep ourselves on track lol Thanks for asking! You got me to stop watching X-Files and focus.
How are you doing?
One problem is I haven't yet done a full chapter summary write-up, which is probably really dumb and part of what makes me slow and periodically bored. But every time I go to write it I'm like OMG TOO COMPLICATED and just go back to writing chapters as I'm interested. Not the smartest way to go about this, I know lol In fact, probably the stupidest way. sigh -_-
I feel like I need to be further along and much more dedicated if I actually want to meet my self-imposed deadline. And yet, knowing that, I keep dinking around watching X-Files on Netflix or reading manga or whatever. So I'm glad you asked and you should feel free to ask again because man, we need to keep in touch more to keep ourselves on track lol Thanks for asking! You got me to stop watching X-Files and focus.
How are you doing?
Ais
Hi! I'm so sorry, I meant to reply to this earlier and completely forgot I hadn't! ahaha sorry about making you an emotional wreck! At least you could enjoy the roller coaster ride :) As for co-writing, we talked more about it here if you're interested in a longer answer: https://aisness.wordpress.com/2013/11...
It isn't difficult if you write with someone who's on your wavelength and who is a friend :) Actually, I think it's really helpful because you can keep each other in check on following deadlines, etc. On the other hand, it does cause delays in being able to write if schedules don't align or if ever there's a massive disagreement on plot or something else. So I could see how co-writing could be prohibitive in a lot of situations, but I think if you get the right person to co-write with it can be a very good thing :)
We write the characters we created (with very few exceptions, one being Lou who was originally Sonny's character but then I took over when he became so important in Boyd's past). There are a few characters we can technically share if needed for a scene (like, if I'm writing a chapter and one of his side characters appears I could just write that side character into the chapter without him having to write it if we both feel comfortable with that) but generally we don't share the characters. We created our own characters and then told the other person what the character was and how they would fit into the plot and then we went from there.
Actually, if you took a list of all the characters who are mentioned at all or have any sort of appearance in the series, I'm not sure if it would fall 50%. I think Sonny has more characters overall than I do, especially in the beginning -- that ended up being mostly for practicality. We wanted to write it in a way where most of the chapters had both of us writing someone in it so that it kept the story interesting, kept the burden off of one of us above the others, and so that we had something interesting to look forward to in the writing of it.
But the thing is, Boyd is the main POV for the majority of the series, and especially in the first book. And Boyd is my character, and because his story was one that had to be so carefully done as a journey across the series to show his growth as a person and an agent and because I like looking at the psychology of characters so I really had to get into his mind throughout and because I like to write things in a way that is emotionally raw, Boyd was an exhausting character to write. To really be fair to his story, I felt like I needed to devote a lot of my energy and attention into him. So that meant that, for both my own mental preservation and for practicality in writing the scenes, most of the characters that had a lot of speaking parts were Sonny's. So for example, of the ones you mentioned (Hsin, Emilio, Zach) they're all Sonny's. Because it also made sense; after all, all of them have connections with each others in the past. Most of the time, if we were going to have family members or important people from the past involved, then the person who created the main character they were connected to also created the other characters. That meant that I also, then, created all the characters related to Boyd, Boyd's past, Boyd's family, and the thing that comes up in Fade that I won't mention now for spoilers but all of those people I also created.
But when we knew we were creating a group of people at once who would be main characters or even side characters, we agreed to split the number down the middle. It was always more of a "you create 3 and I'll create 3" kind of thing rather than either of us giving any sort of directive at all to the other about who or what will be created.
And then sometimes one of us would say to the other, "I think ___ is going to do ____ and that will affect the plot ___" and the other writer would say, "Ok, cool," and we would together figure out a way to work that into the plot, and see if that addition would affect our own characters in the process or if it would stay mostly confined to the other person's characters.
Did I make that more confusing than anything? I hope not ^^;
It isn't difficult if you write with someone who's on your wavelength and who is a friend :) Actually, I think it's really helpful because you can keep each other in check on following deadlines, etc. On the other hand, it does cause delays in being able to write if schedules don't align or if ever there's a massive disagreement on plot or something else. So I could see how co-writing could be prohibitive in a lot of situations, but I think if you get the right person to co-write with it can be a very good thing :)
We write the characters we created (with very few exceptions, one being Lou who was originally Sonny's character but then I took over when he became so important in Boyd's past). There are a few characters we can technically share if needed for a scene (like, if I'm writing a chapter and one of his side characters appears I could just write that side character into the chapter without him having to write it if we both feel comfortable with that) but generally we don't share the characters. We created our own characters and then told the other person what the character was and how they would fit into the plot and then we went from there.
