Abby Goldsmith is the author of the Torth series, originally released on Wattpad and Royal Road with 750,000+ reads. She has sold short works to Escape Pod and Writer’s Digest Books, having attended the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. Goldsmith is a 2D and 3D game animator, has lived on all three coasts of the United States, and is married to her favorite reader. Come to her website and say hi! She reads a ton and loves interacting with readers. www.abbygoldsmith.com
-Can you give us just a quick overview of what your Torth series is about and what originally inspired you to write it?
Sure! Torth is a space adventure in the vein of Vernor Vinge’s work, Dune, or Red Rising.
The rulers of the galaxy will never unplug from their inner audiences. The only way Thomas can rescue his enslaved friends is to trick his crowd-pleasing mentor–plus her thirty trillion fans. He might conquer the galaxy while he’s at it.
I’ve always been an outlier who doesn’t fit into cliques or social groups. I wanted to explore what happens when the majority follows a toxic ideology, and the pariah will be proven right no matter what obstacles they throw in his path.
-What specific genre of sci-fi would you consider your Torth series? And what, exactly, is litRPG and progression fantasy (for readers who don’t know), and what elements of your Torth series do you think have them?
Genre has always been hard to squish Torth into. It is a galactic empire space opera progression fantasy … so it’s sci-fi. It’s sci-fi with bioengineered superpowers and epic fantasy elements.
Progression fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy. It has a lot of overlap with litRPG, which is why it often gets conflated with that. LitRPG is fiction where the hero earns leveling up stats like in a video-game. Progression fantasy is fiction where a hero progresses from underpowered to overpowered in a hard magic system, so the reader can track and estimate their progress.
These subgenres are really both rebranding of heroic fantasy, which is what I love. Give me someone to root for. In the Torth series, Thomas is the main hero, but Ariock and Kessa also shine as heroes. I have a power chart, and throughout the series, Thomas and Ariock both progress upward through the magnitudes of power.
-Colossus Rising, the second book in your Torth series (first being Majority) just came out. How were you originally picked up by Podium?
Podium made me an offer when Torth hit the Rising Stars list on Royal Road, which is a website for readers of litRPG and progression fantasy web serial fiction. Torth gained over 750,000 views on the site.
The third book in the Torth series, World of Wreckage, is due to be published on May 7th. This series is six books total, all fully written.
-What are the top three pieces of advice you would give to an aspiring writer, who may be struggling to find a publisher or agent? What are your views on traditional publishing as opposed to self-publishing? How do you think the publishing industry is changing?
That’s a can of worms! I can write a book on this topic, but I only have anecdotal observations … many years worth of them, as I watched the rise of Amazon and all kinds of changes over the decades.
Luck and timing and genre and marketing and cultural zeitgeist play much larger roles than how it seems from the outside. There is a book published every minute on Amazon. Many of those are mediocre, many are excellent. Most aspiring writers, including me, yearn for best-seller success, and they might spend years or a lifetime chasing that dream. Many, many writers die trying. There are no guarantees. There is a decent chance that you can generate a passive income stream with a lot of novels that heed market trends, plus savvy marketing techniques, but I think that is a different approach–a more businessy approach–than striking it rich with a major fandom that gains steam on its own.
So in a nutshell: you can aim for success on your own terms, and likely die trying, or you can navigate the whims of the market and possibly eke out a readership that way. The arts are brutal.
If you happen to have written a stand-alone YA novel that can be pitched as the next Shadow and Bone, then I think you’re much more likely to land a literary agent than if you wrote an epic litRPG series about a band of heroes who keep winning, with no recent comp titles. The logline matters. You can figure out what trends the Big Five publishers are chasing by doing in-depth analysis of the industry or by joining serious writing workshops.
With all of that said, writing novels is the most fulfilling life goal I can imagine. Interacting with readers makes it all worth it, for me. If you have the creative spark, the motivation to write, and the imagination, then nothing will stop you. If that sounds like you, then you have my condolences. Writing is an addiction that can impact your life in major ways, but it also makes life an incredible adventure. You have my admiration!
-What does your writing process look like? Do you outline first?
Yes. I go for walks and daydream scenes, refining them until they land with the emotional impact I want.
I tried pantsing–writing without an outline–and it turned into a meandering mess and fell off a story cliff.
So I’ve learned that I work best with a series skeleton. I use Dynalist for cloud-based bullet points in collapsible lists, and this is my series bible. I usually plan the story arc for each book, complete with an inciting incident, escalating stakes, darkest hour, climax, and denouement. There is a story question that should get an answer by the end. I also brainstorm answers for other important story questions.
-What about characters? Do you prefer writing the “bad” guy or the “good” guy (or girl. Whichever!)? Do you have a preference for female or male characters? Which one is easier for you to write? How do you come up with character names?
