Recent entries

Questioner

Will constantly says that he branches off from his original plans all the time.

Will Wight

I really do. I think it’s important that plans should have room to flex, because what looks like a great idea five books out might end up not working once you get there.

The characters could be in a different emotional place than you imagined, for instance, or maybe the scene in your head doesn’t fit the tone of the current book.

So I like to leave flexibility. Even up to writing Reaper, I could have changed my mind about who Eithan was if I had wanted to.

I didn’t, though.

Questioner

I’m pretty sure that Eithan being Ozriel…wasn’t planned from the beginning.

Will Wight

As I’ve said before, I came up with Eithan’s identity before Lindon’s. He was designed to be the mentor in an older story whose grave formed the foundation for Cradle.

I could just be saying that, though. The real commitment came when I told people.

As early as Soulsmith, I told my family and about half of my beta readers where Ozriel was. So they could read all along with this in mind and help me keep it consistent.

Ultimately it’s up to you whether you believe me or not, but I am telling the truth on this one.

Frankly, if I had changed my mind, I wouldn’t mind saying so. I’m not afraid of deviating from the plan, nor am I ashamed of it. Nothing wrong with scrapping a plan that isn’t working.

This one was the plan all along, though.

Questioner

Are there different zones of the Way that are unknown to the Judges or the Vroshir factions?

Will Wight

Yes, as a matter of fact. Absolutely. It is something that the Judges have theorized; that what they call the Way is actually one branch of the Way. Because as far as they can tell, the Way is infinite, but it gets thin enough that it can't support travel or existence anymore so they can't explore its depths.

But it is strongly theorized by the Judges. They believe that there are, and in fact, there are. There are parallel versions of the Way that they are not aware of. So, there are sort of other parallel universes.

Questioner

What is Lindon's favorite meal? Why? Do the rest of the team have different favorites as well?

Will Wight

Two things I have cut out from the books., regarding people's meal preferences.  One is that Yerin does not particularly like fish.  Doesn't like seafood, just something she doesn't like.  One thing I did include in the books; she gets a little weirded out by creepy crawlies.  Not enough to shut her down.  She knows she has to fight monsters.  Just doesn't like bugs.  So foods that resemble bugs, she also tends to not like.  So that's Yerin's preferences.  In terms of Lindon's preferences, for things that I cut out from the books, is that he doesn't usually pay attention to the flavor of food very much.  He is not a food guy.  He is someone who is passionate food.  He is someone who is "Yes, I eat to fuel my body up optimally."  Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy trying things.  That doesn't mean he doesn't get pleasure out of a well-made meal, it's just not one of his passions.

Questioner

Could you talk about your personal journey as a writer and an author?

Will Wight

Well, there's so many ways to respond to that, it's hard to do.  And also, I feel like I talk about that a lot.  Most of my interviews and panels generally tend to be things where I talk about my journey as a writer and an author.  So, I'm trying to think of something I can say that I haven't already covered to death.  One of the things I say most often, is it has just been a lot of fun.  It has been a neat adventure over the last eight and a half years, being a writer, being an author.  I've always wanted to write; I've really loved telling stories my whole life.  Storytelling, I really have a passion for-I just really enjoy it.  It's the kind of thing where I am constantly making up stories, and frankly, I think it's amazing I get to do that full time, and it's very cool.  It's always changing.  It feels like I would have gotten bored of it by now-not telling stories, I never get tired of that-but... (Strawberry Festival! *Vows not to buy anything, buys a mahogany chair.*) So I've just really enjoyed it.  Talking about my journey as a writer, as an author.  It's been really fun and I'm grateful to be on it.  It's just really cool.  And that's one of the things that I try to remember a lot, is it's supposed to be fun.  It's supposed to be fun for me; it's supposed to be fun for you.  It's just something that is supposed to be a good time.  So that's it.  There you go.

