Recent entries

Use the Falchion

Janci, how is the work on the post-Defiant Skyward books going? I thoroughly enjoyed your novellas and can't wait to see what you do next with the Skyward crew.

Janci Patterson

We accepted an offer on them! Yay! I'm so excited! That happened yesterday! So... big news.

Brandon Sanderson

The big holdup so far has been that I'm working on Defiant and because, as Janci mentioned --

Janci Patterson

I have to know what I'm writing.

Brandon Sanderson

There's lots of continuity involved in these sorts of things, and we had a plan, and then I write Defiant, and that's going to change some of the things we're thinking about.

Janci Patterson

So I have an outline that will shift but I think the story will basically be what's in the outline, but things will shift. And once those things have shifted and we're pretty sure we have exactly what it's going to be ultimately, then I can start writing hopefully in the next couple of months.

Brandon Sanderson

Which is really important because these are technically YA, they straddle that line. But this is going to be the only YA that I have for a while because Stormlight Five and the Secret Projects are kicking me in the head.

Worldhopper1990

Did you get to the epilogue [of Stormlight Five] yet?

Brandon Sanderson

I wrote a version of the epilogue years ago that isn't quite going to work for timing reasons, so I tried a new one. We will see how I feel about it as we go.

Gatechap

If he was gonna break it [the title ketek], then Stones Unhallowed was a cooler working title [for Stormlight Five].

Brandon Sanderson

Problem is, it no longer works for this book. As Szeth is no longer walking on stones. It's the only book where he isn't.

Cosmere.es

What can you tell us about your future projects?

Brotherwise Games

It's definitely a multi-year partnership, and so that gives us some confidence to be able to plan out things long-term and known that, for example, if we start an RPG, we have a long runway to be able to keep adding supplements to that, keep adding games to that.

We know that a lot of people have asked for, like, a big epic board game. Something along the lines of War of the Ring or Star Wars: Rebellion. That's something that is always on our minds.

And we're always open to new things. Shards of Creation was not something we were planning, it's something that a member of our team designed and put in front of us, and we said, "Wow, this is really good. We should make this." So we have some flexibility like that, as well.

But even if we just had our current lineup of planned releases, that's enough to account for years of very cool Cosmere stuff.

Cosmere.es

And then we had another announcement, which is Shards of Creation. It's another card game, and this one is focused on Shards that Splintered from Adonalsium when he was killed. I read that probably not all of them are going to be displayed in the game, but we will see a nice number of the Shards?

Brotherwise Games

Yeah, we'll probably start with at least eight. I can see doing eight, and then later doing the other eight. Or, I can see doing more. We'll see.

This is a game that I would not say is gonna come out in 2024. Probably 2025. This would be a lower-cost kind of game, more like a traditional card game, beautifully illustrated in an art nouveau style. And it is a trick-taking game, so one that you can teach pretty much anyone in your life to play. It's not a game that is reliant on people being hobby gamers. If anybody's ever played spades or hearts or bridge or any kind of basic trick-taking game, you'd be able to understand some of the rules here. Out of all our games, it's the one that I can most easily play with my parents.

Brotherwise Games

The Mistborn Deckbuilding Game (and it's possible that will be the final name; the Star Wars deckbuilding game is just called "The Star Wars Deckbuilding Game," so we might end up doing the same), that's a really exciting project, as well.

The game is essentially themed around being a mistborn in training and contending with rival mistborn, and really getting straight into Mistborn duels and battles, while still having some of the intrigue that's a big part of Mistborn books and a big part of the non-physical metals.

Cosmere.es

I think the image you shared was Vin. Is it like you are going to be playing the characters themselves? Or are you going to be playing other mistborns, or...?

Brotherwise Games

The setup is that you are playing one of the named characters. So you're playing as Vin or Kelsier. Or Shan Elarial, an Inquisitor, or Zane is another playable character.

Cosmere.es

Can you be a kandra?

Brotherwise Games

There is a kandra card, but that would be kind of an ally. Same with a lot of the mistings, and things like that. Within the boundaries of a deckbuilding game like this, everybody's gotta have a similar level of capability. I can see us doing a feruchemy expansion in the future, but right now a keeper is just one card.

Everybody's a mistborn, everybody's got access to the eight core metals, and then over the course of the game you can gain access to atium, which has really big effects, often game-winning effects.

Cosmere.es

So we are in Era One, the first books, maybe the first? The Final Empire?

