Recent entries

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12902 Copy

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Is Cultivation's Shardholder still alive.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Good question, what do you think?

    Argent (paraphrased)

    I want to say, but that's based on my knowledge before I read Lift's interlude from Words of Radiance. Now I am leaning towards no. Based on that interlude, it looks like spren have essence from both Honor and Cultivation. It's almost like they exist in a spectrum, on one end of which is Honor, and on the other - Cultivation; so there are spren that are, for the lack of better example, 90% Honor and 10% Cultivation, and there are spren that are 15% Honor and 85% Cultivation.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    That's a very astute observation!

    Argent (paraphrased)

    And since we know that Honor is Splintered, then it might be the case that Cultivation is also Splintered, and their Splinters form the spren.

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12903 Copy

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Is there any other canonical way to refer to a set of Shardplate and a Shardblade other than Shards, so as to not confuse them with the Shards of Adonalsium?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    They call them just Shard(s). It is a little confusing, because there are other Shards, but they don't know about them. I call them a set, but there is no canonical way to refer to them.

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12908 Copy

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Do the Spiritual and Physical Realms have names, like Shadesmar is the Cognitive Realm?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Kind of, but not really. Shadesmar is just a rough translation of "Cognitive Realm" in the language of whoever first found out about it. Other people, planets, and worlds wouldn't call it Shadesmar - they would call it whatever their words for "Cognitive Realm" are. This applies to the Physical and Spiritual as well.

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12913 Copy

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Feruchemy is the "balance" between Ruin and Preservation. Would any combination of Shards create a "balance" magic, so to speak, or are only certain Shards compatible?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Feruchemy ended up being a balance system, because of how polar Ruin and Preservation were. Any world with at least two Shards will result in a similar phenomenon. 

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Like Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Like Roshar. There is something like that going on there.

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12914 Copy

    Questioner (paraphrased)

    Was Calamity and its appearance in Steelheart just kind of an ad hoc? We know that it showed up about a year before the Epics started showing up, so people naturally assume one was the cause and one was the effect, but was that really the case and are both of them just the effects of something else?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Good question! I will say that this is something I've done before, so my fans will kind of expect it. I am aware of this expectation too, and I am careful about repeating myself.

    Steelheart Chicago signing ()
    #12917 Copy

    Argent (paraphrased)

    Pat Rothfuss recently worked with the folks from Albino Dragon to create a Kickstarted Name of the Wind deck of cards in which each face card features a character from the book. All those designs were discussed with Pat, and the final result is shaping up to be pretty spectacular. Are there plans, or if not - are you open to planning, - to do something like this for one or more of your own worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    I know about Pat's deck, it's really awesome stuff! I can only say that I do have plans to do something similar, but you will have to wait for Words of Radiance to find out more about it.

    Steelheart San Francisco signing ()
    #12919 Copy

    Questioner (paraphrased)

    Someone asked a really good question about inspiration of Sazed's crisis of faith and religion.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Brandon really opened up nicely here saying that he does a lot of research so that he can tap into how people really feel about their religions, and therefore not just argue his characters' religions from a token perspective, but hold something that feels a little more real. He said he often hits up forums for different religious beliefs and surfs there, because people tend to be very honest and passionate on forums, which gives him a nice basis to write from.

    Steelheart San Francisco signing ()
    #12920 Copy

    Questioner (paraphrased)

    He was asked how many contracts he's had and has.

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He started to talk about the story where he had a contract for Dragonsteel and another book, which became Rithmatist. He said the first book of Dragonsteel didn't turn out well, and that he wasn't ready to write that series, which ties in all of his universes as a prequel. And said he'd be avoiding more series where you have to really have read everything to get it until further down the line. Confirmed that the next several books are going to be Stormlight related, along with the in between Wax and Wayne books, Steelheart books and Rithmatist.

    Read.Sleep.Repeat interview ()
    #12923 Copy

    Octavia

    If Calamity did come (and most of us did not turn evil), what power would you want? Would you be a hero? Villain? Switzerland?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What power I would choose depends on how rational my brain is that day. It makes the most sense to have Wolverine's regenerative powers. At the same time, it's not like I'm jumping off cliffs or getting into fights. So I probably wouldn't do much with this power.

    But in the back of my mind, there's a part of me that says, "Boy, would I really love to be able to fly!" Which is why a lot of the magic systems in my books wind up dealing with people having powers that let them soar in the air.

    Honestly, I want to think I'd be a hero, but as I've mentioned, the reason I wrote Steelheart was because of a moment where I had intense anger toward someone else. And that moment of me imagining myself destroying someone else because of a minor annoyance is part of why I wrote this book. I was frightened of myself. I'd like to think that I'd be a hero. I'm worried that I wouldn't be.

    Read.Sleep.Repeat interview ()
    #12924 Copy

    Octavia

    Steelheart makes you feel a few pretty intense emotions. Were there any scenes in particular that you found difficult to write, because of these intense moments?

