The Quest for the Legends

What exactly made everything get wiped?

It's unclear. First there was the whole "Too many connections" thing, and then when I messed with the configuration settings I couldn't get the server to start again. I'm not sure at exactly which point the data itself got deleted, which makes it hard to determine the cause.

Do you enjoy writing?

Of course I do. o.O Would I do so much of it if I didn't?

What is your motivation?

Depends. For this fic in particular, it's how much I want to write the end that really keeps me going.

How do you get all that mad typing done? @_@ *stares at long-ness of all the chapters*

With lots of writing sprees and one hell of a lot of free time over six years.

What if a movie producer came up to you and said that he wanted to make The Quest for the Legends into a movie? Would you agree to do it?

Possibly, provided I had a lot of control over the content and particularly the script.

Do you type on a labtop- or a Desktop- Computer?

Desktop. Never had a laptop.

Hypthetically, if you weren't the author of TQFL, would you be a fan of it?

Depends. I'd be a fan of The Fall of a Leader and Scyther's Story, definitely, since they're practically made of all my instalove-factors, and I'd love the ending, but I don't know if I'd ever bother to read past the beginning. :P

Do you ever intend to put that writing guide where it's accesible on the menu bars?

Maybe when it's, you know, actually finished. :o As in when it's not a mismatch of the revised guide and the old one that shamelessly repeats and contradicts itself thanks to this. Seriously, I don't get how people can look at that guide and be puzzled that it's not on the menu. It's extremely WIP at the moment.

Hmm… Have you ever been the victim of discrimination due to your being an atheist?
(Jeez, that's worded ackwardly…)

No, not really.

What made you decide to give Volcaryu to Carl?

It was just the sort of thing Carl would do, so he did it. And it offers lovely opportunity for Chaletwo to get all worried in his subtly-fatherly ways.

What are you favorite animes/mangas?

They don't show any anime over here and I've never been into either anime or manga at all; my boyfriend has showed me a couple of episodes of various anime and gotten me to read a couple of manga books, but it would be wildly irresponsible of me to start picking a favorite based on that. Quite literally the only non-Pokémon anime I've seen any substantial number of episodes of is Neon Genesis Evangelion, which he made me watch in its entirety. Even so, I never got that much into it, really (maybe I just need to watch it again to properly get what the hell is going on). So I'm… eh, not really qualified to answer this question.

Do you watch subbed anime, or other TV programs, exluding Pokémon?

As I said, my boyfriend likes to show me things he likes, but I rarely see more than a few episodes of whatever he's most obsessed with at any given moment.

Do you like dubbed anime in general?

Judging from Evangelion and Pokémon, I tend not to be too fond of English dub voice acting, but again, not really qualified to answer. Actually I think they are quite literally the only dubbed anime I have ever seen.

Have you always been a perfectionist?

Pretty much.

Do you think Ash's Chimchar will evolve?

I have not seen a single episode of D/P and exactly one post-Kanto episode. I'm really not qualified to answer that question. Hell, I didn't even know his Chimchar hadn't evolved yet.

Do you like exploiting glitches in Video Games?

Trying them is often fun if they have interesting or bizarre effects. Actually exploiting them tends to take the fun out of it.

How much, on a regular day, TV do you watch?

About six minutes average. This would be because I watch a 45-minute episode of Lost once a week. :P Well, okay, my boyfriend downloads House and I watch that with him, but that's on his computer so it's not technically TV.

Are you fluent in any languages other than English and Icelandic?

No, but I speak a little bit of Danish and German and a very, very tiny bit of Japanese.

I just thought of something… What were the Ouen Route numbers in the original? Was the change the the 300's the first numbering change?

I didn't actually make an Ouen map or start mentioning route numbers until after R/S were out, so I first started it with the 200s. I wouldn't have mentioned them at all if Hoenn hadn't given a very convenient reason to believe that we knew how region routes would be numbered in the future, unlike what happened when G/S/C were out.

