Berlin signing

Event details
Name
Name Berlin signing
Date
Date May 14, 2019
Location
Location Berlin, Germany
Bookstore
Bookstore Otherland Bookshop
Entries
Entries 20
Upload sources
#1 Copy

rxience (paraphrased)

Would a single spike be sufficient to staple a Cognitive Shadow to a mistwraith?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, that could happen.

rxience (paraphrased)

Did that happen in the past?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That's a RAFO, I'm afraid. Who are you thinking about?

rxience (paraphrased)

Kelsier of course!

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Well, he is somehow in the Physical Realm. And he does look like himself, doesn't he?

#2 Copy

Questioner

Does it feel like your own work when you hear [a translation]? Is it recognizable in any way? What do the translations do with your work? I suppose you get a lot of questions by your translators about the magic, about invented words. How does this reflect on your writing?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, I’m not sure if it changes the way I approach my writing at all. But I do find it fascinating. Hearing a reading, in particular, is in some ways, it’s a double interpretation. Because first, you have the translation to German. And then you have the narrator... will give an interpretation, as well. But one of the things about writing that I believe is that I’m not completing the story. What I do is, I write a script. And every person who reads that book is going to finish the story in their head. I give descriptions of the characters, but even with those descriptions, every person who reads the book is going to imagine those characters [in a] slightly different way. So I’ve always viewed myself, as a writer, as kind of like the screenwriter. Where the reader is the director, who’s going to finish the story. And I don’t think a book really lives until it’s been experienced by a reader. And so it doesn’t bother me, the idea of going through translators or getting different interpretations by the audiobook narrators, because I feel like my text is going to be interpreted by whoever experiences it, in different ways. And in some ways, as soon as it gets experienced by a reader, it becomes their story. They finish it, and it doesn’t really ‘come alive’ until they’ve done so. So, it’s not finished anyway. I think it’s just really cool. I like seeing fan art, even though each drawing of a character looks different from another one. It lets me see a little bit how that book was finished in that reader’s mind.

#3 Copy

Questioner

Regarding Stormlight. You said five books, five books. In your mind, how is the best way to read these? With the gaps in between, for waiting? Or straight through?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, I have no idea. I would say, it’s intended to have little gaps in between. Stormlight Archive books are different, even among my other books. When I sit down to write down a Stormlight Archive book, I actually outline it like I would a trilogy. So the outline for a single book of Stormlight looks a lot like the entire outline for Mistborn or for Mistborn Era 2, or things like that. Or for, like Skyward. All three books of Skyward (there might be four, but--) Let’s do Steelheart. It’s done, I know it’s three books. So all three books of Steelheart are, together, shorter than one Stormlight Archive book. So I outline a Stormlight Archive book as a trilogy with a short story collection embedded in it. That’s the interludes. So the structure of these is really different and really interesting. So I intend reading a Stormlight book to kind of be like a massive undertaking. They are big and thick. In Germany, they are published as two thousand-page volumes. So, it’s like, very-- And I kind of expect people will take breaks in between those, and maybe pick up something that is a little less daunting. But, I might have said the same thing, growing up, reading The Wheel of Time. And when I read The Wheel of Time straight through-- because I read them all a lot, but I hadn’t read everything straight through. When the first book came out, I read it, I was fifteen. When the second book came out, I read book one and book two again. And when the third one came out-- I couldn’t keep doing that, though, because it would take so long. So, eventually, I got to, when the new book comes out, I read the new book, and if I’m lost, I go read an online summary of the previous books But when I got handed the project and asked to finish it, I sat down and I read them all straight through. And I’m like, “Wow, this is so nice! Not having to wait!” As a Wheel of Time fan, I had complaints about, “Oh, this plotline doesn’t seem to go anywhere.” Well, when you read them straight through, it doesn’t feel like that at all... It’s annoying when you’ve got a gap, and then the book, and then a gap. And you don’t know when it’s gonna end. But reading it straight through, it’s like-- Anyway. So, I wonder if Stormlight will be the same way. If reading it through, at least in the five book arcs, will maybe take away some of the annoyances of having to read a character you’re not quite as interested in, because you know you’re gonna get back to your character that you love the most later on. I don’t know. Maybe that’s the case.

#4 Copy

Questioner

You were mentioning outlines before. I was just wondering, when you start your outlining and you're done, is it usually a very clear process of outline and writing, or do you go back and forth and back and forth?

