Signing 11/10/11

[Duke]

Maybe a mod can incorporate the 11/10/11 date into the thread title or first post, since I don't think it makes sense to do a second thread for the Huntington signing.

1. There was a guy there with a mistcloak and a copper coin. Brandon took a picture of him.

2. Some guy drove 11 hours to get there, and Brandon signed and gave him the cardboard Alloy of Law poster.

3. I think I made him feel more uncomfortable than ever when I got him to reluctantly poke my wife's belly (she has a dragon brewing in there). He said it would go down as an "odd request."

Information on who the prologue viewpoint is NOT:

Ogier - either army. I guess there's an evil one and a good one, but it's not them. - OOPS NOT EVIL, Gardeners and Loial's. I'm a retard.

Fain - This was my guess, and some woman 2 people ahead of me guessed it first. He hinted that it was "on the right track" since the army has apparently dropped off of most people's radar.

I don't recall everyone else that he had written down, but when I scanned it nothing popped out as a terrific guess that wasn't "obviously wrong."

Edited November 11, 2011 by Duke

[halo6819]

I was late to the signing, but got

.

Also, I asked brandon how reliable the epigraphs of HoA where, as it has always bothered me when Sazed said that allomancy was of preservation. He said that they are 95% accurate and that his understanding of things does color the text. So no definate answer, but to me, it is still counter intuitive that preservation grants a power that is a net increase of energy, seems like Feruchemy would come from Preservation as it preserves energy, just time shifts it, while allomancy is of both ruin and preservation as it is a net gain in energy...

[CrazyRioter]

Brandon has actually explained why Allomancy is of Preservation, the explanation is in the "ultimate list of questions for Brandon" thread.

[Catalyst21]

I was late to the signing, but got

.

Also, I asked brandon how reliable the epigraphs of HoA where, as it has always bothered me when Sazed said that allomancy was of preservation. He said that they are 95% accurate and that his understanding of things does color the text. So no definate answer, but to me, it is still counter intuitive that preservation grants a power that is a net increase of energy, seems like Feruchemy would come from Preservation as it preserves energy, just time shifts it, while allomancy is of both ruin and preservation as it is a net gain in energy...

From the above video link, I only heard 1 question pertinent to us:

Question: Is there any relation between smoke that is ???? when a shardblade cuts somebody and smoke that nightblood emits?

Brandon: Is there relation between the smoke that somebody emits and the smoke that nightblood emits, yes there is. Are you a 17th sharder? That was a really good question.

Edited November 11, 2011 by Catalyst21

[CrazyRioter]

that was a question that somebody here was going to ask.

[KChan]

I love how Brandon even asked if the person was a 17th Sharder. Question-asker, if that was you and you're on here, let us know!

[KChan]

Maybe a mod can incorporate the 11/10/11 date into the thread title or first post, since I don't think it makes sense to do a second thread for the Huntington signing.

I did you one better; I moved this post into the existing 11/10 signing thread.

Thanks for the report, guys!

[Chaos]

I was late to the signing, but got

.

Also, I asked brandon how reliable the epigraphs of HoA where, as it has always bothered me when Sazed said that allomancy was of preservation. He said that they are 95% accurate and that his understanding of things does color the text. So no definate answer, but to me, it is still counter intuitive that preservation grants a power that is a net increase of energy, seems like Feruchemy would come from Preservation as it preserves energy, just time shifts it, while allomancy is of both ruin and preservation as it is a net gain in energy...

This is pretty cosmere-y, so I'm putting it in spoiler tags.

That has bothered me for a time. It was one of the primary motivating factors of my Principle of Intent theory, to try and explain that discrepancy. So, I asked Brandon about it in the Reddit Q&A. I'll try to persuade you by asking this question: is Hemalurgy of Ruin? "Of course it is. There's net loss." Ah, but look a little more closely. If you were God, could you come up with a magic system that's more in line with Ruin's intent? You could probably do that.

My point is, while the killing to charge a Hemalurgic spike is certainly pretty ruinous, Hemalurgy's effect--power stealing--doesn't have too much directly related to Ruin.

So, we need to be a little more specific on what it means to be "of Ruin" and "of Preservation". As it turns out, a Shard's intent doesn't need to have anything to do with a magic's intent. Allomancy does a lot of weird, active things that aren't related to preserving stuff. Surgebinding and the Lashes don't have much to do with Honoring crap.

Rather, a Shard's intent is only important in how you access the magic. To gain Ruin's magic, you have to destroy something. To use Awakening, you need to Endow Breath onto something, but the particular Command you give an Awakened object has nothing to do with Endowment's intent. With Surgebinding, presumably you need to have a bond to something for it to work. Kaladin has his bond with Syl. Does that make sense?