Actually, if you took a list of all the characters who are mentioned at all or have any sort of appearance in the series, I'm not sure if it would fall 50%. I think Sonny has more characters overall than I do, especially in the beginning -- that ended up being mostly for practicality. We wanted to write it in a way where most of the chapters had both of us writing someone in it so that it kept the story interesting, kept the burden off of one of us above the others, and so that we had something interesting to look forward to in the writing of it.
But the thing is, Boyd is the main POV for the majority of the series, and especially in the first book. And Boyd is my character, and because his story was one that had to be so carefully done as a journey across the series to show his growth as a person and an agent and because I like looking at the psychology of characters so I really had to get into his mind throughout and because I like to write things in a way that is emotionally raw, Boyd was an exhausting character to write. To really be fair to his story, I felt like I needed to devote a lot of my energy and attention into him. So that meant that, for both my own mental preservation and for practicality in writing the scenes, most of the characters that had a lot of speaking parts were Sonny's. So for example, of the ones you mentioned (Hsin, Emilio, Zach) they're all Sonny's. Because it also made sense; after all, all of them have connections with each others in the past. Most of the time, if we were going to have family members or important people from the past involved, then the person who created the main character they were connected to also created the other characters. That meant that I also, then, created all the characters related to Boyd, Boyd's past, Boyd's family, and the thing that comes up in Fade that I won't mention now for spoilers but all of those people I also created.
But when we knew we were creating a group of people at once who would be main characters or even side characters, we agreed to split the number down the middle. It was always more of a "you create 3 and I'll create 3" kind of thing rather than either of us giving any sort of directive at all to the other about who or what will be created.
And then sometimes one of us would say to the other, "I think ___ is going to do ____ and that will affect the plot ___" and the other writer would say, "Ok, cool," and we would together figure out a way to work that into the plot, and see if that addition would affect our own characters in the process or if it would stay mostly confined to the other person's characters.
Did I make that more confusing than anything? I hope not ^^;
Ais
Dangit, Patricia!!! I'm so sorry!! Somehow I didn't see a notification for this! Just in case you haven't yet had an answer elsewhere: first of all, thank you so much! You're so sweet! <3 And I don't mind at all :) We don't know, really. We wrote a general plot line for what we imagined might be covered if we should ever write a sequel, and that was a book. But honestly, that's what we did for ICoS too, and we all see how long that beast ended up being lol We do want to publish the whole series eventually, but we need to be able to professionally edit it first which will take a while. You can get Director's Cut Evenfall in print if you want right now but that's it. Thank you for wanting to pay for anything, though! That's very nice :) As for a CD, sadly there is currently no audio version of the series. That's another thing that would be awesome to eventually have.
Thank you for reading our story! And again, I'm so, SO sorry for how late I was to reply! I have no idea why I never saw a notification for this o_O
Thank you for reading our story! And again, I'm so, SO sorry for how late I was to reply! I have no idea why I never saw a notification for this o_O
Ais
Aww, thank you Orphia! I'm glad you enjoyed it! We don't have any specific plans right now as to whether or not we will write the sequel. Nothing has been scheduled for writing it for the foreseeable future. However, we did already sketch out a rough plot of what the book would be if or when we might write it, so if we get to the point where we both have time and inclination to write it we'll have a bit of a head start :) We will let everyone know at that point but if you want to be especially sure you find out, you can sign up for our newsletter at http://goo.gl/YplCin
Ais
Hi :) First, thank you! I'm really glad you liked it! Thanks for reaching out :) About your question, there's never any need to apologize for asking something--I love questions. I'm constantly asking them, myself ;)
Hmm... From my memory I don't think we ever considered stopping it because it took too much time, although it's true it did take a lot of time. I canceled so many offers to see friends on the weekends, it's ridiculous lol But then again, I'm also naturally introverted so who knows if I would have seen them without ICoS as an excuse. Still, my friends and family both became very accustomed to, "Sorry, I can't... we'll/I'll be writing" as a response.
