Do you perhaps have a name for Reckonersverse or the multiverse of Apocalypse Guard?
I know Reckonersverse is one of the Core Realities but do you have a name for that specific one?
No name right now. I've been thinking about it.
Are you going to write all three books [of The Apocalypse Guard] at once or space them out a year or so each?
I'm going to try doing them straight, with a random novella separating them to give myself a break. I feel that Mistborn turned out very well from having had entire series perspective--and want to see if I can replicate that writing experience.
Man, does that mean no more Rithmatist in the near future? :(
We'll see. Rithmatist is a Tor project, and I need to do some Random House books for them. I'll get back to Tor books next year.
Yeah - I figured it was about having something for both publishers, since Tor has had the fair share of your writing time recently.
Well, I'll read anything you write, so it matters little. I guess we can wait a few more years for the Rithmatist and the conclusion of Wax and Wayne. :)
Current Plan (though these things get shaken up) is as follows:
Do the Apocalypse Guard Trilogy this year, moving into next year, with a novella between each book to take a break. That could take me up to roughly a year.
Do W&W 4, Rithmatist 2, and the final Legion story over the next year. That will wrap up W&W and Legion, maybe Rithmatist, depending if I want two or three books.
With my slate clean, I dive into Stormlight 4, write something bizarre and unplanned in-between, then go right into Stormlight 5 rounding out the first Stormlight sequence.
But, as I said, these plans tend to shift a lot as I work on different books.
Any word on what these novellas will be? Are they cosmere? Reckonersverse or greater universe of Apocalypse Guard? Something else entirely?
The way my process works, I'll probably need to see what I'm excited most about when I write them--something that gives me a break from what I'm writing. I've got outlines for a couple of novellas I want to do, but I can't say which I'd end up doing.
Cool. Does your "The Apocalypse Guard 1st draft" progress indicator refer to the entire trilogy or just the first book?
I'm being ambitious, and trying to use the progress bar for the entire trilogy right now--since I plan to write it straight through.
Tindwyl's training
I chose to only show a few sections of Tindwyl training Elend–I figured that these could get laborious if I did too many of them. This isn't "My Fair Lady," after all.
We never get to see Elend learning to duel, for instance. As a writer, I tend to react strongly against things I've seen done too often. That doesn't always make me not include them in books, but sometimes it does. Training a man with the sword, for instance, seems to have been done enough that you can just assume that it happened–and imagine it happening–without me going into detail about Elend’s practice sessions.
This scene that is included, however, is rather important. Elend's new look, and his decision to let his hair get cut, represent the first change we pull off for him: The visual one.
Elend on the wall
Now you can see why Elend's proposal–giving him power to hold the city until he met in parlay with the kings–was such an important plotting device. Don't worry; I'll get into the problems with the proposal soon. It's by no means hard-fast, and I realize that a simple promise like this is not going to hold for long in the face of something like a siege.
Still, it lets me set up the siege. This section here is actually one of the very newest in the book. I wanted a section that officially began the "siege of Luthadel" making it firm and fixed in people's mind, so that they would know for sure what the conflict was.
Adding scenes like this one increased the size of some chapters far beyond what I normally write. This is one. It's interesting to note that, for a given book, my chapters tend to end up being around the same length. It's not completely intentional; it just happens that way. This book, however, has that rhythm thrown off quite a bit now.
Oh, and the line "he was the type of person who could defy reality" in reference to Kelsier is one I stole from my friend Annie. She said it about me, actually. It was in reference to how I belligerently believed that I could do something like become an author–a job that very few people can have, and even fewer people can make a living at. She said it long before I got published.
Always stuck with me.
Chapter Sixteen
Vin in her room
This first scene is a classical Brandon scene–a character studying, thinking, and exploring who they are in their own head. Some people find my narrative style–with the thoughts, the conclusions, and the debates in the head–to be a little slow. I can understand that, even if I don't agree.
I like knowing my characters. A chapter like this really works for that, in my opinion. It seems to me that in too many books, you never really know a character's thoughts, feelings, and logic enough to understand why they do what they do. So, I spend time on those things.
This scene is important for the decisions Vin makes about herself. She is not the type of person to second-guess herself. In a way, she shows some of the very things Tindwyl tries to get across to Elend later in the chapter. Vin encounters a problem, mulls over it, then comes to a firm decision to trust herself.
This is, perhaps, the most overtly foreshadowing chapter in this book. I'm trying to tie quite a large number of threads together in this series, and it was a challenge to keep them all in the air at the same time.The events in this chapter, then, will wrap back around to things that happen near the end of this book and in the next book. Mostly, I'm showing the real danger of the mists–that there IS indeed a reason to fear them. Either way, remember one thing from this chapter. Some people were killed (and there's a connection between the two people you've heard described specifically as dying from the mists) some people got away, and some people had seizures, but then were all right later.