Brandon Sanderson

The question is, "Is it a clear cut process of finishing an outline and then writing, or do I go back and forth," and it's the "go back and forth."

Usually what I can do is I can get an outline about three fourths of the way there before I need to start writing. The issue is, I share a little bit with the discovery writers in that I tend to discovery write my characters. I don't usually outline my characters nearly as much as I do my world and my plot. But the problem is, characters then can evolve to being people that wouldn't do the things the plot calls for them to do, and in that case I have to rebuild my outline to fit who the character is becoming. I find if I don't give myself that flexibility, the characters start to feel wooden, and start to feel like they're cardboard instead of real people. So this requires jumping back and forth with that outline, and changing things and knocking out walls so to speak.

So an outline is not a rigid structure I have to follow. It's a guide map to where I want to go, but sometimes I might change the destination or I might want to take a deviation. And at that point I put down the book, and I go back to the outline, and I rebuild the outline, and then I go back to the book.

I also have something I call the floating outline, which is-- It's a separate document that's the next three chapters in detail, outlined out. The main outline may just say, "Bullet point: characters go here and accomplish this." But then the floating outline has, "Well I need to work in this character relationship, and this scene, and this little part of the worldbuilding. And this part over here is an info dump and boring, so let's do that in an interesting way. And let's have Shallan stab herself in the leg while she's doing it," or things like that in order to build an actual scene rather than just a lot of info dump.

#5 Copy

Questioner

If a non-Radiant brought Shardplate to Shadesmar, could he easily bring it back?

Brandon Sanderson

They would not have too many problems with this. There might be some weird things. But bringing it back and forth is not going to be the problem.

#6 Copy

Questioner

I wondered if an Inquisitor had children, if they would inherit stronger Inquisitor abilities, or if they would just inherit the lesser lines from being a Seeker, for example?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. I don't think I've ever been asked this before... The way Hemalurgy works, if you're not aware, you are taking someone else's soul, and you are basically nailing it to your soul... That won't affect the children. So you will have the weaker lines.

They have tried that. Unfortunately.

#8 Copy

Questioner

What happens in cosmere terms with Parshendi? Like, they Connect to a spren. And then, by it do they change their Identity, or what?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Basically what's happening is, that symbiosis has a similar effect to Hemalurgy, but not so nasty. And it's being reflected there in the Physical Realm.

#10 Copy

Questioner

I would like to know the process of working with other artists, like Isaac. And I saw there was a very big list of credits in the start of Oathbringer. Does the artist also affect your writing? Or you write first, and then the artists do their artwork?

Isaac Stewart

For each Stormlight book, we have twenty or thirty pieces of art, and I can't do them all myself. We've had a bunch of people waiting in the wings, a bunch of artists that we send the art to. I read the book, I make notes, Brandon gives me notes of what he would like to see in the book. We combine it into a big list. I assign out to different artists. And then we have art reviews, where I get art from the different artists, and Brandon and I go over it and say what they got right, what maybe they could change. And then we go back and forth with the artist until it's just exactly what we want it to be for the book. The same thing happens when Brandon and I are working on maps or symbols. That's basically the process.

Questioner

So it never affects your writing?

Brandon Sanderson

It does affect my writing. I can give a couple little examples of this. The American cover for Elantris, I love. It's done by Stephan Martinière. It's this gorgeous cover, it’s a very distinctive, different sort of style. But the actual scene he painted wasn't in the book. And I liked it so much... And that doesn't matter that much. The cover of the book, think of it more like a movie poster for the book. The actual scene doesn't have to occur, that doesn't bother me. But I realized I could change one little part, and have Sarene and Hrathen on the wall, looking like they did on the cover. So I rewrote the passage to match the cover. So that has happened before.

For instance, Isaac has inserted a character named Nazh into the books, who is kind of one of the people in-world-- It's important to me, particularly in Stormlight, that all the art you're seeing is something from in-world. I don't want it to be-- The covers are different. The covers are one thing. But the other stuff that we wanna have in there, we want it to be what we call ephemera. It's a map that actually existed in Roshar. It's sketches done by a character from the books. This is to not break the immersion. You're not going into the book and getting it illustrated for you. You are getting the scraps of drawings and things that were in-world. Because I feel like-- Tolkien started this. The map that you got in The Hobbit was the map they carried. It's not like someone came along and drew a map. And I liked that way better. So Nazh is one of the characters gathering these maps, and bringing them together. So I wrote him into the books.

