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General Reddit 2013 ()
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Nepene

And on an unrelated question, they have symbols on their heads. If Shallan managed to draw one of these would it be some glyph? Perhaps some glyph that we would recognize, like the glyphs in the artwork at the front?

Brandon Sanderson

As for the symbols making up the heads of the cryptics, those are not glyphs. But it's possible you would recognize them...

17th Shard Forum Q&A ()
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Joe ST

Would you be willing to write a Ketek in High Imperial? It's just something that's been going around in my head for a while, I think it'd be pretty cool XD.

Brandon Sanderson

Ha. I...really would rather pass on this one. Getting the Ketek right in [The Way of Kings] took weeks of writing and rewriting. I'm not sure I'd like to try something, even for fun, in a quick forum write like this.

Google+ Hangout ()
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John

Although like stories and you know, plot characters, twists are all very important, for me a great story is made up of great moments and the question I wrote in the post there was about when Dalinar swaps his sword for the bridgemen and asks the question, "how much is a life worth?" and for me that was a moment where I had to put the book down because it was just so great, it brought the characters together and all these reasonings and all these visions, it all came to a head and I was thinking how many moments like these do you think a great book needs for example I mean other things I'd seen in that book was when Kaladin, he tells his men to come out after the storm and see him alive again or in The Gathering Storm when Rand is on Dragonmount and everything you know, he destroys the Choedan Kal. So how many moments like that do you think they need and can you give me an example of a great book that you love from another author's book where you think there is a great moment like those ones?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, excellent, I'll start with the last one, one of my favorite books of all time is Les Miserables and it's full of moments like that and I'm going to have to pick the moment where Jean Valjean goes for Marius and brings him back through the sewers and things like that, moments like that are what makes books work for me.

What you're noticing is part of the way I design my plots. When I'm going to write a story I feel like I have to have moments like that prepared and planned that I can write towards. I will often go and turn on epic music of the right type--whatever I'm feeling is epic at the time--and go and walk or go on the treadmill, or do something active. And while doing that I will try to imagine what moments like that will be for this given book. What will be the really powerful character or plot moment that just make you want to put the book down and sit back for a minute and say "Whoa!"

I have to be able to imagine some of those for every book I write, otherwise I can't start the book. I write my books kind of... the points on the map philosophy, meaning I have to have something to write toward for me to get there. It's like having a map where you say, okay, I'm going to drive from one place to another and here are the places along the way I'm going to stop. I need to know where those places are and these places are usually these powerful moments and it's how I build stories.

BookCon 2018 ()
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Dissentinel (paraphrased)

Would it be possibly to have a bunch of iron Ferrings store a bunch of weight into some iron, turn that iron into steel, and then use that steel to make guns as a cheaper alternative to aluminum?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah but the guns wouldn't be immune--

Ravi (paraphrased)

But they would be resistant, that little bit of extra time could be enough to make a difference.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah.

Dissentinel (paraphrased)

And the guns would be harder to see with iron/steelsight, correct?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, they would be. Do keep in mind however that we get a very skewed perception of the world and how important stuff like this is because the main characters of the books are Allomancers. This just isn't something that is important to the average person on the street. But this does relate to some things later on in the series.

General Reddit 2014 ()
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Aethy

Aether of Night was cannibalized; it's no longer going to be released. Apparently some of the concepts were taken and worked into other books, so it's no longer publishable.

Peter Ahlstrom

Actually it might be un-cannibalized. Some concepts went into Liar of Partinel, but now that book won't ever happen in that form. So there could still be one or more Aether books in the future. But it would be a ground-up rewrite like happened with Mistborn and Stormlight.

WeiryWriter

Wait, really? That's pretty big news, even just possibility of it happening. I presume the Shards of the world would change then? Since Decay got reworked to be Ruin and such?

Peter Ahlstrom

Yeah, Decay is essentially Ruin, so lots of things would change there. But the magic of the Aethers, especially, could get their own book later.