Chapter Fifteen
The actions of this wildman here seem strangely logical to me for some reason. Everything he did simply felt right. Sometimes–well, most of the time–character work that way for me. It makes me worry, actually, that sometimes the characters are too clichéd. After all, if their actions and mannerisms come that easily to me, then maybe I'm not stretching enough.On the other hand, I feel that the characters act naturally because I understand them. If I really understand a character, then won't everything the do feel right because. . .well, that's just what they would do.
This is the first twinge of distrust between Vin and Elend. She doesn't tell him about seeing the Mist Spirit again.It's a small thing, I admit, but for me–as a writer–it was intended as a dangerous first step. Vin's ability to trust is still fragile. And, if she thinks that Elend will mock her or disregard her, she'd rather keep it in.
Chapter Fourteen
Yes, it was probably stupid of the crew to leave Elend alone with Tindwyl. I pushed this situation a little bit farther than, perhaps, is plausible. However, you have to remember how the Terris people are regarded by those in Luthadel. Terrismen are, in general, such kind and loyal servants that it’s hard for Elend and the others to feel distrust for one.I was very pleased with this scene when I wrote it. I'd known from the beginning that I wanted to bring another strong female character into this book, as well as give Elend a mentor for kingship. Tindwyl fills both of those roles remarkably well. She also gives us another look at Terris culture–it's always difficult in a book like this to distinguish the cultures from the people. If you have only one Terrisman in a book, then he doesn't just represent himself–he represents all of his people. And so, unless you show another side of that culture, the person and where they come from become the same thing.
You might be curious to know that I based Elend, in part, on my editor Moshe. I don't know that it was conscious–in fact, I just noticed the connection while writing right now. However, the speech patterns and the way he thinks are very similar to Moshe, and I kind of see him in my mind as looking like a younger version of my editor. I guess I see Moshe as a sort of heroic guy.
He wouldn't make a very good dictator either. But, then, I think that's a good thing, since I have to work with him.
Chapter Thirteen - Part Two
This Elend scene here is almost a direct parallel of the scene in book one where Kelsier first introduces the plan to his people. Elend has a much harder time of it. In fact, this scene–in conjunction with the scene with the Assembly–is supposed to establish Elend as what he is: a man with great ideas, but poor leadership techniques. He's brilliant and scholarly, but he doesn't know how to get people to do what he wants.
This is reflected in his speech patterns, and has been since book one. He likes to use the phrase "Now, see," followed by an observation. He doesn't command, and when he argues, he uses very passive sentences. All of this is–hopefully–makes your subconscious see him in a certain way.
The only reason he convinces the crew to go along with them is 1) he's right, they like to gamble, and this is the type of plan they like and 2) they already know him, and his ideas have earned a measure of trust from them.
When necessary, Elend CAN give a brilliant speech. He can make people dream and hope. He just isn't good at arguing, and is rather poor at being a dictator.
This scene, by the way, is another substantially rewritten one. I focused a lot more on the idea that the crew was going to have to deal with a long siege in the rewrites.
Chapter Thirteen - Part One
I hope this first paragraph isn't too overly-poetic for you. I have a tendency to dabble in writing poetic language, and can veer into sections of prose that are a bit over-written. But, my editor didn't strike this down, so I assume it's all right.
The things Vin talks about in this first scene are, essentially, the things that will come to form the plot of the entire series. In the original drafts of the novel, she worried about these issues much earlier in the book. However, I backed off on them to let the siege take form first.
It's not that these worries about the Deepness and the past aren't important–they're VERY important. And, they'll play a big part in this book. The armies and politics, however, are the established plot of the novel. This book–book two–isn't about the deepness. It's about the "What Next?" So the characters overthrew the empire. What's next? In my opinion, what they're doing now–struggling to keep something going, rather than tear it down–is far more difficult than anything they did in the first book.
This grueling process is going to have a powerful influence on their characters, and make from them the people they need to become in order to deal with the events of the final book. In a way, that makes this the most important–and most interesting–book of the trilogy. It’s the one which is about character over plot.
My goal with Vin, here, is to take the mists from her. Kelsier gave them to her in book one, and now it's time to take them away.
They are the haven of the Mistborn. But, if you watch as the story progresses, you will see that I slowly take them away and leave her without.
The scene where Sazed walks along inside the Conventical and talks to himself, speaking into the coppermind, is what really appeals to me about this chapter. It isn't often that, as a writer, I get to do something like this–switch up the narrative style, let myself do a monologue in first person present tense. The tense shift is, I think, what lets these scenes be so creepy. You get to feel, I hope, like you’re with Sazed, walking along in the near dark, listening to a quiet voice-over that doesn't dispel the gloom, but just echoes back to you even more creepily.
