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Oathbringer San Francisco signing ()
#6801 Copy

Weltall

MaiPon and JinDo are based on Korea and China you've said, I thought that Dominion and Devotion have some resonance with Confucianism-

Brandon Sanderson

They do, the yin and the yang and things like that, absolutely.

Weltall

So that was intentional?

Brandon Sanderson

That was very intentional. Yeah, I've always been fascinated with, like, the blue and the red, right? The things that are opposite but to some cultures and not to others. Like, that was really, that was the Ruin and Preservation thing, right?

General Reddit 2020 ()
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atrium extended.jpg

Ben McSweeney

Just to illustrate the full scale of the Atrium, I extended this up a bit. :)

It makes the repetition more severe, but that's to be expected since all I did was copy-paste the tiers up to the seventh level. This still gives us a decent idea of the full height of the open space, though. And of course that space continues out along the avenue from the fifth tier down, with skylights in the ceilings and hanging towers at the end of each level, creating a sort of inverted staircase effect that I really ought to try and paint sometime (I find the scale a bit dizzying myself, though).

Isaac and I briefly wondered whether there ought to be microclimate problems with an open area this big, rain falling from condensation collecting at the top, but we figure the Tower's automated environmental systems deal with that for the most part.

The Alloy of Law Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Eight

Wayne imitates a constable

Writing this Wayne chapter was a pure delight. It was here that I was finally certain that I had his character down, following the misstarts before changing to this version of the story. Here is also where I made the decision that I'd chosen right in expanding the short story to a novel. For me, a single viewpoint character often isn't enough to carry a novel. (Unless I'm doing a first-person narrative.)

Wayne, as a character, really grew into himself here. It is interesting to me how quickly he came together as I started working on this book. That first false start was awful—yet, once I started writing about him as a counterpoint to Wax, he just popped out fully formed, Athena-like, brimming with personality and strength.

I do worry that he'll overshadow Wax a bit—which is one reason why it's good to wait until chapter eight to give him a viewpoint. However, I think it is a matter of appeal. The two of them will appeal to different readers. I really like how the two play off one another and have different strengths.

By the way, I realize the cover has a problem with Wayne holding a gun. It wasn't worth complaining about, as I felt that there needed to be a gun on the cover to indicate the shift in the Mistborn setting. However, Wax's hands are both down low, so the gun really does need to be in Wayne's hand. Just pretend he's holding it for Wax.

Shadows of Self Lansing signing ()
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Questioner

Will you ever do a prequel to Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

It is unlikely that I will spend very much time with prequels because as a reader I’m not terribly fond of them: Since I already know what happens it ruins some of the story for me. Though the video game, which by the way is taking a long time and I have no updates *laughter* was going to be a prequel. And so that sort of thing you might see mediums like that. And it’s not impossible that I will do something like that. You might see a novella or something like that, but it’s unlikely-- I’m unlikely to do a whole series about, y’know Alendi and Kwaan and people like that.

Shadows of Self Chicago signing ()
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Kurkistan

How long does it take a newly-made chair to start thinking of itself as a chair?

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on how- is the perception of the people who are using it.

Kurkistan

So if it just drifted together in space magically into a chair...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. It would not actually start thinking of itself as a chair.

Argent

So it's a bit like if a tree falls in a forest, and there's nobody there to hear it...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Dragonmount Zoom Call ()
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Zachary

In reference to the events in Rhythm of War, what is the timeframe for Mistborn Era Three? Is it before? Or after?

Brandon Sanderson

After. Era Three is after. Era Three is gonna take place around fifty to seventy years after Era Two. And Era Two is happening in the ten years between Books Five and Six of Stormlight. Era Three will be happening in a post-all-ten-books-of-Stormlight world.

So I have to jump forward in time seventy years on Scadrial, and then jump backward in time and finish Roshar, and then jump back forward in time. I think it’s all gonna work in the jigsaw puzzle of my brain of how all of this is going. But Karen will tell me if it doesn’t work, and we will adjust appropriately. She keeps the timeline and keeps me honest.

Shadows of Self Leeds UK signing ()
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Jaller (paraphrased)

I also asked Brandon about that part in the Wandersail chapter of [The Way of Kings], where Syl leaves Kaladin before he meets Hoid because she gets a bad feeling. I wanted to know whether this related to why Vin decided to not meet Hoid in [The Hero of Ages].

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He said that they both got a certain impression from him, but wouldn't say whether or not it was the same thing, and stated I would have to RAFO what that was exactly.

