Recent entries

    FanX 2018 ()
    #5651 Copy

    Questioner

    If there was a story in Arcanum Unbounded that you thought was most informative? What's your favorite story in Arcanum Unbounded?

    Brandon Sanderson

    My favorite is Emperor's Soul. Probably the most Cosmere aware is Sixth of the Dusk.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5652 Copy

    Questioner

    So the difference between the White Sand novel and the White Sand graphic novels, what was the thought behind changing Ais's gender?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There were a couple thoughts. The main one was, I just thought the character was more interesting. A lot of my early books, you'll notice I did a thing where I'm like "I want to make sure that I'm doing the female character really well." And you can see the problem in that sentence, and that is really how I approached it, I'd say "Well I want to make sure I do the female character really well." And I think I did do the female character pretty well in some of those early books. But you'll see a consistency to them, and this is just coming aware of your biases.

    Now, there is nothing wrong with writing a book intentionally and saying, "You know what? Because of the way I want to write this book in this world, I'm going to make the cast almost all one gender or the other." I don't think there's a problem with that. It's when you're doing it consistently on accident, that there's a problem. And I had to kind of sit down and say, "Did I do this because I thought it was best for the character, or did I do this because I love Inspector Javert and I just wanna have to have Inspector Javert in my book?" And that's where the character came from, quite obviously.

    And I sat down and said, "If I were going to build this character from the ground up to be my own character and I were trying to throw away all biases, what would be the best for the character?" And Ais being female was not a "I need more women in the book," it was more of, "If I'm throwing away these biases and building the characters, what works the best?" and I just really liked how that character came out when I was rebuilding. Yeah, anyway, we'll go with that.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5653 Copy

    Questioner

    If a wrench is constantly used to hit things, would it consider itself a hammer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm not sure if it could phrase, "Hammer." But yes.

    There's a little linguistic hoop-jumping here. When Shallan talks to the stick and it says, "I am a stick," what is it doing? It's conveying the idea, "I am this thing." It would convey, "I am a thing that looks like this used to hits things." You could argue a brain might interpret that as hammer. I think you would get, "I'm a wrench that hits things!"

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5655 Copy

    Questioner

    In the Cognitive Realm, would they be the Berenstein or Berenstain Bears?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Excellent question, The Mandela effect and the Cognitive Realm. Depends on if the authors are still alive, will influence it. But the way the Cosmere works, I'm going to go with the way most people say it. So Berenstain Bears, probably. That would override.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5656 Copy

    little wilson

    If Vin were alive, would she recognize the Sovereign's facial features?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that. Do you mean the statue or the actual...Did you mean the statue?

    Sunbird

    I think we mean the actual Sovereign.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You mean if they met the person that the statue...I'll RAFO both of them. But someone making a statue...like if you met Homer, would he look like his statue? Is a different question also. But I'll RAFO that. But there will be answers forthcoming.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5657 Copy

    Questioner

    What can you tell us about food in Arelon? Is there a specific Earth culture that it resembles? Because in Elantris, we only really see cooking and eating when it's Kiin's cooking. And he kind of has a mishmash.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was looking at Renaissance Europe, maybe Spanish...with the coastline...Let's go with Spanish-esque. So some olives, something close to a paella. I would imagine it being somewhere along those likes, probably. The problem is I don't really know what they ate in Renaissance Spain. I only know what they eat in Spain right now. But I was looking at it like a Renaissance Mediterranean for Arelon when I was building it.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5660 Copy

    Zas678

    Pattern doesn't have vocal cords, and yet he makes sounds in the Physical Realm. Is this due to Realmatics of him projecting into the Cognitive Realm and connecting that way, or does he make physical sound?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He makes physical sound.

    Questioner 2

    So the vibrations that he makes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could record the vibrations that Pattern and Syl...You could record the patterns that these spren make on a recording device.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5664 Copy

    Questioner

    In one of the prologues to the first book, the assassination of Gavilar, mentions--I don't have the character's name--mentions his bodyguard or the head of his bodyguard being one of the greatest swordsmen in the realm, right? And then we get into Words of Radiance, which has such emphasis on duels. I kept waiting for this guy to come in again. I don't know if Szeth killed him in the assassination?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A conscious decision on my part. I'm going to RAFO it, but not for any good reason. Just a little reason, I might make reference to it, I might not.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5667 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering if you had a favorite religion that you created on Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The cheeky answer is Trell's, but that's not actually true. I don't think I do. I'd have to go look at them all and say, "This is my favorite." So I'll give you the non-cheeky answer, which is that I don't think I do. If I had a list in front of me and thought about it, I could probably pick a favorite.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5668 Copy

    Questioner

    Can a Returned be made from Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    How would you count the Heralds?

    Questioner

    I haven't read much, so I don't really know what you're talking about.

