Recent entries

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6602 Copy

    Questioner

    In the Cognitive Realm, would they be the Berenstein or Berenstain Bears?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Excellent question, The Mandela effect and the Cognitive Realm. Depends on if the authors are still alive, will influence it. But the way the Cosmere works, I'm going to go with the way most people say it. So Berenstain Bears, probably. That would override.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6603 Copy

    Zas678

    Pattern doesn't have vocal cords, and yet he makes sounds in the Physical Realm. Is this due to Realmatics of him projecting into the Cognitive Realm and connecting that way, or does he make physical sound?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He makes physical sound.

    Questioner 2

    So the vibrations that he makes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could record the vibrations that Pattern and Syl...You could record the patterns that these spren make on a recording device.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6605 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering if you had a favorite religion that you created on Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The cheeky answer is Trell's, but that's not actually true. I don't think I do. I'd have to go look at them all and say, "This is my favorite." So I'll give you the non-cheeky answer, which is that I don't think I do. If I had a list in front of me and thought about it, I could probably pick a favorite.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6606 Copy

    Questioner

    Can a Returned be made from Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    How would you count the Heralds?

    Questioner

    I haven't read much, so I don't really know what you're talking about.

    Brandon Sanderson

    In the Stormlight books, there is a set of people who are constantly reborn, into full sized grown bodies that are being created for them. Would you count that as being Returned?

    Or do you count Returned...What's your definition, right? You can create something that is Returned-like. But your definition of what is Returned and what is not, is going to be involved in that.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6608 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering what your thought process was when you were deciding to make the powers less powerful as the Mistborn Eras...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was looking for ways to tell different stories and not repeat myself. So I like it when there's change in the magic, either our understanding of it, or the way it's working. To force me as a writer to approach it from different directions.

    Questioner

    But won't it die out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It won't die out. Well, it could if...There's a maximum amount of dissolution it can have, based on the progenitors of Era 2. And we're getting close to that. It's once they start intermingling with Southern Scadrial or off-planet that you have to worry about that. But you won't have to worry about that for Era 3. Maybe by Era 4 you might have to worry about it.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6610 Copy

    Questioner

    Aluminum eventually is going to become more cheap to produce. Is everybody just going to have resistance to...

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is definitely something that's going to affect the future. But do also remember that as the powers become more accessible to people who weren't born with them, you have both more resistance to them and more widespread use of them, which is going to change how things act out.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6611 Copy

    Questioner

    In Mistborn, as the Eras are going on, the powers get diluted because of people passing down the bloodlines. Once we reach the Third and Fourth Era, the powers are going to be--won't they be a lot weaker, and not very useful?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They will become weaker, but there's a maximum level of dilution... There's a maximum level that you can reach pretty quickly, if you're only counting the northern continent. Because of the limited number of progenitors.

    So, Era 3 we're not going to have a problem. And they're also trying to figure out ways around this.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6613 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we just going to see Szeth kill a lot of people in the next book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Szeth has some better influences than he's had in a long while. He did have some good influences early on. But it's been a long time since he has had as good influences as he now has. I wouldn't count Nightblood as one of those. But at the same time, he's had worse influences than Nightblood.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6614 Copy

    Questioner

    I have one about Hoid. I want to know, in Mistborn, in Arcanum Unbounded, we find out some really important things about him. But we find out, Hoid is an incredibly powerful person.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Like, probably one of the most powerful people in the Cosmere.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He once was, and no longer is. So, I can't talk a lot about Hoid, but I'll give you a little bit of where he came from. Where he came from in my brain.

