An Innterview with Pirateaba

We’re pleased to welcome Pirateaba, author of the beloved Wandering Inn webserial back to the Fantasy Inn for another chat. If you’d like to hear more from Pirateaba, check out our past interview with them here!

---

Hello, and welcome back to the Inn! It’s been a while. How are you and have you been?

Mm. Good! Tired? That’s what I always say and people think I’m exaggerating, but the truth is, I exist in ‘I am working’ and ‘I am tired and resting’ as states of being. And that’s fine.

It’s been years, hasn’t it? A pandemic between interviews. Fun stuff. I’d say that aside from TWI growing which is huge, I myself haven’t changed, only, hopefully, gotten a bit better all around. That’s what you want. Growth.

I know the name Pirateaba originated from the red-haired Pirate character on your blog. I’d love to hear more about how this Pirate character came to be and why you decided to take that as an influence for your name!

Usernames are always stupid. You show me a sensible username, and it’s clearly someone who came late to the internet-party.

pirateaba came about when I made Pirate Blog, an art blog where I drew a picture a day, every day straight for 1000 days exactly. It never took off, but it helped me learn to draw a bit better, and it definitely trained me to write a web serial.

Pirate was the character. Not pirateaba. She’s the logo I have, and that’s the reason I call myself ‘pirateaba’. When I was making my account, I had to come up with a username and lacking one, I said, well, what does Pirate say? ‘Aba’. So I joined it into pirateaba and the rest is history.

Ironically, everyone knows me by that username and character, but not Pirate, which I’m always a bit sad about. Because the character is great and waiting for her story. I even wrote one, but it just wasn’t good enough. I’ll fix the issue someday. I’m pleased to be pirateaba, but even that is giving a character her due.

Just wait until you meet Knight. The character, Knight, not the other Knight, that is… and no, I’m not going to talk about me and writing names. It’s hard, okay?

What were some of your favorite stories growing up? And given that I’m sure your tastes have changed a bit over time, what are some of your favorite stories now? Any medium is fair game!

Let’s take it from the present and go back, actually. I really liked Overlord when I first found it. I stopped reading, but that was my big LitRPG story that I liked. I enjoy manga like March Comes in like a Lion, uh, Kingdom the manga, and so on, but I don’t read much since I write so much my brain can’t do works well. I’m still following Order of the Stick and I watch Youtubers and Twitch streamers a lot.

Nevertheless, that’s ‘now’. Compared to when I grew up, I read literally 1/150th as much. As in, I barely finish a book or three a year discounting audiobooks. In my youth I read over 400 books in a year.

All of it fantasy. Sometimes re-reads because yes, I love to re-read books. All the classics. Tamora Pierce, Jacqueline Carey, Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett… I can go on, but they’re the ones off the top of my head.

Some big series I have yet to read, like Wizard’s First Law and such. Some, like Dune, I bounced off time and time again. But I am in the fantasy genre well and truly, and I grew up with the big names. If I had to choose the most pivotal, I’d go with the four listed and add Howl’s Moving Castle (the book, although the animated movie is also great, but different), The Sandman, and maybe the original Dragonlance and of course, Harry Potter.

That’s me and books. Me and manga? I was into it, but the literal plague of isekai stories nowadays and me growing older means I read only a few titles. Me and comics never got along as well; some are very good, but I actually feel like the western comic genre is less appealing.

Me and video games is the tale of legends, ironically. Have I told you I ‘beat’ Hades in 4 lives? I streamed it on Twitch. I’ve played Sekiro. I love Dark Souls 1-3, and Demon Souls on PS5 and Bloodborne both need to come to PC.

I play video games to relax because I don’t have to think as hard.  All kinds of video games. Never multiplayer. I hate interacting with real people because that’s social and takes away from games supposed to relax me.  I do love a good story though, hence why I sometimes am annoyed by multiplayer-based games or ones that seem good, but have terrible story like Last of Us 2. I could rant on that for hours, but the truth is I like games for being games. 

For the story? There are… a handful I could qualify as having exceptional storytelling. Like Witcher 3, maybe, but that’s sort of based on the books. I dunno, I just like playing video games but it’s not something I can point to that helps me narratively. Video games provide interesting ideas, but they don’t advance my understanding of stories like movies or books. That’s what I have to say about that.

