Recent entries

    Miscellaneous 2018 ()
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    Pagerunner Email Question.png

    Pagerunner

    I just saw the Feruchemical Table medallion on the store, and it reminded me of a question that was raised on the forums a little while back. It appears there's a mistake in the metal pattern, with regards to pure metals and alloys; Chromium and nicrosil are in the opposite places from what we'd expect. I've attached a color-coded example; with pure metals in green, and alloys in blue, it's evident that the Spiritual quadrant has them criss-cross, unlike the other quadrants.   The medallion matches the poster's layout; that's where the question originally arose, from the poster. Is there a reason for this switch? Or is it an error in the pattern?

    Isaac Stewart

    I just looked over the chart, and rather than the metals being in the wrong places, it looks like I accidentally swapped the symbols. So the medallion is correct. It's the symbols for chromium and nicrosil that ought to be swapped. I've cc'd Peter on this email, too, so he's aware of the mistake. I'll try to remedy this for future printings.

    General Twitter 2018 ()
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    Badali Steel Alphabet.jpg

    Pagerunner

    Any in-world significance to the new symbols for E and U [on the Badali Mistborn rings]? (Tin/Pewter with dots moved) Or is that just creative liberty to give each English letter a unique symbol for the jewelry?

    Isaac Stewart

    From the beginning, I built the symbols to also be an alphabet. Moving the dot to create a different vowels sound is something I borrowed from baybayin: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/9c/6f/1b9c6f22fce5589c1d3dfc62bfc1d4b2.jpg … Also planned from the beginning over ten years ago. The rings are the first chance to use it. :)

    General Twitter 2018 ()
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    Byron King

    Has there been any discussion about making the Allomantic Table print with the foiling process from the Roshar map?

    Isaac Stewart

    We haven't discussed this. But maybe that's something we could do down the road once the Hemalurgic Table has been released.

    General Twitter 2018 ()
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    John Aspler

    Just finished Oathbringer (ahhhhhhsogood) and decided to do a Warbreaker reread. Was super happy to discover that the e-book edition had your annotations. Any chance others will get an update based on existing annotations (e.g., Elantris, Mistborn)?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    That’s not planned for the other books.

    Brandon's Blog 2018 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    This is my third and final essay tying in with the release of my new book, Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds. The book has been released for about a week now, and I hope you've all had a chance to check it out. This story is something special to me, particularly the third part—which might be the most personal story I've ever written.

    But how did it start? The Legion stories seem, at first glance, very self-referential. They are about a man who hallucinates a wide variety of characters—but unlike many protagonists of his ilk, Stephen knows that his hallucinations aren't real, and doesn't (for most of the stories) resist the fact that he is like this. Instead, he uses this ability to help him, acting like a one-man team of experts.

    The parallels are obvious. Stephen is very much like me, in that he imagines a large cast of people who accompany him. It's quite the metaphor for being a writer, though when I was working on the first story, I didn't really see this connection. I just wanted to see if I could change something that is often portrayed in film as a huge liability into (instead) a huge advantage.

    The original cast of hallucinations—specifically JC, Ivy, and Tobias—were based on actors. This is rare for me, as I don't often "cast" my characters in stories. But to me, it felt like Stephen would have used people he'd seen in film as a jumping-off point to create these personas, much as many of my characters have their roots in the pop culture I consumed when young. Ivy, then, looks roughly like Gwyneth Paltrow, Tobias like Morgan Freeman, and J.C. like Adam Baldwin—with the name J.C. being a reference to the fact that he's played multiple characters with those initials.

    But, like any characters I create, these were just jumping-off points, used to spin me into unique characterizations. JC went into this fun mix of self-aware, playing up his quirks, while Ivy became a representation of the fight within Stephen between cynicism and sincerity.

    The more I wrote, the more this became a metaphor for the complex relationship between a writer and the characters in their head. The voices that they know aren't real—but still depend on convincing readers to buy as real people. The stories deal with mental illness, yes, but the further I wrote, the more Stephen became a stand-in for the way our perceptions—and our hopes—shape the world we perceive. And maybe for the crisis that can be caused when we realize there's a misalignment between the two.

    Going back to the points I made in the first essay, however, it isn't that I was trying to express anything specific by writing these stories. And yet, by the end of the third one, I had indeed expressed something that was deeply personal—and real in ways that it is still strange to me that a piece of fiction can reach.

