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JordanCon 2014 ()
#14202 Copy

Isaac Stewart

The glyphs don't really relate to pronunciation. You learn them by seeing the glyph and knowing what the word is for that. But the people, the people who create the glyphs have a different process from ones who read them.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Isaac Stewart

It can be pretty challenging to draw the glyphs. We usually go through several different iterations of different looks of things before we come up with something that we like.

The Alloy of Law Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Six

The fight in the ballroom

From the early days of the Mistborn books, I'd been planning how an Allomantic gunfight would go down. I felt it the next evolution in what has been stylistically a big part of these books.

There is a fine line to walk in a lot of these sequences. I've made something of a name for myself in the fantasy world by attempting to mix some scientific reasoning with my magic systems. At the same time, Allomancy was designed precisely with action sequences in mind. I wanted them to be powerful and cinematic—and a cinematic fight sequence is often at odds with realism. (Watch two people who really know what they're doing fight with swords sometime, then watch any fight sequence in a film. Most of the time, the film sequences stray far from what would really happen.)

So, as I said, I walk a line. Sometimes, there are things I just can't do because they violate what I've set up as the rules of the world. Other times, I design the setting and nature of the fight specifically to allow for certain types of cinematic sequences. One thing I like a lot about Wax’s abilities is the power he has to manipulate his weight. There's some realism to what he does—for example, increasing his weight doesn't make him fall more quickly, but it allows him to do some powerful things while falling. Destroying the chandeliers is an example.

At the same time, I acknowledge that the weight manipulation aspect of Feruchemy is one of its more baffling powers, scientifically. Is he changing his mass? If so, he should become more dense, which I don't actually make the case when it plays out in fights. (Otherwise, increasing his weight enough would make him impervious to bullets.) So, if it's not mass manipulation, is it gravity manipulation, like Szeth and Kaladin do? Well, again, not really—as when his weight increases, his strength and ability to uphold that weight increase as well. Beyond that, Wax can't make himself so light that he has no weight at all.

So . . . well, at this point, the ability to explain it scientifically breaks down. I do like what it does, but I have to set its boundaries and stick to them—and accept that some of what's going on is irrational. (And don't get me started on what should really be happening scientifically when Wayne speeds up time.)

Skyward Seattle signing ()
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Questioner

How do you approach creating scenes? Do you create how you want the scene to play out, and then make the magic system? Or do you make the magic system work first?

Brandon Sanderson

Usually, I do magic system first. The way scenes, I construct, is usually I have big goals in my story. For instance, in Mistborn, Vin is going to learn to train all the powers of a Mistborn. By the end, I want her to be fairly competent. So then I have that goal, and I write down, "What are scenes that can move me toward that goal?" In that outline, it would be: she trains with Ham in one scene, she trains with Marsh in another scene, she trains with Breeze in another scene. What else can I make those scenes do to move character and stuff, to try to pack more into those scenes. But I'll construct those scenes as goals towards the ending.

Firefight Atlanta signing ()
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ccstat

In Shallan's drawings during the course of The Way of Kings, she sees multiple Cryptics. Were there other Cryptics accompanying Pattern in those drawings?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

ccstat

Were they approving of Pattern's choices.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. The Cryptics are much like what is happening with Lift, where there is more of a conscious effort on their part. As opposed to what is happening with Syl or Jasnah where there is hesitance. What the Cryptics are driven to do is in part because of what a few of their members have been experimenting with.

/r/books AMA 2015 ()
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BartholomeusDiaz

I'm reading the preview chapter of Shadows of Self and I'm really curious. Where does the gasoline for the cars in the Wax and Wayne books come? If Harmony remade the world, did he make crude oil too? Does that then mean he can see that far into the future?

Brandon Sanderson

There are clues about this in the upcoming text itself.

