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Orem B&N signing 9/22


Zas678

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I had the opportunity to be at a signing on Saturday with Brandon Sanderson, along with Rubix and another fan, and so we recorded the entire signing and all the questions that got asked in the line during the signing. Here they are!

They will be here soon. As in within an hour or so. I just need the link for the Q&A Brandon's about to have on here.

And don't worry; there's a summary at the end. :)

The WoT stuff is here, and was mostly done by Terez. Thanks again Terez!

Thanks also to Windrunner, Sweetness, and Gess789 for helping transcribe this.

Q. [so in the Alloy of Law, you mention it being an in between book. You said you’re writing ] another Trilogy set?

Brandon: Yes. I had this whole series that was outlined. This [Alloy of Law] was not in the outline, it was from fun, and I really enjoyed writing it, but it’s not part of the series. It’s three sets of three. And I may do other things like Alloy of Law, but Alloy was just for fun.

Question: I have to admit, I’ve read everything except for your Wheel of Time books, because I’m having a hard time getting through book 11, I lose track of all the characters, and the plot.

Brandon: I know how you feel. If you ever decide that you want to get back in them, there is the WoT Encyclopedia which has chapter summaries for all the books, so you can jump right into book 12. There’s another one called WoT summary that’s very good too.

Question: What’s the release date? January 3rd?

Brandon: January 8th. Or 9th.

Zas: 8th.

Brandon: 8th. These guys know better than I do.

Brandon: I don’t know if you know this, but all my fantasy books are connected. There are repeating characters involved, but you have to search to find them. And the Mistborn Trilogy is kind of interconnected with that. Particularly with the 3rd trilogy. The Science Fiction one.

[Q. The Mistborn RPG is really cool.

Brandon: Good. I like it. I wanted to make it balanced, so that people want to play Dockson, so that he’s just as important as a Mistborn. I had some input in it, but not a ton. ] (This one was garbled, but that's the general gist of what he was saying).

Q. Where did you get the idea for Allomancy?

Brandon: Allomancy basically came from my readings of Alchemy and my readings about Biology. And metabolizing things to get energy. It felt very natural to be burning metals. Weird, but natural. When I started writing it out, it worked so well. I wanted something that had a scientific component and a magical component. Does that make sense?

Q. How many books have you written?

Brandon: I’ve written about 25 books. I’m not sure if that’s correct or not. I’d have to go back and check. It’s in the early 20s.

Q. Will there be an Alloy of Law 2?

Brandon: Yes. I really enjoyed writing it, and people seem to have enjoyed reading it, so I plan to do more. It was a really fun thing to do. You won’t have to wait too long. I have to write the sequel to Way of Kings, which I’m doing right now, and then we’ll see where I go.

Q. How are you so awesome?

Brandon: Well, I take an awesome pill every morning, it’s prescribed, and it sometimes helps out.

Q. I’m so excited for the Way of Kings sequel.

Brandon: Well, you’ll be glad to know that I finished with the first section of it last night, the second book is Shallan’s book, so I was writing her flashback sequences.

Zas: Any new name ideas yet?

Brandon: Not yet. The name’s still the Bad Name. In my notes it’s called The Book of Endless Pages, because that’s the book Shallan gets at the end of Book 1, but the problem is that it’s kind of a silly title for a book this long.

Q. Gee Shu Pie

Brandon: Is that Chinese?

Q. Yeah.

Brandon: Taiwan?

Q. Yeah.

Brandon: I was just in Taiwan on tour.

Q. Wow! Did they translate it there?

Brandon: Yes. In fact I’m a bestseller there. I’m like John Grisham level in Taiwan of all the places. I sell really well here, but I sell crazy good in Taiwan and it’s all teenage girls. [laughter erupts] They found Mistborn and fell in love with it. Like Hunger Games came out and Mistborn came out at the same time, and they all transferred to reading Mistborn as well, and so it’s crazy. So I went over there and went on tour, and there’s like 700 pictures of me with Taiwanese school girls on Facebook. [laughter erupts again].

Q. So I know that there’s going to be a second Mistborn trilogy. Is Alloy part of it?

Brandon: No. This is foreshadowing the second trilogy. I may do some more books with these characters.

