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Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How do you keep so many different worlds you created separate so they don't "float" into each other? | Lots of notes, a good internal wiki, and an even better continuity editor. (In the form of Peter Ahlstrom.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Won't it be difficult to keep the storyline interesting for 10 books straight? | We'll have to see! I think the storyline for the series is quite captivating, but I've never done something this long before. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | What has been your favorite book to write so far? | I've liked them all for different reasons. Some are fun and fast, others are deep and challenging. My favorite would change day by day based on my mood. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do you think that there will ever be a movie trilogy or tv series of The Stormlight Archive like they have done with Game of Thrones and Harry Potter ? | Boy, I'd love it if there were. I will work to make it happen, though with Stormlight I probably won't be optioning the books for film until a few more are out. I don't have a lot of power over what Hollywood decides to do, though. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How much time do you spend during the initial planning stages of writing your novel, developing your magic systems and going through the laws and such? | It really depends on the book. For Steelheart , I didn't need very much. On that I'm using a superhero-themed story, and all I really needed to know was: How did people start getting their powers? How are their weaknesses developed? How are these things interrelated? From there I can just look at each power set and say, "Okay, this person has this power set." You don't have to extrapolate quite as far with superheroes. At the same time, they are very limited magics that only work within a certain small realm, so the reason you don't have to do as much extrapolation is because there isn't as much to do. In that case, it was the matter of a week. With something like The Stormlight Archive , it was a matter of months or years of working on the magic systems. It really varies. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | When Kaladin helped Adolin fight in the arena, did Elhokar notice him Surgebinding? | RAFO. :) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | What advice would you give to someone who is trying to write an epic fantasy novel for the first time? | Turn off the internal editor. Write with passion, and don't spend a lot of time on revision. You will grow so quickly as a writer during your first book that you want to power through it, learn a lot about the process, THEN do your revisions. Otherwise, you might end up stuck in an endless loop of revising the first few chapters. Also, don't spend so long planning that you don't get around to writing. The goal is to train yourself to learn how to write—and you only do that by actually writing. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Title Page Originally, this book was going to be called The Final Hero . In the first draft of book one, that was the term I was using for the hero from Terris lore. I changed this for a couple of reasons. First off, I just didn't like the way The Final Hero sounded. Something about it felt off to me. In addition, if I titled book one The Final Empire and the last book The Final Hero , then it seemed that the second book should also be The Final (Something) —and I didn't like that either. The Well of Ascension is actually my favorite title of the three, I think. So I toyed around with other words and terms I could use. Eventually, I settled on The Hero of Ages . I'm satisfied with it, but it's not my favorite title. If you've read the books, then it makes perfect sense and is a great capstone title to the trilogy—but to those who haven't, I think it comes off as a rather bland title. Regardless, I'm now very glad I didn't go with The Final Hero . People were confused by book one having final in the title, as they weren't sure if that book were the first or last in the series. I think having another book with final in the title could have been even more confusing—particularly if I decide to do any more books in the Mistborn world. |
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Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | So, Way of Kings . Absolutely huge book, standing at 1000 pages. Even then, the book is taller than your average kind of novel. So, the question I had for Brandon was, with people like Patrick Rothfuss kind of realizing their works were too long— The Kingkiller Chronicles for example was one big book that he split into three parts so that it was publishable—what was it about Way of Kings that meant even though it was so big, it still had to be just that one book? I see. The two books in front of you here, obviously being re-released... Which point is it that this cuts off at? | I couldn't do that same thing with this particular book because of the way the plot arcs work. It worked very well with Rothfuss' book—of course, I loved his books—but what he's got going on is sort of an episodic story where Kvothe does this and Kvothe does that and Kvothe does this. And you can kind of separate those as vignettes. With Way of Kings , what I was doing is...I've got three storylines for three separate characters who are each going through troubled times. And if we were to cut the book in half, for instance, you would get all of the set up, and all of the trouble, and none of the payoff. And so what'd happen is you'd have actually a really depressing first book, where nothing really good happens and people are in places that they...mentally, they haven't come to any decisions yet; they're struggling with problems. Essentially, you'd only get the first act; you'd get all of the setup and none of the payoff. This cuts off... We decided we had a fairly good break point, because Shallan's storyline comes to...there's a resolution. And some decisions have been made, and it's kind of... We broke it right at the kind of middle point where people are deciding, you know, we've had these struggles, we've had these struggles; now we have some sort of promise of victory. But the victory or things haven't actually happened yet. And so I do strongly recommend that people read both books—have them both together to read together—because there is a certain poetry to the arcs that are built into this. The second half is lots of massive payoff for the first half. But we did find a decent break point. But conceptually it's one novel, even if you can break for a while and then pick up the second one. Conceptually, to me they are one. