Recent entries

Questioner

Have you read the web serial Beware of Chicken? It's about a cultivator who becomes a farmer.

Will Wight

You know, I haven't. There are a few of these popular web serials that like Beware of Chicken and He Who Fights Monsters or Fights With Monsters, which is the actual title, that I know I should check out but I just haven't yet. I tend to, oh got a geode nice, hey the local blacksmith and break those open, you guys know that? So there are a few of those that I just haven't checked out yet. Not for any particular reason just, I think it's procrastination more than anything else. One of the things that I do I lot is I just go through and add new things to top of my TBR file that I probably should be whittling down.

Questioner

Can goldsigns have "externals" like in Iron Prince, where they technically aren't directly attached to the body? Does Harmony's halo or Ren Fei's cloud count?

Will Wight

No, not really.  I mean, they are not directly attached to the body, yes in that sense.  Like, one of the examples in this question is "Does Harmony's halo or Renfei's cloud count?"  Yeah, those are goldsigns.  And they count as being attached to the person's spirit, not their body.  But they are directly attached to the person.  That's the criteria.  So a goldsign does have to be attached to the person; physically hovering next to them often counts, because they are attached to that person's spirit, rather than sitting on their head like a hat.

Questioner

I've noticed that spent Madra often returns to essence. Is that somehow recycled into aura? 

Will Wight

Yes/  So in the books, I establish how constructs and forged madra, well, all madra does this, it's just I pay attention to it with remnants and forger techniques, dissolves into these motes or sparks of rising light and dissolves back.  Yeah, madra dissolves back into aura.  That's what essence is.  It's kind of madra fuzzing back into aura.  So yeah, that does happen.  But because of the way it dissolves it's not useful for ruler techniques.  I mean, eventually it would be; you could sit there and let it dissolve and eventually you would have some aura to use, but it disperses quick, and aura tends to change form based on what it's around, so it's not good for fueling ruler techniques, but it is something that get cycled back into the aura of the world.

Questioner

What is your least favorite cultivation trope?

I'll tell you right now.  It is, there's a lot of these cultivation novels, and I know this has a lot of cultural baggage to it, so I'm not necessarily ragging on the cultural origin of this, but it is women characters are rarely as much a part of the setting as the male characters.  And there is often a cultural expectation that the men will protect the women, or that the women aren't as capable as magic martial artists as the men are.  Which is almost always contradictory to the magic system, because the magic system does not require you to start with inherent, biological, physical strength.  The magic system does not favor men over women.  It is completely neutral, and we see enough high level practitioners to go, so women can practice this, so therefore, where did that cultural expectation come from?  So it is not only annoying, it is contradictory to the setting.  So that is my least favorite trope.

Questioner

What ever happened to Arelius servant 113? Please tell me he is alive and well and still with the lady who's hair pins Eithan took.

Will Wight

Yeah, he is.  He's fine.  He had a great life.  He's really enjoying it.  He and Mu Enkai are chilling together in the heavens.  Didn't I actually do a cannon answer to that at one point?  I thought I did.  I thought I actually responded and said I took care of him.  I thought I did.  I don't remember what it was, because he was really just a background character. The fate of 113

You know, here's one thing I can talk about for a minute while I'm cutting down some trees in Stardew.  Some people ask me, and sometimes they are irritated by this and sometimes they like it, but they ask why I put detail in characters that don't end up mattering.  So, Naru Jing, Cassius' wife is one of them, servant 113 is another one, so, why do put detail into these characters if I don't intend to give them a major role?  Then, other fan theories rely on, Will wouldn't have given that character that much detail unless he intended to use them at some point.  Well, there are a couple of answers to that, and the main one is, if you've got to have a bartender, why not make him cool?  I've got to use a couple of lines to describe him any, and I can describe him as some sort of bland old balding man, like you expect, or I could describe him as having a dragon for a hat.  And you wonder about that character; it's more interesting. That's all.  It's more fun to write.  I get to write a little back story paragraph about him, it's more fun for me.  And I feel like if you are going to have the character, you might as well make him cool.  Right?  And then people are like "Ah! You wouldn't have given him a cool potential back story unless you intended to use him."  No, I absolutely would have.  So, sometimes I come back and use them.

