🧙Interview with Emrys Ambrosius of Rise of The Infernal Paladin & The Grey Files, Weekly Recs, and Breaking, Shattering Industry News.

Ciao, everyone! This week, we interview the seriously talented and recent story releaser Emrys Ambrosius of Rise of The Infernal Paladin (A System Apocalypse LitRPG) & The Grey Files: A Vampyre Lord LitRPG, have some delicious weekly recommendations, and sit for a fireside chat about the Dungeon Crawler Carl News🔥. If you haven’t checked out Emrys’ new story, I would HIGHLY recommend it. 400+ Followers in 2 weeks is fantastic. This one is going to keep shooting up the charts.

Since there’s so many new eyeballs here, I’d recommend you join the Immersive Ink Discord. Open to Authors, Readers, and Media alike.

WEEKLY RECS | WHAT’S OUT THIS WEEK | INTERVIEW WITH EMRYS AMBROSIUS | PREPARE FOR THE MASSES |

Weekly Recommendations - Feed me the good stuff.

What’s Releasing this Week

Interview with Emrys Ambrosius from Rise of The Infernal Paladin (A System Apocalypse LitRPG) & The Grey Files: A Vampyre Lord LitRPG

Emrys Ambrosius has just released a new series, Rise of The Infernal Paladin (A System Apocalypse LitRPG)! It’s bloody awesome and I’m having such a good time reading it. I can’t recommend it, as well as Emrys’ other series, The Grey Files: A Vampyre Lord LitRPG enough. Emrys is fantastic at worldbuilding, characters, and action, and it really shines in both series. If you like vampyres, check out Grey Files. If you want a revenge paladin destroying enemies, check out Rise of the Internal Paladin. Here’s a link to Emrys’ newest story: Rise of The Infernal Paladin (A System Apocalypse LitRPG)! I’d also like to point out that this interview was conducted prior to the release of the new series. Even an old Scribe has a backlog, folks.

400+ Followers in 2 weeks? Rising everyday on Rising Stars? Yes, this is a classic in the making.

Hello Emrys Ambrosius! Thank you for agreeing to an interview. I’ve really been enjoying Grey Files. It’s been a while since I’ve read a Vampire story, and I think you’ve got something really awesome going here. The Domain System, powers and worldbuilding have all been awesome to read, and the story flows so well!

Thank you for the kind words. I am really proud of the Domain magic system. I put a lot of thought into it and I think it's one of the best things about the book. You just don't see many magic systems like it out there. It's nice to hear someone say you enjoyed it.

The first thing I want to ask you about is how Grey Files came to be. What sort of planning went into your story? Is Grey Files your first story, or did you always dabble in writing? Did you always want to write a Vampire story, and decide to blend the genres, or did you always have an interest in Vampyres (Vampires😉)? Tell me a bit about how much of a backlog that you had before you released, and what that experience was like.

Jackson Grey is a character that I've had in my head since I was a teenager. I've written many iterations of him. Urban fantasy, epic fantasy, and finally LitRPG. When I set out to write a LitRPG for the hundredth time, I knew I wanted Jackson as my main character. Jackson Grey has always been a vampire and there just aren't a lot of vampire LitRPGS out there.

I was inspired by Tom Elliots The Grand Game and I knew I wanted a similar start. MC starts in a dungeon with no memory and explores the world from there.

At first I had no intention of posting on Royal Road. I was going to finish the novel and submit it to publishers. At that point, I learned that most publishers in this genre really won't touch you unless you have success on Royal Road.

Well, I started talking in a Discord I was apart of, Coldfang89’s Discord and I received a ton of advice which I followed.

That led me to hitting spot 33 on Rising Stars.

The Grey Files is not my first story. I've always loved to read. Not to get too personal, but I used to be a foster kid because my birth parents were more interested in indulging their additions than looming after their kids.

Reading really allowed me to escape that.

I always thought that I could write a book, and people were always telling me that my little short stories, and the chapters of various fictions I would start were good. That I had talent.

Life was always getting in the way, and I just never finished anything. My google docs is filled with hundred of half finished novels.

The Grey Files was the first book that I finished because I would work on it whenever I had the urge to write. If I had another idea, I'd push it to the side or write it down in a note document or think about how to include that idea in the book.

Sometimes it was just one hundred words that day. But that adds up rather quickly.

Next thing I knew, it was finished.

I really like your Magic System and especially the Domain and Bloodlines. It’s great and I find it super bold to introduce those systems early on. You do a fantastic job of introducing them and slowly building upon them. How did you work through crafting your System? Did you use any resources, or did you find anything helpful when you were crafting it? I find it very easy to follow and just the right amount of detail. Do you have any tips or words of advice for anyone else looking to craft a System?

It really involves asking yourself a lot of questions and answering them. I wanted a unique magic system, and I had this idea of Domains for a while. Everyone having this inner manifestation of themselves.

So I asked myself how it worked, and I thought through the answers. I asked myself about the drawbacks, the limitations, etc. Sometimes, as I was writing I would get a completely different idea and had to rework things to include it.

If you're looking to create a cool magic system, I would first ask yourself what it costs. For many LitRPG authors, that's going to be mana.

Secondly, I would ask yourself how can you make it unique? For the Grey Files, you just don't see a Domain based system out there.

Maybe it's a unique skill or attribute, or a powerful contract. Make it unique.

Your worldbuilding caught me off guard. It’s something I always pay attention to when reading a story, and I found myself just immediately immersed into your world. The idea of a Dungeon trapping by a psychotic and strange God is very fun. What went into your worldbuilding? Did you find it difficult to write worldbuilding, or is that something that comes naturally to you? The general vibe of the dungeon is great. Did you plan on writing it that way?