    Brandon Sanderson

    One of the very first scenes I imagined for Steelheart is where the main character David is trapped and pinned down. Certain things have led him to that moment and the events that happen right after that. (I'm not giving any spoilers, but those of you who have read the book will know what I'm talking about. It happens right after the motorcycle chase.) When I'm developing a book, I often go for a walk or walk on the treadmill and listen to cool music, my eyes closed, and ask myself, "What is the emotional resonance of this book? What's it going to feel like to read it? What scenes will make that happen?" This was one of those scenes. For me, it was the most important scene of the entire novel, so getting to it was a pleasure, but it was also an emotional and powerful scene to write because I'd been planning it for so long and wanted badly for it to turn out well. That can be really difficult for a writer when you've got something in your head and you worry. Can I make it turn out on the page?

    Read.Sleep.Repeat interview ()
    #12925 Copy

    Octavia

    Newcago was a HUGE surprise for me. I expected to see Chicago, but roughed up in a dystopian way. Instead you took a major city we all know, and made it completely new and interactive. The catacombs, in particular were really interesting to me. Did you base Newcago's catacombs off of a "real" place?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Newcago's catacombs were actually based more off of mid-eighties cyberpunk stories where you've often got this sort of techie underground, and I love that visual. I intentionally didn't want to take Steelheart in a dystopian direction, even though it technically is a dystopia. I just feel that the whole "wasted world" dystopia has been done so well by so many writers that I wanted to have something that felt new and different.

    When I gave Steelheart this sort of Midas power to turn Chicago into metal, I thought it would be cool to have these catacombs dug underneath it because the visual was so different and cool. The catacombs I've visited in various cities are, of course, awesome, but really I'm looking back at those cyberpunk books.

    Read.Sleep.Repeat interview ()
    #12926 Copy

    Octavia

    With Steelheart, every superhero I've worshiped as a kid was pretty much blown to bits and replaced with the scariest bunch of "supers" I've ever seen. How did you come up with the idea to take superheroes (and even today's, not even close to epic level, villains) and make them so amazingly evil?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was on book tour, driving a rental car up through West Virginia when someone aggressively cut me off in traffic. I got very annoyed at this person, which is not something I normally do. I'm usually pretty easygoing, but this time I thought to myself, "Well, random person, it's a good thing I don't have super powers—because if I did, I'd totally blow your car off the road." Then I thought: "That's horrifying that I would even think of doing that to a random stranger!"

    Any time that I get horrified like that makes me realize that there's a story there somewhere. So I spent the rest of the drive thinking about what would really happen if I had super powers. Would I go out and be a hero, or would I just start doing whatever I wanted to? Would it be a good thing or a bad thing?

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12928 Copy

    Questioner

    So if you burn duralumin at the same time as the metal that speeds up time, meaning stuff flows faster outside, would you basically warp into the future a long ways?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's an excellent question.

    lunarubato

    I'm so sure! I'm so sure…

    Brandon Sanderson

    And I am not going to answer that question yet, because I don't... Because you are asking questions that they are going to be trying to answer in like five more books. So telling you right now would give spoilers for books way too far ahead in the future.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12929 Copy

    swamp-spirit

    Does it take longer for spheres to charge on the western side of the continent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, because of the… No it doesn't, but that's an excellent question. The highstorms are a little weaker, but that's more of a… Of it's been blunted from the-- It's not an-- Like if the continent, the mountains weren't there, they wouldn’t be weaker.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12931 Copy

    swamp-spirit

    Is the Old Magic in Shinovar, and is this a result of something to do with Cultivation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Old Magic is at The Valley, which is not in Shinovar, which is… If you've got a book, I'll show you where it is.... Let's see where Issac's wonderful map is, the first big one… Right here. So the Valley's right there. So that's where you go in order to visit the Old Magic.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12933 Copy

    Kogiopsis

    Kind of along the same lines, I just want to confirm something. If someone from Earth saw an Alethi, what ethnicity would they assume they were?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would-- The model I use are actually for the half-Hawaiian, half-Asians that are kind of common in Hawaii. That's the model I've used; I actually have one of their faces for Kaladin. So it would depend on what your perspective is, you might say-- some people might say Arab, but the model I'm using is kind of more Hawaiian/Asian mix is what you'd get. The only ones that would look Caucasian to you straight-up would probably be the Shin, though if you get someone who has Horneater blood-- The Horneaters might look-- they just-- they're gonna look like bizarre… redhead… things, but they might look Caucasian to you.

    swamp-spirit

    So would Shallan also be more towards that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, Shallan has lighter skin. But she still has the epicanthic fold, and so she maybe would look to you like a Caucasian/Asian mix? With red hair? So… Anyway, she would look fairly Caucasian.

    swamp-spirit

    I will attempt to send you excited fanart.

    Kogiopsis

    I've been picturing the Alethi as Indian, myself.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah, like East India? That’s a pretty good picture on them. That would work very well.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12934 Copy

    Kogiopsis

    Are we going to see Native Americans in the Rithmatist series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes you will. The Native Americans have mostly moved to South America, but there's a Native American main character in the second book.

    Kogiopsis

    Yes!

