Recent entries

Questioner

Can a Scadrial Shard see what's on a computer screen?

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on the computer screen, but in general, yes. But it depends on how the computer screen is being...

Questioner

If so, can a Shard - Ruin - change the words on a screen? Or would that be impossible, because technically they're written on metal?

Brandon Sanderson

It's gonna be a lot harder to do that than what Ruin was able to do in the past. Basically, humans being involved between point A and point B is the failure point in a lot of cases with what Ruin was doing and changing and whatnot. If a human is typing it? Much easier to get that change. But between, say, RAM and screen or whatever like that; much harder. Not impossible, but way hard. Okay? I'm going to give you kind of a tacit “assume it's not happening.”

Questioner

Could an Allomancer, such as a Coinshot, somehow modify/change whatever data and programming in a computer level at a firmware level? Since Intent and Investiture does weird things.

Brandon Sanderson

So they can destroy it pretty easily. That does technically mean it changed. So yes, but by destroying it.

Questioner

Quick question about the Unmade. Specifically, their names and the number of them. Is there a specific relation between that and the Heralds? Or the number of Desolations?

Brandon Sanderson

The number of Desolations and things anywhere you've seen in the text is mythologized. The number of Desolations - and a lot of these numbers from history - I'm treating kind of like the 40 years of wandering in the Bible, where 40 becomes a theme that is used to represent suffering, rather than an actual 40 years. And the number of Desolations is the same way. Any number you've seen in the text is actually wrong. They don't have the records to say how many there were, but they think that now that it has been mythologized

The number of Unmade is nine. There are only nine of them. And that is a cosmereologically relevant number.

Questioner

I was curious if there was a broad reason why Sel magic systems are more location-based, or Scadrial you can move around a lot?

Brandon Sanderson

So, Sel is the big oddity; there's a few other instances like this, but Sel is highly warped by the way that the power of the two Shards that were destroyed on Sel. What happened with them distorted it a ton and messed everything up. And the system has been self-corrected in order to make certain things function. You shouldn't expect what's on Sel to be the standard, though it is not the only one like that.

Questioner

Space age question for you. Generational ships. What would it take for something like that to emerge in the Cognitive Realm? And would it look like its planet of origin?

Brandon Sanderson

A generational ship just manifesting on its own? Not terribly likely. There are specific circumstances you could come up with.. And you're asking, "What would it take?"

For instance, let's say there is a planetwide catastrophe. And everybody's aware it's coming for hundreds of years and focusing on a story told about some sort of ark that might save them. And that they are all believing this is a thing that did exist or could exist. Over time, if there were the right Investiture on the Cognitive Realm, you could see something like that manifest. But I don't know if it would actually work, if it would take them off world or if it would just be echoes of that represented. You'd be much more likely to find some spren-like entity that thinks of themselves of the crew of said ancient ship than the ship itself.

You'd have to have very specific circumstances, and I don't even know if it necessarily would work.

Questioner

In watching the second season of Arcane, I can’t help but think how well that animation would fit Stormlight. Have you ever thought of either Stormlight or a different cosmere story (or non-cosmere) being done in animation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, I mean, I love animation. I have been watching very closely how animation has been evolving over the last few years, particularly how the audience has been evolving. Let's just say: If someone came to me with the budget that Arcane has...

I won't say never, but let me say I'm very unlikely to ever crowdfund television or film. Why is this? I've been watching that world too. And too often people promise money and they give an inferior product because… Doing it yourself… There are certain things I know I can do. There are certain things I don't know that I can do. And I would really like to have the experience of people who are passionate about making the work, right? Walking into Hollywood with a bunch of money, even if we crowdfunded it, and we walked into Hollywood and said, “We've already paid for it, make it!” They're all too happy to take the money!

But when we see like… I really think that - and maybe I'm too optimistic about this - but I think the difference between something like Dune and something like the Halo TV show is all in the passion of a talented filmmaker making something they would love to make, rather than people… not to say anything, but executives and things like that saying, "Well, this is a product, we must make it this way." And to get the person on the Dune side, you need someone who's organically passionate about making the thing. And so just walking into Hollywood and saying, “Hey, I raised $200 million, let's make it!” I'm really, really worried about that production, right? Even though I think they could probably do it, I don't know that we want to, right? Maybe I'll change, maybe more of this will happen. And Arcane is this fantastic example of something that's really, really well done, but also paid for, as I'm led to understand, more by Riot than by Netflix. Netflix would not shell out the money to make Arcane, and so they were able to do it.

