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17th Shard Forum Q&A ()
#6701 Copy

ChimeraRuin

In [The Hero of Ages], what spooked Vin off from meeting Hoid? (My theory is Ruin's infulence, because he didn't want Hoid interfering(sub question that just occured to me. Was Ruin aware of Hoid on Scadrial?)

And

What would Hoid have told her if they had talked?

Brandon Sanderson

Ha. Well, by this point Hoid had been to the Well--getting there just before Vin--and had retrieved something from it. That should have been enough to get him to leave the planet entirely, but he got involved in events. (He tends to do that.) It's pie in the sky, but I would someday like to do parallel novel to the Mistborn series with Hoid in the background like they did in the second(?) back to the future move. I don't know that I'll ever be able to do it, but we shall see. I would answer this question there.

DragonCon 2019 ()
#6702 Copy

DoritoJH

We know that there are spren that are partially of Honor, partially of Cultivation, and Odium. Can there be spren made of any combination of Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Well, you would have to call them... Under that definition if you call a seon a spren, then yes. If you don't call a seon a spren, if you define a spren as, "On Roshar, related to the natural world of Roshar," then no. Theoretically yes, but it wouldn't really work. But it depends on how you define spren. If a Shard were to come and reside on Roshar like the other ones have, then you could theoretically see other new spren appearing out of them.

DoritoJH

Could there be a spren of all 16 Shards combined all at once?

Brandon Sanderson

*hands out RAFO card*

The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
#6703 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Vin waits for Elend to reveal his plan before the Assembly

I had to do a couple of drafts of Elend's "It doesn't change things" section with Vin. I didn't want to reveal his plan–I wanted Vin to work through it–but I also didn't want it to seem TOO forced that he didn't tell her.

I settled on this, which I think has a nice balance. However, you're in dangerous territory as a writer any time you have characters conveniently forget to tell each other things–or when you keep viewpoints characters plans and schemes back from the reader.

I have a history of fudging these things a tad in this series. I don't give myself that much leeway in all of my books–but I figured with the Kelsier "Real Plan" surprise I had in the last book, I have established that the characters don't always tell the reader every single thing they're plotting.

Legion Release Party ()
#6705 Copy

Questioner

So the difference between the White Sand novel and the White Sand graphic novels, what was the thought behind changing Ais's gender?

Brandon Sanderson

There were a couple thoughts. The main one was, I just thought the character was more interesting. A lot of my early books, you'll notice I did a thing where I'm like "I want to make sure that I'm doing the female character really well." And you can see the problem in that sentence, and that is really how I approached it, I'd say "Well I want to make sure I do the female character really well." And I think I did do the female character pretty well in some of those early books. But you'll see a consistency to them, and this is just coming aware of your biases.

Now, there is nothing wrong with writing a book intentionally and saying, "You know what? Because of the way I want to write this book in this world, I'm going to make the cast almost all one gender or the other. It's when you're doing it consistently on accident, that there's a problem. And I had to kind of sit down and say, "Did I do this because I thought it was best for the character, or did I do this because I love Inspector Javert and I just wanna have to have Inspector Javert in my book?" And that's where the character came from, quite obviously.

And I sat down and said, "If I were going to build this character from the ground up to be my own character and I were trying to throw away all biases, what would be the best for the character?" And Ais being female was not a "I need more women in the book," it was more of, "If I'm throwing away these biases and building the characters, what works the best?" and I just really liked how that character came out when I was rebuilding. Yeah, anyway, we'll go with that.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA ()
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XMikethetrikeX

Can we have a bit of new trivia on Szeth?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm sorry, but I prefer to avoid answering questions like this--because if I answer them, I get asked them more. And random trivia questions are really, REALLY hard to answer because I have to remember what I've said before, be careful not to spoil books, etc. My mind just doesn't work in a way that is good for giving answers like this.

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 ()
#6707 Copy

Lurcher

Reading Mistborn: Secret History, Kelsier sees fauna and flora in the Cognitive Realm. How does that work, are there people thinking about...

Brandon Sanderson

You'll see, there's actual... there's an actual ecosystem in Shadesmar.

Lurcher

Even if people aren't really--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. Well, think about it this way. The places people are thinking about will create landscape that this stuff can grow on. Where they're not thinking about it, there's just not going to be anything there, so nothing is going to grow.

Kraków signing ()
#6708 Copy

Questioner

My question is for both of you: regarding the translation process, is word-for-word translation more important or do you go with the feeling and how much communication is done with Brandon during the process?