Brotherwise Games

Yeah. The first couple of books, I'd say, is the general time frame here.

If this game does really well, we could always expand into future eras. There's other ways we could adapt the system to handle Era Two stuff or later Era One stuff, but we're starting with what we think are some of the most iconic and recognizable aspects of... being a mistborn, jumping around rooftops, throwing coins at each other, getting into fights, going to balls, convincing people to do things. All those classic aspects that you think of in Mistborn.

Brotherwise Games

One thing that's especially neat [about the Stormlight TTRPG] is our first big adventure (that takes you from first level to sixth level and beyond) was all conceived and outlined by Dan and Brandon working together. If I had come up with an adventure, I probably would have tried to keep it off to, like, a little corner where it wasn't affecting a lot of things and didn't interact with the main canon. And they just went straight through the middle of what's going on during... Words of Radiance is kind of the timeframe for the adventure. For example, the Everstorm happens during the adventure. And you're not right there next to the main characters of the books, but in the warcamps. You're in the vicinity. You interact with a Herald or two or three. That is wild; I wouldn't have tried to put that in there.

Daniel Greene

Well, we're getting to that common meme of Syndrome from Incredibles, where it's like, "When everyone is special, no one is," because once you commodify power, which is that whole villain's point... And that's gonna be such a fascinating angle for the development. Or it will not be touched on at all, and we're just theorizing. Brandon, would you mind answering that question? Was this a worth while conversation?

Brandon Sanderson

Power is already a commodity. Power is a commodity in Stormlight during the Stormlight first era. Power is a commodity (to an extent) in Mistborn. So yeah, power is a commodity in the cosmere. It's been from the very beginning.

Questioner

What books should we read before The Sunlit Man?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not sure that you have to read any, honestly.

I did intend this to be read before Stormlight 5. I would think you would get more out of this if you had read Stormlight, but then again, maybe not. Like, if somebody read Sunlit Man, and loved it, and then read Stormlight, you would probably pay better attention to Sigzil. I do expect that a lot of people reading this book would be like, "Which one is he again?" Since a lot of Bridge Four's members kind of blur together for readers unless it's Lopen or Rock or Kaladin. And so, I could see reading this in reverse order of that

I think that you probably would have an interesting time reading this before you read Shadows for Silence, right? And then read Shadows for Silence. I don't necessarily think there's anything in this that you have to have read anything before you read it, I just think you'll have a different experience.

But then again, there are people who read the Wax and Wayne books before they read Era 1 of Mistborn and really liked them that way, so I try to write every story as being a self-contained story, or at least every series. Where some knowledge of the greater Cosmere's gonna add some cool things to you, but at the same time, I think that it could be really fun to read some of these later Cosmere books and then go back to the first ones ,and you'll have just a different experience with them than other people did, and I think that's perfectly valid.

Dan Wells

Sixth Epoch, Year 31, Vevishach 4.10.3.

I begin this journal with no small amount of trepidation. That Master Hoid himself would ask me, Senne Khald, a brand new apprentice Worldsinger, to begin a treatise on the Radiant Orders, is so unexpected it boggles the mind. I shall do my best to fulfill his expectations.

These first few entries will be my thoughts only. A more complete description of each Order will come later. But what intrigues me the most as I begin this project are not the powers, but the personalities of each Order. How are the members of each Order different from the members of the others? What kinds of personalities does each Order attract? This is especially interesting in cases where some of the personalities seem to overlap. Why choose one Order over the other? How do you differentiate their similarities? This is where I will focus my initial writings.

Windrunners

Is there any greater hero than the Windrunner? The Windrunners certainly don't think so. And, to be completely honest, they kinda have a point. This is the Radiant Order that protects the innocent, upholds the virtuous, and defends the defenseless. Also, they can fly, which I was going to leave off of my list on purpose to bother them. But scientific accuracy is, I suppose, more important than what I do. Which is pestering the pompous.

Oh, here's a good bit of scientific detail: how can you tell if someone is a Windrunner? Answer: they'll tell you. In practice, Windrunners tend to be equal parts heroic and insufferable. They're always out doing things: scouting, fighting, flying, training. And it can be exhausting just listening to their schedules. They tend to take on more squires than most, which means there are a lot of them. And they can't just have normal friend groups like a normal person; it has to be organized and official. They group themselves in squads and call themselves soldiers. They're aggravatingly good at things, but also just aggravatingly good. And sometimes I just think, "Get over yourselves, right? Nobody needs to be this righteous and serious and good-looking all the time."