So, who knows? I'm talking myself in circles, but… they know their way around animation, because of all the trailers and things they've done. I’m just - I'm nervous about it, and I've started making really good contacts in Hollywood. So, the answer is I am considering animation, I'm considering everything, but it's that partner. Finding the people who are super passionate and super skilled about this specifically, rather than just, “Hey, this is a thing that sells a lot of copies, so let's make it.”

On which series would I choose. My philosophy so far has been: Stormlight is the thing I make once everyone outside this room is hungry for it. And so I would start with something non-Stormlight to prove myself to the world. When I do Stormlight, I want people to be as excited as they were for when the Harry Potter adaptations happened, or for when The Avengers happened after you had seen several good MCU films, like I want that level of excitement. Rather than, “This is the introduction.”

And I know some of you have - probably a lot of you - started with The Stormlight Archive. I generally don't start people there, right? The Stormlight Archive is so hard to pitch. You've probably heard this joke before, but the pitch for The Stormlight Archive is: “This is the book Brandon thinks is his best series.” So once you trust me, then The Stormlight Archive has the best pitch ever! It's the book Brandon says you should read after you trust him. You get to trust me by reading Mistborn or Tress of the Emerald Sea or some of these things, right?

Mistborn 1 hit the USA TODAY bestseller list last week. Now, Mistborn 1… This is its, as far as I know, first appearance on a bestseller list. This is very odd. Mistborn: The Final Empire - it’s eighteen years old, right? And I was a nobody when I released it, so it didn't hit the bestseller list. And normally, you only get to hit the bestseller list your first few weeks. But some books start becoming perpetual, and they start appearing. And so, we were blindsided by this. We're like, “Really?” We're spot number 140, so, you know. But we popped onto that list, which is really interesting, it's really interesting to have a book almost 20 years old pop onto one of those lists. It doesn't happen very often. So anyway, we're really excited by that and maybe it indicates some movement that eventually I'm going to be able to find a Peter Jackson who grew up reading my books and has made a couple of great films and is like, “What I want to do is this.” And that's how you end up with Dune, right? That's how you end up with a really fantastic adaptation.

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

In The Way of Kings, the first Dawnchant translation by Navani reads: “To be human is to want that which we cannot have.” Ironically, what I want and cannot have is more information about that language. If a fully constructed version of the Dawnchant were to appear in the future, what linguistic features would you incorporate to reflect specific cultural aspects of the Dawnsingers? And do you have an idea of how it would sound? If so, could you give us a quick demonstration?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a challenge I'm going to leave for an eventual TV or film adaptation and be like: “You guys figure it out.” Original Dawnchant would incorporate some of the way that the singers speak. The thing about it is… I’ve always imagined that the Rhythms that they’re adding add context in a way that the text doesn't have to give. So I don't imagine it tonal in the way that Chinese, the various Chinese dialects are, right? I more imagine it as more like sign language, where you can add emotion through the way that you're doing the signs, and things like that, than a tonal language. Because you can pair what you're saying with any of the Rhythms, rather than having them being innate. And so I didn't want the text itself to change, does that make sense? Because you add it on? So, someone experiencing it is much like speaking to them in any language, but I think it would probably have, like, extra pauses and very long vowels, and things like this, to give extra time for those Rhythms to really manifest themselves.

Questioner

I have a quick question about musicals in the cosmere.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay. A Hero for All Ages, yes.

Questioner

So Hawkeye had a spoof musical for The Avengers. Have you and Dan, or any of your friends, ever paid any mind to joke musicals within the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

So, I referenced A Hero for All Ages. Do you have any idea what that is?

Questioner

No, I do not.

Brandon Sanderson

In the broadsheets for Era 2, there is an advertisement for a musical based on Era 1 called A Hero for All Ages. It was probably Ben McSweeney’s joke, so you can go ask him to confirm. And if so, you can ask him how much of that he's thought of.

He drew those broadsheets, and we just left spaces on each broadsheet for him to do his wacky Ben Stuff, because he's really clever and creative. He knows the Mistborn world really well.

Questioner

Rhythm of War, Lasting Integrity. We’re introduced to a character referred to as “Sixteen.” I believe you have confirmed this character is a Scadrian worldhopper.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Can you confirm or deny if this character has been seen in any other book?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m going to RAFO Sixteen.