But I don't think in and of itself that was ever a reason we ever would have considered stopping writing it. It was more like, sometimes our schedules were so incompatible that we just couldn't get proper time to work on anything. I was actually more annoyed when we didn't have time to write than I ever was during the times we spent time writing instead of doing something else, haha.
Does that make sense? I feel like my answer was maybe kind of rambling/confusing...
Hmm... From my memory I don't think we ever considered stopping it because it took too much time, although it's true it did take a lot of time. I canceled so many offers to see friends on the weekends, it's ridiculous lol But then again, I'm also naturally introverted so who knows if I would have seen them without ICoS as an excuse. Still, my friends and family both became very accustomed to, "Sorry, I can't... we'll/I'll be writing" as a response.
But I don't think in and of itself that was ever a reason we ever would have considered stopping writing it. It was more like, sometimes our schedules were so incompatible that we just couldn't get proper time to work on anything. I was actually more annoyed when we didn't have time to write than I ever was during the times we spent time writing instead of doing something else, haha.
Does that make sense? I feel like my answer was maybe kind of rambling/confusing...
Ais
Write what you want to write for the reasons you want to write it. Everyone can always use improvement on their story, so don't be discouraged by constructive criticism-- and if someone just doesn't like your story at all, it may not be anything to do with you. Not everyone will always like the same story, the same characters, the same plot. It might just mean that person wasn't your target audience. But if you have a love for writing, or an interest in developing one, then you should write and have fun and not let anyone tell you to stop.
If you want a good motivational introduction, try doing NaNoWriMo one year (always in November)--that's a great time of year to find writing groups or writing buddies online to stay on task. Or look up writing groups in general throughout the year if you do better with other people being involved.
I personally think a lot of writing comes from the heart or the head. It doesn't matter if you're technically perfect, as long as you believe in the story you're telling and you keep an open mind on feedback. Don't give up on the story, and the story won't give up on you.
Best of luck with everything!
If you want a good motivational introduction, try doing NaNoWriMo one year (always in November)--that's a great time of year to find writing groups or writing buddies online to stay on task. Or look up writing groups in general throughout the year if you do better with other people being involved.
I personally think a lot of writing comes from the heart or the head. It doesn't matter if you're technically perfect, as long as you believe in the story you're telling and you keep an open mind on feedback. Don't give up on the story, and the story won't give up on you.
Best of luck with everything!
Ais
(Sorry guys, I'm trying to get an ask off my main page that has a spoiler for ICoS Fade in it--the question was a great one but I want to give people the option to not read it if they're avoiding spoilers. I'm going to answer some of the pre-determined asks, and just beware potential for an ICoS spoiler if you click the "see more asks" link)
I have two most recent books I'm working on -- Julian Files (backstory for ICoS, featuring Julian Jones the PI and Cedrick Beaulieu, plus other cameos) and Dead Rain (fantasy story with gay and lesbian themes).
I usually get ideas for stories based on an image in my mind, and then I start writing that visual while figuring out how did it get to that point and what is the context.
For Julian Files, I'm not positive but I think my initial image for that was of Julian smoking at a park. From there, I thought it would be fun to have Cedrick bring Boyd (who was a little kid at the time). With Julian, one of the biggest things was I wanted to have a POV that let me have more fun writing the voice where I could infuse some personality into it.
Dead Rain ended up at some point becoming a combination of a new story and integrating an old story that was a oneshot I never finished. One of the mental images that stays with me as inspiration for that story is of gloved hands pressing against a glowing tattoo, and ash coming away on the finger.
I have two most recent books I'm working on -- Julian Files (backstory for ICoS, featuring Julian Jones the PI and Cedrick Beaulieu, plus other cameos) and Dead Rain (fantasy story with gay and lesbian themes).
I usually get ideas for stories based on an image in my mind, and then I start writing that visual while figuring out how did it get to that point and what is the context.
For Julian Files, I'm not positive but I think my initial image for that was of Julian smoking at a park. From there, I thought it would be fun to have Cedrick bring Boyd (who was a little kid at the time). With Julian, one of the biggest things was I wanted to have a POV that let me have more fun writing the voice where I could infuse some personality into it.
