🧙‍♂️🤖CyberGene Interview with Sixbees2 | Big Releases 🥳

We’re back with another interview! This week, we have Sixbees2 from CyberGene: Blood and Steel [Slice-of-Crime LitRPG with Mutations and Cybernetics]. We also shout out some friend’s book releases to Amazon! All of them are amazing writers and I’m very happy for them.

WHAT’S OUT THIS WEEK | SIXBEES2 INTERVIEW |

What’s Releasing this Week - I’m PROUD OF THESE AUTHORS

Return of the Wind Mage, Rise of the Infernal Paladin, and Into the Deep Wood have ALL released on Amazon. These are the author’s first books on Amazon, so show them some love!

Interview with Sixbees2 from CyberGene: Blood and Steel [Slice-of-Crime LitRPG with Mutations and Cybernetics]

CyberGene: Blood and Steel is seriously built different. Sixbees2 has not one, but two awesome magic systems and progression methods in the story. There’s also two main characters. Nom, nom. Give me that delicious content. CyberGene is dark, it’s hilarious, it’s fantastically fun, and just keeps you reading. Sixbees2 is talented. Very talented. I can’t wait to keep reading his awesome story. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite ALL time reads. Yes, it’s that good. If you’ve never read anything cyberpunk, this is your opportunity to see a masterclass in the works. Read it here.

Hello Sixbees2! Thank you for agreeing to an interview. I’ve loved re-reading CyberGene: Blood and Steel. The dual perspectives work exceedingly well, you have amazing characters that ring through the pages, the worldbuilding is easy to fall into while being amazingly dense, and there’s different progression systems at play here that are both wicked. To kick things off, I really want to know, what inspired you to write this story? Can you tell me a bit about your inspirations and what you wanted to explore when planning this series? How did your planning start?

Okay, it all started in October 2023 when I finished my first playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077. I was going through a really terrible time then, and couldn’t focus on the game at all despite its 10/10 content. I’d always had writing in the back of my head as a hobby, so I took to rewriting my experience in a cyberpunk story where I would get to explore some of my personal troubles in a fantasized way and channel all that into something that made me feel good. I wanted it to explore psychological aspects of being in a bad position in life, and suddenly having power to do things you never could. Would that power really solve your issues? In some ways, yes, and in other ways, no. Healing is a huge theme of my series, and partly because writing it helped me heal as a person.

As for planning, it was rough. The very first thing I made was actually the concept of BUGs and their 12 cybernetic abilities. After that came the corporations, and in my want to differentiate them I created Mutations and SIMs to also explore. That led to me wanting two main characters, and off branched a whole concoction of ideas and side-characters I constantly slim down (by killing them off).

Right off the bat, one thing that impressed me was your worldbuilding. There’s body modding, shady gangs, mutations, corpos galore, the list goes on. Hats off to you when it comes to your world building. Can you tell me what went into your worldbuilding? What kind of notes do you have to keep to keep it all coherent while still keeping me surprised as everything unfurls? As it’s clearly one of your strengths, would you offer any advice to writers when they’re building out their world and setting? Any tricks that you employ?

My notes aren’t actually really precise, in fact barely any of my original notes have truly ended up in my novel. I’d say my method of world building comes from a reactionary point of view, where I’ll make a historical event and think of reasons for its existence and how it links to another character or event. For example, in my story I have the shady crime district of Little Requiem formed from a piece of the city crashing down. Naturally, that spoke of the existence of a bigger Requiem which should be even more devastated and crime-filled, so I made an elaborate bit of lore that turned Australia into a giant crater.

Another example is the crime itself, why is it so prevalent in New California? Well there were both sociological and economic reasons. With centennial alien invasions, you’d have a world in cycles of violence and a monetary system dependent on these Swarms, that led me to think of how people would react to mass destruction when it doesn’t affect them directly? With the added burden of refugees, timed with a natural disaster, it made for a believable reason why the city ended up the way it is. As these settled into a rough timeline, I was able to edit premade characters’ backstories to slot them into key events, and how they’d changed from them. With that, I have backstories for all the major gangs and their leaders, several side characters and even antagonists.

A phrase that stuck with me (which I’m paraphrasing from a video I can’t remember) is ‘Worldbuilding shines when the present story feels like it’s digesting from the events preceding the audience witnessing it’.

While CyberGene is unique in a lot of ways, I think the distinct Power Systems that you have going on kick some serious butt and push the genre forward in a lot of ways. What went into your power system design? Clearly you put a lot of thought into it and I would love to know what that looked like. Were you worried that some readers wouldn’t pick up what you’re putting down? Looking back, would there be anything that you would change with the cybernetics and the mutations now that you’re further along?

So, with two characters, I was very scared of skill bloat. That led to me purposefully constraining my system in a way I think made it better, where I focused less on the quantity of skills (cybernetic features and mutations), and more on the synergism between them. Perhaps the thing I was most afraid of was the notion of a lack of agency since my characters don’t really choose their abilities in a sense, their powers are born from adaptation and not choice. As such, each power set is intended to come off as a reflection of their journeys.

An example of this, (mildly spoilery since it’s not explained yet on RR), is one character who had a traumatic event leading them to be paralyzed. Her Implant adapted, identifying her flesh as a hindrance and thus rejecting organic matter to favor inorganic systems leading to her being able to wield out-of-the-ordinary capacitance to cybernetics. Now they are a walking war machine. 

I also made sure to add some commonality in both Mutations and Cybernetics, which are the stats. Less work for me. As for things I would change… my greatest weakness is the Capacitance equation for cybernetics. I wouldn’t actually change it, but I wish I made the excel sheet to automate its calculations sooner.

