Brandon's Transmedia Universe

[Ysondra she/her]

Hi, I just wrote this article (in Spanish), it really took me a while and I am quite proud of the result ^^ I made this translation for you to read, so please be kind as I was working with Google translate a bit...There are things I cannot attach, as they are Twitch videos or soundcloud, but mainly, this is it ^^

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UNITE THEM: The Transmedia Universe of Brandon Sanderson

If there is any trait that defines us human beings, is without any doubt creativity. Creativity itself is the most powerful tool we have to deal with everyday difficulties. 

The human being, as a social animal, enjoys from the company of others. Perhaps today, in the age of the internet, in the digital age, where mobile phones invade moments that should be reserved for celebrations with friends or family, we think otherwise. We have the perception that we are increasingly isolating ourselves from the people surrounding us. And yet, we could not be more wrong. As long as we have access to the vast digital universe, we are able to connect with people we have never seen or meet in person. 

As communication evolves, so does the way in which we tell stories. Stories are but a means of communication. Those stories that began a long time ago orally shared by the fire, became shared stories with the development of paper and printing Stories have been transformed yet again, this time into ethereal zeros and ones running through the vastness of the cloud.

And at this point, our world, the stories, and the digital world converge, making room for a new world. One in which we gradually enter as pioneers, and we call the result of that convergence transmedia

What’s a transmedia universe?

We want to roughly explain this term in order to establish the basis on which this special article about Brandon’s literary universe, so we apologize if we some technicalities aside, or oversimplify the concept.

We can observe some of the most common examples in books or comicbooks. Many times our favorite book gains such a social recognition that luckily jumps from the paper to the small or large screen. And when the substance of history maintains its essence without big changes, we call the result "adaptation."

However, it could well be the case that the film or TV series will explain a substantially different story based on the original novels. Take the case of a well-known science fiction novel, such as Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, whose saga is named after this first book. In this series of books exists one called Ender’s Shadow Among many other interesting things, it explains the events that take place in the Ender’s Game, from the perspective of another character called Bean. This book expands (this is one of the key terms of a transmedia universe) the original work. Let’s imagine for a second, that Ender's Shadow was not a book, but a movie. Then we would have an expanded version of the events of the original book narrated in a different format (or medium) completely different from the native medium (book) and yet it has an impact on the universe in which that story takes place. After watching that hypothetical movie, we would know more about what is happening and how Ender's world works.

Continuing with the HYPOTHETICAL CASE "What if" Ender's Shadow "was born as a movie?" This would be an example of how both stories would complement and feed back themselves, rather than as in the previous example, where there is only a one way adaptation.

So roughly said, a transmedia story is the one born in a format, for example books, that leads to other stories narrated through other different media (comics, movies, series, video games, apps, board games, games role, etc.). These new stories will add (expand) details and extend the original world while maintaining the continuity and coherence of the original story. 

But we can even add another detail that gives a very interesting twist to this whole issue, thanks to the internet, communication and digitization. 

As human beings are creative by nature, it sometimes happens that this original work inspires other people who, in turn, generate content around them. This is especially relevant thanks to digital platforms and social networks. 

An example of the wealth of an expanded transmedia universe can be found in the game World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is the heir to a 1994 strategy game popularly known as "Orcs Against Humans," which had several expansions over the years. In 2005, thanks to the narrative richness behind the game, it was transformed into the most successful MMO ever, despite its ups and downs. To this day, not only have there been six expansions, but it also has books, comicbooks, merchandising of all kinds, soundtracks, action figures, and even movies. It has even  been rumored that they plan to make an theme park. All of this is the result of that very first game created over twenty years ago.

A depiction of the transmedia universe around the Warcraft franchise, using the popular chart from Carlos Scholari. Warcraft universe's origins go back to June 1994.

Inspired by these works, new projects are born. Some carried out with the approval of the author and his team, who approve new details and give the rights to the expansion while ensuring the continuity of history and the coherence of their world. Some of these projects turn into something social by involving other people, often the fans themselves, as they help to raise money and  through crowdfunding. 

Other projects, however, are born because simply the story touches the soul of the reader in such a way that it starts to generate its own content (fansites, blogs, forums, wikis, podcasts, short films, music, fanfic, cosplay, crafts ...). In this case the author is not usually involved, and the question of coherence might be questioned. Even still, in their own way, these projects continue to expand the world from the point of view of the reader.

