Exclusive Interview with singNsong – Authors of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

The wait is finally over! The English novel of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is now available for all fans to read!

Korea’s top fantasy series tells the story of Dokja Kim, a salaryman who finds himself in the initial nightmarish scenario of his favorite online novel. As the only one who knows where the plot is headed, Dokja must use his knowledge to survive the oncoming apocalypse. Offering a winning blend of action, mythology, and human drama, it is not difficult to see how this series has amassed such great international following and even inspired a comic adaptation.

To celebrate the English print release of the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint novel, we gathered questions from fans to see what they'd like to ask the author duo singNsong.

From singNsong’s favorite characters to what went on behind the scenes, discover what the authors behind the worldwide phenomenon Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint had to say!

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1. What inspired you to make such an amazing masterpiece? How did you motivate yourself to continue to write this? Are there any tips you could give for future writers? (From @a_readers_viewpoint on Instagram)

First of all, we would like to thank you for calling it a “masterpiece.” Before writing Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, we were in a slump. After finishing our previous work, we had no idea what to write. We had to keep asking ourselves, “What kind of story would readers want to see?” Then, we suddenly realized that although we, as writers, are accustomed to thinking about stories as writers, it has been a long time since we thought about what a story is to readers. We were also readers before we became writers. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint started from the thought of accepting stories as readers again.

There may be many reasons why a writer can continue writing, but for us, the existence of readers is a great motivation. ORV is a story that cannot work without “readers,” so its meaning is very great.

For a writer, writing seems to be the most important thing. Of course, to write, you need to have the stamina to sit still for a long time and the internal resources needed to compose a story. Nevertheless, the most important thing is to write. Once you start writing and editing, the process will accumulate to become your greatest resource as a writer.
 
2. How did you come up with such a story? Did it just come to you one day or was there some inspiration behind it? (From @dajanarchv_ on Instagram)

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is a story that started from long-held deliberation about stories, rather than one specific inspiration. As we began writing web novels that allowed real-time interaction with readers, those thoughts naturally expanded into ruminations about what a "reader" is. In particular, I began to think about what the experience of "reading" is for people who enjoy stories written in print.

Since we have been so absorbed in “writing” since some time ago, whenever we think about and talk about stories, we always start from the writer’s perspective. However, we didn’t want to start ORV that way. That’s why we set the main character as the “reader” and started from the perspective of the “person reading the story.”
 
3. What inspired you to write about a reader and his relationship with a story and its characters? Was ORV a chance for your heart and soul to be spelled out in ink? Did you feel compelled, as Dokja did, to find comfort in a mirror? (From @purracaw.crochets on Instagram)

There is no one who has never written or read in their life. In the sense that every thought and emotion we express is simultaneously read by someone, we are all writers and readers. In that way, we share each other’s stories. All the relationships in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint were written based on this idea.

We wouldn’t dare to simply answer “yes” to the wonderful question of whether Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was “a work that transferred heart and soul into ink.” However, we can say that every moment was intense. In that sense, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was a work that was like a mirror to us that we had to constantly face so as not to turn away from ourselves who wanted to be comforted as people who love stories.
 
4. The readers tend to relate most to Kim Dokja, but what characters in ORV do you relate to the most? (From @larchtree_ on Instagram)

Sing: Dokja is naturally the most relatable character to most people. Naturally, since he’s the main character. However, if I had to pick a character that I personally relate to, I would probably pick Junghyeok Yu. In reality, I’m not as smart or resourceful as Dokja, and I often encounter difficulties while repeating similar mistakes. As a result, I naturally empathize with and root for Junghyeok, who doesn’t despair even in the face of setbacks.

Song: Even in the beginning of writing the story, and even now, I tried not to empathize too much with Dokja, who is at the center of the story. However, I can’t deny that I identify with him in many ways. It’s embarrassing to say that I empathize with the main character of my story, but as someone who has loved a story for a long time, tried to understand someone, and wanted to be understood, I think I shouldn’t ignore that feeling. I also think that acknowledging my empathy for Dokja is a courtesy to the time I spent writing Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.
 
