when???

[BeskarKomrk he/him]

The last book in his Alcatraz series is finished and being released this year. In addition to the Lift novella, we're also getting a bunch of background information in the short story collection that the novella is part of, which I personally think is really cool. As far as I know, that's basically it unless Brandon writes a quick short story or novella to refresh himself during the SA3 writing/editing process (which is always possible).

I think it's silly to rule out being excited for books in the back five focusing on characters you don't care about now. Those characters will change enormously by the time they are featured in the books, and then will have huge arcs within their books as well. Just think of how much Kaladin and Shallan have changed, or Dalinar for that matter (who hasn't had flashbacks yet). I trust Brandon to come up with interesting characters and put them in interesting situations. And even if you aren't super excited for a character by the time their book comes out (ten years from now or whenever), there are so many other featured characters that play huge roles in these books. As he has said many times, SA books are basically four or five novels that are all bound into one volume.

As for the number of projects he has, Brandon has also said many times that working on different things is a nice change of pace that makes it easier to be passionate about his longer projects when he dives back into them. I believe he specifically said that we would not get the books any faster if he wrote nothing but SA books; instead, each book would take longer for him to write because he wouldn't be as excited about the project. This also would probably mean the quality would degrade, and I again trust Brandon to know his process and deliver great books in a way that satisfies him as a writer, as he has consistently done in the past.

One thing to remember with regard to the comparison to ASOIAF or WoT is that neither GRRM nor RJ knew when starting the series how many books it would ultimately take to tell the story. Both of those series got longer and longer, with the end seeming increasingly distant. I wasn't part of the WoT fandom but I'm definitely in the ASOIAF fandom now, and a large part of the frustration comes from the way he keeps adding viewpoints that increase the length of the series, but don't necessarily get us closer to the end of the story. Many people were disappointed in AFFC, for example, because it was slower paced with many new characters and not as much development, while at the same time GRRM increased the length of the series from the initially planned five books (IIRC) to the current seven books. With SA, at least we know that there will be ten books, as Brandon has already outlined the plot of the entire series. So if book four or book seven happen to be a little slower, I won't be nervous because that means there will be more plot movement in another book (I believe he also said later books would be shorter as there is less setup that needs to be done as the series goes along).

Finally, let's take a step back and remember that writing is a thankless job, and there is simply no way Brandon will be able to please all of his fans. There are people on these forums who don't care at all about SA, and are upset that the next Mistborn book won't be out until 2018 at the earliest. I've seen people post here that they don't care at all about Mistborn and simply want him to write Stormlight faster. Brandon said that he won't be touring much, if at all, this year because he doesn't get much writing done on tour and he really wants to get SA3 done and released. When he made that announcement, people complained that he wasn't going to many cons because they wanted a chance to meet him and get books signed. Yet here in this thread, we're worried that he may start going to too many, as happened with GRRM. It is simply impossible for him to give all of these fans what they want. And he doesn't have to. Brandon's job is to write stories that he enjoys writing and that he thinks are good, whether that's SA, Mistborn, Reckoners, or some other idea that we haven't even heard a rumor of yet. I have yet to find any books of his that I haven't enjoyed (currently rereading Elantris and going through the Reckoners Trilogy for the first time as I wait for SA3, haven't even touched Alcatraz yet), but if his other works aren't to your taste, that's totally fine. You aren't obligated to like everything he writes. But there's no denying that Brandon has written more words of consistently high quality than almost any other author currently working. Why don't we just let the man do his job?

[CaptainRyan he/him]

3 hours ago, BeskarKomrk said:

The last book in his Alcatraz series is finished and being released this year. In addition to the Lift novella, we're also getting a bunch of background information in the short story collection that the novella is part of, which I personally think is really cool. As far as I know, that's basically it unless Brandon writes a quick short story or novella to refresh himself during the SA3 writing/editing process (which is always possible).

I think it's silly to rule out being excited for books in the back five focusing on characters you don't care about now. Those characters will change enormously by the time they are featured in the books, and then will have huge arcs within their books as well. Just think of how much Kaladin and Shallan have changed, or Dalinar for that matter (who hasn't had flashbacks yet). I trust Brandon to come up with interesting characters and put them in interesting situations. And even if you aren't super excited for a character by the time their book comes out (ten years from now or whenever), there are so many other featured characters that play huge roles in these books. As he has said many times, SA books are basically four or five novels that are all bound into one volume.

As for the number of projects he has, Brandon has also said many times that working on different things is a nice change of pace that makes it easier to be passionate about his longer projects when he dives back into them. I believe he specifically said that we would not get the books any faster if he wrote nothing but SA books; instead, each book would take longer for him to write because he wouldn't be as excited about the project. This also would probably mean the quality would degrade, and I again trust Brandon to know his process and deliver great books in a way that satisfies him as a writer, as he has consistently done in the past.

One thing to remember with regard to the comparison to ASOIAF or WoT is that neither GRRM nor RJ knew when starting the series how many books it would ultimately take to tell the story. Both of those series got longer and longer, with the end seeming increasingly distant. I wasn't part of the WoT fandom but I'm definitely in the ASOIAF fandom now, and a large part of the frustration comes from the way he keeps adding viewpoints that increase the length of the series, but don't necessarily get us closer to the end of the story. Many people were disappointed in AFFC, for example, because it was slower paced with many new characters and not as much development, while at the same time GRRM increased the length of the series from the initially planned five books (IIRC) to the current seven books. With SA, at least we know that there will be ten books, as Brandon has already outlined the plot of the entire series. So if book four or book seven happen to be a little slower, I won't be nervous because that means there will be more plot movement in another book (I believe he also said later books would be shorter as there is less setup that needs to be done as the series goes along).

