Recent entries

    Emerald City Comic Con 2018 ()
    #4853 Copy

    greaterbookwyrm

    What happens when you cut a kandra with a Shardblade?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So a kandra is going to react basically the same way, in that the Shardblade's going to be hitting at the soul and severing it and things like that. They are not immune to Shardblades. But because they have mutable shapes, there will be a little bit of weirdness involved in that. You'll get to see that happen eventually.

    Emerald City Comic Con 2018 ()
    #4854 Copy

    Questioner

    When you get, like, bonded with a spren-- the type of spren that is bonded to you, it depends on your personality and beliefs, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, mmhmm. The spren kind of choose, but they-- It's not a hundred percent choice. More like if they're drawn to it, things like that. So who you are, what your beliefs are, what your kind of moral code is can influence what type of spren you would get.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4858 Copy

    Deana Whitney

    What would Rock's favorite vegetable be in a soup? Like the Earth equivalents?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ooh! Well, see, Rock is gonna base it based on the soup, because he's a chef. But if it's his perfect favorite, he's gonna want something crunchy, so he's gonna want like—

    Deana Whitney

    Well, I know he'll want the, the essentially the equivalent of crawdads.

    Aubree Pham

    She's trying to write a cosmere food article...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, yeah. But there are-- like, if you can get like a... radish, that's going to crunch, he's probably going to look for that in a soup, because that's going to be closer to what he likes. Something that's got some variance in the texture.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4860 Copy

    Questioner

    If you would spontaneously, prematurely die, is there any author you would consider ideal for finishing your work?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I usually pick Brian McClellan. Just because he's my student and I wanna be mean to him. I've warned him, I haven't asked him if he'd do it, I just warn him. I tell people that he will do it. And he's like, "Oh. *grumble*" We're good friends. But Brian would actually be a really good match. Properly outlined, Brian is one of the better writers out there.

    Second Questioner

    I love that caveat.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brian is-- Brian can go off. He knows this but-- yeah.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4861 Copy

    Aerin

    What does M-Bot have against Doomslug and Rig?

    Brandon Sanderson

    M-Bot treats Rig kind of like you might treat a doctor. Even though he's good for you, you may not enjoy having someone poke around at you.

    With Doomslug, it isn't that he has a lot against Doomslug. Doomslug just isn't a good conversationalist. She does a lot of repeating back at you what you say. So getting trapped only with Doomslug would be--

    Aerin

    Can the second book have Doomslug with a bow?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In a bow? I will try to get Doomslug a bow.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4862 Copy

    Questioner

    So, any idea when we'll get the sequel to Warbreaker?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have no exact promise. My goal right now is to get Stormlight 5 out, right, and then alternate Mistborn, Elantris, Mistborn, Elantris, Mistborn. Warbreaker will have to wait and see how that plays out. I do intend to get to it, but it's entirely possible that this won't be something I do until after Stormlight 6.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4863 Copy

    Questioner

    How did you get the idea for The Rithmatist?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Rithmatist started with the drawings. I did the little doodles first, of all the defenses and things. And I just started drawing and drawing and drawing. And I drew all those out, and I thought, "Okay, I'm gonna write a book around this idea." I wanted to do something where people played a sport with magic, rather than only using it for, like, war and things.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4864 Copy

    Questioner

    I know you have Dragonsteel planned and Hoid will play a role in the cosmere, does it have like a behind-the-scenes Hoid story like Secret History?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is possible, but I don't have it on the list to do right now. 

    Questioner

    Just in your head maybe, someday.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm. Secret History was like that too, I wasn't sure I was going to get it out. We will see.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4866 Copy

    Questioner

    What inspired Hemalurgy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Hemalurgy was probably-- It's hard for me to say, because it's been fifteen years, but I think I started with the image of the Inquisitors with spikes through their eyes. At the same time I was trying to work up a third magic system to go in the trilogy so I could have one magic, two magic, three magic, and I wanted one that was super creepy and evil. And I built it around those two ideas.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4867 Copy

    Questioner

    When Jasnah says she should've opened a pit, does she mean a chasm or a kind of Androl, Wheel of Time, kind of thing? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Androl, Wheel of Time, what do you mean by that?

    Questioner

    When he opens a gateway? What does she mean by pit?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. *evil smirk* I'll RAFO that right now.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4868 Copy

    Questioner

    You've mentioned before that your conclusions, you like to have people figure it out, like, a paragraph right before it happens. Which one do you think you executed best?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, man. I am not sure. It's tricky, because it's getting harder and harder to fool the readers as they get wiser and wiser to my things, so at some point, I just have to be okay with that. So I think that the early books, I was able to pull off more. Like, the Mistborn 1 ending is probably the one that gets people the best. I think I'm getting better at my climaxes, but now... that people are getting wise to me, I have to convolute them a little bit more. Like, the Oathbringer one, people were probably expecting from Book One. They have multiple books to...

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4870 Copy

    Questioner

    Did Kelsier help in the search for [Hoid] that Galladon and Demoux were doing in the Purelakes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question--

    Questioner

    He's the only one that can call him something similar, like "Drifter" so -

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, I'm going to RAFO that-- Not quite where-- I'll just RAFO it. I'll just RAFO it. Kelsier is not on Roshar, but obviously that's not what you're asking, which is what I thought you were.

    Questioner

    He has an aura that fits in with--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm!

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4871 Copy

    Questioner

    What gave you the idea to write the Alcatraz books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know what, it was the first line. I was just doodling in a notebook one day, and I wrote down, "So there I was, tied to an altar made of outdated encyclopedias, about to be sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil librarians." And I had to write that book. So I just kind of took that line, and I ran with it.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4876 Copy

    Questioner

    Lopen's arm. In Stormlight, you cannot regrow if your brain-- your soul has accepted the change?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Perception is very important to this, yes.

