Found 14294 entries in 0.271 seconds.
Cett's lies
By the way, the three lies Cett told: First, that he didn't care if Allrianne ran off,. Second, that he wasn't annoyed to find that Breeze was having a relationship with her. Third, that he had told three lies during the conversation. (He'd actually only told two, but that made it three, which makes this comment wonderfully self-referential. That's why he said "Good Luck figuring out what they are.")
I personally love Wayne, the character. <Explain to me> what that inspiration was.
I wanted-- I started with a character who changed personalities when *inaudible*. And I kind of built out from that.
*interruption*
Was there a personal... Was there a person who like-- that might have reminded you.
No. *inaudible* It was just that I wanted to write somebody who was a little more goofy. A little more interesting. A colorful character who would be a *inaudible*. Who could just be a representation that this is a little of a lighter world than we were in before.
Can a person compounding Luck defeat a Mistborn burning atium?
*Hesitantly* Yes. That is theoretically possible. I would say the emphasis on, "Could there?" But it is plausible that that could get around it.
Chapter Twelve
The language metaphor I use in this chapter is one of my favorites in the book. Hrathen's attitude can be quickly summed up in the way that he decides it is all right to preach to the people in their own language. He admits that he probably shouldn't do such a thing, but the logical justification is just too strong for him to deny.
Did the kandra that's running around on Roshar have a speaking role in Oathbringer?
RAFO!
So this is the question about White Sand. Why did this text become the basis of a comic - this one particular text - and how was the work going on converting White Sand into a graphic novel?
So White Sand was the very first book that I ever wrote, or at least a bad version of White Sand was the first book I ever wrote. I started it in 1994 and it was terrible. But I liked some of the ideas so years later I gave it another try. And it became my 7th or 8th book; I can never remember which came first: White Sand or Dragonsteel. And it was much better but still not quite where I wanted it to be. So I never ended up publishing it.
When a comic book company in America came to me and asked if I was interested in doing a comic book, it <immediately> sprung to mind. Because they wanted to do an adaptation of one of my books except I didn’t want to do a book that was already published, I wanted something for readers that was new. And I’ve always felt that White Sand was close to being good enough, it was just too long, it needed an edit. So the primary process for adapting it with Rick, who is a UK graphic novel writer involved him taking my text and cutting it way down to just the dialogue and the actions. And he did a fantastic job, we’re very pleased with that, but he did most of the work on that.
If Hoid was to get his hands on "bavadinium," could he alloy it with lerasium and get Sand Mastery?
This is theoretically possible.
Have you chosen a flashback character for book two of Stormlight Archive yet?
Yes. I have chosen to use Shallan as the flashback character for Stormlight Two. I feel that her narrative is the best one right here, and so I pretty much filled out the first five, 'cause Stormlight's in two five-book narratives, where we're going to anchor it with Kaladin is the first one and Dalinar is the last one, and then we'll use Shallan, Szeth is number three, and then probably Navani is number four. That's the one I haven't nailed down yet. It's either Navani or a character I can't tell you yet.
I was wondering, in Roshar, if any of the women were left-handed, if that interfered with the safehand? Or do they force them to--
They force them. It doesn't work for everybody, but at least--I read into this--there are countries where you're not allowed to be, in our world, left-handed. It's not a thing. They just force people to not be left-handed. It works better for some than others...
Let's say some kid ended up with Szeth's Oathstone and tried to pull an Aladdin by destroying it and freeing him.
Szeth doesn't seem like he'd actually let himself be freed, but with the Oathstone destroyed, what does he do next (designate a new rock?)
Use the pieces and try to glue them back together, I'd say. If you actually completely destroyed it, it kind of depends. He might transfer the devotion to the object used to destroy it, or he might try to get another one assigned to him by his homeland--though he would have trouble convincing himself to go back.
Do you think it ruins some of the mystique to include Shallan's sketches in the novels since her skill level is not left up to the imagination? It's kind of like the recently announced Kingkiller television show that's being developed. No matter how good of a musician they get to represent Kvothe, they will never match the skill level that I imagine him having from reading the books. Do you get what I'm trying to say?
I totally get what you're saying.
The meta-function of Shallan's pages are to help illustrate the more alien aspects of the world around her... we focus largely on the wildlife and fauna of Roshar, with the occasional diversion into something like Shardplate. The idea is to supplement the descriptions, not to supplant them. We try to avoid illustrating characters (even though Shallan often draws portraits) in order to leave them to reader's imagination as much as possible... it's the only perfect tool for interpretation.