    Brandon Sanderson

    What happened is the– a lot of them got pushed into South America, where the Aztec Empire is alive and well and strong. And so their perspective on what's going on is very different from the perspective happening in Joel's school, so you will see a different perspective on things.

    Kogiopsis

    Excellent.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It was already dangerous though, what I'm doing, and I realize this, for those very reasons. Very sensitive issues. Like when I used the Mary Rowlandson account, which is kind of a controversial account as it is, I understood that I was potentially opening a can of worms.

    swamp-spirit

    But I mean, I really– I just want to say this, that I really appreciate as a reader that you go into diversity because I know it is a risk, and it means so much to readers to have you writing a different set of characters and people people can relate to.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12935 Copy

    lunarubato

    Was Spook still alive when they figured out the Allomantic properties of cadmium and bendalloy and that sort of thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yyyes.

    lunarubato

    Okay. Follow-up, did he learn how to use them and travel into the future?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *laughter* You will find more out about Spook's fate, how about that?

    lunarubato

    That'll work.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It has not been– There is more coming about Spook.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12937 Copy

    komekoro

    Wayne mentions a nervous habit that gets cut off, can you tell us what that nervous habit is?

    lunarubato

    Please.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Alright, give me the full context of this please...

    lunarubato

    It was after the battle on the train, and Wax basically… Wax basically says "There's worse things than being genuine. Why, before blah blah blah, before Wayne would, Wayne used to basically get so nervous that he'd start…" And then Wayne cuts him off.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, okay. Yeah, Wayne had a really, really, deep stutter when he was younger, and that, I believe, is what I was referencing.

    lunarubato

    Yay.

    Kogiopsis

    That's adorable.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So if you can imagine poor Wayne and his poor stutter.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12938 Copy

    komekoro

    Is what Navani said about Dalinar's wife accurate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What specifically?

    Kogiopsis

    She says that she thought they could have been friends.

    swamp-spirit

    And that she's kind of the unassuming personality, the sweetness…

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes. That is correct.

    lunarubato

    Correct objectively or correct in her opinion?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, definitely correct in her opinion. But yes. And Navani is something of a slightly untrustworthy narrator, but I would go with, in that case, the fact that she's saying it and not being angry and– Her natural instinct would be to hate this woman; that's how Navani is, and the fact that she doesn't probably means that in this case she's being pretty truthful.

    The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
    #12940 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you didn't see the Zane/Kelsier comparison later, I bring it up here. In a way, Zane's purpose in this book is to represent things that Vin never really had an opportunity to choose.

    She ended up with Elend. However, there is another option, and that was the option that Kelsier represented. The option that Zane represents. Despite her assurances to Elend that she didn't love Kelsier, there WAS something there. Kelsier had a magnetism about him, and since he died, Vin didn't ever have to choose between him and Elend.

    The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
    #12941 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    This fight is for the Allomancy junkies. I don't think there's another one quite as technical as it is in the entire rest of the series.

    I try to give variety to how my fight scenes are handled. The spar between Ham and Vin was quick and visual. This fight is all about pushes, pulls, and weight. I fear that it's pretty hard to imagine, and unless you're really into Allomancy, I suspect that many of you skimmed most of it.

    Yet, writing a book is about putting in lots of things for lots of different people, I think. Allomancy is fun because of its versatility–I can to all kinds of things with it. This was just one of them.

    So, if you really like how Allomancy works–with the pushes and pulls, the vectors, mass, acceleration, and all that, this is a present for you. A chapter really showing off what two Mistborn can do when expertly manipulating their powers.

    The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
    #12943 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Seventeen

    So, now the Watcher is named. I didn't originally intend him to remain mysterious for so long. In fact, in the original draft, I had a viewpoint from him fairly early on. That's been moved back in this version, to make things flow more quickly at the beginning, but also so that you could form your opinion of him externally first. He has a. . .particular way of seeing the world, and I felt it better to introduce that later, so that it wouldn't overshadow the other aspects of his personality quite as much.

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12944 Copy

    Joshstormblessed (paraphrased)

    What is the stone that Gavilar gave to Szeth before he died?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Good question, there are clues to what it is. (I'm going to try to get this answer right) if you decode [Navani's notebook] in the beginning of The Way of Kings you will find some significant clues to what the stone is. The [notebook] has already been decoded over at the 17th shard but I've never confirmed that those clues are in fact there. So go tell the 17th shard I confirmed that and they will love you for it. 

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12945 Copy

    Joshstormblessed (paraphrased)

    I've noticed that in both Elantris and Roshar there are specific shapes to the cities and in both instances there are chasms. Is there a connection between the two worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Oooo:) Yes there is definitely a connection there. As you know all of these worlds are part of a universe and my magic systems share basic rules. So you'll see similarities.

    Joshstormblessed (paraphrased)

    And the chasms?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    *smiles mischievously*

    Steelheart Portland signing ()
    #12948 Copy

    Mysty (paraphrased)

    Is Baxil's Mistress destroying statues of the Herald Shalash?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Yes. Actually in the prologue her statue is missing because Baxil's mistress came through.

    Mysty (paraphrased)

    Is Baxil's mistress Shalash?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    I'm not going to answer that.