How controlled is your usual fan interaction? For instance, when you comment in the subreddit, is it because you came in intending to interact, or is it more spur-of-the-moment?
On the subreddit particularily i just have the reddit app on my----, see! see look! Smoke! Why is smoke filling the room now, it wasn't before! I hate it, why is it doing this? Arghhh that annoys me.
Is it possible for Fiends of Chaos to not be inherently dangerous to humanity? So instead of wanting to destroy everything like Urgnaught, the Chaosfriend wants to completely master cooking for example.
Uh, Yeah.... Not really no, but it's possible for.. the example here was, instead of wanting to devour all of existance is it possible for instance for them to want to for instance master cooking. So that kind of thing is absolutly possible, but what the issue with fiends of choas is they are inherently destabilizing to the order that existance requires so they are going to kind of be unraveling reality as they as doing it so it is always going to be a problem
Who came first, Malice or Big Mom (One Piece)? And which one of them is the better parent?
I, uh, haha, I don't know.. I don't know when Oda came up with Big Mom. What was the first chapter Big Mom came out in? I don't know and I can assure you they were not related in anyway. I had no.. The idea for Malice came from, there is always a cultivator in these Chinese cultivation novels that has a million kids and has this giant clan that just spans all the world. So they always have this and it's always a guy. So there's a, you know, a pretty obvious reason for that. Which is guys can have more children than women can because these people always have a lot of wives and so they can just have a bunch of kids. But I was like but these people are immortal so presumably over time some women would have a giant clan and she would be the big power behind it too. And I had never read that so I was like Eh.. made sense. So that was something that would probably exist. So I... wrote one. So that's where that character came from. So yeah.. She's just kind of the... uh 2012. Big mom came from 2012, so Big Mom came first. There you go.
What's your favorite personal anecdote?
Hmm, I don't know. It there a personal story I tell too much? There's a few..
A personal story you tell to much that time you tried to get... [inaudible]
That's not... that's not even real.
Have you read Reverend Insanity? If so, was there anything that was inspired by it?
I have. I've read Reverend Insanity back when it didn't have very many chapters and it was never a favorite of mine. Was anything inspired by it? No. That was something that I didn't dislike it or anything it just, it wasn't one that grabbed me.
How do you know to put foreshadowing on a specific book for a later book?
Couple of ways: one of things is a lot of times I know what's coming up so I know there are major events and I don't know how I'm going to get there but I know I'm going to get there. So one thing people pick up on all the time, and I very much understand this, but they say all the time that I have decided to retcon the sword sage's power level or that he definitely couldn't be killed by jades. And that was something that I when I realized later the what power scale was going to be that I retconned that to.. Retcon means going back and changing something that.. Retroactive continuity. Is going back and changing something that is already been established. And that was just must a mistake on my part it wasn't a retcon. I 100% always, even in my notes for Unsouled were like 'The jades definitely should not be able to kill this guy. He is way way above them'. So I didn't know all the details of what a sage could do or anything but I had the general shape of it and I knew kind of where he was in the power scale and I knew jades should not even be able to touch this guy. So what I intended to happen was that as people got further in the series and figured out how far away he was they would go 'Wait a second?! That's? There's no way jades should be able to do this' what I didn't realize, and I should have, was that people are gonna see that and then think it a mistake. So, that was one of those things that I was like that was something I really intended to, to setup and yet it looks like I made a mistake. There were definitely were mistakes. There were things I setup for. There are other things that I'm like eh.. I think I'm probably gonna do this. So I throw in some foreshadowing for it and then I miss it later. So like in Soulsmith Lindon picks up these scripted stones that people ask me about all the time and I absolutely intended for him to learn scripting starting with those stones as like this beginning of this ancient runic vocabulary that Lindon was gonna to learn. And.. it uh.. did not ever happen. So that was something where I just destroyed the stones in Ghostwater because I realized 'Op I'm never going to spend that time'. So yeah. How do I know to put foreshadowing on something? It's really just [explosion noise from stream game] Op.
Author's you enjoy or admire?
