Questioner
Why people from sacred valley are so weak?
John
I think the weakness is easily explained by their isolation. There is much less danger in the sacred valley, and it seems the best way to advance is to be put into danger and have to find a way to survive.As for why a band of lowgolds has not come and stolen all their good artifacts (the schools seem to have some really nice ones), I was wondering that myself. Apparently the entrances to the valley are hidden / difficult to find, but I would think that some of the golds would just climb it to get in, or perhaps use some flying construct that can do better than one of those skimmer clouds.
Will Wight
John is right about their isolation. As for why some random guy hasn't wandered into the valley and ruled like a king, there is an explanation for that, and it will be shown to you clearly in future books.
Avinash
Maybe the valley is protected somehowlike some ancient master probably the missing OZRIEL grew up there and he protected it or shielded it somhow
Will Wight
I can neither confirm nor deny your theory, Avinash.I do want to point out that Suriel didn't say anything about Ozriel growing up in Sacred Valley, just in Cradle somewhere.So maybe he did, maybe he didn't. You don't know. IT'S A MYSTERY!
Questioner
Hey Will just finished the book, enjoyed it as always. I love reading your books I think they are always fun action packed fantasy that really makes me like the main character they always act a bit different from the standard hero's journey protagonist and I always really like that. I think your writing is getting better as well. My only problem is now you have so many series I want to read more about and you only have so much time :'( . Also honestly charge more for the books, I think they are worth more even though you may think they are short they last longer than $3 and I would hate to see you stop writing because its not economically viable. Can't wait for the next one great Job!
Will Wight
I'm glad you're enjoying them, James!I'm probably giving off a misconception about my income here, so let me clarify: I am not on the verge of bankruptcy. Nowhere close. I am making a very comfortable living for a single guy living alone.That said, the income from writing is not steady. It has extreme peaks and valleys. In one month this year, let's say March, I made about a thousand dollars. In July, I made about thirty thousand.So you see, it fluctuates rapidly.However, there are quite a few expenses that go onto the business end that most readers never see, and I obviously don't get any benefits: I pay all business expenses, insurance, fees, taxes, etc. out of my own pocket.Also, the way Amazon works rewards rapid releases. Two books released three months apart get WAY more attention than those same books released nine months apart. Which means they make more money AND they make it more steadily.TL;DR - I am in no jeopardy whatsoever, it's just complicated. As long as things continue as they are, I'll continue being able to write full-time.
Questioner
In Soulsmith it looks like Lindon is just advancing fast.
Will Wight
He's developing insanely fast compared to where he started. More civilized people wouldn't think it's weird to go from nothing to Iron in an afternoon.
Questioner
Are there tens of billions of lowgolds on Cradle? Since 1000 x 1000 x 10,000 = 10 billion, either the odds that Eithan quoted are incorrect, or else there must be a heck of a lot of lowgolds around somewhere.
Will Wight
This may or may not surprise you, but I actually have an answer for this.First of all, Eithan is using those numbers rhetorically. He begins it by saying "I've heard it said..." indicating that this is idiomatic, and not literally correct. It's really just a saying about how difficult it is to advance; it's not based on accurate census data.That said, it's not high. It's low.Cradle has a population far greater than that of Earth and more spread out. The planet is larger, the gravity is higher, and the sacred arts developed as a way to survive in environments that would kill any real human. Even though the populace is spread out, there's basically no region that isn't inhabited by SOMEONE, including deserts at the center of many continents and large stretches of the ocean.But, of course, the only people who know this are the Abidan. And now you.
Questioner
Just powered through Soulsmith after rereading Unsouled! Was a great read especially the later half of the story! I've been enjoying your writing a lot recently!Wondering what you imagine the length of the series to be and if we'll get to see all the awesome places you've shown glimpses of? So far its been one location per book which excites me if that's an indication of more to come!
Will Wight
I'm definitely planning a bunch of cool locations for Cradle. As it stands now, I intend to establish a home (outside of Sacred Valley) for him soon, so that'll be a recurring location. But we're still exploring somewhere new every book.
Questioner
Although I have to say, now that we have a better grasp on how strong the sword sage was, his death seems kinda lame. I mean, they were jades and hes... something a lot stronger.But, I guess that it kind of shows that whatever level he was at, it wasn't something one should call a god or immortal yet. Still very much human and susceptible to death.
Will Wight
Everything you said is absolutely true, but I'm going to respond with a mild spoiler.[MILD SPOILER ALERT]Under normal conditions, a bunch of Jades would not have been able to kill him even if he were poisoned and asleep.I tell you this so you know that I'm aware of this apparent contradiction, there IS an explanation, and it WILL be shown to you in the future.
Captain Nemo
Hey Will! I've been reading your books since you published House of Blades, and I'm a big fan. Now, question: The Arelius family in Cradle and the Aurelian empire in EE. Is that a connection or a coincidence?
Will Wight
I am very glad you asked that question, because it IS a coincidence. I knew someone would notice, and I'm glad you pointed it out.