Questioner

If someone with Allomantic powers was turned into a sunheart, like from Sunlit Man, could their spiritweb then be accessed through a hemalurgic spike and still get those powers back out? And use it like a transfer process?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, that's totally possible.

Here's the thing: that process of distillation that's going on there is gonna mess with the spiritweb in ways that you probably… You couldn't take the layman, give them the spike, and have them get it to work, but it wouldn't… On the scale of how hard the questions you guys ask: this is more like a three in difficulty than a ten.

You just need magical WinZip.

Questioner

In one of your previous Q&As, you had said that Awakening could theoretically be done via sign language…

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

…and so the question is: Why wasn't Susebron able to Awaken things prior to getting his tongue?

Brandon Sanderson

So the thing about this is… With a lot of the cosmere magic systems, knowing what you're doing and how to move the magic along takes a certain amount of knowledge, practice, and volition.

Now, if you had a society on Nalthis where enough people were using sign language a lot of the time, it would develop naturally, and they wouldn't need training in order to do it. But an individual in a system where that is not the norm... A little bit of training could have gotten him there, but nobody had that to train him, and they really didn't want him to.

He could have figured it out… if he hadn't been an abused man held in isolation his entire life. It's really not on him.

Questioner

My question is about Investiture and measurement. I liked in Sunlit Man that they used BEUs as a standardized measure. Is this a cosmere-wide measure? Why do they suddenly start using BEUs as a measurement?

Brandon Sanderson

Like the real world, it's a little messier than people would like it.

What's that famous xkcd comic where someone's like, "Wow, there's 16 different measurement methods or archetypes. We should come up with one that unifies them all." And then there's another panel at the end, it's like, "Well, now there's 17 different..."

BEUs are used by some of the universities at Silverlight and are the most common standard for measurement, but not the only one, and there are dissenting opinions that don't like certain things about BEUs as a measurement. But I would say if you use BEU in most space age scholarly circles, they know what it is and have the constants handy to get between the measurements that they like to use and BEUs.

Questioner

Moash. What inspiration did you have for him? Was there, like, an archetype or a media influence?

Brandon Sanderson

I do really like when heroic figures and villainous figures have a shared backstory. Things they've gone through together, that they have then taken different perspectives and made different choices with kind of a shared basis of understanding. One of the most famous of this would be Professor X and Magneto, where you've got friends who kind of share some attribute. I would say that Kaladin and Moash are a very different dynamic; they were actually the exact sort of group and suffered some of the same things and took different perspectives. And that contrast really is fun for authors to write, and asking what decisions would lead you to one direction versus the other.

Questioner

In the Cognitive Realm, things there are kind of a representation of what people think of them. Like, you can find a sphere of a table in Shadesmar, and you get obsidian ground where people think there's water, and so on. My question is, what happens to abstract ideas and stories? Is there a sphere somewhere of the story of The Girl That Looked Up, since enough people know about it? Or do abstract ideas without physical representations not have Cognitive representations?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. It's a little bit squishy and timey-wimey. Something like The Girl That Looked Up, you might end up having it influence Investiture that is becoming self-aware, but it won't necessarily appear in the Cognitive Realm as a feature, necessarily. But some things that people think about might show up as features like that. So it's not off the table; not very common. More likely it's some sort of manifestation of something like spren.

Questioner

Would there be, like, a spren of calculus, then?

Brandon Sanderson

As calculus gets done more and more, a spren of calculus is viable. Do understand that there's a finite amount of that Investiture becoming self-aware, and the perceptions and the number of people perceiving and also the Investiture's kind of perception of itself all influences that. That just gives me some wiggle room on saying, "That's why there's not a spren of X, but there is Y."

Questioner

I wanted to ask if you had ever been asked a question that you gave a RAFO to because hearing it at the time gave you an idea for something you wanted to write? And if so, and if it's been written, where was it?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh boy, this does happen. And sometimes it's reminders of... "Oh, yeah, I put that in; I need to do something with that." But can I remember one? I'm not sure if I quite can remember one. I'll try to think about it, but it does happen. It totally happens.

Questioner

In The Way of Kings, stormwater is described as having a metallic taste, which comes from the crem in the water. Are there trace amounts of a god metal in crem?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, excellent question. You get a partial RAFO.

