Writing Insights (You can skip this)
Hello, Biggest Kusa Out There (Biggest Kusa for short) here.
(means a really big laugh/grass)
First of all, thank you very much for reading Natasha the Halve so far, and I hope you continue reading in the future.
I would like to share with you the “behind the scenes” for writing what I have so far in the form of a hypothetical FAQ of sorts. I’m sure there’s at least one person with questions as to the world, gods, halves, culture, and magic in general. I’ll avoid any spoilers, naturally.
- Let’s start with the protagonist, Natasha.
At first, I intended to write a male protagonist, but quickly trashed the idea since writing a man would be a quick trip to self insert (Yes, I’m a dude, deal with it). I’ve been wanting to write girls love for quite a while, and just went with it.
Russia is a wonderful country which I haven’t had the fortune to visit… yet. Including the memes like hard bass, red army choir songs, western spy, etc. I’ve liked the culture ever since I read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevskyi when I was 14 years old (Almost fifteen years ago!) and loved Rodion Raskolnikov with a passion. Back then I read it at a library, and took every chance I got to continue reading every time I visited.
It’s an interesting endeavor to write about someone from a different culture, and I’ve done some research in the last year as I built the foundations for the story. (mainly speaking with Russians)
- Why a futanari (woman with a penis), then? Wouldn’t that also be a self insert of sorts?
Not really. And well... at first, Natasha didn't have a penis, and would have been a woman through and through… that is, until I thought of what kind of character she’d be in the story.
I think an overpowered protagonist has little things to challenge them, and a protagonist that starts out weak has no actual tension, because they can’t die otherwise the story ends… making it predictable in a way that I don’t think people enjoy so much nowadays.
So, I went with a challenge of the mind. A new sexual organ would invite questions as to the protagonist’s sexual expression and such, which is a big deal. We have seen Natasha make a few such comments so far and is yet to fully contemplate on the subject, which I find criminally unexplored in contemporary web fiction. I hope you will find it interesting when the time comes.
This is linked to the next subject.
- Hell
An overpowered protagonist needs a justification, however implausible. So I went with the worst kind of environment to give her power: Hell. This would then explain various things about her character. Her detachment to her previous life, her willingness for violence, and the acceptance of a new life in a new world. She doesn’t miss Earth, since it happened so long ago.
- Why a million years, then?
To push the point of disconnection. How could anyone adjust so easily to a new world? If there was no in-between, no process of abandonment of who she was before, she’d be confused and scared when faced with violence no matter how powerful she is. That’s how people living in a peaceful society work; words first, violence as a last resource. Now, there are countries in our world where people are more prone to use violence in self-defense, and that is completely fine but not the kind of character I went for. Murder changes people.
- Why have her as an absurdly powerful species?
As a reward for surviving Hell. There needs to be a certain logic when making a character powerful, as power given freely isn’t rewarding to read about in a fantasy setting. By covering certain necessities like money, power, lifespan, etc., her drive would be exploration. She won’t escape it, however. All her dreams are Hell.
- About the system.
When thinking about a system, I thought of the different status and what they meant, the name of each status, and who could have named them. Then, I thought of the ‘magical thing’ to be non-intrusive and reactive. If you don’t push, it won’t do a thing.
I was watching Pekora one day when an ad showed up. It was an app that could ‘read’ plants and flowers and tell you what they were. Someone named the plant, someone archived the knowledge, and then someone programmed the app to work that way (I have no clue if it works, though). I thought Gods and Halves naming stuff would then be recognized by a reactive system and show that every time something is appraised. Hence the weird names of stuff like Ur’en, Me’ik, Bhin, etc. Those are ‘ancient’ names.
- Why Pandemics?
To connect with her, in a sense. We’re living through trying times, and I find the connection to someone who lived in a situation similar to ours rewarding. She lived twelve years in isolation due to various viruses that she mentioned in the first journal entry she wrote. That was revealed after the first dream of Hell to show and justify her hunger for contact with others, and her wanting to explore the world. I wasn’t satisfied with just her saying that line about ‘too late to explore the world, too early to explore the stars’ no matter how realistic it is.
