Recent entries

Questioner

So is there a third law of magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes there is. I don't have a pithy way to say it yet.

Questioner

Do you want to try to describe it anyways?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, the best magic systems are interconnected with the world, the society, the culture, and the development of the setting as a whole. The next level you want to think about is how does your magic affect your gender roles, how does it affect your governments, your religions, all these things.

Questioner

And how those things affect the magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. But I don't have a pithy way to say it, so once I come up with a good pithy way to say it, then I can actually write it.

Questioner

So I know that there's going to be a second Mistborn trilogy. Is Alloy part of it?

Brandon Sanderson

No. This is foreshadowing the second trilogy. I may do some more books with these characters.

Questioner

So is the second trilogy in the same time period?

Brandon Sanderson

It will be a little future forward from this. More like mid–20th century.

Questioner

Shardplate, does it have to be fitted by a smith or does it just kind of magically...?

Brandon Sanderson

It magically fits to you.

Rubix

I’d like to see it fit to someone three foot tall.

Brandon Sanderson

If it’s within reason, it can fit.

Questioner

But they do weld stuff to it to it?

Brandon Sanderson

They weld stuff to it to ornament it.

Questioner

But that doesn’t really stick?

Brandon Sanderson

It won’t stay, it can get cut off and things like that. Yeah, and they paint them and things.

Questioner

So the actual color is gray, right?

Brandon Sanderson

Dalinar’s color is the actual color.

Questioner

He doesn’t have it painted, yeah. It’s kind of stone, right?

Brandon Sanderson

It’s not really stone, it’s more like a deep metallic, like an unbuffed steel sort of metallic. A dark charcoal metallic.

Questioner

I also want to know if there are other ways to Worldhop aside then what Hoid uses.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

I want to know if the Seventeenth Shard members come from all of the planets, not just Sel.

Brandon Sanderson

They come from multiple planets. You have seen Seventeenth Shard members from several planets already.

Questioner

How do you buy a contract with a kandra in Alloy of Law time?

Brandon Sanderson

You don’t, good question. There’s two of them in Alloy of Law. Shadows of Self has quite a big part with a kandra.

Questioner

The question is, can you read [women's script]?

Brandon Sanderson

I can’t read it, Isaac can.

Rubix

Isaac can’t read it.

Brandon Sanderson

He came up with it!

I told you where it came from, the writing system, right? That I told Isaac, “I want it to look like waveforms,” and he developed it to look like waveforms on the little thing when you speak voice- and things like that, and that was my goal for the system was something that was a line with waveforms across it. And he developed it then.

Questioner

Can Odium pick up pieces of a Shard without changing the nature of his Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Any Investiture, over time, will slowly change one’s personality, no matter how small that Investiture.

Questioner

Is there an odiumspren?

Brandon Sanderson

You will find out what there is.

Questioner

The name of the metal escapes me, but it’s the one that allows you to speed up your own bubble while everything else is outside of you, in Mistborn. What happens if you have that and you burn the duralumin?

Brandon Sanderson

That is an excellent question. The trick about that is you would have to be Mistborn to do that. Or you would have to have one other specific set of circumstances because- yeah I’m not gonna get into it. But you basically have to be Mistborn and there aren’t Mistborn anymore.

Questioner

When you were talking about the Rithmatist, you said that he wasn’t genetically capable of doing magic and I was wondering if you actually had like a genetic system for how...

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, this one actually isn’t genetic. I said genetic, but it’s not. But I don’t want to give away what it is that makes someone use the magic in that world. I did actually develop a genetic magic system that was very interesting that is in a book that didn’t get published.

Questioner

Is it going to get published?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably not, but I might recycle the magic eventually. The magic is spread around everyone of a certain family lineage. So if there's lots of family members, they each have a little bit of magic. And if there's only one, they're very powerful. But there's only one.

Questioner

Which one is this?

Brandon Sanderson

Mythwalker. You have these weird family dynamics, where it's like, "If I assassinate my family members, I get stronger." But as a whole, it's weaker. It's not like if there's two of you, you each are one and one; if there's one of you, it's two. If there's one of you, it's like 1.5. So you get stronger, but you overall are stronger as a house if you have lots more people. It was really cool magic, but the book was awful. Half of it was Warbreaker. But the genetics one didn't end up in it.

Questioner

Do the Parshendi need a highstorm to change forms?

Brandon Sanderson

They do, good guess! Excellent question.

Questioner

Do they eat?

Brandon Sanderson

Do they eat? Yes.