Let's just say... again, I write fantasy, right? I start with what I want to have happen, and then I justify it. That's how I define the difference between what I do and the hard science fiction writers. If we got Eric James Stone up here, who writes hard science fiction; he starts with the science and extrapolates story. I start with the story and go backward, right? And so, I started with the highstorms; and then I went backward and said, “Okay, I know I'm doing this. What would I need in a system to make this actually work (at least on a scale of thousands of years, if not hundreds of thousands of years).” Roshar is not geologically stable on… if you're accounting for the scale of planetary development, Roshar's gonna have some moons hit it during that timeframe. But during thousands of years, during the lifetime of civilizations, it is stable enough. What can I do to make it stable enough during that? And the crem and the rainwater that falls from it was an extremely important part of me figuring out the little bits I needed to fudge using cosmere mechanics in order to make Roshar actually exist.

That's why you get a RAFO: because I didn't quite answer! Read between the lines.

Zaqwer (paraphrased)

On this map of Arelon you drew, there is an Eon plantation in the bottom left and one in the upper right. Can you tell me what's going on with this?

Isaac Stewart (paraphrased)

So we decided that they're run by two different memebers of the same family, one in the north and one in the south. They're far enough away from each other that it's not too confusing to the people there. I don't remember if they're brothers or cousins. Maybe they've got a feud and that's why they're so far apart.

Kingsdaughter613 (paraphrased)

Recently in Marvel comics, Xavier and Magneto have functionally changed perspectives. What’s your opinion on that?

[Some conversation on how they periodically do this and how this one was more of a natural shift over decades.]

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I’d rather comics told a story and ended, even if the story took decades to tell. But if that can’t happen then there should be character change and progression, so this gets a thumbs up from me.

Kingsdaughter613 (paraphrased)

Who would you say are the Xavier and Magneto of the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Dalinar and Taravangian

Kingsdaughter613 (paraphrased)

Is that kind of perspective swap/role reversal possible for them?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

(With a sneaky smile) Yes, it’s possible. It’s definitely possible.

Kingsdaughter613 (paraphrased)

Is it possible Adien has Childhood Disintegrative Disease, not autism?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You may have just saved me. I’m writing that down. Yeeesss. You may have just solved a problem.

Kingsdaughter613 (paraphrased)

I asked you at JordanCon about Khriss and Kelsier working together. Can you share anymore about that project?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is a story I plan to write someday. Something did go down there.

LittleMoss (paraphrased)

Are there any named characters other than Axies that we've seen with the Curse of Kind?

Karen Alstrom (paraphrased)

So, we don't know exactly what the curse of kind is yet. I don't even know what it is. I've recently been in meetings where Brandon has clarified "well, this-and-that is *not* what the curse of kind is," but not what it actually *is*. But no, you haven't met any other Siah Aimians in the books.

Glamdring804 (paraphrased)

I was was wondering what kind of physical limitations there are on Selish magic systems: could there be, for example, a magic system based off of tying knots on a rope?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, that one isn’t even hard to imagine. It’s very plausible.

Glamdring804 (paraphrased)

Okay, so how much of a sort of nation-identity would it take to manifest a new magic system on Sel?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

So it’s fairly easy. You’d just need a "sustainable population," whatever you decide that means.

Questioner

With Connection, you can make people understand the language of the place that they’re in by changing their native language for people who are multilingual. So my question is regarding people who grow up bilingual, how does that interact with it?

Brandon Sanderson

There are multiple ways to interact with that. One would be to replace one of the languages. But also, you can make Connection with more advanced uses to not just replace but to add to, and you’ll see people figuring that out. Or to change, kind of, your past in a little bit of a Forging way where it’s like, "You practiced this all when you were young." And so, there are lots of different ways it can manifest, depending on the skill of the person who is making that bond.

Questioner

I myself grew up with Spanish and English, and there’s this thing called Spanglish. Which, some people really grew up with Spanglish rather than the two languages.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, that could totally totally happen. In fact, you can tell. Here’s an example: You can tell, in certain books, when someone has a bit of an accent or they use a bit of something like that, that often times that’s a tell. Like, if someone has no accent, they may be using magical means to circumvent. And if they do have a bit of an accent, then they may have learned it; or they may have been bilingual, and they’re adding on, or things like that. So, it can be a tell.

Questioner

Quick question about heightenings. How equivalent are they with the Radiant’s Oath? Which heightenings would be...

Brandon Sanderson

I do not want to say yet, because I would end up canonizing that, and I really do think that I need… That’s the sort of thing I’d have to release as a blog post, so that all of the numbers can go through all the Arcanists and everybody. So I’m going to RAFO you.

