TME: Volume 1

In the past, I have written stories with characters similar to Riven and Ren, but not (in my opinion at least) as well developed or that I enjoyed as much. Riven was really the driving force to this story idea I had, of someone who saw supernatural things but didn’t understand what he saw and ended up terrified as a result, but slowly started to change with patience and love from his fairy. I also decided with this story to just let it be as long as it wanted to be rather than (as I have previously done) trying to limit the story to what was more “acceptable” to traditional publishers. That also plays into why it’s volume 1-4 instead of having new titles for each volume, because somehow my brain finds that more acceptable than writing a “different” book, even if it’s with the same people and world. I don’t understand brain, I just try to cooperate with it if I can figure out how, and if it let me keep writing to finish the story, then I can placate it by calling them volumes instead of different books.

People did ask me why I didn’t let Riven just have free healthcare, and the answer is that, well, I forgot that was an option. I grew up in the US and that’s not something I’m used to, so I completely forgot free healthcare was an option and by the time people pointed out the possibility, it was already enough of a story point that I had to just leave it. Oops.