Recent entries

Questioner

Something I've noticed, 'cause I've been watching your videos, which I'm super grateful for. What I was wondering is, something I've noticed is that you're very good at asking the right questions. Like, when you're teaching your class, then you ask questions that garner great ideas. So, this is probably a really hard question, but how do you get your questions?

Brandon Sanderson

Instinct, I think. Looking for the questions that are not yes-or-no questions, that's certainly part of it. Practicing deconstructing stories, so that you start to learn, like the whole chef versus cook thing. It's very cook question to say "Why does this tastes good?" It's a chef question to ask "What does putting this spice in do."

Questioner

Like, "Why does this work?"

Brandon Sanderson

"Why does this work?" I think that really leads you on the route to the right questions. A lot of instinct, a lot of practice. Practice makes instincts. The hardest thing about teaching my class is acknowledging that a lot of what I do, I do by instinct, and breaking it down may not be that helpful, even though it sounds really smart, if that makes sense?

Questioner

And something that you said is that a lot of it is just sinking into your unconscious, because you do it so many times?

Brandon Sanderson

Putting things into your unconscious so that you can consciously think about new things until you're familiar enough with those that they sink into your unconscious, and you can focus on something else.

Questioner

What's the Secret Project you've got going?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm contractually obligated not to say.

Questioner

My wife is really excited and hoping for Alcatraz <super fast>.

Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz is in in the process. I've made some really decent progress. It shouldn't be too much longer on Alcatraz.

Questioner

Is it still the plan to write Dragonsteel last?

Brandon Sanderson

Next-to-last. Mistborn final Era will be... yeah, Mistborn 4 will be last.

Questioner

Is there any way to get the novel version of White Sand, or is all just graphic?

Brandon Sanderson

If you want a novel version of White Sand, if you sign up for my mailing list, we send you the ebook. And you are welcome to print your own copy (as long as you don't distribute it) that you make for yourself. That's the best way to get White Sand. I don't have any plans to print them right now. It's possible that someday I will. So if you wanna be patient, maybe we'll do some Dragonsteel Edition, or something like that.

Questioner

Is there any way I can get a physical copy of the Infinity Blades?

Brandon Sanderson

We are planning to do (we have for a long time) a nice little kind of Collector's Edition that has the stories and the scripts and the concept art for the video games. So, eventually, yes. Right now, we don't have any more copies, I don't think. You can email Kara, or the Brandon Sanderson store, and see if she has one lying around. If she does, then we can get you that one. I mean, there were only, like, a hundred of each of those printed.

Questioner

What do you do? Any other hobbies you do outside of writing?

Brandon Sanderson

I play... Magic: The Gathering is my nerd hobby. I like traveling quite a bit, which is good, because my job has me traveling.

Questioner

Is there any news on the movie for Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

There is no news, I'm afraid.

Questioner

Do we have a date when the Lost Metal will come out?

Brandon Sanderson

We do not have a date. I have to write the book first. Lost Metal shouldn't be too far off. Dropping Apocalypse Guard and doing something else instead put me behind a little bit.

Questioner

Where did you get your ideas for most of these books from? What inspired you?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, it's different for every book. Could you pick maybe one of them, and I can tell you where that one came from?

Questioner

Let's go Way of Kings.

Brandon Sanderson

Way of Kings, the original concept, the very first, was probably Dalinar. Where I wanted to tell a story about someone who was the brother of the king, and the king dies, and the son takes over, and the son's a bad king. And what do you do if you're put in that position? The conflict of duty to versus your family versus duty to the kingdom. That was probably my very first idea for Stormlight. From there, the storms were another big early idea. A world wracked by these storms, how would it develop?

Questioner 1

When I'm writing, I noticed that all my characters, they start out different, but they just become the same.