Unfortunately, the more popular something becomes, the greater the demand rises for visual interpretations. As such, I think it's much better to have a dedicated team directly working with the author on the subject. Because the alternative is the standard, in which artists will interpret the work at the direction of a third party (usually an Editor or Art Director), without direct, unfiltered authorial input... and possibly without even reading the book itself. I may not match Shallan's skills, but I know that I'm matching what Brandon wants to see, to the best of my ability.
Is Marsh a worldhopper? Can he worldhop? Does he have the ability?
Ah, yes, yes.
Will we ever see him do anything on the other worlds?
That's a RAFO. There's your card. But yes, no his Investiture would not prevent him from going offworld.
Can you tell me anything about Steris and what she's up to in Book 4?
In Book 4? Steris is working hard on getting Wax to care about politics, since it's his job. And she's doing a pretty good job.
Have you ever wanted to write an alternate ending to a book or a series?
I actually did that with Words of Radiance. There's some small tweaks that I made. The end result was too much confusion among fans, which one's the canon, even though they were just minor things, that I feel like that was an experiment that I just don't ever wanna go back on.
Like Mistborn One, there are things I don't like about the ending of that. It's a little too deus ex machina. A little too unforeshadowed, some of the things that happen. But that's just my lack of skill as a writer during that era. And you just learn and grow. You learn how to do things right by doing them poorly on occasion.
Has Jasnah had any wards before Shallan, or is Shallan the first?
Jasnah has-- See I think she had one other ward, it didn't go well. That was a long time ago.
Something I've been wondering: are you intentionally alternating between male and female main characters through the whole series? Because I believe I remember reading that Eshonai will be book 4 and Szeth will be book 5.
Yes, I'm alternating intentionally. It's a pattern I don't feel slavish toward, so if the next book doesn't work for Eshonai but works for Szeth, I'll break the pattern. But the originally outline alternated through all ten.
What happens if you write the next book for one, but then Book 5 doesn't work with the person you have left? Will you change the book so the flashbacks suit it or will you change the flashbacks to suit the book?
I'll deal with that when (if) it happens. I suspect either is possible, though I could also just decide to do a different character, if I feel it makes the story work the best.
Would it be possible for an inanimate object that was invested to the point of sentience Ascend to Shardhood?
To become a Vessel of Adonalsium, or become a Shard through...? This is a tricky question because the power left alone will become sapient. And at that point, the distinction between being a Shard and a Vessel is fine but still extant. And I would say the power could not become a Vessel in the same way because it's defined as something different. But it is possible for the power to be left alone and to gain sapience on its own.
The example we were thinking of was Sel. It was stated in Arcanum that the landscape itself was invested to the point of.. Could the planet of Sel be the Vessel of Devotion?
At this point, it's playing semantics, and I would say no. But there are people in-Cosmere that would argue that the semantic distinction is irrelevant and that it is the same.
The painter dude that Shallan had the book from... Was that Hoid?
The Oilsworn? No, that is a little tuckerization for Dan dos Santos, who did the American cover of Warbreaker, and did several of our interior arts in here [Oathbringer], the fashion pages. He's one of my favorite artists.
Do you have any plans on showing what's happened to Kelsier after Secret History?
I do have plans. I cannot guarantee it, it's a side project, but I do have plans.
Does Allomancy work the same way when someone has left the planet?
Uhhhhhhhm, generally... yes.
Will [Hoid] be making a reappearance in Words of Radiance?
Yes.
I also heard he was part of your unpublished Dragonsteel series.
He is.
Is that a series that you're going to be publishing?
I will eventually rewrite it; it's not up to my current standards. I consider the events that happened in it basically to be canon, with some exceptions. For instance, when I originally wrote Dragonsteel, the Shattered Plains were there and Dalinar was there, and when I split off Way of Kings into its own book, I took half of what had been Dragonsteel and made it The Stormlight Archive and I split half of it off into a separate planet. If you were to read it, half of it will be a less good version of the Shattered Plains sequence, the bridge crews and things, from Way of Kings and the other half is Hoid’s story. And Hoid’s story stuff is still kind of canon, but the rest of it got moved.
I'm not doing the [BYU] lectures as YouTube videos this time. We figure we only wanna do these every three or four years; there's no reason to do them every year. But, because of covid, I have to stream the class to all of my students. And I do apologize; it is a closed stream through the university. But we will be creating highlights out of each lecture; maybe there'll be a fifteen-minute or a thirty-minute chunk here that Adam thinks will make a good stand-on-its-own thing, and you will get to see those probably after the semester's done, whenever Adam gets them together. We're gonna be doing that from the Lair.