    But that's the point of stories, or at least one of them. A medium through which we can all connect in ways that we never could solely by explaining ourselves. Because art reaches inside us, and expresses aspects of ourselves that aren't deliberate, there's a truth and genuineness to it. A raw sincerity that isn't always about which part of the three-act structure you're crossing right now, or which part of a character arc this event is fulfilling. Those are important to give us a framework. But it is not itself the art.

    The structure is the skeleton, but the art is the eyes. The part you can see into and feel it looking back at you. The part that somehow—despite my best attempts to quantify it—is a soul that lives on its own, and defies explanation.

    Brandon's Blog 2018 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    In the last post, I talked a little about how characters come into existence, walking the line between an instinctive process and an intentional one.

    Working this way can create some issues. The first is that sometimes when I talk about my process, this part of it ends up getting presented as a lot more… deliberate than it really is. I spend a lot of time trying to help new writers, and I worry that in presenting all of these outlines, exercises, and techniques, we miss emphasizing just how little we really understand about the process.

    In some ways, writing a story is like hitting a baseball. You can talk all you want about the physics involved in how a baseball is pitched, then hit with the bat. But the truth is, neither pitcher nor batter are thinking about any of this in the moment.

    This makes the process feel overwhelming to some new writers, who think they need to have all of this in hand before they can write a story. Truth is, I'm generally explaining things I did by instinct early in my career, then figured out ways to talk about as I proceeded to study what I'd already done.

    You don't need to feel some mystical connection to characters to start writing—and if you focus too much on the idea that your characters should "feel" right and "do what they want," you can end up frustrated, as you don't have the practice writing yet to get them to do what needs to be done to actually create an interesting story.

    Another problem with the voices in my head is the worry that I'll repeat myself. Working by instinct, as so many authors (including outliners like me) do, can lead to repetition. Something can "feel" right because you've seen that thing done so many times, you think it is the "right" way—even when it makes for a worse story.

    This sort of writing, even when you're doing something interesting and new to you, can get repetitive as you only write in one way or style. In fact, I see a lot of writers talking about the "right" way to do something, as if it's a hard and fast rule—but it's not really that, it's simply the way they've trained their instincts to respond. Something that goes against this feels off to them, but only because of a kind of tunnel vision.

    You can also start to regurgitate stereotypes and other weak or harmful tropes because they're part of your historical experience with genre—and you take them for granted. I did this in the original Mistborn novels, where I spent a lot of time working on Vin as a character, wanting an interesting and dynamic female lead for the stories. But then I wrote the rest of the team as men—not because I consciously decided it, but because stories like Ocean's Eleven, The Sting, and Sneakers (which were part of my inspiration) contained primarily male casts.

    It isn't that you can't make a story that does this, or couldn't have reasons for writing a primarily male cast in a story. But I didn't have any of those reasons in mind; I did it because I was mimicking, without conscious thought, things I'd seen before. It felt "right" to me, but during examination later, I felt the story would have been stronger if I hadn't just run with the default that way.

    Overall, I think that repeating myself is my biggest worry as a writer. Specifically, I worry that I'll end up writing the same characters over and over, or look at themes the same way time and time again, without even realizing that I'm doing it. That's one of the reasons I force myself to approach stories like the Legion ones—where I have to get out of my comfort zone, write in a different kind of setting with different kinds of storytelling expectations, and see where that takes me.

    And so, the third part of this series will look at the Legion stories specifically, and where the voices in my head came from in that regard.

    Brandon's Blog 2018 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    One of the most common questions I get, as a writer, is some variation on, "Do you ever hear voices, or feel like your characters are real?" People ask it timidly, as they don't want to be offensive, but there seems to be genuine curiosity about the way a writer's brain works. (Other variations on this theme are questions such as, "What are your dreams like?" or "Do you ever get so wrapped up in your worlds that you have trouble coming back to our world?")

    They're legitimate questions, though I'm not convinced that a writer's brain works in any consistently different way from someone else's brain. I think you'll find the same amount of variation in the way writers work as you'll find in any profession. There are as many ways to approach stories as there are people writing stories.

    That said, I have talked to a lot of writers who imply a certain autonomy to their characters. "I had to write their story," one might say. "They wouldn't leave me alone until I did." Or some version of, "I was writing one story, but the characters just didn't want to go that way, and so took off in another direction."

    To me, these are ways of trying to voice the fact that the way our minds work—and the way we construct art—is in some cases a mystery even to those involved. Human beings have this fascinating mix of instinct and intent, where we train ourselves to do complex tasks quickly through repetition. In this way, writing a book is somewhat similar to driving home from work—you can consciously think about it, and make each decision along the way. Or, more often, you just let your body do the work, interpreting things your brain says should happen without you thinking about it directly.

