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- 🧙‍♂️1% Lifesteal Interview with Robert Blaise | Recos you need |
🧙‍♂️1% Lifesteal Interview with Robert Blaise | Recos you need |
Interview with Robert Blaise from 1% Lifesteal & literally the best recommendations.
Surprise edition! This week, we have Robert Blaise from 1% Lifesteal, and I recommend you only the highest quality stories.
WEEKLY RECS | 1% LIFESTEAL INTERVIEW |
Weekly Recommendations - Stupendous Stories, Hidden Gems
📚 Title | ✨ Description | 🔗 Link |
---|---|---|
An Inheritance of Fire | Dark, hard-hitting progression fantasy. Awesome character dev in here. Multi-pov with great worldbuilding. | |
Cursed Draw | Deck building, giant monsters LitRPG with some awesome comedy. Seriously underrated in my humble opinion. | |
The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] | Unbelievable LitRPG with Elemenatl abilities. Seriously unique magic system, seriously unique worldbuilding. This one remains a favorite. |
Interview with Robert Blaise from 1% Lifesteal
Robert Blaise’s 1% Lifesteal follows Freddy Stern, two-time orphan, grocery store cashier, and general rule follower in the brutal post system New Earth. All he’s ever wanted was to become an archhuman. When he barely survives a new portal tearing, he trades a non-combatant vestige (power base) for a wildcard. 1% Lifesteal is a fantastic read that explores a post-system integration society, a lovable character that is forced to put himself together again, and again. And again. It’s caught me by surprise multiple times, and I’ve loved the characters, power system, worldbuilding, and emotional development. You can check it out here: Link.
Hello Robert! Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. I’ve been loving 1% Lifesteal, and literally stayed up until 3AM in a cabin (Canadian Thanksgiving) multiple times plowing through it. I would love to know how 1% Lifesteal came to be? Can you tell me about how you planned out the story? I know this isn’t your first story, and I’d love to know about lessons learned from your previous Royal Road works. Do you think that you’ve adapted your planning of stories the longer you’ve posting on the site, or do you just go with your gut?
(Robert was nice enough to split my question spewing into sections)
Thank you for reaching out!
I would love to know how 1% Lifesteal came to be? Can you tell me about how you planned out the story?
I’ve always had a strong fascination with the idea of healing. Goku binging sensu beans to keep training. Vampires regenerating from a drop of blood. Stacking healing items in videogames and reaching near-immortality.
The concept of recovering lost health is super complex. And I just love exploring it. I could probably write an entire book about the idea of supernatural healing and the ways humans have explored it throughout history.
But that’s boring.
Fiction is more fun.
1% Lifesteal is a curated compilation of some of the more interesting ideas I’ve had about healing over the years placed into a context where they’re most exciting. The first time the name “1% Lifesteal” appeared in my mind, I knew the name needed a story. It’s been a number of years since then. It has gone through quite the number of iterations.
The first version was actually going to be a full-immersion VRMMO story. Then, it was going to be a system apocalypse. Both ideas invovled a mechanical system and health expressed in clearly defined numbers. It was only logical, after all. 1% Lifesteal is something that can only be expressed as a videogame mechanic.
Or is it?
What if there were no hard numbers, and the concept of 1% Lifesteal had to be expressed through an analogue rather than a digital system? This moment of enlightenment was the birth of 1% Lifesteal as we all know it.
The way I planned the plot out was mostly by daydreaming while I was working with my dad. I used to have a very boring repetitive job of pouring plaster into rubber molds, and back then, I would spent practically my whole day fantasizing about all sorts of stories, putting whole books together in my head before I wrote even a single word down.
Seriously, I’m talking entire series’ worth of plot just sitting in my noggin. I almost never even tried to turn any of it into writing. These fantsies simply came to me on their own.
I actually had a good part of the plot for 1% Lifesteal before I even started writing the series before it.
My methods have since evolved, quite a bit actually.
Nowadays, I have a multi-step process for plotting everything I write. The first and most important step is to put everything into a mindmap and try to connect all the elements to the best of my ability. Then, I take all the elements and see how far I can take them out of context, and finally, I fuse the individual elements together into a coherent plotline.
