Discussing Newsletter Exclusives

[Argent he/him]

Those of us who subscribe to Brandon's newsletter (and don't forget to check our emails...) know that this one's exclusive comes from Edgedancer, the Stormlight novella coming out in Arcanum Unbounded. I know Brandon doesn't want us just sharing those exclusives with the wide world, but I think we can talk about them? What's the forum policy here, how can we do this (if we can)?

[Pathfinder]

I second this as there is a really big thing Sanderson says regarding White Sand's magic that I would love to discuss 

[Pagerunner he/him]

Well, there's historical precedent for discussing the exclusive content, as long as it's not shared in its entirety. That's my defense if I get busted for talking about Edgedancer.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Yep, discussion is fine.  Just no posting it in its entirety.

[Haelbarde he/him]

And the Edgedancer stuff should be in spoilers, right? Even in the cosmere theories? And obviously White Sand stuff should be spoilered outside of the whitesand subforum.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

15 minutes ago, Haelbarde said:

And the Edgedancer stuff should be in spoilers, right? Even in the cosmere theories? And obviously White Sand stuff should be spoilered outside of the whitesand subforum.

That is correct.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

27 minutes ago, Haelbarde said:

And obviously White Sand stuff should be spoilered outside of the whitesand subforum.

I thought there is a two-week moratorium on discussing new content, even in spoilers, outside of the appropriate subforum. Is that incorrect?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I'll check with the other admins but the impression I got was that was only done for Bands/Secret History due to the natures of the reveals there, I don't recall that being case previously.

[Chaos he/him]

3 hours ago, CaptainRyan said:

I thought there is a two-week moratorium on discussing new content, even in spoilers, outside of the appropriate subforum. Is that incorrect?

That was special to the Bands release.

However, we may do some unique things with spoiler policies for Arcanum Unbounded due to there being Khriss's essays on planets, which would be awkward to split into different subforums. Not sure yet but don't worry about it for now. We won't do the two week ultra strict spoiler mode, though. That was a pain to moderate, despite it being important to the big secrets in Bands/Secret History.

[Pathfinder]

Ok then I will post regarding Brandon's comment about White Sand here in spoilers. If anyone thinks it should be taken down, or moved, please let me know and I totally understand.

 

Spoiler

So Brandon literally said that the water from the sand master fuels the lichen on the sand's life cycle. So the magic and ecology requires multiple components. You need the lichen on the sand, the sun to charge it, and water from the sand master to use it. Perhaps the water is how the lichen propagates, and the sun is what matures it? So basically what I am saying is, the lichen matures with the sun to reproductive or "fungal" stage to release spores but is dependent on water to release those spores to spread the lichen. That turns it black. The sunlight then causes the lichen to start the cycle over again. Even if I am incorrect in that, the fact that Brandon stated it was part of the lichen's life cycle clues us in that sand mastery is actually a much larger part of that world than allomancy ever as to Scadrial. At least in my opinion. 

 

[WeiryWriter he/him]

3 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

Ok then I will post regarding Brandon's comment about White Sand here in spoilers. If anyone thinks it should be taken down, or moved, please let me know and I totally understand.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So Brandon literally said that the water from the sand master fuels the lichen on the sand's life cycle. So the magic and ecology requires multiple components. You need the lichen on the sand, the sun to charge it, and water from the sand master to use it. Perhaps the water is how the lichen propagates, and the sun is what matures it? So basically what I am saying is, the lichen matures with the sun to reproductive or "fungal" stage to release spores but is dependent on water to release those spores to spread the lichen. That turns it black. The sunlight then causes the lichen to start the cycle over again. Even if I am incorrect in that, the fact that Brandon stated it was part of the lichen's life cycle clues us in that sand mastery is actually a much larger part of that world than allomancy ever as to Scadrial. At least in my opinion. 

 

I would recommend starting a thread in the White Sand forum?  This really isn't the place for that discussion (just the discussion about the discussion).

[Pathfinder]

Just now, WeiryWriter said:

I would recommend starting a thread in the White Sand forum?  This really isn't the place for that discussion (just the discussion about the discussion).

Should I put it in the general White Sand or the prose since that level of the magic has not been discussed yet in the graphic novel? And should I title that thread as newsletter spoilers or some such?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

2 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

Should I put it in the general White Sand or the prose since that level of the magic has not been discussed yet in the graphic novel? And should I title that thread as newsletter spoilers or some such?

It's fine in the main White Sand forum, and yeah I would mention the newsletter in the title just to be on the safe side.

[yulerule]

So I just (now) signed up for the newsletter and got the Jan 2016 one, should I expect to get the one with the novella exclusive or...?

[Windrunner he/him]

I kinda don't know what to tell you. Maybe? It seems like Brandon's got the newsletter sign-up thing set up, so that anyone who registers gets the most recent one sent to them automatically, but it appears they haven't updated it. It's possible you'll end up with one, but I don't know.

[yulerule]

Windrunner, if I PM you my email, can you forward the newsletter to me?

[Windrunner he/him]

4 hours ago, yulerule said:

Windrunner, if I PM you my email, can you forward the newsletter to me?

Yeah, I can do that. I thought I saw a PM from you, but it seems to have vanished.

[yulerule]

10 hours ago, Windrunner said:

Yeah, I can do that. I thought I saw a PM from you, but it seems to have vanished.

There was one but I deleted it; I got the newsletter from someone else. Thanks though.