Feruchemical aluminum stores and taps a marker that seems to suffuse all Investiture within a person, removing or strengthening Identity. Does Feruchemical duralumin work similarly? Does tapping connection while storing in a metalmind increase the connection of the Investiture stored?
RAFO. Mostly because I've got a main character who's going to be doing this, I'm not going to spoil the fun or lock myself down yet.
In Shadows of Self, in the scene where Paalm is speaking to Wax from a floor above, she rushes out the window and down past him. The window isn't damaged, the earth that she runs on isn't damaged, and she runs down a flight of stairs at speed. Being as "speed" affects gravity, and physics apply to Paalm as if she were moving at normal speed, is Feruchemical steel a temporal effect?
*laughs* Nice. I'm going to ask for more definition. What do you mean by temporal effect. What exactly do you mean by that? Are you reaching into magic system definitions, or are you trying to use our definitions? Give me more.
I love Emperor's Soul. Are you going to expand that into more in the cosmere?
I have an idea for a sequel. But I'm timid about writing it because the first one turned out so well, and I don't want to Lucas it. So we'll see.
With Allomancy is of Preservation, and you have Hemalurgy, which is of Ruin. Is Feruchemy a joint effort between the two? Or is it a third party?
Joint effort.
What kind of Radiant do you think Shai would be?
That's a good question. I would go with Edgedancer. Listening is one of the things, but also the ability to get places where you're not supposed to be would be very up her alley. There is a argument for one with Lightweaving power. Shai a Lightweaver... does she lie to herself? No. She's very good at not lying to herself, which is part of it. I would go Edgedancer, followed by Lightweaver. We could make an argument that she, depending on situations, could end up in either order.
Which is not that uncommon, depending on the spren that you need.
What would Kaladin's second Order be if he weren't a Windrunner?
I would have to think about that. I haven't considered it.
Have you ever written something else that you pulled into the cosmere?
You know, I don't do that very often. In fact, I'm trying to think of one that was outside the cosmere that pulled into it, and I can't think of one. I have pushed stories out of the cosmere very frequently. And the reason I do this is because I don't want to be setting things in the cosmere just because of the cosmere. I want to be setting things in the cosmere because they work and advance the story of the cosmere in a way I want it to be. And I want to be sure that I'm not just saying "Well, we'll shove this in the cosmere." So I very frequently try things out in the cosmere, and then pull them back. One of the main reasons I pull them back is I don't want any connection to Earth in the cosmere. So if a book needs a connection to Earth, or for some reason I like how the connection to Earth works, I will pull it out of the cosmere. The only thing I can think of that was out and went in was Dark One. But then it went out again.
And finally, media properties.
As for non-sequel, original projects, here’s what might be coming in the future, as they stand now.
What does this mean for future projects? Well, let me go down the list of sequels in order of current urgency.
During July, I took time off from major projects to have a breather. If you aren’t aware, I prefer to do smaller projects between big epics as a means of helping me stay fresh. This month’s “breather” stories include a novelette (9k words) piece set in the Steelheart world, which should be published as an e-original around Christmastime. I also did some work in the Infinity Blade world. (More on that later. If you aren’t aware, this is a video game that friends of mine make. I’ve enjoyed being involved to practice my video-game writing chops, with an eye toward doing Mistborn video game writing.)
My next major writing project will be the sequel to Steelheart, which is called Firefight. (And if you haven’t seen the trailer, Prologue, or teaser chapters for Steelheart, please go give them a look! We’re hoping for big things from this novel.) As you might be aware, I will often be preparing for/writing one piece while I do revisions on another. I generally can only do new prose on one piece at a time, but I like to be revising and writing on two different things at once. So, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be writing Firefight and revising Words of Radiance.
First off, of course, is Words of Radiance. If you weren’t watching, I finished the rough draft of this book (the second book of the Stormlight Archive, and sequel to The Way of Kings) late June. I sent it off to my agent and editor for commentary and advice. I got back my editor’s notes last week, my agent’s notes today, and Peter just finished assembling everything together and doing a tight, continuity-focused copyedit of the entire manuscript. At 360k words, it’s roughly the length of A Memory of Light.
