The Traveler

One Year Anniversary Special

Greetings friends!

It is I, the author, once more traversing time and space to wish you salutations and deliver to you, more Traveler content!
I can scarcely believe it has been one whole year since I have finished The Traveler . I'd need a whole 'nother novel to tell you all everything that has transpired since my last entry but needless to say I am so pleased to be able to celebrate such a amazing occasion.
So, pleasantries aside, I have a lot in store for you all as part of this celebration! The following chapters contain all kinds of surprises from never-before seen deleted segments, in-depth author commentaries and a one-on-one-on-one interview with me, the author, and someone instrumental in the creation and conception of The Traveler.
Before we dive in however, I want to once again thank you all for your time and dedication to this story. I do this all for you and you all are the best reward an author could ask for!

Okay, okay enough stalling, let's go!

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~The "Sisters" Behind the Story: An Interview with the Author and Her Best Friend~
Riddle me this; what better way to kick off the one-year anniversary of The Traveler  then an interview with the two masterminds behind its conception? The answer is no way; there is no better way to kick it off!

[Q1]: Have you always enjoyed writing? If you can remember, when did you start?

[Sara]: The first time I can remember writing was in kindergarten. We had free time in the mornings, and I would grab two or three pieces of paper, fold them then staple them together and draw pictures or write stories on them. The habit stuck and in 5th grade I actually penned five editions of Super Nacho a comic book series about a superhero nacho who fights an evil scientist. As far as if I've always enjoyed writing, I have always loved narrative writing and am gaining a newfound love of biographies and science articles (nerd alert).

[Xonolia]: That's a hard one! I've always enjoyed storytelling but I think I started around seven when we had a creative writing assignment in class and a journal to boot.

[Q2]: Where did you get your ideas?

[Sara]: Well, if I'm being honest, Todd Howard did most of the legwork as far as the plot goes but a majority of the ideas came to me as I was writing. Some ideas resulted from things I wish they had included in Skyrim and others were (in my opinion) better ways to resolve problems or build stronger characters. Most of my ideas came on whims, but I pursued the ones I liked and boom, they made it.

[Xonolia]: I can't really say? It's mostly spontaneous or related to something I'm interested in at the moment.

[Q3]: What is your writing process like?

[Sara]: In the beginning, my process was very methodical, but I do tend to dive into chapters as soon as I get a solid string of ideas. Usually, I establish a direction then let the words flow themselves for the first draft. Then, I come back and clean up the progression, touch up the grammar and sometimes embellish a bit. I am extremely picky however about having an overall story fleshed out before I continue past the first couple of chapters because, in my opinion, intentional writing is always going to be your best work.

[Xonolia]: My writing process is chaos; general chaos with a bit of a plan.

[Q4]: What advice do you have for writers?

[Sara]: FLESH A STORY OUT (I know, I know, I sound like a broken record). Yes, it is perfectly okay to write out on whims every now and then (because the results may lead to something unexpectedly brilliant) but the only thing that kept The Traveler going was the clear line of plot I established for myself at the beginning. This was insanely important because even when inspiration left me and I found myself blocked, I could continue drafting and move forward. I call it connect-the-dots writing and it entails listing points you want to hit in the meta-narrative then filling in the lines.