Is madra similar to magic in chinese novels, where there's some profound truth and power is determined by how close you are to learning it, or is it more of a "people think it, so that's how it works" kind of system?
Is dross doing what drudges do?
1.) More the first one than the second one.
2.) Somewhat, yes!
Have you played Dishonored? If so, how do you think the Great Elders or the Abidan would react if the Outsider was transported to Asylum?
Also, Daud and his Whalers vs the Consultants. Who do you think wins?
The Abidan would react swiftly and intensely.
As for Daud and the Whalers, it's been way too long since I've played Dishonored, so I'm going to side with the Consultants because I'm the one asked. Home team advantage.
If lindon did the Sacred Valley bowl test with the madra thing right now, what would happen?
Whatever he wanted to happen. He could control the madra freely.
Apologies if you've answered this before but what do you do on release day/week?
I can only imagine the nerves with having something you've put your heart and soul into being out in the world and being critically reviewed.
Do you check the sub like an f5 maniac? Seclude yourself in a room for a week and ignore everything online? Asking for figures from the publisher?
You've already made my day today so whether you answer or not thanks again for that!
Constantly respond to fans and check reviews. Also I celebrate, of course.
Can the Void/Chaos be harnessed by sufficiently powerful enough users like the Way?
Yes it can...
Which was your favorite scene in Cradle to write, so far?
Which was your least favorite?
That's a little harder to answer than it sounds.
The Dross Presence report was probably my favorite, because it took a lot of coordination to make that scene land in the right way and I was pleased at how it turned out.
But at the same time, it was very difficult to write, so I wouldn't say it was a fun process. It was just a fun result.
As for my least favorite, all scenes in which two characters discuss their genuine feelings are very difficult. I have to stop and think and agonize over every line, making sure I'm expressing what they're feeling clearly enough, but not too clearly because real people usually don't just come out and say what they're feeling, but at the same time you also want it to express character and be eloquent enough to make good dialogue and not slow down the plot enough...
Those are hard.
Fight scenes are easy. I could write fight scenes all day. The easiest book in the world to write would be a sequence of fight scenes.
I don’t know if this question is fair game but I know you’re friends with Andrew Rowe of arcane ascension how strong do you think Keras is in terms of cradle levels. Also on a more relevant note would you ever consider letting other authors that you trust write in the the Will-verse?
I'm honestly not sure, especially after reading the second Weapons and Wielders book. I'd say probably Sage-ish.
Would I let other authors I trust write in the Willverse? Sure, hypothetically! The hardest part would be coming up with a story bible that was coherent enough for anyone other than me to read.
How high can Lindon jump using like a soul fired burning cloak?
Very high.
Is it possible for someone to steal a pocket world like Ghostwater and add it onto Valinhall or as another Territory to Amalgam?
Yes, that is possible.
Could someone follow a path based on infusing madra directly into the body, with a possible blood/life path as the actual path to deal with the physical issues of the path?
I don't fully understand the theory there, but that sounds plausible.
You don't have to go into any specifics if you want to but have you seen any far off theories on here that you were like that would have been cool if I wrote it that way or I wish I had thought of that first so I could have written that into the story for any of your three series
There were a few where I remember thinking "Oh man, that's super cool," or "That would be great in a different story."
Some of the more intricate Ozriel theories have made me go "Man, these are so detailed, I need to go into my notes and make sure that what I've got is just as thorough."
But typically by the time it gets down to fans to make theories, I've spent hundreds if not thousands of hours thinking of possibilities. Effectively, I get to create my own theories and then make my favorite one correct.
Building off of /u/generic_edgelord 's question and your response, have you seen any theories (re: post-Uncrowned events) that were particularly prescient? (not looking for you to identify them)
Yes.
The one that really comes to mind is the Jai Chen one, since at the time that it was guessed there was almost no support for it. But it happened to be correct.
So I sped up my revelation of that. I had intended not to officially reveal it until Lindon came back to Sacred Valley, but you people are sneaky.
Incidentally, I've since reconsidered my policy on secrets. There's really no point in banking on something staying un-guessed when you get to a fanbase of sufficient size. With ten thousand people guessing, someone's going to get it right.
So from then on, I'm attempting to do "revelatory" moments so that they're satisfying whether you guessed them or not.
