Recent entries

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    coltonx9

    Are there types of Investiture that the larkin can't consume?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I would say that there are, but it's going to depend on the state they're in. Pure Investiture, a larkin is always going to probably be able to grab, but lots of people can get pure Investiture. Kinetic Investiture they're are gonna have a good chance at being able to grab, but they can't get everything.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    Moash killed a god? One of the Heralds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He did. One of the Heralds. And trapped his soul so he couldn't be reborn.

    Questioner

    That's what it is. Trapped his soul, didn't actually kill him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's killed him-- It was like, extra killed. The Heralds are bound to a cycle of rebirth that happens-- that they wanted to make sure didn't happen that time.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    I have a question about the epilogue in The Way of Kings. You have Wit give this interesting, kind of philosophical-- sermon-thing on novelty. I wonder, what do you think about what he's saying, do you--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Usually those little things that Wit will do, he does one at the end of each book, are things I've thought about. I don't always one hundred percent agree with Wit. He tends to hyperbolize in order to make a point, but I do think it's really interesting that novelty is so important to us. Even if you did something independently, but come up with it after someone else, then it's not considered as great an art, right? Which is really, really, really interesting if you think about it. And I love that idea, and I like talking about that sort of thing, so these-- All of Wit's little monologues--there's one, like I've said, at the end of each book--is something I think about, but he goes off in his own direction sometimes.

    Questioner

    I've used that little monologue in some philosophy class that I've in, such as philosophy of art.  

    Brandon Sanderson

    I did take a-- I took a lot of philosophy classes, if you can't tell, during my undergraduate years. I was quite fond of philosophy. Though the philosophers were all really needed to learn how to write. Man, those guys just, I mean, paragraphs like this that don't really even say anything. I love the ideas, but man, they could use editors. But, yeah, I enjoyed my philosophy classes, and I really liked philosophy of art in particular, it's very interesting to me. The whole Oscar Wilde's intro to Dorian Gray is my favorite speech on art, that all art is, by necessity, useless. Stuff like that really, really gets me going.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    You always come up with new ideas for books, when you have so many to write as is, that you've recently started to go from saying things like, "Whenever I get to this book," like the Threnody novel, to, "If I ever get to it." Would you ever let another author write for Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is possible. Isaac [Stewart], my art director and long friend for, you know, fifteen years, who's been collaborating on the visual style of Mistborn, really wants to write a Mistborn novel set on one of the Southern Continent places off by itself and I'm intrigued by this idea, 'cause he's somebody I've worked with for so long. So we might see how that happens. So far I haven't been willing to collaborate on any Cosmere stuff, but it's p-- I could see it happening.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    In White Sand 2, you changed the artist. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that was-- we didn't want to do that, I actually hate doing that, but it was with-- keeping-- meeting deadlines and things we were having trouble with the old artist, and so we just needed to make the switch so that we could get the books out. And that's the thing I like the least about the comics industry, artists changing, it's really-- yeah. But it is something that had to happen, so we made the call. We do intend that the sec- now this artist will do the book three, so we shouldn't change again, but, yeah.

    With the Dark One comic, which we're working on right now, one of the things I've said up front is we need an artist to make sure that we don't ever change, because I really don't like doing that, I like the same visual style. 

    Questioner

    Yeah, it's like an actor doing this huge thing--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, yeah, and then you get a new actor, it's like-- who?

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    I've seen a lot of forum posts about the mistcloaks themselves. What is the standard wear underneath those? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    So there isn't a lot of standardization, because Mistborn are rare and each Mistborn commissions their own cloak. Most of the time, I think you're going to find that they would wear a buttoning shirt with short sleeves. Probably something dark would be my guess, probably a dark gray. But it just really depends on the person.

    Questioner

    Okay. I was thinking about working up a Mistborn cosplay--

    Brandon Sanderson

    My theme for clothing other than miscloaks was a look a little of-- Dickensian London was my inspiration, so.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4363 Copy

    Questioner

    When Jasnah says she should've opened a pit, does she mean a chasm or a kind of Androl, Wheel of Time, kind of thing? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Androl, Wheel of Time, what do you mean by that?

