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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Fifty-Three

Beldre is a Normal Person

The point Spook makes about Beldre being normal is an important one in this book. I think that readers might be overly harsh on her for her innocence and the way she ended up getting captured. (Though there is more going on there than the reader knows.) I like how she doesn't notice when someone is walking up to her, which is seen as odd by Spook at first. People in this world, particularly our protagonists, don't get surprised from behind. They are people of extreme senses and training.

Beldre is a regular person. I think a lot of us would have acted like she did in this book. Confronted by someone like Spook, perhaps we would have taken a chance on believing in him. And perhaps we'd have been captured.

Either way, I doubt any of us would notice if an Allomancer walked up behind us.

Leiyan

There are three planets in the solar system, are they all in the habitable zone, with the water...at least two of them must be...

NutiketAiel

When you say three, is it actually three in the solar system, or is it three...

Brandon Sanderson

There are three planets with sentient beings on them.

Leiyan

There are more than three planets in the solar system?

Brandon Sanderson

There are. With non-sentient beings. There are three planets of importance. So I didn't give you very much, because you wanted something...I could give you something.

Leiyan

Yeah I knew that, I should have said that I knew that before I asked.

Brandon Sanderson

You may have...here's one for you alright. You may have heard a reading from one of those planets today.

Questioner

Is the surge Cohesion, that we haven't really seen much, strong axial, is that related to the fabrials for the half-shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Aha! Um, I'm gonna RAFO. It's not me not knowing the answer, it's me not knowing if I should say or not. I will RAFO that, because I don't want to get into that too much right now.

Questioner

Several of my friends play the [Mistborn] tabletop game, and we have a question, so, if you want to burn a metal Allomantically do you actually have to ingest it, or can it just be in your bloodstream, or-?

Brandon Sanderson

If it gets in there somehow, you can use it.

Questioner

So you can inhale something, or inject something ... what about spikes? Could you like burn a spike that was-?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you could, but not if it's Hemalurgically placed or Hemalurgically charged. But otherwise yes. If it gets in you-- I almost wrote a scene where someone got stabbed through the chest and they burned it. The problem is your metal also has to be of the right allomantic alloy.

EHyde

Was Nohadon a bondsmith?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! Good question.

Leiyan

Doesn't Shadows of Silence happen in that system?

Brandon Sanderson

Threnody? Threnody is not one of the three.

EHyde

What information do Stormwardens use to predict Highstorms?

Brandon Sanderson

Many things, some of which is necessary to the process and some of which is not. But previous Highstorm arrival is a very big part of it, and Highstorms from previous years, most recent Highstorms, and if they can get when the Highstorm left the other side [of the continent], that's a calculation that will help them, and things like this.

Questioner

In other worlds, are we seeing any magics already? Like, if Allomancy might be on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

You've seen people using Allomancy in Roshar before.

Questioner

[...] I remember reading in in Words of Radiance you said that the only way to get aluminum [on Roshar] was to Soulcast it, right? I think you said something like that... maybe? I thought I read that. I was wondering how that would work, if an Allomancer were to--

Brandon Sanderson

Aluminum has some weird properties on all of the magic systems, not just Allomancy. It does not have the same effect, but aluminum has some bizarre effects.

Questioner

Do you ever find yourself, when you're in the middle of writing a book, swearing like the characters do?

Brandon Sanderson

I do occasionally, yes. That does happen. Which cracks my family up. [...] I'm writing the sequel to Legion right now, and J.C. has decided that he's not a hallucination, he's an interdimensional space ranger who only exists partially in this world, so he starts using made-up future curses and so he's saying all these weird curses ... anyway. It's a lot of fun.

EHyde

And, how were the Radiants able to summon their Shardblades at the Recreance if they'd already decided to break their oaths?

Brandon Sanderson

Their Shardblades are part of what brought them to—part of the Oathpact—but breaking the Oathpact did not affect their ability to bond or unbond Shardblades.

