Interviewer Master Ratava

I'm Master Ratava, a brazilian fanon author wannabe. Since It's getting sooner enough to Avatar: The Legend of Korra debut, I've got pumped to embrace some ideas I'd had back the time I watched the last ATLA episode, and turn them into a fan fiction project.
What I'm here for... Well, I kinda say "to show you another perspective of the Avatar World", my point of view, and as I would rule it, if were I the one who created it. I'm definitely not saying that I dislike canon stuff, on the other hand, I do like canon a lot. It just occurs to me that some things could be a little different.

Interviewee AvatarRokusGhost

I'm ordinarily a pretty laidback and friendly person. Especially if you come here hoping to help the wiki and/or join the community. If you come to vandalize and make trouble...not so much.
I got into Avatar: The Last Airbender back in the Summer of 2010 when the series was already completed. I had never even heard of it before then. It started when one of my friends showed me a couple episodes. The first one that I saw was Episode 11 - The Great Divide. I was enjoying myself, so I watched the next one with him - The Storm. I got hooked and the rest was history. I went back and started with the first episode and watched them all the way through. Took me about two weeks to see the entire show. Then I went back and watched some of my favorite ones again. I've just finished Book 3 for a second time.
Energy Saga takes place after the end of the television series. It's about Aang fulfilling his duties as Avatar and rebuilding the world which has been devastated by a hundred years of war. In order to help make the world he lives in now more like the one he grew up in, he starts learning energybending, one of the capabilities which the Avatar Spirit has; however very few incarnations of the Avatar have ever used it. Without the instruction of his past lives, he's essentially on his own. However, as he discovers what energybending is capable of, he learns that all of his actions have consequences. The series begins at the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but some darker themes become introduced as it goes along and it becomes more PG-13 than the canon show.

First Author Interview, and our guest today is AvatarRokusGhost, aka Ghosty.
The first time I actually talked to Ghosty was when He's spoken to me about X, an anime from CLAMP group, that we both like from our Golden Days.
Also known by the three letters ARG, Ghosty lives in the U.S., and he is 25 years old student.
Talk to us, Ghosty, how are you feeling today? Do you think you're ready for what comes next? Can you handle it ^_~ ?

I’m great. Thanks for doing this Master Ratava. I think I can handle it. Fire away!

Let's start asking him about his life, shall we?
Ghosty-kun, about your occupation as student:

• 01 – What is that you're studying?
• 02 – Are you already graduated?
  • If yes, what is it?
• 03 – Is there any other degree that you have interest applying for?
  • If yes, which one?

Now, let's talk about jobs, and work activities:

• 04 – Do you work at the moment?
  • If yes, what kind of work do you do?
• 05 – Are you satisfied with all that you've accomplished in this academic/labour area?
• 06 – What are your professional goals?

• 01 – I’ve studied International Economics, Accounting and TESL so far.
• 02 – I graduated as an undergrad in 2010, but I’ve been taking classes on-and-off since then. I’m in an in-between period at the moment.
• 03 – At some point I’d like to get a Masters in Accounting, but that’s on hold for now.
• 04 – I’m sort of transitioning now. I was working a part-time job and taking classes at the same time. I just left my job and now I’m entering a placement service for teaching ESL in China.
• 05 – I’ve accomplished a fair amount I think. I have a long way to go, but I have plenty of time, so I’m not worried.
• 06 – I’d like to become CPA-certified and do some creative writing on the side. I love writing, but its not a reliable way to make money for most people, so I need to be doing something else for money.

Let's change issue to writing, ok?

• 07 – When did first occured to you that you'd've been writing stories at all?
  
• 08 – Has it have been before Avatar, or it is just fanon that you write?
  
• 09 – Why have you started writing about Avatar?
  
• 10 – Are there any other books/animations that you feel pleased to start doing fanon writing?
  
• 11 – Do you have some own projects?
  
  • If you have, can you tell us about them, or are they some sort of secret ^_~???
    
• 12 – Do you think on following this path an become an actual published author?
  
• 13 – What does influence you and your writing (not only nor specific about Avatar Energy Saga writing)?

• 07 – I’ve liked good stories since a really young age and I wanted to create my own. I made some scribbles here and there, but Energy Saga is the first long work I’ve ever followed through with.
• 08 – My first fan fiction was a Harry Potter one I wrote in 8th Grade when only the first few books were released and there was no movie yet. I believe I lost interest and quit before finishing my second chapter. I was 90% sure that my fanon days were over after that.
• 09 – When I started writing Avatar fanon, it wasn’t really premeditated. I loved the show a lot and when I came to the wiki, I saw you could write fanon here and I got my idea at about the same time. I made a spontaneous jump into it, and I’m glad I did.
• 10 – Not at the moment. I thought about writing a fanon for either Star Wars or Slayers, an anime I sometimes watch. But I can’t think of a story for them at the moment – and the Star Wars continuity is big enough already, so I don’t feel the urge to add anything.
• 11 – I’ve had a few blogs, that are inactive at the moment. I’m planning on starting up one again, but that’s been delayed – partially because I need to finish Energy Saga. As far as stories go, I have gotten some ideas for original short stories that I plan to do soon. When I was younger I created a fantasy universe with a friend of mine. We did some live role-playing based on that. As I got older, I started writing down and expanding upon it. Now that I’m into writing on a regular basis, I plan on starting that up again as well.
• 12 – I never really saw myself as an author before, but after having so much fun doing this, I’ve gotten a few ideas. They’re all in their early stages at the moment. I’d like to be a writer, but that’s not at fruition quite yet.
• 13 – I draw inspiration from a lot of different places. Pretty much any story that I’ve read or watched that I liked I use as inspiration: Anime, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Donnie Darko, history movies, etc.