    Brandon Sanderson

    In the Stormlight books, there is a set of people who are constantly reborn, into full sized grown bodies that are being created for them. Would you count that as being Returned?

    Or do you count Returned...What's your definition, right? You can create something that is Returned-like. But your definition of what is Returned and what is not, is going to be involved in that.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5671 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering what your thought process was when you were deciding to make the powers less powerful as the Mistborn Eras...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was looking for ways to tell different stories and not repeat myself. So I like it when there's change in the magic, either our understanding of it, or the way it's working. To force me as a writer to approach it from different directions.

    Questioner

    But won't it die out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It won't die out. Well, it could if...There's a maximum amount of dissolution it can have, based on the progenitors of Era 2. And we're getting close to that. It's once they start intermingling with Southern Scadrial or off-planet that you have to worry about that. But you won't have to worry about that for Era 3. Maybe by Era 4 you might have to worry about it.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5673 Copy

    Questioner

    Aluminum eventually is going to become more cheap to produce. Is everybody just going to have resistance to...

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is definitely something that's going to affect the future. But do also remember that as the powers become more accessible to people who weren't born with them, you have both more resistance to them and more widespread use of them, which is going to change how things act out.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5674 Copy

    ShadowBlaze

    Would a kandra react to electrical shock differently than a human would?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but not that much differently. It's going to depend on the kandra and if they have enough control over their bodies. A kandra that's expecting it, for instance. But a kandra that's not expecting it I think would respond like a human would.

    ShadowBlaze

    Could it be an effective revealing method?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to RAFO that the same way I've been RAFOing the question of whether they actually go down on the DNA level. So the whole point behind the kandra was that a blood test under Era 1 technology would not identify one. I'm going to have to decide in Era 3, I'm going to have to canonize whether, you get that under a microscope, if you can tell. And what about Era 4 you just do genetic testing, can you tell. And I don't know how I'm going to need that to go yet. And I don't know how realistic it is also. And I don't know if I want to deal with the ramifications, like with human/kandra hybrids.

    Right now, the way I have it, they fundamentally build their DNA in such a way, they could even have children. But I don't know if I'm going to keep that or not.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5675 Copy

    Questioner

    In Mistborn, as the Eras are going on, the powers get diluted because of people passing down the bloodlines. Once we reach the Third and Fourth Era, the powers are going to be--won't they be a lot weaker, and not very useful?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They will become weaker, but there's a maximum level of dilution... There's a maximum level that you can reach pretty quickly, if you're only counting the northern continent. Because of the limited number of progenitors.

    So, Era 3 we're not going to have a problem. And they're also trying to figure out ways around this.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5677 Copy

    OrangeJedi

    When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

    OrangeJedi

    Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say, there is something special.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5678 Copy

    ShadowBlaze

    If a gold Ferring got electrocuted, would he get paralyzed and/or heal and react normally?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So he gets electrocuted. You're asking does Cosmere healing prevent you from being stunned by a taser?

    Huh, what a good question. I'm going to say, and I could contradict this, so this is Word of Brandon canon until I contradict it, you could still stun them with electrical stimulation of muscles, because it's not doing any harm and it's just how muscles normally work. So I think that's a good workaround.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5683 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we just going to see Szeth kill a lot of people in the next book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Szeth has some better influences than he's had in a long while. He did have some good influences early on. But it's been a long time since he has had as good influences as he now has. I wouldn't count Nightblood as one of those. But at the same time, he's had worse influences than Nightblood.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #5687 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering, Investiture, could you use something *inaudible* could you use Allomancy by using *inaudible* <Breath>? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Most of these are possible, but for a lot of the magic, it's hard to figure out how to do it. There is more to it than just having Breath and using Allomancy. Some of these are easier than others. For instance, Vasher is able to live off of Stormlight very easily.

    Questioner

    Yeah, I made that assumption because he's been living there. But I also noticed that Azure is still using color.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Azure is still using color.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5688 Copy

    Questioner

    Have you published any books that were in the Cosmere that you pulled out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, The Rithmatist is the most obvious example. The Rithmatist started in the cosmere, and the magic is still very cosmere. And if I were going to have had one in the cosmere, it would have been Rithmatist, because of the way the magic works. I eventually decided I just did not want to canonize that Earth is in any way, shape, or form related to the cosmere and I pulled it out, and I'm glad I did that, but the magic still has a lot of cosmere remnants to it. Steelheart was never in the cosmere.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5689 Copy

    Steeldancer

    So if a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer... 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, here we go. [Audience laughs]

    Steeldancer

    If a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer, how fast could they go?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [Dramatic sigh] They could go quite fast. They are not going to ever reach superhero levels of bending reality for speed. So, I will say quick, but not that quick. We aren't outracing an atom bomb, as the Flash periodically does. 

