Are you willing to answer any questions about Wax's earring?
Not really. Not the one you want answered. We're going--
Won't even tell me what it's made of?
I'm going to keep that one close to my heart for now.
Has a Hemalurgic Feruchemist ever used a Hemalurgic spike to tap power into it? Have they ever done that yet?
So a Hemalurgic spike is already Invested, so it's going to resist sticking anything else in it, particularly a magic like that.
So if there's a pewter spike then a Feruchemist couldn't store strength in it?
Yeah. It would be difficult.
Was Rashek-- Was he pained by burning gold all the time? Like was he always able to see what could have been, since he's burning gold to stay alive?
He grew more philosophical than pained about that.
What would happen if somebody used the color from a Stormlight-infused gem to create a BioChromatic entity?
So I just had this question actually and what we came up with was that would leave behind something that is like a cloudy quartz and is going to make it work not as well for holding Stormlight. That's our answer right now, I'm going to talk to my scientists and see what they think because draining the color from something doesn't just leave it white, or clear, it kind of ruins it, it's gray-ish, it's dun. It clouds. So I think it would ruin things for Stormlight.
So I was actually wondering, I keep finding myself thinking of new and exciting ways to break science with magic. How do you keep yourself from doing that constantly as you're writing?
You write the book the best way the book can be. You give it to a scientist. You say "What does this break?" and then you either take it into account, if you think it is going to work for the book. If not you come up with an explanation in-world and you move forward. We're writing fantasy, we don't want the science to ruin our book, we want the science to be something we considered. Does that make sense? Like when I made speed bubbles and Peter's like "Red shift! You're going to irradiate people." I'm like "Alright we're just going to have to say 'Speed bubbles are not irradiating people' ". And just be aware of it and write the best book you can.
Shardblades are essentially spren that have died--
Not all of them have died but yeah.
Oh, my question was if they could be revived?
Um this… According to the understanding of those in-world it would require the same person who broke their oath. So it would be possible if any of them were still alive. I'm not ruling out other ways, but that's how it's understood by--
It would be the traditional way.
Yeah, mmhmm.
If an Awakener were to go to Roshar and were to bleed the color from a gem would that gem still be able to store Stormlight?
Bleed the color from a gem… Um ye-ye-ye-yeah. This would interfere with its function on Roshar. It would probably still be able to hold Stormlight…
Might not be able to be used for Soulcasting?
Yea-- It's going to… You know what no it would just change it. It would just bleed the color from it and turn it into a dusty quartz or something like that. That's probably what it would end up with, a dusty quartz. Because the molecular structure doesn't matter as much as the color for Roshar. So yeah you would probably still be able to hold Stormlight because a diamond can but I don't know, quartz might cut it. You'd probably end up with something that's not going to work so well.
What about a fabrial that needs a specific--
Yeah a specific-- A ruby wouldn't work any more, and it would let go whatever is captured inside.
I just had a question about the broadsheets, do you write all the content for those?
I wrote all the first one. And the second and third one's I'm like "I don't want this all to be in my voice I want it to feel like a newspaper" so I wrote a couple. Isaac wrote a bunch, Ben wrote some of them--
Ben didn't write any.
So it was you who wrote the rest of them?
Did you do the layouts?
Yeah I do the layouts and then I give them to Ben to do some of the illustrations.
The really fun thing is Isaac wrote the Nicki Savage one in this one [The Bands of Mourning].
It was really fun, I'm glad Brandon let me.
Any hints about what the Stormlight novella will be about?
I'm probably going to make Lift the main character if the scene-- if it works it will be Lift. If it doesn't I could pick a different character, but I have a nice little outline for what Lift has been doing in between and I think she'll make a very good novella on her own. I do want to write the short story King Lopen the First of Alethkar, but that one's only like 5,000 words so if I get that one done I'll stick it in too. If you watch at the end of Words of Radiance Lopen's going around claiming to be king and there's a reason for that.
I'm going through Hero of Ages...again and I noticed...when Vin takes the power of Preservation into herself the descriptions remind me a lot of someone who has been Invested with Stormlight--
Yes.
