Tress Spoiler Stream

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Name
Name Tress Spoiler Stream
Date
Date March 31, 2023
Entries
Entries 21
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#1 Copy

Love That Dog

Most of your books have an Ars Arcanum at the end, but Tress didn't. Was this a deliberate choice to leave the magic/aethers more open-ended for the future? Or to fit with the fairy tale style?

Brandon Sanderson

I kind of want Tress to be a little bit of an in-world artifact. This is Hoid telling this story, and it's supposed to feel like the story that he told to some people that got recorded and written down and published for you. And Khriss (who writes the Ars Arcanums) is not involved in that. And it didn't feel appropriate for any of the Secret Projects to do that. So we replaced that with, kind of, my author's discussion of where the book came from, and things like that.

So you can kind of imagine: in most of the books, the Ars Arcanum is an in-world artifact stapled to the end of the novel, which is not. This is reversed: the novel's an in-world artifact, and you have stapled to the end something that's not in-world.

#2 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

My goal with the Secret Projects was to be like: this is a self-contained thing. I've gotten myself into trouble in the past by writing a book like Warbreaker and then promising a sequel. And so my goal with these was to write them each so they didn't demand sequels. I had various levels of success, I'll say, on that with them. While you'll probably catch references to this [Tress], I have no plans to do a sequel. I like this one self-contained as it is. And the same for Secret Project Three.

[Secret Project] Two is not Cosmere, but Dan and I have already brainstormed sequels; I don't know that we'll ever do them. It grew out of the podcast a little bit, that book did, and the whole setting.

And then Secret Project Four is more deeply tied into the Cosmere in very specific ways. It's most likely... whether there'll be a sequel or not is a question, but the characters involved are deeply involved in the rest of the Cosmere, so you will absolutely see them again.

#3 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

With Lost Metal in particular, I brought in a whole thing that we haven't written a book on yet. One of the big worries is: I don't want people to ever pick up one of my books (even still) and feel like they have to have read the whole Cosmere to understand it. And with the gloves off, I still maintain that. I still maintain that if you're gonna read the Wax and Wayne series, you should be able to read and enjoy it without feeling like you're lost because of the Cosmere connections. And I feel like, as a writer, I am skilled enough to say: here is this cool thing that a person is doing, they're from another planet. And introduce it as if it's brand new in a way that's both not boring but also not confusing, and just let it happen in the book. And that's what's happening in Tress with some of the things.

The aethers are not from her planet; they are somewhere else. And dragon's not from her planet. Some of the stuff that's happening relating to Elantris, not from her planet. But I feel like it works in the context of the story, and it doesn't feel confusing. You don't feel like you're left out. Hopefully. My goal is that, when you read those other books, you're like "oh, that's where this came from," rather than reading this book and feeling lost.

#5 Copy

Scotch the Piper

Who is Hoid, as the narrator, telling the story [Tress] to?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO in that I believe it is evident in the books. Well... I believe some of it is evident. Not the specific individuals, but this far enough in the future of the Cosmere that I don't want to talk about individuals he might be speaking to. You can figure out the general tone; and people have. It was very clear, I think, to fans when they started posting. So you can ask on a fan forum, if you want them to give their thoughts; but I'm not gonna speak more than that.

There's stuff that is relating to all of this that I can't even talk about yet, because it gives too many spoilers. I'll be able to talk about them soon. Give me a couple years, and I can start talking more about timeline and when certain things are happening that I just can't do at the moment because of certain spoilerific reasons.

#6 Copy

Ladder Contact 6814

What are the other six types of spores we didn't get to see in the book? Were there any that you really wanted to include, but couldn't?

Brandon Sanderson

No. When I've written books, I tend to gravitate toward a couple of the aethers that are really the most dynamic for action scenes and things like that. Some of the other aethers are there for the necessity of the future of the Cosmere. For instance: zephyr, while very useful in this for firing cannons and stuff, is really there so that we can have propellant in space by just-add-water and make yourself some extra propellant. And atmosphere; kind of a low-tech (there's better-tech ways), but a low-tech way to: "hey, we've got zephyr aether, it makes breathable air. And so, if we've got water and a barrel of this stuff, then we'll be able to breathe." So there are some of the aethers that are there for that sort of reason, so that we can have pneumatic weaponry and some easy access to emergency propellant in space, and stuff like that.

But verdant is the one that I just keep coming back to, that one and roseite, as making for the most dynamic storytelling. We'll see what I do with some of the others. I'm not gonna answer what the ones I haven't mentioned are, because I am saving them for future books to be used and to be interesting and engaging with them.

#7 Copy

The Sixth Scholar

Where does Tress take place in the overall Cosmere timeline? The telling of the story, not the story itself; or both, if you want to answer.

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO. My goal right now is to get you a coordinated Cosmere timeline of books by the time I start Stormlight Six. But we will see. I've promised that for years, and I keep pushing it back.

