Bitter Cold Truth: A Tale of the Everburning City

Exit Interview

First and foremost, thank you all. Your time, your interest, your feedback has been the central inspiration for giving The Everburning City form. I'm a bit of a sucker for feedback, and I would like to continue treating my skills as a writer as something in constant need of development and refining.

To that end, I thought I'd ask you, if you're willing, what you thought of what you've read.

1. What did you think of Samuel B Fraser? He goes through a great deal in these few days, and the entire story is spent riding on his shoulder. What did you think of his flaws, his strengths, did he carry the story well?

2. Was this an acceptable story to happen after The Dragon Chase? I know it isn't the sequel you deserve, and I need to write, but how did it do to help advance your understanding of the City and how the Sixth Invasion impacted it?

3. My works do have something of a villain problem. Where the villain is more the event, fare or circumstances than a visible antagonist. Does that harm the story? I thought it did somewhat in Bitter Cold Truth, and I imagine some people felt the same way for The Dragon Chase.

4. The making of Coldstone is actually extremely important to the wider narrative of the series, and getting it introduced into the narrative was an essential piece of the development. Did the truth seem too horrible? Fitting for The City? And how does that impact your understanding of both Theo Ratterson, and even Gerald?

5. I hope I didn't deal with Angela's disability in too ham-fisted a manner. Did it fit in fairly well?

6. The Tales of the Everburning City tend to focus around specific events, rather than characters. Which means that the character I use to tell the tale tend to be the ones in the best place to experience it, rather than the fan favourites. Does this format work for you? Or is it disappointing to see the cast of The Dragon Chase on the sidelines?

7. The chapter titles were hard, but I liked how they turned out. They'd be more difficult to do if I were using multiple perspectives, which means they might be something I save for a story with a singular perspective, like this one. But how did you like them?

8. It's going to take a book to get the full crew assembled, and ready to leave the City. The next one, Stigma and Spite, should put me in a position to be ready to do that. Anything you'd like me to remember to do for that next book?

9. I'm not finished with the cult of the Burning Redeemer. What did you think of them as an antagonist agency? Were they more than a silky stock villain to you?

10. I have a bit of a conundrum with being part of the Paid Stories program. I'd like to make some money on this writing thing, but at the same time, your interest and support is what drove me to make these stories what they are, and I can't appreciate that properly by hiding all of it behind a paywall. For the moment, I plan on keeping Stigma and Spite free, but I'd like to submit the prequel story about the Fifth Invasion behind a paywall. Does this sound reasonable to you?

11. I noted that the most read chapter in this story is Gerald's rendition of 'You're Welcome'. By a significant margin. Should I be doing more of this sort of thing? I kind of want to make a humorous theatrical version of The Dragon Chase, where the cast watch a play about those events.

12. Any other thoughts? Don't hold it in. I'm a grown-ass man, I can take the hit.

And finally, just as I began, thank you. Time is a precious commodity, and I'm grateful you spent it here.

Burn brightly