Now, my favorite, subject questions. Here we'll talk about topics and issues the author is interest in writing...

• 14 – What (beyond Avatar related topics) are your favorites subjects to write about?
• 15 – Among Avatar related issues, which one do you think it's the best for being based on?
• 16 – What genre do you feel much comfortable in writing? Which one do you think you write best?
  • Why? (If they're not the same, please, answer separatedly.)
• 17 – And, which one is your karma? Which one do you think you have to improve already?
  • Why? (If they're not the same, please, answer separatedly.)
• 18 – When you're having doubts about a certain topic, what do you do? In what do you rely upon for solving them?
• 19 – How frequently do you do researchings for writing?

• 14 – I didn’t do many fiction writing projects before Energy Saga, but I definitely have a soft-spot for anti-heroes in a sci-fi or suspenseful setting.
• 15 – Everything in the Avatar fanon I’ve written has confronted the norm in one way or another. The Consultant and The Legend of Ong did it in a humorous way. Energy Saga is a different kind of story that confronts the idea that Aang can use energybending to give people airbending and repopulate the Air Nomads.
• 16 – I like to write epic drama the most, because I can focus on the characters and the plot and I have a lot of room to do that. Also, I didn’t write many action sequences at first, but I think I’m more comfortable with them now and they’ve been well-reviewed so far.
• 17 – Although I like writing emotional scenes, I’m not very comfortable with romantic dialogue. Chapter 5 was hard for me to get off the ground for this reason. I just have a hard time piecing the scene and the conversation together and making it flow naturally as I would with a different kind of setup.
• 18 – I might do some extra research on the topic and take notes before I start writing. Sometimes I ask people on IRC how they might handle similar topics in their writing. I also read other stories that tackle the topic that I’m uncomfortable with and see how they did it.
• 19 – I don’t research that often – maybe once every few chapters. And when I do, it’s for something specific, like something introduced in the chapter or a reference to the canon show.

Let's go Trivia! Hehe
In Avatar: The Last Airbender:

• 20 – Do you think you'd be a bender? Or a non-bender/normal person?
  • From which country (aka. Nations) would you be? Where would you like to have been born there?
• 21 – In what order are your favorites Avatar World countries?
• 22 – What's your favorite known official Avatar? (As if we didn't knew the answer already... ¬¬')
• 23 – In what time would you rather live? BSC? ASC? In the Hundred Year's War?
• 24 – Beside Roku, which are your favorites male/female characters?
• 25 – Where, in Avatar World, would you like to live?
• 26 – Which is your favorite Avatar World animal (not bender-teaching ones)?
• 27 – Which is your favorite bender-teaching animal? (Please count waterbending as Tui and La animal form, the Koi fish)
• 28 – Which character does look more like you?
  • And which one resembles you psychologically?
• 29 – Which character does definitedly not look like you?
  • And which one don't resemble you psychologically at all?
• 30 – What do you have in common with Avatar Roku character?

• 20 – I’d be an Air Nomad for sure. I’d fly everywhere on my glider.
• 21 – Air Nomads, Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom.
• 22 – Actually, it may soon be Korra.
• 23 – I’d like to live before the first Sozin’s Comet, when things were simpler. There were plenty of dragons and sky bison and there was no war going on, but still a lot to do.
• 24 – I’ll go with Iroh and Toph. Although they’re very different characters, they both bring people down-to-earth and think with their heads. I think the episode where they shared an interaction at the beginning of Book Two: Earth showed a lot about their deeper traits.
• 25 – Omashu for sure. I’m a city kind of guy, but Ba Sing Se seems a little much for me. Plus, I want to ride the mail delivery system!
• 26 – I’d have to say the saber-tooth moose lion. As babies they’re nice to look at and as an adults that’s quite the fearsome combination of real-world animals.
• 27 – Definitely the dragons, partially for the flying. And not only do they breathe fire, its multi-colored fire. Need I give any more reason?
• 28 – I look like a much younger version of Bujing with shorter hair. My psychology is like Sokka, but people perceive me as being more like Chong (If that sounds like a strange combination, its probably because it is.)
• 29 – I do not look at all like Toph, so I’m going with her, unless animals count. As much as I like Katara, my personal psychology isn’t like hers in the slightest.
• 30 – I’m pretty loyal to my close friends, even when they aren’t such great people themselves. I also try to give advice too much for my own good.

