Seattle Calamity Signing

[karaokeang]

Controlled_Slide,

 

Thanks so much for doing this.  I saw that Nikki stayed til the end too.  

 

For any other fans, Donnie, Nikki, Alice Arneson, Controlled_Slide and I discussed having a Sanderfan lunch in a couple months.  Just a get together and chat session, let me know if you would be interested in participating.

[Kurkistan]

I found these Cosmere relevant Q&As from the Seattle signing in a facebook post and I hope it's ok to post them (thanks goes to Shawn Speakman):

 

 

This Shawn Speakman? I'm seeing videos (three of them) but no transcript. So are your Q'a/A's just from watching the videos?

[karaokeang]

This Shawn Speakman? I'm seeing videos (three of them) but no transcript. So are your Q'a/A's just from watching the videos?

 

Yep.. That Shawn was there and the questions above were part of the general Q&A.  Controlled_Slide and I recorded the whole signing line though so we will have an audio recording we can transcribe. 

[Kelek's Breath]

This Shawn Speakman? I'm seeing videos (three of them) but no transcript. So are your Q'a/A's just from watching the videos?

Those are the links, yes. One video (the shortest loses audio as Brandon is about to answer a question). An d another is really an intro by the bookstore and a speech. So only one video has Q&A.

[controlled_slide]

Okay, I uploaded the signing line audio here. I don't remember much of great import, but perhaps there was something I missed. There were a couple of nuggets in there though as I remember. Have fun whoever's willing to slog through 4 hours of audio to pull out the bite size nuggets of interesting information from them.

[WeiryWriter]

squirenonny over on tumblr went to this signing and recorded the general q&a (audio+their signing line questions here) and posted a transcription here.  Warning there are spoilers for Calamity in there, and technically spoilers for Secret History as well.

[Oudeis]

Ugh... want to cull list, but don't want to spoil Calamity... I assume since you mention it, Calamity spoilers aren't hidden? Well, I'll just have to risk double-questions, then.

[WeiryWriter]

They are definitely not hidden.  But I don't think there's that much chance for overlap but I'll obliquely reference stuff:

 

Secret History spoiler-ish

A question about what the Cognitive Realm looks like around Nalthis got a "big ol' RAFO"

 

and actually the rest of the non-Calamity spoiler questions have already been posted by kelek's breath.

[Oudeis]

Ooo, thanks, I didn't get to ask it (it was like #89 on my list and I asked I think six questions, most of them because I stayed til the end of the signing and he just hung out with us) but I did have a question which was basically that... I wanted to know, when Lightsong has the flashback to his first death, were we seeing the Cognitive Realm?

[WeiryWriter]

lightningrani on tumblr also went to this signing:

 

 

- Apparently Kaladin would beat Vin in a fight on the battlefield, but Vin would beat Kaladin off it. 
- According to Sanderson, you can make Shardblades with different kinds of Investitures, though it’s easier with than others. I asked if you could forge a Shardblade, and Brandon compared that to ‘turning lead into gold with a particle accelerator’ aka possible, but requires a rust TON of power.
- According to Sanderson, subastral is the name for that specific part of Shadesmar. I hope that answers your question.

 

I'm so glad we got a recording of this signing, 'cause I really want to here the verbatim exchange on the last one...

[maxal]

lightningrani on tumblr also went to this signing:

 

 

I'm so glad we got a recording of this signing, 'cause I really want to here the verbatim exchange on the last one...

 

Thanks for posting this tumblr thread: it had other additional information in it I personally found rather interesting, namely some details on young Dalinar.

[Orsium]

I asked if we had seen any Shards that have been Splintered recombine yet.

 

He said:  Have you SEEN any?  No.  Good Question. (Emphasis his)

Edited February 22, 2016 by Orsium

[ParadoxicalZen]

I asked if we had seen any Shards that have been Splintered recombine yet.

 

He said:  Have you SEEN any?  No.  Good Question. (Emphasis his)

Hmm, good question but it doesn't technically mean they haven't recombined as it could been done off screen. Upvote!

[Argent]

From lightingrani's Tumblr post:

Nonny and Orelia asked questions about Calamity because they finished it already, and… got RAFO’d. Because apparently SANDERSON MIGHT WRITE A SEQUEL TRILOGY WITH MIZZY AS THE MAIN CHARACTER.

 

 

I am not sure of this is a fan moment or an actual report, but I would love a Mizzy series. Or even a book. Or even a novella.

 

Has anyone been able to figure out what "subastral" refers to exactly?

[WeiryWriter]

From lightingrani's Tumblr post:

I am not sure of this is a fan moment or an actual report, but I would love a Mizzy series. Or even a book. Or even a novella.

Has anyone been able to figure out what "subastral" refers to exactly?

Rani actually asked that question for me. And the phrasing I gave her was to the effect of "Is 'subastral' the term for "region of the Cognitive Realm', ie Shadesmar is Roshar's subastral. Or is it the material that makes up the Cognitive Realm." Her report seems to indicate the former but it's unclear.

[vineyarddawg]

Q.Is Dalinar's wife really dead?

A. RAFO

 

 

 

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo, me likey where this is going. The intrigue!

 

If Brandon's looking for an idea for a April Fools' Day joke for this year, he can release a preview of a chapter for Oathbringer for us:  The flashback chapter about Dalinar's wife.

Chapter SHSHSH:  SHSHSHSH

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

[emailanimal]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo, me likey where this is going. The intrigue!

 

If Brandon's looking for an idea for a April Fools' Day joke for this year, he can release a preview of a chapter for Oathbringer for us:  The flashback chapter about Dalinar's wife.

Chapter SHSHSH:  SHSHSHSH

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH.

