Introduction

Thanks for reading this far. The first arc/part was a real hassle to get through, but it's finally done. Since I really enjoy author's notes and Q&As (as long as they're not filled with nonsense the author wrote on a whim), I decided to make an author's notes chapter at the end of each part.

The things I'll be focusing on in these author's notes are as follows:

- Reader Questions

- Non-spoiler details that I won't be able to express within the bounds of the story

- Non-spoiler clarifications that won't be given in the story

- My thoughts on how the part/arc went

- Particular information about this story's production that I think is interesting

Out of these topics, I'd like to give priority to reader questions, so if there is something you're interested in, please ask in the comment section of this or other chapters.

With that out of the way, let's get started.

Jack and the Beanstalk

The two versions of Jack and the Beanstalk referenced on our main character's page actually exist and can be read for free online. The version that inspired his story was recorded by Joseph Jacobs and published back in 1890 in English Fairy Tales. It is the version of Jack and the Beanstalk that I think most people are familiar with.

The version that influenced our story, on the other hand, was recorded by Andrew Lang and also published in 1890 in The Red Fairy Book.

Both version in their entirety can be read through this link: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/type0328jack.html

Abilities vs Traits

Here's a comment from chapter 1:

A question about Traits vs Abilities when displayed on the paper. "Luck with Giants" appears after they didn't find him, or at least that seems to be the case. Shouldn't that be listed under Traits as it is seemingly passive since Abilities are more often active abilities?

I said that I was going to go into more detail here when I responded to this comment the first time, but after giving it some more thought, a short answer probably fits best here too. My answer is that I think an entry like 'Luck with Giants' can fit into either category and I decided its placement based on 'Abilities' having tiers for its entries and that not being the case for 'Traits.' If abilities didn't have tiers either, then I would have made 'Luck with Giants' a trait for sure.

This Part Used To Be Two Chapters

Going into some fun facts about this arc, the previous iteration of this story's first arc was only nine chapters long. Originally, in that version of the story, I covered the time span covered in the current iteration of this first arc in two chapters. The first chapter of that version was replaced by chapter 1 and 2 of this version and the chapter 2 of that version was replaced by a whopping twelve chapters.

Now, I know that makes it sound like I rushed through things the first time around... and I'd like you to know that it sounds that way because that's exactly what I did. To give you an idea of how much was added, in the previous version of the story:

- The giants weren't passing by when Jack woke up in the forest

- What became Chapter 4 was about five hundred words worth of summary

- The funeral didn't happen

- Mr. Edward didn't exist which meant chapters 12 and 13 didn't exist

- The baron's men didn't fight the wolves or the grey giant

- The only characters that really got any page time were Jack and Agatha

- Hailee and her parents didn't show up, chapters 6 didn't exist

- Barely any of chapters 7 and 8 existed, and the twins talked to Jack all of 15 seconds

Yeah, a lot had to be added to the story when I came to the conclusion that stuffing everything into a one chapter summary probably wasn't the best idea. I don't want to go into a long explanation of why this happened here, but if someone asks about it, I'll put it in a future author's notes.

Giants

Though I am prioritizing reader questions, facts that won’t organically fit into the story—like the following ones about the giants—are the main reason I decided to go through with this author’s notes chapter.

Giants: Direction

Giants have a great sense of direction and even the ones with less thoughts in their heads just seem to know where they are going unless magically hampered. In fact, it is considered a birth defect amongst this race to not be able to tell where you are going.

Giants: Earth Quaking & Footprints

As has been shown throughout this arc, the giants have the ability to make the earth quake and leave footprints. I've also shown that they have the ability to control these two factors of their movement or "shut them off." What I couldn't explain—at least not in a natural way—was why the giants decide to make the earth quake. The more intelligent giants will tell you it is to send a message. They are a prideful race and it is a sign of their importance that the world trembles with every step they take.

While what they say is one of the reasons, it is not the main reason. The main reason—readily admitted by the dumber members of their species—is that they like the feeling of doing so. It's something that comes more naturally to them than not doing it. Leaving footprints doesn’t feel more natural than not doing so, but they like that as well and also use it to send a message.

When do giants not shake the ground?

The most common reason is because of the presence of other giants. Giants are almost always at the top of the food chain and even in areas where they aren’t, they probably still see themselves as so. When giants pass through each other’s territory, however, they usually stop shaking the earth out of respect or wariness.

In the case of more civil situations, usually only one giant shakes the earth at a time. All the out of sync tremors caused by their movement would be annoying for everyone, after all.

The giant who gets to shake the ground is the one with the highest standing in the group.

When do giants not leave footprints?

Most of the time. Giants are civilized, they prefer smooth paths over rough ones, and leaving footprints makes a mess. When they rule over smallfolks, they can become a burden for their subjects.

When do they break from these patterns?

A group of giants will break from this when they are working together to subjugate a threat or a rebelling force. Out of sync steps to disorient their foes, lines of footprints devastating the land to intimidate their enemies and ruin the land.

Giants: Where the Giants Walk

In this arc the giants used the giant's path the human's built in the forest, but there is another road/path that Jack and the villagers take that is also mentioned. The villager's path is actually better built for traversal, but the giants refuse to take it.

Why?

There are three main reasons. For the dumber giants, it's because they don't have a need for them. For the more intelligent giants it's a matter of pride. It's an insult to giants that someone would think they need the roads of smallfolk. Giants don't need roads and they can go anywhere they please unimpeded by terrain. This belief is also why smarter giants are often more than willing to walk into the traps that smallfolks set for them. Them doing so doesn’t usually end well for the smallfolks, anyway.

