What will be in Arcanum Unbound?
- All of the things.
- All of the short stories and novellas that are part of the Cosmere by the release date will be included in it, as well as the Lift novella.
What was your motivation/inspiration behind the Alcatraz books?
- They're weird and modernist.
- His goal was to do something so different from what he was working on.
- He uses different books like this as breaks in order to keep the momentum up for writing and yet let himself rest.
- Still has a wacky magic system, so it's still one of his books, still what he likes writing, but it's still different.
- Inspired by like, The Emperor's New Groove sort of off the wall storytelling (gave the example of the fact that the opening scene is cut by a flashback and then never addressed again anywhere in the books)
What's the status of the video game (Birthright)?
- It. Didn't work out.
- There was another author at the time trying to get something done with (if I recall correctly) the same company, and he didn't want to compete with them.
- They still have the game rights.
It's been delayed mostly until there's some sort of movie out because basically there's two ways they can do a video game. They can do a big AAA game that will be very very expensive and it could flop, or they could do a smaller indie game. Because there's not a huge established audience from a movie, they want to wait until then before producing a game.
- He wants the gameplay to be a bit like Infamous in design (if I recall correctly).
- Basically what's stopping them right now is it's just really really expensive.
The Movie Question
- A film adaptation is different than a graphic novel adaptation. A film brings in new fans who may not be avid readers, a completely different audience. A graphic novel will likely have a similar audience to his books.
- With book to film adaptations he says that there's only a one-in-three chance it will be a good adaptation of one of his books, and it's a risk he's willing to take.
- He quoted someone he couldn't remember saying basically that you can make a bad film, but that doesn't change the fact that the book is good. Someone once asked an author about a film ruining their book and they said "It's still there on the shelf, nothing's happened to the book."
- He sold the rights to people he feels he can trust to make good movies.
- Of all of them, Reckoners has the best chance at getting a movie but he made it clear that's just his hunch/estimate and we shouldn't run to Twitter getting excited about a movie that might not even happen.
Can you tell us more about Khriss?
- She has a cameo in Bands of Mourning
- She's the main character of White Sand, basically said just read White Sand to get more information since it comes out soon.
- Nahz is basically her grumpy secret agent she sends out to go retrieve artifacts for her.
What's your favorite magic system you've written?
Compared picking a fave system to picking a fave child, it's easier to pick who is most obedient. He likes writing Allomancy/the metallic arts the most
White Sand Information
- His goal for it was a fantasy desert ecology that wasn't Dune.
- [White Sand] was his best unpublished book he wrote between Elantris and Mistborn.
- He didn't want a graphic novel to be a 1:1 adaptation of one of his existing books because it gives nothing to the old readers. He wanted to make sure it's something that new readers will like as well as his existing fans.
- [White Sand] needed a heavy edit and he worked with a script writer and talked a little bit about the process of that.
How much say did you have in the narrators for your audiobooks?
He talked about the process behind picking narrators in the sense of he's allowed to request people, but if they can't get them, the publisher will present him with other options he can pick from. Same went for book cover artists (he chose Michael Whelan). He requested Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for his books because he was impressed with how he did the Wheel of Time books. The only one he didn't have say in is the original Warbreaker narrator (surfer dude Lightsong, anyone?).
Would you like to see your stories adapted into video games?
Yes. I've tried a couple of times. So far they haven’t worked out. We had someone working on Mistborn for a long time. Video game industry is hard. But-- I mean, there've been some really great games made from books so I hope to have one someday.
Who would you like to be the composer, do the music for your movies? Do you have any idea?
I have never been asked that before! Wow! I have no idea. Right? Like I listen to a lot of soundtracks and I like them all but I'm not an expert in this. Michael Kamen was always my favorite. He's passed away. So we resurrect Michael Kamen and have him do it.
A Lifeless?
What's that? Yeah, yeah, Michael Kamen the Lifeless.
What about cameos? Do you have some ideas in your mind?
Cameos for me? I want to die in a different way in every movie. As payment for killing off characters. And so I want to be like the Redshirt or whatever, the person who gets killed in a new creative way. That's my thought.
Few months ago we've received great news about some of your books which will be adapted into movies. So what do you think, which one is most likely to get adapted first?
I’ve always thought that Mistborn would be the most likely 'cause it's the easiest to translate to a film, but the people who bought the rights to the Cosmere bought everything but Mistborn 'cause Mistborn was owned by someone else. And then they bought Mistborn a year later, when it became available. So Mistborn is a year behind the others. Emperor's Soul and Stormlight have been going the longest. Stormlight is so hard. Right, we’ve just got the screenplay in and the screenplay is like *does a gesture* you know, it's like for a five hour movie or something like that. And they're like "We have to cut this down!" "Yes. Yes, we do." And that is super hard. And Mistborn is a lot easier to adapt. So I still expect we'll see Mistborn first, but who knows.
