Recent entries

    SpoCon 2013 ()
    #7053 Copy

    Shardlet (paraphrased)

    I first asked about Lines of Forbiddance and the timing of the generation of the field particularly in reference to things like a Marks Cross or just general crossing Lines of Forbiddance.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Rithmatics was originally designed as a cosmere magic system and is very cognitively (not the terminology he used, but the essence is the same) based. The line (speaking of all Rithmatic lines) takes effect when the Rithmatist thinks it should. A line could begin to take effect before the drawing of the line is completed.

    SpoCon 2013 ()
    #7054 Copy

    Shardlet (paraphrased)

    I then pointed out the basis for my theory, beginning with the flashback chapter where Kaladin whales on Jost with the quarterstaff.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    What you didn't ask was whether Kaladin had ever felt the Thrill.

    He then went on to say that that was not a confirmation or a denial.

    SpoCon 2013 ()
    #7057 Copy

    Shardlet (paraphrased)

    Is the Thrill, with a capital 'T', more than an adrenaline rush or battle rush? (I indicated that it seemed very clear to me that there was a lot more to it.)

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon wrote the answer to this in my book that he was signing by writing "You are a very smart man!"

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #7059 Copy

    Sporkify

    This is more towards the whole physics stuff, but is Feruchemy really balanced? If it gives diminishing returns, wouldn't this end up as a net loss of power?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It doesn't diminish. Or, well, it does—but only if you compound it. You get 1 for 1 back, but compounding the power requires an expenditure of the power itself. For instance, if you are weak for one hour, you can gain the lost strength for one hour. But that's not really that much strength. After all, you probably weren't as weak as zero people during that time. So if you want to be as strong as two men, you couldn't do it for a full hour. You'd have to spend some energy to compound, then spend the compounded energy itself.

    In more mathematical terms, let's say you spend one hour at 50% strength. You could then spend one hour at 150% strength, or perhaps 25 min at 200% strength, or maybe 10min at 250% strength. Each increment is harder, and therefore 'strains' you more and burns your energy more quickly. And since most Feruchemists don't store at 50% strength, but instead at something like 80% strength (it feels like much more when they do it, but you can't really push the body to that much forced weakness without risking death) you can burn through a few day's strength in a very short time if you aren't careful.

    Footnote: This question was asked when fueling Feruchemy with Allomancy had only been seen in Rashek. As such, the term compounding is used purely to reference tapping at a higher rate than can be stored.
    #feruchemy
    Sources: Time Waster's Guide , Time Waster's Guide
    /r/books AMA 2015 ()
    #7062 Copy

    SageOfTheWise

    Is there a reason why Rashek left a nugget of Lerasium at the Well of Ascension?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He left several. It was, in his opinion, one of the best kept secrets and best protected locations in his empire.

    Phantine

    Were there originally 16 of them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    An excellent guess.

    /r/books AMA 2015 ()
    #7063 Copy

    ParadoxicalWims

    Could the Heralds be considered the splinters or would it be the Honourblades they once held? Or perhaps are they something else entirely?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO, more because I don't want to dig into the nature of the Heralds until the second five books, and would rather not have people's eyes on them too much right now.

    Oathbringer Portland signing ()
    #7064 Copy

    Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

    Could an Awakened toupee be commanded to act like real hair?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...Totally! Absolutely, yes!

    Questioner

    Would it be convincing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Would it be convincing? Yeah, I think that it would be. It depends.

    Questioner

    It depends on the number of Breaths?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, it depends on factors, but I totally think that could be very convincing. Yes, yes, yes.

    Questioner

    Could it also be given enough Breath to Command "Protect me?"

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it could. That would be really weird. But yes.

    Worldbuilders AMA ()
    #7065 Copy

    katkov

    How important is Intent to Hemalurgy? If two people who didn't know about Hemalurgy were running and tripped, falling perfectly onto a spike, would Hemalurgy occur? What about if it was a sick psychopath who liked stabbing people with spikes instead of an accident?

    Would the planet these events occurred on matter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Location is not relevant to most of the magics.

    As for those specifics of Hemalurgy, I will RAFO for now.

    Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing ()
    #7067 Copy

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    So, at the end of Mistborn Era 1, Sazed takes up both [Preservation] and Ruin, Shards which are obviously fairly diametrically opposed. Secret History implies that Sazed is able to hold both of them at once because of (for lack of a better term) who he is, and therefore implies that other people might not be able to do the same. Is that true? What would happen if someone tried to take up multiple shards and didn't have those qualifications?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Sazed was uniquely able, yes. Usually there would be an imbalance favoring one shard, which would override or push out the other.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    Like, physically expulse?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Right. Not necessarily, but yes.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    So what would happen then? Would it just float around? Would it Splinter? Could it be dragged into the Cognitive, like on Sel?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Oh, you guys finally figured that one out?

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    No, no, it's- it's in the book.