So, finally speaking of Avatar Energy Saga; by reading its presentation page my first impressions about its plot were that you wanted to tell how the story continued.

• 31 – At that moment, did you knew that "The Promise" comics had been on official Avatar Authors planning?
• 32 – When was the first moment that actually you have got the original idea for writing Avatar: Energy Saga?
  • How and Where had it occured to your mind? What have you first thought of it?
• 33 – Were you already a member of this Wikia before start writing your fanon? Or you've registered for start publishing it?
• 34 – Have you imagined that you'd be publishing it for a year already?

• 31 – At the time I began Energy Saga, the name “The Promise” had not been heard yet. We knew there would be a sequel series called “Legend of Korra” where the new Avatar fought anti-benders (not yet Equalists.) The only child of Aang and Katara we knew of was Tenzin.
• 32 – I’ve been a fan of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings for some time. Both of them have a lot of back-stories. The Star Wars Expanded Universe is enormous and Tolkien even wrote entire languages for use in Middle Earth. When I came across the Avatar franchise, it was much younger and the universe was much smaller. I’m used to everything having a back-story, so by nature I started making some up for things. When I heard of the theory that Aang could make people into airbenders by using energybending like he did to take away Ozai’s firebending, I wasn’t a fan of it. It seemed so easy and convenient and it would change the position of non-benders. After a long period of frustration, however, I started brainstorming a little. I decided: “what if it was true, but there was a catch?” I knew this was a fresh topic for a story that I doubted anyone had used before, so I thought it up and put pen-to-paper (or rather, finger-to-keyboard.)
• 33 – I joined the site at the same time I started Energy Saga. I had already been around here as an anonymous user for a little while. When I discovered the fanon portal I made an account and decided to write the story that I had been thinking up about energybending.
• 34 – When I first started in January 2011, I knew that this would be a long-term project right off the bat. For a while I estimated that I would complete the series well-within a year as long as I kept typing and kept the ideas rolling on a regular basis. I didn’t anticipate going past December 2011. As I approached the end of the second book I realized I was going to go past that date. So I was off, but hopefully not too far off (time will tell), since I’d like to start my next project within a reasonable time frame.

About Avatar: Energy Saga's writing:

• 35 – After quite a year of publishing Avatar: Energy Saga here, how do you feel about its development?
  • What are you most proud of have been doing to it? What do you think it's going to be your focus to improve Avatar: Energy Saga, at this last round?
• 36 – Are it following your schedule planning?
• 37 – Do you have already settled its ending in your mind?
  • Have you already written some future passages? Do you know already what will be story climax and how it will develop to finish it?
• 38 – How do you do your planning schedule?
  • What strategies do you use? Topics? Key-words? Phrases? Dialogues? Title names?
• 39 – What do you think about (your fanon's plot) confronting and official statement (The Promise) for what had happened after ATLA series?
  
• 40 – Have it started its last book, now that you're getting close to its ending, how do you feel?
• 41 – How have you came up with Avatar: Energy Saga's title?
  • Did it take long for deciding it? Have you had to write something before choosing it? Or the title came before everything?
• 42 – How have you been coming up with the chapters titles?
  • Do you name them before, during or after writing? What is that you take for most important to choose a chapter's title?
• 43 – How had you came out with the main characters original names (fanon; your own)?
  • Have you been planning them before start writing? Or did they emerge as the writing developed?
• 44 – Were there any tribute characters or placing spots?
  • If there were any, for whom (real people, wiki members, or other books/animations characters) or which (real or fictional places) have you chosen to?
• 45 – Have you already been put yourself into a challenge to solve some plot maze by your own planning for your story?
  • I.E.: The energybending struture, some character background history...
• 46 – What are your difficulties when it comes to writing Avatar: Energy Saga?
  • Have you already had so much hard time on writing a chapter? Have you had to start from a blank page?
• 47 – Have you ever had Writer's Block?
  • If yes, how long have it taken for you to get over it?
• 48 – When you write each chapter of Avatar: Energy Saga, do you think of passing a message to your readers in between the lines?
  • I.E.: This question is based on some chapters' trivia information.
• 49 – How do you do to rate percentages of each page (chapter, or another: character, etc) production?
  • What 10% means? And, 20%, 30%, 40%...???
• 50 – How do you create a new character?
  • What are the steps that you take from zero-to-hero them?
• 51 – How do you do to write your own original characters for them to sound the more canonly possible?
  • What tips can you give your readers, that are also authors?
• 52 – How do you do to write about the official (canon) characters?
  • What is that you do (or try to do) about their writing to be the closest to the animation script?
    • What tips can you give about that too?
• 53 – What was the chapter that you liked the most to write? And the least?
• 54 – What canon character is your favorite to write about? And the least?
• 55 – What fanon character is your favorite to write about? And the least?
• 56 – Do you have already some other idea ready to be your next solo fanon here?
  • Would it be a prequel/sequel to Avatar: Energy Saga?

