Recent entries

Questioner

Did you always plan on having Akura Grace die or was her death come up later?

Will Wight

Eh, I mean a little of both. Like I said earlier I set characters up so that I can use them however I need to. So I wanted to do something with Akura Grace pretty clearly. I mean when I was describing her and she's one of the two people besides Pride in the beginning of Uncrowned that gets any of the spotlight. Clearly I was setting her up for something right? But it was always, haha feels mean, but it was always something tragic. It was going to be, either she was killed or left behind or betrayed the group or something. You know. Something bad was going to happen and when I needed someone to die at the end of Wintersteel I was like 'Ah we go'. So there it is. She always... never headed for a good end. Yep.

Questioner

What path would Deadpool be on?

Will Wight

I don't know. Deadpool kinda, his set of powers is kinda like, just kinda, a sorta general sacred artist. So I don't know what kind of madra he would have or what he practiced. I feel like saying something memey about Ryan Reynolds but I don't know what that would be exactly. 

(comes back to question later)

So, what path would Deadpool be on?  He feels like a guy who just kinda has an iron body, and the maybe is an Underlord or something?  Yeah, I don't know.

Questioner

Is void aura a thing?

Will Wight

No void aura is not a thing. There is no elemental attachment to aura in cradle's energy system.

Questioner

Does Dross really sleep? Or did Dross really sleep.

Will Wight

Dross sorta rests. He doesn't, isn't going all the time. He doesn't exactly sleep. No but he does rest and kinda go dormant for a time.

Questioner

Ichigo is so cool and awesome! Why don't you like him?

Will Wight

Alright, so for those who don't know Ichigo is the Japanese word for strawberries so he is asking why I don't like male strawberries and the answer is  I just prefer female strawberries. So it's not really a prejudice thing it's just a personal preference  and I think they taste a little better that's all.

So, there is one other possible meaning to that question. So, Ichigo is also the name of the protagonist of 'Bleach'. Probably isn't what he meant and probably asking about my strawberries preferences. But the protagonist of Bleach is fine. I don't dislike him. I don't have problems with him. The only really reason I don't like him as much is  because I feel like the story is less interesting with him around. When he isn't around they tend to go into  a lot of side characters who tends to be just way cooler. So we get to explore all the Captains in The Gotei 13 organization. That's just a lot more interesting to me and that only happens when Ichigo isn't around. So not a big fan of Ichigo  being in spotlight. I don't dislike him as a character or anything.                                                                                                                                                                                       

So I don't dislike him but funfact, the Abidan Court was in its original iteration modeled off the Captains of Bleach, so that's why they have Mantles. That's a Captain Haori reference. It changed significantly as I developed that organization but that was the original inspiration as I was taking kind of taking...I would say Captains from 'Bleach' and then I guess sort of Forsaken from the 'Wheel Of Time' kind of thing. That makes sound them more evil than I think of them but that's sort of the organization I was going for when I initially thought of Abidan. So that actually comes from bleach and that's how much more compelling I think the side characters are in bleach than the main character.

Questioner

What happened to Mu Enkai?

Will Wight

Well, if you will read the prologue to Ghostwater I think that's very clear that Mu Enkai fought Lindon and lost. And then he used that loss to motivate himself and fuel his rise. It was a meteoric rise likes to which has never  been seen on cradle before, it makes Lindon look like nothing and he became a Monarch in the matter of days. He immediately ascended, joined the Abidan and became the 9th Judge. I think that's obvious...I thought I had implied all that in Ghostwater prologue so it's not even a spoiler.

newdecadesameme

Can they use magic hunger ruler technique room to make compatible remnants for herald advancement ??

Will Wight

No, that’s not how it works, but it does have other uses than those shown…

sporkboy

I couldn’t believe how rarely she repeats herself, and just how many there were. You really outdid yourself with Yerin.

Will Wight

It was really hard at first. I had to do a specific dialogue pass for Yerin every time.

The further I got, the more I internalized the rules for her, but it’s still hard. That said, part of me feels like she should repeat herself more often. More than just “cheers and celebration,” “bet my soul against X,” and “bleed and bury me.”

