Flynn

zinc and zinc, to compound mental speed. what about you?

I think Kaladin fits that really well! Kid Wax might work too. oooh and Wayne could do You're Welcome Heh, or maybe Dalinar could do How Far I'll Go and Tanavast could do We Know The Way

Steris.

There wouldn't be a vacuum in the capsule once the ettmetal was burned, i think. I'm pretty sure Brandon has said that when metal is burned it vapourises, so the matter would still be there after the metal was burned.

I'll keep that in mind. I do find some types of humour tricky. Thanks for the tips! Thank you so much for the in-depth response, Twi. I can tell you've really thought about this. That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the extra explanation. I don't mind at all if you share this! Go right ahead As for throwing awakened cookies, my aim is sometimes unpredictable PS: I'm still super open for more advice!

Brandon is Mormon. He is involved in church activities, goes to church even when on tour, if possible. At his regular church I'm pretty sure he is the gospel doctrine teacher, iirc. He got into fantasy when he was given Dragonsbane (Barbara Hambly) by his teacher when he was in school. He believes one of the most important functions of fiction is being able to see something from another point of view, and this is reflected in his writing. He strives to accurately and fairly portray multiple points view on various subjects in his books. He cohosts a weekly writing advice podcast. He teaches a creative writing class once a year at BYU. At first when he went to university (BYU) he majored in biochemistry, iirc. after a while he realised he didn't want a job in biochemistry and switched to an English major, and took the BYU creative writing class (which he now teaches himself, as mentioned above). At the time this class was taught by David Farland (aka Dave Wolverton). He is married to Emily Sanderson and has three sons. He interacts with his fandom a lot, whether on twitter, reddit, his blog, or on tour. He writes consistently for hours everyday, but he also blocks out time everyday for spending time with his wife and children.

