I've started writing again, but there's not much to talk about yet, so let's talk about what I'm doing on my free time.

Why is there so much TV coming out right now?

We just finished Arcane, we've got the Witcher coming up, I've really been enjoying Hawkeye,  obviously I marathoned all of JoJo Part 6 instantly, and the new season of Sunny is starting.

A lot of people ask me how I feel about Wheel of Time, which makes sense, since WoT is probably my favorite fantasy series. My honest answer: it's fine.

I'm not over the moon about it like I was for Arcane, but I expected to hate it. I don't hate it. I think it's pretty good. Though I did just finish watching the fifth episode of WoT, which was definitely the weakest of the season so far, but Brandon Sanderson says Episode 6 is his favorite.

My hope is strong!

It's hard enough to keep up with everything coming out nowadays, but what's your favorite thing airing now? What have you been watching? Did I miss anything? Should I have talked more about JoJo?

Yes, I should have? You want me to monologue for hours about JoJo? Well, if you insist.

​-Will

One of the common questions I've gotten over the last eight and a half years has been, "Will, you craven cretin, how far in advance do you plan major plot points?"

I had this exchange again on Reddit recently, and as I responded, I realized it would make a good blog post. Did I know about Dross and Ghostwater before I wrote Unsouled? Do I know how the series ends?

This is going to be spoiler-free for Reaper, though it will contain plot spoilers for some of the previous books. If you haven't read through Wintersteel, probably steer clear.

Please help me in this and keep Reaper spoilers out of the comments as much as you can. Some people don't read their books in seconds by placing their hands on the cover, like I do.

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1-8

Isaac_Xander, on Reddit, asked me: "How much of the major plot points (Orthos, the Jai Long fight, Undersage/Overherald, Dross, etc.) were planned from Unsouled or Soulsmith? Do you ever 'write on the fly' about major plot points?"

My direct answer was: "Honestly, yes and no. 'Yes' in the sense that yes, I absolutely make this stuff up on the fly all the time, but 'no' in that it's often not the plot points you might think."

Then I went into detail, and I will go into greater detail here. I'm mostly focusing on the introduction of major characters, but I'll get into other things too.

Eithan - As I mentioned on stream recently, I had developed Eithan's character before even Lindon's. He was a fun mentor character that I really wanted to write, and had developed for another series, but thought he was a great fit for Cradle. One of my regrets in Unsouled was that we couldn't meet Eithan yet.

Orthos - I knew from Unsouled that I wanted Lindon to develop black dragon powers and have a corresponding animal companion, but I decided to make Orthos a turtle and gave him his powers while planning Blackflame.

Mercy - I always intended there to be a female companion named Mercy, and it was a quick decision to make her cheery and upbeat to contrast with the usually dour Lindon and Yerin. I took the opportunity to tie her into the Akura family, whom I developed while working on Blackflame, so that I could show them off.

Hunger arm - Pretty early on, I knew I wanted to give Lindon the ability to absorb the power of others. Had a lot of plot reasons for that, but the main reason was that it was cool. The tie-in to the Dreadgods was, of course, a natural fit.

I originally wanted Lindon to lose one arm and one eye, to play up the "duality" theme of his character design and reflect the two cores, but the nature of how he lost his arm and his Goldsign being eye-color-changing made me reconsider the eye thing.

Dross - From before starting Unsouled, I knew I wanted to do a pocket world arc. It became an underwater-themed pocket dimension simply because I love the underwater aesthetic.

I knew I wanted whatever the "prize" of the facility was to be relevant to Lindon if he ascended, and I knew I eventually wanted Lindon to develop his own Presence, but it was a friend of mine who suggested those two things should be one and the same. That was when I was working on Ghostwater.

Prior to that, I knew I wanted all those things, but I hadn't combined them.

Undersage / Overherald - This is another one of those points where I knew I wanted certain things, but I found the opportunity to combine them.

Lindon's connection to the Void Icon was something I had set up from the very beginning...sort of. I laid the groundwork one step at a time, knowing that I wanted Lindon's powers to be thematically linked at the end, and I even knew the "void / emptiness" theme. That part, I'd been setting up for a long time.

But I didn't figure out how to tie all that together in a neat little bow until working on Wintersteel. I also knew that at the end of the tournament I wanted both Lindon and Yerin to reach unique advancement stages, though it wasn't until I was designing the UKT that I had a flickering lightbulb over my head and realize we should be preparing Yerin for the power-up Lindon's going to get and vice-versa.