Obviously, there’s a lot left to do here. Tor keeps talking about January as a publication month, and I’d like to meet that, if at all possible. That’s going to require me to do several drafts of the novel over the next two months. More updates as we progress, but I’m pleased with the book. It has only a few large flaws, and I think they can be fixed fairly quickly.
I was wondering in which ways has the LDS religion/theology influenced your writing? I mean, aside from trying to keep your books relatively clean and accessible. For example, it seems like the oaths of the Knights Radiant have some similarity to LDS covenants.
I don't think being LDS can help but influence my writing, though I personally follow Tolkien's philosophy: I stay away from specific allegory. I just try to write the best story I can, staying true to what the characters believe (or don't believe.)
So while I don't doubt that people can find parallels, I leave that for readers to theorize about. Most are not intentional, but that doesn't mean they aren't real.
Are there any specific ways you feel like it has shaped your writing in a more general sense? An obvious example, I expect, is the general avoidance of explicit language and sexual content. (something I, for one, appreciate) Does anything else like that come to mind?
Of course I mean that in a roundabout way. It would be rather strong to say that Mormonism directly affects the writing you produce. I'm sure you don't write explicit sex scenes because you are not comfortable with it (or whatever) rather than because the church says not to. But certainly it has shaped who you are, and you shape the stories. So I assume it's possible to trace a few lines from one end to the other.
You're right; I think these things are possible to trace--and the example you give is a good one. I've described the lack of sex scenes in my books the same way you just did.
I'd say that certainly, the sense of hope in my books is shaped by my faith. I didn't do it intentionally, but if you look at Mistborn, you find lots of quotes about faith in the face of trials--which is a very religious way of looking at the world. Some of my more secular friends might point out a fallacy in this thinking; they'd say that while determination is an important human emotion, doubling down on something just because you want to believe is the opposite of being self-reflective.
My belief in what makes someone heroic, or a good leader, is probably also very directly influenced by my upbringing and belief.
What special considerations do you have when designing a coin? (compared to other art that you typically do)
I haven't designed a lot of coins, so I had that same question when first talking to Woody and Helen at Shire Post. Once we decided on the sizes for the coins, the biggest issue was designing something that's legible at that size. The images and text need to read well, and for the most part, I needed to keep the text from running over the top of the images (which affects legibility). The only change Shire Post asked to be made after seeing the first images was to separate the text from the images a bit.
Continuity question:
Just prior to meeting with the Nightwatcher 5.5 years ago, Dalinar wakes up at the end of a highstorm and seems to have experienced a vision from Stormfather. But in The Way of Kings, Dalinar says that the visions only began "a few months ago." He also seems to have specific memory of the "first" even if he can't recall all of the details, and it seems unlikely he would have visions for several years without anyone having noticed.
So, should we assume that (1) this strange "dream" in Oathbringer was not actually a one of Honor's visions? Is that just a weird dream, or perhaps some OTHER vision from Stormfather?
Or, (2) this is one of Honor's visions and any contradictory details from The Way of Kings are superseded by Oathbringer?
Or, (3) this is one of Honor's visions, and Dalinar just doesn't remember his history of the visions very well.
So, I did this quite intentionally, it's not number two. But I expected these questions to be asked, and it's a RAFO, but it's one of these RAFOs where I wrote it very deliberately the way I did on purpose, and I'm going to leave it to your speculation as to what it means.
Is the current year number (1174) just a Vorin convention, or is everyone on Roshar using the same calendar?
It is a Vorin convention, but the Vorin convention has been adopted by a lot of cultures.
Just like our Gregorian?
Yeah. But there are different numbering conventions.
I'm absolutely obsessed with this Faultline character in Steelheart is there anyway there might be a spin off about her?
