I Emerge from the Darkness, Blinking and New

5/29/2017

I'd like to say that I've taken the last month off, but to be completely honest with you, I had three weddings, I'm still moving into my new house, and I just spent the last week locked in a cabin writing.

But hey! On the bright side, Blackflame is doing disturbingly well.

It has sold faster than any of my other books, and in fact its success has helped my other books too; Soulsmith earned nine times more this month than it did last month.

I bow to you in thanks!

More soon, when hopefully I get some breathing room. In the meantime, I'll leave you with these random out-of-context lines from Skysworn:

The Lord of Specters opened its beak once more, and a voice issued forth like a distant chorus singing a dirge. “Tell us the name of your enemy,” the raven said.

In the Blackflame Empire, when you wanted an Underlord dead, you had precious few options.

-Will

102 Comments

Faris

5/29/2017 10:26:22 am

Does this mean Skysworn is next? While I'd like books from the other series, I also love Cradle.

The solution is to clone Will.

Daniel young

5/30/2017 12:56:47 am

Actually cloning wouldn't work you need to construct an exact replica of his physical form and then implant a copy of his brain patterns into it

5/30/2017 10:36:58 am

But then you'd get divergent Wills! Each Will would start being different like the Bobs in We Are Legion by Dennis Taylor.

We need to implement version control into this brain pattern copying. When one branch of Will completes a book, that Will is folded back into the main line of Will brain patterns. Then when the Will Collective is ready to begin the next book in the series, a new Will is branched out with the latest pattern.

Faris

5/30/2017 12:09:37 pm

I'd say that's still cloning, just more advanced (and in this case required) refinements of the cloning techniques.

Dustin

5/30/2017 08:46:14 pm

I think what we need is something similar to what was in Kiln People by David Brin. He could write multiple books at once and then just upload the memories of each copy at the end of the day.

Zeussaxis

6/1/2017 05:03:40 pm

...cloud consciousness

Brian S

6/1/2017 05:45:49 pm

Will would almost certainly get himself banned by Amazon by writing three or four different sequels to the same book. Each book would be slightly different at first and then quickly spiral in different directions. They would all argue on the blog and delete each others posts before too long, and eventually, they would hunt each other down until there was only one. This Will would then be The One. The One Will would have super powers. At this point depending on which Will was victorious would determine what future this Will would pursue, but it is unlikely that Super Will would continue a career in writing.

SirBelga

5/29/2017 11:05:41 am

You actually started working on skysworn? That's awesome. I want to read new adventures in the traveler's gate's world as well but ever since I bought and read Blackflame, I can't wait to read the following 10 (you said 13 books in cradle right ?) iteration in the serie.
Take some time off to rest, I'm sure you need it.

Jeremiah

5/29/2017 11:51:49 am

Sleep not any more, work more!

One day I'd actually like to see sales statistics just because sales trends interest me. I would hope that Elder Empire also bumped. I would also pester a bit again about OKAK cause I can't wait to read it! I've not waited as long as for most of anything from Sanderson...

Will link

6/17/2017 03:44:49 pm

Words of Radiance was March 2014, and Of Dawn and Darkness was December 2015.

Not quite that long!

I'll probably share some sales numbers at some point. EE may have gotten a minor bump, idk. Not much of one, though.

All of my friends and family--ALL of them--still like EE better than either of my other series, but it's still my least popular by far. I need to keep learning why, just to improve as best I can.

Diego link

6/18/2017 01:14:42 am

Maybe just maybe... they like it more because they have you to shed some light on some more obscure parts of the story. It might also be EE takes on darker aspects (mature) and your readers arent used to that. Could be alot of things really. And if you want everyones opinion on it maybe make a post about it and ask your readers what they think? Or at least discuss it?

Kevin

5/29/2017 12:50:16 pm

You're alive! Keep up the great work. I am off to find an angry turtle for a pet.

Liko

5/29/2017 12:52:34 pm

Congratulations on your new home and all the weddings! Great timing for you to be able to attend.

Thanks for the Skysworn randoms.

Stay blessed and stay healthy.

Aloha, Liko

Corey

5/29/2017 01:18:01 pm

Just getting some skysworn ideas down before working on elder empire?

Walter

5/29/2017 01:18:47 pm

It feels a tad selfish to pester you about Skysworn so soon after the release of black flame, but I had some road trips and read through cradle 1-3 again, and the dragon advances.. My hunger roils in my core, and only your authorship can clear my channels of the burning urge for more! You're amazing, and you absolutely deserve all the success going your way! Keep up the good work! I tell people about your series all the time, and they ask me how many books I think you'll have in the series. My stomach drops out at the thought because this adventure is too much fun to read, and re-read! I've read one four times now, two three times, and three twice. Already anticipating four!

Big Fan

5/30/2017 10:06:24 pm

Will,
Great book and big fan, can't wait to read skysworn. Walter, I think burning loins/ urges is a little strong for a book.

