What would Zane have been like without Ruin?
Zane without Ruin would have been-- It's so hard to say, is it Zane without Ruin but still having the terrible family life that he has?
Probably yeah.
Still has Straff.
Then still have Straff but he would probably be more of a Straff heir type thing. Like he would be less crazy, maybe more ruthless and... I mean he would still be his father's son.
Did you switch to the signature after you became an author to make it easier or did you--
It evolved over time. It used to be a little more legible, but not a lot.
What are the basic requirements for a chalking to function in the Rithmatist world?
I'm going to RAFO that because I'm working on the second book right now and I don't want to-- Yeah.
How did koloss-blooded people happen?
Koloss-blooded people-- A koloss-blooded is the result of two koloss having a child. A full koloss is only made once you accept the spikes and are mutated into the final form. And so a koloss-blooded-- The koloss can breed true now but that's what you get. And so they actually have a ritual at coming-of-age where you can accept the spikes or you can leave. And so all koloss in the wastes-- in the Roughs that are in the koloss tribes are-- have chosen that and outsiders can choose it too.
Since Returned come back as kind of an idealized form of themselves, if somebody was transgender in their original life would they Return as the sex they had been assigned the first time or the gender they identified as?
I would think that a transgendered person could definitely come back as how they identify. Perception is very important in these sorts of things. It would really depend on the person, but yes.
Do Rosharans just refer to all birds as chickens and is that a translation error from the Shin? Or do the Shin call them all chickens too?
No, the Shin do not call them all chickens but Rosharans, outside of Shinovar, call them all chickens.
We were wondering whether you could tell us what Jasnah's sexuality is?
The internet wanted to know.
The internet really wants to know.
Jasnah does not want to be defined by her sexuality.
What are David and Prof's ethnicities, from Steelheart?
David and Prof... I have both of them being Caucasian.
You said that you liked video games. What would you say is one of your favorites?
One of my favorites, I like the Dark Souls games quite a bit. And I've been playing those since they were called King's Field, it's the same company. So I've played all of them since way back when. And I really like the Infamous games, and I really like Civilization, all of those, I've played every single one of those.
You said you played Infamous, have you played Prototype?
Y'know I've been tempted a lot, but what I've read from Prototype is that-- Like I played Infamous because I knew you had the choice to not be the bad guy, and I've heard that Prototype you basically don't really have that choice.
Yeah...
Dishonored gives that choice *talking over each other*
Yeah, my brother's been suggesting Dishonored, but I'm not-- When I play video games I like to play people that I would admire, you know what I mean? Like I am-- If I have a moral choice system my character is a boy scout. I don't...
Paragon to the max.
Yeah, those little walking pixels, I'm not going to, y'know I'm going to mourn if I accidentally run over one of them.
How do you-- Like both Shallan and Kaladin obviously haven't had good lives, but like-- How do you write these really tragic backstories without them feeling kind of gratuitous or forced?
Good question... This is really about the whole idea of making sure you are avoiding melodrama... And melodrama-- the defining aspect of a melodrama is a story in which each character only exhibits only one emotional state. A great example of this done poorly is--despite me liking a lot about it--there was a show called Lost... So there's a character whose son gets kidnapped, and from that moment on the only thing he cares about or talks about is the loss of his son. And it's a very tragic thing for him. Losing your son, I can imagine how tragic that would be, and yet this character became so defined by that one attribute that it turned into melodrama for him. The rest of the characters will be standing around saying "Alright we need to do this thing, these guys are over there with guns, they are going to take us down. What do we do?" And they're like "We should do this." "We should do this." and this guy is like "My son!" They're like "We know you want your son back but--" "My son!" "What do you want for dinner?" "My son is gone! How can I eat dinner?!?". And so having a character exhibit only one emotional state is always going to feel like you just set-- It's going to ruin the character, whatever that is.
So a tragic backstory-- People joke about Batman. When Batman is written poorly it's always about "My father's d-- My parents are dead" and when he's working well that's an aspect that influence things he does but it's not the only thing about him. And so that would be my warning to you. You can do all of these sorts of things but make the character's not about-- You know we are in part defined by things like this but as real people we are not about the bad things that have happened to us, we are about so much more. And make that the case, alright?