    *points to Arcanum Unbounded*

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Right, yeah, I gave you that one. But it depends- it depends on the circumstances. It might Splinter. In the right circumstances, it might obtain its own sentience. Or it might seek out a holder on its own.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    Wait, you mean, sentience without a holder? Just...?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    In the right circumstances, yeah.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    And if it sought a holder, it would be inclined to find someone that would fit better with its intent?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Yeah.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    And these circumstances would also depend on which Shards are taken up? Like, if they're less opposed that Ruin and Preservation?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Yeah, exactly.

    Calamity release party ()
    #7068 Copy

    Shadow Guardian

    If Calamity were a Shard in the Cosmere, what intent would he be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh boy... Oh boy. Have you read this book?

    Shadow Guardian

    I have not read Calamity yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't want to spoil it. Um... *pause* Yeah, I don't really want to spoil it. But it's kind of-- it's like "Vindictiveness" would probably be a good match. This-- Or "Judgement". Maybe Judgement. Calamity's got this impression that people will destroy themselves if he lets them. Does that make sense?

    Shadow Guardian

    Yeah.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So it's not either one of those, but it's something close to that.

    Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing ()
    #7070 Copy

    Questioner

    So we know that you can't just have someone-- If someone were to do something similar to Hoid, he can't just pop and go "Oh look, I can now do Allomancy or I can now do Surgebinding". What about Breath? If someone could somebody get Breath-- Maybe not *audio obscured* Could they still get the benefits of--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, good question... Yes you can, actually. Breath is-- Once it is given to you, it is being keyed to you. Your Identity. So that transfer makes it yours to use however you want.

    Questioner

    So you could Awaken?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could Awaken. If you-- If you were to somehow make it there, you would be able to Awaken. It's the easiest of magic systems to get the magic from, and then to manipulate. Because it has keyed into it Identity.

    Questioner

    *audio obscured*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, you can take Breath onto another world. In fact, you've seen characters do this.

    Questioner

    *audio obscured*

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would work, yes.

    Questioner

    *audio obscured*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it would work the same way.

    The only magic that is location-dependent--  The ones who aren't interested in this, just hum to yourself, okay? *laughter* You don't need to know any of this stuff to enjoy the books, okay? I write them so that you could just-- each series can be read independently, and enjoyed. There is behind the scenes stuff, and if you want to dig, it goes pretty deep.

    So on Sel, we have AonDor. AonDor is based on the fact that the Dor, which is an amalgamation of Dominion and Devotion, has been pressed together and stuffed into the Cognitive Realm by Odium who didn't want it to gain sentience, as Investiture will do if it is left alone. It will either seek someone to be its Vessel or it will gain sentience. He pressed it in there; he pressed it together, which creates the violent reaction, because those two intents are opposed. And that is the foundation of the magic. Because it's stuck in the Cognitive Realm rather than the Spiritual Realm (the Spiritual Realm is location-independent; Cognitive Realm is location-dependent), it makes the magic on Sel only work in close proximity to what is keyed through there to the location they're keyed to. This has to do with Identity and Connection. Mostly Connection. So that means you can't do AonDor on another planet, but you can do other magics works anywhere, because they're drawing the magics specifically through either the place, or they're end-neutral, like Breath is, and you don't need any extra power.

    Warsaw signing ()
    #7072 Copy

    Oversleep (paraphrased)

    I asked whether we could call the Bands of Mourning the Survivor's Spearhead and whether it did have all 16 basic metal metalminds.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He hesitated a little but eventually said yes, there were all 16 metalminds.

    Oversleep (paraphrased)

    I asked whether Marasi tapped all of them, because she would tap Kelsier's Identity and memories.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He said intentions are important and she didn't tap all of them.

    Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing ()
    #7073 Copy

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    Okay, next question. The Hemalurgic bind points for the right and left eyes - are they the same?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    In terms of...?

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    Like, the Inquisitor spikes, is it the exact same process for either eye? Is it interchangeable?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    They're slightly different.

    Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

    And on bind points... are these something that we could figure out ourselves one day, through analysis and guessing? Or is it something we'll just have to wait and see?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    They're... it would be a lot of trial and error, but it's... possible? And you need Intent, so... it would be a lot of trial and error. It wouldn't be easy. Probably not.

    Leipzig Book Fair ()
    #7074 Copy

    Questioner

    You recently compared the Aon Dor to a programming language of some sorts. Could you actually go one step further and build something like a curcuit board?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The difficultiy with all of that is that you have got to remember that the magic as they understand it right now only works based on Elantrian intention and activation. There were basically these sorts of things, but the switch has to be flipped by an Elantrian. Those things existed in Elantris.

    Questioner

    It's just that I think that Elantris itself could be some sort of a really big circuit board.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That may be a little too far for what Elantris is, but there are places in Elantris which are just what you are describing.