Questioner

So, they eat like grains and stuff like that?

Brandon Sanderson

You will find out, but they do eat.

Questioner

We’ve been arguing about how to pronounce the character, either it’s “Say-zed” or “Sayzd”?

Brandon Sanderson

Right, that’s one of the most contentious name decisions that I’ve chosen. Before I tell you the answer, I will preface it by saying I don’t say the names right, in a lot of times. For instance I say “E-lawn-tris” like everyone else, but in world they say “Elayn-tris” because of the system of language that’s been built. I say “Kel-seer” and they say “Kel-see-ay,” in-world. And so I’m American and I use my pronunciations I say “Say-zed”.

However, that may not be the way they actually say it. And beyond that, every reader of a book has the ability to rewrite the book as they wish. A book doesn’t exist until you’ve read it. I write a script, I write- I get you hopefully seventy five percent of the way there but the last twenty-five percent is you, it’s participatory. And as you write, you create the images of them in your own imagination and that becomes the right interpretation for you. And you have line [inaudible] veto.

When I read Anne McCaffrey’s books the dragons are these unpronounceable things in my head that I could never actually because it’s just something a dragon can say. And it has very little relationship to the letters that are there on the page. I have a friend, who when he reads the Wheel of Time- the first time when Thom Merrilin shows up in the books, on screen, it says he has these big drooping moustaches. My friend said, “No he doesn’t.” And he cannot imagine Thom Merrilin with a moustache. To me, the moustache is an integral part of who Thom Merrilin is. It’s like him, he’s the moustached guy! Well, theres a couple other moustached guys but Thom’s the first moustached guy in the Wheel of Time! And so, you have the right to say it however you want.

Questioner

If Stephen Leeds read your books would he get you as an aspect or a 17th Sharder?

Brandon Sanderson

Definitely a 17th Sharder. Definitely definitely, it'd be one of these guys. *Points to Josh and Mi'ch*

Brandon Sanderson

How did I come up with the magic system for Emperor's Soul? A couple of things. One was the procedural magics in Elantris based on coding, and things. But also, when I was at the Royal Museum there in Taiwan, one of my guides was showing me this piece of beautiful jade. And it had a stamp in it. You know, the stamps, are you familiar with these? They call them chops, we call them dojangs in Korea, you use them as a stamp for your name. They're round, sometimes they're square. I saw this, I'm like, "Why is there a stamp on this piece of jade artwork? That's been carved and sculpted?" They're like, "Well, there was this emperor, who was hot stuff, and thought he was very important. And so he ordered his stamp carved into the piece of artwork, because he thought it was a good piece of art."

And lo and behold, I go through and I start seeing these. There's this great poem, and it's covered with, like, forty stamps. And I asked, they're like, "These are all the scholars who are like, 'Yeah, I like this.' *stamp*" It's like carving your signature into Michelangelo's David, like the forehead. It's like, "Yeah, I think this is pretty good. 'Brandon approves.'" And that's what these people were all doing. And those stamps, the ubiquity of the stamps... I don't know how I got from that to "rewrite something's history by stamping it." But that was the inception of it.

I have several of these stamps that I brought home with me from Korea. Mine actually says Sainja, which-- "Sa" in Korean is "Sand," and "In" is "Person," and "Ja" is "Son." So, it's the Son of the Sand Person. It's really, it's a pun. They see that, and they're like, "That doesn't make any... Oh. That's really dumb." It's exactly what I was shooting for. Either that or they look at it and "Salinja" with an "l" is "Murderer," and read it and they're like, "Oh, wait."

Anyway, it came from that trip.

Questioner

When does Emperor's Soul take place in relation to the events of Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson

After them.

Questioner

Like how long after?

Brandon Sanderson

I haven't answered that yet. A lot of people keep asking. But after them, but not so far after them that the technology level has shifted, which I allow, in my worlds, to happen. And also not so far after that the Emperor's Soul- if you keep your eyes open you will see a Derethi priest in full armor. And so, not so far after that the kingdoms we are familiar with no longer exist. They do exist and the tech level has not shifted dramatically so you can use that to kind of ballpark for yourself, a range. It's certainly not thousands of years later, in other words.

Questioner

You sold the rights for Mistborn for a movie, right? How is that coming along?

