Recent entries

Zander Hatch

Could you Awaken an Honorblade?

Brandon Sanderson

It would take a Looooooot of power. (A near impossible amount.)

John Lee

Any updates on movie/tv/video game adaptions?

Brandon Sanderson

Nothing big. Steelheart has a script. It's the only one so far to hit that stage.

Wayne McCutcheon

Any new information about the Steelheart movie? So excited about it! Will you be involved in making it?

Brandon Sanderson

Last I heard, they had a script they liked, and were sending it out for a polish. I will be as involved as they will allow!

Drew McCaffrey

I'm assuming they met in White Sand, if Hoid is who I think he is in that one ;) but more how well does she know his agenda?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not sure if you're thinking this, but Nazh and Hoid are separate people.

Garrett

Other than Hoid, which character have you had the most fun writing?

Brandon Sanderson

Wayne.

Maria Goulet‏

Why isn't Alcatraz part of the Cosmere?The lenses seem like they could be investiture-related.

Brandon Sanderson

I didn't want Alcatraz to have to follow Cosmere continuity and rules. Yes, the magic could work in the cosmere

Rock Chef

Is Edgli going to make an appearance (or be mentioned in) another book? I want to know more about Edgli!

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, this will be answered eventually.

Avi Dobkin

Hoid, Wayne, Kelsier and Wax are playing cards. How many aces are there?

Brandon Sanderson

Only Wayne and Hoid are likely to cheat, and they'd be in cahoots.

Dustin Warf

If Kelsier had visited Roshar, what spren would have been attracted to his character?

Brandon Sanderson

Gloryspren because he pretty much always feels like he's done something awesome. :)

Cloud of the Ghar

Was atium truly one of the 16 metals, or can it be used by anyone just like lerasium?

Brandon Sanderson

Atium has some screwy things going on. It's not one of the 16, but not just anybody could use it.

Bernardo Hasenlechne

What's the book you've enjoyed the most writing?

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm.... Probably one of the Alcatraz books.

L Cress

Do you think pantsers grow up to be planners? Or, are pantsers forever pantsers, & planners forever planners?

Brandon Sanderson

I think that both pantsers and planners generally learn to use the tools of the others side on occasion.

And some do swap, particularly for given books. But neither is the other in embryo.

AndrewStirlingMacDonald

I know they are not a part of the Cosmere, but does the Reckonersverse follow the rules of Realmatic theory?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Instead, it follows quantum multiverse theory.

AndrewStirlingMacDonald

Did Nazh fall in with Khriss before or after the Forests of Hell were colonized by Patience's people?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. (Sorry. I am toying with a book on Threnody, and don't want to lock myself into anything yet.)

Caitlin Shanly

Your characters often gain confidence from beg to end of a book. What inspired that trend of personal growth?

Brandon Sanderson

My own life! :)

Sagar M

Do you always know the ending of the stories when you begin them?

Brandon Sanderson

Almost always. I'm a planner. Once in a while, I do a short story where I don't. Even that is rare, though.

Shyninglight

if you could have any of the powers from your books which one would you choose?

Brandon Sanderson

Windrunning, probably.

Tara

In Stormlight Archive what inspired you to come up with the idea of bridges & how they carry them across chasms?

Brandon Sanderson

I wanted a form of siege warfare that was different from anything that readers had seen before, but had the same despair to it.

Eric Hohnbaum‏

Who provoked the confrontation, Tanavast or Rayse?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Anna

Epigraphs in Mistborn & Stormlight: did you wrote them before, during or after writing the rest of the book?

Brandon Sanderson

Almost always after the book is done, with notes before certain chapters of what to include above that one.

Mike Zentz

Who/what was the inspiration for Wayne's character? He's the best!

Brandon Sanderson

Really, it started with the hats and went crazy from there.

Yata

Is "Galladon" Galladon's true name ?

Brandon Sanderson

It is his birth name, if that's what you're asking.

Yata

Yes, I had this crazy idea about "people need to have an Aon in the name to be chosen by the Shaod" and Galladon hasn't it.

Brandon Sanderson

Ah, that's an excellent guess. But no, that isn't the case. It's more about Connection.

Hazuki

Are there any characters that were particularly difficult for you to work with?

Brandon Sanderson

Cadsuane from the WoT was the one that comes to mind.

Discar

How big is the Roshar supercontinent?

Brandon Sanderson

[Peter Ahlstrom] or [Isaac Stewart], can give you a specific on that, if you need one. I don't have the scale map handy.

Isaac Stewart

Roughly 4000 miles East to West.

Peter Ahlstrom

I can't remember if that is right, per my globe.

Isaac Stewart

True. Things might've changed since the globe experiment.

Discar

Can you give us an Oath that hasn't been revealed in the story yet?

