When was the last time Hoid got a hug, before Words of Radiance?
Ooh argh *Brandon hacks and splutters* a HUG? I don't know? People don't commonly hug him, no. They commonly slap him, or curse at him, so it had probably been a long time since he'd gotten a hug.
Would food from Hallandren be considered men or women's food in Alethkar?
Food from Hallandren I think is mostly going to be considered masculine food. Let me see-- I'd have to go and look and see at my notes what they're eating because there's a lot of Pacific islander influence on the area, not the culture, but where they are. So there's going to be a lot of fruit in their diet, but I think I mention that-- yeah I think it's gonna be mostly man-food. Actually no, I'm going to retract that, it's going to be both. They're going to be weirded out by it, because they're not-- you know, like our food, if they came here and ate, they would be weirded out by it. Number one a lot of it would be too bland. So they'd be like ehh, we're not sure.
On Scadrial, so Elendel is the city that's named for Elend. Was Luthadel named for a historical figure?
Yes.
Will we ever meet that person, or hear of them?
Unlikely. Hear of them? Perhaps. Meet them? Unlikely.
Prior to the Shattering of Adonalsium, were all of the cosmere-centric worlds inhabited by humans?
No.
Were any of them?
Yes.
So, for Shardplate, when Kaladin killed the Shardbearer, which we know is Helaran, in Way of Kings, Amaram remarked that Amaram knew the Shardbearer was dead both because the Shardblade didn't disapper and also because the Shardplate began to fall off of him. And so my question is, is there some type of "lesser" bond between Shardplate and its wearer, like is it in sync with the wearer's lifeforce or--
Yes.
Is there any significant connection between Herdazians having stone fingernails and the essence associated with Kalak having a body focus of the nails?
No there is not, good question.
Do some Surges have a stronger cognitive aspect--or cognitive influence, if aspect is too general--do some have a stronger cognitive aspect than others? For instance does Illumination tend to have more of a stronger cognitive--
Yeah you could say that some do. I think that that is a legitimate-- Though I'd say it is the subject of debate.
So this may be RAFO bait, but in Dalinar's Feverstone Keep vision, when the Radiants discard their Shards are they doing that to any entity in particular in specific?
Definitely a RAFO.
The Shardblade that Dalinar had at the end of Words of Radiance, was that the Honorblade?
The Shardblade that Dalinar had at the end of Words of Radiance that he gave up?
Yeah, that he gave up.
No, it was not.
It was not? So what happened to the Honorblade that the Herald had?
Nobody kno - Well, somebody knows, but it is not known to the main characters.
Can I ask if Hoid-
If Hoid knows?
Yeah.
Hoid did not take it, but I’m not answering whether he knows.
Did you ever confirm Renarin's eye color?
I don't know if I have. Peter would have to look in the wiki and see if I've written something that contradicts or not. But I have not yet, I don't think. But if you write us an email I can, it's something I just have to be able to look up.
The person who meets the person who gets Epic powers, has he become an Epic?
I have no idea who you're talking about. Plug your ears again guys. Ask it very quietly.
The main character.
David. Has he become an Epic? Well, so, so...that's a RAFO.
What's going on in the other pole of Scadrial?
Oooh that's a big ol' RAFO. But it is a RAFO with a promise that you will find out before too long.
So in these coming two Mistborn books, maybe? Because there was some mention of something to do with that, I thought, briefly, in Alloy of Law, just some vague--like there was something that had been found, or some brief contact, maybe...
*Brandon clears his throat, significantly* let me say this, so I don't spoil things. By the time we do the 1980's level technology, the whole world will have been explored. I mean, I can't really do the second trilogy, with-- I mean, by then, you know what the continents look like, and things. Even in Scadrial, where they just haven't explored nearly as much, but they're kind of behind on that so far, so sometime between now and then, exploration of the world has to happen.
Good point. Because they didn't have the whole volcano thing going on.
No they didn't. They did not.
How is there anyone alive over there?
