Recent entries

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #2004 Copy
    Discord - Janci collab process.png

    SilentWasteland

    What was the collaboration process like? Did you each work on the same scene/chapter? Do you each take a chapter? Some other way of collaborating that I can’t think of?

    Janci Patterson

    So I wrote virtually everything.

    We brainstormed together.

    Then I submitted outlines. We tossed those back and forth. I wrote a first draft and Brandon gave me a redline edit.

    Then I did a revision,  we went to beta and line edit with my editor, I did another revision, then final copyedit.

    Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 ()
    #2006 Copy
    Mojonero's Cytonic

    Mojonero

    Back before the Final Ascension, if you had a full Feruchemist and a Mistborn, both with access and knowledge of all 16 metals, could they make medallions without the use of Hemalurgy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If they knew what to do maybe. Much easier with Hemalurgy - but it would be possible.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2008 Copy

    Questioner

    Let's say Wax filled an ironmind with weight, forged it into steel, and then burned that steel with Allomancy. If there would be an effect, what would it be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would not have an effect in that situation, depending on what it looks like. There is a way to do this where you would end up with just a very, very mild effect. But with him... no, you couldn't even make it work. All that would happen is, you could maybe get the weight back out a little bit. But you couldn't compound it, basically. Good question. I've never been asked that one before.

    West Jordan signing ()
    #2009 Copy

    Questioner

    What happens if you create a time bubble in a time bubble?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lots of people are theorizing about that. The time bubble would not collapse, I’ll answer that much.

    Zas

    I think that you said at the Alloy release that it was mul—de...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Multiplicative?

    Zas

    Yeah. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    I may have given an answer to that or not. I’m not going to say anything about that. Time travel and find out.

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #2012 Copy

    Questioner: (paraphrased)

    When it is said that Honor started to go crazy towards the end of the Knights Radiant, were those Knights seeing Honor as he was slowly dying, or were they interacting with a Cognitive Shadow of Honor, like how Preservation left Fuzz behind?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    RAFO

    Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 ()
    #2015 Copy

    Use the Falchion (paraphrased)

    I asked Steven Bohls if he and Brandon have any cool ideas for the next Lux book in terms of cool settings or cities.

    Steven Bohls (paraphrased)

    He mentioned that Book 5 will most likely be set in the New Orleans bayou/deep swamp area. (Or at least that's what he'd like.) It will most likely be a shorter book, at around 100k words overall; and there's a good chance that Mizzy will be a major POV character in the next book. Fun fact - Mizzy was supposed to show up in Lux, as Jax was supposed to go from Boston through New York, meet Mizzy and see Regalia flood the city, and then end up in Texas. This part ended up being cut as it was too tangential to the story. (Wingflare's original gimmick was going to be sound and a sound effect, but this was cut - as were most sound effects - as it felt too much like a gimmick.) Brandon currently wants Lux to be a trilogy, and the second book in that trilogy may be released sometime next November. (The two have ideas, but they were waiting on some sales reports and contract stuff first, and that may have just arrived this past week.)  

    Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 ()
    #2017 Copy

    Use the Falchion

    Are Soulburner and Starburner the same project? And can you give us an update on either one of those, if they aren't? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are the same project, yes. It's still going and going very well. I am not allowed to say what it actually is, because it's not up to me. You can infer what you want from that, and try to read between the lines, but I am not contractually allowed to say what it is right now.

    Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 ()
    #2022 Copy
    Double's Cytonic

    Double

    Rayse (Odium) was very methodical with the order in which he went after other Shards. Hypothetically if he'd visited the Rosharan system all those years ago but managed to avoid being trapped and was able to continue his mission right away, which of the known Shards would've been next up on Rayse's hit list?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He expected Ruin to implode. So he might have gone for Autonomy, double crossing them.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2023 Copy

    Brent Worthington

    At one point, I remember it being said that Roshar, Scadrial, and Sel are the three most important worlds in the cosmere, but I can't remember if that was ever canonized, much less if it's still the case.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that they are the most important, yes. Depends on how you'd count Yolen, where it all started. But I would say those narratives, those book series, are the pillars of how I envisioned the Cosmere. But there's lots of worlds that are important, and there are plenty of them that we haven't gone to, yet. I often talk about the aethers, which are really relevant to the future of the cosmere, but I have not managed to get them in, a book about them, yet. It will happen.

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #2025 Copy
    ReDawn creatures spread.png

    Lotus

    The one thing I’m a little confused about is how the [UrDail] managed to evolve either separately on different trees or get from tree to tree with the miasma.

