A view from the other side

Rogue Dungeon Interview – eden Hudson
What's it like working with JH (nightmare I know!)? 
You know that feeling you got when you were a kid and your friend came to recess with their cool action figures and then you made up this epic story together with them where everything’s exploding and sand’s flying and everybody’s getting punched up into the sky? Or later when you’re both on the basketball team and you have to go to practice every day, even the days you want to skip, but you don’t skip because your friend keeps you going? Working with James is like that. It’s hard work, but because you’re working with your friend, even the drudgery is more fun. And there’s a lot of smashing action figures together and yelling “kapow!”

What's it like collaborating as opposed to solo writing? Does it change your process? Actually do you have a process?
I think by now it’s probably well-known how meticulous of an outliner James is. He’s super-efficient and always looking for ways to streamline the writing process so he can get stories out to you awesome readers faster—something I definitely appreciate as one of his die-hard fans. That’s the polar opposite of my process, though. Sanderson would say I’m more of a discovery writer. I like to start with a few characters and a problem, throw them into some crazy world together, and see what happens. When you’re writing a story with someone else, though, you both have to be working off the same page—literally—so an outline is a must-have. We still deviate from time to time, especially if we come across something new and more exciting along the way, but for the most part we stick to our original plan for Roark’s latest adventure, and end up with something great.

What inspired the MMORPG Roark accidentally sends himself into? 
Actually, the ideas for Hearthworld have a lot of basis in games and movies James and I both love. Stuff like Diablo, Dark Souls, Shadow of Mordor, Fate, and Tekken. (In my head, Roark’s Jotnar Infernali evolution looks just like Devil Jin, except with more of a bluish tint.) A fun fact you might not know is that James came up with the Troll Evolutionary Paths from this awesome Norwegian horror movie called Troll Hunter. I don’t even like horror movies, but after watching it, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s like Cabin in the Woods meets Van Helsing, but in Norway.

Fav character? Scene? 
I love exploring Roark’s dark past, and Kaz’s adorable oafishness and endless loyalty do my heart good…but my favorite character to write, hands down, is our friendly neighborhood love-to-hate High Combat Cleric, PwnrBwner_OG. Any scene with him is a holy hand grenade of one-up-manship with the Griefer and certainty that Pwnr’s the real best and everybody else sucks. When we first started work on the outline for Rogue Dungeon 1, James and I spent a hilarious amount of time kicking around ideal tags for Pwnr. We wanted something that would convey how ridiculous this man-child is to a hardened rebel like Roark while also being something hilarious for Roark to declare as a mortal enemy when PwnrBwner slew the whole First Floor in revenge for being camped (spoiler alert, btw). Some of the rejected ideas have actually made it into the story since then—RandyMcElvenwood and AssMan_69 off the top of my head.

Kaz’s catchphrase, “For the Salt!” Whose idea? What other ideas/catchphrases did you contemplate?
I'm almost positive that "For the salt!" was James's brainchild. We didn't really plan it or try to come up with a catchphrase for Kaz, he just  sort of blurted it out during a pivotal fight, and it was one of those crazy writing moments where a character jumps off the page and takes control of themselves. We never even thought about trying to come up with some different catchphrases because “For the Salt” was too perfect.

Is James better at dialogue/action/prose/description than you? And vice versa?
This is a hard question to answer with specifics, because I feel like I’m constantly learning how to be a better writer from James. If you’ve read anything by him, then you know his fight scenes are epic, his characters feel like your best friends and your worst enemies, his dialogue is natural and often hilarious, and his descriptions are on point. What you might not get to see is how awesome he is at keeping one eye on the big picture at all times. Even when I throw a wrench into the works by finding characters or items we weren’t looking for, he always figures out a way to make it look like they were part of the plan all along. It rules to have a writing buddy with that kind of skill watching your literary back.
As for the reverse, I don’t know if there’s something I’m better at than James. Making sure Roark appears shirtless and sweaty at least once per book? You’re welcome, ladies.

Deleted scenes you would have liked to add (to Rd1,2 ,3 or 4). 
We don’t have a lot of deleted scenes from the Rogue Dungeon stories that are worth much, all the good stuff makes it into the books somewhere, but I think it would be so much fun to see a day in Mac’s life as a side story or as a hilarious interlude while Roark’s busy with some epic battle. Kind of like Hawkguy’s Pizza-Dog arc, but with more snacking on humanoid limbs.

If you had an unlimited budget what type of cover /art/merchandising would you want? (i.e. a surrealist version of Munch’s The Scream with Roark? American Gothic a la Kaz and Roark? A map of the dungeon?)
I’d love an Avengers-style movie poster of Roark, Mac, Kaz, Zyra, Griff, PwnrBnwer, Randy and the whole gang. But it’d be killer to see a Peter Bruegel the Elder style painting of the Cruel Citadel with Roark infuriating Pwnr while Kaz meticulously cooks a stew, Mac flirts with some Stone Salamander females, Zyra Death Scratches somebody who surprised her, and the rest of the Trolls and chimeras lay around the dungeon getting drunk, bickering, or waiting for a hero to draw aggro.

We already have the cookery book. Any other wacky and zany projects on the horizon? 
Ummm…yes, but I think they’re a secret for now.

Fav movie this year? Ever? 
I always seem to lag about a decade behind what’s current in movies, but the best one I’ve watched this year (so far) was Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. Tony Jaa is such an underrated martial artist, and Mum Jokmok is one of the funniest actors of all time. Actually, maybe the best movie I saw this year was The Bodyguard, which Mum Jokmok wrote and played in (and Tony has a hilarious fight scene in). Either way, 10/10 edens recommend seeing both movies.

Personally do you...Game? Rpg? Larp? Crochet? 
I’m a huge video game fan, but like movies, I’m about ten years behind the times. I love Fallout, Skyrim, Gears of War, Dark Souls, Assassin’s Creed, Shadow of Mordor, Fate (the old Wild Tangent game), most Tekkens, and almost every iteration of Mario Bros. My favorite game of all time, though, is Croc: Legend of the Gobos. It’s the best. Fight me.

Pets. Yes or no? Dog person? Cat person? Spider? Or salamander? 
We have two cats currently mooching off of my husband and sons’ good graces, but I’m more of an amphibian and reptile lover myself, which is part of how Mac became the creature he is and why pretty much any book I work on has an ectotherm in it somewhere. During the summer months, my family spends a lot of time outside catching and releasing snakes, turtles, and lizards. I’m also asking for an axolotl for my birthday, so maybe one day I’ll be the proud owner of one very ugly-cute Mac of my own. Albeit one without deadly evolutions.

You are trapped on a desert island. You may have 3 books, one vinyl album, and one keepsake/treasure.
Much like Roark, I’m going to cheat so I can win this game. For my three books, I’d take the Collected Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an Archie Comics omnibus featuring Jughead, and the Bible—basically the equivalent of wishing for more wishes since each book contains a whole bunch more books. The vinyl album would be one of those old instructional records about making your own instruments out of coconuts and horseshoe crabs and stuff, so I could learn how to play any song I wanted to hear. And my one treasure would be my husband, Joshua, who would McGyver that desert island into the Swiss Family Robinson’s treehouse in about a week and figure out how to tune a horseshoe crab.