Other things that Isaac has done like that, or an artist has sent us something and I'm like, "This is really cool. Let's work this in somehow." It does happen, certainly. And we do get the art early enough, in a lot of the cases, where I'm still doing revisions, and I'll add tweaks and things like that.

#11 Copy

Questioner

I was wondering if there will be any follow-up books to Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson

Follow-ups to Elantris. Yes, I would like to do some sequels. They are probably the sequels to the world rather than sequels to the characters. One of the reasons I didn't do them, or haven't done them yet, is when I first published, Elantris was my sixth book. It was the first published of those thirteen I wrote. It's the only one of those thirteen that got published. It was the only one that was worth being published. And when I wrote it I was really excited by Mistborn--or when I published it, because it was years later. I thought I could do a really good job with a trilogy. When they said, "Do you want to do a sequel to Elantris?" I thought, "I really like that there are sometimes really great standalone books to try an author out on, and I would rather people be able to have a standalone to try me out." Because back then I remember looking at new authors coming out and saying, "Brand new author. Book one of twenty," and thinking, "I don't know if this author can pull it off," right? I would rather try them out on a single book, or maybe a trilogy, and see if they can really tell a good story before I commit to something huge. So I figured doing a couple of standalones--I did two standalones and one trilogy before I launched into anything big of my own, because I wanted people to be able to try me out. And I really like how Elantris has stood on its own as a single book.

I do have plans for some follow-ups. Elantris, that world, is pretty important to the cosmere. I need to bring it up to speed with the other things. So there will be sequels, but like I said they're going to be world sequels. Like Sarene and Roaden may get mentioned and you may see them, but they won't be the main characters.

Questioner

So if there *inaudible*.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah. Maybe a little closer to like-- For years I wanted to do the sequel about Kiin's children (that's Sarene's uncle). Like after they're grown up have them be the main characters, and I was kind of seeding that. We'll see if that's still the way I go, but that's the plan right now.

#12 Copy

Questioner

Are there plans for some more books for The Rithmatist?

Brandon Sanderson

...Rithmatist was the book I was writing when the Wheel of Time call came. And I was required, by my kind of own determination, if I was gonna do this, I had to drop everything and do it. So I finished The Rithmatist, I gave it to my publisher, and I said, "You can't publish this yet. Because I don't know when I'll be able to do sequels." And then I went to work on The Wheel of Time. Eventually the publisher just couldn't hold-- help themselves. They're like, "We have a Brandon Sanderson book. They sell really well. He says we can't publish it." And then they begged and they begged and they begged, and I said, "All right. You can publish it." But I had no idea when I'd be able to do the sequels. And I still don't quite know that. I did sit down a couple years ago and try to write one, and it just didn't work at all. There are just multiple problems with getting that sequel to work right. I still think I will be able to do it. And think I owe it to you, because the ending implies sequels. But I have no idea when.

I'm kind of trying to clear my plate of all the things I was working on before The Wheel of Time, which is now almost ten years ago that that started. I was working on Legion, I was working on Alcatraz, I was working on The Rithmatist. Legion, I managed to finish up. Alcatraz book six... the rough draft is done. So those two will be done. Then I just have to find a way to fix Rithmatist. But I don't know. Wax and Wayne four has to be written before that. Skyward probably has to be written before that. So then we'll see where I sit. I apologize. That's the one that I have to be really vague on.

#13 Copy

Questioner

I think [my class] enjoy [Skyward] because you have space fights for boys, and for the girls you have a female protagonist. We wondered if this was your intention for choosing a female protagonist?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it really wasn't. My intention for choosing a female protagonist was, she was the character I was most interested about writing in this world. I do try to make sure I have a balance, kind of in vague terms. But mostly I'm like, "Who is the character that this story matches best?" And Spensa, she was raised on Conan books, and she wants to be a warrior like that. And she's very different, she's very weird, in the sort of weird way I like to write people. And she's just somebody that I was kind of bursting at the seams to tell her story and to get her into a book.

The original idea for Skyward came from my love of stories about boys and dragons. There's this classic story that gets told. Kid finds a dragon egg, and then they hatch the dragon egg in secret and become this dragon rider. It's the story of How to Train Your Dragon. (Not a dragon egg, but he finds a dragon.) It's the story of Eragon. It's the story of one of my favorite books of all time, Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen. There's just a ton of this type of story. And one of the things I like to do is isolate a story's archetype, kind of try to break it down to "Why do I love it? What makes it work?" And then try to build it up in a new and different way.