State of the Sanderson 2018 ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Games and Other Licensed Work

Music

Black Piper's Kaladin album has been shipping its physical rewards for backers, and are finishing up the last steps of their Kickstarter. I'm very pleased with the music, which you can find on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon MP3, and many other digital outlets. I think they did a great job, and suggest that it would make a great accompaniment to your next Stormlight reread. Due to the complexities of fitting in the album around the windows for some of our other licenses, if you're interested in owning this we'd encourage looking at it before year-end.

17th Shard Interview ()
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17th Shard

How is The Way of Kings related to the rest of the cosmere? What point in time is it?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, so far I have written the books/series chronologically. Though, I have skipped books. And so there will be jumping back eventually, but Elantris, Mistborn, Warbreaker and Way of Kings all happened chronologically.

17th Shard

Just in general, how is it related to the rest of the cosmere? Or can you say?

Brandon Sanderson

I, uh…officially don't know what you're talking about. I mean, what do you mean by "related to"?

17th Shard

For example, the letter…

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, just like the letter that I have no idea what you're talking about. I will tell you that one of the novels I skipped is actually set in the same solar system.

17th Shard

Oh…so this is the series that that book shares.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, this is the series that the book shares that I skipped. I was planning to do it first, but now was the time to do the Stormlight Archive. So you will eventually see a book set on a planet in the same solar system. You could just pick out in the sky of Roshar if you were watching, and it may even get mentioned because it's a fairly close planet.

17th Shard

Is that on Divine Silence?

Brandon Sanderson

Silence Divine happens there.

17th Shard

What is the name of that planet?

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm…should I tell you? Oh, Peter says no. You got PAFO'd. Peter and not find out.

Yeah, so, I will tell you the name of that planet once it is out like I've told you the rest of them.

Calamity release party ()
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Zas678

How does the Nalthis year compare to normal years?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, that's a PAFO. That's a Peter and find out. If you know much of orbits, and things like this, you will know that most of them have to be pretty close because of the nature of Goldilocks zones and things like this. But they all--

Zas678

Yeah. Yeah. They all have to be "year-ish", but the exact "ish" is going to be...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Mhm.

Footnote: Brandon's comment about the period of orbits in the Goldilocks zone is incorrect.
#nalthis #pafo
Salt Lake City signing ()
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Questioner

How does a world that is wracked by Storms supply food for an entire population?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, you um... The thing to keep in mind is, it's not a barren planet. There are lots of plants on this planet. When-- I mean, it's no more barren than a corral reef that deals with the tide rushing in and rushing out. Now, the life has to adapt to it, but it's a really lush planet. You-- I mean, if you go and you look at the Shattered Plains there's grass everywhere and plants growing all over the place. It's just, right before a Storm, it becomes barren and then becomes lush again.

*long pause* 

Yeah, that was, um... One of the things I kind of have to overcome with this books is, though it is very rocky and stony, it's also very lush, and it's hard sometimes for people to imagine that. But even if it is a little bit barren, Utah is barren, and it supported people.

Firefight Seattle UBooks signing ()
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Wetlander

Human, spren, Splinter, Sliver, Shard, Adonalsium - which of these is most similar ontologically to Nakomi?

Brandon Sanderson

*laughter* I can't say anything about Nakomi! Robert Jordan did not want anything said about Nakomi! I can't say anything at all about Nakomi! Dig into the notes when they are released, and then you can find out things said about Nakomi. The little tiny hints we have, I told you he wrote that thing at the end, and I'm like well, okay. So.

Warbreaker Annotations ()
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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lightsong Visits Blushweaver While She's Enjoying a Gardener's Art

One of the things I wanted to do with this book was come up with different kinds of art that the gods could enjoy—things that we wouldn't normally look at as traditional "art" but which in this world have been developed to the point that they're just that.

I liked the concept of a gardener whose art came from the movement and arrangement of pots of flowers and plants into patterns on the fly, like—as Lightsong says—the leader of a musician leading an orchestra. He directs, gesturing and pointing, and dozens of servants rush about, holding different pots. Then they set them down and retreat, leaving them for a few moments. Then it repeats, different servants rushing in with other pots and laying them in other patterns. A little like synchronized swimming, but with plants.