Characters shine through in every single chapter. It’s where I think you’re very strong naturally as a writer. So far, I’ve enjoyed the perspective shifts and really enjoy exploring both characters. Ripley is fantastically smart while being a bit of a wildcard, and Diana and her journey is so interesting to read and watch her development. Side characters are all great. What does character work look like for you? How do you manage to blend their pasts and their future choices so well? Who do you find easiest to write, and most difficult? What are some characters you were surprised that people enjoyed?

I really wanted to parallel Ripley and Diana from the beginning, one falling from grace and the other willingly abandoning it. For me, character’s are never meant to be real people but vessels for a story. Ripley is a man who is eager to dig himself out of his pain even if it means being selfish and ruthless. Diana digs herself deeper into trouble, willing to put herself through trials if it would serve her ambitions. Often times, when I’m lost while writing a scene, I boil the characters down to their simplest and my image of what I need them to be in the next arc.

Other times, I say believe in the magic of editing. Seriously, once I wrote down backstories in Act 2, I went all the way back and consistently tweaked dialogue to fit how I’d changed their backstories. Diana’s father is a lot more prominently mentioned in the final draft. Ripley’s the easiest character for me to write since his arc is the clearest, whereas Missy is the hardest since her backstory is really complex. As for characters I’m surprised people enjoyed? Selene. Won’t say anything else.

There are some pretty heavy themes in your work. Without going into too much detail, things get dark. How have your readers responded to the darker tones and parts of your work? Did you find it difficult to navigate your characters through those moments? Do you find it difficult to write about some of the more brutal parts of your story? You do a good job of making gray characters, and I just want to know your perspective on if you find it challenging to write about those things?

Yeah… ooh boy. Some people find it too much, others say I should have delved deeper. There’s a fine balance and I’m not sure I found that line considering some of the things you guys haven’t seen yet. At its core, the story is about accepting the darkness while embracing the light, so both aspects are prominent. I wanted that shown in the very first scene, where Ripley has to do something horrible, but Selene is there to make him see hope.

It’s certainly a challenge, terrible things happen and at times I wonder if making a statement with any of it. Ultimately, it’s a test of endurance to both me and the readers, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have my vision for the characters, where they end up, and that keeps me going to write them in increasingly severe situations that mentally scar them. Because then I get to write cute scenes where they grow, and change, and become more than just their scars.

You seem like a really interesting person. You would have to be to cook this story up. As you know, I always, and I mean always, am looking for recommendations. Let me snoop on your brain with what kinds of things you like. Would you please recommend 5, or however many you want, pieces of media? Music? Anime? Movies? Video games? Books? Magazines? Poetry? Art galleries? Whatever you want. Please let me know some media that you feel the need to rant about and tell people about!

Alright… number one on my list is actually an autobiography called ‘When Breath Becomes Air’, have your tissues ready.

Second, The Outer Wilds. This game changed me. No spoilers, explore space and find the beauty in the little things. And fear in the vastness of the cosmos.

Third, Arcane. Maybe it’s recency bias, but some of the ways these characters are developed have heavily inspired how I look at my own. The soundtrack basically made some scenes for me, especially ‘The Line’.

Fourth, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Genuinely cried so many times watching this movie.

Fifth. Tokyo Ghoul. The edgelord never left me, and this is another case of the soundtrack made by Yutaka Yamada writing down scenes for me.

Couple more questions. You’re one of the authors on my list that are breaking out and doing a great job of it. What’s your writing schedule look like? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Do you have any general advice with managing your story and budding fanbase? I know you’re relatively new to it, but you seem to be doing a fantastic job of it! Where do you write? What’s one thing you would love to see people do more of on Royal Road?

I write pretty much every day, at least a little bit. Just pop on some headphones and let the words come out. Occasionally, I have days where I get like a week’s worth of chapters done in one setting until I’m sleep deprived. I don’t think I’m all that good at managing my fan base, I’m horrendous with keeping track of everything but I love every bit of my interactions online and that keeps me coming back. I’d say don’t stress over it, just keep your fans updated about changes.

I’m sort of like a hybrid between pantsing and plotting. I have key moments in my novel plotted out months in advance, but I spill in some pantsing to get there. Particularly in character interactions. Occasionally I scrap a future plotline because a spurn of the moment idea seems much better. As for things I would love for Royal Road? I love the website, but I am well aware of its bias towards stories that are more high octane, it’s just the market and no one is at fault, and I did no service to my visibility by it having two protagonists… so I just gotta make my story baller as fuck. Sixbees2 buzzing off!

Any questions for me? Anything you wished I asked?

Yes, Cybergene is secretly a slow burn rom-com soap opera. Thank you for asking. Also people, go read Saga’s story on RR, it’s on Rising Stars and called Abyssal Curse! So, Saga, I’d like to ask you how it feels to finally be an awesome writer?

IT FEELS GOOD. This Newsletter is still about you! I will be annoying my subscribers randomly next week 😈 with my story release.

Seriously, you should read CyberGene. Thank you Sixbees2! If you’ve never read anything cyberpunk, this is the place to start. Check it out here.

Thank you all for reading ❤️ . Please enjoy your holidays and keep on reading, writing, being cool!

MORE INTERVIEWS COMING - ALSO EXPECT A RANDOM EMERGENCY BROADCAST BECAUSE I RELEASED A STORY AND IT’S DOING PRETTY GOOD.

🧙‍♂️Saga Scribe.

PS: I made a discord: THE ARCHIVE. If you want a chill place to hang. This whole line is a link.