AAWWWOOOOOO!!! We’ve got a howl of a good time coming your way with this Alpha edition of Inside Choices!

What was it like creating the lore for Alpha? Will players get to explore that more in-depth as the story progresses?

Cat: Fortunately, the werewolf myth comes with a lot of interesting lore built in from a bunch of different sources, so we didn't have to do too much worldbuilding for this book! The thing that we found really fun was coming up with the fraternity lore; we wanted to find ways to blend the bond of a frat with the close bond of a werewolf pack. We came up with some really interesting Alpha Tau lore that I think people will find really cool.

Davi: Crafting the lore was a howl! I spent many nights moon-bathing, trying to get into the werewolf mindset. Players will get plenty of chances to explore the hidden lore behind the Alpha Tau fraternity, including some premium lore-based scenes that manage to satisfy the curiosity of your MC's mind and body.

Sara: So I LOVE lore. It was so much fun on Kindred, and in brainstorms for Blades 2 and... other books in the works... so I was grateful to get to play in another supernatural world. We got to sift through existing werewolf mythology, determining how we wanted to put our own spin on it and distinguish ourselves from our previous werewolf book. I hope players will enjoy exploring how we've incorporated dreams into our personal werewolf mythos.

We get the feeling our love interest isn’t going to be all sunshine and butterflies – how much werewolf brooding can we look forward to?

Min: There are lots of brooding and angsty make-out sessions to look forward to.

Cat: Channing is... a tricky one. They're very confident, outwardly flirtatious, and (obviously) dominant, but to say they have a fear of commitment is an understatement. They're constantly at odds with their responsibilities as an alpha – and the need to be impartial in order to protect the pack – and their burgeoning feelings for you. TL;DR, you can expect a lot of really juicy brooding from the alpha themself.

Icy: Haha our love interest is absolutely not sunshine and butterflies, as for the amount of werewolf brooding, let’s just say our love interest is never far. You'll most likely feel the presence from a pair of eyes, which are 99% from him/her.

Davi: Much brooding. Very tragic. Channing's got layers... but players will have to dig deep to get at the heart of what troubles the leader of Alpha Tau. Is it the responsibility that comes with being a pack leader? The threat of human werewolf hunters? Or something in their own personal history? Read more to find out (and try not to get on Channing's bad side while you're at it).

Sara: Oh, there will be brooding. Even just in choosing the music for this book, I prepped for brooding. We've got “SEXY ANGST.” We've got “MUSIC BROODING.” We've got both “MUSIC SAD” and “MUSIC SAD CHURNING”, and that doesn't even get into “MUSIC LOSING CONTROL” for a different flavor of Broody LI. If you're looking for brood, we got the LI and the soundtrack for you.

What can you tell us about the production process for Alpha? Any bugs or running jokes that the team had fun with?

Min: Part of my checks in this book is to make sure characters have clothes on at the end of the chapter no matter the choices. Gotta make sure they don’t accidentally appear naked in the next chapter.

Cat: LOL, this feels like such a pointed question and I love it. Specifically, we had a really funny bug with our pronouns; your character is dual gender, meaning they can use either he/him or she/her pronouns. We had a funny bug where our GIRL/BOY pronoun function was spitting out GUY instead of BOY, which led to some... fun dialogue bugs. Suffice to say, telling someone, "That's my good guy," in bed does not have the same impact as "That's my good girl".

Icy: Early visual stages of Channing for both genders looked far too young to fit the vibes we were going for. Of course we did some art magic and now we have the final visuals seen today.

Davi: We have six different 'growl' sound effects in our library... it became a running joke about how long it would take each writer to decide which of the six growls to use in any given moment... After all, growls speak louder than words.

Sara: Cat already shared our team favorite bug, so I'll say my favorite art production moment was the progression of Asher's outfit. He started in a normal hoodie, and we were just like, "what if he ripped off the sleeves? what if... it was a crop top? What if this man has a cropped sleeveless hoodie and still wears a beanie at all times, including in his underwear and formalwear?" So yeah. Asher is perfection, and the art team really showed up for our ridiculous whims.

Alpha *coincidentally* launched on Friday the 13th! Is anybody on the team superstitious? 😈 Who’s the most into the Halloween season? Do you like pumpkin spice? Irrelevant but important… Asking for science.

Cat: My entire existence is pretty much built on a superstition: I was supposed to be born on Friday the 13th, but my mom scheduled her C-section for the day earlier because of her superstition. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little superstitious, but I still love the Halloween season. I'm in my element when it's kind of chilly and I can watch a cheesy slasher movie with a cup of something hot. As for pumpkin spice... I like it in a candle but not so much in my coffee.

Icy: I think within our team both Cat and Sara are the most intuned with this season. I'm a "so-so" for pumpkin spice, not a major fan but also not something I wouldn't drink. I hope I contributed to your... science.

Min: Pumpkin spice is 🤢

Davi: As far as this season goes, we have some amazing artists here at Pixelberry who are participating in "Inktober", where they post a drawing or sketch every day of the month on a different theme. Sadly, my talent has always been more in writing than drawing, but I'm very happy to bear witness to some charming scary-themed art throughout the entire month. [As for PSL…] Personally? I'd say pumpkin spice is the unofficial fifth season of the year. California is not known for its varied seasons, so we have to celebrate the end of summer somehow.

Sara: Ohhh I think this is a team of Halloween Season aficionados. Like Cat, I was born into it via my mom also scheduling her C-section to avoid me being born on a leap day (boo, I would've loved that), and I was born en caul -- with what looked like a veil over my face. My aunt immediately said "oh, this girl's gonna be psychic". I'm still hoping on those latent psychic abilities to manifest, but for now I'll have to make do with a passive aura of strangers telling me their life stories and diving into being the best part-time goth I can be to celebrate. As for pumpkin spice – I'm more of a savory pumpkin person, but I 1000% support the pumpkin spice latte lovers in the crowd. Give me Thai red curry with pumpkin and fried tofu any day. I do love a good mocha or chai latte any time of year.

Great, now we’re craving lattes and chilly fall weather *checks forecast* weatherman says, “not a chance!” It’s okay, we can blast our AC and pretend! Thank you all for answering our questions. It’s been fun. Until next time!

<3 The Choices Community Team