Q. So is the second trilogy in the same time period?

Brandon: It will be a little future forward from this. More like mid 20th century.

Q. I’m really excited for the video game. ****

Brandon: Yes. An action RPG, I’m writing the dialogue. We’ll see if it actually happens. The trick is that the video game has had a few bumps. So we’re not sure. We’ll see. They’re trying to decide if they want to get it done in time for this generation of consoles or move over to the next gen.

Q. Will it be across all of the consoles?

Brandon: Yes, it will be across all of the consoles.

Q. So how old were you when you wrote your first book.

Brandon: Well, my first book came out in 2005, so I would’ve been.... 30? But I was writing from age 21. That’s when I really started seriously writing. I dabbled a little bit on my mission on my P-days, with permission from my mission president, and then really started seriously when I got back sophomore year of college, and wrote my first book that year I got back. And that one didn’t get published. But it wasn’t any good, so it’s good it didn’t get published. And then I just wrote over the next 9 years, wrote and wrote and wrote till I finally sold one.

Q. So you were originally a Chemistry major, right?

Brandon: I was. And I really liked all the concepts, but the math killed me. The math was so hard, and I didn’t enjoy the busywork of it, and that was a big deciding factor for me. I wanted to do something that I enjoyed the busy work. And you know, no one likes everything. There are times in writing where it’s hard. And you get up in the morning and you’d rather just play video games instead of work, but it doesn’t matter what you’re going to do, that’s going to happen, but all in all, even the little stuff in writing I love, so I switched to trying to be a writer. And it worked out for me eventually.

Q. The class you teach at BYU, is that only for graduate students?

Brandon: No, it’s open to anyone, but grad students get to register first. And because of that, they tend to grab a lot of the seats. I do add a lot on the first day. What I usually do is I ask people how much they’ve written, and the people who have done the most writing will probably benefit the most from the class, so I let them have a place. So if you go to BYU- are you at BYU right now?

Q. I’m at BYU-I, but I’m probably going to transfer. But he wants to take it. What’s the title of the class?

Brandon: How to write Science Fiction and Fantasy. English 318. If you want to get in the class, take a year, write a book or two, and then when I say, who’s written the most books, most people have not written any. And so if you’ve written one or two, your chances of getting the slot in the class go drastically up.

Q. Maybe children books.

Brandon: Yeah. They can be children’s books. Not picture books. Picture books are too easy. [laughter] Well, not easy. But easy to write poorly.

Q. So is there a third law of magic?

Brandon: Yes there is. I don’t have a pithy way to say it yet.

Q. Do you want to try to describe it anyways?

Brandon: Yeah, the best magic systems are interconnected with the world, with society, with culture, and the development of the setting of a book. The next level you want to think about is how does your magic affect your gender roles, how does it affect your government, your religions, all these things.

Q. They all have to be interconnected.

Brandon: Yes. But I don’t have a pithy way to say it, so once I come up with a good pithy way to say it, then I can actually write it.

Q. So you said that you recently through away a sequence from WoK 2. How do you know when to throw it out?

Brandon: Practice. Lots of practice. It was much harder to do that early on, but I’ve had lots of practice, and so I know that when it’s not working, I know why it’s not working. Sometimes when it’s not working it’s because I’m just having a bad day. I need to try it the next day. Sometimes when it’s not working, Something fundamental is wrong with the book. Sometimes, it’s just the scene is in the wrong place or isn’t active enough. And this one wasn’t active enough. I set it in a way that people were just sitting around too much, and I had to scrap all that rework it so that there would be conflict and motion.

27:00

Q. I was wondering if you meant to do the arms thing in the beginning of Mistborn with Sazed.

Brandon: I did, I did.

Q. K, good. I just wanted to make sure

Brandon: I feel kind of silly because it actually is a pun. And the entire mistborn trilogy is therefore based on a pun. The first paragraph of the first chapter. But you know, if you can’t tell from me naming my character Wax and Wayne, that I have a slight problem with Puns.

Q. I love that! I didn’t even realize it until I started to explain it to my family, and I was saying that the main characters are Wax and Wayne. It was a good moment.

Question: Any spoilers for A Memory of Light?

Brandon: Let’s see here. Harriet killed a character in the book that I did not intend to kill. So I wrote the entire book with a character living and she killed this character.