• 35 – I’m in awe of the fact that I’ve written enough content for almost two novels now. There’s a lot of room for improvement as I’m discovering my own writing style, but I think its going great so far. Getting featured fanon, double fanonbending and the fanon award for Outstanding Drama Series have all been nice icing on the cake.
• 36 – Not exactly. Sometimes I’ve fallen behind or underestimated how long it will take to write something. I’m doing things in the order I planned, but I’m behind on my original timetable.
• 37 – I think about the finale chapters of Energy Saga quite often, actually. I’ve written out parts of them and I have an image in my mind of how it will all play out and fit together. As I get closer to the finale, the image gets clearer and clearer.
• 38 – I use multiple levels of outlines. I have a “macro-outline” for the whole story, then smaller outlines for individual chapters and sometimes I even make an outline for a particular scene or dialogue – especially the important ones. The overall topics I include in my primary outline, since they stem from chapter-to-chapter. Individual scenes and phrases might be important, but they would still be at a smaller-level.
• 39 – I knew that there would be some contradiction with official canon at some point. I know it conflicts with what was in my mind when I started writing, but I won’t let myself be deterred by it. I just shrug it off and continue writing. I know there are a lot of authors on here in a similar situation.
• 40 – I feel great. I’m going to finish a story at last. I used to be the guy who starts over too much. I’m really excited to write the rest of the chapters, since I’ve been thinking about the scenes in some of them for quite a while. After well over 100,000 words, it’s been quite an experience writing this story. Sometimes I just look back at all the previous chapters I’ve written and can’t believe how long it’s been. I’m sure it’ll be overwhelming when I’m finished, but in a good way.
• 41 – Actually, the title was one of the easiest things for me to choose. I realized the story title could just say what it is and get right to the point about the theme, just like “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” I chose “Energy Saga” essentially because that’s what it is: a long story about energybending.
• 42 – I try to make the chapter titles embody the main idea of what the chapter itself is about. A few times I’ve changed the title of a future chapter, but not usually, since I typically find a good fit if I stick to the main idea approach. Sometimes there are two main ideas if I can’t think of one, like with the chapters “Gatherings and Struggles” and “Misfortune and Reproach.”
• 43 – I don’t really have a universal approach to coming up with different character names. I like them to sound like they fit in the Avatar universe, so I sometimes look up a Chinese word that describes a character that I can picture them as. Icarus wasn’t really Chinese-sounding, but I held onto it because of the airbending theme. As for Kaddo and Vameira, I knew that Katara and Aang would have two more offspring: a boy and a girl. I took their parents names and I had “Kataang” and “Aangtara.” The girls name sounded too much like the capital of Turkey, so I added a “V” to the front, then I fiddled with the spelling and the pronunciation enough so people wouldn’t notice where the names came from. Except now I just confessed it…oh well.
• 44 – I wouldn’t call any of the main characters to be tributes to real people. In my chapter “The Calling Statue” I referenced and gave character tributes to twenty-three fellow wiki members, although they weren’t necessarily faithful to the person they represented. TAD’s tribute was the vaultmaster, a male much older than she.
• 45 – It was quite challenging to tie a lot of loose ends together and have certain events align together, but it’s all planned out now, so I don’t have that much more of that to do anymore. The energybending itself wasn’t that difficult to tie in, since the fanon centers around energybending and energybending can naturally be brought in somehow at any given moment. The problem was getting other character interactions like with Migo, Azula and the airbenders, to accompany it at the right time.
• 46 – Toward the end of Book Two: Rise I was at a loss for how to get from the middle of the book to the battle at the capital. Chapters 21 and 22 I had to wing it a lot with. I actually also had a lot of difficulty with Realignment, the most recent chapter. In that example I knew in my head what I wanted to do with Azula, but I didn’t know how to start or transition it.
• 47 – Yes, I get writer’s block all the time. Sometimes it’s worse than other times. It can last a short while or a few weeks. If I have a certain scene I’m stuck on I like to skip it and write ahead. Hopefully when I finish the rest of the chapter I have a better idea of what to do.
• 48 – Sometimes I pass messages in the trivia in between the lines, but I state them at the end anyway. I think of the trivia sections like author’s commentary.
• 49 – I either divide the chapter up into “sections” in my outline and use that for percentages (for instance 10 sections would be 10% each and 4 sections would be 25% each) or I simply guesstimate as I go along.
• 50 – My story has been defined and shaped around its plot, so when I create a new character, I generally have a purpose in mind for what that character does for the storyline. I start with that position and expand upon their character, writing notes about their personality and likes/dislikes in order to integrate them with the preexisting characters. Of course, not all characters turn out to be heroic, but their character development happens when they interact with Aang or another member of Team Avatar.
• 51 – I start with giving them a role that seems believable in the Avatar universe where the world was affected by the war that lasted for a hundred years and ended not too long ago. Their background is key. I try to think about how someone like them would interact with the canon characters.
• 52 – I try to give the canon characters similar lines and gimmicks to what they had in the show to make them seem like the same people. I also let the chemistry in their relationships continue on from where it left off in what to me sounds like a natural way. Of course, in my story, most of it takes place twenty years in the future and obviously they’ve gone through some changes in that amount of time and they may approach some scenarios differently than they would’ve as kids.
• 53 – I liked to write Chapter 25: Battle at the Fire Nation Capital, Part 2 the most and Chapter 16: Mobilization the least. The former was a pivotal moment that I’d had in the back of my head for some time and it felt really good to finally bring it to life. The latter one I felt like I had a hard time stringing the scenes together. It was like putting a puzzle together in an awkward way. I also liked writing Chapter 29: The Air Lord.
• 54 – I like to write about Azula a lot in my story. I developed her character a lot and made her into something different but the same that I personally love. I don’t like to write about Suki much. She was a member of Team Avatar and I felt forced to include her in some places, but I didn’t know how to do it since she’s not really a main character.
• 55 – I like to write about Icarus and Nola the most. I don’t enjoy writing about Zhao Jr. as much. That’s probably because I didn’t put as much into him.
• 56 – One of the ideas I have is unrelated to Energy Saga. It takes place in the Fire Nation and I wouldn’t start it at all until Energy Saga is done. I also have plans for a couple of series that take place relative to Energy Saga. One of them is a spin-off/sequel and the other is more of a prequel.

