"This is ridiculous," Sedgewick grumbles, slouching on the couch.

"Oh, be nice. These people are our supporters! It'll be fun!" Feyla answers, scooting closer and wrapping her arms around him.

Sedgewick blushes, still unused to cuddling. "I—I suppose we could sit for a little while."

"Not that I was giving y'all much of a choice," I say, my formless voice echoing around them.

Sedgewick protectively tightens his hold on Feyla while glaring at the ceiling. "I've peeked at your sequel plans, woman. Don't get any ideas. Go torment That Man for a change or something."

"But you're my faaaavorite," I reply in a sing-song voice, the sound bouncing off the interview room walls like a ball.

"The feeling is not mutual."

"Don't be sassy. It's not going to get you out of this. Now, time to get started..."

From destinydrakes : "Sedgwick! What is the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you? *Grins evilly*"

"I refuse to answer on the grounds that this woman's smile disturbs me. Also, she misspelled my name."

"Sedgewick..." I say, a warning in my voice.

"I want to hear this one too," Feyla adds giddily.

Sedgewick squirms in his seat, his eyes flickering everywhere except Feyla. Finally, he sighs, burying his face in his hands and reluctantly beginning. "It would probably be my manhood ceremony. Which if you must know, involved stripping naked, carrying a dead goat through a canyon of hungry young wyrms learning to hunt for the first time, and then dealing with a half-drunk medicine woman wielding a circumcision knife." His eyes narrow as his hands slip down. "I will not be discussing it further."

From destinydrakes : "And Feyla, what is your least favorite part of your job?"

Feyla squirms in her seat. "Oh. That's an...interesting question."

"What does that mean?" Sedgewick asks suspiciously, thrumming his finger on the armrest. "Are you stalling? You're stalling, aren't you? What, Feyla, don't want to share your feelings with the— What the—?"

A spiral of authorly mist spins around Sedgewick before he vanishes from the room with a "pop".

"Answer the question, Feyla. I'll bring him back when you're done."

Feyla grips the armrest and leans forward, looking around one more time just to be sure. "It's the mages," she says as if letting a weight fall off her chest. "Well, not the mages, not REALLY. It's just..." Feyla clings to a strand of her hair, twisting it self-consciously. "I consider myself a pacifist even if I haven't always been the best at practicing it. Hearing the mages talk about the times they had to 'take someone out', or remembering that the man I love has fought in a war, and anytime he gets called out, he might feel like he has no choice but to--" Feyla stops, letting out a shuddering breath. She falls silent for a moment, the hair slipping through her fingers before she continues in a quieter tone. "Sedgewick just wants to keep people safe. I know that; I'm proud of him for that! But...it doesn't always stop me from feeling...conflicted, I guess?"

Feyla slowly lowers her hands into her lap, a vortex of warring emotions spiraling across her face. "I guess it doesn't really matter as long as I don't think about it too much. It's not like I'm planning to rejoin the Healer's Guild or anything."

The authorly mist of power returns, popping Sedgewick back beside Feyla. He blinks several times and scratches his ear.

Feyla's apprehension melts away. She smiles at Sedgewick adoringly and takes his hand. Sedgewick leans closer, dropping his voice low. "What was the question? I feel like I've missed something."

From @KeithStanley3 : This is part statement, part question. You're really doing great as a writer and storyteller. Especially within this Wattpad construct. Is this natural within you or did you have to work at it?

"They're not even talking to us right now. Can we leave?" asks Sedgewick, half standing.

"No."

He sits back down, grumbling while Feyla pats his arm encouragingly.

"Now, onto business." *Turns off echoing voice of power.*

First off, thank you! I've really loved seeing how everyone's enjoyed my writing and characters. As with most things, I think it's a bit of both. I've been a naturally good writer (at least compared to some of my peers) since middle school. I think part of the reason for that was because I was a voracious reader. I could blow through a 300+ page book in a day and I was very, very proud of that fact. Reading so much helped me develop a writerly "ear" for what "sounded" right even if I couldn't really identify WHY it was right at the time.

The second thing that helped was although I'd only written a few short stories before Magic's Minister, I was (and am!) obsessed with learning as much as possible about what makes a great story a great story. I devoured books and blogs on character development, plotting, conflict, villain creation, Mary Sue's, and more. By the time I worked up the courage to start seriously writing Magic's Minister, I had an intellectual knowledge of what worked and what didn't. It emboldened me to fight my urge to explain everything, keep increasing my conflict, and most importantly, really dig into Sedgewick's inner struggle and how the events were shaping and changing him.

