Recent entries

Questioner

I am an editor.

Brandon Sanderson

Good for you. It's a terrible, terrible job. *audience laughs*

Questioner

What was your process for finding an editor that you liked and now work with?

Brandon Sanderson

So... I work with a couple of editors. My main editor is Moshe [Feder], at Tor, and I found Moshe by going to conventions and I would ask editors which new authors' books they were working on. Then I would go read those books when they came out and I was looking for the editors that were buying books that I liked.

And that's good advice for any of you who are writers: Find out what the editors are publishing, read their books and then if you go, you'll find out what the editor's taste is. If you go to the editor and say "What are you looking for?", the editor's response almost always is "Something good." They're gonna tell you, because they don't want you to limit yourself, but if you read what they're putting out, you can find out. Plus, you'll have to something to talk about with the editor. You go to the editor and say "I love this book." and they're like "You know that I edited it?", because editors are kind of unsung heroes who don't get enough attention. Then you'll have something to talk with an editor about and can make a connection.

This is what I did, I was looking for people who were writing books that I liked... editing books that I liked. The other thing is, I was looking for people who gave me good feedback. When I got rejections, did the rejections make good suggestions? Theses sorts of things... Once I got successful, I was looking more at the first, people whose books I admired, editors who worked on books... So, my team book editor I found because she was just putting out a bunch of books that I thought were really good. She had a good eye, so I went to her and said "Would you like to publish Steelheart?" and by then I was not Brandon Sanderson, I was Brandon Sanderson, and so she said "Yes, please!" So... it's a pretty different process.

Questioner

What are the chances - I actually really like the Mistborn Adventure Game. What are the chances of more roleplaying games set in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

I've asked them if they'll do a Stormlight one and they're interested in doing it.

Questioner

Aha, I'm interested in doing it and I'm a really good designer. *clamor from audience* <How would I go about doing that?>

Brandon Sanderson

If you want to get one of my licenses, the best advice we can give you... the way that Crafty was, is, they made a really good game that wasn't themed. They came to me and said "I've done this, I know how to...". Like our base fear in choosing your people is that they won't be able to finish the product for people waiting for it and know how to distribute it. So, if you have done other games, if you have done that, then your chances go up. If you haven't, my recommendation is go and make your own, prove that you can distribute a game and manufacture a game and things like that - and then come to us. Because, we don't care how big or small you are, as long as you're able to fulfil on your promises and as long as you make quality stuff that people enjoy, right? That's... that's our thing. So, that's your path to getting one of the licenses, okay?

Brandon Sanderson

One time, at GenCon, they were doing the Mistborn RPG and they had me play. So I <drew up> my character as a very mysterious individual and so... I played as Hoid in the RPG.

Questioner

Who gave the Lord Ruler the name "Sliver of Infinity?" Because he's kind of secretive about his past, and that seems like a very descriptive nickname.

Brandon Sanderson

"Sliver" is a cosmere term used by Arcanists, and it would've come from there. They knew what he was, even if a lot of people on the world did not.

Questioner

So they sort of spread the...?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it just entered the... people talking about it and it eventually spread, and things like that.

Questioner

Two questions. First of all the twist where Wax shifts from-

Brandon Sanderson

One person to-

Questioner

Exactly. Was that preplanned? 

Brandon Sanderson

It was preplanned. That is based off of I have a good friend that when I first met them they were very very off putting because they are on the spectrum and I didn't understand people on the spectrum, and as I got to know them I understood how great they were, and I wanted to have the reader experience that same reversal in the books.

Questioner

What was your inspiration for Syl?

Brandon Sanderson

Syl started as an incarnation of the wind. And I'd always wanted to tell a story about a warrior and the wind. That goes back into mythology the wind being a character. It's in Chinese mythology, it's in Greek mythology and that sort of thing. And that was years ago, before it eventually morphed into Kaladin and Syl. So it was really the idea of the wind being a person. She eventually ended up not being a windspren, but that's how things happen, you have original ideas and then you spend a lot of time refining them until they end up working.

