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Nightblood. If the person using him, the Investiture they put into him to use him. Does that make Nightblood more powerful, does he gain that Investiture? Or is it all expended back into the--
That is actually a RAFO. People in-world are trying to figure that out, so it is a good question.
When Szeth walked through an area he had lashed in Interlude-9, could he have decided to let himself be affected by his own full lashing? How does this extend to other surgebinders?
Using a full lashing to stick yourself to something is inherently inferior to changing the gravitational pull and being able to move on that plane instead. So I see very rare instances where you would want to. But it is within the scope of the powers to be affected by it if he wanted to be. It will still affect other Surgebinders, and they will not be able to not be affected, unless there is a specific ability or item that is preventing it.
Ham's family makes no appearance in this book. I added this line in on a whim, since I figured it would add some more depth to a character who–unfortunately–I just don't have much time to develop.
I am happy, however, that I found a chance to spend some time with Dox. The scene between him and Vin is one of my favorites in the book, since it humanizes him while at the same time giving us further insight as to who he is, and why he does what he does. Dockson feels the same way about things that Kelsier does; Dox is just far more subdued in the way he goes about life.
This aspect of the world–the fact that noblemen regularly rape, then kill, peasant women–is the most discomforting to me. I don't like my books to be overly sexual in nature. However, there is a difference between having sexual books and having sex in the books, I think. This is a very corrupt and fallen society, in many ways. I think I had to include this aspect to show just how terrible it is.
In addition, I wanted this scene to be shocking because I hoped to put the reader in Vin's shoes. You all know that this sort of thing happens in noble society–in the prologue, a nobleman tries to rape a young girl, after all. But, I hope that you–like Vin–have kind of glossed over that sort of thing in your mind. Seeing people like Elend, and the pretty balls, has helped you forget about the terrible things these people do. So, when Dockson lays it out so bluntly, I hope that it is surprising.
Some alpha readers thought that it was unrealistic that Vin would delude herself to this extent. She's know about the whorehouses, after all. However, I think that this is the kind of thing that people naturally try and gloss over. It is natural for Vin to not want to think about these sorts of things until she is confronted by them so expressly.
Any clues on where we see Hemalurgy elsewhere in the cosmere?
No, we'll RAFO that for now.
How come the Drull were never completely exterminated in the times between Dark Ones, given their low numbers and the fact that their war machines required the Dark One to work?
My argument would be that: number one, when the wars are done, going out and fighting some more is not really high on people’s priority list. Trying to exterminate the Drull would be like trying to get people out of Afghanistan. It would not be easy, it would be very bloody, and it would require a lot of work. And you would have to do that after a large war has been fought, and everyone is tired of fighting.
The exclusive @BooksaMillion edition of #Steelheart has a full-color profile of the High Epic Regalia who rules New York in the sequel.
Chapter Forty-One
My biggest challenge in this chapter was to make it believable to a reader that the characters would accept Sarene as an Elantrian. The plotting of this section of the book relies on Sarene thinking that she's actually been transformed–otherwise, she would try to escape, and I wouldn't be able to have the short interlude in Elantris I have here. It's vital to Raoden's plotting, and to the relationship between the two of them, that they have some time to think and to get to know one another.
I had a couple things going for me in creating this suspension of disbelief regarding Sarene's nature as an Elantrian. First, she doesn't really know what an Elantrian should be like–she doesn't realize that her heartbeat or her tears betray her. Secondly, as Raoden will point out in a bit, Sarene has come during the time of New Elantris. There is food, there is shelter, and the pain has mostly been overcome. The differences between an Elantrian and a non-Elantrian, then, are less obvious.
Even still, there are a couple of things I had to explain. The first is Ashe's existence. This is a major clue to Sarene and company that she's not really an Elantrian. Sarene's bodily changes–or lack thereof–are going to be more and more obvious the longer she stays in Elantris. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to pull this plotting off for very long, but hopefully it works for now.
Do you backstock on neat characters?
I do have some characters I haven't found places for yet.
Is it just kind of like a mix/match? Do you find a world for them or...
