Recent entries

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7001 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Forty-Three

    The Ball at the Canton of Resource

    I didn't want this chapter to be a repeat of the previous ball scene, so I kept the nostalgia to a minimum and focused on the plan. I hope I've established why Vin and Elend are willing to take this risk—a mixture of Elend's desire to avoid attacking the city and the general recklessness being a Mistborn can foster in a person.

    Either way, we avoid dancing and small talk in this chapter. I didn't want to write that, and I'm assuming that the reader doesn't care to read it. The tension of the infiltration is what matters now.

    Chris King interview ()
    #7007 Copy

    Chris King

    Is Resealing a subset of Forging, or a separate system like Bloodsealing is?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um...

    *Looooong silence*

    I'm trying to remember what I decided-- I was building all of this on a fourteen hour plane flight, keep in mind-- I believe it is-- Let's go ahead and PAFO that one. I need to go to my notes. I can give you a tentative "I believe it is the same system and not a cousin system" but at the end of the day I kind of had to go to my notes and work things out. There was lots of wiggle room built into the Elantris magic system but I have to know what I decided.

    Chris King interview ()
    #7008 Copy

    Chris King

    This, I'm unsure of exactly what's being talked about because I have not been reading the forum: What happens when a Pulser is burning cadmium and in a speed bubble? She'd be burning her cadmium 20x faster than usual—so far as her bubble and those in it were concerned—and her slow bubble would extend far outside the area made "normal" by the effects of the speed bubble, so what happens with the extra energy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um… Send me that one in writing and let me run it through Peter who's my physicist.

    Chris King

    Okay, we'll do that.

    Brandon Sanderson

    And maybe run the math through Eric. He's probably asking that one.

    Chris King

    That was actually-- I think it was Windrunner on the forum. I might be wrong I think that’s who it was though.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He's supposed to ask me the hard Way of Kings questions, not the hard Mistborn questions.

    Miscellaneous 2011 ()
    #7009 Copy

    Aiken Frost

    Guys, have you noticed this bit in the Bendalloy section [of the Mistborn Adventure Game]?

    "A physical attack made through the bubble, whether held or thrown, is robbed of its kinetic energy, often with an audible 'pop.'"

    Could this be what we are looking for when trying to figure the FTL space travel thing?

    Arcanist Lupus

    This statement seems to violate several things from Alloy of Law: first, Wax's "shooting the bullet" scene, and the danger of being shot while inside a cadmium bubble.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Not really. A bullet shot out of a speed bubble IS robbed of kinetic energy—not all of it, but just enough to slow it down to the speed it would have been moving at had it been fired outside the bubble in the first place.

    Warsaw signing ()
    #7011 Copy

    Questioner

    *inaudible, but referring to the RAFO cards*

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, yeah. You want a RAFO card? You gotta ask me a hard question. Come up with a question.

    Questioner

    So what's next for Szeth-son-son-Vallano?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uh, okay, yeah, take [inaudible due to laughter, presumably Brandon was indicating that he could take a card].

    Miscellaneous 2011 ()
    #7012 Copy

    discipleofhoid (paraphrased)

    At the signing I asked Brandon to personalize the book with a suggestion for a unique or rare effect that could be achieved with a metal. He signed

    "Watch for what happens when something leaves a bendalloy bubble."

    He then laughed and said "That won't make any sense for 10 books"

    This leads me to believe that this might be related to the FTL travel.

    Miscellaneous 2011 ()
    #7013 Copy

    darniil

    So, I was thinking how the third trilogy was mentioned as being in the future (as opposed to the second trilogy being contemporary to our time), and I wondered if the people from Scadrial would be able to visit the other shardworlds without using Shadesmar - and, if so, how would they do it?

    The simplest (and most boring, and not germane to the topic) method would be FTL travel.

    But then I got to thinking about Pulsers and Sliders.

    My first thought was, "Hey, what if a bunch of Pulsers - or some Pulser-inspired technology - could put a bubble around the crew quarters of a starship? That would allow the crew to travel from one system to another within their own lifetimes." Just put the ship on autopilot, power up the Pulser Engine, and go have a sandwich.

    Then I tried to figure out if something similar might work for Sliders, but the first bump I hit was that bendalloy bubbles - and cadmium bubbles - were stationary. Which, in turn, would probably rule out the Pulser starship.

    But then I thought some more. These books take place in a universe which is, astronomically, pretty much like our own. It follows the same rules of physics. Which means that Scadrial is rotating on its axis, while it revolves around its star, while that star moves within its galaxy, and that galaxy moves within its universe.

    Which means, technically, bendalloy and cadmium bubbles aren't stationary. They're stationary relative to one object - Scadrial - but they're perfectly mobile when one looks at the bigger picture.

    This makes me think that a Pulser starship might be possible, provided the Pulsing can be anchored to the ship rather than Scadrial.