Questioner

What would happen if you released Nightblood in a highstorm?

Brandon Sanderson

I'll RAFO that for now. It's an intriguing question though, I approve of that question.

Questioner

How come on Sel and Scadrial the people get their powers like in a rush either overnight or by snapping, while on Roshar it's very slow and subtle.

Brandon Sanderson

On Roshar there is another participant involved, since you're making a bond with a spren, and that has a big effect on it. You also have some very odd things happening on Sel that are causing a lot of oddity in the way that the magic works. I would call it mostly just a flavor of the different styles of magic and what's going on, but the way that flavor works involves the spren and involves how the Dor is on Sel.

Questioner

So when Hoid gives Kaladin the Worldsinger flute and then he kind of just leaves it behind... Is that making a reappearance or was that kind of like a "Kaladin, you dope" moment?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Nameless36

All the Shards basically agreed not to settle on the same planet. Six of them - that we know of - immediately, basically broke that.

Brandon Sanderson

So... they did not make an oath to it. There was a suggestion made... and perhaps the people who made the suggestion did not understand that, if you want the Shards to do something, you need an actual Oath. And they did not get one.

Questioner

The prequel on Hoid, will it be your longest book?

Brandon Sanderson

I do plan it to be kind of long, so we'll see how long, "Kind of long," is but yeah.

Questioner

The moons of Roshar. Inspired by the Dragonriders of Pern?

Brandon Sanderson

If it was, it was unconscious. But, more, it was the fact that I had three gods on the planet, and I was working with that. But, of course, the moons existed before the gods came.

Questioner

I love the concept of the hair changing colors, how did you think of that? How did you get the idea?

Brandon Sanderson

So with Warbreaker I knew I wanted color to be a big theme, and so I wanted a way it manifests in some of the characters, if that makes sense. So that's where it began. I eventually settled on the color, because I knew that I was going [to be having some of the characters change shapes,] because the Returned change and transform, and so I used that kind of hair as a metaphor for that.

Questioner

I wanted to know why in The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn, all the gods were named after human traits?

Brandon Sanderson

So this is... all the books are connected. So a long time ago, the premise is, a being... god named Adonalsium was split into 16 pieces, and so the various "aspects" of god, and those aspects are now the gods of all of these things. So there were two in the Elantris world, there's one in the Warbreaker world. Mostly Mistborn and Stormlight is where you'll find out about them.

Questioner

Preservation, and... I remember Hatred [Odium] in Stormlight.

Brandon Sanderson

Yep, Preservation and Ruin. And on Sel, it was Dominion and Devotion, or Love and Conquest were the two.

Questioner

So all of them are connected?

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

Questioner

I admire your imagination and I wanted to know when you first thought about your first book. I meant what is the earliest book you thought of and what age?

Brandon Sanderson

I was fifteen or sixteen, and it was Dalinar, the character. So he eventually became Stormlight Archive, although back then it was a book called Dragonsteel.

Questioner

Was it similar?

Brandon Sanderson

No, just vaguely similar. It was about a man who was the brother of the king who had to take over when the king was assassinated, so that part is the same. But the personality changed a lot over the twenty years before thinking that and writing it.

Questioner

So, at the end The Bands of Mourning, I kind of noticed what seemed to me like a massive implied spoiler for Stormlight 5.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, what is that?

Questioner

Red mist, not in the Roshar system.

Brandon Sanderson

Right.

Questioner

So, I wanted to ask you, how do you handle interlacing stories without, like, giving spoilers on the one hand and being faithful to the logic of the world on the other?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it's actually been a bit of a challenge and I just had to be aware that people might read your books in any order and things like this. So, when I'm doing stuff like that, I'm usually being a bit more coy than I look I'm being. That seems like a very, very big spoiler, but...

Questioner

But I assumed that it could be like Autonomy or Ambition...

Brandon Sanderson

So, there's more going on there, but yeah, I do take care. The real trouble has been wanting to do short stories in the future, like Sixth of the Dusk, and I had to be really careful with Sixth of the Dusk, not giving away too many things about the main stories.