Man, that's uh a long list. That is hard to narrow down. I already mentioned The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba. Andrew Rowe is currently in the chat but you guys have all checked him out. So I don't even need to plug him. But Andrew Rowe is another one. ... So those are the ones off the top of my head because of what's around me.. let's see. Who else? Robert Jordan Wheel of Time obviously. Another classic. Brandon Sanderson, that's the easiest recommendation in the world. Jim Butcher Dresden Files is great. ... There's a number of web novels I'm reading right now. I'm reading Keyboard Immortal on Wuxiaworld that's a relatively new one. That's been fun. It's about a guy who gets the powers of an internet troll in a Chinese cultivation world. I'm reading I'm The Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire. I've enjoyed that. Dakota Krout. That's another one. He's really good. Let's see. I liked his Divine Dungeon series a lot. I didn't, the, his new series The Ritualist series is by, is his more popular one it seems, it seems. I don't know his sales numbers but it seems like it's more popular but it's LitRPG and I, like I said LitRPG is just not my thing. So I can't really, I don't know how it ranks cause I'm not a LitRPG guy. But if you're into LitRPG you've probably read his LitRPG series because it's extremely popular. So I'm sure it's good. I just, again, I, I can't, there's just something about the genre that I can't, just doesn't click for me. So there's another one that's To be a Power in the Shadows I think is what that title translates to. That one is hilarious. I really enjoy that one. It's another Japanese web novel. I don't know there's a lot.
Writing question: how do you write main characters like Lindon and Simon?
Sip I find writing protagonists to be very hard and here's why. Protagonists have do things functionally in the plot that other characters don't have to do so they have to be the ones that get your reader invested in them. You have to be interested enough in the character to keep reading. Like you have to like the character and they have to be the kind of person that going to keeps pushing the story forward. So that's why you tend to see the same types of protagonists and the same sort of archetypes. ... The protagonists has to sort of be a similar kind of person and the way I see it now, I didn't start off thinking this way, but the way I see it now there is sort of a generic protagonist template. Someone who is the standard hero for this type of story. What you really want is someone who does all those things, fulfills all those roles, but is also very grounded in the world they are in. They are a product of that world. So I did that with both Simon and Lindon I had them be someone who is definitely born in the world. They are a product of what has happened to them in this world. They could only exist in this world and yet they are still sort of, they fulfill their role as a hero of the story. They're resourceful and they got a strong goals and they are out to solve those goals themselves and that kind of thing. So they can carry the story on their backs but I feel like.. if I had to rate, this is very much a feeling thing. This is not something that I learned, this is not a super writer secret or anything. This isn't even a technical term but if I had to put them on a spectrum I would say Shera and Calder from Elder Empire are more on the side of being their own characters than being protagonists and Simon is kind of more of a, he's more the standard protagonist you'd expect. And Lindon's sort of between them. That's kind of the scale I'd put them on.So how do you write a protagonist like Lindon and Simon? I would really say you need someone who is going, the kind of person who is gonna do what you need them to do in the story. He's the kind of person, or she, is the kind of person is gonna go out basically looking for trouble, looking to solve their own problems, looking to uh to do what it takes in a story. So they're looking to go have an adventure for some reason and they're strongly motivated to do it. So they are the kind of person that's really gonna go out and solve problems and look for problems to solve. So that is one of the requirements but there is a lot of different personality types that can do that. And then I think the second thing is you want them to be a product of the world they you're in. Sip
Have you seen Hunter X Hunter?
Come on man. I'm in pain. I love Hunter Hunter. Alright.
I actually reread, it's talking about Seven Deadly Sins, the anime. I reread the manga Seven Deadly Sins not too long ago and I liked it. I think it's probably a little longer than it needs to be but it's.. it's good.
Did you read worm?
Yeah, Worm, I did read Worm. I really love Worm. I think Worm is great but I also think it is way longer than it needs to be. So, that's kinda my feeling about Worm. I read Worm, I read one of his other works. I don't remember what.. it's the one.. what is it called? I'll have to look it up later. But I read another one of the same author's works and it was good. I liked it and then I read.. it's Pact. That's what it was. Yeah Pact. Pact is what it was. I started reading Twig and I wasn't about it but I finished Pact and I read Worm and I started reading Ward and I did not like it. It was really, the style, that's the style I don't particularly like. So obviously a lot of people do. He's got a lot of fans and I think Worm is masterpiece so I have no, even its, even though I feel like it gets a little too long in the back half it's still so creative and well executed. But I, I still, I still don't like that style of basically just writing a lot that doesn't need to be in there. And, now I'm not every part of the book needs to necessarily be plot relevant. Which is fine but I do prefer that. So, Ward for instance, the sequel to Worm, one of the early scenes that I knew I was like hmm this is probably not to my tastes. There was a scene where the group of characters is in a group therapy session and we just sit through the entire group therapy session and we hear what everybody says to everybody else. The whole scene and it was honestly started off a really interesting scene because of course we're learning a lot about these characters and how they interact with each other and I was there for it. But, you then, see it all and I was like oof I would have cut that three or four pages in and it's.. it's very long. So that is not my style. That's not what I like.
