Recent entries

    Shadows of Self Portland signing ()
    #12252 Copy

    Questioner

    How do you keep motivation for writing in general, because i always have a lot of trouble with that.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, well that depends on what part of my career you are talking about. Early on I envisioned this cubicle chasing me and if it caught me i'd have to get a normal, boring desk job. That was actually a big motivation to me, because it was like I only had a certain amount of time to do this thing that I loved and if I didnt actually sit down and do it I was gonna have to be a real boy. After i got published and it got a bit hard I started using the carrot philosophy; i would let myself open up a new pack of magic cards if I hit a certain word limit every day.

    Questioner

    Oh, thats really cool!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, and that worked really well during the hard years when I was trying to get through the Wheel of Time. They were great books but they were so hard to write cause they were way harder than writing my own fiction. Now I don't really need that anymore, now its kinda become this thing where I have all these fans who are waiting for things and I have to make good on the promises I've made to them. Now its more like a "i need to do this", so yeah.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12254 Copy

    Questioner

    You’ve spoken before how DNA exists on multiple different levels in your magic systems. I was curious about something else that I think I read that that the Hemalurgy system actually splices something into the DNA - so what does that imply for heritability of those?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, it is not inheritable when it's Hemalurgic because it's splicing. It's basically ripping off a piece of the soul and spiking it on someone else's. So, it would not transfer.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12255 Copy

    Questioner

    The metals used in Allomancy are they naturally occurring on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They do.

    Questioner

    And all the alloys as well?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, the magics would...oh, all the alloys in Roshar naturally occurring… The magic of Mistborn is related to the actual metals' structure being the key. So, you can use metals from other worlds, there's no actual power in the metal. The metal is like a password.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12259 Copy

    Questioner

    If you could ditch the entire Cosmere, *laughter* what would you write about?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Start fresh? 

    Questioner

    Twilight fanfiction.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, there you go, Twilight fanfic. That's...

    Questioner 2

    Brandon Fifty Shades of Grey would be much tamer. *laughter*

    Brandon Sanderson

    The problem is, I don't think my Fifty Shades of Grey would hit quite the same demographic. 

    Questioner 2

    You'd have a great magic system, though. *laughter*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, it would. It would just be a magic system based on different colors of grey and what they do. *laughter*

    Questioner 2

    Sorta like Warbreaker.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have no idea what I would do, I'm sure I could find something, but it would probably turn into another cosmere.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12264 Copy

    Questioner

    My question is about Jasnah, and why she tried to assassinate Elhokar’s wife?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, you’re going to need to get to know Elhokar’s wife a little better before you get an answer for that. But understand that Jasnah is very deliberate in her choices, and protecting her family is one of her most important personal mandates.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12267 Copy

    Questioner

    On the coppermind it states specifically that Nightblood is fueled by Investiture, would that mean that an Allomancer burning, say, steel, could then [draw] Nightblood and fuel it off of that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Nightblood would feed off that Kinetic Investiture, you could make that work. You would have to keep that portal open, and he would eat the power instead of whatever you were planning to do with it, and when you ran out of metal he’d kill you.

    Questioner

    Would that also work with say...whatever you have in a Coppermind or metalmind?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes, theoretically you could make that work too. That’s an excellent question, you’re the first to ask that.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12268 Copy

    Questioner

    What’s your most terrifying character, and why is it Nightblood?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. Nightblood is pretty terrifying… You know, an object created to destroy evil but doesn’t know what it is?

    Questioner

    When you brought it back...I had <to like shut the book> a little bit and like, scary.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I wanted you to think that Nightblood in the hands of Szeth should be one of the most terrifying things that you have ever contemplated.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12269 Copy

    Questioner

    Regarding Hemalurgy and its basis in the Pits of Hathsin being Ruin’s body, my theory is that Kelsier gained his Mistborn powers from being in the Pits of Hathsin.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It’s a good theory. I’m not going to confirm or deny it. It is a very good theory.

    Questioner

    Do you just get all the small little bits and pieces from just the way people talk about him as the Survivor, so *inaudible* theory... Are we ever going to see it confirmed or denied?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible that you will, but you will see...I’ve got somethings that I want to write about Kelsier.