That swip-swap thing (that's a technical literary term, take notes) was a last-minute stroke of inspiration. I usually don't trust sudden inspiration, but this one brought cookies, so I let it inside.

Ozriel - Of course I've known Ozriel's location from the beginning of Unsouled. There was no other way to write the story.

​If I didn't know who he was, I wouldn't have put Suriel on a series-long journey to find him, I would have pulled an Elder Empire and had the entire premise of the series be "The most powerful guy in all existence is dead, so now what do we do?"

End of the Series - Naturally, I knew from the beginning that everything was leading up to a rap battle between Lindon and the Mad King. These hot bars have burned inside me for years, and I can't wait to let them out.

Summary - Reading it all laid out like this, I think it comes down to this: I often know vaguely what I want to do, in general terms, but how I do it is usually up to my last-minute imagination and fickle whims.

Usually. Some scenes are burned into my mind years in advance.

​-Will

P.S. Remember to keep Reaper spoilers out of the comments as much as possible, thanks! I wouldn't want to have to send my flock of loyal ravens after you. They can find you anywhere, and they hunger for toenails.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 9) at 7 PM Florida Time, I'll be on my Twitch answering chat questions about Reaper. Feel free to join if you've finished the book.

Let me be clear: this is a SPOILER STREAM and I'll be answering questions about SPOILERS. Don't log on and listen if you haven't finished the book!

I wanted to do this last week, but I felt like it was only fair to give you a week to actually read the book.

I mostly just plan on chatting, and any question that requires me to look things up will probably result in me either A.) dodging the question or B.) lying, but if you'd like to ask me questions about Reaper, join in tomorrow!

Let me remind you one more time that it will be full of spoilers.

#LittleBlueKillsDumbledore

​-Will

I probably should have blogged about this two days ago, but I was busy checking Amazon rankings and high-fiving.

Once again, we reached #1 in the entire Kindle Store. You'd think that would get old, now that we've gotten there for three titles in a row, but it really doesn't. Still awesome.

Even if we couldn't beat Dune in audio...that's okay, Dune. You can have your win. For now.

In case you missed it, Reaper is available now in all formats! And the fan response has been...overwhelming.

I was worried about this book. Those of you who have read it understand why, I'm sure. But so many fans have read it and enjoyed it at this point that it makes me feel like an idiot for worrying.

Thanks for reading, all of you! Thanks for sticking with me for so long! And for those of you who haven't read it yet, or haven't finished, I hope you enjoy the story!

Please try to keep the comments as spoiler-free as possible, for the sake of those among us who like to savor their meals. I'd like to do a spoileriffic discussion with everybody soon, once a reasonable amount of time has passed. Maybe a stream?

​-Will

The pre-order for Reaper is still up, but soon it will have fulfilled its purpose, as November 2nd is right around the corner. For some, it is already here...

For you Australians and "Australians" who already have the book, please don't spoil anything for people living in the past! Please don't ruin their fun before I do.

Tonight at 9 PM Florida Time, I'll be doing my traditional launch stream on my Twitch channel! Tune in to hear me answer fan-submitted questions (not about Reaper, because spoilers) and watch me run around in circles in some video game!

I'm not sure what I'll be playing, but probably something that rhymes with Flubrottica, Plateau Hero.

I always get unbelievably nervous before a book release. People tend to make fun of me for it, since I know I'm going to sell a lot of books, but it's not book sales I'm worried about. I want people to enjoy the books.

So waiting for a book release always feels like waiting to see if you're going to get the death penalty.

Trust me; I've been in both situations a lot.

​-Will

P.S. Since people are already reading the book, if you don't want to be spoiled, stay out of fan communities until you're done reading!

​Especially if the thread is marked as a spoiler. Common sense, people.

First, the "news!" Most of this is a recap, so please allow me a moment to take you on a tour of the present before we discuss the future...

1.) The Reaper pre-order is still up!

We didn't take it down, because that would have been stupid!

2.) Cradle merchandise is still 10% off!

It's not much, but it's more than 9%!

3.) Voting for the Path contest is live!

I hope that link works and doesn't send you to some crazy document about how to sabotage a hospital or something!

4.) We'll be announcing the winners of the Path contest on my Twitch channel!