About Avatar: Energy Saga's Script/Plot Subject:

• 57 – When have you noticed that you'd be needing original characters?
  • Have you planned since the beginning that there would have been time skipping, and the Gaang would get older? And consequently they would have got kids?
• 58 – About Kataang's offspring: what have you been based on to come out with Tenzin, Vameira and Kaddo?
  • As Tenzin isn't fully your original, how do you feel about building his character, in contradiction to what we'll be able to see (or not) in Korra series?
• 59 – About Maiko's offspring: how have you got the idea of them only getting daughters?
  • What's your point in boarding a sexist theme inside the Fire Nation Royal family?
• 60 – About Sukka's offspring: why their actual début has only happened at Chapter Thirty-One?
  • Does it have to do with future plans? Or you've only felt comfortable in bringing them up recently?
• 61 – How the New Air Nomads have risen inside your mind?
  • Icarus as the Air Lord; and Trinley, Feng Qu, Rensa, Nola and Shao as the Council of Elders?
• 62 – Why does Trinley have violet eyes?
  • Is it a tribute to some other character? Or has it to do with some of his psychological traits?
• 63 – Why Icarus to be the one of the villains?
  • Does Icarus will have a future similar to its name's original Icarus?
• 64 – Was the Air Nation figured out in your mind since the beginning?
  • When did you figure out that you was going to rebirth it as one of the world menaces?
• 65 – The Unknown Organization: at the beginning of Avatar: Energy Saga's writing, did it have, or have not, got a name?
• 66 – What does Faxian Island have that other islands don't?
  • Why choosing to create it, instead of using another official location?
• 67 – There will be some bloodbending on Avatar: Energy Saga?
• 68 – How did you come up with the Phoenix Army?
  • Has it been planed since the beginning?
• 69 – What is the meaning of the deaths among the Order of the White Lotus members?
  • (Please be detailed about each one of them)
• 70 – Why killing Iroh? ;__;
• 71 – Why choosing Zhao Jr. as the first enemy on comand of the Phoenix Army?
  • Even if his resemblance to his father, what does he have of his own?
• 72 – About energybending: the group you've said to had crossed to the Physical World is composed by which spirits?
• 73 – The Five Great Sages were from a specific nation or there weren't any countries yet?
• 74 – Where is located a person's tantien (center of chi)?
• 75 – Does recquiescence make physical injuries cure faster?
• 76 – Why do you treat the Moon spirit as Yue?
  • Don't you think that Yue is just one expression/manifestation of the full spirit of the Moon?
• 77 – How would you describe with details an imprint of chaos?
• 78 – What has got into you when you'd decided to pick Sonzin's Father, give him a name and a background history?
  • Does Khomin's murder take an important role about all canon history, the Hundred Years War, how are you going to tie up that to future chapters plot?
• 79 – The blade that was used on the attempt of murdering Zuko is a knife, a kodachi, an athame, a dagger, a short sword; what is it exactly?
• 80 – What was the main decision the base Energybending on Aikido and Taekwondo?
  • Did you have detailed information about their movements adapted to your bending style?
• 81 – The Guru Pathik, are you planning his death too? Or will he be spared?
• 82 – How have you come to the idea of dividing energy in: body, spirit, cosmic, and world?
  • Which are the diferences among these four types?
• 83 – Based on the information above, are there going to be four types of energy sub-bending?
• 84 – Why choosing Yue as the Energybending Teacher?
• 85 – About your original waterbenders as the Krakens, how was the birth of that idea?
• 86 – Is, the Dai Li Agent, Gitsu getting a bigger role on future chapters?
• 87 – You've said that Migo was one of your first accomplishments for original characters. What are the differences between how you first imagined him, and how he became during the fanon?
• 88 – What's the relation Ratana and Brawki had, that is so secret to Migo?
• 89 – Have you figured out since the beginning that Migo/Toph (aka. Migoth) would work?
• 90 – What was your first glimpse of the Cave of the Ancients idea?
  • In what have you based to structure of that cave? About having an entire city beneath it, and being a shrine altogether?
• 91 – What does the Koh's Realm to do with the Cave of the Ancients?
  • Are they linked somehow?
• 92 – Why the Phoenix Army had a dragon as their secret weapon?
  • How was your first impression of using that idea?
• 93 – What's the Phoenix Army's Malevolence origin?
• 94 – What is that you're basing the Old Southern Waterbending Style on?
• 95 – The Dragon's Doors, how have you came up with that idea?
  • Are there any more types? Besides the blue-green, and the red-blue ones?
• 96 – Is the way Aang learnt how to colour-firebend (about the transparent flames, ghost-like) a tribute to yourself?