Megan's weakness was fire, she overcame it. David's weakens was water, I feel he overcame it when shooting at the window. So my conspiracy theory is that he didn't have to take power from Calamity because he overcame his weakness or he was never experiencing the negative aspects of being an Epic *audio obscured*
You are getting warmer... You're theorizing is wise and you'll just have to see where it goes. But yeah you are definitely getting warmer.
Question about some encyclopedia of about cosmere, so like Silmarillion, something like that.
Yes, yeah. Someday maybe. I don't promise it. We will see.
Technological progress. So Scadrial is going all the way to cyberpunk.
Yes.
But do you plan to do it anywhere else?
Yes, with an asterisk, right? Roshar has a very different technological path but they have access to so much more Investiture in an easy to use format. Roshar is really heading toward what we call magicpunk, or things like this, magepunk, where you are using a magical power source and things like this. So their technology is going to go weird but it's going to go fast once they start figuring things out because they have easy access to Investiture resources.
Scadrial: slower for various reasons and things like that, but it's ahead.
And then there was Taldain, which was really far ahead but then froze when it got-- Offworld travel was stopped and it became isolationist.
So most everybody is kind of heading that direction but, yeah.
In Arcanum Unbounded--
Yes.
Khriss said that Roshar has an unusually high level of oxygen.
Yes.
And where does this oxygen come from?
It is a natural part of their atmosphere. Part of this-- There's two answers to this. One answer is: It was created that way, because Roshar creation predates the Shattering of Adonalsium and a lot of things were set up that way. The scientific side is, in building the creatures that I was building on Roshar I needed a high oxygen environment, just to make the logistics work and even then I had to like-- It's high oxygen, low gravity, right? It's like 0.7 something Earth gravity. And even then I still had to add magic to get big beasties that I wanted to. Like the greatshells just can not exist. Square cube law. Even after I tweaked atmosphere and the gravity, the math didn't work, but fortunately I had the whole spren thing going on. These are both things I was trying do in order to create megafauna. I’m sorry, is that, did that make sense?
Ok, but is there some higher level of production of oxygen, so like, there are no trees but it comes from the oceans?
Yeah, yeah. I mean they've got a lot-- What you've got, also, to remember is, most of Earth's oxygen doesn't come from our trees-- I mean it does but it comes from the ocean and things like this. I didn't have a problem building this into Roshar because-- What we've got on Roshar is we've got, number one, we've got the highstorms-- Which are actually really good for plant life when it comes to microflora, right? And beyond that you've got-- you've got weather patterns that are very-- Like it’s rarely freezing on Roshar. Most people on Roshar have never seen snow. And so-- I mean I didn't find it a problem making a high oxygen environment work, that was the least of my troubles in building Roshar. I mean most of the planet is ocean anyway.
Some people were curious, just about it.
Yeah, were they? Okay. I mean, yeah-- I mean all you have to do is hit-- Like really you only have to hit a stasis, right? You are creating as much as you're using. Like if you start with high oxygen and you create as much as you use, you stay high oxygen. It doesn't need to actually be creating a higher percentage than our world is creating, as far as I understand it.
Will you ever do a crossover novel with different characters/worlds?
Yes, I will. The final Mistborn books will have this. There's already some in novellas like Secret History and Sixth of the Dusk.
What happened with the Shard that just drifts in the space, the one that wants to hide and survive?
What about that Shard? They want to hide and survive.
Huh, something more?
I think I will RAFO that for right now.
When was the concept of cosmere, one big Universe that connects all your stories was born? Do you remember the very beginning, the first thought of it?
I can start to talk about this because there's a couple of things. I remember being a teenager and reading books, and I would always insert my own characters into other writers' books. This is the beginnings of Brandon the Writer. So I would read, like, a-- an Anne McCaffrey book and I would insert my own characters and eventually Hoid started jumping between all the books I was reading. And so when I started writing my own books, I started inserting him myself. I blame that. I also blame how Asimov connected Foundation and the Robots series. When I read that it kinda blew my mind, and I wanted to do something like that.
I knew when I started writing Elantris I was going to do something like this, I wanted to start connecting everything together. I put Hoid into it and stuff like that, but as I've gone back through my notes, it was really during the years following that I really designed the cosmere. Like when I first wrote Elantris, I had no idea how I was going connect it all, I just knew I was going to. But like-- You know Shardpools. I put the pool in and then I'm like "I don't know what it is". By the time I got to Mistborn I knew all this stuff and fortunately Mistborn was the first one-- Mistborn I was working on when Elantris sold, right? And so I was able to go back and revise Elantris to make sure it matched everything that was coming for the future.
Though I do have to admit, when I first wrote Elantris, a lot of things I'm like "Ah this'll connect somehow. I'll put this in. Sure”.