Shadows of Self release party ()
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Chaos

How accurate would you say the northern continent on the Sycla map is? Is it horribly inaccurate?

Isaac Stewart

This map has severe deficiencies, especially in the northwest.

Chaos

Is there any reason why the cities seem to be on the borders?

Isaac Stewart

Seem to be where?

Chaos

On the borders, or coastline, like literally all of them.

Isaac Stewart

So Brandon can tell me if I'm wrong on this, but normally at the level of technology we're at in this world you've got to have cities near water. That's really what it is. Early cities are almost always near a source of water.

Chaos

And so the rivers are just the borders?

Isaac Stewart

Yeah. I mean we have the rivers that come in through the border in some places but rivers also are just a great border between places. Especially when there is-- when you're not building bridges over all of them. I will tell you... I won't answer what's going on up here.

Chaos

Is it really this enclosed though? Like it's pretty enclosed?

Isaac Stewart

It's pretty enclosed. This right here is pretty distorted, I will tell you that. And I made it look bigger than it is...

Eric, we will eventually release a more correct map.

/r/books AMA 2015 ()
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participating

In Warbreaker, Vasher makes the claim that Nightblood's personality is essentially static, that he'll never change. How true is that? Assuming Nightblood managed to stick around for thousands, or millions of years, could he grow in even the smallest of ways; develop a legitimate sense of right and wrong and figure out what's really going on around him?

Brandon Sanderson

Vasher believes it's true. Vasher has been wrong on occasion, but he is a fairly authoritative source.

Skyward Houston signing ()
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Questioner

Was there a person in real life that you based the character Kelsier off of ?

Brandon Sanderson

There is not. Kelsier grew out of the idea, primarily, of the thief who is really good at his job, like the gentleman thief, who then picked up a larger purpose. And I kind of built him out of that. I built him first as kind of the con artist that I wanted to have gone through something that changed him. And I explored that and that's just who he became. But there's not really a specific person.

Orem Signing ()
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Snipexe

Would a primate be turned into a koloss if the spikes were placed in the correct bindpoints?

Brandon Sanderson

Something like a koloss, but you would not call it a koloss.

Snipexe

Would they lose intelligence or gain, if they were?

Brandon Sanderson

You could do it either way.

BookCon 2018 ()
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Questioner

So Kaladin's in charge of the Windrunners, right?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Is Lift in charge of the Edgedancers?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to see in the next book. Lift is the first Edgedancer they've found. Lift is not so good at being in charge of anything... So I wouldn't probably say the first one discovered has to be in charge. Different Orders of the Knights Radiant lend themselves to different styles of organization. Like, some of them are a lot more disorganized than the Windrunners, who you'll see have a very militaristic organization to them.

Words of Radiance San Francisco signing ()
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Questioner

For [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], did that take place in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

It does. It's on a planet called Threnody. There is no Shard on that planet, however. So you can see the magic is very different in that the magic is something you interact with, not something you perform. Because there isn't a Shard there. But yeah, it is in the cosmere.

West Jordan signing ()
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Questioner

Do you think writing Robert Jordan's books affected your writing style in any way?

Brandon Sanderson

It did. It affected me, you know, It definitely affected me. Robert Jordan was very good at some very important things. He was great with viewpoint, he was very good at foreshadowing and subtlety. In fact, I think he was way more subtle than I've been, and I think those are things I've learned by working on this project. And also, just being able to balance so many different characters and viewpoints. That's something I think I learned. Though you know, I consciously when I wrote Alloy of Law, which is next, I consciously said, you know, I think I'm going to use a different style. There are some people who love the Wheel of Time, there are some people who don't like the Wheel of Time, and I don't want to become, you know, my style to become the Wheel of Time style. It's my own style. The Way of Kings is certainly more like Wheel of Time, you know, but also more like all the classic epics and fantasy that I read. Alloy of Law is intentionally not like that. Alloy of Law is more of a fast-paced thriller plotting style than it is epic fantasy.

