Signing and QA Recordings

[little wilson]

I know I'm months late posting this, but I have recordings of the signing portion (which means ALL of the questions anyone asks Brandon) of the last two big signings I went to - the Steelheart release in Orem and the Jordan Landing signing. I plan on leaving my phone at the table tomorrow too, at the SLC signing, so I'll have another lengthy recording to add on here soon.

 

Here are the links to both of those recordings.

 

Jordan Landing

 

Steelheart Orem

 

The files are HUGE (both are over 2 hours long), so you'll have to download them. I would've transcribed them, but between work and everything else I have going on right now, I really don't have the time. At all. Nor the patience. But I know plenty of you folks on here are quite adept at transcribing things like this, so I will leave it in your capable hands.

 

Also, neither is the full signing. My phone kind of started dying (I should probably invest in a good recording device so I don't have to resort to my phone). Mi'ch has the other half of at least the Orem one. And I think the Jordan Landing one as well.

Edited January 7, 2014 by little wilson

[bartbug]

Did you remember anything new in either of them, before I decide to see if transcribing them is worth it?

(Then again, considering the 13 hour + drive I have ahead of me, it is likely not a problem).

 

UPDATE: I've gotten through the first half hour of one of them, and I got to say, it is ridiculously mindnumbing. There's something about hearing Brandon futilely ask for questions that makes my soul die a little. I'll ask you questions, Brandon.

On the news side, there was a RAFO about what type of spren Ym was bonded to, and a confirmation that while Axies the Collector "cameos" in WoR, he has no viewpoint.

Edited December 21, 2013 by bartbug

[WeiryWriter]

I'll see what I can do about starting to transcribe these when I get home this afternoon.

But thank you for posting these, and going to the signing tomorrow!

[little wilson]

As for details that we don't know, I have no idea. I put my phone and the table and walked off. At the Steelheart one, I was helping with the line, so I wasn't even anywhere near the table most of the night. And at the Jordan Landing one, although I was somewhat near the table for part of the night, Mi'ch and I were arguing about something (you can actually hear part of that argument in the recording even though we weren't all *that* close to the table...)

[WeiryWriter]

Okay, I'm going to start with the Steelheart release signing transcription.  The Google doc can be found here.  I'm not going to be transcribing everything, just the relevant questions (i.e. I'm not transcribing the pleasantries and such or people who don't have questions).

 

Edit:  Okay I've done as much as I can tonight but I need some sleep.  I will finish the Steelheart Release party transcription in the morning (I'm pretty close anyways) and then I'll start on the other one.

Edited December 22, 2013 by WeiryWriter

[Kurkistan]

Thanks for the transcription, Weiry.
 

Some things of interest:

 

The question/answer on shardblade wounds was... confusing.

 

The stuff about Kelsier/SSFH was quite interesting:

Q: At the end of the trilogy Sazed communicates with Kelsier so there is something going on with an afterlife.  Is it uniform across the cosmere?

 

B: What is happening there is not actually technically an afterlife, well it kind of is, it is what we call a cognitive shadow its when your spirit is not moving on yet.  So there is a Beyond but there is a-- basically it is what we would call in our world a ghost, and there are actually magic systems based around that.  Actually the story I have coming out in George R.R. Martin’s next anthology is a ghost story involving this same--yes it is cosmere based.  Yes, that would be consistent, they don’t all have the same mythology regarding it.  But it would be consistent, what happened with Kelsier could have happened on any of the planets

 

 

My favorite sentence so far: "Hemalurgy does not automatically make you bald." Simply beautiful when taken out of context.

[WeiryWriter]

Okay, the Steelheart release signing is finished. I'm going to take a short-ish break and then start on Jordan Landing.

Some things of interest:

 

The question/answer on shardblade wounds was... confusing.

Yah, I was a little confused as well so I might not have transcribed it perfectly. I'll try and see if lyssie can shed any light on it.

The stuff about Kelsier/SSFH was quite interesting:

Yah, I haven't read SSFH yet but now I really want to (well I already really wanted to but now...) but we have a name for what is happening with Kelsier "a cognitive shadow" which just sounds cool.

My favorite sentence so far: "Hemalurgy does not automatically make you bald." Simply beautiful when taken out of context.

Yes, one of the funniest lines in the signing.

[Windrunner]

Yes!!! Silence Divine novella! He'd mentioned that before, but I didn't know if it was still planned.

[WeiryWriter]

Okay, starting the Jordan Landing signing.