Now, I will say that writing is not fun.  Writing stories is great; telling stories is great; having a finished story is great; writing is just hard work.  There are some people who just genuinely enjoy the process of sitting down at a keyboard and writing out words.  I don't understand that, because it is very difficult.   So, it's one of those things.  I enjoy telling a story.  There's aspects of it I enjoy, but 90% of it is just... You gotta do your job.  So, there's that.  But I always enjoy the stories, I enjoy the characters, I enjoy making up ideas, I enjoy making up new ideas.  So there you go.

sYnce

Why are there so many dense main character?

Will Wight

It’s easier to write.

People tend to overthink the answer to this question. It’s not like authors are going “Hm, you know what I think readers would enjoy? A protagonist who can’t pick up on obvious interpersonal cues.”

In a story with a romantic/relational plot or sub-plot, it’s to extend drama without making him a manipulative douchebag. If the protagonist doesn’t pick up on Love Interest’s obvious attraction, he’s a doofus. If he does pick up on it and strings her along, he’s a scumbag.

I can relate to a doofus, but I don’t want to relate to a scumbag.

In a story where those things don’t play much of a role—like in Japanese light novels, where this kind of protagonist is the standard—it’s to keep relationships from progressing so they don’t eat up too much of the story.

Now he can have flirty banter with everybody without betraying anyone OR spending precious page space on developing a healthy relationship. Maintains the status quo.

And that’s it.

You could say “Well, if you’re not going to have the main character pick up on it, don’t write other characters flirting with them in the first place,” but that can end up being distracting and weird in itself.

Ah, so your main character is a chiseled Adonis regularly dethroning evil gods in defense of the common man, and not a single person is ever attracted to him? I see, I see. Is the most attractive trait in this world bland incompetence?

Because if so, I’d like one isekai ticket, please.

sYnce

That is probably the best answer to my question. It at least makes a lot of sense from an authors perspective.

After all writing compelling relationships is probably pretty hard in the first place.

I think what I dislike the most about dense main characters is that they don't seem to evolve over time in many stories.

That said bland incompetence seems to be a rather attractive trait if japanese novels are to be believed.

Will Wight

One of my favorite one-shot manga chapters is a guy getting isekai’d to a fantasy world with three beautiful women as party members, and he keeps reacting with frustration to how easily they’re throwing themselves at him.

“We’ve known each other two days! How are you in love with me already? Have you never met any other guys?” etc.

I was disappointed it didn’t get serialized; I would have enjoyed seeing that concept fleshed out.

Terrible_Historian_7

"The final book is bound to be far longer than any of the others"

Will Wight

Let me clarify further: I do expect the last book to be the longest, and I’m prepared to make it as long as it needs to be to wrap up the story, but I don’t know how long that will be exactly.

It COULD be far longer than any of the others. But I haven’t written it yet, so I certainly can’t make any promises about page count.

Will Wight

We’ll most likely do special editions of some kind when the series is over.

These are not concrete plans. We have not begun work on these. We don’t have a timeline. Please nobody start messaging me tomorrow asking where the special editions are.

But we all want to do them, and the reason we haven’t done them so far is because the series isn’t complete. Once it is, this is most likely happening.

I would say “is definitely happening,” but nothing is definite and if I commit to something like that and then can’t follow through, I will be beaten with broomsticks.

Xyrd

I've been re-reading Cradle with an eye towards E=O when I noticed this.

From Soulsmith chapter 8, when we are getting fully introduced to the Aurelius bloodline power from Eithan's POV.

A power like the one he'd inherited from his father's line tended to make one careless. Superior awareness made him difficult to hit, but did nothing to protect him otherwise.

From Reaper chapter 2, when we are getting info-dumped about Ozriel's past.

He abandoned his weapons. He focused on another of his talents: his sight. When he advanced to Monarch, he developed the bloodline ability to see. Ozmanthus was so relieved that he wept. This was the ability that he wanted to define his legacy. And he would leave his descendants with the ability to see as he did, to one day catch up to him.