Well, I can tell you this because it's in the annotations. The people down there were placed as kind of a control group to the changes that were made to the people of the north, where changes were made to live with the ash and things like that. But other changes were still made to them. Or changes happened to them, shall I say.
So the shape of the Shardblades of the spren that pretty much die and leave them afterwards, are they specific because of something? Or just because that's how the Radiant used them, in that shape?
It is a mixture of how the Radiant views them, and how-- Their nature. It's a mixture of their nature and how the Radiant views them.
Were they still able to shape them however they want? ...The Shardblades.
Originally? Yes.
Atium and lerasium are their own special ways of Investiture, of using it. Do the other Shards have those, that even within their magic systems are unique just to that one Shard?
Yes.
Can you tell me anything about any of that?
You might see some of them some day? I think, I know you've seen at least one, but people don't know what it is? One person's asked me a question about it, so somebody's figured it out but, yeah, there are things like that in other worlds. Kind of, distilled essence of Shard, yeah.
I'm a poet myself and I totally related to your thoughts on writing and how to keep it fresh and on fire, and yet disciplined.
I have a lot of respects for poets, it is hard work. When I had to do poetry in one of my books, I actually went to a poet and hired them to write the poems, to put the-- I don't know if you've read Words of Radiance, but the songs were kind of hired out, because I don't trust my own poetry chops, they're just not good enough.
What is Feruchemy, is it tied to any Shard?
Feruchemy, is it tied to any Shard in specific? Yes, they talk about that in the books.
Ok, it's like, of Preservation?
Yes, you could say that.
Because it seems like one Shard, one magic system?
Here's the thing, it's more that-- They, in their philosophy, say that it's kind of a hybrid between the two, but you could kind of feel that it's more--
It seems more Preservation.
It seems more Preservation, but in-world they think it's kind of a hybrid. The philosophy says that one was kind of net-positive, one was kind of net-negative and one was a hybrid. That's their in-world philosophy. I personally would place it more with Preservation.
Ok so more than one magic system can be tied to one Shard?
Yes.
Ok, that's what I wanted to know.
Here's the thing, the definition of magic system can be, is so fluid. Like you can look at this book and say "how many magic systems are there?". Is Surgebinding one or is it ten?
Allomancy's 16--
Is Allomancy 16 or one, and things like that. So yes multiple magic systems can be tied to a Shard.
What's your ideal work environment?
Sitting by the fire, feet up, easy chair--recliner, laptop, music. It's not very complicated. I can write almost anywhere if at least the laptop and music are there.
What do you listen to?
It really depends on my mood and what I'm into at the moment. Right now I've just got a playlist on Spotify that someone has made. It's called epic soundtracks and there's like 800 songs on it. I put that on shuffle. But I guess it just depends on my mood.
When you're developing magic systems do you have it all planned out before you start writing the scenes?
I usually do, but I let myself have some wiggle room to change things as I go. Usually by the end of the first book I have it all locked down. Before the first book I have an outline for my magic system. I write the book and see how it works and see if there are things I need to tweak, and then I go back and make sure that it's locked down, and then I can write the other two to be consistent with the first one.
Can a kandra burn things if they-- could they burn lerasium--and if they did would they be able to burn other things?
Yes that is possible. It is even plausible that an kandra could gain other powers, they just don't know how to do it.
If you electrified metal would that have any impact on being able to Steelpush or Ironpull it?
I do not currently have that as an effect, that interfering with it requires Investiture, and electrifying is not Investiture. So no it would not. In fact, I'm absolutely sure it will not because the plans call for that to be a possibility they are doing in the future.
You're a lot faster at getting your books out, getting these really awesome books out, then many other writers. And I think you know who I'm thinking about. What’s the secret?