[masaru]

Q: What would you like to be working on?  Do you have any ideas bouncing around in your head?

B: I’d like to write-- the book I’ve wanted to write for a long time, I’ll probably do it as a novella, about the planet where catching a disease gets you a magical talent. [TN: Referring to “The Silence Divine” set on Ashyn]  And I’ll probably do that as my next novella, next year.  So in between projects I’ll do that one.

 

 

Oh yes. Please and thank you.

 

Also this got me wondering something..

 

Q: And is that a series you are going to be publishing?

B: I will eventually rewrite it, it is not up to my current standards.  I consider the events that happen in it basically to be canon.  With some exceptions, like for instance when I originally wrote Dragonsteel the Shattered Plains were there and Dalinar was there and I split off Way of Kings into its own book.  I took half of what had been Dragonsteel and made it into the Stormlight Archive and I split half of it off onto a separate planet.  If you were to read it, you can check it out from BYU, half of it will be a less well-written version of the Shattered Plains sequence of Way of Kings and the other half is Hoid’s story. And Hoid’s story stuff is still kind of canon but the rest…

 

 

How in the world do people who have read Dragonsteel deal with the all the discussions about Hoid on here? I've never tried to track down the BYU copy and probably never will, but I know others have. Must be really difficult to separate what you know from there and what is being discussed on the forums.

Edited December 22, 2013 by masaru

[WeiryWriter]

Okay they are both done.

 

Steelheart Release Party Signing

 

Jordan Landing Signing

 

And here is the mist fabrial question, for Chaos:

 

 

Q: On Scadrial, is there a method to invest a piece of metal with mists, similar to how gemstones can be invested with stormlight?
B: Yes.
Q: Did the Lord Ruler employ this method?
B: *hesistantly* Yes.
Q: Do Scadrians on the Southern Continent use this method?
B: RAFO *everybody laughs* Now, I should tell you that in the basic worldbuilding of what’s going on in that making a hemalurgic spike is exactly the same as investing a gemstone.  *mind-blown noice* Same sort of process.  So the answer yes to all those questions could simply be yes because they are making hemalurgy.  They are technically true.
Somebody, Mi’ch/Kendra maybe?: Eric’s going to love that.
B: I have to tell you that because otherwise Peter is going to give me an email like “you told them this?” and I’m like “yah”

 

So little wilson, did you end up going yesterday?

Edited December 22, 2013 by WeiryWriter

[Kurkistan]

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to repost both transcripts in full-text right now so that they'll be easier to search/index in the future.

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_79ygC2qfNoZ3gySll1ZzdQR0U/edit - audio

Q: Your Korean phrase in Alcatraz, what was that?

B: I don’t speak Korean is what I believe it says.

Q: You know Hoid’s Letter, that is in The Way of Kings, it is given to a dragon right?

B: He calls him an old reptile.

Q: Is he immortal?

B: Functionally, meaning he doesn’t age but could be killed

Q: And it is a he and not a she?

B: It is a he.

Q: Are you going to do a new pin for Words of Radiance?

B: Oh yah, I should do something like that.  I wasn’t thinking I should do one, but I really should.

Q: A shardblade, what it does is cut off healing and control of an arm or whatever..

B: Yes

Q: So like if an arm got badly wounded and was bleeding out and needed to be amputated.  If you went through it with a shardblade first, would that damage you in other ways?

B: No it wouldn’t.  What it does is sever the soul of the arm.

Q: I know like in Mistborn, if you take bits of soul out of people it messes them up

B: It does

Q: if you do it with shardblades…

B: It leaves a wound…

Q: What color is your toothbrush ?

B: White with blue toothbrush head thing. [Transcriber’s note, I really couldn’t resist adding this…]

Q: Who is your favorite Doctor?

A: Big scarf doctor [Transcriber’s note: Probably the Fourth Doctor then?  Played by Tom Baker]

Q: Are Kaladin and Szeth going to fight in Words of Radiance?

B: Well, they are both on the cover, if you have not seen it, Kaladin is on the front and Szeth is on the back and they look very antagonistically towards each other.  Plus Kaladin has been hired to protect Dalinar and Szeth has been sent to kill him.  So it is a reasonable expectation  that they will run into each other in the second book.

Q: What is the name/Intent of Bavadin’s Shard?

B: *nervous chuckle* I have not revealed that yet and I don’t think I want to quite yet.

Q: In Rithmatics, how can you tell if a circle is two-starred, four-starred, or nine-starred?

