Recent entries

    Firefight San Francisco signing ()
    #9503 Copy

    Questioner

    When it comes to like, touring and stuff like that, how do you pick these locations?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sometimes, it's my publisher, sometimes it's me saying let's go somewhere different. And sometimes it's places where I've come a lot where they do a good job, like when I come to a store like this, I feel like they do a good job, so I put a good report into the publisher and say, feel free to send me back to that store.

    Questioner

    Ok, because I'm a student at Sunset University, and I have a lot of people who are fans there, and I'd love it if you know--

    Brandon Sanderson

    The best way to get me into places like that is if you have a local convention, science fiction convention, having them invite me to be guest of honor, I do that sort of thing a lot.

    Firefight San Francisco signing ()
    #9504 Copy

    Questioner

    I struggle because I go through books so quick, and so I've gone through a lot of your recommendations, and a lot of other recommendations from other people on reddit, on your reddit page, but where do you find books that you read?

    Brandon Sanderson

    These days normally it is people ask me for cover quotes. And so what people send in, I read the first few pages, or my wife, she reads voraciously and what she finds-- Like The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, I got that from her, if you haven't read that it's really good. It's like half non-fiction book, well it's all non-fiction but half like science writing and half biography, it's really cool. Definitely check out Uprooted when it comes out, that's very good. You've read the Hyperion books?

    Questioner

    Yes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ok, what else is good that you may not have really read? My recommendations right, if you've read Guy Gavriel Kay...

    Bystander

    Yeah...the student of yours who wrote a book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ah yeah Brian McClellan's. You've read Brian McClellan's? You've read everything! Something old and long...Elric [by Michael Moorcock]. Elric's pretty decent. It depends on if you like heroic fantasy, you know more of-- that, and David Gemmel, both of those heroic fantasy, try one, see if you like that style there's a ton of them out there.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9505 Copy

    Questioner

    The Nahel bond, what determines whether you get a Cryptic or an honorspren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The spren themselves.

    Questioner

    So it doesn't have to do with the Orders of the Knights Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you match, you have to attract the spren, the same way you attract emotionspren, you have to attract the right spren for the Order.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9506 Copy

    Questioner

    Since Hoid is the Horneater god, are there, or at least implied, would other Shards--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid is not a Shard.

    Questioner

    Or other Shards that are related to Hoid, since they are in the same time period. Would they also be Horneater gods?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think that the Horneaters might interpret things very differently from their reality, as they are viewing certain things happening--

    Questioner

    So would they originally be from Roshar, or would they have travelled from somewhere else?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO, it depends on the person. Hoid is not originally from Roshar.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9507 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there a way to tell between different Investitures?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. 

    Questioner

    For each Shard.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, for each Shard? Each Shard-- Most of the magics have built into them that ability, but I wouldn't say that everyone does. I am trying to remember if they all do... I lot of them have a power that would allow you to do that, but I don't know if every one of them does.

    Questioner

    No, I mean that, in the ones that do have [this ability], they can tell the difference between each one.

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you were really good at burning bronze, you could use bronze to distinguish between different types of Investiture from different planets even. And that sort of skill does exist in other magic systems.

    Argent

    Is it like a wavelength kind of thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yea, that's exactly what it is.

    Footnote: It looks like Brandon misinterpreted the original question but eventually answered it, after a clarification.
    #allomantic bronze
    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9509 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there a limit to how many Shardblades you can have? Be bonded to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Theoretically, not really. There are some things that could bound that. I can imagine people having a lot. In the original draft of The Way of Kings (2002) Amaram had two. And so, it's definitely possible to have multiples, and I had not thought of someone trying to bond every Shardblade. 

    Questioner

    So that means you can be bonded to more than one spren.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, those Shardblades... Can you be bonded to more than one spren? That question's answer is also yes. Potentially. But there is a much harder limit on that.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9511 Copy

    Questioner

    If you were to use Allomancy to fly faster than light, would it be like the Navigators in Dune, where you pick out the best possible route through the stars?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, good question though! That's not quite the way, I haven't really given you the tools to figure it out, because I feel that the tools to figure it out, I couldn't give to the characters early enough. I wanted it to progress with the technological development, so hints are only just really brief in the story. 

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9512 Copy

    Questioner

    May I ask you what your revision process is?

    Brandon Sanderson

    My revision process is very goal-oriented. I decide what I want to change about the book, I write it all in a big notes file, and I organize them by how important it is and how far-reaching the changes are. And then I start revising with <the file> open beside me, always watching to make tweaks to fit the goals I have established.