#9 Copy

Zabeesh

If the moons are constantly pouring out spores, how do the oceans not fill up? Do they degrade eventually, or is there another method?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they degrade eventually. I'll be perfectly frank with you: my science on this, I have not gone to all of my normal science routes. The only one of the Secret Projects that we did a lot of the scientific work on is Four, because of how tied into the rest of the Cosmere it is. I have some sort of plausible wiggle room on Book One, because Hoid is telling the story, and he can get some things wrong.

Where I am right now is: the seethe is partially involved in the way that the spores degrade. And that's part of what causes it; you've got this decomposition of a fantastical sort happening deep down, and that that is causing the seethe. But I have not run the science on this.

All of my books straddle on this continuum between fully scientific and fully fantastical. And I tend to sit over on this side [scientific], where Stormlight, I'm gonna work out all of these things. But I write fantasy, and once in a while I want to stray into the whimsical. And I purposefully did it on Tress; I'm gonna push the boundaries of what I can do and still have it be reasonable that it could exist with fantastical resources, and go kind of as far whimsical as I feel comfortable doing.

That isn't to say that you should consider this non-canon; it is absolutely canon. But what it means is, I didn't start with "what's the science of this?" I started with "what is the really interesting story I want to tell, and let's tell the story there." And if it comes down that the science just can't work; well, the answer is: "A wizard did it." I have enough access to fantastical explanations for the things that happen that I can make this work." But it is me pushing the boundaries of that.

So, know that I've got general impressions. Such as: spores are degrading. The way that they're degrading is actually causing the seethe. Much in a kind of an accelerated version of how methane comes up through decomposition, and that's what we're doing. But the water cycle is really tricky; I have some instincts on how that works, but I'm not even gonna talk about them, because I don't wanna canonize that, 'cause the water cycle's a really tricky thing on this planet, in particular.

#10 Copy

Striker EZ

Is there any chance we could get a map for this world [Lumar] at some point?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a good idea. We maybe should have done that. The issue is, running that through continuity... We should do it someday. But it's gonna take a little extra work just to make sure on the continuity on that one. So yeah, there is a chance you could get a map on this.

#11 Copy

jofwu

What does the Cognitive Realm of Lumar look like?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna RAFO that for now. I've been playing a little bit with the Cognitive Realm on some of these planets, so I will RAFO it for now. Basically, asking, "Do we still have the same inversion going on?" And I'm gonna say it's a little weirder than normal. (And Shadesmar's often a little weird.)

#12 Copy

Adam Horne

When he [Isaac] and I were talking, and he told me that it [the planet name] was Lumar, I was like, "Oh, that's like 'lunar,' just with an 'm.'" Is that something that crossed your mind? Was that intentional? Were you okay with that?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's part of why I liked it. But he has some very good rationale for the name, and I'll maybe let him tell that story at some point. But he kind of gave me the explanation.

He looks out for you guys, because I don't always name the worlds when I write stories like this, because I'm like, "They just call it the world. They don't name their world." Our world is named Earth because earth is dirt, right? Isaac always pushes me and says "all right, let's name this world. Let's name this one." I come up with them sometimes; sometimes, he comes up with them.

#13 Copy

Some Anonymous

Back when Tress was first announced, you said that you were imagining the moons and seas as being arranged like the faces of a d12 die. Did the "scientists" who you asked about this ever figure out a way to make this work? Or are the moons something we just have to accept under the rule of cool?

Brandon Sanderson

The moons on Lumar cannot exist without magical intervention. They simply can't. And I'm okay with that; I'm okay, like I said, with some of these planets... We're gonna do other things in the Cosmere that just cannot exist without magical intervention, because otherwise I'd might as well be writing a straight hard science fiction series. And there are lots of great straight hard science fiction series out there that try to extrapolate what things would actually be like. With me, I am trying to create a really interesting environment you haven't seen before, and then ask what that does to the people, realistically, who live there, if that makes sense.

I do treat it seriously. This is canon; those moons are there. But how are the moons there? Cosmereological phenomenon that is impossible in our universe.

Some Anonymous

How high up are the moons away from the planet? Closer to hundreds of miles, like the ISS? Tens of thousands of miles, geosynchronous orbits? If you have that thought out?

Brandon Sanderson

We have discussed it, and I think I'm gonna RAFO it for now. I will say: my current impression is, definitely not as close as the ISS. But not so far, like... One of my inspirations, if you didn't pick up on it already, is obviously Anne McAffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. Which, if you haven't read those, there are two planets that pass very close to each other, and when they do, dangerous environmental hazards pass from one planet to the other, risking extinction on the habited planet. And I've always loved that setup. And this is a little bit inspired by that. And I don't know how far apart those are, but I'm gonna say: I think it's further than the ISS. But who knows?

#14 Copy

RShara

How does Lumar still have water if the aethers use up any of it (which seems to be most of it) that falls on the aether seas? How does water get back into the system?

Brandon Sanderson

I mentioned earlier, water cycle is the weirdest part, even more so than the moons. I will say that, as part of the decomposition of the aethers, the water reenters the system. I'll give you that much.