So characters are the hardest one for me to define. Because I need to discover who they are by writing through their viewpoint for a while. And it's an exploration. Other things, I can plot, I can outline, I can plan ahead. Characters, I can't. I need to explore them. So, really, what I have are seeds, conflicts. They could grow into a character. And I'll sometimes try them out, and they won't work, and I'll send that seed back.
Since you too acknowledge the massiveness of this world you built, have you ever considered letting some of your writing group pals or closest friends write short canon stories about any of the side characters in SA? Like an Arcanum Unbounded but with lots of stories from the POV of various side characters?
It would be amazingly interesting, not only to get more info on some of our favorite characters, but it would let other styles of writing bleed in and mix among this wonderful world of yours (and we, as fans, get more Stormlight content without you having to burn out from writing all these side stories)
I've been toying with this, and it's possible in the future, but we're taking baby steps. First will likely be Isaac (who is my art director and long time collaborator) who will probably be continuing the Taldain graphic novels, with a Khriss-focused story set on Darkside.
At the same time, I'm planning to do a few more audio novellas like The Original where I collaborate with people like Dan Wells.
Whether I do anything similar with Stormlight will really depend on what the readers think of these experiments. I would enjoy doing a book of canon stormlight short stories that are written by other people who want to explore characters that there isn't as much time for in the narrative--but I'd be very careful and cautious about it, and would want to ease into the idea by trying other properties first.
Is this the first you've talked about this? I was wondering the other day whether there had been any update to how the story from White Sand would move forward since the graphic novels have caught up with your prose novel.
It might be. It's something he wants to try, and I think it would be an excellent collaboration, since he's much better at visual storytelling than I am.
Will we ever get to see a Kelsier vs. Kaladin showdown?
RAFO
Does aluminum negate magic systems in all the--
Not exactly, but it has very weird-- it has interesting effects, how about that, in all places.
Where did you get your ideas for knights?
A knight has a sword, armor and a horse.
Can a Shard go to a planet, create an autonomous Splinter, and then leave the system of the planet and then *inaudible*
Yeah, that's possible. In fact, that's happened. You've seen that happen.
What is your beverage of choice?
Uh, ice water. Yep, really is. I really just like me a good-- lots of ice. Like, a big cup filled to the top with ice, and then you fill up water in it. Best stuff.
It is hard for me to keep in mind more than one big change for a book [while revising]. I can do it, but it's hard; it's a challenge. And fortunately, the way I write books is, generally I only have one big change per plot cycle or per viewpoint. Like, I can say, "For this viewpoint character, my big focus change for this is changing this part of who they are. This character needs to be more proactive." That's one of the ones that I had for the new Stormlight book, is there was a character that just wasn't proactive enough. And I'm like, "I need to change the way that they're viewing their life, and add a few scenes in appropriate places that up the character's proactivity."
That was separate from a different character, where I had approached some of the mental health things the wrong way, and early beta readers were able to point me the right direction on how to do it better. And that character, I didn't change structurally their plot; I changed their response to it, and then a few places where that response did require some major changes. But I could have them on mind: this revision, I'm doing this for this character.
And I had, like, three of those in my 4.0 draft. And for all the other characters, I could say, "In this, we are just focusing on tightening-normal-prose sort of cleaning." And that way, when I went to the 5.0, if there were things for those other characters, I could feel that I had already done the prose tightening for them, and I could get into some more of the problems they needed, and I was able to keep the big changes in my head for the other characters. And then, in the last draft, I was able to do the prose tightening on their viewpoints. And that worked really well for this specific book.
Conventical is Moshe's word, by the way. I’d originally called it the Covenant of Seran. However, not only did the Halo games decide to make good use of the word Covenant, but my editor found it somewhat inaccurate. So, he suggested Conventical–which I liked immediately. It's a real word, though I think I spell it differently, which refers to a meeting of high level church officials. The term fits with the Steel Ministry, which doesn't have priests, but instead has Obligators and doesn't have a Priesthood, but instead a Ministry. Everything's pseudo-religious, instead of being directly "on" religious.
There is an expensive steel chain in the shops in Celebrant. Is there anything significant about that.
*Hands over a RAFO card* That is such a big RAFO. Super-big RAFO.