Now that I read back over this, it may be that I'm being a little unfair to the Windrunners. They're not really obnoxious, they're just formal and efficient, which I find to be obnoxious. They're also intensely heroic, and we would be lost without them. I will endeavor to be more unbiased in my future journal entries.

Brandon Sanderson

Part Ten: Conclusion

This document is always a lot of work to create, and I feel like I’ve done a marathon when we get it all together! I realize that for an author, I have quite the large business these days. Nobody else I know has more than a few assistants.

I’ve always had big dreams and big ambitions. However, it’s important to me that you know that…well, I’m still me. If that makes sense. I still spend most of my time writing the books themselves, despite all of this, because that’s the part I love the most.

This started as a guy in his basement telling stories, and I genuinely think I’d be happy if it had stayed that way. I like this a little better, but it can be overwhelming at times! My promise to you, however, is that I always try to keep a good work/life balance. (As good as someone in my position can.)

Thank you for all your enthusiasm and support this year in particular. It’s been incredible to see.

For now, I just hope to continue entertaining you—and surprising you—for many years to come.

Brandon

Brandon Sanderson

Part Eight: Projected Schedule

This one is going to be a little hard to gauge this year, as while a few things are set, a lot of others are in flux. For example, I’ll be writing Ghostbloods straight through, maybe with Elantris sequels in between, and don’t want to release any of them until they are all done.

Let’s assume they’re all 200k words, and I can do roughly 300k a year. That means I’d be writing them all of 2025, 2026, and 2027. That would put the first one probably coming out 2028, five years from now.

In the meantime, we’ll be working on some other cool things, as listed below.

December 2024: Wind and Truth

Spring 2025: Skyward Legacy One(?)

December 2025: White Sand Novel/Dark One(?)

Spring 2026: Skyward Legacy Two(?)

December 2026: Skyward Legacy Three(?)

December 2026: Horneater(?)

December 2027: TBD

December 2028: Ghostbloods 1

Summer 2029: Elantris 2

December 2029: Ghostbloods 2

Summer 2030: Elantris 3

December 2030: Ghostbloods 3

Note that Dan and Isaac’s Cosmere novels will be in here somewhere, as will Super Awesome Danger and likely a collection of all my non-Cosmere short fiction.

Also note that in the past, I’ve been bad at projecting things this far ahead. (You can go look at this section in previous State of the Sanderson posts to see.) So this is all subject to change!

Brandon Sanderson

Part Seven: News from My Company

Isaac Stewart

Many of you have asked how the Nicki Savage novel has been coming along, so here’s an update. The first draft is finished, clocking in at 118k words, about the same length as Shadows of Self. It needs a lot of revision before I show it to Brandon—he and I have discussed the story, but he hasn’t seen the manuscript yet—so getting it ready for him to read is my next step. As we build out Dragonsteel’s Creative Development department, I foresee more time to work on the revision.

Dan Wells

So what does the future hold? So many wonderful secrets. Dark One is tentatively planned for 2025. A very cool [REDACTED] is planned for 2024. And of course my first Cosmere series is deep in pre-production; I’ve built an extensive outline, and I’m working with Brandon and Isaac on some amazing worldbuilding, and I love it all. This is a story I’ve wanted to write for literally years, and having the opportunity to co-write it with Brandon is a dream come true.

Brandon Sanderson

Part Six: The Mistborn Film, Hollywood, and Video Games

The Mistborn film has been in development but has run into some hiccups and is on pause for now, but I hope to have more news to share in 2024. But really, there’s not much else to report. Snapshot (the novella) is still being tinkered with at Universal. It might be the only thing under option right now, because I basically put everything else on hold, despite interest, as I decide on a strategy.

Tress would make a pretty great animated feature though, don’t you think?

Brandon Sanderson

Part Five: Updates on Minor Projects

Warbreaker/Rithmatist

No movement. (Remember that part about me only being able to do so much?) Someday.

Reckoners/Alcatraz/Legion

Finished. Nothing to report, though Steven Bohls is still interested in doing some more Reckoners, so maybe someday.

The Original

I keep letting this one slip through the cracks. Will try to get you all an ebook.

Unnamed Dan and Isaac Cosmere Novels

Both have made progress this year! But we’re doing this slowly and right. So nothing really to report yet, though Isaac has some words farther below.

Various Cosmere books I Might Write Someday

The Night Brigade, Dragonsteel, the Silence Divine, the Grand Apparatus, Mythos, the Aether World book series…wow, this list keeps growing. My my.

