I'm Sever Bronny, a full-time coming-of-age fantasy author for six years now, and I just wrapped up my second series. AMA!

Do you have any tips on how to finish a series for Patrick Rothfuss or George R.R. Martin?

Oh brutal, lol.

It's unfair for me to critique the work of masters. That said, having read both series' multiple times, I can sympathize with authors whose works get massively successful in a short period of time. Like, that's a huge weight of responsibility and expectation. And even with the relatively minor success I've seen, I get thousands of emails asking about all sorts of plot lines; can't imagine the pressure these guys are under.

Now, if the three of us were in a room sipping scotch and wearing our douchey tweed writer jackets with our douchey elbow patches and smoking douchey cigars and the conversation was flowing, I *would * ask each of them what it was that made them stop, and what it would take for each of them to be in a place in life where they could wrap up the works. I'd take that shot and see how they replied, and I would honor their responses.

And then I'd pour us another scotch and we would go on griping about douchey author things.

How much writing did you do before starting your first series?

Quite a bit. I actually started a book in my teens, only to lose it in a hard drive crash, which was utterly devastating. Took me until well into adulthood to give it another serious go.

I used to write stories for my role-playing games too, having been a dungeon master/game master for years. I'd love weaving mini tales for my campaigns, crafting maps, plot lines, etc. RPG's built me a strong foundation to work from for my writing.

But most of all, I went through like twelve robust drafts of the first book before publishing it. Really worked out the kinks. Studied the craft of writing like a first-year med student. Left as little to chance as I could whilst writing the adventure I wanted to go on.

The rest, so to speak, is history.

Twelve?!?!?

Yeah. I was determined not to fail again. My first career in music tanked along with Myspace. I vowed not to half-ass my attempt with authoring, hence studying the craft of writing like a first-year med student. I took it very, very seriously and studied the industry for almost two years whilst editing the living hell out of my book.

Somehow from the way you write I've always gotten the feeling you're used to being a dungeon master. I think that's why your action scenes stand out as so good to me

Yeah I spent half my childhood and my teenagehood DM'ing, as well as playing numerous characters. It's funny because my parents always said it was an awful waste of time. Little did any of us know it would become the foundation of a career.

Nice book collection! I see some TOR fantasy novels and LOTR, who is your favorite fantasy author(s)?

Thank you!

I love Rothfuss and GRRM and Tolkien and Orson Scott Card and Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman and Kevin Siembieda and Robert Jordan, but my all-time favorite is J.K. Rowling, specifically her Harry Potter series. I read that series like four or five times before I wanted to write my own story, that's how impactful her work was to my life.

I wanted to create something that can compete with HP for my own fickle attention (it was really hard to delve into other books after HP, which made me ask myself why that was); but also an adventure that would stand on its own--and one that I wanted to go on.

And that was how Arcane was born.

What should we expect in terms of the future of the series? You said at the end of Champion's Wrath that you have more ideas for the future... Don't spoil too much!

Well I'll be writing about the trio as young adults / adults at some point, that much is for sure. There's a lot I'm curious about: how will Augum and Leera fare after everything that's happened? How will Bridget deal with the traumas of war? How will the Arcaner order shape up? What sorts of physical challenges will the trio, as dragons, face?

I'm also planning on writing a series about the "Arcane Artist" Anna Atticus Stone. In that series, each book will be self-enclosed and deal with a portion of her legendary life. She was far more rebellious and outspoken than people realize, so I really look forward to tackling her story.

I don't know how the story ends so I can't ask what I want to know if you plan to keep writing the trios tale but I will ask if you plan to write anymore books in this universe? A possible Prequel showing rise of Mrs Stone as a young lady and her battles with Narsus and rivalry of Von Edgeworth?

I will absolutely write about the trio (as young adults), and I will also absolutely write about Mrs. Stone. Mrs. Stone's story will be a "Chronicles" series, wherein I'll add a self-enclosed book now and then. I'm really looking forward to both, and will reveal which one I will do next in due course.