• 57 – I knew I would need some original characters since the very beginning. Icarus was the first I came up with, although it took a while for me to settle on his name. I planned to have time-skipping from the start because it would have to take place over multiple years and there would be a younger generation. I actually had one more tier of time-skipping than I do now in my original outline, but I simplified the latter part of the story so this wasn’t necessary.
• 58 – Katara and Aang have three children in Energy Saga: two boys and one girl. That’s the same as it is in my family in real life and I based a lot of their interactions with each other with my own sibling relationships. Tenzin, I treat pretty much like an original character since he’s a younger version of the character. He’s a child/adolescent and hasn’t grown up into the middle-aged man we see in Legend of Korra, so I don’t foresee contradictions in his personality.
• 59 – I had a headstrong character for Neinei in my mind and Zuko was feeling pressured as Fire Lord by all the tensions arising in his country. Having a lack of sons fits well into that formula and its something many real-life royal families have encountered.
• 60 – I haven’t included the Sukka children much because, unlike a lot of post-war fanons, mine has a skewed focus toward the Kataang children. They appear in the story and play a role, but I didn’t have a real purpose for them until the third book. Hinko’s been listed under the character section of my main page for a while, though.
• 61 – The New Air Nomads are the new society that Aang has built from former residents of the remaining three nations, by giving them airbending and bringing them to the Southern Air Temple. Icarus was always going to be the one who went bad. The other Air Nomads that get a piece of the spotlight are the newly-formed Council of Elders, since they help Aang run the show. They’re a little different than the Old Air Nomads in that the council is co-ed, with three men and two women. Trinley is Aang’s first prodigy who he continues to trust. Rensa and Feng Qu are dependable and represent what seemed good about Aang’s run with energybending. Shao and Nola each have their own role to play in the chapters that are coming up.
• 62 – I gave Trinley violet eyes partially because his ultimate destiny cannot be fully-defined by one of the four nations, so none of the typical eye colors seemed appropriate. He was born in the Earth Kingdom, was touched by energybending – not one of the four elements – and became a New Air Nomad.
• 63 – I read some of the Star Wars Expanded Universe books – particularly the “Legacy of the Force” series, in which Luke’s nephew turns to the dark side, becomes a Sith Lord and tries to take some of Luke’s other Jedi with him. I guess I liked the ideas of the main character having a prodigy who turns into an antagonist. With Aang rebuilding the airbenders at the Southern Air Temple, this seemed possible.
• 64 – I knew that in my story Aang’s use of energybending would take on a negative light, so his using it for the reason he did was a mistake on his part. The Air Nation becomes a manifestation of his error that Aang must overcome.
• 65 – They had a working title when I was originally planning the story. I considered a couple different possibilities for what their name would be before finally settling on one. Their name will be revealed in a later chapter.
• 66 – I needed a location that was a remote, not very traveled place for the first new airbender to come from. I also needed it in close proximity to the Southern Water Tribe and an isolated Earth Kingdom village on an island seemed perfect for the part.
• 67 – Bloodbending is not really the focus of Energy Saga, so there won’t be too much heard from that. However, I will say that there will be something much like bloodbending near the end.
• 68 – I knew that I needed a conflict in the Fire Nation to make the world more chaotic for Team Avatar. I didn’t originally call the rebels the Phoenix Army, but when it got to the time, that seemed an appropriate title, given its resemblance to “Phoenix King.”
• 69 – As time goes on, the older generation moves on. Team Avatar can’t rely on their guidance anymore. They have to do things for themselves. That’s the main reason with Bumi and Pakku’s cases. As for Jeong Jeong, its similar, but a little more complex. He was prominent at the beginning as an early warning of the dangers to come. Aang has a late reconciliation with him, but Jeong Jeong isn’t in the story after that. The death bed seemed like the best setting for that.
• 70 – Iroh was an old and wise companion to Tenzin while he was on the Fire Navy ship. This is like how he was with Zuko before – and I wanted to bridge some continuity with ATLA there. Iroh’s one of my favorite characters, but he’s gotten old and he’s had a good run. He went down fighting for a noble cause and allowing for Tenzin and the others to escape.
• 71 – Zhao Jr. wasn’t my most complex character creation. He’s a disgruntled Fire Nation officer who opposes Fire Lord Zuko and the new era of peace. I thought that his existence in that part was almost a given. He’s much like his father, even having sideburns, but he distinguishes himself by being motivated by intense vengeance, rather than just more power. He seeks revenge on Zuko and the Avatar for ruining the Fire Nation in his eyes and causing the death of his dad, Zhao Sr.
• 72 – Some of the older spirits crossed to the Physical World through the newly-formed Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. They were some of the older and wiser spirits in existence.
• 73 – The Five Great Sages were energybenders who cooperated with the spirits to attempt to keep the world in balance. There weren’t any elemental nations at the time.
• 74 – It’s located in the front of the lower body between a person’s bellybutton and the line of their hips.
• 75 – Recquiesence acts primarily on energy and chi paths. It can help an injured person, but the effect on injuries is more indirect than actual healing. Something else that it can do, is to unblock blocked chi paths, so that the person its used on can continue fighting after encountering someone like Ty Lee.