    Rasarr

    The assumption I can come up with is that the trees float and would occasionally bump into each other, letting flora and fauna spread.

    Janci Patterson

    Yes, this.

    Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing ()
    #2026 Copy

    Questioner

    *inaudible*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah the Divine Breath is a gift of Investiture directly to the...basically they are being given a large Splinter of Endowment.

    Questioner

    But is it the size?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The size is important, to make that happen, yeah.

    Questioner

    To make it happen?

    Brandon Sanderson

    To make it happen, yeah. To make them come back and to do the things but...there is obviously some leakage there when they basically taking a Cognitive Sh...they have to create a Cognitive Shadow of the spirit, right. Which requires some work, and then to push that back into the body and get it to stick requires some work as well. You'll see that with Szeth it isn't sticking very well.

    Questioner

    *inaudible*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah Szeth is not a Cognitive Shadow, he actually got stuck back in but the soul is not sticking very well to the body

    Questioner

    *inaudible*

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's what she's saying.

    /r/books AMA 2015 ()
    #2027 Copy

    TurtletheFlsh

    What would happen if you created a Lifeless with more Breath then is necessary? Would they be more or completely human or just a Lifeless that's holding more Breath?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lifeless with more Breath are an interesting situation. It's quite possible for the BREATH to start taking on a personality, much like a Cognitive Shadow, related to the individual. Whether or not it is actually them, though, is a big question. Note, this doesn't always happen. Often, dumping a lot of Breath in them is like sticking it in an inanimate object with no Command.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2028 Copy

    Questioner

    Because Zahel was especially Invested when he died, he became that other soul. Does that mean that Elend wasn't actually...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Zahel is a special case. What happened with him is, on his planet, he was specifically chosen by the Shard to be Returned. That happens, you don't have to be specifically Invested for that. The god gives them that. Now, to become a Cognitive Shadow, which is what certain people in the cosmere are, you need a powerful amount, an enormous amount.

    Questioner

    So not the bead?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not just being a Mistborn, not just... he wasn't even close to being where he needed to be, if you want to end up as a Cognitive Shadow. You need to do some special hoops. We're talking, drawing forth the power of a Shard, or being endowed with the power of a Shard, or a certain number of Breaths would do it. There is a threshold that you could get, you're gonna end up as a Cognitive Shadow.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2029 Copy

    Hut on a Hill

    One last question, why do gems crack when Stormlight is drawn out of them quickly?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When the Stormlight is coming out--you'll notice that there's the slightest physical presence of lots of spren, seons. A lot of this Investiture does have a physical side to it you can feel and that much Stormlight coming through... like when it's leaking out, it is generally going through micro cracks in the structure--where the crystal lattice didn't line up or flaws in the structure--and it coming out quickly like that, it's like hitting it with a hammer from inside along those fault lines. Much less likely to happen based on how good your gemstone is.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2031 Copy

    Robert

    It is established in The Way of Kings that standard Shardplate forms to fit the wearer perfectly. Would this work if you put it on a dog or horse?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Within reasonable limits, how about that? Depends on the size of the dog or the horse. There are dogs that you could fit Shardplate with, there are probably horses that you could too.

    Emily Sanderson

    But they would be axehounds, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, yeah. If you brought a dog to Roshar.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2032 Copy

    Allura Williams

    I love the symmetrical Alethi names like Shallan and Navani. How do you come up with such good names.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is part instinct, part design. And trying things out and seeing how people respond to them and changing it if they just don't feel right over time. I like having a linguistic quirk, such as symmetry or repeated consonant sounds. Those sort of things are very fun for me. I like real world inspirations. Famously, Silence came from looking at names of actual... Puritans, came from an actual Puritan name that I ran across in sort of a family history context, and I'm like. "Ooh, someone named their child Silence? That I've gotta use." Real world inspirations are fun. Ran across another one of those, you may see pop up if I do some more Threnody things. I ran across a person whose name was Thomas Thomas and I just love the name Thomas Thomas.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2036 Copy

    Questioner

    What was the level of technology before the Ascension [of the Lord Ruler]? You mentioned gunpowder and canning, but everything else appears to be a blend of feudal Europe and the early Renaissance.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, it depends on the country you were in and the time period specifically we're talking. Right before the Ascension, we're looking at a society that is hitting industrialization. Basically, where you see the Final Empire stop is close to where they were, they got a little bit further. Except there were certain things that were forbidden.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2038 Copy