I love them all! But I’ve found that I enjoy male heroes and female supervillains more than vice versa. Maybe this is because I love unusual characters and subverted archetypes.
I think society expects women to be “good” and nurturing, and I like to let loose with my female characters and have them be depraved conquerors or supergenius masterminds. Likewise, a lot of stories center an anodyne “every man” as the hero, and I like my male heroes to be really far outside the norm. I can get excited and root for an exaggerated juggernaut, or a disabled supergenius. That’s where I like to put my imagination.
For names, I go for character contrast. Thomas has soft vowels and soft sounds, which fits a subtle hero who is easily underestimated. Ariock, in contrast, has the complexity of three syllables and hard sounds, including the heroic “k” sound, which is common to many heroic characters.
-Other than the Torth series, have you written any other novels?
I’ve completed two stand-alone novels. I’m trying to decide what to do with Chat Human, a dystopian thriller that satirizes ChatGPT and its cultural effects. And I may eventually rewrite my other finished manuscript, which is a Torth prequel that takes place in a different era, with different characters.
I’m currently working on the first book of an epic fantasy series, in which a math-obsessed eccentric lordling solves an ancient equation that unlocks magic, catapulting him into the royal echelons of a worldwide war against a sorceress conquistador.
-What author or authors are or were the most influential for you currently or while growing up? When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
When I was six years old, I was addicted to the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. I grew into reading John Bellairs, Lois Duncan, William Sleator, R.L. Stine, and Christopher Pike. At age 11, I began to read adult books and never looked back. That started with Stephen King’s Pet Semetary, and I also became a fan of Tad Williams, Michael Crichton, and Anne Rice.
I got hardcore into fantasy with Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. The first indie author I became a major fan of was Scott Sigler. These days, I read more indie authors than not.
I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller. I was typing novels at age 11, trying to be like Stephen King. Too bad that first manuscript led to a scathing rejection letter from Random House! They didn’t know I was a child.
-What books or authors has your Torth series been compared to? And what readers do you feel would enjoy your Torth series?
One reader recently wrote: "The Torth series stands apart; it has distinguished itself too much to just be a generic part of the progression fantasy genre. It is unique, and incredible for it."
Comparisons are hard. Torth has superficial commonalities with Red Rising, Dune, A Fire Upon the Deep, Ender’s Game, and Foundation. I think anyone who loves epic fantasy and thoughtful sci-fi will find Torth worth reading.
-Is there anything you’d like to add in conclusion?
The Torth series starts with Torth Majority. https://abbygoldsmith.com/majority/
Thanks for the interview!
You're welcome. Thanks again. :)
-Can you give us just a quick overview of what your Torth series is about and what originally inspired you to write it?
Sure! Torth is a space adventure in the vein of Vernor Vinge’s work, Dune, or Red Rising.
The rulers of the galaxy will never unplug from their inner audiences. The only way Thomas can rescue his enslaved friends is to trick his crowd-pleasing mentor–plus her thirty trillion fans. He might conquer the galaxy while he’s at it.
I’ve always been an outlier who doesn’t fit into cliques or social groups. I wanted to explore what happens when the majority follows a toxic ideology, and the pariah will be proven right no matter what obstacles they throw in his path.
-What specific genre of sci-fi would you consider your Torth series? And what, exactly, is litRPG and progression fantasy (for readers who don’t know), and what elements of your Torth series do you think have them?
Genre has always been hard to squish Torth into. It is a galactic empire space opera progression fantasy … so it’s sci-fi. It’s sci-fi with bioengineered superpowers and epic fantasy elements.
Progression fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy. It has a lot of overlap with litRPG, which is why it often gets conflated with that. LitRPG is fiction where the hero earns leveling up stats like in a video-game. Progression fantasy is fiction where a hero progresses from underpowered to overpowered in a hard magic system, so the reader can track and estimate their progress.
These subgenres are really both rebranding of heroic fantasy, which is what I love. Give me someone to root for. In the Torth series, Thomas is the main hero, but Ariock and Kessa also shine as heroes. I have a power chart, and throughout the series, Thomas and Ariock both progress upward through the magnitudes of power.
-Colossus Rising, the second book in your Torth series (first being Majority) just came out. How were you originally picked up by Podium?
Podium made me an offer when Torth hit the Rising Stars list on Royal Road, which is a website for readers of litRPG and progression fantasy web serial fiction. Torth gained over 750,000 views on the site.
The third book in the Torth series, World of Wreckage, is due to be published on May 7th. This series is six books total, all fully written.
-What are the top three pieces of advice you would give to an aspiring writer, who may be struggling to find a publisher or agent? What are your views on traditional publishing as opposed to self-publishing? How do you think the publishing industry is changing?
That’s a can of worms! I can write a book on this topic, but I only have anecdotal observations … many years worth of them, as I watched the rise of Amazon and all kinds of changes over the decades.