We're going to announce the contest winners this Friday at 8 PM Eastern, and you can vote right up until that begins!

Full disclosure: I have not read these Paths...but I will be reading the winning Paths live, so you'll get to see my genuine reactions! My incredibly narrow-minded, judgmental reactions of pure scorn. Tune in!

5.) Also on Twitch, I'll be doing my normal Monday night pre-launch stream from 9 PM to midnight!

If you're Australian (or pretending to be...) and have already read the book prior to that stream, please don't spoil anything for those of us living in the past!

If I have to know what happens without telling anyone, so do you.

6.) REAPER LINES OUT OF CONTEXT!

I've got a couple of lines pulled randomly from the book. I shouldn't be spoiling anything significant here, but if you're particularly spoiler-averse, shield your eyes.

MILD SPOILER WARNING!

Reaper Line 1: “Oh no, I missed something!” Eithan cried. “Quickly, repeat your entire conversation before you forget a word!”

Reaper Line 2: “…she’ll be your opponent.”
Little Blue put hands on her hips and whistled a challenge.
​
Reaper Line 3: Reigan Shen coughed up blood, which wasn’t as bad a sign as it seemed.

-Will

Also, in just a moment I'll reveal the first line of Reaper. Thought I ought to lead with that information.

But first! There's been a lot happening since I've been on Broken Foot Leave, so it's time to catch you up on all the succulent news.

1.) Cradle #10, Reaper, is now available for pre-order in ebook and audiobook! It releases on November 2nd, and we have NO PAPERBACK PRE-ORDER.

Amazon's paperback service is print-on-demand and they can't do pre-orders for us lowly independently published authors. Our hands are tied. We'll try to release the book early enough in paperback that you might be able to get it delivered and read it on Day 1...but we can't guarantee that, because we don't know where you live.

Our ninja spies followed you home, but they never reported back. You have very impressive security ghosts.

2.) There's a sale going on right now for Cradle merchandise! Everything Cradle is 10% off, no promo code necessary, but unfortunately we still can't ship outside the US.

COVID and the Union of Bridge Trolls really wreaked havoc on our shipping lanes.

3.) The third Cradle collection, Rise of Lords, is now available in ebook!

Just like the first two collections, this one contains three books of the Cradle series in one file, this time of course being volumes 7-9.

I don't know what I'm going to call the fourth and final collection. I've been workshopping Lindon Dies, but I'm also considering that as the final book title. Lindondies.

4.) The first six books of the Cradle series are FREE right now on ebook, in case you need something else to stuff your Kindle before Halloween.

This sale includes Unbeseelt, the German version of Unsouled, which is 100% in German and also currently 100% free!

See if you can catch all 16 secrets I slipped exclusively into the German version!

5.) >When on November 2nd will the book go live in my region?
Good question, you!

The answer is, WE DO NOT AND CANNOT KNOW. People have been upset at us in the past for the book not becoming available exactly at 12:01 AM in their region, and we have no control over that.

If I could control Amazon, I would be in space right now. But I cannot.

However, the audio and the ebook WILL both be released on the 2nd, that we can guarantee.

They're both coming out and they'll both be out on the second of November , but the timing is never guaranteed across regions. We've had people on the west coast of the US get it before people on the east coast, we've had people in the UK get it before people in Australia, and some people don't get it until 8 or 9 AM. But it's always up on the day of release.

Audio and ebook = November 2nd!
Paperback = Probably before November 2nd! Does that mean you'll get the book on or before November 2nd? We don't know! Paperback shipping was an inexact science even before the Rise of the Paper Weevils.

6.) There is a fan-submitted Path contest going on through next Monday, the 25th, at noon EST! I guess you submit through this link!

I did not even know this contest was going on until very recently, because I have been sequestered from such knowledge.

Speaking of which...

7.) My foot is fine, thanks for asking. I know you were scrolling down to see how I was doing physically, and my heart radiates in sympathy with your concern.

I was getting tired of waiting for it to heal, so I had it replaced with a cyborg foot. It's one more step toward my ultimate goal of transcending fleshy humanity.

Is that it? I think that's it!

-Will

PS. First line of Reaper:

Information restricted: Personal Record 8154.
Authorization required to access.
Authorization confirmed: 008 Ozriel.
Beginning record…
 
Ozmanthus Arelius looked up into the ash falling from the sky and knew he’d failed.

This week, on the World's Least Interesting News: I had a minor fracture in my foot, so I'm basically trapped on a couch until it heals.