    For those who don't know, there's a character who shows up in all my epic fantasy books, named Hoid. Or at least that's the alias he's been using lately. Where did this come from? Well, he came from me reading books when I was a teenager. I can specifically remember doing it with the Anne McCaffrey books, that I mentioned earlier. I was reading those, and I would insert my own characters. I still do this in movies, and books that I read. I add to the story. And oftentimes, when people, bit parts people, would walk onscreen in those books, or in the chapters, I'd be like, "Oooh, this is the secret character," right? And then I would have them go to the other books, and I'd imagine this kind of behind-the-scenes thing where these characters were going from different worlds of different people's books, so I'd read Anne McCaffrey, and they'd show up in David Eddings, and they'd show up in Tad Williams' books, and they'd show up in Melanie Rawn books, and I was imagining this whole story behind the story that I was creating. This was where the beginnings of me being a writer came from, was doing that. It's my own kind of fan fiction, but it's my own kind of fan fiction in my head where I was saying, "Even the characters in these books don't know the real story."

    And when it came time to start writing my own, I was really in love with this idea. I can trace the idea of connecting worlds probably back to when I read the Foundation book that connected the Robots books and Foundation books, if you've ever read those by Asimov. That book kind of blew my mind, that those two series I'd been reading could be connected. And it was really, really fascinating to me. And so that's where the Cosmere came from.

    And so Hoid has his origins. He existed behind the scenes of the Cosmere books. You don't have to know who he is to read them. You can just read them, don't worry about it. But behind the scenes, there is a story behind the story, and he was there for those events that happened that created... basically ended up with the various deities on the various planets. Where their origins were, he was there. But he wasn't one of them.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6615 Copy

    Questioner

    The people who are from the future...*inaudible* I was thinking maybe they were from Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will not confirm or deny it. It is someone from the Cosmere from a world you've seen before.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6616 Copy

    Questioner

    Is the torture of Kaladin's love life just going to be an ongoing theme throughout the books? Is that what you're going to do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Relationships are not really his thing, let's just say that.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6617 Copy

    Questioner

    Disregarding personal preferences, what Order of the Knights Radiant do you think you would best fit as?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, man. I've been asked this one, and it's really hard. What order of Knight Radiant would I best fit as. It's difficult, right? Because, number one, there are a lot of orders, and you can kind of see yourself going in different ways. And number two, there's kind of like the, what is it realistically?

    Like, when I sort myself into a Harry Potter house (which is much easier, cause there's not as many), I always have to kind of grudgingly put myself in Slytherin. Because, though a lot of my fellow writers are Ravenclaws, I'm not about the study; I'm about the accomplishment, right? Like, I write books in part because I'm like, "I want to accomplish this thing," and it's ambition, but it's also just "I want to do this thing." So for that reason I don't know that I can put myself in any kind of the scholarly focused order of the Knight Radiant, realistically, because I don't think that I would really actually fit there, even though that would be the natural place to start putting writers.

    I often wonder, maybe Lightweaver, but the problem is I don't lie to myself, I don't think, right? But I am really good at fooling myself when I want to. Like, when I don't want to deal with something, I'm very good at, like, "I'm putting this on the shelf and I'll deal with it later," which is a very Lightweaver thing. Maybe Lightweaver, but... So, we'll go with that one today, but I think I've answered that question four different ways.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6619 Copy

    Jozomby

    I’m wondering about the idea that you can block emotional Allomancy with an aluminum lined hat.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yup.

    Jozomby

    Okay.  So I’m wondering how much aluminum is required.  So like, an aluminum colander, versus an aluminum headband, versus…

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right.  Alright.  So, I’ll be honest with you.  The idea of a tinfoil hat was so intriguing to me, basically, that I made sure this was part of the magic system.  I say it has to be tinfoil, at least. Thicker is probably better, the way these things work. I’ll try not to do spoilers.  When Hoid lets somebody use aluminum to block signals, he was going with something that you would be able to bend a little bit by pulling on it, but wouldn’t be able to fold it down.  I’d put a bare minimum, if you want to be extra sure, on that, but lining your hat with tinfoil is viable. Particularly in the later eras of Mistborn, when some of the powers are decreasing.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6620 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Harry Potter is a really interesting example because it tends to be, in a given book, pretty hard; and then across the entire continuity it lets itself be soft. And so, what you end up having is a given book is really tight with the use of magic, though again... I don't know if you want to get into this, but when we talk about a hard magic system, there are many things we mean, and I think as a writer it's good to separate out internal logic versus external logic. If you want a hard magic system... Lee likes the external logic to really work, meaning you're asking where is the power coming from, how does it realistically affect the economics, how can I explain to someone outside the system how this magic is actually working, how does it not break the laws of thermodynamics. 

