Recent entries

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3251 Copy

    R'Shara

    Are the delvers, are they new since Jason's time?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They existed, but Jason didn't know about them.

    R'Shara

    Ohh, because we couldn't find any trace of them...

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's no trace of them. They were basically added in when I was doing Skyward. It was my evolution of where I wanted to take the whole thing.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3252 Copy

    Questioner

    If a Mistborn were to burn a metal that's been Forged by a Soulstamp, is there a different effect from another, or?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they Forged it from one metal into another metal?

    Questioner

    Yes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So once they started to burn it, it would break the Forgery and it would turn back into its original metal. So you'd have just the briefest moment of getting what it said it was and then it would go back to the other and then if you were a Misting of the wrong type, you would get no more from it.

    Questioner

    What about Feruchemy or Hemalurgy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. You would have a lot of trouble Investing it because it's already Invested. So you would run into troubles right away trying to Invest it, because it's already got all the Investiture messing with it. You could theoretically make it happen, but it would take enough work and conniving that it just wouldn't be worth it.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3253 Copy

    R'Shara

    In Defending Elysium, you had a guy in a white room with the communications. Then Spensa sees the delver in a white room...

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is an intentional harkening of the same idea.

    R'Shara

    Are they closely connected?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I wouldn't say closely, but I would say moderately.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3254 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you actually have a potted plant named Count Dooku??

    Brandon Sanderson

    I used to but the joke was it was actually not in a pot; it was in a glass jar.

    Questioner

    Was it an air plant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. It had water but it was like one of those air plants. That was the joke. They were supposed to put the picture in the original ones of Count Dooku, my plant, and they refused with that picture as the picture of me. So the joke didn't work. And then by the time we did the new ones, I didn't have Count Dooku anymore. Count Dooku had died. So we just put in a regular potted plant but that was supposed to be the joke that you would be like "wait a minute, that's not a potted plant." But Scholastic, they wouldn't deal with it. They didn't want me to be that goofy.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3256 Copy

    LittleMas42

    Does Intent reflect on the Spiritual or Cognitive aspects of Intent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Intent can influence that, but it's going to be very much based on the specific instances. I'm not sure exactly what specific instance you're talking about but it can.

    LittleMas42

    Like the Elantrians, when they're drawing Aons and their Intent to draw an Aon.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Their Intent to draw an Aon is really important and in the same way your Intent to Awaken is really important, and in the same way there are some things in Roshar where your Intent is really important to what you're doing also.

    LittleMas42

    And does that reflect like how Shallan can see, "I am a stick" by touching the bead in the Cognitive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Is that by Intent? Not exactly the same mechanism going on right there.

    Miscellaneous 2019 ()
    #3257 Copy

    Steven Bohls

    The most exciting project I'm working on right now. I discussed before getting to know Brandon Sanderson, and we ended up becoming really good friends. And he has a book series, the Reckoners series: Steelheart, Firefight, and Calamity. And he was approached a little while ago by Audible. They saw a lot of success with those books on Audible and wanted him to write a spinoff series for it. But he's got a lot on his plate right now, and he actually asked me to pick it up for him. It's been really exciting.

    He's been fairly hands-off, which has been both good and bad. I wish I had a little bit more direction, but it's also been nice to have full autonomy. He just kind of said, "Take it where you want." Right now, we have this spinoff series of a different team of Reckoners set in that Steelheart world. But we decided just a few weeks ago that we wanted to consolidate these books when we go to print and kinda change them a little bit to actually be Book Four and continue the series. Four, Five, and Six, and stuff. It'll hopefully mash together these two different Reckoners teams.

    It's pretty exciting. They have kind of a demanding schedule for these three novellas, but it'll be shorter books for Audible. But once we can go to print (Audible's gonna hold the rights on them for two years, and then we get to go to his press, Delacorte), that's when it'll be released as Book Four.

    Take Me Away

    That's a really interest project to be taking over and moving new direction at the same time.

    Steven Bohls

    It's tricky because, when he approached me about the project, he said, "Okay. We want this to be a series that people don't have to have read any of the Reckoners books before, and they can just pick it up fresh. But we also want it to be satisfying to everyone who's read it before. And also we want it to be three independent books that are following a new team. And also we want it to be a sequel." So it was super intimidating. I kept telling myself, "Okay, I can do that." And then it got more involved and more involved, trying to simultaneously make it a sequel as well as a spinoff has been a little bit challenging.