General Reddit 2016 ()
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Phantine

By the way, if all noble-era Allomancers got some fight training, does that mean a lot of Coinshots and Lurchers got really fat, so they had more weight for their pushes?

Or would that be like, too blatant a clue that someone was an Allomancer?

... I'm now thinking of a scheme where a non-Allomancer noble member has to get super fat in a month so his house can bluff that they have more Coinshots than they do.

Peter Ahlstrom

Hah, good question. I don't think that's what happens. After all, many of them hide what they are in order to keep opponents guessing. If it were too obvious, that wouldn't work.

Worldbuilders AMA ()
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tay95

A theme throughout a lot of the Cosmere novels is that form, of one sort or another (patterns, aons, etc.) has a crucial role to play in unlocking or using Investiture.

As a chemist, I'm curious about the role of form in Allomancy and Feruchemy. Does the underlying molecular or crystalline structure of the metal or alloy play a roll? Different processes, doping ratios, and metal mixtures result in different molecular packing, lattices, and ultimately structure. It seems like that kind of very defined, orderly matrix would be right in line with other forms of unlocking Investiture.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes! I've actually mentioned to people before that the chemistry of the various metals acts, for Allomancy, in the same way that the Aons work for AonDor. It's more a key than it is a source of power itself.

Firefight San Francisco signing ()
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Questioner

What is Feruchemy, is it tied to any Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Feruchemy, is it tied to any Shard in specific? Yes, they talk about that in the books.

Questioner

Ok, it's like, of Preservation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you could say that.

Brandon Sanderson

Because it seems like one Shard, one magic system?

Brandon Sanderson

Here's the thing, it's more that-- They, in their philosophy, say that it's kind of a hybrid between the two, but you could kind of feel that it's more--

Questioner

It seems more Preservation.

Brandon Sanderson

It seems more Preservation, but in-world they think it's kind of a hybrid. The philosophy says that one was kind of net-positive, one was kind of net-negative and one was a hybrid. That's their in-world philosophy. I personally would place it more with Preservation.

Questioner

Ok so more than one magic system can be tied to one Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. 

Questioner

Ok, that's what I wanted to know.

Brandon Sanderson

Here's the thing, the definition of magic system can be, is so fluid. Like you can look at this book and say "how many magic systems are there?". Is Surgebinding one or is it ten?

Questioner

Allomancy's 16--

Brandon Sanderson

Is Allomancy 16 or one, and things like that. So yes multiple magic systems can be tied to a Shard.

Skyward Houston signing ()
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Questioner

If you would spontaneously, prematurely die, is there any author you would consider ideal for finishing your work?

Brandon Sanderson

I usually pick Brian McClellan. Just because he's my student and I wanna be mean to him. I've warned him, I haven't asked him if he'd do it, I just warn him. I tell people that he will do it. And he's like, "Oh. *grumble*" We're good friends. But Brian would actually be a really good match. Properly outlined, Brian is one of the better writers out there.

Second Questioner

I love that caveat.

Brandon Sanderson

Brian is-- Brian can go off. He knows this but-- yeah.

General Reddit 2019 ()
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yahasgaruna

Will [the White Sand sequel] still be called Lord Marstrell?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Lord Mastrell was, essentially, the second half of the first book.

White Sand was my first novel, but I only got about halfway through the story. A few books later, I wrote the "sequel" called Lord Mastrell. But really, they were one story.

Years later, I rewrote it all from scratch into a brand new novel, also called White Sand. This is the one that we adapted to the graphic novel--and it included everything that had been Lord Mastrell already.

