Where do koloss-bloods come from?
Where do koloss-bloods come from... Good question. So when two-- When a mommy koloss and a daddy koloss… *laughter* Any natural offspring from two koloss become koloss-blooded, they do not become full koloss unless they decide to take the initiation which involves the spikes.
How did you come to know Joshua Bilmes?
How did I come to know Joshua Bilmes. Joshua is my agent, for those who don't know. So when I took the class at BYU, that I now teach, from David Farland, I was writing Elantris and he was very impressed with the book and he said "Look, you're writing to get published." And I said "Great, what do I do?" And he said "Well how much money do you have?" And I said "None." "Well borrow some 'cause I want you to go to the Nebula Awards because they're in New York and when the Nebula Awards," he said, "are in New York a lot of the agents and editors go and it's one of the best places to just go meet them."
So I managed to scrounge up enough money to fly to New York, I stayed in a friend's basement. It was actually the brother-in-law of Skar the bridgeman, Ethan Skarstedt, my friend he came along with me. We stayed in his brother-in-law's basement and took a train into the city just for the Nebula Awards. We couldn't afford the banquet so we just sat in seats on the side of it. And beforehand Dave said to me "Alright I want you to go, and when you get there I want you to go to the bar, 'cause everyone is there, and I want you to start talking to people." And I'm like "I'm like a Mormon kid, what am I doing in a bar?" "You're ordering a Sprite and you're talking to people, that's what you do in a bar." And so I went and I sat down and ordered a Sprite and started talking to people. Meanwhile Ethan went upstairs to the little lounge area where they also had a bar and ordered a Sprite and started talking to people. I ended up talking to Jim Minz an editor at Tor, who rejected the book I sent him. Now Jim is at Baen Books.
He ended up talking to Joshua Bilmes. He came down afterwards and said "Who'd you meet?" "I met this guy" Introduced him, they chatted, and then I said "Who did you meet?" "I met Simon Green's agent" And I'm like "Cool I like Simon Green's books" And we went up and I chatted with Joshua and he gave me a card. And then I came home and I sent him a book and he rejected it. *laughter* And I sent him another book and he said "Ah let me see more of this one" And then he read that and rejected that one. And I sent him another book and he rejected that. Then I sold Elantris to Tor and called him and "I've got a book deal" and he said "Well I think I'll probably represent this one." So he was very skittish of taking me on at first but he's an excellent agent and I'm very glad I ended up with him. But yeah Mormon kid trolling for editors and agents in a bar in New York, that's how it happened.
*audio obscured*
So Elend's name came from the Germanic word for misery and Straff's name means punishment. The question is did I do this intentionally. I didn't do either one intentionally. I don't speak German, what I did was I went to Germanic morphemes, I didn't even know what they meant, and just got a feel for "Okay this is Germanic, this is Germanic" and then put those aside and said "Alright can I come up with a bunch of names that sound Germanic" once that mood is in my head. Because English has a lot of Germanic influences I guess I did it too well and I named a whole bunch of people things that are actual words in German. *laughter* But you know I'm actually fairly pleased with that, it means I was doing my job. But you know I didn't intentionally make them mean anything in German, at least this time I didn't accidentally pick a swear or something, which I’ve done before. *laughter*
What can you tell us about Nightblood's sheath?
What can I tell you about Nightblood's sheath. That it's cool. *laughter* It's a little bit different. Good question. I can tell you it's made of an unusual material.
So I hear that you have a director for Steelheart--
Do we have a director for Steelheart. So Steelheart was purchased by Shawn Levy's company, at Fox, Shawn Levy directed the film Real Steel, which I really like, he also directed the Night at the Museum films, which I enjoy.
Do you have an idea as to when casting might start?
So the way this goes-- breaks down for those who aren't aware. First thing they do, usually, when they buy a property is they commission a screenplay. Which they did. Screenplay came in some time in January, I haven't seen it yet they are sending it out for a polish. Once they are satisfied with the screenplay, at that point that's when they go to the studio and try to-- Oh that's when they try to get talent attached. Usually a director, like Shawn Levy is enough talent if he says "Yup, this screenplay turned out good, it's my next project" that would get it a greenlight and they would go to casting. So it's actually going really well. If it weren't a studio deal, if it weren't through Fox, at that point they would have to get some talent attached and then they'd have to convince a studio to give up funding and stuff like this. But if Shawn Levy likes the screenplay and says "Yes I'm doing this" it will then go to casting.