Brandon Sanderson

Part Four: Updates on Secondary Projects

Elantris

As I said, I’m getting ready to start into this series again! Expect more updates next year as I finalize my outlines for this and Ghostbloods. Elantris will soon become a Primary Project again.

Songs of the Dead

Back from the, uh, proverbial dead, this book is actually ready! It’s been sent out to publishers, and there are offers on it. So finally, the long-awaited story about an American necromancer living in London is a go.

Now, I did want to say one thing about this project. I built the outline and the world, but as things have gotten so busy with the Cosmere—and because revisions were taking a long time—I made the tough decision to hand this project completely to Peter Orullian, the coauthor.

I did two passes on the finished novel, but I’ve realized I won’t have the time to support the rest of the series in that way. The Cytoverse is really the only non-Cosmere thing I can devote time to right now, and while I think this novel turned out great, I have decided that I’m not going to be involved in any sequels. (Other than the worldbuilding being mine.) Now, some of you might try to read between the lines on this, so let me say, there’s nothing to find other than what I just wrote here. Peter and I get along great. I think you’ll love the book. It’s just that I can only do so much, and some five years ago I started to realize I had to limit the number of series (particularly non-Cosmere ones) that I can work on.

Peter fought valiantly for this book though, as did my agent—who really believes in it. So it finally came to fruition. I expect Peter himself to make an appearance on my livestreams in the future to talk about the book and the process, and I’ll keep you all updated. But do expect to see this one released in the near future.

White Sand

The time is nearly here. In July I expect to take the graphic novel, my original book, and a lot of notes I’ve been making, and create the definitive novel version of White Sand! Khriss is a major player in the Cosmere, and so having her book be readable in a prose version is an important task I want to get to.

Maybe we’ll have this one for Dragonsteel 2025.

Dark One

Dan is still working away on our novel here! I’ll let him give you an update.

Dan Wells

Hi! Dan here. Dark One is a wonderful project, and one we both believe in strongly. Unfortunately, as listeners of our podcast are aware, I was diagnosed with depression in 2021, and 2023 is the year it came to a head and messed everything up. So the book’s been delayed while I get my brain in order, but that’s mostly done now and I’m working hard on a new revision of Dark One.

In the past we’ve talked about this as the first of a trilogy, but the more we look at it, the more Brandon and I have decided that it wants to be a single book. Certainly more stories could be told about this world and these characters, but this first story, now that we see it take shape, is flowing very naturally into a clean and simple novel of about 150k words (give or take).

At the same time though, we are also expanding the story’s scope a little to include Christina and Sophie, the characters from the audio prequel Dark One: Forgotten. They were intended to be one-off characters exclusive to the prequel, but not only did we fall in love with them, they can help solve a lot of logistical puzzles we hadn’t quite cracked in the original outline. All in all, the Dark One story will be a little shorter but a lot more deep and rich. We think you’re going to love it.

Brandon Sanderson

Again, if you missed Dark One: Forgotten, the audio original Dan wrote last year, it’s awesome.

Super Awesome Danger

You might remember that when I did the reveal for the Year of Sanderson I had five manuscripts, not four. The fifth one (let’s call it Secret Project Zero, so that in discussing it people don’t think there’s one they’ve missed) was a middle-grade graphic novel about two brothers, based loosely on my children. One designs a video game named Super Awesome Danger, and the other gets trapped in it.

It’s a whole lot of fun. We’ve moved forward on working on some test images for the graphic novel, and I thought I’d share those with you! We’ll be producing this completely in house at Dragonsteel, using Ben McSweeney (who did the Shallan’s Sketchbook illustrations, among others) and Hayley Lazo (artist for the Alcatraz books) to create the art, using my script.

Back in 2019, my son Oliver drew a picture of a creature he named Robog—half robot and half frog—and he gave it to me. I hung it up on my mirror and looked at it every day for many months. Super Awesome Danger started as the story of Robog and developed into a tale of two brothers who design a video game together, and then one gets trapped in it.

Ben McSweeney is doing initial layout on the graphic novel, and Hayley's doing pencils and inks, and while we're still at the beginning of the process, so far it's turning out fantastic. Here's an initial layout by Ben along with some of Hayley's concept art. We're excited to show more of this as the month's progress.