    FAQFriday 2017 ()
    #7075 Copy
    2017-05-19 - FAQFriday.jpg

    Questioner

    Why didn't Dalinar get the powers of a Stoneward when he bonded Taln's [Honorblade]?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some readers have already figured this out, so I don't think I'm engaging in too large a spoiler to dig into this one here.

    There are several oddities going on here. The most important one relevant to this question is the Blade in question. If you compare the descriptions of the sword described in the epilogue of The Way of Kings to the one that traveled with the madman (allegedly Taln, the Herald) to the Shattered Plains, you'll find they are different.

    The one that the characters obtained in Words of Radiance is NOT an Honorblade. It's an ordinary Shardblade (as ordinary as one of those can be called.) I'm not going to say specifically what happened to the Blade Taln arrived with at Kholinar, but I will say that it IS a different weapon from the one in Words of Radiance.

    The other issue here is the somewhat lesser question of whether this character is actually Taln, the Herald, or not. Some characters in-world don't believe that it is, though his viewpoint in Words of Radiance strongly implies otherwise. This isn't specifically relevant to the conversation for reasons I'll talk about below--but it is tangentially related. Because in the cosmere, Intent is important to many of the types of magic. It's theoretically possible to hold an Honorblade and not realize what its powers are, and therefore be unable to access them.

    As an aside, this character was actually the primary protagonist of the version of The Way of Kings I wrote in 2002. A man who woke up, with lingering memories of madness, and claimed to be a Herald when nobody believed him--as he couldn't manifest any powers, seemed to have lost his sword, and lore said the Heralds weren't coming back anyway.

    When I wrote the new version of The Way of Kings in 2009 or so, one goal was to focus the storyline. I'd included so many characters in the 2002 version that none of them progressed very far in their arcs, creating a strong setting and interesting characters--but a bad book. During the new version, I decided that this character would be moved to the later books, and I'd explore him there.

    In the 2002 version, the text was very dodgy on whether or not Taln was a Herald. Confronting the fact that he might be crazy was a major arc and theme of the book--however, as I've worked on the new version, I've realized that it would be dangerous to be too vague on this. Stringing people along with the question for a book or two is one thing, waiting until book six or eight to do a character's arc, and leaving the question of whether they're a Herald or not all that time, seemed unfair.

    So the text is going to be making manifest fairly quickly who this person is. You'll have confirmations long before we dig into his viewpoint in the later books.

    So, a recap:

    1) The swords WERE swapped somehow.

    2) Someone could hold an Honorblade and not realize they had access to powers.

    3) This character may or may not actually be a Herald--but the text is going to make the answer clear, and I'm not trying to trick you.

    Firefight Chicago signing ()
    #7077 Copy

    Kurkistan

    So is that the same thing with Commands, are there like ideals that are Commands?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is more of a-- For you to interface with the magic, you need to be able to comprehend it. And so forming a Command-- The same thing happens in Elantris, you know they don't accidentally draw runes, right? The intention is part of interfacing with the magic. So it's like your mind reaching into the Spiritual Realm and you have to like conceive something.

    Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing ()
    #7078 Copy

    Questioner

    Seons are Splinters?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Splinters of Devotion.

    Questioner

    Um, Splintered...Honor is the *inaudible*...the stormwall...

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Stormfather?

    Questioner

    The Stormfather.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Stormfather is technically a Splinter of Honor, but it was an intentional Splinter, that Honor did himself.

    Questioner

    Does he have another Splinter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, all of the honorspren are Splinters of Honor, but this is a different situation because he actually did this intentionally.

    /r/books AMA 2015 ()
    #7079 Copy

    mooglefrooglian

    If metals shape the Investiture in Allomancy, causing a Steelpush or whatever, how is it that the mists can be used to perform the same feat? What is 'shaping' the inhaled mists into a Steelpush, if there's no metal "nozzle" to do so?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Consistently through the cosmere, once you have the power in hand and it has permeated you, will becomes your nozzle. This can be seen in Warbreaker, where the power has been distributed and inhabits the people. The nozzle idea is important for Magics that are drawing power externally, as it keeps the power from overwhelming and destroying you. (Which, basically, happened to Vin at the end of the Trilogy--she got consumed by the magic. She became something new, now, so it didn't KILL her. It destroyed what she was, transformed her into something else.)

    So you see magics like on Sel and Scadrial where a specific nozzle is needed--as the power source is external, at least with Allomancy. Will and intent take a backseat, though still pop up on occasion. On Nalthis (and in a lesser way, Roshar) will and intent are more important, and what you are trying to do shapes the magic more directly.

    A little direct manifestation in this is found in the subtle differences between Allomancy and Feruchemy. In Allomancy, when you enhance the senses, you just get a blast of power--and all senses are enhanced, whether you want them all or not. In Feruchemy, you can be more precise, and pick a specific sense to store. The power is internal here, and therefore more limited in how much you can draw--but you can also be more precise with its manipulation.