Brandon Sanderson's work: the day Cosmere transcended the paper

A lot has happened ever since Brandon’s first novel was published in 2005, Elantris, which arrived to Spanish market in 2006 thanks to Nova Publishers. That first text, perhaps primitive in comparison to what we are accustomed to read in the more recent novels like those that compose the Stormlight Archive series, was full of promises. So much that was true, that over the years, Brandon Sanderson has seen himself consolidated as one a reference within the fantasy literature current panorama, and we dare say: the future as well. With more than twenty-five novels published in these twelve years (including the last three volumes of the beloved saga The Wheel of Time, and the two novels based on the video game Infinity Blade), he is also in turn, one of the most prolific writers. As of today, we could roughly include these works in four large groups:

• Stories comprising the Cosmere universe: Elantris, The Emperor's Soul, Mistborn, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, White Sand (graphic novel)
• Stories taking place in other of his fictional universes: Alcatraz Vs. The Evil LibrariansThe Rithmatist, The Reckoners, Legion, Legion Skin Deep (pending translation to Spanish)
• Short stories: Here we can find a certain variety of stories including some within the Cosmere and others unconnected to it
• Books belonging to other series or franchises: The Wheel of Time, Infinity Blade

As a warm little sun, Brandon Sanderson has spent more than a decade accompanying a whole new generation of readers (and probably future writers), enriching their dreams, inspiring all kinds of ideas around them.

And naturally, as is normal in S XXI, the inked words populating his novels have escaped the gravity that kept them attached to the paper pages and have jumped to overrun our world, the real world, like those little spren inhabiting Roshar.

The day mists took the city

Crafty Games

Without a doubt, the first outbreak that emerged from the seed of Brandon's literary universe was the role-playing game Crafty Games published in 2012 inspired in the Mistborn series, by Alex Flagg, Patrick Kapera, Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney.

RPGs are a perfect example of transmediation, since one of their great virtues is the amount of information provided to enrich the game experience, information that is extensively collected within the manual. Because RPGs are not just a "game": they are a journey into a fictional universe where, thanks to the imagination, players are immersed in adventure and take an active part in the story told by the master during the game. In a role-play game (as in real life), every idea, every decision and every action comes with a usually irrevocable reaction, which is irremediably reflected in the course of this living story that its players are experiencing, and it modifies the direction of the narrative forever.

In order to get the participants to enjoy this experience to the fullest, role-playing games provide all kinds of expanded information including aspects such as culture, society, politics, religion, history, artifacts, equipment, glossaries, maps ... All this information gathered for the occasion, expands the original world in which the game is based along with preciated illustrations, as is the case ofMistborn The Adventure Game.

Also from Crafty Games, this year came Mistborn House War, a board game also inspired in the world of Scadrial, where all the action of the novels of Mistborn takes place. In this case, Crafty Games brings a new peculiarity to this small transmedia universe in expansion, and this is that while in the novels we are witnessing the story from the rebels who want so much to see the Lord Legislator overthrown point of view, as well as the fall of noble houses living at the expense of repressed society; in the board game we incarnate precisely one of those noble houses and our mission is to gain Lord Ruler’s favor and to defeat the rebellion. A whole new point of view through which to venture into Scadrial under a new perspective.

Shire Post Mint

A few days ago, Shire Post Mint, a family-run company specialized in creating replicas of coins inspired by fantastic literature series, has launched a campaign to fund its new project framed also in the Mistborn world, that managed to finance the minimum amount needed within 2 hours and 15 minutes after the launching, and now exceed $ 50,000 dollars thanks to backers from all over the world who show their constant support on the platform Kickstarter, and still has 27 days left to go.

Mistborn coins represent a step beyond mere merchandising, because it is perfect project clearly thanks to a very important detail that no fan of the series has overlooked. Because within the story, the magic taking place in this world, is based on metals, and coins are a very important active element, not only at an economic level but also as the central axis of this magic.

In the novels, some characters possessing allomantic powers (powers extracted from the metal) can move spatially "pushing" against metals. They can also use small metal fragments as projectiles. And in both cases, one of the most easily transportable sources for this purpose are the coins, which is why they are so valuable.

When Shire Post Mint decided to start this new project, they weren’t simply creating coin replicas. For the fandom, what they have done has been to directly transport a piece of that fictional world that is Scadrial, into their hands. An object full of emotional value that by far surpasses the one of mere merchandising, because for the readers is an artifact that could well have been in the hands of the very Kelsier or Vin themselves, the main characters of the series.