Shallan's Memory ability to capture an image doesn't seem to be working exactly like an eidetic memory...
Yes.
...because she can erase it by drawing. Is that tied directly to the magic of Lightweaving? And if so would other creative Lightweavers have similar abilities.
If you look at the epigraphs there is a big hint on this, where it talks about it and yes... I have problems with eidetic memory, just because scientifically most scientists say this is not a real thing. So I would say that whenever-- Because of my knowledge of the science of it understand that you would need some sort of magical enhancement to be able to do what she does.
We have a lot of Renarin questions just because he is a character we both care a lot about, just another what could you-- give us a tidbit about Renarin's relationship with Bridge Four?
I can tell you this, here's a good tidbit. You know the books are about ten characters. Renarin's one of them. But Renarin, you know the first five, he's not one of. So Renarin is one of the main characters for the back five, which are focused more on the Heralds, and he is one of the characters with the flashbacks there. So Renarin, you are not going to get everything you want about him until the back five books. So just keep that in mind.
I can live with that.
When you're writing YA do you ever feel-- Because I was feeling this while reading the Alcatraz novels-- Do you ever feel like you're limited in what you can explore by not wanting to go too dark or too complex for a certain audience? Or when you are writing that sort of story does that not really...
Complexity does not enter into it, for me, except for the fact that I generally focus on one character. And so there is a complexity issue there, in that, you know, it's like I'm doing one, maybe two, viewpoints. And I think it's basically coming because when I'm choosing a story I'm matching a story to an age, I'm not matching an age to a story, does that make sense? So when I say "this is a YA story" that's because it exhibits the sorts of things I want to tell-- exhibits the sort of things that work for that market. I don't tend to write down but I do tend to keep the number of viewpoints more limited, just to keep the books a little less thick. So yeah, yes but not really.
So when Renarin was writing the countdown to the Everstorm, how conscious was he of what he was doing and how in control was he?
He was not terribly in control, he was somewhat conscious. But you will find out a lot more about this, that-- Yes.
Is neurodiversity a requirement to become a Radiant? Like do you have to be non-neurotypical?
Read the back of Words of Radiance for your answer, the back of the cover.
Is the time between Desolations regular?
No.
Finally, what point, usually, is society at when a Desolation comes? Because Taln was prepared to introduce them to bronze...
Yes.
...and Alethi society is so far beyond that.
Yes. Historically a lot of the-- What would happen with the Desolations would destroy all civilization and then the Heralds would leave, and leave people basically in the Stone Age again. And they came back numerous times and found humankind still in the Stone Age, after having left. And so they are prepared-- Sometimes they would come back and they would already be in the Bronze Age or-- and things like that and get them beyond that but frequently they had to be ready, the Heralds learned they had to be ready to try and bring humankind forward several thousand years worth of technology in a year.
When is The Emperor's Soul set relative to Elantris specifically and the other cosmere books?
The Emperor's Soul is set after Elantris but not so far that the characters from Elantris would not still be around.
Is it possible to imitate Radiant abilities using fabrials?
*audio picks up mid-answer* ...which ended up and followed that the failing of the Vorin church and things like that and so it's possible to recreate the other powers as well.
What happened to Renarin between collapsing on the floor of the Oathgate room, when Shallan was yelling for people to gag him, and showing up again in the later chapters? Did he actually get gagged or what?
He did not get gagged.
Feather will be appeased.
We were wondering about spren gender and if spren can have non-binary genders.
That is certainly possible... After all, I should mention this, since the Parshendi have non-binary genders. Because they have four genders.
I'm guessing we are going to get RAFO'd on this but is his future-sight a Surge-ability?
*makes "RAFO" face*
First question is about a joke - writing a book with Rothfuss with competing teams of characters, giving it to GRRM for the ending - sounds like it probably won't happen but both Sanderson and Rothfuss have apparently joked about it.
Second - most difficult character interaction he's ever written.
Mat and someone else from WoT, didn't catch it because it's a bit noisy but apparently they're both liars.
Third - when is the fifth Alcatraz book?