    Questioner

    Oh, okay. And do you find yourself able to remember everything you've written when you go back and--

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, that's why-- you got your document here and you've got your revision file here and watching [the revisions file] while revising I'm trying to clear things off this list, and then things near the bottom will move up. And I'll sometimes need to do two or three drafts to clear everything off the list, but being goal-based in it helps me a lot.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9513 Copy

    Questioner

    The prevailing theory on the 17th Shard is that [Hoid] worldhops using Shadesmar. I was wondering if you were willing to confirm or deny that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid has indeed gotten between worlds before through Shadesmar.

    Questioner

    And would you be willing to give us a hint as to how he does that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are hints in the books. There is a hint in the very first cosmere book I released [Elantris]. [...] Which I thought was a huge hint, but so far I haven't seen anyone talking about it.

    Argent

    Really?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm. [...] I thought that once people started figuring the Cosmere, they would see the massive in-your-face hint I put in that book, but so far, as far as I know, no one has. *brief conversation about Brandon's tendency to drop sneaky hints and how he likes doing that* Now, the one [hint] about the map [of Roshar], that one I don't think is obvious. I know people have been trying to figure it out. It's something fun once you figure it out, but it's not something huge and obvious. The Elantris once was, like, enormously "HIIINT!"

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9514 Copy

    Questioner

     In Shadesmar you describe the beads, they are like little beads, this big, BB size...

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are bigger than BB size.

    Questioner

    Okay, and everything melts into beads. But when people pick them them up, do they form into the thing they are supposed to be, or just one bead represents the stick, and--

    Brandon Sanderson

    One bead represents the item that is seen and views itself as a cohesive thing. 

    Questioner

    Is there a picture inside it, or...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We will get more into this as time progresses.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9515 Copy

    Questioner

    In the future Mistborn trilogies, is there going to be any spectator sports revolved around the magic system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is very likely. In fact, one of the reasons I wrote The Rithmatist was to play around with a magic system that's used as a sport, as a game.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9516 Copy

    Questioner

     Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Because *photo pause* a lot of the healing in the Cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself. 

    Questioner

    So Kaladin has accepted the scars.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Kaladin has accepted the scars, and Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's a good question, it's one I am hoping people will ask. [...] It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, that there will be consistency among them, that so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, for instance, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker-- What you want to have happened influences what does happen, the expectation, the way you are thinking about things. Very important for most of the Cosmere magics.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9518 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm actually writing a-- I planned, I don't know if I'll get to it, but I planned an in-between [Stormlight] books short story called King Lopen the First of Alethkar. And I'm hoping I'll get a chance to write that and stick it up there for you guys, but yes. Because if you see at the end he is claiming to have been a king for a while. You will find out why he claims that.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9520 Copy

    Dragon13

    Have we seen any characters who is a part of multiple [secret] organizations, for example the Ghostbloods and the Sons of Honor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes you have. *photo pause* I've a big cop out there, because you of know of one who is in the Ghostbloods and the Lightweavers. You give me opportunities, and I will answer truthfully.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9524 Copy

    Questioner

    [I noticed] Nazh's name at the bottom of the illustrations a lot - is that a character that's going to come in in the future?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He's already appeared in the books. Very very cameo-ish tangential things, you have to be really looking to spot him.

    *brief conversation about space age Mistborn*

    Argent

    Books, plural?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He wasn't in The Way of Kings, no. Not on screen, I don't think.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9527 Copy

    Questioner

    Is it possible - not will there be, but is it possible - for a Parshendi to become a Knight Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In the past, they would've said— How about this, in-world everybody would tell you no. It's never happened.

    Footnote: It has since been revealed that singers can become Radiants.
    #singers
    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9530 Copy

    Questioner

    Are gemhearts, the gems in those chemically identical to mined [gem] stones?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *clarification* They are very similar. Not 100% chemically identical, they are far more pure for one thing. You would call them the same substance, but you would say, "Wow, this gem has no impurities." They may have flaws, but no impurities. Meaning, in a lot of gemstones the colors waver and vary as they different minerals come in, and things like that, and so what makes a--

    Questioner

    So it's just a pure ionic bond?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9533 Copy

    ladyknightradiant

    Have we seen all four of the genders for the Parshendi?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. 

    ladyknightradiant

    So it's more than just malen and femalen?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, male and female. So, basically, in my original notes I was trying to decide if I should call them [something else?] but they-- eventually we ended up-- It's basically, they have a male neuter and female neuter, and then a male and a female. So yes, there are four genders. [...] And, if you can't tell, the malen and femalen are both asexual, completely.

