Questioner
You always come up with new ideas for books, when you have so many to write as is, that you've recently started to go from saying things like, "Whenever I get to this book," like the Threnody novel, to, "If I ever get to it." Would you ever let another author write for Cosmere?
Brandon Sanderson
That is possible. Isaac [Stewart], my art director and long friend for, you know, fifteen years, who's been collaborating on the visual style of Mistborn, really wants to write a Mistborn novel set on one of the Southern Continent places off by itself and I'm intrigued by this idea, 'cause he's somebody I've worked with for so long. So we might see how that happens. So far I haven't been willing to collaborate on any Cosmere stuff, but it's p-- I could see it happening.
Questioner
In White Sand 2, you changed the artist.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that was-- we didn't want to do that, I actually hate doing that, but it was with-- keeping-- meeting deadlines and things we were having trouble with the old artist, and so we just needed to make the switch so that we could get the books out. And that's the thing I like the least about the comics industry, artists changing, it's really-- yeah. But it is something that had to happen, so we made the call. We do intend that the sec- now this artist will do the book three, so we shouldn't change again, but, yeah.
With the Dark One comic, which we're working on right now, one of the things I've said up front is we need an artist to make sure that we don't ever change, because I really don't like doing that, I like the same visual style.
Questioner
Yeah, it's like an actor doing this huge thing--
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, yeah, and then you get a new actor, it's like-- who?
Questioner
I've seen a lot of forum posts about the mistcloaks themselves. What is the standard wear underneath those?
Brandon Sanderson
So there isn't a lot of standardization, because Mistborn are rare and each Mistborn commissions their own cloak. Most of the time, I think you're going to find that they would wear a buttoning shirt with short sleeves. Probably something dark would be my guess, probably a dark gray. But it just really depends on the person.
Questioner
Okay. I was thinking about working up a Mistborn cosplay--
Brandon Sanderson
My theme for clothing other than miscloaks was a look a little of-- Dickensian London was my inspiration, so.
Questioner
When Jasnah says she should've opened a pit, does she mean a chasm or a kind of Androl, Wheel of Time, kind of thing?
Brandon Sanderson
Androl, Wheel of Time, what do you mean by that?
Questioner
When he opens a gateway? What does she mean by pit?
Brandon Sanderson
Ha. *evil smirk* I'll RAFO that right now.
Questioner
If you used Hemalurgy to steal Allomancy, Harmony gets some kind of insight into the person that was spiked? He can talk to them? And with enough spikes hear their thoughts?
Brandon Sanderson
Mmhmm. Yes. With enough spikes, take them over.
Questioner
So if you use a spike to say, steal Breath, would Endowment?
Brandon Sanderson
I'll RAFO that for now. Good question though, I haven't been asked that yet.
Questioner
If you stole Breath, would Harmony still keep the same effect?
Brandon Sanderson
That's why I'm going to give a RAFO.
Questioner
What was the thought process behind Shinovar being so similar?
Brandon Sanderson
A couple of reasons. One is, by having some sort of Earth analogue on-world, I could give some contrast, and I could have a kind of an explanation for why they might use words like chickens and things until I can get to the big reveal. Like, if there weren't Shinovar there to act as a red herring, I think it would give away the twist very early.
Beyond that, I like the idea of the people that are like us being the alien ones to the society. Kind of helps separate it and make it this is a different world, this is a different culture. So, it gave me a lot of advantages. Plus it also gave an explanation for how they could-- humankind create a foothold on this planet after coming across. So, lots of different thought processes behind that.
Questioner
Is it possible for a Returned with sufficient knowledge, to sacrifice themselves to mend the Oathpact?
Brandon Sanderson
No, not without work. It just wouldn't work naturally that way. So no, I mean technically any Investiture-- with that amount of Investiture, there's like, a chance they could do something like you want to do. But I'm going to say, kind of, would be no...
Questioner
Is there any chance we're ever going to get a conversation between Wayne and Lopen?
Brandon Sanderson
Maybe in a non-canon entry.
Questioner
Is the kandra that is on Roshar, Navani?
Brandon Sanderson
No.
Questioner
Is Navani an Envisager?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
Can you explain how the Well of Ascension worked? How it actually held him and why releasing the power released Ruin?
Brandon Sanderson
That is the sort of thing that I can't explain in a brief amount of time, but hit me with an email, all right? Say that I promised to answer this, keep pushing me and eventually we'll get an answer written out for that one.
Questioner
So, who's your favorite Planeswalker or like-- color of mana to play?