Walter

6/1/2017 08:17:50 am

Core, dude, core! Where did you imagine the core to be when you read them?? O_O

Will link

6/17/2017 03:46:22 pm

GIRD THY LOINS!

Sorry it took me so long to respond Walter; death really cuts into my schedule.

But now I've clawed my way back to life, and I bring with me some fresh new ideas for Cradle. I think you'll enjoy them!

Yosef

5/29/2017 01:22:19 pm

You got married three times? that seems a bit much.

Congrats on Blackflame and other books doing well.

but beware of the dreaded cabin fever because that never ends well

Will link

6/1/2017 07:54:50 am

My first two wives each died mysteriously on our honeymoons, leaving me with their vast fortunes. My third wife is doing great, though! We're on our honeymoon.

As for cabin fever, in my experience, it usually results in a flamboyant song-and-dance number involving a bunch of puppets.

Yosef

6/1/2017 02:21:28 pm

If your third wife dies as well maybe you should think of a different place for your honeymoon....

Sadly that was the best song in a disappointing movie compared to their previous outing sing in dickensian London.

Brian S

6/1/2017 05:47:30 pm

The most disturbing part of the OP is this talk of dancing puppets. I'm afraid Will, I'm very afraid.

Lord of the Tower

5/29/2017 01:22:45 pm

Congrats Will and you started writing Skysworn already!!!This tower Lord is Very pleased!
3 weddings ! O_O wow

Sean K

5/29/2017 01:32:11 pm

CONGRATZ Will!! You didn't mention to the fans the 4.9 out of 5 raiting on the book for Kindle reviews. No easy feat with 278 different reviews!

One question, how often do you encounter sacred artists with multiple cores in Cradle?

Jimmy

5/31/2017 06:56:02 am

Based on Eithan's reaction and questioning, I believe the appearance of someone with two cores is quite the anomaly. An unsouled (pure madra) is also quite rare, but as much as it can make many things more difficult, it seems the blank slate also provides many opportunities.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:48:09 pm

Both pure madra and two cores are rare, but not unheard of. It's one of those things where you (as a normal sacred artist) might meet someone in Lindon's situation and go, "Wow, that's intriguing. But, uh...why would you do that?"

Coldsteel

5/29/2017 02:47:06 pm

We have awaited your emergence into the light, oh Will, pallid and squinting though you may be.

I'd like to leave a few thoughts here about your near term writing direction. As a new writer I think what you'd want to do is grow your audience as much and as fast as you can. As you've noticed, a successful book or series will get both your prior and your future works read by a lot more people. It's a exponential progression.

Your trajectory right now as a writer reminds me an awful lot of Jim Butcher (another favorite of mine) and his Dresden Files series success. I remember when I first started reading that series he was a complete unknown. As more and more books in the series came out, his readership grew and grew and now he's become a big name in the industry. Every new book in that series (which is similar to Cradle in length, by the way) is a best seller now. After his seminal series was well established he then branched out with the Codex Alera and Cinder Spires series at which point he was well established with a large and enthusiastic audience. I believe there are some very similar parallels here.

I believe that like Butcher, you have a breakout series on your hands with Cradle and as much as I would love to see another book in one of your other series at some point, I'd rather see another Cradle book next. In my opinion you should continue to ride the Cradle rocket for all it's worth. I think it will pay off for you down the road in terms of both audience and finances. And with a new house and mortgage payments, it may be the really smart thing to do.

I believe the majority of readers would support more Cradle. That is if you're not sick of it. If you are, then you need to write what you need to write. But, it you are not sick of Cradle, then ride the surf, man. The waves are up.

Coldsteel

5/29/2017 02:57:06 pm

Gah, I meant ride the wave, the surf is up. Apparently I'm dyslexic. And two metaphors in a row, that's ugly.

And it's "an exponential progression", grrr. I wish you could edit these messages.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:51:51 pm

I wish you could edit them too, Coldsteel.

And sorry it took me so long to respond. Death, you know.

I am always pallid, and I live in Florida, so I squint whenever I walk outside without my sunglasses.

I think the Jim Butcher parallel is apt, though if Jim Butcher is a mountain, I'm like a molehill's runty cousin. He only branched off from Dresden because he couldn't keep writing the same thing over and over again in a row. He would get creatively stagnated, go stir-crazy, and start hating everything he was doing.

That's where it is with me too. If I keep writing the same thing in a row for too long, I start to lose it. Which is why I wrote Unsouled in the first place.

Now...it makes more business sense for me to keep writing Cradle until my hands fall off. But I want to finish Elder Empire, and I owe it to the fans of that series.

Chris N

5/29/2017 03:10:09 pm

Hold up now! Writing for the last week and quotes from Skysworn?? Does that mean Skysworn is next and not EE??? Maybe it's obvious but I need that confirmed please... :-)

Also, maybe I missed it, but did you actually follow through on your experiment to write Blackflame while outlining EE, and if so, how'd that go?

