Word of Brandon and Book

[CosmereValerie]

Hi! I hope you're all having a splendid day! I apologise if this is the wrong thread for my topic I'm still learning my way around. 

But. I don't know if its only me but does anyone else prefer not reading any extra cosmere material outside of published books? I absolutely understand the desire for answers and tidbits on where this is all heading, alas I think I just prefer to read books as they come and let it all unfold before me. Unless I'm being dumb and need to ask here for clarity which I can assure you will become more common.  With all that said I do something get git with some mild anxiety about whether something will be answered at all from time to time 

[The Sibling she/her]

Ilike reading the extra stuff because I really like Brandon's work and I always run out of stuff to re-read. I totally get that you don't want to read extra stuff and I think that what you're saying makes a lot of sense. It kind of bugs me that so much is revealed in WoBs and annotations. Although so far I think Brandon's done well, it worried me that maybe later on some stuff won't be revealed except in WoBs. I want the story to feel complete even if you only read the books. 

[Quantus he/him]

A lot of the WOB's arent about the Futures of the Cosmere persay, they are about it's past or it's present functionality, or they are about Brandon's thoughts and mindset behind various character or choices, etc.  And a lot of it is extra details about the minor background things that will never be seen again and so will never be addressed in a future work.

But, at the end of the day this is all the literary equivalent to the Creator Commentary on a DVD, and that is certainly not for everyone (regardless of how informative it might be). 

[celerrima she/her]

On 10/19/2023 at 7:45 PM, CosmereValerie said:

Hi! I hope you're all having a splendid day! I apologise if this is the wrong thread for my topic I'm still learning my way around. 

But. I don't know if its only me but does anyone else prefer not reading any extra cosmere material outside of published books? I absolutely understand the desire for answers and tidbits on where this is all heading, alas I think I just prefer to read books as they come and let it all unfold before me. Unless I'm being dumb and need to ask here for clarity which I can assure you will become more common.  With all that said I do something get git with some mild anxiety about whether something will be answered at all from time to time 

I don't like it when he takes something that was already published and open to interpretation, and issues a definite opinion about it, because then I can no longer discuss it with other fans without them linking back to the WoB in question and treating it as canon, even though it definitionally is not. There's probably even a WoB that says that WoBs aren't canon, but they still carry more weight among fans than someone else's opinion.

The general term for this in other fandoms is Word of God, and this page gets into why it might not always be a good idea.

That's different altogether than other types of WoB like cheeseplate or "trans people are more likely to become knights radiant," or "Yo I really like Pern you guys. No I mean seriously."

And I try not to read unpublished stuff or anything that might be a spoiler of something that isn't out yet, but I don't think many WoBs genuinely spoiled a future work.