Brandon Sanderson
Can I say my own Planeswalker?
Questioner
That's because you did write--
Brandon Sanderson
I did! If you throw my Davriel out, because obviously I'm gonna pick my own, let's see, who is my favorite? Ashiok is probably my favorite, just because they have such an interesting look to them and I like the powerset, that's the way I like to play, and there's so much mystery about Ashiok, so Ashiok. If we're talking about one that's actually had a story written about them, I really love how they handled Urza, just because you'd expect Urza to be very Gandalf-y and wise, and he was kind of, you know, that black side to Urza was really cool to me. And so-- yeah, there you go.
Questioner
In the reading that you did, the Nahel bond, has it changed?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. So, spren were added, and things like that. What he had would still be called a Nahel bond. A Nahel bond in the original definition means bond to divinity, but that's come to encompass a lot more in the cosmere, any time you're bonding with-- the bond between a soul and Investiture. But in the original version, it was more only with a Shard of Adonalsium or something like that.
Questioner
Does Calamity have any relations to Shards, at all?
Brandon Sanderson
No. People see relationships, that's 'cause, it's just my writing style does tend to follow similar themes. I did not imagine Calamity as a Shard.
Questioner
I wanted to ask have you ever considered making any of your books into an animated series?
Brandon Sanderson
I would! If the right people approached me, I would certainly not turn that away. I think there are more people wanting to get series made than there are people making good ones, but I would jump on it if the right people came along.
Questioner
Have you ever considered combining Alcatraz and The Reckoners?
Brandon Sanderson
Not seriously, but Alcatraz, you can never tell what he'll do.
Questioner
How close is the enslavement of the parshmen to the Recreance, timeline-wise?
Brandon Sanderson
Um, fairly close, as timeline issues go, but still many decades.
Questioner
Did it play any kind of factor in the decision?
Brandon Sanderson
Absolutely. But we're not talking about it happening next year. But it was a factor, how about that?
Questioner
Do you have a favorite Smedry Talent?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. I took a lot of these from things my mom does. Which are things that maybe I do also, like being late to everything, and being bad at dancing. Probably mine is being bad at dancing. But probably my true talent is the ability to use a lot of words to say nothing. *laughter*
Questioner 1
Are we gonna see more of the girl from The Emperor's Soul?
Brandon Sanderson
You will probably see at least a cameo from Shai. But I do have a second story outlined now, but I don't know when I have time or would have time to write it, so we will see if I can make that happen or not.
Questioner 2
Will we have a full-fledged story on the other part of Elantris, that Shai is on?
Brandon Sanderson
I think it's likely, but I can't promise it. But it's equally likely right now that we will-- I will outline a new graphic novel series, as to I will just do a story, but I can't one hundred percent promise.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Does the Fourth Ideal of Knights Radiant for Windrunners go something like "I will forgive myself for those I've failed to protect"?
Brandon Sanderson
I will put you on the record for having guessed that, but you won't find the answer until a Windrunner is capable of figuring it out.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are the Ones Above in Sixth of the Dusk Third Era Scadrians?
Brandon Sanderson
I haven't revealed that. That's a good guess, though.
Questioner
I know FOX bought the rights to Steelheart. Do you know if there is anything coming out of that? An update?
Brandon Sanderson
Alright. Big update on media properties based on Sanderson things. We'll start with Reckoners since you started there.
FOX owns the rights to the Reckoners, they have been bought by Disney. We don't know what that's going to do to it, but FOX has always been very excited about Steelheart so we will see what happens. We do have the Reckoners board game that came out and is shipping to backers. It's not for sale yet to people who haven't been backing it but it will be eventually. Let's see-- let's go down some of the smaller projects.
Legion is owned by a company out of Canada called Cineflix, and they are working very hard to make a television show out of that. They just bought the rights last summer, but last I heard they had a showrunner interested, so maybe some announcements about that.
The closest to being published-- the closest to being a movie is probably Snapshot. You probably don't know what that is. It's one of my novellas, it's like a mix between The Matrix and the movie SE7EN, so it's very different from a lot of my stuff. It's very close, they have a script and the screenplay's really good, they have someone attached to direct but they haven't announced it yet so I can't announce it. That one is probably the most close, which is going to be weird when my first movie is a serial killer thriller, but y'know, whatever.
