Argent

The little girl jumping with excitement though. Awesomesauce.

From what I've seen in Brandon's videos, he keeps the novel in a single document, maybe having a separate one for the outline.

Eh, I wouldn't want to hide my... dedication though. I want to be "that guy"

You accidentally typed "minor" there, between "best" and "character." Also, I would argue that the Coppermind is not a good starting point for learning the Cosmere. It is a good place to fill in some gaps, but it does a poor job at introducing the concept in a... unified, for the lack of a better word, manner.

I find it a good rule of thumb to avoid ambiguity as much as possible when speaking. So in spite of Kurk's wiki'ing (which, because English is dumb, should probably be written as wikying), I am going to say that using "colossus" is bad policy for the plural form.

I don't recall as much as I wish I did, but is it explicit that once-mates are paired by the society? I only recall this being mentioned in the context of Venli and her research assistant, and I remember deciding that it was a choice the two of them made, not something they had to do because of social pressure. Though neither was specified.

I ignore this thread for two weeks, and when I come back, what do I see - Kurk talking about time bubbles. Figures...

Right? Explanations that make sense are always cover-ups for conspiracies and never the Truth.

Sadface. Once I become a millionaire with time and money to throw around, I'll start attending every one of Brandon's events. Every. Single. One. And record everything. And possible become a beta reader for my dedication. Either that, or get a restraining order...

Guess I could've updated this. I am now on Promise of Blood, the first book in the Powder Mage series. About a hundred pages in, I don't really have any complaints just yet. I can't say it's a page turner, but it's interesting.

Your entire family needs to be Brandalized.

Not all Cosmere stories feature Hoid - Shadows of Silence in the Forests of Hell didn't have him, for example. The Ones Above... given that they have spaceships, they would be worldhoppers almost by definition I think. In the commentary included in the anthology Brandon mentioned that he included them mostly to tie the story with the Cosmere, or something to that effect; which miiight suggest that they are Scadrians, because they are the only people we know will figure out space travel, so that kiiind of ties in.

So... your sisters are no longer among the living? If that's not the case, did you at least get them disowned?

You could fudge with the facts and make it look like Kaladin killed a Shardbearer who was not Heleran, and then Amaram acquired Heleran's Blade on his own... but doing so not only violates, but downright stomps Occam's Razor. Every related piece of evidence suggests that it was Kaladin who killed Amaram. As to the discrepancy with the time periods... it's not the first time Amaram has lied. Obscuring the truth as much as possible only makes it more difficult for other people to poke holes in his story.

Mandatory disclaimer: I focus on what's not working in a piece of art, and offer suggestions how I think it can be fixed. I am not hating your art, I am offering what in my head sounds like constructive criticism. I just don't know how to sound nice about it - I love the painting, but... ... I don't know about the transparency. Maybe a little, but 50% sounds too much to me. I think she needs to be just transparent enough to reveal that there is something behind her, but not enough so that you can determine what it is. Hair's good. I think her face needs to be... more girly, less womanly. I keep imagining her as younger than 20, with a face that takes off a few years when she is being particularly mischievous. The length of her dress is largely irrelevant, as it changes with her moods, but the way it transitions into wisps feels too... defined for me. It's incredibly frustrating, because I have an image in my head, but I can't remember where it is from. The closest I could find was this. Oh, also. If I recall correctly, Syl rarely "walks" - she just glides in the air (or flies freely if she is in some other form, a leaf for example). The way her leg is positioned is unlikely.

For an extra bit of obscure counter evidence, Brandon said that originally he was going to have Amaram dual-wield Shardblades (in The Way of Kings Prime), but then decided against it.

I just thought about Brandon teaching particle physics and using the various magic systems of the cosmere to clarify different aspects... and then I realize how incredible backwards the whole thing is.

This touches on the biggest problem with textbooks - they are infodumps, not stories. Stories are interesting; infodumps are not.

It's possible, but they even with the insane level of detail each glyph has, it's not enough for all the Ideals. Plus, Brandon doesn't know them all yet, in their exact form, and from what we understand about glyphpairs, they require at least some detail.

There are three writing systems we know of currently, and only one of them will do the job for you - the Alethi women's script. It's possible that the Thaylen script is complete enough, but it doesn't look as good anyway. If you were looking for glyphs specifically, such as these ones, they are not intended to write sentences with - they represent names and singular concepts for the most part, and our knowledge of them is far from complete. Refer to this thread for details and what we do and don't know.

Was that Scalzi or Card? On my end, I am done with the official part of Shadows Beneath. I might read the drafts and brainstorming at some point, but for now those go to the backlog. You can read my full(er) review on Goodreads, but the short(er) version is this: Mary's A Fire in the Heaven - really good. Dan's I.E.Demon - sadly, a disappointment. A big one. Howard's An Honest Death - really good. I don't actually have any issues with it, other than the contemporary setting, which usually takes a point off for me. Brandon's Sixth of the Dusk - as usual, amazing. I am starting to suspect any glimpses of the cosmere alone make me like a book a lot, because of the overarching implications.

Not necessarily - for all we know there is a historical account, or something to that effect, on the Herald Nalan, and its title is Skybreaker. Or he wrote an autobiography. Or he's kept a personal diary for thousands of years, and that's what Brandon has been referring to when he says that the third book in the Archive is... unusual. Either way, both Stones Unhallowed and Skybreaker are working titles, Brandon has been jumping between them. Words of Radiance was The Book of Endless Pages for most of the writing and revision process. So I wouldn't call either one of them official, or even more likely than the other.

What use is adding everything to my Wants to Read shelf on Goodreads if I don't get notifications when stuff comes out...

Oh, look, I still suck at updating this. I am finally done with the final Riftwar Saga book, Magician's End. It's a weird one to review - I think it was a good book, especially after the several that came before it. But it was also more... philosophical, one Goodreads review called it. There is much about the nature of reality there. It was interesting to see string theory translated into a fantasy novel. Also, the ending was... fitting. Maybe a little cheesy, but fitting. Right now I am going through Writing Excuses' anthology, Shadows Beneath. Done with Brandon's story, progressing through Mary's. Happy with both. Probably going to jump on Anthony Ryan's Tower Lord next. I was hoping to read some Brian McClellan, but I read Ryan's first book only a few months back, so checking Tower Lord out, while the world is still mostly fresh in my head, is probably better than starting yet another series.

Reading Mary's now, with Howard and Dan still on the list. Very interesting idea, and good writing, but there is something about her style that irks me. I can't quite figure it out - I thought it was the small-scale worldbuilding, but I can't come up with an example of what bothers me. It has something to do with how Katin comes back to the same few lines of scripture, but I guess it's too small of an issue for me isolate =\