Question: Did she tell you right before you finished, or what?

Brandon: She sent back the draft and said “This person dies.”

Question: So did you have to change a lot?

Brandon: So they succumb to their wounds. I intended them to live, so there is a character who died unexpectedly. So that’s a slight spoiler. There is like a chapter that’s over a hundred pages. It’s a Super Chapter.

Question: Did you have to invent any of it yourself, or did Jordan leave a lot of it for you?

Brandon: He left some of it for me, and then I had to make the rest. As you’re reading through the books, probably about half and half. Half will be stuff that he wrote notes on, half will be stuff that I wrote.

Question: Do you feel like it comes pretty easy?

Brandon: Some of it does. I mean I’ve been reading since I was a kid. So some of the characters like Perrin is very natural for me. And Rand’s super natural for me. Others are a little less natural for me.

Question: Like Mat.

Brandon: Yes, like Mat. Mat’s harder for me to write.

Question: Why is that?

Brandon: Because Mat is very complex. Not to say that Perrin’s not, but Perrin’s straightforward. You know what I mean? Perrin says what he means, and does what he means. Mat says the opposite of what he means, and does the opposite of what he says. Making that tone correct for that is very hard. He’s one part rapscallion, the other part Awesomeness. And balancing when he’s playing the fool, and when he’s just being awesome is very hard to get that balance down, because you don’t want it to be silly, you know he can play the fool a bit but he shouldn’t be silly. Otherwise it won’t match from when he’s being Awesome as well, if that makes sense.

Q. Can one person have more than one Shardblade?

Brandon: Yes. A person can possess more than one Shardblade. [referring to us] They’re like Oooh!

Q. That actually changes a whole lot of ideas that I had.

Brandon: So has there been debate on this topic?

Zas: No, not that I know of.

Q: Can spren die?

Brandon: Yes, spren can die.

Q. Okay, so Syl, she’s been around for at least a few thousand years, right?

Brandon: Yes.

Q. How does she forget her memories? Is it in connection to humans that makes it so she remembers things?

Brandon: Yes.

Q. And she’s what, a Bonding Spren?

Brandon: You will find out. She [says she’s] an Honorspren, but you will find out.

Zas: Is that bond the Nahel bond?

Brandon: [Nervous grin on Brandon’s face] [laughter] There is a certain amount of... It is a symbiotic bond that is gained by Syl. And things gained by the person bonding. And the stronger presence in the physical realm, and the ability to think better in the physical realm is a part of that bond. She is mostly getting [something] of the physical realm. Without the bond, it is very hard for her to think in this world.

Q. Because she’s windspren.

Brandon: That’s part of it. That’s part of something else.

Q. Shallan. What the crap was up with the headless spren?

Brandon: You will find out! Read and Find out! I did just finish her flashback sequence, the first thing I wrote for the second book.

Q. I’m buying Legion! I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find it.

Brandon: You know, the hardcover is mostly a collector’s item. It’s mostly was intended as an ebook only release. There was just a few hardcovers made.

Q. how do you like being famous?

Brandon: Well I am a just the right kind of famous, which is only a little bit famous. I have a completely normal life, I don’t have to worry about any sort of wierdness,

Q. Getting mobbed by Paparrazzi

Brandon: I get recognised like once a week. It’s enough to make me feel cool, so it’s the right amount of famous.

Q. When is the next Stormlight Archive coming out?

Brandon: Next fall. If I’m on the ball. That’s not supposed to rhyme, but it did. Tor said they’d put it out next fall if I turn it in on time.

Q. When is turn in time?

Brandon: April. They said if I get it to them in April, we’ll be fine. The trick is, for Michael Whelan to do the cover, I need to give him a cover scene like next month. Because Michael takes his time, because he’s the best artist in the business, so you need to turn stuff in early. So I need to decide “What’s the cover going to be”, and come up with a fantastic cover scene for it.

Q. So is it finished? Is the book finished?

Brandon: You can follow on my website, I’m at 7% right now. I have to turn it in in April, so if I can get to 100% by April (or 110% knowing Brandon) we’ll be all right. If we can’t than it gets a little more sketchy.