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Why do you so often include some sort of religious government in so many of your worlds? Is it something that comes from looking at how history developed on Earth, or do you think your religious faith influences the way you write/worldbuild? | There are a lot of reasons. One is because it happened that way so often in our world. Another is my fascination with religion, and wanting to explore what people do with it. The biggest one, however, is related to how I worldbuild. I like things to be very interconnected, as I think that's how real life is. So, when I build a religion, I ask myself what its political ties are, as well as its relationship with things like the magic, economics, and gender roles of the culture. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How important is Intent to Hemalurgy? If two people who didn't know about Hemalurgy were running and tripped, falling perfectly onto a spike, would Hemalurgy occur? What about if it was a sick psychopath who liked stabbing people with spikes instead of an accident? Would the planet these events occurred on matter? | Location is not relevant to most of the magics. As for those specifics of Hemalurgy, I will RAFO for now. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Have we seen any soul-stamped objects in any of the non-Sel books? Is this a feasible task for someone like Shai or Hoid? We know the Moon Scepter is a Rosetta stone, so the task seems less daunting, right? Thanks for taking the time (again) to answer me! | For you to have seen this, someone would have to have cracked the issue with Sel magics losing power greatly when taken from the planet. The task is less daunting for certain. I don't want to say more, however, as I think the clues are there about Sel's magic, and I want to avoid saying too much. So, here's the thing. The problem with magic on Sel is not one people are looking at the right way. And I'm really loathe to dig into it more, because I won't be able to write the books set on the world for a few more years yet. Already, great moments in upcoming books aren't going to be as powerful to the hardcore fans, as they'll know the answers already. But your theory, while very cool, wouldn't work--and stems from you attacking the problem in the wrong way. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do all Surgebinders breathe Stormlight in, or are there other ways? Is Lift one-of-a-kind in this regard? | Lift is one of a kind. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I was wondering if you were thinking along the lines of a movie of Alcatraz ? | We tried really hard. We actually even got storyboards and things with Dreamworks Animation, which was going to be awesome, but then they eventually let it die. So if you buy the big art Dreamworks Animation book, there's actually Alcatraz concept art on one of the pages, which is kind of excruciating that it never happened. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Did the Davar Soulcaster ever work? | Yes, it did. (Good question.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | My son said if I got to ask a question he wants me to ask when's the next Rithmatist and also when's the next Alcatraz ? | So I'm currently writing Stormlight 3, that is projected for Christmas of next year. It's really going to depend on when I finish it. If it goes-- Peter's smirking because he's like "Yeaaaah." If it goes any later-- the first draft goes any later than March of next year, that means we'll have to push back. So if you watch on my progress bar, if I finish it by-- my goal is to be done by the last day of February, and that's going to take some dedicated writing, *Peter's smirks some more*, but we'll see. If it strays much longer than that, than we'll push it back. They're just big involved books to write. I've already finished enough that would be a finished manuscript for another novel, the same length as Calamity or the new Mistborn books, but it'll go four times that length. So Rithmatist is a side project that I will write when I have time. My main sort of focus right now-- I kind of have to focus on three things. Stormlight , Mistborn , and The Reckoners , which I'll have another trilogy with Random House which will be something new, but my mainline teen stuff is the more adventure type stuff. I'd love to do another Rithmatist . I think it was a very fun book, and for people who liked more involved worldbuilding, and more fantastical sort of things that want something for teens, Rithmatist is what that is. Steelheart is more action movie. And so I would like to do that. Alcatraz , I did finish Alcatraz 5, which is the last of the ones that Alcatraz will write, and that is scheduled for next summer after we do a rerelease of the Alcatraz books with brand new art. We'll be showing that off on my website soon. The art's looking really great, we finally got a look I like for them, some interior art, a nice map, things like that. So those will start being released in January, and the newest one coming out in June. Warbreaker and Elantris sequels? No immediate plans, they're happening someday. Really, once I finish Stormlight , I'll go into the next series for Random House, the follow up to Steelheart , and then we'll see where I am, and see if I have time to write another side project which would be one of these books before I jump into Stormlight 4. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | You've said that there are three types of Blades in The Stormlight Archive . We've seen "dead" Shardblades, Honorblades - is the third type the "living spren" Shardblades, or is there another type we haven't seen? | Nightblood is a very unique kind of Shardblade, but IS a Shardblade. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | The Reckoners , it's got a lot of a comic book feel with superheroes. Are there any plans at all for that to be adapted to graphic novel or anything? It's just one of those novels that when you're reading it, it seems like it could be easily adapted and it would suit either. | Not right now. The graphic novel rights would be owned by the people doing the movie, and if they ever get the movie off the ground then I would say they probably will do a graphic novel. I toyed with graphic novels for many years when I had the original idea for it, but the fun of Steelheart was me trying to take comic book tropes and do them in the novel form. You've seen how movies have taken comic book tropes and turned them into films, and I really have enjoyed that. But they do very different things; it's like its own new genre, the comic book film. I wanted to do the same thing for books, thinking, what are the strengths for a prose narrative as opposed to a more visual storytelling method? |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Can the various forms of Investiture on other worlds in the cosmere be classified as "end positive" or "end negative" like they are on Scadrial? | Some can. Not all. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I was curious what the-- or if you had an inspiration for the scene with Vin and Elend going to his father's camp and the talk about acceptance? | Yeah a lot of these con-- these stories-- If you didn't hear it, there's a scene where Vin and Elend in Words of Radiance go to visit-- *crowd murmurs* not Words of Radiance *laughter* Well of Ascension ! They both start with a "W" I'm running out of letters to start books with. Yeah it's a good problem. So they go to talk to Straff and there's a lot of discussion about acceptance and just kind of things I was thinking about at the time and think about a lot. One of the things is "I hope people enjoy this, if not you're just going to have to deal with it." I work out what I'm thinking about life through the voices of my characters. And it's something I really look for in books as well, I do want a little philosophy with my fantasy. And, y'know, it's not that I'm trying to answer those questions, but I'm working on them. And the characters, because they have a different perspective from myself--because the characters don't voice what I think, they voice what they think about something I'm thinking about--and that really kind of helps me think about it and talk through it. And it's one of the reasons I write books, besides doing awesome stuff. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I'm blown away by all the different types of people you portray in The Stormlight Archive (different cultures, social classes, genders, varying levels of...morality). What kinds of things help you create such diverse casts of characters? I'm imagining that you have a secret encyclopedia somewhere that helps you keep all your cultures and customs straight! | I do, actually, have a secret encyclopedia. It's a wiki on my computer, filled with information. That helps me keep things straight. However, specific inspirations are often in the people I meet. I do spend a fair amount of time looking through the internet for blogs/forums populated by people who think very differently from myself. This helps me create realistic portrayals. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | The fantasy universe is very fond of antiheroes lately, so I was surprised when I read your books with charismatic and inspiring lead characters, who, almost single-handedly, give faith to people and make them claim back their dignity. What is so compelling about creating characters such as Kaladin or Kelsier? | I find that the antihero angle is very well covered by other authors. I am fascinated by people who are trying to do what is right because most everyone I know is actually a good person--and a good person needing being forced to make unpleasant decisions is more interesting to me. The great books I read as a youth inspired me; I'd rather dwell on that kind of story than the opposite. (That said, it's great that the genre is big enough for both types of stories.) It IS interesting to me that over the last twenty years, what I do has become the distinctive one. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Which of your worlds, if any at all, have ice cream, or at least, the ability to make ice cream? | Scadrial probably has it already. Roshar is farthest, not having as much in the way of milk products. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Of the 7 remaining Stormlight Archive books (or 3 in the sub-series), which one are you most looking forward to writing? | Book ten. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Who is the oldest character we know? | Frost is almost certainly the oldest by a small amount. After that, Hoid. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How much time do you usually spend on creating a magic system? | It really depends on the book, the length of the story, and how integral to magic is to that particular story. Some are as fast as a couple of days; some take months and months. It is also difficult to answer this question because I spend a lot of time thinking about a book before writing, and the Magic is often part of that. I will often spend years with an idea growing in the back of my mind before writing--and in those cases, the actual "outlining" may take a month, but that doesn't begin to cover the time spent on the idea. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I love stories in any medium, and I would love to tell one myself. But, I don't think I have anything in particular to say that hasn't been done a thousand times before. I invariably come across some story that already parallels my ideas. What makes a story worth telling even when its like has been done before? | The answer is simple: YOU are what makes your story worth telling. Harry Potter wasn't an original story, and yet told very well, it became an excellent series. My suggestion to you is to ask what unique passions or life experiences you have that aren't found in the average fantasy book. This genre still has a lot of room to grow. A person passionate about sports could write a very different fantasy novel from one passionate about lawn care—assuming they take what they know and love and make us, as readers, come to know and love it as well. Good luck! |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | As [Feruchemy] is the magic system combined from Ruin and Preservation's powers, and they created humankind on Scadrial, how is it that it only occurs in persons with Terrispeople in their ancestry? | RAFO :) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Won't it be difficult to keep the storyline interesting for 10 books straight? | We'll have to see! I think the storyline for the series is quite captivating, but I've never done something this long before. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In Stormlight Archive what inspired you to come up with the idea of bridges & how they carry them across chasms? | I wanted a form of siege warfare that was different from anything that readers had seen before, but had the same despair to it. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | if you could have any of the powers from your books which one would you choose? | Windrunning, probably. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Prior to becoming pregnant, did [Queen Aesudan] spend most of her time at the Shattered Plains, or in the capital? But she was at the Shattered Plains, rather than Elhokar going back to the capital? | She has spent most of her time in the capital. She obviously has been back and forth. I would say she has spent more time off the Shattered Plains than at it. He has been back at least once, but it is a long trip. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is it known to most people in Elandel that Ranette has a girlfriend? Or are they hiding? | They don't need to hide in particular in Elendel. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | So a friend and I who share a passion for sword fighting have been trying to find the real world correlates for the stances that Sharbearers use. So far we've made connections between Windstance and Haidong Gumdo, and Smokestance and the late Medieval/early Renaissance fencing. I was wondering if you could give us more information or at least hints on the other real world correlates? | I developed these with Ben McSweeney's help, and we plan to include representations of all the stances eventually. However, a few are NOT based on real-world equivalents, because of the size of Shardblades. Look at how various very-large weapons like zweihanders or Zanbat's were used. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Does Shardplate have one general style as a pattern, or do different types exist (like European armour vs. Japanese armour), as the different kingdoms have different cultures? | Different types exist, but it's more along order lines than cultural ones. (That said, a person's culture could certainly influence their armor.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In [ Words of Radiance ] Shallan notes that spren don't appear around dense groups of people, even if emotions are high. Why is that? | You'll find out more eventually. There are several reasons, but imagine how a creature attracted to a specific color would respond if you dumped every color together in a big mess. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How quickly are you able to get back into the storyline flow when you begin another book? e.g. Do you have to review notes extensively for a few days? | This is one of the most difficult things for me to do. I wish I had a better way to do it, actually. I usually lose a few days or more while trying to get into a book I've stopped for some reason. My primary method is to read what I've written before (or, if it is a new book in a series, the last part of the previous book.) That tends to help get me into a mood, so to speak. But it can take days of thinking, working, and throwing away my work to get into the groove. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | On Roshar, do they have an equivalent for cats, like how they have axehounds instead of dogs? | No, they do not. Though there are various domesticated animals fulfilling a similar role across the planet. (Domesticated minks and pigs come to mind.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In the Wheel of Time books, did the Creator have a power, similar to the True Power that the Dark One had? | I'm afraid I don't have the answer for this, not for certain. I think that readers of the text could argue both ways. For example, a certain event in the epilogue of [ A Memory of Light ] could be interpreted this way--though everyone in Team Jordan seems to have a different opinion on what is going on, and [Robert Jordan] didn't leave an explanation. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Why are do the Windrunners, Elsecallers, Stonewards, and Dustbringers have an extra connection on the Surgebinding diagram? Why do the Edgedancer, Skybreaker, Lightweaver, Willshaper's have a broken connection on the diagram? What are the dragon type things in the back of the diagram? | The dragon type things are a certain animal you've seen several places in the story so far. These connections will be explained eventually, but remember it's not the orders being connected, but instead their elemental representations. This diagram is very metaphysical, and some of the elements of it are cultural. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | What was your inspiration for Kaladin? | Kaladin was inspired originally by reading about surgeons in the middle ages. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do Zahel and Hoid know each other? | They've met. Otherwise, RAFO. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | One of my favorite things about being a Brandon Sanderson fan is how consistently you publish books, I always know you'll have a new book coming out without having to wait years. What do you do to help keep up the consistency and overcome the times when you sit down and the "creative juices" aren't there, or at least not easily accessible? | I throw away a fair amount of fiction. If it isn't flowing, I write anyway, then file that chapter away under junk. I also hop projects a lot. I've found this makes me much more creative and eager to write. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Did the Lord Ruler know how to worldhop? | He was familiar with the idea that people lived on other planets, but had no interest--or experience--in visiting other places. During his Ascension, he could have left Scadrial, if he'd wished. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How much do you use science to influence/guide your world building in what most people would identify as a fantasy setting? | I use it quite a bit, but as I'm writing fantasy, I go by the rule "do what is awesome first, then explain it." Meaning, I am looking to tell a certain kind of story, and while science is often a springboard into a magic, I will sometimes chose to do what I think makes the story better as opposed to what is scientifically rational. The way the Metallic Arts work with mass is one example. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | You said that Shallan will have different apprenticeships, we know 2 , Will be Hoid another? | RAFO. :) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | We know that Pattern was with Shallan before the murder of Shallan's mother. Will we see in the next books how they met? | Yes, you will probably see this some day. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In Well of Ascension , it mentions that the language of Terris had a gender neutral pronoun. If you actually constructed the language, what was that pronoun? Or did you just leave it as its English translation of "it"? | I didn't spend a long time on the languages in Scadrial, since most people were speaking the same tongue. I just used "it" in my own writings. Roshar has a lot more detail on the languages, because culture-clash is a bigger part of the theme of the series. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Zahel/Vasher is in Roshar for Nightblood? Will we know in Stormlight Archive why these two were separated? Or in the sequel of Warbreaker ? | The Warbreaker sequel will give clues about this, but the actual event happened between that and [ The Way of Kings ]. So I'm not sure where I'll slip it in. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | If a non-Windrunner Surgebinder (who had spoken all the Ideals of their Radiant Order) summoned Jezrien's Honorblade, what color eyes would they get? A blend? Different colors for each eye? | :) I'm going to RAFO eye color questions for the moment. We'll actually be dealing with some of these in the books. Maybe not the specific ones you ask, but the concepts in general. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who are educated in a field other than literature and in a profession already that is not centered around writing? | Yes! I'll tell you that you're in luck. Take what you've learned in your field of education, and in your profession, and apply it to your writing. RJ used his experience as a solider; Grisham made a career out of writing books related to his work. You have special experience and knowledge that will make your books distinctive. Make use of it! |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Brandon, your books are always seamless and so well put together. Do you use any specific software when compiling a story? | I'm afraid I don't. I use Microsoft Word. Compiling is all done the old-fashioned way with lots of editing. