Lost Metal delayed (again)

[Fully_Invested]

At first I was disappointed to hear that The Lost Metal may be slipping back in Brandon's writing schedule (he'd hoped to squeeze it in end of 2018 but that doesn't look likely at this point). But I was just reminded that Era 2 takes place after Stormlight - so with that perspective it makes perfect sense for SA to take precedence. But then it begs the question, why write Era 2 at all now? Did he simply not want to wait a decade plus before writing a follow-up to the hugely successful Era 1 books?

[Quantus]

Well, if Im not mistaken Era 2 was originally supposed to skip to the more "modern" timeframe that is now set for Era 3, and Alloy of Law was originally slated to just be a fun one-off.  It was successful enough that he decided to expand it out to it's own full arc.  In fact, I believe I read that he ended up writing all of Bands of Mourning while in the middle of Shadows of Self. All that to say I think it's less about fitting it into an overall plan (the way Dragonsteel or the Warbreaker sequel do) and more simply about when and how the story's inspiration strikes him. 

[+Invocation]

Quantus is correct. Branderson was initially intending only to write Alloy of Law and then jump to Era 3 after Stormlight 5, but then he enjoyed writing it too much and it expanded to the point Bands of Mourning being a surprise book, written earlier than it should have been to keep things straight in Shadows of Self.

[Spoolofwhool]

To expand further, Brandon was never intending to write Alloy of Law at all when he first planned out the full Mistborn series. It just slipped it when he decided to write a book revisiting it during a break which due to popularity got expanded into a full series. 

Overall, the reason why it's being written now is that first: chronology doesn't really matter between series. The events of Stormlight Archives are unlikely to have a noticeable impact on the story of MB Era 2, so writing it now or later doesn't matter. Secondly. Brandon likes writing multiple series at the same time, it's how he's able to keep so prolific. He's talked about this at various times, but the main thing is that switching between different series allows him to stay creative. 

[king of nowhere]

As  far as I know, the plan is still to write the first 5 stormlight books, then the modern mistborn trilogy, then the last 5 stormlight books, then the future mistborn trilogy. lost metal may be delayed, but it should come before stormlight 5. Maybe brandon will write it next year, and will pospone stormlight 4 by a few months?

[Calderis]

39 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

As  far as I know, the plan is still to write the first 5 stormlight books, then the modern mistborn trilogy, then the last 5 stormlight books, then the future mistborn trilogy. lost metal may be delayed, but it should come before stormlight 5. Maybe brandon will write it next year, and will pospone stormlight 4 by a few months?

It's finish TLM after SA 4, do the Elantris sequels (and possibly Nightblood) between the front and back half of SA, then era 3 concurrent with back half of SA, Dragonsteel, then Era 4 to close it out 

To the best of my knowledge that's the current plan. 

Edit: and this discounts any side novellas or shorts or other projects Brandon decides (or already has planned and we don't know about) to have in the Cosmere, all running alongside his non-cosmere projects. 

Edited October 5, 2018 by Calderis

[Draginon]

I'm fine with him delaying W&W4 if it means he can finish another series (Skyward would be his third after Reckoners and Legion unless one counts Mistborn Era 1) though I don't want another drought to happen after this

[Emurii]

He's on a clock of a few years to finish SA4&5, because Moshe's retiring soon and wants him to finish the front half of SA before he goes. So we should be pretty solid with SA being on time, at least.

[Orlion Blight]

2 hours ago, Emurii said:

He's on a clock of a few years to finish SA4&5, because Moshe's retiring soon and wants him to finish the front half of SA before he goes. So we should be pretty solid with SA being on time, at least.

That, and it is THE main series being worked on right now. Any and all other projects would be postponed in favor of Stormlight 4 & 5, and rightfully so. 

Era 2 Mistborn is a fun curiosity that surprisingly became somewhat important, if for no other reason then that it is introducing and setting up some important stuff (such as Secret History and, I imagine, Era 3).

The question is: where does it stand in the pecking order? It's less important than Stormlight 4 & 5, but is it more important than Skyward 3? I would say, "yes", but Brandon could decide that it only needs to be written before Era 3 and could, theoretically, wait until after Stormlight 5 if he feels that, say, Skyward 3, Apocalypse Guard and Rithmatist 2 should all be written before hand. 