Q. Is that turning in the first draft?

Brandon: Yeah, we should be able to do it if I turn in the first draft in April.

Andre: Although, you’re friends with Patrick Rothfuss, right?

Brandon: Yes, I am.

Andre: Can you give him any tips to write faster?

Brandon: Well, Pat is, he’s very into beautiful prose, this is his thing. And it shows. And you can’t do that fast. My prose is not as beautiful, my prose is translucent is what I try to do. I try to write prose so you don’t see it, and you see the story. And that prose can go faster. And it’s just a matter of writing style. I actually envy his prose sometimes, and he envy’s my speed.

Andre: I imagine.

Brandon: But, I think the third one will be faster. After the first one came out he ended up with this huge performance anxiety problem because the first one took off so much; that he couldn’t even write for a year because he was so stressed about how well the book had done. He got over that. And he doesn’t have that anymore. So theoretically the next book should be faster. He did sign for three more books, right?

Zach: He signed for a new trilogy

Josh: Which one would hope means he’s getting close to done with the one he’s in the middle of. We can all hope.

Q- “I was wondering what your five favorite books are. Regardless of genre. I ask a lot of authors that.”

Brandon- “Les Miserables. That’s one. That’s my favorite classic. Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. Favorite of the WoT. Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. The book that got me into fantasy. It’s hard to find nowadays. A Fire Upon The Deep Vernor Vinge. That’s probably my favorite science fiction book. And let’s say my favorite Pratchett, which these days is Going Postal.”

Q- “We were at the RPG release party and I gave that to my friend for his wedding, because he’s really into that. He actually sent me with a couple questions. He said ‘could you ask him about the Words of Founding. What does it contain besides the religions, technological advancements, and layout for Elendel. Is there anything special in there?’”

Brandon- “There’s some other cool stuff in there that eventually I’ll talk about.”

Q- “But nothing specific?”

Brandon- “Nothing I’m going to be able to (can’t tell what he’s saying. Basically that he can’t say anything specific, I think. :/ )

Q- “I was going to say generalities. Does that cover the basics of it?”

Brandon- “That definitely covers the basics of it, yeah. There was stuff from Sazed’s metalminds. A lot of that stuff that was in there. Everything that was in there, he tried to get in the books. And then some other additions. Such as Elendel, which he created as a basin for life and things. And stuff like that. They are very interesting. These guys are here recording everything I have to say. So I have to watch myself.”

Q- “How does one make sense of Spook’s High Imperial?”

Brandon- “One thing about High Imperial, or Eastern Street Slang, is that it was devised by those who spoke it in order to be intentionally obtuse. So it was hard for people to understand. And so there are a lot of nonsense words thrown in the middle. But, it’s also got reversed grammar. ‘Wasing the wanting of doing the thing’ is ‘I wanted to do that.’ But you can also throw random words in there. As long as those parts are in there, it’ll make sense to those they’re speaking to. ‘I wanted to do this. Wasing the wanting of doing the thing.’ You’re putting everything into a gerund. You’re starting with the verb and the tense. And you’re turning everything into ridiculously bad gerunds. That’s it in brief.”

Q. I heard you’re doing another Mistborn Trilogy?<br class="kix-line-break">Brandon: Yes.

Q. Any estimate when the first book might be?

Brandon: I might do some more Alloy of Law era things in between, they are not the second trilogy, but I will do them. The second trilogy will come between the break between the first sequence in the Stormlight Archive, and the second sequence of the Stormlight Archive. it’s two five book sequences, and during that break I will stop and do the second Mistborn trilogy. So it will depend on how quickly I can write those.

Q. So when exactly would the second Mistborn trilogy take place relative to Alloy of Law?

Brandon: Late 20th century era. Modern technology.

Zach: I’ve heard that’s like... 50? years after Alloy of Law.

Brandon: Yeah, right around there. Roughly. Not quite information age, is what I was looking at. So there’s no direct equivalent, because the different technology aspects, but you would see it as something around the 80s. Maybe early 90s. An Allomancer SWAT team is what it’s about.

Q. Okay, that’s exciting.

Brandon: First book is a Mistborn serial killer versus an Allomancer SWAT team. With deeper ramifications to everything.