The secret is my work ethic. It's beaten into me by my parents I think. I write every day. It's like that classic pioneer work ethic. I just, I write my stories every day, I do this compulsively. I think the other thing is, we talk about someone like Pat Rothfuss. He is a perfectionist, to a level beyond me. I am okay getting my prose pretty good and then handing it to the editor, and letting them work on it, you know what I mean. He has to be perfect before he hands it on, if that makes sense. And I think that as a result, his biggest strength over me as a writer is his prose is more lyrical because he works so hard on it. So it shows. It's like he takes that extra one percent, but that extra one percent takes him like two extra years to get. Some other writers, as you get older, they just, the grind of it gets to them and they slow down. I just love what I do and I write every day.
When you do your outline, all the revelations and twists, do you always stick to your outline?
I do not. Now the difference between me and someone who's more of a discovery writer is I will rebuild my outline when I start going off of it. So what I'll usually do is I'll try-- if I think I'm gonna break the outline, I'll try a chapter that direction, see if I like it. If I do I'll then rebuild the outline and then go forward on it.
Do you ever refer back to your previous book?
Definitely. Usually what I'll do is I make an outline for the first book, I'll write the first book, and then I will outline the series. That's very common for me.
Worldbringers and Worldsingers, similar mission?
The similarity of the names is intentional.
Similar origin?
Yes.
Did Hoid start them?
That's a RAFO. That's a RAFO, but definitely they have a similar origin.
I've been trying to figure out how to... make an Alethi dress with a safehound pouch without the hand being all bulky.
Yeah, or looking like it's amputated.
There are people online who have done them and they look good.
Yeah, I've looked them up. The problem is when you have the thing there, and because your putting things that are about the size of a marble, it ends up looking like there's a clump.
Oh yeah, it does. It does look-- it looks odd to our eyes. It's natural to them, if that makes any sense, but if you make it a little bit tighter, also we found that helps.
But what it be unreasonable for it to go really long, because I was thinking that would be kind of pretty.
Yeah you could totally do a really long one.
In the end of Words of Radiance, Syl is turning into a Shardblade as well as other different weapons, and Kaladin has a whole bunch of windspren around him. I am wondering if that is a precursor to Shardplate?
I think you are a very smart man and you are asking wise questions.
I was reading stuff online about like a Mistborn videogame?
Yeah, we'll still working on it. It's taking much longer than we thought. The developer, that producer of the game and I had chosen, they, ah, had a falling out and split and so we had to start over from scratch and that's what really threw us for a loop. We then took it to a really prestigious one-- game company that I love and they considered it for a long time, but it turned out that they just didn't have the time and couldn't do it. So now we are kind of back to square one finding a third group to do it.
I write as well, and I was wondering what books you use to improve your own writing?
I have found both of Orson Scott Card’s books to be very good. Stephen King's book is very good. I find that my writing improves more when I read people's writing that I admire and then ask myself what they did well. That helps me more than some of the textbooks.
That's kind of how I was feeling too, for myself, so excellent.
Breaking down someone who's really good at this, like Anne McCaffrey, or somebody like that, and saying "what is she actually doing?".
From the very beginning did you already know-- like cosmere? Like was that your goal setting out?
It was my goal very early on. In fact, before I wrote any books I wrote a short story about Hoid. So he goes back to before the very first book that I wrote. So yeah it goes back pretty far. I can trace inspirations back to Asimov tying Foundation and Robots together and feeling like that was really cool and wanting to do something like that, if it makes sense. And so I would say that’s probably like the first seed was when I read the later Foundation books and they tied them together.
I've always thought in Steelheart, or in the Reckoners series, what influenced your characters like that, like was there comic books behind that?
I've read a lot of comics, so you can find--
Any specific ones that influenced you?
Watchman influenced everyone. Kingdom Come is one of first that made me really think about comics. My favorite was the old Eastman and Laird original Turtles. But I don't know if that's as much inspiration as me just enjoying it. I don't know. I like the graphic novels like the Killing Joke... that feel like a self-contained story.
Warbreaker had just come out, and I was talking about how you used more comedy in the book, and I was asking about it and everything else, and I was so pleased that you've done such a wonderful job with it, I enjoyed the humor aspects, besides it just sets everything up perfectly.