 

 See - now you spoiled it and he would have to come up with a brand new idea.....

[Cadmium]

Ack. I'm on mobile and accidentally down voted @vineyarddawg when I meant to up vote! Sorry!

[Orsium]

Hmm, good question but it doesn't technically mean they haven't recombined as it could been done off screen. Upvote!

 

Yep, that was my thought as well.  Especially with the way his inflection sounded.  

[Wetlander]

Re: the RAFO on Dalinar's wife - he also said that we'd find out in SA3. Just another year or so to speculate...

[maxal]

I have a heard time thinking she isn't really dead... I somehow think it would be horribly anti-climatic for her to be alive, somehow. I don't know why Brandon would RAFO this one.

[Oversleep]

Q. Is there any connection between Odium and Trell?

A. Thhh.. Ummm.. YYeessss there is... some connection.

What Brandon Means (WBM): The connection is that they're part of cosmere. Or are the same thing. Or something. Basically a RAFO

Q.Is Dalinar's wife really dead?

A. RAFO

She's alive in his memo... Whoops.

She's undead. I'd say she's a Hoed but Hoed are no more. I know! She's Returned!

EDIT: Rank: 333 Stormwarden, posts: 777

Edited February 29, 2016 by Oversleep

[Brgst13]

What Brandon Means (WBM): The connection is that they're part of cosmere. Or are the same thing. Or something. Basically a RAFO

She's alive in his memo... Whoops.

She's undead. I'd say she's a Hoed but Hoed are no more. I know! She's Returned!

EDIT: Rank: 333 Stormwarden, posts: 777

No, she's the chasm fiend Kaladin killed. He still holds her heart, though...literally...Kaladin handed it to Dalinar!

[Cadmium]

 

From lightingrani's Tumblr post:

 

I am not sure of this is a fan moment or an actual report, but I would love a Mizzy series. Or even a book. Or even a novella.

 

Has anyone been able to figure out what "subastral" refers to exactly?

At the Houston Signing, Brandon said he's in talks for a "side-sequel" series in an alternate Universe/timeline.

[WeiryWriter]

So I just finished a rough, first-pass transcription of this signing.

Spoiler

 

General Q&A - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHGzK3v9-T8

 

[11:45]

Questioner:

Brandon: Oh, my pleasure.  She says that she has Asperger’s and when she read the book The Bands of Mourning, and the other ones that have Steris in them, she identified a lot with Steris. I appreciate that.

Questioner:

Brandon: What research did I do, did I talk to autistic people.  I have several people in my life who actually have Asperger’s specifically, and they were a huge resource, as you might imagine.  One of the things that I like to do, kind of a mandate I have in my fiction, is to try to get people who are heroic who have different types of psychology than we usually see in heroes.  Because the more I’ve lived in life, the more I’ve realized that we all are really distinctive in our own way, and our psychology all works differently.  And yet we see a lot of heroes that all kind of have the same brain chemistry, it seems.  Which has always felt really weird to me.  And so it’s kind of one my mandates to do that.

What research did I do?  When I was in college, one of my favorite things to do was sneak into classes I wasn’t signed up for, and the psychology classes were my favorite.  This friend, who coincidentally was the one who wanted to be a chef, actually got a psychology major.  His parents were “You should do something useful with your life.” and so he got a psychology major, which he ended up going to med school.  He didn’t become a chef, he went to med school.  He likes that too.  But I would sneak into his classes and they were so useful as a writer, just listening to the different types, and to start to see personality not as--  We like to look at a lot of things as being normal or abnormal, but that’s not the way it is.  Everyone’s personality is on this interesting spectrum and what is normal and what is abnormal is completely a matter of perspective.  Where you stand on this line as opposed to--  It’s like trying to make a value judgement that shouldn’t really exist.

And to come to see these personalities as great swathes of interesting color is what the psychology classes taught me.  And so that I did do some specific research for Steris and then I interviewed people as well.  I’m glad that you picked up on it without me ever having to say what she was, and things like that.  That’s when I really feel like I’ve nailed something, when you can read something and say “Yeah that’s who this person is” instead of someone outside pointing and saying “this is who this person is, who they are”

 

[14:55]

Questioner:

Brandon: The question is on Writing Excuses we’ve been breaking down story [...] Was Bands of Mourning an attempt to write a pulp novel?  Actually all of the Wax and Wayne books are a harkening back to classic serials of pulp novels.  So yes, it was me looking at that--  I kind of pitched those books to myself as “Mistborn the television show, the action serial” if that makes sense.  Where the other ones were the Mistborn epic fantasies, these are the action serials.  And I did try to kind of vary the genre, the first one is more straight-up detective novel, the second one is psychological thriller, and the last one is kind of a classic serial adventure story.  So yeah, that was very intentional, it’s me trying to take different tones and mash them up with different stories and see what comes out.

 

[16:07]

Questioner:

Brandon: Good question, he’s talking about my magic systems and how internally consistent they are.  And the question is, do I do the worldbuilding first and build the story around it or do I do it the other way around.  The answer is yes.  Which is one of those unsatisfying authorly answers.  It depends on the story.  For instance with the Wax and Wayne stories I already had the world built and so for that I’m building a story around a setting that already existed.  With the Reckoners what happened was I had the idea of what if people with superpowers all going evil and that concept spun me into a story about it.  And so that’s sort of an idea that spins a story instead of a setting.

Sometimes I’ve had a character that I’ve really wanted to tell a story about, like Raoden or something like this, and I build magic to match.  It happens all different ways, and really what it is is a give and a take.  If you start with a character you start building a story around them, and then you take a break and work on the magic before going back to the character and then you go back to the magic and then the setting, then you go to the plot.  As you build an outline you weave all these things together, you’re not just spending time on one until it’s done, and then the next until it’s done, and then go.  But it’s happened all different ways for me.