- What about the species in the world?
When I was a wee lad, I read a very interesting piece of fiction titled Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson. While the point of the story has nothing to do with Elves evolving from Foxes, I always remember it with a little fear: Bears holding torches appeared in more than a few nightmares back then. I then thought ‘what would happen if evolution actually went with bears becoming the next Humans?’ instead of the allegory Bisson intended.
I pictured foxes, cats, birds of prey, etc. evolving in the same way we did from Lucy. That of course would mean the animal itself either went extinct a long time ago or they are preserved like we have zoos, or protected animals. Similarly, various fictions portray certain species having evolved from animals instead of the ‘demi-human’ approach. It took us several millions of years of evolution to reach where we are today, so how come Elves, Dwarfs, Catpeople, Lizardfolk, etc. are called demi-human? I’ve always found it lazy and implying a very degenerate individual going about it with an animal, haha…
I also find it weird and pushing a human supremacy I am not comfortable in writing, nor confident enough to convey.
The next steps were a little easier, give every fantasy species an ancestral animal that would fit them. I chose foxes for Elves due to their dentition and ears. The traditional long-eared Elf with fangs that you can find in contemporary media like World of Warcraft, would then be explained with a logical approach instead of handwavium.
This made sense in my mind as every living creature has an evolutionary path we can trace.
- Why Gods, then? What even are they?
Aha! That’s the thing that I had the most trouble with, to be honest. Every fantasy story has that spice that is Gods, or higher beings if you will. Narnia had Aslan, for example. Gods are, by definition, untouchable beings that look down from heaven, and I wanted to bring them down a little. So, Divines come into play. As such, I did away with omniscient and omnipotent beings in Galeia. I went with ‘God of Nature’ rather than ‘God of Heaven’ approach.
- Aren’t Halves too dangerous, tho?
Not really. As we see in the conversation between Natasha and Lapia on the cart, Natasha instantly rejected the idea of ruling the world, something a Halve is unable to fathom due to how their minds work. They are protective by nature, going to extreme lengths to achieve relative peace. We were told about this particular thing two times. Perculis chasing a Giant, and Yulianna killing a tyrannical Royal family.
This protective nature is also showcased when Natasha faced the moose beasts in chapter 12, as she could easily flee the encounter at the speed of sound even while riding Sonya, something a Me’ik cannot achieve. This naturally is something that came to be subconsciously, instead of an active ‘I must protect the people’.
Bandits were not the only thing that posed a danger to others; the herd was relatively large.
More about Halves will be explored when Natasha meets her kin.
- Political power v/s individual might.
In a world where magic and a system of power like levels exist, ‘Rulers’ are not the authority we are used to. They can’t be. If a King leaves the country to go and level up, the people could take the opportunity and riot if they’re unhappy. If the capital is built around a dungeon, people may be more powerful than the King, and riot if he’s doing a bad job. If the Royal Guard/Military are “abusive”, people would riot. Imagine just 200 people in a city cast similar spells to Solar Epitaph… get it? As Alyssa said, if all else fails, a Halve would just swoop down and execute the tyrant.
We’ll see more of this when Natasha reaches the capital.
- Why do people need to study to get a class?
Because you don’t become a doctor first and learn what drugs do later. Like we have the distinction between a Nurse and a Doctor (bless them in these times of Covid-19), a distinction exists between a Priest and a Cardinal. We specialize our knowledge in various disciplines with varying degrees of depth.
While I personally like the concept of getting a class and then a system grants you skills as you level up, that would make everyone an adventurer at some point since that’d be the most optimal way to get a better class with better skills. I went for a society that knows the dangers of the world, and as such carefully chooses what they want to become.
This is linked to the next subject.
- Why do people live so long?