I'll never say my book is perfect but I feel like I avoided a few of the storytelling pitfalls I would have fallen into if I didn't have a semi-intellectual idea of what on earth I was doing. That being said, writing a book was HARD and I had to work at it every time I sat down to write.

"Is Sedgewick's character arc too weak? What am I really trying to teach him here? Do I have too much romance? Were the scenes at Beryn's home moving too slowly? Does Feyla come off as too weak? Should I put in more real curse words, take out the ones I already have, or stick to the ones I invented? Wow, my descriptions suck. And my dialogue. And my pacing. Especially my pacing, I must be boring my readers away. Please excuse me while I have a minor panic attack over my climax. My mental outline isn't working. I've broken my story, I've broken my story, I'VE BROKEN MY STORY!!!"

Ahem. Anyways, on a more serious note, although I struggled with insecurities while writing Magic's Minister, I never lost sight of the fact that although the details might not be perfect, the characters and the heart were solid and everything else could be fixed later. Writing Magic's Minister was one part talent, two parts prior knowledge and two parts viciously fighting my way through muddled prose and malignant insecurities.

When it comes to Wattpad, what I did was rewrite my blurb until the only negative feedback I got on it were tiny, mostly personal opinion nit-picks. I also hired a great cover artist, updated as regularly as possible, and interacted with my readers (easy since y'all are great).

When formatting my writing for Wattpad, I spaced my paragraphs according to the generally preferred internet reading style and kept my chapters between 1, 200-2,300 words each. Most of this (besides the reader interaction) didn't come naturally. I thought my original blurb was fine until I was told otherwise, and I researched the preferred chapter length/formatting style. Updating regularly was difficult for a procrastinator such as myself, but thankfully I had a lot of free time at that point.

Wow, that was long. Hope I answered your question!

From @Infinitely_Eternal : Who was the first person to work with Sedgewick? And if it's someone we haven't met, what did he do to drive him/her away?

"What...did I do? What did I do?!" Sedgewick leaps out of his seat, his face as red as his hair.

Feyla jumps up beside him, her normal smile tightening in a nervous panic. "I'm sure Infinitely didn't mean it like that..."

"Because of course, it must have been my fault. It couldn't have been because Tamara just decided to abandon me so she could kiss up to the Archmage and feed her tower ambitions. No, it's because I'm just some terrible person who drives everyone away—"

"Sedgewick, no ones' saying that," Feyla soothes.

"What else could that mean?" he shouts, flailing his hands angrily. Finally, Sedgewick crosses his arms, scuffing his foot on the ground before plopping back onto the settee. "I didn't make her leave..." he mutters pitifully.

Feyla sits beside him and wraps him in a hug. "Of course you didn't."

"She's the one who didn't want to be a Court Mage with me anymore."

They sit in silence together, Feyla squeezing him while Sedgewick stares forlornly at the ground.

"Do you want to talk about your feelings?" she asks.

Sedgewick pulls away, scowling. "No. Besides, there's nothing to talk about. It doesn't even bother me anymore."

Feyla raises her eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"It doesn't!"

Feyla sighs, dropping her arms and the subject. "Let's go to another question."

This one's for me, actually.

From autumn_sunfire 1. Do you listen to music while you write? What else helps you to concentrate or get in writing mode?

I rarely listen to music while I write. The lyrics distract me too much and I don't listen to much instrumental. Listening to music before I write usually helps me loosen up my creative muscles. I'll play a song that relates to my next scene and then I'll pace around my bedroom or empty living room and mentally plan out how I want it to go. If I'm struggling with a scene and forcing words isn't working, then I'll do the same thing. Raising my heartbeat with the music and the pacing helps me tap into that creative vein and bypass the part of me that is blocked or uninspired.

2. Did you invent your characters with this level of complexity or, did their depth of personality evolve more slowly?

Oh, no. It was definitely a slow evolution. Honestly, the biggest factor in my characters' development was just...time. None of my characters truly came into their own until I'd spent several years imagining them in hundreds of variations of possible plots and writing them into various snippets and one-shots that will never see the light of day.

