Questioner
What's your secret to inventing new magic systems?
Brandon Sanderson
I look for a couple of things in a magic system. The first thing I usually look for is interesting conflicts within the magic system; interesting limitations, interesting flaws in the magic. The question "What can't the magic do?" is more interesting to me than what the magic can do. That's what gives a magic system compelling plot hooks.
The second thing I'm looking for in a magic system is a different way to approach it. It is very hard to do powers that other writers haven't done before, new magical abilities, but my goal is to try to present them in a light that people haven't seen before. I usually try to apply some sort of scientific principle to the magic, to give it more of a realistic feel when I can manage it.
Last, I'm looking for something that just feels awesome. In a lot of discussions of magic systems I often neglect to mention that usually my inspiration for a magic system first comes with something that just strikes me as great--as interesting, as fun, as cool to write about. Then I go from there, making it work storywise.
I have some essays on my website called Sanderson's Laws of Magic that approach some of the ways that I look at magic systems.
Questioner
How did you come up with The Stormlight Archive's gem magic/technology?
Brandon Sanderson
One of the things to keep in mind is I that developed this book before Mistborn was published. I do wonder if sometimes people are going to say, "Oh, he did metals before, and now he's doing crystals." But the thoughts arose quite independently in my head. You may know that there is a unifying theory of magic for all of my worlds--a behind-the-scenes rationale. Like a lot of people believe there's unifying theory of physics, I have a unifying theory of magic that I try to work within in order to build my worlds. As an armchair scientist, believing in a unifying theory helps me. I'm always looking for interesting ways that magic can be transferred, and interesting ways that people can become users of magic. I don't want just to fall into expected methodologies. If you look at a lot of fantasy--and this is what I did in Mistborn so it's certainly not bad; or if it is, I'm part of the problem--a lot of magic is just something you're born with. You're born with this special power that is either genetic or placed upon you by fate, or something like that. In my books I want interesting and different ways of doing that. That's why in Warbreaker the magic is simply the ability to accumulate life force from other people, and anyone who does that becomes a practitioner of magic.
In The Way of Kings, I was looking for some sort of reservoir. Essentially, I wanted magical batteries, because I wanted to take this series toward developing a magical technology. The first book only hints at this, in some of the art and some of the things that are happening. There's a point where one character's fireplace gets replaced with a magical device that creates heat. And he's kind of sad, thinking something like, "I liked my hearth, but now I can touch this and it creates heat, which is still a good thing." But we're seeing the advent of this age, and therefore I wanted something that would work with a more mystical magic inside of a person and that could also form the basis for a mechanical magic. That was one aspect of it. Another big aspect is that I always like to have a visual representation, something in my magic to show that it's not all just happening abstractly but that you can see happen. I loved the imagery of glowing gemstones. When I wrote Mistborn I used Burning metals--metabolizing metals--because it's a natural process and it's an easy connection to make. Even though it's odd in some ways, it's natural in other ways; metabolizing food is how we all get our energy. The idea of a glowing object, illuminated and full of light, is a natural connection for the mind to make: This is a power source; this is a source of natural energy. And since I was working with the highstorms, I wanted some way that you could trap the energy of the storm and use it. The gemstones were an outgrowth of that.
Questioner
What is your most memorable gaming experience/best gaming memory?
Brandon Sanderson
Probably Final Fantasy 10. At that time I was working the graveyard shift at a hotel, and I was doing a lot of writing on my own trying to get published. I would come home every morning at seven a.m. and play for a couple of hours alone in the quiet apartment, thinking about my own stories, experiencing the story of the game.
Other than that, I would say, honestly, the game that sucked most of my time was probably the original X-Wing game, which really made me feel like I got to be an X-Wing pilot, which, you know—Star Wars geek! That was so much fun! In a lot of ways every space game since then has failed to live up to the sense that I got from that game.
Brandon Sanderson
A full-blown Radiant can heal almost anything (cut from a Shardblade included) because of the way the magic works--their soul is literally bonded to Investiture, and it suffuses them in such a way that even the soul is very resilient to damage.