Brandon Sanderson

Part Three: Updates on Primary Projects

Stormlight

Book Five (now called just Wind and Truth) is basically done in rough draft form. I’m writing this update on the 2nd of December, and I assume by the time this goes live on my birthday that I’ll be very, very close—if not done already.

I do want to warn you that Horneater (the novella about Rock) will not be part of the Words of Radiance crowdfunding campaign. Why not? Well, I’ve realized that I would like to be able to write that sometime in the next couple of years when I’m missing Roshar, and want to jump back to tell a story there.

I don’t know when this will be though. It will likely be between one of the upcoming Mistborn Era Three novels. So…we’ll see. But I don’t want to offer it to you in the campaign since I don’t know when I’ll be writing it. (Sorry.)

Once I finish Wind and Truth, the Stormlight Archive novels will go on hiatus as I write the next few projects listed.

Mistborn

Era Two is finished as of last year, and my next mainline Cosmere project after Wind and Truth is Era Three, along with the long-awaited Elantris sequels.

I expect to start Ghostbloods (the name of the Era Three series) on January 1st, 2025. Half of next year will be revisions on Stormlight, and the rest I’ll spend catching up on things (like doing a White Sand prose novel update) that I’ve let languish a little too much lately.

Cytoverse

Skyward is done! Please, if you haven’t picked up a copy of Defiant, consider doing so. This has been my best received, best selling, and best reviewed non-Cosmere work. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out.

Janci is taking the reins for a sequel series we’re calling Skyward Legacy. And so I’m going to let her put a section in here talking about it!

Janci Patterson

Janci here! By the time you’re reading this, I should have turned in the first draft of the first book in the Skyward Legacy trilogy. I’m working on the end of the climax now, and I’m thrilled with how it’s turning out. I’m very happy with the book, and am looking forward to revising it over the next few months to get it into publishable shape.

The series begins a few months after the ending of Defiant. The working title of book one is Blightfall (this is not the final title, so don’t be surprised if it changes!), and the book follows Skyward Flight, now a special forces unit, from the perspectives of Sadie and Arturo. The humans of Detritus are no longer prisoners or rebels, but full citizens ready to take their place on the galactic stage. Skyward Flight’s first responsibility is to help the DDF Diplomatic Corps make contact with other humans in the old Superiority human preserves—and what they find there may pose a new threat to their alliances, their galactic reputation, and the future of humanity itself.

My intention for this series is for it to be all the things you love about Skyward while continuing the stories of many familiar characters. I hope you’ll give it read when book one comes out!

Brandon Sanderson

The Four Secret Projects

I thought I’d put this here to interrupt any questions. I do intend all four of the Secret Projects to be standalone stories! You might see these characters again, but for now let’s just allow them to be something currently rare in the fantasy/sf world: books meant to be read on their own, and enjoyed without sequels.

Brandon Sanderson

Part Two: My Year (Other Than Kickstarter)

All right, with all of that out of the way, it’s time to talk about what I spent the year doing! So here’s a rundown, using my spreadsheet of work done as a guideline.

I spent January doing revisions on Defiant…then wrote Stormlight 5 for (checks notes) the next eleven months.

Yup.

When I started the year, I had about 100k words written. I now have 450k written. Across eleven months, that’s a pretty good writing clip. Not insane, but respectable. I stopped a few times for revisions, but I spent the entire eleven months straight working on the book. It’s looking good, but I’m scheduled for six more months straight of revisions (which is the most difficult part of the process for me). So wish me luck!

Brandon Sanderson

Part One: The Kickstarter

A large part of this year was, as I’ve already mentioned, been dominated by fulfilling on our Kickstarter campaign. Now that it’s done, we’re all taking a deep breath and letting things wind down a little. So what’s next?

Well, if you didn’t see my video concluding the Year of Sanderson, I think it is time to slow down. That’s an idea contrary to the way business normally works—every corporation is always focused on growing bigger and keeping customers spending money. That’s never been the way I see things though.

I still remember sitting down with another author soon after I was given the opportunity to complete the Wheel of Time, and this person (a good writer, and wise in the ways of business) said to me, “Now, make sure you go back to them immediately and pitch another follow-up series in the Wheel of Time world so your future is secure. If I were you, I’d want to have a dozen books under contract, so you can keep writing these for the next twenty years.”

That might have been the smart business decision, but I rejected it immediately—because that wasn’t what the Wheel of Time needed. And when others came to me and asked if I wanted to do a follow-up trilogy, I told them what I’ve always said: Robert Jordan didn’t want it done, so I don’t think I can do it in good conscience. More isn’t always better.