There is a reason that Aethers are already canon. I don't think anyone has figured that out yet. But the backstory Brandon gives them could change in the future, or could end up never materializing.

State of the Sanderson 2019 ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Part Seven: Other Cool Projects Stormlight Children’s Book

A publisher Isaac has worked with doing picture books asked if maybe we could do an adaptation of “the girl who looked up” story that Shallan and Wit tell in Oathbringer. We thought this was a pretty cool idea, and so Isaac is working on the adaptation. If we do this right, it could come out around the same time as Book Four.

Brotherwise Call to Adventure Board Game

This summer, Brotherwise Games will release Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive. Originally planned as an expansion for the board game Call to Adventure, it has grown into a full standalone game with 120 cards and everything you need to play. Call to Adventure is a hero-crafting game that combines strategy and storytelling. It’s similar to some “tableau-building” games where you’re creating a kingdom or civilization, but in this game you’re building a character. Each player begins with cards that define your hero’s origin, motivation, and destiny. Over the course of the game, you overcome challenges and gain traits. It’s a game with points and a clear winner, but the highlight of every game is telling your hero’s story at the end.

The guys at Brotherwise are huge fans, and they’ve worked closely with us to make sure the Stormlight Archive game is true to the books. It emphasizes cooperative play as players become Radiants and face Odium, but it’s possible to choose a villainous path and work against the team. The cards are all inspired by familiar scenes and themes, and in Call to Adventure you’re piecing together those moments to tell new stories. Here’s a sneak peek at illustrations for some of the cards: Choose A Side (Ganna Pazyniuk), Herald of Justice (Petar Penev), Face the Unmade(Artem Demura), Leader (Ari Ibarra), Elsecaller (Randy Vargas), and One More Try (Artem Demura). Expect more news on the game closer to its release date in summer 2020!

Crafty Games Dice Kickstarter

If you’re reading this when it comes out, know that you’ve only got a few hours left to get in on the Mistborn dice Kickstarter (and help them try to meet their final stretch goal). This should be the last Kickstarter we do for anything until we reach the Stormlight one in the summer.

Crafty has been doing great work on the RPG front, and have been an excellent partner. If you’re at all interested in dice, have a look at their Kickstarter. I’m really looking forward to getting mine!

Kraków signing ()
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Questioner

Which one of the ten abilities on Roshar <inaudible> it depends on spren?

Brandon Sanderson

Which of the Orders?

Questioner

Of the abilities on Roshar.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, the abilities of the Knights Radiant?

So, this depends on which spren indeed. Each spren can give two of the abilities, and they're slightly different for each Order.

Questioner

If you could have one, which one would it be?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably Windrunners, cause I would want to fly.

Translator

I would prefer Regrowth it's very much for growing plants.

Brandon Sanderson

That would be very convenient.

Phoenix Comicon 2013 ()
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Questioner

What are your feelings on fanfiction?

Brandon Sanderson

I am perfectly fine with fanfiction.  I think fanfiction is cool. I don’t read a ton of fanfiction, I probably won’t specifically read fanfiction based on my works just for the idea contamination potential and things like that, but I think fanfiction is awesome and you should feel free to write fanfiction in my worlds, as long as its not for profit.  I don’t know if I will buy into this Amazon Fanfiction for profit thing or not, I'm not sure what I think about it yet. But at the end of the day I think it’s cool and it’s good practice for a lot of writers. So go for it.

Goodreads Fantasy Book Discussion Warbreaker Q&A ()
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Logan

I really enjoyed Warbreaker, especially the history of the Scholars and their relationships. Have you considered writing a prequel novel that would take place when Vasher, et al were much younger?

Brandon Sanderson

People ask me for prequels all the time. They've asked for MISTBORN prequels, ELANTRIS prequels, and now WARBREAKER prequels. My general answer to this is probably not—just because I as a reader don't like prequels. I'm one of those readers that if the ending is spoiled for me, in many ways that can ruin the book. Because of that it's hard for me to decide to write a prequel.

