TPK Q&A: Author and Editor Edition with @pumpkinpaperweight
Questions for Kate from Crystal
1.) What were your first thoughts of the first few chapters?
Was nice to see some of Nicola in Gavaldon bc thatâs something we never saw for ourselves in the series, anything about Nicolaâs past was either mentioned in passing or through another character, so good to see it directly! Also appreciate that we get right back into School stuff, I appreciate it not messing around too much lol.
2.) What drew you to the story?
I always like fics where people pick a side character and give them their dues, and Nicola was so damn hard done by in the series that I really think she deserves a fic or several with her as the main focus! Also I like seeing people play around in the sandbox of the school, thereâs a lot of potential there with talents and so on.
3.) Do you have a favorite character in TPK so far?
Very fond of Lakim! Also not exactly a new character but I like Professor Espadaâs increasein prominence, thatâs fun since heâs not around much in the books.
4.) Do you have a favorite chapter in TPK?
Chapter 7 was nice; I really like extra worldbuilding and trivia about SGE stuff so all the historical bits you made up about other kingdoms were super interesting. Also the Circus of Talents was interesting to see what everyone was competing with, I find talents really hard to come up with but there was a massive variety which was really fun.
5.) If you had to choose one of the special talents shown in TPK, which would you choose and why?
Etainâs talent to manipulate shadows of others to attack them was super cool, really liked that one! Spooky. Realistically I think I would probably actually manage to blow myself up somehow but it sounds cool in theory lol.
6.) What else would you like to see explored in the TPK series?
Anything further than first year is of interest to me, since no one often gets past that! The internships and stuff could be really good to play around with.
7.) Any final thoughts for Crystal or the audience?
Enjoyed editing this, thank you!! Really enjoyed the creativity w the talents and backstories and worldbuilding, the type of thing I always go in for, so great to see!
Have you been planning on writing this for a long time, or was it a more spontaneous thing?
 TPK was the combination of my desire for Nicola to have a story of her own and a dream that introduced me to Lakim and his backstory.
How did you come up with the OCs for this fic? Or are they previous characters you already had?
 If you would believe it most of the Odd Evers came from dreams I had around the time I contemplated writing TPK
How have you found writing a multi-chapter fic, since theyâre notorious for being a bit difficult?Â
I would say it was of medium difficulty. I find writing papers much harder and they have outlines!
Whoâs your favourite of your OCs? (if you can pick!)
 Lakim and Natasha would be tied for me. Lakim because he is everything I wanted to be represented as a black boy in this world. He is caring, loyal, expressive and fully enjoys his interests even if some would say itâs âgirlyâ he would say âand whatâs wrong with that?â Natasha is a lot like me in many ways. Sheâs reserved and knowledgeable but when sheâs excited sheâll be so loud most people would be surprised how high her voice can be.
Whatâs something in the future youâd like to explore in the SGE world / the Woods? Could be a place or a concept or another character, anything.Â
Iâm setting up to thoroughly explore the politics of the Woods because I feel it wasnât well utilized in the series. This question has a lot of room for me to give spoilers but what I can say is TPK holds quite a few secrets to Lakimâs past.
Are there other fandoms youâd like to write fic for in the future? If not, are there other SGE fics youâd wanna do?
Iâm actually planning to post original works through ao3 just to get practice. When the PJO series comes out Iâll probably write short stories for it. I would love to write some Tagatha stories, especially ones that tie into TPK.
What were the most difficult (and easiest!) bits of writing TPK?
The most difficult bits would have to be the descriptions and dialogue. The descriptions were very hard for me to put in words though I knew exactly what I wanted to describe. A lot of times, Kate would edit chapters I wrote at night and I would be so embarrassed by it. The dialogue was hard because I really wanted to make sure it was understandable and sounded like something each character would say.
Any other comments or things you wanna say that youâve not had a chance to?
There is far more TPK in store as the story continues the Odd Evers will enter their second year at the School for Good and Evil. If you have The Ever Never Handbook that will give you some ideas of what to expect but donât get too comfortable as a story comes with quite a few twists.