Recent entries

    TWG Posts ()
    #10101 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    I intentionally left seons--their origin, their connection to AonDor--a little vague in ELANTRIS. The reason for this is that I intend the secrets of the Seons to be a major plot element in a sequel to the book.

    I didn't want to put very much about them in because I knew that it would be years before I got to do an ELANTRIS sequel, and I wanted to give myself enough 'wiggle room' to not confine the second book, which isn't fully formed in my head yet. Anything I say now could ruin the plot for people before I even write the book--or, it could end up being untrue, as I develop my ideas further.

    Eagle Prince

    Can they go through walls? Are they incorporeal like a ghost? I'm guessing they can't move stuff around, because Ashe says something about the Elantrians wanting him to bring them food but he couldn't. And then when Serene was on the wall, he just shouted at her, like he couldn't just knock her back or anything. But then several times it talked about them going through windows, and some of the Elantrian seons bouncing around like drunks.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question, EP.

    I answer this in the text just briefly, but it doesn't come up a whole lot. At one point, Raoden's mad Seon tries to float through a wall, and he bounces off of it. I wished to imply that they did have substance, but they were very light, and therefore unable to exert any great amounts of force.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10102 Copy

    Peter Ahlstrom

    How long did it take to write Mistborn from reconception to the end of the first draft? Was that all on off time or did you start when school was still going?

    Shelving Climb the Sky for now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    MISTBORN: Began preliminary work in December 2003. Began writing beginning of February. Finished mid-June.

    CLIMB THE SKY: I'm probably going to have to shelve it for a year or so. I might slip it in between MISTBORN 2 and MISTBORN 3, but Tage keeps telling me that I just need to write a sequel.

    I agree, and so I'm going for MISTBORN 2. I actually wrote ten pages or so prose for the first chapter, though writing will be slower until I get all of my preliminary work done.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10104 Copy

    Peter Ahlstrom

    The round map [in Mistborn: The Final Empire] makes it look like it takes place over a hemisphere...is that intentional?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, actually. Though, when we put a map in the book, we'd probably fuzz the edges so we don't have to deal with that. However, after what the Lord Ruler did to the world to try and stop the Deepness, the only habitable parts on the planet are the poles.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10105 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, so here's the thing. I want to write a sequel to ELANTRIS someday--or, at least, I want to leave myself open to the possibility.

    The first book is named after the city of Elantris, where most of the action takes place. The sequel, set ten years after the first book, will take place in the capitol city of the prime antagonists in the series. For cohesion, this book should probably be named after that city.

    So, here's the problem. Usually I have months and months to settle on a book title, and I'm usually pretty happy with what I get. However, I don't have an opportunity to write the book this time before I name it. I mention the city that will be the title of the next book several times in ELANTRIS. I have to make certain I really like this city name now, since I'll probably name a book after it sometime in the future.

    So, I've been digging for ideas. The country the book will take place in is called 'Fjorden.' As you might guess from that name, the dialectical genre of the culture is a Scandinavian spin-off. (It's kind of a guttural Norse--Scandinavian with some harsh Germanic sounds thrown in.)

    Other words in the language:

    Hrathen, Dilaf, Arteth, Dakhor, Grondkest, Svorden

    I need a name for the new city that would work well as a book title (i.e., it needs to be fairly easy to pronounce, and needs to sound cool) but that still fits with the linguistic style of the region.

    Here are some I've come up with so far. What do you think of these? Which is your favorite? Which don't you like?

    Zinareth, Widor, Velding, Klynair, Valinrath, Skaln, Vallensha, Vallinor

    Brandon Sanderson

    The original (in-text) name of the city was 'Widor.' Back then, however, I wasn't thinking of a sequel.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10106 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    ELANTRIS and WHITE SAND have what I would call 'flawless' heroes. DRAGONSTEEL and AETHER OF NIGHT have mostly flawless heroes, with their internal issues being only minor parts of the plot. These four have, from what people have told me, are generally their favorite books of mine.

