Invisible Ties | Fire Emblem Awakening (Novelization)

Interview

M.M. Hunter Interviews Herself (Because No One Else Will Ever Do It for Her)

Q: Why did you start writing Invisible Ties?

A: When I first started playing Fire Emblem Awakening, I loved it so much that the thought I might never be able to complete it (because I'm rubbish at gaming) terrified me. I ended up promising myself that if I couldn't complete the game, I'd watch a walkthrough on YouTube and then write it up as a story for myself so that I would feel involved again. I became so excited about novelising the game that I eventually realised I'd have to do it even if I completed it. So, I completed it, and I did. It was the first novel I ever managed to write from start to finish without getting cold feet.

Q: When did you start writing Invisible Ties?

A: After extensive planning, I started writing the first draft around July/August 2015 and finished about a month later. It was the only thing I ever did with my free time for the entire month. And I had a lot of free time back then.

Q: How many drafts have you done so far?

A: Four. I only ever intended to do two, but I'm a perfectionist with my writing. I did the second draft straight after the first without letting my story compost. Then, at the start of 2016, I began to contemplate sharing Invisible Ties with an online audience. I read over the second draft again and was appalled, so I wrote the third draft. Then I extensively edited each chapter the week before I posted it, making this version Draft #4.

(As of May 2018, over a year after I finished uploading this, I'm on Draft #6.)

Q: How many words were in the first draft?

A: 116,000 give or take a few numbers.

Q: How many words long is it now?

A: Around 133,000 words. I'm sure re-drafting is supposed to make the story shorter...

Q: Did the story ever have a different working title?

A: It spent the first and second draft as Invisible Ties, then changed to My Second Last Life in my third draft, because so much fanfiction and other fan-made things share my popular title. But in the end, I decided that didn't matter. The title of my story is Invisible Ties in my heart, and so I changed it back.

Q: Are there any scenes you deleted from earlier chapters that you would like to mention, or any that you added in?

A: First and foremost, I'd like to mention Chapter 26: Amnesia Dreams. That's a prime example of how much my readers have contributed to my story because it didn't exist at all until the fourth draft. One day I went to edit what was then Chapter 26: Inexorable Death (now Chapter 27) and started to read the very short scene I'd written about Robin's terrible dream. It was one of those scenes that I completely tore apart and rewrote instead of just altering slightly. I put a lot more weight on the dream and the effects it had on Chrom and Robin's relationship, to the point where Robin was so upset and tired that I knew I couldn't send her into battle that day. I could time-skip to the following day, or I could add in a suggestion xInSainex had given me about Morgan and Falchion...and then I added some GeromexLucina, too. It grew into a whole new chapter that ended with me erasing Robin's memory of her dreams -- something that hadn't happened until that draft.

In addition, there are a few other notable things. In the first draft of Chapter 11: Foreseer, Chrom chased after Marth in the gardens and spoke to her as is seen in the fourth draft today. That was taken out in the second draft, and then made a reappearance. In Chapter 17: Vengeance, Chrom and Robin did not have the argument that would later lead to my "thorns and roses" speech until the third draft. Chrom didn't kill Gangrel by beheading him in Chapter 18: Mad King Gangrel until the third draft, (it was by stabbing him, if anyone would like to know) nor did the battle take place just outside Regna Ferox until then. Chrom and Robin did a lot more than kiss on the deck of the ship in Chapter 24: Smouldering Resistance during the first draft, Say'ri did not challenge Yen'fay to a duel in Chapter 28: Sibling Blades until the fourth draft, and finally, in the first and second draft of Chapter 32: The Last Premonition, Owain came back to his room while Gerome and Lucina were hunting for the mask, resulting in the future couple hiding in his wardrobe and having their first kiss there!

There's plenty more where that came from, but it shows you just how much can change when you edit, especially if you have great readers.

Q: Which was your favourite chapter to write?

A: That's very tricky. The first chapter that springs to mind is Chapter 12: Nothing's Fair in Love and War. That's when Chrom and Robin have their first kiss. My chapter plan told me: "Chrom walks her [Robin] to her room, and they kiss, but he tells her that they should forget it ever happened so that they don't get distracted in the war." What I actually wrote was much more detailed and almost turned into quite a lot more than a kiss! It was one of those beautiful moments where words flowed from my fingers and exploded onto the page almost uncontrollably. After that, I'd probably say that Chapter 38: Invisible Ties and Epilogue were the second most fun to write.

Many of my other chapters matured much later when I was editing. Chapter 16: Emmeryn, Chapter 17: Vengeance and Chapter 37: To Slay a God were some of the most fun to edit. But I had fun doing it all. Each and every chapter is special to me.

Q: Out of the many characters you controversially chose not to include in your story, who do you miss the most?

A: Gaius, Libra, Tharja, and Olivia were all characters who I really wanted to include. They were all also a part of my story until the third draft, alongside Gregor and Nowi. Then, because I just introduced them and never spoke of them again in the story, I got rid of them completely.

Q: Which ships do you like that were never included in your story?

A: OliviaxLibra is so sweet. I ship them strongly. I also like GaiusxTharja, GaiusxLissa, and CordeliaxLon'qu, though that doesn't mean I didn't write LissaxLon'qu and CordeliaxStahl with all my heart! I ship them very strongly, too.

Q: Who would you have married in your first playthrough if Chrom hadn't been available?

A: Frederick. If I wasn't 100% in love with Chrom then that relationship would have been fun to explore, what with Frederick being so suspicious of Robin in the beginning.

Q: How has writing Invisible Ties influenced your original fiction?

A: Well...it's made me actually write it. Until I wrote Invisible Ties, I'd tried writing a lot of original novels but never finished them. I wanted to complete Invisible Ties because I loved the characters so much, and once I'd done it, I had the motivation to do it again.

Q: Finally...what else have you written?

My other Fire Emblem Awakening tales include two Chrobin Christmas specials, a romantic Chrobin mystery, a collection of one-shots, a romance between Calla and Merton, and some stories about the mysterious minor characters from the game.

I also have a novelisation of Fire Emblem Fates, plus a Fates murder mystery starring Leo. You can find everything that's currently available on my profile.

Thank you so much to everyone again.

Love,

Morgan xxx