When the Sleepless refer to 'Surgebinding' with the Dawnshards do they mean it specifically in the Rosharan sense, or just because that is the word Roshar has for magic.
I.e. if this occurred on Scadrial would they still call it 'Surgebinding' or something else?
Surgebinding is kind of a catch-all for cosmere magic here, as you're assuming. Literally binding (using) surges (a word for what we would call types of magic.)
So, Rosharans would look at an Allomancer or Feruchemist and say, "Yep, that there is a Surgebinder," correct?
Many Rosharans. Many would also just think of them as some kind of voidbringer or other mythological figure, from local lore.
Wait, have mistborn been to roshar or am I reading this wrong?
What I mean is that someone like from, say, Bavland might have different stories they tell about creatures in the night than someone from Rira. So while they might call someone who uses strange abilities a surgebinder, they are probably more likely to talk about the local equivalent of something like a fae creature from local British lore.
Elend Finds Vin
This room where Elend finds Vin is cool in that it's the very first place where we, as readers, met Vin back in book one. She was sitting in that cubby, looking out at the street, wishing she were as free as the ash. Now she has that freedom, and she's terrified by what she's done with it.
So, you can see–maybe–some of the repercussions that I talked about earlier. Vin just confirmed to herself that she's the monster she worried about being. Kelsier casts such a large shadow. Everyone thinks they should be able to do things like he did, but nobody can. They need to find their own way.
Still, Vin has a choice to make. In the last book, she ended up with Elend. Now she has another chance at Kelsier, as represented by Zane. Some people who read the book think she should go with him, others yearn for her to choose Elend. The fact that there really is an option means I've done my job well.
In the new novella for the Stormlight Archive. <Edgedancer.>
Mhm?
When she gets the cart over the edge of the ledge, it mentions that there was black sand on the ground? Was that Hoid, or...?
That was not Hoid.
Was that due to what she did, or...?
That was Wyndle.
Okay, he left black sand?
Well, his, uh-- he decayed into dust.
Okay.
And so...
Okay. Wondering if it was related to White Sand.
There's something going on there. But no, it is not the white-- it is not sand. I should be careful about use the word sand, particularly black sand. But I was just thinking of Wyndle with that one.
Okay, okay.
That is a false positive on the cosmere connection.
Kelsier, does he like noodles?
Yes.
1) Will the truth of how Evi really died matter to Dalinar's sons? In other words, is it reasonable to expect Adolin, most notably, will react negatively given he believes his father would have never burned the Rift?
2) Dalinar claims he could forgive Adolin for not being the man he thought he was. Is it reasonable to expect this is easier said than done?
1) It would be reasonable to expect that many people (Adolin foremost among them) will react negatively to the truth--which is indeed contained in Dalinar's book.
2) Yes, I would say that's a reasonable expectation as well.
Thank you for the answer, I much appreciate it. Can I ask if it is reasonable to expect some ramifications with respect to those elements within the next book or if this won't be on topic?
We're getting into RAFO territory, I'm afraid.
The worldjumpers in [Secret History] are they ones that have shown up in other books? And we just don’t know their names?
Yeah, they’re only tangential in the other books. I think one of them has only shown up on screen once. The other one’s shown up a couple of times but mostly in certain annotations and things like that. In the books, like on the maps.
Are Renarin and Adolin Dalinar's legitimate children?
Good question! Yes, they are both legitimate. Though Renarin didn't get as much of the hair, which is probably what people are asking about.
For the Thrill, did you get the idea for that from Ether in the Book of Mormon?
No, not specifically. But I mean, I've read Ether so many times, it's got-- Yeah, that seems like a very natural connection.
With bits and pieces of the respective pieces of Harmony still laying about, is Harmony actually skewed in one way or another if slightly and does Sazed's personality circumvent this in any way ?
Personality can always circumvent the powers--it just gets harder and harder to hold out as centuries pass.
What’s the hardest power you've created to find a balance for?
Hardest power to create a balance for? I'd say first is Wheel of Time, but I didn't create that... Hardest to balance… They've all been fairly easy so far. My guess is that it will end up being Stormlight just because I am doing so many books in that world, and I'm not resetting characters as much as I am in Mistborn, that I'm going to have to be careful about power creep... That's an excellent question.
Will you be posting what you change in the Elantris 10th year anniversary re-release like with how you changed the Words of Radiance ending? Also thanks for writing amazing books!