Dead Rain ended up at some point becoming a combination of a new story and integrating an old story that was a oneshot I never finished. One of the mental images that stays with me as inspiration for that story is of gloved hands pressing against a glowing tattoo, and ash coming away on the finger.
Ais
I tend to flit around on stories so there are several stories I'm working on at the moment. Almost all of the stories below will or do include LGBT themes. I've included excerpts of each so a person can get a feel for the story. It makes this post much longer but is also probably more useful.
In no particular order:
*****
DEAD RAIN: This has been my NaNo project 2012 and 2013, and I hope to finish it NaNo 2014. Summary: Magic can change a person, twisting them into something they weren't before. Some kill for this, some try to slow it down, but there is no cure. Not one that's known, anyway.
Excerpt:
"Luck is a curse and a pleasure."
Era could hear the blitheness in Shine's voice, and sighed as she straightened. "We're going to have to look into this eventually."
"Oh, come on. It'll wear off. It always does."
"Not all enhancements are the same. Come here."
Shine scrunched her face but complied. She stopped by the chair, holding out her hand so Era could move it this way and that. On the back of Shine's wrist, a design glowed red. It moved up her forearm, around her wrist, and down her hand with strong, straight lines that were beginning to strike out like tree branches or capillaries.
Era pressed down on the main line at the point of infection; a circular scar as small and unassuming as a freckle. Her gloved thumb continued to glow even after she pulled her hand away; a pale crimson that pulsed for a full second before it faded into nonexistence. All that was left was a brush of ash.
Era frowned.
Shine's carefree smile had fallen away sometime during the inspection. "It'll be fine. I've dealt with worse."
"It's growing."
Shine disentangled her arm from Era's hold and pulled her sleeve over it once again. "Like I said: I've dealt with worse."
****
JULIAN FILES: a story set in In the Company of Shadows' past; Julian Jones, a private investigator, is pulled into a world he knew nothing about when his friend Cedrick Beaulieu starts acting strange.
Excerpt:
Cedrick chuckled and leaned forward, gently smoothing Boyd's hair back down. He rested his fingers on Boyd's chin and turned his face toward him. Boyd let his head move but his eyes remained on Julian until the last second when they flicked over to his dad.
Like Julian always said. Fucking creepy.
"Why don't you go play with the others, Boyd? We came here so you could have some fun."
Boyd's pouty little lips turned down even further. Jesus. He had the same disapproving stare as his mother. If he didn't turn out to be a serial killer, he'd become something equally terrifying. Julian was sure of it.
"They won't approve of me."
Seriously, what five-year-old talked like that?
"Yes, they will." The fatherly smile of Cedrick's was all manner of affection with a little bit of mischief tossed in for spice. "And if they don't, forget them. They aren't good enough for you. You can have fun on your own."
Boyd looked over his shoulder at the playset, looked back at his dad, and hesitated. There was something vulnerable in the slight quaking of his shoulders; the way his eyebrows drew in and his feet seemed poised between flight and folding. Those little fingers of his twitched at his sides.
"I don't want you to leave me. What if I go and when I come back you're gone?"
It was said in such a small voice, made all the smaller for coming from a young kid like that. A pang pulled at Julian and he had to look away.
*****
DOMINO: Vivienne Beaulieu's story from In the Company of Shadows; showing glimpses of her childhood through 1/27: the anthology. Answering the question: how did she become the way she is? Very little of this is written so far, so I have only a small piece to show. (Mireille is her grandmother; the woman who raised her)
Excerpt:
"Because if you do not fool people ahead of time, they will see what you truly are. Unlovable."
Vivienne wheeled back, breaking Mireille's hold on her. "What?"
Mireille stared at her flatly. "Come now. You know this is why all this has happened. Your parents saw it in you and they left."
"But--they were killed."
"Yes," Mireille ground out, her expression hardening. "At the fault of your worthless mother. Do you want to become like her? Destroying everyone around you for your selfish needs?"
"But that doesn't make me unlovable."
Pity deepened the lines of Mireille's face. She approached, and placed her hand briefly on Vivienne's head. "Oh, child. Yes. You are. No one could ever love you. There is an emptiness inside you that everyone feels. They all say it to me after you have left the room. 'What is wrong with that child?' they ask me. I have no answer, because it is simply *you* that is wrong."