Is there any significance to Eithan's father's line, or is this just an "oops"?

Will Wight

I intended to go into this, but with the limited amount of time left in the series I don’t know if we’ll make it, so I can at least explain my thoughts:

Potential spoilers, sort of. I’m answering the question.

My original thinking was that he had a bloodline power already and took it to new heights. The reason the Eithan flashbacks in Reaper focus on his mother is because I had originally planned to include a series of further flashbacks later focusing on his father’s side of the family, but they felt unnecessary. They probably won’t be in Dreadgod unless I think of some cool way to fold them in.

mardy-quief

So I just finished reaper (again) and I noticed something. Lindon's shiny new arm tried to eat Eithan a little at the end - but the question is how? I know it sounds like a dumb question but bare with me. Consider the following

a) His old arm he could eat people because of the binding in it which he got from the transcendent ruins

b) His new arm comes from Subject One a Dreadgod which only have one giga binding (which Shen stole)

c) Lindon isn't a real hunger artist as dross points out.

So my question is how did he use consume on Eithan at the end?

Thanks in advance :)

Will Wight

It’s a basic property of the madra.

Bindings are crystallized techniques you can use just by running madra through them, but Lindon knows how to use the Consume technique. The arm itself has the power for it.

But even without that, hunger’s basic property is that it devours, just like fire madra burns. The Consume technique is a refined way of doing that and bringing it into your spirit effectively, and Lindon’s modified Heart of Twin Stars helps separate and process the energy.

Without a technique, you’re just kind of gulping down everything all at once and you have little control over where anything goes, or whether you get it or the arm does, or whether it gets incorporated into your advancement, etc.

Turbulent Swordfish

Which would you rather be?Reader? Sacred Artist? Or Traveler?

Will Wight

Sacred artist feels like the correct answer, but at the same time then you’d have to live in Cradle and are at the most risk of death.

In Asylum, you’d never ascend, but you also don’t really have to, can get a good job as a Reader, and have widely available modern conveniences.

In Amalgam, it depends strongly on where you are and what Territory you Travel. A lot of them are relatively safe as long as you’re not doing dangerous missions or recklessly trying to get stronger. The average Helgard or Avernus Traveler lives a pretty chill life, but it’s still a more-or-less medieval world.

I would choose sacred artist, though. I know the location of Abidan artifacts that I’ve kept secret from the books and I can parlay them into a trip off-world. Cya, suckers, I’m off to get killed by Vroshir.

Wait…

Bloopblop497

Interesting, I had thought that this applied to us having the abilities on EARTH. Like we are the only ones with access tot he magic system. I chose reader, cuz I figured a sacred artists powers would pretty much help me for sports, war, and getting tested on by governments. I could lay low while still using magic if I was a reader :)

Will Wight

On Earth, I’d be a Reader no question.

It’s the safest and easiest. No Elders, psychometry is a useful power, and if I end up being able to Awaken invested objects then I’m the only person able to create magic artifacts.

Win-win.

deadliestcrotch

Will has already confirmed (on the spoiler stream) that the last book will be loads of epilogue because he intends to tie up every last loose end.

Will Wight

I have seen this going around and I feel like I need to correct something: I’m absolutely not going to tie up every last loose end.

I’m not necessarily going to show you what happens to Naru Jing or every member of the Eight-Man Empire. I don’t mind leaving questions unanswered.

What I’ve said is that I prefer the last books in long series to spend tons of time on resolution, because it’s really like an epilogue for the whole series. Therefore the last book will have significantly more of that than usual, since I’m not ending on a sequel hook.

I’m certainly not going to tie up everything. There are lots of loose ends that I as a reader would not care to see tied up.

Spherius

Nooooooooo I was counting on getting the full story of Naru Jing in book 12! Way to shatter my hopes and dreams!

