Recent entries

Questioner

Is Emriss the highest level Remnant on Cradle?

Will Wight

Yes.

Questioner

What is your favorite path, not necessarily the path you would want? What path would you want to practice, assuming you gain madra channels?

Will Wight

So, the path that I have set up that I would practice, is probably Cloudhammer, from the Blackflame Empire.  Even though I never went into it, it is the one I would probably take, because it's good for combat, it's good for not combat.  You can walk in the air on it, you can repel people, you can do a lot of things with it.  And it feels like its the kind of, you can also cultivate it anywhere, like that aura is all over the place.  So, yeah.  Felt like the most convenient and the one I would most like in a real world scenario.

Questioner

What kind of fanart would you like to see more of?

Will Wight

Any kind..? It's always fun for me to see fanart. It's funny, because whenever fanart is posted, especially on Reddit, people are always like, "Ah, that isn't exactly how I pictured it in the book," and "On page 33, they said that this character is this much taller," or "I don't get that vibe from this person at all." And I don't ever do that with my books, but I've also found that I am a lot less picky as a writer than as a fan. For me, if I recognize who the character is, I'm happy. I'm like, "Hey! It's Lindon! Cool!" or "Hey! It's Mercy! Cool!" and that's it. Some of the art resonates with me more than others, but that's the nature of art, I guess. 

Questioner

I wrote a book and I'm not sure what to do except shotgunning and emailing random publishers.

Will Wight

Don't do that.  The first thing to do is, you want to make sure your book is actually good. So you want to get it to people that will tell you the truth, and will read it, and can give you good feedback.  So, if you are sure that your book, if your not sure it's good, I'm never sure my books are good, so if you are confident, if the other people around you are telling you your book is good enough to be read by other people, then I would highly suggest, beginning by putting your book up on Kindle.  Get your book professionally edited and make sure it is formatted well.  All these resources are available free online; there are tons of people who can explain the process better than I can.  And just very much recommend Kindle Direct Publishing.  KDP.  Do what I did.  And the reason why I increasingly recommend that; I used to be, "You know what, if you can get a traditional publishing deal, great for you.  Check all out, try all your options."  And more and more I'm just like, don't do that, just do KDP.  Because it doesn't seem like what the publishers offer you is a whole lot better than what you get on KDP.  So I have honestly liked my setup with KDP a lot more than the deals a lot of my peers have been offered.  And the more experience I get, the more I go, yeah, I would recommend to anyone starting out to publish your own book on KDP.  Do it the right way.  KDP is Kindle Direct Publishing; that is a phrase I was using a second ago.  And that is the program by which you publish books directly on Kindle.  It is how I am published.  So I highly recommend publishing your stuff on Kindle.  But do it the right way.  So do it the way other experienced authors tell you to do; do your research. Get a good cover, and you know, have a good book.

Questioner

Will we see Lindon back in Sacred Valley in Wintersteel?

Will Wight

That is definitely a spoiler. That's the most spoiler. I'm sad, because -

Questioner

Would the average person on Cradle consider Lindon and Yerin super rich and spoiled?

Will Wight

That was a discussion that was going on not too long ago. Would the average person consider them that way? I guess, the average person wouldn't understand who or what they are, they would just assume that they're rich and spoiled or else extremely talented - they don't understand what it takes to advance in the sacred arts to that degree so they wouldn't know. So that's forming the opinion - but it depends on what their personal biases are. So if they are just assuming that only the rich get to advance, then yeah, they would go, "These guys must be rich and spoiled, because they're young and advanced." If they're like, no, only talented people can advance, then they'd go, "Wow these guys must be really talented." 

(He dies in game but it was his fault, Madhouse needs to animate the series)

They would consider them beyond anything they've encountered, so the average person would just be like, they wouldn't know what to say, like encountering someone from the future. So they'd say, "I guess you're rich and spoiled with all your future technology."

Questioner

What idea usually comes first for you? Magic, character, story?

Will Wight

Well, it's not story, I'll tell you that. What I normally do is I have notebooks on my phone and computer, note files. And whenever I have an idea, for whatever reason, I just write it down. So I have places to write those down and when I'm coming up with a new thing I just go through my thousands of ideas and pick the ones that I think are appropriate. So I'm generally organized, but I'm not a super organized person, so a lot of times I'll just find something in the wrong place and I'll think of it. But typically when I'm looking for new ideas, when I'm actively going out and seeking - like "I need a new idea here," let's say what I'm like if I'm going to develop a new series. I would look at the world and magic system first, just because that's what interests me. I go, "What's the concept? What's the high concept? What's the idea?" that hooks me, hooks my imagination. So someone asked me earlier about a Pioneer world story and that concept interests me. So that idea of someone being a magical terraforming group, that sounds really cool. I actually fleshed out an idea this past week, like what would magical terraforming look like, in real life, like you had to go to Mars and what spells would you need and how would you do it with magic instead of how people actually plan to do it with real technology. And that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. So that was a concept that definitely interested me.