Translator

When I was at university, I had two lecturers. One said: "The original is sacred. You mustn't do anything too original. It's so important, you have to remember/take everything." and the other when I went fifteen minutes later to another class it was "Oh dear. It should read well. Forget the original, it should read well". So I think I found a kind of balance between those two stances.

Brandon Sanderson

And I always tell translators to err on the side of reading well rather than preserving the exact words. Particularly because, some of the languages we're translating into, you can't preserve exact words.

When Anna wrote to us I sent her to my assistant Peter, who is an editor and continuity editor and I let him interface with all of the translators because I would probably just ask him anyway to look the details up in our wiki. We do occasionally have to answer new questions, though, because for instance -- as Anna pointed out to me -- Polish has a lot of gendered words that aren't gendered in English and sometimes I'd use a phrase and would have to say whether this person was male or female.

Boskone 54 ()
#6710 Copy

Questioner

[...] Do you find in writing that your faith informs some aspects?

Brandon Sanderson

It’s a good question. The things I am fascinated by end up in books. I am not a CS Lewis or a Phillip Pullman. I don’t sit down with a message I want to get across. I explore who a character is and try to figure out what message they would want to get across, then try to make it work. But you can find all kinds of things. My upbringing is going to be deeply influential on what is in the books. So yes and no. I leave that more to people who want to analyze and find things. I think that’s legit--I got an English degree. It’s totally fine to take it and be like, “This is the unconscious influence.” I more just write the books. Tolkien insisted to the end of his days that Lord of the Rings was not a metaphor for WWI, and you read that book and if you know anything about WWI you think, “This really feels like a metaphor for WWI.” It’s that sort of thing. You write the book and explore themes that are important to certain characters, and theoretically some of that does come out to the readers and they can connect it and put it together.  That’s basically how I approach it. I am very fascinated by religion, as you can tell. So I try to have characters--Stormlight is a good example. I wanted to have characters who are on all different types of spectrums. You’ve got Kaladin who’s agnostic. It’s basically the classic “I don’t know if there’s a god. If there is, I’m angry at him.” You’ve got Dalinar, who’s a reformist. He’s a Martin Luther, he’s a Mohammed, he’s a Joseph Smith. You know, “Religion is not doing what it needs to right now, we need to expand this.” You’ve got someone like Navani who’s a traditionalist, who wants the old religion to really work, who is trying to reconcile this. You’ve got Jasnah who is straight-up atheist. And then you’ve got someone more like Taravangian who would claim to be an atheist, but what he’s done is taken something nonreligious and ascribed religion to it, sort of like Confucianism, where something that was a philosophy is turning into a religion. And I try to get people on all sides of this thing. And also the religions. You’ve got the Alethi, you’ve got the Passions, you’ve got different ways to approach it, because I think that makes for a more interesting story when you like all these people and then they all disagree.

Idaho Falls signing ()
#6713 Copy

Valhalla (paraphrased)

Other than Vessels, how many beings have lived from before the Shattering until the time of The Way of Kings?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

More than you would think. Longevity is not hard to come by in the cosmere. That much longevity would be a little uncommon. But certain species are particularly long lived, and certain magic systems enable longevity.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
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Dalenthas

Was Kelsier under Ruin's influence as well? It seems to me that destroying the Pits of Hathsin (and thus preventing Ruin's power from leaking) is something that Ruin would want to happen...

Brandon Sanderson

There is a short story forthcoming which will deal with Kelsier, the days after he Snapped, his training, and what influence (if any) Ruin had on him. Most likely, this will appear in the Mistborn RPG coming out next year. So I'm afraid that's a RAFO.

Footnote: The short story Brandon mentions was released with the Mistborn RPG and titled "The Eleventh Metal." many of the points addressed in the question were much more thoroughly explored much later in in "Mistborn: Secret History"
Sources: Time Waster's Guide , Time Waster's Guide
Oathbringer Houston signing ()
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Questioner

If Death came for your soul, and he said you could keep it if you beat him in a game of your choice, what would you pick?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, probably just a coin flip. Because I'm gonna bet he's better than me at anything that doesn't base on random chance. So, I would choose something like that, just completely random chance.

FanX 2018 ()
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Questioner

What does the Sylspear look like?

Brandon Sanderson

Write to Ben McSweeney, he's got concept art for it. He can send it to you.

I had to keep pushing him. He kept drawing things that looked like the ashanderi from Wheel of Time. I'm like, "No, it has to actually look like a spear."