Will Wight

I’m not going to include the things nobody cares about, you know? Like I don’t think anybody wants to know what happens to Naru Jing, or the Jai clan. People like that. You know, Pride, Mercy. Yerin, probably not her either. Lindon, I don’t think people will mind not knowing what happens to him.

Yeah, the entire epilogue will be about the one thing I know everyone cares about the most: the relationship between Ziel and Akura Shira.

Could take half the book, maybe more. I might cut a Dreadgod fight for an extended dating montage.

Questioner

Why aren’t Monarchs more liberal with their ability to bring back the dead? Is it a specific skill of Northstrider, too much of a resource drain, or was there something special about the Uncrowned King Tournament to give all the fighters infinite lives?

Will Wight

It is the sort of thing where... if you're not Suriel, you can't reverse time for an entire Iteration. You can't just effortlessly bring people back to life. It is something you can do if you're right there, if you have authority over them, and if they're not that powerful. So, the more powerful somebody is, the more authority it would take to bring them back. [clearing 20 squares in stardew] 

So that's the reason why they don't constantly bring everybody back from the dead. It is impossible to do if it's been too long. One of the issues with that is- we have really seen like Suriel-scale resurrection but not most lower-scale resurrection, and then we've seen what Northstrider did at the Uncrowned King tournament. Well, what he did at the Uncrowned King tournament was a lot easier than just bringing some random person back from the dead. For one thing, relative to him they're not that powerful. For another thing, he is given- lent special authority over this event by the rest of the Monarchs. And, for another thing, he sets that rule at the beginning, and then he's always right there.

So all of that makes it a little easier to do, so it was pretty simple for him to [bap bap bap] resurrect everybody, relatively speaking. Now, Suriel can do almost whatever she wants, so that's- relative to the Monarchs.

Questioner

I would assume that would be Yerin, in terms of the food thing.

Will Wight

Actually not, weirdly enough. Yerin likes food. She has strong food preferences. In the scene where he and Yerin are at the restaurant [game mumbling] she enjoyed trying the foods more than he did. So that's a fun fact about Cradle characters.

Questioner

Are there banks and interest rates in Cradle?

Will Wight

Yes, there are! There is a banking system and a financial system in most major empires, especially those that are backed by Monarchs or other factions. So yes, they are established.

Questioner

I'd love to know what you think about Warhammer 40k. How do you think the crew would hold up in the 40k universe?

Will Wight

No one holds up well in the 40k universe. So, not well. Warhammer 40k, to those of you who don't know, is the setting that coined the term grimdark. So, anybody can easily die in the Warhammer 40k universe. If the emperor of humanity can die, anyone can (he's technically not dead, but..). How would they fare? Badly. Everyone fares badly. But what do I think of Warhammer 40k? I love the lore. Big fan of the lore. Not a huge fan of most of the games or the books. Some of the books are great, but they tend to get extremely detailed.

One of the reasons why I've said I like the space fantasy or space opera aesthetic more than I like the sci-fi aesthetic is because sci-fi tends to be on the side of... harder sci-fi, harder concepts, stuff that might actually exist in science, and I don't really care about that- my favorite part of Star Wars is the Jedi. I don't care how X-wing hyperdrives work, so there's a lot of that in Warhammer 40k, there's a lot of, "ah yes, this legion has a wide and storied history," and I'm like, "oh cool, I'm good with that," and they're like, "Here it is!" and then for 40 pages they explain to you the entire history of whatever, the Burning Legion. Just kidding, that's from Warcraft, but whatever order of Space Marines it is and that's annoying to me. It's also, like, they get into the detail of how exactly Space Marines work. Oh, I don't care, they're bio-engineered by what is effectively an immortal living god. They're superhuman, you got me. I don't need to know that they have two hearts and six livers.