    I spend a lot of time teaching how to write and talking about writing, but I don't consciously use a lot of the techniques I talk about. I've used them so much that I just move forward, without formally saying something like, "Now I'm making sure my chapter ties together the sub-themes it introduced at the beginning." The truly conscious technique comes during troubleshooting, when a story isn't coming together for me—and so I have to step back, take apart what I've been doing, and find the broken bits.

    So again, a mix of intent and instinct is where books come from for me. I don't generally feel that the characters "want" to do things—but I still write them by gut feeling most of the way, and only look at breaking down their motivations specifically when I'm either working on the outline or trying to fix something in revisions.

    On one hand, I know exactly who the character is and what they would do in a situation. So it does feel a little mystical sometimes, and you can have eureka moments during writing where you finally find a method to express this character that will convey the right idea to the reader. In that way, there's almost this Platonic version of the character that you're chasing—and trying to explore, figure out, and commit to paper.

    On the other hand, it's likely that these characters feel right to me not because of any mystical connection to the abstract. It's because I'm unconsciously drawing from tropes, characterizations, and people I've known before—and I am putting them together on the page to form something that will feel right because of the backgrounds I'm drawing upon.

    It's an exhilarating process for me, but also can lead to troubles. Which I'll talk about in Part Two.

    Alloy of Law 17th Shard Q&A ()
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    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    If you are Smoked, you can't Seek.

    KChan (paraphrased)

    [Brandon] told me that because burning copper creates an Allomantic dead zone, so to speak, everything inside it is effectively silenced. This prevents pulses from reaching Seekers who are outside the cloud, but it also prevents anyone inside the cloud from receiving any pulses whatsoever. The reason Vin could do this is because of her earring.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Stormlightning

    Is Kaladin related to Aesudan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but it's not a close relation. A very complex system of things, but yes.

    Stormlightning

    I was just wondering why he knew her...the melody she was humming.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, he did. That is not because they're related.

    Stormlightning

    So it's something else?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's something else. I thought that was a sideways question about Kaladin's mom.

    Stormlightning

    It kinda was, I thought maybe she hummed that and so that's why he recognized it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, good question.

    Alloy of Law Seattle Signing ()
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    WetlanderNW

    In whose voice is the "Ars Arcanum" written? Hoid's?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've avoided answering that question. It's either Hoid or a member of the Seventeenth Shard. That's as much answer as I'm giving anyone right now.

    Footnote: It has since been revealed that the author of all the Ars Arcana is Khriss. He has also said she is not a part of the Seventeenth Shard. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/2-jordancon-2016/#e180
    Sources: Tor
    Legion Release Party ()
    #6566 Copy

    Steeldancer

    In Oathbringer, my one big issue with Oathbringer was Amaram's turn. I'm curious why you chose to not hint more at his turn. It felt a little bit out of nowhere. What were your thoughts on Amaram?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Which turn are you talking about?

    Steeldancer

    When he turns to Odium's side and he's like, "Okay, now I'm going to consume an Unmade."

    Brandon Sanderson

    I feel like Amaram was a slow and steady descent. But you didn't get to see viewpoints from him as he was doing it. And what he did to Kaladin was worse than anything he did in Oathbringer, in my mind.

    Steeldancer

    Why did you choose not to give him viewpoints.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Too many characters. To many people to give viewpoints to. It was kicked around. I kicked it around for a while. There just wasn't enough.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    OrangeJedi

    So if the skaa on Scadrial had gone out in the mists more often, would they have had a longer lifespan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Hesitant* The skaa lifespans are more related to their status in life than genetic predisposition. Going in the mists probably would not have changed that.

    OrangeJedi

    I didn't think of it that way, I thought of it more from a, "Oh, people on Roshar have a longer lifespan because of Investiture." Because the mists are Invested.

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Hesitant* Technically yes, but I think it's going to be pretty miniscule. Technically yes.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    ShadowBlaze

    Would a kandra react to electrical shock differently than a human would?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but not that much differently. It's going to depend on the kandra and if they have enough control over their bodies. A kandra that's expecting it, for instance. But a kandra that's not expecting it I think would respond like a human would.

    ShadowBlaze

    Could it be an effective revealing method?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to RAFO that the same way I've been RAFOing the question of whether they actually go down on the DNA level. So the whole point behind the kandra was that a blood test under Era 1 technology would not identify one. I'm going to have to decide in Era 3, I'm going to have to canonize whether, you get that under a microscope, if you can tell. And what about Era 4 you just do genetic testing, can you tell. And I don't know how I'm going to need that to go yet. And I don't know how realistic it is also. And I don't know if I want to deal with the ramifications, like with human/kandra hybrids.

