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    Daz925

    Where were you in your writing process for Elantris-- I know it was your sixth book and you were on your nineteenth when you got it published or--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, good question.So, where was I in my process when I wrote Elantris and when I got published, which was my sixth novel. So what happened with my career, it's kind of a very weird thing. You find that everybody has a different path to success as a writer. I heard early on that your first five books are generally terrible and this was really relieving to me, because I--a part of my brain-- this would not-- someone else, this might've been the worst thing to tell them. But for me it was the best thing because my brain said, "Okay, good, you don't have to be any good at this for your first five books".

    And so my first five books I experimented quite a bit in story and tone. I did a gritty cyberpunkish thing. I did a comedy. I did an epic fantasy. I tried a lot of-- I did a space opera. I did a lot of different things. And once I had done all that, I came back and said, "You know, my first love is epic fantasy, and it's what I really want to do." So I sat down to write book number 6, which was Elantris.

    And at that point, I had gotten a few books underneath me. I kind of knew what I was doing, though I was not-- I hadn't figured out my process quite as well as I would have liked. Elantris and a lot of the books during that era I did a lot more discovery writing, and I naturally am better when I have a stronger outline. But that's where I was.

    My biggest weakness as a writer at that point was revision. I had spent those five early books just trying different things, and that permission for me to not be good yet also kind of gave me the psychological ability to be like, "Well, I don't have to revise this one, because I don't have to be good yet." But what that meant is I didn't practice revision. So once I finished Elantris, I was not good enough yet to know how to take a good book and make it great. So it went the rounds in New York and got rejected; rightly so, because it was very flabby and had not been focused. And I know, from a guy who writes thousand-page books, focus is a weird thing to say. *laughter*

    And so, when I actually sold Elantris to Tor, it was after it had gone through four or five drafts and I had finally sat down and kind of buckled down and said "I need to learn revision and learn how to make my books better". So I sold it right after-- right while I was working on Way of Kings in 2002, 2003, somewhere around there.

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    Questioner

    You mentioned that the Heralds could sense each other's location--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Only in that version of the story... In that version of the story he actually gets his sword and it lets him sense and it leads him, not to the other Heralds, but the other Honorblades. He was mistaken even about that power because they have never separated from them before. And so, he thinks that he's going to find the other Heralds and he just finds their abandoned Blades.

    It was very cool in the context of that book. But of course, where the other Honorblades are now is not necessarily a mystery anymore. It doesn't kinda work in the current continuity.

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    Questioner

    Are we going to see any other viewpoints from the Heralds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, you will see-- I mean, Taln and Ash are both main characters, right? But you should see other viewpoints of other Heralds as we progress. The ones that survive long enough to get viewpoints.

    Questioner

    Are they gonna be viewpoints in this current timeline?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You will see more in this current timeline. I know specifically several that are going to be interludish sort of things coming up.

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    Questioner

    If someone were to create a human shape, with full articulations, made out of the four Feruchemical Spiritual metals and copper and do like a full dump into them, would it be able to-- I mean, Investiture attains sapience on its own. And then with-- If those were mixed with the memories in the copper would it be able to effectively become an android of the person who created it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So we got a couple of issues you have to overcome in creating this. Number one, the memories are not going to attune to the Investiture itself, they're going to be attuned to you. The Investiture as it attains sapience is gonna create its own Identity, which is then going to be a mismatch for those memories. So you would have to find a way to get those memories to work for that creation.

    Questioner

    It wouldn't tie with the Identity that was stored in the aluminum?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it would not... The other thing you were getting at there though, is that just Investing it alone, you would have to leave it alone for a long time, naturally, for it to start developing anything. And so we're looking at thousands of years, probably. There are ways to speed that process along, but just doing that and leaving it, it's gonna take a while.

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    Questioner

    When magic Invested in an object-- Does the Investiture act like electrons when it reacts with the matter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not quite, but I could see that metaphor working to explain it. But it's not quite there. The Investiture kind of-- If you had a piece of Invested material from the cosmere here, you would not be able to measure the Investiture in any way. It occupies a space that doesn't exist in our universe, if that makes sense. But in the cosmere you could measure it scientifically with an instrument that wouldn't do anything here, like trying to measure a dimension that we can't perceive, something like that. The electron metaphor is a decent one, but it's not exactly how I'm imagining it.

