False Gods

False Gods Retrospective

False Gods Retrospective

     Hello! You may be wondering what the hecc this is.... This is me talking to you from author to reader! False Gods was a loooong process, as you guys are no doubt aware, so I want to make a few announcements and then give you guys some personal feedback for myself. I want to give you guys an idea of where my writing's going to go from here and what you can expect from me, but first, I have to get an exciting announcement out of the way.

     The Fourth Driver and False Gods are now officially released to the public. What does this mean? Well you know that little sentence at the end of every chapter that says "Don't use without permission."? Well, here it is, the permission. Now that the series is done, I have no issue with people rewriting how they would've liked it, continuing the story as they see fit, etc. The end was a happy ending, and is meant to stick that way, but feel free to add your own problems afterwards, or change up the story however you wish. The TFD is complete, I do not intend to ever make another sequel, and if I were to ever do another book for the series, it'd be a character development story, and nothing more (which you're also free to make as well). Feel free to tag me on Twitter or the comment section and let me know when you post it, I'd 100% like to see what you guys do if you do decide to do anything with it!

     Alright, now here's the feedback and what you can expect to change in my writing style, because it's definitely changed after two years. I'm going to start with my intentions with the story, and whether I lived up to them or not.

     My first intention was to create a new world using the world given to us at the end of XC2. I believe I accomplished this, this book had a lot of world building, showing how technology could potentially increase in Alrest, and even progressing so far that people simply forgot what was already known (i.e. how to actually fight with a blade). I think the biggest flaw to come out of this writing style, however, was that it caused my character development to become lackluster during this book. In TFD, making the world wasn't really necessary as much, so I gave full time to the characters and the difference is astounding. I definitely gave each character their own time to shine, but to me it felt as if that's all they did and then they'd proceed to fade into the background. I attempted to remedy this in the later chapters and the book finale by giving them more separate rolls, and I think, while it helped tremendously, it didn't 100% fix the issue. However, it is now something I can take into account during the entire writing process of The Necromancer.

     My second intention was to include themes from Xenosaga and XCX, and I believe I nailed this one. From adding ether guns that functioned uniquely, elemental swords that fit with the world, and the overall much darker themes that Xenosaga had a LOT of. I personally missed these dark themes in Xeno, and therefore tried to add my own. I wanted to get it across that this world in its current state was FUCKED, and that basic human love was thrown aside for what propaganda was telling everyone was "right" (For instance, the notion that blades were evil, tools, and unnecessary). Now this had one side effect that was brought to my intention, and that was that this book just felt so much darker than it needed to be, but I personally disagree. TFD brought up just how screwed up a lot of what Indol had done and how messed up it was. Also people seem to forget that Cereza slaughtered people's families and would eat them right in front of the last survival, or the literal "blade eater zombies". Granted when fights were won in TFD, they were won and lives were saved, but in FG, such as the Great Blade Massacre, the fight didn't ever really end in a satisfying way. Again, this story was 100% meant to be much darker than what one would expect, it serves to show the mad spiral of events that have taken place since the last book and XC2, however I can definitely see where people find their issues here. Now, how this is going to imply to The Necromancer: The Necromancer is going to take place into a life after death, so, by nature, it's also going to be extremely dark and is 100% intended to make the reader feel uncomfortable, however, the ultimate theme of The Necromancer is overcoming shortfalls and situations that you feel you were forced into. So, what I expect to change in The Necromancer that didn't quite happen in FG is that a burning feeling for change with get stronger and stronger over time and lead to a more-satisfying conclusion that leaves the reader feeling in a more empowered attitude, rather than an ending that solves all the issues and makes you take a deep breath saying "Glad that's over".