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Travis loves reading mushy stuff. I've just learned this about Travis. I did not know that. So that means I'm going to have to just get real mushy in one of these bloopers. It's just going to have to be - I'm going to write a fanfic - oh, I'll just include excerpts from my Twilight fanfic.
Did you use the method of writing that you did for Wintersteel with this one?
I've actually gotten questions like that several times, because I described my writing process for Wintersteel and then of course Wintersteel is a really good book if I do say so myself. I don't, but other people do so I'm glad. I think Wintersteel came out really well and so people want to know, did you use the same writing process? The answer is, I never use the same writing process twice. I try to iterate every time. I really do try to, every time I write a book I try to build on and improve on what I did last time.
The focus is on not wasting time, and what I mean by that is not truly really wasting it. Truly doing something that does not lead to progress in the manuscript. Anything that I do that is lateral progress or is inefficient or is something where I was spinning my wheels trying to decide if this character's design should be red or blue, that's not helping. Anything that I do that adds to the story and is really developing the story I try to keep. The idea behind that is, prior to Wintersteel I had been writing a lot of wasted words. So I'd write 30 to 50 thousand words that wouldn't end up in the manuscript because I would be going off on a tangent and then realize "Well, that doesn't make any sense." So then I'd cut it and then I'd have to come back and start over or I'd have to write another part or whatever. [I'm] trying to stop that. I've gotten better at that every time so I think probably Dreadgod was my most efficient one so far in Cradle. So it's an evolved version of that. It's all steps on the same journey, I guess you might say.
Would Eithan have released Wintersteel early?
Eithan would have released Wintersteel back before Unsouled came out, and you guys just wouldn't have found it till today, when he planned for it to happen.
When you were constructing the path that Lindon would follow what made you decide on a very brute strength path for him despite his personality leaning towards creativity?
I liked that dichotomy. I liked him being somebody who was a creative person who liked solving problems creatively and then all he has is a giant flaming hammer. I just enjoyed that little personality thing. If I had to do it now, i don´t know if I would give him the same path, I'm not sure. I like Blackflame a lot of course, I don't know if I'd do the same path now or if I would give him one that was more creative. The problem with giving him a more creative, intricate path is that it´s less straightforward, he has to come up with a lot of techniques. He's got to learn a new technique every book, he has to come up with new ways to use his techniques. It just seems very complex. So that might have been too much for the books, so giving him a path like Ziel has for instance might have been a little too much, even though he particularly would´ve liked it.
Did Eithan ever play hide and seek as a kid?
Actually in Eithan's household, in the Arelius household they play hide and seek all the time. Frankly they don't ever stop playing hide and seek. So, he's very good.
If your characters ever came to life, who would you be the most terrified to encounter?
One of the Great Elders. Any of them, that would be terrifying. Some of them I would not be terrified for long. So that would be, there's that. If I ran into Urg'naut, and I encountered him, I would be terrified for a few seconds before I was obliterated into nonexistence.
This was your longest book. What results would inspire you to write even longer?
Even if this book completely slams all the results of my previous books, just destroys them and it sells more books than I have ever sold in my entire life, that probably would not change my length policy. It probably wouldn't change it. For instance, the book after Wintersteel, is almost certainly not going to be that long, because it's a more focused story. It doesn't need to be. So, Wintersteel doing really well would not change my mind on that. That wouldn't be something that, that's not really the criteria I use to determine the length of the book. But, the process of writing the book is going to be influenced by Wintersteel. So if the response to Wintersteel is good, I'll use a similar process to write my future books.
So, some people are asking me about Anagi, I don't know how much I can tell you, I will say we will get some details about that in Wintersteel, but not as many as I'd originally planned. I didn't cut much from Wintersteel. Some of the few things I cut in this book were scenes that were extra background scenes for the villains, or opponents, they're not all villains, but the other people in the Uncrowned tournament. Some of the stuff I cut was backstory for Yan Shoumei. So we had a whole thing with her where we learned about her backstory, we learned about where she came from, we learned about her rivalry with this person named Anagi and who they are and who raised her, all that stuff. Most of that got removed, it wasn't really necessary to the forward progress of the story. It fleshed her out a little bit, but she really didn't need to be fleshed out, but it was fun to write.