Questioner

I was wondering if you would ever consider a musical adaptation of your works. Personally, I think that Warbreaker would make a great musical.

Brandon Sanderson

Warbreaker musical? Yes, I would consider it. I definitely would. Broadway musicals are tough, right? And I’ve seen way more that didn’t work that did. And that’s not to, you know, Sturgeon's law. It’s just really hard; really really hard. And I do feel like they may be trying being a little safe the last, maybe, 15 years with Broadway. But there’s always off-Broadway stuff that’s really interesting. Maybe they would want to take a try. Dan wrote, not a musical, but a stage play of one of his books.

Yes, I would consider it.

Questioner

On your podcast, you were talking about authors who you felt wrote something revolutionary and literary and beautiful that changed people’s lives. And you mentioned that you felt you had not quite reached that point. I’m wondering, what do you feel you need to do to reach that point? And do you have any plans to get there?

Brandon Sanderson

Here’s the sad thing: I think to get there, most of us, we can’t still be around. Meaning, their books have to have been- This is not a question. The reason I think I can’t say that I got there is that I think majority of people it’s 50 years after they’ve passed away, 100 years after they’ve passed away, looking back.

It’s a really interesting study. Here’s a cool thing for you to do: go look and see what the best-sellers were on the New York Times list in any given year since it’s been counting; since, like, the early late 20s, early 30s. And recognize how few of those you recognize, despite them being the best sellers. And then once in a while, you hit one you’re like, "Oh wow; that was recognized during its era."

Now it does happen sometimes. I think Harry Potter has done that; it has changed the face of the structure of publishing, and things like that. But I’m not sure we can say that other things that have sold nearly as well have done so until we’re well past it. In 50 years, do people look at Twilight kicking off a certain paranormal romance boom as being a huge turning point? Or is it seen more in a line with things like Anne Rice? I don’t think we can say yet; and I certainly don’t think I can say yet whether my crop of what I call the third generation fantasy writers. (There was the Tolkein era. There was the people who were deeply influenced by Tolkein. And then there were those of us who grew up reading fantasy as best-sellers.) And I’m not sure that we can yet say.

I certainly can say books change lives. I can point at, for instance, Dragonsbane changing my life. I think it’s an amazing, fantastic book. Did it change the face of the fantasy landscape? No, it did not. And you can look back in hindsight. Barbra Hambly is an amazing writer; I think she’s Guest of Honor at Worldcon this year or next year and worthy of all the praise. But most of us don’t write something that changes the nature of a genre. That’s okay. We’re here to change people’s lives. And if you change people’s lives- if you only write a few books, and it changes the life in some way of your friends and family, then that’s a powerful, important book. You don’t have to change the face of publishing.

Now, maybe I will. Maybe in 100 years people will look back and be like, "And then Sanderson came along and the sort of way that he approached magic and worldbuilding and storytelling with the interconnected thing is still to this day having huge ripple effects." That would be awesome, but that’s not why I write.

Questioner

A lot of franchises out there today are kind of focused on continuing as long as possible, maybe making as much money as possible. I was wondering if there will be a definitive end to the Cosmere overall at some point.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it’s a great question. So, I can say there will be, yes. I have planned a definitive end. The asterisk I’m gonna put on there: if I’m still around after that’s done, I might go write little side stories. You might get more things like the Secret Projects that are taking place. But the Cosmere itself has a definitive end.

Right now, the plan is: Era 3 Ghostbloods of Mistborn with the Elantris sequels; then Era 2 of Stormlight; then Dragonsteel, the Hoid origin story; then Era 4 being the end. There might be a cyberpunk Mistborn in there; it’s totally possible. But the Space Age era (it could end up being Era 5 if we do Cyberpunk), that has been plotted as the end point. That’s what we’re shooting toward. And I plan that to be a definitive ending.

That said, I don’t know what I would do with myself if I weren’t writing, so maybe I’d be like, "The Cosmere is done. Here are some stories that are not in the Cosmere, like Rithmatist, but really feel like they could be," or something like that. We’ll see. Let’s just focus on getting through. There’s a whole lot of writing there. We just hit the halfway point, and, you know, I’m turning 50 next year. So, I'm gonna keep going.

Questioner

I’d like to ask about the process in writing characters who you are relentlessly mean to, and how that feels to you.

