14 Years on One Book, Then a Fantasy Debut That Bangs | C. William Phillips | Realm Runners S2 E5

C. William Phillips (https://www.instagram.com/words_with_will) spent 14 years writing his debut, a crime thriller that reads like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos writers got into a fistfight in a parking lot and bleed all over the pages. Then he pivoted to epic fantasy and somehow made that look easy too.In this episode, Will breaks down the wild journey from What Blood Remembers to The Ash Remains, including how unemployment finally forced him to finish a book he'd been carrying since he was 18, why he's a proud pantser which led to adding his best character (Sen) completely by accident, and how he built a dragon bond system that actually costs something.We also get into: why Will writes unapologetically even when beta readers tell him he'll lose people, what the Malazan book club and The Crippled Pod(https://open.spotify.com/show/1UDpA2dZNhRY0ay3Md4XVY) did to his TBR, and why epic fantasy always felt like home even when he was writing neo-Western crime fiction.Pre-order The Ash Remains (ebook $5 before release): https://amzn.to/43aZTHK *Find Will on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/words_with_will===========================Connect with Realm RunnersFollow Pete: https://instagram.com/pete_reviews_books_goodFollow Devin: https://instagram.com/bromantasySubscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/‪@realm_runners‬0:00 - Introduction3:18 - Writing What Blood Remembers for 14 Years6:50 - Why Unemployment Finished the Book10:05 - Sprayed Edges & Indie Publishing with Mayor Golden Bookshelf12:30 - Pivoting to Epic Fantasy with The Ash Remains15:30 - Character Work Across Both Books16:20 - Pantser vs. Plotter (He Pantsed Sen Entirely)19:30 - Does He Know How the Series Ends?21:00 - Book Length & Chapter Structure27:20 - Chapter Formatting & the Malazan Influence30:50 - What Makes These Dragons Different34:10 - The Dragon Bond Training Room (No Spoilers)36:40 - Working on Book Two39:00 - Future Projects: Space Opera, Short Stories & a What Blood Remembers Novella41:10 - The Malazan Book Club Podcast Origin Story46:00 - What Malazan Did to His TBR50:00 - Writing Unapologetically (Even When Beta Readers Push Back)55:00 - Action Scenes & Accessibility in Epic Fantasy1:08:00 - Sen's Book Two Scoop1:11:30 - Closing & Where to Find Will#realmrunners #bookpodcast #epicfantasy #indieauthor #fantasyauthors #dragonriders #writingcommunity*Disclaimer: Affiliate links support Realm Runners at no extra cost to you