--are those powers very similar--
Yes.
--in how they operate?
Ye-- Definitely some similarities. You will see a lot of mist in Stormlight if you are looking. So yeah.
It like puffs out like mist.
Can a Returned gain a Nahel bond?
It is not outside the realm of possibility. Much more easy than Nightblood [gaining a Nahel bond]. Invested things resist other Investiture and so it depends on amounts of Investiture and it depends on a lot of factors. But that one's a mixing that could happen.
Does Kelsier ever talk to Marsh since Sazed's Ascension?
RAFO… Good question. That's one I'll answer some day so it's not a RAFO for "nothing's happening".
Can an Epic’s weakness change?
Can an Epic's weakness change? So far they have not.
Did it take a life to create Nightblood?
Did it take a life to create Nightblood. It did not. It just required a lot of Breath, which you could assume each one is a little piece of a life so maybe. Multiple lives in that way but no one actually had to die. Good question.
If Renarin can see the future why did he say that we're dead?
You will learn a lot more about him in the third book. And why he's doing what he's doing.
Can you tell me at what point did Renarin hear the Shardblade…
At what point? Um… *long pause* Earlier than it may initially be obvious.
What happened to Wax's horse that Wayne did?
What happened to Wax's horse that what?
That Wayne did, it's kind of referenced.
The reason the horse bit Wayne, is that what you're asking? The horse just has a nice sense of who deserves to be bit.
If the spren turn into any weapon how come all the dead spren are Shardblades?
Good question.
Read And Find Out?
It is a Read And Find Out.
Is there a meaning for Adolin's name, like there is for Kaladin?
Yes.
Okay, do you want to tell me it?
Honestly I have to look them up. So I don't have them off the top of-- I should. I just have to look them up. It’s like there's technically a meaning to almost every name but yeah.
Will there ever be more Mistborn llamas?
*laughs*
I had a shirt signed by you and the others and my parents destroyed it.
If you ask Kara, she's the one you have to convince [email protected]
I was wondering, how often are [???] life imitating art or intentionally put into place?
It's rare that it's intentional. Once in a while it is, for instance Nohadon is based off of King Benjamin.
Nohadon?
The author of The Way of Kings, the original author. But more often it's just unintended
In one of the Stormlight books, or Way of Kings, it says "3 of 16 ruled but now the Broken One reigns", so did they-- did the three of them have a pact?
That's a RAFO.
"--and then the Broken One reigns"?
That's a RAFO.
Is 1/16th of everyone on Scadrial capable of becoming Allomancers?
Are 1/16th capable--
Of everyone.
--is that the question? Not necessarily.
Are Returned the same person-- like is a Returned the same person they were before they were alive or-- 'Cause it says in the book that it is a Shard that Awakens the body so is it the consciousness-- Well not the Shard--
It is the same soul.
The same soul.
Yeah.
I was wondering if it was the consciousness of the Splinter.
Yeah.
Is Harmony only able to see and watch over Scadrial or will he be able to see the potential of other parts of the cosmere?
We'll talk about that in an upcoming story. You'll get more clues about that very soon.
Very soon?
Very soon.
Like before the end of the night?
Poten-- Well not-- Potentially before the end of the night, yes.
Do you have a layout of the cosmere, like everything is happening written down or is it just up here?
It's written down. Some of it's up in the head, some of it's written down. Most of it is somewhere...
Somewhere?
Yeah most of it's somewhere.
What was Wit doing during the hunt of the chasmfiend near the beginning of The Way of Kings?
That's a RAFO.
So we'll find out?
A RAFO does not mean you'll find out. A RAFO just means I'm not answering this right now.
I was at-- I think it was at Way of Kings or Towers of Midnight, and I think I might your dad?
Okay.
At least I think it was your dad. He said he was your dad. *laughter* I realized like two years later that it might not actually be your dad.
It was, it was. *laughter*
I'm relieved. Old, white hair, he said he was sort-of going to voice act Grandpa Smedry.
