YBD
What's a good way to make a magic system have a wide variety, without still not being overly complicated?
Will Wight
So what you're looking for is of course, is the holy grail of a magic system. Is, easy to learn, hard to master. Just like a game, it's easy to understand in a conceptual level, but there's a lot of flexibility in it. Man, I have a lot of thoughts on magic systems. So the broad strokes are, you want to decide what kind of thing you want, so what sort of idea or aesthetic you want for the magic system. So do they look like, cultivation, you know martial artists throwing fire balls? Do they look like wizards? Do they look like high tech mad science technicians? What is the general concept, right? Then after that, you go into what can it do? So that defines what kind of features you do want it to have; and then, kind of what can't it do? What are it's restrictions? How does it actually work in real life? Implement it. So if you are really doing this, give me some practical way of how you're doing it. It doesn't just happen. So then how does that work? That implies other restrictions and limitations; and then you kind of go back and forth as you refine it into something specific that people can really work on.
Evan Rose
How fixed is time in the Willverse? Seems there's an emphasis on fate.
Will Wight
Okay, actually, good question. So, time, in the multiverse, is kind of fixed; but it's flexible. So, there is one central time that the Way maintains, it keeps time from being 'too' relative. Which I'm not going into that; but it keeps time sort of relevant to one another, but worlds swing one way or the other. So, it is...
shadowsaber
Will is heavily inspired by Saya No Uta.
Will Wight
... No, I am not. (...) Anyway, but time, in the different worlds, flex, a large way, but if you flex to one way either something else has to flex the other way or you yourself would have to go on a cycle. Typically if you're in a world, that is doing that, you don't notice; because you're not paying attention to the time of other worlds, right? So, one of the people that do notice are Amalgam. So the Territories have different relationships to time, but that changes over long spans of time. The Territories flex and change and their relationship to Amalgam. So one Territory might have certain time dilation now, and then it change gradually.
Charles
Will you be attending any conventions in the coming year?
Will Wight
Yeah, I'll be at DragonCon this August, like always. So, DragonCon. I'll be there.
Blizz Ace
What's the most obscure place you've drawn inspiration from?
Will Wight
I was thinking about this earlier and I, it's very hard for me to, say, because I kind of, everything goes in the hopper. You know what I mean? Everything, you pop everything into your brain. So it's hard for me to say where I get, most things don't have a specific, easily identifiable inspiration for them. It's hard for me to say what the most obscure place I've drawn inspiration from, because I draw inspiration from everything. So, yeah, that's just hard for me to, I don't know if I have a good answer for that question.
Definitely Not Will Wight
When you inevitably write Traveller's Blade, as an Akura Harmony, an Amalgam spin off series, how many Oreos will you eat during the production of the first chapter?
Will Wight
You're in my mind. Let's see, I would say about a quarter of a package.
Carson
Will you marry me?
Will Wight
I'm sorry Carson, I think we ought to just be friends.
Batman
On a scale of 1-10, what is your favorite color of the Alphabet?
Will Wight
Blue.
Red Sunny Turtle
What are the relationships that you find most difficult to explore as a writer, and how do you incorporate them into your stories?
Will Wight
So, obviously I've been open about the fact that romance is hard for me to write. There's a lot of reasons for that, but one of the major ones is. I'm writing these action focused fantasy, action stories; and I don't like shallow romances. I find it annoying and distracting. So, in most action focused fantasy, it is, the characters just fell in love because they're both attractive and sort of in the same general zip code; and that's not; I would prefer it not to be there than to be that, that adds nothing for me. That is common, so I know how to write those, those are easy to write; but a real fleshed out relationship between two characters develops over the course of a series. It's a lot harder to write, it's difficult, it requires a lot of page space. Obviously I'm a big fan of pacing very quickly, and you slow down the pacing to develop romance stories. So it is hard to do both, so because of that it is hard for me to write. Now, a lot of people go, 'I dont like romance at all'. That's not really true, a lot of series I read, Manga mostly, are romantic comedies. When its an emotional story line, and it's an emotional conflict, primarily it's the way it progresses. Then romance fits in that quite well. I can easily imagine myself going, yeah, if I were writing a series that was all about the emotional ups and downs of relationships of the characters, it would be very easy for there to be romance in that, as a dimension; because primarily what we're dealing with is the characters who have emotions and relationships between one another while going out and killing Lazer Monsters. It's hard to work that in, kind of like how it's hard to work in a human story line while you've got, in a Godzilla movie. So, it's just like... It doesn't mesh well. So because of that, because I'm not willing to just say, just have romance for the sake of romance, that's the hardest thing for me to write. (Takes sip.)
Anonymous
Has working on your non Cradle story helped your overall productivity?
Will Wight
I guess. It's hard to tell, I know that I feel better. Going, working on other things. I like having a break, working on other ideas. I like stretching myself I like trying new things. In terms of hopping back and forth, does it help my over all productivity? I don't know. I mean, that's, I was pretty productive before, I'm pretty productive now.
