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Yeah, Tlaero and I have discussed several times in several games about what a certain character would do or not do, or look like or not look like and made needed changes. I talked about structure in the previous question but it can't be that rigid. It's like building construction I think. You need foundations and structures to make it stand up but you need the building also to be able to move to sustain earthquakes and strong winds. No rigidity and the story won't stand, too much rigidity and it will collapse when faced with adversities. -- Mortze

Something I have found interesting with some other creators out there is when they talk about how and/or why plans for a given story change. I know of one story where an author had planned out a book's overall plot, but as he got to writing it he realized that his characters would not act the way he had originally planned and he had to change major parts of that story as a result. I could name others, but the point of all that would be to ask this question. Have you had any instances where you realized that the story you were planning to tell would not work as originally planned once you actually got to writing it? (Also, sorry for the double post. I decided to keep my two questions in two separate posts because they cover such vastly different aspects of the process.)

I am curious about how you go about writing these stories, and in particular how you start them. Do you plan out the overall plot of a given story in advance, or do you just kind of start writing the story, or do you take some other approach? Are there any stories we've seen where you took a different approach to the writing than what you would normally have done?

Do you need special inspiration to create your games, stories? How do you create them? What emotions are you experiencing when you create them?

Hi Tlaero and Mortze! As always, I love your work, especially the Elsaverse. I have a couple of questions/observations: 1. Are there real-world inspirations (whether art and/or writing) behind any of your Elsaverse characters? If so, and you're comfortable sharing those inspirations, who or what are they? 2. One of the truly interesting features of the Elsaverse stories/games in particular is the use of the male protagonist who is functionally a 'sidekick' to his female romantic partner, turning the gender trope on its head and also making the reader/game player view the story from the sidekick point of view. It's like telling the Harry Potter stories from Ron's point of view (or Ginny, if you prefer from the romantic partner to the hero viewpoint). It's a style that works extremely well, in my opinion. Was this an intentional choice? If so, what inspired it?

You know those questions like "Why are we here?" "Why was the world made this way?" "Does free will exist?" "Why do good things happen to bad people and vice versa?" You know, the huge existential questions that only God would really know the answer to. If your characters ever got the chance to meet you -- their creator, who is effectively their God -- and personally ask you those questions, what would you tell them?

Mortze, what was the first female model that you created?