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Questioner

Of all your books... who is your favorite audiobook narrator who has narrated your novels?

Brandon Sanderson

It is Michael Kramer. And that's a bias of mine because, having listened to a lot of the Wheel of Time books in the early years, I fell in love with Michael and Kate's reading styles, so I've asked for them specifically on several of my projects. I sometimes like to have somebody different for different books just to have some variety in case there are people who don't like that, but they will continue probably to do Mistborn and Stormlight because they're my favorite readers.

CoverYourSafeHand

Do you feel like audiobooks change how people perceive characters in books? I’ve seen people on r/Stormlight_Archive say that the audiobooks make Elhokar sound much more whiney than he was meant to be in the text.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they do--but that's part of the experience, and part of what makes audiobooks interesting.

Badger (paraphrased)

How much say did you have in the narrators for your audiobooks?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He talked about the process behind picking narrators in the sense of he's allowed to request people, but if they can't get them, the publisher will present him with other options he can pick from. Same went for book cover artists (he chose Michael Whelan). He requested Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for his books because he was impressed with how he did the Wheel of Time books. The only one he didn't have say in is the original Warbreaker narrator (surfer dude Lightsong, anyone?).

Questioner

We all know, heaven forbid, if you don't finish what you have planned… you probably have backup plans.

Brandon Sanderson

I do have backup plans.

Questioner

What I'm worried about is: who is going to keep narrating The Stormlight Archive for the audiobooks? Because I'm sure that the last half is a lot later. I just love Michael Kramer.

Brandon Sanderson

I love Michael Kramer. I think they're on board, but I did see this thread on Reddit. I don't know if you were referencing that. They were running the math. You guys do like to number crunch. We will see. I think and I hope we'll have Michael and Kate for many, many, many, many years. They're a pair of very healthy individuals.

I think that that is a bridge we will cross if we ever have to get to it. It is something, perhaps, to be thinking of - maybe we should have some understudies doing some books, and you can see, as a fandom, who you really like and things like that. Because there is some, like... Michael and Kate are my favorite readers because of the Wheel of Time. I got the audiobooks back in the 90s from the library back when that's basically the only place you can get. So when Mistborn was audio, they said, “Who do you want?” I'm like, “Michael and Kate.” And they said, “Well, we're just gonna get Michael.” They did. But when Stormlight happened, I'm like... It's extra work to get two voice actors, and so it took until I had done, like, Wheel of Time stuff, and they were happy with me, and I got away with all this stuff on Stormlight that I could get both of them. But there are some audience members who prefer a different narrator for every series, and I can totally understand this, as well. That's why we try, sometimes, to do a variety. 

You're welcome to give us feedback on the narrators you like, the ones you would prefer us to keep using, and things like that. You don't have to mention Michael and Kate; they are fantastic. But let us know. That sort of feedback is actually really helpful. Peter watches this very closely, and he's very deeply involved in picking the narrators, so it's kind of his department. They usually bring to me options, or… I do listen to audiobooks, so I'll often ask for various people.

Questioner (paraphrased)

I've been listening to the audiobooks of Stormlight. There are some really great character voices. Have you told him how to do the characters?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I have not told him how to do characters. I leave that to him. I give him pronunciations.

Questioner (paraphrased)

So the Australian Lopen is all him.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah, the Australian is all him. Which is weird, because they're, they're based off of Hispanic cultures, so, hearing the Australian... but at the same time, they're not Hispanic, because there are no Hispanics on Roshar, so an Australian's probably just as accurate as anything else. But yes, I intended the Herdazians to have a Hispanic flair to them.

Kyrroti

What’s the likelihood of Elantris or Warbreaker being narrated by Michael Kramer?

Brandon Sanderson

Not good, I'm afraid, as we've already done two versions of Warbreaker and the current Elantris reader is generally liked for the book.

Questioner

I love the reader for the Mistborn series and the Way of Kings, an I was wondering if you pick the reader and how you collaborate for the reader tell him how to pronounce the names.