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    Questioner

    How many diamond chips does Zahel require to survive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. We will actually be releasing this pretty soon. But I actually have used my prerogative as a famous author to force some others to actually do the number crunching and the math of it. And so we will have a straight up unit measurement for you of various things coming up pretty soon. Once the number crunchers are done, you will know.

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    Questioner

    Regarding Dysian Aimians. The cremlings that make them up are spread about in a large area--

    Brandon Sanderson

    They can lose touch if the distance is too far. They can lose contact with the mind of the whole thing.

    Questioner

    Would their Cognitive aspect be affected by that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes it would be. I'll just leave it there, but yes.

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    Questioner

    With the Shards and them kind of splitting pre-Adonalsium, was it really Shattered on Yolen or is there a different place?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, it gets a little sticky for various reasons, but you can assume that that's a yes, that what it appears to be is correct. Dragonsteel and the story of Hoid takes place on Yolen but it gets messy, because there's some weirdness about the planet.

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    Questioner

    You mentioned White Sand Volume 3. Do we have a release date for that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We do not have a release date but the script is done. We like the script. We've fixed slatrification, we hope. The ending is much improved over the novel in our humble opinions.

    Questioner

    You published that as part of Arcanum Unbounded--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Just a sample. If you want to read the whole prose edition, just sign up for the newsletter. It sends you a link to download it. Or you can just ask from the 17th Shard. I let them distribute that. The ending of that has one really good element and one really bad element, and we took out the bad element and focused on the good element. I think it really kinda came together.

    Footnote: Correction: The 17th Shard is not currently allowed to distribute the prose version of White Sand.
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    Questioner

    I know about Harmony but is it possible for like two Shards to procreate and make a brand new Shard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is a Read And Find Out. Assume I'm not hiding too much from you in that realm, but there will be some fiddly bits as we go further in the cosmere about stuff like that.

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    KING

    What would it take for a member of the Seventeenth Shard Shard to convert over to a member of the Ghostbloods? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, the Ghostbloods would actively recruit from them. So, I think it would not be terribly difficult. It 's gonna depend on which kind of Seventeenth Sharder. Because there are a lot of non-field-agent Seventeenth Sharders, which would be less interesting. Field agents, they would actively recruit. 

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    Questioner

    So, the sixteen Shards. Is it possible that there are more than sixteen, yet they do not know of them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This would be possible but I'll just go ahead and tell you no there aren't. *laughter* That'll stop a lot of theorizing, though it is possible that Shards have been divided and things like this. And so you can call two subsets-- But it's kind of like there are twelve tribes of Israel. They became twelve other tribes of Israel. There were still twelve because two were the sons of one. Yeah, stuff like that.

    Footnote: Brandon was referring to Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph. The land of Israel was divided among twelve tribes that were slightly different from the original twelve, as Joseph's was replaced by those of his sons and Levi's was not a landed tribe.
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    Questioner

    If you were a Smedry, what would your talent be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I base most of the talents of the people in the Alcatraz Books off dumb things that I do. So I am famously bad at dancing. Famously. So I would definitely have that one. I am always late; that came from me. (Though really, secretly, it came from my mom; 'cause she is even more late that I am.) Most everything thing in there is me. But I would say probably "bad at dancing", that would probably be my best, because I am just really bad at dancing. It's not even in a funny way, it's just in a boring way.

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    Questioner

    When will you clear up the things at the end of Bands of Mourning?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is mostly setup for Era 3 of Mistborn. You can find some answers in Arcanum Unbounded; if you haven't read that, I would recommend that. If you get the the end of Bands of Mourning and you're like "huuuuh?" there are some answers in Arcanum Unbounded, but mostly I'm doing stuff that is Era 3 of Mistborn, which will be written after Stormlight 5. There will be a Wax & Wayne 4. Wax & Wayne 4 will touch on these, but it's not the central theme of the Wax & Wayne books; it's the central theme of Era 3.