5. Did you initially plan to have both your novels crossover? (From @alath0b on Instagram)

From the beginning, there were no elaborate devices prepared for the crossover of the two works. However, as we continued to expand the worlds of two stories, we intentionally left some room for them to interact with one another, and those parts were connected over time.
 
6. Do you have any plans or ideas for a new novel? Would it potentially take place in the same universe as The World After the Fall and Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, with snippets of characters from them? (From @aqua.astra on Instagram)

It could be true or not. However, rather than directly connecting the worldviews, it is more likely that we will write a work that is indirectly connected.

Even if characters from the previous work appear in the next work, they will likely appear as cameos rather than being fully connected. We have several ideas for our next work, but we think it will proceed only after the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint side story is completed.
 
7. One of the great aspects of ORV is that there are many historical and mythical figures as constellations from many different countries, cultures, and religions. Some appear as enemies and some as allies. Were there any mythical or historical characters you wanted to or had planned to add to the story as constellations but were unable to in the end? How did you decide which figures to add as constellations? How did you do the research to pick the ones you did? (From u/ConsciousSuspect9014 on Reddit)

While writing Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, we read a variety of mythological books. Some mythological figures came to mind immediately while researching materials, and some mythological figures were organized separately for later use, but were never used. Since we used myths by summoning the necessary figures as the story progressed, we think there was not enough space to cover all the mythologies of all countries. Personally, we regret not being able to use more Celtic mythology, East Asian mythology, and Jeju mythology.
 
8. How do you think Kim Dokja would react if he found out that Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was a novel in our world? What would he feel, knowing his life was written and read as a story that meant just as much to the readers as TWSA did to him? (From @kiy001fu on X/Twitter)

Dokja should already know about the existence of the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. He has lived his life as if it were being read by the stars, and he also understands that the story of someone else's life can save another’s. If his story can be a meaning to someone living in another timeline, we believe the current Dokja would gladly accept it.
 
9. How do you feel about all the international love ORV has received over the years? Has it surprised you in ways you didn’t expect? (From @N0tNeow on X/Twitter)

Actually, we haven't traveled abroad much. Sing has only been to Japan once, and Song has only been to Taiwan once. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint has been to more countries than we have. Thanks to this, we can meet readers from many countries, and the world feels bigger.
 
We’re still amazed, even as we are doing this interview. It's so touching that our stories have been read in places we haven't been to. We are once again realizing that writing stories is truly a wonderful thing.
 
10. What are some of your personal favorite arcs in ORV? Which did you have the most fun writing and fleshing out? (From @faildokja on X/Twitter)

My favorite parts are the last episode of Part 1, “The 73rd Demon King,” and the last episode of the epilogue, “Eternity and Finale.” We had been steadily building up to those episodes since the very beginning, so we remember having fun writing them.
 
11. I noticed that you reference a lot of other fictional stories, movies and even philosophers like Roland Barthes and Pierre Bourdieu. It was surprising and fun to see these names in a webnovel, so I wonder which works inspired ORV? (From @ineedacatchyname on X/Twitter)

Roland Barthes's A Lover’s Discourse and Pierre Bayard's Anticipatory Plagiarism and How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read are some of our favorite humanities books (as you may know, "Anticipatory Plagiarism" appears as the name of Suyeong Han's skill in ORV). The works above had a great influence on us even before we started writing Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, and they helped us a lot in establishing the theme of "story."
 
12. What was the message that you wanted to make sure got across when people read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint? (From @Jata390146 on X/Twitter)

We wanted to convey our hope that we could become each other's stories that can help us endure the hardships of life. We don't think salvation is something grand. However, if there is a story that can help us endure for a moment, we think people can live. We hope everyone has such a story.

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We want to thank singNsong and all Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint fans for this opportunity. We are incredibly excited to bring this series to English-speaking audiences, and we couldn’t have done it without your love and passion.

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can now purchase your copy of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (novel), Vol. 1 through your favorite retailer. It's available in print, digital, and audiobook formats, so experience this fantasy masterpiece in any and all forms! You can also catch up with the comic adaptation in print. Volume 2 of the novel releases this Fall, so don’t forget to pre-order your copy to continue following Dokja Kim’s story!