Would you have any option on the screenplay?
Would I have any option on the screenplay-- No I do not have any power over the screenplay. No. When you sell rights like this most of the time you just have to hope they do a good job. I feel I gave them a pretty good screenplay in Steelheart in the book itself so I'm hoping Steelheart the book works out as a film.
The beginning of the trouble in [the Cognitive Realm] near Sel, is that coincident with the onset of the Chasm?
The beginning of the trouble in [the Cognitive Realm] near Sel, was that-- did it coincide with the beginning of the Chasm. No, good question.
When Galladon appears in Way of Kings why is his skin not silvery?
When Galladon appears in The Way of Kings why is his skin not silvery. That's a RAFO but there is a good reason for it.
Do the koloss make new Hemalurgic spikes or do they just reuse the ones they already have?
Do the koloss make new Hemalurgic spikes or do they reuse the ones that they have. So far they have just reused the ones they have.
Was the Rose Empire ever under threat from Shu-Dereth? And can you speak a little bit on fitting The Emperor's Soul into a world you'd already created?
So was the Rose Empire ever in danger from Shu-Dereth and could I speak a little about fitting The Emperor's Soul into a world I'd already written. So when I designed Elantris, I knew where I was going, and I knew a lot about the world. This is how I am in building. So when I wanted to do The Emperor's Soul I already knew where I was going to place it, I knew which magic system I was working toward, and things like that. So it wasn't terribly hard since I already knew what was over there.
The fun about that is that you should go look at the map commissioned, the one Isaac drew, that's done by the Derethi and see how they view the Rose Empire and where they put it on their map. And then you'll eventually get a map of the whole world, and let's just say they don't have a really accurate representation of the world and their place in it. As was very common for a lot of early societies, early European maps are hilarious.
Why was Dalinar able to feel the Thrill during his visions from the Stormfather?
Why was Dalinar able to feel the Thrill during his visions from the Stormfather. Well that would indicate that the same reason he feels the Thrill now still was in existence. Well not-- I mean was still affecting him. Does that make sense? He was in the real world, his body was in the real world. Whatever makes him feel the Thrill was still affecting him. Does that make any sense?
Is the Old Magic a Shard?
Is the Old Magic a Shard? That's a Read And Find Out.
Who's going to make the Mistborn game, and when is it going to come out?
Who's going to make the Mistborn game and when's it going to come out. So they bought the rights to that like four years ago and then their game studio divided and the people-- the gaming guys were like "Yeah this happens" and they had an architecture but then it fell through and they said "Oh we're going to do it for nextgen" and since they said that we haven't really heard anything. So...
Y'know, this happens in gaming all the time, they're a good studio, they have lofty ideals, but most of the games they make are not on the scale of Mistborn. And so they have until 2017 to make something. I still have not seen any sort of playable architecture or anything like that… So we'll just wait and see... Their name is Little Orbit. They have mostly done movie tie-in games. There's a bunch of people-- It's the gaming industry out in California so three of the people there were from Interplay and three of the people there were from this studio and they've all made big games before but this studio itself, they just aren't being able to get it together to make a big game. So if they do-- I mean I really like them, if they get it going I'll be super excited to see it happen but once 2017 rolls around I probably won't renew their option and say "Well it's time to let this one lapse".
I have a young game-development studio and we're interested in making a Rithmatist game because I think the magic system lends itself very well to tablets and mobile devices. So what type of prototype or product would you have to see to be able to say "Yes this is good or no this is "--
That is an excellent question. So the question is he works for a game development studio and he wants to potentially make a game from The Rithmatist. And he's asking how he would go about doing that. So, we have had about five proposals on The Rithmatist and we haven't taken any of them. This is mostly because the game studios who proposed them, none of them have actually been able to show us developed games they made on their own. They all were game studios that were still working on something. And knowing the little I know about the gaming world, having friends who are in gaming, I take people who have actually finished things with more respect.