    It also makes me wonder why the default anchor is the planet and why nobody has figured out how to anchor it elsewhere. Is it simply a mental block that could be overcome? Is a person too small to be used as an anchor (even though the bubbles pop up with the person at the center)? Can a bubble's size be altered, dependent upon the size of its anchor? (That is, could a small bubble be made around, say, a person's heart if the whole person were the anchor?)

    I still dig the idea of Allomancers Iiiin Spaaaaace!, though I'm not entirely sure how it would work.

    Catalyst21

    [Links out to WoBs about Metallic Arts FTL being a thing]

    So FTL is confirmed

    Peter Ahlstrom

    There's an issue with conservation of momentum with speed bubbles.

    Warsaw signing ()
    #7014 Copy

    Questioner

    *inaudible* sign this one right here?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yup, happy to do it.

    Questioner

    I will leave that there. Okay, Mistborn, and then this next *inaudible*. Is there moments you've set up throughout your books, are they like, how much effort *inaudible*?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is that, yeah.

    Questioner

    *inaudible*.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Third draft. Still two drafts to go.

    Questioner

    Oh, great. So *inaudible*. November still looking good?

    Brandon Sanderson

    November's still looking good, but *inaudible* there's a lot of revision, making books work.

    General Twitter 2010 ()
    #7016 Copy

    EricLake

    @BrandSanderson In M:AoL, will bendalloy’s time dilation result in redshifting of light going in/out of the bubble? #weescience

    Brandon Sanderson

    I’ve been working on the science of it. Basically, I’ve been treating it as a gravitational time dilation.

    But only focused inward, and equally, on those inside the bubble. It’s making my brain hurt a bit, but I think I’ve got it working

    I think this means yes to a gravitational redshift. But . . . it gets wacky. Trying to decide just what it would do is tough.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7019 Copy

    Questioner

    How are you going to finish the cosmere stuff? Like when you get to book 35, how are you gonna resist like book 36, we're gonna say "Courage is held by dude named Steve and according to Hoid he's pretty cool." Just extend it another ... how are you going to finish?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We'll see. We will see. The thing is there's a beginning, middle, and end to the Shattering of Adonalsium and the involvement there. More stories can be told in the cosmere, but there's a beginning, middle, and end to that. When I finish that, that is the sequence that I wanted to tell.

    Questioner

    And you have that outlined out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7022 Copy

    Questioner

    I do have to know, how many cousins [does Lopen have]?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on what your definition of cousin is. By Lopen's definition, there are a lot of cousins. He's counting like fifth cousins.

    Questioner

    Third cousin twice-removed?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, that's his cousin. Like [someone] dating his sister, or his mom's sister - that's a cousin.

    Warsaw signing ()
    #7025 Copy

    Mestiv

    Can you tell something about Vax? Shardworld?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, I can't tell you anything about that. But I can give you a card [RAFO] for not telling you anything about Vax; they're very interested in Vax, everybody's interested in Vax.

    But I stayed very close-lipped on Vax.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7027 Copy

    Questioner

    We were wondering about the stances and I was wondering if you could match them?

    *unfolds image*

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would have you email it to us, because Ben McSweeney made the final call as he drew these, on which one was which. While I had notes on each of them, he matched the stances to them, and so it would be really easy for me to get them wrong.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7032 Copy

    Questioner

    So I was reading the Wheel of Time and in the first one when they get to the saidin and saidar, the pools—they're very similar to Shardpools.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, and that is something that he kind of dropped. The Eye of the World is just like pure saidin, and I would be surprised if that weren't an unconscious influence on me. I didn't think of it when I was coming up with these but that's definitely way back in my brain when I was creating these.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7035 Copy

    Rit

    So, my question is glowing Shardplate and retractable helmets. Is that a similar origin of the Shardblades—

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a similarity, but they are also very different.

    Rit

    Yeah, I noticed they do seem like advanced fabrials, because Adolin just keeps going on and on about how they're all interchangeable and they all feel comfortable after a while, and it doesn't have the same kind of thing with the Shardblades.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it doesn't. Though a Shardblade, used for a long time, will change shape slightly.

    Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing ()
    #7037 Copy

    Sweetness

    Since the evil on Threnody isn't a Shard, can you tell us anything about its nature? Is it an actual being, and is it related to Adonalsium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Everything is related, in the Cosmere, to Adonalsium. Most of the magic you're seeing is a just a natural outgrowth of Cosmere-related magic, you're seeing Cognitive Shadows. The Evil is similarly related.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7042 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Forty-Two

    Marsh Visits Penrod in Luthadel

    This chapter didn't exist in the initial draft of the book; I added it in revisions. I originally liked the idea of the characters happening upon Luthadel later in the book and having to piece together what happened to Penrod from the aftermath of his getting spiked.