    So far it's going really well. I'm almost done with the first one in the spinoff trilogy.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3258 Copy

    Questioner

    If they made a movie out of Mistborn, if they were making it rated R, would you have a say to that? Would it bother you? What would you do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would have a say over some and I could get it in contracts for some. It depends on the contract. There are some we've had were we don't have that in the contract. I'm not powerful enough to get that in a lot of things but the more powerful we get, the more we can get things like that to be able to say no. Mostly, we try to pick people that we don't think would do that but the end of the day, no movie people give authors say over their movies because a movie costs 200 million dollars to make and it's just... Basically, when you sign rights away, you just have to see what they do. I would prefer that they not.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3260 Copy

    Mason Wheeler

    Double Eye of the Almighty, is that just symbolism or does Tanavast have weird pupils?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is symbolism. But if you were to see Tanavast and you were on Roshar, he would manifest with weird pupils at that point.

    Mason Wheeler

    Reflection of how people believe? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. But the actual Tanavast before, he did not have weird pupils.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3262 Copy

    Questioner

    I know you served a mission in Korea. So, how much of a Korean influence...

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a bunch.

    Questioner

    I noticed in Mistborn, I think of some Korean influence. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. In Elantris, the idea of the language is based on the relationship between Korean and Chinese. So, it's not the sounds or anything, it's the idea of there being the Chinese characters that have Korean back... you know you can write them in Korean or in Chinese. All of that stuff. The Chinese characters, the Korean grammar around them, and stuff like that, it was a big influence on me designing that writing system.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3263 Copy

    Questioner

    For the light-lances, where do they get their power from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They come from the same sort of place that everything's getting their power. You know, little micro-engines that are basically fantasy-ish. They're... It's super advanced hyper-engines. I think I worked something out where they using acclivity stone in some way. They're like Brandon's versions of Asimov watches with atomic power. They're just fantastically far-future power sources. Otherwise, we couldn't make any of this work. Like, the whole shell around Detritus and stuff. We needed a cheap and powerful energy source.

    Questioner

    Exactly. They're just like little bitty things.

    Brandon Sanderson

    They're basically fantasy novels with spaceships.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3264 Copy

    Questioner

    Any advice for integrating realistic battle tactics with a magic system when writing a book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Boy, it's tough. It depends on how much the magic going to get used and if you can find a real-world analogue or not. If you can find a real-world analogue, it can be handy to be like, "this magic is basically like adding an air force, let's see how that happens." If you can't find a real-world analogue, and it's very common, enough that it'll shape-change battle, then you need to make the sure the battlefield, you're controlling it and make it about the magic, so that no one can say "oh, you got the tactics wrong" because you're controlling it and you're controlling the narrative. 

    Questioner

    Basically make the magic the more important part?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. There's lots of ways to do this but that's a good way to do that. That would be my recommendation.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3265 Copy

    Questioner

    Have you taken out any insurance policies to make sure we get to the 10th book of Stormlight, Brandon?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't if any insurance policy could do that other than making good outlines and making sure that somebody is tasked to do it, in case. I always used to say it's not far enough along but at this point, we're getting far enough along that we would want to have someone finish them.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3266 Copy

    Questioner

    Can there be an Allomancer who's allergic to their metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. I have a lot of allergies myself, so I sympathize with you.

    It's like being an Alethi highlady who is left-handed, or being an Allomancer who's allergic to your metal, these are really painful things that the culture and society and magic system is not built well to deal with that highlight certain problems that people do have. And it totally can happen, and it sucks.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3267 Copy

    Questioner

    You've started to put more of an emphasis on Identity, which is a cosmere concept. Why did you do that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    These are things that are gonna need to make sense to the reader by the time that we get to Era 3 and 4. And so I'm using Era 2 as a kind of, ease-you-in to this idea. And that Identity is a cosmere concept is very much tied to the way the magics work behind the scenes.

    So when you read Era 1, when you read Stormlight, the first five-book arc, when you read Elantris, you read those books, you're looking at kind of just the effects of the magic. But the underlying principles are more being shown in Wabreaker and in Era 2, where I'm starting to try to get you to understand the fundamental principles that make the magic systems work. So when we get to Era 3 and we start to need that understanding to really extrapolate how the magic's working, you'll be there on the same page with me, is my hope.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3268 Copy

    Questioner

    You mentioned earlier that the Mistborn magic system is basically a Periodic Table of Elements. How would that affect the study of science in creating the whole Periodic Table?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you can see what's happening on Scadrial, even in Era 2, they have a disproportionate amount of understanding and study of metallurgy, and they are not nearly as good at other things. So it's affected where they spend their focus and their research. Like, they don't have the radio, when they kind of should. They had to get it from some other places, the idea of that technology. So really, what's happening there is, I'm trying to keep it close ('cause Scadrial is an Earth analogue), but at the same time show what they're stronger at and what they're weaker at. It has influenced the way they approached science in some interesting ways.

    We won't find out a lot more until Era 3, where one of the characters is more interested in the science. Because the characters in Era 2 are mostly interested in shooting people and perhaps creating interesting mixed drinks. And finding lost coins. (Steris.)