The pathway that Vin uses is called a Spikeway–or, at least, that's my informal title for it. I had a lot of trouble deciding how I was going to move people between Luthadel and Fellise (which, by the way, used to be named Tenes. I changed the name because of conflicts with other names in the book. And, for the life of me, I can't remember which names those were.)
Anyway, the spikeway occurred to me as an interesting application of the magic system that also solved a narrative problem in the book. I needed to get Kelsier back and forth quickly. So, I devised this. Often, this is the way things like this occur to me in writing. I'll see a need–such as Mistborn needing to travel–and fill it by applying the magic system in a logical way. This is one of the advantages of writing Hard Fantasy, where the rules of the magic are very well defined. You can actually be creative in the way you apply things.
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
I did. I considered-- When I started, I'm like, "Brandon Sanderson's a boring name, I should do a cooler name." And my editor and my agent prevailed upon me that, no, it was not a boring name, it was just fine. That was the big decision point.
Can you tell me anything about Tension or Cohesion?
I haven't truly written these magics in yet, so they might change as I actually write the scenes. But they are... Tension is the ability to take something flexible and make it rigid. Which you think sounds simple, but there are so many cool things you could do with that.
Is Lift a translation of a Rosharan word for lift, or is "Lift" the actual sound people make when they say her name?
It is in translation. Most of the time you will be able to assume that a name like that is in translation. Wax and Wayne probably isn't, it's probably just their names. That one's the hard one to decide on, because I like the pun, but they don't have a moon on Scadrial so waxing and waning is not part of the conversation as much. But I always imagine that the languages on Scadrial kind of sound Earth-y, even though they have no relation to Earth whatsoever, because that's just how I built Scadrial, as kind of an Earth analogue. But most of the time, if you run into a name like Lift, it is in translation.
I didn't see Rlain [on the poster for the Way of Kings Leatherbound Kickstarter].
There were reasons relating to upcoming books that I didn't want to put Rlain in this. I agree, it would be great with him, but for now, I left him off intentionally.
Eshonai's one experience as a mate was a "disaster" and Rlain's time in mateform "didn't turn out the way he expected". Is that implying what I think it's implying?
No, they're implying different things. With Rlain it's just that it turned out he was solely attracted to other men. Not a disaster, just not what he had anticipated. And Eshonai, I'm not implying the same thing there. I'm implying that she... when she did a mate she just did not like being in that form. It did not mesh well with her, she embarrassed herself in ways that... Eshonai outside of mateform considers that entire time an enormous disaster and a huge embarrassment. Does that make sense? I wasn't trying to draw a correlation between those two. It's a good question to ask because the structure of how I wrote those is very similar.
What does Hoid think of the Ghostbloods and what do they think of him?
The Ghostbloods are intrigued, and he is unimpressed.
Who would win in a fight, Kaladin or Kelsier?
Kelsier, he fights dirty. Kaladin has, probably, more raw power-- I don't know. Kelsier's going to win easy though. He's just going to murder him in his sleep.
Shardplate. Are we going to find out where that comes from?
You will eventually find out, but it is not the next book.
Is it possible that Honor's Shard is named Honor, because this is how the man who hold The Shard inerpreted it but not it's real name? In that case could The Shard change the name to something else that would better fit with personality of the new holder? As an example, could Honor become Unity if Dalinar were the holder?
The name Honor is bigger than Tanavast, though it's not impossible for shards to be interpreted differently by those who hold them, and perhaps other names be applied.
The deleted prologue [of The Emperor's Soul] with Hoid in it - is there any chance of that being put online?
It will be online, and it will probably be bundled with the ebook version as well.
The ninth metal. It was difficult to decide what this one would do. I wanted something opposite, yet complimentary, to the power of atium. So, I decided that it would give a kind of skewed perspective of the past, kind of like atium gives a limited view of the future. Obviously, this will come back into the plot later.
I do worry that it took too long to get to this scene. You've probably been wondering for quite a long time what the ninth metal did–and that concerns me, because if you wonder it, you'll also wonder why Vin herself didn't get around to figuring out what it was.
The problem is, this really is the first place I could work it in. Allomancy is a very complicated magic system, and I wanted plenty of time for you to get used to it before I delved into its more odd aspects.