Thanks,
Chris

Will link

6/17/2017 03:52:26 pm

Full details in a blog post on Wednesday!

Poly_core

5/29/2017 03:56:25 pm

Will, don't you DARE hurt Eithan :D

Corey

5/29/2017 04:37:29 pm

Lindon, save Eithan!

Kaden

5/29/2017 04:31:15 pm

I knew you would put back OKAK again

Will link

6/17/2017 03:53:15 pm

Don't jump to conclusions yet, Kaden! Details Wednesday!

April

5/29/2017 05:18:32 pm

First, very happy for you on the success of Blackflame. Definitely the best of the three so far in this world.

I have been saving up questions for a new post so they don't get lost in the midst of an overwhelming number of comments, so apologies for the barrage.

1. It seems like the Abidan imprisoning the Elders on Asylum is a direct contradiction of their requirement of not affecting the fate of a world. Do they consider it justified in this case due to the potential ramifications of the Elders being free?

2. Ach'magut seems to be able to read fate. Kelerac seems to have some ability in this regard as well. Are they somehow connected to the Way despite their imprisonment?

3. Re: Kelarac's statement regarding Shera: "She should not have survived. It was impossible for her to die before he role had been fulfilled, but afterwards it should have been impossible for her to live." I actually don't remember my question regarding this, but I had one.

4. The Emperor was a deviation that changed the direction of the world. Did the Abidan consider intervening to prevent him? Or did they perhaps support him, as he was useful in keeping the Elders bound?

4b. Does the Emperor know of the Abidan, and what does he think about them using his world as a prison?

5. You have mentioned that Human will/sentience binds a world to the Way, and that as beings or races grow and mature, they usually take on human characteristics and traits, and the more human-like creature are, the stronger bond to the Way their world will have. The process of incarnating seem to flow against this trend. How does a human's bond with a territory decrease their humanity?

6. Please, give us a little bit of information about what you are planning. Is OKAK coming?

Poly_core

5/30/2017 12:51:11 am

I also wonder, why aren't the Elders trying to kill all humans on Asylum? As I understand it, it would destroy the world and free them? Or did they already try only for the Abidan to emprison them again?

daednettle

5/30/2017 12:42:58 pm

I have a wild theory that the Elders are imprisoned on a single world in Asylum and that to hold the integrity of the iteration there are multiple inhabited worlds. It would make sense that they would therefore be unable to break the prison by depopulating that planet. Conversely, the elders cannot break the prison on their own so rather than culling their world they try to cultivate/manipulate powerful humans to help them escape.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:54:46 pm

They're keeping humans around precisely to maintain the integrity of the Iteration before they can break out. If they killed all humans, the world would break up into fragments...where they would still be trapped, their powers substantially reduced.

matt

6/1/2017 05:16:22 am

You're talking about stuff I have no clue about, which book did it talk about the elders and kelarac and achmagut?!

Jay K

6/1/2017 08:06:42 am

That's part of the Elder Empire series, which is a tale told through both sides in parallel books. So good.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:59:22 pm

Sorry for the huge delay, April! Here we go!

1.) Not if the Iteration was destined to break apart due to corruption anyway! The Abidan expected this to be a temporary containment, and it lasted far longer than they expected.

2.) Yes.

3.) Branching off from destiny is a recurring theme in my books. Possibly related to the fact that I always branch off from my originally intended plans when I write them.

4.) Maybe! That might be a spoiler...

4b.) He knows something of them, and he wanted their help, but he never knew how to get it.

5.) That's more a case of the fragment's power overwhelming a human, so they become an avatar of the world's energy instead of an independent being.

6.) It is coming! Still before the end of the year, fingers crossed!

April

6/17/2017 08:38:08 pm

Thanks for the responses.

Speaking of Asylum lasting longer than expected, what sort of time frame does the Abidan operate under? How long ago were the elders imprisoned before the emeror was born? How long has Ozriel been a member of the Abidan and how long has he been missing? How long ago were they founded initially? Are there other iterations similarly aged to Cradle?

Dion

5/29/2017 11:20:42 pm

Just picked up Unsouled two days ago and just finished Blackflame today. I have to say that this was one hell of a ride. I was a bit dubious when kindle recommended me this book, but once I saw your name I knew I had to have it. Absolutely amazing and I only wish I found these books further in the future so I wouldn't have to wait for the next one, that being said I know it will be worth the wait.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:59:51 pm

Thanks, Dion! Sorry for the late response, but I'm really glad you enjoyed the books!

Bryce

5/30/2017 06:09:31 am

I have to imagine you are both thrilled and daunted by the success of the series. Similarly to the last book i can imagine it makes it hard to justify working on other series.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:00:05 pm

As always, Bryce. As always.

5/30/2017 06:34:23 am

I think it is time to update the progress meter from "Blackflame progress" to "Skysworn progress"...

Your Cradle series is simply awesome! I'm totally addicted...I can't help rechecking your blog daily (sometimes more than once a day) even though i know the next novel is months away...