A magical world where healers exist, even following the teachings of a divine being, would naturally extend lifespan since the earlier stages of civilization. Adding the concepts of levels would also increase survival rates when dealing with illnesses and such. It’s just logical. Magic and monsters change the world and how people view and deal with it.
Some species aren’t as long lived due to joining the sentient party later.
- Why make ‘mana’ a particle?
I thought a particle we don’t have in our world would make magic possible with the system I came up with. That’s linked to the lifespan of people in the world. A ‘protected’ society would focus on knowledge and the sciences, this naturally leads to them studying nature to the point we have of physics, but magical.
- It feels like telekinesis with extra steps?
It feels that way because that’s what it is. I made it so that people who manipulate a specific particle and then transform it with their minds would feel like some sort of telekinesis with extra steps. Naturally, a magic system needs limits like a mana pool, and the complexity of spells/cooldowns.
I took a page from A Certain Magical Index by Kazuma Kamachi and their concept of Espers when dealing with spell complexity and how a person increases the power of their skills. We don’t see Lapia using Solar Epitaph every chance she gets. Magic is a tool optimized for killing in a way, and people naturally should know this.
Like we have the laws of thermodynamics, laws of motion, laws of gravity, etc., this world would need to have similar magical laws like the Rakh’Math View, Perekis’ Theory of Power and Joy’s Law which are ways to make spells and enchantments work differently than others, instead of saying ‘hey I’m a genius and my spell is different’. I hope I did a good job with that.
Naturally, a Wizard would know these things just like a physicist knows of Newton, Tesla, Einstein, etc. It also made the world feel older than it would otherwise. With some random person’s name attached to a theory, it’d show studies are extensive and ways to improve spells are known, without outright telling they are.
- What games/media inspired classes and such?
Mostly Tree of Savior, Ragnarok Online, and Dungeons and Dragons. I added many of my own things as well, it's not a direct copy. I also removed some things that didn't fit the world.
- Why do women chase?
Because the men of the species weren’t the only ones ‘hunting for survival’ since magic exists and women are just as powerful. That births a society of relative equality, which ultimately advanced differently. Mating rituals in nature are dictated by the female’s reproductive cycle. So, in a ‘protected’ society where knowledge and cultural advancement is the sought after goal, women take the lead in such affairs.
Naturally, people aren’t one dimensional in their lives. In our own world/history we see a wide variety of individuals when it comes to behaviors like those.
I went an extra step and made Alyssa be part of a draconic species that has three sexes, further fragmenting behaviors and culture. Some of you may find her inconsistent as a fiction character, which is acceptable.
So how would women be active? Would they behave like men in our world? Not really. Sexual expression is not binary as we can see in our own world, where there is more than just top & bottom. This allowed me more freedom in how characters behave when it comes to affection and intimacy.
Misandrist/Misogynistic views like being a slave to sex because of some made up instinct or one gender being better than the other(s) have no place in this fiction. I only believe in Futanari supremacy, haha...
- Why such descriptive sex?
Because there is descriptive death. Simple as that. I personally find the label of adult content wrongly defined. Death/violence should be 18+, and sex/love should be for all ages. How often do we kill? How often do we love? I’m not someone to impose my belief on others, tho, so I tag the steamy chapters appropriately.
- Why hasn’t Natasha been accosted by all females, then?
Not all women are as brave as Lapia. She’s a special kind of pervert.
- Your explanation of the two suns sucks!
I know. Did my best, tho. I’ll expand on it in future chapters.
- Natasha’s skills suck!
They do, and we’ll see something interesting in the future.
- Your sex chapters suck!
Heh… get it? Okay, I suck at humor.
- Why do you write so slow? 500+ pages and barely a month has passed.
Because I’m developing both the world and the characters. We’ll see more time skips in the future (get it? Ok, I should stop), since we have a general idea of the world now, with a few things needing to be explained, which will come in future arcs.
- Why didn’t the shady group attack Natasha in the dungeon? Just have them ambush her!