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | What kind of college classes (not English courses) would best prepare someone for writing fantasy? | Whatever you're fascinated by! You can incorporate basically anything into a story. If you love numbers, study economics. If you like history, pick an area and type and become an expert. Whether it be law or botany, you will find a way to use it in your books. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is there any chance we will have a deeper backstory for Bridge 4 members? Maybe an anthology or something with short stories that detail backstory for Rock, Lopen, etc? That would be amazing! | I do intend to dig into some of them a little. (Rock, for example, is currently plotted to have a viewpoint sequence in a later book.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | The "God Surges" you mentioned recently, are they a part of the Way of Kings frontsheet? | All I said regarding this was to tell a fan that it was possible to make an analogy between the god metals on Scadrial and certain powers on Roshar. However, these are not a codified part of the magic system. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is Reya Cultivation's name? | No. (Sorry) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In Chapter 19 of The Way of Kings , when Dalinar has a vision of fighting Voidbringers (maybe something else?) as a farmer, he says that he felt the Thrill in the vision. Does this mean that Nergaoul was active there, at the time that vision was "recorded" or was it Dalinar's viewing of the vision that was affected by the Thrill? Would the actual person whose perspective he was seeing have felt the Thrill if he had fought? | This is a great question, and one I've never been asked before. The answer is going to be a little vague. First, Dalinar could have felt the Thrill from Nergaoul, and imported it into the vision. Second, Nergaoul could have been active then, and the farmer could have felt it when he fought. So both theories are valid. Which is it? I am going to hang back from answering this for now, as I am digging more into the Unmade in a future book. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | At what point in your writing did the ending of [ Shadows of Self ] become a thing in your mind? Was is there from the beginning? Did it unfold naturally? Or was it something you saw before even writing [ The Alloy of Law ]? | I wrote Alloy of Law as kind of a free write. Once I finished it, and liked it a lot, I sat down and said, "Okay, if this is going to be Mistborn , it needs to have a tighter series outline." So I outlined three sequels, so I knew where Wax and the characters were going. Then I wrote the prologue of Alloy of Law . (It originally didn't include that scene with him and Lessie meeting Bloody Tan.) That scene was the first I wrote knowing the entire three book sequence, including the ending of SofS. From there, I did a revision of Alloy of Law to match what was to come. The biggest change was adding in the trauma to Wax, which wasn't a piece of the initial story. (It was also something the book needed. Wax didn't have an arc in the original draft; he was kind of just "stoic sheriff." Building into him this longing to escape responsibility, and an underlying worry that his failures would break him, made it possible to create for him a four book arc.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | If a Windrunner lashed Wax upwards, could he dump all of his weight into his metalminds and be unaffected or would the lashing affect his clothes and whatever else he had on him too? | Wax could mitigate the effect (unless he was in a vacuum) but not eliminate it completely. I was talking about a Vacuum, but it's good to clarify. What I'm saying is that without wind resistance, his mass doesn't matter--and the books have established that what Wax does is a freakish transformation of his mass, not just his weight. Kaladin changes how much gravity pulls on someone, and in what direction. Wax (basically, it's more complex than this) changes how much mass he has. The two, then, have some very distinctive effects. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Dumb personal-obsession question - mistwraiths are people with "a blockage between the Physical and the Cognitive Realms" - does that mean if they set foot on Threnody they turn into actual undead-type-wraiths? | This is a very cool theory. I don't think I can shoot it down. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | A friend of mine was thinking Harmony's two-power combination 'perk' was the ability to use them together to create instead of just to destroy or preserve. Was that 'chemical reaction' rule in the plan from the beginning, or was having Harmony more a precedent to develop a rule from it? | It was pretty early. (The idea that the two together can create was mentioned very early in the series, long before Harmony came to be.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is Edgli going to make an appearance (or be mentioned in) another book? I want to know more about Edgli! | Yes, this will be answered eventually. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | So... CS question here, I'm seeing identity as essentially a 'encryption' on the metalmind - the spike has the decryption key to existing metalminds, but when you encrypt a new one you use your personal encryption key with the spike's hardware, so you still have compounding access to the metalminds even after removing the spike. Is it possible for there to be a 'key collision' with Identity? Two people just randomly end up making compatible metalminds, because the pieces of their Identities that the magic looks like happen to be the same. | This would be about as likely as two unrelated people ending up with the exact same genetic sequence. But, so far as I understand, that WOULD be possible. :) RAFO. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Why isn't Alcatraz part of the Cosmere ?The lenses seem like they could be investiture-related. | I didn't want Alcatraz to have to follow Cosmere continuity and rules. Yes, the magic could work in the cosmere |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Other than Hoid, which character have you had the most fun writing? | Wayne. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | So I know that there's going to be a second Mistborn trilogy. Is Alloy part of it? So is the second trilogy in the same time period? | No. This is foreshadowing the second trilogy. I may do some more books with these characters. It will be a little future forward from this. More like mid–20th century. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I'm assuming they met in White Sand , if Hoid is who I think he is in that one ;) but more how well does she know his agenda? | I'm not sure if you're thinking this, but Nazh and Hoid are separate people. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | In the Mistborn trilogy, was it hard to write the final twist, or had it been planned that way? | This is always the way it was planned. There are some smaller things that I'll allow spontaneity to change the book, but the general structure of the book is always planned out. And if something changes while I'm writing I go and throw away the plan and rebuild the plan, so I'm always writing with a plan. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Any new information about the Steelheart movie? So excited about it! Will you be involved in making it? | Last I heard, they had a script they liked, and were sending it out for a polish. I will be as involved as they will allow! |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Any updates on movie/tv/video game adaptions? | Nothing big. Steelheart has a script. It's the only one so far to hit that stage. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | One of my favorite moments in The Way of Kings is when Dalinar is having the vision of the Knights Radiant and they're descending from the sky and going into battle. I'd like to know the origin of that scene in your head. | I wanted to provide a contrast. This scene is one I came up with in outlining, it's not one of those scenes that I hang everything on. Most of what you do as a writer, you discover as you do, even if you're an outliner like me. And this was a scene where I'm like, I need something to show the contrast between the world that Dalinar is seeing and the world he is living. And that scene was kind of the metaphorical starfall, that felt like it would express the drama of the contrast, the dark night with the monsters and the bright Radiants from the sky. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How hard was it for you to get your first manuscript published? Did you send multiple copies? | It took me ten years of work to become an author who wrote books that were of professional quality. Once I hit that point, my chances improved. Elantris was rejected half a dozen times over four years before selling. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Could you Awaken an Honorblade? | It would take a Looooooot of power. (A near impossible amount.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Can you tell us the name of factory from which Tia gets her Cola pouches? And perhaps the city? | Factory is one that doesn't exist in our world, but I believe I have it in Chattanooga. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How much time do you spend during the initial planning stages of writing your novel, developing your magic systems and going through the laws and such? | It really depends on the book. For Steelheart , I didn't need very much. On that I'm using a superhero-themed story, and all I really needed to know was: How did people start getting their powers? How are their weaknesses developed? How are these things interrelated? From there I can just look at each power set and say, "Okay, this person has this power set." You don't have to extrapolate quite as far with superheroes. At the same time, they are very limited magics that only work within a certain small realm, so the reason you don't have to do as much extrapolation is because there isn't as much to do. In that case, it was the matter of a week. With something like The Stormlight Archive , it was a matter of months or years of working on the magic systems. It really varies. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is there anything more significant to Tien's obsession with rocks? Or is that just an example of him being a unique kid? | There is a little bit to the way he's seeing color in mundane things. It's less the rock, and more the things about the world he finds interesting. So I'm going to say it's the second. It's an aspect of who he is; the rock itself is not the important thing. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Regarding the Ire: did they set out into the Cosmere pre- or post-Reod? | RAFO! :) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | If a large group of Windrunners lashed enough mass towards a single point, could they create a black hole? | Offhand, I think that would be theoretically possible, though in practicality impossible. We'd need [Peter Ahlstrom] to do some math. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Radiant vs. Mistborn: who wins? | Depends on the situation and the Radiant order. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Is Edgli Endowment's holder? | Yes. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | What’s your favorite fantasy/scf characters that you haven’t written? | Excluding my books and the wheel of time, Sam Vimes from the Discworld books, I really, really like. I have a strong affection for Harry Dresden. I really am fond of Lesa from Dragon Riders. Dragon Riders was one of the early books that I really really liked. Let’s see, who else. That guy from Dragon Prince. Dragon Prince is one of my favorite all-time books. Who else? Who else is good characters? The Fool from the Assassin books by Robin Hobb that she wrote is really awesome. That’s a good place for you. I would like to say Kvothe, because I love those books, but I don’t think he and I wouldn’t get along. I love the books and think that Kvothe is a jerk, and that’s part of why I love Name of the Wind , because Kvothe is kind of a jerk. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Parshendi/Parshmen/Gemhearts vs ISIS/Non-radical Muslims/Oil - A comparison you've considered while writing? | The Parshendi aren't the radicals, though. In that conflict, I'd argue that the humans are. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | How does it feel to be now known as a mentor to younger writers? | How does it feel to be a mentor to younger writers? Well I think the fact that I've taught a university course on How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy for ten years, I kind of had to get used to that pretty early. I took over the class because they were going to cancel it because there was no one else to teach it. The teacher who had been teaching it retired. And so I stepped in and took it over and I still teach it to this day. My requirement being that I get to post the lectures online. So if you want to read them-- err watch them, you can watch them at brandonsanderson.com/writing-advice . Or you can ask for one of these little cards that has my url on it when you come through. How's it feel? It feels pretty cool honestly. I like interacting with new, young writers. I like helping them out. I'm really proud of like Brian [McClellan] and Janci [Patterson] who've gotten published. *aside to the booksellers* You have Brian's book right there? It's really quite good. He's one of those ones I really can't take credit for, because he came through and he was writing awesome stuff and so I told him like the business side. Here's how you go get published. Some of the other ones, I've been able to give them pointers on their actual writing, that I think have helped out. But I think with Brian he was there already, he just needed the boost to get into the industry. It feels pretty cool. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | With the White Sand graphic novels, do you intend to continue the sequence past the first MS of White Sand ? | Yes, if they are popular enough, I do. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Anyway, your first published book Elantris came out 10 years ago next month. You've had quite a journey since then; you've published 15 novels and half a dozen novellas. What's been the most surprising or interesting thing you've learned along the way? I'm going to exclude anything pertaining to The Wheel of Time . | One of the most interesting things was how fast the fans became experts in the world. Bigger experts than I thought they would become, and faster. But I knew that was going to happen, because I was a Wheel of Time fan and I knew what the fans did for The Wheel of Time . So it was more of a mark of honor to me that they actually doing this for me. I'm surprised to see it happening for my books, though I'm not at all surprised that they can do it. I think the biggest surprise is how little time I would have to actually write, after I became a writer. I had more time to write when I had a full-time job than I do now, because then I was working a graveyard shift at a hotel, and I could write overnight. I had a good six hours of writing time every day despite being a full-time student and having a full-time job. Now that I'm full-time as a writer, I travel and tour and do interviews. These things are all important, and I enjoy them. But what it means is that I just can't work as much as I used to. I became a storyteller because I love doing the storytelling part. It's like I have to squeeze it between the cracks sometimes, the thing that actually is my job. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | You've done a lot of books; you've been writing for a long time. At this point in your career does it feel like more like a work job than play? Or if you go to a convention and don't play Magic. I think everyone would just be truly concerned. I remember when you were at Polaris, we left a bunch of Magic cards on your hotel bed as your welcoming gift. I'm glad you liked it. | No. Telling the story still gives me the same feeling. You have to remember that by the time I broke in, I'd been doing this for ten years already. I've been doing it another ten now, so the breaking-in point was only the halfway point so far in my career. I still do what I used to do, which is jump to wacky new stories as they occur to me. I think when you should start to worry is when I stop doing that--when I stop coming up with some weird thing that I have to do instead of writing the next book, or when I decide I'm going to write two Mistborn books because I have some great idea for the second one. When I stop doing things like that, worry. So if you start getting Stormlight books only--as you all want--that's when we are actually in trouble. Yeah, if I don't play Magic, that would be bad! That is my reward for coming and doing publicity and things like that at the convention: I get to go play Magic. That was one of the best gifts I've ever received. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Switching topics, your battle scenes are completely epic. Do you have to do a lot of research learning different battle stances and techniques? Not one where you have to read through the dry crusty pages. As well as the importance of stirrups, and how they can support the huge magical armor. Yeah, I feel like it might be a big more difficult with our gravity. So is that something we are going to be seeing? Because I was thinking when the Cosmere starts concluding, just multi-Cosmere world battles kind of things...or? No worming out information by coming up with theories on the spot? | I've done a lot of that in my life up to this point, so I draw on that. I write the scene and then I go to the experts. I read through sources and try to look for where I've done it wrong. I can usually do it right enough on the first write because of my experience, so that the first write is not fundamentally flawed, it's only flawed in little places. I do a lot of reading of tactics and things like The Art of War , which was a very big help. A great place to get this type of thing is from good historical novels, but there are some good pop culture books as well. There's one I'm going to look up and email you about because I always forget the author, that you can read to give you an idea how different cultures have approached war. It's sitting on my shelf--I can picture the cover, but now the name escapes me. Guns, Germs, and Steel is a famous one that is very good, but there is a better one on the history of warfare. I'll have to send the name of that to you later. [Confirmed later: it is A History of Warfare by John Keegan.] Anyway, the pop science, pop history books I look at are more accessible than straight history books. They're written to be readable, for a mass audience, and they give me just enough to write the basics, and then I can polish the edges by going to an expert. Yeah, and really what you are looking for is the concepts. How different cultures fund a war, how they treat a war, and then you really only need some basic tactics. What are the different types, why would people use cavalry and what was the importance of cavalry. You get that from reading the history of warfare. I remember when I read how important the stirrup was as an invention, being able to fire bows from horseback, and why that changed warfare. Suddenly I could construct a battlefield where I could say oh, okay, now that I understand why the stirrup is important, I see why this unit is important, why having a cavalry is important. I can now have them enter my battlefield in a way that undermines what someone else is trying to do, because I know the importance of the stirrup. Learning just a few fundamentals like that is essential. What the difference was between the way the Romans approached war and the way a medieval army approached war, and why the introduction of peasant warriors was so important, and things like that. I still needed magical horses for that armor, but it's nice that I can have magically enhanced armor and make it all work together. The other big thing people have to remember about Roshar is it's point-seven gee, which helps a lot with things like this. 70% Earth gravity. It would be definitely more difficult. In fact when they get off the planet it's going to be a different experience for them, going to something like Scadrial where they have Earth gravity. Eventually, but not for a while. These are in the works. You may come up with all the theories you want, but I'm not giving you any information. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Fair, and silly question. If you were a Magic card which one would you be? Why? All right, thank you! It was a pleasure chatting with you again. I hope you enjoy the rest of the convention. | If I were a Magic card which one would I be? Uhm...I don't know. I would be blue-white or mono white. The personality I have is probably blue-white. Meaning that I am pretty straight-arrow Mormon; it's going to be hard for anyone who is straight-arrow Mormon to be anything but white. You mix that with the fact that I'm a writer for my profession; the storyteller is very blue--it could be red or blue, but I'm not very impulsive. So I'm going to say something blue-white. I would have to look and decide what card I am blue-white, but I'm definitely blue-white. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Where did the Cosmere come from? What inspired you? | Lots of things. Isaac Asimov connecting his Robot books and Foundation books was a partial inspiration to be certain. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Will there be a sequel to the secret project? (are we allowed to use it's name yet?) | Yes, you can use the name now. And yes, I plan a sequence of these. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | When you write.do you see the characters as real people or cartoons or comics? | Real people. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Will we ever read from a spren's viewpoint? A book where the flashbacks are spren? | Probably not. Or it’s not planned right now. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | The Reckoners , it's got a lot of a comic book feel with superheroes. Are there any plans at all for that to be adapted to graphic novel or anything? It's just one of those novels that when you're reading it, it seems like it could be easily adapted and it would suit either. | Not right now. The graphic novel rights would be owned by the people doing the movie, and if they ever get the movie off the ground then I would say they probably will do a graphic novel. I toyed with graphic novels for many years when I had the original idea for it, but the fun of Steelheart was me trying to take comic book tropes and do them in the novel form. You've seen how movies have taken comic book tropes and turned them into films, and I really have enjoyed that. But they do very different things; it's like its own new genre, the comic book film. I wanted to do the same thing for books, thinking, what are the strengths for a prose narrative as opposed to a more visual storytelling method? |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I've been trying to avoid Wheel of Time questions, but I've got one. We need to settle the score... who understood women better: Mat, Perrin, or Rand? It does. That's not just because he's your favorite? | Oh wow, who understood women better? So I'll say this: Perrin understood his woman better than Mat or Rand understood the women that they were interacting with. Does that make sense? I'm going to go with Perrin. Although by the end of the book Rand has recalled his past...no, Lews Therin was terrible with women, so I don't know. I'm still going to vote Perrin. No, I'm going to say it's because he understands human nature the best, despite having this whole wolf side. Or maybe it's because of this whole wolf side that he's able to look from an exterior perspective at the way humans are doing the things they are doing, and relating it. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do you have any updates for the progress of that? Or it's like, we've got all this and it's only six months to the last one, it's not 2, 3, maybe 4 years. | The graphic novel we are working on right now is White Sand , which is one of my early unpublished novels. We felt we could adapt that to take the poorly written stuff out and leave the awesome stuff. Yeah, it's going really well. We just got a sample of the cover art for the first volume. I think they are collecting 6 chapters in a book, and there will be 18 chapters total. So three volumes, and I think we are almost done with the first six. One of the things that I told them is that I really want to be far along in this project before we release anything. Because The Wheel of Time fans got burned on their comic. I think that there have been enough instances of things like that, so I want to be able to produce something complete and say, "Look, we've got this much of it done and this much more to do. We've at least got the first 6 chapters, a complete book you can read." |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | Do you mind if I ask one more Wheel of Time question? After A Memory of Light , Mat did he lose his luck, is he still ta'veren at all? I was curious about that. I remember in one of the books they said that they weren't always ta'veren for their whole life. | My perspective--now, I'm not speaking from a perspective of knowledge because Robert Jordan does not say in the notes, at least not that I saw. Speaking as Brandon the...very enfranchised fan and extra knowledgeable fan, but not as author of the series, I think he kept his luck but lost a portion of it. Meaning the luck is inherent to him, from the fact that the Heroes of the Horn know him as the Gambler. Luck and gambling are associated with him through all of his past lives, and I think that he naturally has some of that. When he was ta'veren it amplified and manifested, but he would still have it. And I don't even know if he's not ta'veren anymore. I think he expects that he's not anymore, but of the three he's the one that's still the center of global politics at the end of the books. If any of them was going to remain ta'veren , it would be him. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | If you used Stormlight to Awaken, would you drain color or create frost? | You'll have to see if this happens in the future! (Note that mixing the investitures is usually not easy to do.) |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | As of Era 2 is the nature of Vin's noble heritage (i.e. her father was a Tekiel before joining the Steel Ministry) known and if so, has House Tekiel tried to capitalize on that fact? | Yes, + yes. |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | I asked if he could give me a new hint on aluminium's special properties/interactions with the metallic arts. | RAFO! |
Answer the following question the ebst you can about Brandon Sanderson's works and the Cosmere | And my other question is about Taravangian. It becomes clear that when he's smart, he's less compassionate, and when he's dumb, he's more compassionate. Is that intentional, or is that just how you believe intelligence works? So when Taravangian is smart, his Cognitive aspect is stronger. So when he's dumb, is his Spiritual aspect stronger? | Yeah, he mentions that in his interlude. *With a sly grin, pulls out a RAFO* |
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