The third reason, as mentioned before, is because the giants see the smallfolk as their subjects. Ruining the roads of their subjects by leaving footprints and disorienting them with the shaking of the ground is against their interest.

If the two orange giants were alone, they wouldn't have used the main road because of the first reason. The grey giant, on the other hand, didn't lead them on the main road because of the second and third reason.

Giants: Giant Steps

I don't know how fast the grey giant was walking or running in this arc, but I do know the pace at which his feet hit the ground. If you want to have a better idea of what the grey giant's stomping was like in this part, you can look up beats per minute at these rates on youtube:

Somewhere between 50-55 bpm for walking

180 bpm for when he was running

Literacy In This Setting

Unlike the giant facts, I'm probably going to edit this information into the story.

The kingdom this story is currently taking place in has a literacy rate similar to that of a medieval European country. What literacy there is, is more so concentrated in cities and women are less likely to be able to read.

I don't know exactly how much the people in the hamlet should know how to read, but I'm sure they've at least seen words at the market. Some of them must have learned something from interacting with Mr. Edward, as well.

I feel like this needed to be clarified especially because I brought up Agatha and Hailee's literacy in this arc. Hailee, for the most part, should just be considered a normal farm girl for the time. She’s learned more than is expected from her, but she still has a ways to go.

As for Agatha, she learned how to write so she could keep records for her husband and manage the house better. Her father spent some of the bride price Grant gave before he left to get her lessons and the rest she learned through her own efforts when she moved to the forest with Grant.

Jack, his father, Grant, and his brother, Andrew, all knew how to read, of course. Jane and Timothy were still young enough that they hadn’t decided to teach them yet.

My Thoughts on This Part/Arc

Thank goodness it's finally over. Writing this arc, rewriting it, rewriting it again, splitting it, and adding multiple unplanned chapters during release has solidified it as my biggest hurdle for the production of the story. Without a doubt, this part is overloaded. I didn't even know I was going to cover half of the topics I covered the first time I wrote it. If you're looking for it, here’s a list of everything that I had to introduce in this arc:

the giants Jack’s page replacing someone and taking over their life the mental ramifications of body swapping in this setting the fey magic draft dodging and the war a Jack-based hero culture the consequences of the giants' actions a supporting cast with realistic personalities

There was no way I was going to be able to explore each topic on this list to its fullest. If I wanted the first arc to be as strong as it could be, I'd probably have to cut at least half of it.

That said—no matter how well either of us personally think I executed on the topics—I think I've covered everything that I wanted to get across when laying the foundation of this story. What I have planned is worth far more to me than the strongest possible first arc and I believe every topic that I've listed will get its chance to shine.

Other than that, I'd like to mention the feedback I got from other authors on my initially released chapter 1. I did some significant edits to that chapter’s start and end thanks to them along with some minor edits to the beginning of chapter 2. Listening to them helped me learn, to an extent, the difference between making something that intrigues and something that confuses.

While this part was releasing, I also realized I should be putting more focus on keeping promises with readers. Not the ones about schedules in the author's notes—baby steps, people—but in the text itself. This can be seen with me adding to chapter 5 after I promised some stuff about the stories on the page in chapter 4.

That's all I have to say on this for now, but there's plenty more that can be said, so feel free to ask even if you are reading this fifty chapters from now.

Some Updates I'll Consider Down the Line

New chapters take priority, especially with my abysmal posting rate at the moment. The following, however, are things that I'll definitely have looked into by the time a book comes out.

Making Agatha's chapter the first chapter

If this was a tv show instead of a book, I'd definitely start the show with Agatha's chapter first. I've gotten some advice that I should put her chapter first, but I wasn't sure if that would translate well into engagement from a web novel perspective and I wasn’t up for the idea after all the edits to the initially released first couple of chapters. I'm warming up to the idea more, so we'll see where that goes.

More description of the hamlet after the giants raided them

The giants took most of the food and most of the livestock from the hamlet. Right now, I don't think what I've written is doing enough to show how bad that was. I think I could have expressed it a bit more vividly with a few more words. I'll see what I can do about that.

Having Jack comment about literacy

I think it shouldn't be too much trouble to have Jack comment about literacy in the narration right after Hailee talks about Andrew having taught her a few words.

Patch Notes

Note: Only significant changes are listed.

Reordering Chapters

Agatha's chapter is now the first chapter.

The End of Agatha's POV

In the chapter that covered Agatha's perspective, I added the line "It wasn't him..." to the end of it.

The Two Versions of Jack and the Beanstalk

In chapter 5, I added three paragraphs towards the beginning that gave more detail on the two versions of Jack and the Beanstalk that Jack accessed on his page.

Listings from the Page

In Chapter 1, I added displays of the information Jack’s page showed him.

In chapter 2, I added a display of the family members the page listed for Jack.

Two Toms

Without realizing it, I ended up naming two characters Tom. The first was the villager got a little upset with Jack at the funeral and the second was the last town guard who didn't end up seeing the wolves are the grey giant. I decided that the town guard would be the one to receive a new name. His name is Howard now.

Title Change

From ‘Jack’ to ‘Spell & Cunning.’ Whenever that happens, of course.

In Conclusion

That's all for the author's notes this time. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story. If you have any predictions, I’d love to see them.