March City: Land of the Gifted [Book 1 | Fantasy/Sci-fi | Complete]

Author's Note: Questions, Facts, and Thank Yous

"March City: The Land of the Gifted" is a sci-fi fantasy book that was born for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2014. I completed 50k words by the end of that month and, after a hiatus of almost two years, it's finally complete on 30th September 2016.

Thank Yous

I'd like to specifically thank Lindaymee, Shadowrider, carrine, and StarlightFlames. When I first came back to writing regularly, your votes and encouraging comments gave me such happiness. I never thought I'd still have readers coming back after such a long hiatus and I'm so blessed. And thank you to ImogenaryDesigns for such a gorgeous cover (once again!)

My second thanks go to all my readers, without whom I will not be here today. I'm very grateful for your presence after my absence and being so forgiving. It means the world.

What is the inspiration for the story?

March City was inspired by Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun). You might see the resemblance in the teenage-populated futuristic city, although one big question I had at the time was how on earth everything was so teenager-oriented when there are adults present. And why are adults always the bad guys, and always foiled by the teenage main character? I worked out a more plausible solution for myself and everything rolled from there. My interest in scientific research and reading about the unethical trials of ye olde days helped add to the background behind Kena's experiments.

What is the inspiration for your characters?

Ari is an unmotivated but talented girl who just needed a kick up the backside -- and that was me at 15, 16 years old. I was bright throughout most of my younger life, but very lazy because with little work comes pretty good reward. What was the incentive? My own incentive came when a teacher told me at parents' evening that I could do better if I tried, and she expected more of me. That was what I needed. I worked hard from then on and got better as a person.

Lira's ability was inspired by mentalism, particularly by the character Merritt McKinney from 'Now You See Me', which I saw at the time of resuming writing. I wanted to create a character who was motivated by her work, a stark contrast to Ari's lazy butt, and who had a good moral compass misled by her own cynicism. Lira was born.

Cryo is a bit of a maniac. He was inspired by the Accelerator from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. I wanted to show what happens when one gets great power, and also begs the question: most great/influential rulers in history are psychopaths. Are psychopaths more likely to become leaders or do powerful leadership invoke psychopathic traits?

Where do your characters' names come from?

March City Users are, after all, a small part of something greater. Their names hold no particular purpose aside from a small few. Lire in French means 'to read', reflecting Lira's ability to read people. Cryo reflects his freezing ability.

Jos is the name of one of my buddies during the final year of university. She has a boy's name, is quirky, weird, unconventional, and such a sweetheart. And she has dyed hair with green tips! Mina is a reference to the main character to Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night by a famous Wattpadder and good friend of mine, Michael Limjoco.

Will there be a sequel?

Yes and it's in progress. Ari's story isn't finished. What happens after this maintenance day? Who are the people Ari was trying to get involved between her and Cryo's fight? And how right was Kena's conspiracy?

I will start posting Book 2 once The Rune Mage is completed. There will be a preview to this soon.

What's next?

At the point of writing this, NaNoWriMo 2016 is coming up and there's a new story I'm itching to write, but I'm not sure combined with long working hours (record so far is 80 hours in a week EEK!) how much of it I can actually do, but I won't pressure myself. It will be updated as needs be. I'll also get started on March City Book 2 at a slower pace, but I won't post until I'm sure I'm making good progress. No more hiatuses!

Other full-length novels:

For a coming-of-age wind magic fantasy in a war-afflicted world, check out THE WINDCASTER.

For dragons and magic, check out DRAGON RISING.

For fast-packed action with flying demon guts and betrayals, check out SEEKER: DEMON KILLERS.

For magic circles, treason, and genocide, check out RUNE MAGE and its sequel (in the same book) CHAOS MAGE.

Other novellas:

For Asian fantasy and a vengeful fire spirit, check out EMPRESS OF FIRE.

For Asian Scifi with robotics and what makes a human human? check out TECHNO FEVER.

For Regency fantasy with memory weaving gone wrong, check out WEAVE OF SILVER.

Other short stories:

For fantasy, check out ROSES AND DREAMS.

For general fiction, check out TEAR DROPS AND INK.

For horror, check out STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.

If there are any more questions, feel free to post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities.

Thank you again for reading this story; I LOVED writing every bit of it. Please comment and vote -- let me personally thank you!