Deathblade, celebrating A Will Eternal's Book 1-9 Amazon launch!

[Jaspaaar]

Books 1-9 of A Will Eternal have now been published as ebooks on Amazon!

To celebrate, Deathblade will be here to answer any questions you may have for him. You might want to know who his favourite character was in AWE, which Er Gen novel he would recommend to a new reader, or simply how his day is going!

The question and answer session will begin at 3pm GMT on Friday 15th, which is 8am PDT, 11am EDT, and 11pm GMT+8.

Feel free to post your questions now, and Deathblade will answer them when the Q&A starts!

[Belforks]

Well then have you got a recommended reading order of Er Gen novels to read first? I’ve not read a single Er Gen novel and I’ve seen some comments saying they’re all connected in the same novel-universe. Always felt like reading ISSTH since I’ve seen so much praise for it but also kept putting it off since I didn’t know where to start. 

[ManorSuperman]

Congratulations! What an achievement l!

 

I am wondering, does that mean if we own the eBook through Wuxiaworld currently that it will be replaced with this new version. I was waiting for this to happen for ISSTH as well. 

[DaoistCarefree]

• Congrats, Deathblade! Thanks for your amazing translations and those footnotes:)
• I have some questions regarding BTT,

1. Is smoldering god part of 1st step?
2. Are smoldering gods and "gods" a different cultivation level?
3. I know this is an ongoing novel, but how many chapters do you think BTT will have?

[BakeKuroNeko]

Greetings, DeathBlade! First of all, thanks for the Kindle version of AWE. I read AWE as my 2nd ErGen novel after Renegade Immortal, though I did pick up ISSTH but someone said read AWE first then ISSTH but it's been more than two years then and I'm still stuck in AWE, haha. I would love to read AWE from zero again though Kindle. Now then, I have some questions for you, some related to BTT, and some miscellaneous. 

1. Can we expect to get BTT's Kindle version in future? 

2. Okay, so I kind of have this question since the start of BTT so the question is, "Did any of ErGen's protagonist or supporting character from other novel made an appearance till now in BTT? Like Situ Nan in ISSTH?" 

3. Did you read Renegade Immortal? 

4. Favorite moment in BTT, AWE, ISSTH? 

5.  How many words do you churn out every day? What's your highest? 

6. Recommend a novel, movie, or TV show. 

7. Lastly, tell a joke. 

Thanks!

[ecojakk]

The announcement said there were changes in the published version of AWE, how large are these?

I believe Er Gen has given you permission to edit the stories to localise them more effectively, what are some of the biggest or most complex changes you've had to make?

While reading the stories yourself, what plot points were the most surprising or most remarkable?

 

[Spencer]

Congratulations! Have you thought of getting physical books made?

[karpoff]

20 hours ago, Belforks said:

Well then have you got a recommended reading order of Er Gen novels to read first? I’ve not read a single Er Gen novel and I’ve seen some comments saying they’re all connected in the same novel-universe. Always felt like reading ISSTH since I’ve seen so much praise for it but also kept putting it off since I didn’t know where to start. 

you should definitely read them in order...otherwise you'll miss a lot of things. Reading order could be renegade immortal> pursuit of the truth> ISSTH>AWE>AWWP

i guess reading orther from RI and PoTT can be switched but if my memory serves me well it's better RI>PoTT (ending related)

 

PD: many say that you can start reading ISSTH without reading the others first but i disagree with that. it's like starting a series midway or start watching a film not from the beggining but from half of it (you will understand the plot movie, of course, but you will have missed a lot of the fun)...i don't know, it's just my personal opinion

[Slowestbirthday]

Hello Deathblade! Big fan here!

1. Can you rank all of Er Gen's novels?

2. Can you give us your top 10 CN novels? (Excluding Er Gen's of course)

3. Your favorite character in the Er Gen verse?

Bonus Question- Do you think Er Gen is going to continue his Er Gen verse after this book or will it end here? (Chapters)

Thank you as always! I was a big fan of your work from the ISSTH days and I really appreciate the work you have done for this community . 

Cheers!

Edited March 13 by Slowestbirthday
Wrong Question

[xiao xian mao]

What was the hardest part in translating AWE/ISSTH/BTT

[zxlowi]

All right, I'll have a go at it DB been a while.

 

1. What was it like writing your first novel and what challenges did you face in being able to safely have your novel get copyrighted?

2. What would you ultimately say would be a strength and weakness Chinese novels would have compared to Western novels?

3.  Love to hear that A Will Eternal is getting an e-book but will you guys ever consider having physical copies sold through Amazon?