Questioner

Are all the original sixteen Shardholders from Yolen?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

They mentioned a video game in the Mistborn world at one point - I was wondering, in terms of the story, is it just an adaptation or--?

Brandon Sanderson

I wrote a story for them to use that is in the second century of the Lord Ruler's reign. The idea was for them to use that story and then come back to me with the finished game and then I would write the dialogue for the characters to match the story. That is what we want to do, it is taking them forever to write this game. [...] Our goal was to do a kind of Infamous-style open world RPG sort of thing.

EHyde

Were there Desolations before there were humans on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

No.

NutiketAiel

You have a tendency to write books with theocracies that are legitimately ruled by the gods, and this seems to be missing. Is that a direction that the Knights Radiant might be heading, or is something else going to happen?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna RAFO that one. There was a theocracy on Roshar at one point. There was also a mage-ocracy, whatever you want to call it. 

Questioner 2

Priestocracy?

Brandon Sanderson

No, mage, magic-user...A lot of things have existed on Roshar.

Questioner

Rock sounds Hawaiian.

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

Questioner

Hawaiian royalty. Is that a pun on Dwayne ["the Rock"] Johnson?

Brandon Sanderson

*laughs* No it's not. 

Questioner

So if you have a book on Rock, you can get him to--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, that's a coincidence. 

Questioner

Dwayne Johnson is a prince, Hawaiian prince.

Brandon Sanderson

Is he? Really?

Questioner

Yes, he is. He is from a royal family, a Hawaiian royal family

Brandon Sanderson

He's from a royal family? I didn't know that!

Questioner

So, get him to pay for the movie. And star as Rock!

Questioner

What is the current plan for the Stormlight Archive *inaudible* what we do *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Oh, that's one of those hard ones.

Questioner

Can you tell us where we - that the Queen's arc, in the question of *inaudible*? Not that I wouldn't read the section on the Herald--

Brandon Sanderson

Nah, that's fine. Nonono, it'll have an arc. The first five are about Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan, Szeth, and Eshonai in an arc, and then the back five will be about Jasnah, Taln with *inaudible* and stuff like this. So, I mean, some of the same characters from the first five will be characters and still have viewpoints and things, but it's kind of a shift in focus.

Questioner

Are you going to write something about Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson

I am. He'll have his own series, but it's a long ways off. Gonna warn you right here, right now.

Rhandric

How many magic systems are there on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on your definition. Is Windrunning its own magic system, or is it a division of a larger magic system? Are the ten different Surges each their own magic system, or...it's really how...

Rhandric

If you assume the surges are considered one.

Brandon Sanderson

Well then you would have Surgebinding, and the Old Magic, those are two at least, and there are things that are not explained in those at all, and how do you count creating fabrials? Is that a science and not a magic? Is that its own magic system?

Questioner 2

It's a science, because anyone can do it.

Brandon Sanderson

So Awakening is not a magic, then? Awakening's a science? Because anyone can Awaken if they just get the breath.

Rhandric

That's one thing that stood out to me in your magic systems, because in all your other magic systems that we've seen so far there has to be some form of snapping to occur, and that's unique...

Brandon Sanderson

Not all of them because, um, let's see...

Questioner 3

BioChroma doesn't.

Brandon Sanderson

BioChroma does not requires snapping.

Rhandric

Actually wait, is there an active magic system on Threnody?

Brandon Sanderson

Threnody has a non Shard-based...it depends on what you call magic. Do spirits coming back to life count as magic? It's science to them, but it's goofy science.

Brandon Sanderson

It is not Mraize's stick.

EHyde

I was wondering about the in-world text, the Way of Kings. It's older than those 4500 years, right?

Brandon Sanderson

It was written by Nohadon.

EHyde

Especially since Jasnah mentioned how all the texts have been corrupted or changed since then, especially the ones dealing with the Radiants, I was wondering if we will find out how the Way of Kings survived intact for so long, or if it actually did, or if it's...