Brandon Sanderson

I have had no major updates, I'm afraid. You know, I really like the script. They're pitching it in Hollywood. They're good guys, the producers are. The script is really awesome and is pretty faithful. It's adapted in the ways that adaptations need to happen. Like it's really cool, like the beginning they did this thing where they said, "You know, we really need to focus the movie on Vin, so the opening needs to be on Vin instead of Kelsier." Which is a really good move for a movie like that that's got such a shorter length of time. So, you know, they start with Vin and Reen, actually. And you know, Vin being part of a heist that goes wrong, with her brother, and things like this. And you know, there's changes like that that thematically, you know, are the same concept as the book but then work really much better in the only two hour block that you have. Then Kelsier is a mysterious figure who invites her in and recruits her into the team, which works much better in that format. So there's changes like that.

There's this really cool prologue where they start the prologue with the march up the mountain toward the Well of Ascension, a thousand years ago and an interaction there that changes into a stained glass window and then you see stained glass windows of the interim periods until you hit the Final Empire. So there's some really awesome stuff.

So, we'll see if this actually ends up working or not. Again, if your father is the owner of Warner Brothers, go and put in a good word for me. We're kind of long shots because all we are is an author and several producers who have no major credits to their name. And I sold it to them specifically because- you know, I sold Alcatraz to Dreamworks for a lot of money and then I just had to like say goodbye to the project and I like what they did with it but it was basically they took the project. And I, for Mistborn, wanted to have more control which also means my chances of actually getting it made go down quite dramatically. Ask Orson Scott Card how long it took to get made Ender's Game made and you will see the same sort of thing, but then he's getting it made his way, eventually. So that's what I'd like to do with Mistborn if I have that option.

Chris King

Is there a way to reverse the Shaod?

Brandon Sanderson

Um-- *pause* There is a way to do basically anything.

Chris King

So it's kind of a RAFO? Will we ever find--

Brandon Sanderson

No that's not what they asked, they asked if there is a way. Yes there is but how reasonable a way that is is very... vague...

Chris King

Would it be easy for a Forger who'd once almost lost her arm (freak guillotine accident is the example that is used) to make a stamp to lose it temporarily, or would it require some more involved Forging than "my arm actually got cut off that one time"?

Brandon Sanderson

No, and-- The more plausible something is the easier the Forging is definitely.

Chris King

Did the Lord Ruler use lerasium to gain his super Allomantic abilities or did he grant that to himself with the Well's power? If he used the bead, does he count as one of the nine original Allomancers that Sazed mentions?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. He did not use the bead. He-- In all of this he granted himself basically, he rebuilt himself to be extremely powerful and he did not use one of the beads.

Chris King

A lot of people wanted clarification on weight in regards to Pushing and Pulling, whether or not it has a direct correlation to the power or if it's just something people say because generally someone heavier is going to Push--

Brandon Sanderson

Right, right. It's more-- I mean, the whole-- If you really dig down into it, and I've talked about this before, the whole mass, weight, Push, and Pull thing gets a little tricky when--particularly when you throw Feruchemy into the mix-- Are we changing mass? Or are we changing what the power of the earth pulling upon you is, and things like this. Generally understand that most people who are talking about this are not speaking in scientific terms and they are speaking in colloquialisms.

Brandon Sanderson

[Eshonai] I believe is one that Michael Whelan intended to be one figures on the covers, one's Dalinar, and one's Eshonai. But that scene is not 100% accurate from the book. Usually with book covers we are looking for a poster for the book, like a movie poster, which isn't necessarily an exact scene from the book. But I believe it's who it was intended to be.

Mi'chelle Walker

If you slash somebody with a Shardblade, kill them, and then cut them again, will the Shardblade make them bleed?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Just like a chasmfiend once it dies, they are chopping it apart with Shardblades.

Brandon Sanderson

So, what I’ve been doing lately is writing on Stormlight 2. And Stormlight 2, if you’re unaware with what’s going on in the Stormlight series, I conceived the series as ten volumes, two five book arcs, with each volume focusing on a character by giving them a flashback sequence. So if you’ve read the first one, Kaladin, one of the main characters, there’s a sequence of flashbacks that kind of inform how he came to be where he is at the start of the book. And I intended that for each of the ten primary characters because I kind of began them all in the middle of their stories, which is what happens when you’re writing a book. The beginning of a story is not the beginning of a book. It’s impossible to tell the beginning of a story because there’s always something more that could come before. So you start with people who have passions, who have lives, who have things going on and then I wanted to use these sequences to bring you back up to where they were when they started.