B: It’s by where you start crossing the lines, where you cross the circle will determine how many, and what points it is.  For example if you draw a line here, there are only a certain number of places where you can draw another line that will fit.  It’s just by where you start your first line intersecting it.

Q: Which hand is the safe hand?

B: It is the left hand.

Q: When we get to the interlude in The Way of Kings, where we see the Shinovar merchant, he talks about his guards being different from Truthless.  What makes the distinction?

B: You will find that out in Book 3 which has Szeth’s flashback sequences and show him becoming Truthless.

Q: At the end of WoK, it was probably clear enough but I didn’t understand it, with Wit, was it the actual Herald or was it someone else.

B: The Herald is the one that collapsed on the ground all shaggy haired with a shardblade.  He claimed to be Talenel, who is the one they were talking about in the Prelude, whether or not he actually is is yet to be seen.

Q: Did he just collapse or did he form out of the air?

B: No, he walked up and fell down.

Q: My husband wants to know if you are having any gunsmiths make a Vindicator.

B: Not yet, are you a gunsmith?

Q: No, just an enthusiast.

Q: The last book was split into three for the Wheel of Time, how much of that was yours and how much Jordan’s?

B: He left about a hundred written pages and another hundred pages of notes specifically for the last book.  It really depends on the given scene.  In TGS if it was Gawyn it was either written by him or from his notes and if it was Rand it was mostly me.  In ToM if it was Mat it was probably from his notes or written by him, he wrote the entire Tower of Ghenjes [TN: spelling?] sequence.  But if it was Perrin it was me.  He had nothing on him except leaving Malden and being in the Last Battle, so I had to fill in everything in between.  In the final book, meeting at the Fields of Merillor was him and the very last chapter, which became the epilogue, was him and a lot of the rest was me.

Q: Are you going to do a midnight thing for Word of Radiance?

B: Yes.  We decided that since this [steelheart] was a teen book we would do it at a reasonable hour instead of midnight, but all bets are off for WoR.  It will be one of those midnight abominations where I’m there till six am.

Q: Are you an Eagle Scout?

B: I am.

Q: Does Roshone get his comeuppance?

B: More of what happened with Roshone is in the second book.  He will at least be mentioned and you will find out more.

Q: Why is The Rithmatist in our world but not in our world?

B: I wanted to do something a little more whimsical when I wrote it.  Something that I didn’t require myself to-- I just wanted something purely imaginative.  And I said, if I weren’t bound by anything where would I go?  And I designed this really strange alternate version of our world, without forcing myself to have explanations or rationale.  That’s just a different process than other books I write.

Q: When are we going to see a Mistbon movie?  I thought it was just around the corner?

B: I think it would make a great movie.  There are a lot of people in Hollywood who think it would make a great movie but they aren’t the people with the money.  Convincing the people with the money is a little harder.

Q: At the end of the trilogy Sazed communicates with Kelsier so there is something going on with an afterlife.  Is it uniform across the cosmere?

B: What is happening there is not actually technically an afterlife, well it kind of is, it is what we call a cognitive shadow its when your spirit is not moving on yet.  So there is a Beyond but there is a-- basically it is what we would call in our world a ghost, and there are actually magic systems based around that.  Actually the story I have coming out in George R.R. Martin’s next anthology is a ghost story involving this same--yes it is cosmere based.  Yes, that would be consistent, they don’t all have the same mythology regarding it.  But it would be consistent, what happened with Kelsier could have happened on any of the planets

Q: Will Hoid be make a reappearance in Words of Radiance?

B: Yes.

Q: I also heard he was part of your unpublished Dragonsteel.

B: He is.

Q: And is that a series you are going to be publishing?

B: I will eventually rewrite it, it is not up to my current standards.  I consider the events that happen in it basically to be canon.  With some exceptions, like for instance when I originally wrote Dragonsteel the Shattered Plains were there and Dalinar was there and I split off Way of Kings into its own book.  I took half of what had been Dragonsteel and made it into the Stormlight Archive and I split half of it off onto a separate planet.  If you were to read it, you can check it out from BYU, half of it will be a less well-written version of the Shattered Plains sequence of Way of Kings and the other half is Hoid’s story. And Hoid’s story stuff is still kind of canon but the rest…

Q: When is the next Rithmatist coming out?

B: I am working on it but I don’t have a specific date.

Q: How far are you into it?