Brandon Sanderson

They do say that...well let's just say that some books exist in translation over the centuries with the primary text having been lost, or things like this.

EHyde

But you're not going to say if the translation is guaranteed to be accurate.

Brandon Sanderson

I am not going to say that.

EHyde

As Lift's spren refers to the Nightwatcher as Mother, right...

Brandon Sanderson

He definitely calls somebody a mother. The implication in the text is that it's the Nightwatcher.

EHyde

Certainly, so I'm just going to run with that right now. So the question that I'm asking is, is surgebinding in general a melding of Honor and Odium, a la feruchemy being in some sense not directly derivative of Ruin and Preservation?

Brandon Sanderson

It is...Honor and Cultivation is what you mean?

EHyde

Yes.

Brandon Sanderson

There are spren of all three Shards, and those spren can work within the bounds of the magic that has already been set up on Roshar.

EHyde

What Shard are Cryptics associated with?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

NutiketAiel

If you could write something, whatever you're willing to tell us, about the Moon Scepter that we haven't already heard?

Brandon Sanderson

(Writes, amidst oohing and aahing)...I run into problems with some of these things, because there's not much to say, but what there is to say can be very spoilery, you know what I mean. Like it's like...and so... (possibly pointing at what he has written)

NutiketAiel

This is probably going to be a RAFO but is that the one...the stick with the writing...seen in Mraize's collection?

Brandon Sanderson

(continues writing)...well, at least I gave you something...

But it is not Mraize's stick.

Questioner

When you write a book, do you start from the first page and go page by page or-?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question. I do. I write straight through, I outline backward. So I start my outlines at the end-

Questioner

When you have an idea about something in the middle, you-

Brandon Sanderson

-add it to my outline. I don't write it yet, because for me my characters are on journey and if I don’t write chronologically, I don’t how the characters' emotional states would be when I get to that scene.

Questioner/Translator

When you write short stories, do you write them separately, or do they just come along - when you are writing longer books that you come along them?

Brandon Sanderson

Usually I’m working on a book and I have a great idea for a short story and I force myself to put it off until book is done. I tried writing a short story on plane right here and it’s awful, it's so bad I don’t think I will let anyone ever see it.

Questioner/Translator

<Where do your inspiration comes from?>

Brandon Sanderson

It's very different based on the book. Is there a specific... like, ask me a specific *inaudible*.

Questioner/Translator

Way of Kings.

Brandon Sanderson

First idea was Dalinar which is: brother of king who... the king gets assassinated and the nephew is a bad king and where does that leave you? The second idea was storms shaping the world. Spren were based on Shinto Kami, the Shinto religion. Kaladin was based on the conflict between a surgeon learning *inaudible*. Different ideas for different things.

NutiketAiel

When a Radiant is in the Cognitive Realm, does their mind exist individually, like separately from their body?

Brandon Sanderson

Uhh, no.

NutiketAiel

So you physically travel to the Cognitive Realm?

Brandon Sanderson

You can kind of step in between both but you do not separate from your body.

NutiketAiel

So when Shallan is only partly in...she's in both at the same time?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. She's transitioning. It's not astral projection. But no that's a legit question.

NutiketAiel

So Shallan, and Lightweavers, are capable of physically stepping into Shadesmar?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. But the implication is yes.

Questioner/Translator

In Secret History Kelsier was <> some kind of <>. Is it some<> to Forgery?

[Oversleep's notes: Question about Kelsier changing his backpack in M:SH and if that’s similar to Forgery/beginning of Forgery on Scadrial]

Brandon Sanderson

No, there is something else going on... that we'll see, come to understand <>

Questioner

<>?

Brandon Sanderson

One of them is White Sand which is now a Graphic Novel. If you ever want to read - in English - you can get the <prime/previous> version. I'm not going to release it. <> think it's good enough.

Questioner

<>

Brandon Sanderson

<I have read that and it's possible I'll read that.>

<>

Yes, <> every couple of years <just to get updated>

Questioner

<><want to write this>

Brandon Sanderson

Once in a while it's happening. But I'm always able to change my idea to <get> something different <to get to do> what I want to do.