Honorblades are what you'd consider a "prototype" for what eventually happened with Shardblades. An Honorblade can be used by anyone, without need for oaths, which makes them very dangerous--but since the bond isn't as deep, they are far less efficient. They use more Stormlight, for example, and can't heal to the extent that a Radiant can.
So the difference is not in the device that did the damage, but in the method using to heal. Over the course of the first two book, the reader should be able to subtly pick out differences from what Szeth says is possible (in more than just healing) and what Kaladin experiences.
Pawell2812
yeah but what does mercantile ecosystem mean? Are people on Scadrial shipping goods off-world? if yes who and what? (metals most likely) and did the Lord Ruler know?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO--but we should get into these things eventually.
Blightsong
The whole Radiant/Light motif fits naming their Sprenblades 'Dawnshards'.
The term 'Shards' in-world have almost exclusively been in the context of Shardblades or Shardplate. I don't see why they would name a fabrial something in a way that breaks the pattern.
Y'know, if I'm right this wouldn't even really be a spoiler for Brandon to confirm. Maybe the main man u/mistborn could weigh in?
Brandon Sanderson
The nature of the Dawnshards will become (slightly) more clear as the series progresses. For now, RAFO.
falschneun
Hmmm, I just read this timetable update then went back and read State of the Sanderson 2016. I think there is a decent chance that the novella between The Apocalypse Guard 2 and 3 could be Silverlight. Could we be so lucky, /u/mistborn?
Brandon Sanderson
There's a decent chance. I've also got several on First of the Sun plotted, which are possibilities--and even a Threnody story I want to do. However, there's also a non-cosmere "minority report" style thriller I want to write, and a more thoughtful story about a world where big data predicts all of our choices. So...who knows.
havoc_mayhem
Do you have any thoughts on a short story set on Nalthis? It's the only major Shardworld we haven't yet revisited.
Brandon Sanderson
I haven't been able to get any shorts on Nalthis to work so far. Maybe eventually.
DinoDonkeyDoodle
I really hope /u/mistborn explores the issues a safehand causes like he did women using the One Power in his ending to WoT (ie, it is all arbitrary).
Brandon Sanderson
It's not exactly arbitrary, but it is completely sexist. See it as you would something like foot-binding on Earth--something that grew, over time, partially to mark/distinguish/hamper women with enough means to be "refined" enough to do something this wildly impractical. There's a reason darkeyed women (and a lot of lower lighteyed women) wear gloves.
Fantasy Faction
Could any type of spren bond with a person (even if the results wouldn't be a Knight Radiant)? Or only the ones associated with a branch of the Knights?
Brandon Sanderson
Ooh, that's an excellent question. This is something theoretically possible for a lesser spren to achieve.
Fantasy Faction
Is Hoid drawn to novel-worthy plots? Or does he ever just show up in a completely "normal" time/place, with no ramifications on the cosmere, Shards, etc.?
Brandon Sanderson
He is drawn to places specifically because of what's happening in those worlds. He is there and he is meddling.
Fantasy Faction
In The Way of Kings, when Shallan zones out and draws a picture of a dead noble at a dinner table, was she drawing her own father after she killed him with her Shardblade?
Brandon Sanderson
Ooh, good question! You will want to read Words of Radiance, where her flashbacks may indeed involve this scene that she drew.
Fantasy Faction
Finally, and most importantly, if all your protagonists had an epic all out brawl, who would win?
Brandon Sanderson
Some of them are immortal, but that would kind of be cheating. If you let people who are immortal participate, it's going to very much favor someone like Hoid, who is really, really, really hard to kill. Of course, he would not be very good at offing anyone either, because of certain things in his past. It would be really futile when it got down to the last two. But if we take that out.
You'd have to set ground rules. Do they get access to their magic? Where is it taking place? If we take away all magic and we just say people are beating up on each other, who's going to win? It's probably Kelsier because he'll fight dirty. Vasher fights really dirty, too. If Kelsier and Vasher gang up on the rest, and then it depends who's still not in pieces at the end. It'd be Kelsier or Vasher probably.