In this case, we’ve had five(!) new releases in one year. I don’t want or intend this to become the norm. I might try something like it again someday, but in the meantime we’re going to slow back down. Next year, we’ll likely only have the one book release: Stormlight 5. In addition, we are not going to try to continue the subscription box. We put all our best ideas into this year’s boxes, and we’re extremely pleased with the quality of what we created. It’s time to be done.

That said, we do have two crowdfunding campaigns coming this year. Nothing quite as ambitious as the Year of Sanderson, but both (I hope) worth your time. First will be the Words of Radiance leatherbound campaign, happening on BackerKit this time instead of Kickstarter. That is in March. We will follow that with Brotherwise and the Stormlight pen and paper RPG later in the year, something that many of you have been asking us for. I’ll give Brotherwise some room to update you later on that, as well as time for my crowdfunding team to talk details about Words of Radiance.

So, we’re not stopping—and I hope you’ll find something to love in what we’re doing. However, we’re not also going to try to replicate the lightning in a bottle that was the Year of Sanderson. I’m happy to walk away from that experience victorious, and let the quality of what we created stand for now.

Johnny O'Neal

Since 2022, Brotherwise Games has been working in close partnership with Dragonsteel to create the Stormlight® RPG. The official tabletop roleplaying game of The Stormlight Archive, this is a truly ambitious project that brings together some of the world’s most talented fantasy illustrators and game designers. We shared an overview of the system at Dragonsteel Con, but we can reveal a few new details today!

The Stormlight RPG will launch with three books. The Stormlight Handbook is our core rulebook for GMs and players, containing all the rules you need to play. The World Guide is a setting book that explores Roshar in detail, from its history and cultures to its unique flora and fauna. It’s also a gorgeous art book packed with new illustrations of the world, from the Shattered Plains to Rall Ellorim and beyond.

We can’t yet reveal the name of our third release, but it’s a campaign book featuring adventure content that will take heroes on an epic journey across Roshar. While every aspect of the RPG has been developed in collaboration with Dragonsteel, this adventure concept came directly from Dan and Brandon. It gives characters the chance to bond spren, become Radiants, and play a pivotal role in events leading up to the True Desolation.   We’ve designed this game for every Stormlight fan, whether you’re a longtime RPG aficionado, a first-time player, or just someone who will enjoy reading through new lore and artwork. You can sign up be notified when the crowdfunding campaign goes live in the second half of 2024. This is a dream project for everyone involved, and we can’t wait for you to experience this fantastic game

Brandon Sanderson

Introduction

Whew, what a year! As I write this, the first of the December boxes are arriving in the hands of backers—meaning the Year of Sanderson has come to a close. By the time this goes live, I believe all of them will be shipped. Twelve boxes, with four books, delivered (mostly) on time!

This was a big year for us, full of grand ambitions—and full of Herculean efforts to fulfill those ambitions. Largely, we were successful!

As is my yearly tradition, I’m going to go over all the things happening in my world—giving a yearly retrospective, but also talking about how things stand right now. As always, this is going to be a bit exhaustive, but I hope you enjoy the ride.

Kristen Arden

If you had a Shardblade, what would yours manifest as?

Brandon Sanderson

Ka, the Windrunner, hers manifests as a pen. I’d probably end up with a pen.

Cosmeregirl

Favorite scene to write [in Yumi]?

Brandon Sanderson

I think my favorite sequence in the book is probably the sequence where Akane takes Yumi shopping. For whatever reason, there’s a change that happens right there with Yumi’s character that I really enjoyed writing, revising, and working on. It’s a big turning point for her.

Windrunner17

After the Shroud was destroyed, it’s said that some of the floating plants survived and were able to grow on Komashi. Is it your intention for the birds and butterflies and insects to have also survived to present day in some way?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. I intend that you can find places on the planet where that would all still be the case. Give it a little bit of time; but then, yes.

Mistborn Taylor

When does the activation of the machines take place in the timeline?

Why can only women become yoki-hijo?

Since Painter was able to summon a spirit, is it because he “was” Yumi? Or is that actually a lie, and men can also be yoki-hijo?

Brandon Sanderson

I’ll RAFO all of that for now. This isn’t a promise that I’ll get to it, but we’re RAFOing it for now.

Megan Thee Cosmere

Now that the rest of the yoki-hijo have passed on, will there be a new yoki-hijo born? Specifically, will we see an individual with higher than Elantrian levels of Investiture and Colin Firth levels of historical drama talent?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Questioner

Where in the timeline does Yumi take place?