We'll try. The changes are, on one hand, way more pervasive--but on the other hand, far less substantial. There is a lot of cleaning up language, and a little of moving about the locations of buildings and the like for the sake of continuity.
What was the thematic decision behind the number 16? Why did you choose that?
I really like how divisible it was. It looked really cool when I was playing with things like an Allomantic table and whatnot. It was mostly an aesthetic choice. Like, it just felt right.
So was it originally the Shards or the metals you decided on?
So, I started with the metals. And then expanded out to that, yeah. So what you've gotta remember is, like, I write Elantris without knowledge of the cosmere. I knew I was gonna do something, but I didn't know what I was gonna do. And then I wrote Dragonsteel, and in Dragonsteel I had all sorts of theories and plans, but I never canonized any of that. And when I sat down to write Mistborn, I said, "All right. We're building the cosmere for real now." And before then I had just kind of been winging it. So when I did Aether of Night, which I put Shards in, I was like "Okay, there'll be some of these things, and what-not." Mistborn was, like, the first real cosmere book, if that makes any sense.
I know Syl *obscured*
Some do.
Feruchemists that can store Investiture, would they be able to then use that to power Allomancy with say Stormlight?
RAFO.
When are your plans for more Renarin?
So, do you want a little spoiler? There is a viewpoint from him in the third book.
I listen to a lot of your books, and the fight sequences are <seriously good>. How... Do you have people, like, live-action it?
I do not, but I do a lot of having beta readers. And you can ask my beta readers, the action sequences are often the things that need the most work. Because I will not know what things are working or not working until I get those reads back where people say, "I'm not clear here, I'm not clear there." A lot of times, when I'm writing the first draft of the fight scene, I'm looking for the emotional connection to the character. What they're trying to accomplish. And then I see which of the things I wrote work with the readers and they can visualize, and then I back up and try again on the ones that don't.
Does Lift converts food to Stormlight, Lifelight, or something else?
Lift uses Lifelight. Good question.
Sazed Transcribes the Text from the Plate
This isn't the full text of the plate, of course. We'll get to more of it later. I knew I had to work the text into the actual narrative, rather than relying on the epigraphs, since people tend to skip those. (If you do, however, be warned that you will be missing some of the great clues in this book.)
My hope is that by reading these things together, you will see the writings from the epigraphs in a slightly different way. Collected like this, they turn into a narrative.
One of my favorite things about your books is your characters. And I was wondering... What advice would you give to an aspiring author about developing characters?
Ooh. This is the hardest one for me to talk about, because for me, it was a matter of taking what I was doing wrong and learning to do it right, which-- How do you do that? That's the story of becoming better at anything. For me with characters, the big "click" that happened in my brain was when I realized every character is the hero of their own story. Every character sees the world through the eyes-- That's the only experience they've had, and they don't exist to fill a role. We don't exist to fill roles. We fill roles! We fill lots of them. But that's not why we exist, right? We aren't "sidekick", or we aren't "spouse", we aren't-- We fill those roles, and we identify in those roles, but we are not those roles. And when I started to treat my characters each like-- I ask, what is this person's passion in life? How do they see themselves? They're okay not being at the forefront of the story, but what in their minds do they see as their life meaning? What do they want, who are they, all of these things. And when I stopped sticking people into roles-- Which is really dangerous for an outline writer, sticking people in roles. When I stopped doing that. My characters really came alive a lot more. So that's-- I don't know if that helps, but the biggest piece of advice I can give you is try to figure out a way where you can let your characters-- Pretend like, well, if this person where the hero of the story, not just the sidekick, what would they do? How would they approach it? What would they be doing if they weren't saving the world? If this plot hadn't hit them like a freight train, what would they be doing in life. They would care about things! What would they care about, what would they be doing.
Main Projects
The Apocalypse Guard
This is my next YA book series, in the same universe as the Reckoners. The simple pitch is: Emma is the intern/coffee girl for the Apocalypse Guard, a group of scientists, engineers, and superhumans specialized in saving planets from extinction-level events.
When the Apocalypse Guard headquarters gets attacked by a shadowy and unexpected force, Emma gets stuck on a doomed planet they were planning to save. She has to either find a way off, or find a way to put the Apocalypse Guard's plans into motion—and do so with no training, no powers, and no support.
This will be my next writing project, between Oathbringer revisions and Wax and Wayne 4. Like the Reckoners, it's right on the borderline between YA and Adult—and might be published in my adult line of novels in some countries.