Brandon Sanderson

So, good question. I don’t usually approach it from that perspective; I look at it after the fact. When I’m writing the story, I’m like, "What is this character’s story? Who are they, what decisions would they make, what does this do to them?" And I’m gonna try not to pull punches. Once in a while, you have to pull one or two, right? And that’s the nature of art sometimes as well. But I don’t really look at it and say, "Ooh, have I punished this character too much? Not enough?" I look and say, "Well, what is their story? And what is the right story that I’m telling?" I do feel bad after the fact sometimes. I am human, and afterwards I’m like, "*shuddering noise*, that’s rough." But that’s not how I’m approaching it as an artist, if that makes sense.

Questioner

My question is about whenever you’re approaching a new story, or branch of story, or exploration of an existing one. Is there a sense that you are inhabiting a worldhopper scholar? Or are you Brandon at the time, looking at a new story?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m Brandon at the time, looking at a new story. That’s different from the way some authors approach things, but I approach my art as the artist. I like to be in control of it and doing things deliberately. I can look at from the different perspectives. Like I can step into the character’s shoes, and a scholar’s shoes, and things like that. But at the end of the day, when I’m approaching a book, I’m approaching it as an artist first and trying to tell the best story that I can. And I’m looking at all the technical details; all of the crunchy things that make writing work, I’m paying a lot of attention to when I’m writing a story.

Questioner

Where did you get the inspiration to make all of your books?

Brandon Sanderson

Every one of them is different. I would say I was mostly inspired by the great books I read when I was younger. Like, Dragonriders of Pern was a big inspiration on me. So is the Wheel of Time, and some of these things I read when I was young. At the same time, every time I write a book, I have a different method of coming about why I decided to write it. Some, like Tress of the Emerald Sea, start because I watch a movie and I ask, "What if?" Or in that case, my wife asks "What if?" And then I write a book for her about the what if. Some of them come about because I realize, "Hey, a really powerful magical hurricane hitting a planet would do really interesting things to the ecology." That’s an interesting idea, right. And so, everything’s different. Sometimes it’s a plot idea; sometimes it’s a character idea; sometimes it’s a setting idea. Usually it’s a bunch of each of those combining together.

Questioner

You mentioned earlier in the spoiler Q&A that you will not promise that you’re going to write- Like, you won’t promise things that you won’t fulfill. You’re not gonna promise that you're gonna write write books that you won’t. So, what is a project that you see you might not get to?

Brandon Sanderson

I think something like The Silence Divine. I sure would like to, but I won’t promise that I’m gonna get it to it. I’ve got a lot of books in the mainline Cosmere sequence that I need to get to. If it comes down to: am I gonna finish the Stormlight Archive, or am I gonna write Silence Divine? I’ll finish the Stormlight Archive. There are some of these side projects that I just can’t promise that I will be able to get to. The ones that I am promising are the ones that I’ve made promises about in the past about. So, there will be a Warbreaker sequel, there will be a Rithmatist sequel.

Questioner

For those of us waiting on the novelization of White Sand, could you give us a brief recap that could help us in this upcoming book? The magic system in White Sand?

Brandon Sanderson

The magic system in White Sand is not terribly relevant in most ways, except for the fact that the sand responds to Investiture; it’s how it gets recharged. So the sand gets used up and has cool magical effects, but then it needs to recharge. The sun on Taldain (or the sunlight, or something about the atmosphere) provides Investiture for that. Stormlight works the same, as does uses of magic nearby. But you don’t even need to know any of that. All you need to know is: there is some stuff that turns from black to white if people are using magical powers. And as far as the people who are using it, it’s just a substance you can get that does that. You don’t even need to know anything about another planet; it just is a substance that reacts that way. Now, if you really like the cosmere stuff, you can dig in deeply and find out why; but it’s not necessary.

Questioner

Does the spren’s perception of the Oath have anything to do with the result if an Oath is broken?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. It definitely does. Now let’s be clear, that there’s also some weirdness going on with Oaths being broken right now on Roshar that isn’t a natural outgrowth of the way that Oaths are done. Mechanics of all of that might be in the book that you get tonight.

Questioner

If cats were in the cosmere, who would be the crazy cat lady?

Brandon Sanderson

You haven’t met her yet. I know exactly who it is. You’ll know her when you meet her.

And there are cats in the cosmere. Not on Roshar, but...

Questioner

I’ve got a question about Terken from White Sand. I was wondering if a Shardblade could cut through it, or if it would stop it?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m going to RAFO that for now. Answers will come. I’m gonna say probably a Shardblade would cut it, but I’m gonna look at that more closely, because you’ve got a really good argument that it wouldn’t. So, we’ll see.

