Call for Questions: Answered! with The Beginning After the End creator TurtleMe

August was such an exhilarating month for The Beginning After The End fans. With the print release of the fantasy action comic and a flash giveaway of a copy of the book (plus a poster signed by TurtleMe himself!), we wrap up an exciting month with a Q&A with the creator of the beloved series, TurtleMe! New fans and long-time devotees submitted questions far and wide to have a chance at getting the know about your favorite series, straight from the source himself! So, without further ado, let's get straight into it!

Why is your name TurtleMe?

Because that's the username of reading sites I've had since high school. Honestly, I didn't expect to get popular or anything so I just used that same name when I first made my account on Royalroad (a website for anybody to write and post on their platform) so I don't forget my username when logging in. Now... I think it might be a tad late to change that name, so here we are OTL

What do you like about the community surrounding your work?

I love the growth of my community... not in the sense of numbers, but the sense of age. TBATE comic tends to attract younger male readers (statistically speaking) but TBATE has also been around for 6 years now and there are still readers that have been with me since the beginning. Hearing from time to time about how they started reading when they were in high school themselves but are now still a part of this community after they've graduated college and are working adults now is crazy to me! I love the ranges in age but I'm more excited about how TBATE will grow with them as the story continues.

Will you ever write the backstories for each of the lances? I'd like to know more about Varays, Ayas, and Alea's background!

Not in the near future! There are a lot of different parts and aspects of TBATE that haven't been explored that I know readers have been asking for (There's even a poll going around advocating for the backstory of Cadell and his family!) but time is limited. Backstories and side stories are only great if the main story is so I'm focusing on making sure the main story of TBATE is the best I can make it so first! How did you come up with Arthur's character and what is important to you when developing Arthur's character from the Great King Grey to the point he is now and maybe what's important for you in the future? I came up with Arthur's character from the perspective of an adult that has not only just been whisked away and put into an entirely new and mysterious world, and the fact that he was a baby with no control over his bodily functions. I went further by making him a person who, before, had complete mastery of his body as an expert combatant in a world where being the strongest made you a king. It's hard to tell at first Grey's original personality at the beginning of the story because of how jarring this experience of reincarnation is, but I wanted to show snippets of Grey within Arthur in key moments. More than that, I've always, and still do, make sure that there is a constant tug of war struggle between Arthur's persona (what he wants to be) and Grey's persona (what he's been made to be) throughout the story. It's the balance of wanting to live a peaceful life with his friends and loved ones, fighting not for the sake of life or death but striving for strength itself while being able to laugh and love and be loved as opposed to being forced into being in the center of a complicated war with entities beyond him, struggling to get stronger as fast as possible in order to protect his loved ones from death and leaning on his persona of Grey to keep him callous and numb so he can make the difficult decisions to get through it without breaking.

How did you come up with all names in TBATE? I mean, names like Regis, Janusz or Aldir are quite unusual.

Many names, whether it's how a certain name sounds or is even spelled, comes from different real-world countries, but with small twists that make the names feel a bit more fantastical. For Dicathen, I leaned on more fantasy names of elves and dwarves, but for Alacrya, I derived Vechhor from Germanic names, French for Sehz-Clar, British for Central Dominion, and Afrikaans for Truacia, and Hindi for Etril (obviously with small twists). As for the asuras, those are a bit more of me just whipping up names, trying to make them sound more godly, haha.

Do you have a song you Listen to while you write? What is it?

Not a particular song, but I only listen to instrumentals (whether it's ghibli or anime soundtracks) because I can't focus if there are lyrics!

What books influence you the most when you're writing chapters? Like, which author(s) had the most impact on your writing style and how you handle magic system and world building?