That means that the way you gain Allomancy must be of Preservation. Well, by burning metals, you get power, but where does the power come from? It can't come from your body or your own Preservation inside you. If you were using up some of yourself to use Allomancy, you wouldn't be preserving yourself. So, Allomancy comes from an external source because the nature of Preservation won't let the magic use up your own power. The only other place power can come from is Preservation itself.

Does that at all make sense?

[Zas678]

Green Hoodie Mistborn was the question asker, but I came from with the question. Bwahaha. Thank you Green Hoodie Mistborn!

Also, here is my transcription from the recorded parts of the interview:

Last ten minute transcription:

Q: Is there any relation between the smoke that you get from a Shardblade and the smoke that comes from Nightblood?

A. Yes there is. Are you a 17th sharder? That's a really smart question. (Basic explanation of Hoid, worlds are connected)

Q. Annotations for Alloy of Law, Wheel of Time, Way of Kings?

A. I do have annotations for Alloy of Law, but not for Way of Kings. What I want to do for Wheel of Time is after the books are out, I would really like to do a collection of Robert Jordan's notes, interspersed with my annotations of "here's what I had, this is what I did with it". It's up to Harriet though. She has a good reason not to- she doesn't want people's last memory of Robert Jordan to be his unfinished notes. He didn't like to show unfinished works, and so it really would be her call. If she lets me do it, I'll do it.

Q. Annotated Copies of your books?

A. I would really like to release annotated copies of my books. Perhaps I would do that for the 10th anniversary of Elantris, than do the sequel the next year if I can.

Q. For the Mistborn Film: How are you going to show the special effects of the metals?

A. One thing we're going to do is when we burn Iron/Steel, having the metals glow instead of shooting blue lines. It should help keep it less cluttered. We'll also dim the screen while the metals are glowing. When you start burning emotional allomancy, have a pulse come out from the user and wash over the target.

Q. How much time do you spend writing each time? Cause you produce like crazy!

A. I do this very conspulsively. So how many hours? All of them, except when I'm doing something else. I get up at noon (Yes I get up at noon. Don't knock it. It's the author's way!), work till 5, hang out with my family from 5-8, then write till 4 in the morning. And if there are other things going on during the night, I'll do them, but that's pretty much my standard. Especially with the Wheel of time taking up so much of my time. Maybe once it's over I'll spend more time playing video games and reading Terry Pratchett novels.

Blizzard gave me a bunch of games, inclduing Diablo 3 and said "Hey, you can go play this!" and I was like "hey guys..."

Q. Is there a difference between being an author who works for Tor, and an author Tor works for?

A. Yes there is. Most authors are actually independent workers who send out their various books to various publishers for different languages, so I don't actually work for Tor. However, Tor and I get along very well. I do a lot of good things for Tor, and Tor does a lot of good things for me. We have a very good working relationship, but I liscence them books. That means I control my books, my characters. They can't make a single comma change without my approval. Everything outside the covers is the publishers. It's all packaging. That's why authors don't have a lot of say in book covers. The covers is the marketing, and the publishers.

There are some authors who work for hire. For example, me with Wheel of Time. I work for Harriett on the Wheel of Time. I am employed by her. Now I have an awesome contract, and Harriet was very kind to me, but at the end of the day, I work for her. I am a contracter working for her.

Q. Now that you're starting Stormlight Archives, how do you keep your series from blowing out of proportion, like Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin?

A. That's a really good question. A lot of series seem to "get away" from their authors at times, but I have the advantage that Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin didn't have- I was able to read Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin. What I tried to do is that each book must have it's own arc. Each one must have a point, must be it's own book. That way they won't blend together. So that's why I give each book it's own character, with flashbacks for that character in that book. That won't mean we won't see the other characters in other books. We'll see Kaladin in other books, we'll see Dalinar in other books (assuming they survive). But I will give each book their own character.

Another thing that happens to authros is secondary character bloat. This happens when authors want to show off cool parts of the world, so you write a new character who is there, and then the author is like "Wow I want to write more of that character", and then Boom. In Way of Kings, I let myself do interludes. This is basically two or three short stories between each of the sections that show some of the scope of the world, and also characters you don't really need to know. This lets me get it out of my system, but it also tells me that "these won't be main characters". I'm hoping this will keep the series more focused.

Q. WoT question that I'm unsure of.

A. I see one shadow that bursts out that leaves a trail with a little blur, and if you have two waves than its a lot of blur, but yeah.

[djchangchild]

Hi everyone! Been a big fan of Brandon's for a few years now and this is my first post on the forum. I was also at the signing in Huntington Beach last night. Great Q&A and when Brandon mentioned 17th Shard I had to come and find out what he was talking about. Glad I found a community of Sanderson fans!