Questioner

There’s a little Reshi girl who I’m sure some people are fans of. How many languages does she speak? And if so, what languages does she speak?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m going to RAFO this, not because it’s a big secret, but because I’m like... which ones? She speaks Alethi, she speaks Reshi, she speaks Azish; are there others? I don’t honestly know, I’d have to go look at my notes and see what I’ve written down.

She’s picked up a lot, how about that?

Questioner

Question about Hoid. With the exception of Stormlight, whenever he appears, he always goes by Hoid. I understand that certainly makes it easier for the readers to be able to track him; but is there an in-universe explanation for why he doesn’t try to disguise himself? He certainly disguises his outfit, his face...

Brandon Sanderson

The real answer is, when I wrote Warbreaker, I gave him an alias; and then I’m like, "This is going to be too obscure, even for me," and I changed it back. You can find that in the early drafts of Warbreaker, you can actually (because I posted those all online), you can see the moment where I decided "No, he needs his actual name." (I think it’s in there. I think I changed it in between drafts; maybe it was even earlier than that.) He was originally just going to go by Dust in that book. And I realized I needed to do this. And then by the time that I thought, "You know, it is a little odd, when he’s trying to hide from certain individuals, that he’s going by a well-known alias on some of them." But by then I’d already written the books, and I’m like, "Hoid is just brash. Hoid doesn’t care as much as he implies he cares if he gets discovered." Beyond that, people who are looking for him…

So basically, the rationale I came up with is: he doesn’t care, and people who are looking for him are generally looking for him by all sorts of descriptions, because they know he uses all sorts of different names. So I just go with that. I’ve been a little bit more circumspect here and there, but we’ll see; we’ll see how much I am going forward in the future. It’s a legitimate question, and it’s one that I had to confront in, like, 2006, and made my call.

Sometimes, once in a while, we do things that are better for the fans, even if it doesn’t always make 100% the best sense, because people don’t always make 100% the best sense. And so, sometimes characters can make a decision that may not be actually optimized.

Questioner

So Scadrial doesn’t have a moon. There’s a character with a name referencing that. How does that get translated?

Brandon Sanderson

To them, it probably just kind of comes out as a more, like, nonsense word, like they don’t know what—Like, in other words, it’s the word in their language-

Questioner

A literal translation?

Brandon Sanderson

A literal translation that we translate for you because you’re in on the joke. Let’s just say this person picked that name specifically because they’re in on that as well. Maybe something that they maybe miss.

It’s an excellent question; no one’s asked me that before, and I kind of expected someone to.

Questioner

What was your favorite part or chapter to write in Wind and Truth?

Brandon Sanderson

It’s too spoilery to say, but I would say my favorite section has to do with a certain Kholin son sequence who knows his way around a sword.

Questioner

Who’s your favorite Stormlight character?

Brandon Sanderson

It’s whoever I’m writing at the moment.

Questioner

What would be on their Spotify wrapped this year? The character's Spotify wrapped?

Brandon Sanderson

I kind of listen to whoever is my favorite, is whoever I’m writing at the moment. And so it would be really hard for me to pick that. I do have a Stormlight 5 playlist that I can put on Spotify. It’s not as big as the previous years’ ones with three and four but I’ll try to remember to make that public. It would probably be something on that list.

Questioner

Are the Rhythms recorded somewhere?

Brandon Sanderson

For the singers? No, they are not. They’re in my wiki as text, and as I have said before, I’m gonna let an (eventually) person who makes films figure out how to film that.

Questioner

So, what’s your favorite Studio Ghibli movie?

Brandon Sanderson

For me, it is Mononoke. I am an epic fantasy man at heart, and I think you could probably call Nausicaä epic fantasy as well. But a lot of them are kind of a different subgenre. Like, Spirited Away’s a portal fantasy, and he does a lot of things like that. I saw Spirited Away; it was my number one, it was my first. My brother had loved Miyazaki beforehand, and they were showing it at one of the theaters up here when it was a first release way back whenever that was, before Spirited Away. It was actually in theaters. My brother’s like, “You’re going to love this. Just trust me. Go to it.” And I went, and there were, like, five people in the audience. And I loved it. I’m like, "Wow, this is straight up epic fantasy. A really, really cool epic fantasy. How have I never listened to my brother before and seen any of the other stuff?" Since then I’ve been very much a fan of the work.

