Words of Radiance San Diego signing

Event details
Name
Name Words of Radiance San Diego signing
Date
Date March 4, 2014
Location
Location San Diego, CA
Tour
Tour Words of Radiance
Bookstore
Bookstore Mysterious Galaxy
Entries
Entries 30
Upload sources
#1 Copy

DefiantBurrito (paraphrased)

Can you tell me what Wit put in his drink in Shallan's flashback scene?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It was something that you or I would probably not want to eat in our world, but that Wit got some benefit from eating...

DefiantBurrito (paraphrased)

Something we've seen in the Mistborn books, perhaps?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

[sounding pleased] Yes, perhaps like something you've seen in Mistborn.

#2 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

Will we see more of Szeth’s backstory, including how he became a Truthless?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That, you will have to wait for his flashback sequences in a future book. Each character gets a set of flashback sequences. I'm not going to promise that the characters live to the book where their flashback sequences are. You might have a character die and then get their flashbacks the next book to get more information on them. This will be Shallan's flashback, then the next book will be Szeth's flashback, then Eshonai, then Dalinar.

#5 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

What you can tell me about Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That is the word for someone or something which has gained a portion of the magic of Adonalsium, so the original whatever-it-is. Like a Shardblade is an Invested object, and people if they draw in the Stormlight, they're drawing in the magic--they're Invested.

#7 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

What about Kaladin getting sliced with the Shardblade and then being able to rejuvenate?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That is a clue for what is going on with Szeth and his understanding of Shardblades and the Shardblade he has.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Which is an Honorblade, right?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I can't say, but Szeth says in Book One you can't heal a Shardblade wound with Stormlight. There are other very big but subtle discrepancies between what Szeth does and what Kaladin does.

#11 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

It seems like a movie adaptation would have just constant spren everywhere?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That's why I made it so that not every use of the emotion causes them-so it wouldn't get too crazy even when I'm writing them.  And what's happening is the spren exist on the Cognitive plane, on Shadesmar, so they have to be attracted, they have to be nearby enough to flock to you, so it depends on how common the spren is.

#12 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

For a Windrunner, if he had enough heating fabrials and enough Stormlight, how high up could he get?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You could exit orbit. Windrunners, remember they're gravitation and pressure. So if he knew what he was doing, we have actually factored how long it would take to get to the various moons.

#13 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

You very clearly make rules for the wine in this world, like the different colors and different alcohol content. I was wondering what the inspiration for that is, and also what some of them are actually made from, because it doesn't seem like grapes.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It's not grapes, it's a local fruit. So we would not probably call it wine, we would probably call it something else. And it's based on my desire to do funky things with world building in every way I can. The color is a cultural thing.

#14 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

For the Dangerous Women story, are you going to write anything again in that world?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That world will show up again. Silence probably won't, but the world itself, yes. It's called Threnody, it is one of the Cosmere worlds. There's not a Shard there but there are interesting things happening. There's actually been a character in other books who's from Threnody. It will eventually be clear who that is, but they have shown up in many previous Sanderson novels.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Would that be Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Hoid is not from Threnody. Good question though. Hoid is from Yolen.

#15 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

When are we first getting a look at the cosmere coming together?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The third Mistborn trilogy is going to involve--it's the first one I planned to do a lot with. I doubt I will do much in the second Mistborn trilogy, more than I probably have done [so far]. It's fun for me, so I'll keep including things in. You'll notice that Hoid is a bigger part of the Stormlight than previous ones, but I still don't want it to come to the forefront quite yet.

#17 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

For the people you have coming back in the Stormlight Archive--how do you pick who makes the cut?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It just depends on where I feel like going, the interludes are complete freedom for me.

#21 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

What kind of changes do Slivers go through after letting go of a Shard's power?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It leaves them, imagine it like a balloon that has been deflated.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Okay, so would Rashek still have had powers?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He would have had some residual effects. But it also works the soul in weird ways, like a balloon that has been deflated.

#22 Copy

Leinton (paraphrased)

If Endowment were killed, would the Returned still come?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will start to gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then, so I would say yes, but with the caveat that with whoever picks up the power or what happens with the power could end up changing that.

#25 Copy

Leinton (paraphrased)

Can Breath be used to power Surgebinding?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They are very similar Investitures, and most of the magics can be powered with the other magics if you are capable of making that happen.

Questioner (paraphrased)

What would happen to the Breath?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Breath would be consumed in the same way that Stormlight is. A renewing resource, much like atium is.

#28 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

Can someone bond more than one Honorblade?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Honorblade?  You can't bond an Honorblade, though it can be given to you. Shardblades, however, come from a spren bond and it is possible to bond more than one.

#29 Copy

Leinton (paraphrased)

I also asked him about capitalization. 

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He talked about how in modern English, capitalization is boring and doesn’t happen often enough, referring back to the Victorian era where they would just capitalize Important Words. 

Leinton (paraphrased)

I asked him about parshmen vs Parshendi. 

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He said that the Parshendi were a nation.

Event details
Name
Name Words of Radiance San Diego signing
Date
Date March 4, 2014
Location
Location San Diego, CA
Tour
Tour Words of Radiance
Bookstore
Bookstore Mysterious Galaxy
Entries
Entries 30
Upload sources