When I plan my books I design them to have a beginning, a middle, an end, and a past and a future. I know what happened in the past. I know what will happen in the future. I could always write that, and I won't rule it out 100% completely. But telling the story of the Five Scholars is not something I sat down to do with WARBREAKER. I had that all worked out; I knew what they did. The exciting story I wanted to tell is the one that happened in the book. There is a good chance of a sequel, but a prequel is unlikely. If I did do a prequel it would probably be in short story form posted for free on my website.

/r/fantasy AMA 2013 ()
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The_Vikachu

I remember reading you answer earlier that a person being used to charge a hemalurgic spike does not necessarily have to die. Would that victim be similar to a Drab from Warbreaker?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, making a spike rips off a piece of someone's soul. So...yeah. I'd need to see my exact quote from before, but let's say it's not going to leave a person in good shape.

Alloy of Law Vancouver signing ()
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zxg15 (paraphrased)

I asked him for more info on what he meant when he said that Stormlight will be organized as two 5 book series within the total 10 books.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Understandably he didn't want to give much away, he wouldn't say if there would be a time skip or not. He did tell me that there would be a large change in tone between books 1-5 and 6-10. Also, he said that since book 2 is now going to be Shallan's, he wants Dalinar's book to be number 5. He then talked about how the 5 characters that were introduced in depth in WoK would be the the 5 flashback characters for the first 5 books and the others would be more focused on in the final 5 books.

JordanCon 2018 ()
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Questioner

So, when Vin and Kelsier are running around spewing those coins everywhere. I assume that leaves coins all over the place. So, what happens to all that money? *laughter* ...Are there conceivably skaa who could make a living?

Brandon Sanderson

...I got asked this in my writing group, way back when. Way, way back when. I got in alpha reads and beta reads too, people are like "They're just throwing coins all over!" I'm like, "Yeah, it's a meaningless amount of money to them at that point, and is cheaper, in a lot of ways, than going and buying bits of metal, because of the way--" Anyway. The answer is, they just get left there. And there are skaa who have a very lucky day the next day. Because to them, that money isn't a throwaway amount. And you could conceivably do very well watching where Mistborn went, and following after them. I'm not sure if there are people who do that. But it would make for a nice story, so we can imagine that there is at least a few people who try to track where they are. I mean, the problem is, once you start into that effort, you start to get to the realm of people who that money is insignificant to again. So, like, no underworld crime lord is gonna track where Mistborn are to go gather the clips that they drop for jumping around. It just isn't worth their money. But one of the things you see in an economy like in the Final Empire is that the wealth disparity is such that, for some people, that could be worth their time.

Interview with Isaac Stewart ()
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Trevor Green

I believe you create merchandise for The Way of Kings and Mistborn. How's that going? Do you ever see people wearing your stuff out in the wild?

Isaac Stewart

InkWing Arts (link here) is the business my wife Kara and I have put together to showcase the artwork I've created for Brandon's worlds. Right now we primarily sell bookmarks and t-shirts, but watch in the future as we add patches, art prints, and games. The goal there is to make cool things based on cool worlds. It's been a lot of fun to interact with fans in this way.

I mostly see the shirts at Brandon's signing events. But my eleven year old son came to me the other day and said he saw someone wearing one of our shirts at the grocery store. He thought that was pretty cool. So did I!

Elantris Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Yes, all this time Hrathen was under the effects of the potion. It was a little bit contrived not to tell the reader that Hrathen had asked for the effects to be temporary, but I figured the drama was worth it. You should have been able to figure it out anyway–it was the only logical reason Hrathen would drink the potion.

Of all the politickings, maneuverings, and plannings in this book, I think this is the best one. In a single brilliant gamble, Hrathen managed to make himself into a saint who is seen to have power over Elantris. He out-witted Sarene and Dilaf at the same time, gaining back everything he'd lost during his arguments and self-questioning. This isn't really a "twist," in my mind–it's something better. It's something that makes logical sense, something that carries the plot forward without having to trick the reader, yet still earning wonder and appreciation.