*****
DELIVERANCE: m/m story; Luke, a US agent, is on assignment in Fiji to stop a terrorist attack before it begins. But the ghosts of his past are resurfacing at the same time he learns that he has a lot less time to find the terrorists than he thought.
Excerpt:
"Stop being so goddamned hooked on the alias! You just don't want to believe it's him so you're coming up with excuses ahead of time."
"And you *do* want to believe it's him," Reese snapped back. "If you'd get his dick out of your head for one minute you could think clearly about all this."
"Ha," Luke said harshly. "If you'd get *mine* out of your head you wouldn't be so fucking biased."
The ringing silence that met that statement caused even Luke to stop and realize what he'd just said. Before he could say anything else, the phone abruptly went dead. Luke looked down at the blank screen and swore aloud.
So much for never bringing that up.
*****
FANTASY SERIES: I've been working on this since I was 13. I have a complex magic system and fairly fleshed out world/history ready. This is a top priority for me to finish sometime in my life, hopefully soon. Includes f/f and possibly m/m.
Excerpt:
Ignition.
It was the point where it all started. The moment when the town went from full of life to destroyed in nearly an instant.
Vikenti peered at the charred circle burned into the ground, then shifted and looked around himself. There were patterns of shock waves carved into the dirt-- hard to see, but visible when a person knew what to look for. This explosion had triggered another, and another. Magic spells had cascaded off each other, one after another, until all organic material had been leveled on the spot. Except the trees, which still creaked quietly in the breeze, shifting leaf-laden branches to siphon out the sun. Lacy shadows moved across the dirt, highlighting points of other explosions as if by aid of the earth spirits.
"What do you see?" Keiran asked.
Vikenti peered up at red hair backlit by the sun, and narrowed green eyes aimed down at him. He didn’t answer, so she pointed.
"The ground. What do you see?"
"A spell gone horribly wrong."
Keiran rolled her eyes. "Real helpful."
*****
LGBT POLICE PROCEDURAL: Unnamed, will have f/f and m/m.
Excerpt:
Raindrops blurred the glass. Lights rolled in a circuit; whiteblue, whiteblue, whiteblue, and red on the other side. The vehicle rocked as someone got into the driver's seat in front. Light flashed in the car briefly, but she hardly saw it.
Her eyes were drawn again to the raindrops, distorting the rush of people outside, and the faded white of the news vans.
The view out the back window. Where the criminals sat.
In no particular order:
*****
DEAD RAIN: This has been my NaNo project 2012 and 2013, and I hope to finish it NaNo 2014. Summary: Magic can change a person, twisting them into something they weren't before. Some kill for this, some try to slow it down, but there is no cure. Not one that's known, anyway.
Excerpt:
"Luck is a curse and a pleasure."
Era could hear the blitheness in Shine's voice, and sighed as she straightened. "We're going to have to look into this eventually."
"Oh, come on. It'll wear off. It always does."
"Not all enhancements are the same. Come here."
Shine scrunched her face but complied. She stopped by the chair, holding out her hand so Era could move it this way and that. On the back of Shine's wrist, a design glowed red. It moved up her forearm, around her wrist, and down her hand with strong, straight lines that were beginning to strike out like tree branches or capillaries.
Era pressed down on the main line at the point of infection; a circular scar as small and unassuming as a freckle. Her gloved thumb continued to glow even after she pulled her hand away; a pale crimson that pulsed for a full second before it faded into nonexistence. All that was left was a brush of ash.
Era frowned.
Shine's carefree smile had fallen away sometime during the inspection. "It'll be fine. I've dealt with worse."
"It's growing."
Shine disentangled her arm from Era's hold and pulled her sleeve over it once again. "Like I said: I've dealt with worse."
****
JULIAN FILES: a story set in In the Company of Shadows' past; Julian Jones, a private investigator, is pulled into a world he knew nothing about when his friend Cedrick Beaulieu starts acting strange.
Excerpt:
Cedrick chuckled and leaned forward, gently smoothing Boyd's hair back down. He rested his fingers on Boyd's chin and turned his face toward him. Boyd let his head move but his eyes remained on Julian until the last second when they flicked over to his dad.
Like Julian always said. Fucking creepy.
"Why don't you go play with the others, Boyd? We came here so you could have some fun."
Boyd's pouty little lips turned down even further. Jesus. He had the same disapproving stare as his mother. If he didn't turn out to be a serial killer, he'd become something equally terrifying. Julian was sure of it.