 

[18:03]

Questioner:

Brandon: Is there any connection between Odium and Trell. This is--  Yes there is some connection.  that is a question about--  If you understood it great, if you didn’t then don’t worry.

 

[18:28]

Questioner:

Brandon: Do I have any ideas for different characters in different series meeting each other.  Yes I do.  You will see a bunch of that.  And if you haven’t seen the little behind the scenes Mistborn novella I did called Secret History, it is ebook only for right now, the print edition will come out in the fall... but that involves characters from different stories meeting each other.

 

[19:07]

Questioner:

Brandon: Do I still struggle, as a writer who has written a lot, with certain things.  I would say my biggest weakness as a writer is repeating words or phrases, which is a very common thing for writers to have who are not really--  There are people like Pat Rothfuss who don’t have this problem because they slave over every sentence.  For years.  *laughter*  I love you Pat, you know I love you.  But for most writers that’s one, and that’s one that is mine.  And one way I try to fight this is a highlight the ones I use a lot, I have my assistant watch for them and do a search and replace in Microsoft Word with the word with brackets around it, so it leaves the same word, it just brackets it, so I can really decide, do i want to use that word or did I just use it because it’s what I always use?  So there’s that, and the other big thing as a writer is I still don’t like revision.  I still get-- Revision--  I want to be writing a new story not revising an old one.  Fortunately this is a battle that revision won like twenty years ago.  More like fifteen.  But I’ve gotten used to how I have to do it and when a book is done, and the number of drafts it requires to really make a great book.  So I do it even though, you know.

 

[20:37]

Questioner:

Brandon: Do I have an assistant--

Questioner:

Brandon: A system… Yes I do.  what I use is a wiki.  I use a personal wiki, just like wikipedia that is called-- I use an open-source software called wikidpad... and I have someone whose job it is to read my books after I write them, and make all of those notes into the wiki with page references so when I write the next one I can look them all up in the book and things like this.  They have a very fun, yet tedious, job.

 

[21:26]

Questioner: What level of [...]

Brandon: What level of completion do I write my novels and submit them to my publishers.  So here is a quick look at my drafting process.  Draft 1, hopefully no one sees.  That--  I’m a momentum writer, a lot of writers are like this, where I can’t stop in the middle and revise unless something is /really/ broken.  So if there’s something I want to change I just keep going and try it out for the next chapter. “Oh I need another character in here” I will just add them in and everyone will act as if they’ve always been there.  And I’ll try it out for a chapter and if it works I’ll keep going that way, and if it doesn’t I’ll cut them out and try something else in the next chapter.  So first drafts can be /really weird/, right?  Like “Am I supposed to know this person that everyone else knows?  Have I forgotten who this was?” and things like that, characters just vanish, or I’ll leave out the foreshadowing.  Foreshadowing is really easy to put in later on, you just--  Stuff like this.

Second draft is to fix all of that stuff.  I can sometimes send that on, but what I really like to send is a third draft which is the first polish.  Where I really try for the first time to make it pretty, or at least non-cringeworthy.  So that’s what I send to an editor.  That’s also what I’ll send to alpha readers, which are my writing group, my agent, my friends and family, and things like that.  Once that gets back I’ll do a bunch of revisions until it’s good, and then we’ll get beta readers, who are usually community beta readers… if you want to be one of those I’m not the person to convince, Peter is the one to convince.  He is the executi-- editorial assistant, I have three assistants, they all have different titles.  He’s my editorial assistant, and he’s the one who picks the betas, and they do a bunch of reads and then I do a bunch of drafts based on what they say.  And then it goes to things like proofreads and things like that.

 

[23:38]

Questioner:

Brandon: The Stormlight Archive?  How old are you? *laughter*  How old are you?

Questioner:

Brandon: Nine?!  You’re reading The Stormlight Archive?  You are awesome!  *cheers*

Questioner:

Brandon: So why does Lift have to eat food instead of sucking in Stormlight.  So Lift is a really weird one, she visited the Old Magic and asked something very strange.  And the Old Magic didn’t know how to treat that and answered with something equally strange.  So you will eventually see what happened with Lift and things like that but suffice it to say some really weird things are going on with Lift.

 

[24:37]

Questioner:

Brandon: She gave me a very nice compliment and asked if anyone calls me Branderson, and yes, it is starting to kind of catch on among the community.  I don’t know if it’d be my first choice but i will accept being called Branderson instead of those two.  People have called me BS since [...] this is a step up.

 

[25:18]

Questioner:

Brandon: Could Allomancers burn metal on other planets in the cosmere, yes they could.  Good question.

 

[25:30]

Questioner:

Brandon: Oh yeah, good question.  Are there any characters that I keep on the back burner that I’ll eventually find a place for this character they just haven’t yet.  Totally.  What I have is this notes file, it’s literally called “cool stuff I need to use sometime” *laughter* and it’s like when I see something in news or I meet a person and I’m like “I’m going to use that someday”  and it can be years before I end up sticking them in.  Let’s see if I can remember, there was a cool example of this from one of my books...  When I was eventually able to stick this into a book it was /years/ later.  But it happens all the time, I’ll try to think of it.  When you come through the line ask me and I’ll try to remember.