How did I do it, you ask? As you know, it's currently Alligator Season in Florida, when tumble-alligators roll down the street on every stiff breeze. My friends and I were playing a quick game of Alligator Soccer, and my kick must have caught one of its bony scutes.

I did, however, make it into the goal. And my alligator bit the keeper, so that's two points.

While trapped, I've been re-reading Part 7 of JoJo, re-watching Futurama, and still re-playing Mario Odyssey. Lots of re-doing things.

For the next week or two, if you happen to see me out and about, please don't kick the crutch out from under me. Sure, it was funny the first three or four times I face-planted in the street, but now it's getting old.

And, in case you hadn't heard yet, Cradle #10: Reaper is due out November 2nd! By which time I should be back on my feet, hobbling around like a one-legged hippopotamus as usual.

-Will

It's been a long month. A good one! But a long one.

​I'm not permitted by my handlers to say more than this, but I expect news about Reaper's release date to come soon. Maybe as soon as--oh no, they've found me. Quick, whistle inconspicuously!

We're headed to DragonCon this week, and we still have a fan meetup scheduled for Saturday!

Now, COVID being what it is, DragonCon could be canceled at any second. I have their website refreshing right now. So we're all being very flexible over here.

But as long as we're allowed to be there, we plan on being there! 12 PM - 3 PM at the Embassy Suites at Centennial Park in Atlanta (Ballrooms A & B)! Plus, far more exciting than me, meet Travis Baldree!

We'll be adhering to all safety guidelines set by the con, the hotel, and the city...and we hope we get to see you there! We also hope the event happens at all!

Since I can't share more details with you on pain of dismemberment, here's a recommendation for some light reading: The Villain Wants to Live. It's a Korean translated web novel without too many chapters so far, and I've really been enjoying it. 

Not a whole lot of complexity to it, but the character is charming in a unique way, it's fun to read, and there's no harem nonsense. I don't know about you, but that's a big plus for my reading experience.

Also, in the moments I've caught my breath since finishing the latest draft of Reaper, I've been replaying Mario Odyssey and Divinity: Original Sin 2. I know this is the farthest thing from a hot take, but boy those games are good.

This just in: Mario games are fun. This news is hot off the presses.

While I've been slowly waking from my traditional post-book coma and exhaustion-related illness, I've been kicking around some ideas. I'd like to write some short stories here soon; maybe slide back into Traveler's Gate after who knows how many years, or maybe shore up the sadly lacking canon of Cradle short stories. Not sure.

Is there a particular type of short story you'd like to see from me? Would you like to berate me for having said nothing all month? Maybe you want to ask me when Reaper is coming out, which I will not yet answer!

You can request these things and more...in the comments.

-Will

It's been a while, so I thought I'd give you an update on my Reaper progress! There's only so much I can say without spoilers, so I'll be giving you as much information as I can without saying anything that will get me in trouble.

First off, I've finished the first draft and am working on storyline changes/improvements for the next one. The book right now is about 120,000 words, which I don't expect to change too much over the rest of the process. I'll be adding some things, but I'll be cutting others, so it normally evens out at this point.

That makes it a comfortable runner-up in length to Wintersteel, since WS is 144k words and the current silver medalist, Blackflame, is about 110k.

MOST MINOR OF SPOILERS, PROBABLY NOT EVEN A SPOILER, I JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO COMPLAIN:

Structurally, I'd say it's more similar to Blackflame, as the main reason Wintersteel was so long is that I had a full plot for both Lindon and Yerin. This time--while I of course do have some sub-plots--the majority of the book follows one storyline.

END "SPOILERS" THAT ARE ACTUALLY JUST ABOUT GENERAL STORY STRUCTURE

As for the release date, I can't comment. Learned my lesson on that years ago. I know when I think it will be done, but if I make that guess and then don't meet it, I will be whipped endlessly by gangs of stalkers wielding cat-o-nine-tails.

Cats-o-nine-tails? I'm not sure what the plural for that would be.

Here's the most I can commit to: we certainly plan to release Reaper in 2021.*

Finally, I really wanted to call this blog post "A Peeper for the Reaper." This is a Peeper. Play Subnautica.

-Will

*What? No, not the year​ 2021. We're releasing it in Dimension 2021, home of the Sentient Octopus ruling class. All hail Chancellor Skwirgle.