Recent entries

Questioner

Does Lindon actually need his hunger madra arm to use the Consume technique?

Will Wight

Yes, he does. That's sort of how his body and soul work now.

Questioner

Does Dross ever annoy Mercy?

Will Wight

No. He tried, it just didn't work. She just didn't get annoyed. So that's the secret to people who are deliberately annoying: just don't be annoyed and they have no power over you.

Questioner

Would you rather be a herald or a sage?

Will Wight

Sage. You get to do more cool things. I want to be able to talk in bold text... it'd be amazing.

Questioner

What is the difference between a Divine Treasure and a Construct?

Will Wight

So a construct is a general term for anything made with soulsmithing that doesn't have a physical component. So if it has a physical component it's a sacred instrument; otherwise it's a construct. Sacred instruments are basically constructs with a physical component. So Divine Treasures are items that work as constructs but they function when they're in spiritual form, so you make them and then you absorb them into your soul and then they do their thing... they perform their function, they do whatever they're going to do. So yeah, that's what a divine construct is.

Questioner

How far ahead did you plan Lindon's return in Bloodline?

Will Wight

From book 1, I think. Yeah. I had the broad strokes of him coming back in book 1, but of course the details changed as his journey went on. So how far did I plan his return? The whole time, yeah. I always intended for him to come back, and there were certain aspects of his return that I certainly had from the very beginning.

Kuram

Why did the dragons want the Blackflame Empire? The aura is known to be pretty weak.

Will Wight

I mean... why does anybody want to control any amount of territory? It's just kind of a place they wanted.

Questioner

Could any of our three musketeers beat Li Markuth in a fight?

Will Wight

Ahh... no. Because he is ascended beyond Cradle and learned some of that magic system, so therefore he is... as he descended back down to Cradle he was definitely... he's kind of beyond that. But the closest... Yerin could do it, Lindon's at the point (in Bloodline) where he could probably give him a run for his money as well, without anything he [Li Markuth] took beyond Cradle. So they're basically on a level with him, or somewhere close.

Questioner

Is there a specific medium you would prefer to see Cradle adapted into? If so, what animation or cinematography style do you see it fitting into?

Will Wight

I have always imagined this as an anime, but in all fairness I imagine most things as an anime, so it's not... that's kind of biased. I don't mind if it gets adopted into live action; the only problem is I'm never excited when I hear about a live action adaptation because I just assume it's going to be bad. It isn't always, but I feel like the unsuccessful adaptations outnumber the successful ones. So that's kind of my concern with a live action adaption... especially for Cradle. Cradle definitely has an animated feel to it, in my heart.

So then which style... I don't know, anybody who does a good job is welcomed. There's a lot of people with a lot of different styles who tend to do a fantastic job.

Questioner

Will Will do the audio for the next Traveler's Gate series?

Will Wight

Ahh... no. If it's up to me, I would not be doing the current Traveler's Gate audio as it is currently available on Amazon. I would absolutely get a professional to do it; and if I have my way, it would be one professional, and that is Travis Baldree.

So that is my preference, so... I have no attachment to my own work - by all means, burn it to the ground and let it be forgotten by man.

Bridget

During which draft do you decide where and when to put each "Information requested"?

Will Wight

That depends. That's... all sorts of different ways.

Someone also asked - and this is a question I get a lot that is also a very good question - that is: "how do you come up with names?" My standard answer to that is: every way, all the ways, any way you could think of coming up with names. I spend a lot of time coming up with names. It is something I kind of brute-force. So one of the things I like to do is with each culture or faction, I sort of come up with a name... thing... conventions for naming. And that helps me. So when I'm naming an Akura character I know that they are going to be Akura Wrath, or Akura Really-Good-At-Reading-Books, and I know those things so... yeah, I come up with names in a lot of different ways.

So where do I put "Information requested"? Similar answer. I do it a lot of different ways. So sometimes when I'm making up... when I'm going "Information requested" I know there's a few "Information requested" that I know are going to be in certain places. Other times, I'm like: "oh, ok... I need to... it's been a while since we've heard from this", or I need to explore that concept further, so then I'll add one in. It depends. So I treat them very differently.

 

Questioner

Where did you get the idea for Cradle?

Will Wight

It was really just I was reading a lot of cultivation novels that are mostly Chinese, but then I was also reading a lot of Korean martial arts web comics, so there's a lot of shared mythology there. So that was kind of where I was... that idea started percolating, and I was going to do it as a web serial, just on the website on my blog, at a couple of chapters a week to get some traffic to cover up the gap between writing Kings and Killers. And then I ended up doing the short stories instead, so then I bound the chapters I had left together and turned them into Unsouled, and then I... that took off, far more than Elder Empire ever had, so I pursued Cradle. So that's the long and the short of Cradle.