Brandon Sanderson

No. You'll have to wait for the stories to get those.

PhantoMonstrosity

Would you mind giving a width for the Final Empire as well? Thanks! :)

Isaac Stewart

Still work to do on that... Maybe before the end of the year.

PhantoMonstrosity

Ah, for the book with all the starcharts [Arcanum Unbounded]? Looking forward to seeing it then :).

Isaac Stewart

Not necessarily for that book. :)

Chris White

Could a sentient Invested object take up a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Highly unlikely, probably impossible--but impossibility is hard to judge.

Kogiopsis

We were wondering about spren gender and if spren can have non-binary genders.

Brandon Sanderson

That is certainly possible... After all, I should mention this, since the Parshendi have non-binary genders. Because they have four genders.

Kogiopsis

I'm guessing we are going to get RAFO'd on this but is his future-sight a Surge-ability?

Brandon Sanderson

*makes "RAFO" face*

Kogiopsis

What happened to Renarin between collapsing on the floor of the Oathgate room, when Shallan was yelling for people to gag him, and showing up again in the later chapters? Did he actually get gagged or what?

Brandon Sanderson

He did not get gagged.

Kogiopsis

Feather will be appeased.

Kogiopsis

Finally, what point, usually, is society at when a Desolation comes? Because Taln was prepared to introduce them to bronze...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Kogiopsis

...and Alethi society is so far beyond that.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Historically a lot of the-- What would happen with the Desolations would destroy all civilization and then the Heralds would leave, and leave people basically in the Stone Age again. And they came back numerous times and found humankind still in the Stone Age, after having left. And so they are prepared-- Sometimes they would come back and they would already be in the Bronze Age or-- and things like that and get them beyond that but frequently they had to be ready, the Heralds learned they had to be ready to try and bring humankind forward several thousand years worth of technology in a year.

Questioner (Paraphrased)

Is it possible to imitate Radiant abilities using fabrials?

Brandon Sanderson

*audio picks up mid-answer* ...which ended up and followed that the failing of the Vorin church and things like that and so it's possible to recreate the other powers as well.

Kogiopsis

Is the time between Desolations regular?

Brandon Sanderson

No.

Kogiopsis

Is neurodiversity a requirement to become a Radiant? Like do you have to be non-neurotypical?

Brandon Sanderson

Read the back of Words of Radiance for your answer, the back of the cover.

Kogiopsis

So when Renarin was writing the countdown to the Everstorm, how conscious was he of what he was doing and how in control was he?

Brandon Sanderson

He was not terribly in control, he was somewhat conscious. But you will find out a lot more about this, that-- Yes.

Swamp-Spirit

Shallan's Memory ability to capture an image doesn't seem to be working exactly like an eidetic memory...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Swamp-Spirit

...because she can erase it by drawing. Is that tied directly to the magic of Lightweaving? And if so would other creative Lightweavers have similar abilities.

Brandon Sanderson

If you look at the epigraphs there is a big hint on this, where it talks about it and yes... I have problems with eidetic memory, just because scientifically most scientists say this is not a real thing. So I would say that whenever-- Because of my knowledge of the science of it understand that you would need some sort of magical enhancement to be able to do what she does.

Swamp-Spirit

How do you-- Like both Shallan and Kaladin obviously haven't had good lives, but like-- How do you write these really tragic backstories without them feeling kind of gratuitous or forced?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question... This is really about the whole idea of making sure you are avoiding melodrama... And melodrama-- the defining aspect of a melodrama is a story in which each character only exhibits only one emotional state. A great example of this done poorly is--despite me liking a lot about it--there was a show called Lost... So there's a character whose son gets kidnapped, and from that moment on the only thing he cares about or talks about is the loss of his son. And it's a very tragic thing for him. Losing your son, I can imagine how tragic that would be, and yet this character became so defined by that one attribute that it turned into melodrama for him. The rest of the characters will be standing around saying "Alright we need to do this thing, these guys are over there with guns, they are going to take us down. What do we do?" And they're like "We should do this." "We should do this." and this guy is like "My son!" They're like "We know you want your son back but--" "My son!" "What do you want for dinner?" "My son is gone! How can I eat dinner?!?". And so having a character exhibit only one emotional state is always going to feel like you just set-- It's going to ruin the character, whatever that is.

So a tragic backstory-- People joke about Batman. When Batman is written poorly it's always about "My father's d-- My parents are dead" and when he's working well that's an aspect that influence things he does but it's not the only thing about him. And so that would be my warning to you. You can do all of these sorts of things but make the character's not about-- You know we are in part defined by things like this but as real people we are not about the bad things that have happened to us, we are about so much more. And make that the case, alright?

Swamp-Spirit

We have a lot of Renarin questions just because he is a character we both care a lot about, just another what could you-- give us a tidbit about Renarin's relationship with Bridge Four?

