Recent entries

    Kraków signing ()
    #11153 Copy

    Questioner

    Are you planning to resurrect Kelsier?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, how far have you read in this book?

    Questioner

    I have read it all.

    Translator

    So he's not really dead.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, it depends on what you count as Cognitive Shadow. So resurrect… no… but…

    Questioner

    There was this quote about the kite that was without a string.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, he’s looking for a string. He’s indeed looking for a string, so what’s actually going to happen is RAFO.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11154 Copy

    Questioner

    Is next Elantris any closer plans?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not really unfortunately, I just have to get as much Stormlight done as I can, before I can do other things. It’s still probably after Stormlight Five.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11156 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you have any idea when you’ll finish this series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So there’ll be two five-book groups, first five should finish fairly soon. But then there’ll be a break while I write something else and then I’ll come back to the back five, so i’m not sure, but the first five will have their own arc.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11160 Copy

    Questioner

    Which one of the ten abilities on Roshar <inaudible> it depends on spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Which of the Orders?

    Questioner

    Of the abilities on Roshar.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, the abilities of the Knights Radiant?

    So, this depends on which spren indeed. Each spren can give two of the abilities, and they're slightly different for each Order.

    Questioner

    If you could have one, which one would it be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably Windrunners, cause I would want to fly.

    Translator

    I would prefer Regrowth it's very much for growing plants.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That would be very convenient.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11162 Copy

    Questioner

    Could you tell me something about Cosmere, that we don't know?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oooh boy, that is so hard, people ask this all the time and I keep running out of things... Was there anything I haven't added recently... There are Shards whose Shardpools are not on a planet they currently inhabit. At least one.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11169 Copy

    Oversleep

    What if a Connector tried to store his Connection to his time of birth? Because I understand that’s how spiritual age works.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right, Connection to his time of birth. I’m not sure exactly how he would manage that.

    I don’t think that would work, I’m not sure how you would manage it. There are other ways to make, you’re along the right path, but that’s not exactly what, the terminology it's just not working right there.

    Oversleep

    By the way Shadows of Self was my favourite Mistborn book. That ending was just emotional trainwreck for me. It was awesome.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's weird because I think that the weakest Mistborn novel is actually Alloy of Law but I think Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning are among the strongest.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11171 Copy

    Questioner

    Have you ever read any Polish fantasy or are you planning to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I am planning to read cause I have this! *shows flashdrive* I was just given this flashdrive in Warsaw with a bunch of Polish writers translated to English and I plan to do some of that.

    Before that my only knowledge of Polish fantasy was Spa... Sark... [Sapkowski] the Witcher guy! *laughter* I mean, everybody knows him though.

    But, the Solaris writer I didn't know he was also Polish. Lem.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11172 Copy

    Questioner

    My question is for both of you: regarding the translation process, is word-for-word translation more important or do you go with the feeling and how much communication is done with Brandon during the process?

    Translator

    When I was at university, I had two lecturers. One said: "The original is sacred. You mustn't do anything too original. It's so important, you have to remember/take everything." and the other when I went fifteen minutes later to another class it was "Oh dear. It should read well. Forget the original, it should read well". So I think I found a kind of balance between those two stances.

    Brandon Sanderson

    And I always tell translators to err on the side of reading well rather than preserving the exact words. Particularly because, some of the languages we're translating into, you can't preserve exact words.

    When Anna wrote to us I sent her to my assistant Peter, who is an editor and continuity editor and I let him interface with all of the translators because I would probably just ask him anyway to look the details up in our wiki. We do occasionally have to answer new questions, though, because for instance -- as Anna pointed out to me -- Polish has a lot of gendered words that aren't gendered in English and sometimes I'd use a phrase and would have to say whether this person was male or female.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11173 Copy

    Oversleep

    Will we see Scadrial in cyberpunk era?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have plans for Scadrial cyberpunk but the problem is I don't know if I'll have a long enough lifespan to write all these books. So I'm trying to avoid adding any more books to the Cosmere outline until I get a little further along I'm gonna have to write; consider that Oathbringer turned out to be a quarter longer than Words of Radiance. I really need to be sure I'm keeping going and trying to keep from expanding too big. Definitely the 1980s one, some cyberpunk themes will bleed into it cause that's when cyberpunk started.

