Choices Rewind: Writer Revealed
Choices Rewind: Choose Your Sequel is well under way. The Elementalists is currently in the lead, but the competition is razor thin. So to see if we can tip the scales one way or the other, we are revealing the writer that stepped up for such a nerve wracking, but exciting challenge…
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🎉Emi has offered themselves as tribute, to bring one of our fan favorite franchises back for another round. Writing a sequel is always challenging, but writing one after so long has passed, on such beloved books is even more so! Thank you sooo much Emi for taking up the challenge and being game for anything here at Choices!!
So jumping right in, you’ve been on the team a long time. Tell me what your favorite part of being a writer on Choices is?
Emi: Writing for games was my dream job in college, so the fact that not only did I get a job doing that, but that I’ve had that job for nearly eight years now, is wild. Honestly though, I think my favorite part of being on Choices is the team of people I get to work with. Meetings are often full of laughter, seeing the amazing things they create inspires me, and their constant support has really helped me grow.
💗I similarly find the Choices team is SO full of heart. We are constantly challenging each other to be our best! Do you have any specific examples of how you have grown while on the team or something you’re especially proud of?
Emi: My writing has improved so much, I sometimes cringe when I look back at the first stories I worked on. But that’s being an artist. You have to constantly remind yourself that you did the best you could at that time. As for something I’m proud of, I don’t think I’ll ever top the final fight through your colony in Wake the Dead. Having to branch for every possible upgrade, change the setting of the scene depending on what you chose to build, let players use all their armor and weapons… It was a lot to juggle, but I’m so happy with how it turned out.
I get the munchies when I write.. do you have a favorite writing snack or another way you get in the zone?
Emi: I love a good cheddar popcorn, but I can’t really eat it while I write or my keyboard would be gross. But when I really need to get some work done, candy is where it’s at for me. My favorite is Gobstoppers, but I’m known to sub in Starbursts or gummy bears.
I’m a Shocktarts or Junior Mints person myself… I’m a liar, it would be Tootsie Rolls. My hubs was horrified that I massacred a 2 pound bag one year during an exceptionally stressful period… 😅Moving on... What’s your favorite book you’ve worked on? What’s your least favorite?
Emi: How dare you make me choose between my children! Fine, I’ll tell you. Just promise not to tell them! Blades is by far my favorite. I fell in love with the characters and the world, and I put a lot of my heart and soul into those books. It’ll always have a special place in my heart. As for least favorite, that’d probably be Guarded, primarily because I was a late addition to the team so most of the story had already been decided before I got there.
Follow up!! That sounds spicy!! 🌶️🌶️ ☕ Were you unhappy with the direction or was it more that you couldn’t have as much of a voice in the book's direction?
Emi: A little bit of both, though I wouldn’t necessarily say I was unhappy with the direction so much as I thought we’d have a stronger story if we’d gone in a different one. I think the premise would have worked far better as a slow burn rather than one of our sexier titles. But I was brought on because the book wasn’t matching the team’s original vision, so my job was to deliver that.
Does anything scare you as a writer?
Emi: That’s a tough question. In the past I would have said writing about pregnancy, but I managed to write most of Baby Bump despite being very freaked out by that concept, so I’d say I’ve conquered that particular fear. I think nowadays I’m more frightened about how fun, enjoyable, and meaningful other people find my work. I always have a good time with the stories I’m writing, but there’s a constant nagging worry that other people won’t. (I think you’d be hard pressed to find a writer who doesn’t feel this way though.)
What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
Emi: Brainstorming! I know as a writer I should say that writing is my favorite part, but there’s nothing quite like getting in a room with a few other people and just going wild with ideas.
You tend to write our most complex stories… is there a reason you gravitate to those books over others?
Emi: I admit that I love the challenge of it. There’s something so fulfilling about writing a complex piece of code or designing a system and then watching it all come together. I think of it kind of like… giving little gifts to our fans. I know not many people are going to see the Water-Att specific line in a choice or the special branch for failing spectacularly at a fight in Blades, but I want the ones who do to feel like they got something special out of it. That said, after those kinds of complex stories, it’s nice to write something a bit more straightforward.
Are there any scenes or characters that you dread writing? Are there any you look forward to?
Emi: I think at a certain point every writer starts to dread hookups. Not because they aren’t fun, they are, but when you’ve written dozens of them, it becomes more difficult to make sure each one feels unique. We’re limited on what words we can use, so it’s inevitable we fall back on certain phrases. I’m sure our fans have noticed the “eyes darkening with desire” or my personal crutch, “breath ghosting over your lips.” It’s sometimes gotten to the point where I’ve been like “Oh no, I already used this exact description earlier in the scene.” As for what I look forward to, I’m a sucker for banter. I love characters who tease each other back and forth, whether that’s You with your LIs, or your LIs with each other. Harley and Nico in The One were particularly great for that.