So, it tends to be irritating to me that- the Warhammer 40k books that I like the most were probably the Eisenhorn books, I thought those were great. [game related mumbling] So that's my sort of breakdown of Warhammer 40k, but I love the lore. Big fan of it. I obviously am not a grimdark kind of guy, so the tone is not my favorite. But I feel like it's so bombastic and over the top with everything that it gets away with it, it's not as serious as everyone in the universe is. Because it's all kind of inherently- a little ridiculous. Which I like. Big fan of that. I'm a big fan of Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, so there is no such thing as too over the top.

Questioner

How did you begin planning for the Cradle series? And who was your first character that you envisioned?

Will Wight

So, I talked about this a little bit earlier.  Cradle, the elements that made it into Cradle, came from a number of different places, but two in particular.  One of them was an Abidan story line that I had planned out to be a completely universe spanning story from the beginning.  And one of them was cultivation fantasy knock-off.  So, it was really when I fused those two together that Cradle came into being.  So, one of the first characters I came up with was Lindon.  Definitely, I did him first because I need to know who the protagonist was.  Then Yerin I kind of came up with, because I was like, if it was a normal cultivation series, there would be a few powers that the character would have, and one of them would be a sword path.  But what I really did, was I made Yerin sort of the standard cultivation novel protagonist, except she's a woman instead of a man.  So that's it.  That's really where she started, then I need a unique way for her to speak.  And a connection to the outside world, so I fleshed her out in that way.  

Then I came up with Eithan not long after that.  I really wanted to get to him in the first book, because obviously he is fun to write, but I didn't make it that far.  So, Eithan was very early.  And the judges.  I had the judges fleshed out long before they appeared in the books.  So, I knew who Suriel was.  I knew who Makiel and Gad...  Makiel, Gadrael, Ozriel, and the ghost, whose name I don't like pronouncing.  Those characters were very vivid to me.  One of the scenes I really wanted to do was... So, when Cradle was initially just the Abidan story line, was that Gadrael was going to be super against whoever the main character was, who ended up being Lindon.  So, he was just going to be super prejudiced against everything he does, and then the more Lindon adhered to the rules, the more he was reluctantly on Lindon's side.  And he was just like, "Yes, I still hate you, but you are correct."  Because he's just a very rules-oriented guy.  So that was one of the things I looked forward to, and that helped me flesh out Gadrael's character a lot.  Which is funny because he plays virtually no role in the Cradle series.  At least so far.  So, he's like, "Yeah, I hate him because he breaks the rules.  So, to the degree that he doesn't break the rules, I don't hate him."  So that's kind of the arc there, I guess.  So, I fleshed out the judges quite a bit, even before I started writing Unsouled.  

So, this is a little bit of a tangent, but as I was fleshing out the system of Cradle... [delivery from off-screen] Ooo, I have more tea!  As I was fleshing out the magic system of Cradle I got some more tea.  [Rebecca says something unintelligible]  Ooo, it's Star Wars tea!  It's a Mandalorian mysterious black tea.  [Rebecca cheers.]  Not sponsored.  If this was Yorkshire Gold, I would grow Super Saiyan hair, and instantly beat Stardew Valley.  That's the next cup.  I need the power of Yorkshire Gold.  [Will sings: Yorkshire Gooold....]  Uh... Anyway.  What was I going to say.  Oh yeah, when I started fleshing out Cradle, one of the first things I wanted to figure out was the magic system, so I had tried out a bunch of different thoughts.  I thought about, I wanted to do a unique spirit thing, and I wanted Lindon to start off weak, so I considered animal spirits, totem animal spirits.  I would tie into icons, and of course the Judges are at the highest end of that.  And Lindon was going to have a rabbit or a little baby deer.  I considered a squirrel, which is one joke that Yerin makes in book 2.  So those were all things he was going to have.  I thougth about tools or weapons being spirits, and everyone was going to have some really cool weapon, and then Lindon was going to have like a shovel, or a little hammer.  Some little practical thing.  Or a bucket.  That was one of the things I considered.  Something with utility, but the opposite of an awesome thing that you would want.  Because I just thought it would be funny.  A few things I thought of there.  And then when I was coming up with the series, I was then of course doing the dual-control thing, I was trying to go, ok, what would be two cool things I could pair together?  But I ended up going with what my initial gut instinct was, which was destruction and, not creation, but more like order based.  Cleansing.  So, there you go.