My current prediction is that we will get Lost Metal after Stormlight 4. I think the bulk of its writing will be done after he is mostly done with Stormlight 4, since I am under the impression that he does not like to switch mental gears when he is actively writing a Stormlight book. 

So I am resigning myself to a 2021 release. 

[Ammanas]

I just hope The Lost Metal will not join the Rithmatist sequel (The Azlatian? I think) as a book that is consistently being put on the back burner for more "important" books and series. That he will not jump to era 2 (I guess its era 3 right now since people couldn't wrap their minds around era 1.5) and say I will get to Lost Metal someday. I keep telling myself at least Brandon isn't a Rothfuss (approaching a decade and still not even able to write one book) but I digress...

[king of nowhere]

It's not a matter of "important". Brandon does not prioritize much what is important, else he would be working only on mistborn and stormlight and not starting new stuff.

Brandon is an artist, and as such he does what he feels like doing. sometimes that means writing an important book, sometimes it involves going for a totallly new project.  not much point trying to predict it. sure, he has a schedule, but it's not set in stone. he'll swap it in a moment if he can't manage to write a book he's supposed to be writing, or if he just comes up with a new idea he can't stop thinking about.

[Spoolofwhool]

1 hour ago, Ammanas said:

I just hope The Lost Metal will not join the Rithmatist sequel (The Azlatian? I think) as a book that is consistently being put on the back burner for more "important" books and series. That he will not jump to era 2 (I guess its era 3 right now since people couldn't wrap their minds around era 1.5) and say I will get to Lost Metal someday. I keep telling myself at least Brandon isn't a Rothfuss (approaching a decade and still not even able to write one book) but I digress...

Not a chance that he doesn't write TLM. He knows how important it is, unlike Rithmatist, which while people would love to see the world and the book is highly asked after, I doubt it's as sought outside of people who are actively talking to him. 

[Emurii]

Yeah. I think we have a shot after Stormlight 4 - we know he doesn't like writing Stormlight back to back. So in the gap year, it seems like Rithmatist sequel, Skyward 3, and WW4 are the likely candidates. I don't see him going from outline to editing on all three of those in one year... Hopefully WW4 isn't the casualty.

I also think it's highly unlikely that WW4 is put off until after Mistborn 3, because we need continuity with the characters who continue through.

[Orlion Blight]

1 hour ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Not a chance that he doesn't write TLM. He knows how important it is, unlike Rithmatist, which while people would love to see the world and the book is highly asked after, I doubt it's as sought outside of people who are actively talking to him. 

Correct. Rithmatist 2 has an issue with research and being a culture unfamiliar to Brandon correct. He does not want, primarily, to be disrespectful and offensive. 

That problem does not exist with The Lost Metal. And I also think it's not a difficult book for him to write, it just was not a priority.

And he does prioritize. Always has. Stormlight was put on a back burner because he prioritized Wheel of Time. Lost Metal was postponed originally because he prioritized Skyward 1 & 2 over it and talked about prioritizing Skyward 3 over it. But, now Skyward 3 and Lost Metal are on the back burner because Stormlight 4 is prioritized. You know what all three of these have in common? It isn't an artful decision, it's business. 

I don't think I need to argue his Wheel of Time focus as being business related.

He prioritized Skyward so he could produce something for a contract since Apocalypse Guard was a fart (farce). That's an incredibly business move. 

And he's sticking to a regular schedule for Stormlight because they are, arguably, his most popular and successful works. 

His choice in writing YA novels also has a huge component of business to it. These are generally books not only meant to sell, but are also series/franchises. They aren't as clean as Cosmere (the Rithmatist franchise is on hiatus due to problems, as are the Reckoner/Apocalypse Guard books) but he it seems he is trying very hard to have a Cosmere type series of Young Adult novels. 

As far as work that is done mostly just for the art of it? There's Legion, maybe... and Alcatraz... and Snapshot. 

And, just to include it in this all ready rambling post, I think the Secret Project is something like a Star Wars book. Something that would legally compel him not to announce what it is but part of a franchise he would be excited to write in. Could even be a Magic book, won't know until he announces it!