    Right now, the way I have it, they fundamentally build their DNA in such a way, they could even have children. But I don't know if I'm going to keep that or not.

    Words of Radiance Seattle signing ()
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    Questioner

    I wonder if you knew what color the stone was inside of Horneater peaks and the mountains around the Shattered Plains?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depends if-- most of it's going to be cremstone. So it's going to be various shades of tanish brown. Very generic stuff, particularly around here.

    Horneater peaks, you-- *pauses thoughtfully* Horneater peaks you're probably going to get into some more slate, some more dark grays and things like this, weathered stone that doesn't have the crem buildup because the peaks are gonna pop up above where the crem is building up, so.

    So that's where you're going to get some real, untainted rock which otherwise on Roshar you've got to burrow to get.

    Questioner

    So the gray one is the untainted one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Steeldancer

    Given a situation where they have perfect knowledge of Hemalurgy--everything is known. Is it possible they could use a Shard-scalpel and spike to carefully...

    Brandon Sanderson

    To excise without killing somebody? The real damage is to the soul...

    Steeldancer

    I'm imagining taking out toxic sort of things.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You've seen Vasher do something similar, so it's not off books that that's possible.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    OrangeJedi

    When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

    OrangeJedi

    Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say, there is something special.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Questioner

    Have you published any books that were in the Cosmere that you pulled out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, The Rithmatist is the most obvious example. The Rithmatist started in the cosmere, and the magic is still very cosmere. And if I were going to have had one in the cosmere, it would have been Rithmatist, because of the way the magic works. I eventually decided I just did not want to canonize that Earth is in any way, shape, or form related to the cosmere and I pulled it out, and I'm glad I did that, but the magic still has a lot of cosmere remnants to it. Steelheart was never in the cosmere.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Questioner

    I notice that the two most complicated Investiture systems that we know of, those being Hemalurgy and Forging, are both the Investitures of Shards whose names have a generally negative connotation. Is there any correlation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that is not an intentional correlation.

    Questioner

    That is just a coincidence?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Sparkle Hearts

    Can you Soulcast hair?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, if you can cut it with a Shardb...You can Soulcast even the body. Hair is much easier. While it's attached, it's going to be harder. Easier than Soulcasting a body, if you have the skill to just soulcast the hair.

    While it's attached, treat it more like a body than you would not a body, but easier than a body.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Questioner

    Would it be possible to make Hemalurgic dental fillings? If there were a mad-scientist dentist?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've thought about this. I think that would be possible, but for Hemalurgy to really work I need it to...it doesn't actually have to be touching the blood, despite what they think. But I think your average dental filling is not going deep enough...

    Questioner

    Root canal!

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Continues* But yeah, you could make it work.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    R'Shara

    Would Stormlight healing, Progression, or Feruchemical gold healing count as some of the ways that a transgender person could change their body to match their identity?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Those would work. In fact, that's kind of the main way that you would make that happen. Injections of Investiture making the body match the Spiritual and Cognitive.

    FanX 2018 ()
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    Questioner

    If there was a story in Arcanum Unbounded that you thought was most informative? What's your favorite story in Arcanum Unbounded?

    Brandon Sanderson

    My favorite is Emperor's Soul. Probably the most Cosmere aware is Sixth of the Dusk.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Walin

    Does Nightblood contain any of Ruin's Investiture? Like, not atium, but...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, technically; and I'm not wiggling around that, because technically, location in the Cosmere and who belongs to what gets really weird, right? Because Ruin's Investiture is everywhere--but I'm not talking that way. I'm talking the way you actually mean it. 

    Legion Release Party ()
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    little wilson

    If Vin were alive, would she recognize the Sovereign's facial features?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that. Do you mean the statue or the actual...Did you mean the statue?

    Sunbird

    I think we mean the actual Sovereign.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You mean if they met the person that the statue...I'll RAFO both of them. But someone making a statue...like if you met Homer, would he look like his statue? Is a different question also. But I'll RAFO that. But there will be answers forthcoming.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    Questioner

    If a wrench is constantly used to hit things, would it consider itself a hammer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm not sure if it could phrase, "Hammer." But yes.

    There's a little linguistic hoop-jumping here. When Shallan talks to the stick and it says, "I am a stick," what is it doing? It's conveying the idea, "I am this thing." It would convey, "I am a thing that looks like this used to hits things." You could argue a brain might interpret that as hammer. I think you would get, "I'm a wrench that hits things!"