129: Julie Kagawa (Fateless)

About this episode

Charlie and Julie Kagawa discuss video games, world building, and the creative decisions behind her book 'Fateless'.

Charlie and Julie Kagawa (Fateless) discuss video games, working with fate and destiny, Julie's brilliant world building and magic system, and the decisions she made about where to end the book. General references: Charlie and Julie's pre-show chat (which is the reason Charlie knows Julie meant Final Fantasy X) My episode with Samantha Sotto Yambao is 122 Books mentioned by name or extensively: Julie Kagawa: The Iron Fey Julie Kagawa: The Blood Of Eden Julie Kagawa: Talon Games mentioned: Assassin's Creed D&D Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X-2 Guild Wars 2 Hitman Prince Of Persia Splinter Cell Tomb Raider Release details: recorded 19th May 2025; published 22nd September 2025 Where to find Julie online: Website || Instagram || Facebook || YouTube (Minecraft channel) Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:35 The video game inspirations (this becomes a longer discussion) 06:09 Writing the main characters 09:36 The fatechasers as a people 11:38 Working with an ensemble cast of characters 14:34 How Julie came to choose when to reveal the details of being fateless to the character 16:39 Writing the slow burn romance 18:56 Julie's…

People in this episode

Host: Charlie Place

Guest: Julie Kagawa

Topics covered

• video games
• world building
• magic system
• fate and destiny
• character development
• book ending decisions
• romance

Keywords

• Julie Kagawa
• Fateless
• video games
• world building
• magic system
• character development
• romance
• Final Fantasy
• Assassin's Creed
• D&D

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Assassin's Creed, D&D, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Guild Wars 2, Hitman, Prince Of Persia, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider

Books & works: Fateless, The Iron Fey, The Blood Of Eden, Talon

More episodes of Author's Afterword

• 135: Phoenicia Rogerson (Aphrodite) · December 22, 2025 · 50 min
• 134: Elodie Harper (Boudicca's Daughter) · December 8, 2025 · 43 min
• 133: Juhea Kim (A Love Story From The End Of The World) · November 24, 2025 · 40 min
• 132: Clémence Michallon (Our Last Resort) · November 10, 2025 · 54 min
• 131: Nikki May (This Motherless Land) · October 27, 2025 · 44 min
• 130: Jim C Hines (Kitemaster) · October 13, 2025 · 52 min