Firefight Houston signing ()
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Questioner

Since you have such extensive worldbuilding in your books, and you have that whole connected thing, I was just wondering, do you have a book that you just have all your stuff planned out in, or do you add things as they come up in your stories and build a universe that way?

Brandon Sanderson

Do I have a "world book" to keep everything, or do I add things to my stories and keep track that way? I do a little of both. We have a wiki. I say "we" 'cause I have several assistants now who help me maintain this. It is a personal wiki, you can't go get into it anywhere, and it used to be just a big file, and the file was about a thousand pages long. It used to be a big file, now it's in the wiki. And we spend time-- Every time I-- It doesn't have everything, even the thousand pages don't have everything for the cosmere, it can only barely touch on it, but any time I add something to the books, they add it to the wiki, and periodically I go to the wiki and be Wikipedia Article Guy on the pages, and add what's in my brain onto there.

WorldCon 76 ()
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Questioner

How much longer will that Oathbringer series...

Brandon Sanderson

So, it's two arcs of five. So, we've got three books out right now. Book Four and Book Five will be about two, two-and-a-half year things, maybe as much as three between. They are big books. I write them as a trilogy, so they take about three years. Each volume is a trilogy with three books put in together as one. That arc shouldn't take me too much longer, though; I'm starting on Book Four in January, and it is-- I will write until that one is done. Then, there's gonna be a second five-book arc. So, if you're waiting, wait until Book Five is out. My editor says I have to finish it before he retires, and he's in his sixties. Moshe, yeah. We'll see if I can manage that, but that's what he wants.

Idaho Falls Signing ()
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Andrew The Great (paraphrased)

What do the burnlands look like?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The burnlands are the area surrounding the Final Empire Area. They are liveable on the border, but as you get further and further from the final empire, they get more and more barren until eventually nothing can survive. Basically a really large desert. Brandon also mentioned that some koloss live there, because they can survive, and some humans live on the border. These humans actually have some technology that the final empire did not, because they needed it to survive, and/or because they were far enough from the oppression of the Lord Ruler to develop new things. Because of this, the border of the Burnlands would actually be a good setting for a game.

Kraków signing ()
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Mr. Suit

Is it possible to bring Adonalsium together again and was it the reason the Ire was on Scadrial?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a RAFO. There are people who believe it's possible and others who believe it's impossible. It’s one of the big questions of the series.

Shadows of Self Portland signing ()
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Brandon Sanderson

I draw from a lot of distinct and different things, mythologies and things like that and the question is "how do I do that, where do I find material on those." I like primary sources, so I like to find people from the culture that they come from, who believe in that specific religion, or have studied it and I like to interview them or hang out on their forums and read how they are talking and things like that. That has been a lot more recent for me, although I will often, (this is where i'll use audiobooks) I will often go grab books on the subjects and listen to audiobooks of them while I'm signing big stacks of papers or something like that.

JordanCon 2014 ()
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Questioner

Will you tell us a little about the sword from Warbreaker?

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood is a weapon that I devised. He is partially inspired by my love of Michael Moorcock's writing. He was built into the cosmere using many of the foundational cosmere magic system things that exist on multiple worlds.

Arched Doorway Interview ()
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Rebecca Lovatt

Fair, and silly question. If you were a Magic card which one would you be?

Brandon Sanderson

If I were a Magic card which one would I be? Uhm...I don't know. I would be blue-white or mono white.

Rebecca Lovatt

Why?

Brandon Sanderson

The personality I have is probably blue-white. Meaning that I am pretty straight-arrow Mormon; it's going to be hard for anyone who is straight-arrow Mormon to be anything but white. You mix that with the fact that I'm a writer for my profession; the storyteller is very blue--it could be red or blue, but I'm not very impulsive. So I'm going to say something blue-white. I would have to look and decide what card I am blue-white, but I'm definitely blue-white.

Rebecca Lovatt

All right, thank you! It was a pleasure chatting with you again. I hope you enjoy the rest of the convention.