• 76 – In the show she appeared to be taking on the role of the Moon Spirit as the old Moon Spirit perished. In my story, she’s now the full Moon Spirit.
• 77 – An imprint of chaos comes into being when the natural order has been tampered with. Since the balance has been disturbed, world energies that hold the balance together become fragile and cosmic energies in the area conspire to make the newly-created imbalance greater. If an imprint of chaos is large enough, it can: endanger the health and destiny of those who touch it or, if it grows big enough, can hurt spiritual harmony and wreck havoc on the fabric of the universe.
• 78 – Like I said, I like for everything to have a back-story and I saw this as another opportunity to expand upon things. Khomin was more in harmony with the other nations than his son would later become and the unknown organization did not like that. They orchestrated his assassination during a solar eclipse. Later, when Sozin was Fire Lord, he began the Hundred Years War, but everyone already knows that part.
• 79 – It’s a dagger that belonged to the unknown organization.
• 80 – I chose Aikido for its defensive use of the force of the attacker and redirecting it against them, as well as its employment of throws and similarity to judo – seemed like it could be similar to “grabbing the opponent by their energy.” However, Aikido did not seem enough fast-paced for the offensive moves, so some Taekwondo is mixed in. This of course was in my trivia section. I wasn’t going to say it in the chapter itself.
• 81 – Guru Pathik is still around and has somewhat of a role left to play. No spoilers about his ultimate fate, though.
• 82 – Bodily energy is the energy within people that the Lion Turtle originally told Aang about. It flows through ones chi paths and links it to the other energies present. It is the only kind of energy that humans can bend (spirits can bend any kind), but since it intermingles with the other types, humans can also influence those indirectly. For instance, humans each possess a little bit of spiritual energy, which links them to spirits and the Spirit World in a small way. World energy is what links living beings and pieces of nature with one another. Cosmic energy is the most prevalent and controls peoples destinies and makes the universe function as a whole.
• 83 – No. Since Energy Saga focuses mostly on energybending practiced by humans, it won’t really be broken down.
• 84 – Aang’s energybending teacher had to be a spirit, since there were no human energybenders for him to learn from. Yue was someone who was familiar from the show, had a lot of spiritual strength since she was the Moon Spirit and was also younger in her spirit-life, so she was naive to what energybending might bring forth.
• 85 – I noticed that all the original bending teachers were animals, except for waterbending, where it was taught by the Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit. I was curious as to why there was no animal who could teach waterbending and I came up with the krakens. Since dragons taught firebending, one might think sea serpents could teach waterbending, but sea serpents already exist in the Avatar world, so I brought in krakens, which are like big sea serpents or big sea monsters.
• 86 – Yes. Gitsu will be more prominent in the upcoming chapters.
• 87 – I always intended Migo to be laid-back, but I didn’t imagine him making the goofy gimmicks and mistakes he’s done. That just came to me later on, but I keep the integrity of the original character intact.
• 88 – Brawki was Ratana’s earthbending teacher and when she and Brawki’s father both died, he adopted Migo and raised him like a son. The circumstances surrounding these events are what is being held secret to Migo and the other characters. That’ll come out soon enough, but no spoilers.
• 89 – Almost since the beginning. At first I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to give Toph a partner, but I later decided that I had to. I knew if I would, it would have to be Migo for sure.
• 90 – With the story diving into the unknown about energybending, what it’s like and where it comes from, I knew there would have to be a new location to play a part in that. I was inspired by pictures of caves and buildings inside of caves and I knew that would be appropriate for an ancient, spiritual place with a lot of mysteries behind it and a connection to the essence of what the Avatar is. Also, the final chapters have to take place there.
• 91 – There’s a link of some kind between the Spirit World and the Physical World. That’s why the Giant Wolf can be seen. More to come about that later.
• 92 – I saw an anime once where a gang of bandits kept a dragon as a pet and used it as a threat to terrify local travelers and villagers. I needed to have the Phoenix Army distinguish themselves as a new enemy and I liked the idea of them having a dragon and releasing it on the Western Fleet.
• 93 – The Malevolence was the name of a space ship in the Star Wars: Clone Wars TV show which the Separatists use in battle. The good guys need to destroy it if they’re going to stay in the game and I sort of copied that idea for my Avatar fanon, but I made it a large submarine that could also go on land.
• 94 – I based Old Southern Style on what I saw of it when watching the flashbacks of Hama in The Puppetmaster. It wasn’t much to go off of, but I liked for Kaddo to use it for a little while.
• 95 – I knew that the element doors were like locks that could be opened. As the Avatar, Aang can use any element, but he can’t use blue fire, so I saw this as the opportune time to bring Azula into the picture. Just like the blue-green and red-blue doors, there could theoretically be similar locked doors with any kind of specialized fire.
• 96 – Hah! I wasn’t really planning about that at the time. I was thinking about the Lion Turtle and his passing on the knowledge of energybending to Aang and this would be similar with color firebending and a dragon spirit.