April

5/30/2017 10:13:37 am

You accidently wrote Skysworn, I think you meant OKAK

Zeussaxis

6/1/2017 05:08:19 pm

Ahem...I heard it's actually Traveler's Gate and it contains a cameo by Dr Who.

kaden

5/30/2017 08:53:54 am

Will don't go back on what you said for the third time you have an obligation to finish EE so please finish it

Tievel1

5/30/2017 09:41:40 am

This might not be a popular sentiment here, but that is just not true- Will doesn't have an obligation that dictates he has to finish one book/series before another. First and foremost his obligation is to himself, and developing his career and success as a writer.

Honestly, given the huge success of Cradle and the relatively lower return/response of EE versus its greater time/effort investment (2 books in 1), it makes way more sense to continue with what's gaining him notoriety now. That isn't to say he has to, but if the only thing spurring him to finish EE now is a sense of duty to his previous plans, I would call that a mistake. Many, many writers leave works on the backburner for a long time before returning to them. Will can do the same. He needs to do what is best for him, and not remain beholden to an outdated strategy. At least, that is what one fan thinks.

Walter

5/30/2017 10:07:30 am

+1

He's on a roll!

April

5/30/2017 10:21:01 am

Obligation might have been too strong of a word, but following through on promises you make should count for something.

I do understand what you are saying, but how would you feel about Will as an author if you knew he is willing to leave projects unfinished? What would your opinion of him be if he picked up something new, and said Skysworn would be after that, then after the next, then after that, and suddenly you are a few years down the road and you still don't have Skysworn?

Also keep in mind that Cradle is just a small part of a much larger multi-verse. Cradle will benefit from the development of that multiverse as a whole. Writers (in general at least) benefit from switching things up and returning to work fresh. I think you are encouraging Will to pursue the short-term at the expense of the long-term.

Will, I do enjoy Cradle, and will keep reading what you write, but please at least consider finishing what you started in Elder Empire.

Lashan

5/30/2017 12:07:02 pm

I feel ya and totally agree that if Will writing WE he is making a mistake and kinda wasting his time. From the reader comments seems like a lot of people dropped EE in the middle or end of 1at book. Some loved it. First WE book is ranked 6,819 on amzn ( not a lot of buyers/fans). Why would book 2 or is it 3or 2a ( if those series go sequentially or parallel or perpendicular), become popular. Even if it the best book of all times it is impossible to buy because it is hard to restart the beginning of series after dropping it before. Kevin OLeary would probably advise him to take EE series behind the garage and shoot it. But then again, maybe Will wanted to complete EE for those few fans, ..sighing.. While A LOT of Cradle fans will wait to part with their money.

Deadnettle

5/30/2017 01:22:58 pm

I can understand both sides of the coin on this debate (I absolutely LOVE cradle) but at the same time, I feel that finishing EE is still a solid decision. At no point in his career has Will made as much money as he has with Cradle, and this gives him some freedom to pursue and finish a less successful venture that will still flesh out his multiverse. When Skysworn comes out afterwards, he will get a fresh wave of major purchases to carry him into the new year and/or start the new year with a bang. Just my two cents on the matter.

Tievel1

5/31/2017 10:22:50 am

One thing I'd just like to clarify, this isn't even really an argument for Cradle, per se. Rather I just want to refute the urge to remain beholden to an old promise.

If it made more sense to return to the House of Blades series, than that's what I'd suggest Will do. If Will gets some offer from a publishing house to develop a new property with/for them, he should do that. Right now it sounds like Cradle is the flagship series for him, so it may make the most sense for him to remain with that for a time.

Whatever the case may be, I just hope he understands that while he may have a relationship to his fans, he does not owe us anything, and he certainly isn't servile to them.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:12:14 pm

I've read this discussion, and I think I might surprise you with my opinion here:

I DO have an obligation to finish Elder Empire. Kaden's absolutely right.

In terms of going back on what I've said, every time I change my mind, I hate to do it. I really don't like it. If I was going by what I wanted to do, I would have finished EE immediately after Unsouled.

I didn't, because it would have been unwise for me to let Cradle drop at that point.

Let me be clear: if I hadn't written Unsouled, barring a miraculous surge in EE popularity, I would have had to find another job before the end of last year.

Blackflame generated me more money since its release than EE has in total.

Money is not my goal here, but the more money I make, the more time I have to write, and the more I can write these books like a real business. I need to make money in order to keep writing.

So there is an inescapable reality here. However, Cradle has generated enough that I can spend half a year working on Elder Empire, and then a further 3-4 months working on the next Cradle book, and not suffer for the loss in income. I've got a lot in the bank now, new house notwithstanding.

Now, I can afford to write Elder Empire.

I say all that to let you know that there are a lot of factors in play here that I have to balance, and it's always changing. However, I sold the first two (sets of) Elder Empire books on the premise that they would have an ending an that I would provide it. The longer I go without a third set of books, the more I'm stretching that implicit promise.