Questioner

Yeah, like, who are these people...

Brandon Sanderson

So, I'm more coy than I look like I'm being, how about that?

Questioner

Will we see more of Vivenna in this one?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, oh in book four? I won't, I'll RAFO if it's in book four. You are going to see more of her but I won't promise where.

Halel

Is the time that women are pregnant in Roshar, is it different? Is it nine months, because nine is a bad number?

Brandon Sanderson

It is a bad number and also, the months and years on Roshar are a little different, so it wouldn't be... it wouldn't map exactly one-to-one to our world. So, usually, it's about 10% different, a year on Roshar is about 10% longer than one of our years, but the months are about 50 days, so I'd have to run the math, but it's not going to come out exactly.

Questioner

When will we see a continuation for the Kelsier story?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll see a little glimpse of it in Wax and Wayne 4. Otherwise, you're gonna have to wait for either [Mistborn] Era 3, or if I manage to do a Secret History 2. Which I can't promise that I'll be able to do.

Questioner

Secret History was I think my best part of the Mistborn series.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh. Thank you. I do want to do one, but we're gonna have to see where the time... where deadlines fall and stuff like that.

Questioner

How do you see the metal, burning metals in corresponding to film?

Brandon Sanderson

So I've always thought that they would make the metal glow blue once you start burning it rather than the lines. The lines I don't think will look as good on film as they work in the books so that is what I've always kind of thought it would do. You start burning it, all sources of metal start turning blue and then you can you know shove on them and things.

Questioner

I have a question about Mistborn. Is it possible for a spike to steal powers from other worlds?

Brandon Sanderson

It is possible, yes.

Questioner

And, by extension, Feruchemical storage... in the metalmind...

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, in the metalmind, if they had the other power, could they store the power...

Questioner

If there is the Feruchemist, like the...

Brandon Sanderson

So that is theoretically possible, but it would take a lot of finagling. Yeah, theoretically possible.

Questioner

Can cytonic people potentially use all the abilities from Defending Elysium?

Brandon Sanderson

Potentially, yes. So mindblades and things like that. Mostly, I'm kind of pushing people into specialties a little bit more, like I've done with something like Mistborn where you're generally better at one thing than another. So you may see some divisions of powers, but they're all capable of it.

TomereK

So Shardblades. When they cut off the victims, the eyes burn up. And deadeyes have their eyes scratched out in Shadesmar. Is there any relation between them?

Brandon Sanderson

There is indeed a connection there.

TomereK

Is it RAFO?

Brandon Sanderson

It's a RAFO, but there is a connection. You got something out of me there.

Questioner

Are the people from Mistborn the people that came to The Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

Are they the people that what?

Questioner

In The Stormlight Archive, they discover that the people are not... that humans are not the people that [came to land?]. Are they the people from Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they're not. They're from a different planet. The people from Mistborn, though, were based on them, in part. See, there's some people that predate what we call the Shattering of Adonalsium, where God was split to all these pieces, and humans predate that. The humans that were on Scadrial were created as an imitation of those.

Questioner

Is there going to be another Wax and Wayne book?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there will be one more.

Questioner

Yes? And when's it coming out?

Brandon Sanderson

I have it scheduled to be one of the things right after Stormlight 4 but before Stormlight 5. So i have to get Stormlight 4 done, that will take another couple months writing and about six months of editing. So you watch sometime around July on my website we should start seeing the Wax and Wayne progress bar pop up or the Skyward 3 progress bar. Those are the two things I need to write.

Brandon Sanderson

And your name is Topaz, huh?

Questioner

Yes, it is.

Brandon Sanderson

Topaz is a great name in the cosmere, because.. I if you know Wit/Hoid? Topaz is one of his aliases. It was the first name I came up for with him, when I was a teenager. I named him Topaz.

Questioner

It seems like [Nightblood] takes Breaths at kind of an exponential rate. So, if you were trying to draw Nightblood in a perpendicularity, would it collapse at some point?