So, I’ve sold video game rights before, except nothings ever been made, I've sold Mistborn and things. I sold it to the people who came and said "Look we have a bunch of games". So if you have actually built games then I am really interested in talking to you about the potential of doing a Rithmatist game. If you haven't actually built and released games I would suggest go and build and release some of your own games, let us see that you can do it, and then come and talk with us. And if you do have released games and it's all good come up and I'll point you at my assistant Adam and he can tell you how to get in touch with my agent and send a proposal to me and the agent at the same time and we'll look it over.
With the AonDor seems to based on the geography of the place, could there be AonDor based on other geographical features, like Kholinar?
Um… *hesitantly* Yes, but it's-- There's something weird about Sel that is making that happen that way on Sel. So...
But you could have it in other places on Sel?
You could-- Yes, it does exist in other places on Sel but yeah.
Do you ever go on the 17th Shard just to see what random heck is going there.
Once in awhile.
If the Stormfather were to turn into a blade for Dalinar, would it be bigger than other shardblades?
Um… That's a RAFO. *people get excited* That doesn't mean that I'm going to answer it, that means that answering it would either canonize something I don't want to canonize or it would mean that it is something irrelevant and I don't want to send fans spiraling into-- and so... It doesn't necessarily mean that something that will be included in the books.
If shardblades were spren, then what is shardplate?
Good question. *laughter* It's a great question.
And you're not going to say are you?
I'm not going to answer you.
Does each Shard have a favorite, or special, number or color?
I would say that there are inclinations but it's not, perhaps, as specific as you are thinking.
Does the word Adonalsium-- In your mind did you get that from the phrase "ad nauseum"?
No.
Because the first few times I heard someone say ad nauseum I was like "Adonalsium? Did someone say Adonalsium?"
Good question, nope but that's not the origin.
So for most of your planets do you just assume that gravity is 9.8 m/s, and do you have a reason for that, or--
It just depends on the planet. Like Roshar… it's 0.7 Earth gravity on Roshar.
Oh really?
Yeah, otherwise they couldn't lift those bridges, and you couldn't have the-- Even with the help of the spren, you couldn't have the giant beasties. So it's a high-oxygen, low-gravity environment. So fire acts a little differently on Roshar than it does on other planets. People are taller, like if you put a Rosharan next to someone else the low-gravity would have had that effect.
Oh, I didn't even know that.
Generally you should assume when I'm using numbers they're in-world numbers. So, for instance, a Rosharan foot is actually larger than a foot in another-- Stuff like that. I have to do some jockeying of these things to not be completely off-putting and confusing to people who are not expecting-- to the casual reader, but like days. A Rosharan year is 500 days, but they're twenty hour days, I made an hour basically our hour just to keep it from being too crazy for people. But that means when it says Kaladin's 18 he's really actually like 20 years old and a little over, or something like that, I forget the numbers. Everyone's a little bit older than they sound but it works just for the average reader.
Could you use steel or iron to Push or Pull off Shardblades or Shardplate?
Anything that's Invested resists, the more Invested it is the more it resists.
Okay, so you could technically--
Yes.
--if it was not charged?
Well-- Certain objects just have more Investiture and are more purely of the Investiture. A Shardblade's going to be really hard, but it's possible, it's just going to be really, really hard. Even more hard than an absolutely full Feruchemical metalmind because the Shardblade is being created directly out of the Investiture, it's basically all Investiture, it's not a metal that is Invested. It's going to be real hard.
So what would Wayne do with a shardblade?
Hehehe... He would have way too much fun.
Is there a comparable way-- like you can become a Misting by burning an alloy of lerasium and some other metal--
Yes.
Is there a comparable way of becoming a Ferring?
Uh… *carefully* Comparable within certain limits of the definition of that word, then yes.
Just meaning, is there some in-world way--
There is some in-world procedure yes.
If you were a Twinborn with both steel, would you be able to move faster than people could use atium to see what you were going to do?
So you couldn't move faster than their atium, but you could move potentially faster than their mind's ability to process what they're seeing. You might be able to-- but the atium does lend a certain ability of natural reaction, but you are still limited by your muscles, and things like that. So I think you could probably beat atium that way. That would be a valid way.
What should I be looking out for to see Hoid in this one [The Bands of Mourning]?
He's pretty obvious in this one.
Oh he's obvious in this one? I remember the last one he barely popped in.