    And internal logic means that it's consistent. And so for instance, you can look at a lot of superheroes as a good example. Some superheroes do not try external logic. They just say "This person has this power, and it works this way." The further they've gotten along, the more external logic they try to add. "Oh it's the X-gene" or it's, you know, "You get the power from the sun" or things like that. That is a very different thing from the internal logic of a story, where you say, "This character has this power, it works like this. And It always works this way. We don't explain how realistic it is, but we are consistent." Two very different things. Both very important to think about for your story, but you can have a story with only internal consistency, and Harry Potter is pretty good at this. She doesn't tell us "Oh, where does the power for magic come from, and what are the laws of things," no, but it can be very consistent, particularly within a given book. Internal logic.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6621 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    For me a great magic system is one that fulfills your goals as a writer in your story. And they fill lots of different holes, and they all don't have to look the same, they don't have to do the same things. This is more, for me, about when I pick up the book, is the magic in the world enhancing the type and style of story it is, the subgenre it is, and that sort of stuff. Though, if we're asking what magic system inspired us, I will say, I still think the best magic system in fantasy is the Runelords by David Farland.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6622 Copy

    Questioner

    How did Magic: the Gathering come into your life?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So I was, I believe, a senior in high school - it was '94 - and my brother came home with a deck. The local... so this would have been the late spring, early summer of '94, just when Revised hit. My brother came home from the little... back then it was called Cosmic Comics - was where we bought our fantasy novels and comics, and they had started stocking this game. And what they would do was, to get people interested, they would open the starter decks, and they would put the rares out with the starter deck, so you could pick it based on the colors of the rares that you wanted, because nothing was worth anything back then, you could do that. And you could pick the ones without the lands, because lands were dumb. Though when I ended getting it, I ended up getting a sealed one for whatever reason.

    But he'd picked the green one, so he'd gotten the Force of Nature and the Cockatrice, so he was like "ooh, big green." And I went and I bought a starter deck and didn't know what it was, and I looked through the cards (you couldn't tell what was rare back then, right) but the last card in the pack, the one I settled on I thought was rare, was a Royal Assassin, and I'm like, "This is lame. His is an 8/8 and mine is a 1/1." But of course as soon as my Royal Assassin killed his Force of Nature one time, a control player was born and I realized "Oh, this is what we do."

    Back then we played with all the cards we had in a big pile, that's just what you did. And I was the first one in our little group to realize how great a Demonic Tutor was when you have a deck of 400 cards that you're playing from. So I played 19 Demonic Tutors, I traded for everyone else's, so that I could actually find some of my cards now and then. That was my experience starting off Magic.

    I bought one pack of Legends the week it released, I had gotten into Magic a little earlier. So I guess you can find out exactly when I started playing, because I walked into Cosmic Comics and they said "We've got Legends in." I'm like, "What's that?" They're like, "You want some. It'll be gone within an hour." So I took my money I was going to spend on fantasy novels, and I bought one pack of Legends, and... I can't even remember, I might have even got a Chromium in it, but then they were gone within an hour. That was back when a set came out, it was gone that day, and you didn't see any more of them.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6623 Copy

    Questioner

    To my knowledge, canned foods were the main export of Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They were definitely a... yes, they had an important part of their export economy.