When I write I consistently end up longer than I am shooting for. How do you keep your writing crisp and consistent?
Overwriting is common. The only way I got to the point where I don't overwrite is by writing a lot! One example is that my short stories. Initially a 2,000 word short story would end up being 4,000 words. Over time I have got that down and consistent. Now I can land short stories. Novels are still tricky. I plan to to write 100,000 words, then be 30,000 words in and only be 2% in. I changed all that with Wintersteel. I wrote so quickly that I didn't have time to overplan or tighten things up. So that is up to you to decide what works.
So, in order to keep your writing tight, first of all, I try to plan accordingly. So you underplan. So if you have a tendency to overwrite, and you want a 100,000 word book, plan for it to be 60,000 word book. Plan for way under what you think. That's one thing. Another thing is practice, just the more you write; like I was able to do this with Wintersteel and not end up with an unusable monstrosity because it's my 17th book. So I have a lot of experience at this point and I was able to keep it under control and still somewhat reasonable. So, practice is good. Continually reevaluating where you are and knowing that you have this tendency is another good thing. Then you just keep doing it. You keep working on it. You work on it throughout the process, and hopefully you get better and better at it.
Will we see Lindon back in Sacred Valley in Wintersteel?
That is definitely a spoiler. That's the most spoiler. I'm sad, because -
Would you ever consider another media for your stories? Graphic novel, animation, live action? Who would you cast as Urzaia?
So, this is going to be heretical to some people, but there is nothing sacred about books to me. I love books. I read books. I got in trouble a lot as a kid for reading too many books. But, it's stories. It's all about stories. So it doesn't matter to me what medium those stories are in. It's all about the story. So to me, if it's a video game, if it's a graphic novel, it's a whatever, I am cool with it. I made that joke recently about Wintersteel being available in aerosol format, but if that was an actual way of consuming stories, I would be inhaling stories all the time. So, the medium of the story is not important to me.
Who would I cast as Urzaia? Travis Baldree. Just a striking physical resemblance.
Firstly, I wanted to thank /u/Will_Wight for writing the blogs on the new writing technique he undertook for Wintersteel. I found the process very fascinating and eased the wait anxiety between books. I agree with his conclusion that perhaps he was over-cutting.
I do not think that he came to the complete solution to the problem of Uncrowned.
The problem with Uncrowned was what was missing, not what was cut.
Uncrowned was only missing two scenes, but those two scenes were deeply unsatisfying blank spots.[Read full post for entire question]
First of all, let me say in all sincerity that I appreciate the level of thought and care that you've put both into evaluating these issues and into writing them up. You clearly put consideration into this, and it shows.
Second, I very much appreciate the constructive spirit in which this is posted. I absolutely take this for the constructive criticism that it is, and I respect that.
It is because of that respect, in fact--and because you tagged me directly, implying to me that you want my thoughts--that I will give you an honest response.
More honest a response than I perhaps usually give, though I always try to be as real with you guys as I can.
Here goes:
You're putting together a picture with more than half the puzzle pieces missing.
The lesson learned from Uncrowned should be to add one more step to the editing process.
I really don't mean any offense, I mean this as a very literal observation, but you don't know what steps are currently in my editing process.
I know, from your perspective, that it must seem self-evident. A.) There were scenes you felt were missing, therefore B.) the beta readers weren't looking for gaps, because if they had been, they would have made that note and C.) I would have written the scenes. A-B-C.
That is not at all how it works.
The beta readers are virtually never looking for scenes to cut. Hilariously enough, Wintersteel is the first time where we've had that as a beta reader step. They're only ever looking for what they feel is missing or broken.
The notes I get from beta readers overwhelmingly fall into one of three categories. Here they are, from most common to least:
1.) Things they felt were bad. Out of character, poorly phrased, confusing, whatever.