Here's the deal: originally it was the Orelius family, because I thought "Eithan Orelius" sounded cool. But the first round of readers conflated Ozriel (the missing Judge that Suriel is hunting) with Orelius, and they became confused.
Basically, when you're making up a bunch of names, you want to make them sound as different from one another as you can, or people get confused. That was one too many similar-sounding O-names, but I liked the sound of "Orelius." I couldn't go with "Erelius" because then Eithan Erelius sounds like the fake name of a wizard, and I ruled out Eithan Irelius for reasons that probably made sense at the time but I can't recall now, and settled on Arelius even though I knew people would assume there was a connection to the Aurelian Empire.
There isn't. Just a coincidentally similar-sounding name.
Arch
The fight was not that long, the books are just shorter than standard novels (no memes)
Lil' Blue
No they're not. Other than Skysworn, most are about standard novel length.(edited) Sorry Skysworn
Will Wight
Skysworn is too. Same length.
Lil' Blue
Nuh uh, I counted before I said that!
Will Wight
Skysworn is 86,607 Soulsmith is 86,476
Lil' Blue
Dang, I only checked the last 3
This is what I get for being lazy.
Will Wight
#rekt
Lil' Blue
It's there to placate people like you! People who care about cool moments over the overall narrative.
Will Wight
No, it was there for the purpose of the overall narrative. Not for the moment-to-moment payoff. It was there to have Lindon lose, to show the gap between him and a Truegold, to have him lose an arm, to advance Eithan's plan, to change the landscape with the Jai clan, and to demonstrate Eithan's existing relationship with the Skysworn.
I mean, I understand not liking the fight itself
But it was there for a reason
Lil' Blue
You win.
You have all defeated me.
My opinion is clearly wrong.
Your Benevolent Dictator
Dab on the haters will
Lil' Blue
Lol it's funny if you guys think I'm a hater xD
Will Wight
I mean, I wasn’t taking that position. The only thing I took issue with was my purpose for writing the scene.
Your opinion on it is totally valid.
Lil' Blue
I was being glib there.
What I meant was "people would feel robbed if they didn't get a cool fight for that."
And I feel that's unimportant.
Will Wight
Yeah, I don’t feel that it’s unimportant, but I do feel that it’s of secondary importance
Tievel
Has anyone gone to the moon?
Will Wight
In an early draft of Cradle, not proto-Cradle, there was a moon base. Essentially sects that had made it to the moon and set up a livable environment there. So at the time when I answered that question, I was trying to decide if that still exists in Cradle or not. Then I thought, “is martial arts NASA too crazy?” Then I thought, “No it isn’t.” But I still wasn’t sure if I wanted it as part of the setting or not.
Hammy
Are there moon spirit animals?
Will Wight
Rabbits.
Hammy
How old are Lindon and Yerin?
Will Wight
I’ve confirmed they’re both 18 for fan purposes.
Lil' Blue
What are cradle confections?
Will Wight
It’s a specific subset of medicinal refining. There are sugars that energize your spirit and candies that cause you to levitate.
Will Wight
Another random story idea I've had before (although this would be more of a storytelling mechanism than anything): I'd like to do a series where I explicitly roll for the results of (at least some of) the main character's actions. So you know that when the character miraculously succeeds or disastrously fails, it was the dice and not me intervening.
So like a serial where I Facebook Live the result of the roll every day, and then narrate the results the next day.
Kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure, but with fate.
Tievel
So I think that sacred beasts, or at least dragons, may begin producing soulfire before Truegold
Will Wight
Not before Truegold, but at the peak of Truegold. The three steps on the way to Underlord are opening a soulspace, gathering soulfire, and using it to refine the body.
screamin statistics
Did Suriel's eyes really take up half of her face?
Will Wight
That was an exaggeration from a person thinking back to the appearance she used to have. She just meant her eyes were too large and she thought they made her look weird.
Will Wight
I did have one semi-humorous story "idea" one time that still appeals to me for some reason. I realized that there are so many arch-whatevers in fantasy universes, so I created a setting that I called The Arches, about a kid whose whole family is an arch-something except him. His mom is an arch-druid, his dad is an arch-priest, his sister is an archmage and his brother is an arch-demon, that sort of thing. And he's just like...not.
screamin statistics
What about that tent scene hmm?
Will Wight
You know the funny thing about the tent scene? From the very beginning, when I sent my primary editor the outline, we were both like "Okay, you know there will be people who pair Mercy and Yerin just because they spend this much time together."
Lil' Blue
A lot of people ship Saeya x Eithan.
Will Wight
Speaking solely about what's in the books and nothing non-canon from my head, the Eithan x Saeya ship has both more and less to it. On the one hand, the characters are peers that have a prior history with one another. On the other hand, they've barely spent any time together in scene.
Tievel
I think [the Saeya x Eithan ship] may also be partly because she's basically the only person in the series we've seen so far that hasn't wanted or tried to outright strangle Eithan...
Will Wight
Who says she hasn't wanted to outright strangle him? Even his oldest friends wanted to strangle him half the time.