    But maybe I'll see the new Blade Runner and I'll have to write one, so...

    Kraków signing ()
    #11174 Copy

    Questioner

    Three books or three authors you'd recommend to any fantasy reader?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If I were to recommend one, it would probably be the first Mistborn novel.

    *laughter*

    Translator

    Apart from your books.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Terry Pratchett is probably my favorite writer. I really liked Anne McCarthy work and I think it translates very well to large or different types of audiences. I often give Name of the Wind to people, it's good introduction to fantasy, it's a really solid novel.

    But of course there is also Wheel of Time. I genuinely recommend Wheel of Time to people who already love fantasy cause it's a big commitment.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11176 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you listen to music while writing and what kind of music is it? Is there perhaps any song that is particularly connected to Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I made a Spotify playlist. You can go on Spotify - I assume you can get it in Poland - and you look for Stormlight 3 soundtrack. That was the soundtrack I listened to while I was writing the third Stormlight novel. You'll know it is me when you look for it cause my Spotify name is "mistborn1".

    And - because people are going to ask, so we'll answer it now - Stormlight 3 comes out in November in English.

    Translator

    *in Polish*

    And it will come out in Polish when I translate it.

    *applause*

    Brandon Sanderson

    So it's all up to Anna.

    And I did write one more scene for it this morning that I needed to add, in Kraków, so when you read Stormlight 3 you can know there was one scene that was written in my hotel here.

    It involves one of the Ryshadium horses, so you'll know.

    Footnote: the scene in question is from Chapter 10 of Oathbringer
    Kraków signing ()
    #11177 Copy

    Questioner

    How many hours a day to you spend on writing and how much do you sleep?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *laughter* I'm an insomniac, that helps a little bit. But actually I don't... I have a very good work-life balance. People think that I must be writing sixteen hours a day but I'm not. I'm very good with my time and I have no commute which saves me a bit of time. So I spend around eight to ten hours working a day. A chunk of that is answering interview questions or email or things like that. I spend maybe four hours a day with my wife and my kids, doing whatever they want and a couple hours goofing off.

    What more can I ask for?

    Kraków signing ()
    #11178 Copy

    Questioner

    <strangling rilinquist> Are you planning to create a novel in the future?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Shadows for Silence? This is one of my novellas, called Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. I am planning one novel but I'll have to fit it in my schedule, I have lots of things to do.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11179 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    How do you like Poland, especially Kraków?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I love Poland, especially Krakow. The food has been delicious so far. I haven't actually seen much of Krakow yet but I'm going out doing tourist things tomorrow.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11180 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    How do you create such a complex character as Legion? How, where did you get the aspects from and did you consult any psychiatrists?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Legion came from a conversation I had with friend of mine named Dan Wells. And he loves to write stories about... horror stories about people who are dealing with mental disability. And I told him what if there was somebody who was schizophrenic and the people they saw helped them out instead of inspiring their paranoia. And he said "that doesn't sound like a horror novel, you should write that, Brandon; it sounds like your style of novel". And it's true: if you haven't read Legion, it's about a guy who sees hallucinations of people who all help him solve crimes. And the inspiration is really all the weird voices that authors have in their heads about all these characters.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11181 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    There are games, comic books and films had been made or are being made based on your novels. How do you coordinate work so there are no, lets say, errors in it and tell something about <that experience>

    Brandon Sanderson

    Coordinating to make sure there are no errors: I wish that Hollywood would let us do that! Mostly they kinda do what they want to do and then send us what they've come up with. I am working with one company right now that seems like that they are willing to listen a little bit better.

    <Throughout> other things that hasn't been particularly difficult. <For> the RPG, I am a gamer, I love RPG and so it's very easy to work with them. In fact where it came from is they came to one of my signings and said "Do you want to make an RPG?" and I'm like "Yeah, I want to make an RPG!". So we had some brainstorming sessions where I told them my favorite styles of game and they built rules that they've thought to match Mistborn and kinds of things I wanted.

    We'll see what happens with the movies. They are in development and they're very early in the process.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11182 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    So this is the question about White Sand. Why did this text become the basis of a comic - this one particular text - and how was the work going on converting White Sand into a graphic novel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So White Sand was the very first book that I ever wrote, or at least a bad version of White Sand was the first book I ever wrote. I started it in 1994 and it was terrible. But I liked some of the ideas so years later I gave it another try. And it became my 7th or 8th book; I can never remember which came first: White Sand or Dragonsteel. And it was much better but still not quite where I wanted it to be. So I never ended up publishing it.

