Host: Hellooo and welcome to Bitter Talk, the podcast where we dish about all the delightful chaos happening in Bitter Tales of the Galaxy. Tonight, we've got a very special guest. Joining us is the mastermind behind the entire Bitter Tales saga, author, creator, and resident chaos engine… Kitter Bitters herself. Kitter, welcome to the show.
Kitter: Oh...hi. Um. Thanks for having me.
Host: No need to thank me. After all… this is happening inside your own head.
Kitter: laughs nervously Oh. Right. Yeah. That tracks.
Host: So, Kitter, February 19th is a big day for you. Tell us what milestone is coming up.
Kitter: Yeah, um on February 19th I'll officially have been roleplaying Katarine Ryiah for nineteen years.
Host: Nineteen years?! That's huge. Was Katarine your very first character?
Kitter: She was. I dabbled briefly on a site called Star Wars Chicks, but it wasn't really roleplay, no characters, no continuity. February 19th was when I joined an old Ezboard forum, and that's where Kat was born. That was the beginning of everything.
Host: That's incredible. But keeping a character alive for that long has to be exhausting. Have you been struggling?
Kitter: Oh, tremendously. Anyone who knows me will tell you I've picked their brains about Katarine more times than I can count. I've deleted her completely, more than once, and every time I brought her back because she never felt finished. I even considered ending her story this year, so by her twentieth anniversary, I could finally be free.
Host: gasp That's a big call. So… is this the final year of Katarine Ryiah?
Kitter: Actually no. I've done a lot of thinking, and she still doesn't feel done. She's complicated. Messy. Full of history, but unfinished. I started looking at how other long-running characters survive that feeling. Superman's my favorite superhero, he's been around since 1933. And I kept wondering: how do characters like that endure?
To me, my stories have always felt like little comic books. That's why I created the Bitter Tales from the Galaxy brand in the first place, it's a framing device. Marvel and DC do the same thing, and it works. Characters like Superman stick around because they can, because there are always more stories worth telling. Katarine feels like that to me. If I ended her now, it wouldn't mean anything.
Host: But given how much she's challenged you… wouldn't ending her be a kindness to yourself?
Kitter: chuckles Probably. But I'm a glutton for punishment. Katarine is a huge piece of my heart. She's basically me, dropped into the Star Wars universe, and I'm not done exploring what that means yet.
Host: So how do you plan to move forward with her?
Kitter: This year, I want to remove the barriers that make her so hard to write. I finally cracked how framing devices work for me as a writer, and I realized Kat needs one too, something bigger.
Host: And what device did you land on?
Kitter: A multiverse. I'm actually writing the nexus event right now, the fracture that creates a new timeline. That way, I can honor everything that came before while giving her a fresh starting point in the Chaos galaxy. That is how DC and Marvel are able to tell so many different stories and write themselves out of boxes. If it works for the greats I figure it might work for little old me.
Host: Okay, that does sound exciting. How is this new timeline different?
Kitter: For starters, it takes place in the boards' canon timeline instead of the distant past. I'm pulling Kat forward so I'm not boxed in by centuries of lore or impossible family logistics. I want to explore what ifs.
What if she was never defined by her evil twin?
What if she was free to become the Jedi she wanted to be?
What if she could have children without it being a narrative nightmare?
Could she have siblings?
Could she join the Jedi later in life or not at all?
What if she never gotten married and had no heartbreak? Could she learn to love?
I'm excited to experiment again. New themes, new angles, new gimmicks.
Host: I'm officially sold. The multiverse sounds like a blast.
Kitter: I hope so. The Bitterverse is an experiment, it could absolutely go sideways, but I'll never know if I don't try. I don't want to keep circling the same struggles forever… but I'm not ready to say goodbye either.
Host: Before we wrap up, is there anything you want to say to your readers before the Bitterverse begins?
Kitter: Just thank you. Truly. For listening, for supporting me, and for talking me through my many writing spirals over the years. I wouldn't still be telling these stories without my friends. They've been an inspiration and a lifeline, and I owe them more than I can ever say.
Host: I'm sure they know, and if not, they do now. Thank you for joining us, Kitter Bitters. We'll be watching the birth of the Bitterverse very closely. And happy nineteenth roleplaying anniversary.
Kitter: Thank you and May the Force be With You!