    Ultimately I decided to drop that in favor of showing this chapter in-scene. It was a tough choice, but knew I needed to show Marsh being active. I also had enough complaints from alpha readers about the lack of news from Luthadel that I realized showing this scene would work better. We are so attached to Luthadel as a city that it's hard not to know what's going on there. Plus, this choice allowed me to include some interesting things—such as talking about what Marsh and the other Inquisitors were doing with their time and showing another character getting spiked.

    You may remember one of the spiking attempts on Elend earlier in this novel, right at the beginning. I flirted with putting more of these in, but decided that it would grow too obvious and too heavy-handed if I emphasized it that much. (The scene I toyed with included a madman unexpectedly rushing Elend with a spike.)

    I think this is the last of the Marsh insert chapters, meaning others you read after this were in the first draft. You'll probably notice a larger gap before seeing him again. Marsh and TenSoon kind of get lost in this third quarter of the book, I'm afraid. We still see them, but it's infrequently enough that Spook/Sazed and Vin/Elend dominate.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7043 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Another reference to previous books comes when Sazed mentions the executions from book one. This is the second or third time we've had a reference back to those in this novel, and there were a couple references in the second novel as well. I hesitated to put those executions into the first book because of the graphic nature of the beheadings (which, if you recall, were done into the fountains at the central square, causing the water to flow red). However, it became such an important scene throughout the series that I'm certainly glad I did it. The characters needed a poignant visual memory of the Lord Ruler's brutality.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7044 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Kelsier's voice here has gotten to the point where Spook no longer questions its presence, though he still hesitates to do what it says. For those of you who are paying attention to the connections between the books, it should start to seem more and more like the voice that Zane heard in book two. This one is a little bit more powerful and controlled than the one Zane heard—but then, Ruin is free now and can affect things more directly.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7045 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Spook Escapes the Burning Building

    This scene with Spook bursting out of the burning building, trailing smoke, is one of two big focal scenes I imagined for his storyline. Interestingly, I had planned on three focal action scenes, and ended up skipping one as I drafted. I planned to have assassins attack the ministry building and Spook fight them off, but could never quite work it into the pacing of the story, and I figured that after this scene—which works so well to convey what I want—another scene was unnecessary.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7046 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Forty-One

    Sazed and Breeze Discuss the New Survivor

    I'm not sure whether this is an appropriate use of the term ostention or not. I guess Dr. Thursby, my folklore professor at college, will have to read the book and let me know. Seemed like it worked for me.

    For a lot of my readers, this opening paragraph—with Sazed acting like his old self—was a very triumphant one. They said "Finally, Sazed is back!" in compliment. However, I took that as a sign that something was wrong in the earlier chapters. True, it's a good archetype to have one of your characters do something wrong for a time before finding redemption. However, the problem with Sazed is that the thing he'd done wrong as a character was boring. You never want that as an author. In the rewrite, I hope that the difference between Sazed in this chapter and previous chapters is still there—just not as stark.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7047 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ruin Interferes with Communications

    Another note on what Ruin is up to here. He figures that keeping supplies from Elend—and not letting him know about the chaos in Luthadel—will make him more likely to attack Fadrex. So, Elend and Vin get it wrong. In this case, Ruin is more successful than when he helped destroy the koloss, and his ploy has the desired effect. By putting the pressure on Elend, Ruin hopes to make the emperor more impulsive and more likely to follow his gut, which is telling him just to attack.

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7048 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lieutenant Conrad

    Lieutenant Conrad is Tom Conrad, another roommate. Tom was my first roommate ever—a computer stuck us together in Helaman Halls at BYU, and wacky high jinks ensued. We roomed together for two years, after which Tom decided he wanted to pay less for rent than we were paying. He then moved into the crawl space beneath a trailer home off campus. (Well, not really, but it sure felt like that when I visited.)

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7049 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Discussing How to Defeat Ruin

    This chapter is mostly intended as a reminder that something larger is happening. I worry a lot that the reader will see the struggles for Fadrex and Urteau as a step down in conflict from book two, where Luthadel itself was besieged. In other fantasy books, the heroes would go on some quest to find a magical object or person that could defeat the dark god for them.

    And in a way, that's what they're trying—searching out some mythical answer that may or may not be there. However, my goal with this book was to show that when faced with something as powerful and incomprehensible as Ruin, there isn't much that common people—even Allomancers—can do. They're fighting their best, but how do you even start to deal with something like Ruin?

    The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
    #7050 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Forty

    The Creation of New Inquisitors

    It was very convenient for the system I built into Hemalurgy that the Inquisitors were designed and commanded to hunt down skaa Mistings. There were always enough of those that they could create new Inquisitors to replace the ones who eventually died of old age.

    The Inquisitors were always so determined to catch the skaa. So passionate. With good reason, for that was the only means by which their race—and Inquisitors are a separate race, just like the koloss and the kandra—could perpetuate itself.