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3269 Copy

    Questioner

    How are you going to deal with the fact that Allomancy is genetic, and as it spreads to the population, the general power of it decreases in a given individual. What are you going to do in Eras 3 and 4?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is what we call a RAFO. Read and Find Out. You can find in Era 2 one group's attempts at dealing with that. But they are approaching it in a very scary way.

    Moderator

    Is it x-linked? Is it dominant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This actually plays into the way the cosmere works. Every person in the cosmere has what I call a Spiritual DNA, which exists in... it goes back to Platonic forms, it's very weird. But it is not their actual genetic code, it is their Spiritual genetic code, which works a little differently.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3270 Copy

    Questioner

    Is the reason aluminum is so distinct in the cosmere have to do with what you talked about earlier? [falling from the sky, Napoleon's plates]

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it's because I love how it had this sort of mythological attachment in our own world. And I liked that mythology.

    But the other cool things that aluminum does is, it is a really powerful, strong, wonderful metal that, in our society now, is so common you can make cans out of it and sell it super cheap... but only two hundred years ago, was more valuable than gold. And that changeover let me build into the Mistborn system something that would then add a counter to the powers I was developing, which were going to become more and more common as we reached the modern era. That there would be a counter to them which would also become more and more common. It's a really nice parallel that I could build into the system.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3271 Copy

    Questioner

    Are you gonna try to use superconductors or different alloys in your books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, you'll see a lot of interaction with metal. In fact, book four of Stormlight talks a little more about how metals in fabrials work. If you watch very closely, you'll see parallels between that and what's happening in the Mistborn series.

    The further we get along, the more important things like superconductors will be, and we'll start explaining why metals work the way they do in the cosmere, and stuff like that. So that's all stuff you can look forward to.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3272 Copy

    Panelist

    I'm thinking of the characters of metal. Other than the One Ring, you have Elric's sword, that can ingest your soul.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, oh, I love Stormbringer. Stormbringer is an amazing sword. If you guy shaven't read Elric, it was the inspiration for Nightblood, was the Elric cycle with Stormbringer. It's this sword that sucks people's souls and gives the main character the ability to be strong, 'cause he was born very weak. But it usually harvests the souls of the people he loves most as he's trying to save the world, and it's this give-and-take. Do I use this powerful sword, because I'm really saving the world; it's really important. But it's probably gonna suck the souls of everyone I love. Creates some really great tension. But those books are kicks to the face. They are not pleasant stories necessarily.

    ICon 2019 ()
    #3273 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    I intentionally didn't use lead or mercury in my magic systems because I knew they would kick people out. When you say, "People are eating lead," even in a fantasy book, it's gonna make some snickers. People are gonna stop and be like, "Wait a minute... this is a bad idea." And as my popularity's grown, I've become more and more aware of how many times I'm going to have to answer the same question if I put it in my book. I'm so glad I didn't use lead because at every signing, I would be answering fifty or sixty times, "You do know that lead's a bad idea to eat, right?"

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3274 Copy

    Snipexe

    If Khriss were to describe the Cognitive Anomaly to another Silverlight scholar, how would she do so?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She would RAFO you.

    Snipexe

    And then, is the Cognitive Anomaly either one of Nalthis's lagrange points or that another RAFO?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's a RAFO. Everything about the Cognitive Anomaly is a RAFO. I'm sorry.

    Snipexe

    It was worth a shot.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is an anomaly and that is all we're saying. 

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3275 Copy

    Questioner

    Have you ever thought of using Skimmers to have infinite electricity. Like on a Ferris wheel kind of thing. Like Skimmers on this side tap and then Skimmers on this side store.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, you're just using like Allomancers or Feruchemy. I mean yeah, that's totally something that in-world they will probably end up doing because the energy is simply coming from another place like Investiture is energy but there's more efficient ways than that to actually get Investiture into energy. I mean, a lot of Investiture gives off light. You could make it give off heat. Like, way easier ways to use Investiture than to put people on dynamos and create power that way but you could do it. You could absolutely do it. If you were hard up for making it work and the only thing you had was a Feruchemist or an Allomancer, you could create electricity that way. 

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3279 Copy

    Questioner

    In Part 2 of Oathbringer, the chapter headings are to Hoid, right, from other [Vessels] I'm assuming. One of them talks about Hoid. They reference to him as holder of the one gem [bearer of the First Gem]. Is that the gem that is then split into Shards perhaps?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. Mhm. RAFO.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3281 Copy

    Questioner

    Do your kids read your books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. They read my kids books. They've read Skyward, they've read Starsight, they read Rithmatist. They haven't tackled the adult books yet. 

    Questioner

    How old is your oldest?

    Brandon Sanderson

    My oldest is 12.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3282 Copy

    Questioner

    Has an unborn child ever been Ascended?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ascended to be a Shard? No, that has not yet happened.