Fantasy Faction
And, if the convention of printing books disappeared tomorrow and every one began reading ebooks only do you think the way you write books would change (i.e. being able to disregard wordcounts or even being able to consider serialising a book)?
Brandon Sanderson
I think that would offer some very interesting opportunities. I think I would be unwise not to try to take advantage of them, if such a thing did happen. In fact, it's possible to try right now. I've got thoughts in my head about how I would do this. Because the form of the story is a very important thing to me, if you can't tell from the way I was talking about everything before. The form of the book, looking at the book and saying, what am I doing with this actual thing? What is the shape of it? Elantris had a specific shape, with the chapter triads that were happening at the same time as one another. These things are interesting to me, and I want to do things like this with e-books also. But there are other things we would lose. Just like if you go and you can compare, a great example of this is the US cover of Words of Radiance, which was hand painted in oil by Michael Whelan. It has a certain feel to it.
In fact, you can see the oil. You can see the brush strokes if you look very closely at the painting. You look at the gorgeous digital painting that Stephan Martiniere did for the US edition of Elantris. But if you look at these different covers, one is digital only, and has this interesting use of digital light, and the other has texture and feel. Those are two different forms for creating art, and they both have awesome things to them. I think if we lost the book as a form, we might lose some of that idea—the book as a texture, and what it feels like to hold it goes away. I'd be sad to lose that. But I can't tell right now if that would be the sadness of someone watching an antiquated technology that no longer really matters in life go away, or if it would be losing something that will very much negatively impact society. We will just have to see. Time will tell.
Fantasy Faction
Someone from Earth is about to be sent off to the cosmere. They've read your first Stormlight book, but they've never really taken time to really dig deep and find out about how it sits in the overall "cosmere", so they're totally unprepared. What basic concepts regarding shards, magic systems and world hopping do you think are most important?
Brandon Sanderson
The first, most important thing to say to the person who's being sent there is to enjoy the story you're in. All of the cosmere stuff, the interconnection between my books and all these wonderful little things, are right now mostly Easter eggs. Which means that if you spend the whole book only worried about that, you're going to miss the beauty and fun that is the book that you're part of. I often say to people, don't worry if you read them "out of order," because it's all Easter eggs right now. Don't worry and stress if you miss something about the cosmere, because while someday that might be important, you first need to enjoy the book that you're part of. But the primer I'd give to this person is that the worlds are connected. If you show up on a planet and there's a guy named Hoid around, then be very afraid, because you're someplace very dangerous.
callumke
(paraphrased)
Can you tell me something about the cosmere that you haven't told anyone before?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
There are inhabited planets in the cosmere that don't have any Shards there. There may be inhabited planets that only have a Splinter of a Shard. There are 10 core cosmere planets, which tell the overarching story of the cosmere.
callumke
(paraphrased)
Are all the cosmere books so far set on these 10 core worlds?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes.
callumke
(paraphrased)
Are there any of the 10 core worlds without a Shard?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
All 10 core worlds have significant Shardic influence.
callumke
(paraphrased)
How many Heralds appear in The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
More than you might expect. Some have appeared, some have been mentioned but not appeared.
callumke
(paraphrased)
You have said previously that The Stormlight Archive will include Lightweaving. Is that still the plan?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes.
callumke
(paraphrased)
Have we seen a Roshar native in The Way of Kings who can use Lightweaving?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes, we have seen someone who has potential.
callumke
(paraphrased)
Is Shallan's memory a Surge?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
I want to wait for the right opportunity before revealing more surges.
callumke
(paraphrased)
You have said before that all the planets had their names before the arrival of the Shards. Is Roshar the planet's name before the Shards arrived?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes.
callumke
(paraphrased)
What is the definition of Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO. Investiture is off the table as far as questions go.
Oversleep
Could a Feruchemist hide from Lifesense by storing and which metals?
Brandon Sanderson
So Lifesense on Nalthis, someone storing, what now, Investiture? Could they hide from Lifesense? Um, yeah that would work.