Finally, let's take a step back and remember that writing is a thankless job, and there is simply no way Brandon will be able to please all of his fans. There are people on these forums who don't care at all about SA, and are upset that the next Mistborn book won't be out until 2018 at the earliest. I've seen people post here that they don't care at all about Mistborn and simply want him to write Stormlight faster. Brandon said that he won't be touring much, if at all, this year because he doesn't get much writing done on tour and he really wants to get SA3 done and released. When he made that announcement, people complained that he wasn't going to many cons because they wanted a chance to meet him and get books signed. Yet here in this thread, we're worried that he may start going to too many, as happened with GRRM. It is simply impossible for him to give all of these fans what they want. And he doesn't have to. Brandon's job is to write stories that he enjoys writing and that he thinks are good, whether that's SA, Mistborn, Reckoners, or some other idea that we haven't even heard a rumor of yet. I have yet to find any books of his that I haven't enjoyed (currently rereading Elantris and going through the Reckoners Trilogy for the first time as I wait for SA3, haven't even touched Alcatraz yet), but if his other works aren't to your taste, that's totally fine. You aren't obligated to like everything he writes. But there's no denying that Brandon has written more words of consistently high quality than almost any other author currently working. Why don't we just let the man do his job?

http://imgur.com/gallery/FvSdvRJ

[Radiant Returned he/him]

On 7/19/2016 at 7:19 AM, tennischamp5 said:

That said, glad to see it isn't just me that felt like this next book was taking a while. Not that I mind waiting, but it's not something I expect with Brandon's writing. I noticed someone mentioned above that we got two new Mistborn books in the past year. Any idea what we can look forward to in the coming year as we wait for SA3? I know about the Lift novella, but any other novellas or series that are finishing up or in the works?

Sanderson likes to surprise people a lot with projects he's kept under the wraps, so this list isn't definitive, but from now through 2017 we should get: 

Arcanum Unbounded (November 2016)
Leatherbound Mistborn #1: The Final Empire (December 2016)
White Sand Graphic Novel #2 (Summer 2017)
Stormlight Archive #3: Oathbringer (Fall 2017)
Leatherbound Mistborn #2: The Well of Ascension (December 2017)

[CaptainRyan he/him]

@Radiant Returned: I'm not sure if you are only listing Cosmere books but Sanderson is also releasing a novella entitled "Snapshot" in early 2017 and he is also doing another novella for an anthology that is being released in November of this year (I do not have a name for this second novella. Also, I am not referring to Arcanum Unbounded haha).

[Radiant Returned he/him]

1 minute ago, CaptainRyan said:

@Radiant Returned: I'm not sure if you are only listing Cosmere books but Sanderson is also releasing a novella entitled "Snapshot" in early 2017 and he is also doing another novella for an anthology that is being released in November of this year (I do not have a name for this second novella. Also, I am not referring to Arcanum Unbounded haha).

Yes sorry I was only referring to Cosmere books. I didn't know about "Snapshot", but I know he's also working on a sequel YA series to the Reckoners trilogy. I tend to only buy his Cosmere works though so those books I listed were the only one I had written down. 

[CaptainRyan he/him]

Just now, Radiant Returned said:

Yes sorry I was only referring to Cosmere books. I didn't know about "Snapshot", but I know he's also working on a sequel YA series to the Reckoners trilogy. I tend to only buy his Cosmere works though so those books I listed were the only one I had written down. 

Ah, I see. I definitely favor his Cosmere works. Don't tell the people over at the Reckoner's RPG but I only liked "Steelheart"; I thought "Firefight" and "Calamity" were weak sequels and I did not enjoy the Reckoner's series overall. Legion is a great non-Cosmere work that I wish Brandon would explore a bit more - I have a weakness for Sherlock Holmes-esque stuff I guess (which explains why I think Wax is such a great character).

Anywho, I'm sure you were deeply interested in my non-Cosmere Sanderson opinion haha.

[Radiant Returned he/him]

51 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

Ah, I see. I definitely favor his Cosmere works. Don't tell the people over at the Reckoner's RPG but I only liked "Steelheart"; I thought "Firefight" and "Calamity" were weak sequels and I did not enjoy the Reckoner's series overall. Legion is a great non-Cosmere work that I wish Brandon would explore a bit more - I have a weakness for Sherlock Holmes-esque stuff I guess (which explains why I think Wax is such a great character).

Anywho, I'm sure you were deeply interested in my non-Cosmere Sanderson opinion haha.

Actually I 100% agree. Loved Steelheart and then was disappointed by the sequels, which now have me not really wanting to by this sequel series. Never read Legion, but I do love detective stories, might have to go check it out. 

[CaptainRyan he/him]

1 minute ago, Radiant Returned said:

Actually I 100% agree. Loved Steelheart and then was disappointed by the sequels, which now have me not really wanting to by this sequel series. Never read Legion, but I do love detective stories, might have to go check it out. 

Legion has two books in the series so far. Both are pretty short but, in my opinion, both are also pretty good haha. If you do read them then please let me know what you think afterwards!