2.) Things they felt were missing or that they wanted to see that weren't there.
3.) Typos and minor sentence-level corrections.
Since I know you were primarily looking out for #2 on this list, I'll address that one specifically: that's the one where I could always add more. There's no end to it. I always, always, even with Wintersteel, cut that off early.
We have a couple of weeks after the beta reading phase, during which I'll add whatever scenes I can write in that time. But when I run out of time, that's it. That's the number of scenes you get.
"But Will, you sterling stallion, why the arbitrary cutoff?" There has to be an arbitrary cutoff. I could keep going on that step for years, but each addition of a scene means more material to read through, and there's no outside force giving me a firm deadline so it has to be arbitrary to some degree.
I say all this just to illustrate that there's a lot going on under the surface that isn't necessarily evident to the post-mortem analysis of a story.
Most times, when people are unhappy with an ending, it's because the author did not put in an emotional climax.
I don't want to put words in your mouth (or keys under your fingers), but I suspect you're talking about the emotional resolution.
The climax of a story is the point of greatest conflict, and in Uncrowned in particular (this isn't true for all my stories, but it is for this one) the emotional climax and plot climax are the same moment.
The point of greatest emotional conflict with the highest stakes is between Lindon and Yerin as they clash in the tournament. The resolution is when the fallout of that climax is resolved and we get to see how things turned out for those involved, which (in terms of the emotional arc) occurs at the beginning of Wintersteel.
So there very much was a climax in Uncrowned. You might hate it with a burning passion, but structurally it is there.
I do agree, however, with your ultimate point that Wintersteel felt a lot more fleshed-out than Uncrowned, and I'm hoping to learn from that with Bloodline.
It's harder than it seems, though. There's a lot to juggle in Bloodline. But I'm doing my best!
I know she's a main character, but maybe writing something specific to Yerin would be cool?
One potential title I have for book (I think it’s 9, but it might be 8, or even not used at all) is Wintersteel. And it’s a Yerin-focused book. Lindon’s still in it, of course, but Yerin has the A storyline.
I have a plot for it and so on. The main concern is that it might not fit the story by the time I get there.
As of 9/29/2019, Will has changed his mind.
As many of you know, my original vision for the title “Wintersteel” was to use it for a Yerin-led book with Lindon playing the backup role that Yerin usually plays.
Uncrowned ending with Lindon being eliminated from the tournament suggests this as well.
However, I abandoned that plotline as soon as I began writing Book 7. As I said in the original quote, my big fear was that the plot I had in mind for the Yerin book wouldn’t fit by the time we got there, and that was the case here.
I tried to figure out a new title, but by the time I started Uncrowned, I had already developed a lot of Book 8 in relation to the title Wintersteel, so I still felt it fit the best.
However, this is the first time where I might re-title a book after announcing it. I’m still considering it. For one reason: because of what I said before, now fans (reasonably) expect it to be all about Yerin.
It won’t be. It’s a Lindon book.
Yerin obviously has her own thing going on as well, and it will be important, but Lindon will pursue a goal of his own like usual. As you would expect if I hadn’t said anything.
This is a good illustration of why I’m always hesitant to talk about my future plans for the series and should probably do so less frequently. What I say outside of the book creates expectations that you carry into the book.
That’s not a bad thing! But it is double-edged, as in this case with people now thinking that Yerin will be the only one doing anything that matters in the next book.
TL:DR - Wintersteel is a Lindon book like usual, though of course Yerin does have a major storyline. And even though I enjoy talking about the stories, I need to learn to keep my trap shut.
...and now that I’ve said all of THAT, let me include my usual disclaimer that I haven’t written the book yet and anything can change in that process.
So, Will, you tried some new things in your writing method, how do you feel it worked out for you?
I plan on blogging about this soon, maybe this week. I wanted to wait until as many people as possible got to read the book before I commented on the writing process, so now that sales are starting to slow down (relatively speaking), that indicates to me that most fans have had a chance to read Wintersteel and form their opinion on it.
