First of all, I uploaded a non-final copy of the last two chapters of "Vegas, Baby" last night
There are some spelling and grammar errors in there. I'll fix them when I have a little more mental energy, probably later tonight, when my brain stops being on fire.
In the meantime, I thought I'd answer some questions I've received from readers and pre-readers. Some are about the story, some about the world, and some about the writing process.
**Q: At the end of Vegas, Baby!, Adrian says "no practice for four days," then threatens to have anyone using the computers to play the game in the next 48 hours dragged away. Forty-eight hours versus ninety-six hours? Is that a continuity error?**
**A:** Nope. It's me not explaining things fully.
What Adrian means is that there will be no official team practice for four days.
People can still come into the training center. They can use the computers to surf the net, take care of personal business, or whatever. And they're certainly welcome to come in for meals from Antonia.
But for the first 48 hours? No playing World of WarMachines on those computers.
Why?
Because the team just went through a torture-by-exhaustion schedule of seven matches in two days.
Decompress. Do something that doesn't involve the game. Get away from it for a couple of days. Recover a little work-life balance.
That's what Adrian is trying to accomplish.
**Q: No offense, but a team shouldn't be that exhausted from playing a game, even at the highest level. There's no physical exertion. They're sitting in computer chairs.**
**A:** The primary exhaustion isn't athletic. It's mental, although that kind of stress can leave you feeling physically exhausted too.
Imagine having to concentrate on every single decision, every movement, every mistake, knowing that one lapse could end your tournament run.
Now imagine doing that five times in one day.
That's what Reforged went through.
High-level esports events generally recognize the importance of breaks and recovery, although the exact schedules vary from competition to competition.
Kelto, in-universe, is learning this lesson the hard way.
The Spring Tournament was shoehorned into a weekend convention devoted to Kelto's World of WarMachines. They had limited time, limited space, and a tournament format that really needed more of both.
They could have run preliminary matches off-site the day before. They could have made the tournament single-elimination. They had several possible solutions.
Instead, they tried a compromise.
It didn't work particularly well.
The reaction from the players and the press means Kelto isn't going to repeat that particular mistake.
In the Pro League, matches are generally scheduled more like the NFL, with teams playing approximately once a week, usually on weekends. There might be occasional special events, midseason tournaments, or all-star competitions, because Kelto certainly likes making money.
But teams can plan for recovery.
During the Spring Tournament? There was essentially no opportunity for it.
**Q: Why didn't Reforged win the Spring Tournament? They should have won!**
**A:** Because, frankly, they shouldn't have won.
They had the smallest roster. They played more matches than anyone else. They had less time to recover.
Amy and Adrian also had to deal with the TrueGamers attack article, which certainly didn't help.
They did their best.
Their best simply wasn't good enough.
This time, at least.
**Q: How important was it that Reforged did well in the tournament? Please tell me they're going to get another chance!**
**A:** Well, it certainly didn't hurt them!
The next tournament, detailed in *Power and Overpower*, is a sixty-four-team Summer Tournament.
Unlike the Spring Tournament, most of the matches will be played online, with only the semifinals and final taking place on-site.
Reforged receives one of sixteen invitations from Kelto. Those invitations are based partly on sporting merit and partly on a commercial consideration: Kelto wants teams that people are willing to pay to watch.
The remaining forty-eight teams qualify through competitions held online throughout the spring and early summer.
As for how important the regular tournaments are to making the Pro League?
Very.
There are three regular-season tournaments: Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Then there's a fourth event, the Promotion Tournament.
The team that wins the Promotion Tournament earns a place in the Pro League for the following season.
There are two general paths into that tournament.
Win one of the three regular-season tournaments, and you're in. That's a maximum of three places.
The remaining places are allocated using a scoring system based on how well teams performed across the earlier tournaments, even if they didn't win.
So Reforged finishing third in the Spring Tournament?
That doesn't put them into the Promotion Tournament.
Yet.
But it's a damn good start.
**Q: Who are the characters based on? You've mentioned The King's Avatar, and Adrian seems to share some DNA with Ye Xiu/Ye Qiu.**
**A:** Actually, when I first started developing the story, Adrian was much closer to a Ye Xiu-type character.
Very driven. Very focused. The sort of character around whom everything seemed to revolve.
But as I worked through the story beats and tried to figure out where the characters wanted to go, Adrian developed a very different voice.
He loves playing World of WarMachines. He wants to compete at the highest level he possibly can.
But it isn't his entire life.
He's discovering that there are other things that can sit alongside that ambition without diminishing it.
He's going to learn quite a bit more about that in the upcoming chapters.
**Q: Do you have a mailing list or pre-reader club for people who want to help with readability, continuity, and things beyond the obvious spelling and grammar errors?**
**A:** Nothing formal.
I have a small pool of pre-readers, but they have their own lives, responsibilities, and schedules.
Sometimes I get too impatient to keep writing, and waiting for feedback becomes a chore.
Sometimes I get their comments and think, "Oh! I can explain that better!"
Other times it's, "Um, they're right. I need to make something clearer."
And occasionally fixing one thing has knock-on effects elsewhere in the story.
The problems with the last two chapters are on me, not on my pre-readers.
**Q: When can we expect Arc 5? Arc 6? And how many arcs do you have planned, anyway?**
**A:** Soon!
Arc 5, *Power and Overpower*, is complete, and my pre-readers are looking it over.
I expect to start posting it in the next couple of days.
I'm going to try to work out a schedule that keeps the story flowing without releasing everything at once. Maybe a chapter or two a day, or two chapters three times a week.
Part of that is wanting to give people time to read and react, and part of it is wanting to reach as many readers as possible.
Hopefully you won't mind getting the story in installments!
As for future arcs?
Arc 6, currently titled *One Step Away*, is being written. It will bring this major phase of Reforged's story to a close.
And then there's Arc 7.
Arc 7 is planned. The major story beats are in place.
And, to be honest, from the perspective of an author who genuinely likes his characters, it's going to be difficult to write.
There are some very ugly things in there about the lengths people will go to humiliate, belittle, and hurt someone they dislike, especially when there's money to be made doing it.
I'm still working out how directly to depict some of those moments.
It's not a question of writing explicit sexual scenes. It's about how much time I need to spend showing the thinking and planning behind a deliberately cruel act.
That's not a particularly pleasant headspace to inhabit.
But I think the storyline matters, both for the characters and for what I want the book to say.
Its current title is *Trials and Tribulations*.
Anyway, I'm going to get some rest, come back, fire the post-pre-editor who uploaded the chapters, and then rehire the post-pre-editor.
Because that's me.
And then I'll fix the chapters.
Type at you soon.
FB