Oversleep
And which metals would they need to store, Investiture, Connection…
Brandon Sanderson
That would probably be Investiture, that’s theoretically plausible, hiding your entire sense, a little bit easier with a copper cloud, which is how you would normally go about it, but you could make your Investiture vanish to the point that… yeah I think that’s theoretically possible.
Oversleep
So Lifesense works on Connection?
Brandon Sanderson
Lifesense works by sensing… life, so it’s not necessarily just Connection because you can go off-world from Nalthis and still sense the life to which you are not Connected.
swieczq
Would someone with enough knowledge be able to use Autonomy’s Investiture if Taldain’s star was seen from his world?
Brandon Sanderson
So I’m on a world and I see Taldain’s star, what you're asking if someone could use the Investiture? Oh, OK I see. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. That’s good! You stumped me. I haven’t gotten that question before. I would say yes, if the light particles are reaching you. I mean technically you could use the light from one of those stars to power a solar sail so…
Questioner
I know it’s a RAFO but, are the Ones Above [Scadrians]?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
I just wanted to make sure.
Mr. Suit
Can spren - like Syl - be pierced by hemalurgic spike? Will it give some effect?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. A spren can be pierced by Invested metal…
Oversleep
Could it be spiked?
Brandon Sanderson
Could a spike be used to give abilities to spren? That’s not going to work really well.
Oversleep
Could you steal from a spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, you could steal the Investiture of a spren. Any Investiture can be used in a spike if you know what you’re doing. It’s actually not that hard to use one on a spren.
Oversleep
Because I thought you said Hemalurgy needs moving blood.
Brandon Sanderson
It needs, uh, yeah… there are places where spren have more physical form, more tangible form.
Questioner
Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
No, no, no, not Roshar.
Questioner
The Cognitive Realm on Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, if you go to the Cognitive Realm on Roshar the spren act differently than they do.
Oversleep
So you could spike in the Cognitive Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah I’ll leave a RAFO with you on that. That’s your fifth one. So there are ways to get any Investiture into Hemalurgy if you know what you’re doing. But yeah this is not something that would be a common use for Hemalurgy. Let’s just say that.
Oversleep
We do not concern ourselves with common uses.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I know you don’t. But yeah Hemalurgy, when you’re spiking into somebody you… you’ll see when we get around to it.
Questioner
Have you ever considered giving your brain - when you die in a hundred years, [having] written thousand books, have you considered giving your brain to scientists?
Brandon Sanderson
Did you know that there's an app for Einstein's brain? You can download an app that has a diagram of his brain cause he did donate his to science and was dissected.
Questioner
Are you planning to do that?
Brandon Sanderson
Not right now but I'm an organ donor so maybe... I don't think they donate the brain to people.
Questioner
Did Hoid use the bead of lerasium to rewrite his spiritual DNA or Web in a way other than just giving himself Allomantic powers?
Brandon Sanderson
His goal was to become an Allomancer.
Questioner
And did he use it to create other powers than Allomancy?
Brandon Sanderson
It could not give powers other than Allomancy.
Questioner
Because it’s lerasium?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Oversleep
So he did burn it and become a Mistborn, right?
Brandon Sanderson
You have seen him use Allomancy…
Oversleep
Yes, because it’s creating a lot of <misunderstandings>.
Brandon Sanderson
You have actually seen him use Allomancy.
Oversleep
Is gravity a physical aspect of the spiritual bond Connecting objects to the planet?
Brandon Sanderson
Gravity, like all laws of physics in the cosmere, works like it does here with an additional aspect in that mass and energy can become Investiture. So while you are Connected to the planet gravity is not a manifestation of that. But Investiture can override it because Investiture, energy, mass are all the same thing.
Oversleep
So can Connectors alter it, store it?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. You know I’m going to RAFO all that stuff.
Questioner
Does titles of the five books from the first arc create a ketek?
Brandon Sanderson
No. I actually considered it but it’s just too confusing so I actually tossed that out before I even started the first book. But I did consider it. It just was too confusing.