    Questioner

    What would the imports be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that for right now.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6624 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you still plan to write Wax and Wayne four?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So I've got time, probably, to work on one more project this year, cause Skyward 2 is almost done. I'm still not 100% sure what it'll be. It's probably gonna be Skyward 3 cause it'll be super nice to just have that locked up and done. If that's the case, then Wax and Wayne 4 will probably be written in between parts of Stormlight 4, as I'm writing it, as I need breaks. If I can manage the way I take my breaks, that might be helpful for us getting the book out. One of the things I've learned to do is to take my breaks as novellas, which is why you see a lot more novellas from me than standalone novels across the last five to ten years. And that's because I realized as I was doing breaks as novels that, number one it took a lot longer, particularly in revision, and number two it ended up promising sequels, because I am incapable of finishing a novel without promising sequels, apparently. But I am capable of finishing shorter works without promising sequels. If I can get that, I really do want to get Wax and Wayne 4 done in a reasonable amount of time, but we'll see.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6627 Copy

    Questioner

    What's your favorite book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is also kind of a hard one for writers, right? Or maybe not just for writers, maybe just for... my type of person, I'm sure a lot of you are like this, where it's like, my favorite book changes and varies, and so I kind of have some go-to answers, because they stayed my favorite book for a while. The book that got me into science-fiction/fantasy was Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and I often mention that. My favorite Wheel of Time book was book four, I often mention that. My favorite Terry Pratchett book is probably Going Postal, my favorite classic is Les Miserable, so that often comes up. What have I read recently that I really liked? It's now been over a year, but I really liked Jane Yolen's work, and she recently released a short story collection that I really liked. I recently finished Roshani Chokshi book, The Star-Touched Queen, which I really liked. Robert Jackson Bennett is good... I like a lot of different things I read.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6628 Copy

    Podman36

    So, in the scene where Kelsier has all the metal around him, and he's Pushing and Pulling on [parts of the metal that are] not center of mass, is that something more along the lines of savantism, or is it just Rule of Cool?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No no, that I was pushing toward... I wouldn't call Kelsier a savant, but I would say that there were certainly steps toward that, and it's something I actually wanted people who were really skilled with the magic to be able to do.

    Podman36

    So it's not Rule of Cool.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would not call that one Rule of Cool, I would say that I want that to actually be part of the magic, that I wanted there to be some level, particularly in Pushing and Pulling, of skill that lets you deviate from the normal. And I've tried to show in other places that people who are really skilled can do some different things like that, particularly with Pushing and Pulling, both on emotions and on metals. So no, not Rule of Cool there, I do occasionally do Rule of Cool stuff, but I wouldn't call that one.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6629 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you think you'll ever be asked to finish Patrick Rothfuss's series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, um... so no. And I would probably say no. My writing style is too different from his. I don't know if I can do the lyrical style that he does. If I were to try it I'd probably figure it out but it would take multiple years of practice and then it would delay the book even more. I am sure Pat will be able to release his book and we don't have to worry about that. Now, whether certain other authors will release theirs, I don't know, but I'm-- If I were a betting man I would put good money on Pat having his book out in the next decade.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6632 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you already have the Ideals figured out for all the other orders?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but I don't always stick to 100% the wording. I got the sentiment and a sample phrase. But for a lot of them, they vary based on the individual. So there's some flexibility. I don't tell people what they are, generally, because I need the freedom to change just in case I decide to.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6633 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there any possibility of a Legion television show?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is, we have sold the rights to a company called Cinaflex in Canada, they are trying to develop one right now. Hopefully, it turns out alright. We probably have to change the title because there is a Marvel Legion series, we would probably just call it Leeds.

    Questioner

    That would be awesome. What about Snapshot?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Snapshot's at MGM, they have a really sharp screenplay that I love. Best screenplay based on my work that anyone's ever turned in. I'm really, really excited and hopeful for that one but there is no greenlight yet so who knows.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6635 Copy

    Questioner

    I have a weird kind of amputation where they reattached my foot back onto my leg so it's sort of like a knee joint. Would Stormlight healing be able to heal that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A lot of it is going to depend on your perspective on it. But I would say yes, in most cases it would be able to.