Yeah the last two he's been barely in. This one he actually is-- He's up to something in this one.
Would you come to regret naming your child Kaladin? It was requested I ask.
I might stay away from Moash but-- Considering what he did in [Words of Radiance].
*discussion fades in* ...I doubt they would come to regret that. It depends on your threshold for characters with depression but--
They haven't minded that so far. That's not an issue. I think they just want to make sure he doesn't end up leading the Voidbringers or something.
Yeah I think you'll be okay.
Has TenSoon ever left Scadrial?
RAFO. I believe that I have said that there are kandra on other planets, but I haven't said if it's TenSoon or not.
Is Austre Endowment by a different name?
RAFO.
The man speaking with Nale in the Words of Radiance prologue--the one talking about Ash getting worse--which is he: a Herald or a Squire?
Um… He is not a Squire.
*reading a personalization request* Did Kelsier fill copperminds for reasons other than to share knowledge? Did he want to forget certain memories?
*written* Yes. Yes.
Those may not be causally related. You asked two separate questions and got two separate answers.
*reading a personalization request* In the concept of an unreliable narrator, there is a...scope of unreliability. One can be limited by perspective, another can be unreliable with intent. Could you...examine the second type in the Cosmere? Who would be a good example?
Hoid can be very intentionally misleading. The thing is, there aren't many first person viewpoints in the Cosmere stories so if its ever from someone's actual viewpoint-- Like Kelsier is a little unreliable in his viewpoint in that he doesn't go into his plan, which is technically unreliable narrator and it technically is by intent, but it's more like, he's like "I can't think about this" and stuff, but is also him lying to the reader a little bit. Does that make sense? Kelsier is probably the best example of unreliable narrator.
Is the Felt question the one that you got away with?
No, that really is-- Felt really is Felt. He's been around, let's just say.
Are there more places I should look for him?
Eeehhhh, there are more places you could look for him, whether you find him or not is a matter of…
I'm going to guess that he's going by a different name in other places.
Things that he s-- There are things that he said in Mistborn which are relevant in minor ways... These are not huge big things, when you read them you'll be like "Oh, interesting".
I was wondering if the size of a piece of metal determines the amount of Feruchemical charge that can be stored in it.
Yes.
So how does that scale, like, in terms of the volume or mass of the metal or...
It-- So I've talked about this before, I'm trying to remember exactly what I've told people-- It does not scale as logically as you think it does. How about that? It's more like certain thresholds. You can have a-- You can store a Hemalurgic or Feruchemical charge even in very small pieces of metal, but larger pieces of metal will let you get more.
So it's kind of like there are different classes of sizes?
Yeah, kind of like that.
What is Syl's favorite form? What is her favorite form?
Syl is kind-- kind of ephemeral. Meaning she has a peculiar little personality and her favorites change quite often. I would say, she probably likes being the human-form the most, because she gets the best reaction from the people she's interacting with. But that wouldn't always have been the case, because she is responding to how people are perceiving her.
Are we ever going to get an official Cosmere timeline?
Yes, we will eventually. We're really close to being able to release it, I'm not sure when we will. Um, the real trick is-- Like now that we're locking down White Sand, that's kind of like the last wild card because the novel version wasn't canon. So it's like where do we make sure this is, and stuff like that. So yeah we should be, once White Sand is out I think, everything we can lock down. The trick is, like if I release it there are certain-- like where is Sixth of the Dusk exactly? It's not something I want because that's got spoilers.
..It is actually canon that Era Two [of Mistborn]takes place between the first half and the second half of [The Stormlight Archive]?
Well I haven't written the second half of Stormlight so that--
But does it take place after the first half?
Yes it takes place sometime after the first half, but it depends on how long I break and things like that, whether they overlap, maybe it takes place after 7, maybe it takes place after 5, maybe it takes place after-- Like we'll see when I get there how many years, because the timing on those is a little more tight.
So they're more interweaved with those, those are closer to the same time period.
They are much closer to the same time period than other things, which is why I have to be dodgy on those ones, mostly just because they are on a similar timeline.
Have Hoid and Sazed, since he became Harmony, had a conversation?
Um… yes, that has happened.
Was it meaningful?
Um, Hoid considers everything meaningful.
Of course he does. Would Sazed consider it meaningful?