The Cosmere books are owned by DMG Entertainment. They are a Chinese company that funded some of the Marvel films. They've moved into making their own films. They have been a wonderful partner. They are trying very hard to make Stormlight a television show and Mistborn as a movie. It's very hard to get epic fantasy things off the ground but they're making good progress, but there's nothing to announce yet. I think that is everything.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Darksiders have almost as advanced technology as second Era Scadrians.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
But then we see Darksiders in The Secret-- in Mistborn: The Secret History. So are they gonna be the first spacefarers, are they gonna get there before Scadrians?
Brandon Sanderson
So, where it is right now is that certain things have happened to Taldain that have isolated it and cut it off.
Questioner
Yeah, a little bit in Arcanum Unbounded talked about that.
Brandon Sanderson
And some-- they're under-- going through some difficult times, let's say... So, I will RAFO whether or not they're going to make it first to make it to space, but let's just say they were well on target to making it first before certain events happened.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are you ever gonna make an official quiz that sorts people into Knights-- Knights Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, I'm less likely to do a quiz and more likely to do a list of-- kind of attributes and traits and requirements. I feel that some people are more likely to be able to sort themselves than a quiz sorting them. Granted, it does depend on the spren also, so there are two parties in this. And so, you don't have absolute influence over which order you might end up in. But it is possible to be viable as a candidate for multiple orders and it also is going to depend on the spren.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Will Dalinar become the next holder of Honor.
Brandon Sanderson
Hahahaha, yeah-- RAFO.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Will Adolin ever become a Knight Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO!
Truthwatcher_17.5
Is Trell a Shard of Adonalsium?
Brandon Sanderson
I will RAFO that one too, I'm afraid.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are we ever gonna see a Twinborn who has Feruchemical iron and Allomantic pewter, and he's pretty much-- sort of like how Ham was training Vin about how to use her body, and we just gonna see this amazing martial artist on a massive scale?
Brandon Sanderson
It is totally possible. I'm not gonna promise any given combination, 'cause the-- I've changed several times the powersets of characters while I'm planning, so.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are we ever gonna see more names for specific types of Twinborns?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I intend to do more of those as the Eras progress. There are so many to name that I don't know that I'll ever release a chart of all of them, and partially I don't want to canonize names because I might decide something sounds cooler for when I actually use that person's powers in a book.
Questioner
I read Skyward, like, two weeks ago, I finished it in two nights. It was honestly one of my favorite books I've ever read, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Brandon Sanderson
Thank you! Book two is done.
Questioner
I'm excited to see what-- I need to read, uh, about the "Defense of Elysium"?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, yeah, Defending Elysium, it's free on my website. It'll tie-in in ways that you'll find interesting. One of my very first short stories.
Questioner
I'm super, super excited to see it. I loved the whole idea of when they're peering into the stars, it's like they're looking back with hatred. It's awesome.
Questioner
Are birds native to Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
Birds are not native to Roshar.
Questioner
...Did they come over with the initial humans?
Brandon Sanderson
They did. The humans brought them over, along with a lot of other beasts. Like, horses aren't native to Roshar either. You can tell pretty easily the non-native things. Like, Roshar doesn't have any grapes. So the word wine got genericized in the same the way that the word chicken did. You'll see bunches of that. Like the way the weather works. Roshar does not have weather patterns like Ashyn did. They're used to seasons. Suddenly, the words for the seasons, all these weird things that you may have been wondering through the first couple of books, you're like, "Oh I see why they just call hard alcohol a wine," or, "I see why they call everything a chicken." It's kind of related to this.
Questioner
Trell, who is he? Or if you're not going to reveal that, when will you...
Brandon Sanderson
It's going to take a little while to dig into that. It's going to need Mistborn Era 3, is all the Trell stuff.
Questioner
But I want more Wayne! Wayne is amazing!
Brandon Sanderson
I know! We've got one more book of Wayne. Wax and Wayne 4, we still got a book of Wayne. And then in Era 3, you'll be able to read the comic books in-world based on Wayne. So that'll be a part of it as well. You'll get a little touch of Wayne in there as well.
Questioner
Is there a combination of two Surges that you wouldn't normally see, that'd be fun to write about.
Brandon Sanderson
Oh yeah. It was actually a tough decision to let myself-- make myself put them in the groupings that I did. Because my brain naturally wants to say, "What about this, what about this?"
What would be really interesting, you could do really cool things as a Stoneward with manipulating matter and changing it and stuff, and then burning things into it with-- whichever power that is-- [Division]... I should know. Well, I should know. But I always go look at the list. The Dustbringer power. But I think you could do really interesting sculpture type stuff with that. With the burning, you could add color to the things, to an extent. Like grayscale? But it's not really something that's built into the magic.
