Author’s Notes (Volume 1 Arc 1 “The Gateway”)

Hello everyone, Tzuf here. Obviously, this is the first time I’ve done something like this, so sorry if it gets a bit rambly. But I’m here to give some of my general thoughts about the story up to now and moving forwards. If there are any questions or queries you’d like me to address in the next one, please comment below. And if you would like to support me or read ahead a few chapters, please check out my Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/Tzuf

I had never written any novel length stories before I began writing for the Gamer and, honestly, I’m sure that shows. It’s been a long time since then, however, and I think overall I’ve come a long way. This might be a bit premature, given it’s only the first arc, but given the almost full year that passed since I first started by the time this will likely be released, I’m ok with that. First, I want to thank ZeWes and the other authors for taking a chance on me and helping me along the way. Especially ZeWes, because he was also the author who was my mentor through the qualification process. Second, I’d like to thank my test readers, all of them. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all, you helped me get motivation when I had none and improve my work as much as I could with my current level of skill. Especially I’d like to thank my two earliest test readers, my friend who will remain unnamed (You know who you are, but your name has been held back due to your request) and Shikaku, who both took an early interest in my work and helped me along in my early days of writing. Both of them gave me some great ideas and helped me immensely with feedback, but so did the rest of my test readers.

Anyways, that’s enough emotionality from me for one Author’s Notes (do expect one of these every time, I’m sentimental like that). So we’ll get onto the meat of the topic, Arc 1. “The Gateway” in its current form was conceived quite late into the process, as other stuff began falling into place, some aspects of the original plan had to change. I won’t mention them here by their contents, because some of them will probably serve as a spoiler for future developments, whether through the reasons I dropped them or due to the reason they might have happened because of in the first place. But regardless, I ended up being happy with the Arc overall, as it introduced many characters that will become incredibly important in the story moving on and because it introduced the two main pillars I will be dealing with throughout the story. As some of you have probably already figured out, the exploration of the Gateway and John’s Psychic powers are both the central pillars I intend to focus on. Both of them will be addressed in the next Arc, which I have dubbed “XR2”. Perhaps that will give you an idea of what it focuses on. The Volume name, for anyone wondering, is quite simple “An Introduction”. Yeah, I know, as creatively bankrupt as one can get, but it is there to serve a simple purpose. To introduce a wide variety of concepts, ideas and characters that will be dealt with across the rest of my branch. Thus, the name. Now, back to our main topic. Even though I ended up happy with the Arc overall, there are some things that going back I might have improved. In an attempt to set the tone of the story, I spent about 14 chapters setting up only three characters, and barely addressing the world outside of it. That worked well enough, but looking back I could have probably done better. I’m rambling now though, so I’ll leave you all with a few little tastes of what's coming. Hopefully they’ll give you a picture of what’s next.

There was no time to waste, she knew that much. The forces opposing her were gathering in the shadows, now more than ever. John’s arrival on the scene did not help, as she feared. In fact, it only seemed to worsen the situation. They were coming, and they were going to attempt something, sooner rather than later.
For the first time in five years, she was scared. She had worked far too hard to lose it all now. However, Ingrid would not go down without a fight.

They were given a command to get to a strange planet in three weeks time. A desert moon by the designation of “XR2”. Supposedly to collect a new explorer, though Ruby Hunt had no real interest in that notion. As she did most usually, she took the only suit they had out of the ship and into the void for a training exercise. They were always on the move and always on alert, so she needed all the training she could get when they finally met something that required any shooting.

Well, that’s about it. I hope everyone enjoyed this Arc, I’m sure you’ll enjoy what’s coming.