I like to have a general skeleton of the world in mind and then my writing sort of fills it in. For the Grey Files I knew I wanted the world to be connected to this massive world tree that I called Eden. I had an origin in mind for it, and I had an idea of what I wanted to happen with it.

But all realms, dungeons, worlds, are all connected to Eden, and the tree is maintained by gardeners known as Angels. These angels embody various aspects and all have different jobs. Oh, and every one of them is immensely powerful.

As for the dungeon, I wrote it the way I did because I wanted the whole story to take place there. I had a villain in mind, and why he was there, and why all the players are there, and the dungeon was the way I could introduce it all.

Let’s talk about characters and dialogue. I think Jackson is a very likable character, especially his emotional development. The side characters around him all have clear voices, and I’ve even hated some of villains. Who is your favorite character to write, and why? What personality traits do you think are the most difficult to write? When you’re writing a God, or someone with God-like powers, what do you think makes them different to write? Lastly, what character considerations did you have to take when writing a story with a Vampyre MC?

I love writing Lilith. Maybe you didn't get to that part, she's introduced close to the end of the book, but she's just so fun to write. Lilith knows so much about the world and she knows why some of the things that are happening happen the way they do.

She just doesn't reveal it because she doesn't care. She knows better and no one can make her do what she doesn't want to do. Lilith is proud, and ancient, and dangerously powerful.

Or she was anyway xD.

I also really do like writing Jackson. When I set out to write him I knew I wanted to write a character that has to explore this new hunger, and what it's pressing him to do and why that scares him.

Some people wanted a more, shall we say, homicidal character, but that's just not what I wanted to write with him. Gods in my world are just players who have gotten very powerful. They are one and all ambitious, territorial and absolutely viscious when need to be.

When writing this vampyre character I thought a lot about what separates Vampyres with a “Y” and vampires with an “I” and I thought a lot about the culture. I considered how I might react with this new urge to drink blood.

I want to ask about growth and your experience on Royal Road! How was it when you started getting a following? I get the impression that it’s not often talked about, but I want to ask about author pressure. Do you feel pressure, or stressed? What’s it feel like to have a substantial following on Royal Road? Do you have plans for the future in the genre? What are your goals with your story, if you want to discuss them!

Honestly? It's both fun and very stressful. So, on one hand I am very, very grateful that I have the following I do. Not many make it to RS, or ever reach five hundred something followers.

I owe some of that to Coldfang89 and his advice. I owe some of that to Fiddlesoup because he and I really supported each other.

However, what you come to find out is that it starts to never feel like enough. If you want to do this as a career, the amount of followers you have and how quickly you get them plays a huge part. Sure, I have 591 followers as I type this, but it's not enough. It won't land me a publishing deal, and it's not helping my patreon page.

Plus, when you lose a follower or two, that really lands because you just can't help but feel like that's another hill to climb.

But you have to focus on the fact that /591/ people like what you're writing. That's huge. The number grows every day. It's such a big thing. Plus, every follower you get helps any future projects.

Right now my goal is to finish this second novel I am working on. I just completed chapter 38. It's a System Apocalypse revenge story and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Once I'm done with that, my intention is to hopefully spring board it into success with the followers I gained from The Grey Files.

At the same time I plan on returning to The Grey Files 2. I have 22 chapters finished of that book right now.

Hopefully, the second book does well enough that my Patreon takes off and I can land a publishing deal.

Final Question. If you could be reborn into any other story in the entire world, what would it be? Do you have any recommendations for readers out there for general media or shows?

Probably Pokémon if I'm being honest. First of all, if it's anything like the games or some of the books, then I'll come pre-equipped with a lot of secret knowledge.

Plus, all of these other worlds and stories are insanely dangerous. I'm a writer, I like adventures and magic as much as the next man, but I'm under no illusions that I would actually be good at these things if I were thrust into a world like that.

With Pokémon I can stand safely behind my magical dinosaur, thank you very much.

As for shows, well, there isn't a lot. Rise of the Shield Hero is good.

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher is great. Anything by Jim Butcher, really. The Wheel of Time book series. Not the show. Show is terrible.

But right now, I'd say I have it pretty good. I'm just a husband and father who likes to put his crazy fantastical ideas onto paper.

Thank you to Emrys Ambrosius for the awesome interview. If you enjoy awesome writing, and action filled stories that are written amazingly well, check out Rise of The Infernal Paladin (A System Apocalypse LitRPG)

Prepare yourselves. The Genre is about to go mainstream.

Alright, if you live under a rock, you probably haven’t heard that Dungeon Crawler Carl has been purchased by Universal. https://deadline.com/2024/08/dungeon-crawler-carl-seth-macfarlane-universal-chris-yost-series-1236045866/

Is this amazing news? Yes. Are a bunch of Authors about to potentially become millionaires? If they play their cards right. This is only going to drive more eyeballs to the genre.

I’d like to formally welcome the new subscribers (100+ of you overnight). I have no idea who linked me, but I welcome you all. Please know, until you have 10 series under your belt, you are hereby still a Normie. Until you’ve met Jason, drank some Blue Juice, and fallen asleep to Baldree’s sweet, delicious voice, you will remain as such. Welcome to the genre and our community! 🧙‍♂️

END NOTES

We are currently closed for submissions for interviews, folks. Love all you beautiful Authors, but I have bitten off more than I can comfortably chew. We have plenty to come folks, and we will open them back up in approximately 4 weeks time. I’m also cooking up some things in the background. If I have messaged you about an interview, know that I am working through my lengthy list and will reach out.

Thanks for reading!

🧙🏼‍♂️Saga Scribe.