Questioner
Warbreaker sequel when?
Brandon Sanderson
I don't know. Sometime. It will happen someday. But I don't promise when. Got a lot of things on my plate.
Questioner
How long will the White Sand novel be?
Brandon Sanderson
I anticipate that being 200,000 words. So, Mistborn length.
Argent
Nalthis essay when?
Brandon Sanderson
Sometime. Arcanum Unbounded 2; except I haven't written very many stories that would go in an Arcanum Unbounded 2, because they all became Secret Projects.
Questioner
Ever be a book like the one from the Radiant Orders video?
Brandon Sanderson
Probably not, but the RPG book should have a decent amount of that kind of information in it when we launch the Stormlight RPG later this year. We're intending that at least one of those books to be of general interest to people who like the series, because a lot of the countries I couldn't get to in the books, we'll have some information on. Good information on all the brands of Fused, all the Orders of Knights Radiant, stuff like that that'll be fun for even if you don't [play the RPG].
Questioner
What are the chances of a Lord Ruler prequel novel?
Brandon Sanderson
Not fantastic. I planned that for Mistborn Birthright, a little bit of that, for the video game that I was working on for a while. But, man, video games is a hard industry.
Questioner
Is Rushu the kandra on Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
That's definitely a RAFO.
Questioner
Could the highspren [plushie] be Aux?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that's basically what Aux would look like. The highspren [plushie] is modeled after Aux, or Auxiliary.
Questioner
What's a character you thought would be more liked or popular, if you have one?
Brandon
Oh boy, I don't know about that. I mean, I do think that the original version of Chet, from Cytonic, people would like more, and they HATED him, which is why I ripped him out and rewrote the book entirely. That's one of the worst reactions I've had to a character - but, of course, that why I have beta reads, and alpha reads. When I flub up that big, then I want to know it before the book comes out, right? Generally I have a pretty good instinct.
And it's odd, in book series, if you have multiple viewpoints, there will always be more variance in what people think of the characters. For instance, in Skyward, generally the characters are just not as divisive. But in Elantris or Stormlight, where the character you love - other characters are pulling you away from, to tell their stories - you will generally, whoever that character is that you love, resent the other ones a little bit more than you would in a single-viewpoint narrative. But that does make people kind of like the character they like even more, it's one of those things.
Questioner
What inspiration was there for Johnny's character in Frugal Wizard?
Brandon
What an excellent question.
So his character in Frugal Wizard - I kind of wanted to do a story about the anti-Kaladin, in that we do a lot of books - not aimed at Kaladin in attitude - but we do a lot of books about people who kind of have a natural aptitude. It's fun to write and read about people who are just good at some things.
Everyone needs to have flaws, and things that are holding them back also, but y'know, I feel a little like Kaladin in that once I started writing, I took to writing really a lot. I may not have been good at it at the start, but I took to it, and I found it, and I loved it.
What about that person - I remember going - it's actually Ben, from How's That Ben - I went and was chatting with him one time when he was my roommate, and talking about my writing projects, and this is before I was published, right? But I was so passionate about writing, and he's like, "Y'know, it's interesting, I've never had something like that in my life," Ben said. "Nothing I've ever been super passionate about, other than like, enjoying video games," which he really does enjoy.
So, it's not like Ben's a bland person, he's a very interesting person, but he never had - he's surrounded by people like me and Dan, who let their entire lives get consumed by one all-powerful passion. And I thought - what about the people that can't find that? That was Johnny's inspiration, was the - "I can't find this thing that, everyone else around me seems to have an all-consuming passion in life." And he just kind of floated from job to job, and was okay at them, but never great at anything. And that's a more challenging character in some ways to write, and I wanted to do that character because it was more challenging to write.
Brandon Sanderson
And, mistcloak, we do get occasional mistcloak questions! One of the reasons we haven't done a mistcloak is I imagine that every Mistborn makes their own mistcloak, so they should all look different. I don't want to have necessarily a standardized mistcloak. I want you guys to be able to design your mistcloak and wear it because that's what happened in-world, is you'd be like, "well I know generally what these things look like, I'll commission or make my own." And then that's what it's supposed to look like. So the mistcloaks you make are all canon, because that's how they're done. And having an official one doesn't quite sit right with me.