Q. Is Dan helping you with the psychology on that one?

Brandon: Uh, I actually haven’t yet gotten his help on a [profile?] yet.

Q. When are you going to write the last Alcatraz?

Brandon: I bought the rights back from the publisher, I didn’t like how they were being handled. That was February I think, and they have a six month sell off period till the rights officially reverted. So what’s six months after February? We basically just got them officially back. And so I’m looking for trying to squeeze that in sometime next year.

Q. That’s the one I want you to finish the most.

Brandon: And once I get it done, I will probably just post it on my website for a digital download or something like that, just for the people who want it. Then we’ll worry about how to get a print edition.

Zas: The second Alloy of Law is called Shadows of Self, right?

Brandon: Shadows of Self, Yep.

Q, How do you come up with your magic systems? Do you just open the dictionary and point to a word? “Oh, I’ll make something with that.”

Brandon: No, I’m always looking for something that strikes me. And I’m looking for things that haven’t been done before. Things that will make nice conflict, that walk the line between science and superstition

Q. That’s what I love, that it’s all super scientific but it also has magic.

Brandon: If you will google Sanderson’s First Law, and Sanderson’s Second Law, I have two essays that I wrote about how I do magic. They’re both on my website, but Google will find them easier than trying to find them on my website.

Q. Did you ever read Master of 5 magics?

Brandon: I did. That’s old school.

Q. Yeah, not great stories, but wonderful magic.

Brandon: Yep. Great magic. That’s what I felt about them too.

Q. When will the next Mistborn (Alloy of Law era) come out?

Brandon: It will probably come out after the next Way of Kings. Next Way of Kings is next Christmas, the next Alloy of Law era book is probably the following Spring or something like that.

Q. Are you planning 2 more or 3 more?

Brandon: I will do as many of those as strikes me. The Alloy of Law books are a deviation from the main world plotline. So it’s just for fun. I’m not going to commit to how many I’ll do or not do. Just whatever’s working.

Q. I love the cross interviews between you and Patrick Rothfuss. They’re some of my favorite.

Brandon: Oh yeah, yeah. I’m doing another thing with him, like next month, in just a couple weeks. He does this thing on Google Hangouts, and he invited me on for the next one.

Q. What’s that called?

Brandon: It’s like something he does...

Zas: Story Board?

Brandon: Yeah. So I’ll be doing that with Terry Brooks, it’ll be me and him and Terry Brooks. It’s going to be pretty cool.

Q. If you were a misting, what would you be?

Brandon: I would be a Coinshot. Because I would love to be able to have that flight thing going on, jumping around.

Q. Will you be coming to this con that we invited you to? (garbled audio)

Brandon: Because I have a baby due in January, the WoT tour is going to be moved back to Februray. So I’ll do the first week after the book releases, then go home, then come back for February.

Q. My sainted mother, who is 84 years old, loves your stuff.

Brandon: Wow! That’s awesome.

Q. She is of the old school of Fantasy, and thinks you are terribly worthwhile.

Brandon: Oh thank you. So she is the era of Gwenyth (sp?) (1:50:00) and Morsenelera. My grandma was like that too. She got me into this sort of stuff in part because she was a middle school teacher, she was always sort of handing me these Andwen* and Orton* books and stuff, but I never listened until I was a little bit older. Then I started to discover fantasy, and realized “This is what my grandma wanted me to read all along!”

Brandon: Thank you guys for coming. Am I going to be asked some questions?

Zas: Yep.

Zas: Elantris. Where does it fit in the timeline in reference to Hero of Ages? Since that’s what most other things are referenced to.

Brandon: Right. Elantris is far earlier.

Zas: Like thousands of years earlier? Or more like hundreds?

Brandon: It’s quite... It’s not thousands.

Zas: So Power of Creation. Is the Power of Creation this thing of power that powers allomancy and powers the Aons, or is the Power of Creation just what each shard has.

Brandon: I would say [the power] each shard has. Is more the definition.

Zas: So what’s up with the regeneration issue?

Brandon: [looks confused]

Zas: With Shards? Because they only have so much power they can access at a certain time, but yet they still have more energy. So how does that work? Is it just they have so much power they can use at any given time?

Brandon: [still slightly confused] What are you talking about? Like which shards?