B: I have the outline done.  The outline is about half the work for me

Q: Do you spend a lot of time on google when you don’t know something? Like distances?

B: Yes, well I used to.  Now I can just write in my manuscript “Peter find the answer to this” and I’ll just let it go.  He’s my assistant so when he does his readthrough afterwards he’s like “oh great” and he’ll do all the research for me.

Q: Have you ever thrown in something into one of your books from one of the other books you’ve written, like an easter egg?

B: Yes, well all of my books are connected.  There is a character in Mistborn who is in Elantris, who is in Warbreaker, who is also in the Way of Kings.  Easter egg things, if you read my middle grade series, the Alcatraz books, there are all kinds of silly things thrown in there just for fun.  But there’s a continuing character doing cameos in each of the books,

Q:  is it the same throughout the books?

B: yes

Q: A lot of people I know think that you are an atheist because you’ve written a really great atheist, and one that we all like in Jasnah and I’m wondering if you interviewed people or if you got that from philosophy classes.

B: I spent a suspicious amount of time hanging out on atheist forums.  Really I paid attention to threads where they discussed misconceptions about them and things like that and used that to inform creating Jasnah’s philosophy on life.

Q: Are Inquisitors bald?

A: Yes.

Q: Are they bald by being bald, or do they shave their heads?

B: They shave their heads.  Hemalurgy does not automatically make you bald.

Q: In the sample chapter for the sequel it said “Sazed is in charge of hemalurgy now so it is bad anymore”

B: That is what the book said.

Q: What is your prefered writing tool? i.e. mac, word, etc.

B: I use regular Word.  I like some of the tools like the Document Map and auto correct function.  Over the years I’ve built a whole autocorrect library.  It makes me feel like I spell things correctly on Word, when I really don’t.  The other thing I do like is wikidpad software.

Q: In Warbreaker, how did Denth remember Shashara was his sister if he was Returned?

B: That is an excellent question and it will be answered.  It is a conscious decision of mine, it is something you are supposed to be wondering.  In the future books I want to delve into that sort of thing a lot.

Q: When is the next Alloy of Law book coming out?

B: Probably Christmastime next year [2014] is the earliest you’ll see it.  Maybe the following spring.

Q: In most of your magic systems people have a power or two, with the exception of Elantris are you planning on returning to that or doing a similar system?

B: I will, I like to do all kinds of different things.  The thing about it is that I like having discrete powers that I can really explore.  I find that a lot of magic system that have just so many things you can do-- it isn’t a bad magic system I just like to have one thing and really dig into it.  I love reading the Wheel of Time which had a very expansive magic system until you come to my books where you see characters focusing on a few weaves and using them really well.

Q: If you were a misting which power would you choose?

B: Coinshot.

Q: What would you like to be working on?  Do you have any ideas bouncing around in your head?

B: I’d like to write-- the book I’ve wanted to write for a long time, I’ll probably do it as a novella, about the planet where catching a disease gets you a magical talent. [TN: Referring to “The Silence Divine” set on Ashyn]  And I’ll probably do that as my next novella, next year.  So in between projects I’ll do that one.

Q: Are chasmfiends related to Thunderclasts?

B: No. Good question though.  Thunderclasts actually show up pretty early in the second book.  More what thunderclasts are-- Dalinar sees one in a flashback in the second book.  So you’ll get a good explanation of where they come from, but they are more related to the voidbringers where chasmfiends are actually a living part of the ecosystem

Q: So what is the purpose of the pupating?

B: You will find out.  Shallan is asking that very question.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_79ygC2qfNoNnlIVXgxQ2JiN3c/edit - audio

Q:

B: Axies the Collector will make a cameo appearance somewhere in the book.  He does not have a viewpoint this time. [TN: He is the Aimian in the Rysn Interlude]

Q: What kind of spren is Ym talking to?

B: Ym is talking to *nervous chuckle* I’m not telling you, you’ll find out.

Q: Is Sazed going to show up in the Stormlight Archive?

B: I’m going to give you one of these… [TN: Either a RAFO card or Steelhunt code?] He is aware of what is happening.

Q: What is your Epic power?

B: My epic power would be-- If I could choose anything I would pick flying.  What do I actually have, I have Grandpa Smedry’s arrive late to things power.

Q: Are the next Stormlight books going to have a lot of Kaladin’s point of view?

B: The next book has a lot of Kaladin.  I expect him to have a large part to play in all of them, at least the first five which are kind of about him, Shallan, and Dalinar.  Its split into two five book arcs, and the back five arc may not involve Kaladin.  And I’m saying that trying not tell you if he lives or dies, because he very well might.