Footnote: The reason why Vin decided to not meet Hoid is revealed in Mistborn: Secret History. It is unlikely the Syl's actions can be explained by the same reasoning.
#rafo
Sources: Jaller's report - 17th Shard
Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A ()
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LewsTherinTelescope

In the Liar of Partinel samples, we see fain life is covered in skullmoss (and iirc seems to have it inside them, from a few mentions of eating fain-touched animals being deadly). If a fain being were to Ascend, would their body retain this skullmoss when they drop (I mean, Leras and Ati seemed to retain their clothes, so it wouldn't surprise me), or would it be killed off by the process?

(Actually, I'm curious about this with microorganisms and such in general with Vessels, but the fain life is what made me think of it.)

Brandon Sanderson

Imagine the body that drops after a Shard dies being the essence being recreated out of energy. It wasn't there all along--it was absorbed into the power, then drops back out as a kind of husk. But it's not literally the same atoms. There has been some strange E=MC2=Investiture shenanigans going on.

LewsTherinTelescope

Interesting. Is this similar to transitioning in and out of the Cognitive through a Perpendicularity?

And does this recreated thing include microorganisms (like the stomach bacteria or something), skullmoss, foot fungus, clothing, etc? Or just the minimum required to count as the body itself? (Leras and Ati tended to appear dressed, as well as Leras having his knife, but them choosing to appear in the Cognitive might not be the same thing as that body.)

Brandon Sanderson

I'll RAFO it here. Good questions as always, though, LTT.

Warbreaker Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

 A lot of alpha readers, upon reaching this chapter, said things like, "I was really waiting for something like this to happen," or "This is just what Lightsong needed." They're referring to him beginning to investigate the death. (A lot of these comments come from the next Lightsong scene too, after we're certain this little plot structure isn't going away.)

They're noticing something that I noticed too—that Lightsong needed something to drive him, something to keep him proactive. Something that wasn't just a political game. I like this sequence a lot, and it's an example of something that developed during the writing process rather than being planned out ahead of time. I just felt I needed something else, a way to have Lightsong be involved, but which would also give me a chance to start delving into his past.

Skyward San Diego signing ()
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Questioner

What's the most important thing to do when writing to ensure that the story has the tone you want it to have?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, I'm not sure if there's a one catch-all most important thing. The answer, unfortunately, to most writing questions is: practice a lot, and then show your work to people and get feedback, and then learn how to target it better. With tone, one thing I've noticed that is really tough to pull off is switching very frequently between something that's supposed to be humorous and something that's supposed to be serious. And this is not a bad instinct, because some of the great filmmakers and writers we know are able to do this. This is like a Joss Whedon hallmark, right? We're gonna go from witty comeback to sudden gravitas in the matter of, like, whiplash. So we're like, "Wow, I like movies like that, I like books like that. Terry Prachett can make me laugh and then make me cry in the space of a page. I want to learn to do that." But it is really easy to have your tone go completely off the wall when you're trying to do something like that. And whenever I fail on that thing, on tone, it's almost always because I'm trying to inject something funny into the middle of something with a lot of gravitas.

This actually happened-- "Funny" is maybe the wrong term for it, but in the last Wheel of Time book, a scene we cut. The beginning of the Wheel of Time book, to not give spoilers, start with a really dramatic fight scene where some people are struggling to survive under terrible situations, and they are getting picked off and dying, and things are burning. And I alternated that with a different scene I had written separately of several characters getting engaged. Which were both scenes I wanted in the book; but when I finally came to fold the stories together, these different threads, this one went opposite this one, and wow, it did not work. It was so bad. You would be reading these scenes about people dying, you'd be like, "I'm not interested in the people getting engaged." Even though it's something that maybe you've waited for the entire series to read because of the tone mismatch of where you're jumping back and forth. So that was one where we actually cut out the scene of the engagement, and just let the scene that was the more powerful scene stand on its own.

Firefight Atlanta signing ()
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Questioner

I would want to know what is your favorite character you've ever written.

Brandon Sanderson

What is the favorite character I've ever written. I actually can't pick one, because they are like my children and picking a favorite child is basically impossible. I don't have one. Robert Jordan, I quote him a lot because I studied his life a lot, he always answered this question by saying "My favorite character is the one I'm working on right now" and I like that answer.

Oathbringer San Francisco signing ()
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Questioner

On the eye colors on Roshar, there are some weird ones, like orange and yellow. Are those there for a specific reason, or are they just--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. The whole eye color thing is kinda based a little bit on the Knights Radiant, the eyes changing is involved there. What's normal eye colors to them, it's just normal to them. It's not weird to see violet eyes and things like that. But it would be weird to us.

Questioner

Did the eyes have to do with the Orders?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Words of Radiance Chicago signing ()
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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
Calamity release party ()
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Questioner

It seemed like in Alloy of Law you made us like Marasi better than Steris, and then kind of switched it. Was your intention the whole time for them to end up with Steris, or...?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes.