 

[26:31]

Questioner:

Brandon: How do I come up with Wayne’s wisecracks.  Here’s the deal, it’s kind of hard to write people who are more clever than you are, but it’s one of the tricks you have to learn as a writer.  The big difference is, they make it off the cuff in the moment, and you can spend a week or two trying to find the perfect thing to say in that moment.  And that’s really how it does.  Often the characters who are more humorous, that are more--  Wayne’s a great example, it’s very natural for him how he says things, it can take me weeks to come up with a couple of lines of dialogue for Wayne.  Where other things get written very quickly.  My favorite Wayne-isms are when I can have him use a word that looks, when you’re reading along, like it’s a real word but when you go back you go “Wait a minute, did he actually say ‘defecation of character’?” or something like that.  So you don’t even notice it on the first read through.  The ones where copy editors go “you used the wrong word here” those are my favorite Wayne-isms.  Those take forever.

 

[27:57]

Questioner:

Brandon: Is Dalinar’s wife what?

Questioner:

Brandon: Is Dalinar’s wife really dead?  That’s a Read And Find Out, and you will discover it in the third book.

 

[28:17]

Questioner:

Brandon: Do I have a favorite emotional moment that I wrote in the Mistborn series.  I am an ending person, so I would say endings of various books, and endings of series in particular, are among my favorite.  I’ll just leave it there.

 

[28:39]

Questioner:

Brandon: Can I tell you anything about Perpendicularities? No. *laughter*

 

[28:50]

Questioner:

Brandon: Oh wow, hated Elend and loved Zane… *stumbles over words* I'm going to stay away from you. *laughter* I’m just joking.  Who’s my favorite? *sighs* Picking a favorite is almost impossible, it’s who you’re writing at the moment and I kind of a weird personal connection in a weird way with Sazed so I’ll say him.  And it’s okay if you say “Sah-zed” I say “Say-zed” but I don’t say everything right, I say “Kelsi-er” too and his name is “Kelsi-ay”.

 

[29:30]

Questioner:

Brandon: Did the Lord Ruler ever have children?  Yes he did.

 

[29:45]

Questioner:

Brandon: Elantris!  I don’t that is a question.  Yeah…

 

[30:13]

Questioner: If you starred in a buddy cop movie with Pat Rothfuss, would you be the good cop or the bad cop?

Brandon: If I starred in buddy cop movie with Pat Rothfuss--  If you know anything at all about us, I'm the good cop and he's definitely the bad cop.  Oh yeah, oh yeah.  Definitely.  I mean come on.  Good question though.

 

 

---

Signing Line

 

 

[00:05:58]

Questioner: We were wondering who would win in a fight, a Mistborn or a Windrunner.

Brandon: It would really depend on the situation.  I would say the Windrunner would win on a battlefield and the Mistborn will when at sneaking around and slitting people’s throats.

 

[00:07:23]

Questioner: So I just finished The Bands of Mourning, which was my favorite out of that series.  Did you know when you were writing Alloy of Law how you were going to link this to the original, with the kandra, the bands of the Lord Ruler...

Brandon: Yeah the kandra were seeded, MeLaan you can go and look back in the original three.  Like I’m going to use her in the next series, for sure.  Now what I usually do is when I’m starting a series, and I did this for this one, is I will write the first book in the series.  So I did this with Steelheart, I did this with the original Mistborn, I did this with Alloy of Law.  I write the first book, I sit down, and say “Okay, what worked about that, what can I expand upon” and then I outline the series with those characters and then go back and revise the first one to match and then I release the first one.  Does that make sense?

Questioner: Yeah.

Brandon: So not everything do I know writing the first one but by the time I’m through the revisions I usually do.

 

[00:09:00]

Questioner: How often do your dreams ever influence your books?

Brandon: Once in awhile.

Questioner: Once in awhile.

Brandon: Yup. […] writer you have a cool dream […] something there […] Usually there’s not but once in awhile there really is something and it turns around in your head and eventually ends up in the books.

 

[00:15:23]

(writing question--characters)

 

[00:27:55]

(how does religion affect his work)

 

[00:29:35]

Questioner: When are we going to see Ironeyes again?

Brandon: He will probably make an appearance in The Lost Metal.  I’m not sure he will be back from where he is in time.

 

[00:31:24]

Questioner: Vasher/Zahel is a Returned, which means he needs Breath to live.  But Breath doesn’t exist--

Brandon: Right.

Questioner: --on Roshar.  Does he use St--

Brandon: He uses Stormlight.  One of the reasons--  In fact one of the primary reasons he’s on Roshar is because Stormlight is so much easier to come by than Breath.  And in fact researching about things like this is one of the reasons he discovered Roshar in the first place.

Questioner: So it’s the same reason why Night-- the sword…

Brandon: Nightblood.

Questioner: Yes.

Brandon: The exact mechanics of how Nightblood ended up there will be explored in a future book.

 

[00:34

(least favorite “children’s” book -- The Dubliners)

 

[00:39:25]

Questioner: What would happen if you went to the Nightwatcher asked for your boon to have a boon and no curse?

Brandon: You would…

Questioner: Probably end up with nothing?

Brandon: It depends on the mood the Nightwatcher is in.  When you read Book 3 of Stormlight you’ll get to see a little bit of what the Nightwatcher is, and that will inform what you think about these things, okay?

 

[00:40:04]

Questioner: Why does everyone know about his [Kaladin] Stormblessed name?  Like Gaz knows about it before he survives the highstorms.  Like how do they know?

Brandon: How do they know?  The rumors were already spreading, people started talking about it and things like that.

 

[00:40:23]

Questioner: For all the spren, like the honorspren and the liespren, I’ve noticed that all of the characters, the honorspren have been girls and all the liespren have been boys.  Is that just ‘cause all the people who attract liespren are girls and all the other people--

Brandon: So it’s not a one to one ratio of people who are more likely to attract a spren of the opposite gender.

Questioner2: Is there a reason for that?