(game: crits and shooting fire guys) 

Imagine you create gravity or magnetism in your terraforming. That is true, and I had that under the domain of earth magic. And I was thinking, as long as you have the magical ability to turn energy into matter and matter into energy, you can solve any problem with magic. Even if you're restricted on what types of matter you can create, from what types of energy, that's basically the only ability it takes and that's what magic often is, is it's just you turn energy into some kind of matter. So that'd be cool. 

Questioner

Is Emriss considered a sacred beast?

Will Wight

She is an ancestral tree, well she was an ancestral tree, she is the Remnant of an ancestral tree.

Questioner

If sacred beasts only die when they are killed, and never of old age, which Whisper seems to prove, could a very patient sacred beast just cycle and practice in isolation for a few millennia and emerge a Monarch?

Will Wight

No. Some sacred beasts could, like Emriss kind of did that. But she's a tree. Their lifespan gets extended a lot, but they're not literally ageless. 

Questioner

What would have happened if Suriel’s marble had fallen into the cracks in Ghostwater, which I believe lead into the void?

Will Wight

It would have not fallen into the cracks. So if he had dropped it in there, it would have avoided the cracks. If he really intentionally threw it into the void, it would have come back. It is conceptually linked to Lindon, so he cannot lose it under any circumstances barring the intervention of a truly powerful individual. If the Mad King wants to take this marble he's gonna get it, but that would be beneath him. I don't know why he'd want that. It'd be a weird thing for him to do, just descend and rob some random dude instead of just annihilating everything.

Questioner

Did the Path of Twin Stars almost have another name, and if yes, what was it?

Will Wight

I don't think it did, I'm pretty sure it was the Heart of Twin Stars from the very beginning. The Path of Twin Stars was always named that because it's after the Heart of Twin Stars Technique, which is the logical name for the technique.

Questioner

When I write I consistently end up longer than I am shooting for. How do you keep your writing crisp and consistent?

Will Wight

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.

Questioner

Could you have a goldsign that looks like a giant chicken?

Will Wight

Yes. 

Questioner (paraphrased)

 What does Little Blue do when she is in Lindon’s void key?

Will Wight (paraphrased)

She does a lot of things! She climbs around on all of Lindon;s stuff. She plays with her junk that she views as toys. Picture paperclips and you're close, but Cradle doesn't have paperclips. She gets bored, but honestly she doesn't stay in the void key as much as it sounds. I don't cover Lindon during his down time, and she is always out during downtime. 

Questioner

Is it possible to make a contract with a Remnant to advance to Gold, instead of absorbing it?

Will Wight

Yes, that is possible. You can advance to gold with any level of remnant. But to make a contract with a remnant the remnant would have to have a certain level of advancement. But you could do that. You could make a contract with a remnant to advance to gold instead of absorbing it. 

Questioner

Ok so you have stated that chicken exists in cradle. So my question is regarding sacred chickens. What madra type would the chicken have to use to become the most tasty sacred chicken?

Will Wight

Blood path. That way they get all meaty.

Questioner

Visualization help: Lindon lifting Yerin like a doll, or Yerin lifting Lindon like a doll? Which would look more awkward?

Will Wight

I told you I was getting rid of doll characters, so no one is lifting anyone like a doll. So anyways, here is Risk of Rain 2.

Questioner

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?

Will Wight

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.

Questioner

Please confirm Lindon's height. I was not picturing an NBA player. I am confused.

Will Wight

I mean every time I describe Lindon I talk about how giant he is. So I don't know...I mean that is the only descriptor I use for Lindon. He is very tall. 

Questioner

Which character is the most fun to write?

Will Wight

Ok, look.  Ok look, alright.  So, characters that are fun to write.  To me...

(in response to a different comment: Eithan is a few inches shorter than Lindon.  Lindon has grown some over the course of the series.) 

To me, the most fun characters to write are the ones that I can either write off the top of my head, or that are just fun, just like genuinely just amusing to write.  So I really like writing Eithan; Eithan is just a lot of fun, I hada really good grasp on Eithan before I wrote the series.  Bliss is another one; Bliss is another one I just genuinely enjoy writing.  Because I had a good enough grasp on the series, and they are interesting and unique enough. (brief pause for Will to blame his lack of game progress on us.)  So, those are my favorite characters to write. Dross, and... Ok, so I say Dross, but Dross is not actually one of my favorite characters to write, not because he's not fun, but because it is difficult. So I always have to do, well usually have to do a Dross pass.  So like Yerin, I have to do a pass specifically for Dross's voice, to make sure it is consistent, because it ends up being a little too much like Eithan, and a little too much frankly, like me.  And I want him to sound like Dross, and not like me.