And by now, can you say that you already know how Cosmere will end?
I do know how The Cosmere will end, yes. I'm an outliner. It could always change. But I have-- So you know the core series, Stormlight and Mistborn, and the last book of The Cosmere is the last Mistborn book, which I have an outline for. So, we shall see. At least chronologically it's the last. I don’t know, I write a lot and so who knows. Yeah, you know, keeping track of it all, I’m sorry.
So you said that you liked our Polish covers. Is something that you liked the most maybe, we have… *people speaking over each other*
I would say that the first Mistborn cover is probably my favorite of them all.
Yeah, it's amazing.
But the Wax & Wayne one also, those have really good covers too. So, the whole Mistborn series is great-- The Way of Kings is not bad either-- But the whole Mistborn series, spectacular covers. We put them in our leatherbound. So-- I don't know if you know but I do, in English, I do leatherbound 10 year anniversary.
So, the first question is that, you are finally in Poland now--
Yaaay, finally in Poland.
And you are already know Polish culture, maybe a little, you got to meet it-- And you know inside it's a little bit different than any other culture, actually you get the contact, do you know anything about your position as a writer here?
In Poland? All I know is, that the Polish have been the single most persistent at trying to get me to come visit. Of anyone. I hear more from the Polish fans about me coming out than I hear from anyone else. So I knew that I better get here eventually, but that's really all I know about my position in Poland, other than the publisher has some of my favorite covers-- Like the Mistborn books in particular. Internationally, I think they have some of the best covers. The Polish covers are better than the US or the UK covers, which is very-- You know usually I like the US best, but the Polish covers are among the, if not the single, best Mistborn covers.
You are here since yesterday, yes?
Yes.
And how do you find Poland, by now?
So far so good. I got in yesterday and I crashed and I got up and I've been doing interviews all day long. Tomorrow, actually, I get to see some Poland. It depends on if we get rained on or not. If we get rained on we are going to the museum. The Polish Resistance Museum? Uprising-- Polish Uprising Museum-- and if not then we are going to go to Downtown-- the Old Town. So-- Then I will know more Poland. Really the only thing I know-- There's a few things I know about Poland. One is that you are very persistent about trying to get me to visit. The other thing is-- I was mentioning to my guide that when I was young our local grocer was Polish and we loved to get sausage from him. So how do you say it, kiełbasa?
Yes, kiełbasa.
So when I was the kid, we ate polish kiebasa. Like once a month or so, my mom would make it and then that grocer went out of business and I never got it again, I was so mad. It was so good.
You should try, definitively, something like pierogi.
Pierogi? Is that little dumplings? Yeah, he has told me, I'm gonna get dumplings and I'm gonna try your soup too, so apparently there is like the sourdough soup that I'm supposed to try.
So WoR mentions a particularly bright star known as the Tear (a reference to a tear shed by somebody named Reya) is that "star" actually one of the other planets in the greater roshar system, if so is it Ashyn or Braize?
RAFO.
Also a weird question, has Hoid ever had a romantic interest?
Hoid has had romantic interest in the past.
When writing Stormlight, did you get any inspirations from the Chinese Confucian system? The Azish government really reminds me of that.
So... Yes. Um... Chinese. 新年快乐? This is my only Chinese. [It means] Happy new year. So yes. Living in Korea for several years, I became very interested in the Confucian system. When I returned back from Korea, I studied in college about Chinese history and I found it fascinating. So the Azish are partially inspired by the Chinese Confucian system.
I wondered about Shallan's eidetic memory, and about the possibility of trapping a spren. Could a bonded spren be trapped inside a gemstone and trapped in a safe? If so, would something else - not Investiture related - fill the "crack in the soul"? Could that be linked to her memory or her need to draw before Lightweaving?
In and about, he answered that what Shallan does isn't out of the ordinary, and it is possible to trap a bonded spren inside a gemstone.
Can you give us a hint on the madman identity, the man everyone think he's Taln ?
Everyone think he's Taln!
Where does the Stormlight in highstorms come from? Is there like a "rain cycle", but for the Stormlight?
The Stormlight in the highstorm is transferred from the Spiritual realm through the Stormfather into the highstorm.
KR seemed to have opposite gender spren. Why is Glys male then? Is there something hidden there?
More naturally, the spren is opposite gender but it doesn't have to be. It's not a indication necessarily of homosexuality, but sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. More often, you'll attract spren of the opposite gender, but spren genders are very fluid anyway. You're not supposed to read anything specific into that.
Who is the woman on the "Voidbringer Chart"?
Isaac did the art. It is just a pattern. She's no character in particular.
Are the Ghostbloods and the Seventeenth Shard working together?
No.
Is Thaidakar the leader of the Ghostbloods?
[Thaidakar] is a leader.
My wife asked if we would regret naming our firstborn Kaladin (seeing as we don't yet know how Kal turns out).