4. How did you guys manage to find amazing editors to help edit your translations?

5. Ever considered translating Soul Land 1?

6. When writing a character what's your process in coming up with a character's personality, way of speaking/mannerisms? 

Edited March 15 by Jaspaaar
Edited to remove empty space

[Zeusomega]

If anyone were to ask me to name one notable translator from the Eastern novels community it would be Deathblade, If they asked for another it would still be Deathblade. 

 

I don't think i remember much of AWE to ask questions about it but there are some burning questions in general I've had for a while

1) There hasn't been a successful novel like those in the past (issth, coiling dragon, awe, etc..), do you think xianxia genre is in decline like wuxia before it?

2) If an aspiring writer with no eastern background or knowledge in its authentic mythology and theologies, wanted to get into xianxia genre what resources would you recommend for research? 

3) Offline publication, do you think it is worth pursuing as a first time writer or is it better going the online route? By online i mean the free open source sites rather than Amazon kind. 

4) This is something I was curious about for a long time, what is the opinion of Chinese readers and writers on translation of their works into other languages? Also is there a community like us on translations for western novels into Chinese? 

Well that's all I have for now, thank you for being part of some of my most treasured adventures in fiction. 

[Haahaha]

Can you provide exact chapters of Beyond the timescape?

Or Guess

[Deathblade]

On 3/12/2024 at 3:52 PM, Belforks said:

Well then have you got a recommended reading order of Er Gen novels to read first? I’ve not read a single Er Gen novel and I’ve seen some comments saying they’re all connected in the same novel-universe. Always felt like reading ISSTH since I’ve seen so much praise for it but also kept putting it off since I didn’t know where to start. 

 

The obvious reading order is the published order, starting with Renegade Immortal, then Pursuit of Truth, ISSTH, AWE, AWWP and finally Beyond the Timescape. If you go out of that order, you will survive. Whether in Chinese or English, I constantly see people reading a given novel as their first Er Gen novel, and enjoying it. For instance, since BTT is an active translation, and the comments section is pretty active, it might be worth it to read it to get in on the excitement.

[Deathblade]

On 3/12/2024 at 5:46 PM, ManorSuperman said:

Congratulations! What an achievement l!

 

I am wondering, does that mean if we own the eBook through Wuxiaworld currently that it will be replaced with this new version. I was waiting for this to happen for ISSTH as well. 

 

I have no idea about that, sorry. I'm not a Wuxiaworld employee and I'm not part of their business dealings. 

[Deathblade]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:21 PM, DaoistCarefree said:

• Congrats, Deathblade! Thanks for your amazing translations and those footnotes:)
• I have some questions regarding BTT,

1. Is smoldering god part of 1st step?
2. Are smoldering gods and "gods" a different cultivation level?
3. I know this is an ongoing novel, but how many chapters do you think BTT will have?

 

For 1 and 2, I'm not going to get into spoiler stuff. Those details will be made clear via the story itself.

For #3, I also have no idea. It's currently in the 900's in Chinese. 

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 1:23 AM, BakeKuroNeko said:

Greetings, DeathBlade! First of all, thanks for the Kindle version of AWE. I read AWE as my 2nd ErGen novel after Renegade Immortal, though I did pick up ISSTH but someone said read AWE first then ISSTH but it's been more than two years then and I'm still stuck in AWE, haha. I would love to read AWE from zero again though Kindle. Now then, I have some questions for you, some related to BTT, and some miscellaneous. 

1. Can we expect to get BTT's Kindle version in future? 

2. Okay, so I kind of have this question since the start of BTT so the question is, "Did any of ErGen's protagonist or supporting character from other novel made an appearance till now in BTT? Like Situ Nan in ISSTH?" 

3. Did you read Renegade Immortal? 

4. Favorite moment in BTT, AWE, ISSTH? 

5.  How many words do you churn out every day? What's your highest? 

6. Recommend a novel, movie, or TV show. 

7. Lastly, tell a joke. 

Thanks!

 

1. I have no idea. Again, I'm not part of Wuxiaworld's business/publishing side. 

2. Sorry, I'm not going to get into spoilers

3. No

4. There are simply too many chapters and scenes for me to have selected a favorite moment in any of the novels. Between the three of them there are like 3500 chapters. That's just too much content for me to narrow down things like that.

5. I don't track things in words, I track them in Chinese characters. Average chapters are about 3,000, and tend to be about 2,000 English words when translated. I usually aim for 4 chapters per work day. That's an average of about 12,000 characters, which works out to about 8,000 English words. That said, there are some weeks when I can't get in full days of work every day. So in some weeks, I might only translate on 3 days or 4 (for instance if the kids are off school or sick, or we have a family emergency). My record for this translations is about 19,000 characters in one day. On that particular day, I translated 5 chapters. They were rather long chapters, which is why they ended up being so many characters.

6. Barsoom series

7. My jokes are all dad jokes, so I'll refrain from that one lol

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 3:22 AM, ecojakk said:

The announcement said there were changes in the published version of AWE, how large are these?