If you could say one thing to our community what would it be?
Emi: Every story has someone out there who loves it, and a team of people behind the scenes who worked really hard to bring it to life. You probably won’t love everything we’ve ever made, but hopefully, there’s a story in our library that you do love! I’d also say that making games is complicated and involves a lot of compromise. There have been so many things I’ve wanted to do, but the burden they would have placed on our art, production, and QA team made them not worth doing. Looking at Blades 3, for example, there was a world in which each character made their own independent decision at the end of that story about their future. But, if they were your LI, we obviously didn’t want to tear them apart from you, so now we’re branching for every character based on your choice if you’re romancing them, or where they are independently if you’re not, and it just very quickly gets unruly, especially for our QA team who has to test every possible option. That’s why I made the decision to simplify it to two different world states. Would I have made the same decision if I had unlimited time and resources? Probably not. But also, if we had unlimited time and resources, I’m not sure games would ever come out. We’d just keep working on them for all eternity.
That’s a great way to frame it.. And brings up an interesting behind the scenes question.. From what you can remember, what single book was in production the longest (not counting My Two First Loves since that had a HUGE chapter count)?
Emi: Well, technically I believe that Blades 2 had the longest production, though honestly it was on ice for a lot of that time as the original team had other projects they were working on. Once it was officially handed to me, it took a similar time to make as most of our other books. Crimes of Passion Book 1 probably had the longest standard production time, since it went through some pretty heavy adjustments after it’d already been finished, namely switching your character from a police detective to a private investigator.
We originally assumed there was no way we would be able to do a sequel to Endless Summer, but you were excited for the challenge.. What made you want to jump into such a complex and beloved story?
Emi: Because, like many of our fans, I love this series. I remember reading the final chapter at my desk and crying because it was just that impactful. But I also heard Andrew talk on more than one occasion about how the Rourke ending was really ripe for more story, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what that story could be. I just never thought there’d be a chance of telling it, so when the opportunity arose, I jumped on it.
👀So you already have a concept for an Endless Summer sequel? Can you give us any more of a hint at what players could expect if it wins?
Emi: (spoiler alert!!) In the Rourke ending, everyone but you and Varyyn have forgotten about the events on the island, so you’re obviously going to have to get your old crew back together and help them remember. Whether or not you can defeat Rourke in a timeline where he rules all… who can say? (I can, but I’m not telling.)
And how about The Elementalists? Could you give us a little taste of where that story could go?
Emi: I believe Chelsa teased a bit about this, but essentially the High Attuned, the leader of the whole magickal world, needs to choose a successor, and her options are you or Atlas. She intends to pit you against one another in a series of challenges, but it will be up to you whether or not this drives a wedge between you and your twin.
So you worked on the original The Elementalists series. Any fun stories you can share?
Emi: The Elementalists was actually the series I was hired to write for, though it was not the first Choices story I did writing on. That would be Bloodbound. But the Attunement quiz remains one of my crowning achievements. I did a ton of research on the different elements and personality traits associated with them, and from there built a series of questions with answers related to those. I remember seeing fans trying to rig it, and I’m thrilled that even to this day, they haven’t totally figured out which element all the answers correlate to. We also had a pretty disastrous crash on launch day because we tried to show Professor Kontos in full body. Apparently his full image was too strong for some phones.
Personal question time… Who did you romance in Endless Summer and The Elementalists? Does anyone have a special place in your heart from your playthroughs?
Emi: I love a good poly relationship, so I would 100% date all the LIs if that had been an option. But since it wasn’t, I went for Jake in Endless Summer and Aster in The Elementalists! Jake’s nicknames, pop culture references, and charm just won me over, and I was a ride-or-die Aster stan since the moment I first saw her art. She was originally only supposed to become a LI in Book 2, but I pushed the team to include some romance options with her in Book 1. Pretty sure I wrote almost every one of her premium scenes as well. She’s just that special to me.
What series would you be scared to write a sequel to?
Emi: Hands down The Royal Romance. Not because I wouldn’t find it fun, but because there’s eight books worth of lore plus spinoffs to keep track of. I know you’re thinking, didn’t Blades have more lore? And maybe, but we also had a forty page lore guide and our great QA team constantly reminding me when I contradicted myself.
What series would you love to read more of but you want another writer to jump in to?
Emi: I didn’t do any writing on Main Character Energy and Olympus Rising, but I enjoyed them both so much, I’d love to get more. I’d also never say no to more Bloodbound (I’m a sucker 😉for vampires) or The Cursed Heart. I recognize I worked on both of those series, but I’d enjoy getting to see them through another writer’s eyes.
There you have it Endless Summer and The Elementalists fans… Which series are you rooting for? Get reading to make sure your voice is heard!