So my dad. She may have met my dad. And she really did meet my dad. *laughter*
I realized like two years later, "Wait what if that wasn't really his dad? Just some crazy guy?"
My dad looks like--
Your dad was very nice.
Yes, he looks vaguely like Alan Alda. Much more when he was younger, now he looks like a grandpa-ish Alan Alda.
So like Alan Alda.
Yeah, maybe like Alan Alda still is. So the funny story about my dad is-- She wanted to know if this was really him and he said he was going to voice act Grandpa Smedry. So what my dad loves to do is he likes to show up at my signings, particularly-- He had a job where he moved around a lot. He would be at home in Idaho for a weekend and then he would go and work somewhere for a week and come back-- One of those jobs, right? And so I would go do my signings and never know where he was, right? And so I'd be doing a reading-- And I did one once in, this was in Ohio--
I met him in Portland.
You met him in Portland?
The year someone brought you a massive box of Voodoo Donuts...
Yes, yes, the Voodoo Donuts...
...you don't like chocolate?
But I love Voodoo Donuts! I'm just not going to wait in line for it.
But you don't like chocolate!
I don't like chocolate flavored donuts, I like a piece of chocolate, but like the chocolate flavoring they put on donuts is such fake chocolate...
I think it was the CocoPuffs one.
Yeah. So anyway my dad, he'd just show up at places like this, and I'll be doing my signing, right? And I was doing a reading once in Ohio and there's a disturbance at the back, and I'm like "What is going on?" And people kind of part, and there's my dad signing books. *laughter* Seriously. He's just signing books, and he's just laughing about it like "Oh I taught him everything." *laughter* He's never read a science-fiction book in his life. He reads the books like, that we replaced over here for our signing that are religious books and stuff. He reads-- Oh it was the cart, the cart said religious books and they had stacks of my books on it-- He reads stuff like that, he reads biographies. My dad does not science-fiction.
Has he read your books? I know he's read Alcatraz, because he was talking and quoting it.
He's read my books. He's read the Alcatraz books at least. This is my dad, he's signing my books... The other part of that story is that he then took off and like seven kids came through the line-- like twelve-year-olds that he had bought a hardcover for because he'd seen them with a ratty paperback and knew they couldn't afford one, so he just bought if for them. *audience awws* And he did that for just tons of kids in the line. And he will do that at the signings. If he sees some young kid with a paperback, he'll buy them a hardcover. So that's my dad for you. *applause* I'll tell him you applauded for him. I'll tell him that you remember him...
Will you bring him back?
Will I bring him back? I'll tell him he has to come to the signing next time.
Of all the characters you've written which one has the most of you in them?
Of all the characters I've written which has the most of me in them. Boy, y'know every character is a bit of me and every character's got something that's very unlike me. Um, I really have trouble answering that. People have asked it of me before. Some days I think it's Jasnah, some days I think I'm arrogant to assume it's Jasnah. Any character I would mention it would feel like the things I like about them are the things I wish I would have, if that makes sense? I don't know if there's any one that is really just me. My mother reads the Alcatraz books and says that's me. *laughter* She really does. Like she loves those books because she says "No that's you". When I have no inhibitions and I'm not trying to be self important I just do stupid things like in the Alcatraz books so maybe Alcatraz?
Do the Shards move-- Other than Odium do the Shards move around and have we seen-- Or have Shards moved to worlds after the events that we have read about?
Do Shards other than-- Do Shards move around? The answer is yes, there are several of them. Have Shards moved around after the events you've read about? Yes, there are Shards that have moved around after that.
That have moved to the worlds we've read about?
That's a RAFO. I'm not going to tell you whether they've moved to the planets you've read about or not.
So Nightblood is sentient, he can make choices, and now he is in Roshar. Could Nightblood bond a spren and become a Radiant?
Could Nightblood bond a spren-- *drowned out by laughter* That one's just a bit farfetched. *laughter* I rarely say anything is impossible but let's just say that one's pretty farfetched.
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. 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.