    Note that Roshar Surgebinding is a special case, as the magical symbiosis there is stronger than it is on other worlds, as much of the magic involves bits of power who have become sapient.

    uchoo786

    How much crossover is there in use? Like if one "breathes" in the mists they can use it to power their allomancy. Could an Allomancer utilize stormlight to power his allomancy as well?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Most of the magics can be hacked together in one way or another, but some are easier to interchange than others.

    JordanCon 2016 ()
    #7080 Copy

    Questioner

    Does Hemalurgy require intent to steal the stuff? Or could somebody in theory just stab through in the exact-- I understand the chances are extremely slim, it's like accupuncture ...happen by accident?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Here's the thing, you've seen it happen without the intent of the person holding the spike.

    Questioner

    But I think it's commonly accepted that Ruin was sort of manipulating some-- I'm specifically taking the Spook example off the table, I'm just saying, someone by accident stab - whoops! stab - whoops! and have a power?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Again, Ruin was involved in that. Every spike-- spiking that you saw had Ruin's intent behind it. I'm not going to answer your question, RAFO. You tried, you got me to admit that I was trying to wiggle around it, and I will tell you, today I wiggled around one question that none of you saw me wiggle around, really well, today. Today. I'm not going to tell you which one it is but there is one here that you all thought, you're all like "woo!" but you didn't realize you'd given me so much wiggle room.

    Moderator

    So about that space station.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's not that one.

    Holiday signing ()
    #7081 Copy

    Questioner

    Allomancy requires, you need to be either a Misting or a Mistborn to be able to do that. But Hemalurgy you just need to stab someone through the heart. So what would stop someone on Roshar from using Hemalurgy, because it's not Innate? Do you have to be in proximity to Ruin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Intent is a big part of a lot of the magics, including Hemalurgy, meaning that you need to know what you're doing. Or somebody needs to-- There needs to be Intent involved in what's happening to you.

    Questioner

    So like with Spook when he got spiked, where was the Intent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The person who was driving that spike was being influenced by Ruin, and the Intent was there.

    Questioner

    So unless you knew what you were trying to do with a Hemalurgic spike, you couldn't do Hemalurgy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could not steal attributes no.

    Questioner 2

    Is it possible to steal Surgebindings.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible to steal Surgebinding.

    Questioner

    Is there going to be crossover, like is someone going to have Feruchemical powers and also Surgebinding?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a Read And Find Out.

    Stormlight Three Update #4 ()
    #7082 Copy

    Argent

    Recently, at DragonCon, you talked briefly about detecting worldhoppers by examining their speech, and you mentioned Hoid using "coin" on Roshar, where there are no coins. Which overlapped with a question I had been meaning to ask - why would the people around him hear "coin" instead of "sphere"? Is this magical translation (something to do with Connection) malfunctioning for some reason? Or is the use of such out-of-context words solely for the benefit of the Cosmere-aware reader?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, this has to do with magical translation. It's a quirk of trying to say something in the language, and the magic mixing up your intent. Someone who actually learns the local language wouldn't make this mistake.

    Argent

    Can I just make sure I understand your reply real quick? Are you saying that if Hoid, or someone with the same magical translation, were to learn a bit of Alethi language and culture, get more used to spheres being used as currency, then the magic would stop using "coin" and replace it with sphere? Or, in a sci-fi world, maybe "credit"?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If he was thinking about saying sphere, he'd say sphere with the magic.

    If he accidentally said coin, through the magic, it would try to translate it into coin.

    If he learned the language, there's little chance he'd make this mistake. It's a natural feature of learning another language--you tend to imitate those around you. It's still possible he'd make the mistake, but from my experience with second language acquisition, you don't accidentally say words in your native language expecting them to make sense in the new language.

    Argent

    But wouldn't this require, in his case, the Alethi language to have a word for "coin"? I thought what's happening is that he is saying "coin" (because it's more natural to him), and his magic - not knowing how to translate a word that doesn't exist in Alethi, just sends it across verbatim. Like how he used the word "dog" once, even though the Alethi can't have a word for it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's exactly what is happening--it's sending across the word verbatim.

    Argent

    Ah, so when you say that is he had said "sphere" in his own language, instead of "coin" (which would be weird to him, because he doesn't think of spheres as currency), then the translation would be fine. Not that he could say "coin" and have the magic interpret his intent and turn into "sphere".

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, to an extent. Remember, this is magical means through connection--not exact translation. But this is a short version of what is happening.

    Torrieltar

    *in response to Brandon's original answer* Is that how translated puns work, then? Based on your intent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that has something to do with it. Though being aware that you're using the magic, and how it works, helps. For example, Hoid (very experienced with this sort of thing) can manipulate the magic and get a feel for what will work and what won't. It's a strange thing, because in most cases, you're actually SPEAKING the language, not speaking your own and having it translated. The magic pretends you were born and grew up in that place.