Whole series will be re-released next year, last book will probably come out with it. new versions will have artwork!
Fourth - Outside of books, what influences his writing?
1. People he knows (Sarene is based on a friend, etc; also includes character conflicts)
2. Cinema, especially when it does something poorly and he wants to do it better
3. video games may be an influence, unsure.
Fifth - Favorite fictional curse word
the ones from Alcatraz, esp. Grandpa Smedry's cursing by SF/F writers.
Sixth - when he comes up with a new magic system, what's the first basic thing he works on?
References Sanderson's First Law; magic limitations come first.
Seventh - By the end of The Stormlight Archive will you look into the minds of everyone who will develop powers?
No. Lists flashback characters; the next three are, in order: Szeth, Eshonai, and Dalinar.
Eighth - favorite character from Stormlight and why
Obligatory "like picking a favorite child".
Ninth - target audience
"Honestly I want everyone to read my books"; WoK/SA is targeted at epic fantasy lovers, Mistborn is more approachable for heist novels, Alcatraz books are written at himself at age 13 (kid too clever for their own good but convinced that books are boring).
Tenth - third son born during WoR, did that affect the writing process?
Yes, can now pick out when children are written poorly in books. family keeps him grounded; writing is about our world, not the fantasy world, and family reminds him of that.
Eleventh - Who's your favorite Firefly character?
WASH.
Twelfth - is it challenging to write from the POV of a female character and why/why not.
Early on - yes it was, now less so. problem was: treated characters other than the main character as roles only, centered around main character. "writing characters without giving them their due". "You have to be able to write the other. Every character has to be a piece of you and a piece of not you." discusses Jasnah in particular. Point of literature is "to see what it’s like to be people who aren't us".
Thirteenth - Do the Windrunners have any Surges that Szeth doesn't have?
RAFO because it's explained in WoR.
Fourteenth - Have you ever considered writing a horror novel or dark fantasy?
Yes, played with it, wrote a short story for a Charlaine Harris anthology coming out this year and a book called 'Death by Pizza’ about a necromancer running a pizza shop. Is glad dark fantasy exists, but 'fantasy is the language of imagination and the language of hope’ (quoting Robert Jordan) and will write about mostly people he would like to be/admires.
Fifteenth - Is there something that inspires the strength of his female characters?
His mother graduated first in her class in accounting in a year when she was the only woman in the accounting department. First three fantasy writers he read were female (Melanie Rawn, Anne McCaffrey, and one other I missed) to the point where when someone tried to give him Eddings he said he didn’t think men could write the genre.
Sixteenth - there's a rumor about a second Elantris book.
Yes, that's coming someday, but Stormlight is the priority. Current schedule: Firefight is done, Rithmatist 2 is next, Stormlight 3 after that (working title might still be Stones Unhallowed if he can get it out before Rothfuss finishes Doors of Stone)
Seventeenth - how many series in the Cosmere?
36 novels, don't tell some people because they'll get scared. (Mistborn is 9, Stormlight is 10, Dragonsteel is the prequel and those are the core; everything else will be a trilogy or one-off and some might be novellas.)
Eighteenth - Is his wife here?
No; she's home with the kids because touring is kind of miserable.
Nineteenth - who would finish the Cosmere if he couldn't.
Maybe Brent Weeks.
Twentieth - are there any characters you dislike writing about and would like to kill off?
Joking answer: Cadsuane from WoT, someone else from WoT - Masema.
Twenty-first - any future children's books?
Yes, really enjoys it. Nothing until after Steelheart/Rithmatist/Alcatraz, but wants to write about a world where wireless energy happens naturally and everything is electrified. That'll be the next kids' book, but it'll take a bit to get the science right. Also discusses plot from POV of the "Dark One" who is fated to be killed by the Chosen Hero - this might be the plot for the electrified planet but maybe not, as it's definitely Cosmere.
I asked Brandon whether the Heralds were once mortal
He RAFO'd me, which I expected, but he explained that the reason he had to RAFO it was because he doesn't want to build anticipation or expectations about the heralds yet, since they won't really be heavily featured until the 2nd set of 5 books.