Do you participate in online text-based RPGs?

No. I never really got into it.

Do you, personally, play ROMs on emulators? What about ROM hacks?

Occasionally, when it's a game I can't seem to get my hands on otherwise or if I need to get screenshots. Hacks, never actually played one although I wouldn't have anything against it if there were one that I was very interested in.

Are you a huge fan of other fics? Any in particular you'd want to list?

I don't read a lot of fics, but some of my very favorites are:

- The Ties that Bind by Saffire Persian, a really sad one-shot that manages to make me cry every time I read it.
- Me and My Flame, a 53-chapter completed epic about wild Charizard, a snarky Vulpix/Ninetales and oh-so-much more.
- Tangled Web, an eight-chapter beginning of a trainer fic that in this space managed to be made of pure, unadulterated awesome thanks to the author's BEST WRITING STYLE EVER and the original plot. Can only be found on TPM now.
- The Last of Its Kind, a horror one-shot by the same author.

I am also currently following elyvorg's fic, Lost Evolution, which is pretty awesome as well.

What's your advice for anyone who attempts to write an OT fic? Any warnings, do's and don't's, etc.?

My main piece of advice for OT fics is to have a region map of some sort, whether it's a canon region or a made-up one (especially the latter, of course). A detailed one. And then write a description of all the locations like what the landscape is like (for routes), how many people live there (for cities), why it's named whatever it's called, possibly native Pokémon, et cetera. It's incredible how much you can spin out of a spur-of-the-moment location description written long before the characters actually get there, and it adds depth to the setting.

Have you considered setting up a forum-based roleplay using settings like Ruxido where the characters are the Leta(l/ligon) in the herd? (I think there was a thread before the forums were wiped about how to get activity up, and while thinking about that this came to mind.)

Uh, seeing as I don't roleplay myself, I don't really think I'm the right person to set up any kind of roleplay… If somebody else were interested in doing this sort of thing, I wouldn't have anything against making a forum for it.

What's your dream job? (Figured you're too old for me to ask what you want to be when you grow up, xD)

A professional writer. Possibly a teacher, programmer and/or web designer on the side.

Am I asking too many (personal) questions?

No. I'm rather bored, really, and questions are fun.

how did you think of the fan fic?

Depends on which part of it, because practically everything is a mismatch of ideas from a five-year period.

How are you going to make Charlie be able to re/de-evolve without Raintecune and Molzapart?
(If you still plan on taking them out of the story,that is.)

Molzapart's powers would be transferred onto Mementity, but even so I don't actually need Charlie to have that ability in the first place, so that's being ditched.

Well, mostly, just describe what the POV character would notice. :/ I'm no good at description myself, so it's little use asking me much about that.

Did you purposely put a butterfree, charzard, scyther, and gyarados in the fic because they were the mascots for the main site, or was that just a coincidence? ( sorry i cant really word questions that well…)

I put Charizard and Butterfree into the fic because they were my favorite Pokémon, Gyarados and Lapras because they were my favorite Water-types, Jolteon and Raichu because they were my favorite Electric-types, Sandslash and Tyranitar because they were my favorite Pokémon that used Ground attacks, and so on (Mark and May's teams were meticulously planned before I really started the fic). Charizard and Butterfree were also the mascots of the site because they were my favorite Pokémon. Scyther became one of my favorite Pokémon after I wrote him into the fic, and Scyther was added in as a site mascot (or at least part of the splash history) after that (again, because it was one of my favorite Pokémon). And Magikarp was put there because I thought the "Splash" joke was too good to resist and I already had an excuse to include Magikarp in the site's collection of potential inhabitants.

How long had you been planning for Floatzel's capture before it happened?

Uh, a couple of hours. I was writing chapter 43, had Mark and May out at sea, her needing a new Water-type, and realized she would do something about it. "Oh, hey, maybe Floatzel?"