This was a method I thought I would use in order to help divide each book and help me envision each book as a stand-alone volume in the series. Because one of the challenges of writing a big series like this is you don’t want them all to blend together. You want them each to feel distinct, to have their own climaxes and their own story because when they start to blend together, it can be detrimental to the series in the long run. So in my original outline, I spent a lot of time figuring out what everyone’s story was going to be, but I didn’t actually have to do them in a certain order because they all are flashbacks. It means I didn’t have to have the flashbacks in certain parts. And so I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do Dalinar or Shallan for the second book, I always knew I was going to do Kaladin for the first book. And I ended up deciding on Shallan, in part because I want to get into her story because of things that are happening in the plot but also because I wanted Dalinar’s sequence to come later.

Now, I’m not promising that characters all survive that long. It’s entirely possible, just so you know, that I would kill someone off and still show their flashback sequence. Because the flashbacks aren’t them having a flashback, the flashbacks are- it’s not them sitting there and remembering that, it is simply a non-linear way of telling their story. So just so you know, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Dalinar survives til book five.

Mi'chelle Walker

Are you telling us you're going to kill one of our viewpoints?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not saying. I'm just saying, that I reserve the right, the outline, you know? I don't like giving spoilers. I like keeping people guessing.

Brandon Sanderson

So what’s going on here is, for Stormlight 2, I needed a lullaby in-world. And poetry is not my forte. However, my father-in-law is a semi-professional singer/songwriter. He’s released a couple of albums, they’re just local, he does stuff like that. So, I asked him to compose a lullaby that I just left blanks in the story from. And he actually turned it in just like a couple of days ago. And it’s quite good and it fits in.

Mi'chelle Walker

Was the Reod natural?

Brandon Sanderson

The Reod natural? *laughs*

Mi'chelle Walker

Here’s the thing, you’ve answered this question for us already, we just need it on audio.

Josh Walker

It wasn’t the Reod that was the question it was was the earthquake natural?

Mi'chelle Walker

No, Eric’s [Chaos] asking if the Reod was natural.

Josh Walker

To heck with Eric, we don’t care about him.

Mi'chelle Walker

You’ve told us that the earthquake was not caused by natural events.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, but it’s a complicated question because the earthquake was not caused by natural, but the Reod was a natural effect of the earthquake, then... does that make sense? So the Reod is natural, a natural result of... does that make sense? That’s why it was a tricky question.

Mi'chelle Walker

But the earthquake was not natural.

Brandon Sanderson

No, it was not.

Aaron

So the Reod is a natural reaction to an unnatural occurrence.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Josh Walker

And wasn’t it because there was like magical strain on the land?

Brandon Sanderson

That is certainly part of what was going on.

Mi'chelle Walker

What is the technology level of the singular society that existed when Adonalsium Shattered?

Brandon Sanderson

What was the technology level of the society that existed when Adonalsium Shattered? It was less than our own.

Mi'chelle Walker

Are you going to give us anything more specific than that?

Brandon Sanderson

Less than our own. You've read the book that is the preface for all of that. So you can guess.

Mi'chelle Walker

Wait, really? That's the preface to it?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, it's the series where that happens. I've said before: Dragonsteel is the series... Adonalsium is not Shattered in Dragonsteel.

Mi'chelle Walker

The next question I have is does Odium have to recover after [Splintering] a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

It is a difficult process that is very taxing.

Mi'chelle Walker

Do people inhabit Shadesmar, like normal people?

Brandon Sanderson

Define normal.

Questioner

Let’s rephrase that, describe the people that inhabit Shadesmar.

Brandon Sanderson

Well, you have seen people who inhabit Shadesmar.

Questioner

Is it possible to build a city that only exists in Shadesmar?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Mi'chelle Walker

Is the city that the Parshendi are in Urithiru?

Brandon Sanderson

In The Way of Kings, Jasnah tells Shallan that Urithiru is not on the Shattered Plains. So either Jasnah is incorrect or that is not Urithiru.

Mi'chelle Walker

In other words, you’re not going to tell me?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m just clarifying for you so that you have all the information you need in order to make judgments and ask questions.

Mi'chelle Walker

Brandon, have we seen a point of view chapter from the character who writes the Ars Arcanum?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m not gonna tell you that. That would be way too much giving away.

Questioner

Is the character who writes the Ars Arcanum from Sel originally?

Brandon Sanderson

I’m not gonna tell you anything about the character who writes the Ars Arcanum.