Brandon Sanderson

That is RAFO... that is a RAFO, but yes, it's a good question to be asking.

Questioner

In the Lighthouse, it seems that it's almost like a fabrial, but not quite, because obviously, it's not a spren, obviously. So, is it like the Cognitive equivalent of what that would be?

Brandon Sanderson

So, what specifically are you talking about? Not the light itself, but the thing that Kaladin sees and stuff like that?

Questioner

Yeah.

Brandon Sanderson

No, I wouldn't say that it is. So, I would go a different direction on that.

Questioner

Why is there only one... I mean is there either one Allomantic power or all of them?

Brandon Sanderson

What do you mean? Oh, why is that? That was mostly for narrative reasons and for making it easy for the reader to track. And, so, why in world? Just ended up being the way the Investiture split but mostly it was for narrative reasons, it was for author reasons.

Questioner

I was thinking if it was related to Identity?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, no. It's mostly for my convenience as a writer.

Questioner

I was wondering if Rayse and Ryshadium, is there a connection like for Aon and Aona, Ati and atium?

Brandon Sanderson

For what? For Rayse and Ryshadium? No.

Questioner

They're called "Wax and Wayne." Is that something to do with the moon or is that just...

Brandon Sanderson

It's a pun, it's just a pun on my part.

Questioner

So you did it on purpose but it's nothing in the book?

Brandon Sanderson

I did. Yeah, Scadrial doesn't have a moon so they wouldn't really... The words "wax" and "wane" still mean what they mean, but it's not part of common vernacular the way it is over here. So it's me being goofy and loving the pun way too much.

Questioner

During the lecture the other day, you talked about the books that you never published, the thirteen books. You mentioned something you called the unspeakable, terrible book number nine. What is that about?

Brandon Sanderson

Parts of it ended up as Warbreaker. It was called Mythwalker and I never finished it - it's the only one out of all those I gave up on. It had a magic system that didn't end up working. So, that's pretty bad for one of my books. I had an intriguing concept, but it never worked.

Questioner

And do you have another one from the thirteen that you still intend on adapting, changing and then maybe publishing?

Brandon Sanderson

Aether of Night will probably end up in some form or another, and Dragonsteel will probably end up in some form or another.

Avivsm

Can a Nahel Bond be stagnant because of a spren's inability to progress? If the spren has a character deficiency they cannot break through or something?

Brandon Sanderson

Can a spren cause the Nahel Bond to not progress? This is possible. Not very common but it is possible.

Avivsm

Did the old Knights Radiant know the Shin were in possession of the Honorblades?

Brandon Sanderson

So... the Knights Radiant are aware of where... most of them are aware of where the Honorblades are.

Avivsm

In the old times?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, I thought you meant the Heralds. Did the old Knights Radiant know where the Honorblades were? I will RAFO that one, sorry. I was thinking, yes, the Heralds knew where their Blades ended up, but I will RAFO the Knights Radiant.

Questioner

Second thing, can I get a Releaser Ideal maybe?

Brandon Sanderson

A what?

Questioner

A Dustbringer?

Brandon Sanderson

No, I don't give the Ideals out until they come up in the books. They're all major plot points.

Questioner

Are the Sleepless Invested? And if so, is that in every hordeling or is it like the hive mind is an Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

I will RAFO that. All things are Invested. So-

Questioner

Un-Innate Investiture, like extra...

Brandon Sanderson

Extra? I will RAFO that.

Questioner

Two days ago, you read the first chapter of Stormlight 4 and Navani has a homesteward there and he has those rings, lots and lot of rings. Is it maybe... he has...

Brandon Sanderson

You're gonna ask if he is a Terrisman, right?

Questioner

Maybe...

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe... RAFO.

Questioner

When Zahel worldhopped to Roshar, did he ever do that before Warbreaker?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, in fact Roshar was where the idea for Nightblood kind of came from.

Questioner

Will you ever write about that?