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    Questioner

    Will we ever find out more about Vessel of Ruin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. I will eventually write Dragonsteel, which is Hoid's backstory; you will find out about all the various Vessels of the Shards of Adonalsium then. It is a little ways off; I'm going to finish all of Stormlight before I do that. It will be the the next thing after Stormlight 10.

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    Questioner

    What was the inspiration for Sazed's spiritual turmoil?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He came from several ideas. One idea was the missionary for all religions. Which was that the cool concept, that originated his story, was someone who tried to fit a religion to someone like you fit shoes to somebody. "Let's find the right one to fit them." When I was developing that character and working on it in the outlining process, and after I tried a few scenes and knew that I liked who he was, the question that followed up is, "What does he really believe?" As I developed the character, I settled on "He doesn't know," because that's not what he does, he tried to suit to other people. I knew that the story had to put him in a crisis of deciding what does he actually believe, and what is his belief system, because that is who he is. The inspiration of that was simply growing out of who the character was as I saw this character, and trying to create a crisis that would force him down that path, to make the hard decisions.

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    Brandon Sanderson

    So I have never read this to anyone before. In fact no one has seen it in ten years. It is not canon, but it is where Taln as a character started. If you're not familiar, Taln is the crazy guy that shows up at the end of Way of Kings. And here is how his first scene went in the original Way of Kings.

     

    Taln awoke from a dream of agony and screams. Two things occurred to him immediately. First, as a Herald, he should not need to sleep. Second, as a Herald, he definitely shouldn't dream.

    He frowned, sitting up. The last few days were a blur in his mind. He had come to the city, and he remembered his arrival and his bursting in on some sort of feast or party. Beyond that, the Sign hadn't worked.

    Taln hissed in surprise, thrusting forward his hand, trying to manifest the Nahel bond within him. Nothing happened. What of his other powers?

    He analyzed his surroundings with a quick glance. He was in a long rectangular chamber set with beds along both walls. The room was set with stone pillars and the windows were shaped with triangular peaks. In fact, the architecture had a great number of angles and lines. He was probably in the Alethi section of the city.

    Many of the beds were occupied with the lame and the sick. And the men tending them wore undyed tan robes, some with the glyph Ele, the mark of the priesthood. There were two long doors leading out of the room and the windows provided an alternative exit. They looked wide enough to be broken with relative ease. A table would probably do it.

    There was a small chair beside his bed, and a chest with amber knobs. He reached out, blessing his fortune. He had the sourcestone of Stonewarding. He touched the amber, seeking to draw upon its power, and again, nothing happened. Taln withdrew his fingers, frowning. Something was very, very wrong.

    Why won't my Stonewarding work, he thought with frustration. And the Sign. I need information.

    He scanned the room again. His mind was far less fuzzy than it had been. Images, places, and thoughts were all becoming more clear. There were only two monasteries in this section of the city, unless new ones had been constructed. Lighthome and Mercyhome, of which Lighthome was a female monastery.

    One of the attendants noticed Taln was awake, and the man waved over an older monk. The elderly man regarded Taln with a displeased expression, whispering to his companion in a voice most men probably wouldn't have been able to overhear. But Taln was not most men.

    "Where's Brother Lhan?" the elder monk hissed. "He should be here!"

    "I'll fetch him," the other monk promised, bowing his head in deference, then rushing off.

    The older man cleared his face of displeasure, smiling reassuringly toward Taln. He had a large nose and grizzled features and his hands were callused.

    "I see you finally awoke from your slumber, traveler."

    "Yes, holy one," Taln replied, still bothered by the fact that he had fallen asleep in the first place. "Thank you for caring for me." He flexed his arm, testing his muscles against their extended immobility. "It seems I've been out of sorts these last few days. How long was I asleep?"

    "Four days, off and on," the senior monk explained. "You were awake for much of the time, but you seemed unable to focus."

    Four days. Taln shook his head. Yet he could feel the weakness in his mind, the whispers at the edges of his sanity. It was getting worse each return. Perhaps that was the reason for his apparent slumber.

    "I must say, traveler, you seem far more lucid than you were when we first brought you."

    "I feel far more lucid, holy one," Taln said with a smile. He raised his sheet, noticing he was still naked. Hopefully the monks would loan him some clothing, though he doubted anyone was going to give him a weapon any time soon.