Well, yes, pretty much. Every character I write has their personality pop out of nowhere when I first start creating a scene with them in, whether I happen to be at the computer typing it when that happens or just somewhere waiting for the bus making something up in my head. It's just the way I operate in general.

That's a bit of a silly question to ask when you don't know how the fic ends. For all you know, it might end with the end of the world, or the main characters might be dead, or any of the other billion ways in which a sequel would be impossible or at least improbable.

And since there are a billion ways after all, I think I might as well say that no, there will most definitely not be a sequel. When the fic is over, it is over, and it would be quite impossible to make a sequel that would make any sense as a sequel and be interesting.

Could you put the old writing guide back on the menu?

No, because it's under reconstruction and does not make any sense as it is right now. As it was before, it was not very good.

How about the art thieves click here?

That was stupid and pointless and just a random place to vent my frustrations about art theft. Now that I have a Wall of Shame, it is really obsolete, and it is not as if it was ever going to convince anybody not to steal art. If I were to bring it back, it would just be an article about my most amusing experiences with art theft - no alerts.

Or the old fan theories?

Didn't you read my lengthy breakdown of why I wanted to take them down? From the 03/17/08 update:

* I stopped accepting fan content a while ago. It seems weird to have a few random pages of submitted content still there. This is a pretty minor reason, though.
* It seems like half of the time I get an e-mail mentioning these theories, whether positively or negatively, the author mistakenly believes that I wrote it despite the italicized names of the real authors noted at the top of each page. So basically I keep getting either showered with praise I don't deserve or attacked for opinions that aren't even my own. Both feel considerably awkward.
* It seems kind of stupid that my site, which contains some of my own theories about the Pokémon world and is generally pretty much in its entirety written by me, contains these other theories, parts of which I distinctly disagree with. Even if it were clear to everyone who read them that I didn't actually write the theories, having them on my site definitely does seem to imply that I approve or agree with them, which, well, I largely don't. I've been kind of uncomfortable with that from the beginning, actually, but had them up anyway because I was letting people submit fan content.
* Following that: although I haven't personally made any plans to create a Pokémon breeding theory of my own as I just figure they do it the same way we do, Pokémon genetics and evolution are subjects that I myself have wanted to write theories about for a while. Obviously it would be kind of odd to have two completely different theories about Pokémon genetics or evolution on my site, one of which is mine and the other not. And that probably-coming-soon theory I mentioned above does slightly touch upon Pokémon breeding such that it would be rather incompatible with Dannichu's breeding theory, as well.
* The breeding theory in particular was written in 2003 and can well be considered outdated at this point since it revolves around the three fairies, Mew, Celebi and Jirachi. We now have Manaphy and Shaymin as additions to this group, and technically it would make the most sense if they also had some role in the process following the original theory's logic. This doesn't entirely invalidate the theory, but it shakes its foundations in the same way as the fourth generation shook the foundations of my Zodiac.

Then I put up the theory of Pokémon gender ratios and genetics, and that along with the Pokémon evolution and Pokéballs theory I'm going to write at some point in the future basically contradicts everything in the old fan theories.

I liked them very much and I need you to bring them back.

You don't "need me" to bring them back. They're still there, at exactly the same URLs they used to be; I can give you the links if you absolutely must keep reading them. But I will not put them back on the menu because I don't actually endorse their content anymore.

And why did Suicune have to die?

Because otherwise the entire Gyarados/Spirit/legendary beasts subplot would make absolutely no sense.

I don't exactly "plan" to make the story any particular number of chapters; I don't care how many chapters it is. However, I've estimated that it'll probably end up as something between seventy and eighty chapters.

Have you ever inspired somebody to write a fic? If so, how did you react and/or feel?

I think a couple of people have told me my work inspired them to write a fic. My general reaction is a sort of half-flattered, half-worried that they might go make the same mistakes I did kind.

What was the biggest case of plot-block you've experienced so far in writing TQftL? How long did it take for you to overcome it?