Brandon Sanderson

I will probably reference it in future books and maybe I'll do some flashbacks, but I haven't decided. I'm unlikely to write a book that covers that time period on its own.

Questioner

So my question is this: So, Investiture is a different [type?] of existence separate from matter and energy, right?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

So, does entropy apply to Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes... It does, with some caveats, but yes. It works a little differently, but it does apply. You should be able to apply all three laws of thermodynamics with... accounting for a third state of matter, energy.

Questioner

What's the technological level of Nalthis by the time of Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to RAFO that also.

Questioner

If Nightblood were out of its scabbard and then you hit someone who is wearing a Shardplate, what would happen?

Brandon Sanderson

You will find that out in the books eventually, so that's a RAFO.

Questioner

Where did you get the inspiration for the <pilot unit> in Skyward, because you get the culture of the piloting program in Israel very well!

Brandon Sanderson

I actually went to a lot of pilots and asked them to be my beta readers and talked to them and they gave me a bunch of feedback.

Questioner

If you took Nightblood into the Cognitive Realm, what would he look like?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, and yes, he has been taken into the Cognitive Realm before.

Questioner

More specifically,  would he stay a sword or would he give himself a sort of...

Brandon Sanderson

That's a RAFO... that's the RAFO. Just make sure when you go through that perpendicularity, he's in a sheath. Otherwise, bad things happen.

Questioner

There would be a difference, you say?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, bad things would happen if you took Nightblood through.

Questioner

So you said, so the only two ways to really worldhop are Cognitive Realm or FTL.

Brandon Sanderson

I did not say that, I said...

Questioner

So there could be another way?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. I said, if you couldn't use Shadesmar, is there another way. I did not say there are only two ways.

Questioner

Okay, so there could be more than two ways?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Okay, thank you. That's the answer I was looking forward to.

Questioner

What kind of spren is Maya?

Brandon Sanderson

Maya is a cultivationspren.

Questioner

The Reachers in the ship that leads Kaladin and the group... What kind of Order do they create?

Brandon Sanderson

That will be answered in the next book. You'll have pictures of all of the Radiant spren and their bonds, except the Bondsmiths, obviously.

Questioner

One. Can there be Nahel Bonds with more then ten types of spren because we have ten Orders.

Brandon Sanderson

Meaning, are there other possible spren that could form other Orders of Knights Radiant that are not the ten? This is theoretically possible, but that is basically what you could argue is happening to Renarin. So now if you want to say... if you want to throw out the exception of spren who were one of the ten who got changed, then this is theoretically possible but right now currently wouldn't work.

Alyssum

So, Shadows for Silence... Threnody, or Hell at least, is based off of Judaism, right? And Shade sounds a lot like the Hebrew word for demon, Shedim. Is there a relation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes... yes. But it's not an in-world reason, it's just in my brain, right?

Alyssum

Okay, so I was going to ask like... do they have chicken legs, which is how [Jewish demons are depicted]

Brandon Sanderson

No, they don't. But, you know, things like She’ol [Hebrew word, the Jewish interpetation of the afterlife in certain texts] and things like that, they're in the back of my head - mostly because of Stormlight. I would say, I hadn't thought about it before, but that's definitely an unconscious influence on me. But they do not have chicken legs.

Alyssum

I have a follow-up question about Nalthis and synesthesia. How would having a lot of Breaths affect the Heightenings of someone with chromesthesia, which is a form of synesthesia where you... light and color. I mean, sorry, sound and color.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, so you hear sounds and you see colors?

Alyssum

Or vice-versa, you hear color and see sounds.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, you hear colors and you see sounds... So, what did I say before?

Alyssum

You said that it would affect it in different ways, but you didn't say how.

Brandon Sanderson

Alright, so... See sound and hear color... *struggling* I'd have to think about it, honestly. I don't think I can off the cuff that one.

Alyssum

Will we be seeing Szeth training the Radiants in the future?

Brandon Sanderson

So... Szeth will be sharing some tips, but I don't know that you'll see him training. He starts the next book in jail, so... yeah...