Ok, Sazed considers every individual important.
I currently have a pet theory--
Oh yeah? What is it?
That... there's a-- That there was-- Whatever the fourth Shard that Odium [Splintered]-- People-- The people who founded Threnody were--
So you should read Khriss' introductions to the worlds in the Cosmere Collection.
Is-- As of Era Two in Mistborn, is Bavadin still alive?
Ehhh... *long pause* I'm pretty sure I've answered that, but just in case I haven't I'm going to RAFO it.
Can you clarify what the structure you are planning on, is going to be for Dragonsteel is? Like for some reason I have it in my head that it's seven?
Yeah it was originally, way back when, seven. I've-- Right now I've cut so much out of that and stuck it in other books, I'm only at three. So we'll see.
Did Odium originally have a planet he was Invested in?
Odium's plan always involved not getting stuck on one
Has Wax seen the influence of a Shard other than Preservation, Ruin, Harmony--
Yes.
--i.e., like Autonomy?
He has seen the influence of another Shard.
Might that Shard be Autonomy?
It might!
*giggles*
*after reading a personalization request* Expansion of the soul, what do you mean by that?
There was something in Secret History...it had to do with Kelsier expanding his soul. And then Hoid also says something about it.
So what do you mean by "Does worldhopping involve the expansion of a soul">?
Well Hoid... kind of was like...
I'm just trying to get you to be a little more specific. But I'm going to say "Sometimes".
That was the whole point. You get a "Maaaaybe".
You get a Sometimes.
*reading a personalization request* Could a Rosharan be--
Hemalurgically spiked with a gem or fabrial?
*presumably writes RAFO in book*
*exasperated "ugh" sound*
Haha.
Does Hoid learn languages magically or is he just a gifted linguist?
He is learning them magically. He does-- He's decent with languages but he needs to be able speak as if he were a local in order to pass the way he does. And no matter how gifted you are, doing that, particularly for multiple tongues, is-- Yeah.
Does Lift's metabolic waste include crem?
*laughs* ...That's an excellent question. I'm not going to-- I'm not going to answer that one but it's an excellent question.
Wow, you're RAFO'ing that? I was at least expecting a laugh
I'm RAFO'ing y-- You got a laugh. I didn't say RAFO, I said I'm not going to answer that, which can be considered two different answers.
What happened to the Ministries?
The Ministries, being a legacy of the time of the Lord Ruler's rule, there are trappings of them left but they don't use any of the same names or anything like that.
Can't have the old labeling.
Yeah. I mean-- There are cities you can go to where there are more echoes of that sort of thing.
Yeah because New Seran made me think of that.
Yeah. I mean there are cities you can go that have more echoes of that but in Elendel you can barely even find the trappings anymore-- but you can find some of them. But You won't go in there and find, like, the Ministry of this-or-that. Because it was run by Kelsier's crew, most of that did not make the transition. Though there were notable Obligators who made it through and so they have left their mark. You have to search for it though.
What happened in the Cognitive Realm during the Catacendre?
Um… *sighs* So, um... Have you read Secret History?
Yes.
You are in the Cognitive Realm for the Catacendre in Secret History, that's some things that happened. Saying what happened there is like saying "what happened on Earth in 19--"
Well I was thinking more like what you couldn't see on-screen, if you would comment on that.
"What you see is what you get for that one." Is what I'm going to say of it.
*reading a personalization request* Specifically what Khriss knows about the red haze around Scadrial and if she was trying to clue Wax in on the situation.
I can't tell you what Khriss knows about the red haze. Definitely not. She knows too much and I-- ...I can say "She knows too much".
I wanted to know what your stance on gods were, if you were trying-- If you had a meta-message about God.
If I what?
If you had a meta-message about God.
I do not really. What I'm fascinated by ends up in the books and I'm fascinated by religion. But even in something like The Stormlight Archive, I don't want there necessarily even be a definitive answer? There are god... lowercase "g" gods. Whether there is a capital "G" God is still, in my opinion, left to the interpretation of various people. I'm not necessarily trying to say anything specific, I'm trying to say what the different characters say. Does that make sense? Jasnah doesn't speak my belief, but neither does Dalinar. But they speak their belief, and I try to respect their belief the best I can. So it's more like trying to be true to the different characters.