Questioner

If you make a Feruchemical storage and you burn it, can you put the excess back into a Feruchemical storage?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

So I was reading the Alloy of Law, and at the end I read through the Ars Arcanum. And I got confused because it’s written in first person, but it refers to Harmony in third person. I thought he was writing it, so who writes that part?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s a good question for you to be asking, one which people have been curious about, and I have not yet answered who writes all of the Ars Arcanum, but they are in-world, somebody's writing them. If you ever read The Way of Kings, it’s written in first-person too.

Questioner

Are they all written by the same person?

Brandon Sanderson

Ah, have I answered that yet?

Josh Walker

You should.

Brandon Sanderson

I should? They are all written by the same person.

Questioner

Because it sounds like they’re written by Hoid, I think.

Brandon Sanderson

They are all written by the same person.

Questioner

You like how you have those smaller, one-chapter type things? The burglars, I want to know more about them. Are those guys like, are those chapters going to show up more in the rest of the books?

Brandon Sanderson

Not all of them. They are all important in one way or another, but it's not always the characters who are the important part. Or not necessarily the viewpoint characters who are important. So for instance, in that particular instance, with the burglars, it's the woman who is the important one in that group.

Questioner

And the guy who goes measuring... cataloging different types of spren, he's going to be important later on.

Brandon Sanderson

Axies will most likely show up at other points in the series.

Questioner

The Windrunners, they’re just one order of the Knights Radiant, aren’t they?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes they are, in fact they are--every order is a grouping of one of these *points to the large symbols on the Radiant tables* and two of these *points at the smaller symbols*, these are the Surges. So these are the ten, sort of forces. And so Windrunning is pressure and gravitation, which are those two. But the Skybreakers are right there, with a different combination and each of these different groupings would make one order of the Knights Radiant. And that is the symbol of the Windrunners, right there on the cover. *points at the swordgylph under the dust jacket*. So, fun little easter-egg type things there.

Questioner

When are we going to find out about how Elhokar can see like the symbols in the mirror and stuff like that. He can Soulcast then, right?

Brandon Sanderson

You’ll have to see, you’ll have to see...

Questioner

Just wanted to ask how you come up with all your different universes?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, it’s hard to say where specifically where they come from. You can point to certain ones and say, okay, Mistborn, Mistborn came from me driving through a fog bank at 80 miles an hour and saying, “Wow that looks cool, can I use that?” And you can point at Warbreaker with me saying, “I’ve done this whole world of ash and I need to do something colorful, let’s build a color based magic system.” Way of Kings is definitely influenced by tidal pools and things like that. And so, each one’s different, it’s just things I see that I think will make interesting stories and settings.

Questioner

So why is Shallan so whiny? No I’m just kidding...

Brandon Sanderson

Shallan is very young and has gone through a lot in her life.

Questioner

And does she have a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

She does have a Shardblade.

Questioner

What time period do [cosmere books] all fit in, do they all fit in time--at the same time?

Brandon Sanderson

No, like for instance, Way of Kings and Alloy of Law are pretty close to one another, but Elantris is fairly far before them. So far I’ve written them chronologically basically, except I’ve skipped certain stories, like there’s a series called White Sand which is in the middle there somewhere which will actually be a jump back in time when I end up doing it and some things like that. And Dragonsteel is like way at the beginning which I’ll eventually do, but I’ve done them chronologically so far.

Questioner

I enjoy Way of Kings, it seems like that’s the one where everyone’s coming together. I was reading online about Galladon and Demoux being in it. I enjoyed that. Is that going to happen more often?

Brandon Sanderson

In that book- that series, yes. There will be more crossover. It’s kinda one of the core stories, along with the things happening on the Mistborn world and things like that. And so, there’s going to be a lot more crossover. Most of it’s still kind of subtle stuff, but if you keep your eyes open, there’ll be some real zingers in the next two books.

Questioner

[Josh and Mi’ch] were kind of explaining that your books were all in different worlds and Hoid can jump from world to world?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they’re all in the same universe. And there are some characters who have appeared in multiple books. Hoid, for instance, has appeared in all of them so far.

Questioner

Yeah, is he going to have his own book?

Brandon Sanderson

He will eventually have his own book series.

Brandon Sanderson

The magic systems for Elantris- the pitch to myself designing the world and magic systems was this kind of procedural-based, almost programing-based magic. Where in Elantris, you use these characters to program out a sequence of events that tells the power that's flowing through what to do.

