AnimeNYC with TurtleMe, creator of The Beginning after the End

As always, AnimeNYC delivers. Whether you’re a cosplayer, artist, or just an avid reader, the con is the place to be if you’re looking to connect with popular creators through the intimacy of a screening, panel, or good old autograph signing. This year, however, patrons were treated to something a little more intriguing than the average panel: a face reveal by reclusive web novel and comic author TurtleMe.

Creator of the Tapas series The Beginning After the End, Tae Ha Lee, known as TurtleMe, is an extremely private person, with limited presence on social media and no photos tied to his pseudonym. In return, his fans obsess over even scraps of his personal information. One con attendee, worried TurtleMe’s face wouldn't be photographed, was overheard offering $100 in exchange for a photo. Luckily, we were able to catch up with the author on everything from his feelings after his face reveal to his favorite anime without needing to take such drastic measures.

InvitedNYC: First things first: How was your face reveal?!
TurtleMe: It was…a whirlwind of emotion. I was excited, first of all, but nervous—Tapas planned this huge thing and I didn't think I was worthy of it, but walking out and seeing 400 people was very surreal.

InvitedNYC: It’s been a few years, but congrats on your novel being adapted into a webtoon! What is the process of adapting the novel to webtoon like?
TurtleMe: It was definitely a learning process. Before I even got to writing the scripts for the storyboard I worked with the editors and the artist in a very much back and forth process where I would give a document with my references and ideas and then they’d give me feedback or vice versa, so there was a lot of communication there….but I think just working as a writer on a webtoon is a great experience because you’re able to see everything come to life and also get the chance to edit the story once more.

InvitedNYC: You are an example of a successful self-published author. Now that you’ve been more traditionally published, how would you compare the two experiences?
TurtleMe: I think I'm a little bit biased, but now that I've been in both realms, I can say that being self-published was a little more freeing since I was able to explore different areas and have my own voice come through without any filter from a bigger company. So in that way—I was able to run a little wild. But the thing about working with editors and a marketing team is that I feel more professional than I was before. I really grew not just as a writer but as a content creator.

InvitedNYC: The Beginning after the End is such a great title. Did you already have the end of the story planned when you published the beginning, or did you figure it out as you wrote?
TurtleMe: I'd like to say I had everything planned at the start—that makes me sound smart— but I think I had a concept and I knew vaguely the direction I wanted to take the story but that I did not know the ending. It wasn't until I had many chapters written and expanded the world and added characters that I realized I needed a way to keep track of all those moving parts, so that pushed me to plan and outline better to see where things would connect in the past and the future.

InvitedNYC: Which part of writing do you find the hardest? How have you been able to overcome it?
TurtleMe: At first I felt like writing itself—the words, the sentences, dialogue tags—that was the most difficult because I was a beginner writer. Now that that's become a bit more automatic and instinctual, the bigger hardship is the main story and the side stories….how do I connect these pieces into the overall bigger picture in a way that’s digestible and fun for readers. It’s still something that I’m trying to overcome and I’m hoping that I'll do a good job and get better at that.

InvitedNYC: Do you read reviews of your work?
TurtleMe: Yes. I do. In the beginning I would start reading reviews and but then get tired of hearing all the feedback—even though some were good, human nature is to focus on the bad and that’s what my brain would dwell on—so I would stop myself from reading but then after a bit I would get curious and start reading again, so it was kind of a never ending cycle. But in the end it does really encourage me. Even the criticism has kind of become encouragement to me.

InvitedNYC: The series seems like it’s coming to a close soon. Will your next project continue to expand the TBATE world or will it be an entirely new idea?
TurtleMe: I still have a few years left of TBATE so at this time my focus is on that, but I do have a few ideas in my head that are running amok. Who knows, maybe I’ll jot them down when I have a break from TBATE, but whether or not they’ll be set in the same world is a secret. Sorry!

InvitedNYC: If you could be reincarnated into your own novel, which character would you want to be?
TurtleMe: Oooh…not an elf. I’ve killed a lot of elves. I'm not sure if there's a happy-go-lucky character I could put myself in because as the readers know I’m pretty hard on my characters, so I’ll give the ‘boring’ answer of Arthur. I’ve written about him for so long I feel like I know him and I think it’d be pretty fun.

InvitedNYC: Since we’re at AnimeNYC, what are some of your favorite anime? Are you reading anything interesting right now?
TurtleMe: The Gundams, Yu Yu Hakusho, Slam Dunk, Full Metal Alchemist…those are the kinds of things I grew up reading. Nowadays my wife and I enjoy Spy x Family together but I have to watch Chainsaw Man by myself because she doesn’t like the gore. On Tapas, I’ve been liking Father, Unrivaled and The Archmage Returns after 4000 years. They’re kind of similar to TBATE thematically since that genre’s become very popular now here in the states, but they’ve stood out to me and I really enjoy them.