    So you can speak in puns, and riddles, and so forth. However, there's latency from where you actually grew up that causes a kind of "blip" when you try to force through something that just doesn't translate. If you just let the magic do its thing, you'll naturally use idioms from the world you're in. But if you lock on to one from your past, it causes a kind of disharmony in the magic--reminding your spirit web that you don't actually speak the language. It will spit out a transliteration or verbatim phrase in this case.

    You will rarely see Hoid having the trouble that Vasher does in using the language and magic, as Vasher doesn't really care. But you will still see even the most expert slip up now and then.

    There's an extra layer on this that I don't focus too much on, in that the books themselves are in translation--so when Hoid's using a pun, he's filtering his intent to pun through the magic, into Alethi, creating a local pun that works in the language--then that is in turn translated to one that works in our language.

    Arcanum Unbounded release party ()
    #7083 Copy

    Questioner

    Does Rayse have a personal... or did he have a personal relationship with the other [Vessels] before the Shattering?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some of them, yes.

    Questioner

    So he doesn't personally know them all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He knows them all, but "having a relationship with" is different. They were all in the same place.

    Questioner

    He knows who they are but he doesn't necessarily interact with them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Not necessarily. They weren't part of a homogenous group before this happened.

    SpoCon 2013 ()
    #7084 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there a similar relationship between Endowment and Hallandren's jungle as there is between Harmony and Elendel Basin ?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes and no. The flowers are being fed by something that's very similar to what you might find on other planets. So the ground is saturated with something that is having a similar effect as Elendel Basin. But it's not the same thing. Elendel Basin was just crafted really, really well, and then it was endowed with a little bit of extra oomph. Here [in Hallandren's jungle], we have this extra seeping into the ground from the pool, which is saturated around and causing the flowers and causing what's going on there.

    English Reading Series at BYU 2018 ()
    #7085 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He told me he consults with several people who are well versed in psychology when he tries to portray anything along these lines. He did say (and this goes along with other statements already made) that his intention was not to have Shallan diagnosed with DID like Kaladin is with Depression. He did take some ideas from the disorder to use in the story, but he didn't intend for her to be set into a specific mental illness category. Like we said before, Brandon's focus was mainly on the magical consequences, which makes her case weird anyways.

    Arched Doorway Interview ()
    #7086 Copy

    Rebecca Lovatt

    What would you say your proudest moment has been along this journey of 10 years so far?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There have been several of them, the same type of moment. It's when people come up to me, and they say to me, "Brandon I was not a reader, and your books turned me into one." Because my story, which people can find because I've told it a thousand times, was that I was a reluctant reader. I didn't like books until fantasy novels changed me. I got into this because I thought, "I have to learn to make people feel like Anne McCaffrey made me feel." So in those moments when they say that, that's when I know I'm doing what I set out to do.

    A close second is when they tell me I kept them up late at night. I feel nice and evil when I've done that.

    Rebecca Lovatt

    You have caused me many many sleepless nights. Like the moment I got Words of Radiance--I think I finished that in two or three sittings. Coincidentally, I did not finish my assignment that was due the next day.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Excellent. Corrupting the youth again. That is the theme of what I do in my life.

    Miscellaneous 2016 ()
    #7087 Copy

    Questioner

    Can you put the Cosmere books into [chronological] order?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Here is the order that I have publicly confirmed. There are obviously other books and stories fitting in there. For those, you’ll just need to RAFO.

    • Elantris
    • The Emperor’s Soul
    • First Mistborn trilogy (The Final Empire)
    • Warbreaker
    • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
    • The Stormlight Archive
    • Wax and Wayne Era Mistborn (Alloy of Law)
    • Sixth of the Dusk
    • Future Mistborn trilogy
    Worldbuilders AMA ()
    #7090 Copy

    Lucadaw

    If someone used Hemalurgy to take someones Feruchemical abilities would they be able to use that persons personal metalminds? Most relevantly perhaps to take that person's knowledge from their copperminds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Lucadaw

    If someone stored their identity in an aluminium metalmind, then had their powers and metalminds stolen via Hemalurgy, then the person who took the powers used the aluminium metalmind to draw out the first persons identity would it permanently overwrite their personality with the original persons ? ( would kind of be a long winded way of stealing someone else's body and becoming immortal )

    Brandon Sanderson

    All Identity questions are a RAFO until I deal with it more in the books. (Sorry.)

    WeiryWriter (in response to the first answer)

    If the spike granting Feruchemy were to be reforged/split into two distinct spikes which are then implanted into two different people, could those two people "share" a metalmind (as in actually be able to tap something the other stored and vice versa?).

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's complicated, but no.

    There would be too much of the other person mixed in. Both could use the metalminds of the person the Feruchemy was stolen from, but when they made their own, their own Identity would "muddy" the creation.