Movies I need to watch more of. I literally watch 1-2 a year because I have some kind of weird problem with investing 100% of my attention on something. I like things I can multitask.

The Wandering Inn is definitely your most famous story, but you’ve mentioned before that it isn’t your first. What can you tell us about the two stories you wrote before beginning The Wandering Inn?

…How do you know about that? Well, I have talked about it, and like every author, I have written multiple works before getting to the one that took off.

Except for the ones who were perfect from the start. Grumble grumble…but in all seriousness, those two stories were both the tales I thought would be the TWI before TWI, if that made sense.

Lovely tales, one about a kid learning to control new powers as evil magical beings return, aided by a mysterious person–wait a second, that’s familiar.

The second is about Pirate, the character, not me, and was her origin story. It’s set in a city by the sea, and we get to learn about a strange girl with seemingly no past or place of real origin.

Neither story was good. The first one I wrote way back when I first got into writing and it shows. It’s uh… well, if I made the main character from another world, it would fit right in with the litRPG genre, although about… 9 years before the genre appeared? 6? I don’t do time well, but it had all the hallmarks without me knowing about video game literature.

All the hallmarks. Except the harem. It was not good, but I thought it was at the time.

Same with the Pirate-story. Neither one’s good and I tried to get both published. Now, the Pirate-story IS better than the first one, so I consider it actually salvageable. But it needs a complete re-write so while I am vaguely proud of it still, I need a good month or two off to release the e-book. Still a plan, but just not a major one given how successful TWI is.

As a web serial writer, you don’t have the same approach toward editing that a traditionally published writer does. That made it extra exciting for me to see you have started to experiment some with hiring freelance editors! What has this process been like and how has the experience been?

They’re great. Expensive, especially since I’m holding a contest, but great.

I’ve worked with Rebecca Brewer and Diana Gill so far and each time I could feel myself improving. Now, it was super-stressful especially because I wondered if they’d be mean or if I wasn’t up to par, etc., but I found it a great experience.

Mind you, I don’t know if I can recommend it to all authors. Professionals like Diana and Rebecca are not writing groups or friends or family. I trust their opinions, they know how to give feedback and most importantly, they’re really good at their job. I’d work with professionals in a heartbeat. 

The only problem is that they have their own jobs, it’s expensive to hire them especially if you write as much as me, and you do have to find the ones you’re compatible with. I’ve gotten lucky, so I’m actually going to work with at least 3 more, I think. Navah Wolfe, and two more we have yet to announce.

I’m doing this to learn from the different styles each one has, and see who might be best for  a lot more work together. It’s something that I’m grateful I can afford to do, and I only wish I could pay them for a lot more chapters. But uh, probably only for special chapters unless I get a lot more money. Imagine paying 7k per chapter or something. Even half that? Wait, could I afford that? Hm…but could they survive that pace?

You’ve also expanded The Wandering Inn into multiple publishing avenues, such as e-book and audio. I personally loved the four Podium audiobooks that have been released so far. How did you get involved with Podium and what’s the process like to get your writing produced in an audio format?

They contacted me. I saw they’d done The Martian and I said, ‘well, I have ignored every single person and company who has ever come to me before, but this might be too good to pass up.’

And here we are. Honestly, it was sort of name-recognition. I have been very hesitant to work with other people because it’s a time commitment and a lot of effort (not to mention negotiating, setting stuff up, and so on), but Podium was in the right place and it’s been a fruitful relationship.

As for the process? It’s nice NOT to self-produce  the story. I give them the script and typos, coordinate with Podium on book launching, and that’s that. And it’s ideal for me, frankly. Some people might want more control over voices, other stuff. My plate it too full.

The one thing I’d say is that contracts are everything. Talk to fellow authors or get legal help from experts before you get into a deal with Podium, a website, or anything. You may think you can read. You can’t read legal. So a big opportunity means doing your diligence. Of course, once you’re in a hopefully good relationship with a competent group? Sit back and let them make audiobooks.

How do you keep track of all the details of such an expansive story as you’re writing on the fly?

I…have good memory? In seriousness, I forget names and places all the time and I actually have readers who have amazing trivia knowledge I literally ask to help me look up things.