Brandon: Yeah I’ll delve into it eventually in the books.  Maybe just obliquely, but there is a reason for it.

 

[00:40:45]

Questioner2: I kind of envision the Old Magic working a little bit like Hemalurgy, where some-- takes a part of the Physical DNA of the person and transmutes it onto the Cognitive DNA because everything seems to be a Cognitive shift for the person, am I thinking along the right lines?

Brandon: You are thinking along very-- Yes you are thinking along the right lines.  I won’t tell you exactly but you are thinking along the right lines.

Questioner2: And then the curse Kelek’s Breath, is that a clue as to the origin of some of the Heralds?

Brandon: Erm… Explain why you think it might be.

Questioner2: Uh, well, Warbreaker--

Brandon: Mmhmm

Questioner2: The use of Breath…

Brandon: Uhuh

Questioner2: It seems like they have similar strength to somebody who has extra Endowment

Brandon: Okay.

Questioner2: So I’m wondering if they come from-- I can’t remember the name..

Brandon: The Heralds--  You’re wondering if the Heralds come from Nalthis?

Questioner: Yeah.

Brandon: The Heralds do not come from Nalthis, but that is an excellent question.

 

[00:41:55]

Questioner2: Have we ever seen the Physical embodiment of either Odium or Cultivation?  Similar to what we saw with Ruin chasing...Vin?

Brandon: So *pause* physical embodiment is kind of hard thing to define with Shards because you could argue that everything is a physical embodiment of them, does that make sense?

Questioner2: Yes.  I mean more a physical form that the uses share--

Brandon: Oh okay, okay.  So have you ever seen Odium’s?  I don’t believe you’ve seen Odium’s.

Questioner2: What about Cultivation’s?

Brandon: Cultivation is a RAFO.

 

[00:42:40]

Questioner2: So burning prayers, is that so certain Shard’s can hear what’s being said?

Brandon: I’ll leave that one vague for now.

 

[00:42:48]

Questioner2: For spren, when the Oaths are broken I’m kind of envisioning the mind of the spren gets trapped in that person’s Spiritweb somehow.  Is that along the right lines or not along the right lines?

Brandon: *long pause* Ehhh, in between those two answers.

 

[00:45:00]

(interactive/video game storytelling)

 

[00:47:00]

(difficulties of coming up with superhero names)

 

[00:48:30]

Brandon: Any other questions?

Questioner: Well you answered my question about Allomancers being able to burn metals in other realms--

Brandon: Yes.

Questioner: --is that because the Shards are sort of…  My impression from the book was that the Shards were--in the Mistborn books--specifically in that area but is it because the universe is formed across all of them that that is why the metals--

Brandon: So, most of the magics are not region-dependent, because the Spiritual Realm-- in the Spiritual Realm space doesn’t exist.  All things are the same distance from one another.

 

Questioner: Okay, so when Kelsier is in the-- Which Realm is he in?

Brandon: He’s in the Cognitive Realm.

Questioner: Is he seeing people from other worlds or is he--

Brandon: No, he meets some people who are traveling but Cognitive Realm is location dependent.  He is on the Cognitive Realm on Scadrial and the people he runs into there-- until he kind of travels off into space, which is where he finds the fortress.

Questioner: So even though he’s tied to Scadrial could he go to the Cognitive Realm of other worlds?

Brandon: He would have trouble getting to another planet, being a Cognitive shadow like he was.

Questioner: So is there some particular thing that somebody would need to have to be able to move between the realms?

Brandon: A body is helpful.

Questioner: That does make sense.

Brandon: Depends on what their ties are and things like that.  Not always, but yeah.

 

[00:51:20]

Questioner: What can you tell me about where spren come from?

Brandon: Spren come from where everything in the world of Roshar comes from.  The are a natural part of life there.  They come from the same place rocks and the wind and all of that...

 

[00:55:30]

(Reckoners not cosmere++, wasing the needing of transcribing)

 

[00:57:45]

Questioner: Did you worry with Secret History that it was a bit too meta for people who had no idea…

Brandon: No, that’s why all the warnings are there.  It’s kind of intended for the people--

Questioner: Yeah, fair enough.

Brandon: --who want something, does that make sense?  Like it isn’t really-- it is a story, but it's not a real story, it’s got weird narrative and things to it.  It is there for those who really want to know.

Questioner: And I’m one of those people, I just have to wonder if you had no idea you’d be really confused through at least the first half.

Brandon: Yes you would.  But that’s why all the warnings are there.

 

[00:59:30]

Questioner: Was Adonalsium the one who created the cosmere universe as a whole?

Brandon: That is widely assumed to be the case.

 

[01:01:00]

Questioner: With The Reckoners you had to make the decision not to put it into your cosmere cosmology, was that a difficult one?

Brandon: It was not difficult once I realized I did not want Earth to be part of everything else.

Questioner: If it had been would [CalamityDavid? have been a Shard of Adonalsium?]

Brandon: That’s an interesting question.  Maybe.

 

[01:02:35]

Questioner: Secret History was cool, thank you for that.  Do you plan to have a series of that?

Brandon: If I can squeeze them in.

Questioner: Would they primarily be in the Cognitive Realm like this one?

Brandon: Not always, they’d just be behind the scenes stuff happening with characters who are more cosmere aware.

 

[01:03:38]

Questioner: Where Hoid and Frost some of the older humans created by Adonalsium?

Brandon: You will find that out eventually… Frost is not a human.

 

[01:03:48]

Questioner: Is Yesteel on Roshar right now?

Brandon: That is a RAFO.

 

[01:05:45]

Questioner: Who’d win, Vin or Kaladin?

Brandon: On a battlefield Kaladin, off a battlefield probably Vin.

