Recent entries

    Writing Advice ()
    #1263 Copy

    Questioner

    How does an author deal with the pressure to produce for an enthusiastic fanbase?

    Will Wight

    I do feel a lot of pressure, both to release regularly and to live up to expectations. I want readers to enjoy the books, and I want to feel proud of my work as well. And I know that people want the next book the day after the last one, because that’s what I always feel when I finish a book I enjoy.

    When I go through a period of high stress, usually while I’m in the final stages of writing a book, I often go through some anxiety issues. Sometimes I don’t want to open my email, because I’m sure there will be bad news in there, I don’t want to leave my room because something will be going wrong outside, and I don’t want to respond to fans because I’m sure they’ll only be talking about how much they hate the books, etc. It’s a totally illogical feeling, but it’s one of the ways stress manifests itself in me.

    Basically, my team helps me manage. Left to my own devices, I work in long periods of procrastination followed by a few weeks of high-stress panic, working 16 hours a day to meet a date that I suddenly felt I had to meet.

    My team (and my family and friends) are helping me change my work habits to spread that out. Less procrastination, shorter murder-mode crunch time. We all know that if I keep writing books like THAT, I’ll burn myself out and won’t be happy while I’m doing it.

    And that doesn’t have to mean a longer wait between books, either, because it involves cutting out the counterproductive time. Long-term, we expect it to lead to an increase in productivity.

    TL;DR - I get through my weird personal issues with the help of other people.

    ...having said that, let me stress that this is just my own experience. I certainly can’t speak for anybody else (I don’t know if I’m even qualified to speak for myself). But that’s my two cents, for what it’s worth!

    Will Wight

    By the way, I felt terrible for Douglas Hulick when I first saw that tweet. Both because I empathized with him and because I wanted the next book, dangit. As a fellow writer, I felt great sympathy for him, and as a fan I was disappointed that we weren’t going to get to see the rest of a story I enjoyed.

    Also, I very much admire how he handled himself. He blamed no one else, and took full responsibility while still communicating the great pressure he was under. Kudos to him. I hope to learn from that kind of mature response under scrutiny.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1264 Copy

    Devin

    If I turned my Blackbelt into a Soulbound Vessel, what powers would I gain?

    If Lindon and company each got to make a Soulbound Vessel, what would each of them go for?

    Will

    Black belt: in order to make it a Vessel, you'd have to give it some inherent power source, such as from an Elder or a Kameira. That being the case, it would depend on what material you wove into the belt.

    Lindon: a pair of glasses that enhances focus, concentration, and power while Reading.

    Yerin: a sword.

    Eithan: a colorful suit that overwhelms all who see him with awe.

    Mercy: a watering can that grows healthy plant

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1270 Copy

    mido_sama

    In soulsmith we saw Eithan giving Lindon madraso why not give the ability to Lindon ... like what if Eithan saw Dross and thought Lindon could handle the family ability and poor madra into him and to push his pure core to true god as well. Man that'd make Dross into BIG BROTHER

    mido_sama

    Will may have give that answer before skysworn ... because both Jai Chen and the underload gained the ability after absorbing Eithan's madra.

    Will Wight

    Just noticed this, so I'm popping in: Jai Chen and Jai Daishou got the ability temporarily by draining power from Eithan. They didn't gain it permanently. It's not their bloodline power now.

    DruidDeadnettle

    How temporary are we talking? Would it wear off in hours? Days? Years? I got the impression that it had become a permanent part of her but that she had to actively expend Madra to make it work.

    Will Wight

    Her madra has permanently changed, but her bloodline hasn’t. And at the point where Jai Chen leaves, she still hasn’t stabilized her madra yet, so it hasn’t settled into its final composition.

    This isn’t even its final form, if you will.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1271 Copy

    Crinisen

    Okay, why in Heaven's name did Lindon not keep the fisher remnant he found in the Transient Ruins? Almost never ending water is one of the most important survival tools in existence.       It's even worse than him forgetting he has a fire starter in the Blackflame Trials.

    Will Wight

    Lindon didn’t forget about the water binding, but bindings are inherently not long-term items that you can use forever. They draw on their own substance for power every time they’re used.     If I was more focused on keeping the reader up-to-date on Lindon’s inventory, I would have specifically made a note about it dissolving away or Lindon throwing it away because it had become useless. I didn’t bother with it because it wasn’t relevant to his story problems.
    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1272 Copy

    High-IQ-Jokes

    I recently re-read the Cradle series up until this point. It's one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series right now.

    One thing that bothered me slightly on my first read-through and immensely on my second read-through is how the Heaven's Glory school in Sacred Valley were able to poison and kill a Sage. Will said himself that the Sword Sage was two levels above Underlord, and I can't imagine even an Underlord getting poisoned by them.

    I wonder if it was just an issue of planning and Will not thinking that he would make the power levels so extreme in the future, but that point just always stuck me as bizarre.