    "Tell me, traveler, what do you remember of yourself?"

    Taln raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking if I still think that I am a Herald?"

    "In not so many words."

    "My problems of the last few days were not related to my identity, holy one," Taln said. "I am a Herald. I will not lie to you. That would do us both a disservice."

    "I see," the monk said, his disappointment apparent.

    "However," Taln continued, "I don't expect you to believe me. The Sign did, after all, fail. I'll have to solve that problem before I can move on to other items. For now, let's suffice to say that I was a traveler in need of your assistance and you provided it. The Almighty bless you for that."

    The monk smiled, glancing to the side as another brown robed form, looking a little disheveled, entered from the north hallway. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need, friend," the elderly monk said, gesturing toward the newcomer. "Brother Lhan has been assigned to care for you. He will travel with you and make certain you are acquainted with the city."

    In other words, he'll make certain I don't get in trouble, Taln thought, smiling and nodding his head as the elder monk backed away to care for other patients. Taln was pleased to note that this Brother Lhan was carrying a folded pile of clothing for him. Lhan was a younger man, probably in his early twenties. A bit on the pudgy side, with an unconcerned oval of a face.

    Lhan blinked tiredly as he approached, and his left cheek was still imprinted with the lines of whatever he had been lying on before they woke him. Lhan yawned as he pulled a stool up beside Taln's bed, resting the clothing on the floor in front of him.

    "Greetings traveler. Welcome to the glorious Mercyhome monastery."

    "Thank you," Taln said, reaching immediately for the clothing. "I assume these are for me?"

    Lhan nodded, yawning again.

    "I'm sorry they woke you," Taln said, picking through the clothing.

    Lhan shrugged. "It's my own fault, I really should get a better place to hide."

    Taln raised an eyebrow at the comment as he examined the clothing. The cut was unfamiliar to him, though fashion changes between returns were normal. The trousers were loose through the legs and ended in wide triangular cuffs halfway down the calf. The shirt was equally loose, probably intended to be worn tucked into the pants and tied with a sash. There were undergarments as well.

    The most important article, however, was the thick brown cloak. A piece of Rosharan fashion that would never change. Cloaks were necessary even in the summer to ward off highstorm rains. All the clothing had been crafted from <shanaw>, a plant whose bark was stringy and fluffy enough to be spun. It made for rough fabric. Fortunately all of the cloak had been treated in such a way to make it soft to the touch. Taln nodded in satisfaction.

    "Brother Lhan," Taln said, "Please run and fetch me some thread and a needle."

    "Excuse me?" the monk asked.

    "You and I are in a forced relationship,"Taln said. "Your superiors obviously expect you to keep me from causing serious trouble. If you want my cooperation in this, you'll want to make yourself useful."

    Lhan raised an eyebrow. "How very economical of you."

    Taln sighed, regarding the man. "I'm not trying to be difficult, Lhan, I'm just trying to save the world. A needle and some thread would be very helpful."

    Lhan rolled his eyes, rising from his stool. "All right."

    "Oh and bring me some rocks," Taln added. "Small ones, maybe half the size of your fist."

    "Rocks?" Lhan asked.

    "Yes, rocks. This is Roshar. Last time I checked, which admittedly was several centuries ago, they were fairly prevalent here."

    "Rocks," Lhan mumbled again as he walked off.

    Taln was dressed by the time Lhan returned. He accepted the thread, needle and rocks from the monk, and began sowing the flap of the hem of his cloak.

    The monk sat down, regarding Taln with curiosity.

    "The second thing I'll need from you, Brother Lhan, is information," Taln said, pulling the thread tight.

    "Ask away."

    "What year is it?"

    "Tenth Epoch, 980," Lhan replied.

    Taln paused, needle halfway through his stitch. "980?"

    "Yeah," the monk said. "Not that I've seen the daylight for the last ten years or so, but at least that's what they tell me what year it is."

    980. Nearly a thousand years since the last return. That's a long time. Something must have happened to the <cofen> That was the old name for the voidbringers]. They had never waited that long between returns before. "What happened to the epoch kingdoms?" Taln asked

    Lhan didn't respond immediately. "You're kidding, right?"

    "Pretend I'm not."