    Questioner

    When he opens a gateway? What does she mean by pit?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. *evil smirk* I'll RAFO that right now.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    If you used Hemalurgy to steal Allomancy, Harmony gets some kind of insight into the person that was spiked? He can talk to them? And with enough spikes hear their thoughts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm. Yes. With enough spikes, take them over.

    Questioner

    So if you use a spike to say, steal Breath, would Endowment?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that for now. Good question though, I haven't been asked that yet. 

    Questioner

    If you stole Breath, would Harmony still keep the same effect?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's why I'm going to give a RAFO.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4365 Copy

    Questioner

    What was the thought process behind Shinovar being so similar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A couple of reasons. One is, by having some sort of Earth analogue on-world, I could give some contrast, and I could have a kind of an explanation for why they might use words like chickens and things until I can get to the big reveal. Like, if there weren't Shinovar there to act as a red herring, I think it would give away the twist very early.

    Beyond that, I like the idea of the people that are like us being the alien ones to the society. Kind of helps separate it and make it this is a different world, this is a different culture. So, it gave me a lot of advantages. Plus it also gave an explanation for how they could-- humankind create a foothold on this planet after coming across. So, lots of different thought processes behind that.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    Is it possible for a Returned with sufficient knowledge, to sacrifice themselves to mend the Oathpact?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, not without work. It just wouldn't work naturally that way. So no, I mean technically any Investiture-- with that amount of Investiture, there's like, a chance they could do something like you want to do. But I'm going to say, kind of, would be no...

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4369 Copy

    Questioner

    Can you explain how the Well of Ascension worked? How it actually held him and why releasing the power released Ruin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is the sort of thing that I can't explain in a brief amount of time, but hit me with an email, all right? Say that I promised to answer this, keep pushing me and eventually we'll get an answer written out for that one.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    So, who's your favorite Planeswalker or like-- color of mana to play?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Can I say my own Planeswalker? 

    Questioner

    That's because you did write--

    Brandon Sanderson

    I did! If you throw my Davriel out, because obviously I'm gonna pick my own, let's see, who is my favorite? Ashiok is probably my favorite, just because they have such an interesting look to them and I like the powerset, that's the way I like to play, and there's so much mystery about Ashiok, so Ashiok. If we're talking about one that's actually had a story written about them, I really love how they handled Urza, just because you'd expect Urza to be very Gandalf-y and wise, and he was kind of, you know, that black side to Urza was really cool to me. And so-- yeah, there you go.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    In the reading that you did, the Nahel bond, has it changed?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. So, spren were added, and things like that. What [Taln?] had would still be called a Nahel bond. A Nahel bond in the original definition means bond to divinity, but that's come to encompass a lot more in the cosmere, any time you're bonding with-- the bond between a soul and Investiture. But in the original version, it was more only with a Shard of Adonalsium or something like that.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    I wanted to ask have you ever considered making any of your books into an animated series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would! If the right people approached me, I would certainly not turn that away. I think there are more people wanting to get series made than there are people making good ones, but I would jump on it if the right people came along.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    How close is the enslavement of the parshmen to the Recreance, timeline-wise? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um, fairly close, as timeline issues go, but still many decades.

    Questioner

    Did it play any kind of factor in the decision?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Absolutely. But we're not talking about it happening next year. But it was a factor, how about that?

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    Do you have a favorite Smedry Talent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. I took a lot of these from things my mom does. Which are things that maybe I do also, like being late to everything, and being bad at dancing. Probably mine is being bad at dancing. But probably my true talent is the ability to use a lot of words to say nothing. *laughter*

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4377 Copy

    Questioner 1

    Are we gonna see more of the girl from The Emperor's Soul? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    You will probably see at least a cameo from Shai. But I do have a second story outlined now, but I don't know when I have time or would have time to write it, so we will see if I can make that happen or not.

    Questioner 2

    Will we have a full-fledged story on the other part of Elantris, that Shai is on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think it's likely, but I can't promise it. But it's equally likely right now that we will-- I will outline a new graphic novel series, as to I will just do a story, but I can't one hundred percent promise.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4380 Copy

    Questioner

    I know FOX bought the rights to Steelheart. Do you know if there is anything coming out of that? An update?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Alright. Big update on media properties based on Sanderson things. We'll start with Reckoners since you started there.