[Chaos]

Hi everyone! Been a big fan of Brandon's for a few years now and this is my first post on the forum. I was also at the signing in Huntington Beach last night. Great Q&A and when Brandon mentioned 17th Shard I had to come and find out what he was talking about. Glad I found a community of Sanderson fans!

I'm glad you could be with us!

[KChan]

Welcome!

Also, wow, Zas, that's an epic writeup. Thanks!

Edited November 12, 2011 by KChan
Because I'm an idiot.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

Welcome!

Also, wow, Zas, that's an epic writeup. Thanks!

Hi all, as Zas said, that was me asking the re-worked question from him. I posted responses to a couple of other questions that I asked in the Ultimate List of Questions thread. But they bear repeating here:

1. Is there only 1 Shard on Silence Divine? "Yes"

2. Can someone gain magics of another world (paraphrase)? Answered specifically - "Anyone can gain breaths on Nalthis, it's much harder to become an Allomancer." - I have thoughts on this that I posted in the Ultimate Questions thread...

Here is a link to the transcript of the full Q&A that I typed up... it's 5 pages long in Google Docs so I think a link works better than pasting it here.

Let me know if anyone has trouble getting to this document as this is the first time I've tried setting up "public" type viewing on one of my docs.

Sanderson Q&A - 11/10/11 - Huntington Beach

[darniil]

I'm able to access it fine.

[Eri]

About Hoid:

This person is trying to figure out some of the connections between the worlds

Finally, we know anything about his goals.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

About Hoid:

Finally, we know anything about his goals.

I think Brandon was actually talking about me to the rest of the audience, trying to clue them in on the background to the question, not Hoid and the 17th Shard in the Cosmere adn whatever their motives may be...

[FirstSelector]

I wasn't able to personally go to the signing, but a friend of mine went for me and asked Brandon to sign my book with a "hint about the Cosmere." He laughed and said "one of those people," and wrote: "Look at the map of Shadesmar, there are clues."

I don't recall if this has been posted before, but coupled with the quote in this post about the expanse of densities, I would hazard that we should be looking more closely at that map.

[discipleofhoid]

I wasn't able to personally go to the signing, but a friend of mine went for me and asked Brandon to sign my book with a "hint about the Cosmere." He laughed and said "one of those people," and wrote: "Look at the map of Shadesmar, there are clues."

I don't recall if this has been posted before, but coupled with the quote in this post about the expanse of densities, I would hazard that we should be looking more closely at that map.

Could all of the nexus/expanses be the other cosmere planets?

That would make for 7 planets.

We have

2 shards on Scandrial

1 on Nalthis

3 on Roshar

2 on Sel

1 on Silence Divine Planet

? on Taldain

? on ? Planet

This would make for 3 shard at least on the final two planets which seems like a lot.

I dont know though because this would make it so the dragonsteel book is not accessable via shadesmar.

Edited November 15, 2011 by discipleofhoid

[Cheese Ninja]

Q. Now that you're starting Stormlight Archives, how do you keep your series from blowing out of proportion, like Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin?

A. That's a really good question. A lot of series seem to "get away" from their authors at times, but I have the advantage that Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin didn't have- I was able to read Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin. What I tried to do is that each book must have it's own arc. Each one must have a point, must be it's own book. That way they won't blend together. So that's why I give each book it's own character, with flashbacks for that character in that book. That won't mean we won't see the other characters in other books. We'll see Kaladin in other books, we'll see Dalinar in other books (assuming they survive). But I will give each book their own character.

Another thing that happens to authros is secondary character bloat. This happens when authors want to show off cool parts of the world, so you write a new character who is there, and then the author is like "Wow I want to write more of that character", and then Boom. In Way of Kings, I let myself do interludes. This is basically two or three short stories between each of the sections that show some of the scope of the world, and also characters you don't really need to know. This lets me get it out of my system, but it also tells me that "these won't be main characters". I'm hoping this will keep the series more focused.

Note the bolding.

I thought he couldn't get through George R.R. Martin's books since the sex scenes and generally bad things that happen to the characters made him too uncomfortable? (Odd, since he stated that he reads SMBC, but there's no attachment to the characters in a webcomic series that has no ongoing characters.)

This is also the first time I've him mention the possibility that Kaladin and Dalinar might not survive most of the series.

Could all of the nexus/expanses be the other cosmere planets?

That would make for 7 planets.

We have

2 shards on Scandrial

1 on Nalthis

3 on Roshar

2 on Sel

1 on Silence Divine Planet

? on Taldain

? on ? Planet

This would make for 3 shard at least on the final two planets which seems like a lot.

I dont know though because this would make it so the dragonsteel book is not accessable via shadesmar.

Maybe the regions just contain gateways to the other planets? If so, maybe each world has its own set of gateways, and not all of the planets are directly accessible from one planet's Shadesmar. Edited November 15, 2011 by Cheese Ninja