EHyde

I was wondering if, at the Recreance, the Radiant were deliberately trying to put Shardblades in the hands of non-Radiants? Since they left them all outside a military base.

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Questioner

You've mentioned before Adamant as maybe a universe where you can invite people to work with you.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah I've definitely considered that. Adamant is a science fiction novella I wrote, which I would love to do some continuing adventures of this starship and have some guest writers. It's difficult because, as a writer it's very hard to let go of anything, that's what I found. I did one story with a friend of mine, Ethan, who I did it with him because he's in the military and I've never been in the military, and I wanted to write a story that was kind of military science fiction-ish. And so we wrote a story together, and it's a great story, it's called HARRE, and you read it in English but-- It turned out really well but it was so hard to let go. Really hard to let go and let someone else do it, that's a flaw in me I think because the story turned out great, but I'm worried about doing that more in the future. Just if-- I'm worried whether or not I'll be able to let go of the story and let someone else put their stamp on it.

Questioner

So how about the other way around though. Would you be interested in working in somebody else's, like for example Dragonlance. You did something like this in The Wheel of Time, working with a pretty fine set of constraints--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah it was a little different in The Wheel of Time because I was given complete creative control. So I could do whatever I wanted as long as I could convince Robert Jordan's widow that it was the right thing for the story. If I convinced her then it worked. But I very much could create whatever-- craft whatever story I wanted. In a lot of shared universes the constraints are much more binding. I wouldn't be opposed to it. I've certainly done-- I worked with some friends who make video games and worked on some stories with them, so I've done it before. I wouldn't be opposed to it. It would have to be the right thing.

Questioner

Or a Magic: The Gathering story?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah a Magic: The Gathering story, I could totally see myself writing one of those one day.

Brandon Sanderson

Is there a particular Magic: The Gathering, I dunno, what are they called-- universe?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah, they've got a Gothic core universe called Innistrad, with a-- It's just I love classic Gothic horror, and it would allow me to play with some of those tropes. You know, the zombies banging on the door and the werewolves howling in the night, and things like that, that I probably would never do in one of my stories.

Questioner

Did you ever feel trapped by the magic system you <write/create>, for example you want to change something but you can't because of scenario you set up something in other way?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, all the time and it’s good for me. It forces me to state my rules and forces their characters to stay to their rules, so it’s very good for my writing but happens all the time.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

So, Anna [Polish translator of most of Brandon's books] actually wrote to us and asked questions and I let Peter who's my editor assistant and continuity editor. So, they talk a lot about <how things correct>

Translator

<... Peter... lightning>

Questioner

<Will there be more from Nalthis/Elantris?>

Brandon Sanderson

Someday, it's a long ways off. But there'll be more.

Questioner

<> <and then he flies away, end of scene> <Lift eating pancakes> <>?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. That's intentional. There's more to that story, but I'm cutting around it a little bit because I don't want to spoil Oathbringer, where we really dig into the ramifications of that change. I didn't want-- Because I wouldn't-- that would raise so many questions, so I did cut around that idea and leave it out of the end of Edgedancer intentionally. So, next book will answer that.

Questioner

You often write about difference between poor and very rich. And the poor pretending to be rich. Why?

Brandon Sanderson

We look for stories about great conflict, and I think that class conflict is a really interesting conflict and what is it mean, why we put people in boxes and stuff like that, very interesting.

Questioner

Do you have any idea how <>?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's really hard. It's very hard because Kaladin would look half Asian, half Arab to us, and so matching the ethnicity of the Alethi is very difficult. So I'm not sure with who they will end up getting but it's a very difficult ethnicity to match.

Questioner

What's his name, the one who sends the letter with pictures … Nazir?

Brandon Sanderson

What? Oh, Nazh? Yes, Nazrilof.