There's a second reason of course.  There are some characters that if the occasion comes to use them, I would like.  And that's the case, for instance Naru Jing is the example I used a minute ago, Cassius' wife.  She is a character that I was like yeah, if the occasion arises to use her, I would absolutely like to give her a bigger role.  She's a neat character, she has a fun backstory, she and Cassius went on all sorts of adventures when they were younger.  And she could in the future.  But it ended up being just another one of those things.  I could go into all of these little sub plots in Cradle if I wanted to, but that would kind of make it like the middle books of the Wheel of Time, and that's not my goal.  One of my major goals starting off writing fantasy in general, when I was writing House of Blades, was I had all of these fantasy novels that I loved, and when I summarized the plot for people, they were really excited.  They thought, oh man, that sounds awesome.  Then they try to read it for themselves, and they were irritated, because they can't get past the forty pages of them describing rugs.  And I thought, well, I want to see if there is a market for the people who want the cool story without all the rugs.  And that is where my inspiration to write fantasy came from.  And I love Wheel of Time.  I think Wheel of time is probably the best example of long form epic fantasy out there, and I genuinely like it a lot.  It's got a special place in my heart.  I enjoy it quite a bit.  Just like I enjoy a lot of these Chinese web novels, that were also hard to recommend.

Questioner

Are you guys still wanting to do a Kickstarter like thing for signed copies, hardcovers, special editions, etc. You guys mentioned it in a blog post at one point.

Will Wight

You know, that's something we're still working on, something we're still considering.  The only reason we haven't done it it already is it just takes effort.  It takes time and energy and somebody's got to lead it; somebody's got to put the Kickstarter together.  It's obviously not something we couldn't do, it's just something that we'd have to put energy into, and we're not sure it would be worth it.  We do want to, we'd like to, we plan on it, but when, or what it's going to be... It'll probably be some kind of special edition thing.  Some sort of hard cover printing or something.  Real life sacred weapons with real magic powers.  Portal to Cradle.  A date with Will, Sam said.  That's right, that's on the table.  Actual dragon eggs.  One of the lost Valinhall swords I think is up for grabs.  Other than that, nothing special.

Questioner

When Lindon's Story in Cradle is done and finished, do you think the world may get more stories? If no, what are our chances of getting some kind of Index like the Aurelius Archives, covering madra types and paths?

Will Wight

So when Lindon's story is done in Cradle, one thing I'd like to do before the series is over, and I know I am running out of time now, but I would like to do some spin-off short stories, kind of like I've done a long time ago in the past for Traveler's Gate and the one I did for Ziel.  I'd like to do a few more of those.  And the Halloween one I did like five years ago now.  Four years, three years, whatever.  All the years blur together.  So, I'd like to do some of that.  After Lindon's story is over in Cradle, I think... I can't make a decision on that yet.  It's something that I'm open to do more Cradle side stories or extra Cradle stories, I just can't commit to that yet, because a lot of it would depend on me being clear about where the story ends which of course I can't do.  It would also depend on how people respond to that, what else I'm working on.  I do know it won't be the first thing I'm doing; new Cradle book won't be the first thing I'm doing.  I've got to write something else guys.  I love writing new things, and I have been on Cradle for a long time.  I really love Cradle, I really enjoy writing it; that does not mean it is something new though.  So for me, just for my personal preference, I would love alternating between Cradle and something else, but now Cradle is just about over, so I'm probably going to do a new series afterwards.  I have a couple of ideas that I'm batting around for that.  

Questioner

Are you uncomfy writing at least one kiss into every book?

Will Wight

Yes.  It's less about my discomfort with physical intimacy in general and more that I don't care about relational development in real life really.  So it's basically more that I, that other people, I don't see them as real.  I think it's maybe just a focused narcissism.  I really just think everything revolves around me, and that anything that involves other people is sort of tedious.  That's all it is.  Nothing serious.

Questioner

There is a lot of debate between the fanbase about the height of power that the original Blackflame Empire reached. Can you confirm if the original Blackflame empire had any of the following: Monarch, Sage, and/or Herald?

Will Wight

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the original Blackflame Empire had a monarch, maybe two monarchs, I'm not actually sure about that off the top of my head; I'd have to go back and check my notes.  But I think it's probably one.  That would be my reasonable guess there.  I think that's true.  They had at least a couple of heralds for sure.  And I think probably a monarch.

Questioner

Where will Shira and Ziel's first date be? Are they more an ice cream and just chat sort of couple, or go to a movie? Go on a hike? What is Shira's idea of a perfect date?