Barnes & Noble B-Fest 2016 ()
#6719 Copy

Questioner

So, when I was reading this, Prof's power manifested, and I'm just curious, Limelight, that became his name. Were his powers green before he met David?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. So, they picked the term "limelight" in part because his powers were green.

Questioner

But didn't David already plan to call him Limelight before? When David initially came up with the plan for getting over Steelheart, he already had the name Limelight picked out?

Brandon Sanderson

I don't think he did. But if he did, we'll just say happy coincidence. Prof did not use the name Limelight before that point. They started using it as the way that they were going to... yeah.

Stormlight Three Update #3 ()
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goody153

Are we gonna get more hints or insight about Harmony's involvement (the dudes he sent) or other non-Roshar shards involvement in the next book ?

Brandon Sanderson

There will continue to be hints in the books.

goody153

Ah thanks ! I wasn't expecting for you to reply . Good to know, i always found it interesting how many world hoppers are there in Stormlight so i figured there might be shards like at least watching Roshar events.

Might i ask if there are one or more non-Roshar shards that would be poking around?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to have to RAFO this. Watch and see what you find! :)

Idaho Falls signing ()
#6722 Copy

kurvyyn

Sja-anat tries to convince Shallan she is not her enemy and tells her, "Ask my son." Is the son that she's referring to, is that Pattern?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Sja-anat is referring to--I'll try not to give too many spoilers on this--if you look through the books for a spren that does not seem to belong to Honor or Cultivation, but is bonding a Radiant, that is where you want to look for Sja-anat's influence.

kurvyyn

Is it Glys?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO!

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 ()
#6723 Copy

Questioner

So, Hoid was there during the Shattering of Adonalsium. Odium is going around, like, destroying other Shards. We know that Hoid is collecting and has pieces of some of the other Shards.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Since Hoid was there at the original Shattering of Adonalsium. Is there an echo image of the original Adonalsium in Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, that's a RAFO. Here's your card. But it is a valid theory.

Questioner

I have a two-parter on that.

Brandon Sanderson

You can ask me the next part, but it is a RAFO.

Questioner

Is his end goal trying to join as many pieces of Adonalsium together to *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

Um, that, I will give a "that's a very good guess." And that is what the books seem to indicate is happening.

Read For Pixels 2018 ()
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CrazyRioter

Have you ever considered writing more female friendships?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, you know, that's something that I noticed, right? That's another one of these things we do a bad job of in fiction. Particularly female friendships. Like, you see the bromances happening a lot, particularly in fantasy, but we tend to see-- particularly written by men-- a lot of the "one woman among a large cast of men", and this sort of thing. And certainly that's not to say that there aren't women who have a lot of friends who are male. But it is certainly something I think we get wrong a lot in fantasy. And it's one of those kind of things you don't notice. But I have noticed it about my fiction, that I'm really good at guy friendships, and I have kind of ignored female friendships. I actually took a stab at doing a better job of this in Skyward. So you can tell me if I've done a better job of it or not with this book.

/r/books AMA 2015 ()
#6726 Copy

Avatar_Yung-Thug

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?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Rhythm of War Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Nineteen

So, this brings us to the end of Part One, and you can fully see the reversed shape of the story here. Explosive beginning, contemplative ending. I went back and forth on whether I should end with Kaladin or Navani, as his decision to become a surgeon was the larger of the narrative arcs--but Navani's section better matched the thematic end of the part.

I fully expect some readers to be a little indignant about the fact that Taravangian is walking around free, while Szeth is imprisoned. I agree--it's unfair, but I also believe it to be (unfortunately) accurate. Taravangian is, despite his unassuming mannerisms, one of the most powerful people in the world. While it would have been great to toss Stalin into jail for his crimes, it wasn't really an option--and during the war, the allies needed him.

That isn't to say Taravangian is untouchable. Only that I felt what you read her to be one of the more likely outcomes to his outing. His argument that he didn't do anything worse than Dalinar did is a pretty solid one; if there hadn't also been suspicion he was working with the enemy, it's likely there would have been no relevant consequences to his assassination orders.

You'll be getting his perspective on all of this soon, as he has an interlude after each part of this book. (Like Szeth got in the first book, or Eshonai got in the second.)

OdysseyCon 2016 ()
#6728 Copy

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay)

I was wondering if we were ever going to see dragons in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Dragonsteel, which is one of the first books that I wrote in the Cosmere has dragons. It's also just one of the weaker books, so I can't publish it as is, but yea. Being a big fan of dragons, I did write them into the Cosmere. They are the one kind of generic- kind of the standard fantasy race in there.