Does [the Ishikk interlude in Way of Kings] indicate that White Sand, Mistborn Era 1, and Elantris all take place in about the same period of time? Or are worldhoppers also timehoppers?
Some of them are also timehoppers. They're not as close as you would think.
<>?
One of them is White Sand which is now a Graphic Novel. If you ever want to read - in English - you can get the <prime/previous> version. I'm not going to release it. <> think it's good enough.
<>
<I have read that and it's possible I'll read that.>
<>
Yes, <> every couple of years <just to get updated>
<><want to write this>
Once in a while it's happening. But I'm always able to change my idea to <get> something different <to get to do> what I want to do.
The in-world explanation for the safehand is that some men found an old book that said, "masculine arts are two-handed, feminine arts are one-handed," and used it to keep women from getting Shardblades. The women retaliated by not letting men write.
Chapter Forty-Nine - Part One
My biggest worry about these chapters is that people will look at the map we put in the front of the book and realize that it doesn't match the text. I really do like Jeff's map–it's well-drawn, and it has a very cool feel to it. I love the little city designs; they give the map a different feel from many fantasy maps. Overall, I think this map fits the "mood" of the book quite well.
However, I myself didn't give him good enough instructions on how to develop the map, and now it doesn't completely fit what I talk about in the text. Since the landscape of the land is so important to the development of the book and the magic system, this could be a problem for some readers.
Anyway, yes, Raoden makes the connection here. The Chasm line is what has been missing all along. I tried to emphasize the Chasm several times in the text, reminding people that it's around. However, as I may have said in other annotations (the spoiler sections), I now worry that the Chasm is TOO obvious. Anyway, I suspect the discovery will work for some people, and not work for others. Hopefully, the characterizations and the events in the book are interesting enough that even if some people think this discovery is obvious, they'll enjoy reading anyway.
Chapter Eighty-One - Part One
Prophecy
I wasn't certain how I wanted to treat prophecy in this book. On one hand, it's a staple of fantasy books—and my goal in this series was to take the fantasy staples and turn them upon their heads in a way that hadn't been done before. That meant I needed to include and use them, and so I did. In book two, the prophecies turned out to be false, and Ruin used them to trick Vin into releasing him.
However, the fact that he twisted the prophecies left me with the implication that they had once been true. What does that mean, though? If you look at prophecies in our own religions, very few of them are used like fantasy prophecies. In fantasy novels, it seems like prophecies are intentionally obscure, abstract things intended to confuse people and act as some kind of twisted guidebook for the hero to live his life. Yet, in modern religion—specifically Judaism and Christianity—prophecy is more general. Prophecy in these religions means things like "in the end, the faithful will win." They're general or symbolic. Of more use to the population as a whole, rather than applying to one distinct individual.
Sazed and Tindwyl have a great discussion about this in book two. Regardless, I make use of the prophecies here in the final book. As far as I'm concerned, they were given to the original Terris people by Preservation as a means of maintaining hope. They were a promise—a hero will come; that hero will protect you. Have faith.
So, in Oathbringer, we see the Surge of Adhesion used in an interesting way, Spiritual Adhesion. Do all the Surges have non-Physical manifestations like that?
All the Surges do, slightly, in fact, but none of them, I would say, are as Spiritual as that.
What about like, Shallan in Words of Radiance with her mercenaries? So, like, a Spiritual Transformation?
I wouldn't say Transformation, she is seeing a little bit, glimpsing a little bit, does that make sense?
So, the goal is to write the [Kickstarter] Novella in July, and have it ready to print soon after--but printing can take six months in the current environment. So while I could see (hopefully) people being able to read the novella as early as October in digital form (we'll send it out as soon as it is ready) I worry that the physical version won't be ready until early next year.
I can't say 100% when the other goodies will be ready, but I have a suspicion that the novella hardcover will take the longest. For all the others, we just have to know how many to order and have the kickstarter money in hand to order them all. For the novella, we have to wait for me to write it, edit it, and then have it shipped from the printer.