 

[01:05:55]

Questioner: If Kelsier hadn’t died and became Emperor instead of Elend, how would he have ruled?

Brandon: Poorly.  He would have gotten bored pretty fast.

 

[01:06:14]

Questioner: If Vasher is on Roshar where the hell is Vivenna?

Brandon: OOOOOH that’s a RAFO!

 

[01:08:30]

(characters)

 

[01:10:30]

(on Kaladin, superhero complex)

 

[01:12:10]

rani: Any kind of Investiture to make a Shardblade?

Brandon: Not any but there are multiple methods.  Some work better than others.

rani: Can you Forge a Shardblade?

Brandon: Um… *sighs* To Forge a Shardblade, meaning make a regular sword through Forgery into a shardblade, would require so much Investiture it’s like asking if we can make lead into gold using a particle accelerator.  Yes but it's horribly, horribly, horribly inefficient.

 

[01:12:50]

rani: Hoid uses the term subastral, is that the term for a region of the Cognitive Realm, like Shadesmar is?

Brandon: Yeah.  It’s like planet but--  That’s his term for the different--  Because Shadesmar is all like one plane.

rani: So wait you’re saying subastral is different?

Brandon: No subastral is a region of Shadesmar.

 

[01:13:38]

Questioner: We’ve seen the Cognitive Realm now on Roshar with the spheres and Scadrial with the mists.  So what does it look like on Nalthis and Sel?

Brandon: Uh that is a big fat RAFO.

 

[01:13:58]

Questioner: What happened with Abraham’s court martial?

Brandon: So that is backstory that is a RAFO.  Why Abraham was there is not something he necessarily likes to talk about, not that he’s shy, but at the same time it’s not something he easily talks about.  And so I will not talk about it, I will let him, someday perhaps, talk about it.

 

[01:14:30]

Questioner: [Destroyed cities is a theme in The Reckoners, there was a war in Portland] Did you have anything specific in mind for Seattle?

Brandon: Yes, but I don’t want to canonize it… I have to save it for when I’m actually writing.

 

[01:14:50]

Questioner: What kind of Epic is Mizzy, what are her powers?

Brandon: That is another thing I’m going to save.  IF I do a sequel trilogy, which I may or may not actually do after I do the next thing, Mizzy would be the protagonist.

 

[01:15:08]

Questioner: The alternate world we see at times with Megan, did David and Firefight know each other before he died?  And how did David die?

Brandon: ...Firefight knows /of/ him.

 

[01:20:25]

Questioner: Megan and Steelheart, what was the nature of their relationship?  How did they know each other, meet each other?

Brandon: Employer and an employee.  More like high-level employer and very competent contractor.

 

[01:23:34]

Questioner: Can I get the name of a character we have not met yet?

Brandon: *pause* who can I dredge up… The problem is I don’t usually canonize them until I’m sitting and writing them.  Uh… *sound obscured*

 

[01:24:20]

Questioner: Say something is brought into the Cognitive Realm, and then the actual object is brought in through a portal…

Brandon: That’s a RAFO, good question.

 

[01:52:40]

Questioner: Who is the Lord Ruler’s child/children?

Brandon: People are searching a little too hard for this, he had several, they mixed with the population.  There might be specific individuals who claim heirship and things like that but it’s not like there’s one hidden person among the population, does that make sense?  Even those who claim heirship may not have any more blood than a lot of other people.  I think this is one where fans have latched onto it a little too strongly and I need to let them know they can back off, there’s not a big secret for them to be hunting.

 

[01:55:50]

(idea for Megan’s powers)

 

[01:58:30]

(trans characters)

 

[02:01:50]

Questioner: How is a new Feruchemist made?

Brandon: What do you mean?

Questioner: Well you can make a new Mistborn by lerasium--

Brandon: Oh, okay.  Other than through birth?

Questioner: Yeah.

Brandon: That’s a RAFO, good question though.  Right now, as far as anyone knows, it’s by birth only.  But--  Well we’ll leave it there.  You know that the extra Preservation instead of Ruin had some effects on people on Scadrial.

 

[02:03:40]

(shardblades and Hoid’s gibberish)

 

[02:04:17]

Questioner: You’ve said that Shard’s have intents, what about shard-planets, [...] pulls those shards to that planet?

Brandon: Yes, but it’s not something I’m going to talk about for a long time.

 

[02:04:48]

Questioner: Speaking of intents, Investiture, and what Shards can see, hypothetically if Odium were to go to Scadrial would some things not be visible to him, like, say, metal?

Brandon: Metal would be hard for him to see, yes.

 

[02:05:12]

Questioner: It feels like Roshar is-- has an essence, where it’s like a prism, you can see all the rest of them, due to the nature of the Cognitive Realm and the spren’s ideas, Cognitive things coming to light.  Have I spent too much time looking at the Shard?

Brandon: No, you are on the right path.  Of all the things you noted, that one is the one that is perhaps the most important.

Questioner: The prism idea.

Brandon: The idea that Roshar is special and a key on Shadesmar.

 

[02:16:00]

Questioner: In Secret History we learned a little about how the Cognitive Realm...could bleed into the Physical if the person was slightly broken.

Brandon: Broken as Kelsier’s term is not right, and he realizes that over the course of the book, but yeah.

Questioner: My thoughts were on Wayne, so he seems to notice--and it might just be kleptomania--a connection between items that makes him feel as if he’s not stealing, just trading things for equal value.  And I’m wondering if he’s noticing something in the Cognitive-- in one of the other Realms that is actually noteworthy.

Brandon: He’s just goofy.