Brandon Sanderson

They blend together? That's okay, that happens. That's one of the easier things to fix in revisions, is to do a revision just focused on making sure their voices... The big thing you don't want to have happen, particularly in the first draft, is that you lose their motivations. If their voices start to blend together, you can fix that. But if their motivations start to become muddled, it's a lot harder to fix in post. So, make sure you're laying down their motivations and getting their plots right, make sure that what they do is motivated by who they are. You can tweak voice. Voice is really easy to rewrite a sentence, so it feels like it's in voice. But you do wanna do that in revision. You do wanna practice and learn how to do that. I wouldn't stress it too much. I have the same sort of problem.

Questioner 2

How do you get good motivation for a character? Because I feel like that ends up, really, kind of terrible in...

Brandon Sanderson

Motivation is the easiest place to go wrong with a character. And if it's strong, readers will forgive a whole host of other ills. And it's not as hard as it sounds. Make sure what the characters are doing comes from who they are, not from what the plot wants them to do.  Make sure it comes from a place, like... And sometimes, that may mean revising the plot. Or sometimes it means you just have to establish it more clearly. And I can't tell you which problem is without reading the book. But that is my suggestion. Make sure the choices they're making come from who they are, rather than what the plot wants them to do.

Questioner

If you were to write a Magic [The Gathering] story, which member of the Gatewatch would you be most excited to write for?

Brandon Sanderson

*long pause* I don't know. Mmm... I think my favorite of the Gatewatch is Teferi. (He counts now, right? He has an oath?) So, probably Teferi, I would say. I've always liked Teferi.

Questioner

How long do we have to wait until the next [Stormlight Archive]?

Brandon Sanderson

So, I divide my time about half-and-half, Stormlight and non-Stormlight. I finished Stormlight [Three] last year in June. And so, I'm taking eighteen months and writing the Skyward trilogy, and then I'm gonna write the next Stormlight. They usually take about eighteen months.

Questioner

Who's the next one gonna be about?

Brandon Sanderson

Next one, flashbacks should be Eshonai. The last flashback sequence should be Szeth. Of this group. Then, there'll be five more books, but those will take place about ten years later.

Questioner

I'm sure you have an outline over Stormlight Archive. How do you go about making an outline for each book? Is that just something you go at when you write the book?

Brandon Sanderson

When I write the next book, I dig into that in detail. Stormlight books are particularly hard, because I kind of outline them each as a trilogy each that I write as one book. It's the only way that I can conceive these enormous novels. And usually, what I'm looking for, that I don't always have until I work on the outline, is some sort of through-line story to make sure that the book feels like a cohesive whole, even though there's lots of different viewpoints and things.

Questioner

I just earlier finished Bands of Mourning, and I didn't know about Mistborn: Secret History until I finished it. Are you planning on releasing more like Mistborn: Secret History in the future?

Brandon Sanderson

If I can, I would like to. It was really hard to find time for Secret History. I started working on it right when I finished Hero of Ages. And it took me all this time to finally get it done. So, because they're little side projects, I have to find the right place to squeeze them in.

Questioner

Obviously, there's more to the story, with the ending of Bands of Mourning...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Yeah. I mean, Mistborn was originally conceived as three trilogies. It's actually four series now, four Eras, but who knows if I'll add another one. But we will be going to a modern-day Mistborn series next. And, really, the stuff that I have in Bands of Mourning is more to deal with the modern-day series than it is the Wax and Wayne series.

Questioner

What would you say to someone who's considering writing, but just isn't sure.

Brandon Sanderson

Go for it. It's good for you. You don't have to become a professional writer for writing to be good for you, any more than you have to go for the NBA to have basketball, playing one night a week, be good for you. It will be good for your brain, you will enjoy it. I say, just set aside a little time every week and write. And maybe it'll turn out that you have a real passion for it, and that you're really talented at it, and it will end up becoming a career. But even if it doesn't, writing a book just for you and for your friends... like, my first books, nobody but my friends read. And that's okay. Jane Austen's first books, she wrote them for her sisters. So, it's totally all right, just go for it. If you need any help on how to start, watch my university lectures. Or go to Writing Excuses, my podcast, Season 10. We kind of step you through writing a book. Go for it.