I haven’t read the newest book yet, but I recall earlier books indicating that Leyans can go off and explore beyond their world, and maybe that gods(?) were just really powerful magic users (though maybe I’m misremembering the latter). Is this something you plan to explore more deeply in the future? It’d be cool to see more about the abilities and lives of even higher level magic users.

Yup, it's a theory in arcaneological circles that gods are merely very powerful warlocks who transcended the planes, so to speak. It's something I hope to one day delve into directly in a book, ideally by having one of the characters (Anna Atticus Stone, perhaps?) achieve that rank. Wouldn't that be fun? It'd be a little like Raistlin from the Dragonlance Twins saga.

I remember it being mentioned that along with frenzy and shrink, the "true" version of doppleganger had also been lost until the archons were taught by the leyan necromancer. The whole concept of true versions of some spells being lost was really interesting to me and I was wondering if there was some kind of concrete list of differences between them.

Also was wondering lately, back at the end of Legend when the lord of the legion seemed to be transforming into a dragon, was that him using a crude "untrue" wild casting of spirit of the dragon? I'm surprised that was never brought up again, but I guess from the characters perspective all they can do is shrug and take a guess lol

There is a concrete list (actually a whole spell book), but the difference will not be published for some time as I will need to keep them close to my chest for the foreseeable future.

And as to the Lord of the Legion turning into a dragon, it was a necromantic spell he had learned in his travails, one that I think would be considered a hybrid wild/proper casting.

It was also a foreshadowing of what was to come in series II ;)

What are your best world building tips?

Keep things simple to start, adding complexity as you go along. Ask yourself pertinent questions like, "What's the most interesting thing that could have happened in this kingdom's history?" or "What can I construct here that would interest me?"

When it comes to creation, the key is to entertain yourself, because if it doesn't entertain you, it won't entertain the reader. And if you're bored with an aspect of your world, don't ask yourself why it's boring, ask yourself what you ca do to make it interesting.

I read history to get inspired. Everything from the dawn of mankind to Marcus Aurellius's Roman era to medieval times. History is just so interesting and can show us authors a path we never would have even thought of.

What is the best independent or self-publisher with high volume of readers? Would you say it is worth it to do a literary agent and the traditional route for getting published?

This is a tricky question to answer. If you're the type that wants someone else to do all the marketing legwork and just want your book in stores without the expectation of making too much money, then traditional publishing is probably for you.

But if you're the type that can learn across multiple tech frontiers, including marketing, all while still ensuring a high quality manuscript, then I'd advise you try the indie route.

Both require study, but indie publishing on this level is most definitely a full-time job. Nobody I know in the indie world sustained their career by only writing books. Everyone works their butt off to optimize their launches, their mailing lists, etc. And they write a lot. Daily. Thousands of words. And sometimes, despite it all, launches can fall flat. Sometimes it's the blurb, sometimes the cover, sometimes the story itself, or just bad luck. It's a very difficult industry.

For indies, I'd recommend absorbing everything the Kboards forum has to teach, and that's besides the many subreddits like r/selfpub. And regardless which route someone takes, I cannot stress how important it is to study the craft of writing, as you can't polish a turd with marketing.

So I always recommend the following books on the craft:

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

A Writer's Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon

Show, Don’t Tell by Sandra Gerth

I've read a ton of craft books and I've found these to be the best, in my opinion.

First of all I want to say I am a huge fan, I read your books multiple times already and loved all of them.

My first question is have you thought about translating your books to more languages? I am hunagrian and altough I loved reading it in english it would be nice to read my favourite books in my native language.

My second question is what similar books would you recommend? I read the Benjamin Ashwood series because I saw you did an interview with the author and I loved those books too. So are there other similar books?

Ps.: Sorry for my english, as I said it's not my native language.

My first question is have you thought about translating your books to more languages?

I haven't given it much thought only because I wasn't sure if there was a demand there. But now that's it's gotten a bit more popular, I probably should start considering it, eh? ;)

My second question is what similar books would you recommend?

You might enjoy Viktor Kloss's Royal Institute of Magic saga ;)

(And your English was fine! Thank you for the questions!)

I might be a bit late in the game, but when writing and editing did you ever find times where you just didn’t want to do it and/or put it aside for a day or days bc you couldn’t get in the mindset?