    WAY OF KINGS, MISTBORN (version 1), and FINAL EMPIRE all have heroes with serious emotional or psychological issues that they're dealing with. KINGS is the most daunting of these, with each of the major characters having their own personal 'thing' that they are working through in the book. MISTBORN (version 2) is similar to this (though none of you have read it yet.)

    These three books have received mixed reactions. While many people claim to like them, I'm not sure that they enjoyed them as much as the previous set.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10107 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    This book is kind of a 're-envisioning' of Mistborn. The first Mistborn version I wrote had this absolutely amazing world and magic system, but the characters were very weak and the plot was so-so. Even as I finished it, I knew it would need a revision.

    Then, later, I wrote Final Empire--the book I finished when our writing group finally dissolved. This book had much better characters, but the world/magic was very weak.

    As I finished WAY OF KINGS (back in November of 2003) I began to fiddle with new potential projects. I began outlining WAY OF KINGS 2, but I knew that KINGS itself was likely to undergo some major revisions, and I wasn't quite sure where the characters would be for the beginning of the second book. So, I decided to delay writing that. I also fiddled with an ELANTRIS sequel, but I wasn't certain Tor wanted one of those or not.

    As I worked, the idea of a MISTBORN rewrite tempted me more and more. I had another idea for a cool plot, and was intending to develop it into its own book, but it didn't have characters or a setting yet. It occurred to me that the MISTBORN setting would work very well, especially if I borrowed some characters and concepts from FINAL EMPIRE.

    In the end, after a few months of planning, the three pieces--MISTBORN magic and Setting, FINAL EMPIRE characters and politics, and the new plot--clicked together very nicely. I was extremely pleased with the results, since MISTBORN and FINAL EMPIRE are the two books I've written that I was the most disappointed in. This project would give me the opportunity to redeem the original ideas from both stories, and improve on them.

    I called the resulting book MISTBORN: FINAL EMPIRE out of Homage, though "Mistborn" is the title I expect to stick (instead of the subtitle, kind of ala Star Wars: A New Hope.) Time, and reads from my writing groups and friends, will tell me if my experiment was a success or not.

    TWG Posts ()
    #10108 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    How much [Writing Preparation] do you do? What files do you create?

    I've done it various ways. Usually I have an 'outline' document for plots, a 'character' document for characters, and a 'world' document for magic systems and things.

    Sometimes, the preparatory documents are only a couple dozen pages. (Elantris.) Sometimes they're hundreds of pages long. (Dragonsteel, Way of Kings.)

    TWG Posts ()
    #10109 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, I'm entering a portion of my current book [Mistborn] where I have to devise a lot of names. Anyone want a Cameo? I could throw in something close to your name, or perhaps a version of one of your usernames, if you wish. Firstcomers get speaking parts.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, Lord Rian Strobe just got added to the book. He's even got a line! (He asks a young lady to dance.)

    Brandon Sanderson

    OutKast: Elariel is a good fantasy name--won't have any problems with that.

    Tekiel: Can probably use that one straight-up, if you want.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, 'House Erikeller' just got mentioned as one of the major noble houses in the book. They probably won't have a big part, but they are weapons merchants, which I thought you might appreciate.

    Gemm, I didn't so much as give you a character as base an entire cultural dialect off of your language patterns. They're a bunch of underground street punks who like to speak in a slang that (intentionally) confuses everyone else. There is a character in the book from that culture, though he's a few years younger than you.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, House Elariel and the Lady Stace Whiten just got cameos. House Elariel throws a party that some characters attend; Lady Whiten is a young woman that is supposedly one of characters' dates, but he ditches her. (Sorry. He's kind of like that.)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, busy night.

    First off, House Tekiel showed up in the book. In connection with that, I managed to work in House Geffenry and House Izenry.

    My favorite for the night, however, is the appearance of Lord Charleir Entrone. He shows up only as a corpse, having been stabbed in the back while in a drunken stupor, but he has a reputation of being a twisted connoisseur of underground bloodfight gambling.