What is the best fanfic you ever read?
I don't remember, this title is going to be a little off okay? Because I don't remember exactly but it's uh "Dio's Bizarre Summer Break"? I don't.. I don't.. something like that. I really hope that title is not accurate for some sort of smut or something but it's uh.. it's something like that. It's a series of comics for uh a JoJo Bizarre Adventure fanfic comic. ... So uh it was a JoJo Bizarre Adventure fanfic comic basically from Dio's perspective like Dio's the good guy from part one. Instead of being the bad guy which he actually is and so they kind of portray Jonathan, the original JoJo, as overpowered and unstoppable and Dio's like the reasonable one trying to hold them back. ... But they keep creating their own like sort of, they keep going with the story and so they go all the way through part three with, where stands show up, that's the new magic system of part three, and Jonathan awakens his stand and it's the most powerful stand in the world. I honestly really liked it. It had a lot of great emotional moments. It started off as pure comedy but it ended up getting funny and actually emotional. It had some really cool magic system ideas. I really liked it. So in the actual story, JoJo's Bizarre adventure, Dio the bad guy becomes a vampire and he ends up surviving and developing this incredibly overpowered stand. And in this world the fanfic it's nothing compared to Jonathan's. I wish I remembered what it was called. I really.. it's something like "Dio's Bizarre Summer Break" or something I don't... Something like that. Maybe it's just "Dio's Bizarre Adventure" I could be wrong. I don't remember. ... It is called "Dio's [inaudible] the Bizarre Adventure" Okay great. I thought it.. I thought it had some other difference. Maybe I'm just getting it confused. Yeah I really hope Dio's Bizarre Summer Break isn't some kind of beach themed smut. But uh yeah "Dio's Bizarre Adventure" is the.. Oh part two is "JoJo's Bizarre Summer Break" Okay that's what I am getting confused.
On average how many words do you write per day? How does it compare to when you became a full time writer?
You know that's hard to say because there are a lot of different phases to writing. So, on average per day, not very many because most day's I'm not writing. But when I'm actually writing out a draft it's, I don't know, average about 5-6000 words a day. When I, *Will gets distracted by a question in chat about sleeping, to which he responds he will try*. Before I became a full time writer, I didn't write very much before I became a full time writer; I had written quite a bit but it wasn't like I wrote every day or anything. So I had written a lot of short stories and so I didn't have a disciplined writing scheduled before I became a full time writer. But while I was writing House of Blades, I was doing the last year of my grad school and I was working on my thesis, so that was very different. So, I write in sprints, I set aside days and weeks at a time that I use to write so I don't necessarily write from 9 to 5 everyday, I have a set period of time which all I do is write. So that's what I do.
Could 2 sacred artists take advantage of the dream stone technology emriss has created by training with each other in a simulated space sorta like lindon does with dross but with one another?
I don't really understand the question. But technically yeah, it seems to be feasible if I properly understand the question.
You have written some sections that have honestly made me cry. (Lindon's Underlord revelation as an example). What would you say has been the most emotional writing you have done across your books/series? What have you been most proud of writing?
I have found to be untrue is the saying "No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader." I have found that to be untrue. I have usually not found myself to be experiencing the emotions that I am trying to evoke in my readers. Because I'm writing, it's like work, it's a job thinking how I get this done. In terms of most emotionally impactful, there's a scene I wrote in Bloodline that punched me in the gut, it's halfway through the book. There's a part when he first gets home where it hit me. It felt to me so awkward in a way that hurt me in a soul. I don't want to spoil Traveler's Gate, but in City of Light some major characters die. That made me really sad and I really didn't want to kill them because I liked them and they were fun. Most proud of writing? I'm always most proud of the end of Ghostwater, that moment took a lot to build up to and everyone liked it. And it was very hard to do. I knew I needed to land it and I worked very hard to land it.
Did the people who originally inhabited Asylum when it was used to trap the Elders/ Fiends volunteers/ criminals/ or did the Abidan breed or trap innocent people to tie the iteration to the way and support the prison?