Otherwise, I have about 150k words in various note documents to keep track of plot points. But mainly, it is in my head. I know what each character does in vague, or this plot point, that the story’s going to do this soon…it is mostly in my head, so be glad I don’t bicycle or climb or do things that might lead to head injuries.

I guess the answer is I don’t have an organization system that matches the world as you might think. What I have is a huge time commitment; I think about the story constantly, not just when writing. 7 days a week. I evaluate what’s coming up, if there are plot problems, plan, and so on. It’s like uh, running a simulation or game like Rimworld. I’m the computer. I just have poor processing power. I wish I could parallel process.

I feel like if you were transported into the world of The Wandering Inn, you’d definitely have a [Writer] or a [Storyteller] class. What sorts of Skills do you think you’d get with a class like that?

If I were in TWI, I’d be dead. Crelers, a horrible way to go.

In all seriousness, I don’t want to talk about Skills or what I’d do or get because that sounds like self-insertion as a character and I’m realistic enough to know that I can’t predict what I’d do or how I’d handle anything characters in the story do. I know them, not myself.

Also, I don’t want to talk about a class I might write or have planned already. Got to keep readers in suspense!

With all the writing you do, I’m sure keeping your hands and wrists in good condition is critical. I know you’ve had some injuries in this area in the past. How do you recover from a setback like this and how do you prevent something similar from happening again?

My shoulders hurt. Which is better than crippling arm pain! Honestly, I have actually strong arms and hands given how much I write; other writers and artists have had to pull back because of less. I have no conditions aside from the ones I’m self-inflicting.

So yes, it was bad, but it’s gotten better due to me going to physical therapy. I have actually had medical checkups confirming no carpal tunnel or tendonitis, so my issues are mostly about stretching, managing work, and having a rest component.

I take a week off every month which was far better than when I took 1 week off every year. Ironically, it’s increased how much I write each month on average; I can now write more, knowing I have a rest break coming up.

Nothing more than that for self-care; if I’m poorly, I write easier or less. Granted, it’s from my perspective and I always push, but that’s because I like my story and respect my readers. If I get hurt, and I hope not, I’ll take a big break to rest. For now? I just keep stretching.

Let’s talk about the future for a moment. You’ve said you’ve had an end goal for The Wandering Inn for quite a while. Can you give us any hints on how close or far away that may be?

Nope. Only that I do have an ending and it matters because you can see stories where the ending clearly doesn’t exist. Those stories sometimes write themselves into corners or holes because the author doesn’t have a plan and that can backfire.

Organic writing is all very well and I endorse it, but the full plot should be at least in your head, even if you alter it. It’s like…sailing without a light. Or trying to navigate a coastline without a lighthouse. I have an ending, but the timeline I’ll keep private because I can’t estimate and I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.

Once The Wandering Inn is eventually complete, what would you like to explore next?

Nothing. I’ll just die of exhaustion.

More seriously? I will write other stories. I come up with vague ideas every now and then, but I can’t pursue the ones that I have so I just write down the best ones. There’s a lot I could do…and I will do it.

After a long, long break. Rest assured, I have more to write, but what I’ll do first is rest, then see what I want to tell. Another long story, or a shorter one. Who knows?

Thanks for visiting the Inn and chatting with us! Anything you’d like to say to our readers to close off?

Well, I just completed a Kickstarter for a comic, The Last Tide, and if anyone missed it or wants to buy it, it’ll be for sale online or in print from Cloudscape Comics. Soon? I’m not sure when this interview is going live, but the Kickstarter has 3 days left as of writing…and once backed it’ll go into print!

It’s a tie-in to The Wandering Inn’s main story, so I encourage everyone to check it out! That’s it for self-promotion. I hope everyone enjoyed the interview and read something interesting or new. Thanks a bunch!

---

About Pirateaba

Pirateaba is the author of The Wandering Inn, an ongoing web serial with over 8 million words. They have won the Stabby Award three times, and plan to sell frying pans as merchandise someday. Nutritional yeast on popcorn is the only valid condiment besides butter and salt. Don’t @ me.

You can also support Pirateaba on Patreon, which will earn you early access to the latest Wandering Inn chapters, and the ability to vote on bonus stories.