Luck and timing and genre and marketing and cultural zeitgeist play much larger roles than how it seems from the outside. There is a book published every minute on Amazon. Many of those are mediocre, many are excellent. Most aspiring writers, including me, yearn for best-seller success, and they might spend years or a lifetime chasing that dream. Many, many writers die trying. There are no guarantees. There is a decent chance that you can generate a passive income stream with a lot of novels that heed market trends, plus savvy marketing techniques, but I think that is a different approach–a more businessy approach–than striking it rich with a major fandom that gains steam on its own.
So in a nutshell: you can aim for success on your own terms, and likely die trying, or you can navigate the whims of the market and possibly eke out a readership that way. The arts are brutal.
If you happen to have written a stand-alone YA novel that can be pitched as the next Shadow and Bone, then I think you’re much more likely to land a literary agent than if you wrote an epic litRPG series about a band of heroes who keep winning, with no recent comp titles. The logline matters. You can figure out what trends the Big Five publishers are chasing by doing in-depth analysis of the industry or by joining serious writing workshops.
With all of that said, writing novels is the most fulfilling life goal I can imagine. Interacting with readers makes it all worth it, for me. If you have the creative spark, the motivation to write, and the imagination, then nothing will stop you. If that sounds like you, then you have my condolences. Writing is an addiction that can impact your life in major ways, but it also makes life an incredible adventure. You have my admiration!
-What does your writing process look like? Do you outline first?
Yes. I go for walks and daydream scenes, refining them until they land with the emotional impact I want.
I tried pantsing–writing without an outline–and it turned into a meandering mess and fell off a story cliff.
So I’ve learned that I work best with a series skeleton. I use Dynalist for cloud-based bullet points in collapsible lists, and this is my series bible. I usually plan the story arc for each book, complete with an inciting incident, escalating stakes, darkest hour, climax, and denouement. There is a story question that should get an answer by the end. I also brainstorm answers for other important story questions.
-What about characters? Do you prefer writing the “bad” guy or the “good” guy (or girl. Whichever!)? Do you have a preference for female or male characters? Which one is easier for you to write? How do you come up with character names?
I love them all! But I’ve found that I enjoy male heroes and female supervillains more than vice versa. Maybe this is because I love unusual characters and subverted archetypes.
I think society expects women to be “good” and nurturing, and I like to let loose with my female characters and have them be depraved conquerors or supergenius masterminds. Likewise, a lot of stories center an anodyne “every man” as the hero, and I like my male heroes to be really far outside the norm. I can get excited and root for an exaggerated juggernaut, or a disabled supergenius. That’s where I like to put my imagination.
For names, I go for character contrast. Thomas has soft vowels and soft sounds, which fits a subtle hero who is easily underestimated. Ariock, in contrast, has the complexity of three syllables and hard sounds, including the heroic “k” sound, which is common to many heroic characters.
-Other than the Torth series, have you written any other novels?
I’ve completed two stand-alone novels. I’m trying to decide what to do with Chat Human, a dystopian thriller that satirizes ChatGPT and its cultural effects. And I may eventually rewrite my other finished manuscript, which is a Torth prequel that takes place in a different era, with different characters.
I’m currently working on the first book of an epic fantasy series, in which a math-obsessed eccentric lordling solves an ancient equation that unlocks magic, catapulting him into the royal echelons of a worldwide war against a sorceress conquistador.
-What author or authors are or were the most influential for you currently or while growing up? When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
When I was six years old, I was addicted to the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. I grew into reading John Bellairs, Lois Duncan, William Sleator, R.L. Stine, and Christopher Pike. At age 11, I began to read adult books and never looked back. That started with Stephen King’s Pet Semetary, and I also became a fan of Tad Williams, Michael Crichton, and Anne Rice.
I got hardcore into fantasy with Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. The first indie author I became a major fan of was Scott Sigler. These days, I read more indie authors than not.
I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller. I was typing novels at age 11, trying to be like Stephen King. Too bad that first manuscript led to a scathing rejection letter from Random House! They didn’t know I was a child.
-What books or authors has your Torth series been compared to? And what readers do you feel would enjoy your Torth series?
One reader recently wrote: "The Torth series stands apart; it has distinguished itself too much to just be a generic part of the progression fantasy genre. It is unique, and incredible for it."
Comparisons are hard. Torth has superficial commonalities with Red Rising, Dune, A Fire Upon the Deep, Ender’s Game, and Foundation. I think anyone who loves epic fantasy and thoughtful sci-fi will find Torth worth reading.
-Is there anything you’d like to add in conclusion?
The Torth series starts with Torth Majority. https://abbygoldsmith.com/majority/
Thanks for the interview!
You're welcome. Thanks again. :)
