Today we're officially announcing Mistborn: Birthright, an action-RPG set in the Mistborn world.
To those who have been paying close attention, much of this may not be surprising. The MB:B website went live earlier in the month, and I have tweeted several times about the impending game. In short, we're hoping to do a fun, fast-paced, action game with some RPG elements, cool Allomancy effects, and some (hopefully) killer dialogue. That last part is my job, as I'll be writing the story and most (
Hey, there's a gaming convention in SLC this weekend, and the friendly folks at Epic Games have invited me to play some Magic during it! This will be at a downtown Salt Lake convention center called The Complex, and it looks like there will be a lot of fun things happening other than just Magic.
I'll be bringing EDH and some casual decks, but it does look like a lot of my time will be spent drafting. Either way, please consider coming! I'll be starting up drafting at 2:30 at the Epic Puzzles an
I'm one of the instructors at the upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas (April 30–May 2). Since the writing and publishing world has changed a lot over the past few years, when planning this year's seminar we looked carefully at the past lectures and panel discussions, giving the curriculum a thorough update and overhaul.
Below is the schedule for this year's Superstars—with some brand new talks and fresh takes on previous topics. We want to make this seminar relevant and important f
In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Howard, Mary, and I talk about writing the omniscient viewpoint. (Dan wasn't there; he was off saving his son from ninjas or something like that.)
The newest ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation discusses my use of prison names, the setting, and Bastille. And I'm very pleased to announce that the audiobook for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SCRIVENER'S BONES is finally available. The other two audiobooks will follow within a few months. Rutabag
This Saturday I'll be participating in the Writing for Charity conference at the Provo Library. For more information and how to register, check out their site. My schedule is below. There's a book signing at the end of the day that's open to the public.
Writing for Charity<br/>Venue: Historic Provo Library<br/>550 North University Avenue<br/>Provo, Utah<br/>84601
Schedule:
Saturday, March 17th
9:30–10:30 a.m.<br/>Welcome & Author Panel<br/>Brodi Ashton
Last week I appeared on the Atomic Array podcast with the Crafty Games folks to talk about the Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG.
This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode is another one where Howard, Mary, Dan, and I cover a bunch of questions very quickly:
Is it better to include romance, horror, SF, or other genre elements to flesh out a story, or should the story stand alone?
Any tips for developing an idea without getting caught in Worldbuilder's Disease?
Any NaNo WriMo tips? (yes.
The most recent Writing Excuses episode features David Brin talking with Dan and Mary at the World Fantasy convention about the importance of criticism.
The Hugo Awards nomination deadline is the end of this week. If you're already a member of the 2011, 2012, or 2013 Worldcons, be sure to get your nomination form submitted. I talked about this two months ago, but I and my Writing Excuses partners have various works that are eligible, particularly Writing Excuses Season Six in the Best Related W
The newest ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers chapter two and talks about how The Simpsons already did everything.
In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Howard, Mary, and I cover these questions from Twitter in a rapid-fire fashion:
What do you do if you don't like your characters?
How do you keep your plot on track?
Is it better to use real locations in an Urban Fantasy?
What do you do about plot holes?
How do you know if you should abandon a story and
Just a very quick update today. If you didn't read my post about the A MEMORY OF LIGHT release date, it's here.
This week's Writing Excuses podcast features Mary and Dan speaking with Sarah Pinborough in an episode entitled The City as a Character.
The most recent annotation for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS covers chapter one.
InkWing is having a contest to decide what Bridge Four T-shirt to make. Head over to their blog to vote. Three random commenters on their blog post will get a fr
Tor and Harriet have set the release date for A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Again. While I've been working on the book, this has happened a half dozen times, with varying levels of publicity surrounding the date.
This time we're saying January 8th. How likely is this one? Well, honestly, I don't know. Seems like it's the most firm of the lot. However, you've got to understand a couple of things.
First off, I don't set release dates, particularly not on these books. I pick my deadlines, then work to meet
The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation talks about why I shifted the book from third person to first person. My assistant has also uploaded the third person versions of the first two chapters, which you can compare with the published versions.
I've spent all day recording new episodes of the Writing Excuses podcast with Howard, Mary, and Dan. You'll be hearing them in upcoming months. For now, this week's episode covers historical fantasy. Check it out.
There's also a n
Life, the Universe & Everything, the local SF convention/symposium, starts tomorrow at Utah Valley University. I'll be attending on Friday and Saturday, and my schedule is below.
Venue: Sorensen Student Center<br/>Utah Valley University<br/>800 W University Pkwy<br/>Orem, UT 84058
FRIDAY
1:00–3:00 p.m., Center Stage<br/>Writing Excuses Podcast (2 hours)
Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, James A. Owen (1–1:30), James Dashner (1:30–2
Hey, all! I had a wonderful time in Taiwan, and I thought I'd post some of the things I came home with. I always mean to do this following a tour, and hopefully I'll make a habit of it from here out.