Ok, I'm gonna do a super reply. This turned out really long. I tried bolding some things to make this more skimmable. I made a short summary at the end. I've read all the posts that were in this thread as of 7:00am (Brisbane time) on the 2nd of April. Firstly, massive thank you to those who asked after my well-being. I'm okay. You are awesome. Also, thank you so much for giving such thoughtful advice. Your responses have made me happy. Please let me know if I have misinterpreted your words. This is important to me. Alright, I’ve tried to condense all of your advice into four main points: From many of you I was advised to be myself, honest, and sincere. I interpret being myself as striving to be the best version of myself. If that’s what you mean by be myself, then I will do that. From many of you I was advised to show someone that they are deserving, belonging, worthy, and loved. listening giving full attention complimenting them showing them they have real value (e.g. due to their skills) sympathising with them spending time with them on their interests sometimes even if I’m not interested in it showing them they deserve happiness From many of you I was advised to do random acts of kindness, the little things, and to be nice and caring Open the door for others Say hello Smile Ask others how their day has been Comfort others when they’re upset From many of you I was advised to ensure that I be happy myself as well and/or first. That is, not giving up my happiness for others’, and avoiding burnout. I was advised by @Captains Domon to find the deep meaning of happiness. I've taken a stab at it. Note: This ended up being longer than I thought it would be… TL;DR: Happiness is not constant pleasure Love yourself Love others Believe you (and others) can do good and important things Try to do good and important things Alrighty then. I'm going to try science. The four main chemicals that we seem to link to happiness are dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin, and serotonin. Dopamine comes from plenty of sleep, regular exercise, and achieving goals. It can also come from eating foods with high amounts of glucose (sugar) (this is relevant to a point I make below), according to some site/s on the internet It is linked to feeling bliss, pleasure, euphoria, motivation. Endorphins come from exercising, laughter, dark chocolate, and spicy food. They are linked to feeling energised and in a better mood, and counterbalancing stress and anxiety. Oxytocin comes from feeling more intimate with someone, from hugs, handshakes, and gift-giving. It is linked to feelings of love, intimacy, trust, and connection. Serotonin seems harder to link to general activities. Serotonin levels dictate your general mood. Serotonin levels can be raised by random acts of kindness, or by remembering past achievements, victories or other positive memories. It is linked to feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and importance. Its absence is linked to feelings of loneliness, bleakness, and general unhappiness. I think that many people believe that perfect happiness is a constant feeling of dopamine-linked feelings (that is, pleasure) and so try to find a way to feel pleasure constantly (dopamine-linked feelings), for example by consuming glucose high foods, a readily available method of increasing dopamine levels (Though there are other readily available sources. This is an example). I've read that getting too much dopamine can cause our body to decrease the number of receptors we have for them. That is, if we have lots of glucose high food every day, the number of dopamine receptors we have will decrease. This will cause it to always be more difficult to be happier from dopamine. Based on this, in order to feel significant amounts of pleasure from dopamine, we need to make sure we maintain a high number of receptors for dopamine. This can be done by moderating dopamine sources such as high glucose foods, and so avoid having extremely high dopamine levels. Therefore, I think a more realistic view of happiness means only seeking out high dopamine inducing activities (e.g. eating a large quantity of high glucose food) on rare occasions, to maintain a high number of dopamine receptors. This means that little bursts of dopamine from achieving small goals every day will feel significant. I think to have a happy life, it is necessary to also seek happiness from the three other happiness chemicals: endorphins, oxytocin, and serotonin by: Setting goals (and celebrating them), sleeping well, and moderating usage of high-dopamine-inducing-agents for Dopamine Exercising and laughing often for Endorphins Forming close relationships for oxytocin Frequently reflecting on positive memories for Serotonin. There are some other things that most people can do to get better levels of these happiness chemicals. These are: Figuring out who you want to be, and striving to be like that. (For serotonin and dopamine) Finding goals that you believe in, and striving for them. (For dopamine) Forgiving yourself when you fail, and trying again. (For serotonin) Believing that everyone (including yourself) is worthy of happiness. (For serotonin) Forgiving others when they do something you think is wrong or incorrect. (serotonin) Being optimistic (note: believing that we can cause good things to happen, not believing that good things absolutely will happen) (serotonin) Believing that no person is your enemy (serotonin) Respecting other people’s views (serotonin) I think the advice you gave me can be linked to these chemicals too. No. 1 can be linked to increasing oxytocin levels (allows genuine trust and connection) No. 2 can be linked to serotonin and possibly oxytocin (making a person feel important, and making them feel loved) No. 3 can be linked to serotonin and oxytocin as well (making a person feel important, decreasing their stress, and making them feel loved) No. 4 isn’t directly linked to making others feel happy, but it would be much more difficult more me to manage making other people happy if I was unhappy. Ok. That took a while. It wasn't very deep either. One conflict in advice was between being selfless or not. It seems like the solution is to do what I can without dealing damage to my own life or mental health. I was also advised by @Captains Domon that for someone to be happy their spirit has to be peaceful. This sounds intriguing, though I’m not certain of what a peaceful spirit means. If it means reducing stress, it sounds good to me. Feel free to let me know how I got this wrong. Some of you asked why I’m asking for this advice. I want to open by saying that I am okay. I feel fairly happy in my life. The reason I want to learn to make others happy isn’t linked to a specific event or anything. It's because I figure that if I can learn to make others happy, and then make others happy, then I am doing good work (Maybe that means ultimately my goal is self-serving because it would make me happier to make others happy. Maybe it’s like a symbiotic relationship). @Zeldan said “You have obviously never held a door open for an extreme feminist.” I think this raises an important point: that people need to be respected in order to be happy. This ties in to people needing a sense of belonging to be happy. It would be hard to feel belonging if you didn’t feel respected, I think. Many of you mentioned that there is no one-size-fits-all method of making people happy (or something along those lines). I sort of agree, but ultimately I think it’s possible to figure out all the different ‘sizes’ for making people happy. One more thing. @Mr. Staccato, your psycho-analysis is super-duper-mega welcome. Rather than offended, I’m flattered. And as @Darkness Ascendant said, you described that side perfectly. Respect. In summary, some things I should do to make other people happy are: Be myself, honest, and sincere. Show others that they are deserving, belonging, worthy, and loved. Do random acts of kindness, the little things, and to be nice/caring Ensure that I am happy myself as well and/or first. Thank you @Captains Domon, @Elenion, @Sunbird, @Darkness Ascendant, @Mestiv, @A Budgie, @Straw, @Ammanas, @Tristan, @Erunion, @Orlion On a Cob, @Zeldan, and @Mr. Staccato. Notes: I would LOVE to get more advice from you. Your responses are wonderful, and they may be useful to others reading as well. I would love more advice on how to show people that they are deserving, belonging worthy, and loved. I would love more advice on how to comfort others when they are upset. I would love advice on how to make jokes! Wow! If you read all the way down to here, you are a champion. Have a cookie (It hasn’t been spiked, as far as I know )

For David, there's also the reference to David and Goliath

I'm David, I've seen Steelheart bleed And since then I've been filled with need To make the perfect plan Face him, man to man And kill him, just as one would kill a weed

I want to be good at making other people happy. I don't know how to make other people happy. I was wondering if you could help me?

i took it to mean that for each character, you write some of your story with them as the main character. i could be wrong