    Questioner

    So it would grow the leg back to how it normally was?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would take a little work, but it would. But your perception is going to influence it.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6636 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there a reason Kaladin is always talking about the Survivor.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. The Survivor? No. You're trying to get me to slip up on something; no. He does not know Kelsier, nice try.

    Questioner

    But are they connected?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Only thematically.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6638 Copy

    Questioner

    Where did the idea for Girl Who Stood Up come from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Girl Who Looked Up grew out of my love of folklore and fairytale. And the various incarnations of Pandora myths all around the world, in different societies, presented differently, would be my guess at the inspiration there.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6640 Copy

    Questioner

    Can you tell us when more books are coming... as far as Alcatraz?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Alcatraz 6 is halfway done. It is moving along really well. I wrote a chunk of it and didn't like it, went to a friend of mine whose a really good writer and said, "I can't get Bastille's voice down, can you help me out?" And so we've been kind of going back and forth and sending things back and forth to each other and it's finally really working. It's snapping right together, and so I would imagine it's less than a year away. I don't know for sure. Not far.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6641 Copy

    Questioner

    So, how much of an idea do you need before you start working on a book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on your writing style. For me, I need multiple ideas that are interacting in interesting ways. Some writers, no idea is required at all. They just start writing and see where it goes. Stephen King sometimes does that, when he writes books. We call it pantsing versus outlining, and I'm more of an outliner. I like lots of cool things that are interacting.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6642 Copy

    Questioner

    Some of the names in the Stormlight Archive, sometimes they almost seem a little French to me.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh yeah? Names from Stormlight are mostly coming from Hebrew or from Arabic. A lot of Arabic, a lot of Hebrew. I studied French in high school, so you never can tell. But Kelsier ("Kel-see-ay"), Demoux, and Vin are all from French in Mistborn.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #6643 Copy

    Questioner

    Are these old Radiants?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Those are Heralds. That's Ash, who you'll see that the very end of this [Oathbringer]. That's Jezrien who's also near the end. You haven't met her [Vedel] yet. Ishar, you have heard about. And it's identified in this book who he is. But those are artist interpretations of them, in-world. They're like the Sistine Chapel versions of the Heralds. They might not look exactly like that, but that is an in-world interpretation of them by an artist.

    Footnote: Question refers to the Oathbringer endpaper art
    #heralds
    Legion Release Party ()
    #6647 Copy

    PrinceDusty

    At the Pixel Project event, you talked about a further extent of Cultivation's magic than just the boon and bane? Are there any people alive at the end of Oathbringer who are influenced by that magic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Lift. Well, I guess that's a boon, isn't it? Yes, there are. But nobody on screen that has Cultivation magic, other than boons or curses from the Nightwatcher. Yes, there is such a thing, no, there's no one else on screen. But what Lift does is a hint.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    R'Shara

    The Fused were looking for something at the palace at Kholinar at the end. Were they looking for Hoid's Cryptic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes they were. Good question! Did people think they were looking for the black gemstone? That would be the other big guess. But they were looking for the Cryptic.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #6649 Copy

    R'Shara

    How many times did a Herald break and let the Fused return to Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, so how many Desolations were there, total?

    R'Shara

    Between the Oathpact and Aharietiam?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not as many as people say there are.

    R'Shara

    More than fifty, less than fifty?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would guess offhand more than fifteen, but not much more. That's the sort of thing I just have to look at the timeline on. You're catching me flat-footed on that one. I would have to go look. Not as many as they think, but more than fifteen.

    R'Shara

    More than fifteen? Okay, because I actually asked more than fifty.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh you asked more than fifty. More than fifteen, less than fifty.

    Legion Release Party ()
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    R'Shara

    Does a region's cultural identity ever have anything to do with their Spiritual DNA?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    R'Shara

    So, like, people expect Alethi to be tall, so they are more likely to be tall?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, what you're saying like that? No. Not that part. You're saying like, how someone...does ex...I don't have it working like that right now. That would take more... I will say no on that. Yes, but no.