In short, I feel like it was the most efficiently I’ve ever written a book. I was therefore able to write more in less time without killing myself.
However, I try to improve my writing process in some way for every book, so this is really just another step in a long iterative process that most likely won’t ever end.
Also, while I’m pleased with how efficiently I wrote Wintersteel, not all books I write in the future will be this long. For instance, Bloodline probably won’t be. It is (or it should be) a much more focused story, so I don’t need things like two competing primary storylines.
I feel like the answer I’m supposed to give is “I loved this process so much because it gave the story the room it really needed to breathe, and I felt more free to explore and flesh out the world,” but I didn’t really feel that way.
I felt paralyzed with fear over what to cut and what to leave in, shipped it off full of dread, received the positive reviews with a massive sigh of relief, and retroactively look over it with a feeling of “Well, I’m going to write the next book in a similar way but tweaked based on what I learned last time, and I hope they like the next one just as much but there’s every chance they won’t.”
Same as usual!
Are there any odd metals in Cradle other than goldsteel, halfsilver, and wintersteel?
So are there any odd or strange metals other than goldsteel, halfsilver, and wintersteel? Yes, there are. There were a few that I came up with, but I didn't want this to turn into a metallurgy thing. It's one of those things where if crafting with mundane materials had been more of a thing in Cradle, we would have got into this more. So what were they? What were the other metals? It's hard for me to say. Typically, they are metals that have taken on extra properties based on icons associated with types of aura and events and the latent authority in the world, and these things have caused them to develop powers that interfere with the energy system in some way. There would be other things like that. We probably won't get to see them. I have notes for some of them, but it's just something that probably isn't going to come up. But those are definitely the most common, I don't want to say common, the most widely used, because they have the most universally applicable effects. So halfsilver being disruptive and goldsteel physically interacting with things that usually aren't physically interactable.
Do you have an idea how long the last 2 books in the series will be compared to Wintersteel? Looking for as much Cradle left to read as possible!
No. I don't know. I think, I suspect book 11 will be a little bit shorter than Wintersteel. Probably, my guess, and please don't hold me to any of this, this is just a guess, I don't know, is about 120, 130, thousand words. Kind of like Reaper. That's were I think book 11 will be. Book 12 on the other hand, being the last book, one of the things I have, my personal taste, is that I wish the end of long series had a lot of epilogue, had a lot of falling action. Because you're really doing the falling action not just for one book, but for the whole series. So I would like to see the resolution for what happens to a bunch of people. Therefore I intend to wrap up the plotline of the final book before the end of the book. Normally of course, I'm very structured about hitting the climax of the story then getting to the sequel as soon as possible. But in this case that's not going to be my philosophy for the last book. So how long will the last book be? I don't know. As long as it needs to be? Kind of? I normally do not have this philosophy at all, but in this case my philosophy I'm going to try to put everything I can in it, because we're leaving. Before I go out the door, I want to wrap everything up. So it might not be massively bigger than the other books. I don't know; it depends on what I feel like I need to wrap up.
How does the hollow domain not disrupt enforcer techniques? Didn’t it disrupt Daji’s and Sophara’s in Wintersteel?
From Wintersteel, battle report against brother Aekin:
Lindon dashes up with the Soul Cloak, carrying the Hollow Domain in an orb around him. When he gets close enough, even Aekin’s Enforcer technique falters.
Yeah, it’s a lack of specificity in my writing. Sorry about that.
I intended it to take a lot more power to wipe out Enforcer techniques because they’re internal. Someone of approximately equal power to Lindon would have an easier time keeping their Enforcer technique active inside the Domain, but it still comes down to Lindon’s power against theirs.
I meant the scene with Brother Aekin to be an example illustrating Lindon pushing the Domain hard, which is why “even” his Enforcer technique fails, and with Yerin is a scenario where he’s just keeping it on at default strength so Enforcer techniques aren’t wiped out. (Unless they were significantly weaker than Lindon.)
With Aekin specifically, that technique does indeed have an external component as some people have pointed out. That part is true, but I still should have clarified.