    Questioner

    Please, that would be amazing.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You have not seen the last of that man, I want to write some stuff that happened.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12270 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there meant to be a direct connection between the efficiency for transferring Breaths and the stamp magic from The Emperor’s Soul?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's not meant to be a direct correlation only in that the magics both work on the same fundamental rules, like all of them do.

    Questioner

    Okay.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I wasn't specifically linking those two in any way in my head when I was working on them.

    Questioner

    Okay, because I was just wondering with the fact that the stamps work better with what there supposed to be like...and the Breath work better--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. That's just a fundamental of the Cosmere, the whole idea of perception, what you're thinking, how much something matches what you're doing, and how well you're able to visualize what you want to have happen. This is all related in the cognitive aspects of the magic, basically, and the spiritual, I suppose.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12272 Copy

    Questioner

    So, you know when Feruchemists increase their weight or strength, something like that, [...] like when they're increasing their strength their muscles literally grow bigger, why does that not happen with Allomancy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, the idea with Feruchemy, in Feruchemy you're storing like your own physical strength. So, when you're filling the metalmind, you kind of shrink *inaudible* and you get it back. With Allomancy, you are drawing on the strength magically from something else and so the power and strength you're getting is actually not related to your muscles, it's related to the magical power, you're pulling directly from another place. So, that's why.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12273 Copy

    Questioner

    I remember in, I believe it was Hero of the Ages, when Sazed was helping TenSoon escape. When he had fallen on the guard, he said that, by increasing his weight he also increases his density so he doesn't <hurt> himself. Then in The Alloy of Law, it also says that when Wax increases his weight he said that he didn't.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, Sazed is just making a mistake. He's mistaking the fact when he increases his weight his musculature changes to be able to handle the new weight and that was what he was talking about. Strength and muscle tone and things like that. I might have just gotten it wrong in the original one [scene], I can't honestly remember, but this is what we kinda decided it needs to be. 

     

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12274 Copy

    Questioner

    In Elantris, so, if the people are dead they don't have any pulse, right? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    They do not have a pulse.

    Questioner

    So, wouldn't all the blood just go straight to their legs?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know, I worked out a few things on this. In order to make what I was doing work I didn’t want to zombify them too much, and so I would give them like a blood pump, like a pulse of the heart, very softly, like every couple of minutes or something like that, and remember they’re being sustained directly by the magic so I was able to fudge some of the stuff. There’s some other things that would happen, like the gas would cause them to expand and... I didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want them to go all the way to zombie, and so I made some basic metabolic processes happen, but more magically caused than physically.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12277 Copy

    Questioner

    So, Metalminds: if you store weight, how does that work, do you decrease your mass or...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, storing weight actually plays with your mass, because if you look at how we do the physics of it… This one is really screwy, because we are changing mass and playing with it. You watch, like with Wax decreases his weight while he's in motion he'll speed up, and if he increases it, he'll slow down. The conservation of momentum and things like that, but we'll doing really weird stuff. It's like, how can you store your mass… Well, in the magic system it works, but it’s one of the weirdest things we do. *pauses to sign book* We kind of play loose and free with the physics sometimes. Like the example that I often use is Wayne doing a speed bubble, the light that is trapped in the speed bubble...like if he turns on a flashlight would actually radiate because of the redshift, and you could just kill everybody by flashing that. So, we make the speed bubbles not cause a redshift for that reason. We kind of work with what is good storytelling first, and then work the physics around it, but we have to put in all these little breaks and things like that in there regularity in order to actually have the story.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12279 Copy

    Questioner

    I almost have a little bit of trouble understanding the difference between the Lighteyed and the darker...How did you come up with it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I wanted to have some kind of racism in the books that was removed from the racism we have in our world, so I could talk about it in a more isolated way related to the books; and so, having it based on eye color made sense because the Voidbringers have these glowing red eyes and the Heralds have these bright eyes. So, this idea of eye color being related to your level of nobility, which is not true, but it entered the culture and became the form of racism and prejudice that they use.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12280 Copy

    Questioner

    Was it a deliberate move on your part to make it such that on Scadrial, people who wear aluminum foil hats actually are safe from mind control?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, yeah that was a big inside joke. *laughter* When I realized it would work, I had to put it in. *pause* I’m doing some fun things. The gun thing is another one I’m very fond of.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12281 Copy