In my mind, this sort of plot twist is superior to gimmick surprises. I don't often pull it off, but there's something. . .majestic about a plotting device that is obvious, rational, yet still surprising.

Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
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Leiyan

Do you know, do the moons orbit the opposite direction of Roshar's rotation?

Brandon Sanderson

I believe they do but I'm not 100% sure.

Leiyan

There's no eclipses as far as I can tell, so the plane of the orbit must be inclined pretty strongly, because there'd be an eclipse every day if there were eclipses...

Brandon Sanderson

We had to fudge that because as you said, if there were any it'd be all the time.

The Dusty Wheel Interview ()
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The Dusty Wheel

You've said many times [Dalinar] is the first character you ever wrote for the first book you tried to write when you were a teenager. Can you tell me more about that original version of Dalinar, how he evolved through all these years, and what is the difference between past and current version?

Brandon Sanderson

This is really hard to remember. This is a book I wrote when I was seventeen. And the basic premise was that the king got assassinated, and no one knew what to do, and his brother kind of took over as regent for the king's son, who was too young to become king. And this character was the genesis of Dalinar. The book wasn't really about him. The book was about somebody else. It was about a kid named Jerick, who was half dragon and half elf. (This was the book you write when you're seventeen, right?) And it was about the court wizard, who was a proto-Hoid. And it was kind of their story. And the Dalinar character had a completely different name. The only thing that stayed through the years is this idea of, what is your responsibility to your brother versus your kingdom. So I came back to it and in 2002 wrote Way of Kings Prime. (Which is what we call the proto-Way of Kings, which I will be releasing for people this summer for people to read. And you'll be able to see Dalinar from that book, and by then you can start to see who Dalinar has become.) My remembrance of that book is that he's just a good and upright king who's never done anything wrong, and the nuance of a lot of the characters for the Stormlight Archive came over years of working with them and trying different things and trying to find characters who were more nuanced. But I haven't read The Way of Kings Prime in seventeen years, now, so who knows what you'll find when you read that one!

Arcanum Unbounded Hoboken signing ()
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AndrewHB

I wondered if I could follow up to that Machiavelli question. Would Elsecallers be a-- one of those other, uh-- one of those...

Brandon Sanderson

So, yeah. Elsecallers are fairly compatible. Like, Elsecallers feel like the journey is... the journey is the entire species, right? And that the journey is the destination. *inaudible*

West Jordan signing ()
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Questioner

Do you have any plans to write any type of science fiction...?

Brandon Sanderson

I've got lots of ideas but I have no plans in the near future. I have done one military science fiction coauthored with my buddy Ethan Skarstedt, my buddy in the military. We'll see if that ever coalesces into a book that we can ever publish. We did write a cool military SF together. Nothing big, epic science fiction. I've got enough on my plate right now.

Shadows of Self San Francisco signing ()
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Questioner

What would happen--

Imagine I had-- imagine Wayne is standing near the end of an aluminium tube. He tries to set up a speed bubble such that he radius would go through the tube, what would happen?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay standing at the end of an aluminum tube, well I don't know--

Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. I think that if it's trying to be set up through aluminum it's gonna' disrupt it, you're gonna' have that sort of the "backlash" that you get when-- yeah.

Questioner

Oh so you can't even set it, it won't be there *inaudible*--

Brandon Sanderson

I don't think you can set it up, I think it's gonna' cause it to collapse the second that it tries to pop up around the aluminum.

Questioner

Okay that makes sense.

Brandon Sanderson

[...]

Yeah, it's probably gonna' act like you tried to set up a speed bubble on something that's too small and moving.

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist Interview ()
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Patrick

In Elantris and Mistborn it felt more like the world was there to support the story and characters, but outside the locales the characters were in little was revealed about them. The Way of Kings feels much more expansive, with a vast continent packed with different cultures, races, religions and so on. Was this simply a natural development of needing a world that could support ten long novels, or was there some other motive in making Roshar so much more detailed?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to reverse-engineer your question. When I wrote Elantris and Mistborn, I intentionally kept the world more sparse. The goal particularly of Mistborn was, "I'm going to take an epic fantasy story and condense it into three novels." The focus for me in those novels was plot. Of course I wanted to have great characters and great magic, but there was more of a plot focus, and I didn't want the world to distract. It was a conscious decision in Mistborn.