Questioner #2

Are they ever going to infiltrate the other worlds kind of?

Brandon Sanderson

Well Hoid writes a letter to one, he calls him you old reptile. And that's in Words of Radiance. So that's a letter to one of the dragons. So they are referenced.

Questioner #3

I thought that was a general insult.

Brandon Sanderson

Nope, he's actually writing to Frost, an old reptile.

Kraków signing ()
#6732 Copy

Questioner

In all your books, who's your favorite character?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, I usually cheat on that question and I say "whoever I'm writing right now", cause I like them all, they're my children...

Questioner

Okay, but you have to pick one.

Brandon Sanderson

Probably Dalinar, probably but...

Translator

My favorite is Steris.

Brandon Sanderson

Steris is a lot of fun.

FanX 2018 ()
#6733 Copy

Questioner 1

I was just wondering about the timeline in Alloy of Law. How long does is it take Wax to get back to the city after Lessie died?

Brandon Sanderson

That's... I would have to look exactly at the timeline. I believe it is months and not years, but I am not 100% sure. It might be, like eight months ?

Questioner 2

I thought it was six months.

Brandon Sanderson

Six months? That's the sort of thing that I have to look at a timeline for. I'm not gonna remember that, but yeah, something like that.

Questioner

So if I came back tomorrow, could you answer that?

Brandon Sanderson

I probably could not. If you send me an email I probably could. But this sort of thing I have to go, dig into the timeline, say "Hey Peter, where's our timeline on this. Hey Karen, what's the month... get out the master timeline," and stuff like that.

Usually I do a lot of the books, writing them without really worrying too much about the timeline, and then I give them to Karen, and Karen's job is to make all the timeline fit. And she'll come back to me and say, "We need more time here, for these people to get here," and things like that. And so I adjust the books to match the timeline. And so, a master timeline is not something I take into a large account when I am writing. It's more important in Stormlight books 'cause of the storms. You can't just off-the-cuff if there's a storm or not a storm. But in a lot of other books doesn't matter as much.

Questioner

I was just a little confused when Marasi said that Wax had come back at the same time as the thing, it didn't make sense at the end.

Brandon Sanderson

We'll see. You can always fire us an email, and we'll go to the master timeline and see what Karen says.

Tor Twitter Chat ()
#6735 Copy

gmreynoldsjr

What are keys to balance family, writing career?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question. I had to make certain hours of the day "off limits" for writing, so that I didn't feel I was missing out on writing time. I could ALWAYS be working, but that's not good emotionally or for the family.

Otherwise, I try to make my writing time as effective as possible, so I don't feel that sense of "I didn't get anything done."

That one makes me unbalanced, as I feel anxious if I haven't gotten some good work done in a day.

State of the Sanderson 2020 ()
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Brandon Sanderson

PART FIVE: UPDATES ON SECONDARY PROJECTS

Alcatraz Series

I’ve been promising Book Six for a while, and we finally have the publisher on board. I’ve been saying this for years, but the book is now complete. But as I said above, publishers really like more time to publish books than I often give them—so here, I decided to let them guide me, as they want to relaunch the series in paperback with new cover illustrations (the illustrator we’re hoping to get is fantastic), and a box set available of the first five books next year for the holiday gift-giving season.

Those should be coming out next year or early 2022, with the sixth and final book projected to come out in hardcover sometime in spring 2022. I know it’s been a wait, and I apologize, but the last book turned out really cool. It’s from Bastille’s viewpoint, and is coauthored by me and Janci Patterson, one of my writing buddies. It was the fun time we had doing Alcatraz that made me approach her about the Skyward novellas. If you’re curious, give her books a look. I suggest A Thousand Faces.

Status: Last book (finally) has a publication date. (Though a vague one. First quarter 2022.)

Dark One

We released, in limited print quanities, the first Dark One graphic novel, and it’s awesome. The trade release through regular retail channels is set to be released May 2021. The team put together an incredible visual, based on my outline. I heartily suggest you give it a look, if you like graphic novels. We learned a lot working on White Sand, and I think we leveled up with this one.

We plan there to be three graphic novels eventually, if people like them. However, if you don’t care for graphic novels, I will do a prose/audiobook version of this in the near future, likely as a Mainframe project. The television show is taking a long time, after all. (See below.)

Status: Out now!

The Original

The first of my Mainframe projects was released! Find it on any audiobook site of your preference.

For now, we have no firm date on ebook/print editions of this, though I anticipate them coming eventually. (The audiobook company we partnered with has an exclusivity period.)

