TVGB: Out of curiosity, what are some of your personal inspirations when writing a project like this?
DG: Well, if you look in terms of other creative works, there are books by George R. R. Martin like Song of Ice and Fire. Now, some have come into our forums and ask “Well, how is this like George R. R. Martin books?” I don’t try to copy them. As a source of inspiration, when something inspires you, you’re not going to copy it, you’re going to look at those elements that are sort of “Oh, wow! That’s really cool!” and take that away from it. I know there was a period a number of years ago where I was kind of “fantasied out” a little bit. I’d read The Wheel of Time and The Balgariad by David Eddings, and I enjoyed them just fine, but they kind of started the same way. They kind of are both about this young man in some remote village, you know, kind of pastoral existence and then some people swoop in, spirit him away because he’s the chosen one, and just as his village is destroyed. I mean they both start exactly the same way and they’re both very like, “Chosen One! Capital C, capital O! Ooh! You’re the only one who can fulfill the prophecy!” Good Lord, another prophecy. I mean, that has its place, and I like high fantasy, too, but after two major things like that I was kind of like “Oh God, does all fantasy have to be ‘Chosen One?’ Does it all have to be ‘Prophecy? Predestination?’