    "They fell, right after the beginning of the tenth epoch."

    Taln closed his eyes, sighing to himself. He hoped it wasn't true but.. "What about Alethkar," he said. "It obviously still exists."

    "Well a lot of the kingdom is just a name," Lhan explained. "It's always a good idea to use one of the old names when you found a kingdom. Makes you seem more legitimate."

    "Which ones still stand then, even if only in name?"

    "Alethkar, of course." the monk said, "And as the king told you, we've expanded a bit over the last few years. Thaylenah still stands, by itself on that island over there. So its borders stay pretty stable. Vedenar is now called Jah Keved, though it's ruled by three Veden houses with a figurehead as its leader."

    "That's it?"

    "Well Shinovar is still there. But no one really pays much attention to them. The rest is gone. Kingdoms sometimes try to claim their names, but mostly they're uninhabited. Especially <Rianat>. There's enough bandits over there to form their own kingdom."

    Taln nodded. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but... "Vorinism is still strong, I assume?" Taln noted, reaching for the rocks that Lhan had brought him.

    "Always will be, Almighty willing," Lhan said in a beautiful monotone, his piousness weakened slightly by the extended yawn he made in the middle of the sentence.

    "If the Vorin religion is still in power, " Taln said, "How is it that no one takes my claim to be a Herald seriously? Have you forgotten about the cycle of returns, the coming of the cofen? The religion was founded to prepare for such things."

    "Well, we've kind of had to change our focus during the last epoch. You did, after all, promise that you weren't coming back any more."

    "What?!" Taln froze, glancing up.

    "At the end of the last return," Lhan explained. "The Heralds disappeared and said they weren't coming back. That the cycle of returns was through and the cofen had been defeated."

    "That's not possible."

    Lhan raised an eyebrow.

    "I wouldn't be here if the cycle of returns were over." Taln explained. "Trust me. Which of the Heralds proclaimed this?"

    "Well I'm not sure. It didn't become the official doctrine until about the fifth century, I think."

    "Why so long?"

    "You're kind of asking the wrong monk, actually. Actually, the wrong monastery. The order of Ishar contains all the history experts. This all happened a thousand years ago."

    "But it's your theological heritage!" Taln said.

    "So the senior monks are fond of telling me."

    Taln stood, putting on the cloak.

    "You sewed rocks into your hem. How very odd of you."

    Taln spun, turning a few times to judge the motion of the cloak. Then he turned to the side in a quick motion, pulling the garment off with a smooth gesture. He nodded to himself, putting it back on. "For weight." Taln explained "A weighted cloak is more easy to position in battle and more easy to remove quickly." You could also use it as a surprise weapon, though he didn't offer that bit of explanation.

    "Oh," Lhan said.

    "What did you think I was doing?" Taln asked with amusement, sitting down on the bed without removing the cloak.

    "I wasn't sure," Lhan replied. "I figured you were confused. You are, after all, crazy."

    "You're not a very subtle one, are you, Brother Lhan?"

    "I make up for it in sheer laziness," Lhan replied. "What are you doing now?"

    "Pockets," Taln said, getting out of the cloak again. "Do you mind if I cut up this blanket?"

    Lhan shrugged. "It's the kind of thing they expect crazy people to do, so I guess it's okay. But you'll have to tear it. I'm certainly not giving you a knife."

    Taln frowned but did as requested. "You seem surprisingly flippant with regard to my supposed lunacy. Aren't you afraid I'll become violent?"

    "You're not the violent type. I've seen your type come through the monastery a lot. I also know you can't be talked out of who you think you are. My job is simply to make certain you don't accidentally hurt yourself or anyone else, especially not me."

    "You have experience with my type, then?" Taln asked.

    "I tend to get the more undesirable assignments"

    "I wonder why." He fell silent as he worked, turning his thoughts to a topic he'd been avoiding. What was he going to do? Normally he had the other Heralds to decide the plan. But he appeared to be the only one who'd reached the city. He needed to find the others and that required one thing. His sword. It had been taken from him. He remembered that night of the feast only vaguely.

    "My sword..." he said.

    "That was confiscated," Lhand said. "You didn't exactly make a good impression on the king. Enduring perhaps, but definitely not good."