    /r/books AMA 2015 ()
    #7092 Copy

    Wigginns

    What would a Hemalurgic spike granting atium do for an Allomancer already able to burn atium? Does it function similarly to bronze, granting enhanced atium-ing? Along this line of thought, would enhancing electrum burning via spike be of any advantage?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A spike of something you have would enhance your ability, giving your more strength. With atium, more strength makes for a minimal edge--the length you can push out the atium shadows. However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the [Spiritual Realm], and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment.

    Electrum could reach this same moment, potentially, though there's more interference to fight through. Extra strength in electrum isn't going to be terribly useful up to that point.

    Alsadius

    Is that what happened when atium was burned with duralumin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Mormon Artist Interview ()
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    Nathan Morris

    How do your fans react to your being a member of the Church?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's hard to say because I think most of my fans don't care one way or the other. The vocal ones send me e-mails, though. Occasionally, I get messages from people who say, "Hey, I'm not a member of your faith, but it's cool that you have one, and thanks for writing, and I appreciate your books." I've also received more than several e-mails from LDS people who are very pleased with the books and happy to see an LDS writer who produces works they can enjoy. Sometimes I have received e-mails from people who are not proponents of the LDS faith who challenge me on my beliefs. I'm a debater, but not an arguer, though, and I think the difference is that as a debater, if I feel that my side has been presented adequately, I'm not going to feel bad if people disagree with me. So when I respond to e-mails like that, I say something along the lines of, "Hey, here's why I believe what I do. Here's what the basis of my faith is. Here's why I believe in this doctrine that you are challenging. You don't have to believe in it. Believe what you want. But this is my reasoning." I think I usually have pretty good logic and every time someone has responded to one of my reply e-mails, it's been positive. Most of the time, the person will send something back that says, "You know what, thanks for not actually getting into an argument. I was kind of in a bad mood when I sent that and thank you for being respectful." I think being respectful will get you much further than getting into arguments will. I have had universally good experiences with people reacting to my LDS faith, even on such charged topics.

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    Nathan Morris

    Do you ever plan to write any works dealing with Mormon characters?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've considered it. The thing, though, is that since I tend to write high fantasy, which entails other worlds that are completely unrelated to this one, there haven't been many opportunities to create one. I've been tempted a couple of times, and if I do end up doing it, it would probably be in a science fiction setting or more of an urban fantasy setting. Nothing is ruled out, though, except that I'm pretty soundly involved in the high fantasy epic genre right now. I haven't done it, but who knows if I will?

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    Nathan Morris

    Are there any other projects that you're currently working on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right now I'm working on a children's series. It's a middle-grade series, a genre targeted at ten- to thirteen-year-olds. Even though it's marketed for that age group, I wrote it for anyone to read. It's a more humorous fantasy series about a kid named Alcatraz who discovers that librarians secretly rule the world. He's part of this family whose members all have really silly magical powers that they use to fight the librarians. For example, his grandpa's superpower is the ability to arrive late to appointments. They use these powers in fun and interesting ways to resist the librarians' control of the world. They are very fun books and have actually been optioned by DreamWorks for a movie. We're hoping that it ends up getting made. The website for the series is evillibrarians.com, and it should be going live in just a short period of time. It will feature a blog written by the evil librarians griping about Alcatraz and his family.

    I also have a standalone book that will be released this summer called Warbreaker. I've posted all of the drafts for it on my website. That way people can download and read it, and then if they like it, they can go out and buy it when it's available. It's coming out in June in hardcover. After that, I'll be working on the final book for the Wheel of Time series, and from there I'll be starting a new multi-volume series called The Way of Kings.

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    Nathan Morris

    Do you plan on writing any other books that feature allomancy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's possible. When I write a series, I imagine it in my head as a certain length, and I generally keep to it. But that doesn't mean that I won't revisit the world for new stories. The story of the characters in the Mistborn books is done; the trilogy is finished. If I were going to write more in this world, I would either go forward in time or backward in time, which unfortunately makes it so I'm not as likely to write one. Not that I would be opposed to approaching the Mistborn world in a new way and telling a series of new stories—there were still some holes in allomancy by the end of the books which were intentionally left there in case I did want to revisit it. So, it's definitely possible. But with The Wheel of Time on my plate, I can't promise when or if it will ever happen.

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    Nathan Morris

    You mentioned that one of your most popular series is the Mistborn trilogy. How did those books come about?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The evolution of a novel is such a complicated, complex, and strange creative process that it's hard to step people through it. I don't think even I can fully comprehend it. But by the time I was writing the Mistborn books, I was in a different situation with my career. I'd sold Elantris by that point and the publisher was saying, "We want something else from you." Rather than taking one of the thirteen books that I'd written before, I wanted to write something new. I wanted to give people my newest and best work. At that point I had time to sit down and ask myself, "What do I want to be the hallmark of my career? What am I going to add to the genre?" I want to write fantasy that takes steps forward and lets me take the genre in some interesting direction. At first I wanted to play with some of the stereotypes of the genre. That's a dangerous thing, though, because, as any deconstructionalist will tell you, when you start playing with stereotypes, you start relying on something that you want to undermine, and that puts you on shaky ground. I was in danger of just becoming another cliché. A lot of times when people want to twist something in a new way, they don't twist it enough and end up becoming part of the cliché that they were trying to redefine. But I really did want to try this and went forward with it anyway.