I don't know how much I want to go into that, I might want to do a short story on that someday. At the risk of telling you something that I am gonna change later, it was sort of an opportunistic thing. The world happened to be able to be used to lure the Great Elders there and be able to be trapped there. So they trapped them there expecting everyone on this world to die. So they did that because if the Elders had been released they would have killed a lot more people, so they saw it as an acceptable loss. But then the human population ended up producing the Emperor who figured out how to make a thriving population on what was supposed to be this cursed hell world. And they ended up lasting a lot longer than anyone expected. It's morally questionable, it sure is.
Hi Will, Are there any lectures or youtube series you would recommend for aspiring writers looking to take their work up a notch?
This is a question I get a lot, and that is a hard question to answer quickly. It's difficult to narrow down all the things that I have learned. However, for this specific question, I do. Brandon Sanderson has all his classes online and that's really good. One of the things I like to do as well are a lot of video essays on story structure. I like Filmento, I like Lessons of a Screenplay, I like "Totally Not Mark" he does anime. I enjoy a lot of those channels because they help you understand story structure. However, one of my cautions, is that very rarely are those written by professional writers. They're breaking apart another story to see how it's done, which is very valid, but I disagree with a lot of their conclusions because they're coming at it from an analytical perspective. But it doesn't necessarily tell you how the person who created the story got there in the first place. I caution that learning too much about that stuff doesn't help you translate it into creating an actual story. The way you do that is to write.
What genre of game would you most want to see in the Cradle Universe?
People talk about a Cradle MMO all the time. I don't really like things being made into an MMO mainly because if your MMO isn't named World of Warcraft it's probably not really going anywhere. What I usually want to see, I really like single player games. I wouldn't mind if it was an open world or adventure thing. But honestly, I don't really care about game adaptations, if I want to see a game, it'd be an original story in the Cradle world.
If you found yourself in a LitRPG situation what class and race would you choose for you character?
I don't read a lot of LitRPG, I mean i *have* read a lot of LitRPG, i don't generally as a rule read a lot of LitRPG, I don't tend to enjoy the genre very much, i don't really know why, because in theory, i like video games, i like fantasy novels, that's a video game/fantasy novel, so it should be right up my alley. It feels like i'm reading about someone else playing a video game, and i'd rather be reading a story or playing a video game, either one! So i don't have a super informed answer, I have read all the popular works in the genre, so I guess i have a grounding in it. I don't have a super great LitRPG answer, but in terms of the actual scenario, if i was sucked into a game or a game like world and i got to pick my class and race.... so barring some sort of overpowered race like a vampire of dragon or something...cos if you get to be a dragon, always choose to be a dragon! but other than that, i guess standard races, i mean Elf, the more Tolkien is is, why would you not want to be an elf? Elves are awesome, seems like the obvious choice for race. For class, so there are always these works, like Over geared that have these crazy legendary classes, so i'm not gonna make up something busted lie "SOUL SUMMONER" or something weird, so limiting myself to the basic d&d style classes....Wizard, its the best class. Why wouldn't you be a wizard? If you can get transported into a fantasy world, the one thing you can't do in real life if magic.
Someone also asked me how i'm liking The Wandering Inn, I am halfway through volume 5 which is about 3 million words in? something like that? I am tearing through it, I basically have spent every moment reading. I put it off for so long because its such a long series, so I felt like its such a huge commitment and that I wasn't gonna like it cos its so long. You guys know how I feel about stuff that is very very long, I would much prefer a tight, exciting 400 page story that's cut down to only its best elements than an 800 page story that has wasted pages. This is maybe the longest story I've ever read, so its the extreme example of that, except i'm completely engaged! Its extremely good! I was sure I wasn't gonna like it and i'm liking it, so I did not give the author enough credit.
The funniest thing about it is, it's a real world but it works kinda like a game, so you have classes and you have skills in those classes, and that's not a new idea, its a common LitRPG thing, but I had tried to come up with a system for the way I would want to do it, I mentioned not particularly caring for LitRPG, so I had come up with a system how I would want to do it. It ended up, the notes i have are very similar to what Wandering Inn ended up doing, so I was like holy crap, this is like somebody took my notes and did a way better job! So the author did an extremely good job. So its kinda intimidating, it was like well now why would I tackle a similar magic system because this person has already done such a good job? There's no room, so I dunno if i'm gonna do a class/skill system now because Wandering Inn did such a good job.