    FOX owns the rights to the Reckoners, they have been bought by Disney. We don't know what that's going to do to it, but FOX has always been very excited about Steelheart so we will see what happens. We do have the Reckoners board game that came out and is shipping to backers. It's not for sale yet to people who haven't been backing it but it will be eventually. Let's see-- let's go down some of the smaller projects.

    Legion is owned by a company out of Canada called Cineflix, and they are working very hard to make a television show out of that. They just bought the rights last summer, but last I heard they had a showrunner interested, so maybe some announcements about that.

    The closest to being published-- the closest to being a movie is probably Snapshot. You probably don't know what that is. It's one of my novellas, it's like a mix between The Matrix and the movie SE7EN, so it's very different from a lot of my stuff. It's very close, they have a script and the screenplay's really good, they have someone attached to direct but they haven't announced it yet so I can't announce it. That one is probably the most close, which is going to be weird when my first movie is a serial killer thriller, but y'know, whatever.

    The Cosmere books are owned by DMG Entertainment. They are a Chinese company that funded some of the Marvel films. They've moved into making their own films. They have been a wonderful partner. They are trying very hard to make Stormlight a television show and Mistborn as a movie. It's very hard to get epic fantasy things off the ground but they're making good progress, but there's nothing to announce yet. I think that is everything.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4381 Copy

    Truthwatcher_17.5

    Darksiders have almost as advanced technology as second Era Scadrians.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    But then we see Darksiders in The Secret-- in Mistborn: The Secret History. So are they gonna be the first spacefarers, are they gonna get there before Scadrians?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, where it is right now is that certain things have happened to Taldain that have isolated it and cut it off.

    Questioner

    Yeah, a little bit in Arcanum Unbounded talked about that.

    Brandon Sanderson

    And some-- they're under-- going through some difficult times, let's say... So, I will RAFO whether or not they're going to make it first to make it to space, but let's just say they were well on target to making it first before certain events happened.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4382 Copy

    Truthwatcher_17.5

    Are you ever gonna make an official quiz that sorts people into Knights-- Knights Radiant? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know, I'm less likely to do a quiz and more likely to do a list of-- kind of attributes and traits and requirements. I feel that some people are more likely to be able to sort themselves than a quiz sorting them. Granted, it does depend on the spren also, so there are two parties in this. And so, you don't have absolute influence over which order you might end up in. But it is possible to be viable as a candidate for multiple orders and it also is going to depend on the spren.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Truthwatcher_17.5

    Are we ever gonna see a Twinborn who has Feruchemical iron and Allomantic pewter, and he's pretty much-- sort of like how Ham was training Vin about how to use her body, and we just gonna see this amazing martial artist on a massive scale?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is totally possible. I'm not gonna promise any given combination, 'cause the-- I've changed several times the powersets of characters while I'm planning, so.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4387 Copy

    Truthwatcher_17.5

    Are we ever gonna see more names for specific types of Twinborns?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I intend to do more of those as the Eras progress. There are so many to name that I don't know that I'll ever release a chart of all of them, and partially I don't want to canonize names because I might decide something sounds cooler for when I actually use that person's powers in a book.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    I read Skyward, like, two weeks ago, I finished it in two nights. It was honestly one of my favorite books I've ever read, and I can't wait to see where it goes. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thank you! Book two is done. 

    Questioner

    I'm excited to see what-- I need to read, uh, about the "Defense of Elysium"?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, yeah, Defending Elysium, it's free on my website. It'll tie-in in ways that you'll find interesting. One of my very first short stories.

    Questioner

    I'm super, super excited to see it. I loved the whole idea of when they're peering into the stars, it's like they're looking back with hatred. It's awesome.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4389 Copy

    Questioner

    Are birds native to Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Birds are not native to Roshar.