Zas: Ruin and Preservation. Since we know the most about them.

Brandon: Ruin and Preservation were a specific instance, because almost all their energy was thrown into resisting each other. Keep that in mind. Even after Preservation was only a shadow, basically all of it was “Let’s keep Ruin from destroying the world”. So they were polar opposites. Set in balance. But slightly unbalanced in a couple of ways, that eventually, that slight imbalance [led to the Mistborn Trilogy]. They are a special case, because of that.

Zas: So then why are they hesitant to directly fuel Allomancy?

Brandon: Why are they hesitant to? What do you mean by directly fuel Allomancy?

Zas: You mention in the Hero of Ages Q&A that they can directly fuel allomancy, like Vin does with Elend, but it requires expending their energy in a way they are hesitant to do.

Brandon: Because it imbalances them more. Does that make sense? So if you are putting your energy here, rather than fighting the other force, that gives them an edge somewhere else, while trying to gain an edge here. And you have to make sure that’s really worth it. Like a chess game. Is it worth sacrificing my pawn here to expose myself over here.

Zas: That makes sense.

Josh/Eric: So are Shards the most powerful thing in the Cosmere?

Adam: Or is Adonalsium?

Josh/Eric: No, no, let him RAFO the first one first, or he’lll lump him together.

Brandon: It depends on what you believe. The Shards are the most powerful things currently overtly manifest. There are those who would say there are other subtle forces being manifest. Most people in the know would say that Shards are the most powerful thing.

Adam: Does Hoid believe that Shards are the most powerful thing?

Brandon: You’ll have to ask him sometime. [gives troll grin]. Or see him get asked something like that sometime. [What I believe is a reference to Gibletish!] There’s argument to be made that right now Harmony is the most powerful thing in the Cosmere.

Zas. So where does the power of allomancy come from? Does it come directly from Preservation? Does that imbalance him?

Brandon. [brandon being cautious about wording] Certain things built into a world are not the same. Not used in the same way. Meaning the energy of Preservation and Ruin inside of something living and growing- yes that’s “of” them, but that’s not direct force that they’re using at that time.

Adam: Would a good example of that be allomancy versus the blessings the kandra have?

Brandon: Yeah, yeah sure.

Zas: So you talk about the residue a Shard leaves on a sliver. So what does that residue have? Like what does it do? If anything?

Brandon: Well, one thing it can do is that people capable of noticing Investiture, would know there is a trace of investiture from that event.

Zas: What effect does the world have on the magic system?

Brandon: It always has an effect.

Zas: Marsh, as an Inquisitor, can see Ruin, and Vin sees Ruin, but they’re not seeing the same thing. So how does that work?

Brandon: In what way? How about this. I’ll give you this. I know what you’re getting at. And a lot of these things I know what you’re getting at, I’m just trying to force you to- I’ll just give you one on this. In some cases, Ruin would manifest directly, and you would see what he wanted you to see. In other cases, that might not be the case.

Zas: So the number of Shards that have been on Roshar is three, correct? .

Brandon: Correct.

Zas: People have been thrown by you saying that Odium is not native to Roshar.

Brandon: Odium is not-native, that’s the thing. Are any of them native? So if you dig the deeper question, are any of them native, ehhh, none of them are native to the planets you’ve seen so far. What I probably should’ve said to be more precise is that Honor and Cultivation were there long before Odium showed up.

Josh: If Odium went to Scadrial, would he be blind to metal there?

Brandon: Um. [nervous laugh] Um...

Josh: Because I think you mentioned more than once that focuses are actually determined by planet.

Brandon: I’m going to RAFO that. But that’s one of those excellent questions. I’m amused that people have figured out enough to be asking questions like that.

Zas: THat’s it. Oh wait, we can do this redicuolous one. There’s this crazy off the wall theory that Parshendi are dead people brought back to life.

Brandon: Interesting. There will be Parshendi viewpoints in the second book, and you will be able to see a lot more of that.

Q. Are Parshendi like a hive mind sort of culture?

Brandon: They are not a hive mind. I thought people might assume that,

Q. But because of the singing, it seems like..

Brandon: There is a connection. It’s more Union than Hivemind. You know about Yun?

Q. Not particularly.

Brandon: Yun’s philosophy was that all people are connected.