I know this isn’t your first story, and I’d love to know about lessons learned from your previous Royal Road works. Do you think that you’ve adapted your planning of stories the longer you’ve posting on the site, or do you just go with your gut?
My approach to plotting has changed drastically over my time as a writer.
I stand by the fact that meticulous plotting is key to forming an engaging story and preventing meandering arcs that go nowhere, but it isn’t always that simple.
The most important lesson I’ve learned since I’ve started is that you will often outgrow your own work, especially if you put in the effort to improve. This can leave you writing a story you’re no longer satisfied with, or executing a plot you’ve planned back when you were way worse at plotting things.
Plotting is relatively easy. But actually executing the plan can sometimes become impossible. It’s unavoidable that the blueprint will be more crude and less detailed than the final product. And sometimes, those details can easily make or break the entire flow of a story. This is why it’s pretty common to see authors really push and force the plot to go in a certain direction. They drew the blueprint in 240p, and only when they viewed in it 4k did they realize they’d forced themselves into a corner.
I still don’t plot things so strictly that I have no way out, and several times, I’ve even completely scrapped future plot in favor of reforming it.
For as long as you’re still growing and developing your skills, keeping the plan dynamic is super important.
One thing that I really enjoyed about your story was the pacing. Every chapter has a development and ties something up, but they kept leading me to keep reading more and more. When you’re writing, do you structure your chapters in a certain way? I’ve had a couple Authors let me know that they try to hook readers on each one, but you seem to take a different approach. What’s your chapter writing process looks like? Or even your schedule? How much are you trying to write each day?
Yes and no.
I write an outline before I start the chapter, but I tend to keep things relatively vague. I don’t structure chapters in the sense that I employ a formula. I feel like that simplifies the writing too much and ultimately results in erasure of my unique style and voice. While my current approach is crude (and very labour intensive), I like the final outcome far better than employing textbook strategies.
I am also rather against the idea of constantly working to hook readers with everything I write. I just want my stories to be enjoyable as a whole. Cliffhangers though, gotta love those :D
My schedule is super loose. My everything schedule is just awful. Including sleeping and eating. Yeah, I know, I have to fix that. But that’s how the situation currently is. Sometimes, I am in great form earlier in the day, sometimes I get an undeniable urge to write at midnight. I reliably get the best results when the mood strikes.
I try to write 3000 words each day and 15,000 words a week (LOL). I literally never keep up with that standard, and I tend to delete and rewrite much of what I write, but recently, I’ve been getting a lot better at actually reaching my goals.
Let’s talk about magic systems and powers. I think you have bent the traditional way that powers and magic is done in a really unique way, while keeping some of the of the standard so that’s not a massive leap for readers. How do you go about working through creating a magic system? Do you have any advice to other writers when they are making their own magic system? Do you think it’s important to have unique systems to succeed on Royal Road and this genre?
I don’t really create my magic systems. They create themselves. Inspiration strikes, sometimes through dreams, sometimes through daydreams, and I just glue the pieces together.
That being said, my biggest piece of advice for magic systems is that it really does NOT matter. You absolutely don’t need a complex system to make a successful story. Your power system also doesn’t need to be even slightly original; it just needs to be planned out well and explored to its logical extremes. Set a simple set of rules and explore how to stretch them to their limits without breaking the story.
Having a unique idea can help, but a strong dumb guy punching shit into pieces will ALWAYS work.
Thinking that the power system is chemical X to the success formula is absolutely the wrong way of thinking. Focus on the narrative and characters instead. The powers only matter if the readers care about the world and characters.
Characters are at the forefront of your story. Each character has their own unique voice, and Freddy is great to follow along as he grows and develops (no spoilers here). What do you find helpful when you’re working on a character? Who is your favorite character to write, and least favorite? Also, how important do you think humor is in writing? Had me laughing when reading 1% Lifesteal.
My characters are always born from a simple, singular impression. A vibe. An aura, even. Then I use that aura as a heuristic for their entire personality. This is not something I could teach to someone. There’s no secret I’m using other than that’s just how my brain works when it comes to characters.
I don’t really work on the characters. Once that heuristic for who they are at their core is born, they live their life within the confines of the shit I put them through. I can hardly even claim that I’m the one who consciously thought these people up, let alone that I’ve meticulously planned out how they’re going to behave and make choices.