Will Wight

I was only aware today, with the introduction of this question, that people were shipping those two characters.  Although I did kind of wonder when I wrote those scenes, am I setting them up to be shipped?  I should have known the answer to that question is always yes. *deep sigh*  So, let me see.  What would Shira's idea of a perfect date be?  Let me think.  Ok, she seems like the kind of person who would appreciate something unusual.  Some sort of, something where the other person put in some to think of something you wouldn't normally do on a first date.  So probably not ice-cream, probably not movies.  Something like, I don't know, a Cradle thing, I was going to say something like skydiving from a giant mountain or something, or a flying creature, but that's a lot more usual on Cradle.  That probably wouldn't be too thrilling to her.  Something else.  And Ziel is the kind of guy who would not put any effort into that.  So there's a lot of issues there already that they are going to have to work though before their inevitable romantic development.  This is making me want to put a scene like this into book 11 though.  Just for the meme value.  Not for the romance storyline, because as we all know, I am allergic to those.

Questioner

Are there taboos on Cradle?

Will Wight

Yeah, there would be in multiple different cultures and among different people groups.

Questioner

If you were to revisit Cradle what path would you pick for the MC to follow?

Will Wight

You know, there are a number of changes I would make to Cradle if I were able to go over it again.  So, there were a number of things I considered for the main character.  I probably would stick with the Path of Twin Stars though; I ended up really liking that.  That was something I picked for a number of reasons, some of which ended up being relevant, some of which ended up being unnecessary.  So I wouldn't change Lindon's path I don;t think.  I might change how it developed or how he learned about it or how he developed it, but I don;'t think I would actually change his double path.  And I don't think I would change, I like one being a combat thing and being a sort of control thing.  I also like it being thematically linked to one another; both sides being thematically linked to his path and thematically linked to the icon he eventually gains and to... I just like the way that came together.

One of the main things I would change I think, I would change... Now here's one thing.  So initially, ruler techniques were still the control option.  They were a lot more about dealing physical damage, there was a lot more of a division between dealing spiritual damage and dealing physical damage.  So striker techniques, and madra, and pure madra in general, would be better at damaging things that had a spirit and had a spiritual component, and not as good at, for instance, cutting though a door.  Where as ruler techniques and weapons were a lot better at physical destruction, destroying things that didn't already have their own madra system.  So that was a dichotomy I planned, one of those things that I was going to play into through Path of Twin Stars; he has one path that is good at physical destruction, one path that is good at combat in a spiritual way.  I would emphasize that more in the magic system.  

In terms of storytelling, what I would change is probably a lot more about that Abidan stuff.  So I would unravel that differently.  I think I would have more of a character and character arc for Suriel.  And I would arrange it differently.  Also, now that I know how many books there are going to be in the series, I would divvy out information in a more controlled way, because I know how many books there are going to be.  That is one of the things that was irritating, because I didn't know how many there were going to be, I didn't know how to split all of that up.

Questioner

Yerin at the end of Bloodlines vs Estyr Six

Will Wight

You know, there are some things that Yerin can do that Estyr Six doesn't have a good ability to block.  Like, Estyr Six is an extremely powerful telekinetic, probably one that could give Yerin trouble.  But at the same time, Yerin's now a suedo-herald, working on a conceptual level, so she's able to fight on some of the same tiers that Estyr Six can, and she can shoot what are effectively laser beams.  And Estyr Six doesn't have a good way of blocking laser beams.  So I'll have to give it to Yerin.  Mainly just a compatibility issue.  Now, there are problems that Estyr knows how to solve that Yerin does not, not that she is not capable of doing that, because there is some of those that a herald would probably be capable of solving, she doesn't know how.  Also, Estyr Six's power set is a lot more similar to a sage's.  So yeah, a little bit of a nuanced answer there.

Questioner

You have said in the past when you get stuck, just keep writing. My question is this: HOW? If I could keep writing, I wouldn't be stuck. Do you have any tips on how to work past those points?

Will Wight

Yes and no.  I think what you are trying to get me to tell you is how to feel like you are not stuck, and how to know what the next thing to do is, because that's when you feel like you are stuck, right?  That makes sense.  I understand that emotion extremely well.  But you're probably not going to like what I have to say, which is: it's just keep writing.  That is the answer.  That is the full answer.  You're saying how, there is no how.  Just keep moving your fingers until words come out.  So you're like, "If I knew what was coming next, I wouldn't be stuck.  If I knew what to write, I wouldn't be stuck."  It's not a know what to write.  It's a write something.  Just write anything.  Just put something on the page.