    Questioner

    So is he just crazy enough to believe that he still had an arm?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it's more like, he never saw himself as being-- he saw himself as the person *inaudible* and not being disabled by what happened to him. It's not craziness, it's just a matter of perception. What you're running into Kaladin with his brands in particular is that he thinks he deserves them.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4878 Copy

    Questioner

    What inspired you write Way of Kings? Was that your first one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That was not my first one. It's different-- There are lots of different ideas that usually come together to make one book. And Way of Kings is lots of different ideas. One of them was wanting to tell a story about a world where the highstorm, where the magic storm hit it periodically... The idea of how life would have to adapt to a storm. But there are lots of different ideas that come together.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4879 Copy

    Questioner

    On Skyward, I love the Graphic Audio adaptations. Do you know if there's any plans to do a Graphic Audio recording on Skyward at this time?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's not plans right now. I'm trying to talk Random House into it. I guess it would be Audible into it, 'cause they have the audio rights. They haven't let us do the Reckoners. It's tough because Audible bought the rights directly, and Graphic Audio is a direct competitor. Whereas with the Stormlight books, MacMillian audio is not the same. So, we'll try.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4881 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you have a giant timeline somewhere written out all of it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do. Actually, it's in a wiki. I work digitally for most of my stuff. It's one that myself and my assistants use to try and keep everything straight. Actually, Karen, who this book is dedicated to is my-- Her main job is to do the timelines and keep me consistent for every book.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4882 Copy

    Questioner

    What's the relationship between spren and seons?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are the same thing from different magics.

    Questioner

    Okay, exact same thing from different magics?

    Brandon Sanderson

    "Exact," may be a little too strict, but yeah.

    Questioner

    So a seon can be transferred to another person, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Can a spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4883 Copy

    Questioner

    What made you decide to take the Dark One out of the Cosmere series? You couldn't get the magic to work?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It work a lot better once I pulled him into our world, and had the people coming to our world to assassinate him. And once I pulled something into our world, I boot it out of the cosmere. That did free up the magic to work in a different way from cosmere magic, which it is doing. It's kind of based on this idea of the narrative, that stories that people tell become real in the other world. Which could have worked in the cosmere with some Cognitive Realm things, but its working much better outside.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4885 Copy

    Questioner

    Who do I blame for killing off some of my favorite characters in the last book of Wheel of Time? You, or Robert Jordan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Actually, there are three people to blame. I chose about a third of them. Robert Jordan chose about a third of them. And Harriet, his wife, chose about a third of them. So you can blame all of us. She killed Bela, though. I tried to make Bela live. I know. I tried. I worked very hard.

    Questioner

    Who killed Egwene?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Harriet has asked me not to reveal that one. Egwene, Gawyn, and some of the others...

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4886 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we ever going to see the Moon Scepter on screen and what it does?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, you should see the Moon Scepter on screen. What it does is it works as a kind of Rosetta Stone for interpreting some of the magics.

    Questioner

    So that's why Hoid wanted it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's why Hoid wanted it, yes. He's  trying to figure out how to give himself-- To be able to use the magics on Sel, and that's a key that he wanted.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4888 Copy

    Questioner

    Was there a person in real life that you based the character Kelsier off of ?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is not. Kelsier grew out of the idea, primarily, of the thief who is really good at his job, like the gentleman thief, who then picked up a larger purpose. And I kind of built him out of that. I built him first as kind of the con artist that I wanted to have gone through something that changed him. And I explored that and that's just who he became. But there's not really a specific person.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4890 Copy

    Questioner

    Where did Wayne come from? ...Who is he modeled after?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He is not modeled after anyone specific. He came from me wanting to write a character who changed his personality based on the hat he wore. Like, literal, a person who wears lots of hats... I started a short story with him as the main character, and I found he needed someone to play off of, and that's where Alloy of Law came from.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4894 Copy

    Questioner

    So when you were in Houston about a month ago, was it for research for future issues of Skyward?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yep. And I needed some help on certain things. It was super helpful, particularly going in and talking to the pilots. Like, astronaut, very cool. But talking to them about in-atmosphere flying and things like that was really handy.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4895 Copy

    Questioner

    Did you know Hurl's fate before you started writing it all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I built that all out in the outline... I needed somebody who was the image of Spensa who went the wrong way, as kind of like a model for what she would see herself in. And part of the inspiration for Skyward is Top Gun, which has that as a major theme. So it was a very natural sort of thing to weave into the story as I was going.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4896 Copy

    Questioner

    If you used Hemalurgy to steal Allomancy, Harmony gets some kind of insight into the person that was spiked? He can talk to them? And with enough spikes hear their thoughts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm. Yes. With enough spikes, take them over.

    Questioner

    So if you use a spike to say, steal Breath, would Endowment?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that for now. Good question though, I haven't been asked that yet. 

    Questioner

    If you stole Breath, would Harmony still keep the same effect?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's why I'm going to give a RAFO.

    Skyward Houston signing ()
    #4900 Copy

    Questioner

    What was the thought process behind Shinovar being so similar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A couple of reasons. One is, by having some sort of Earth analogue on-world, I could give some contrast, and I could have a kind of an explanation for why they might use words like chickens and things until I can get to the big reveal. Like, if there weren't Shinovar there to act as a red herring, I think it would give away the twist very early.

    Beyond that, I like the idea of the people that are like us being the alien ones to the society. Kind of helps separate it and make it this is a different world, this is a different culture. So, it gave me a lot of advantages. Plus it also gave an explanation for how they could-- humankind create a foothold on this planet after coming across. So, lots of different thought processes behind that.