I do owe the series an ending, in as timely a manner as I can manage it.

So I want everyone to know that I do feel that pressure, and I take it seriously.

Nathanial

7/10/2017 07:08:00 am

April is wrong in the aspect of leaving something unfinished. Well, not wrong. She is proving Skysworn should be written next as most of the scenes are already written for it. *_* I love your logic.

John

5/30/2017 02:50:07 pm

I bet Will publishes EE next even though it is clearly not the best thing for him financially. He has pretty much shown he values his commitment to his readers through his participation here. As someone who couldn't ever get into EE and didn't even finish the first book, I would be thrilled if he decided otherwise.
That being said, how would you like it if someone told you to make 10% of the money you could be making for a year? You would probably tell them to take a flying leap.

April

5/30/2017 08:21:44 pm

Actually, I have experience with a somewhat analogous situation. My husband is self-employed and has at various times passed up higher paying contracts to take lower paying ones, for a variety of reasons. Also, it's not like anyone is saying he shouldn't write skysworn. He will still write and get the income from it no matter what order he writes them in.

Ultimately, Will is the one who needs to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of both (and there ARE positives and negatives for both positions) and make a decision. I'm just making sure that the EE side is heard. (Cradle has some very passionate and expressive fans.) (Which is a good thing.) I am thrilled by Will's success and want to keep reading his work for years.

JefftheCalderfan

6/1/2017 08:04:08 am

It is totally Will's right to write what he wants but I personally will stop reading his books if he doesn't return to EE. If he leaves one series unfinished then he can leave the cradle series unfinished if for instance he returns to the house of blade series and it sells better than Cradle. I think a sense of trust between writers and readers is essential. I think also with what we know about the multiverse the Cradle series may actually be enhanced with a return to EE to setup a broader tapestry.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:17:01 pm

I will certainly finish EE, Jeff. Not finishing it isn't in the cards. It's only a question of what my eleventh book release is: Skysworn, or OKAK.

And the answer to that depends on how much of Skysworn can be forged from the excess material that I accidentally produced while writing Blackflame. That answer being, "I don't know, I'm frantically trying to figure that out."

The more I can use of those 70k extra words I accidentally wrote with Blackflame, the closer to a finished Skysworn I already am. Which means I might be able to finish it in two weeks.

If it would only delay EE two weeks, I would be a fool NOT to release Skysworn next.

But I don't know how much of it is usable! Figuring that out has required me to dredge through a lot of these extra scenes and determine how they can be repurposed, and I haven't had time to do that, what with real life intervening.

April

6/17/2017 08:48:00 pm

Definitely finish Skysworn if that's sort of delay we are talking about. I do enjoy it and am thrilled by its success.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:20:38 pm

You go to bat for my reader participation, and then I don't respond for two weeks. I am shamed, John. Shamed.

As it sounds like you've picked up on, one of the main difficulties in writing OKAK is that it means going a LOT longer without a source of income than people realize.

Six months to write OKAK and three months to write the next Cradle is the most optimistic realistic scenario. Which means, if I go that route, AT LEAST nine months between Cradle 3 and 4.

Nine months to a year of steadily declining sales, with only one unreliable infusion of capital: OKAK.

So I've been working since Blackflame to try and cut down that time. How successfully? Find out soon, in another blog post!

Phillip link

5/30/2017 07:09:23 pm

Will, I think we will have an issue if Cradle doesn't end up having at least 20 books in the series.

Matthew

5/31/2017 02:19:00 am

A few months ago, his rough estimation was that Cradle is going to have around 12 books, but that number can, of course, either increase, or decrease.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:24:14 pm

I'm going to need to ask your opinion on that, Phillip (and anyone else who reads this). Because my estimation of the main story was twelve books.

But it could be longer. It could be a lot longer.

For one thing, as you've seen from Suriel, the power scale goes up practically infinitely. Lindon could just keep going.

For another thing, Cradle is HUGE. Lindon has been blasting up the steps as fast as possible, without even time to SEE the roses, much less stop and smell them. I could slow down and spend a lot longer on Cradle.

There are a lot of ways I could extend the series, but I'm not sure what the story really needs. The #1 thing I hate, more than anything else in all of fiction-dom, is unnecessary padding. If it doesn't relate to the story, GET RID OF IT. Drives me crazy!

So the very last thing I would want to do is stretch the series for the sake of stretching it.

But there is a LOT of content I've been skipping for the sake of cutting out padding, and I've been wondering if perhaps I cut too much. It's a question I've been pondering very seriously.

April

6/17/2017 08:52:44 pm

I would vote for slowing down some. The biggest thing that I have felt was missing from Cradle is seeing more of the world and people around him. It's not unnecessary padding. It's a nice cushiony layer that keeps you from hurting when you sit in the same chair too long.

Jay W

6/18/2017 07:47:01 pm

Please slow it down on Cradle! Let's see more paths, more fighting, more world back story. The world is huge, let's see more of it!