I know some people find character creation charts and profiles vital in the development process, but other than giving me some new questions to consider, I've always found "filling in the blanks" led to the character feeling disingenuous. After all, how could I say that my character acts before he thinks if I don't know him already?

Hobrin is one of the few times a character has smacked me in the face with his personality. Everyone else involved a lot of time and a slow carving out of a complex center from a vague generalization.

3. (this one is kind of weird XD) but did Sedgewick ever have a beard? For a little while, I imagined him with Gandalf-style facial hair, something about the mage/wizard vibe.

"I attempted to grow one when I was younger, but it kept coming in all patchy, and Alena didn't like it so..." Sedgewick's voice fades away as Feyla snorts. He raises an eyebrow as she places her hand over her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to block the noise.

"Yes, yes, it's very funny. But I'll have you know that I did have a rather nice goatee for a while." He strokes his bare chin at the memory.

Feyla giggles one last time. "Okay, if you want to grow out that again, I promise I won't laugh. Maybe. But why was the queen of all people so worried about your facial hair?"

Sedgewick's eyes glaze over as if remembering some far-away thing. "Yes, I suppose that would be an odd concern for people who had a strictly professional relationship."

"Moving on!"

4. My brain goes nuts with creativity, and I've never been working on less than five books at a time. Do you juggle multiple books at once? Do you have a system for writing your different planned books, or do you just write in one when you feel like it?

I have the same problem, actually, hehehe. Which is why I physically forced myself to not start any other big writing projects until Magic's Minister was finished. It was hard sometimes when I was ACHING to start on something else, but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with multiple projects, and I didn't want to spread my creative energy too thin. I did start some short stories and such when I felt inspired, but that was all.

From LuckyPlum Can you remember when this story first took root in your mind?

Sedgewick, Feyla, Fenroy, and Eleyna have existed in some shape or form for 6-7 years. The plot for Magic's Minister didn't appear until 2014-2015 and I didn't start seriously writing it until 2016.

How much does the Magic's Minister we know resemble those early days?

So instead of rambling, I'm going to split this up into plot and character differences.

Plot

The general, "Sedgewick and Feyla go to Beryn's, Bilara's and Crayden's before confronting Tyrinn," was there from the beginning. However, the order was different. Originally, I planned to have Sedgewick (couldn't think of a good reason for Feyla to come) go to Crayden's first to learn where Bilara was staying THEN go to Beryn's. I realized that due to backstory-related reasons I don't go into during the narrative, Sedgewick would already know where Bilara was.

Also, Crayden ran his business in the capital instead of Vacia. I always planned for the climax to take plan in an old sewer/aqueducts system and I decided that location wouldn't work in the capital, so I moved it.

Arguably the biggest change was Sedgewick losing his job and becoming a fugitive.

What, Vanna? That wasn't in there to begin with? Nope. Sedgewick would have confronted Tyrinn at the capital and managed to keep the whole thing hush-hush. Thankfully, Eleyna kept getting in my way (she could have bailed him out way easier if Tyrinn hadn't stacked the deck against Sedgewick). Plus, no one at the ministry discovering it didn't seem very realistic and the conflict was so much richer when Sedgewick's obsession—the Magic Ministry—turned against him.

The setting was vaguer when I first started writing, but by the time they shipped off to Beryn's, the Renaissance/Mediterranean/Moroccan mix had finally started to sink in.

Characters

Sedgewick and Feyla's characters were mostly done developing by the time I started writing (otherwise I wouldn't have started). The final evolution of Sedgewick's backstory (see 'Stages of Sedgewick' in my random book) didn't occur until maybe four or five chapters into the story.

Feyla was a bit more passive in the '15 chapters than the ones written in '16, but that dropped like a rock in a river after chapter two because Sedgewick would have trampled over a more passive Feyla without even trying.

Crayden was supposed to be a greedier Lando Calrissian but the more Hobrin appeared, the meaner he got.

The biggest character change was probably Tyrinn. Believe it or not, he was originally WAY more sympathetic. His original backstory had him hating Sedgewick because he killed either a witch Tyrinn had fallen in love with or Tyrinn's witch sister (I hadn't decided yet) who he was trying to reform. Sedgewick believed he didn't have a choice while Tyrinn was adamant that Sedgewick just hadn't tried hard enough.