Brandon Sanderson

Pretty late. At this point, I think only Sixth of the Dusk is later than Yumi, timeline-wise, I think.

Questioner

Can Shards bleed? Will this take the appearance of something like the Shroud?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s theoretically possible.

Questioner

Who’s the least significant living Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s a big ol’ RAFO.

Wyndlerunner

What else could yoki-hijo do in the past, aside from binding spirits?

Brandon Sanderson

That was their main job. What could they have done? Many things. What did they do other than bind spirits? Not much.

Diss the Chris

In Yumi, the outer edge of Kilahito and the Nightmares are being described as being completely nonreflective, and they drip with a black liquid that smokes. The same description has been given to the Midnight Essence and to Nightblood. Are these linked, and indicative of some kind of warped Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

They are significantly linked. (There you are; we’ll use “significantly” in that regard.)

Pagerunner

The audience of the book knows of the UTol system “for other reasons.” When will we, the readers, know about it?

Brandon Sanderson

Someday. Maybe. RAFO.

Questioner

Will UTol be significant to the future of the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Potentially. Depends on what I end up writing.

Milk Choc 14

In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Hoid mentions that his most persistent nightmare is one where he unknowingly becomes repetitive and stale. Was this intentional foreshadowing for Yumi and the Nightmare Painter?

Brandon Sanderson

It was not. It’s more about one of my worries as an artist, is this idea of, “Am I just doing the same stuff over and over again?” You always will do this. When I look at Elantris and Warbreaker, I’m like, “I wanted to deal with the same themes from different directions. But does that mean I’m just repeating myself?” Any time you find a trend in your writing, it worries you. Overly such, I think. I think we worry about this too much, like we worry about unconscious influence, but it’s one of these things that bothers artists.

I didn’t know I was gonna write Yumi when I was working on Tress.

Adam Klaits

In Yumi, Hoid says he doesn’t know why the star was visible from Komashi through the Shroud. Do you know? And can you tell us?

Brandon Sanderson

I do know. It has to do, a little bit, with the same reason why the mist is transparent to some people and not others.

Legend of Zelda Fan 03

Is the Dawnshard mural significantly related to how Nightmare painting worked on Komashi?

Brandon Sanderson

Significantly related? I’m glad that you started putting words like that in, expert cosmerenauts, because it gives me less wiggle room. (I guess I’m not happy about that.)

Less than significantly related.

Fernican

At any point, did you contemplate the possibility that Yumi would actually die at the end of the book? Or did you know from the beginning that she would survive?

Brandon Sanderson

I contemplated it. This was a tough one for me, because the more artistic ending and more appropriate to the source material that was an inspiration to me is the ending where she dies. And Yumi’s been a Cognitive Shadow all along.

But why did I make the change? There’s a couple reasons that I decided to go that way. It’s not like I made a change; don’t take it like that. It’s not like I had an outline for one, and I went the other way. The outline always went this way, but there were times when I was building that outline. And there’s a couple reasons.

Number one: this is a gift for my wife. And as a gift for my wife, I want the ending that she will love.

Number two is: we do have this sense in our society that sadness is artistic. And I’ve rejected that notion, that artistry must be sad. You can see it very clearly in what we give awards to. Sad endings can be very artistic; but you know what has a really fantastic happy ending? Lord of the Rings. Granted, there’s some bittersweetness to it, but you know what? Frodo has been through hell. That’s the bittersweet part; he can never really be part of society again. But they all make it. Lord of the Rings wouldn’t be better if the fire just killed Sam and Frodo at the end. You know what? It’s better that they make it. And I’m okay with sometimes being like, “This is the ending that I want.”

And the last reason, one of the best comps for Yumi is obviously Your Name. I mentioned that in the epilogue. I made some very deliberate choices to make Yumi read differently from Your Name. The story I wanted to tell is: what if you had to watch someone else doing your job poorly; and you, kind of as a ghost, had to learn to coach them along. I also wanted these two to be bound together, so that the romance worked as a romance between them. Your Name is really awesome for its ending; it has one of these kind of more uncertain endings. I won’t say it’s happy; I won’t say it’s sad. More uncertain. It’s really appropriate for Your Name, because the two characters didn’t really know each other, ever. They knew each other’s lives and friends and families, but they didn’t actually have a chance to really get to know one another, and the ending to Your Name is a perfect nod to that. It’s a chef’s kiss sort of ending for that specific story, where two people didn’t actually know each other, but knew so much about each other. And I love that aspect of Your Name. I needed a different ending for this, because it is a very different style. It’s two people who actually got to know each other.