Questioner

How do you write and teach? Don't you teach at BYU?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, but I teach one class, once a year, an evening class. It's just for fun.

Questioner

Writing's full-time?

Brandon Sanderson

Writing's full-time, yeah. I've been full-time writing since... I taught for, like, two years at BYU, and then went full-time writing.

The class I teach, I just have a blast with. I just have one class, and it is a lot of fun.

Questioner

Do you have any tips for anyone writing a narrative?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, I do. So, remember that you become a great writer by practicing, the same way you become a great pianist or anything else. And those early stories, your focus should just be on getting them done. Experimenting, learning how you work as a writer. Don't stress them too much. Just practice. Set goals and accomplish them. Say "I want to write this much a week." Usually set an hour goal, be like, "I'm gonna write two hours a week." And then try to dedicate yourself to that. And you will get better. Nothing will teach you more about writing than just doing it.

Questioner

Who's your most frustrating character to write?

Brandon Sanderson

Mmm... gonna be some of the Wheel of Time characters. I was never a huge Cadsuane fan. But I ended up enjoying writing her viewpoint more than I thought I would. I would say Mat from The Wheel of Time was the hardest for me to get right, so probably him. Otherwise, most frustrating... I don't know. Like, when I'm writing a character, they have to be my favorite while I'm writing them. Otherwise, something's wrong, if that makes sense.

Questioner

What about the funnest?

Brandon Sanderson

The funnest would probably be Wayne, probably, from the Mistborn books. He is a blast to write.

Questioner

Are you working on a sequel to the Rithmatist?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but slowly. Rithmatist has some specific issues with the setting, and things like that, that are a challenge to overcome. Part of that is also psychological on my part. I wrote the Rithmatist, it was the last book I finished before The Wheel of Time happened. And The Wheel of Time really diverted my career a large amount. And so, finding the place where I was when I wrote Rithmatist again in my brain, has been a little bit hard. I took a stab at it once, and didn't like where it was going. But, I will eventually be doing another one.

Questioner

How do you get over writing block?

Brandon Sanderson

So, writing block is one of those things that is really individual. Having writing block, it's like going to a doctor and saying "I have a headache." The doctor's gonna be like, "Great, that eliminates nothing. It could still be anything." And writing block is the same way, it's all very individual. Why you're having writing block can be related to all kinds of hosts of issues. The most common ones have to relate with kind of a performance anxiety, that's very common. In that, when it's in your head, it doesn't have to be perfect yet, or you can imagine that it is perfect. And when you put it on the page, it's not. So, the worry that you're going to do it wrong or that you're already doing it wrong is a very big deal that stops writers. And usually the answer to that, to solving it, is just to write anyway. To be able to say, "It's okay if I write this chapte,r and it's not perfect. Because once I get something down, then I can start to fix it." Most writing blocks can be solved by just writing anyway. Oftentimes, for me, I have to write something bad before I start writing the right way. Like, Apocalypse Guard, I knew something was going wrong as I was approaching the ending. But if I never just not finished that ending, I wouldn't have anything to fix. So I wrote it anyway; I wrote what I had done in the outline, and it ended up... it didn't work. But now, I have something to work on that I can end up fixing. And a lot of people get stuck in that "I can't write it 'til it's perfect' sort of mode.

Questioner

I know you write multiple books at a time. Do have advice for, like, balancing those?

Brandon Sanderson

Balancing multiple books at a time. So, one of the things that I do is, I generally will work on an outline for one, while I'm writing another, and then doing revision on a third. And it feels like those three things take different parts of my brain. And so it actually can be, like, nice exercises, like when you're at the gym, you don't work the same muscle group all the time. You move between them. But what I don't generally do is write new fiction on multiple things at a time. I find that I need to keep focused on that story. So, while I work on multiple things at a time, I'm not necessarily writing on more than one thing at a time.

Brandon Sanderson

What's my biggest challenge in writing books?