But if all you're worried about is me finishing the novella sometime this year, you should be fine. I bet the first draft is done by August. You can follow along while the kickstarter is happening, as I'll post updates.
Maybe talking about your process about picking chapter titles for the Stormlight books?
It's been really fun. I wouldn't say I really pick them, because the betas come up with a fantastic list of possibilities, and Peter has a lot of say about what really fits. But with... did I start in Words of Radiance? In Words of Radiance, I think, it was just Brandon and Peter were both just too busy. And so I got on the beta document and looked at everyone's suggestions, and kind of skimmed back. Because I'd read the book before; but I skimmed back through the chapters and chose a chapter title that would fit.
And it's been really fun to be involved in that way. Both to see the test audience reactions and... I get impatient, and as soon as Brandon will let me, I read the whole book. So when I choose chapter titles, I reread it again more slowly, and you always get different things out of it when you read it slowly.
The problems of transporting investiture reminded me of asymptotic freedom a lot, is an analog of that at work in the Cosmere?
I'd say yes, but with fair warning that I am not an expert on quantum mechanics.
Regarding this, I remember asking a question a while back about a chapter's annotation of two ardents measuring some flamespren's sizes, where sizes are fixed once measured (like real-life projective measurements in quantum mechanics). And then the annotation with Navani stating that flamespren are trapped and then the gem divided and used for conjoined fabrials, which sounds a lot like entanglement and/or cat states. So I'd say you may not be an expert but you sure know enough to at least make this a fun read for a physicist!
I've joked before that the way I treat Quantum mechanics in some of these spren relationships is the way that people THINK quantum mechanics work. But I did use some intentional entanglement language in the explanation I think you're referencing. (If it's the place where she's explaining something similar to the famous two marbles in a bag thought experiment for explaining entanglement.)
When's Hoid's birthday?
I have not said when Hoid's birthday is. Because it's on Yolen, I don't even know if the days will line up, when we finally get there, to our world.
When will we see a Hoid book?
You will see a Hoid book-- You will not see a Hoid book until I finish the first five books of Stormlight and the next Mistborn trilogy at the earliest. More likely it's after Stormlight is done.
We've seen that the "Sylblade" can change shape to fit Kaladin's needs. Is there a limit on the size of the blade that Syl can become?
Yes.
Okay. And can you share with me what the upper limits on those sort of things would be?
Upper limits of hers are about human-sized.
Is it always going to be something that has to be a fighting utensil, or does it have to...?
That's going to RAFO. You'll have to see.
[...]
I will say this. You have seen Syl changing shape from the first time she appears onscreen and she is frequently not a weapon.
Is there anything you can tell me about the Deeper Ones?
About what?
The Deeper Ones?
No, unfortunately. If I write the Threnody novel, they will be involved a great deal, how about that?
Are there any particular messages that you hope readers will take away from this book?
I don't really go into books with a message. I like to explore the characters and their passions, and the theme, without any overt agenda. I just want readers to be able to see through the eyes of people who are different from them, to see that our biases do affect how we perceive the world—and that's both a good and bad thing. I just want them to come out of the story saying, "That was great, let me think about this some more."
I also asked him about Terris food.
He said that he imagines it to be like Mediterranean food. He also allows that it could totally involve noodles.
The drawers with the infused gemstones. Is that the Stormlight Archive?
No. That is not the Stormlight Archive.
Is there a Stormlight Archive?
Yes. But... it means the books. The archive of books that are all named after in-world books. The Archive is a pun on archived collection of books.
What kind of spren is Hoid's favorite?
He is quite fond of Patterns.
Would a Mistborn have to worry about accidentally burning her copper IUD?
Yes she would, absolutely *laughs*
The scene with the skaa getting killed in the courtyard was also added later in the drafting process. Moshe was worried that the Final Empire didn't seem brutal enough–especially in these middle chapters, where it was easy to forget (as Vin almost did) how dangerous the world was. The balls and the frills were supposed to be distracting. However, I realized that I needed to bring people back on-course by throwing in a scene like this, where abject brutality could be contrasted with the night's beauty.
My question is, also Vivasher is my favorite ship, so I'm just wondering if he misses her... I'm wondering if Vasher misses Vivenna.
...Yes.
