User blog:Varkanax39/Q&A with Varkanax39

Greetings. You may not remember me, since it feels like an eternity since I’ve written anything, but Varkanax here. I’ve been debating on whether or not to do this for a while now, but I feel it’s important that I get this out there. This is a sort-of interview thing regarding the Xaterex Multiverse Storyline (XMS) a series of novels and novellas about a parallel world based off Lego’s BIONICLE franchise. I don’t know why I feel compelled to do this. Probably it’s because since I wrote the last words of my final novel, Eternal Darkness, I’ve been debating what to write next, and feel I can’t until I tie up the last of the loose ends of the Xaterex storyline. Also, it’s probably to get the last of the XMS stuff out of my system. So feel free to read this if you want a sort-of glimpse into my mind, if not, I totally understand. Anyway, so here I go…asking myself questions.

What are your favorite books?

I read everything I can possibly get my hands on, but I like only about 10 percent of what I read. My favorite contemporary authors aren’t limited to but include Stephen King (The Dark Tower) and Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game) to Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) and George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire). Most of my favorite books sci-fi and fantasy, though a lot of historical fiction too, such as ''Shogun. I’m a fan of Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale as well, and, more recently, Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy. Oh, and I should mention Brian Jacques’ Redwall ''series. Those are just a few, though. I read a lot. A ridiculous amount, actually. As for classics…well, I’ll just say from Homer to Harper Lee, and everything in between.

Do you do anything other than write and read?

Yes. A lot more. But for a while it was definitely almost all I did, other than attend school. The final days of writing Eternal Darkness come to mind when I think of “writing mania”.

Do you play any video games?

Yes. I do live in the modern world, even if sometimes it seems that all I do/did was write endless updates to BIONICLE fanfiction. However, I’m pretty choosy when it comes to video games; mostly because they, like books, are applicable to Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crap). But enough about that, some of my favorite video games include the turn-based strategy game series Civilization (especially IV), the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim in particular, and the Assassin’s Creed series (Definitely my current favorite, mostly due to the historical setting, and that’s my most recent obsession).

Do you live in hiding?

I get asked this a lot. It’s uncannily close to the truth.

On the subject of the XMS, what is your favorite in the series?

Hmmm…hard to choose, actually. The Eternal Game is the most popular, The Darkest Light is my personal favorite, but Eternal Darkness is most certainly the best. I hope that everyone enjoyed the ending as much as I did, as it’s a story I’d waited to tell for more than three years.

Wait…you had the ending planned out for three years?

Two and a half, actually, from before I began my first XMS novel. The plot changed a lot, and actually the final product was extremely different from the original tale I planned to tell, but the end of Eternal Darkness was one of the first things I’d planned at the beginning of the series, and one of the first things I wrote once I started Into the Darkness.

For the sake of those who haven’t read it, I won’t say what the ending actually was. But stuff like Shardak and Valkyria’s fate, the final battle, Varkanax’s identity, and all of Chapter 32 were planned from the beginning. It’s been subtly revised since, but the core of the idea always remained the same.

What were some of the original ideas for the XMS?

Oh…this is a tricky one. Short answer: see User: Varkanax39/Canceled Stories. Long answer: I planned my story The Eternal Game to be a stand-alone series set in an alternate universe. None of the characters or concepts from TEG was meant to enter into the main series, nor were they meant to have any bearing on the plot. However, when people began asking for a sequel, I decided to write one, as TEG was by far my most popular story. At the time, the XMS was not at all well-known, and updates to it were erratic and didn’t make much sense. I decided, as the TEG storyline was going to already resemble closely the end I’d planned for Eternal Darkness, to combine the two universes together. The result of this was that the novella I’d already written, Dissolution, was now non-canonical. I rewrote the story as Into the Darkness, and revised many of the core concepts of both the TEG universe and the XMS so they could coexist as one.

What were the ideas changed, exactly? Well, most of the other changes weren’t really related to the addition of TEG, but they did have a major impact on the storyline. For a complete list, read my canceled stories and compare them to the rest of the XMS, but a few I can think of off the top of my head are the renaming of the species previously called Corpsians to Ix, mostly to change the tone of the story, “Corpsian” sounds a bit too close to the original more lighthearted tone of the series (Wait…you originally intended this to be a lighthearted book series? Yes sir!), switching the locations of Arcaea and Xaterex (Arcaea became the Elemental Kingdom, Xaterex the planet in the main XMS) and adding in the concept of the aura field. Another change was introducing Valkyria one book earlier than planned; she was slated to appear in Insurrection, the planned sequel to Dissolution, before The Shadows Coil took over the planned plot, so I introduced her in Dissolution’s replacement, ''Into the Darkness. ''The rest of the changes were mostly stylistic: making the villains darker, their motivations more gray, the Resistance more ambiguous, using the term “Spirit Toa”, something I hadn’t done previously, it was just the chosen one…I could go on all day about the minor changes I did that may or may not have been noticed, but this section has gone on long enough, so I’ll leave it at that.

'Speaking of TEG, how much of it was inspired by The Hunger Games?

