LarkinTyvell

21 hours ago, Weltall said:

Yeah, he's said that it's not something he's talked about before on top of not being able to talk about it, so it can't be Alcatraz on both counts. xD

 

Well, double drat then, since we know Brandon doesn’t lie! The progress bar has jumped to 100% for the second draft of it now, so here’s hoping we will be hearing more about it soon. 

On 6/21/2018 at 1:15 PM, Angsos said:

does anyone know what the secret project is because judging the progress bar, it's either done or almost finished

I had totally thought it was the final Alcatraz book. There was a post on his site https://brandonsanderson.com/alcatraz-the-big-reveal/ that said that a screenshot of his secret project got out. 

“So what does this mean for the future of the series? Well, two years ago I posted a screenshot of my folder showing all of my books in order. It hid a secret project, scribbled out. People assumed this was Secret History, and I didn’t disabuse them (as I was working on it at the time). But it’s actually Evil Librarians Six, which I’ve done a bunch of work on. I’m not sure when I’ll have it out, but it won’t be too long. (I will probably finish it sometime next year.)”

But, based on the WOB that it’s something he can’t contractually talk about, probably not...

I suppose it could be possible. The chalk we write with, and the chalk used in The Rithmatist, is compacted into a bar, rod, stick, what have you, to make it easier to write/work with. So, I suppose you could carve a block of chalk into the form you wanted and give it some good commands...

No need to play the games whatsoever, they really don't go into any kind of story in the first game. Infinity Blade 2 seemed to borrow some of the story concepts that Brandon created to show a little bit of framework and minor, very minor, explanations derived from the novellas.

2 hours ago, Archer said:

There's a good explanation of his powers by Breeze in the scene in Mistborn where there's the the speech to the skaa at the soup kitchen, and Breeze and his Soothers work the crowd. Here's a link for the deleted scene that I found enlightening (I couldn't find the original easily, sorry). https://brandonsanderson.com/mistborn-deleted-scene-7/ 

It's in Chapter 10, it's closer to the beginning of the chapter, as the scene starts with Vin arriving at the soup kitchen and meeting up with Breeze and he goes into his explanation right then and there, shortly after he discloses that he didn't have to do anything Allomantically to get wine from their attendant. Pushing and Pulling on motions is all about manipulating a person's natural disposition, at least the way Breeze sees it. It seems to function in a way similar to Hypnosis, in that it makes the target more susceptible to suggestion, but that they can still stop themselves from doing something that they don't really want to do. This is highlighted when Breeze has Vin pour him a cup of wine and she realizes that he's done something to her and she calls him out on it. My memory is getting a little fuzzy on this part, but I seem to recall Breeze saying that it's harder to Push/Pull an emotion if you don't go about it with a gentle touch, as when someone notices the manipulation they instantly begin to resist the effect you are trying to create. I think there's some clever wording about Kelsier and his being not so adept at this aspect of Allomancy.

Thanks Robinski, sorry for not being super clear earlier in the week all. Yes, I did remove myself from the running this week. Things got a little hectic in regular day to day life and I think I want to just get adjusted to being part of the group for a week or two before I submit. I'm looking forward to reading through what you guys have submitted this week and hope to be able to get some thoughts out in a timely manner for you!

I think that is an excellent way to look at the complementary/reversed meaning of the ideals. There are characters in the book that seem to take the phrase in the most literal of senses, "I must go on a journey before I reach my destination," "I am strong before I become weak," "I live before I die." But, I think even the meaning goes deeper than that, and some of the new Knights Radiant imply that there's more to it too. Maybe others see it similar to this too...

Journey Before Destination

With some of the additional ideals/oaths we've seen come out since the first ideal of the Knights Radiant, it seems to me that it's about the present, and not the future, almost a Sandersonian way of saying "stop and smell the roses." If you are always focused on getting to your destination, then there is going to be less enjoyment in things for you during the journey. There are also times where you may think you know your destination, but if you focus on the journey, you may find your feet treading a different path and ending up at just as good of, if not better, a destination than the one you had intended.

Much like how we make plans in our day to day lives that sometimes end up being upended by one life event or another. We can whine and wail and consider this to be our destination and wallow in our own doubt and pity, or we can consider this a way station on our journey to something new.