Really? In a place she could theoretically fight forever? These people are smarter than that. Halves are generally a mystery, but things are not set in stone for everyone. Some groups may have more information than others, especially if their goal is to rid the world of Halves.
- What about Power Tongues? Did you forget about them?
No, I haven’t. They will be important later in the story. Also, Natasha has no real reason to use them so far, as nobody would understand her.
- What’s with the weird appraisal of Lord Punten?! Did you fuck up and haven’t change it?
No, the plot will thicken when he shows up again. Same with the first times Natasha appraised people and things.
- Why write the story as a journal instead of third person?
To make changes in perspective feel more natural, and to present a biased view of the world with each character.
As we’ve seen, Lapia doesn’t write thoughts as Natasha does. And she ended most dialogues with dots instead of commas. Because she’s not a writer. This changed when Lapia returned the journal and she read Kingdom Fall by Yinka Plavas™.
It also showed the extent of Natasha’s honest personality, since she also writes her thought process and desires.
- If so, what’s with that weird section where we see Natasha being created?
We’re seeing the finished product, not as it’s happening in real time.
- Wouldn’t that make Natasha a pervert that writes her own sex acts?!
Yes. Yes, it would. She’s a massive pervert.
- Why are languages from Earth in the story? Dwarfs speaking Spanish makes no sense!
I honestly couldn’t come up with more than two ‘original’ languages: Elvish and Dragon Tongue. And the classical ‘magical translation’ is not the best way to go about it in my opinion. Naturally there are some ‘loopholes’ with Welsh being Human language and Natasha somehow knowing it. That’ll have to wait for future arcs.
- Is this a LitRPG?
In a sense, but it’s not the main focus of the story. I didn’t add the tag because readers would expect more of it than just items and skills. We’ll see more of that when Natasha starts leveling up and gets a new class. It’ll be different than Lapia’s approach, though.
- Why make Natasha suck at math?
To limit her power creep. The magic system is heavily scientific, so that in itself is a challenge she has to face by re-learning mathematics and science. Otherwise we’d have a protagonist than can cause nuclear explosions every fight, or use magic to solve every problem she faces. Imagine if she could just teleport around, fly away, or some nonsense like that.
I also limited her power by including acrophobia. She won’t be using Dragon Dive or Gae Bulg until she faces her fears. Being reborn in a new body with a new mind doesn’t mean her deepest fears are gone.
- Natasha’s obituary was written in Cyrillic, why could Lapia read it if she doesn’t know this world’s version of Russian?
Same with the staff Natasha gave her. If you remember (or you can check), the staff had temperatures expressed in Celsius instead of Yiama.
As Alyssa explained, the system grants information based on what the individual knows. The obituary could be considered a magical item instead of regular writing due to its nature…
If we go back and check the item description of Alma Stoneweaver in chapter 4, and Eternal Fire in chapter 10, it’s shown Natasha doesn’t understand the information so she sees those weird-looking formulas instead of the actual ones. Even if she’s a Halve.
- How/why did she go to Hell, and then to Galeia?
No spoilers.
- Natasha doesn’t feel Russian! Where’s the cheeki breeki? The slavness? The cyka blyat? Why didn’t she call dumplings chebureki? Why isn’t she desperately seeking semechki? Why doesn’t she wear Adidas tracksuits and ushankas all the time while singing the soviet anthem?!
She’s practicing her English (Common), so naturally she translates those words as she expects someone else to eventually read the journal. She doesn’t write every expression as ‘oy’, ‘ay’, ‘blin’, etc.
And I don’t want to write her as a meme stereotype…
- Does Natasha have a Drip Jacket?
Yes, she has one. She’ll turn into Driptasha at some point.
That’d be it! It became a little nonsensical at the end, though. If you have questions that I didn't address, you can ask them or send me a DM telling me how I much you dislike the story or how much you like it! I won't answer spoilers and such.
If you're wondering, my first language is Spanish, my second language is German, and my third language is English. (Tho I use english more than german tbh)