I've toyed with doing something about her. We shall see. It's not outside the realm of possibility.
In the original outline there was a part where they take down Faultline. Brandon took it out before he wrote up to that far in.
Reading the BoM Ch. 2 preview, would "welch on a promise" be an idiom in a universe without Wales? Is Earth in the Cosmere?
All cosmere books are to be read as if translated to our language. The translation often uses our idioms to convey ideas.
Usually, you should assume if we didn't translate it directly, it's something that wouldn't work too well in English.
For instance, using the name of a city in the Roughs where people are thought to be like that.
Very clever, solves a lot of problems. BTW, what would the Scadrial version be? Roughsmen are less trustworthy, roughed?
I often consider using something in-world, but you have to be careful about how much jargon you use. It can be off-putting.
If you went to Shadesmar on Scadrial would there be spren there?
"Spren" is a term for things on Roshar. So yes, there are a few, but they're from Roshar originally.
Is asking for an Aonic version of my name (Eugene also works) as the leatherbound Elantris personalization too much work?
I wanted to check before I put the order in. If it is, I'll do something more standard.
I can totally do that. EnE is an Aon. (Sarene's Aon, of wit.) You'd probably just be Evene.
Would the Arelish write that like in Hangul? If so, would each Aon represent a single sound, or its full name?
They would write the ENE as a single Aon, and the Ev in their equivalent of hangul, where each letter is a single sound.
But those are not available in the book? I was aiming for 100% in-world version of my name, but this looks hard now...
The Aonic Alphabet is not something I ever designed, I'm afraid. This was before I had Isaac.
I name my computers and smartphones after spren. But I am out of names. Is there a name you wouldn't mind revealing?
Well, do you need good spren? Or is the occasional evil spren acceptable?
Your call! And evil spren would be fantastic for my new phone.
Ulim. (Also, the Unmade count as spren. You could look those up.)
I didn't think spren could be good or evil??
Most spren are neither. Sapient spren (capable of making choices) can be either one.
Is there a unique symbol that represents Allomancy? Instead of just the individual metals?
We usually use tin as the official symbol, just because we like how it looks.
Do Allomancers smell or taste different due to the metal in their system?
Most do not.
Talking about physics and cosmere... Is the gravity on each planet the same as on Earth? It shouldn't.
And if it isn't? How does the changes affect things like Coinshoting or Surges out of Scadrial/Roshar?
They are not all the same. And you'll have to wait and see on how that affects things. :)
Could you make a Lifeless out of someone killed with a Shardblade?
Shardblades sever the soul from the body, but Awakening makes a "fake" soul for a body, so how the soul left doesn't matter.
The Lord Ruler with all 16 metals vs Rand al'Thor. Who wins?
Rand. The one power is far stronger than even compounding metals.
The question is where does the Chasm line go on new Aons? The bottom right, away from the Aon?
http://brandonsanderson.com/beta/wp-content/gallery/elantris-illustrations/arelon_map_10yr_color_ebook.jpg The chasm line is under the bottom of the square, right of the center dot.
On the Rao it's above the bottom circle, just to the right of the small vertical line.
Ahh, ok. So would it be going down and away from the line (which is the road, right?) in a SE direction?
Yes, the same angle as the chasm in the picture I linked to.
Though of course, Raoden drew it ending by the road rather than starting by the road. (Stroke direction.)
Thanks Peter! Does this imply that stroke direction/order doesn't matter as long as the end result is right?
I can't remember what it says in the text—but you certainly won't go wrong if you draw it like Raoden did, since that obviously works
When does the Wax and Wayne series take place compared to The Stormlight Archive?
Just after.
Thank you! So after Stormlight 10, then comes The Alloy of Law? I have noticed a change in Hoid in these books since.
Alloy is somewhere after Stormlight 5.
Shadows of Self - What an awesome story, and what a gut-punch of an ending! Was that planned when you wrote Alloy of Law?
Once I finished Alloy, I wrote the scene with Bloody Tan and Wax, intending it for Book 2. That was when I built this plot.