    Will Wight

    Hey OP! I know it looks like power creep getting out of hand, but this actually isn't a mistake! Weirdly enough. Usually if I do something that looks like a mistake, it is in fact a mistake.

    In this case, I know exactly what happened to the Sword Sage and how he was killed, but (back when I was writing Unsouled) I didn't realize how obviously out-of-place this would become to the reader in a couple of books. If I had, I would have made it clear in Book 1 that it should have been impossible for mere Jades to do this.

    The reason why I didn't comment on it initially is because none of the POV characters know how weird it was. They just know that a Sage is a big, powerful guy from other lands, they don't know exactly how strong he is or what that means. Even Yerin isn't really sure how much stronger he is than they are, because she doesn't know enough about the sacred arts yet.

    I wanted the reader to notice that they shouldn't have been able to kill the Sword Sage, but in a "Hmm, I wonder how they did that?" sort of way, not in a "Wait a second, this is physically impossible" sort of way. Even though under normal circumstances, it is literally impossible. I just didn't realize how quickly and how clearly people would pick up on that in the next couple of books.

    So anyway, TL;DR - the mystery has an answer, it is an answer I have planned out from the very beginning, and that answer will be revealed in the series. Also, I regret not making it clear in the first book that this was an intentional mystery and not a mistake.

    P.S. I'm probably going to include the Sword Sage's death scene in a Presence Report, just not in Underlord.

    veronkilla

    "Even Yerin isn't really sure how much stronger he is than they are, because she doesn't know enough about the sacred arts yet."

    Seems she's quickly come round though, since she referred to Eithan as a 'mere underlord' compared to her Master in the very next book.

    Will Wight

    She can know the names of the ranks and which ones are higher without knowing what that means in practical terms.

    She isn’t sure HOW MUCH stronger he is than they are, “they” in this case including Eithan. But she knows he’s stronger.

    Cradle ()
    #1273 Copy

    Losano3

    How would Northstrider fight something so massive though? Like, kick the tip of the Phoenix's talons?Can he just make his techniques bigger?

    Lil' Blue

    I mean, he fights a 50 kilometer dragon and eats it.

    Losano3

    Lol, yeah, but how exactly? Can he just punch with ridiculous force from a Monarch grade body? Make his striker technique enormous?It's clear he can do it, I just don't understand how he does it.

    Will Wight

    Fortunately, THAT at least will be very clearly shown through the series. As you would imagine, large-scale Monarch fights will definitely be a thing.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1274 Copy

    Tower

    So when Malice was fighting the pheonix she was giant but in WoW you mentioned she never was giant

    TransEmo

    She wasn’t giant, her armour was

    Tower

    So she was like a Fucking power ranger just driving a big ass set of armor?

    Will Wight

    (Yes, it’s a big Forged mech-thing.)It’s essentially a giant suit of Forged power armor, so...yeah.

    Your Benevolent Dictator

    that's suuuper badass

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1275 Copy

    Micah

    Which series was your favorite to write?

    Have you read the Coiling Dragon series?

    How's the cabin?

    Will

    All of the series are fun in different ways, but I enjoyed Elder Empire, because I got to try some unusual behind-the-scenes stuff.

    Coiling Dragon is the best.

    It was great until I had to evacuate out of the way of the hurricane.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1276 Copy

    IronToBInd

    I believe the books explain all that. Jai Daishou was very old. However lots of the characters are very old and are essentially super young too because of their advancement, Daishou had stalled on his so age was catching up to him. As long as you keep pushing you stay young or get younger

    Will Wight

    ^

    Yep, this is the case. He was also an old man already when he advanced to Underlord, so while it extended his lifespan and kept him healthier, it can only go so far. If he had hit Underlord when he was 25, he wouldn’t have been so pressured for time.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1277 Copy

    Mexpedip

    purchased! like any narrator this one takes a little while to get used to but so far I think he's really good. this is based on 2 hours of listening but so far no complaints.

    ​

    What is the tentative schedule for the remainder of the series?

    Will Wight

    I know it’s been a while since you asked this question, but I have a sort of answer for you!

    Soulsmith has been fully recorded and is now in editing, which typically takes two weeks. After that, it goes to Audible, who takes however long they take (typically around two more weeks, but it seems pretty random).

    So we’re expecting the Soulsmith book sometime in November! We’re hoping for early November, but it’s largely up to Audible whether its Week 1 or Week 4.

    September 2018 - December 2018 ()
    #1279 Copy

    Lil' Blue

    Does Malice acknowledge all of her children?

    Will Wight

    She has a system by which she acknowledges them as her kids or not. She has dozens of children (not hundreds only because she chooses not to), but only acknowledges like...six or seven as her true-born kids.

    Basically, some of them don’t inherit awesome power.

    Sucks to be them, but people still are reluctant to mess with them. You never know when their goddess mom might decide to unmake you.

    Your Benevolent Dictator

    wait... so she can choose if they get the bloodline ability?

    Will Wight

    No, she doesn’t choose. If they’re born with the bloodline ability, then they’re acknowledged as her kids.