It does happen now and then, but usually only after I've been really pushing myself too hard, and then I have to take a step back or go exercise or take the evening off. I've found that, for myself, it's all psychology. Sometimes it's a plot issue and all I need to do is pace and think and work the problem until I come up with a solution--and that can take a day or so in the worst case scenario.

Authors can get into their own heads a bit too much, which usually means they're asking themselves the wrong questions. For example, they can mutter to themselves, "God this is so bad nobody's going to like this ever I am a terrible writer this is so embarrassing why is the plot so bad?" etc. And to be fair I started this way too.

But since then I've Pavlov-dog trained myself to ask better quality questions, questions like, "How can I overcome the plot challenge ahead? how can I make this boring-ass scene more interesting? What's the most interesting thing that can happen next? What's the coolest thing that can happen next? How can I make this scene unexpected?" and so on.

See the difference? It's rather magical, and has allowed me to plow through and publish 1.7 million words. Ask yourself better questions and you will get better results.

Ugh, of course I stumble across this hours later. Well if you happen to see this, I am in the middle of Champions Wrath and loving it so far. Thanks for making such an amazing story and group of characters.

A few of my questions already got asked but I was curious if you read any Gamelit, progression, or web serials, and if you do what are some of your favorites? (Personally I think you would like Cradle)

I'm still kicking about, but readying to call it a night soon. I actually haven't read those. What's Cradle and who's it by? Always curious about new things.

Glad you're enjoying my work :)

Cradle is a progression series by Will Wight and is right up there with your stuff with how much I enjoyed it. It’s got some of the highest ratings on Amazon in the fantasy section. Here is a link to the first book.

They are pretty quick reads and they just get better and better with each book. It’s basically about a kid on a world where people perform a mixture of magic and martial arts and everyone’s worth is measured by how much power they have and only the strongest are given resources to get stronger. The MC is born with a magic deficiency so he is basically thrown to the lowest spot possible on the social ladder and told to just live out his life under the radar, take the disrespect with humility, and not rise above his station. Obviously the story is about him overcoming all that. Sorry, I’m not so great with descriptions, but I really think you would like it, the character struggles are really well written.

Perfect, thank you! I'm quite used to seeing Will's work on the charts too, not to mention my own readers comparing our work to each other =P

How old are you?

Approaching good ol' middle-age: 41!

World building, character development, dialogue, proper description, story telling - all are important aspects of telling a strong story, and different authors have different natural strengths and weaknesses. Which aspects of writing do you think you have a natural tendency to excel at, and which do you struggle with? Also, what advice would you give for new authors looking to improve their weaknesses while shoring their strengths?

Great questions!

I'll start with my greatest weakness, which is that I'm not very good at: skipping time. For example, I just spent 1.7 million words (spread over two series') on characters progressing a mere three years (from 14 to 17). That was not planned, it just happened. I'd like to get better with that skill.

As to my greatest strength, it's immersion. My readers tell me I can grab their attention and not let go until the end. I think I learned this skill from Ms. Rowling, whose craft I studied in detail, asking myself what exactly was it about her work that was so darn immersive. By sheer osmosis, I absorbed those lessons.

As to what advice I would give for new authors looking to improve their weaknesses while shoring their strengths, I'd say that it's important to read as many craft books (books on writing) as you can. I've read a ton of them and have come to recommend the following four: * Wired for Story* by Lisa Cron

Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

A Writer's Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon

Show, Don’t Tell by Sandra Gerth

And obviously study the great works. Studying the craft and what made great works tick will give you a baseline / reference point to work with.

Hey, Sever! Love your books, and just started your newest. I’ve always wanted to write my own, but struggle on how to begin—

Does the world or the story come first??

Thank you! hmm, well from my perspective they kind of go hand in hand. But you can get away with flying by the seat of your pants and building both as you write (that's what I did with Arcane, refining the story with each draft).

Personally I'd recommend building at least the framework of the story ahead of time using cue cards with your plot points, or something along those lines. And also drafting at least a shell of world that you would fill in as you went along.

Hope that helps!