    When a comic book company in America came to me and asked if I was interested in doing a comic book, it <immediately> sprung to mind. Because they wanted to do an adaptation of one of my books except I didn’t want to do a book that was already published, I wanted something for readers that was new. And I’ve always felt that White Sand was close to being good enough, it was just too long, it needed an edit. So the primary process for adapting it with Rick, who is a UK graphic novel writer involved him taking my text and cutting it way down to just the dialogue and the actions. And he did a fantastic job, we’re very pleased with that, but he did most of the work on that.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11183 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    Would you like to be a ruler of the world even if you knew that it wasn't a real world?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nooo... no, no, no. I could not be trusted.

    In fact the Steelheart book came because of something related to this. For those who haven't read it, it's about what would happen if people started gaining superpowers but only evil people got them.

    And happened because I was driving on the road and someone cut me off and I imagined using superpowers to blow up their car and I immediately realized: "I could not be trusted. At all.".

    Kraków signing ()
    #11184 Copy

    Questioner/Translator

    How are you feeling now that you're near science fiction since you're known for fantasy novels. <inaudible> Young Adult?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Most of my books are what we'd call hard fantasy anyway; which is fantasy that uses science fiction's styling to build it's worlds. So I don't know that for me there's a hard line between science fiction and fantasy. There certainly isn't a hard line between my interest on one side or the other; I like all kinds of speculative fiction. Though I will say that I have trouble making anything normal. Legion is a good example which is a psychological thriller that ended up being science fiction and a little bit fantasy.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11185 Copy

    Questioner

    I was thinking, was there <inaudible> Allomantic metals <inaudible> random or was there something behind it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I wanted the metals that had an alloy, that was commonly used and is easily accessible to people in a pre-industrial society.

    Questioner

    When they go and discover more of the periodic table, is there a chance they’ll discover <inaudible>

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is a chance, yes.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11186 Copy

    Questioner

    I recently read Patrick Rothfuss’ the Name of the Wind; there’s Sympathy <inaudible> Awakening. Is there a link <inaudible> to the Awakening <inaudible>

    Brandon Sanderson

    We actually were writing at the same time. We both were interested in the same things… No, no, he wrote his first, but I haven’t read it until I’ve written Warbreaker, but his was first. We were both interested in the same concepts… I think it’s a really great magic system. <inaudible> I wrote Warbreaker in 2006.

    Questioner

    Oh, because I checked the release date, and yours was 2009 and his was 2007.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yup, but I wrote in 2006 on my honeymoon, actually. But yeah, it was after I read that, his magic is really cool, I like it, it is a good job, I like how it’s hard magic and a soft magic.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11187 Copy

    Questioner

    So first, about Trell… He was first mentioned in the books in the first Mistborn book. Did you know what role he'll be playing in the future books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When I wrote it? When I actually wrote Mistborn, no, by the time I’d done revisions and finished the series, then I knew. Mistborn was very exploratory, the first book, once I finished it then I build the outline to fit it, that’s very common for me that I write a first book without an outline and then I build the outline around it.

    Questioner

    Will Nalt, brother of Trell <inaudible>

    Brandon Sanderson

    The brother? So there’s something very weird happening with Trell, very very weird, that I’m not going to explain quite yet, so that’s a RAFO.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11188 Copy

    Questioner

    What's the "skycolor" about which Khriss said in the White Sand?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What's the what? Skycolor?

    Questioner

    It was mentioned in White Sand prose.

    Brandon Sanderson

    What about it?

    Questioner

    What it really is? Because she mentioned it and that was only one sentence. Skycolor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (seems still confused) Skycolor?

    Oh. Oh! RAFO.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11189 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Hoid a Sliver?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A Sliver, no he’s not, good question.

    Questioner

    Well, I get the RAFO card.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He... see, the problem is, “Sliver” is really difficult to define, because it has variety of meanings, but I would not call him one. So that’s… it’s arguable, but I would say no.