First up, I wanted to show a few of the letters I got. We got a lot of these, and I can't show them all, but the thing I loved was how many of them were illustrated in some way. (Note, that's Kaladin and Wit in the first one.) Some of the letters are blurred, since I can't verify they don't say any
This is just a quick update as I recover from my Taiwan trip and get back into the swing of the second draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. First off, this week's ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation talks about the dedication page.
The most recent Writing Excuses episode draws back the curtain and talks about how Writing Excuses got started. It's horribly indulgent, but you may enjoy it anyway.
My assistant Peter sent out a newsletter late last week, mostly covering my 2012 convention appear
"Legion" is a novella I wrote on the flight home from France last summer. It came from an idea I'd been kicking around in my head for a few months, and the time seemed right to explore it on paper.
As it turned out very well, I sent it out to my agent—and we had a Hollywood option by the end of the year. Immediately, readers started to ask when they would see it. The thing is, it wasn't long enough for me to do as a full Tor release, and I didn't have time (while working on A MEMORY OF LIGHT) t
The upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas that I'll be an instructor for at the end of April/beginning of May is having a drawing. For details, I'll just quote their press release below. The first time I taught at this seminar, I was blown away by how awesome an experience it was. It was an all-around incredible mixing of creativity, information, and fun. I think it was not only worthwhile, but a bargain. Dave, Kevin, Rebecca, and Eric know a ton about this business. And having only b
Peter here filling in for Brandon since he's on a flight to Taiwan for the book expo. Below you'll find most of Brandon's convention schedule for 2012. There might be a couple more one-day stop-ins with Utah conferences, and we're waiting to hear back about an invitation to an autumn convention somewhere in Canada.
April will be Brandon's first visit to Australia. Swancon and Supanova have pooled resources to fly him out, so we hope Australian readers can send them the message that this was a g
In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about brevity.
Since all the chapters of my abandoned novel MYTHWALKER have now been uploaded, it's time to start dishing out something else for your weekly bonus content. So my assistant has put up the first annotation for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS. This one talks about the process of coming up with the title for the book, with the various (and often ridiculously long) options that were considered.
If you'
Hey, all. The new Magic the Gathering set is coming out in a little while, and the prerelease is this weekend. Dan and I had a lot of fun at the prerelease last time, so we’re going to be doing it again—with a twist.
Like for Innistrad, we’ll be going to Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley at midnight on Friday. However, to shake things up, instead of drafting we’ll be doing a sealed deck tournament. (If you aren’t familiar with this, you get six packs and build a deck out of those packs.)
Every year for the past several years, NAME OF THE WIND and THE WISE MAN'S FEAR author (and good buddy of mine) Patrick Rothfuss has run a charity drive where he matches at 50% donations to Heifer International through his Worldbuilders team page. Everyone who enters the general drawing gets a chance at a huge number of prizes. There are also individual auctions on several of the most desirable items. Pat explains it best.
I've donated various books to the prize pool before, and this year I and
This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode covers more on fauna and flora. Check it out.
My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts archive and the final chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He's also put up my Sanderson's Second Law article, which was first printed in the June 2011 issue of LEADING EDGE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. The failure of MYTHWALKER was a contributing factor that led me to develop the Second Law.
A few years back, I wrote an essay on creating ma
My assistant put up another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. This one is exciting. There's just one chapter left.
In this week's Writing Excuses episode, Dan, Mary, Howard and I talk about worldbuilding flora and fauna. Check it out.
It's award nomination season again, so here's a quick reminder of what I've released that's eligible this year.
Eligible in the category Best Related Work:
Writing Excuses Season Six Eligible in the category Best Novel:
The Alloy of Law Eligib
Forum member FeatherWriter posted this image of the Soulcaster that her mother made her for Christmas. Cool!
Season 7 of the writing advice podcast Writing Excuses that I do with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells has just kicked off. In the first episode, we talk about when good characters go bad.
My assistant also uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. There are three chapters left.
Source
This week's Writing Excuses episode is titled "Help, I Can't End My Book!" This is the final podcast of this season for Howard, Mary, Dan, and me. Check it out.
There's a new chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up.
My assistant has put up a new Twitter posts collection that includes my live-Tweeting of finishing the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. If you want to cut to the chase, the part you really want to read is here below. I'll post more details later.
BrandSanderson Wed Dec 2
My assistant has uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He also put up a new Twitter posts archive.
This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talking about character foils. Give it a listen.
The biggest news for this week is that the long-awaited Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG from Crafty Games is now available in ebook form. The hardcover and paperback copies will come next month or so, and we are planning a local release part