How did you come up with the language for the trigger phrases for the spells? Was that something you developed while writing the books, or was it something that had been simmering for a while? It seems like a combination of quite a few different languages.

it is indeed a combination of a few languages: Latin first and foremost, but also Polish (my birth tongue), French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Often I sound out the words aloud while pacing the apartment and see how I feel the word sounds relative to the spell. I imagine the gesture involved and what the spell does and ask myself it it all matches up. It often takes quite a few tries to get the spell just right.

So... you're learning wild arcanery? ;)

Ha! I suppose I am, in my own way ;)

When will the audible version be out? I drive a lot for work and I found your first book on audible for free with my premium membership about 8 weeks ago and now almost finished Mercy’s Trail. Thank you for writing an amazing two amazing series and building an in depth world.

The contract with the publisher (Tantor) was only for three books, and as you know the series ran to four books, lol. So I guess I have to ask the publisher to see if they'll take on the project (I don't see why they wouldn't). I'm guessing mid 2021? Maybe earlier?

Glad you're enjoying my work. And while you wait, you can listen to the entire first series on Audible, which is narrated by Grammy winner Stefan Rudnicki (Ender's Game, etc).

How did you ever get over writers block? Did you ever want to quit and if so, what made you stay?

I never wanted to quit. I enjoy writing too much.

As to writer's block, I hope you'll forgive me but I'll copy an answer I gave above:

It does happen now and then, but usually only after I've been really pushing myself too hard, and then I have to take a step back or go exercise or take the evening off. I've found that, for myself, it's all psychology. Sometimes it's a plot issue and all I need to do is pace and think and work the problem until I come up with a solution--and that can take a day or so in the worst case scenario.

Authors can get into their own heads a bit too much, which usually means they're asking themselves the wrong questions. For example, they can mutter to themselves, "God this is so bad nobody's going to like this ever I am a terrible writer this is so embarrassing why is the plot so bad?" etc. And to be fair I started this way too.

But since then I've Pavlov-dog trained myself to ask better quality questions, questions like, "How can I overcome the plot challenge ahead? how can I make this boring-ass scene more interesting? What's the most interesting thing that can happen next? What's the coolest thing that can happen next? How can I make this scene unexpected?" and so on.

See the difference? It's rather magical, and has allowed me to plow through and publish 1.7 million words. Ask yourself better questions and you will get better results.

That's my advice when it comes to writer's block :)

I am a huge fan and want your work to be more recognized. What's the best way to support you?

I'm deeply honored! That's a wonderful question. I simply don't have the energy these days to get my name out there like I should (like the work deserves), so I think spreading the word about my work on social media / reddit (places like r/fantasy) and the like would go a very long way.

Thank you again, that is such a kind offer! :)

What are your most useful tips for amateur writers?

and

What was your favorite book/chapter/line, etc. that you ever wrote? Why?

At the moment (and this changes often) my favorite chapter that I've ever written is called "Later, in Arinthia" in my seventh book, Honor's Price. And the reason is because there is a lot of nuance in there that I got juuust right. I've read and reread that chapter countless times appreciating my own special little moment that tweaked my writing sensibilities just so.

There are many others, but today's favorite was that one =P

As to tips for writers, I get that question a lot, so allow me to copy and paste a response I oft give (not all of it will apply to you of course, but you'll get the gist):

To be successful as a professional author, you will need to independently master the following skill sets:

• A story so good people will email you asking when book 2 will be out

• Quality self-editing

• Hiring a professional full-time editor who specializes in your genre

• Making the right hiring decision for a cover designer relevant to your craft: make sure they're a full-timer

• A top-tier blurb (this is much harder than it sounds, and probably the most difficult process of the whole list)

• Quality book formatting

• A competent, well-researched and realistic marketing campaign (see kboards)

• A strong website

• Anonymous beta readers who can tell it to you straight (friends will tell you what you want to hear, which does you a disservice)

• Later, an Advance Reader Team

• Attention to detail

• Mental muscle. This craft is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Missing any one of these will likely see you out of the running for that particular book launch. Here’s where I talk a bit more about some of these:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5ot1tm/four_years_five_books_867000_words_its_not_every/

and

https://www.reddit.com/r/happy/comments/9kusvj/after_dropping_out_of_college_and_failing_in_my/

I made a comment in each of those posts (you have to scroll down to find it).