    A lot of fantasy relies heavily on the Campbellian Monomyth. This is the idea focusing on the hero's journey. Since the early days of fantasy, it's been a big part of the storytelling, and in my opinion it's become a little bit overused. The hero's journey is important as a description of what works in our minds as people—why we tell the stories we do. But when you take the hero's journey and say, "I'm going to make this a checklist of things I need to do to write a great fantasy novel," your story goes stale. You start to mimic rather than create. Because I'd seen a lot of that, I felt that one of the things I really wanted to do was to try to turn the hero's journey on its head. I had been looking at the Lord of the Rings movies and the Lord of the Rings books and the Harry Potter books, and I felt that because of their popularity and success, a lot of people were going to be using this paradigm even more—the unknown protagonist with a heart of gold and some noble heritage who goes on a quest to defeat the dark lord. So I thought to myself, "What if the dark lord won? What if Frodo got to the end in Lord of the Rings and Sauron said, 'Thanks for bringing my ring back. I really was looking for it,' and then killed him and took over the world? What if book seven of Harry Potter was Voldemort defeating Harry and winning?" I didn't feel that this story had ever really been approached in the way I was imagining it, and it became one idea that bounced around in my head for quite a while.

    Another idea I had revolved around my love of the classic heist genre. Whether it's Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery or the movies Ocean's Eleven and The Italian Job, there are these great stories that deal with a gang of specialists who are trying to pull off the ultimate heist. This is the kind of feat which requires them to all work together and use their talents. I hadn't ever read a fantasy book that dealt with that idea in a way that satisfied me or that really felt like it got it down. So that bounced in my head for a while as well.

    One more of the ideas for the Mistborn series happened when I was driving home to see my mom. She lives in Idaho Falls, and after passing Tremonton on the I-15, I just went through this fog bank driving at seventy miles an hour. Even though my car was actually driving into the fog, it looked like the mist was moving around me instead of me moving through it. It was just this great image that I wrote down in my notebook years before I ended up writing Mistborn.

    After a while, all these different ideas, like atoms, were bouncing around in my head and eventually started to run together to form molecules (the molecules being the story). Keep in mind, a good book is more than just one good idea. A good book is twelve or thirteen or fourteen great ideas that all play off of each other in ways that create even better ideas. There were my two original ideas—a gang of thieves in a fantasy world, and a story where the dark lord won—that ended up coming together and becoming the same story. Suddenly I had a world where the prophecies were wrong, the hero had failed, and a thousand years later a gang of thieves says, "Well, let's try this our way. Let's rob the dark lord silly and drive his armies away from him. Let's try to overthrow the empire." These are all the seeds of things that make bigger ideas.

    After I outlined the book, it turned out to be quite bit longer than I expected, and I then began working through those parts that weren't fully developed yet, changing some things. I ended up downplaying the heist story in the final version of the book, despite the fact that it was a heist novel in one of my original concepts. But as I was writing it, I felt that if I was going to make it into a trilogy, I needed the story to have more of an epic scope. The heist was still there, and still the important part of the book, but it kind of became the setting for other, bigger things in the story, such as the epic coming-of-age of one of the characters, the interactions between the characters, and dealing with the rise and fall of the empire. But that happens in the process of writing. Sometimes the things that inspire you to begin a story in the first place eventually end up being the ones that are holding it back. Allomancy, the magic system in the book, was a separate idea that came about through these revisions.

    I wrote the books in the trilogy straight through. I had the third one rough drafted by the time the first one had to be in its final form so that I could keep everything consistent and working together the way I wanted it to. I didn't want it to feel like I was just making it up as I went along, which I feel is one of the strengths of the series. I don't know if I'll ever be able to have that opportunity again in a series, but it certainly worked well for the Mistborn books.

    Mormon Artist Interview ()
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    Nathan Morris

    Your books don't have overtly Mormon characters in them, but they do contain many recognizable Mormon elements—especially in book three of the Mistborn trilogy, The Hero of Ages. How do you feel that your faith has influenced your writing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Being an author, the story is what is most important to me. Theme and message are really secondary. I don't go into a book saying, "I'm going to write a book about this." In other words, I don't want to preach with my books. What I want to do is have compelling, realistic characters who care about different things. Some care about religion, others don't. By writing compelling characters who care about issues, I realize that what the characters care about tends to be influenced by what I care about. As for my faith, it is what primarily influences me because it makes me interested in certain topics. For instance, religion does tend to be a theme in my books. Yet if you read Elantris, my first published work, the religious figure was the primary antagonist. People have asked me, "Brandon, you're religious—why are you painting religion so poorly in this book?" And my answer for them is that I'm not painting religion poorly. The misuse of religion is one of the things that scares me the most in life. Someone who is taking faith and twisting it and manipulating it is doing one of the most purely evil things that someone can do, in my opinion.