When I sat down and wrote The Way of Kings, the plan from the start to do ten books influenced how I approached the world. But really, the world of Roshar is such a big part of the story, and of the history and the mysteries of the series, that I wanted it to be full and immersive. Immersion was one of my main driving forces. With Mistborn, one of my main driving forces was to keep it moving. I hope The Way of Kings still feels fast-paced, but it's a thousand pages long, twice as long as Mistborn. A lot of that extra space is dedicated to fleshing out the world and making it feel like a real place, because that's very important for the series. When I write a book, I look at what the book needs and what is required by the story I'm trying to achieve. Another valid element is that when I wrote Mistborn, I was a newer writer. Writing The Way of Kings, I'm more experienced. I think I'm better at making this sort of decision now, and I felt I could tackle in this book the sorts of things that I couldn't achieve in Mistborn.

Steelheart release party ()
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Questioner

What would you like to be working on? Do you have any ideas bouncing around in your head?

Brandon Sanderson

I would like to write the book I've wanted to write for a long time (I'll probably do it as a novella), about the planet where catching a disease gives you a magical talent. And I'm probably gonna do that one as my next novella, next year. So in between projects I'll write that one.

The Way of Kings Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Five

One of the problems with The Way of Kings Prime was it had too many characters competing for the limelight. It lacked focus. One could argue that the published The Way of Kings is kind of all over the place itself—indeed, a lot of the plot threads don't connect until the end. (And then only in some limited ways.)

In the published book, I feel it works. Yes, the book is expansive, but we really only have two locations for our plot: the Shattered Plains and Kharbranth. In Prime, Jasnah and Taln both had major sections of the plot, in addition to Kaladin, Dalinar, Szeth, and the character Shallan replaced. It was just too much, and the thing never pulled together.

Fixing this was one of my main goals for revising the book. I started The Way of Kings over from scratch during 2009, between writing The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight. I knew I needed a tighter narrative.

At the end, I moved Jasnah and Taln out of the book for the most part. They will have stories later in the series, but for this book, Jasnah isn't a viewpoint character.

I'll dig into Soulcasting at another time.

YouTube Livestream 12 ()
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Brandon Sanderson

I will start writing [Dawnshard] on Monday. I'm almost through with my revision of Songs of the Dead. Takes a lot less time for me to do a revision on that, because basically instead of fixing problems, because I'm co-authoring with Peter Orullian, I get to say, "This is working. Maybe change this to be like this." And give Peter the chance to make the changes. The book is looking really good, this last revision.

I thought a lot about the title for this one, because I wanted to fit with the other two: Edgedancer, and Horneater (which I will write). So I was thinking I need some sort of classic Brandon mashup word. For a while, I was thinking of calling it Wandersail, because Rysn's ship is the Wandersail, but I thought that would be duplicitous because the story has nothing to do with the story Wandersail, from Hoid's stories. And in fact, I'm more and more thinking that I want to do some picture book versions of Hoid's stories that would make nice read-alouds, and I would call one of those Wandersail. So I'm like, this is just a bad title for this book.

So, I thought I would dig into instead one of the things that we were talking about in the book, which is the Dawnshards. So, it is named Dawnshard. For those who are deep lore cosmerenauts and are wondering about the Dawnshards, we are going to talk about them in this novella. So, yes, we will be going to Aimia.

Right now, Rysn, probably Lopen as a secondary viewpoint character is my guess. But I haven't written it yet, so I have to see how the viewpoints work out.

Ad Astra 2017 ()
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Questioner

I really love this book so much. Kaladin is my favorite of like any book character ever, so that's why that. Like he needs to be hurt, but not too much. Don't hurt him too much, please.