Oudeis (paraphrased)

If Shai bonded a Shardblade, could one of her Essence Marks (like Shai-Zan) summon it?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

She'd have to make an essence mark where her history "split off" more recently than she got the Blade.

Oudeis (paraphrased)

What if it was Shai-Zan who bonded it?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Then only Shai-Zan could summon the Blade, Shai couldn't.

Havoc

On Threnody, Silence notices a 'tug' when cutting a wraith with her silver knife. Is is analogous to the tug a Shardbearer feels when cutting people with a Shardblade, i.e. you always feel it when cutting something from the Cognitive Realm while in the Physical Realm?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is a valid analogy.

Havoc

Mistborn: Secret History is absolutely one of the most marvellous things I have ever read. Thank you so much for writing it! It fills in all little minor questions remaining from Era 1, and opens up so many more, wonderfully more, questions.

It feels very much like a peek behind the curtain, and really establishes just how detailed your worldbuilding actually is. I really hope you write a similar book at the end of each Mistborn Era, at least as long as Kelsier is around. I'm really looking forward to a Kelsier-Marsh reunion. I still can't believe Kelsier managed to con a God!

Is there a comparable amount of behind-the-scenes action happening over the course of the Stormlight books?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there is something comparable going on through the course of the Stormlight books. The problem with this one is that Roshar is so enormous, compared to the Final Empire, that there are far fewer hints there. Here, we had a main character from the series itself involved, and this led to more opportunities to leave little clues as to what was going on.

Havoc

Can we hope to see a 'Secret History' for each Era of Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

It will depend on if I have the time. The next one would have to go between Era One and Era Two--the lead up to things happening in the Wax and Wayne books.

AonEne

What pronouns would Rushu use after WaT, or after talking to the Sibling? 

Brandon Sanderson

They/them. 

Questioner

My question is about Ruin and Preservation creating life. Is that an example of two individuals having a super team up? Or is there some co-influence, cross-influence that let them do something that would be outside of themselves?

Brandon Sanderson

Rephrase that for me. Talk around a little bit. Let me see if I'm gonna get the right answer, okay?

Questioner

Ruin ruins, and Preservation preserves. If they're creating life, well, that takes a little of everything, right? Is that an influence, like Ruin being in proximity to Preservation and vice versa? Would their co-mingling happen... and how would that influence other dual or triple Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

I get what you're saying. Each of the Shards has certain strengths and weaknesses, and they're capable of certain things and not other things. Some of them can do what was done by Ruin and Preservation on their own. Most cannot. Most combinations of two could; some would need three. So, it really kind of depends on the situation and the Shard. Each pairing and grouping of Shards will have different sort of augmentations to what they can accomplish, and things like this, because the Shards aren't all-powerful, they're just part of something that once was, if that makes sense. (That's not how math works in infinity, but it is how infinity works in the cosmere.)

Questioner

Does the [Stormlight] RPG spoil anything beyond the current books that we should be avoiding if we're worried about that?

Brandon Sanderson

It includes Wind and Truth.

Yes, mild spoilers for beyond Wind and Truth. It does spoil Radiant Oaths, though we have kept the last two Oaths specifically vague for all of the Orders. In the rules, it's like, "It's something like this, but let your player drive." That's a change we actually made a little bit last minute, where we were giving more specifics on four and five, and I'm like, "Let's just pull back on both of those." But there will be Oaths for Orders we haven't talked about. I mean, you already kind of started to get those spoilers in the previous Kickstarters, with the coins and things like that, but that's in there.

I never ended up using Rall Elorim and some other places on the map that I had planned to get to, that I might still go to in the back five. And they are explained in the book, what they are, what's going on there, and some of the stuff that I might eventually get to. It's in here first.

So, yeah, there's some mild spoilers.

And the campaign that you get to play (again, we're trying to keep that pretty secret) is a narrative hole in the books that I someday planned to plug, and never found a spot, and am not planning to plug in any other way. This is the place to get that story.

Brandon Sanderson

I will need to do another draft of this [Moment Zero] before December, because we are hoping to release this for Nexus next year.

Brandon Sanderson

We have decided that, instead of supporting Black Friday, we'll just start doing our holiday sales about a month early. We actually picked the name Light Day, which is out of the Stormlight Archive. Fun fact about that: I originally called it Sun Day, it's the day that they see the sun in the middle of the Weeping. Then, I'm like, "Eh..." Sun Day has connotations, and things.