We eventually moved the scene to the start of book one, and I revised with the new perspective on Lessie.
So it was there by the time Alloy came out, but was not part of the first draft. Advice from [Dan Wells] caused it.
You have my sincere apologies
Do Returned have a bond with their divine Breath that would give them powers on Roshar? Or are they different to seons?
They are Highly Invested beings, but the Investiture is not sapient.
Would Steris make a good/great Lightweaver, considering her near superhuman self-awareness?
Problem is she might be too honest with herself.
I sent out the October Brandon Sanderson newsletter yesterday. If you're subscribed, check your spam filter.
The story in the newsletter, I am guessing Inception and Men In Black
Good guess. It was actually Inception and Tron.
What if an Epic in the [Reckoners] universe feared losing a loved one? Or feared becoming evil?
Both would be intriguing starts to a weakness. You could get rid of their powers, for example, [by] threatening a loved one.
I think they'd lock said love one away in total isolation then murder anyone else who knew about them b/c of corrupt power.
Yup. Fun times!
Your book, Shadows of Self, just released today. What do you think will shock fans the most?
I have a feeling that the ending will be the most shocking part, followed closely by how magnificently Wayne butchers our language.
No spoilers now! Why did you decide to focus on Waxillium Ladrian in this book?
Wax is the heart of these books, though it has been tough to get past his rough exterior. I wanted to really dig into who he is.
I gotta know if I'm going to see Rlain interludes or (please!) a book of his perspective.
You will get a scene from his viewpoint soon.
Is it possible to be a full Feruchemist and a Misting or vice versa, like a lopsided Twinborn?
Possible, yes. Highly unlikely, but possible.
Now I love [The Stormlight Archive] as much as the next person, but I see a hole that just gets under my skin no matter what!
?
SKYEELS! They would have been discovered first and called Eels. It's always bugged me, unless you can offer a reason that is
The hound question is what you should be asking. Roshar has regular water eels, so skyeel isn't nearly as odd as axehound.
Ahhh but that's my point exactly. shouldn't it be eels and water eels? Not skyeels and eels. Watereels discovered second.
The answers are there in the books. They will be made clear soon, but I suspect many have guessed already.
In the "Dark One" novel you're planning, will that character be the dark one for the entire cosmere or just that world?
That world.
I wonder if creationspren pop up when people are getting busy...
There's a different spren for that.
Only one chapter left to write in Dalinar's flashbacks. This one will answer many questions you might have had about his past.
Were there any surprises for you as you wrote about his past? I know you like to discovery-write your characters
After writing Dalinar in book one, I had settled most of this. But yes, there were still some surprises.
Since Jasnah has been "out and about," should we be watching for cameos in your other books?
Problem is, no books are currently happening right at the same time as Stormlight. And Jasnah hasn't gone far afield.
Are there any chances we are going to revisit Vin and Reen's story? They are such fascinating characters! '-'
Not much of a chance, I'm afraid. I don't love prequels. But anything is possible.
Finished Firefight the other day! Epic, as always. Have you seen the real-life Spyril? :D https://t.co/T0HZiHIzKu
That is where I got the idea. :)
Is there a connection between Sak's talent and Allomantic electrum? If so, what is it?
Yes. Reading a person's spiritual connections and possibilities. Similar powers, as is atium.
Was much of the Shattered Plains inspired by the beach?
A lot of the life on Roshar is inspired by tide pools.
What is a half beard. A short beard or are nobles in Luthadel walking around with one side of their face smooth.?
Their term for goatee.
Would you be able to tell us the location of the Velding (Elantris) for the wiki page?
From the context, it's like a mixture of the Kremlin and the Vatican (or Saint Basil's Cathedral). So, too small for the map.
Could a Surgebinder shut down Shardplate by cracking a piece and then consuming the Stormlight from the internal gems?
Yes, though getting the Stormlight out of those gems while they're already powering something is not easy.