Q. Oh, like the dream psychologist?

Brandon: I believe that collective unconcious was one of his terms. So it’s not Hive mind, but there is- there’s something the Parshendi can tap into.

Q. With the Singing?

Brandon: Yeah, like with the Singing, where one sings over here, and one sings over there, they are actually in beat with one another even if they start at different times. So there is something there, a connection.

Zas: What about Aon Rii? Talk about Aon Rii. What are the random dots? Are they valuable metals?

Brandon: Honestly, I don’t remember.

[laughter]

Brandon: I’ll be straight up honest with you, I designed the Aons- When I designed the Aons, they all had things like that. Like “Oh, that’s what this will be,” but I was not as good about taking notes of things then. I didn’t have the wiki that I know have.

Josh: What I would give for 1 hour with that wiki.

Brandon: I didn’t have all of that stuff, so I can say “Yeah, that’s going to be valuable metals”, and canonize it that way, but I don’t remember what I was actually thinking when I desigend it. It was my first time doing anything like that, like [somethign] sort of thing. I hadn’t ever done anything like that before, so I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

In fact, there’s a fun story about that, a story I don’t think I told during the annotations, I might have. Originally, I wrote it, and used all the Aons as like little things about character’s personallity.

Zas: Really?

Brandon: Like Rao is spirit, and Ene (eenee) is wit. Well, all the other ones were things like that. to the point that the traitor character, his Aon’s the one that meant Betrayl. Like this, all the characters have little things like that. And then my editor saw it and said “Ah. Do you really want to give away everyone’s personality? And who’s going to name their kid Betrayl? And I was like “That was really stupid Brandon, why did you do that?” But at the time, I didn’t know if I was oging to have a dictionary in the back or anything, and so I had to go back and rename almost all of them. I left Rao and Ene, but I renamed almost all the- renamed the wrong word. I shifted all the meanings and things like this so that everyone would have a name that would make sense that you would name a person. And none of them meant anything more than what they actually mean.

Summary:

Stormlight Archive expected November 2013.

Alcatraz 5 sometime 2013 online on Brandon's website

Alloy of Law 2 (Shadows of Self) expected early 2014.

Mistborn Trilogy 2 is due after the first 5 Stormlight Archive books, will be about 50 years after Alloy of Law, and will be set in 1980s ish technology. It's about a SWAT team of allomancers tracking down a Mistborn serial killer.

The mistborn game might be delayed a little if they decide to postpone it till the next gen of consoles.

Brandon's crazy big in Taiwan.

Brandon's doing Story Board with Pat Rothfuss and Terry Brooks next month

Brandon's got a little baby due in January, so the WoT tour will be part before and part after.

Brandon's third law of magic is "Have your magic influence your world". My example of this is if cutting others hair gives you power, than Barbers either rule the world. Thus Pinstripe poles are used for lamposts. ;)

Spren can die, you can have more than one Shardblade, and then the rest of my questions.

Hope you enjoy! Now go ask those questions!

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I've entered the report in the database. You'll probably want to look over it for tags. Also, a few things on tags:

1. I added byu, shadows of self, honor, and cultivation.

2. I killed 'invest' since it was redundant with 'investiture' (I replaced all 'invest' tags with 'investiture'.)

3. Should there be an 'aons' tag?

4. I'm thinking maybe we should split 'chronology'. I don't know if you want to do specific tags for the various worlds in Brandon's books, but I think I might change ours to 'wot chronology'. But I haven't done it yet.

Thanks for getting this recorded and transcribed so quickly! (And thanks for letting me help; apologies for the mishaps.)

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Shadows of Self huh? I know a metal what does that! Awesome set of questions, its a pity about the Aon meanings being forgotten. And AWESOME @ Rule the 3rd :D

(are you not gonna link us to the Theoryland DB version too? I had to look it up! shocking! :P)

EDIT: damnation you Terez, ninjaing me like that ¬.¬

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For the Parshendi question, should it be Jung rather than Yun? Carl Jung is the psychologist associated with the term "collective unconscious."

Fixed, in the database at least.

And Joe, the reason Zach didn't link it is because no one had entered it yet. :P I had just finished it right before I posted, which is the only reason you were able to find it. :P

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