    Questioner

    ...Did they come over with the initial humans?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They did. The humans brought them over, along with a lot of other beasts. Like, horses aren't native to Roshar either. You can tell pretty easily the non-native things. Like, Roshar doesn't have any grapes. So the word wine got genericized in the same the way that the word chicken did. You'll see bunches of that. Like the way the weather works. Roshar does not have weather patterns like Ashyn did. They're used to seasons. Suddenly, the words for the seasons, all these weird things that you may have been wondering through the first couple of books, you're like, "Oh I see why they just call hard alcohol a wine," or, "I see why they call everything a chicken." It's kind of related to this.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4390 Copy

    Questioner

    Trell, who is he? Or if you're not going to reveal that, when will you...

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's going to take a little while to dig into that. It's going to need Mistborn Era 3, is all the Trell stuff.

    Questioner

    But I want more Wayne! Wayne is amazing!

    Brandon Sanderson

    I know! We've got one more book of Wayne. Wax and Wayne 4, we still got a book of Wayne. And then in Era 3, you'll be able to read the comic books in-world based on Wayne. So that'll be a part of it as well. You'll get a little touch of Wayne in there as well.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    Is there a combination of two Surges that you wouldn't normally see, that'd be fun to write about.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh yeah. It was actually a tough decision to let myself-- make myself put them in the groupings that I did. Because my brain naturally wants to say, "What about this, what about this?"

    What would be really interesting, you could do really cool things as a Stoneward with manipulating matter and changing it and stuff, and then burning things into it with-- whichever power that is-- [Division]... I should know. Well, I should know. But I always go look at the list. The Dustbringer power. But I think you could do really interesting sculpture type stuff with that. With the burning, you could add color to the things, to an extent. Like grayscale? But it's not really something that's built into the magic.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
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    Questioner

    If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, would they be a lighteyes or darkeyes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, they would probably be like someone who has heterochromia, one eye of each, meaning people don't know what to do with them and they are very awkward with trying to figure out how to treat them. The society breaks down a little bit when you run into anything that ruins their perfect system. Which is not so perfect, obviously.

    Idaho Falls signing ()
    #4396 Copy

    Truthwatcher_17.5

    Besides Hoid, are we ever going to see people with powers from multiple worlds? Like, a Pewterarm Stoneward?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is inevitable, but I don't think you should be expecting it soon. But it is absolutely an inevitability that this will become part of the story.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4398 Copy

    Questioner

    Sadeas' murder. Do you consider that arc pretty much wrapped?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is not wrapped, but there are lots of--

    Questioner

    Okay. Because I was writing-- I want more of that.

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is a-- Let's just say that there is a convergence of moral philosophies happening in the Kholin household and that it is not done by far.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
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    Questioner

    So in one of your State of the Sanderson posts you said that the "Wax and Wayne" series was going to come out in late 2019, but then you decided to write another trilogy that lasted two years, so--

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Wax & Wayne 4. Abandoning Apocalypse Guard has put me a little on the rocks for when I'm going to do that. Right now I'm planning Wax & Wayne 4 to be a book I use as a break from doing revisions on Stormlight 4. Stormlight 4 I have to start in January if I'm going to meet my stated goal of having them come out every three years, which I realize is a long time between books, but remember that they're four times longer than a normal book! *laughter*. You're laughing, but Oathbringer was 450,000 words, Skyward is 110,000. So Oathbringer is longer than four Skywards. I do have Skyward 2 done, and am going through the editing process right now. *applause* So Wax & Wayne 4 is very much on my radar-- I wrote the first one taking a break from Towers of Midnight, so the chances are good I'll need a break from Stormlight 4 and write it there. I don't know if it'll be out next year or the following summer. Stormlight 4 we're shooting for the fall of 2020, and I should be able to get it right around that time if I start in January, so that's the plan.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4400 Copy

    Questioner

    Which of your characters are most like you and which would you most aspire to be like?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know, this is a really interesting question. All of my characters are part me and part-not me, so you can point at every character and say, "Oh, that's Brandon!" Alcatraz, my mother says is most like me. *laughter* I don't know what that's saying, but those are really goofy middle-grade books about a character who can't take anything seriously. I aspire to be a little more like Sazed I think, is where I'd put that. But every character is a bit like me, and every character is something different than me that I want to explore.