I feel that a great book is going to have a wide range of emotions, so I try to stick various different ones in.
What book has inspired you the most?
I'd say Les Miserables.
Oh really, why's that?
I love Victor Hugo’s writing style. His use of character and his use of language.
Who is your favorite Epic, because I have read Firefight.
I would say that, ok it's a spoiler-- Megan is my favorite Epic.
Do we not know that at the end of Steelheart?
You do, but there are people here who have not read Steelheart.
My boy was wondering...I said, what would you want to ask him, and he said, why is Alcatraz a bad guy but he doesn’t do bad things?
You can just say to him that Alcatraz is not a bad guy but he has a poor opinion of himself. He has bad self esteem.
You've touched on [The Emperor's Soul], are you going to write a bigger one about that?
It’s unlikely because I think it works so well as it is. But you will probably see Shai again at some point.
Is there a Hoid cameo in Shadows for Silence?
There is not. I intentionally didn't put one in, because I didn't-- couldn't come-- there was no reason for him to be there, and I didn't want to be doing it just to do it, if that makes sense, like, the Cosmere isn't just a bunch of cameos, it is a story within itself.
How far ahead in the timeline is Sixth of Dusk?
Pretty far.
Can I have a general--
Most people that I'm writing about now are dead.
Is it up into the third trilogy of Mistborn?
It is that era, yes.
Sweet! That's what I thought.
It might be a little bit before that trilogy, but it's that era.
Do you have to have done the third oath before you can convert your spren into a Blade?
In most orders, yes.
What about Shallan then? Did she do it, cause she was a kid when she first--
Yes, um... you will find out more.
Are we ever going to find out who brought Nightblood to Roshar?
Yes.
Are we going to see more of that world [Threnody]?
Yes.
In [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], the Evil that destroyed the Homeland, was that Odium killing a Shard?
RAFO.
My brother and I have been debating about Hoid and how he got his abilities. We have a couple theories. One of them is Hemalurgy. The other has to do with the portals into the worlds themselves, because the birds in Sixth of Dusk--
Ok, he doesn't have Hemalurgy right now. He has powers that predate the Shattering of Adonalsium. Not all of his powers predate, but he does have powers that predate.
Ok, so I was wrong on both counts then. Am I wrong on both counts?
I'm not saying that, I'm saying that he does have powers that predate but he has also gained powers since.
Does Sazed talk to Wax when he has that thing in his ear, while he’s praying?
Yes, that is Sazed.
I'm concerned that that bloodthirsty sword is off on his own again.
He, ah, he is, he is in dangerous hands right now, let's just say that.
When it comes to like, touring and stuff like that, how do you pick these locations?
Sometimes, it's my publisher, sometimes it's me saying let's go somewhere different. And sometimes it's places where I've come a lot where they do a good job, like when I come to a store like this, I feel like they do a good job, so I put a good report into the publisher and say, feel free to send me back to that store.
Ok, because I'm a student at Sunset University, and I have a lot of people who are fans there, and I'd love it if you know--
The best way to get me into places like that is if you have a local convention, science fiction convention, having them invite me to be guest of honor, I do that sort of thing a lot.
I struggle because I go through books so quick, and so I've gone through a lot of your recommendations, and a lot of other recommendations from other people on reddit, on your reddit page, but where do you find books that you read?
These days normally it is people ask me for cover quotes. And so what people send in, I read the first few pages, or my wife, she reads voraciously and what she finds-- Like The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, I got that from her, if you haven't read that it's really good. It's like half non-fiction book, well it's all non-fiction but half like science writing and half biography, it's really cool. Definitely check out Uprooted when it comes out, that's very good. You've read the Hyperion books?
Yes.
Ok, what else is good that you may not have really read? My recommendations right, if you've read Guy Gavriel Kay...
Yeah...the student of yours who wrote a book?