You'll probably be very happy naming your son that.
I asked him if Wit was always gonna tell Kaladin a story in every book.
Wit will always tell someone a story, but it won't always be Kal.
In which published book is Hoid the happiest?
He is the happiest when he is getting away with something. Not in the Stormlight Archive because he is nervous about Odium being there. I think he is the happiest during the Wax and Wayne series, in Bands of Mourning maybe.
Alright we're going to read now. This is a short passage, but it is a flashback from Kaladin. Probably not what you expected. This book will mostly have Dalinar flashbacks, but Kaladin I plan to do multiple books where I sneak flashbacks in. They're short. Like I said they're only a few pages, but they fill in wholes in Kaladin's backstory. He doesn't get all of them in this book, but through the series you'll get glimpses of Kaladin's past. And this is one of them.
Are the Unmade Splinters of Odium?
Yes. Good guess.
We've seen Kandra True Bodies made of crystal, stone, or wood. Can a kandra use a True Body made of metal? If so, what happens if each metal "bone" had a Hemalurgic charge, and each one is touching an appropriate bind point?
Yes. And that would work, better than you think, because Kandra have fluid bind points. But too many spikes can be dangerous to the psyche, even with Ati not messing things up.
What are the names of the Aons for West, North, and South? I'm assuming that these are also the names of the other cities around Elantris besides Kae ("East"). Is that right?
Yes. Peter pointed out to me that we really needed these, so they should be in the Elantris 10th anniversary edition.
Can an Awakened form a nahel bond with a spren on Roshar?
Depends on the spren!
Is investiture finite? Hemalurgy and a Return's need to consume breath seems to show us that it can be destroyed. If it is finite, is the Cosmere's magic source doomed to the law of entropy?
Investiture can not be created or destroyed. It follows it's own version of the laws of Thermodynamics.
So what happens to the investiture that is lost when a person is spiked and the spike isn't set in the new person immediately? Does it return to the big pool of investiture in the sky like the power from wheel of time where if its not actively being used it returns to the source?
What happens to someone's body when it's not being used by a particular person? The system is built to work like that.
Vasher has shown us that he can substitue his need for Breath with another investiture (presumably Stormlight). To what extent is investiture interchangeable between magic systems?
Very interchangeable, but not always simple to apply.
Does investiture have a consistent form (regardless of magic system and its Physical form) in one of the other realms?
It's consistent in the Spiritual Realm. Location isn't particularly important there.
Quick question: I had a hard time "hearing" the Parshendi's singing in my head while reading The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Are there any real world examples you drew from you could give me so we have a better idea of what they sound like to you?
It was tough, as I didn't want to constrain their language in English to a certain rhythm, as I felt it would be too gimmicky on the page. I used Hindu chants in my head, though, so that might help.
Are spren bound to Roshar or can they travel to other worlds? Could they do so if they were bound to someone that traveled to other worlds?
RAFO. Excellent question, though.
Is the reason Dalinar rejects the Thrill because he has a connection to Honor through his visions from the Stormfather?
…Is the reason that Dalinar rejects the Thrill because he has a connection to the Stormfather through his visions?
Yes.
The answer is yes, this is parti-- this is in play. Though you could say the two of them have a si-- The reason he has a connection to the Stormfather also influences the reason that he rejects the Thrill, so it may be more correlation than causation, but there's at least a little causation as well.
Obviously the world covers different planets, but most people on all the individual planets don't know about the other planets. Is there a planet within the cosmere where worldhopping is common knowledge?
Is there a planet in the cosmere where worldhopping is common knowledge. Um… it's not a planet.
It's a space station? *laughter* That's no moon!
That's not as far off as people laughing think that it is. *laughter* It's not a space station, it's not that futuristic, but there is a place in the cosmere where a lot of worldhoppers have settled, is where Iyatil is from, even though her ethnicity is not from there.
Clarifying question… Is that place in the Physical Realm?
*laughs* RAFO!
Did [Hoid] cause the Shattering?
*hands out RAFO card* ...There is a hint about this in a book that is released tonight that is not that book.
Has Denth ever been to Scadrial?
Has Denth been to Scadrial. So Scadrial is one of the planets that's easier to get to, in cosmere terms. I will say this: he did not travel the cosmere widely. But Scadrial is one of the easier-- He spent a lot of time on Roshar, and did not travel widely. That's your answer.
Does Hoid have any relations other than his parents?
Hoid have any-- like direct blood relatives?
Yeah.
Okay. In the book, when I wrote it before, he did not. Dragonsteel isn’t 100% canon anymore so that will possibly change, but he did not, and there are none in my mind right now, so he's an only child as I have right now. It's unlikely to change, but I do have to asterisk that one because I haven't written Dragonsteel yet... Oh no, he had a little brother! He did have a little brother. Even in the original.