Hmm... I've gotten a lot of influence from authors all over the world in all mediums, whether it be Chinese and Korean web novels, Japanese light novels, or English fantasies. More specifically, I think TBATE had a lot of influence from the progressive structure of Chinese wuxia novels. The cores, the training to "level-up" the progression of the world, starting from a small town to ease readers into this new world but slowly expanding the world and archenemies as the protagonist gets stronger. The theme of reincarnation, I've gotten from reading so many different Japanese light novels and mangas, but more so like some English epic fantasies, I wanted to go beyond using reincarnation just for the act of making the protagonist overpowered but as a device for the main plot. I wanted to sprinkle in some mystery along with the more game-like aspects of just getting stronger for the sake of beating stronger enemies. In particular, I think novels like Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and Eragon by Christopher Paolini have helped me really get a sense of a vivid fantasy world, while Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss has helped me hone my craft in writing in the first-person perspective, which isn't as popular as writing in third-person. So many influences have helped TBATE become what it is today that I couldn't name each and every book but they all did something that keeps me writing today which is, loving the world that I've slowly built and being able to get lost in it.

May I know the height of Arthur and the other characters?

Bairon is definitely taller than Arthur!

What kind of food does Arthur like?

Never really thought about that! I'm sure he enjoys trying all sorts of cuisines for the sake of expanding his palate even if he doesn't need to anymore ;)

Who are some of your favorite characters to write? Your least favorite?

In the novel, I've been enjoying writing Regis (a new companion Arthur acquires for those who might not have gotten this far) along with some of the more prominent stronger figures like Aldir and Seris because it's always fun diving into the brains of these highly intelligent and wise beings. In the comic, I would actually say I've been enjoying writing Arthur's family (Reynolds, Alice, and Ellie). I've made efforts to make their characters feel a bit less "over-the-top" like they were in the novel in the beginning. I tried to round them out and make their actions/reactions feel a bit more relatable. For least favorite, I can't really say I have one. I enjoy writing all of the different characters and even asshole characters prevent challenges that make them fun to write and express!

Which chapter was the hardest for you to write (emotionally)?

The death of a certain someone from the perspective of someone that's not Arthur.

How do you plan out writing chapters for TBATE?

While I have the "timeline" of events hashed out, I make outlines for the next several chapters (even these outlines are almost a page per chapter). I run it by my editor just to make sure there are not any plot holes that got past me and once I've finalized my outline. I go ahead and write the chapter, sometimes straying a bit from the outline but making sure the high-level things I need to cover are still there!

How did you get so good at writing? Any tips for aspiring writers?

I'm not sure how good my writing has gotten as opposed to my ability to storytell. I believe they're two different things. Both, however, have improved from the beginning because I kept writing and I've gotten feedback not only from my readers but from my editors and I took those to heart. Not just specific feedback like grammatical rules but more vague feedback as well like how a certain paragraph made the readers feel (or didn't feel). Coupled with that, I think another huge part of why I've improved is because I still love reading other fantasy books. I analyze the craft of other authors I admire and try to see what they're doing to make their stories and writing feel so real. TL;DR write and read a lot!

What is the life expectancy of asuras?

Hard to say! Probably a very long time (or short if they're looking for trouble with other asuras).

Do you have an ending planned out already for TBATE?

I have a sort of timeline with big events that the story needs to hit in order to reach the loose end I have planned. The story beats and events in between these "big events" are a bit more flexible but yes, I definitely have an ending planned so while I know many readers hope it can continue going on for a long long time, I don't want TBATE to become a series that milks itself until it's dry.

Is it possible that anybody else was reincarnated along with Grey/Arthur like the orphanage director?

You'll have to keep reading to see ^^

What’s after TBATE?

Hibernation! Just kidding. I love storycrafting. I want to build more worlds for readers to get sucked into and imagine themselves in before they go to sleep or when they're stressed. I hope to keep doing that in one form or the other! And that's all for now! Thank you to TurtleMe and Tapas Media for their generosity and time, and of course, thank you to all the fans out there who submitted your questions! Remember to go out and support the series! The Beginning After the End, Vol. 1 is available now!