I can certainly help point you in the right direction as far as authoring goes, but you should know I spent 1.5 years studying the market day in and day out via kboards, which taught me how to publish successfully, before hitting the publish button. Kboards is a forum where professional and amateur writers mingle and talk strategy:

https://www.kboards.com/index.php?board=60.0

If you're interested in publishing that's where you want to start. Now, the craft of writing is a whole other matter. My childhood was spent immersed in fantasy in many forms, which laid the groundwork for my career. I still, however, lacked the actual ability to write well. Thus, I spent around 3 or so super solid years while working part-time reading as many craft books as I could get my hands on, applying the lessons with each redraft, and building my writer skill set. My first book went through twelve drafts before it was ready, and even then I wish I had been able to afford a professional editor as things slipped through. And I have to tell you, people can be ruthless readers: even a few spelling and grammar mistakes can warrant a 1-star review, and if you get too many of those in a row, it's the kiss of death to your book and to all that time you spent researching, writing, and marketing.

The truth is, this career only worked because I loved every aspect of it: the marketing, the publishing, the design, the web interactions, the medieval research, and, of course, the writing. That 1.5 years on kboards was the key, as I read all the relevant posts and made posts of my own asking pertinent questions. For example, here are two very dated posts I made years back:

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,219382.0.html

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,224107.0.html

You can also click on my author profile on kboards and scroll back through my posts, to see what the journey looks like.

This is all stuff I tell all aspiring authors, as there's a lot of hidden work under the hood you need to be aware of before you embark on this journey. And, unfortunately, the industry does not forgive mistakes. There are over six million books in the entire Amazon store and only 1000 authors make more than a hundred grand a year. The vast, vast majority have zero reviews and zero sales.

Lastly, if you’re into craft books, I always recommend the following four to aspiring authors:

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

A Writer's Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon

Show, Don’t Tell by Sandra Gerth

I've read a ton of craft books and I've found these to be the best, in my opinion. And lastly, you can check out a slew of writing-related subreddits here, which can aid you in the process, as well as provide critiques on your writing. Good luck in your journey!

Sever

Is fantasy your favorite genre of story or is there something else that you like more?

The Fantasy genre is absolutely my fav because it has the fewest limits on the imagination ;)

Probably too late, but any advice for an aspiring writer?

I get this question a lot, so allow me to copy and paste a response I oft give (not all of it will apply to you of course, but you'll get the gist):

To be successful as a professional author, you will need to independently master the following skill sets:

• A story so good people will email you asking when book 2 will be out

• Quality self-editing

• Hiring a professional full-time editor who specializes in your genre

• Making the right hiring decision for a cover designer relevant to your craft: make sure they're a full-timer

• A top-tier blurb (this is much harder than it sounds, and probably the most difficult process of the whole list)

• Quality book formatting

• A competent, well-researched and realistic marketing campaign (see kboards)

• A strong website

• Anonymous beta readers who can tell it to you straight (friends will tell you what you want to hear, which does you a disservice)

• Later, an Advance Reader Team

• Attention to detail

• Mental muscle. This craft is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Missing any one of these will likely see you out of the running for that particular book launch. Here’s where I talk a bit more about some of these:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5ot1tm/four_years_five_books_867000_words_its_not_every/

and

https://www.reddit.com/r/happy/comments/9kusvj/after_dropping_out_of_college_and_failing_in_my/

I made a comment in each of those posts (you have to scroll down to find it).

I can certainly help point you in the right direction as far as authoring goes, but you should know I spent 1.5 years studying the market day in and day out via kboards, which taught me how to publish successfully, before hitting the publish button. Kboards is a forum where professional and amateur writers mingle and talk strategy:

https://www.kboards.com/index.php?board=60.0

If you're interested in publishing that's where you want to start. Now, the craft of writing is a whole other matter. My childhood was spent immersed in fantasy in many forms, which laid the groundwork for my career. I still, however, lacked the actual ability to write well. Thus, I spent around 3 or so super solid years while working part-time reading as many craft books as I could get my hands on, applying the lessons with each redraft, and building my writer skill set. My first book went through twelve drafts before it was ready, and even then I wish I had been able to afford a professional editor as things slipped through. And I have to tell you, people can be ruthless readers: even a few spelling and grammar mistakes can warrant a 1-star review, and if you get too many of those in a row, it's the kiss of death to your book and to all that time you spent researching, writing, and marketing.