Ah yeah Brian McClellan's. You've read Brian McClellan's? You've read everything! Something old and long...Elric [by Michael Moorcock]. Elric's pretty decent. It depends on if you like heroic fantasy, you know more of-- that, and David Gemmel, both of those heroic fantasy, try one, see if you like that style there's a ton of them out there.
When spren die, they kind of become part of everything, so why did, when the Knights broke their oaths, why did they stay as Shardblades?
They had been bound into that form by those oaths. The oaths are broken, but it's like they’re cracked. Does that make sense? Like, there's still something holding those spren and that's what made them *inaudible* It would have been better if they had actually died, does that make sense? But they couldn't-- they're bound in that form.
But their consciousness is still, like, gone?
They still have a consciousness, some of them. To an extent.
That's why the screaming happens.
Yes.
What advice would you give to people who want to be authors?
What advice would I give to people who want to be authors? ...You want to be a writer? So, I have these little cards that say "so you want to be a writer", I'm going to pass one back to you. So the number one thing I'd say that as a writer you want to know is, your duty, your job, is to practice in such a way that you can become a person who can write great books. Your job is not to write a great book. Your job is to practice so you become people who write great books. So treat becoming a writer like you treat becoming a pianist, or becoming a doctor, or anything else that is a goal you want to achieve. Say, I'm going to take years to do this. I'm going to practice consistently. And I am going to not stress right now if I am not achieving what I want to do. You don't start off doing brain surgery, you don't start off playing Rachmaninoff. You start off practicing and just do that. If you are willing to do that, you will improve and you will be surprised how fast you grow. If instead you're like I need to write the perfect paragraph or the perfect chapter before I can move on, and you stare at that and beat your head against it you will never improve.
There's a story told by someone, you can google this online, just look for the, ah-- pottery-- uh, oh... trying to remember what it's called-- Alright I can't tell you how to google it but maybe your googlefu is better than mine when I tell you the story. So there's this person who teaches pottery and he shared in his book--and I've read the book, and seen it, and things like this--a story about how he one year split his class in half, and had one half, the new beginners in pottery, their job was each week their grade was going to be based on how good a pot they made. They've gotta make the best pot they can every week, turn it in, he would give them a grade for that week. And, you know, that's how good you were. The second group, he said you're going to get a grade based on the weight of all the pots you create this week, meaning we're just going to weigh them and if you hit this certain amount you are going to get an A, if you get this certain amount you're going to get a B. He did this for the entire semester teaching exactly the same way and at the end he said "Now make the best pot you can" to both groups. And the best pots all came from the group who did their grade by weight. All of them. The best pots came from that group. Not the people who tried to make a perfect pot every week, but the people who tried to make the most pots every week. And that works in creative endeavors quite a bit, that practice trumps perfection on the small scale when you're starting.
In one of your Alcatraz books, what exactly is the meaning of fourteenth, upside-down übercousins?
*laughing* Ah, this is one of the weird sorting systems that is used by the Librarians and it's a weird word. What does it mean? I have no idea, I just made it up. Sorry! No no, that's not the real answer. The right answer is Alcatraz wrote those books and I've never been to the Free Kingdoms or met the real Librarians, so I have no idea what he's talking about. I'm just the name they put on the cover so the Librarians don't find him.
In Stormlight, how the hell does society work with one object standing for both the currency, the magic system, and light and power--
How does it work in Roshar with one thing spanning-- for the economy, the magic system, and... lighting up everything. They would ask, "How you could possibly have three different things?" because it makes no sense to them. It totally functions, I think. The big distinction is you can't use Stormlight for lighting if-- Like that's something for rich people. You'll see poor people using candles and whatnot, because hanging out your spheres is not a smart idea in some other places. There are spheres that are a low light level that are worth about a candle or so, so if you put a candle out someone could just swipe that, it's worth the same amount. There's really no difference between putting out a candle and that. If you're going to put out a lantern you can put spheres in it and lock it up.
Syl seems to switch forms a lot more than any of the other bonded spren. Is her default human, like the little human woman?
Is Syl's default the little human woman or does she not really have one? You will find out more about that eventually.