This was one of my editor's favorite scenes in the book as well. The part where Sazed describes where Inquisitors are made, and where he walks the corridors, with minimal narrative interjections by me gave this chapter a tone unlike anything else I’ve ever written.
By the way, you probably remember form book one the way that Inquisitors see. They have such a subtle touch with Steel and Iron, and their lines, that they can see via the trace metals in everyone's bodies and in the objects around them.
The thing is, any Allomancer with access to iron or steel could learn to do this. Some have figured it out, in the past, but in current times, nobody–at least, nobody the heroes know–is aware of this. Except, of course, for Marsh.
And he chose not to share it.
Chapter Twelve
This chapter is meant to be our "pay off" chapter for the time we've invested into Sazed over the last few chapters. I, personally, think it's the coolest chapter in this section of the book.
Feruchemy really turned out well as a magic system, and I'm glad I found a place for it in this book. It connects with Allomancy perfectly; I'm actually surprised at how well they go together. (As you may recall, I originally tried out Feruchemy in a book I now call Final Empire Prime.)
Here, you finally get to see some REAL Feruchemical tricks. Sazed can do so much more than just make himself strong (like he did in book one) or memorize things. If you think about it, there are an awful lot of things that can be done to intertwine Allomancy–with its Pushes and Pulls–and Feruchemy, where a person can increase or decrease their weight.
When Szeth Surgebinds, frost forms on his clothing. Why?
Ehhh, I’ll get around to talking about that eventually.
At this point, who do you think would win, Vin or Szeth?
That’s a tough one. I’d, at the height of their power? Vin probably.
What’s the most dangerous non-Shard thing in the cosmere?
Nightblood’s up there, Hoid is up there, but not deadly dangerous, a different type of dangerous, yeah no, what we know of, right now, those, those are in the running. Chasmfiends, chasmfiends are pretty nasty. Whitespines are a little more nasty probably. The… the Unmade are pretty nasty. Yeah. There’s a couple of mercenary troops that you haven’t met yet that are really quite, quite dangerous, I would list them as well.
If Allomancy works once the planet is left, does that mean that the FTL travel will have the vessels carrying a portable Shard? How will the energy of that Shard affect things where they travel to?
You're just going to have to get a real RAFO on that one, 'cause that book is a long ways away.
Can one give the Command, “divide and do thing X”, for Awakening? How many Breaths would it take to do something like a straw mannequin, how small could you get the pieces, how would you retrieve the Breath?
I’m afraid I would have to pull out my notes. I mean I wrote that book a few- 2006, and so we’re nine years away from me writing that magic system. I, I have it all in the notes, but I can’t off the top of my head rattle it off for you. People use Awakening so infrequently now in the cosmere, it’s just on the one planet with the occasional worldhopper, that I just go to my notes and get it out when I need it.
If you, Brandon Sanderson, as a person were able to be gifted just one set of powers from any of your book series what would you have and why? How would you use them? Save the world? Become a tyrant?
I would probably pick *slight pause* Channeling from The Wheel of Time. No, I’d just be Doctor Manhattan. Sorry, he’s like all powerful, right? How would I use them? I would hope that I would save the world, and not become a tyrant.
Are the character’s ages given in Stormlight Archive Rosharan years, or Earth years?
They’re Rosharan years. So, people are actually, it’s a little bit off from our, our world, a Rosharan year is 500 days, but the hour, the days are a little shorter, anyway they end being like when, when S- when Kaladin’s age is mentioned, in our world, he’d be a few years older.
What is Perfect State about?
Well, Perfect State, is about, the question I had was, what if the best way to make the most people happy in the univ- in the world was to create for every person their own individualized simulation, so they basically could live a fantasy novel. You, you’d take them when they were a baby, put them in this simulation, it’s kind of like, you know, The Truman Show, where something like this, except the whole world is designed to be awesome, so that they could have a wonderful, cool life, and, what would that be like? Less you know, like, manipulating them, or, ruining their life, or you know, putting them into a simulation to, to control them, and more, here’s you get to be the most important person in the world and grow up that way. So yeah, that, that’s kind of the premise.
Do [you] have an ultimate ending in mind for the cosmere?
Yes I do!
Does Allomancy work the same way when someone has left the planet?
Uhhhhhhhm, generally... yes.
What’s the status on White Sand graphic novel?
It’s going very well, we have pages of it turned in, I don’t know I think it’s still a year away, but it’s, it’s looking really good.
Will White Sand still be considered an adaptation, or will it be considered canon, the canon version of its content?
