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Stormlight 4 Update #5


Jofwu
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Today, Brandon posted another update on Stormlight 4 on Reddit. In his last update 2 months ago, Brandon announced that he had finished the entirety of Part One, with the book 28% complete. Today, Brandon has officially hit the halfway point, with 200k words written out of a planned 400k. For reference, Words of Radiance was just shy of 400k words. Here are the highlights of this update:

Potential Flashback Character Changes

The most unexpected news in this update was the announcement that we may see a change of flashback characters! Eshonai has looooong been Brandon's plan as the book 4 flashback character, even after he decided to kill her off in the opening interludes of Oathbringer. While he was looking forward to writing more from Eshonai's PoV, Brandon is now concerned that her flashbacks will "feel like fluff" and not add much to the story. Venli on the other hand knows more of what's going on behind the scenes with the listeners, and is in a position to explore more cosmere mysteries and provide answers to some burning questions.

The flashbacks aren't written yet, and Brandon hasn't officially decided. So we'll have to wait and see where things go from here. What do you think? Are you itching for some more Eshonai or does the phrase "cosmere mysteries" (Brandon's words) have you like, "Yes, please?"

Visual Outline

To accompany this update, Brandon included a visual outline of book 4, breaking the story down by parts and plot arcs:

Stormlight 4 Visual Outline

In Brandon's third update, he mentioned that the book was outlined as three primary story arcs which develop in separate locations: the Primary Arc featuring four characters, the Secondary Arc featuring three more, and the Tertiary Arc featuring two others. It appears that things shifted around slightly as the "Primary Plot" includes five characters with the "Secondary Plot" only listing two, though Brandon also mentioned that Group One would focus on three characters in particular (with the 5th potentially having no viewpoint chapters aside from an interlude). This outline also gives us a sense of where these plot arcs fit into the five-part structure of Stormlight Archive books. It looks like we'll see the Primary Plot running throughout the book while the Secondary and Tertiary Plots will swap in and out. The flashback sequence for book 4 appears to be concentrated in the final three parts, which is a bit different from what we've seen before.There's a lot we don't know about how this fits together, but when has that ever stopped us from speculating?! Let us know in the comments what your theories are for which characters belong to which group and where you think their story will play out!

Writing Outlook

Brandon is still 30k words behind schedule, which equates to about a month of writing. He's hoping for a productive September, but some touring in October (France & Israel) might hold him back. We'll have to wait and see whether Brandon is able to hit his January deadline. If not, we may be looking at a Spring 2021 release. Brandon did emphasize that if it comes down to hitting a deadline or finishing the book right, he WILL delay the book until he's happy with it.

So that's where he is. As usual, we must say how fortunate we are as a fandom to follow an author who is so up-front about his process. Even if Brandon doesn't hit 2020 as a release, I'm sure it'll be because he wants to make the book as good as possible.

Edited by Jofwu

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Venli might be in the third group since her flashback start in the same time. And Kal, maybe?

Primary group quess: Dalinar, Renarin, Shallan, Adolin, Jasnah.

Secondary: Szeth. And Lift?

 

 

On second thought: give me Szeth and Renarin duo. PLEAAAAASE!!!

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YES!

I know a lot of people were excited for Eshonai flashbacks, but I was always so, SO concerned how that would play into the main story.  (With her being dead and all.)  I really, really hope Brandon goes with the idea of Venli flashbacks instead.  The flashbacks in the first three books tied into the main narrative so perfectly, I just can't imagine how that could happen again with a dead character.

 

Also, with Dalinar going Super Saiyan at the end of OB, I have a feeling he's in character group three, as any further major revelations with his maybe sorta who knows mini-ascension would certainly be saved for book 5.  I have no clue for character groups one and two, because I can see Kaladin and Venli as being in either one.

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I am sooo excited!! I hope and can't wait to see more of Szeth and Renarin viewpoints! And of course Adolin and Maya. Did I mention I was EXCITED!?

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I was always a fan of the Eshonai flashbacks.  I thought it'd make a nice parallel journey, with Eshonai's rebellious youth with Venli's current activities.  

But more "cosmere mysteries" is really attractive.  

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Seems like he's not going to make the deadline if he is a month behind on word count and hasn't decided what character he wants to write about in the flashbacks. 

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Is anyone else still seeing the progress bar on his website display 47%?  (I've confirmed it's not browser cache)
It's a tiny little thing, but has been bothering me :D

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3 hours ago, Child of Hodor said:

Seems like he's not going to make the deadline if he is a month behind on word count and hasn't decided what character he wants to write about in the flashbacks. 

he's got too many tours. that eats heavily on his writing time.

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I hope he enjoys the tours.  It'd suck if he's dragging himself through them and just wants to be writing.  Probably gives him a break to freshen up a bit though.

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I would prefer a spring 2021 release - just so that we can read Wandersail...

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6 hours ago, Wax said:

I would prefer a spring 2021 release - just so that we can read Wandersail...

That and the Rock novella...and hopefully the Lopen novella...and maybe even the same release year we can have The Lost Metal (and if he really pushes, Skyward 3. But I wouldn't count on it).

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I've long been expecting a 2021 release, and while he keeps insisting 2020 there's less and less time for him to convince me that's true. XD I expect he'll finish in early 2020 and release in early 2021.

I wouldn't at all be surprised if, when he realizes it will be late, he uses the momentum to crank out a novella. Sounds like Rock novella may take priority over Wandersail? Rock is involved with the main characters, so that could be really nice as a tie between 3 and 4, with the time jump happening. I'm happy with either though. Presumably if he did that before finishing SA4, or right after SA4 completion, they could get it published by the end of 2020?

I'm assuming he will spend the rest of 2020 writing Lost Metal and Skyward 3 & 4. Not sure which he'll prioritize, but I assume the goal would be a Fall 2021 (or earlier) release for Lost Metal and Skyward 3. So 2021 will probably be a busy year for us! Though perhaps one of those will slip to 2022, with subsequent SA4 drafts to be written.

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Wax

Posted (edited)

On 29/08/2019 at 3:56 AM, Jofwu said:

I've long been expecting a 2021 release, and while he keeps insisting 2020 there's less and less time for him to convince me that's true. XD I expect he'll finish in early 2020 and release in early 2021.

 

IKR!?

While my preference is for Wandersail, you are right probably in saying the Rock novella.

Wandersail might be heading towards Aimia, and I don’t think BS is ready to give up on the goodies at this juncture of the SA arc.

Edited by Wax

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On 27/8/2019 at 11:14 PM, Jozomby said:

Is anyone else still seeing the progress bar on his website display 47%?  (I've confirmed it's not browser cache)
It's a tiny little thing, but has been bothering me :D

me too, even today I see 47%.

Maybe it's because he's already accounting for the fact that he'll run long once more?:D (I mean, has there ever been a single time when a book of his didn't turn out longer than planned?)

Edited by king of nowhere

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On 27/08/2019 at 5:26 PM, NoiseSpren said:

On second thought: give me Szeth and Renarin duo. PLEAAAAASE!!!

Duo or couple :P

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Yay to Venli flashbacks

boo to cosmere mysteries

the books are better when the cosmere stays mostly mysterious in my opinion. Mistborn era 2 was doing great until the Kandra had their powerpoint on Investiture and Khriss was all "oh hi Wax magic is really just weird science" bit. The books need to breathe on their own and not have some overexplainer drop in to break the immersion.

OK I guess what I'm saying is, cosmere mysteries are cool just show don't tell plz,

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