There's a couple. One of the big ones I have nowadays is not repeating myself. It's a much bigger danger if you write in a lot of different series, like I do. Like, if you just write in one series, the tone and themes of that series are very similar, it's okay book-to-book, because that's what you want for a book. But if you're jumping a lot, and then every series starts to feel like it has the same tone and theme, then you start to repeat yourself. And so, the longer I go as a writer, that's one of the big challenges.

The other kind of big challenge is making sure that I'm juggling my main projects, like Stormlight and Mistborn, and the side projects that I want to do. The way my writing psychology works is, if I spend too long on one thing, I get burned out. But because of that, it's very easy for me to, instead of working on one good series that's gonna make my name, it'd be easy for me to write fifteen smaller books that all just go completely wacky directions. So I want a balance between that. I want things like The Stormlight Archive, and I want things like the novellas that I do.

Brandon Sanderson

What do I like to do besides write? Excellent question.

My nerd hobby is Magic: The Gathering. So, I go to extreme lengths to foil out my cube, and things like that. I used to have a lot more time for things like this than I do now. And that's mostly having a family, right? As you grow up and put on your big-boy pants, you're like: I have three children, I'm gonna spend discretionary time on things that they enjoy. Which means I end up playing Roblox way more than I end up playing Dark Souls these days. But as they get older, I'm hoping they will enjoy some of the things I like, as I spend time doing the things that they like, as well. I actually have a pretty healthy work/life balance. I'm fortunate in that my job, I can do anywhere, at any time of the day. What I usually do is, I get up at noon. (Because I'm a writer. I'm not an insurance salesman, I'm a writer. This is just one perk to the job.) I get up at noon. I work from about noon until five. Then I shower, get ready for the day, hang out with my family from about 5:30 until 8:30, 9:00. And then I'll usually go back to work at about 10:00, somewhere around there, and I'll work from about 10:00 until 2:00.

I found that, for my writing... Writers are all very different, right? I like two four-hour blocks. By the end of about four hours of work, I'm brain dead. The words are just not flowing as well anymore. And if I take a break and go to a second block later on, I'm way more effective as a writer. I have the benefit of having no commute. So I can do things like this. All through college, what I would do is, I actually worked a graveyard shift at a hotel in Provo. And I would go to work at 11:00. And it's Provo, so nobody's there after 11:00. You're a really sketchy person in Provo if you're staying up 'til 10:30. So from about midnight until 5:00 or 6:00, I could write every night. And that's how I put myself through school, was working there. But these days, you know, I try to make time. I used to work Saturdays, and I don't anymore unless there's something like [a convention]. I take Saturdays off. I have a pretty decent balance. The only time where it gets a little unbalanced is if I have a big tour. And those can be pretty grueling. I would much rather have this problem than not, right? My first signings, you can find pictures of me with my grandma here at the Iona Falls Barnes & Noble, where I was sitting in the front, and there were five people there who were all related to me, and that was our book signing! And now I will go to... often, book signings start at 6:00 PM, and get done at 2:00 AM if I'm in Portland, or Seattle, or one of the big cities like that. So, you do that six days a week, in a different city every day, and it can get a little exhausted. So I don't love that part of it. I like the signings. I just don't like the twentieth signing, if that makes sense.

Let me give a little bit of advice here. If there are those of you who are writers out here, there are two things that maybe to keep your life in balance I would recommend. The number one cause of breakups and divorce among my writer friends is that their spouse feels like the writer's ignoring them. It's very easy to do. As a writer, it's very easy to... it's one of these jobs, there are a lot of them like this. Being a schoolteacher is like this. You don't leave your job behind. Your job is always there with you; there's always a little bit more you can do. And because of that, it tends to consume everything if you let it. And you can be out to dinner with your spouse, but you're thinking about your book. You can be driving somewhere and giving only noncommittal responses, because you're thinking about the book. On the other side, if you happen to be the spouse of a writer, the number one thing you can do is jealously guard their writing time. For a lot of writers, a small interruption can mean... To you, it's like, "Oh, I need to ask this question for thirty seconds." But if that breaks the writer's concentration for twenty minutes, because they're spun in to the work, they're really into it, they get interrupted at just the wrong time, it can be a big interruption. So, the balance I suggest is to make a deal. Writer, when you're there with your spouse and your family, be there with your spouse and family. And then make the deal that, when the writing happens, they're gonna try to guard that door and protect you from being interrupted.