Questioner

In Skysworn one of the goldsigns was a swarm of eyes. What path does that belong to?

Will Wight

Oh boy.  I do not remember at all.  I do not even remember what you are talking about.  That is a long time ago.  That is a question for Past Will.  I do not remember at all.  I'm sure I had an answer at some point.  I don't know.  Path of the many eyes.  Wasn't that a Futurama joke?  Something...  Oh yeah, the beast of a thousand eyes or whatever.  Yup.  Path of a thousand eyes.  That's it.  That's what it is.  The gold sign is typically called bees not the bees.  It's the path of the cage.  And it involves caging bees.  So, one of the things you do is put a cage around people's head and you summon a bunch of little forged bees inside it.  Another thing you can do with the path of cage that is really interesting is you can break into other people's cages.  So, if there was some sort of national treasure you need to break into the path of the cage would be perfect for that.  You follow a lot of secret maps.  It's really more a thing they do; it's a cultural thing more than a map thing.

Questioner

Favorite Halloween Candy?

Will

This is going to be blasphemous to some of you, but I really like candy corn. [Sam boos] I know, I know, I realize that sounds like a terrible take, but I love candy corn. [Will's siblings' noises] I really like corn. Big fan of candy corn. I realize that's saying... pineapple pizza. Speaking of pizza, I love anchovies, [I] love anchovy pizza. Probably my favorite kind of pizza. I made an anchovy pizza a couple of days ago, and I had the the leftovers for lunch today. So I got a lot of hot takes comin'. The candy corn thing, a couple of things, I really just like it, and, as I as I said earlier about the Halloween aesthetic for a fantasy novel, I really love the Halloween the aesthetic, I love the Halloween's color palette, the designs, the common themes and tropes and icons. And candy corn is just one of those that just look iconic to me. I love Reese's'. That's probably my other favorite [candy].* That's the thing I would probably be happiest to get if I was trick-or-treating, but Reese's don't look as cool,. They are neat, but they are not as ionic, and I think candy corn just says Halloween to me. It's like having a peep for Easter. It just looks like the holiday.

*He said thing here, but I am pretty sure he meant candy.

Questioner

How high up does the Atmosphere go on Cradle? 

Will Wight

To the top.

Questioner

Anything cool up there? Like any naturally occurring Island nations? Or a sky version of the EAC?

Will Wight

Actually, yeah.  That is a good question.  So, one of the things that I had initially envisioned for Cradle, there are a couple of things like this, was there was a whole, just like there are ocean civilizations in Cradle, there are sky civilizations.  So not necessarily built on clouds; built on structures that can stay aloft indefinitely in wind aura.  I don't know if you guys, in older editions of DnD, there were silver dragons that were said to make their castles out of clouds that they could manipulate, and that was the kind of thing that I wanted in the skies of Cradle.   But there was also a base on the moon.  There was a whole civilization on the moon that lived there, because there was an ancient, highly advanced sacred artist that could make it to the moon.  Probably jumped there, Saitama style, from one punch man.  And he or she settled this civilization and settled a bunch of people up there.  So I really wanted to have that.  It probably does still exist on Cradle.  I have not filled out the details.  Unless I did and just forgot.  But we're not going to get there, so that is the problem.  But I thought it was fun.  When I was first outlining Cradle, I thought "Ooo, it would make sense to me that people could reach the moon.  Is a moon base too weird for a magical martial arts series?"  Then I laughed at myself.  "Ha, ha, too weird?  Ha, ha, ha, ha.  No such thing."  Then I went on.

Questioner

Can you earn points after you ascend?

Will Wight

One might say you earn more points after you ascend than before.