Larry Correia Talks about Building Up to Into the Wild

*Work in progress, final product may change

Brace yourself for some spoilers…from the past. If you’ve not yet read the Skull Island eXpeditions Iron Kingdoms novel Into the Storm, the first book in the Malcontents series by New York Times bestselling author Larry Correia (Monster Hunter series), we’re about to spoil it by talking about its sequel, Into the Wild, due this April. This constitutes your spoiler alert.

In this latest installment, Correia takes his Malcontents—Storm Knights from Cygnar—from the comforts of civilization to the unknowns of the wilderness to discover that death can come just as easily from gnashing fangs as from enemy blades.

So, catch up with the first book. That way, you aren’t surprised when we asked about the inspiration for Cleasby, why Acosta is so popular, and why he killed Madigan at the end of book one (hey, you were warned)…

Skull Island: Did you know what you wanted to write about—characters, location, historical context—from the beginning?

Correia: I was pretty flexible actually. I really enjoy the whole world, and I think Privateer Press has done a great job building it, so there were plenty of things that sounded like they’d be fun to write about. The first thing I wrote was Makeda’s origin story, and writing Skorne was a blast. Then Matt Wilson asked me if I’d like to do a Band of Brothers type story, and that’s how the Malcontents were born.

Skull Island: So, what led you to sacrifice Madigan in the first book of The Malcontents, Into the Storm?

Correia: I love Madigan. I was watching a bunch of WW2 movies when I was writing him, and he was that hardboiled, no-nonsense, get-the-job-done officer. Since Into the Storm was a story about redemption, both for Madigan and his troops, that ending was just the right thing to do.

Skull Island: And what inspired you to move Cleasby into the role as the team’s leader for book two?

Correia: He grew a lot during the first book, from the well-meaning but naïve idealist into a leader. In this one, we see him trying to find his purpose. War has worn him down, and he’s at a crossroads. Not to give too much away, but Into the Wild is about sacrifice and leadership, not just for the Cygnarans but also for their antagonists.

Skull Island: So, set the stage for us in the aftermath of Into the Storm that takes us into the second book, Into the Wild.

Correia: Some time has passed since the Invasion of Sul, and the Malcontents have been busy. The platoon is on leave when a small group of them are given a special assignment bodyguarding an archeological expedition into the Wyrmwall Mountains. The mission is supposed to be a cakewalk.
It isn’t.

Skull Island: Acosta is a scene-stealer, without question. Did you conceive him as such when you first began work on the character?

Correia: I just really like Ord. If I had to pick one country in the Iron Kingdoms that I’d most likely associate with, it would be Ord, and I think the most interesting place there is Five Fingers. Plus, I think one of the neatest things in the IK’s world-building is the competing religions, and Thamarites struck me as a pretty independent and diverse bunch, but we’d mostly seen them as straight up bad guys. So I figured I would have some fun with that whole search for personal achievement thing, and Acosta was born. I really enjoy writing his scenes.

Skull Island: What are the biggest challenges in writing in the Iron Kingdoms and what do you find most engaging?

Correia: The world is so big and has had so much written about it already, you have to be very careful not to mess up the existing rules or continuity. Think about it: this is a setting that has been developed for over a decade by dozens of authors. It is a fine balancing act to keep introducing new things without stepping on previously established lore. Luckily, the editing team at Privateer Press does a great job keeping the authors sorted out. My rough draft had a book worth of notes attached to it. I don’t think most readers realize how much work Privateer Press’ editors do. (We left that last line in on purpose, you know.)

In addition to his Malcontents novels, Larry has written a handful of shorter pieces for Skull Island (many of them gathered together in Iron Kingdoms Excursions: Season One), and with his latest novel about to debut, now’s the perfect time for you to read his books, too. Check out Into the Storm now and prepare to go Into the Wild this April!