Questioner

Are you familiar with TVTropes?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm familiar with TVTropes, yes.

Questioner

What is your favorite tropes to use?

Brandon Sanderson

Wow. Favorite tropes to use? The trick is... As everyone knows, TVTropes is really dangerous because you can spend a lot of time on there. And for writers, it can also be very dangerous because, while everything is a trope, you don't want to be told too often that the thing that you thought was really original has been done five hundred times. At least, not until you've already done it, and put your own spin on it. Like, obviously I would say my favorite trope is probably Thief with a Heart of Gold. I don't know what they actually call it on TVTropes. You end up seeing that sort of thing all the time in my books.

My actually favorite one to read about on TVTropes is Worf-ing people. Where [Star Trek] Next Generation would do this thing, in order to show how cool the new villain was, in the opening scenes they would beat up Worf. And then they listed all the times that Worf would come on in the beginning, and something would beat up Worf. And that was to tell you, "Oh wait, this alien's serious business." It beats up Riker, not a big deal, but if it beats up Worf, we're in trouble. But the fact that they did that so often, if you actually watch the shows, means Worf actually is kind of a wuss, because Worf basically exists to get beat up by aliens to show how tough they are. It's one of those things where, when you overuse a concept that is really effective a couple of times, particularly in a serialized story, it ends up proving the opposite point to you.

Questioner 1

I was just wondering about the timeline in Alloy of Law. How long does is it take Wax to get back to the city after Lessie died?

Brandon Sanderson

That's... I would have to look exactly at the timeline. I believe it is months and not years, but I am not 100% sure. It might be, like eight months ?

Questioner 2

I thought it was six months.

Brandon Sanderson

Six months? That's the sort of thing that I have to look at a timeline for. I'm not gonna remember that, but yeah, something like that.

Questioner

So if I came back tomorrow, could you answer that?

Brandon Sanderson

I probably could not. If you send me an email I probably could. But this sort of thing I have to go, dig into the timeline, say "Hey Peter, where's our timeline on this. Hey Karen, what's the month... get out the master timeline," and stuff like that.

Usually I do a lot of the books, writing them without really worrying too much about the timeline, and then I give them to Karen, and Karen's job is to make all the timeline fit. And she'll come back to me and say, "We need more time here, for these people to get here," and things like that. And so I adjust the books to match the timeline. And so, a master timeline is not something I take into a large account when I am writing. It's more important in Stormlight books 'cause of the storms. You can't just off-the-cuff if there's a storm or not a storm. But in a lot of other books doesn't matter as much.

Questioner

I was just a little confused when Marasi said that Wax had come back at the same time as the thing, it didn't make sense at the end.

Brandon Sanderson

We'll see. You can always fire us an email, and we'll go to the master timeline and see what Karen says.

Questioner

The Dawnshards. Have we seen any evidence of them on Roshar yet?

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, yes.

Questioner

Is there a the relationship between them and say, like, the perfect gems like the King's Drop?

Brandon Sanderson

I'll RAFO that. Good question.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Which map holds the Easter Egg?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The main map of Roshar.

Questioner (paraphrased)

From which book?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Either book, it's the main one that will go in each copy. It's VERY hard and it won't change a whole lot.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Does it have anything to do with the compass?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Not the compass.

Questioner

Are we gonna see the old love that Kaladin had, in Book 4?

Brandon Sanderson

She is still alive. Whether or not you'll see her again is a RAFO.

Questioner

So, is the way that Vasher and...

Brandon Sanderson

Vivenna.