Notacommittee
Under what sort of circumstances would Plasma Bolts ring like a bell?
Will Wight
Alright man, I only used ring like a bell because I used it as a tag for Yerin's major ability, I didn't, I've used it other times in Traveller's Gate and other series; but, (Sam says 'A lot!' from off screen), I know, I know dang it, I use it a lot. I used it,I rely on it, I only over use it because of Cradle. Dang it. (Takes sip.)
Anonymous
What is the next type of series you are planning to work on?
Will Wight
Alright, so I've teased this, and I've talked about it. I'll tell you now, the next thing I'm planning on working on is space fantasy. So, it's not exactly scifi, it's a very soft sci-fi it's kind of a wizards in space with dragons. So you've got star ships, you've got wands, you've got dragons hatching from stars. Fun stuff.
Steven
Other than regular flavor, what is you favorite type of Oreo?
Will Wight
Birthday Cake. It's funny because I try all these different kinds of Oreos, and I really enjoy that and it's really fun; but you always come back to the double stuf is the best. Then I think of the fancy ones, Birthday Cake man. It's great.
Brandon Quill
Is the MFA program at the UCF worth enrolling in?
Will Wight
It was worth it for me, but I can't say it would be worth it for everybody. As I've said before, it was worth it for me because it was worth reading, being forced to write, read other people's writing. Learn how to give and receive feedback. All that kind of thing. Become familiar with myself as a writer; but everything you learn from an MFA program you can learn from, on your own, or from a writers group. From getting mentors. You can do that online for free, if you're going to, but I wouldn't have, I dont have the discipline for that. I wouldn't have done it. The MFA made me do it, so it was worth it for me.
Zach Sailor
What's your favorite game in the Legend of Zelda franchise?
Will Wight
Breath of the Wild, no question. I think Breath of the Wild is just amazing, what an awesome step forward for the franchise and for open world games in general. I like a lot of the other, I mean Link's Awakening is really good, a Link to the Past. I know Ocarina of Time was everybody's big, and it's a great game, but it was one of those things where I played it as a kid and it didn't make that much of an impact on me. So... It's, it's a good game, but it wasn't anything that informed me. (Takes sip.)
Anonymous
How do you start with conceptualizing a new series or world, and how do you transition that into a story or series?
Will Wight
Alright so I start with some kind of, some kind of concept, that is just the seed for whatever I think is interesting about that idea. Then I build out from there, and then I have to link it to a plotline and characters and all that kind of stuff. Whatever my initial thought process is, so for Cradle I was going look I want to do a cultivation series, that is more designed for western audiences; because a lot of the cultivation series that are written in China and Japan and Korea, they assume a level of cultural familiarity that a lot of people here don't have, and they're translated. So I was trying to go, okay let's use English words, let's use western tropes, and let's try to write it for a western audience. So I take those things and I go, what do I want to see?; and then I go out from there. That's generally how I start; but it goes back and forth. Everything I figure out about the world informs the characters, everything I figure out about the characters informs the plot, everything I figure out about the plot informs the world. So on and so forth.
Vayels Core
How do you name your characters?
Will Wight
Uh, I've said this before, kind of any way. All the ways. There's only really a couple of rules I go with, one is if you want people to, who are named by a certain culture to have something in common with other people named by that culture, and then other ways are, you don't want main characters with rhyming names or names that start with the same letter; because that becomes confusing. So, you kind of, your main character names have to be distinct. Dresden Files is my big example of that, we have Murphy, Michael, Mouse, all these people who begin with M, and it's like, it looks confusing on the page. So it's not terrible, it's just one of those things where, avoid those things if you can.
Jan Hanancik
Yeah, Elden Ring names.
Garrub
Character names shouldn't start with the same letter? Someone tell Elden Ring.
Will Wight
Oh yeah, Elden Ring, that's another good, Elden Ring yeah. All the Elden Ring, Godfried, Godrick, Godwhatever, it's okay sure. Godwin, Godbolt.
Kandra
How fast does Plasma Bolts?
Will Wight
How fast does Plasma Bolt?(presumably?) Quickly, anytime anything happens, he's just ready to bolt. Plasma is just out of there.
Gary Meloton
When does Lindon show up in Plasma Bolts?
Will Wight
Um, 6.
True Ruler of None
Does your upcoming series Plasma Bolts have plasma swords?
Will Wight
Yes.
FelCandy
People always ask who is Will Wight, but we want to know how is Will Wight? :D How are you doing?
Will Wight
Aw, 'how are you doing?' I'm doing alright, not too bad. One of the things that we're continually trying to figure out is how I take time off better. So I give myself time off, but it's hard to kind of turn my brain off. So I've been trying to figure out how do I channel that into projects that make me restore...
LinkToDarkness
Turn Will off and on again. That might reset him.
Will Wight
(...) Yeah, yeah that's actually what I'm talking about, how do I turn myself off and on again and rest. I know you were joking about the lag.