    Questioner

    Were the kandra based on the monster from John Carpenter's The Thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would be willing to bet that there was an unconscious influence there. I am a fan of John Carpenter films and of The Thing. I didn't consciously say, "Oh, I'm going to design something like The Thing." Mostly, I wanted a shapeshifter that had an interesting limitation and rule to it that had not been--that I hadn't seen in fiction before and the mistwraiths actually kind of grew out of that, but the kandra were just, "What can I do with this idea?" But there are some kandra related plots that are reminiscent of The Thing.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2039 Copy

    Charlie Anderson

    Would Gavilar be proud of Dalinar if he could see him now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Proud of some things, not of others. Gavilar would want more ambition from Dalinar than Dalinar has shown. He would think that Dalinar has been too inhibited in certain things he's chosen to do. Yet, at the same time, there are certain things that Gavilar would very much approve of, even things that Dalinar himself is proud of. It would be complicated.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2040 Copy

    Gatlin A Jordan

    The possibility of turning the plot of Mistborn: Birthright into a graphic novel.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mistborn: Birthright graphic novel. We have discussed this, we have talked about it. This was, if you're unfamiliar with it, a video game that was in development for many years with a video game person, Matt Scott, that I really like. And it just never quite panned out. I had provided the initial story and outline. There is definitely something there, the thing is--to remember--I designed it for a video game and sometimes those things interpret or change well, adapt well, sometimes they don't. I'd have to think about it. I haven't given up hope on some day doing it, but we shall see.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2042 Copy

    Jay Mike McCue

    In regards to Chiri-Chiri, when she's fully grown, will her size be comparable to Ruth the white dragon, as large as Lessa's Ramoth, or a size in between?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, they can get to full--I would say as large or larger than the larger Anne McCaffrey dragons. Whether Chiri-Chiri will grow to that size, it depends. There is variety in adult sizes of the larkin.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2043 Copy

    Questioner

    The violet eye color in The Way of Kings. We got to know that Dunny had violet eyes and Sigzil said the color wasn't native to Alethkar. Navani also has violet eyes, Jasnah too, and Tanalan from The Rift. So, is Navani or her family line not Alethi? And is there more to this specific eye color than we know so far?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a little bit more there that I will talk about eventually. You should not look at Navani and be like, "Oh, they're not native" in that I designed the Alethi as a race of conquerors who also--like I said before, one of the inspirations for the Alethi were the Mongols and particularly how the Mongols ruled after they had their empire. They were perfectly willing to incorporate anybody. The Romans did this too, "If you want to be part of our empire, great. If you're not gonna rebel, great. We will, to an extent, respect your religions and your ways and if you're willing to integrate then we're not gonna treat you terribly."

    The Alethi have this history of being one of the, in that way, most multi-ethnic cultures on Roshar. Now, the sad thing is, the reason some of those ethnicities are there is due to brutal conquest and treatment of the world. But regardless, the Alethi have--most of them have no kind of pureblood sort of perspective, they don't care. They don't care what you look like, they care about whether you act like as part of their culture, whether you're integrated.

    Emily Sanderson

    As long as you have light colored eyes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, well, they'll still accept you as Alethi.

    Emily Sanderson

    That's true. You just don't get to be the ruling class.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You just don't get to be highborn. So, this is just a hint much like you will see the Alethi have a very varied skin tone, they have lots of varied hair colors. You know, you're going to see mostly the kind of traditional Alethi black, but you know, there are multiple main characters in the series [where] that is not their hair color despite being considered one hundred percent Alethi. They would not look at Adolin and say he's half-not-Alethi, he's all Alethi even though one of his parents was raised in a different culture, he's one hundred percent an Alethi. And that's just how they look at things. So that's how you'd read into that, though there is a little bit to the eye color that maybe I'll get into some day.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2044 Copy

    Jonathan McGuire

    If Wayne and The Lopen were to meet, would they hit it off?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They would get along fantastically, absolutely fantastically. Lopen would find Wayne imitating his accent to be the funniest thing that he has ever heard... and Wayne would introduce him to all kinds of interesting modern conveniences like flushing toilets and whatnot and Lopen would find that all just delightful. So, yes they would certainly hit it off.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2045 Copy

    Winter Wolf

    In Warbreaker, how did Denth feel about Vivenna?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. I'll RAFO that. We'll get to that... I don't want to... it's more I'm worried that I would spoil things if I answered that question the right way. Complicated. How about that? He had complex feelings toward Vivenna... not easily encapsulated in a simple answer.