Questioner

What are some tips you would have for writing a progression/cultivation fantasy magic system? Andrew Rowe recommended making sure each level or higher advancement had its own unique trait.

Will Wight

Andrew Rowe knows what he's doing; that's a good tip. One of the things I did when I was designing the system: in a lot of these martial arts, cultivation, and advancement, they have levels that are just levels; so like High Gold which is just better than Low Gold, but not as good as True Gold and nothing special. I regret having those. I wish I had removed those and every level had its own distinct feature. It's more memorable and a more concrete way of leveling up. Just being more power is not as easily defined.

Will Wight

Here's a quick tip: have your character run into the peak of the magic system early. In Coiling Dragon, he witnesses Saints in an high-level battle. Which at point in the series is the height of the cultivation series. He sees them fighting toward the very beginning and that establishes for him where they're going to go. You've seen these big experts batting so you know what a high level battle is going to look like. Even though it's going to be a while before you get there, you know where it's headed.

In Unsouled I did that with Suriel and his vision of the monarchs so we know there are people way up and Suriel is higher. I could have done a better job because I could have shown the monarchs and what they're capable of as the pinnacle of the Sacred Arts magic system as opposed to the pinnacle of the universe, which is what Suriel is. Which is literally incomprehensible to Lindon at that point. That's what I'd wish I'd done a little better there and what you can do as you're starting out. You can make sure you can see the height of the magic system early so the reader and the character can know where they're going.

Jesse

Do you think there's any chance for an eventual Graphic Novel adaptation?

Will Wight

Theoretically, sure. Yeah, that'd be great. I would love a graphic novel adaptation. The issue is, I can't do that on my own. So, obviously I would need to work with an artist and I don't know who that would be. So, we'd have to collaborate on that, it's a difficult thing. And if we're doing that and if I have to be involved in it, then I'm not writing a book. So ideally, it would be somebody I could hang on to who could at least get rolling with minimal involvement and produce the graphic novel. It's difficult. But, it'd be very cool.

April

A recruiter from the Abidan shows up at your door. What division are they from? What’s their pitch, and what’s your response?-

Will Wight

So, if a division of the Abidan showed up at my door, what would their pitch be? Well, their pitch would be super easy. I don't know what division it would be, probably the Ghosts because they are the ones that deal with the fabric of reality. And they would show up and be like "Hey, listen. You know all these stories you've been writing? You're actually getting the ideas for them from a real place and we've been channeling them into your mind or you have a unique tapping into the structure of how this multiverse actually works and we are going to recruit you for this unique relationship you have with the Way." And I would be like "Awesome. By all means." That'd be a pitch.

Questioner

What was [your] Underlord revelation?

Will Wight

I can't give you that information. That's way too personal.

Questioner

Do Abidan Sectors reflect location in the Way?

Will Wight

Yes.

Leo

How well would Meira have done in the uncrowned tournament?

Will Wight

I don't know. You'd have to put her in it and see. I would say she would probably have made it to the second round and then it kind of depends on luck at that point because it depends who she runs into. So, I think she would do relatively well in the second round because it's sort of a survival battle royal thing and she's a life artist. It's good compatibility with her powers. But she doesn't have a whole lot of allies.

Questioner

The Nine Cloud Court spirit is said to be nine colors. What are those colors?

Will Wight

Dang it! I can't remember what the eighth color of magic is called. Octarine! It's octarine and nonarine. Those are the eighth and ninth colors.

Questioner

Do Iterations have driving wills that shape their magic systems or is it just the randomness of fate or their unique connection to the Way?

Will Wight

There's different aspects of each iteration that determine... In a way, and I probably will change this terminology, but in a way it's like which icons they are sort of closest to or more attuned to. And then it sort of sorts itself out from there. The actual specific rules of the magic system design themselves. It's not like somebody sits down and does it specifically. But, it starts off a lot more vague but connected to certain broad concepts and then it settles into a set of rules over time. Usually that's how that works.

Questioner

Will Hidden Gnome ever represent other authors to publish?

Will Wight

Potentially, yes. That is something that we are open to. It's not something that we have written off. But, there is a lot of consideration that goes into that. We don't exactly know what the best way to do that would be or how to find the best people or any of that. So, it's not anything we are likely to do very soon, but who knows? Maybe. We are certainly open to it and we intend to do that at some point, but whether that'll be this year or not, I mean, who knows?