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5690 Copy

    Questioner

    Disregarding personal preferences, what Order of the Knights Radiant do you think you would best fit as?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, man. I've been asked this one, and it's really hard. What order of Knight Radiant would I best fit as. It's difficult, right? Because, number one, there are a lot of orders, and you can kind of see yourself going in different ways. And number two, there's kind of like the, what is it realistically?

    Like, when I sort myself into a Harry Potter house (which is much easier, cause there's not as many), I always have to kind of grudgingly put myself in Slytherin. Because, though a lot of my fellow writers are Ravenclaws, I'm not about the study; I'm about the accomplishment, right? Like, I write books in part because I'm like, "I want to accomplish this thing," and it's ambition, but it's also just "I want to do this thing." So for that reason I don't know that I can put myself in any kind of the scholarly focused order of the Knight Radiant, realistically, because I don't think that I would really actually fit there, even though that would be the natural place to start putting writers.

    I often wonder, maybe Lightweaver, but the problem is I don't lie to myself, I don't think, right? But I am really good at fooling myself when I want to. Like, when I don't want to deal with something, I'm very good at, like, "I'm putting this on the shelf and I'll deal with it later," which is a very Lightweaver thing. Maybe Lightweaver, but... So, we'll go with that one today, but I think I've answered that question four different ways.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5691 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you still plan to write Wax and Wayne four?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So I've got time, probably, to work on one more project this year, cause Skyward 2 is almost done. I'm still not 100% sure what it'll be. It's probably gonna be Skyward 3 cause it'll be super nice to just have that locked up and done. If that's the case, then Wax and Wayne 4 will probably be written in between parts of Stormlight 4, as I'm writing it, as I need breaks. If I can manage the way I take my breaks, that might be helpful for us getting the book out. One of the things I've learned to do is to take my breaks as novellas, which is why you see a lot more novellas from me than standalone novels across the last five to ten years. And that's because I realized as I was doing breaks as novels that, number one it took a lot longer, particularly in revision, and number two it ended up promising sequels, because I am incapable of finishing a novel without promising sequels, apparently. But I am capable of finishing shorter works without promising sequels. If I can get that, I really do want to get Wax and Wayne 4 done in a reasonable amount of time, but we'll see.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5693 Copy

    Questioner

    Shallan's Lightweaving. How does she make those physical? Is it light becoming matter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So I'm not going to answer this one either, so you get another RAFO card. But I'll tell you which way to think. Here, energy and matter are basically the same thing. Investiture, energy, and matter are the same thing in the cosmere.

    In our world, when we touch, we are touching energy, right? We are not actually touching. The atoms are repelling each other or whatever. I'm not a physicist. I'm sorry, physicists!

    Contact is a weird, weird thing. Keep in mind, Investiture is another state of matter and energy in the cosmere. It's not really that hard to extrapolate along.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5694 Copy

    Questioner

    In the cosmere, as space becomes more developed...*inaudible* outer space.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's an interesting question that I've had to ponder. Would the space race happen more slowly because there's an alternative, or would it happen more quickly because you know other planets are inhabited. I'm not going to answer what I came up with, because it's a plot point in the books. So I'll give you a RAFO card, but that's the question to ask yourself.

    Questioner

    That wasn't my question! My question was, in the Cognitive Realm, with the gap between planets...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh! Will the gap between planets get larger as more people travel in between it. So, barring things like space stations, there's going to be so few minds in between, that I don't expect space to become larger because of that.

    I don't expect it to be a factor, except--barring--there will be possibilities of certain regions popping up.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5696 Copy

    Questioner

    I have a weird kind of amputation where they reattached my foot back onto my leg so it's sort of like a knee joint. Would Stormlight healing be able to heal that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A lot of it is going to depend on your perspective on it. But I would say yes, in most cases it would be able to.

    Questioner

    So it would grow the leg back to how it normally was?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would take a little work, but it would. But your perception is going to influence it.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5700 Copy

    Questioner

    What's your favorite book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is also kind of a hard one for writers, right? Or maybe not just for writers, maybe just for... my type of person, I'm sure a lot of you are like this, where it's like, my favorite book changes and varies, and so I kind of have some go-to answers, because they stayed my favorite book for a while. The book that got me into science-fiction/fantasy was Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and I often mention that. My favorite Wheel of Time book was book four, I often mention that. My favorite Terry Pratchett book is probably Going Postal, my favorite classic is Les Miserable, so that often comes up. What have I read recently that I really liked? It's now been over a year, but I really liked Jane Yolen's work, and she recently released a short story collection that I really liked. I recently finished Roshani Chokshi book, The Star-Touched Queen, which I really liked. Robert Jackson Bennett is good... I like a lot of different things I read.