Brandon Sanderson

His name is Micheal Kramer, and in the Way of Kings his wife, Kate Reading, reads the female viewpoints. i did ask for them on purpose because they also did the Wheel of Time books and i was very fond of their treatment of the Wheel of Time novels, and so when they said "who do you want" I said "can I have Micheal and Kate" and things like that. The question of how I work with them? Most of the time I send them a pronunciation guide. It doesn't always get there in time for their schedule, which is why sometime the names are a little off, but i do send them a pronunciation guide and i do know Micheal now, we've done some signings together. He actually does a reading when we do a signing together, its really cool. Them i did [?]. Most of the audiobook readers I've never met, and I'll usually pick Micheal and Kate for my main-line. For Mistborn and Way of Kings i did that intentionally. i sometimes pick different people for different ones just to have some variety and things like that.

Questioner

Was the Thaylen accent changed between The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance? Because the Wind's Pleasure crew and Tvlakv all sound a bit different.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. That's not intentional. That is just more, I leave the accents completely up to the audiobook readers. I don't tell them an accent... I do try to send them pronunciation guides, but those don't always arrive in time, which is why you can see some discrepancies. But, yeah, I let them pick the accents.

Ashton Smith

I just finished the Legion series and it was amazing. Do you ever think you'll go back to it?

Brandon Sanderson

So what my pitch for Legion has always been is me wanting to do a television show. When I conceived the very first Legion story, I wrote a series Bible to go along with it and this never has materialized. Now, it is still optioned by someone. It's our third or fourth option on it, which means that there is a company out there called Cineflix who has the option to make a television show, and as far as I know they are still developing that and hoping they can make that happen. But after a decade of trying to get a television show made, and realizing that I just don't have the resources to do this on my own, I have instead decided let's try doing an audio drama series using Stephen Leeds and his aspects. So we actually got together a little writers' room. Myself and a friend of mine that I started an audiobook company with. Max Epstein is my friend, and together we have an audiobook company called Mainframe, and we have been developing various projects with various people, mostly with me kind of trying to kick off things that'll feel more like television shows but audio dramas, and Legion is one of those. So if you really liked Legion, when we release that audiobook version, which theoretically we're going to do an audio original Legion thing that would be like a pilot for a series that we would do other audio dramas for, with a writers' room, just like a television show. If that comes out, give it a listen, and if you like it, let us know and let whoever we end up putting it with know so that we can continue doing them. So there's a decent chance that there will be a Legion one manifesting.

Questioner

I enjoy the audiobooks. Michael Kramer is awesome.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, he's great.

Questioner

Ramon De Ocampo is awesome. So I have two questions. One, when you give the books to the readers.

Brandon Sanderson

Uh-huh.

Questioner

Do you also, like, record for them the actual names so they know to speak... *inaudible*?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah, so naming-- names in the audiobooks. So I get-- I send them a recorded-- recording of all the names. It doesn't always get to them in time. Because the production-- You can imagine, like, I'm not turning the final book in to Tor for probably another month. And then they have to get that thing recorded, and produced, and out by the-- simultaneous with the book that we are recording. So, sometimes they get them wrong. But I don't really mind too much, because I figure-- this is kind of my philosophy-- there are no really right ways to say the names. The right way is how you say it in your version of the book when you are reading it. You're the director; I provide the script. I could tell you how I pronounce the names, but I pronounce names wrong. Like, I say "KEL-see-er", right? And in world they'd say something more like "Kel-see-AY". And stuff like this. Like I say "KAL-uh-din"; they would probably say "kuh-LA-din" in Alethi. And so, I mean, I'm American. We-- I say things like Americans.

Questioner

I read the Mistborn series in audiobook form and it was just such high quality. And I was wondering if that was specifically your decision and if so, what made you choose to make it so?

Brandon Sanderson

So, if you're thinking of the Michael Kramer version. That came about because I loved him and Kate's readings of the Wheel of Time audiobooks. And I just... they were my favorite audiobook readers. When they came and said "Who do you want for your audiobooks", I said "Please get Michael and Kate".

If you're thinking of the full cast audios... the full cast audios are done by a group called Graphic Audio and they just do high class work, that's why we picked them. I listen to a bunch of things they've done and I have nothing to do with how great they are, that's all on them.