Questioner

He's not in the list of …

Brandon Sanderson

He appears in one place in that book.

Questioner

The Seventeenth Shard—is their purpose limited solely to tracking down Hoid? Or all Worldhoppers or is it something grander than that?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they have other stuff. It is grander than that.

Questioner

He's just one of many priorities?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. They are very worried about what he's going to be doing.

Questioner

But there's others they're worried about as well?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes... They have a task, they have goals, and they are worried that he is going to be [at] cross purposes to them, so is trying to hunt him down.

Questioner

She wanted to know earlier, when [will] you get a book with Lift?

Brandon Sanderson

You are going to get a book with Lift as a main character. It is going to happen, I promise. And I'll probably do some more shorts with Lift because she is so much fun.

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Michael Kramer is, other than Elantris (Jack Garrett), Warbreaker (James Yaegashi), and the Alcatraz series (Ramon de Ocampo), "the voice of Brandon Sanderson" when it comes to audiobooks, handling narration on The Wheel of Time, the Mistborn trilogy, The Way of Kings, and now The Alloy of Law. What makes him such a well-suited narrator for your books?

Brandon Sanderson

I feel there's a fine line to walk between performing too much and not enough. When I like to listen to an audiobook, I don't want to hear just a dry read. I like a subtle shift in character voice and tone when someone is speaking, so that you can get a sense of it. But I don't like it performed so much—particularly for my own works—that it takes you out of the story. Having listened to the Wheel of Time audiobooks, as that is one of the main series I've listened to in my life, I really wanted Michael Kramer for some of my works. So I asked for him by name.

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

A lot happens before this book opens—how did you pick an opening for Wax's story, leaving so much of the backstory with Wayne (and others) to be picked up and absorbed on the fly?

Brandon Sanderson

I usually like to start my books in medias res to an extent. It brings across the sense that I want to portray, which is that the characters all existed before the book started, and the characters continue—those who survive—to exist after the book ends. That helps with the sense of immersion. Granted, each book tells about a very important chapter of the characters' lives, and there's a distinct beginning, middle, and end to that chapter, but if the beginning or end are too hard and fast, it feels contrived to me. So I do this with all of my books.

It's usually harder to figure out a starting point than you might think. I often have to revise my beginnings very heavily. This is no different from my other works; in the Mistborn books I've had to do this often. The prologue for [The Alloy of Law] was actually written to be the prologue to a sequel, and after I wrote it, I thought, "No, that needs to go in this book." We did a lot of shuffling around at the beginning of this book to find the right starting point.

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Wayne's ability to mimic and create accents is used to great effect in the book, and Michael Kramer really shines in bringing these accents to life in the audiobook. Did you have a sense when writing the book that these could be challenging—and rewarding—scenes when read?

Brandon Sanderson

I certainly did. The thing is, I'm not good with talking in accents myself—I can hear them in my head, but I'm atrocious at trying to do them. So while I was writing the book, I was thinking in the back of my mind, "I really hope that poor Michael can pull this off." It was a lot of fun to write Wayne's accents. I'm writing in a world that isn't our world, but the Mistborn world is a bit of an Earth analogue. I intentionally used themes that make it an Earth parallel, which is different from my other worlds. So you can have a character who kind of has a light Cockney accent or something like that, but it's not our world so it can't exactly mimic that accent. So it's already a challenge in that respect. I do think Michael did a fantastic job.

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

How much did you focus on writing The Alloy of Law as a starting point for readers who were new to Mistborn? Was it hard to balance writing for new readers versus wanting to give your existing readers a "welcome home"?

Brandon Sanderson

It takes place hundreds of years after the trilogy, so there was enough that I had to bring longtime readers up to speed on that it felt very natural to write the book as a potential new starting point, just because the world had been updated so much.

That said, I did make sure to slip in lots of fun things for those who had read the original trilogy, that are callbacks or that show how the world got updated and how it grew. I was conscious of the book possibly being a new starting point, but it's more that it felt natural for what the story required, as opposed to me sitting down and trying to force the book to be a new starting point.