What Shai is doing in this book is she carves a little seal. And the seal is very much like a little program, and she stamps it on something and uses that stamp to rewrite the history of the object. As long as the seal is there, the object thinks it has this other history. The example you see in the book is you know... an old dirty table that's not been cared for, she can write a seal for its history, she has to figure out what its history was first. And she can write out a seal that basically reprograms that past, so when she stamps it, it thinks it's been cared for all along and suddenly it gains this lacquer, it's beautiful, it's been well-cared for, because in that fake Forgery of the history, that's what happened to it. And that's what her magic does, which is why she's been hired to Forge a copy of the emperor's soul.

But, yes, the magic systems have the same root. And it's not just the Dor. I like the magics on a given planet to all have a consistent theme. And for Elantris they are these almost programming-like, very based on symbols and what-not. In Mistborn, it's based on the metals and the interactions of the metals.

Questioner

Mistborn, the broadsheet hints that there's a continent or whatever on the other side of the Mistborn planet. Would that also be connected to Allomancy and Feruchemy and all that?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it will be. The Southern Continent does have interactions with the three Metallic Arts, but they use them in very different ways.

Questioner

So the Emperor's Soul takes place on Sel. Is it's magic derived from the Dor?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Where did you get your inspiration for having kind of a kind of consistent universe; it's kind of similar to Stephen King and things like that.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, where did I get the inspiration for that? There's a couple of places, and I don't want to go off on this too long, if you go look on the Q&A database that these guys have on the 17th Shard you can find more.

But there were really two things that made me do it. First off is reading how Asimov did it and really being impressed with what he did and also noticing that he had to like do some patches in order to make everything work. Asimov connected his Robot series and his Foundations series after the fact many years later. It turned out really well; the two series, as it turns out, blend together in a really cool way but it felt to me it felt after the fact . And I wanted to do something from the get-go and say, "Well, if I've got something like this as a model." Stephen King did it also, but he did it after the fact. But I've got writers like this as a model to show how cool this can be, so my question to myself is, "How much cooler can it be if I do it from book one?" And you know, it's the sort of advantages you get as a writer by standing on the shoulders of authors like that, who have done these awesome things in the past. It allows us to kind of see what they did and say, "Okay, how can I expand on this? How can I do something new, rather than just doing what Asimov did?" And one of the approaches was to try it from book one.

And the other reasoning was that I like big epics but I also want to be writing a lot of stand-alones. And early in my career in particular, it was important for me to be writing stand-alones. And so the hidden epic behind the scenes allowed me to embed some of this depth of foreshadowing and connection in a way that would not be intimidating to readers because they could just read the story and enjoy the stand-alone. And then if it's something- if they're the type that really gets into this and really wants to dig deep, they can find the other level and be like, "Wow, there's an epic on here and Mistborn is a sequel to Elantris. I didn't know that," and things like that. Or they can be read completely independently and you never have to worry about that. So I like that versatility.

I will eventually write some stories connecting all of these things in a more obvious way, but I don't want it to come to the forefront of any series that that's not already the focus. For instance, I don't want Way of Kings to be about that, because I've already promised you what Way of Kings is about. And I don't want then to trick you into, "Oh, now it's this other thing." I have books planned that will be that, but they're a little ways off.

Questioner

Okay Hoid, you mentioned he's in all your books, is he in also in all your shorter stories?

Brandon Sanderson

He is not in all of my shorter stories. In fact, he is not in any book that references Earth. So if there's a reference to Earth- most of my science fiction has referential stuff to Earth, Alcatraz is like this. He's not in anything like that. He's not in the Wheel of Time. It would not have been appropriate for me to seed something like that into a Wheel of Time book. So he's not in Steelheart or the other children works that I've done. But he is in all my epic fantasies.

Questioner

Now my main question actually, which magic systems, if any, does he have access to?

Brandon Sanderson

That's an excellent question. He is familiar with very many of them, and lots that you haven't seen yet.

Questioner

Does Elantrian conversion follow the Law of Sixteen?

Brandon Sanderson

Does Elantrian conversion follow the Law of Sixteen? No. Good question, excellent question.

Questioner

Who was the first Feruchemist?

Brandon Sanderson

Who was the first Feruchemist? I don't have their name written down. It's fairly ancient of date.

Questioner

Were they born or were they created?

Brandon Sanderson

The first Feruchemist, were they born or created? Both. I don't see those two as mutually exclusive. See how good I am at dodging questions, now? I've been dealing with the Wheel of Time fans long enough. They've really whipped me into shape for dodging questions.

Questioner

Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered?

Brandon Sanderson

Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered? I'm gonna RAFO that. I'm not gonna answer you, because I'm mean. Maybe someday you shall have your answer to this important question.