Bystander

Now he's going to kill him off, just for you.

Brandon Sanderson

Kaladin has some rough--has some rough things to deal with in his life. But he survived Bridge Four, so I don't think anything will ever be as bad as that. That's the thing.

TWG Posts ()
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Brandon Sanderson

How much [Writing Preparation] do you do? What files do you create?

I've done it various ways. Usually I have an 'outline' document for plots, a 'character' document for characters, and a 'world' document for magic systems and things.

Sometimes, the preparatory documents are only a couple dozen pages. (Elantris.) Sometimes they're hundreds of pages long. (Dragonsteel, Way of Kings.)

General Reddit 2020 ()
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jmcgit

I wonder if Rock's story made it into an interlude (or primary narrative) [in Stormlight Four], or if it still needs to be written?

Brandon Sanderson

It would still need to be written. There wasn't room for it in book four, and it wouldn't really fit thematically anyway. If I don't manage to do it as a novella between four and five, I think I can make it fit in five thematically, so we'll put it there.

Aradanftw

I love Rysn's interludes in every book; especially her adventure with Chiri-Chiri in Oathbringer. That being said if you end up doing a novella for her does that mean she'd be out of the interludes in future books? Also if you don't mind answering, does she have an interlude in Book 4?

Brandon Sanderson

I haven't written it yet, but I do plan for her to have one. I can't really do it until I've written the novella, if indeed I find the time for that.

MisCon 2018 ()
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Questioner

When you're sad, would a seon, especially when you're a kid, would it like nuzzle you and tell you nice things?

Brandon Sanderson

It would definitely tell you nice things. Seons barely have any weight to them, and touch, and so nuzzling is not a natural instinct, I would say, for them... But they will definitely comfort you.

Questioner

Okay. So they're not born?

Brandon Sanderson

No, not really anymore. They were all created kind of around the same point.

Barnes and Noble Book Club Q&A ()
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Chubby_Monkey

As The Gathering Storm draws near release, there are many WOT fans that have a large worry that you will not do RJ justice and ruin his series (especially after 4 years of waiting). How big of a worry is this for you, having to fill his shoes, and what are you doing to prepare yourself?

Brandon Sanderson

They are right to worry, and I don't blame them at all. They have no assurance whatsoever that I won't ruin their book—the past has proven, I think, that series get ruined more than they get saved when a new author steps in.

I hope, very sincerely, to be in the second category, the one who saves a series rather than kills it. But only November will offer any proof other than my word, and I fully expect people to worry right up until they've read the novel.

The only preparation a person could really have for something like this was to be a lifelong fan. I think this book is good. I think it is VERY good. I'm not worried any more myself, though I was quite worried when I began.

What can I offer fans right now? Only the promise that the book has had Harriet and Mr. Jordan's assistants working from the beginning to make certain I didn't screw it up. Beyond that, I've made it my first priority to stay true to his wishes and notes, and not deviate unless there is a very, very good reason.

(The only times I've 'deviated' was in to offer more explanation or depth to a scene. I haven't cut anything he wanted to be in the book, save for a few places where he contradicted himself. I.E. There were some scenes where he said "I'm thinking of doing this or this" or "I'm thinking of doing this, but I don't know." In those places, I've made the final call.)

All I can ask is this. Give me a chance. Read the book. After that, we'll talk.

(The most stressful part is probably the realization that no matter what I do, I won't be able to please everyone. Robert Jordan couldn't do that himself. So I will fail some of you. But I hope to please the vast majority of you.)

General Reddit 2020 ()
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ChibertyScreenshot0.png

Chiberty

What happens if you try to summon a Shardblade, but there is a wall where it would appear? What about liquids in the way, or person, and what if Shardplate is in the way?

Brandon Sanderson

Generally, the Blade isn't going to appear inside of something solid--and will appear (shoving aside) in liquid. It can be hit or miss on people, but generally doesn't work--and Shardplate would stop it from materializing.