About Avatar: Energy Saga Feedback:

• 97 – When you first got the urge to publish your fanon, did you had it coming that it would be so well received?
• 98 – What kind of commenting do you like the most?
• 99 – What do you think of each of these kinds of commenting: critics, compliments, ideas, theories, review-like opinions, questioning?
• 100 – Have you ever got a commenting that got it right about your plannings?
  • If yes, can you tell us which one was it?
• 101 – Have you ever used a reader's idea?
  • If yes, can you tell us which one was it?
• 102 – Have you ever felt like giving it up due to critics?
• 103 – What was the most revigorous commenting you'd had?
  • Which commenting was the one that got you to think "the show must go on"?
• 104 – Have you ever used chapters passages as answers to readers commenting?
  • Have you ever used them to prove readers on the wrong path in their theories?
• 105 – What was the most difficult time to write when readers keep on asking for new chapters?

• 97 – Not really. For the first few months that my fanon was up on this site, I didn’t get much attention and comments were few. I kept writing, hoping it would be more noticed eventually. I wanted to get featured eventually, but that was all I dared to hope for. The awards weren’t active and fanonbending didn’t exist this time last year.
• 98 – It feels good to see long comments where people have a lot to say.
• 99 – I like to have a mixture of all of the above. It’s wonderful to receive compliments on my hard work and I think every author would say that, but it’s good to have constructive criticism too so that it can help improve one’s writing. I also like to see the theories in the comments in the same way I like compliments, because I know that people are thinking ahead about what I’ve written.
• 100 – I can’t comment about comments I’ve got about events that haven’t yet at this time. Iroh’s death has been predicted before, as you know. The end of Chapter 25 and what’s happened since then have mostly been surprises for everyone.
• 101 – I haven’t really used any ideas that I only got from others up until this point. Someone gave me a quote from the Lion Turtle and it made me think, but the Lion Turtle already had a role in the story. I think about comments sometimes in how I write something, but not really what I write.
• 102 – Nope, I have pretty thick skin – and I’ve been lucky enough so far not to have anything really really bad said to me about my fanon yet. If people don’t like my story though, I just tell myself “that’s okay – I like it enough for the both of us, so I’m gonna still write it.”
• 103 – One comment that kind of caught me off guard was one of the first comments I got on Hopes of Redemption. I could tell that my story was sparking emotions surrounding the characters and what happened to them.
• 104 – Nope. I stay the course and prove the theory right or wrong at the right time.
• 105 – It was when the most recent chapter came out: Realignment. People asked about it while I was trying to figure out how to write it at the same time. It was a challenge, but I managed.

Now, about this very interviewing:

• 106 – Have it been a pleasant experience, to answer this questionnaire?
• 107 – This interview has reached your expectations?
  • If not, how could it get better so that my next interviewed Author like it?
• 108 – Did you think that this interview questionnaire is long enough, or is far too long?
  • Please, base this answer on your fanon length.
• 109 – Would you advertise me to other fanon authors as the Interviewer to be chosen among FFF Crew?
  • If you haven't chosen me, which other interviewer would you had chosen?
• 110 – Would you like, for your next fanon, to be interviewed once more, if in future this can be possible?
• 111 – What questions section did you like the most?
• 112 – What was the easiest to answer? And the most difficult one?
• 113 – What was the most unexpected question here?
• 114 – Do you think applying to this interview has worth it?

• 106 – Yes, most definitely.
• 107 – It has exceeded my expectations.
• 108 – If this questionnaire was designed based on my fanon length, I think it’s appropriate, since my fanon is pretty long. It was a pleasure to answer – and not too long, as long as enough time is given.
• 109 – Yes, I will definitely recommend you to some other authors after all that you’ve done for me here. If I didn’t go with you, I might’ve signed up for an interview from Wings since he founded the group. But this was just phenomenal. Thank you.
• 110 – Yes, definitely. That’s thinking pretty far ahead and I know you’ll have a busy schedule of your own filled by then, but I would like that very much.
• 111 – I liked the plot/script questions. After writing something for so long, I have a lot to say about it.
• 112 – The questions about Trinley and my other fanon characters were pretty straightforward to answer. The hardest one was probably the “which bender would I be” because there are some definite pros and cons for all four types.
• 113 – It was unexpected when you asked about the different types of energies. I haven’t heard people talk about those much.
• 114 – Absolutely! Thanks again for doing this.