There were two problems with this. One was that I couldn't identify a good place for this to be revealed. I'd already written ten or so chapters, Tyrinn didn't appear that much, and having him dump it all out during the final confrontation would end up being way too long a motive rant with no former foreshadowing.

The second problem was that it just made Tyrinn too sympathetic. Sedgewick was already a jerk and having him be responsible for the death of the supposed villain's loved one just seemed to push Sedgewick over the edge into unsympathetic. So Tyrinn's backstory was revamped. Instead of being born in poverty and working his way to the top, he became the entitled son of a former court mage (and had an actress/bard for a mother, hence his skill at playing the "good guy").

At one point, Tyrinn was supposed to secretly be a wizard, but having him keep his own hands clean while manipulating those around him fitted his personality better.

I actually like the thematic contrast these changes created. While Sedgewick is outwardly rude, doesn't care what people think, and received everything he has based on work and merit, Tyrinn is outwardly nice and polite, cares about appearances, and feels entitled to be Minister based on his place of birth and family.

Did you ever try a tricky accent with the main character?

Sedgewick blinks at LuckyPlum before leaning closer to Feyla. "Can the woman not hear?"

"Sedgewick, they're readers. They can't hear us out loud and Vanna only mentioned you having an accent once or twice."

"He sounds vaguely British."

"What the gates is 'British'? Is that part of the Northlands?" Sedgewick leans forward, jabbing a finger at the audience. "Not that it's a place I'd wish to return to, but I am from the Peaks, thank you very much, and anyone with half an ear should be able to tell the difference."

Feyla rolls her eyes. "Sedgewick, I've known you for years and I still can't hear a difference most of the time."

"The two are pretty similar but there are small differences if you're familiar enough with them."

"Thank you, Miss Vanna."

From @LKellam For Sedgewick *grins evilly* How did you know Feyla was "the one"?

Sedgewick freezes. His pupils contract as his pale face blushes bright red in spite of his false calm. "The—the what?"

Feyla nibbles her lip and leans over, placing her hand on his leg. "You know, Sedgewick. When you realized you looovvved me. And wanted the kiiisss me. Do you wanna tell the readers about your feeelllings?"

Sedgewick turns even redder. He hunches over as if he's trying to curl up in a ball and roll away. "If I say no, will you be mad at me?"

"No, but if you say yes, I'll give you a kiss."

"Well—" He sits up straighter a challenge in his eyes. "How about you let it be, and I'll give you one."

Their eyes lock. Sedgewick smirks. Feyla returns it, tilting her head and allowing a strand of hair to fall down and brush right beside her lips. Sedgewick's eyes slip down like an addict who had just caught sight of his personal bottle of temptation. Feyla smiles gently at him, leaning closer still. "It would mean a lot to me if you could tell me about it."

Sedgewick blinks, his breath stuttering. "It—it was such a gradual thing. I just thought you were annoying and then attractive and then had this strange desire to...not stay away."

"But when did you realize what you were feeling?'

"Probably when I was breaking down beside the grave of my first love."

Feyla's mouth parts incredulously while her brow crinkled in confusion.

"You weren't in that scene; it makes a lot more sense in context, I swear."

And Feyla, how do you put up with Sedgewick not admitting his feelings?

"He's getting better with the feelings thing!" Feyla exclaims, grinning at Sedgewick who starts hunching back into his ball, his face going red again. "And it's really just about accepting his personal strengths and limitations. You can't love someone and expect them to change their personality for you. So I just accept that Sedgewick likes showing affection in other ways."

"And I acknowledge the fact that Feyla shows concern through excessive meddling."

"It's not meddling!"

"Of course not, Dearest," he says, while nodding 'yes' to the audience when she's not looking.

"Wow, that's the last one!"

"Oh, thank the Creator. Let's never do this again," Sedgewick says, slumping in his seat.

"I thought it was fun! It's nice to sit down and just talk after everything's done," Feyla replies.

"Well, you can have all of my questions next time, Dearest. Free of charge, even."

Feyla laughs, bumping against him affectionately. "Aww, but you're so adorable when you answer questions."

"I am not adorable!"

Well, that's all folks! Thanks for sticking around and sorry for the long wait! I am planning to post a book of short stories about these two and a few other characters, so keep your eyes open for that! Thanks again for following me on this journey; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!