    "There was a woman," Taln said. "She saved my life."

    "Lady Jasnah" Lhan agreed. "The king's sister. Don't assume she protected you out of fondness. Lady Jasnah is about as compassionate as a sleeping chull. Even her breathing is politically motivated. No one's certain why she pled for you, but most think it was some kind of stunt."

    "Either way, I owe her my life," Taln said. The loss of his weapon was troubling. With it, he could sense the location of the other Heralds. It would be the easiest and fastest way to find them. Assuming, of course, he thought, that the Blade's power still worked.

    Taln paused. A feeling of dread struck him. Stonewarding didn't work, and he couldn't manifest the bond. If he'd lost the sword as well...

    The window light turned red. Taln gasped, feeling dizzy. An expression of concern actually crossed the monk's face.

    "Are you all right?" Lhan asked.

    The monk burst into flames. The windows melted. Bloodred fire ripped up the sides of the building, pooling at the top and bearing down on Taln with its heat. Smoke rose from the suddenly ignited beds, curling ominously, bringing with it screams, sudden, formless screams, that came from the far edge of the room.

    Taln looked up. Fire roared and something moved within it, something dark. The screams mounted, pulsing in his ears, searing him, flaying him.

    "What's wrong?" Lhan asked, still in flames, his flesh melting from his face.

    Taln closed his eyes, grabbing the sides of his bed, pushing the screams away. He shivered, exhaling a long, demanding sigh. When he opened his eyes, the room had returned to normal. He sat for a few minutes, breathing deeply.

    "I'm fine," Taln finally said, forcing himself to stand up and look at his new cloak. It had one large pocket and two smaller ones, and a small ribbon at the back to hold a hidden dagger, if he ever managed to get his hands on one.

    "I assume I'm allowed to leave the monastery?"

    "So long as you take me with you," Lhan said, "but.."

    Taln raised an eyebrow.

    "You're kind of expected to go work in the royal mines, "Lhan explained. "To help pay for your keep."

    "No one is going to force me?" Taln clarified.

    "Well, no."

    "Good," Taln said. "We're leaving."

    "Umm...Where are we going?"

    "To get some information."

    "Oh, you mean my wealth of accumulated wisdom isn't good enough for you?"

    Taln turned, eyeing the monk with a suffering eye, then waved for him to follow.

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    Questioner

    You see, in a few places, Shards that can read people's minds, or send thoughts to people's minds. What, in other settings, would be called telepathy. Do we have, in any Shardworlds, a magic system where ordinary people have telepathy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've actually designed one that I think is interesting, whether I will make that work or not, I'm not sure. But there is a very interesting world, one that i have right now in the Cosmere, that we will see. I try not to canonize these things till I actually write the story. As happened with Silence Divine, where people have been for six years, "When are you going to write this story?" Because I wrote one chapter of it.

    But yes, I do have something that works that way.

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    JoyBlu

    How old is Taravangian?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Taravangian is in his 80's, I believe. He is not immortal, he has not lived an extra long time. He might be 70's local time.

    JoyBlu

    How many kids does he have? If he has all these granddaughters running around.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He has a number of children, but I have not defined it.

    JoyBlu

    Were they all with the same wife?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. That, I have defined.

    Questioner 2

    Were they all by a wife?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A better question. RAFO.

    R'Shara

    Was he as much of a stud as Spook?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

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    R'Shara

    A long time ago, where you said that Pailiah was the elderly ardent in Kharbranth that Shallan saw, is that right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes? If you say I said that, then I did.

    Questioner 2

    Does that mean it is still true?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's just say there is a Herald in close proximity to Taravangian.

    R'Shara

    It was in a signed book but we never got a picture of it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is a Herald in close proximity to Taravangian. I'm not being sneaky about that.

    R'Shara

    Is there more than one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There have been in the past, but there is only one that you would call influencing him right now. But there have been others in the past.

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    Stormlightning

    Where you *inaudible* Hoid as a Lightweaver in Era 2?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid was a Lightweaver in Dragonsteel.

    Stormlightning

    I mean a spren Lightweaver. Unless the timeline's still, really--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Meaning was I planning for him to become a Lightweaver?