Thanks for the detailed answer!
This strategy that content creators (leaving it generic as this applies across media) adopt regarding the fandom guessing/discovering secrets has been fascinating to me since the tail end of Lost.
It seems like actively trying to stay ahead of theories, or change things to remain 'secret', is inevitably a losing game - especially with a large and dedicated fan base sleuthing on a long-running series.
Glad to see you're taking a measured approach, without letting us wreck your plans!
Agreed completely.
I'm in agreement with George RR Martin when he said (and I'm paraphrasing here, not quoting): "If you do all your setup and foreshadowing so that the butler did it, and then you change it to be the maid because the Internet guessed that the butler did it and you wanted it to be a surprise, then you've wasted all that setup."
If someone managed to do whatever it is that makes a Sage a Sage before Archlord, would they still be considered a Sage or not til they reach Archlord as well? Or is it literally impossible before Archlord for some reason?
I'm not sure what the terminology would be for that, but with 90% confidence I'd say they would just be a Sage.
It doesn't happen before Archlord because every evolution in soulfire makes you better able to sense the magic system that Sages can control.
If a reader found their way to cradle, could they create a weapon that actually kills a dreadgod?
Potentially, sure.
I've mentioned this before, but I always write into my setting notes little hidden vaults into my worlds filled with the things I would need to live comfortably there. Just in the case of a sudden isekai.
You never know when you'll get sucked into another reality without warning.
How's stuff going with the books?
How many iterations has the coronavirus spread to so far?
By the way, could a Sage travel to another world, like say from Cradle to Amalgam? If not, someone above?
The books have been slowed by almost a month because of my neck injury, which is really annoying because I was way ahead of schedule before that. Alas.
Could a Sage travel to another world? Potentially they could, but they would be intercepted by Sector 11 Abidan first and subjected to a bunch of rules before they were allowed to do so.
The coronavirus is the corruption Suriel speaks of.
So if black flame is based on fire and destruction madra then is an iron body made out of certain aspects as well? Are you combining two things to make an iron body or is it all random?
An Iron body is essentially how the spirit changes the body hosting it. So its changes are made by certain aspects of madra and aura, not made of them.
Then again, there are exceptions. Some Iron bodies make people exceptionally able to manipulate one type of aura or madra and crap at anything else.
How was Zakareth able to Incarnate if Queen Cynara was Ragnarus Incarnation already?
She stepped into the Territory and became bound to it specifically to allow him to Incarnate.
Since discovering Cradle, there's never been a time where I didn't have one of your books in rotation, and Elder Empire is equally amazing. You walk on water here!
Do you have active plans or dreams for extending the universe in other formats in the future? I.e. graphic novels, games, e.t.c.
Aw, shucks!
I would love a visual novel or a graphic novel or a simple tie-in game or what have you, but all of those things require cooperation from other creatives.
I don't write books in isolation, but I do write all the books myself, which is a lot easier than having to cooperate with an artist or co-writer.
We’re you as excited as I was when the story got back to Sacred Valley?
Probably, yeah. I've wanted to come back to SV for a long time.
Having said that, I was probably a lot more nervous than you were.
What do orus fruits taste like?
Like pears fused with plums.
Do you think you know what your next series will be?
First off, thank you for asking that question, because I am always dying to make something new. It's my favorite part of writing.
As for whether I know what it is...that changes from day to day.
Last year, I was convinced I was going to write a dungeon series, because I feel like there's a lot of potential there and I'd like to try my hand at it.
About six months ago, I wanted to do some kind of a GameLit thing. Not a LitRPG exactly, but something a little more game-ified than what I normally do. Sort of like a D&D world in which the inhabitants had figured out the magic rules through trial and error over the years.
A month or two ago, I was really into a setting with a modern culture and technology level but also magic. Kind of like many Final Fantasy settings. I also fleshed out a few surprisingly detailed plots in which characters could collect abilities in different categories and thereby make "builds" for themselves (so to speak).
Recently, I've been researching writing Visual Novels and other such branching narratives. So who knows?
Oh man I love that stuff. Don't give me hope.
I really do too.
And I've already taken on the more traditional fantasy in Traveler's Gate, something slightly more experimental with Elder Empire, and then a cultivation story with Cradle.
Which leaves the game-y corner of webnovels left untouched..