#15 Copy

EogelAorist

We know that, at least as late as Stormlight Archive, Hoid can't physically hurt people. Does Riina not know that? Or did Hoid regain that ability by the time of Tress? Or does she just not want to risk it, in case he can do something to her that wouldn't technically count as harming?

Brandon Sanderson

It is the last one. Plus, Hoid's very good at doing things to people that do not involve harming them that can get around his particular brand of Torment, and she would fall into being someone that it would be easy to do some of those things to.

#16 Copy

Questioner

Did you significantly adjust the number of Cosmere references in Tress of the Emerald Sea once your wife suggested you share this book? Was your first draft of Tress more or less Cosmere aware?

Brandon Sanderson

It was roughly exactly as it is. The later drafts of Tress fixed the ending. All the pieces were there, but it just wasn't quite clicking. So I rebuilt the ending; that's the biggest thing that I did. Tress was a little more discovery-written than a lot of my books, and if you discovery write, a lot of times your endings need some work. So I spent a lot of revision on that.

And then polishing the prose was the other thing. Because it's Hoid, writing form his viewpoint's just a little harder than writing a normal viewpoint, and required some extra work to make sure that the prose felt Hoid-ish without being so in-your-face that it ruined the book for too many people.

#17 Copy

Howard Lyon

At what point when you were writing it [Tress] did you know that you were going to release it?

Brandon Sanderson

I wasn't sure. I wrote it; I didn't know I was gonna do any others, at this point. All I knew is: I had this really great idea, I wanted to practice Hoid's voice, and I wanted to make a gift for my wife. So I did it, not knowing that there would be any others or anything to it. And not knowing if I would release it in ten years or the next year.

I had an instinct that I would eventually release it, but only if Emily wanted to. This was a gift for her; I told her, "You can keep this forever and never have it be released, if that's what you would like. Or you can have it as one copy that you only lend to your friends that is bound in one single volume." And she didn't want to do any of those. She did want to share it. But I had no idea when I was writing it.

It was Secret Project Four that I'm like, "No, this is something I want to do." That was when I'm thinking, "Maybe I'll do a Kickstarter, or something like that." And Secret Project Four, then, was written for the fans, rather than... One and Three are basically the real gifts to my wife. One and Three are ones that are written specifically because of things she said, for her as a person. Two was written a little more for me, even though I gave it to her as a gift, because it's just like, "I wanna do this goofy thing. It's just a thing I wanna do."

And then Four was written for the fans. Four was, I'm like, "If I'm gonna do a year of Sanderson, I want to have one of the books be a legitimate moving forward of the Cosmere involving some things that they will want to know about," because it's setting up important stuff for later on. I thought a long time about that one. The others were kind of just like, "This is what I feel like writing right now." And that one was, "I want to have a large piece to the puzzle, rather than a small piece to the puzzle." And so Four is for you. And Four is the one that I think is, in that regard, the least general interest. That one, I worry a little bit; it does stand on its own, but it's the only one I worry about, if you haven't read any of my other books, picking up, being like, "What is this?" The rest of them, I feel like you can just pick up and it's a great introduction work. Four, I'm not as certain on.

#18 Copy

Escovar

The Iriali left at least three hundred years prior to Tress's story. Xisis was said to have been on Lumar for at least three hundred years, by Crow's book. Is the arrival of Xisis and departure of the Iriali significantly related?

Brandon Sanderson

I did that intentionally, yes.

#19 Copy

Lotus

If you looked at a spore under a microscope, what would it look like? Would it be like an Earth's fungus spore? Or would they look totally different?

Brandon Sanderson

I have imagined, depending on the spore, them being different. We'll go with this as a non-canon answer right now. But I've imagined verdant looking a lot like a fungal spore that you would see. Some of the weird bacteria shapes and virus shapes, but larger (obviously) than that. But others, I imagine looking like sand, like pieces of sand. And yet others being more, like, perfect little sphere beads. Like, the Midnight Essence ones, just little tiny perfect dots, and things like that. So it really depends on the spore. They all, I think, will be different.

#20 Copy

Madness Lemon

What exactly do the humans that serve Xisis do? He promises that they would have engaging work. But would that just entail maintaining his home beneath the spores? Or assisting in his research?

Brandon Sanderson

There were select individuals who assist with the research. And he is studying the water cycle and the decomposition of the spores at the bottom of the ocean and is very, very interested in that. And some of those who work with him are allowed into that work, as well. Some just take care of things. Certain individuals may not be of a temperament to ever do more than that.

Madness Lemon

How honest can we assume he was being when talking about how his slaves are treated?

Brandon Sanderson

Pretty honest. Dragons on Yolen are deities, and they view themselves as deities. They are generally quite trustworthy in the way that they say things, but they are also quite imperious, as a general rule. Because you are an immortal being that is worshiped as a god, and that gets in your head and does things to you.

Event details
Name
Name Tress Spoiler Stream
Date
Date March 31, 2023
Entries
Entries 21
Upload sources