"They won't approve of me."
Seriously, what five-year-old talked like that?
"Yes, they will." The fatherly smile of Cedrick's was all manner of affection with a little bit of mischief tossed in for spice. "And if they don't, forget them. They aren't good enough for you. You can have fun on your own."
Boyd looked over his shoulder at the playset, looked back at his dad, and hesitated. There was something vulnerable in the slight quaking of his shoulders; the way his eyebrows drew in and his feet seemed poised between flight and folding. Those little fingers of his twitched at his sides.
"I don't want you to leave me. What if I go and when I come back you're gone?"
It was said in such a small voice, made all the smaller for coming from a young kid like that. A pang pulled at Julian and he had to look away.
*****
DOMINO: Vivienne Beaulieu's story from In the Company of Shadows; showing glimpses of her childhood through 1/27: the anthology. Answering the question: how did she become the way she is? Very little of this is written so far, so I have only a small piece to show. (Mireille is her grandmother; the woman who raised her)
Excerpt:
"Because if you do not fool people ahead of time, they will see what you truly are. Unlovable."
Vivienne wheeled back, breaking Mireille's hold on her. "What?"
Mireille stared at her flatly. "Come now. You know this is why all this has happened. Your parents saw it in you and they left."
"But--they were killed."
"Yes," Mireille ground out, her expression hardening. "At the fault of your worthless mother. Do you want to become like her? Destroying everyone around you for your selfish needs?"
"But that doesn't make me unlovable."
Pity deepened the lines of Mireille's face. She approached, and placed her hand briefly on Vivienne's head. "Oh, child. Yes. You are. No one could ever love you. There is an emptiness inside you that everyone feels. They all say it to me after you have left the room. 'What is wrong with that child?' they ask me. I have no answer, because it is simply *you* that is wrong."
*****
DELIVERANCE: m/m story; Luke, a US agent, is on assignment in Fiji to stop a terrorist attack before it begins. But the ghosts of his past are resurfacing at the same time he learns that he has a lot less time to find the terrorists than he thought.
Excerpt:
"Stop being so goddamned hooked on the alias! You just don't want to believe it's him so you're coming up with excuses ahead of time."
"And you *do* want to believe it's him," Reese snapped back. "If you'd get his dick out of your head for one minute you could think clearly about all this."
"Ha," Luke said harshly. "If you'd get *mine* out of your head you wouldn't be so fucking biased."
The ringing silence that met that statement caused even Luke to stop and realize what he'd just said. Before he could say anything else, the phone abruptly went dead. Luke looked down at the blank screen and swore aloud.
So much for never bringing that up.
*****
FANTASY SERIES: I've been working on this since I was 13. I have a complex magic system and fairly fleshed out world/history ready. This is a top priority for me to finish sometime in my life, hopefully soon. Includes f/f and possibly m/m.
Excerpt:
Ignition.
It was the point where it all started. The moment when the town went from full of life to destroyed in nearly an instant.
Vikenti peered at the charred circle burned into the ground, then shifted and looked around himself. There were patterns of shock waves carved into the dirt-- hard to see, but visible when a person knew what to look for. This explosion had triggered another, and another. Magic spells had cascaded off each other, one after another, until all organic material had been leveled on the spot. Except the trees, which still creaked quietly in the breeze, shifting leaf-laden branches to siphon out the sun. Lacy shadows moved across the dirt, highlighting points of other explosions as if by aid of the earth spirits.
"What do you see?" Keiran asked.
Vikenti peered up at red hair backlit by the sun, and narrowed green eyes aimed down at him. He didn’t answer, so she pointed.
"The ground. What do you see?"
"A spell gone horribly wrong."
Keiran rolled her eyes. "Real helpful."
*****
LGBT POLICE PROCEDURAL: Unnamed, will have f/f and m/m.
Excerpt:
Raindrops blurred the glass. Lights rolled in a circuit; whiteblue, whiteblue, whiteblue, and red on the other side. The vehicle rocked as someone got into the driver's seat in front. Light flashed in the car briefly, but she hardly saw it.
Her eyes were drawn again to the raindrops, distorting the rush of people outside, and the faded white of the news vans.
The view out the back window. Where the criminals sat.
Ais
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