 

[02:16:55]

Questioner: In Bands of Mourning we saw the medallions that can give people Connection to the area that they are in.  Two thoughts on that.  One… if a person were to get a connection to one of the areas from Elantris would they be able to gain the powers from the area?

Brandon: Yeah that’s a good question, it’s not that easy.  But it is an excellent question.

Questioner: And if there was an area where the primary language was sign language, would a person gain the ability to speak sign language to the people present by using that connection?

Brandon: Yes.  It is definitely related to the Cognitive Realm and how people are thinking about language.

 

[02:20:30]

Questioner: What happens when you Lash water, or a body of water?

Brandon: Excellent question, it’s going to have some hard time gripping on--

Questioner: Would it have a gravity well going on?

Brandon: Yeah it would have a gravity well, it think-- yeah.  You are the first person to ask about that, I don’t think even my assistant has asked about that.  So that’s your tentative answer until I think about it some more, but I think it would.

 

[02:21:50]

Questioner: What’s the upper limit of Lashing, is it Stormlight?

Brandon: Yeah, it’s--  Well define for me what you mean by upper limit?

Questioner: *audio obscured*

Brandon: That would take a lot of Stormlight.

Questioner: [So it’s something about the Stormlight?]

Brandon: Definitely.

 

[02:23:00]

(mistborn will probably have most impact on cosmere, stormlight/elantris also)

 

[02:28:28]

Questioner: The visitors in the Sixth of the Dusk, do I know who they are?

Brandon: I haven’t answered this for sure, but I have told people that it takes place in the future and is related to the rest of the cosmere…

Questioner: Do we know how soon we’ll find out?

Brandon: It’s a little ways off.

Questioner: Will it be the series the visitors are from [...]

Brandon: Sixth of the Dusk is not going to be a series.  You will see references to them elsewhere but…

 

[02:29:29]

Questioner: The worldjumpers in [Secret History] are they ones that have shown up in other books? And we just don’t know their--

Brandon: Yes.

Questioner: --names.

Brandon: Yeah, they’re only tangential in the other books.  I think one of them has only shown up on screen once.  The other one’s shown up a couple of times but mostly in certain annotations and things like that.  In the books, like on the maps.

 

[02:32:20]

Questioner: At the end of Hero of Ages, there’s the--I forget what it’s called, when the kandra all remove their Hemalurgic nails--and then I forget which character wakes up and just sees the blobs everywhere, and then after what everything that happens I don’t really know what happened to the kandra after that.

Brandon: They returned their spikes but that left them with holes in their memory.

Questioner: Who did?  The survivors?

Brandon: Yeah, the survivors.

 

[02:34:05]

Questioner: As of the current Wax and Wayne book [The Bands of Mourning] have we seen any Shards that have been Splintered that have recombined?

Brandon: Have you seen any?  No you have not.  Good question.

 

[02:37:40]

(involvement in Mistborn board game)

 

[02:42:25]

Questioner: Have you ever considered doing a pronunciation guide for your characters?

Brandon: I should do that, shouldn’t I?

Questioner: It would help so much [...]

Brandon: The thing about that is I’m kind of of the philosophy that however you do it in your head is the right version in your version of the story.  Because the characters won’t look the same to everyone.  Everyone imagines them differently, might as well say the names differently...

 

[02:43:25]

Questioner: If you were an Epic what would your powers be?

Brandon: Truthfully it would be something like summoning books out of the air.  But if I wanted one I would pick flying.

 

[02:47:15]

(writing Hoid on Roshar, only person to use “coin”

 

[02:48:04]

Questioner: Can you create a shardblade with Breath?

Brandon: Yes.  That’s what Nightblood is.

 

[02:48:37]

Questioner: How many magic systems are in The Stormlight Archive, and how many of them [have been seen?]

Brandon: I would see the only major one you haven’t seen is Voidbinding, it depends on how you count them.  I count fabrials as one, Surgebinding as one, and Voidbinding as one.  And then the Old Magic is kind of its own weird thing.

 

[02:49:00]

Questioner: With Nightblood coming in [to Words of Radiance] does that produce a magic system from a different book or does that stay separate?

Brandon: It will stay separate.

 

[02:50:00]

Questioner: If you put a Line of Forbidding on a wall going up could it be stairs?

Brandon: It could theoretically work but it would be like a magnet and push you off.  It’d be pretty hard to use. [...]

 

[02:50:30]

Questioner: So what makes some spren rarer than others?

Brandon: That is not a question I’ve answered yet so you will find out someday perhaps.

 

[02:51:00]

Questioner: What would happen if the King’s Wit, Wayne, and Mat Cauthon from these last three Wheel of Time books went into a room and locked it?

Brandon: I think they’d all like each other.  And they’d try to one-up each other, it’d be an epic [...]

 

[02:51:30]

Questioner: In Rithmatist, when Joel goes to see if he’ll be chosen as a Rithmatist and the chalk outline thing comes out and looks at him.  What was it thinking?

Brandon: You will find out eventually.

 

[02:52:00]

(SoS Broadsheet was Southern Scadrian, he just wanted people to think it was a listener)

 

[02:52:15]

Questioner: Could you draw a flying carpet with a glyph of rending so it could carry you, with a line of Forbiddance at the back--

Brandon: I think that’s a little beyond what it could do.

 

[02:52:40]

(audio distorted, Rithmatics question but it would not work)

 

[02:53:50]

Questioner: I was wondering what magic systems the Wit uses.

Brandon: The Wit uses a variety.

 

[02:54:14]

Questioner: Is Shardplate also made up of spren or is it different?

Brandon: You get a RAFO card.  It means you’re asking a good question but I’m not going to answer it.

 

[02:54:57]

Questioner: Do the Parshendi that ran away, do they eventually help?