Mistborn: The Final Empire Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Twenty-Two - Part One

Feruchemy. Some like the word, others aren't as happy with it. It used to be called Hemalurgy, but I decided that would be a better word for the third magic system in the series. (You'll see it eventually.)

Feruchemy (not called that, however) was a magic system I lifted from Final Empire Prime, a book I wrote some years before I wrote this book. I had a person who could store up attributes, such as strength, then use them when he needed them. The thing is, the magic wasn't really that well formed, and this character never got any viewpoints, so I didn't get to use the magic as often as I wanted.

When I was developing this world, I knew I wanted the Keepers to have the fantastic memories. I realized that Feruchemy would make the perfect magic system for Sazed and his people. When I decided that I could use metals as a focus for this magic system (something that made it much more interesting, because it put a definable limit on what could be stored and how much of it could be stored) I knew I had something really good.

I like to use multiple magic systems in books, but I like it when they all have common elements. Feruchemy and Allomancy are like different aspects of the same concept. They both do some similar–yet different–things. There will be a lot more about this in the text.

Oathbringer release party ()
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Questioner

Would you care if I took what we have on, like, Aonic, and sort of rolled it into a conlang?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, that'd be fine. Aonic is the one that, like, in some ways the least useful.

Questioner

It has the most words that I've found for it.

Brandon Sanderson

If you're interested in conlangs, go talk to Peter, and maybe we'll sic you on something. Maybe we can get you working on something officially. I've tried to get Peter to do something... Go talk to him. Talk nerd stuff with him.

General Reddit 2020 ()
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MistbornSynok

So is the 4th Wax and Wayne book coming after Skyward 3 or after Skyward 4?

Brandon Sanderson

Skyward 3 will happen next, then Wax and Wayne 4. I realize people have been waiting for Wax and Wayne longer than they've been waiting for Skyward, and in a perfect world, I might do it next.

However, there are two big things pushing me the other direction. First, my Skyward and Mistborn are different publishers--and I just delivered a Stormlight book to the Mistborn publisher. The Skyward publisher has been very patient and understanding, but I feel I need to make good on my promises to them too.

Beyond that, I really like to alternate between projects. If I did Wax and Wayne 4 next, I'd be left with two Skyward books in a row. I'd rather split those up.

That leaves us with Skyward 3, W&W4, Skyward 4, then Stormlight 5. That should, barring some kind of big problem, be the next four books I write. I've been doing well at moving random ideas I have (like the Original) into things like collaborations lately. This has both let me do some fun things (for example, I think The Original is better as a collaboration than it would have been if either of us had tried to write it alone) and save time to focus my attention on my main book projects.

The nice thing about this is that it puts us in really good shape in 2023 with Stormlight 5 coming out. Since Alcatraz 6 is done, and Legion is finished, this means I'll have wrapped up every major arc I've been writing as we hit the halfway point of the cosmere.

That will leave me free to dive into Mistborn era 3 and the Elantris sequels as the next "chunk" of books I write. But we shall see how things play out.

AutumnWell

I was wondering if you intend to write a novella set between Stormlight 5 and 6 to bridge the gap between the two arcs.

Brandon Sanderson

I don't have any current plans. Like the gap between books three and four (though, admittedly, longer) I have constructed the story so that the information is part of the narrative. To actually write it out would, I think, be anticlimactic--since you'll be getting plenty of it through context. To say more would stray into spoilers, so I'll leave it there.

YidItOn

Do you have plans for a sequel to "The Rithmatist" in the next chunk after Stormlight 5, or will it more likely be sometime after that?

Brandon Sanderson

I keep telling myself I'll get to it, but still haven't found the right time. But I've always said that once Legion and Alcatraz are finished, it would be the last of the "loose end" series from the first part of my career that I want to tie up. So it's very much on my mind.

meh84f

What about Warbreaker 2? Is there any plan to write another book in that world? It seems like it’s set up for one and there’s a lot of questions raised by the characters worldhopping.

Brandon Sanderson

I do plan to do it, but it's been perpetually in a "We'll see" in regards to when.