There’s a very real difference between being forced to be alone, which is where she was in Book One, and choosing to be alone when there’s a clear option to not be.

Ruby was such a complete accident of a character, born out of a mix of story economy and my own inability to not give my characters super powers to beat people up with.

The Phoenix we meet in They Split the Party is a very different man from the one we were introduced to at the start of They Met in a Tavern.

And really, once you put that much thought into a character that’s as fun to write for as Ink, you kind of have to bump her up to a bigger role in the sequel.

On the surface, Angel is an Aasimar Zealot Barbarian who would like you to all shut up and leave her alone. But that anger comes from somewhere, and as we get to see in They Split the Party, being left alone might not actually be what she wants, or needs.

For everybody who hadn’t already pieced it together from the fact that we share a nickname: Phoenix is arguably the Starbreaker most personal to me.

Church is the character who changed the most from his initial conception to the final version on the page.

Angel began as an idea I had for a D&D character that I never got to really try out.

I agonized over whether this or “bad guy” should be Snow’s theme song.

“Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time” directly inspired the character that eventually led me to write a whole book. That character is Brass, that book is the one that got me a book deal, and this is his playlist.