I believe Er Gen has given you permission to edit the stories to localise them more effectively, what are some of the biggest or most complex changes you've had to make?

While reading the stories yourself, what plot points were the most surprising or most remarkable?

 

 

1. Not large. We're talking essentially copy editing or proofreading style changes.

2. Songs and poetry require the biggest changes, especially if attempting to make them rhyme or be funny

3. I enjoy character-related parts of the story. Fights are cool and all, so is the cultivation stuff. But the human elements are what I like the most. So those chapters where there are interested backstory revelations, elements of romance, friendship, or family, etc.

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 9:13 AM, Spencer said:

Congratulations! Have you thought of getting physical books made?

 

Wuxiaworld does not own the print rights to the books, as far as I know.

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 12:29 PM, Slowestbirthday said:

Hello Deathblade! Big fan here!

1. Can you rank all of Er Gen's novels?

2. Can you give us your top 10 CN novels? (Excluding Er Gen's of course)

3. Your favorite character in the Er Gen verse?

Bonus Question- Do you think Er Gen is going to continue his Er Gen verse after this book or will it end here? (Chapters)

Thank you as always! I was a big fan of your work from the ISSTH days and I really appreciate the work you have done for this community . 

Cheers!

 

1. Sorry, I cannot lol

2. As I've said elsewhere, I am not some voracious reader of Chinese novels. I spend so much time translating that I don't want to spend my free time entertaining myself with the same stuff I spend all day working on.

3. Putting aside MCs (and forgetting the Captain since he's an obvious choice), I really liked Yuwen Jian. I know that's random, but he always stuck out to me.

4. I have no idea about Er Gen's plans.

[AwesomeGrace]

Deathblade, do you think you would translate other novels after BTT? Or would you rather focus on creating your own novels? 

What do you find most challenging when it comes to translating? Has it evolved over time?

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 11:16 PM, xiao xian mao said:

What was the hardest part in translating AWE/ISSTH/BTT

 

Things like poetry, songs, ancient prophecies, etc. 

Another very challenging thing is that Chinese does not treat proper nouns the way we do in English. It's always a challenge to decide what to capitalize and what to not capitlize. What names are actually names, which ones are nicknames, daoist names, etc. 

And the foreshadowing is also difficult, especially because sometimes I have to make translation choices that won't be explained for hundreds of chapters, and in some casese, the explanation is forthcoming in chapters the author hasn't written yet.

[AwesomeGrace]

Nvm. You just answered and mentioned poetry, songs, ancient prophecies are the most challenging to translate. I'll ask another question. 

What do you like to translate the most? Dialogue? Action scenes? Narration? Secondly, do you force yourself to translate regardless of how you feel? Basically, my question is how you deal with burnt out (or preventing yourself from burning out). 

Edited March 15 by AwesomeGrace

[Axcel102]

Hi deathblade, how are you doing? I hope you and your family is alright. How is little db doing?
I am a fan from the ISSTH era.
Any who, since that's where we first met, let the question be from that novel too.

Does Meng hao accepts Chu Yuyan as his 2nd wife?

Is there an after after story where they are together like AWE mc having most of the girls in the after story?

And how would you rank the mc of all the novels in power wise?

[Deathblade]

On 3/13/2024 at 11:53 PM, zxlowi said:

All right, I'll have a go at it DB been a while.

 

1. What was it like writing your first novel and what challenges did you face in being able to safely have your novel get copyrighted?

2. What would you ultimately say would be a strength and weakness Chinese novels would have compared to Western novels?

3.  Love to hear that A Will Eternal is getting an e-book but will you guys ever consider having physical copies sold through Amazon?

4. How did you guys manage to find amazing editors to help edit your translations?

5. Ever considered translating Soul Land 1?

6. When writing a character what's your process in coming up with a character's personality, way of speaking/mannerisms? 

 

1. The first novel I wrote was when I was in my early twenties, and it was never published. It was a lot of fun. The first novel I wrote that was published (albeit self-published) was Legends of Ogre Gate. It was also fun to write, but challenging because it's based on a world and characters that I didn't create myself, so I had to do a lot of work to make it faithful to the inspiration material. 

2. That's honestly too complicated of a question to ask, and also very subjective. What some people think are strengths could be weaknesses to others, and vice versa.

3. Wuxiaworld does not have print rights, so no, it probably won't happen.

4. I do not represent Wuxiaworld as a whole. I've always picked my own team personally. For Wuxiaworld editors, I know that Wuxiaworld has an application and testing process.

5. No.

6. That's a topic that you could write articles and books about. And of course there are many, many youtube videos about the subject. I do not have one single process personally. I have done it in many ways throughout the years, from planning out characters in detail before writing to letting them develop naturally.