    Liverpool signing ()
    #10111 Copy

    Ayende87 (paraphrased)

    I asked if the Aimians as a race were, as I suspected, closer to the Cognitive Realm, and whether they are somehow related to the Parshendi.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon started by saying there are 2 sub races of Aimians for a start, and Axies the Collector is of 1 set, we have yet to meet the other but we will!

    He did say there is 'Something' going on with the Aimians and their interaction with the Cognitive Realm but wouldn't elaborate on that point.

    He then went on to say that Aimians are not in fact related to Parshendi at all, but the Horneaters and Herdazians are!

    JordanCon 2016 ()
    #10114 Copy

    Questioner

    Speaking of the Stormfather, would the Nightwatcher and the giant water spren be on the same level of spren as the Stormfather?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...The Nightwatcher, yes. Um... There are, I would say, a level below the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher who are also much-- a much bigger deal than something like one of the sapient spren, and that's what Cusicesh is.

    Questioner

    So the Nightwatcher is a spren you'd say?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Nightwatcher-- I mean, they call the Nightwatcher a spren. Everyone in the books thinks the Nightwatcher is a spren. That's what they would call-- that's what they would call, if they knew what Honor was, they would call Honor a spren. A spren is Investiture that is alive.

    Bystander

    Nightblood?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they would call Nightblood a spren. They would call-- That's the word for what all of these things are. They would probably've called Adonalsium a spren…

    Moderator

    What would Hoid call one of those?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What would Hoid call the Nightwatcher? *laughter* What would Hoid call one of what?

    Moderator

    Yeah what would Hoid call the Nightwatcher?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um… *long pause/laughter*

    Moderator

    If Hoid were to use a non-proper noun?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Unpleasant names. *laughter*

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10115 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there a limit to the amount of useful energy that can be extracted from an end-neutral system? Like Skimmers on a Terris wheel on opposite sides.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So... Skimmers by making their weight lighter, spinning the thing around, and things and then--

     

    Questioner

    You got one on opposite sides--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah you could totally do this. In my mind, the way I work this out is that it's no more-- having people do it and things like this-- yeah you could totally do that. The power for making this happen, you are drawing Spiritual energy into the Physical plane can power your motor. It's not power-negative, it's changing forms.

    But in realistic terms that would be so much less cost-effective than other methods because Allomancers are expensive, but yeah you could just keep that going.

    Questioner

    Same with Lifeless? Telling them to push a wheel around?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, the sustenance for life is coming directly from the Spiritual plane. So if you remove that, it wouldn't work. The whole idea from this is that energy is getting recycled back into the Spiritual plane when people are dying and things like that, so...

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10116 Copy

    Questioner

    If a Mistborn burned both cadmium and bendalloy at the same time, would the bubbles default to the same size?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's an excellent question that I'm not gonna' to answer yet; because a lot of people have been asking me it and I want to make sure it comes out in the right way.

    Questioner

    If they made the bubbles the same size, would there still be a barrier between the space inside and outside?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's the question. I'm gonna' RAFO these things.

    [...]

    In general the cadmium bubbles are bigger than the bendalloy bubbles, but you can influence the size.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10119 Copy

    Questioner

    There is quantitative difference in Allomancy (e.g. Elend is stronger than Vin), there is skill difference (e.g. Breeze is better than Vin with zinc), but is there a qualitative difference too?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That’s the scale of what we call savant. Wax can do more with less. It’s not just skill, the burning for long, using for so long, will actually adapt your soul to the power.

    Questioner

    So can bronze savants pierce copperclouds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, a bronze savant should be able to pierce copperclouds. It depends on the strengths of the coppercloud and the strength of the savant, but yes.

    Questioner

    So Elend could theoretically learn to pierce copperclouds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Weaker ones, yeah, totally. He can learn how to do it by brute force.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10121 Copy

    Questioner

    Navani’s emotion fabrial, are those correspondent to the Thaylen Passions in any way?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but the Thaylen Passions would’ve come second to some of this.