Nonsa

8/23/2017 08:50:51 am

It would be very cool if you slowed it down a bit so we can see more of Cradle, but don't slow it down too much! Keep the story going as well. I enjoy the fast pace that you set in these books.

Matthew

5/31/2017 02:16:48 am

Many people seem to think that by giving an extract from Skysworn, Will indirectly tells us that this is the book he writes next.
But, he mentioned several times clearly that he wants to end EE, and he doesn't just want to focus on the most profitable book, which would mean that he'd never get to finish the series.
Will isn't in a financial crisis, as far as we know, so it's not that he is desperate to get as much money as he can get.

This extract is probably nothing new. He said that he wrote a little bit for Skysworn after he was done with Blackflame.
So, my guess is that it's from that time, and nothing he wrote a couple days ago.

So, sorry for those that were hyped, but Skysworn is going to take a while. Although, Will said that he wants to do publish it in a year, I think it's quite unlikely, and is more probable to take around 15 months, as EE consists of 2 more books, not just one.

5/31/2017 07:17:54 am

That's right...Will should write EE instead of Skysworn...who really cares about selling more books...what is money anyway? It's just paper ;-)

5/31/2017 09:43:22 pm

Books are just paper, too...

***realizes what he just said and runs away before he can be stoned to death***

Zeussaxis

6/1/2017 05:12:10 pm

What about the idea that damming a river provides opportunities to farm in the desert? OKAK means he can build an even larger base through the first 3 Cradle books before launching Skysworn...at which point he rockets to #1 due to anticipation and overall success guarantees us continued production?

Will link

6/17/2017 04:26:10 pm

More information coming Wednesday, but here's a spoiler:

When Skysworn comes out is going to depend on how much of it I already have done.

And I DON'T KNOW how much of it I already have done. It depends on how much I wrote for it is still viable, and how much can be repurposed from the 70k words of extra bloat that came along with Blackflame.

It might come out August 1st, or it might not be until summer of next year.

Either way, I'm aiming for OKAK in December.

Chris N

6/18/2017 06:17:53 pm

That seems very reasonable and looking forward to things. Didn't you say in a previous blog post thread that December is often your worst time to do a release and that it's better in January or February? I wonder if you should give yourself that extra month or so to finish up Skysworn, and then do OKAK Late January-ish? That'll give you an extra release this year, help keep you funded through the rest of 2017, plus allow you to release OKAK at a better date, which isn't really all that much later anyway.

Mike

5/31/2017 06:24:13 am

Any chance the books will be turned into Audi books?

Aaron

5/31/2017 06:50:59 pm

I'd like Cradle, but when is shera coming back. Or how about the audio book for city of light. IT'S BEEN ALMOST TWO YEARS.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:27:22 pm

Two years for the audiobook? I didn't think so. I'm pretty sure the audio for Crimson Vault came out last summer.

Diego link

6/1/2017 08:05:39 am

*Waves*
Hey Will always nice to know your alive and kicking.
*Now as an avid fan i push u away into a well-lit little room with nothing but 50 pens and 100 packs of paper.

Will link

6/17/2017 04:27:54 pm

That's what I need, Diego. I need to get away from all this real life crap and back into my locked writing room.

Walter

6/1/2017 01:45:14 pm

I promise I'll start elder empire and finish up to the most recent, but you should consider put your next book to a vote 😈 Put it up on kickstarter or a competition of sorts with different commitment levels and the higher total commitment amount wins! I understand some EE readers will be sad, but maximizing utility is important 😌 the needs of the many outweigh the few. Plus, Lindon hasn't succeeded by not-skipping a few things. 😈😈

Diego link

6/1/2017 10:12:24 pm

Despite I want, EE is still a pretty good series. The magic system kinna baffles me on the whole soulbound, reader and intent business. I do like Lindons story more than EE but its still good. Also i think an author should write what he wants to write and just be honest about what hes doing. (Obviously theres a limit though GRRM and Ruffuss are prime examples and it fustrates me just thinking about it -dont set dates and break them T.T) Otherwise u might end up with the same plot (because the general is usually planned) but told in a more dry, insincere or even dreadful manner.

Coldsteel

6/2/2017 07:19:15 am

The EE books are my least favorite of Will's series. It's not that I don't like them, I just like them a bit less than the others. There are two main reasons why.

1) The dual book experiment. I just don't like having to get two books to tell the same story from differing perspectives. I'd much rather just have one (larger) book with shifting viewpoints in the standard fashion. I suspect I'm not alone there.

2) I really like the Calder books better than the Shera books. I have had a real problem embracing her cold, sociopathic killer perspective and personality that she brings to the series. She really is a classic homicidal sociopath, that in our society we call "a monster". All was well though while Lucan was around to soften her somewhat and provide a much needed human counterpoint to her darkness. Plus, I just really liked him as a character much more than I liked Shera. So, when he was casually killed off, almost as an afterthought, I lost most of my interest in following her story. I understand why Will did it as a plot device to drive her further from her (little) remaining humanity but it leaves me with little sympathy for her or interest in following her story. For the next two books, I may just get the Calder one to read instead. It bummed me out that much.