    Stormlightning

    Before Era 2 since we thought Era 2 was going to be Era 3.

    Brandon Sanderson

     Hoid has never quite stopped being a Lightweaver. He is very happy to be fully empowered with things.

    Stormlightning

    Does that mean he was not fully a Lightweaver?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You will find out someday. His magic was not fully functional, but he was Lightweaving in Way of Kings

    Skyward release party ()
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    JoyBlu

    Both Tien and Kaladin are Radiant, you talked about how that wasn't hereditary, and how that was more because of where they were with association. Was it because they were associated with the same person, or the same place?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Connection influences spren.

    JoyBlu

    Right, but was the Connection to a person that they were around?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Connection to people.

    JoyBlue

    So not necessarily the place where they were?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right.

    Joyblu

    Because my way of thinking it might be with the people is because, like with the Purelake on the Cognitive Realm there would be more spren hanging out there because that was more land, right; so if you spent more time on that you would have more spren around you. So if you're closer to more water, you're closer to more spren.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is not an irrelevant observation.

    Skyward release party ()
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    Questioner

    You said in a previous question and answer that there was Cultivationlight, possibly. Since Lift is aligned to Cultivation, does she actually use Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO. You know I'm staying away from this.

    Footnote: The previous question referenced can be found here. This question has been answered here; she is generating Lifelight, which is Cultivation's Light.
    Skyward San Diego signing ()
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    Tiek00n

    What would happen if Lift ate aluminum or other Allomantic metals? 

    Brandon

    Lift would not be able to do anything with Allomantic metals. Good question.

    Tiek00n

    Does that include turning them into Stormlight?

    Brandon

    Yes, that includes turning them into Stormlight.

    BookCon 2018 ()
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    Dissentinel (paraphrased)

    Is Spensa's race left intentionally vague in Skyward?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Yes, it is.

    Dissentinel (paraphrased)

    So how do you feel about the new US cover, which depicts Spensa as white?

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    That's something the publisher decides, it's out of our hands.

    Footnote: Note: The last thing Brandon said is extremely paraphrased. This WoB was compiled almost six months after it was given. 
    Skyward release party ()
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    Questioner

    You pulled Apocalypse Guard, will it ever come back?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I sat down with Apocalypse Guard and looked it over and since I couldn't decide what was wrong with it, I actually gave it to Dan Wells, who's a friend of mine, and I said, "Dan, can you figure out what's wrong with this?" We broke in together, we've been in writing groups together for a long time, and he read through it and he's like, "Yeah, I've got some ideas." So I actually, you know, wanted to work with him, so he actually jumped in to try and do a draft of it himself, and he fixed a lot of the problems, but he didn't fix the biggest problem, which is that the worldbuilding doesn't work.

    Which is a really weird thing for a Brandon Sanderson book, but it's part of the reason we can't release it. I can't release a book with bad worldbuilding. I just can't. So while he fixed the characters, I still need to fix the worldbuilding. If I can, we will release it. If I can't, I'm sure even if I don't ever release it, I'll find a way to put it on my website or something like that. So you would be able to read it, and if we do release it, I'll make sure to release it in the failed version too for those who are interested so you can compare. So I think it's really illustrative to see how a professional fails.

    Skyward release party ()
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    Steeldancer

    What happens when you flare copper?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What happens when you flare copper? Various different things can happen when you flare copper. I'll RAFO that for now. [...] I'll delve into that more, I don't want to delve into it too much right now, you'll find out, probably in Era 3, some of the things that can happen with copper.

    Skyward Pre-Release AMA ()
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    UppityDarkeyes

    Would you be willing to confirm that the use of 'they' pronouns for the Sibling is because the Sibling is non-binary? Since apparently some people are confused on this point.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The sibling did not view themselves as male or female. (And considered it odd that so many spren would adopt human genders.)

    Skyward Pre-Release AMA ()
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    XMikethetrikeX

    A question regaurding Feruchemical iron:

    So, while Sazed was guarding one of the gates to Luthadel, he tapped weight to compensate, he had to tap pewter as well. Also, when he was climbing a tree, his strength to weght ratio rised, making it easier for him to climb it. Wax doesn't have to do this- when fighting Miles on the train, he's fine without any sort of muscular enhancement, and when he is climbing in the sets base, he notes that he does not make himself lighter because it would simply decrease his weight and strength equally (in contrast to Sazed climbing the tree).