The truth is, this career only worked because I loved every aspect of it: the marketing, the publishing, the design, the web interactions, the medieval research, and, of course, the writing. That 1.5 years on kboards was the key, as I read all the relevant posts and made posts of my own asking pertinent questions. For example, here are two very dated posts I made years back:

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,219382.0.html

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,224107.0.html

You can also click on my author profile on kboards and scroll back through my posts, to see what the journey looks like.

This is all stuff I tell all aspiring authors, as there's a lot of hidden work under the hood you need to be aware of before you embark on this journey. And, unfortunately, the industry does not forgive mistakes. There are over six million books in the entire Amazon store and only 1000 authors make more than a hundred grand a year. The vast, vast majority have zero reviews and zero sales.

Lastly, if you’re into craft books, I always recommend the following four to aspiring authors:

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

A Writer's Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon

Show, Don’t Tell by Sandra Gerth

I've read a ton of craft books and I've found these to be the best, in my opinion. And lastly, you can check out a slew of writing-related subreddits here, which can aid you in the process, as well as provide critiques on your writing. Good luck in your journey!

Sever

So your last book came today!! I've been busy today and will start it tonight. I finished the last book possibly in May I think. Will I need to re-read that first to get myself back to where we are in the series? I've just read all the questions you've been asked today and saw where you discussed the movie route. Do not just put feelers out there. Go for it. I truly believe your story is just as ,if not better, than Harry Potter. Push for it hard. You deserve the wealth it will bring.

It's up to you. A lot of people have been telling me they're rereading it to catch up, but I don't think it's necessarily essential or anything if you just want to dive in.

And that's very kind of you to say regarding the movies and HP and all. Thing is, I'm challenged by time. I spend a lot of time writing and editing my work, so there's very little time for anything else, let alone pursuing movies. That said, maybe an opportunity will present itself in due course and I'll have a chance to jump on it, who knows.

In the mean, I am more than grateful to simply be able to write for a living in the first place and support my wife and put a roof over our heads. Everything else is gravy ;)

What your next series going to be about?

I'm not quite ready to reveal that at this time ;)

Are you going to be continuing with the trio's adventures? If so, do you plan on their distant futures, or their current age?

Yes, I will be in due course. And at the very least in their young adulthood (20's+). But I have yet to make a final decision on that.

So I have two burning questions. What degree is senior acaneologist Ning? And is there an extension to teleport that allows one additional person to teleport with? I think I remember harvus teleporting off with leera, but he wasn't high enough to know group teleport

Thanks! Love the books, I've read them twice so far and just started champions wrath

Ning's degree is yet to be revealed, but you can bet it's very high. Interestingly, her own subordinates have no idea what degree she is because anytime they ask they get a vicious tongue-lashing.

There probably is an extension to Teleport, I just haven't published it (I have a lot of spell variations that have yet to see the light of day).

Glad you're enjoying my work, and I hope you enjoy Champion's Wrath!

Are you planning on any series in new worlds or with different characters?

I'm going to stick to the world I created because I love it. As to different characters, there's an old woman in my world named Anna Atticus Stone who everybody loved (and I loved writing about). I want to write at least one book from her point of view because she is so bad ass (they didn't call her "The Arcane Artist" for nothing!).

But I will also write another series about my beloved trio, Augum, Bridget and Leera, who I never tire of.

Glad to hear that you will be writing a book on the "Arcane Artist" Anna Atticus Stone. I'm looking forward to this one!

I'm hoping to read more about other masters who possessed the scions of the other elements as well. Do you think we will get a glimpse of this in any upcoming work?