Strength Before Weakness

Not to steal your shield analogy here, but the strong should be placed before the weak in the same way that a shield is placed before oneself to protect weaknesses. Similar to the Old Code from Dragonheart and "his might upholds the weak" line. The Knights Radiant are there to protect the world from the desolations. It seems that there are some orders that are more obviously intended for this purpose, take the additional Windrunner Ideals for example.

Life Before Death

Sure with the reversed/complementary meaning you get a memento mori type of feel to it, but with the original phrasing the focus feels like it is more on life. Sure, all men must die, but Life needs to come before it. If we consider life to be more than just our organs functioning to sustain our presence on the planet to do things, and expand it to our goals, hopes, and dreams, then everyone lives life in vastly different ways. I feel it also ties back to the journey part of the ideal as well, for what is life but the longest journey we embark on? What is death, but the ultimate destination? There aren't that many people who are focused on and seek their death, most of those who do are usually heavily damaged in one aspect or another.

There are also different forms of death, to quote Knights of the Old Republic II "Apathy is death." So, it is possible to die without the physical body dying. When taking on this ideal, the Knight Radian essentially is saying that they will choose the better path, the more difficult path, in which they can truly live before they die.

I think we see this as a huge struggle for Kal. He ends up with such huge traumatic situations happen early in his life that he does end up essentially broken and is not concerned with his life continuing. He seems to be healing and making progress, but I still think this is the most difficult part of the first ideal for him, and that it is probably part of why his character arc in OB ended the way they did for him, and I'll leave it at that to prevent being spoilery. Syl also seems to grasp that this is the case and has made it her personal mission to make sure that Kal remembers that life is important, as well focusing way too much on her perception that he needs to get laid.

Sorry to have hijacked the thread a little, the reversed/complementary lines and reasoning you have were excellent and I just couldn't help but share how I felt about the ideal as it stands, which seemed to complement (pun intended) the ideas you've shown as well.

Minor Oathbringer Spoiler for part of this. But, as far as not sliding through the world, there definitely has to be some kind of momentum or force behind the blade to cut through things, same as when they just bury the tip of the shardblade into the ground and leave it freestanding to grab and it doesn't continue to slide. I'm assuming it's possible to have the blade cut all the way through, but to do that, I imagine there would have to be some driving force behind this (intent being included as a force.)

I have a realm that's similar to the Cognitive Realm in mine. The user doesn't have access to the Cognitive Perception of things in the physical realm "I am a stick" so much as they are able to use the CR as a means to boost their own cognitive functions, thereby heightening situational awareness around them in the real world. They can only affect things internal to them and their skillset. i.e. a swordsman who can access this realm that might struggle in a three on one fight would be able to better defend himself with his existing skills because his senses are hyper aware, it doesn't give them skillsets they don't already have, just helps enhance them for a short period of time.

17 hours ago, AonEne said:

You can change your username if you want, I believe.

Nah, I'm particularly attached to it. I just happen to be writing my own body of work, and this happens to be the given and surname of one of the characters that appears in it.

17 hours ago, AonEne said:

Also, have you been to the Nightwatcher Boon/Bane thread yet? If not, I could use your help, random person!

Have an upvote! *shameless bribery attempt* (But seriously I don't wanna die)

If the DA twists my words like they continue to try to do, I will not be happy.

I don't think I've seen that thread yet, I'll hop over and take a look! As far as whether I'll be help or not... Well, we shall see.

3 minutes ago, Fatikis said:

Kelsier was for sure arrogant and opportunistic, but he also for sure grew even in Mistborn alone.

His entire thing was he wanted to murder any any and all noblemen. He then let Vin convince him that maybe all of them weren't evil. Kelsier then literally saves Elend letting him know that Vin was safe.

Kelsier did want to die, but he also refused to do it until he could dismantle the corrupt system. The holy figure bit seems mostly inspired by Sazed. Kelsier was amazed by the people that had stood up to TLR, and religion seemed to be what kept them motivated when faced with overwhelming odds. He knew that TLR was using religion to suppress the people. He needed to create a religion to counter it.

He for sure grows even more through Secret History.

All good points, this is why another reading was desperately needed on my part. I remember the time when I used to read a book and I could remember minutiae for years on end, and actually recall the events really well. Almost as if I had a coppermind of my own... It's probably because I'm still early in my re-read, but he still grates on me.

Also, it's a good thing we aren't bringing non-cosmere characters into this, because... Alcatraz. Guys, Alcatraz is just the worst, but that's not what this thread is about.

