Features Interviews

Interview: Pirateaba

Features Interviews10 hours ago13 min readAdd comment

A few years ago, I was slowly resurfacing from reading a lot of dark, heavy books (Tainted Dominion, Norylska Groans – stuff like that), and I dearly needed a change of pace. I asked around for easily accessible stories that didn’t take themselves too seriously. I wished for a world I could escape into that was more about the fun and magic of fantasy than about exploring the darkest depths of the human condition.

One of the suggestions was for a series called The Wandering Inn. I’d heard the name, but otherwise didn’t know anything about it. From the description I got, I had my doubts, but the recommendation came from a trusted source, so I figured I’d give it a go. After all, I could always DNF and read something else if I didn’t enjoy it.

Now, three and a half years later, The Wandering Inn has become my go to comfort read whenever life or the world gets me down. Going for a long walk and re-listening to a favourite chapter or book has helped me through many a dark day.

In light of this, I’m proud and delighted to share our interview with Pirateaba, the author of The Wandering Inn, Gravesong, and The Last Tide. Enjoy!

It’s well known among your fans that you value your privacy and anonymity (explanation here), so I won’t ask you to introduce yourself. That said, I would still like you to add a little bit of context for the interview.

If someone has never heard of you or your story, what do they need to know for your answers below to make sense?

Thank you for having me! For your readers, I think that my perspective is that the author of a story shouldn’t matter.

Of course they have (potentially) interesting thoughts and ideas, but as a kid, I never noticed who wrote my favorite books. I just knew them by their titles. Only later did I realize that there was a correlation between some authors and great stories, but I never wanted to know what they looked like or read their biographies.

They were the story, to me. That’s how I knew and understood them. In the same way, I suppose you should know me by my story. The Wandering Inn is, one of the longest stories in the western world, at over 16 million words long.

It’s a fantasy story about a girl from Earth who appears in another world and becomes an [Innkeeper], not a hero. That’s it. Oh, the story goes places I like to think are wonderful and magical, and filled with armies, adventure, monsters (I like horrific monsters), and more.

But it’s still the same as many stories you know. Someone goes upon an adventure, great and terrible. I grew up reading stories like the Chronicles of Prydain, and Acorna, and Dragonlance and for all that my own story has the luxury of meandering, and focusing on things that you’d never cram into a traditional book, it’s not so different.

Just that if you ever wanted to spend another hour with Frodo in the elven cities and know what an average citizen was like, or wished to have another chapter between the huge events taking place with your favorite characters–so did I.

So I wrote a story like that. That’s me, pirateaba. I think I’m less interesting as a person than the work I put all I can into. One of the only unique things about me, apparently, is that when I eat popcorn, it’s with nutritional yeast. Some people find this concept challenging.

The Wandering Inn recently celebrated ten years as an ongoing web serial. All this time, you’ve published new chapters on your website for free every week, with Patreon supporters getting new chapters a week early – and from what I understand, you plan to keep doing that.

Fans of the series have been asking for physical copies of the books for ages, and for the ten year anniversary, you announced that the first two volumes of The Wandering Inn will be available in print through a major publisher.

What have been the best and the worst parts about publishing your story yourself, and what new challenges and opportunities come from getting your books out in print in this way?

I will say this politely, but I think, honestly, in a way many other authors in my medium can relate to…major publishers are hard to impress. It was incredibly difficult to have any large publisher take notice of The Wandering Inn, because I think web serials were not in the vogue until just recently.

Publishing online used to mean your story would not get picked up by any traditional publisher because you had ruined the value by putting it out there for free. I don’t regard this as a negative; if anything, the fact that I have a Patreon and financial security from my audience means I have been able to turn down a lot of deals that wouldn’t have been good for me.

I think the downside is that when you engage with anything beyond your own story, you have to sell yourself to groups who don’t really get what a webserial is, and don’t see the monetary value in something they don’t know. You have to be careful to protect and represent yourself because predatory contracts do exist and they are rampant, at least from what I’ve seen.

South Korean web serials have bad contracts. I don’t even think that’s generalizing; I’ve seen offers made to me, and I think a few such contracts were passed around a year or two back? Sign the wrong thing and you are suddenly giving away a lot of what you’ve worked so hard for, often with little recourse to back out. If you don’t know the legal world, that’s where it gets scary. Lots of people are just passionate artists, and when corporate worlds collide, it doesn’t tend to end well for the artist. I’ve been lucky to have help with all such matters, but it wasn’t fun at the start.

One thing that consistently fascinates me about The Wandering Inn is the complexity of the characters. No one who makes more than a brief appearance in the story is only ever just one thing. I feel like this hints at a deep understanding of people and insight into the human condition.

At the same time, your author comments portray you as an introvert who prefers their solitude and who doesn’t leave the house unless they have to. Can you tell us a little about your thoughts on writing believable characters? Do you have any advice for other writers?