Oversleep
You told me - when we were interviewing you on Friday to tell the 17th Shard to tell them you told us how the Cosmere ends and...
Brandon Sanderson
And I totally did, right! The answer is it ends well.
Oversleep
They wanted me to tell you that they were like mindblown!
Mr. Suit
Is it possible to bring Adonalsium together again and was it the reason the Ire was on Scadrial?
Brandon Sanderson
This is a RAFO. There are people who believe it's possible and others who believe it's impossible. It’s one of the big questions of the series.
Questioner
Is there going to be more Lift in the next book?
Brandon Sanderson
No, you’ll see some of her, she's reserved... most of her you'll see in the book 6 and on but you'll see little glimpses of her in the other ones. The stuff she has in Oathbringer is a riot, it's very fun.
Questioner
In all your books, who's your favorite character?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, I usually cheat on that question and I say "whoever I'm writing right now", cause I like them all, they're my children...
Questioner
Okay, but you have to pick one.
Brandon Sanderson
Probably Dalinar, probably but...
Translator
My favorite is Steris.
Brandon Sanderson
Steris is a lot of fun.
Questioner
Will there be a second part of Warbringer [Warbreaker]?
Brandon Sanderson
Some day. I can’t promise when, it will be a side project, but it will happen.
Questioner
Can you make TenSoon puppies? Like, plushies?
Brandon Sanderson
We thought about it, it's so hard to do. So hard. We thought about it, maybe, it's not impossible, but very hard.
Questioner
If Vasher is Zahel, in Stormlight Archive? Will <inaudible>
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO.
You know what that means? That means "Read And Find Out". It means I'm not gonna answer right now because it will give you a spoiler... but read and find out.
Questioner
Do you plan to kill Shallan and do you think she’s an awful person?
Brandon Sanderson
I do not think she’s an awful person, because she is a person, who has done the best she can in some very bad situations and we will see what happens, I can’t tell you whether or not she will live.
Questioner
Have you ever created a character, that you will then thought is too powerful?
Brandon Sanderson
No, I've never had that problem, I have written my characters in a problems that it was hard to get them out of. But usually I get together my friends and I brainstorm, and so far so good, but no, I have never got into that specific problem yet, because everybody's got a weakness.
Questioner
In Mistborn, Ruin could talk to you when you were Hemalurgically spiked, and Preservation could hear you. Do other Shards have different abilities?
Brandon Sanderson
It varies, but yes. But that was related to the way they created people.
Questioner
If I spoke the words <inaudible>
Brandon Sanderson
If you spoke the words it would depend on the spren to choose, but I think so!
Questioner
So, can I try?
Brandon Sanderson
Sure, go for it!
Questioner
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.
Translator
So just waiting for the spren to appear.
Brandon Sanderson
*completely serious*
These words are accepted.
Questioner
Can Parshendi bond with an honorspren? I mean, spren <inaudible>
Brandon Sanderson
They would have to choose, it's never happened before. On Roshar they would say it’s impossible. That doesn’t mean it actually is.
Questioner
Will Dalinar punish Adolin for murdering Sadeas?
Brandon Sanderson
He doesn’t know. Nobody knows… If he knew, he’d probably will.
Questioner
Comic book. Will there be more?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. This is three parts, so we'll at least get that done.
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.
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.
Questioner
I have a question about Wayne, are his skills of taking another personality, is it his trait, or something magical?
Brandon Sanderson
It is not magical, he’s just really good at it.
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.
Questioner
Do you know when <inaudible> be published?
Brandon Sanderson
I can't promise. I'm not a 100% sure. Probably between Stormlight 5 and 6, it would be my guess.
Questioner
Will we find out if Vivenna became a worldhopper like Vasher?
Brandon Sanderson
Keep your eyes open, you might see some more Vivenna in the near future.
Questioner
So Dragonsteel after Stormlight? So that would be 20 years?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. Unfortunately.
It will be the next to last, because last is the final Mistborn series.
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.