Brandon: You’ll have to find out.  Those are all questions about the future books.  I’m not going to answer questions about future books.

 

[02:59:47]

Questioner: Is there such a thing as a ranged Shardblade?

Brandon: Ranged Shardblade?  There are those who are better at throwing theirs.

 

[03:05:00]-ish

(Wizards of the Coast people and MTG)

 

[03:15:20]

Questioner: What Shard is the opposite of Odium in the sense of the [board? Borg?]

Brandon: There are several that could be considered opposite--

Questioner: I mean in the assimilation sense, you’ve said that Odium doesn’t want to absorb any of the other ones but which one would want to?

Brandon: Oh, which one would want to join with him?

Questioner: Or any of them.

Brandon: *pause* I think that *long pause/picks up after next question*  I think that if personalities had been different, Honor and Odium, there would have been a very natural pairing, not that they’re opposites but they would have attracted. [...]

 

[03:16:10]

Questioner: Do any of the Shards have psychoses?

Brandon: Any of the people?  Yes, we all have them.

 

[03:25:30]

Questioner: In Secret History we find out that when Kelsier had the power of Preservation, whenever he was near someone with cracks in their minds he would end up healing them up naturally, right? When he tried to--

Brandon: Not heal them up but--

Questioner: The intent was that he would Preserve them, right?  So my theory is that Snapping, when they’re getting physically damaged their cracks are wider and wider and that it ends up Preservation, if they have a good Connection with Preservation or whatever randomly comes in those cracks.  Am I anywhere along the right track?

Brandon: This theory has merit.

 

[03:26:20]

Questioner: In the event that [...can people Snap off-Scadrial?]

Brandon: Keep in mind that the Shards are mostly Spiritual [...] space and time do not matter to them.  Time does, space does not.

 

[03:32:05]

Questioner: Can Vasher draw Breath from a highstorm?

Brandon: I will answer that eventually...  You know what, yes he can.  Not Breath though, he can draw Investiture the way he needs it.

 

[03:40:13]

Questioner: Who were Kelsier’s parents?

Brandon: Kelsier’s parents? I haven’t talked much about Kelsier’s parents [...] So he was raised in Noble society, unlike a lot of the half-breeds, he knew his nature, he get’s his skaa half from his mother but they hid in plain sight.  Like she pretended to be Noble.

 

[03:43:00]

(question too quiet to hear, answer is no)

 

[03:43:25]

(is the two-way radio a fabrial, no)

 

[03:43:37]

Questioner: Is Nightblood a minor Shard?

Brandon: Nightblood is one of the most heavily Invested things in the cosmere that is not a Shard.

 

[03:43:50]

Questioner: Are any of the fish in the Purelake Invested?

Brandon: The fish in the Purelake, like the Ryshadium and other things you will see, are not 100% normal.

 

[03:44:10]

Questioner: Has Wax drawn on the mists at some point?

Brandon: Yes.

 

[03:44:43]

Questioner: When you are burning a Compounded metal are you getting the metal’s effect and the stored power?

Brandon: Okay, so when you are Compounding--

Questioner: Can you explain, I’m unclear on the Compounding.

Brandon: Compounding is a way to hack the magic system so you can get a Feruchemical attribute out of-- basically powering Feruchemy with Allomancy.  If that makes sense.

Questioner: So you’re not actually burning the metalmind?

Brandon: Kind of? There’s a big explanation on Reddit, if you send me an email I can link you to it, that steps you through exactly, easier than explaining it here.

 

[03:50:35]

(is skimming the same as lashing; work on similar principles)

 

[03:50:38]

(twinborn surgebinder; possible but unlikely)

 

[03:54:04]

Questioner: So nicrosil.  Wax couldn’t use a blank gold metalmind because he’s not a gold ferring, why can he use a blank nicrosil metalmind?

Brandon: So this will all come out eventually but the idea is there are certain ways to connect yourself to the magic, to hack the magic and make it think you have the Spiritual DNA that you don’t actually have.  And this is one of the ways.

Questioner: And the people who made this medallion have this thing that a regular nicrosil Ferring couldn’t--

Brandon: Yeah, you’re picking up on it. We’ll dig deeper into it as the series progresses.

 

[03:54:43]

Questioner: What is the intent of the Seventeenth Shard?

Brandon: That has not been revealed yet.

 

[03:55:03]

Questioner: Aluminum, when you burn aluminum, does it actually destroy the metals or just take away their power?

Brandon: It destroys the metals.

Questioner: Same with chromium?

Brandon: Yeah.

Questioner: So it actually gets rid of the metals?

Brandon: It actually trans--  It does a--  matter, energy, investiture are the same things in the cosmere.  You have some sort of transfer happening relating to those things.

Questioner: The question sort of relates to metal poisoning--

Brandon: Yeah, you would not get metal poisoning after that.

 

[03:55:40]

Questioner: Could a Leecher take away stores in a metalmind?

Brandon: You’ll have to find out.  That’s a RAFO.

 

[03:55:55]

Questioner: We saw the broadsheet lady destroy--do something to--was that Nazh that was in the broadsheet?

Brandon: Yeah, mmhmm.  I’m not going to talk on that one.  that’s a RAFO.

 

[03:56:

(will have a leecher character eventually and wants to explore further leecher-stuff in the books)

 

[03:56:45]

Questioner: So there’s Snapping on Scadrial, where an event happens and then you can use the magic.  Is there something like Snapping on Roshar, where [...]

Brandon: Yes and no.  They’re working under the same sort of assumption, the spren are just looking for a specific thing that is similar to what Snapping does.

 

Edited January 17, 2017 by Kurkistan
Text for the google gods