There's a great scene with Sean Connery in Finding Forrester where he's sitting down at a type writer, and he's talking to a student.  And he just sits down and starts writing.  And the kid goes, "What are you doing?"  And he says "Writing." I can't do it.  "Writing! I'm writing like you will be doing when you start punching those keys." (Will *attempted* a Sean Connery accent here.)  So the answer is just punch the keys.  So the kid sits down at his typewriter, and he's not typing, and Sean Connery asks him "What are you doing?" and he says "Thinking."  And Sean Connery goes, "No, that comes later."  So first you write, then you think.  That's the answer.  That is it.  I don't know what to tell you.  That's the trick, that's the answer.  

Now, long term, there are a lot of things you can do to help it come out better.  One thing is the more you know about your story, usually when you are stuck it means there is something you don't know about your story.  So, one of the methods to find out is just by writing things and figuring it out, you can change it later.  But another one is going through and answering questions for yourself.  So, taking notes and answering questions.  I don't recommend you do that; I recommend you do that later after you've gotten you're writing done for the day.  But that is something that over time, oh, OK, I know the answer to the question, or I know the material, or I know the characters really well, so you can make up better answers.  That's really the point of doing background information.

Questioner

 I’ve always been a bit confused about what makes a talented sacred artist advance faster than their peers? They just refine madra better?

Will Wight

Yeah, that is part of it.  It's really a... How I think of it, is it's more like a madra talent, a talent for madra control, so it's something that just sort of clicks better for you.  So that's one aspect of it.  Another aspect is maybe you understand your techniques better or faster.  So that's one thing.  Another thing is some people seem to have a deeper connection to certain types of aura than others.  so if you are born into a clan or sect or something that only practices one path, your talent is determined by how compatible you are with that particular path.  Which may bot be the thing you are really best at.  But you would never know, because you are only ever exposed to one path.  So that's another factor of talent.

The reason why it is poorly defined in the book is because there is a number of things that people mean when they say talent.  And I found that to be true in a number of the cultivation novels I read.  They would talk about talent, but it would be unclear exactly what talent was.  So either they would have something like talent is effectively your XP gain modifier, or how fast you level up.  Or, they didn't really define talent at all.  Some people were talented because they were good at weapons, other people were talented because they were good at magic, and other people were talented because they learn really fast, and so on and so forth.  And I like that a little better; that felt kind of real.  Some people are more talented at certain things because the logic of it just clicked for them  Other people are more physically or mentally suited to the task.  You know, that kind of thing.  And it felt good to me.  So that's sort of where I've been.

Questioner

Do Travelers have a special sense like Sages do since they manipulate space?

Will Wight

No. They do not. Valin was a special case in that sense.

Well, let me be clear. When Travelers form a connection to their Territory, they can sense that connection and a lot of the abilities they get from that Territory. So the ability to stretch themselves out and affect space, you might say that that is a special sense. So, in a sense, they have a sense, if that makes sense.

Questioner

Did Valin have authority?

Will Wight

Yeah, to some degree. I don't know how to say without spoiling anything what kind of authority he had or what level. It was certainly not to the level of what a true Sage would have, and if you're asking me about a matchup between Valin and Lindon or Valin and Yerin, they would take him apart like a lego house.

But at the same time, he did have enough authority to escape his world and sort of manipulate the fabric of Valinhall and get through the Way. So, to some degree, even though it was a crude, half-formed thing, yeah, he had some authority over some things.

Questioner

What are the chances of another DragonCon meetup next year?

Will Wight

Well I enjoyed DragonCon very much and the chances of another meet up next year (2022) are high. Those are some high chances. The fan meet up was really the highlight of my DragonCon trip. It was a lot of fun. It still takes a lot out of me. It was really cool to meet people, put some faces to names even though I'm going to forget all your names by next year including probably my own. So I really enjoyed that and I really enjoyed getting to meet some people I that I only met online. I really enjoyed being able to talk about some things I don't normally get to talk about and some things I get to, that just come across as more genuine in person I guess. So if you couldn't make it this year try to make it next year it will be great.

Questioner

As we know Monarchs are pretty much immortal however do they age to a certain age before their age stops  completely?

Will Wight

Yeah! The whole idea behind advancing to Herald and then to Monarch is sorta their bodies get perfected in a way. So the only reason Sha Miara didn't immediately age up was just because her inheritance works differently. That's all. A normal advancement would be, it would age them forwards or backwards as necessary and their body would stabilize.

Questioner

Who is your favourite Bleach side character?

Will Wight

Favourite Bleach character...that's hard for me to say. It used to be Hitsugaya, the Ice-Dragon Captain, but overtime I think that has faded. I really like the interaction between the Captains more than I like any one of them. Chad is the only true correct answer. He is truly the most Chad character.