Status: Out now!

Elantris, Warbreaker, Rithmatist

As you probably expected, no motion here. I didn’t plan for there to be any this year, though all three should get a sequel eventually. I’ve been targeting the post-Stormligh-Five timeline for these. I could see slipping Rithmatist 2 in between Mistborn Era 3 books, for example, when I need a break.

Status: No motion (Sorry again.)

Songs of the Dead

This book, about a heavy-metal-singer-necromancer, is still seeing some revision work done on it. We’re trying to find the right home for it, and have gone to some editors for feedback.

Urban fantasy is a new type of story for me, so we want to make sure we do this right. Peter and I both did a lot of work on it this year, so I’m hopeful we’ll have news on it in the near future.

Status: In final revisions, looking for a home

Words of Radiance Dayton signing ()
#6741 Copy

luke.spence (paraphrased)

Are the Heralds actually aware that Taln is back?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Are the Heralds aware that Taln is back? Uh, you're implying that this person actually is Taln. *smiles* Which is not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. However, the return of the Voidbringers does indeed indicate to them, in their mind, that he would have returned.

darkanimereal1 (paraphrased)

So they assume because the Voidbringers are returning--

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Because the Voidbringers are returning, would be a clue to them that Taln has returned.

The Way of Kings Annotations ()
#6742 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Shallan berates the book merchant

The timid nature is a result of the problems in her past (see book two's flashbacks). I see the moments of flaring passion as being far more “her.”

Shallan's father has an infamous temper; it's buried deep within her as well. If she'd been allowed to grow up more naturally, without the oppressive darkness that her family suffered, she would have turned out as a very different person. Still, the person she could become is buried inside her. In my mind, this is one of the big connections between her as a character and Kaladin. It is also part of why both attract a certain type of spren…

Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A ()
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Illuminatesfolly

What is your favorite portrayal of Hive Minds in SciFi?

Brandon Sanderson

My favorite group mind is from A Fire Upon the Deep, which will probably come as no surprise to people.

Hive mind...to be honest, Unity from Rick and Morty was a really interesting take on the concept, and is the one that springs to mind right now. But I don't know where the internet is on Rick and Morty these days. First it was cool, then I think it became cool to hate? Still, I enjoy the way the show took some of standard science fiction concepts and give them a much-needed shake up.

Aradanftw

How about the Formics from Ender's Game, particularly the sequels?

Brandon Sanderson

I enjoyed them just fine, though I never felt there was anything super distinctive about them. Just a well done hive mind.

The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
#6745 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Elend discovers that a well has been poisoned

This poisoned well scene is another one that was added to the book during the final draft. Much like Straff's test attack on the walls, this scene is here to remind you that the armies are out there, that Luthadel is besieged, and that things are not going well for the heroes. I don't want you to forget about the armies just because our focus is on politics for the moment.

General Reddit 2016 ()
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Aurimus

Has Brandon said that the Shardblades are based off of the swords from Soulcalibur/Final Fantasy. (You know, those stupidly huge swords?) Or are they just normal swords when it comes to the shape and size etc?

Ben McSweeney

Shardblades come in many shapes and sizes, but are often larger than normal swords, in order to fight larger-than-normal enemies.

Not always, though. Szeth's Blade, for instance, was about the size of a scimitar.

There is no single source or work from which the inspiration was drawn. It's a refection of a common trope, instead. Isaac and I created a few dozen silhouettes, and Brandon chose the ones he liked best, and we've been extrapolating from there ever since.

Cosmere.es Interview ()
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Cosmere.es

Also we have the Death by Pizza, it's not Death by Pizza any longer, Song of the Dead?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh yeah, Song of the Dead. Yeah, that's still in revision and things, yeah. Maybe someday, well I'm hoping someday. Right now, I mean the things that are looking really good, the Reckoners novellas are done and turned in and being recorded for audio, and those turned out really well. And the first of the Skyward novellas that Janci wrote is just spectacular, I really like it. If you guys like the Skyward books, it's from FM's viewpoint. It kind of takes a character that I had done very little with and does a lot more with her. I'm really excited for those to come out, have some more expansion to some of those worlds and settings and stories. We're working on getting those going.

Kraków signing ()
#6750 Copy

Questioner

(translated) What’s the Allomantic symbol for the metal that comes from Trell?

Brandon Sanderson

*Laughs* Ooooh, Isaac knows, but it hasn’t been revealed yet, so you get a RAFO, I don’t have any more cards, but R A F O *probably he has written it*, good question!