Hurt Edgedancer, heal Warbreaker 6. The Hero of Ages -- 17 13. The Way of Kings --15 15. Edgedancer -- 5 16. Warbreaker -- 5

I don't think he's said definitely no, but as far as I can remember he hasn't mentioned it in years, yet alone worked on it, and he originally just wrote as an excercise, rather than to write a full on story. Considering how busy he already is and how low priority IHD seems, I think it's unlikely that Brandon'll come back to it. But anything's possible

it's all good, she's wearing a glove, so not too scandalous i'm super excited too! this book will be so awesome

Maybe Jasnah is floating using an honour blade, or was infused by a windrunner

I hope Brandon will be writing future SA books with a 3-ish year gap after this, as while writing Oathbringer he also wrote the Szeth flashbacks (as mentioned by @jofwu), he wrote Snapshot, he wrote Edgedancer and AU stuffing, and he went on an AU tour.

Hurt Edgedancer, heal Way of Kings 6. The Hero of Ages--17 8. Shadows of Self--5 13. The Way of Kings--16 15. Edgedancer--22 16. Warbreaker--14

Kelsier and his crew: Raise a glass to freedom (Hamilton) Adolin in WoR: The ten duel commandments (Hamilton) Ruin In HoA: Be prepared (The Lion King) Spook, Breeze, etc after HoA: Dear Theodosia (Hamilton) Hrathen and Sarene: Farmer Refuted Shallan at beginning of WoK: My shot

Normalised page count version, based on words/page of The Way of Kings (~384 words/page [386 470 words/1 007 pages]) NEW PAGES OF FICTION BY BRANDON SANDERSON PUBLISHED EACH YEAR 2005 total = 528 pages Elantris, 528 pages 2006 total = 596 pages The Hope of Elantris, 37 pages Mistborn: The Final Empire, 560 pages 2007 total = 816 pages The Well of Ascension, 659 pages Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, 157 pages 2008 total = 867 pages Firstborn, 36 pages Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener's Bones, 156 pages The Hero of Ages, 636 pages Elysium, 39 pages 2009 total = 1 534 pages Warbreaker, 616 pages Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia, 151 pages The Gathering Storm, 767 pages 2010 total = 1 996 pages of new fiction The Way of Kings, 1 007 pages Towers of Midnight, 848 pages Alcatraz vs. the Shattered Lens, 140 pages I Hate Dragons, 5.25 pages 2011 total = 289 pages I Hate Dragons - Extended Edition, 9.5 pages (added, not total) Infinity Blade: Awakening, 34 pages The Alloy of Law, 221 pages The Eleventh Metal, 18 pages 2012 total = approximately 147 pages Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine, I guessed 16 pages Legion, 47 pages The Emperor's Soul, 84 pages 2013 total = approximately 1 555 pages A Memory of Light, 919 pages The Rithmatist, 234 words River of Souls, 11 pages Infinity Blade: Redemption, 34 pages Steelheart, 280 pages Mitosis, 23 pages Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, I guessed 53 pages 2014 total = approximately 1 267 pages Words of Radiance, 1 038 pages Dreamer, I guessed 16 pages The Way of Kings Prime - excerpt, I guessed 49 pages Sixth of the Dusk, I guessed 57 pages Legion: Skin Deep, 91 pages Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, I guessed 16 pages (I guessed 25 pages. (I guessed 250 words/page.)) 2015 total = approximately 643 pages Firefight, 279 pages Perfect State, 46 pages Shadows of Self, 292 pages Elantris 10th anniversary edition, 26 pages (added, not total) 2016 total = at least 1 123 pages The Bands of Mourning, 331 pages Mistborn: Secret History, 130 pages Calamity, 274 pages White Sand, Volume 1 graphic novel, ??? pages Alcatraz vs. the Dark Talent, I guessed 135 pages Arcanum Unbounded, Edgedancer, ~104 pages Essays and White Sand (prose) preview, I guessed 44 pages 2017 total = at least 1052 pages? Snapshot, 62 pages Oathbringer, ~990 - 1339 pages? Average new pages per year (excluding 2017) = ~938 pages Total new pages = 11 317 pages Once again, thank you @Fedcomic for the template I shamelessly stole. If there's something I should change, please let me know. Thanks for reading (=

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is great. I second reading Sanderson's non-cosmere works. They're awesome. Also see: Old Man's War series by John Scalzi, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, anything by Neil Gaiman, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, and The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman.

Tracking Brandon's Amazing Productivity

Harry Potter

On the plus side, it means you're unlikely to get a significant level of spoilers for the story