Lacrosse Demon

In the Yumi and the Nightmare Painter prerelease spoiler stream, someone asked about a third hion, colored yellow, which you hinted was a thing. Nothing like that appeared in the novel beyond the third color on the cover artwork. Could you expand on that a bit?

Brandon Sanderson

There could be a third theoretical color that would be relevant in this conversation. And it would be yellow. If there were a third hion line, it would be yellow. And there is not a third hion line, currently. I wonder why…

thegatorgirl00

How were the people of Komashi able to negotiate the spirits to remain as hion if they didn’t have any yoki-hijo? Was it just a myth that only the yoki-hijo were able to negotiate with them to begin with?

Brandon Sanderson

It wasn’t a complete myth. They were more interested in people with this Investiture and this Connection to them. The yoki-hijo were far, far more effective. But they weren’t the only ones who could theoretically negotiate with them. Plus, after what everybody had been through, some things have changed.

jofwu

Is Iron Seven Waystation a space station? A perpendicularity? Both? Or neither?

Brandon Sanderson

Iron Seven is gonna be an actual space station. It’s not a perpendicularity. It’s a place where you could logically get onto an FTL ship and get to a place with a perpendicularity. Expensive, but when has expense ever bothered Hoid?

Stormlight Memes

Noodles in Yumi: more like ramen? Or more like pho?

Brandon Sanderson

More like ramen.

Questioner

Why did you make Design hot?

Brandon Sanderson

This is what she wanted in order to explore the cosmere. She spent a lot of time making people’s brains break, and she wanted to get a different perspective on how human beings interact with her.

Questioner

How does Hoid’s prediction work?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Ben McSweeney

Does Hoid still feel embarrassment?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, he definitely still feels embarrassment now and then.

Cosmere For Dummies

Can Yumi travel offworld?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s a good question. And the answer is actually yes; which might be counterintuitive. But Yumi could travel offworld. That might give you a little piece in the puzzle of things to travel offworld.

Sir Banana Orange Cucumber

If Hoid ranked all his worst moments in a list, about where would him being a coatrack be?

Brandon Sanderson

Coatrack was pretty bad. But he would definitely rank losing his five senses (the important ones) as worse. That’s worse to him. At least as a coatrack, he wasn’t embarrassing himself. As it goes, middle of the pack of bad things, middle top (top being not quite as bad of bad things). He definitely wouldn’t do it again; he wouldn’t enjoy it again.

Simpatico

Could hion lines be weaponized? If yes, in what ways?

Brandon Sanderson

There are many ways you could weaponize hion lines. I think there are too many ways for me to say all of them, but the mere fact that you can pull heat out or put heat in using interactions with hion lines means you’ve got all sorts of possibilities for that. I think anytime you’ve got raw power that you can use in such a way, you can do all kinds of stuff with that.

You can weaponize them. I guess the question they’re asking, can you weaponize the lines themselves? Obviously, you can make the hion lines trigger artillery, right? Or things like that. Probably not what they’re asking. They’re probably asking, “Can you use them themselves as weapons?” Right now, the hion lines are too slow to grow to use in kind of a traditional action-oriented magic system. Hion whip is not something that I’m imagining you would use.

Seth Cran

How did the Yoki-hijo become so Invested? Are they selected like Elantrians? Is it genetic? Or otherwise just random?

Brandon Sanderson

It’s not random, but it’s not genetic.

LewsTherinTelescope

In Way of Kings, Hoid’s monologue talks about three great talents: Invention, Artistry, and Intellect.

Brandon Sanderson

We’ll just stop that one right there. Hey, you’re smart. We’ll stop there. Special RAFO; I’m not even finishing your question. I know what you’re gonna ask, and you’re very smart. Go pat yourself on the back; you’re very smart.

Bye Nick

Is the Shroud made of Identity? Or of souls minus Identity? The passage in Yumi seems to imply both?

Brandon Sanderson

We’re looking more at souls. Souls minus Identity is the path you should be going down. I mean, there is still some Identity in them, is the thing, but yeah.

Questioner

Are Odium and Cultivation aware of Thaidakar?

Brandon Sanderson

Cultivation, yes. Odium… at one point. Depends on… Is Taravangian aware? That part’s a RAFO.