    With the Mistborn books, I wasn't ever trying to be overtly LDS. Yet my values shape who I am and what I determine to be important. I then end up having characters who deal with these same things, and I think there are a lot of LDS things going on. But of course I think there are a lot of Buddhist things going on as well. I served my mission in Korea and have a lot of respect for the Buddhist religion. Because of that, I think some elements of Buddhism show up in my writing. Not because I set out to say, "Okay, I'm going to use Buddhism here," but because it seems to happen when I'm developing a character who cares about something. That's one of the tricks about being a writer.

    One of my main goals is that any time I put a character in whose beliefs are different from mine, I want to make sure that I'm making them realistic, that I'm painting their ideas and philosophies as accurately as possible. I think it's important for all authors to make their characters actually feel real and not just portray them as talking heads who are there to learn a lesson. Another author, Robert Jordan, once said that he loved it when his books made people ask questions, but that he didn't want to give them the answers—he believed that they should come up with their own. That's what I try to do, too.

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    Nathan Morris

    How does your website fit into your work as a writer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I want to do the things for my readers that I wish I had had as a reader, and the Internet gives us this wonderful opportunity to do them. We really couldn't connect with readers in the same way before. The other thing is that fantasy is a small-selling genre compared to some others. That may surprise people because it's so popular, but it's only popular among readers. It's not as popular among non-readers. Most people who buy books are buying either romance novels (most often because they buy only those kinds of books or they're grabbing something as they move through the airport) or they are buying a non-fiction book because it was suggested to them, and it tends to be the only book they buy that year. Because of all this, we fantasy authors depend on loyal readers who buy all of our books. We may have a smaller fan base, but our fans are much more dedicated, much more loyal. If fantasy readers really like an author, they will search out books by that author and read everything that they've produced. They will support you. They'll even buy the books in hardcover if they really like them. Because of things like this, I think it's appropriate to do a lot of outreach to readers—to give them a lot for their money. I mean, if someone buys one of my books in hardcover, that's almost thirty bucks they're spending, and I feel like I should do whatever I can to make that book the best experience for them possible.

    My number one goal is always to write a really fantastic book. But I can give some added value by saying, "Here are chapter-by-chapter annotations," which are kind of like a director's commentary on a DVD; or if you're an aspiring writer yourself, "Here are some drafts so you can see how this book progressed and how I came up with the plot." All of these are things that I want to do to reward the people who are willing support me and actually go out and find my books. In a lot of ways, I think about it like this: in the past, for an artist to survive, they would have to have a wealthy patron. The patron would financially provide their living so that the artist could create this great art. We do a lot of the same things now, except the patron is the buying public. All the people that read my books are my patrons. It's because of them that I get to do what I love for a living. I feel indebted to them, and I want to make sure I give them everything to enhance their reading experience.

    Mormon Artist Interview ()
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    Nathan Morris

    How did you get your start as a published author?

    Brandon Sanderson

    By this time, I had already written about twelve or thirteen novels, which I was trying to market for publishing. I was still working the graveyard shift at the hotel, and eventually one of the manuscripts that I'd sent somewhere got me a callback from an editor who had finally looked at my manuscript and wanted to buy it. I actually got the phone call as a voicemail. It was from an editor that I'd sent a book to eighteen months before. By that time I had pretty much given up on it; eighteen months is a lot longer than you expect for them to ever get back to you. You figure, "Okay, it's either lost or they didn't like it and just rejected it but forgot to send you a letter." It's a funny story, though. The one who gave it to the person who finally contacted me was actually an agent I had met and talked to at a convention. He said to me then, "Oh, you seem so nice," and later told me that it was because I was such a nice guy that he didn't want to just reject the book without looking at it. I guess that got me lots of points, because he sat on it for all those eighteen months before he eventually looked at it. But by then all my contact info was wrong, because during the time that I had sent the book out, I had moved and had AOL get rid of my e-mail address because I stopped paying for the service. I had also purchased a cell phone, so my phone number was no longer accurate. So this person, who would later become my editor, had to google me. He found my contact information on my BYU grad student page, which fortunately I had kept up-to-date, and when he called me, the voicemail said, "Hi, I don't know if this is the right Brandon Sanderson, but if it is, you sent me a manuscript about eighteen months ago, and I finally started looking at it last night. I got a few hundred pages into it, and I knew I had to call you and make sure it's still available, because I think I want to buy it."

    I called him back, and then I called the agent that I had met, because it seemed like his editorial style matched mine. He handled the contract negotiations, and I became an author. I quit my graveyard shift job, taught freshman English composition in between to keep me going while we were waiting for the books to actually come out, and fortunately I've never had to go and get another real job. I've always worried I would have to.