It’s more realistic than having a new saying every time, you know?

broxgall

In cultivation novels, one of the common tropes is the "icy beauty" - an impossibly beautiful female character with a cold hearted and emotionless persona.

Enter the Winter Sage, who is litterally an ice artist, but also the exact oposite of the usual icy beauty trope. She is the most emotional character in Cradle. She has no control over her outward emotions and as a result often abandons the decorum expected of her rank. It is such a clear reversal of the trope I cant believe it is anything but intentional.

Will Wight

It is 100% intentional.

I never had a problem with any given character practicing ice powers and then being frozen-hearted, but it came up AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN until I was like “Okay, why is it a law that every single ice practitioner has to be emotionless? Wind-users aren’t flighty. The main character is always a fire-user who can keep his emotions under control just fine.”

So anyway, I flipped it.

the_insevitable

I [doubt] there is an icon for every weapon out there.

Will Wight

Every iconic one, yeah! You could absolutely become a representation of an iconic spearman, or archer, or Stabby Daggerman(tm).

the_insevitable

Or what about those people who do not use sword aura but still become renowned swordsmen can they summon the sword icon?

Will Wight

Yes.

The way Cradle—and different individuals within Cradle—refers to Icons is colored by their experience, but there’s not this Master List of Icons that you can summon.

It’s a lot more about embodying an archetypal concept that the Way then recognizes with a visible manifestation. If you became the archetypal representative of all spearmen you would definitely manifest the Spear Icon.

It’s related to Ozriel being the first person to become a Judge of Destruction. There were eight recognized archetypal properties of absolute order, seven of which were manifested by the Judges (the eighth being lost Creation).

Destruction was never considered a property of order, but rather a property of chaos, until Ozriel manifested it in the Way.

Skeletickles

Pride vs Harmony?

Will Wight

Pride and Harmony have definitely fought before. As kids, Harmony won. He’s older than Pride, and he really was skilled.

As they got older and Pride earned his Book and learned to use it, he would win competitions, but they didn’t directly fight much if at all. Harmony would avoid that.

PlaceboJesus

Here's an odd question for you:

You've written some pretty great books and they stand wonderfully on their own.

But here comes this Travis dude with his funny voices and he elevates your books to a different level of enjoyability.

Did you ever experience an irrational micro-moment of curmudgeonliness thinking about someone else improving your hard work? Like "what do you mean better!?"

Just curious, cause pride and possessiveness can hit creative types differently and those first kneejerk reactions don't always make sense.

Will Wight

Honestly, I really don’t.

I know it sounds more honest to say “Yeah, I know it’s irrational, but I do feel that sometimes…” but I actually don’t feel that way.

What I feel is guilt for not giving Travis better words.

PurplePudding

Are you at least enjoying writing this one a bit more this time around? I know you were quite stressed the past couple books

Will Wight

I wish!

I’m really not enjoying it more, and it’s no easier. However, I’ve been able to recover a lot faster. After slamming out words for a few days in a row, I start acting human again after only a few hours, and it used to take days.

I admit I’m a little disappointed, though. I thought getting rest and taking the extra pressure off would make the process of writing feel significantly easier, and it turns out it’s just hard whether you’re burned out or not.

alexportman

Hey Will! I'm just finishing a writing contest where I had to write faster than I ever had before. It got me wondering what the pros do. Do you have a daily word count goal, or hours, or some other kind of goal?

Will Wight

I usually isolate myself for blocks of time. From about three days to up to two weeks. During that time, when I’m writing a draft, I aim for 5-10k per day, depending on what I’m writing and where I am in the process.

After that block, I take a break for a couple days and then block out some more time. Rinse and repeat until I have a draft I can work on.

SESender

that's so cool! being a cradle/WW novice (started last year and have devoured everything 2x!) have you written about your process? or what goes into your process that keeps you so prolific (I'm reminded of Brando Sando with your consistency, and delight)

Will Wight

I’ve written about my process here and there, but in short my unofficial motto is “I’m writing the best six-month book I can.”