Q:What is Hoid’s real name?

Random person in line: He’s not going to tell you that!

B: Hehe, he’s had so many names that I am going to give you one of these…

Q: How many characters are you planning on killing before the end of the Stormlight Archive?

B: The right number.

Q: warbreaker

B: There is another story with Vasher and Vivenna as characters and two new characters.  It takes place in a different country.  Vasher is doing his regular thing where he’s trying to prevent a war and it falls cross-purposes with what someone else is trying to do.

Q: In Warbreaker, you’ve got all these characters with color changing hair, are they all descended from the same Returned or are they descended from different Returned?

B: They claim to all be descended from the same one.

Q: The same one as the princesses?

B: Okay, i thought you were meaning…

Q: The princesses are descended from the first Returned, does that make them (...)

B: That would be what they would claim.

Q: (VaraTreledes and Treledes, was there nothing there?)

B: The Scholars and who they are would be involved in a sequel in some way.  And someday I will write it and you might get an answer.

Q: The poeple on the forums wanted me to ask you if you could use metal from other planets for hemalurgic spikes..

B: Hmm… wow. They are being very clever.  I’m going to RAFO that one.  But that is a good question, it is one I hoped they would be thinking about.  Its just a RAFO because I want to think about it longer.

Isaac?: What are we thinking about longer?

B: Whether metal from other planets can be used for hemalurgic spikes

Q: Mistborn movie?

B: I’ve sold the rights but that runs out in January so they would have to get a deal by then.  So it isn’t looking great.  Once the rights revert its a popular enough book series that we hope someone else will buy them and have better luck getting it made.

Q: (Where did you get the idea for the Rithmatist?)

B: I thought about the idea of-- throughout history people have found ways to turn everything into a game.  Whatever it is.  Like any weapon you could practice with they have a game for it.  Anything we do we have games for and I realized I hadn’t ever done a magic system that people play a game with.  At least not in that way.  Its just this place in human experience and it was a place I had never gone.

Q:

B: Wayne is what started the book, I didn’t have Wax yet.  I originally tried writing it with just Wayne but it was just too wacky so I eventually had to back up and rebuild and start over again with somebody else with Wayne being part of that story.

Q: On Scadrial, is there a method to invest a piece of metal with mists, similar to how gemstones can be invested with stormlight?

B: Yes.

Q: Did the Lord Ruler employ this method?

B: *hesistantly* Yes.

Q: Do Scadrians on the Southern Continent use this method?

B: RAFO *everybody laughs* Now, I should tell you that in the basic worldbuilding of what’s going on in that making a hemalurgic spike is exactly the same as investing a gemstone.  *mind-blown noice* Same sort of process.  So the answer yes to all those questions could simply be yes because they are making hemalurgy.  They are technically true.

Somebody, Mi’ch/Kendra maybe?: Eric’s going to love that.

B: I have to tell you that because otherwise Peter is going to give me an email like “you told them this?” and I’m like “yah”

Edited December 22, 2013 by Kurkistan

[little wilson]

Yes, I did. Josh brought an official recorder though, so I don't have it. He's also giving it to Windy to transcribe, since there are some.....sensitive topics (read: WoR spoilers) being discussed in the background.

[Windrunner]

Since I'll be transcribing it, you guys should see it sometime around next Christmas.

 

(Just kidding, as soon as I get it and have some free time, I'll get right on it.)

[Satsuoni]

@WeiryWriter Thank you!

 

@Little wilson

Yes, I did. Josh brought an official recorder though, so I don't have it. He's also giving it to Windy to transcribe, since there are some.....sensitive topics (read: WoR spoilers) being discussed in the background.

The juicy bits! You let him walk away with the juicy bits, and now we'll never see them again I am sure they were the Christmas equivalent of a reading

@Windrunner: Riight...

[little wilson]

Well, Brandon wasn't the one saying the spoilers. Mi'ch was asking Isaac some questions about the book, and they were right next to the recorder. And after we all realized everything got on tape, they kind of just all gave up keeping things contained around it. And I'd run away with my ears plugged when they got into the actual details of the book and not the artwork, since I didn't want the book spoiled for me....at all.

[Kurkistan]

Well that must have been quite distressing. Do you recall any interesting (non-spoilery) tidbits from before you fled?

Edited December 26, 2013 by Kurkistan