Stormlight, the Bridge Four sequence, I built off of an underdog sports story. Like, if you've seen Hoosiers or Miracle or any of these stories about an underdog sports team who takes on the world. That sort of archetype became the Bridge Four sequence. And Skyward came from the kid and his dragon stories. And that was the seed of it. But Spensa was always going to be the protagonist of that. She was just a character I knew I needed to write.

#14 Copy

Questioner

Would you ever consider doing another Writing Excuses anthology?

Brandon Sanderson

Ooh, you're into the obscure stuff. For those who don't know, my friends and I run a podcast called Writing Excuses. We did something weird where we all brainstormed a story and recorded the brainstorming session, and then went and wrote the story. And did workshops of it on the podcast live, also. The collection has the brainstorm session, the workshop session, the first rough draft, and the last draft of the story. It's an interesting thing for writers to pick up.

Probably not. It was a whole lot of work, and everybody complained about it a ton when I was making them doing it. And they all did it, and they're all wonderful people and excellent writers, but man, it was a big headache. So I don't know if I'll put myself or them through that again.

#17 Copy

Questioner

I don't know if you knew all the Mistborn metals at the beginning when you designed them or if you really have to think about a new one if Brandon says, "Yeah, well there's going to be another metal."

Isaac Stewart

Right now we have twenty-four symbols because we added the symbol for lerasium, which is also the symbol for-- No, that's not the symbol for lerasium, that's the symbol for Scadrial. So we have twenty-four symbols. Twenty-three of them correspond to the Scadrian alphabet--or at least in the Elendel region. Right now we have sixteen metals and then we had two more that got shifted off the chart. So we have four or five symbols that when Brandon comes up with a new metal we'll just assign that. Assign one of those symbols probably. But when we run out of that we'll find other ways to make the symbols look right.

#18 Copy

Questioner

Do you already have a design for the Krell? Anything physical about them?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, the Krell actually are a species from an earlier story I wrote in the universe, Defending Elysium. Second book, I'll delve into that. You will have met them if you've read that earlier story. But I go into a bunch of different races from where the Krell are from, and we deal with a lot of that. So, you're gonna meet some aliens in the next book. Quite a number of them.

#19 Copy

Questioner

When you're writing maps for grand scale things like atlas style maps, they're presumably fairly straightforward because you rarely would say, "This character is moving north." You would say, "This character is moving toward the town." When you're writing (or rather when Isaac is drawing) town maps, you often presumably would say, "This character is going to dart left, down an alley." Do you wind up having to path out where a character would go in order to make the map at least somewhat accurate?

Isaac Stewart

I do keep this in mind when I'm reading the books, and I'll write it down. If something doesn't quite work I'll tell Brandon about it. There's a bit of what we call handwavium on that, with the city blocks. I'll put enough city blocks in there that-- Sometimes it doesn't matter because it will work out, if that makes any sense. But we did, on this map right here, the map of Kholinar-- Down at the bottom we have a map of one of the levels of the palace in Kholinar and we did have to do a lot of reading and going back to-- Our continuity editor, Karen, went back and found every instance of where people were at in the palace in the previous two books and then we used that to draw out this map. So we did have to make sure that left was left and right was right on this particular one.

#20 Copy

Questioner

I reread Words of Radiance, and I was wondering about the timing of the bond breaking. It started to weaken after he had that incompatible oath. And it really broke after he tried to protect someone, so that made no sense for me, because that's what h's doing, and he would have been able to protect even more people if he could have used his powers. We had some theories about that. If it's just the time, because he didn't find the words, or if the Stormfather took it actively from him. Or if he just tried to use too much power, and that broke the bond.

Brandon Sanderson

So it's a little spoilery, so I don't want to dig into it too much, in case people haven't read the book. So... imagine there's a hose with a kink in it. You've caused the kink, and now you're trying to force water through the hose. And then you break something, because you're still holding the kink down. Basically, you want the power, but to not have to go through the proper channels to get it. That's was what was dangerous there.

The way the Stormlight magic works is, there are certain restrictions placed on you. And you can't access the power without those restrictions. And there is also the will of another individual involved, which is important to it, as well. So imagine the kinked hose, if that helps.

Event details
Name
Name Berlin signing
Date
Date May 14, 2019
Location
Location Berlin, Germany
Bookstore
Bookstore Otherland Bookshop
Entries
Entries 20
Upload sources