Brandon Sanderson

I can tell you this, here's a good tidbit. You know the books are about ten characters. Renarin's one of them. But Renarin, you know the first five, he's not one of. So Renarin is one of the main characters for the back five, which are focused more on the Heralds, and he is one of the characters with the flashbacks there. So Renarin, you are not going to get everything you want about him until the back five books. So just keep that in mind.

Swamp-Spirit

I can live with that.

Swamp-Spirit

When you're writing YA do you ever feel-- Because I was feeling this while reading the Alcatraz novels-- Do you ever feel like you're limited in what you can explore by not wanting to go too dark or too complex for a certain audience? Or when you are writing that sort of story does that not really...

Brandon Sanderson

Complexity does not enter into it, for me, except for the fact that I generally focus on one character. And so there is a complexity issue there, in that, you know, it's like I'm doing one, maybe two, viewpoints. And I think it's basically coming because when I'm choosing a story I'm matching a story to an age, I'm not matching an age to a story, does that make sense? So when I say "this is a YA story" that's because it exhibits the sorts of things I want to tell-- exhibits the sort of things that work for that market. I don't tend to write down but I do tend to keep the number of viewpoints more limited, just to keep the books a little less thick. So yeah, yes but not really.

Airred

You said that you liked video games. What would you say is one of your favorites?

Brandon Sanderson

One of my favorites, I like the Dark Souls games quite a bit. And I've been playing those since they were called King's Field, it's the same company. So I've played all of them since way back when. And I really like the Infamous games, and I really like Civilization, all of those, I've played every single one of those.

Airred

You said you played Infamous, have you played Prototype?

Brandon Sanderson

Y'know I've been tempted a lot, but what I've read from Prototype is that-- Like I played Infamous because I knew you had the choice to not be the bad guy, and I've heard that Prototype you basically don't really have that choice.

Airred

Yeah...

Swamp-Spirit

Dishonored gives that choice *talking over each other*

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, my brother's been suggesting Dishonored, but I'm not-- When I play video games I like to play people that I would admire, you know what I mean? Like I am-- If I have a moral choice system my character is a boy scout. I don't...

Komekoro

Paragon to the max.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, those little walking pixels, I'm not going to, y'know I'm going to mourn if I accidentally run over one of them.

Kogiopsis

What are David and Prof's ethnicities, from Steelheart?

Brandon Sanderson

David and Prof... I have both of them being Caucasian.

Kogiopsis

We were wondering whether you could tell us what Jasnah's sexuality is?

Swamp-Spirit

The internet wanted to know.

Kogiopsis

The internet really wants to know.

Brandon Sanderson

Jasnah does not want to be defined by her sexuality.

Kogiopsis

How did koloss-blooded people happen?

Brandon Sanderson

Koloss-blooded people-- A koloss-blooded is the result of two koloss having a child. A full koloss is only made once you accept the spikes and are mutated into the final form. And so a koloss-blooded-- The koloss can breed true now but that's what you get. And so they actually have a ritual at coming-of-age where you can accept the spikes or you can leave. And so all koloss in the wastes-- in the Roughs that are in the koloss tribes are-- have chosen that and outsiders can choose it too.

Kogiopsis

What are the basic requirements for a chalking to function in the Rithmatist world?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to RAFO that because I'm working on the second book right now and I don't want to-- Yeah.

Kogiopsis

Do Rosharans just refer to all birds as chickens and is that a translation error from the Shin? Or do the Shin call them all chickens too?

Brandon Sanderson

No, the Shin do not call them all chickens but Rosharans, outside of Shinovar, call them all chickens.

Questioner

Did you switch to the signature after you became an author to make it easier or did you--

Brandon Sanderson

It evolved over time. It used to be a little more legible, but not a lot.

Kogiopsis

What would Zane have been like without Ruin?

Brandon Sanderson

Zane without Ruin would have been-- It's so hard to say, is it Zane without Ruin but still having the terrible family life that he has?

Swamp-Spirit

Probably yeah.

Kogiopsis

Still has Straff.

Brandon Sanderson

Then still have Straff but he would probably be more of a Straff heir type thing. Like he would be less crazy, maybe more ruthless and... I mean he would still be his father's son.

Kogiopsis

Since Returned come back as kind of an idealized form of themselves, if somebody was transgender in their original life would they Return as the sex they had been assigned the first time or the gender they identified as?

Brandon Sanderson

I would think that a transgendered person could definitely come back as how they identify. Perception is very important in these sorts of things. It would really depend on the person, but yes.

imriel452

Tell me something about the cosmere that has not been previously mentioned.

Brandon Sanderson

Long ago there was a plot to destroy Adonalsium. It failed.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Eighteenth - Is his wife here?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No; she's home with the kids because touring is kind of miserable.