Okay, so this is a weird story. Actually, when TEG first began, it was not. The Eternal Game was inspired first by the Japanese novel Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami. I read that book a few days before I began the first draft of TEG and based the concept around that. I’d heard of The Hunger Games at that time, though, and perhaps TEG’s title was a subconscious reference to that.

I got my hands on The Hunger Games as soon as I could, a few days after I started writing the first draft of TEG (not the version you know). Obviously, I read the rest of the series and enjoyed it, and the latter half of TEG and some of The Shadows Coil are clearly inspired by the trilogy. So, yes, a lot actually was, but the original concept was not.

What is your favorite original character you created and why?

I think I answered this one somewhere before…I’ll do it again anyway, for the record. Well, my protagonists are my personal favorites, but having to choose which protagonist is my favorite out of the main three is hard. My version of Fairon was the easiest to write, Shardak was the character that grew the most throughout the series, and Valkyria was the most interesting. Shardak might be the best character in the series, but I think Valkyria is my favorite- just. Mostly because I adore “gray characters”, that is, characters who are very morally conflicted and because of this Val was my favorite for a long time. Shardak was the most fun to write in Eternal Darkness, though, so it’s close. Very close. They’re all great characters in different ways, especially the villains. Heck, some days I wish I were Reyna or Nightshade, or even Skorpix. :P

What about the characters that were created by other users on CBW?

Well, I’d say Fairon, hands down, but XMS Fairon is so different from the Gigas Magna Fairon that I find it almost impossible to consider them the same character beyond appearance and basic personality. Fairon evolved so much and became an extremely important part of the series that I don’t think he counts here…anyway, as for favorite characters to write; I think I can narrow it down to Skorr, Jekart, and Jareroden. All of the characters entered in the XMS were brilliant, and no offense is intended to anyone by me saying this. But these are the characters I feel are the most interesting to write about- within the confines of the XMS universe, that is.

'''What about a least favorite character? Is that as hard to choose?'''

Well, that’s actually really hard to choose too. But I will say that for a while Saren Naghara started to really, really annoy me, probably because I was slipping too much into Shardak’s mindset. I mean, seriously, he had to- well I won’t spoil anything here for those who haven’t read the series. But while Saren isn’t my least favorite character, for a while I found that he was majorly annoying me. I’m sure some readers felt the same.

How hard was it to create the XMS universe?

Not very hard. Most of the mythology I planned out from the beginning and all of the world building I did after that was pretty consistent. I will say, though, that this series could use a map of some type, just to give concrete positions of all the locations across Xaterex, Noctxia Magna, and all of the other worlds in the series.

How much of the core BIONICLE mythology is retained in the Xaterex storyline?

Almost none, aside from the fact that Toa, Matoran, Glatorian, Agori, and Great Beings exist in the XMS. Their entire history is different, though. Mata Nui and Karzahni are mentioned, but they’re basically just the equivalents of a god and a demonic figure. The XMS is basically original fiction written on a BIONICLE fan site. When I joined it was definitely closer to canon, but the series, aside from the fact it was BIONICLE-inspired, has drifted so far apart from its roots that I retained interest in it long after I lost interest in BIONICLE.

Do you plan on writing anything more set in the Xaterex Multiverse?

Short answer: maybe. Long answer: I’d actually really like to do a prequel of some type, but I’m not sure, really, how many people would really want it to get done. When I started the series, CBW was a huge wiki, and attempts to expand the XMS fanbase on BZpower and Fanfiction.net have been only mildly successful. I will continue to try, but I’ve basically outgrown BIONICLE. In fact, I outgrew it years ago, but the XMS kept me going. I know I said I’d keep writing on here until I finished my story whether or not anyone read it, but I have basically finished it. Anything more will just expand the main storyline, and isn’t essential.

Some people have suggested I retool the XMS as an original fiction series, but I doubt I will, for a lot of reasons. The main one is that I’ve basically moved on. I have other original fiction ideas, that I consider higher-priority than the XMS. However, this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a prequel at some point. I’d actually really like feedback on how many people want to see an XMS prequel, featuring Arcturas, in the near future. Please comment on this, I’d like your feedback. My interest in the main XMS has diminished, but if enough people want a prequel…I’ll see what I can do. I have a few ideas I’m pretty excited about. Anyway, last question. Ah.

So what’s next?

School, actually. Lots of homework, mostly history stuff at the moment. And, incidentally, me finishing ACII. Stupid Venetian guards and…well, I may be getting off-topic here. Sorry.

Aside from that, I can assure you that one day I will produce something worthy of being written, whether or not it gets published here or elsewhere. I will return, be it through the DR Trilogy, an XMS prequel, or my unfinished XMS guide, which I do plan on completing at some point. I still have no intention of resigning my position as CBW admin, so I’ll still be frequenting this site.

Anyway, if you’ve read to the end of this, thank you. Now, if you have any questions of your own for me, regarding my opinion on things or XMS, DR, or other storyline-related stuff, please ask here in the comments, and I’ll answer you.

Anyway, this post has gone on long enough, so let's take it to the comments, shall we? XD

Varkanax39

4 October 2012