Questioner

Okay, it was.

Brandon Sanderson

In fact, I like Steris a lot in the first book. But you are seeing things through the eyes of other characters. And Steris takes a little bit of time to warm up to. Like, many people like her. And once you get to know here--which, I always knew her--then there's a level of <thoughtfulness> there.

Worldbuilders AMA ()
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JamesCRNA

Is there any substance that reflects Allomantic power? (For example, such that a Coinshot could appear to be a Lurcher if this substance were behind the piece of metal being Pushed, or perhaps said Coinshot could Push things around a corner if this substance were angled properly?

Brandon Sanderson

Nothing like this is known right now.

Firefight San Francisco signing ()
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Questioner

I'm a poet myself and I totally related to your thoughts on writing and how to keep it fresh and on fire, and yet disciplined.

Brandon Sanderson

I have a lot of respects for poets, it is hard work. When I had to do poetry in one of my books, I actually went to a poet and hired them to write the poems, to put the-- I don't know if you've read Words of Radiance, but the songs were kind of hired out, because I don't trust my own poetry chops, they're just not good enough.

Ben McSweeney AMA ()
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Phantine

I have to say, I really like seeing art done in a variety of in-universe styles. Particularly the old-time newspaper comics - I get a bit of an Out Our Way feel from those.

Is there some character or art style that's particularly fun to imitate?

Ben McSweeney

I grew up (luckily) with access to some great classic newspaper artists like Winsor McKay and George Herriman and R.F. Outcault, and that's been invaluable when it comes to the broadsheets. I don't think I'm hitting anywhere near their marks, but I try to let that background influence the output.

Thank you for the link, I'll have a lot of fun looking through those!

Skyward Seattle signing ()
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Questioner

The lighteyes-- Do their eyes actually glow or is it just blue or green?

Brandon Sanderson

No. It's a very pale blue or green though. You can tell pretty easily looking at them who's lighteyed and who's dark. They don't glow. So--

Questioner

It's otherworldly?

Brandon Sanderson

Some of them would look-- You would say otherworldly, but not impossibly. You can find people on Earth who have eyes the shade that they are. Not all of them, right? Because some of them are yellows and things like that that we don't have. But if you looked at them and they were here, you might wonder if they were wearing contacts but it wouldn't be unusual to find out they weren't.

Figment chat ()
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Questioner

Are the character’s ages given in Stormlight Archive Rosharan years, or Earth years?

Brandon Sanderson

They’re Rosharan years. So, people are actually, it’s a little bit off from our, our world, a Rosharan year is 500 days, but the hour, the days are a little shorter, anyway they end being like when, when S- when Kaladin’s age is mentioned, in our world, he’d be a few years older.

Skyward Houston signing ()
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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.

General Reddit 2016 ()
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Phantine

I believe /u/peterahlstrom mentioned that Mistings can only detect sufficiently close versions of their metal, and burning non-Allomantic stuff is a Mistborn-only risk.

Peter Ahlstrom

I don't remember saying that, though it sounds reasonable.

Except I don't know what happens when you start involving god metals. How important is the alloy percentage then?

Firefight Seattle Public Library signing ()
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Questioner

And my last one, Obliteration, the Epic, is based on an author.

Brandon Sanderson

He is based on an author.

Questioner

It's Jim Butcher, right?

Brandon Sanderson

I couldn't say if it were, with these handsome locks and wearing a trenchcoat, and the goatee.

Questioner

It's totally Jim Butcher.

Brandon Sanderson

Well Jim Butcher doesn't have hair like this anymore. He cut his hair.

Firefight Seattle UBooks signing ()
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Questioner

Elantris, though, how you came out with The Emperor's Soul, it didn't involve any of the magic or anything, I have a feeling they're going to collide?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, there will be - you will see much more of that. Definitely.

Questioner

So we'll be able to see the actual Elantris again? Shining and beautiful again?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you will.

Questioner

It was very sad, to see them all in pain, the continual pain and...

Brandon Sanderson

One of the reasons I wrote Warbreaker was that I didn't think I could get back to Elantris yet, but I realized I'd written this entire book about the city of the gods, and you never got to see the city of the gods. So Warbreaker was another take on that idea.

Stuttgart signing ()
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The Forumlurker (paraphrased)

Can a Windrunner use a Basic Lashing on a specific body part?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, but it works the same way a Steelpusher could push on a specific part of metal. Usually, you'd just affect the whole body, because of its Identity and cosmere magic not working as well on parts of something that considers itself a unit. When you're very skilled, you can isolate a hand, like Kelsier could push on specific sections of metal.