Right now I’m declaring the White Sand graphic novel to be the canon version of its content. We will see how that goes, but that’s what I’m planning right now.
Does First of the Sun have a Shard or a Splinter?
First of the Sun does not have a Shard. First of the Sun is one of these planets that was created, in the cosmere I’m considering a low magic planet, not under the direct influence of any Shard.
Besides the confirmed Knights Radiant at the end of Words of Radiance have we seen any characters that share the same orders with the current knights?
Oh boy, you’re putting me on the spot. N-n-n-n-n-n-n-yes you have. Yes. You’ve seen, I think you’ve seen several actually, but, yeah.
Is there a formula on Nalthis for Breath consumption per Awakening? For example, how many Breaths does it take Vivienna to Awaken a scarf?
Yeah, I have that in my notes, it’s been a long time since I’ve written on that book, yes, there was a formula for me and I will use it when I write the sequel.
What can we expect from Dark One, specifically what kind of magic system?
the magic systems in Dark One, focus on, right now, on a person who can steal people’s souls and use them to make magic objects, mixed with an electricity type world, where the ground is electrified, and animals, plants and animals, have an, a symbiosis with electricity, like you’ll see a tree that has a Jacob’s ladder going up it, or you’ll see ah, a beast that uses spittle like a taser, that should be the next book that I work on for Random House after the Steelheart trilogy, so we will see.
Does the Iriali religion relate to the Shattering?
I'm going to RAFO that.
What happens if a kandra eats Nightblood?
That would be bad for them.
Can kandra absorb living matter, non-organic matter?
They do absorb living matter, but it’s more what can they eat. So, chasmfiend carapaces, they probably couldn’t digest.
In transitioning from Merin to Kaladin, was there any plot sacrifices that were particularly difficult for [you]?
No. I had been disappointed enough in the way that Merin turned out in the original draft of The Way of Kings, that transitioning to someone more vibrant and more interesting in Kaladin really didn’t feel like a sacrifice to me.
Can [you] tell [us] when [we] will see Cohesion and Tension Surges? Will [we] see it in Stormlight 3?
You are unlikely to see very much of it at Stormlight 3. That is dealing more with characters on the, in the back five, but you will probably see a little bit of it.
Do worldhoppers in the cosmere teleport between planets, or physically travel the space between?
Both are possible.
What's the favorite title from my books?
Oh, I would say brightlord is my favorite. I really like how brightlord works.
Have you decided whether it'll be Dalinar, Szeth, or Eshonai as the focus of Stormlight 3?
Nope, I’m writing Calamity right now, and when I’m done, and I’m, the first thing I will do is go to Stormlight 3, and I’ll start writing on the flashback sequences for all three and decide which one matches the best.
What's the range influence of a Shard's power in the cosmere?
Ahh, it varies.
There's some similarity in the effect of Hemalurgy and the Dakhor magics. What would happen if you were to try combining the two?
You would have some pretty evil dude, I would expect.
You've said before that the Horneaters are hybrids, half-human--
Not really half any more, but yeah.
Are there any other hybrid creatures, would you consider the koloss to be this? Koloss-blooded.
Not really, I don't consider them, but the Herdazians also have a bit of Parshendi in them.
Kandra, you're not getting any more of those. But they can die, so what's stopping them from creating new kandra out of the mistwraith just by recycling the Blessings?
That is mostly just cultural.
*paraphrased* In The Bands of Mourning, you might expect to see kandra using other kandra's spikes.
Suppose you had a full Feruchemist, who got enough Breath to reach the Fifth Heightening. What would happen if he started storing in atium?
Hehehe -- I'm going to RAFO that one.
With most magic systems, you've said that you need some sort of gap in your soul for the Investiture to get in. On Nalthis, there's obviously a bit of it that they can give away. Is this how Vasher is able to get Stormlight?
Oh, is this-- Yeah.
In The Final Empire, Kelsier says that it will take 300 years before atium grows back in the Pits of Hathsin. How does he know this?
I think it is mentioned somewhere else how long it takes a crystal to regrow, and he's just basing it off of, in the past, when a crystal is damaged, how long it takes one to come back... I'm pretty sure that that is even mentioned somewhere, but if not, that's just how he knows.
Regarding Vasher... what was his name before he Returned?
That is a RAFO, but just a minor one... Vasher's past is a factor in Nightblood the book, and so I'm staying away from all answers about that.
I asked for something about Honorblades that we don't already know.
One Herald (other than Taln) kept his Honorblade (or, at least, took it back)
I told him I was curious about what he was going to do with Moash after Words of Radiance.
He raised his eyebrows and exchanged a look with his publisher (who started laughing- which- in joke? incoming plot twist? who knows).
Then he promised that there would be Moash POV in the next book!