Diego link

6/2/2017 08:19:56 am

Wow i thought i was the only one whom found Shera crazy act a little disturbing. I mean for most the book it showed she likes bottling up her emotions then it makes u wonder if she has any. Apart from that shes very selfish and really apathetic. (She kinna catches me as the type whom kills kids for money or food) Then again it might just be shes a female and hard for me to relate to. (For all we know all women are crazy [ jk ] )

Diego link

6/2/2017 08:34:32 am

Just to clarify Will. I think Shera is a well-written character and really brings to life what a cold-blooded killer is. I even understand how she may have gotten the way she is, we are all just accumilations of our experiences. Gotta congradulate u on that, most authors skimp around the "bad" aspects of the "dashing rogue" and try to make u feel sympathy for them. Which is totally dumb from my POV. I just find it hard to relate to her. I liked Lucan though too bad he died.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:31:07 pm

Vote: There will be no vote. I don't usually put what I'm going to do to a vote, honestly, because I like having the freedom to decide. However, I DO often turn to votes or polls for advice. I like to base my decision on what the readers want.

However, I can't do a vote because I know how it would turn out anyway.

EE's Magic System: Yeah. I need to stop throwing everything I want to have into a magic system, because it gets overstuffed and convoluted. That's a large part of why Cradle's magic system is confusing as well, though at least Cradle is more visual.

Shera is a Sociopath: I understand where you're coming from. Honestly, it's like you said--she's not a good person, and I didn't want to shy away from that, though I also didn't want to go full Game of Thrones "there are no good guys and morality is a sham." Calder isn't a great guy either, but from a different perspective.

However, I mixed another element in there: most protagonists take everything incredibly personally, so I wanted to write one that didn't take ANYTHING personally, and I thought it was a good fit for Shera.

In hindsight, I know some readers took that combination as "She's a soulless monster and I have neither sympathy nor empathy for her, so I don't care about anything she does."

I get that. It's not how I think of her, but I understand why you could. It's a storytelling failing on my part.

Will link

6/17/2017 03:41:14 pm

...as for the fact that she's a woman, I originally drafted Shera and Calder as two women. Then, when I decided that I needed a man to helm one story and a woman the other, I initially planned on going the other way around: with a woman on the sea and a man in the shadows.

Wrap your mind around that for a moment.

So Shera was a fast-talking captain of a magical pirate ship with a young husband who had betrayed her, and Calder was a cold-blooded assassin dedicated to the Empire.

Which was all well and good, but the emotionally driven one who is selfish, materialistic, and motivated by getting revenge on a lover was a woman. And the cold, emotionless, super-killer was a man.

Which, as far as gendered stereotypes go, was a problem.

So I switched them around. Now the detached assassin is a woman, and the jilted sea captain is a man. Problem solved, right?

Except that now my female MC is ruthless and cold-hearted...and so is Calder's wife. Which means that now we've got TWO major women in the series who are remorseless and conniving.

Between a rock and a hard place, I tell ya.

To top it all off, a lot of my (mostly male) audience has trouble relating to a woman's POV already, and when Shera's difficult to relate to on top of that...

This is a very complicated series to write.

April

6/17/2017 08:26:11 pm

Maybe I shouldn't admit this publicly but I do somewhat identify with Shera. I can understand being in an extreme situation and feeling your emotions start to shut off, so you have to use something other than your feelings to judge the situation. With Shera, the combination of that and her, shall we say, unusual? moral outlook makes her an interesting character to read. Especially when laid next to her extreme loyalty to and trust of those who she counts as friends. I wish we saw more of Lucan and Meia. We see a lot of Calder,s character in how he interacts with the crew. Perhaps more Meia and Lucan would make Shera more relatable?

Just theorizing here, but I think another challenge is built in with who the character is. With Calder, we are presented with an emotional and arrogant jerk, but seeing how he struggles with conflicting feelings for Jyrine makes him more relatable. That sort of emotional struggle itself is out of character for Shera. Not that she doesn't struggle with Lucan's death, but the way that struggle presents may may it harder for some people to sympathize with her?

The other challenge Shera faces is Calder has the more interesting story arc. He gets the interesting interactions with elders, the fun banter with his crew, the more colorful secondary characters (Bliss, Cheska, etc). She does get to assassinate the emperor so there's that, but in general even though I like Shera more as a character, I'm more interested in what is happening to Calder.

(I'm also like Shera in that I've never killed anyone who still served a useful function.)

(On another note, I have my auto-correct poorly trained. It keeps changing Calder to Vader.)