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Last time we spoke, we were talking about the 45-hour audiobook for The Way of Kings. Each of the Mistborn books came in at 25-30 hours, but The Alloy of Law comes in at a tidy 9 discs. Did you set out to write a shorter book?

Brandon Sanderson

I knew I wanted to do more in the Mistborn world, and for a long time I played with writing a short story. The short story that I tried to write didn't work; I tossed it aside after maybe a thousand words, and began working on a different story. I can usually judge what the length of a story will be, and I knew this one would be longer, but I wasn't sure how long I would want it to be, or whether I should make it a full-blown novel. So I wrote what turned out to be three or four chapters' worth, and at that point I decided, it was a big enough story to can make a novel of it. I knew it wasn't going to be the same length as the original Mistborn books, but I felt okay with that, because for a long time I've been wanting to start writing some—I don't want to say shorter, but quicker, faster-paced stories; thrilleresque, maybe a little more pulpish. I just think of it as a fun book, that doesn't require quite as much of an investment of time and energy for the reader as something like The Way of Kings—which I love, but I want to be doing a variety of things. So writing a shorter book was intentional, but I kind of slipped into it.

Questioner

The Lord Ruler does he <move on>?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes he does.

Questioner

Is there a correlation, at all, between Awakening steel, a blade, and the revival of spren every time a Shardblade is summoned? I mean, I know Invesiture is Investiture is Invesiture.

Brandon Sanderson

So revival of the spren so--

Questioner

Similar.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay. So, are you talking about a live Shardblade or a dead one, or it doesn’t matter.

Questioner

Like Nightblood.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay.

Questioner

Awakening the steel, like that, Shardblades <are like Awakening metal> and stuff.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The big difference here is that in one you’re using a physical component, right, and Investing it. In another, a more pure Investiture is passing into the Physical Realm and taking on an embodiment, a shape. Does that make sense? And so, similar but different things. There is a correlation, but it’s not--yeah.

Questioner

What’s your favorite part about touring? Like the q&a’s or the readings?

Brandon Sanderson

No, the readings get old.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

Well each signing I’ll do a different little speech. The q&a’s are more fun because they are different. The reading gets a little old, but the first few times it is good because I’m refining it and it’s fun. So, I’ll say the actual interactive part is my favorite.

Questioner

*inaudible <compares signing to marathon>*

Brandon Sanderson

Though I will admit that sometimes the best part on tours is going back to the hotel and going to sleep. But that really depends on how late the signing is going. Like starting at 4, it’s easy here.

Questioner

What’s the latest you've ever gone?

Brandon Sanderson

I’ve gone ‘til 5.

Questioner

AM?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. That one started pretty late but they went pretty late. Normal signings, 1 or 2, is as late as they go.

Questioner

Are you going to make a sort of [Mistborn: Secret History] for Vasher?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, you’ll get some more Vasher stuff. I will write a sequel to Warbreaker that shows Vasher kind of bridging--but you’ll also see some more of the stuff behind the scenes that he did.

Questioner

So the last several books you’ve been bringing the whole cosmere together, has that changed how you are putting your books together? Now that you're tying everything?

Brandon Sanderson

Not really, it’s been planned for a while to do that. For instance, Stormlight will still kind of remain its own thing and Mistborn was always going to point that direction. Now I accelerated it a little bit because of the Wax and Wayne books, which I kind of put in as interim stuff.

Questioner

In the alternate reality, where David’s father is still alive, is there another Steelheart?

Brandon Sanderson

Nope.

Questioner

Was there ever another Steelheart?

Brandon Sanderson

Nope.

Questioner

He is the only Steelheart.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

So who killed David, <Deathpoint>?

Brandon Sanderson

So...

Questioner

Was there never a bank scene?

Brandon Sanderson

No, there was a bank scene. And yeah.

Questioner

There was a bank scene, and it was Deathpoint. Okay.