That's difficult to answer at this time, but I have gotten many requests from people to write about legends like Atrius Arinthian, Attyla the Mighty, even Occulus. So it's definitely a possibility down the line ;)

How did you go about creating the world for the two book series? As in, where did you start and how did you follow up after that?

I began flying by the seat of my pants, creating the world as I went along, chapter by chapter, character by character, plot line by plot line. In fact, when I first started in that first fateful chapter, I didn't even know if it was going to be a sci-fi book. I just started writing.

Bit by bit, the world grew. I made one decision after another. Now there's entire binders full of rich detail, so much so that it can be a bit overwhelming. A tiny fraction of the lore of the world is on my website too. One day I hope to have enough time to post more, or maybe get someone to do it for me so I can keep writing.

Hey Sever. Haven't gotten to reading your books yet, but definitely interested now the series are finished (Rothfuss and Martin have me paranoid of unfininished series). Do you find that wrapping up the story arcs is much trickier than the first couple of books? Is it harder to find inspiration, or just a matter of discipline and writing something?

Loved TM, shall look forward to these stories too. Thank you for sharing your work!

Yeah I hear that a lot from people: they don't want to start a series only to be disappointed when it doesn't get finished. And I can totally understand that as there's nothing worse than loving a series only to have to wait at the end of it for the author to tie everything up.

I'll say that I got very good at wrapping up plot lines and story arcs, and so I truly feel (and hear about it too) that the endings to both series' are most satisfying in that respect. I wanted my readers to walk away totally satisfied (other than nuggets I've purposely left for future works, which will be answered in due course).

And yes, it's mostly a matter of discipline. Sometimes that means pacing the apartment all day until i find a conclusion to a plot line. Sometimes that means rewriting a whole plot line, or editing out an entire character from a book (and that is no easy feat, let me tell you). All part of the process :)

How many hours a day do you write? Are you able to fully support yourself with writing?

When writing, I write as long as it takes to finish that day's goal, which is usually 4-6 hours. My baseline is 2300 words a day when writing, but I often go above that. My best day ever was 10,000 words; my best month, 100,000 words.

Yes, I have been able to fully support myself and my wife with my writing since 2015, something I am grateful for every single day, for I know how damn rare that is in this craft. I never take it for granted, ever.

Huh, good to see you here! I haven’t grabbed your latest book yet, I’m just finishing a book off at the moment, but I’ve been a big fan since book one!

I figure I’ll ask a couple of the obvious questions, I’d bet half a dozen others have probably asked the same, but you know, what the heck, may as well!

So, what were your main inspirations for the series? The magic and tier systems are pretty interesting, and I’m curious what led to it! Be that other books, games, whatever! 😃

Also, what’s your system for spell names? Just a fun one this, but do you use variations on a dead language of some form, are they all unique and custom for the spells, or something else? The spell names have always for me added a nice level of depth to the story, and considering I can still remember a number of them despite not having picked up a book in the series since the week the last fury of a rising dragon book dropped speaks for itself on their impact I think!

And lastly, and this is something that is probably discussed in the most recent book, but as I’m here and I can possibly ask a more precise question here, but will we be seeing more from the main cast? Will there be a, well, trilogy of trilogies? If so, I’m excited as to what the next world problem will be! And if not, will we be seeing more in the world, in the way of a new cast, or following side characters? (Although I hope for more main cast books, even the content of them just learning magic in relatively normal times is great, side books are fine too 😃😂)

And I suppose I’ll ask, in a similar vein to the one before, what I ask most authors who do AMA style things - what else is on the docket? Although I wouldn’t say all writers do, a vast majority of the writers I know have some other project they’re slowly filling out ideas for to come after (or alongside) their current project. So, what’s yours? Well, if you have one, and being general enough to not give spoilers, and if you don’t mind talking about it! So yeah, have you got any other series outlined on the side for when you’ve wrapped up whatever (or whatever your answer is to the prior question) is left of the current cast and setting? And if so, what sort of thing is it going to be?

But besides all that, thanks for the awesome content you’ve provided us all over the past few years! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and wherever it goes from here I’m sure I’ll be sticking along for the ride!

So, what were your main inspirations for the series?