I've never really encountered plot block with the fic at all, since I've been making up the plot that far ahead of time. :/ I thought I'd have plot block after chapter 38, but then I just realized I could make chapter 39 to connect it to the next thing that was going to happen. Now, as you know, I have mapped out everything up to chapter 53 (now 55). The first possible plot block I could have is after that.

What is your favorite question EVER?

What, question in general, or question I've gotten here?

Did playing Explorers of Time have any effect on the selection of certain minor Pokémon that are going to appear in the fic?

…what? No. o_O Why would it? You say "certain minor Pokémon" as if you know of some particular future minor Pokémon, but I don't think I do.

Why would having less computer time when you were fourteen be so bad?

Because I felt like crap in eighth and ninth grade and without my website I would probably have grown up to be very sad, very dependent on my best real-life friend, have clung to her when we moved on to our current school stage (as it is we went to different schools), never have gotten a boyfriend or become a remotely likeable person, and generally remained an arrogant, hostile, socially challenged know-it-all. I'd probably be on my way to university to sell my soul as a mathematician while still writing badly written fantasy fiction that never goes anywhere in my free time.

Worst fear?

Realistic fear of something that could happen to me, or just most frightening situation I can imagine in general?

While I was skimming through your half way finished writing guide, the example for a character idea you talked about jumped out at me; the boy who doesn't dream. The reason for that was that I had a concept idea that went along the lines of: “what if somebody who had Cresselia and Darkrai went powerhungry and enslaved the human race by rewarding people who followed his orders with lucid dreams and torturing anybody who opposed him with nightmares ?”. I didn't really know who could possibly oppose such a force, so I ditched the idea. Then, when I saw your dreamless character, I nearly fell off my chair in surprise. I would have SO totally wrote something if I wasn't so busy revising Bug III. What do you think about this?

What, as in writing a story with a dreamless protagonist rising up against that villain? Sure; could be interesting if done right.

Okay. My favorite question ever… no idea, really. Nothing comes to mind. :/ Favorite question here may be the one about what I would do if somebody told me all the main characters of The Quest for the Legends had gotten over seventy points on a Mary-Sue litmus test. Or possibly the one about translating the entire fic to Icelandic. And "How long had you been planning for Floatzel's capture before it happened?" Or "Have you ever thought about a sequel?" Though those are less because of the questions themselves and more because of the answers. :P

In terms of generally scary situations, knowing I am going to die or experience horrible pain at some particular point in the future and being powerless to stop it is probably at the top of my list, along with various moral dilemma situations and being forced to cause somebody else pain or death.

As a realistic personal fear, I have to say, silly as it is, that it is probably that my site and my fic get permanently wiped out somehow. :/

Remember when your sprite terms of use said that you could save them to your computer? Why did you remove that?

Did I? Well, it's a kind of a given; you're not exactly doing anything with them when you save them to your computer for the sole purpose of looking at them later. But I believe I've had some art thieves tell me "Oh, I'm sorry! I had them saved and thought I made them!" or something silly like that, too.

If someone online told you they were radomly coming to Rejavak and they wanted to meet them, what would you do?

If you mean Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, sure.

Oh, and I don't think you give enough credit to yourself.

:/ You can enjoy my work if you want and I'm glad you do, but I still don't think I'm a very good writer, sorry.

D: Don't get writer's blocks because of meee! Bug III was very interesting! It's just so much easier to go on about the bad parts than the good ones!

No, there will not be a Scyther's Story III. All there is to be told has already been told. We will hear more from the Scyther swarm in the future of The Quest for the Legends, but there is no spin-off material there.

A winner and a loser who gets screwed up? Mm, I'm not sure I would say that; precisely who could be called a winner in The Fall of a Leader, for instance?

It's more that I just enjoy making characters go through hell since it makes for more interesting stories in my opinion, and this inevitably means they "lose" and "get screwed up" in some sense.

Depends on my writing mood and how long and interesting it is. Generally a month or two.