    Questioner

    He's not Sliver.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11190 Copy

    Questioner

    (translated) What’s the Allomantic symbol for the metal that comes from Trell?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Laughs* Ooooh, Isaac knows, but it hasn’t been revealed yet, so you get a RAFO, I don’t have any more cards, but R A F O *probably he has written it*, good question!

    Kraków signing ()
    #11191 Copy

    Questioner

    What’s your favourite kind of music?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say… at the end of the day… epic orchestra. But I will listen to basically anything. If you look on Spotify I have this playlist that I used when I wrote the third Stormlight book and you can listen to that, it'll show you a lot of my favorites.

    Questioner

    *Inaudible* 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, I'm "mistborn1", I think? If you google, if you search for Stormlight 3 soundtrack, you'll find it.

    Kraków signing ()
    #11192 Copy

    Questioner

    I wanted to ask, is the Shardbearer [Vessel] of Odium a human?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not any longer.

    Questioner

    Ok, that's... I didn't expect that one.

    Brandon Sanderson

     But what the answer to your question you really want to know is, was he originally human?

    Questioner

    Yeah.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. That's a good question! But I don't think he counts anymore.

    Footnote: Rayse is the Vessel of Odium
    Alloy of Law Manchester signing ()
    #11196 Copy

    Tortellini (paraphrased)

    Since I started the thread about outposts and stone bridges, I felt like getting some input there.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon told me that single highprinces could not erect outposts because due to the superior mobility of the Parshendi—they would overwhelm any small outpost quickly. Soulcasting stone bridges is also not plausible. Apparently, they would need to first get the wooden bridge out there, then soulcast it and then, since the stone is heavier than the wood, they would have to reinforce it, e.g. with ropes. These could then be cut by the Parshendi, so it would not help at all. Dalinar with his mobile bridges is on a better track in his opinion. He did say however that several highprinces working together could easily establish outposts in the Plains. He said the competitive nature of the Alethi was doing them a huge disservice in the war and that if they would work together, they could have taken the Plains long ago.

    Alloy of Law Manchester signing ()
    #11197 Copy

    Questioner (paraphrased)

    A girl asked what was up with Taravangian, since it seemed a rough break between the tottering old man and the scheming mastermind that Szeth meets at the end.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon said that Taravangian used the Old Magic, and that he wakes up each day with a different IQ. Sometimes he's a genius, sometimes he's an idiot. So what he does is he writes up math puzzles for himself in the evening, and if he cannot get a certain score in the morning the guards have orders to just take care of him and keep him away from important decisions for that day. That way he keeps his effect under control.

    Alloy of Law Manchester signing ()
    #11198 Copy

    Tortellini (paraphrased)

    Someone asked if it were hard to write Jasnah, an atheist character, for a devout Christian.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon said he read a lot of atheist message boards for inspiration. Also, it sounded like he'd had the character in his head for a while, but hadn't found the right book to put it in—e.g. he said it would make no sense to put an atheist in a world where gods walk around (i.e. Warbreaker).

    Open The Fridge Interview ()
    #11199 Copy

    Lyndsey Luther

    Ok, last question. It was really difficult coming up with three questions that haven’t been asked already...

    Brandon Sanderson

    OK... you’re not going to ask me the “what would you ask me” question?

    Lyndsey Luther

    Not quite...

    Brandon Sanderson

    OK good, because I hate that one! (laughs)

    Lyndsey Luther

    My question is if there’s anything that you’ve never been asked that you would like to talk about?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oooooh, ok. Hm. That one is so hard! Every time people ask me something like this... What have I never been asked that people should be asking, is basically what the question is? Something that the fans have just missed... They pick up on so much, that it’s hard... I do wonder if, you know… all the magic systems [in my books] are connected and work on some basic fundamental principles, and a lot of people haven’t been asking questions about this. One thing I did get a question on today, and I’ll just talk about this one... they didn’t ask the right question, but I nudged them the right way, is understanding that tie between AonDor [the magic system from Elantris] and Allomancy [Mistborn’s magic system].

    People ask about getting the power from metals and things, but that’s not actually how it works. The power’s not coming from metal. I talked a little about this before, but you are drawing power from some source, and the metal is actually just a gateway. It’s actually the molecular structure of the metal… what’s going on there, the pattern, the resonance of that metal works in the same way as an Aon does in Elantris. It filters the power. So it is just a sign of “this is what power this energy is going to be shaped into and give you.” When you understand that, Compounding [in Alloy of Law] makes much more sense.