In terms of books and characters, my main inspirations were role-playing games such as DnD and Rifts. In terms of books, Harry Potter, Ender's Game, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, and Wheel of Time. Some GRRM and Rothfuss in there too in terms of influence. As to video games, the entire Diablo franchise had a part to play (I lost years to those games, though I suppose those years weren't a complete write-off).

what’s your system for spell names?

I did answer this one already, so I hope you'll forgive me for copy-pasting a bit of my answer: they're a combination of a few languages: Latin first and foremost, but also Polish (my birth tongue), French, Japanese, and Spanish. Often I sound out the words aloud while pacing the apartment and see how I feel the word sounds relative to the spell. I imagine the gesture involved and what the spell does and ask myself it it all matches up. It often takes quite a few tries to get the spell just right. And it's awesome that you can still remember some of them! Tells me I did my job ;)

will we be seeing more from the main cast?

You absolutely will be seeing more from the trio in due course. I'm also planning on writing about "The Arcane Artist" Anna Atticus Stone. Each book will be self-enclosed and deal with a chapter of her life. Either way, I'll be sticking to my world for some time to come :)

what else is on the docket?

I'm slowly, slowly coming around to the idea of turning the works into a movie/Netflix/Amazon/whatever franchise. And only because it's the number one question I get asked all the time: when's it coming to the screen? And the truth is I have no idea, or even if it will happen. It just comes up so often that I'm genuinely curious myself. And is it even possible? Or would it be too expensive? Just because my readers want to see it happen, would the public have any interest? I just don't know. I mean, I initially wrote it to be easily translated to the screen, but that could mean diddly squat in the grand scheme of things.

In any case, I'm simply happy to be writing full-time. Everything else is a bonus ;)

Thank you for such great questions and for your support of my work!

Hi, I started reading your books this summer, I wish I had found them earlier! I was wondering how you came to the decision to effectively publish your own books instead of going the traditional route of using a large publisher? I'm curious if the decision was financial, editorial control, or just convenience?

Thank you! (And I'd LOVE to see a book about Anna, especially if there's a chapter or three on Jez, my favorite character!)

Good question. It was a combination of all three, for sure. Having done the whole indie musician thing, I felt that I could wear the hat of the independent publisher. But whereas I hardly understood the music industry, this time I took a couple years to study the indie publishing industry prior to hitting the publish button.

What did that look like? I respectfully asked already successful authors questions; I participated in a forum where the big indie authors hang out; and I read countless books and studied countless tutorial websites about every aspect of the publishing process.

And I brought as high quality to each element as I could. Like, I really, really took it seriously. I did not want to experience failure again, as I had happened with my music career.

And let me tell you, there is no bigger motivator than failure.

*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS OF CHAMPIONS WRATH*

Hi Mr. Bronny. I loved Champions Wrath, and I thought it was a wonderful end to the series, but one thing keeps on bothering me. Im really trying not to spoil anything for people who havent read the book yet, but my issue is not with the actual results of Tyrannecron's curse, but more of how it came about. While I understand his hatred towards Augums family, it seems like it came out of the blue. The entirety of the situation, from the reveal, to the characters coming to grips with it was all condensed into the very last chapter and epilogue. It felt very rushed.

My question, if you wish to answer it, is will this be addressed more in depth in a future series? Ning, in all her wisdom, seems to have a definitive opinion on the situation. Do we assume that is the final answer and that the end of the topic, or will it be addressed either in a future series or (hopefully) cured? If its a plot point in the future no need to answer. Im just saying we had only 2 chapters to come to terms with it.

Thanks!

I can understand how the suddenness of what happened feels a bit ... traumatizing. For me, I don't think any amount of time at the end would have been a balm. It's a tragedy for two people, but it's also a challenge for them (and anyone else facing such a dilemma). How will they react? Will they find some sort of arcaneological way around the dilemma? Will they come to terms with it?

It's something I'm deeply curious about, something very human. My work has costs. People die. Certain spells have terrible side effects. What happened in this circumstance was a cost, a way to appreciate the life the characters do have (if that makes any sense).

But rest assured about one thing: Augum and Leera will not go quietly into the night.