Questioner
If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, would they be a lighteyes or darkeyes?
Brandon Sanderson
If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, they would probably be like someone who has heterochromia, one eye of each, meaning people don't know what to do with them and they are very awkward with trying to figure out how to treat them. The society breaks down a little bit when you run into anything that ruins their perfect system. Which is not so perfect, obviously.
Questioner
When's Hoid's birthday?
Brandon Sanderson
I have not said when Hoid's birthday is. Because it's on Yolen, I don't even know if the days will line up, when we finally get there, to our world.
Questioner
Why didn't Hoid take the second bead of lerasium?
Brandon Sanderson
Hoid knew that if he did so, bad things would happen.
Questioner
Lots of people have transversed the worlds. Will the Sleepless ever do that?
Brandon Sanderson
The Sleepless have in the past.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Besides Hoid, are we ever going to see people with powers from multiple worlds? Like, a Pewterarm Stoneward?
Brandon Sanderson
This is inevitable, but I don't think you should be expecting it soon. But it is absolutely an inevitability that this will become part of the story.
Questioner
Is the lake where the Aviar get their powers from Survival's perpendicularity?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. Sorry.
Questioner
Sadeas' murder. Do you consider that arc pretty much wrapped?
Brandon Sanderson
That is not wrapped, but there are lots of--
Questioner
Okay. Because I was writing-- I want more of that.
Brandon Sanderson
There is a-- Let's just say that there is a convergence of moral philosophies happening in the Kholin household and that it is not done by far.
Questioner
So in one of your State of the Sanderson posts you said that the "Wax and Wayne" series was going to come out in late 2019, but then you decided to write another trilogy that lasted two years, so--
Brandon Sanderson
So Wax & Wayne 4. Abandoning Apocalypse Guard has put me a little on the rocks for when I'm going to do that. Right now I'm planning Wax & Wayne 4 to be a book I use as a break from doing revisions on Stormlight 4. Stormlight 4 I have to start in January if I'm going to meet my stated goal of having them come out every three years, which I realize is a long time between books, but remember that they're four times longer than a normal book! *laughter*. You're laughing, but Oathbringer was 450,000 words, Skyward is 110,000. So Oathbringer is longer than four Skywards. I do have Skyward 2 done, and am going through the editing process right now. *applause* So Wax & Wayne 4 is very much on my radar-- I wrote the first one taking a break from Towers of Midnight, so the chances are good I'll need a break from Stormlight 4 and write it there. I don't know if it'll be out next year or the following summer. Stormlight 4 we're shooting for the fall of 2020, and I should be able to get it right around that time if I start in January, so that's the plan.
Questioner
Which of your characters are most like you and which would you most aspire to be like?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, this is a really interesting question. All of my characters are part me and part-not me, so you can point at every character and say, "Oh, that's Brandon!" Alcatraz, my mother says is most like me. *laughter* I don't know what that's saying, but those are really goofy middle-grade books about a character who can't take anything seriously. I aspire to be a little more like Sazed I think, is where I'd put that. But every character is a bit like me, and every character is something different than me that I want to explore.
Questioner
What's your favorite Alcatraz book?
Brandon Sanderson
What's my favorite Alcatraz book? They're all my favorites! *laughter* Because they're all like my children. But I would say that the one I get the most amused by is probably book two.
Questioner
So, you've mentioned-- you have an idea of how the Cosmere's going to go. The ending of the Cosmere, considering you have seven more Stormlight books to write and years to go, does the ending of the Cosmere hang over your head?
Brandon Sanderson
Does the ending of the Cosmere hang over my head 'cause I've got a ways to go-- Yeah, it's starting to loom a bit! You know, when I was in my twenties and thirties doing this, "Ah! I can write every story, I've got plenty of time!", but now that I'm in my forties I'm-- let's make sure we focus and keep going on this. So one of my goals has been to try to learn to write novellas so that the random ideas that pop in my head became novellas and not novels, because the way I work, I can't stay on one thing between books I find that it burns me out really fast if I don't have something new to work on, but if that new thing to work on can be a novella like one of the Legion books, or like Perfect State, or Snapshot or something like that and then I can jump back on the kind of mainline book I can reset myself quickly. And that why you see me practice that and things like that.