    Questioner

    I was one of your beta readers. So, I wanted to know whether Lord Harms ever got off the roof?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lord Harms. Yes, I did because people were so--*grumbling* 'Lords Harms Lord Harms'. Alright. Fine. So, I mentioned Wax saying, "go get Lord Harms back," or something like that. I did put it in at some point.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12283 Copy

    Questioner

    If Kelsier had been born on Roshar, would he have become a Knight Radiant and if so...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think there’s a possibility that some of the orders might want him, but it really depends on what period he was born in, and what he’s up to, because Kelsier's got this dark edge to him where he could go villain very easily, depending on what’s going on with him. *pause* That’s kind of how I view Kelsier’s defining attribute, if channeled correctly he’s a great force for good, but he’s like right on the line.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12286 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering if you were planning on writing anything else in the Elantris world?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. There will be some more [clipped off]. Yeah. I'm going to do some more full books. I'd like to get Shai into things a little bit more, but I don't wanna ruin The Emperor's Soul by writing a bad sequel. Mmhmm, you know, it just turned out so well.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12288 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering if there was any update on the movies, similar to video games?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The movies are moving along better. They're taking some time, but they are moving along better. I think, right now the farthest along are going to be Steelheart and Emperor's Soul. 

    Questioner

    Okay. Are they like in production right now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. They are in screenplays. So, yeah, nothing's really gotten done.

    Questioner

    Are you writing the screenplays?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm writing the treatments.

    Questioner

    Okay.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't want to write the screenplays but I can do the treatments.

    Shadows of Self San Jose signing ()
    #12289 Copy

    Questioner

    Thing about Stormlight, are you kinda writing a series about the nature of abstraction?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Kinda yeah see…*recording paused* journey before destination.

    Questioner

    Yeah, that is my favorite, so far. I mean I don’t know all the orders yet. Because that is...I’m looking forward to the rest of it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is, the nature of abstraction and that sort of stuff is a very big part of it.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #12291 Copy

    Questioner

    There is quantitative difference in Allomancy (e.g. Elend is stronger than Vin), there is skill difference (e.g. Breeze is better than Vin with zinc), but is there a qualitative difference too?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That’s the scale of what we call savant. Wax can do more with less. It’s not just skill, the burning for long, using for so long, will actually adapt your soul to the power.

    Questioner

    So can bronze savants pierce copperclouds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, a bronze savant should be able to pierce copperclouds. It depends on the strengths of the coppercloud and the strength of the savant, but yes.

    Questioner

    So Elend could theoretically learn to pierce copperclouds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Weaker ones, yeah, totally. He can learn how to do it by brute force.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #12293 Copy

    Questioner

    Navani’s emotion fabrial, are those correspondent to the Thaylen Passions in any way?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but the Thaylen Passions would’ve come second to some of this.

    Questioner

    So through a cultural filter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. There is no magic to the Thaylen Passions, they are a religion but with no magical component. Sometimes a religion is just a religion.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #12297 Copy

    FirstSelector

    What would happen--

    Imagine I had-- imagine Wayne is standing near the end of an aluminium tube. He tries to set up a speed bubble such that he radius would go through the tube, what would happen?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay standing at the end of an aluminum tube, well I don't know--

    Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. I think that if it's trying to be set up through aluminum it's gonna' disrupt it, you're gonna' have that sort of the "backlash" that you get when-- yeah.

    FirstSelector

    Oh so you can't even set it, it won't be there *inaudible*--

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't think you can set it up, I think it's gonna' cause it to collapse the second that it tries to pop up around the aluminum.

    FirstSelector

    Okay that makes sense.

    Brandon Sanderson

    [...]

    Yeah, it's probably gonna' act like you tried to set up a speed bubble on something that's too small and moving.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #12299 Copy

    Questioner

    Aradel doesn’t sound like he is from Scadrial, seems out of place with his dark - well, tanned, - skin.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Aradel is actually based off Goradel, he is a descendant of his. So he is local. The skin, there are streaks of dark skin in Scadrial, they don’t associate them 100% with ethnicities because of the small [gene] pool they were building from, and they are stronger in the Terris bloodlines. So if they see someone with darker skin they will likely think they are from Terris, but there’s so much intermixing so that you can’t really say. Wax would have a darker complexion, maybe like a tanned caucasian.