I prefer reading books that come out regularly to longer books that come out irregularly, so that’s what I write. Plus they tend to be more visible on Amazon and readers engage with them more, thanks to frequent releases refreshing fan engagement and visibility.

It’s kind of a win-win, except for the people who want me to write one eight hundred page book every year or two. For those people it’s a win-lose.

Questioner

So ok with getting constantly poisoned by the Heavens glory school? While he's running away in the Labyrinth he comments that all his soulfire has run out and his body is weak because he can get tired while running. So why on earth would he think that he would remain safe from poison while in the valley? Sounds incredibly stupid.

Will Wight

Let me be clear about this: the poison did absolutely nothing.

Yerin thought it did because she was young and weak at the time. Tim was 100% correct about the effect the poison would have on his body. It was none.

Badrack

In Ghostwater, Eithan stated that the Sage of Red Faith was not the type to take the loss of half-dozen Underlords lightly but we now know he is exactly that type. He doesn't care in the slightest for the cult as he offered to destroy them just to get Yerin's memories of her merge. He only cares about his research proving Eithan wrong once again.

Will Wight

Well, the way I see it, I’d say that the Sage of Red Faith isn’t the type to take the loss of a half-dozen Underlords lightly.

Not that he cares about them at all. He absolutely does not.

He cares only about his research. If losing six Underlords slows his research down, he’ll be driven mad with vengeance, which is how Eithan saw the situation. That guy would swear undying vengeance over a stolen sandwich if he thought it slowed his research down.

On the other hand, he’d spend Underlord lives like pennies if it advanced his research.

That’s how I see the character, anyway, but of course it’s subjective.

RedHavoc1021

It always throws me when I remember Lindon is supposed to be this mass of muscle. I think it’s because he’s so meek, but my mental image always defaults to a relatively small, wimpy looking kid.

Will Wight

Lindon is a W I D E B O I

Honestly, when I was first designing his character, it just appealed to me to have a protagonist whose appearance was so at odds with his personality.

I didn’t realize how much people’s understanding of his character would form their mental image, even when it contradicts the actual physical description.

I learned something!

Brightbane

Wait a second, was it intentional that Lindon was suppose to be jacked because of his core deficiency?

I just saw this comment a few minutes ago and it clicked in my head that normally even children make it to copper so they can cycle madra to their limbs on the journey to iron and that is what helps them battle gravity.

Since Lindon couldn't do that he had to rely on pure muscle to move around so his whole life was like resistance training. There's so much detail that goes into how books are put together that it blows my mind.

Will Wight

Yeah, that was a big part of the original idea. He has to keep up in physical training with people who are supernaturally stronger than he is.

u/Umbrith

What Makes a Good Cover?  

I’m guessing I’m a common demographic on here - novice writer wanting to dip toes into progression. But also like the rest of us, a cover budget would be small at best.

What do you guys think is most important to focus on for a cover? Something like Cradle, with a simple design on a monochrome background, a full fantasy shot, landscape, characters, or some combination? For authors on here, do you have any insight you could give on your own process?

Will Wight

Other commenters have covered “get a professional cover,” which is 100% true and the most important thing.

Otherwise, it’s about function.

Does the cover look good at thumbnail size? Because that’s how big your readers are going to see it. If it looks fantastic blown up and is just a blur when it’s tiny, it’s not a great cover for Amazon.

Does it look distinct from the other covers in your category? If someone scans your category on Amazon with their eye, as they do, does your cover pop up or blend in? You want them to see yours.

Lastly, does it reflect your book? If your book is a Lovecraftian Cowboy fantasy, your cover should scream “LOVECRAFTIAN COWBOYS.” If you have a cover that shows off a massive battle between a mech and a giant zombie, that might happen in your book, but it doesn’t advertise your hook, while a cowboy hip-firing his pistol at a tentacle beast probably would.

That’s why Cradle is an icon on a mono-colored background. It’s completely readable at thumbnail size and when you skim the category with your eye it pops out.

Questioner

Can you explain the difference between Herald and a Sage?

Will Wight

Yes