Questioner

How they crossed worlds. Is that related to the worlds that Pattern, and...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Shadesmar. They went through Shadesmar.

Questioner

So...all the 3 Way of Kings books begin from a different person's perspective in the past. Who're you doing next time?

Brandon Sanderson

Let me see...so Gavilar is last, so he's not fourth. I think it's Navani, but I'm not 100% sure. Yes, I think it's Navani, but I will have to look at what I've got in my notes. The 4th one's been the wild card. I always went with Szeth first and Gavilar last.

Questioner

Is Vivenna hunting Zahel?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Then why won't she tell him that she's looking?

Brandon Sanderson

She is hunting him. There's more to it, but yes.

Questioner

It's very subtle, but at the end of Oathbringer, when Jasnah goes to find Shallan on the battlefield, she goes to grab Shallan, Shallan's over here as Radiant. She has Shards *inaudible*?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a Read and Find Out. I'm being very coy on Shardplate, even though you have seen characters with it in the books before. Because I want to wait until I can do some reveals in viewpoint character.

I will tell you this: You have indeed seen people with Shardplate multiple times in the books. Or at least, the soon aftermath of someone.

Questioner

*Inaudible, presumably about inspiration for Allomancy.*

Brandon Sanderson

For Mistborn, more alchemy. I am fascinated by the fact that Isaac Newton believed in it. Just the transition period between superstition and science is a fascinating period.

Questioner

What is your favorite color?

Brandon Sanderson

Usually, I say maroon.

Questioner

For a writer like yourself and Robert Jordan who both have very expansive and articulate universes, how much of the planning process do you do up front and how much do you let it develop organically as you write?

Brandon Sanderson

I am more naturally a planner, but both methods are valid. Robert Jordan was a little bit more of what we call a pantser. But every book changes as you're writing it. Like, I don't know if you've read Stormlight, but one of the main characters in Stormlight wasn't meant to be a main character until I finished the book and there was something wrong and I went through revisions, and added a character's viewpoint in to fix those problems, and then that sends a ripple through my whole outline, and you know, so stuff like that.

Questioner

Does it ever overwhelm you to know that your books are huge now?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it's a little weird, but...I mean I'll take it. It's better than the alternative, right? You know those days when I was just a little dufus sitting in my basement writing books, have turned into me being a big dufus having to do these big lines and stuff. It is a little weird.

Questioner

Will Kaladin ever get a lover?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a Read and Find Out. People get those cards from me when I don't want to answer the question, because it'll be a spoiler.

Questioner

I feel bad for him sometimes.

Brandon Sanderson

You know, you're allowed to feel bad for Kaladin.

Questioner

Does he want to find someone to love?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he does. But, you know. Kaladin is also his own worst enemy sometimes.

Questioner

I can't remember--is there anymore Mistborn books coming?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there's one more Wax and Wayne book, then I'm going jump another Era to 1980's-level technology.

Questioner

Is each Shard associated with a certain color in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

We'll go ahead, I'll RAFO that. There are some of these questions that the answers are starting to seep out anyway. So, we'll go ahead and RAFO that.

Questioner

In Stormlight Archive, of all the Oaths that you know, which Orders would be the hardest to keep?

Brandon Sanderson

The thing about it is the spren self-select. So if you're going to give them to a random person then in that case, I'd say the Windrunners, but it could be the Skybreakers. One of those guys that are closer up on the dial to Honor and things like that are probably gonna be the harder to take for a random person but that whole self-selection thing ends up making it...

Questioner

I was wondering if the Oathpact was limited just to the 10 original Heralds, or if someone could possibly take their place?

Brandon Sanderson

*Presumably hands RAFO card* 

Questioner

So, in the beginning of Alloy of Law, Bloody Tan says that he has met God, Death, and the Survivor. We know that Lessie was working with Harmony the entire time. Was Bloody Tan also under the influence of Harmony?

Brandon Sanderson

So, "under the influence of" is perhaps a...so I would say "No," but, he is not lying at that point.

Questioner

Oh, that is awesome.

