Sorrento (the fictional character who wants to take over the Oasis) is a corporate guy who doesn’t get pop culture. What is the answer to Nolan Sorrento’s question, ‘Don’t you kids ever get tired of picking through the wreckage of a past generation’s nostalgia’? It was then made into a Steven Spielberg movie and people are coming to the novel with their arms folded thinking ‘this better be good’ (laughs). The con is expectation, which I believe are resentments waiting to happen.

I didn’t have to do as much world-building, but I had a lot of new ideas and technology that I was introducing. The pro is that if the original was popular, you have an in-built audience. What are the pros and cons of writing a sequel? I am not as fast as Stephen King, I don’t know how he does it. The way the challenges fit together takes me a long time. Both novels are elaborate, like puzzle boxes with pop culture references.

Ready Player One and my daughter was born too. Why is there a nine-year gap between the two novels?Īrmada, which came out in 2015. Ready Player One the book and not the film. Also, the actress who played Aech, Lena Waithe, is a huge Prince fan. I thought Aech would be a huge Prince fan and that made me connect them and it led to the whole Prince challenge in Spielberg selected a song by Prince, ‘I Want to be your Lover’, for the scene in which Parzival and Art3mis meet for the first time. The other detail that draws from the film also relates to Aech. Having said that, I couldn’t help being influenced by the movie a little bit. I wanted to write a sequel to my book and be true to that story. For instance, Daito dies in the novel but lives in the movie and there was no way I was going to bring him back. I tried hard to not have too many references to the movie. Ready Player Two was influenced by the film? For instance, Aech being scared of horror movies. I'm grateful for his time and his kindness. He was encouraging through the whole process, never hurried me, and read different drafts and gave feedback. To be able to bounce ideas off him and get his feedback was so gratifying. Steven has a great storytelling sensibility that has helped shape my storytelling since childhood. We started talking about the sequel on the sets of the first movie. How has Steven Spielberg impacted your style? Excerpts from an interview with Cline who talks of the pros and cons of writing a sequel, his fascination for 80s pop culture and more.

In 2018, Steven Spielberg adapted the book into a successful movie, and its sequel, Upon his death, Halliday devised a contest where the winner would not only gain his enormous fortune, but also get control of his creation. Set in 2045, Ernest Cline’s début novel in 2011 was set on a planet devastated by climate change with a majority of the populace in the Oasis created by tech genius James Halliday. Ready Player One have had to wait for almost 10 years to return to the simulated wonderland of the Oasis.

Ernest cline books