But I phrased that inaccurately in this scene. My bad.
What about the barrier of body? Should that keep internal enforcement running?
That’s what makes it harder, but of course internal madra resistance is not impenetrable, or you could never hurt anyone directly with a Striker technique.
This is just a guess, but I'm thinking Will will probably write Wintersteel, another Cradle book, and then start a brand new series or start writing the Travelers Blade.
That was my initial plan. Wintersteel, Cradle 9, new thing (Traveler’s Blade is still on the table), Cradle 10.
That’s a very, very soft plan, though. We change plans all the time. And even if we write them in that order, they might come out in a different order.
Like I could write Cradle 8 & 9 and then the new thing, but write and release Cradle 10 first while holding the new thing back.
Point is, I don’t know. Always in motion is the future. But that was our original goal!
Zorrus does "gather up golden fire in her mouth" in Uncrowned, so I went from there - but I agree, you're probably right that she's not on the Path of Flowing Flame. Fingers crossed we learn more in Wintersteel, haha. Thanks for reading, I'm glad you liked it!
Well I can’t speak to whether or not she appears in Wintersteel, but I can say that Xorrus is on a variation of the Path of the Wasteland. Her sacred arts are not exactly the same as Sesh’s, though they are similar.
In my notes, I have Xorrus on the Path of the Burning Wasteland (although that name is not final unless it makes it into the books).
First things first, I know one of the things that people ask a lot, and of course, the first couple of questions are about this. Is about the...
Are you the real Will Wight?
Yes I am. (continuing previous thought) Did you use the method of writing that you did with Wintersteel with this one? I knew this would be about the method of writing, that's what YBD asked. I had been prepared to talk about my method of writing Dreadgod, so let me just, for just one second this is probably going to answer some of the questions that are coming up. So I'm just going to briefly outline how I wrote Dreadgod. Almost a year ago now? Maybe, maybe a year ago, I say down with a friend of mine, and we worked on the last 3 books in Cradle, and we kind of speculated and talked about the last 3 books and we sort of planned them like they were a trilogy. Now they are not structured like a trilogy, just, If you're going out there writing a trilogy don't structure it, it's like they're written like the last three books in a long series, but we planned them like they were a trilogy. So we planned Reaper, Dreadgod, and unnamed book 12, we'll call it Lindon Dies. As, we planned it like they were a trilogy, we plotted them together, so that they had a story that went through the 3 books. The one we were most worried about was Reaper, that was the one I was very concerned about, because of the ending, obviously recontextualizing a lot of the series I didn't know how people would respond to that. I was very nervous about that. So, then Dreadgod kind of comes off that so last September I think is when I started plotting Dreadgod, er started working on Dreadgod specifically. So I sat down and plotted that book specifically, based on the broader plan I had. I started plotting Dreadgod specifically, and I started writing it, and then around November, I had it to beta readers, so I had gone through an alpha draft, and I had taken it to now beta readers around November. They said, yeah, you know it's good, we need to do a little more work on it, but the base of it is there. So I paused it. Put it into the fridge for awhile, and I started working on book 12. So around the end of November and December January and into February I think? I was working on 12, so that then I could go back to Dreadgod, and insert some things that would set up events in 12 a little better. So I just I had planned them together and so I kinda knew where we were going, but I wanted to make sure that I could set them up appropriately a book ahead of time. So that was kind of the, and then I went back of course and finished off Dreadgod, and then we got the manuscript to Travis so he could read it and now it's coming out. Right. So that was the process for Dreadgod, also during that is when we were deciding whether this was going to be 12 books or 13 books. That was the whole debate, the whole process. We did end up deciding I could do it in 12 books, mainly because I don't have a character limit in book 12. If this one needs to be 200,00 words, significantly longer than Wintersteel it can be, that's not a big deal. If that needs to end up happening, I will, I'm not committing to that. Please don't hold me to that, I'm just going, it's going to be long and I'm gonna wrap up everything that I can. In book 12, that's the idea.