    Questioner

    So through a cultural filter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. There is no magic to the Thaylen Passions, they are a religion but with no magical component. Sometimes a religion is just a religion.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10125 Copy

    Questioner

    Aradel doesn’t sound like he is from Scadrial, seems out of place with his dark - well, tanned, - skin.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Aradel is actually based off Goradel, he is a descendant of his. So he is local. The skin, there are streaks of dark skin in Scadrial, they don’t associate them 100% with ethnicities because of the small [gene] pool they were building from, and they are stronger in the Terris bloodlines. So if they see someone with darker skin they will likely think they are from Terris, but there’s so much intermixing so that you can’t really say. Wax would have a darker complexion, maybe like a tanned caucasian.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10127 Copy

    Questioner

    Is it possible for spren to move from one planet to another?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible for them to get to other planets. They are tied to certain realms… A lot of them reside in the cognitive realm and are pulled into the physical by their bonds--

    Questioner

    Would they bring the same magics?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That you will have to wait and see.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10129 Copy

    Questioner

    I read some stuff, it’s pretty old, about the sequel to Elantris. Are you still planning on doing it, and is it the same thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It’s still the same thing, and I’m still planning to do Sarene’s uncle, Kiin, and his family as the main characters.

    Questioner

    And do we get to learn more about the monks, the Dakhor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Dakhor, yes. You will find more about them, it will take place over in, uh, Fjorden.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10138 Copy

    Questioner

    So I’ve noticed a certain syllable, “Vo,” that turns up in this book [Warbreaker] and also in Vorinism. Is there supposed to be a link between Vo, the First Returned, because there seem to be a great deal of similarities between the monks of Austre and the Ardents.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So there are, um, more links between the planets than people know about, and I’m not going to confirm or deny anything. But the fact that you’re finding words that are connecting, like Worldsingers and Worldbringers, says that there’s… intentional connections. I’m not [confirming a connection], I’m saying that these theories should not be dismissed out of hand.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10140 Copy

    Questioner

    So alternate ending of Well of Ascension … *inaudible* three more spirits… *inaudible* if another Shard would show up [with the?] mist spirit, is that in [???]

    Brandon Sanderson

    That’s in *inaudible* There are things you don’t know about the mist spirit yet I am planning to reveal soon.

    Questioner

    Have we met any of those three yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    For what I was planning there, yes, you have.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10141 Copy

    Questioner

    The whole Cosmere thing, is there an end to it, and do you have a specific year in mind for when that will be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, there is an end. Here’s what has to be happen before I finish it. We have to do another two Mistborn trilogies, The Stormlight Archive, at least three Dragonsteel novels. That’s the soonest I can do. I’ll probably have to do a few more Elantris and Warbreaker, but that’s the minimum. Because the third Mistborn trilogy is where we bring things to a head.

    Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
    #10142 Copy

    Questioner

    Does the spren have to be present for a Surgebinder to have their abilities? Because with Dalinar, the Stormfather won’t be around all the time...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good Question! Fortunately, the Stormfather is a little more omnipresent. Normally you’re gonna have to have your spren close, but the Stormfather absorbed... is basically Honor’s Cognitive Shadow, which means he’s got a connection to a lot of different things, so he’s not bound by a lot of the rules that others are.

    Ad Astra 2017 ()
    #10148 Copy

    Spoolofwhool

    What does it mean for an object to be considered "Invested"?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uh, that is a matter of some discussion among scientists. Usually it means, to most of them, like a-- so, let me see if I can explain this-- So all things are built from Investiture.

    Spoolofwhool

    Right.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right? Um, when they're using "Invested" they're talking about kind of like saturating a solution, in that-- yes, it's built out of this material, but you are-- there is more in it than-- like, it's a little bit like supersaturation, but not quite. Because it can s-- yeah, anyway.

    Spoolofwhool

    So getting, like, more Investiture in the spiritweb or in Cognitive than normal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, more than just the creation of it. Like there is lingering Investiture that could be drawn out. Or more stuffed in. It's--

    Spoolofwhool

    But there are limits, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are limits. We kind of run into that in Feruchemy a little bit, and things like that. But yes.