I intend the series to follow in the footsteps of the Reckoners—having the feel of a science fiction/superhero action film. Sometimes as a reader (and as a writer), I want something a little less "steak dinner" and a little more "hamburger and fries," if that makes any sense.
Stormlight is my steak dinner, and while I originally thought of Wax and Wayne as hamburger and fries, by books two and three they became steak dinners too. (Just a 6oz fillet instead of a 12oz T-bone.)
Okay, that metaphor is getting a little out of control. I might need to go out for steak for my dinner. Let's just say that the Reckoners managed to hit that sweet spot of fun action, interesting worldbuilding, and quick plots I was looking for—so I'm eager to do something similar. The Apocalypse Guard is the next step; look for the progress bar to start on it sometime early in 2017.
Status: Outlining almost finished; will be my next project.
I'm pretty interested in the integration of magic and sport, like in Harry Potter and The Legend of Korra. Will we be seeing any allomantic sports in the second Mistborn trilogy?
Probably the third. Scadrial is behind on a couple of things, technologically, and they've been very practically minded lately. I have some hints of professional sports in the Era Two books, but they're slight.
I think [Brandon] would benefit a lot from finding some kind of way in-universe to convey when we can be certain that the character is dead. Something like what we see of Vin and Elend in Secret History after they die. I think that he was trying to prove how definite their death was.. I don't know how he could realistically or smoothly accomplish this, but I think that until we see some proof beyond what is normally expected to see for a death, we can't be 100% sure that anyone is dead.
Yes, I've been thinking about this. Spoilers below.
The issue is, resurrection is a major theme of the cosmere. The very first line of the first chapter of the first cosmere book starts with someone dying. The story is about his return to life.
The death of Adonalsium, and the questions surrounding the persistence of his power, is THE single pervasive theme of the works. And so, I've returned to this theme multiple times--from Sazed's more metaphorical rebirth in Mistborn Three to Syl's more literal one in Words of Radiance.
At the same time, the more this theme continues, the more it undermines the reader's ability to believe someone is really dead--and therefore their tension at worrying over the safety of characters. So we need a better "Dead is dead" indication, otherwise every death will turn into Sirius Black, with readers being skeptical for years to come.
So, let's just say it's something I'm aware of. Josh, of the 17th Shard, was the first one to raise the issue with me years ago. We need a balance between narrative drama and cosmere themes of rebirth.
I figured Nightblood was your answer to dead is dead.
He's certainly AN answer. But there are way more ways to kill someone in the cosmere--I just need to be more clear on how that works, giving the right indications to readers.
Soulburner
Random space opera thing I worked on for a while.
Status: No movement.
When you get, like, bonded with a spren-- the type of spren that is bonded to you, it depends on your personality and beliefs, right?
Yes, mmhmm. The spren kind of choose, but they-- It's not a hundred percent choice. More like if they're drawn to it, things like that. So who you are, what your beliefs are, what your kind of moral code is can influence what type of spren you would get.
I'd like to solve the puzzle.
"Unite Them with Passion to Destroy Evil and make Positive Change."
Did I do the thing?
RAFO. :)
Rosharans already have an ansible. (reported by Kurkistan)
Spanreeds are, basically, evidence that FTL is possible in the Cosmere. It's not the only example too. (reported by Blightsong)
Investiture on First of the Sun is associated with a Shard?
Yes, it is. That one is even closer associated with a Shard, the actual Investiture of the magic. Remember when I say Investiture, I mean matter, energy and magic. Sometimes the word Investiture refers just to the magic such as the Aviar and in that it is associated directly with one of the Shards...
Which one?
Patji is a Shard of Adonalsium. *silence*
Sorry, can you say that again?
Patji is a Shard of Adonalsium.
Is that one of the Aviar?
No, Patji is the island.
Island or islands?
The island but Patji is one of the islands.
It's a Shard?!
Yes, big asterisk! But yes.
Shard as in equal or Shard as in a mass of Investiture?
As in one of the 16 Shards of Adonalsium is represented and involved in First of the Sun. In fact, one of the letters references First of the Sun in this *Indicates Oathbringer*
Sorry, I probably killed some theories on that one.
Yup, but by doing that you've confirmed some as well so it's fine!
In Oathbringer, Rayse refers to a group called the "Tisark" that are supposed to secure the Oathgate. What does that term refer to? I thought they were gonna be one of the types of Fused, and so I was just surprised that that was not the case.
I will canonize that later. It very well may be one of the types of Fused, we'll see... theorize. Go ahead. It doesn't have the right suffix.