    Footnote: The full question was, "In Warbreaker, how did Denth feel about Vivenna? He was clearly manipulating and using her, but was all of his friendliness an act or was he telling the truth about liking her?"
    #denth #rafo #vivenna
    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #2046 Copy

    Naomi's Book Nook

    Is Soulcast meat vegetarian or vegan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So this is a good question, you would have to decide this, right? I can't decide this for you. We were talking the other day, this is actually a bigger question. If a plant is sapient, like from a fantasy world, and you're eating that, is that meal vegetarian? If you cut down an ent and eat an ent, is that a vegetarian meal? I'm sure we're not the first ones have to asked this, but at Magic [The Gathering] when we were playing last week, we were like, "Wait!"

    Adam Horne

    My vote is yes you're vegetarian, but you're also a monster.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes! Yes, you're also a monster, right? There needs to be some new phrase... vegan could probably be adapted to it, but there's got to be something that's like, "This did not come from any sapient being." I would... if I were vegetarian, I would have no problem eating Soulcast meat if I would have no philosophical problem with eating lab grown meat. So it is cruelty free, but it is based on an animal product.

    General Reddit 2021 ()
    #2048 Copy

    Lucario-ist

    I've been wanting White Sand for a while. But E-books hurt my eyes, so I've been looking for a physical copy. I have no trouble finding either the 2nd or 3rd volume, but I can't find the first.

    Brandon Sanderson

    As others have said, compilation is incoming soon. Don't buy expensive copies. Wait until the whole thing is out in one.

    Shardcast Interview ()
    #2049 Copy

    Weiry Writer

    Kelsier and Thaidakar. At what point did you decide Kelsier would be part of The Stormlight Archive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thaidakar isn't; his minions are! Pretty early on, there's a whole lot of Kelsier in Era 3 and as soon as I decided that when I outlined the original nine books as I was working on the original Mistborn trilogy I knew that there needed to be some more of him influencing the world/universe at large. He is a really fun character to write because he does not fit in boxes very well. He does like meddling. There are a lot of things I want to do with Era 3. 

    One of my big concerns when I was building the outline with Kelsier, when I was building the outline for all 9 books before I added the Wax and Wayne books, back in 2004 when I was doing a lot of the big outlining for the cosmere - Emily's got to dig out that paper I once wrote out for her - I guess that would have been 2004 to 2006, because I got married in 2006, and it was 2007 where I drew that thing out for her. No actually it was summer 2006, because I didn't have my laptop with me which I wasn't allowed at the family reunion, so I instead had a notebook, because if I'm not allowed my laptop, I will have a notebook, and that's why we have a physical copy of this thing.

    But when I was doing all that one of my big concerns was how to make sure people kept interested in Mistborn while I was potentially spending years and years away from it, at that point in the outline I was going to write Dragonsteel before Stormlight. And I started trying to do that in 2007, either way we're talking 5 to 10 years away from Mistborn at that point. How can I make sure that this stuff-? So I outlined Secret History that I could release in the meantime, and a potential Secret History follow-up. That I've mentioned before that I don't know if I'll ever write. It wasn't until 2010-2011, that I was like "why don't I write some short stories in this world to keep people focused on it?" And I tried one and it was bad, and I'm like "what if I just wrote a little novel?" I can do a little novel, right? And that's where Alloy of Law came from.

    Technically speaking these are all solutions to the same problem, which is people can't forget about Scadrial it's really important. They can forget to an extent about Sel; it's still important, but it's not important on the level that Scadrial is gonna be. Scadrial has so many fingers in the technology of the future. So this was another method to make sure we had some Scadrian influence happening while I was in other worlds. Turns out we ended up getting ALL of them, we got Secret History, and The Alloy of Law, and the little fingers in The Stormlight Archive. But it was important to me that the fingers in The Stormlight Archive be through the frame of reference of The Stormlight Archive. 

    Chaos

    I definitely think Shallan learning about cosmere stuff is a good intro for Stormlight-only readers to get interested in the cosmere, kind of like Mistborn: Secret History is for Mistborn-only readers.

    Brandon Sanderson

    In Roshar if you learn, "Hey, there's more planets out there," and they see Roshar as something with a very valuable resource. That's enough of an intro to the cosmere to make it work in Roshar, and to make you prep for the future. That's why I did it the way I did. And also knowing people were more okay with this. But also I needed to get it in, I almost should have done it earlier. I saw people guessing that one by Words of Radiance. But by the time I was releasing Words of Radiance I was seeing fan theories that were like, "What if this."