    Compounding is where you are able to kind of draw in more power than you should with Feruchemy. What’s going on there is you’re actually charging a piece of metal, and then you are burning that metal as a Feruchemical charge. What is happening is that the Feruchemical charge overwrites the Allomantic charge, and so you actually fuel Feruchemy with Allomancy, is what you are doing. Then if you just get out another piece of metal and store it in, since you’re not drawing the power from yourself, you’re cheating the system, you’re short-circuiting the system a little bit. So you can actually use the power that usually fuels Allomancy, to fuel Feruchemy, which you can then store in a metalmind, and basically build up these huge reservoirs of it. So what’s going on there is… imagine there’s like, an imprint, a wavelength, so to speak. A beat for an Allomantic thing, that when you burn a metal, it says “ok, this is what power we give.” When it’s got that charge, it changes that beat and says, “now we get this power.” And you access a set of Feruchemical power. That’s why Compounding is so powerful.

    Open The Fridge Interview ()
    #11200 Copy

    Lyndsey Luther

    You’re very talented at taking seemingly mundane or unusual things and creating magic systems around them, like color in Warbreaker, metals in Mistborn, and light in The Way of Kings. Can you explain how you decide what to use for a magical system in a book, and your process for building a coherent system once the initial concept has been decided?

    Brandon Sanderson

    First of all, I’m looking for something that fits the book that I’m writing. So for instance, in Mistborn, I was looking for powers that would enhance what thieves could do. I was also looking for something that had one foot in alchemy, in that kind of “coming-of-age magic into science” way. Alchemy is a great example because it’s a blend of science and magic… well, really, a blend of science and superstition, because the magic part doesn’t work. So something resonates there.

    I’m also looking for interesting ways to ground [the magic] in our world, and using something mundane is a great way to do that. Magic is naturally fantastical, and so if I can instead use something normal, and then make it fantastical, it immediately creates a sort of… ease of understanding. Burning metals sounds so weird, but it was chosen for that same reason, because we gain a lot of our energy through metabolism. We eat something, we turn the sugars into energy, boom. So that’s actually a very natural feeling. When I started writing out some sample things, it felt surprisingly natural, that people eat metal and gain powers, even though it sounds so weird. It’s because of this kind of natural biology. So I’m looking for that.

    Once I have a magic system, I look for really great limitations. Limitations really make a magic system work better. Wheel of Time is a great example. Having a magic system where you can weave all these threads is awesome. Having a magic system where you do that, and then it drives you mad, is even better. It creates plot hooks, it creates drama, it creates challenge. [That limitation] is brilliant, I think it is one of the most brilliant ever made, especially because it also changes your characters. It has a deep influence on your character arcs, so you can tie it into character.

    Beyond that (and this is kind of pulling back the curtain a little bit), there is no specific defined place where someone goes mad, so you can actually stretch it out and use it when you need it. It doesn’t constrain you too much. Like if your magic system’s limitation is, “When you use this magic, you have to use the head of one of your grandparents.” (laughs) You can use that magic four times! It’s limited, but also very constrained. Going mad is not as constrained. There’s a spectrum there - you can use it when you need it. So I’m looking for cool limitations that will work that way, in ways that I can use to force the characters to be creative. A good limitation will force you to be creative, and your characters to be creative. Pushing and pulling metals is basically telekinesis, right? But by making it center of mass, you can only pull directly towards yourself or push directly away from yourself... Number one: it’s vector science. It has one foot in sciences. Number two: it feels very natural to us because this is how we manipulate force ourselves. Number three: it limits things so much that it forces creativity upon the characters. There’s that sweet spot, where they can be creative and do cool things, where it doesn’t become too limited, but it also keeps you from having too much power in the hands of the characters, so they are still being challenged. I’m looking for all that, and on top of that I want to have good sensory ways to use magic.

    I don’t want to have two wizards staring at each other, and then be like “and they stared at each other very deeply! And then they stared harder!” I don’t want it all to be internal, which is where the lines for the metals came from. You see something, you push it forward. The pulses that some of the allomancers use, they’ll hear. I wanted sensory applications.