These coins will rest next to the novels displayed on the shelves of those people who love the Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. These coins will be used by those cosplay lovers who will carry them in their pockets when they go to conventions. These coins will accompany while gaming with boardgames or roleplaying games. Fans may even use them on their wedding day. These coins have transcended the world of words and have transcended also the real world, as a sample of the incredible transmedia potential of the Cosmere universe.

Worldsingers

As we have seen, the novels within the Cosmere universe that have generated more products around them have been the Mistborn ones, Brandon’s second literary work. However, another of his epic fantasy series has caught the attention of a project indeed very original. We are talking about saga sweeping worldwide The Stormlight Archive, whose highly anticipated third book, Oathbringer, will be released in the US soon in November, and we hope it will soon be translated and published in Spanish by Nova. This saga, planned as decalogy, will have two defined arcs comprised in five volumes each.

The Stormlight Archive takes place in the world of Roshar. A world which formerly suffered attacks known as Desolations, where humanity was virtually destroyed by monsters now considered mythological and whose only salvation depended on the Heralds, beings with enormous power and magic weapons. During the last recorded Desolation, Heralds broke their vows and abandoned their mission to protect humanity, but it is something that happened so long ago that for the present inhabitants, they nothing else but legends. Today, Roshar is a continent permanently ravaged by the High Storms, and divided into different kingdoms inhabited by different races, and where on the eve of a peace agreement between humans and a race known as the parshendi, the human king is assassinated, provoking a climate of war and revenges in the decades to come.

The Black Piper

Three years ago, The Black Piper team decided to make a risky bet. Not only for the proposal that their project raised, but for the choice of the work in which they were going to inspire themselves.

The Black Piper is a group of professional music composers and producers, who have worked on soundtracks of movies such as La La Land, or Fantastic Animals and where to find them, who gathered together and decided to create a soundtrack composed specifically for a novel, in order to transmit the emotions and feelings that come off through the pages, in that magical and sensitive way that only music knows how to achieve.

The album Kaladin, based on the first novel of The Stormlight Archive has also been funded by Kickstarter and is now in the backer kit phase, is a pioneering case of literary soundtrack whose only other example we could find in Spain would be the case of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novels, author of The shadow of the wind. Unlike the project of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who financed the adaptation first-person, the album Kaladin involved the fandom since the beginning, thanks to the power of a crowdfunding platform.

The Kaladin album not only expands the Cosmere in a very original way thanks to music, but also comes along with the artwork of different illustrators who give life to pictures inspired by the novel The Way of Kings.

Probably we are facing the first album on a large series of orchestral albums that will gradually adapt the Cosmere to new level.

What can we expect in the future

In this article we have provided several examples of how Brandon Sanderson's literary universe is gradually taking shape as a transmedia universe. Its incredible production has grown unimaginable in these twelve years of life, rising all sorts of transmediations. Some are already taking place, especially those related to the Cosmere, but other works await their moment patiently as is the case of the young adult literature series The Reckoners whose boardgame could soon be financed via Kickstarter.

The ease of communication that exists today between author, readers and third parties, thanks to the internet, enables creating of synergies that otherwise would have been if not impossible, difficult. Readers are transformed into creators, contributing their energy to non-profit projects, simply out of love for the author's work.

Around Brandon’s work arise websites of reference, such as 17th Shard or wikis full of information like Copper Mind. His books inspire fans to recreate with their own hands objects from his favorite sagas, on the form of cosplay or shardblades.

Val Alston y Brandon Sanderson, con la espada esquirlada creada por Val

 

There are even those who feel encouraged and make short films, as was the case of David Fonti, bellow his work.

In the future, we will see many more creations coming from prosumers (consumers who now produce content), and of other producers. The Stormlight Archive could even have a film adaptation, as this year Brandon sold the rights to DMG, as explained by the Spanish publisher Nova in an article.

What could be more transmedia than playing a role-play game based on your favorite Cosmere novel, with coins created to that end, listening to a soundtrack composed for that purpose, while cosplaying with your friends?

Only time, and Brandon can tell.

And it occurs to us, that due to the wealthness of his universe (for then perhaps universes, in the plural), and all that will be created around it, the day will come when his work will be object of study in classes of literature. Perhaps even within a hundred years he will still be studied as is Tolkien’s case. We may not be there to see it, but those worlds will endure forever, through their stories, through collective memory, through a myriad of platforms beyond even those we cannot now imagine.

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.” – Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time

Edited October 4, 2017 by Ysondra

[Modal Seoul he/him]

@Ysondra It's Robert not Jorbert but cool article!

[Ysondra she/her]

Lol! Sorry for such a typo. I'm so terribly ashamed ><

Edited October 4, 2017 by Ysondra