Having both the Warbreaker and Elantris Audiobooks myself, I'd have to say that I would go with Warbreaker. Assuming you are wanting to stick with audio only format and not pick the book up for free as the above have mentioned. The reason that I bring up Warbreaker first for audio book is that the narrator was more engaging than the one for Elantris has been for me. I find myself drifting off at parts of the reading of Elantris, just because the voice doesn't capture me like it should and the story is quite amazing. Now, obviously, when you get your next credit I would recommend picking up Elantris then, or vice versa, there's nothing wrong with putting one off for a month.

2 minutes ago, Voidus said:

Not always stealing, sometimes I give people Investiture with spiked cookies. How would you like a Larkins ability to suck Stormlight?
*May include side effects such as the compulsion to act like a Larkin, or loss of your immortal soul

I suppose that would depend on how much is lost on the transference, as we all know there is some bleeding (pun intended) where hemalurgy and spikes are concerned. Also, we haven't seen enough of the effects of their feeding on Stormlight for me to go for it.

On a separate note, totally forgot about the Larkin in SA, makes me wish I'd remembered that before I picked my username. Not, that this is necessarily a bad thing.

On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 5:19 PM, Sasja2112 said:

Straff Venture irritated the crap out of me. I mean, he was supposed to, but I found him much more unpleasant to read than the other cosmere villans.

Zane was pretty useless. He didn't really add much to the story.

No one has said Kelsier yet, yay

Here's one I haven't seen yet - Venli. I always felt kinda "meh" about her and skipped her interludes the second time through OB.

So... I think I'm about to burst that one. I'm doing a re-read of MB era 1, and I've just got to say, that Kelsier has to be one of the most pretentious, arrogant, and opportunistic individuals in the series. Don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal, and even thought that he was up there with my favorite characters, but on this read through it doesn't seem to be the case so much. Maybe I need to get through his arc in MB and SH the rest of the way, but I don't recall him growing as a character that much, and he says from the get go that he has plans to take down TLR as an added bonus for their contract to put Demoux in charge of the city with his rebellion. Sure, the words he speaks in the confrontation and the resulting Church lead some to believe that he was altruistic at the end, but it still feels like he just wanted to die and hopefully take TLR with him if he could, and "while I'm at it, let's set me up as a holy figure when I die"

Maybe they are intended as Preservation and Ruin analogues, but I'm having a hard time putting this into words as far as Preservation for Vin...

Anyway TLDR Kelsier is my least favorite character at the moment, but it changes on each re-read.

Oh, right, forgot that doing some Crit work first was suggested in the guidelines. I'll take your suggestion and do that for a week or two before I submit. I'm trying to get a PM to you and Silk Robinski, but for some reason it's thinking I'm doing a link with spam... I'm sure it's because I'm new, I'll figure out a work around.

16 hours ago, Stormblessed Dolphin said:

What would you say is your favorite book?

Man, hard questions right out of the gate. Picking a favorite Sanderson book would be like picking a favorite child...

16 hours ago, Stormblessed Dolphin said:

(also if you don't already know, watch out for free cookies (which are spiked) and people trying to steal your breath)

Great, more of you trying to steal my Investiture, I'm assuming you've figured out the necessary hacks to make it work off then...

16 hours ago, Archer said:

Welcome! Who's your favourite character? 

My apologies in advance for the hoards of people about to fill up this topic with guild stuff. Feel free to ignore their arguments. 

This one is still hard for me, but a little easier than book, mainly because there are so many characters that I identify with. If we are talking Cosmere related, then Vin and Kaladin are up there, mainly because they're damaged goods and they worked through/seem to be working through those issues, but Kaladin drives me bonkers when he back slides (again for relatability reasons).

Hey all,

I've been a 17th Shard lurker for quite a while, just did a multi-week deep dive of the theories thread before coming up for air to finally join and start posting stuff. Those guys over at Reading Excuses were ultimately what drew me in to do so.

So, I've been reading through numerous threads here on the Shard, doing a deep dive on all things Cosmere for the last few weeks and stumbled on this gem today. I have a novel I've been working on for what feels like forever and has just been awful for me in terms of editing and I'm wondering if joining in on this process wouldn't help get me out of my funk. The items I'd submit would be what I have already edited and cleaned up, within the set word count of course, which would put pressure on me to finish editing the rest of the manuscript.

Long story short, was hoping I could throw my name in to put in a submission this coming Monday.