Diego link

6/18/2017 12:59:32 am

In EE the premisis of the story is awesome. Being an Empathetic Clairvoyant would be so cool. (Apart from the day to day aplications, never again would we truly be uncertain as to who kill who) I think it took me really long to undersand the magic because really in your other books your main characters are learning about the magic while growing in power. In EE your main characters Calder and Shera never really explore the magic. Lucan does so a bit with the Emperor, but it really took me that death match (Emperor vrs Incarnations) to see fully see the magic throughly. And the series made alot more sense on the 3rd and 4th reread.

Chris N

6/18/2017 06:09:50 pm

I must admit that I'm surprised to read that others find Shera less interesting than Calder or that she's hard to relate to. If anything, I've found I've loved her storyline and had to struggle a bit to get through the Calder books.

Cradle is definitely my favorite series, but I think potentially that Shera is one of my favorite characters, maybe second to Lindon, but tied with Simon. Yes, she's ruthless (forced to be with the life she's lived), but she's also competent, and she knows who she is. Calder also whines too dang much, irritating...

Nosna

8/23/2017 08:58:01 am

Personally, I love the magic system.

Chris N

6/2/2017 11:14:41 am

Will!

We need an answer on what book is next, please!! EE or Skysworn?

Thanks,
Chris

(tapping foot like an addict in withdrawals...)

Will link

6/17/2017 03:22:53 pm

Blog post Wednesday will answer that!

Untitled, the Way of Untitled

6/4/2017 06:45:39 am

Reddan

6/8/2017 06:24:49 pm

This one will wait patiently for whichever wonderful book comes out next.

*sits down; takes a nap

Will link

6/17/2017 03:23:40 pm

Thanks, Reddan! I appreciate the support!

Now I have to figure out how to announce it without getting one group or another to pick up their pitchforks and skewer me...

Jeremiah H

6/17/2017 03:26:13 pm

My Pitchfork is ready regardless ( I've been playing Breath of the Wild, so I have any number of implements upon which to skewer!

Nega-Alex

6/19/2017 07:03:58 pm

Ill skewer you scrawny nerd book writing a$$ any day

Wynstro

6/18/2017 05:22:33 pm

Will, you are awesome. I love all your books to-date and really have enjoyed how EE seems to have grown you as an author. It would be neat to add an anthology set when all are done with the books combined so chapters go chronologically - flashbacks aside.

Cradle is sick and you are officially my favorite author. Evidence - reread the other cradle books, and read two Michael G Mannings, a Michael J Sullivan, Brent Weeks, Alex Hutson (thanks for recommending), and all of Aleron Kong (again, thanks for recommending). No other author has made me so excited that I read my full backlog while waiting. Glad with either circumstance for the next book, though Skysworn in a few months with EE first quarter next year would be fine with me. Really looking forward to EE.

A few things I'm glad about and feel you should hear. We could stand for longer books from you - you've got our trust. No Sword of Truth is half the books don't matter. Or WoT Ebou Dar, where plot progress goes to die. No signs of either of those coming from you.

Thank you for having deaths be meaningful, looking at Lucian. GRRM put a character in the last 3 or 4 books and killed him (Onion knight guy). No part of his story served a purpose outside of world building and as a reader everything I needed from that character could have been given in a report to any of the kings/leaders in the world. "Majesty, Baratheon's Onion knight was killed by viking dude." Done. That series could also be half as long due to all the perspectives just used to show how real and grity things are. GRRM, we get it.

Seems you've found ways to build awesome without all the needless and I, for one, appreciate that you ask whether things are needed or not in your novels and fill in the writers urge to spew the world outside of the novels by using this blog and short stories. I really hope all the 70k from the Blackflame castoffs can be repurposed for other cradle installments. Thank you again!

Maybe partway through cradle we can get a book about the sacred valley founding. Baby Whisper as a bonded sacred beast would be cool.

Will link

6/19/2017 11:22:51 pm

Thanks, Wynstro! That means a lot!

I'd like to write a series of longer books, but one thing I'm worried about is series bloat. One of the main reasons that ASoIaF ended up swelling into a bunch of monstrous books with a hundred POVs each is because George RR Martin can make them as long as he wants to. So he includes everything, and every time he comes up with another character he does a storyline from their POV, and the books get longer and longer.

It's the same reason why Wheel of Time, the Lightbringer series, the Warded Man series (I don't remember what the actual series title was..."demon" something), and virtually any other long-running fantasy series gets bigger and bigger. There are more characters in the cast, so the author gives them more time.

Which is why I'm wary about letting the same happen to Cradle. I know I have some wiggle room here, but Blackflame was already 26% longer than Unsouled.

I'm afraid THAT was too much!

None of the novels are long, not like any of the ones we listed, but I also don't think they need to be. Otherwise I could only release one book a year, not three.

So I'd like to write a series of 200,000-word books, but I'm not sure if Cradle is that series. I think I like them around 90k, so they can come out regularly.

I'm afraid of that old fantasy novel bloat. I can't give in to the sweet temptation to make every book longer and more elaborate than the last. I can't!

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.