Enigma: Hey howdy hey hello, welcome to the show! I'm The Gamer With A Pen, but most people just call me Enigma. I've only been on Tapas since December, and I'm still pretty small. I've got three series, one comic and two novels.

Q1: When did you get the idea for Dark Hope?

Enigma:

Hm... I've always had a bit of a shoddy memory, but I believe it was two years ago.

I'd been watching a lot of Critical Role at the time, and I grew to really enjoy the character interactions and the dynamic that grew between the time.

I toyed around with the idea for a while, but it wasn't until a few months ago that I really began writing it.

Q2: What inspired you to start creating in general?

Enigma: I'd say two things inspired me to start creating. Firstly, the Redwall series. I had just started writing when I began that series, and it inspired me so much. Mostly though, I think what really inspired me to create was simple boredom. I started out writing in school just as a way to pass the time.

Q3: How long do you think Dark Hope will be?

Enigma: Ahh, that's hard to say. I'm doing something writers should really never do and just writing it as I go along.

As of this interview we've only just wrapped up the second arc, and the series in total I believe is at 12 chapters, or 20 episodes.

There's still so much to go, at least another five arcs. If I had to give a rough estimate I'd say it'd be around 35 to 50 episodes.

Q4: Who do you take influence from?

Enigma: It's hard to say who influences my work specifically. Obviously my work takes a lot of influence from Critical Role and D&D in general. I read a lot of Harry Potter when I was younger, and even though I can definitely see the flaws in that series it would be lying to say J.K. Rowling hasn't had a least some influence on my work. Honestly, off the top of my head I could only name you J. K. Rowling and Brian Jacques, but I'm sure there's a lot more people who I'm taking influence from, whether I'm realizing it or not.

Q5: What are your hopes for the future of your series?

Enigma: Honestly? I don't have much in the way of hopes for it. (Ironically enough.)

The way I upload chapters means that I don't get much in the way of an audience following along, anyone who does honestly start following along usually stops after an arc finishes, since the gap between arcs can span weeks or months.

Really, my biggest hope for the series is that, once it's complete, it will see at least some success in the Binge section.

Q6: Do you have any advice for new writers?

Enigma: Just... write!

Honestly, it may seem like the simplest, most obvious advice, but it's the best I can give.

I already had some experience writing when I went into things, but just the standard stuff, teachers praising the quality of essays, others being impressed by spelling or grammar, but beyond that I'd never really written a story. At least, not a good one.

I just jumped into things and started writing. I let my skills develop as I wrote. It doesn't matter what you're writing, Fantasy, Action, Fan-Fiction, whatever. The best thing you can do is just write. Write until your eyes dry out, until your fingers bleed, until you drown in ink and then write some more.

CM: It’s been an honor to interview you, anything to say before I end this interview?

Enigma: Uhhhhh, let's see...

Keep writing, even if what you're making is complete cr#p, keep writing and you'll get better.

Aside from that, it's been an honor to be interviewed by you, best of luck with your endeavors and I'm gonna go play more Destiny 2.