As for my favourite character, that is a tough question to answer. I would probably put Madame Morleppe at the top just because I had such a blast writing her in the first book. I think I really nailed it with her personality.
As for the least favourite, I can’t really say I have one. I love all my characters, even the ones that are written to be intentionally dislikable. In fact, I would almost go as far as to say that I just enjoy writing hateable characters.
Also, how important do you think humor is in writing? Had me laughing when reading 1% Lifesteal.
I think humor has a place in every piece of writing. From the most depressing tragedies to the funniest of comedies, humor is a universal tool to bring out the full potential of writing. I particularly find it important in 1% Lifesteal due to the overall gloomy vibe of the story. Comedic relief makes this more bearable without taking anything away from the stakes behind the conflict.
I’d also love to ask about some recommendations. Every time I read a story, I always want to get to know Authors a bit more, and I feel like their own tastes help with that. Can you give me, and people who are reading this some recommendations for media? Let’s say 3-5 of anything, from books, to royal road works, to movies, to comic books, to poetry. What are some of your personal favorites?
Wow, okay, where do I even start with this one? There are many pieces of media that defined me as a person. I guess I’ll pick a few of the most notable ones. But I absolutely can’t keep it to only 5 things :D. I like way too many things to give you a full picture with just that many!
First, videogames!
Heroes of Might and Magic III. and Mount and Blade: Warband are the two games that defined my childhood and my cognitive development. To this day, I still consider Heroes 3 to be the best game ever made. As for Mount and Blade, it’s probably the single most important piece of media that defined my love for The Power Fantasy™. Building massive armies and just messing kingdoms up is a high I will never get to relive like that ever again.
Next up, I guess I should shout out some anime!
Neon Genesis Evangelion literally changed my life when I watched it. Also, NHK ni Youkoso! broke me and then forced me to fix myself as a person. It was way too personally relatable, and in some ways, almost felt like a prophecy of how my life would go unless I got my shit together. It poked so many holes in the delusions I held at the time and really forced me to reevaluate myself.
There’s like 500 other shows I’d love to recommend, but I’ll only add one more that I think really impacted me as a writer specifically: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. When I first watched it, is just made something click, and I immediately realized what kind of stories I wanted to create going forward.
Time for movies!
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Whiplash. Fantastic films, both of them.
Finally, we get to the most important stuff: books.
Oh, man. I would love to recommend like twenty, so cutting it down to just a few is torture, but I guess I will try my best.
First, I have to shout out my favorite book series: Konosuba. Yes, that Konosuba.
While I enjoyed the anime a ton, I think the book series ultimately wins. It’s just so exceptionally well written.
Then we have The Wandering Inn. This series was the last push that finally got me into writing proper. It is such a fascinating piece of writing, and nothing I’ve ever seen comes even close to giving the same feeling it does. When I was reading it, I really got the feeling that there is a magic to writing. Something that can’t be explained with just physical phenomena. And what can I say? I wanted to do some magic.
And finally, I’d really like to recommend Oh, Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer. Benjamin Kerei is so damn good, and this series is just chef’s kiss. Wonderful.
Lastly, I want to ask you about longevity and writing while making income. You have a great fan base, and you deserve it. You put in the work and push out great content over and over. How do you stay sane and persistent? Do you have any words of advice to other writers on how they can be in the game for the long term?
How do I stay sane? That’s my secret—I don’t. I just kind of let the madness consume me.
On a serious note, writing has really crushed me mental health wise during my first year. I’ve cranked out a massive number of words during that time and went through a ton of difficulties. Ultimately, I’ve been successful enough so far to keep myself afloat, but I’m not anywhere near where I want to be financially.
As for words of advice on how to stay in the game for the long term?
You’re asking the wrong person. I’ve been a writer for less than 2 years. Not just a published author earning money, but like… just since I’ve started writing the first series I published. Ask me in ten years if I’m still around :D.
Thank you so much to Robert for taking the time. I seriously can’t recommend 1% Lifesteal enough. You should 100% check it out and read all of it here: Link.
Thanks for reading!
More interviews to come,
🧙‍♂️Saga Scribe
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