Unsouled: A Guest Post by Will Wight

Lindon was raised to believe his magic was the weakest in his family, but when the heavens open to reveal otherwise, he must do everything in his power to save the ones he loves. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Will Wight on writing Unsouled. 

Now through August 31st, this edition is only available at Barnes & Noble.

I read a lot of translated web novels, and I watch a lot of anime.

 

From that unnatural union, the Cradle series was born!

 

I wrote Unsouled at a time when I was trying to get everyone I knew to read Chinese cultivation novels, which tell the stories of those who achieve enlightenment by splitting monsters in half with galaxy-sized swords.

 

However, most of my friends bounced off the series I recommended, so I took drastic action.

 

I made a story that includes all the high-adrenaline fights, the cosmic magic system, and the relentless and endless progression of power that I love from anime and cultivation novels. But it’s not translated, and it assumes you don’t have any prior knowledge of the genre.

 

You can start the series clean and new, pure as the driven snow. So that I may corrupt you.

 

I published the series independently, and it was a huge hit. Way more popular than I expected. I scrambled to write the second book, and then the third, and that was pretty much my life for the next seven years.

 

The story has a snowball effect, where each book builds and builds as the characters get stronger and deal with bigger threats, and the crowd of readers snowballed in the same way. By the fifth book, which was released two years after the first, there was a rabid fanbase gnawing at my fence like a horde of zombies.

 

When the eighth book in the Cradle series became the best-selling book on Amazon, I celebrated by running champagne through my home sprinklers. My house is still sticky.

 

I love publishing my own work because there’s nothing between me and the readers, and because I keep complete control of the whole process. I can talk to readers directly and see what they like and don’t like. If I want to change something in the book, I can change it.

 

Nobody can tell me no. It’s my book! My own! My precious.

 

But still, I’ve always wanted to be in bookstores. When I was a kid, I used to live in Barnes & Noble, like a tiny little gremlin nesting in the vents. Seeing my books on the shelves is a dream come true.

 

There are readers I could never reach on my own, fellow book-gremlins who rarely venture beyond the walls of a bookstore.  I think they might enjoy Cradle too, so I partnered with Barnes & Noble to get these books on shelves.

 

I can’t wait to see a new wave of readers give Unsouled a try! I’ll be watching from the vents.

 

-Will