Background:

The initial draft of the story started all the way back in October 2014. It has been five years¹I intended to release this originally in Autumn 2019 but forgot about it so I'm doing it on Lunar New Year instead since then, so I thought it was a good time to ask the first reader and good friend, Computer Three²Government name redacted about the story and reflect on what has happened.

1. How did you get involved with the story? 
   
   Comp3: Originally it was dG writing stories, complete ones at least, and then I started writing a series of my own. Between the two stories I gravitated towards helping Heroes over my own story. A little bit of editing, but mostly idea generation. It's partially like writing a story without doing the hard part of writing.
   
   dG: Seriously, Masks is pretty good. Everyone should check it out when they have the time. It’s paced much better than my story and has more likable characters, maybe… Keep in mind that Masks is on infinite hiatus but keep an eye out for references and direct involvement from it in my story!

2. What do you think of the progress (or lack of progress) that’s occurred?
   

    

   dG: I never expected to ever upload the story online but here it is now. As of this month, there are twelve fourteen volumes, which seems a lot but it isn’t. I hope to consolidate the existing volumes to cut down on the numbering and also tie up several story arcs together. The story is at a good point but there’s always improvements to be made.

   Comp3: The rate the story progressed through the first Google docs was freaky. I think the team looked up and then there was a whopping 300 pages in front of us. After that the second and third parts were written with a little more natural pacing. Certainly we could try and refine the story to reduce it to a concise story, but that wouldn't truly be a slice of life story.

3. What’s something about the story you like?

   dG: Since the story has influence from visual novels, the characters are one of my favorite parts of the story. Unfortunately, the beginning of the story does drag on because of my penchant for developing everyone’s personality. And I am aware certain characters do fall flat. That’s enough of the negativity though. Let's hear some more positives from C3.

   Comp3: There's a certain sense of relatability people can feel to both sides of the story, Tomo Yuki, and the trash bag heroes. Yuki serves as the role for someone being new to a group and learning their secrets. On the other hand, you have the old group that is reluctantly opening up to the new blood, slowly, very slowly. While it isn't the pace normally seen in novels of this genre, it's more realistic to the 3D world we love and know.

4. What’s something about the story you despise?

   dG: It can be argued many aspects of the story can be improved on. The transitions from scene to scene aren’t the best and there are many details in the story which appear unimportant. That’s on me to tighten up those parts and emphasize how those scenes contribute to the overall plot.

   Comp3: Eh, to be quite honest I'm with some of the readers on this one. I like action, and it would be great to read more fight scenes. That said I think the underlying part I despise is my laziness to write some quality fight scenes. In defense, it's hard to write something concise with magic and whatnot. If we spend our word space describing everything it turns into a monologue out of a shonen.

   dG: Yeah, action scenes definitely are tough. For me, it turns into long blocks of text which doesn’t look appealing at all. However, I’ve tried remedying this by adding preludes, interludes, and postludes that involve more action. You’ll notice this more in the newer chapters since I started actively adding in action sequences. I also try to not drag out fights even if it seems too short. It feels cheap to extend something when I don’t have to. I still do it from time to time so that’s definitely an improvement to work on.

   Another inconsistency are everyone’s powers and things not quite lining up in certain scenes. Part of the reason for this is the contrast between my original plans for the story in the early days and the edits done now. I tend to keep some things vague mainly because I didn’t know what to do with them yet. I am aware of this but since it’s so deep into the story, there won’t be any crazy edits to remedy this until later. For now, I’m doing patchwork stuff so sorry about any confusion that might occur!

5. Do you believe the story will actually get completed?

   dG: As the author, I should hope so. The outlines and general flow of the story have been done. Nothing much else to say besides that. 

   Comp3: Yeah, it shall be done. dG is a steady writer and unlike me actually planned the story to completion. So no 5 year hiatus.

   dG: Yeah, I planned things out… this is a true statement. The earlier parts of the story were written in large chunks and I had a vague idea of how it would go. I still don’t like particularly like outlining things but I realize it’s something that is necessary just to keep everything in order. So unlike the early days, I have a greater grasp of how things will flow.

6. What do you have to say to current and potential readers?

   dG: Honestly, just thanks. I never expected people to actually read this and the stats on some days reflect that. It’s never going to be the biggest hit because of the style and how it’s written, but for those that have and will stick around, I appreciate it.

   Comp3: Come on and comment!!!!! Let's start a discussion!! dG said the thanks so I can take the middle man role and whine. We don't want to be the top, but we want to hear from the readers even if they think the story is trash. We'll just keep writing and make you eat those words.

   dG: Feel free to put in any questions down in the comments as well. I can’t promise an immediate response but I’ll get to it.

7. Where is the art?

   dG: I ask that question everyday myself. Honestly, Kyle’s a great artist. Hell, he deserves a fuckin’ gold medal for sticking this out. Thanks bro. But like, can I get some art though?

   Comp3: There's so much shade is 30 degrees cooler in this question section. Our starving artist is trying to get his shit together and has produced what he can in his free time.

   dG: Readers, don’t take this the wrong way. Kyle’s talented, but life happens so there is leeway for his lack of production. Very, very small leeway…

   As a way to promote the art, there will be a Twitter/Instagram set-up to show off any progress being made. So definitely give that a follow.

   Kyle: 

   
   

8. Why are most of the characters unlikeable?

   dG: Are they really though? Remember, all these characters are seen through the eyes of Yuki. Also, because my friends are assholes, duh. But to get back on point, it just seems that way because it’s meant for the readers to get to know everyone just like Yuki does. So hopefully you’ll find someone in the story you’ll end up liking.

   Comp3: There's a long warm up time. Now, dG, what happened to this being a dating sim type? I wanted to see some romance!

   dG: Oh, that shit is hard to map out. But readers will certainly start to see more of that near the middle and end of the story. I’m in the process of adding side chapters to cover things like that which I either totally forgot to do in the initial drafts or just didn’t quite fit in the current chapters. Worry not, I swear on my integrity as a visual novel reader, it shall be done!

Final Thoughts:

I hesitate to give an exact percentage but the story is around 50% complete. Chapter releases might get a little sporadic depending on my work schedule but I'll try my best to maintain a constant one. As for the art, Kyle is a working man and has other things to do other than draw for my story in his free time. Computer Three will pop up now and then so if anything interesting shows up, he'll know about it. Seriously, thank you to all the readers who've read all the way to the current chapter and all of those who've checked out the first chapter and beyond. Even if the story isn't to your particular taste, I still appreciate you taking a few seconds to test it out. 

Feel free to leave any comments on the mini Q&A and also any other questions you might have too. Also happy Lunar New Year 2021 to all those who celebrate or observe it! Here's a little art from Kyle to prove he's actually real and not slacking off. 

Until next time, 
delta0G