My goal is kind of closing things off faster than I open them. This is why Legion got finished this year, why Alcatraz will probably get finished next year. Those of you waiting for a Rithmatist sequel *sighs* eventually. I need to get those other two closed off first. For those of you waiting for Reckoners, I consider Reckoners to be done. If I eventually fix and release Apocalypse Guard, that might answer some of the questions you have about the end of that series. Elantris and Warbreaker are both part of the Cosmere arc, what I'll probably do is I'll write Stormlight 4 and 5 and the last Wax & Wayne book over the next few years-- five years, next five years probably. *laughter* And then I'll probably stop and do Mistborn Era 3, which is the 1980s Mistborn, and maybe some Elantris sequels. And then I'll come back and do Stormlight 6-10 which take place about 10 years in-world after Stormlight 5. Same characters, at least the ones that survive. *eruption of laughter* That might be all of them! No spoilers there. But Stormlight is ten books. The way Stormlight will go is Book 4 is Eshonai, Book 5 is Szeth, 6 is Lift, 7 is Renarin, 8 is Ash, 9 is Taln and 10 is Jasnah. That doesn't mean that the person survives, it means that it's a flashback sequence. *nervous laughter* Just keep that in mind. So if your sequel wasn't on that list then don't hold your breath.
Questioner
You said thirteen failures, right, with The Way of Kings being the thirteenth?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. My thirteenth.
Questioner
Are there any other [unpublished books] that you had-- that turned into published books?
Brandon Sanderson
Any others that ended up being published? Yes. White Sand, which was my first book, I rewrote as book number seven or eight and I eventually turned it into a graphic novel. Big chunks of book nine turned into Warbreaker, and books eleven and twelve - one was called The Final Empire and one was called Mistborn. Remember how I told you about two ideas mashing together and what made the story finally work? The best parts of those books turned into a new book, the magic system of one merging with the lore of the other is how it worked out. So, um, I did not publish any of those books as they were written except for Elantris. The Way of Kings I started from scratch when I rewrote it, and Mistborn I started from scratch when I rewrote it. But certainly ideas that were part of that ended up in those books.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Does Hoid have any Hemalurgic spikes?
Brandon Sanderson
I will RAFO that one.
Truthwatcher_17.5
We know that Hoid took a bead of lerasium, but it never specifically says that he consumed it.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, he did.
Questioner
Alright, so he is a Mistborn?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I'll go ahead and canonize that.
Questioner
I was intrigued ever since I saw your State of the Sanderson about Death Without Pizza.
Brandon Sanderson
It's good. I'm one chapter, or no I guess it's like three chapters. I'm one day's work away from finishing my revision, to then kick it back to Peter [Orullian]. I'm really, really excited how it's turning out. He knows his metal culture really well, and one of the tricks has been integrating that without making it feel jokey and things like that. I'm very pleased with how it's going.
Questioner
What kind of metal influences were you going for?
Brandon Sanderson
...Peter really likes the lyrical metal like that, like Dreamtheater. I don't know my subgenres very well, but Apocalyptica gets a mention, that's one I knew, Dragonforce gets a mention, I knew them. But I guess Dragonforce is the same subgenre. My job is worldbuilding and plot, and his job is character voice and making sure all of that works. I'm fascinated by it all.
Questioner
So is he more in the editing process, or is he an official co-writer?
Brandon Sanderson
He's a co-writer! I came up with the plot and the worldbuilding, I sent it to him, he wrote the whole first draft. Now I'm doing the next draft and then I'm kicking it back to him to do another pass and make sure the voice still matches, and then we'll take it out to publishers.
Questioner
What's the character's name?
Brandon Sanderson
The main character's name is Jack Solomon.
Questioner
I was wondering about the pictures in the cover of this [Oathbringer]. Are they specific characters in the book, or just art?
Brandon Sanderson
They are the Heralds. I went to some artists and said, "Do me your rendition of something that would be on the Sistine Chapel in-world for the Heralds," so that's four of the ten. So that is what we ended up with.
MiToRo94
When Dalinar first goes to meet the Nightwatcher and he sees Cultivation as well, presumably.
Brandon Sanderson
He does.
MiToRo94
They are surrounded by a green mist. So is that mist comparable to Preservation's mist on Scadrial? Would that be like "Cultivationlight?"
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that is in the same sort of vein.
Questioner
Reen and Ruin, how much of the personalty that we saw in the books was Ruin, her actual memories, and how much of it was actually Reen?
Brandon Sanderson
Most of what you saw was this kind of weird amalgamation, because it's getting filtered through her memories and things like this. You can see mostly Ruin at that point, but there is some actual Reen in there mixed in. Maybe twenty-eighty. Eh, twenty five-seventy five.