    Chaos

    So like throwing darts on a dart board. "Ah, like this person's this other person."

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, it might be that. The whole philosophy of the Ghostbloods was suppose to dove-tail with Survivorism. Survival of the fittest type stuff very much. I'm hoping from the things they've read in that they were able to connect the philosophies rather than throwing darts at a dart board, but it could have been the dart board thing.

    FeatherWriter

    It's funny because we already recorded the Kelsier podcast, but it's gonna come out after this one. You've put me in a very weird situation, because loved the Ghostbloods. I guess I still love the Ghostbloods, I have a terrible villain crush on Mraize, he's one of my favorite characters and Kelsier drives me crazy. So finding out they are intrinsically linked I'm like "Noo! Kelsier is ruining my favorite thing." But it does make sense I have to admit.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's okay. Mraize does not have to do what he's told, and Iyatil who - that's the other thing once I dropped Oathbringer, and this is a southern continent Scadrian running around, this is pretty obvious connection to Scadrial. I had to eventually canonize that. Iyatil is - 

    Don't consider people in the Ghostbloods flunkies. That's not a very Ghostblood-ish philosophy.

    Chaos

    I guess that makes sense, they're all trying to backstab each other. Well no I guess not.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, they're not allowed to backstab each other. [too many people talking at once] [Ghostbloods have]? specific rules, because they need them to be very strong specific rules. If you have an organization of people who are drawn to the way Kelsier works you need some really strong rules. [Hosts laugh] When he is just with his crew, his force of personality, and the people he individually picks you're not gonna have that problem. 

    I always imagine-you can relate it to Tor Books, they're all assassins. When Tor really functioned well, back in the 90s, it's because Tom Doherty could keep a close eye on everything. And he liked his editors being a little bit in competition with each other. And he structured his organization so that if you picked an author who did well, you got bonuses, based on how well the authors did which is just a way of working that could really lead to an unhealthy office environment, if you think about it. But if you have Tom there making sure that that doesn't become the case, and if you have Harriet watching and making it a good incentive, not a bad incentive, then it all works really well and you have one of the strongest sci-fi publishers that's ever existed, because everybody was incentivised to find really good stuff. But they were corralled by Tom Doherty and kept it from becoming toxic. But now that Tom retired I think they're changing a lot of that, because its grown too big for one person to watch over.

    And it's the same thing with Kelsier, in an immediate organization of Kelsier's you're gonna find a well bonded crew of people hand picked who are going to work together as a team, and you aren't going to have to worry about too much about backstabbing - less than average for the type of organization that they are. But if his structure is outside of his direct manipulation, the type of people who would be attracted to the organization he makes...

    Chaos

    ...Are not gonna be nice.

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...You're gonna have some problems. Mraize would not say that he's not nice. [hosts laughs] Mraize would just say that his niceness is an analogous threshold that does not intersect with the threshold of competence and capability of things he's trying to achieve, those things don't need to overlap in his life.

    He'd say he's a very nice person. He was very nice to Shallan by his definition. [hosts laugh] He was very nice to Lift by his definition of things. Think of all the things he could have done with Lift, and what did he do? He gave her as a present to an ancient being who ruled the tower, who could properly take care of one such as Lift.

    Chaos

    Mraize is very nice.

    FeatherWriter

    You heard it here, it's canon. Mraize is nice.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mraize is nice, and he also wanted to keep his fingers and he felt that was a better way to keep his fingers, was to make sure Lift was someone else's problem. He got what he wanted, which was being able to capture her, which was not that easy, he would say. So he deserves to have whatever reward, because it was quite a difficult enterprise on his part. She is not easy to capture.

    You know those Scadrians gotta keep an eye on things, they like to meddle.

    Calamity Seattle signing ()
    #2050 Copy

    Questioner

    In Bands of Mourning we saw the medallions that can give people Connection to the area that they are in.  Two thoughts on that.  One… if a person were to get a connection to one of the areas from Elantris would they be able to gain the powers from the area?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah that’s a good question, it’s not that easy.  But it is an excellent question.

    Questioner

    And if there was an area where the primary language was sign language, would a person gain the ability to speak sign language to the people present by using that connection?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.  It is definitely related to the Cognitive Realm and how people are thinking about language.