I think that a lot of people assume writers are like the characters they create. Many people have asked if I like chess.

I don’t like chess. It’s stressful. I can’t memorize the Thymerian King opening or whatever it’s called and I don’t enjoy the fact that the pieces never change.

However, I can understand someone who likes chess. I listen to people talk whenever I go out. Whenever something interesting catches my eye, be it a sight, or experience, I remember it and draw from everyone I meet.

Not in the sense I copy anyone; that’s pretty limiting too, but I think it’s because I pay attention to dialogue and how other people, like extroverts, act that I’m able to create characters that feel decently real in my story.

I am an introvert. I hate going outside. I didn’t go outside all day and I’m completely fine with that (also it was raining and nasty, but that’s besides the point). But I do like to try and understand people. I like to understand because I don’t get how other people operate, but I am constantly fascinated, and that’s the benefit, I think.

Never believing you have all the answers, listening and observing. I’m told Stephen King sometimes disguises himself and sits in cafes to eavesdrop on other people. I’m not nearly so bold, but if I were giving other authors advice on writing characters, I’d just say to observe the world around them.

Their characters should be able to fit into that world, even if they’re aliens or heroes. They should be, well, real people.

This quote originally appeared in the webcomic A Softer World, by Joey Comeau and Emily Horne. It’s completely unrelated to The Wandering Inn, but you should definitely check it out. /Nils

The Wandering Inn has been going for ten years now, and that’s a long time. How has the story changed since you started it, and how have you changed as a storyteller – outside of purely technical writing skills?

Are there themes you used to feature that are no longer as pronounced, and what replaced them? How have your tastes and priorities shifted?

I think one of the main things besides my writing ability that has changed is my understanding of the world itself. I’ve both grown up and had my worldview shift, and I think you could notice how I find something new about the world and add it into the story.

I’m not sure I changed themes deliberately so much as followed the natural arc of characters growing up. Erin Solstice goes from a girl who barely knows anything about the city she lands next to, to someone who pays attention to the rest of the world and sees how events happening on the other side of the world matter.

I was like that too, as a kid. I didn’t care about the ‘news’, or what happened worldwide. I was happy in my little bubble until I realized there was more to the world than just me. In the same way, The Wandering Inn is about other people’s adventures and stories–but it always had that theme.

It’s just bigger now, and the stories are a bit more complex. Turnscales ^{(RIF note: turnscale is the inn-world term for queer people)} are a good example in my story. Some readers objected to their inclusion, but Innworld is fairly bigoted as well, and the complexities of living in a fantasy world where you can be any species, but not any person–that’s real and important for me to tell in a story. And I am trying to tell the story of a world, so as my understanding of the world expands, so too do the perspectives in the story.

And a few quick questions. What’s your favourite…

…book/show, in recent times?

The Curse of Chalion was a recent favorite. Excellent and amazing writing. TV shows I liked and would recommend…uh…I can’t recommend any of the ones I’ve watched recently.

…game, in recent times?

The last game I really liked might have been Resident Evil: Requiem though the storytelling is always simple. I just like shooting zombies. But Deltarune is the game I’m following with great anticipation and, dare I say, hopes.

…writing advice?

Don’t assume you have to write in any one style. Write once a week in one huge burst. Write daily. But write. Agonizing about the process of writing is the only thing I think you can waste your time on. Agonize about the story instead.

…advice for someone who wants to publish their own story?

Do it online! No, I actually mean it; self-publishing works and crowdfunding sites (Patreon used to be more generous with the royalties so maybe there are alternatives), lets writers earn way more than they used to. Finding an audience online is easier than traditional publishing these days.

…source of inspiration?

When I’m tired, I choose a movie from a list I have curated that I know contain the best movies I haven’t seen yet. Or I pull out one of my favorite books and remind myself of what a good story is. And I am so envious and want to tell a story like that so badly…I suppose that’s inspiration.

…way to clear your mind when everything gets a bit much?

I play videogames or I go for a run. The run actually gets me thinking about the next chapter, so really, it’s a videogame I can play while mindlessly watching a Youtube video. Idling the brain, I call it, for a day or a while so I can recharge.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Do you have any last comments? Any shoutouts to people who support or inspire you?

I’d love to shoutout my beta-readers and my team, who always have my back and help me with this obsession that makes me so silly and inept at anything else. They’ve gotten me to this point where we’re launching a physical book.

You have to have friends, even as an introvert writer, and I’m glad to have some. And all my readers, who give me so much. It may be silly and I hope you’ve heard it a thousand times, but it should always be the case.

–pirateaba

Pirateaba

Author of The Wandering Inn series, available to read in full on their website, or available in audiobook or ebook formats for your preference. pirateaba has been writing The Wandering Inn since 2016. They enjoy the occasional microwaved bagel or eating popcorn with nutritional yeast, which is a relatable and normal way to eat food.