Brandon Sanderson

So, "under the influence" is extreme, but...Harmony is also not 100% guiltless. Let's put it that way.

Questioner

You know, that feels like a good answer. That way I can at least have Harmony not my most hated Shard, but...

Brandon Sanderson

Harmony does not deserve to be hated, but Harmony is having troubles figuring out how to make things work.

Questioner

Have you ever thought of stepping out of fantasy, and doing a different kind of drama, like "Let me do a romantic comedy and see how that goes"?

Brandon Sanderson

Umm yeah. I mean Legion is a detective story, which is one of my departures, and I do some science fiction. I've never really been interested in doing something that didn't have a sci-fi/fantasy element, 'cause it's part of what fascinates me, but i would be most likely if I were to step out of that, to do something...probably a straight up mystery, would be where I would go. You might also be able to see me writing a historical novel.

Questioner

Like if you tried to do a romantic comedy...but somehow it got some sci-fi--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, every time I try to do something like that, some sort of fantasy element pops into it somehow.

Questioner

My friends and I had this debate when we were playing the Mistborn Adventure Game. So when a kandra imitates a human, do they replicate the organs perfectly?

Brandon Sanderson

Usually, yes. But there are kandra that do not, by intention, do that.

Questioner

Does that include the reproductive organs?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

So theoretically if a kandra were to copulate with a human while pretending to be a human, would it create another human?

Brandon Sanderson

It would. And I think I've been consistent on that. So, I have to do things like this because I didn't want a blood test to be able to determine who was a kandra and who wasn't, because that's your go-to way to find a shapeshifter. So I think I had to imitate entirely. But boy, would it imitate the genetic code... *sounds of thought and frustration*

Questioner

That's the question we have.

Brandon Sanderson

You know, I don't know that they would...so they were human...I'm going to go ahead and back pedal and RAFO on that. I haven't decided 100% yet...I know you can't tell with a bloodtest, but if you look at the DNA, would you be able to tell it's a kandra? And I'm kinda thinking you probably would be able to. 

Questioner

So then, following that they wouldn't be able to reproduce.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, they wouldn't be able to reproduce in that case. I'm gonna go--jury's out. And I have to really make a call on this. I'm going to say, "Yes," right now, that they are doing this down to the cellular level, a copy, but I may have to backpedal on that when I get to future Mistborn books, when I really look at it, what it would take, to do that. It's an unofficial yes, with a RAFO attached to it.

Questioner

Who has been your favorite character to write so far?

Brandon Sanderson

It's hard to say, they're all like my children. I often default to Wayne, because he's a blast.

Questioner

I was curious, what is your favorite metaphor in the Steelheart series?

Brandon Sanderson

Definitely the potato in a minefield, just because it comes at the right moment. It's not the best of the metaphors, but it's the most...the most 'David' of the metaphors.

Questioner

When is Wax coming back?

Brandon Sanderson

Wax is coming back...Wax will be the next...well...it will happen before too much longer. I was gonna write it next but I don't know, it would kinda feel nice to finish the whole Skyward trilogy, turn it in, and be done, and not have to come back to it, but then when do I do Wax 4? So we'll see. It shouldn't be too much longer.

Questioner

Are we gonna get more Cosmere or are you done with that? 

Brandon Sanderson

You'll get a lot more Cosmere. A lot more.

Brandon Sanderson

Hufflepuff, eh?

Questioner

My husband's a Hufflepuff.

Brandon Sanderson

Do you know what I am? Can you guess?

Questioner

I would say...a little bit of Slytherin, I've seen your evil faces when you give out RAFO cards.

Brandon Sanderson

*Talks over* Slytherin, I'm Slytherin.

I figure if you sort yourself in Slytherin, it's the house that...if you think you are, you probably are.

Questioner

Who is your favorite female character?

Brandon Sanderson

Favorite female character? Jasnah, probably. It's hard to say, it's like they're all my children, right? Whose your favorite child? but...Jasnah, maybe?