    So, is this difference for the same reason people can push/ pull on atium, being the you hadn't fully developed your idea for the cosmere yet? Or is it some other reason?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hmm. I think the mistake is more on me writing the Wax scene than in the original. (For him climbing, specifically.) I'll put Peter on this and see if it's a continuity error we want to fix.

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    What's next for you with this series and in general?

    Brandon Sanderson

    My outline for Skyward calls for four books. The sequel will come out a year from this November. Starting in January, I plan to work on the fourth [book] in The Stormlight Archive, and that'll take about 18 months. I split my time between that series and other projects to prevent myself from getting burned out. When I finish a big epic fantasy, I need something different to get excited about for a while. So I'll jump back into this series after the next Stormlight.

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    Are there any particular messages that you hope readers will take away from this book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't really go into books with a message. I like to explore the characters and their passions, and the theme, without any overt agenda. I just want readers to be able to see through the eyes of people who are different from them, to see that our biases do affect how we perceive the world—and that's both a good and bad thing. I just want them to come out of the story saying, "That was great, let me think about this some more."

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    Something noteworthy about your work is the massive interconnectivity. Is Skyward connected to any of your universes or continuities?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's connected to a novella I wrote, which explored an interesting premise in faster-than-light travel. I prefer not to publicize which one, because the spoiler at the end of that story related to a twist near the end of Skyward. This isn't connected to my big epic fantasy universe, the Cosmere, for several reasons. First, the way space travel is possible here doesn't work with that setting. Also, this incorporates lore from Earth, and I try to keep Earth and the Cosmere very distinct and separated.

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    What kind of research did you do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mainly, it was about fighter pilots and what they go through, what g-force feels like, stuff like that. I'm indebted to a couple of real-life fighter pilots for helping me to get it right. Also, I had to research what it's like to live in societies where the machine of war grinds people up out of necessity to keep the country alive, what it does to them. I took inspiration from real-world regimes to create an amalgamation, which still doesn't go as far as it could have. I just included subtle markers to the reader to suggest the sort of stress they live under.

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    One thing we tend to expect in YA is the presence of romance. There's no real sign of it in Skyward, though. Was this your intention from the start, or did the characters just not work out that way?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It was more the characters. In my first draft, I tried to shoehorn a romance in. I like romance; you'll find them in my adult books. But here, it didn’t fit the characters or the theme, and it felt inappropriate. This is a very traumatic time for Spensa, who's focused in every way on becoming a pilot and finding out the secrets of her past, and romance just didn't work. So I revised in the direction the characters demanded.

    The obvious pairing was Spensa and Jerkface. That’s where I was trying to go, but it felt like a cheesy romance in the middle of an action-adventure story about finding out who you really are, and about going into battle, and all of that stress and pressure. Maybe someday I'll release the deleted scenes and people can see how poorly it worked.

    Publishers Weekly Q & A ()
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    Michael M. Jones

    Spensa comes across as overconfident and bombastic at times, while her AI sidekick, M-Bot, is both comic and tragic. What else can you tell us about developing characters?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They really play off one another. With M-Bot, I needed both a friend and a foil for Spensa, since there's a lot of conversation between them. I also needed an outside perspective. Spensa's culture has problems. Humankind crashed on this planet decades ago, and has been subject to these alien invasions and air raids for so long, that their entire society is built around the machine of war to protect themselves. The technology and temperament revolve around getting pilots into the air at all costs, and it’s skewed everything as a result. I needed an outside voice to ask questions and raise concerns, even if it's through humor.

    Because Spensa is such an extreme character, one of the challenges was to depict that a person who's spent most of her life alone, hunting rats, while imagining herself to be a great warrior, is going to have a warped perspective on what it means to be a fighter pilot, weirder than the rest of the society might.

    In a way, she's a stand-in for someone like me, who enjoys larger-than-life action movies but has never experienced real violence. She’s like the person in the seat with the popcorn, who’s confronted by the reality and discovers it’s not what she imagined.