    Questioner

    Maybe not a Shard but...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh. Ascend to like a... No. I would say no. It hasn't ever happened. It's not implausible that the mother could Ascend and the child would... But it hasn't happened.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3284 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering when are we going to get Doomslug plushies?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We are really considering it. We've heard horror stories from our friends who have made plushies. That the prototypes just all turn out terrible. That it's really hard to get someone to make a good plushie. So, we've been scared to try, but we've had some people come and offer.

    Isaac Stewart

    On the JordanCon website, Deana just posted instructions on how to make your own. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, there you go.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3285 Copy

    Questioner

    You've talked a little bit about scripture readings contributing to your writing earlier today. How do you keep that separate from the worlds you're creating?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've really never had a problem with that. It's easier than keeping myself separate from other fantasy writers' things and that I've had to learn to put a line in place where I'm like "Ooh, this is a cool idea. Remember that this was someone else's cool idea." Because I consider the scriptures history, I don't mind if they influence me. Like, history does a lot. In Roshar you'll find the Mongolian invasion being a big basis for where the characters for the Alethi come from and in the same way, King Benjamin's speech is a bit of an inspiration for Nohadon's Way of Kings. I don't mind getting inspired by history.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3286 Copy

    Questioner

    There are Allomantic savants, are there Feruchemical savants?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Much harder to do. My feeling on Feruchemical savants was because it was your own power in the first place, you can't steep in it so much in the way. But, if you can get someone else's power or if you are fueling your Feruchemy another way, you would become one. So, the Lord Ruler is a good example.

    Questioner

    Was Miles a...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Miles would be the same sort of thing.

    Questioner

    Is that why he didn't die as quickly in the execution?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    So yeah. Normally no but if you can Compound you become... basically that is how I am explaining part of the Compounding abilities. 

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3287 Copy

    Shqueeves

    Similar to how holding Stormlight and Voidlight causes an emotional reaction, does holding a lot of Breath create an appreciation for beauty?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I would say that it does.

    Shqueeves

    Does every form of Investiture create an emotional reaction?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say yes. 

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3288 Copy

    Questioner

    You talk about dragons, are you ever going to write a book with a dragon in it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. There are dragons in the Cosmere. Hoid has talked to one. If you read the letters in the beginnings of the Stormlight books, there's one where he's talking to someone he calls, "You old reptile." That's actually Frost ,who's a dragon. The planet that Hoid comes from, there are dragons on. It's where I got the word Dragonsteel which is the name of my book. I just didn't end up publishing that book but they're still in canon. So eventually I'll do a new version of that book and release it. There are actually dragons off world even, but they can shapeshift in the Cosmere.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3289 Copy

    Questioner

    Is reincarnation a thing in the Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Reincarnation is not a thing in most of the Cosmere.

    *Small exchange*

    You could call the Returned reincarnations and there are other things along those lines. You could call the Fused are straight up reincarnation. It happens in some places. If you've read Stormlight, there's a group that are reincarnated time and time again. In general, no but there are groups that reincarnate.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3290 Copy

    Questioner

    Why is Spensa's dad a coward? Why does everyone make fun of Spensa?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He's not actually a coward. Read the book and you'll find out. Everyone makes fun of Spensa because their society focuses too much on a false version of what is a hero. They focus too much on the idea of if you're a hero, then you're good; if you're not a hero, then you're bad. They're basically kind of building themselves up by tearing her down which is a bad way to do it and don't follow their example.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3292 Copy

    Questioner

    If you had a group of Elantrians on Roshar and they wanted to set up an Elantrian complex similar to the city of Elantris, what would they have to do to get that set up?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The only way they know how to do it is to get Investiture from Sel and pipe it, basically. That's not the only way you could do it but that's the only way they know how to do it. You've seen them doing that in Secret History. Basically if they want their powers to work, they have huge workarounds they have to put in place. That's not all of it but that's basically... Yeah.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3294 Copy

    Questioner

    What do you when all your characters seem to think and act like you do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What I do if I were in that problem is, I try to pick some attribute that's very different from me. A belief system, a way of acting, a psychology. And then go read a whole bunch of blogs by people who are talking about dealing with that issue and then try to do a steelman, is what they call it. The opposite of a strawman, make that person's argument or life philosophy as strong as you can make it in that character. And see what happens.

    Starsight Release Party ()
    #3296 Copy

    Questioner

    When do you think Alcatraz... The next one... Do you have a release date for that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I hope it's next year.

    Do you have any idea?

    Isaac Stewart

    We're probably a year to a year and a half away. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. We have to wait on the art. Whatever the art takes. Tor hasn't seen it yet either. We have just finished it and Janci wrote half and I wrote half and it turned out pretty well.