    Footnote: Of note, but irrelevant to this entry, is that the questioner, ladyknightradiant, is the one who put together the Where's My Chull? children's book for Brandon. You can find the full illustrations here.
    #parshendi #update footnote
    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9536 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    [brandon spoke about how he planned all of The Stormlight Archive books to be named after in-world books - that's where the "archive" part comes from. Book #3 will be pretty... unique. He said we'll know what he is talking about when we see it (so I guess it won't be a normal book format or something. Maybe the Shin write their books on stone tablets or something...).]

     

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9538 Copy

    Questioner

    In the last part of the book [Words of Radiance], Wit is talking to <the songling>, and says "If you think hard, this sentence is really clever." Are there any implications beyond this, or was that him just talking?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Go compare to another sentence he used earlier in the book. He is making a pun off of the sentence he used before. [...] It's not as clever as he thinks he is, I'll just warn you that.

    Footnote: The original line was, "Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty."
    #hoid #update footnote
    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9541 Copy

    Questioner (paraphrased)

    What spren types are Glys, Ivory, and Wyndle?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    RAFO, because I haven't decided yet. I know generally what they are, but I don't know how I am going to call them in the books. It happens with other things in my writing, Shards for example - Odium was originally Hatred; the idea was the same, but I decided to change the actual word.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9544 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    The glyphs on the cover of the [US hardcover Stormlight] books do represent the Order of the Knights Radiant that is being investigated in that book, as is the color of the book. If you look, it represents the color [of the] them in their, sort of, periodic table of Surgebindings in the first book's front endpages.

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9545 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Now, I will say there is one thing I've been wanting to do for a long time that will probably never happen so don't get too excited. But I had this awesome idea once, and these come to me, where I would write a book with Pat Rothfuss where *audience gets too excited*-- wait, wait, you've gotta hear this pitch - where we both have a set of characters who're competing for misaligned goals, like one wants to save somebody and one wants to assassinate somebody-- they've cross purposes. And we write them, and exchange chapters, and have try to assassinate each other and fiddle with each other's plots. And we get it to, like, 80% of the way done and then we send it to George Martin, and we say "read this and decide the ending and then we'll write it *audience laughter and applause*. And so the reason I want to this is so we can write on the cover, it's not "Brandon Sanderson and Pat Rothfuss", it's "Brandon Sanderson vs. Pat Rothfuss". And see who wins at the end if we can convince George not to kill all of our characters. It's never going to happen, but wouldn't that be fun?

    Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
    #9547 Copy

    Argent

    In The Stormlight Archive there have been multiple writing systems, [which] as a part of a community effort we've translated, for the most part, the Alethi [Vorin women's script], the Thaylen. Can you talk about the technical details of the glyphs writing system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The glyphs were designed by Isaac Steward. He is my scribe, artist, and cartographer. He is also the art director at my company. We sat down and I wanted something symmetrical, so actually half of the glyph is repeated. When you read into it, it's symmetrical, and you can read them by the points where they slant, but you will have to go talk to him about exactly how to do it, because I say "I want a glyph for this" and he designs it. So they are readable, but-- The thing that I used as a model is, I got Arabic art; if you guys haven't read Arabic word art it's gorgeous, it's really cool. And sometimes when it gets really distorted you have to know already what it says, and that's how some of the glyphs are.

    Shadows of Self Lansing signing ()
    #9548 Copy

    Questioner

    I've always wondered, was there actually a plan for [Sazed] to bring Vin and Kelsier back?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. In fact I wrote that epilogue after initial test reads from the audience all thought "we need more closure, we need more closure" so I actually wrote a mention from him of them just because I wanted give you indication "they're okay" but that is it, Vin and Elend are not returning.

    Footnote: It seems that the questioner misspoke and meant Elend rather than Kelsier
    Shadows of Self Lansing signing ()
    #9550 Copy

    Questioner

    How do the timelines line up? So they're all in the same universe. But how does Stormlight and--

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are mostly been chronological, yet Alloy-era is after Stormlight book 5.

    Questioner

    Okay.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Otherwise, mostly chronological. White Sand is before most of this happens. So if you ever read that one, it’s a pretty early book.