Date: 2015-10-09
Location: San Jose, CA
About Stormlight, are you kinda writing a series about the nature of abstraction?
Kinda yeah see…[sounds like the recording was possibly paused] journey before destination.
Yeah, that is my favorite so far. I mean I don’t know all the orders yet. Because that is…I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
It is, the nature of abstraction and that sort of stuff is a very big part of it.
Stormlight Archive
Flashback characters for Stormlight.
Third book is Dalinar, fourth book is Eshonai, fifth book is Szeth is how it stands right now
Movies update?
They are taking some time, but are moving along. Right now the farthest along are Steelheart and Emperor’s Soul. Screenplays are being written. I don’t want to do the screenplays but I will do the treatments.
Calamity, it is talked about always being in the sky. Is is over North America or a global thing?
RAFO.
Emperor’s Soul sequel?
Brandon would like to write more books involving Shai but is hesitant, because The Emperor’s Soul turned out so well and he doesn’t want to ruin it with a bad sequel.
Is it weird having Michael Kramer doing your books as well as the Wheel of Time books?
Yes, so weird. The weirdest thing is that he did a signing with me, and then he did the reading, and then all of the voices of these voices come out of his mouth and I’m like – you’re all of them!
Zane: when and how did he get spiked?
Excellent question, that someday I will answer, but not right now. RAFO!
How did Marsh survive for so many years?
Compounding Atium. He got a pouch of it that was featured in an earlier scene.
If Kelsier had been born on Roshar, would he have become a Knight Radiant and if so, which order?
I think there’s a possibility that some of the orders might want him, but it really depends on which period he was born in, and what he’s up to, because Kelsier has this dark streak in him and he could go villain very easily, depending on what’s going on with him. That’s kind of how I view Kelsier’s primary attribute, if channeled correctly he’s a great force for good, but he’s like right on the line.
Is it true that if you don’t write six pages a day, you implode?
No, but if I don’t write for a couple of days I feel like I might.
The key to the [Oathgates], is that [???]?
That’s a very good question, you would find out more about that when you see them from the cognitive side.
(beta reader) Did Lord Harms ever get off the roof?
Yes, so many beta readers asked me about that that I think I put in a reference somewhere that he did.
About Paalm’s spike, is it that one specifically that allowed her to hide from Harmony?
It was mostly because she was not using a spike made out of any metal that he knew. She could not have done that with any spike. Taking out one helped a bit, but a non-Harmony spike… what you’re seeing there is a weird intentional hack of the magic system that I built in.
Was it a deliberate move on your part to make it so that on Scadrial, people who wear aluminum foil hats are actually safe from mind control?
Yeah, yeah that was a big inside joke. When I realized it would work, I had to put it in. I’m doing some fun things. The gun thing is another one I’m very fond of.
How did you come up with the Lighteyes/Darkeyes thing?
I wanted to have some kind of racism in the books that was removed from the racism we have in our world, so I could talk about it in a more isolated way related to the books. So making it related to eye colour made sense because the Voidbringers have these glowing red eyes, the Heralds have these bright eyes. So the idea that of eye colour being related to your level of nobility – which is not true! – entered the culture and became the form of racism and prejudice that they use.
If you had to pick one character to have dinner with, who would it be?
I’d pick Sazed. It would not be Kelsier, cause he’s kind of scary, and it would not be Hoid cause he would make fun of me.
About the pronunciation of “Sazed”.
I say “Say-Zed”, but in-world they don’t say that. Kelsier says something close to “Say-Zed”, but Sazed himself says something closer to “Saahzd”, more along the flowing way the Terrans speak, but they speak different languages, but you can say it every way you want.
Atium: used as a currency, sounds close to ATM, is that coincidental?
That is coincidental. I’ve noticed it but it was not done on purpose. I do do some dopey things, like “Wax and Wayne” was intentional, but most of things like that…
Metalminds: if you store weight, how does that work, do you decrease your mass?
Storing weight actually plays with your mass, because if you look at how we do the physics of it… This one is really screwy. Because we are changing mass and playing with it… [Wax example] There is conservation of momentum and stuff like that, but how can you store your mass… Well, in the magic system it works, but it’s one of the weirdest things we do. We kind of play loose and free with the physics sometimes. Like the example that I often cite is Wayne doing a speed bubble, I choose to make light from inside not get a redshift. We kind of look at what is good storytelling first, and then work the physics around it.
What’s the relation between spren and Shardplate?
I’m saving that one on purpose, it’s a gun on the mantle. You will eventually find out what’s going on there, but not right now. In part because I’m being recorded for online forums who want to know all the answers to all the things that I say to people [whoops!]. [People going through everything I’m saying] is intimidating sometimes, fortunately I’ve got a good team and Peter catches most things.
How are beta readers chosen?
Mostly off 17th Shard and my Facebook page, Peter watches for people making comments and being involved.
In Elantris, if people are dead they do not have a pulse right? So does the blood just go straight to their legs?
You know I worked out a things about this, in order to make what I was doing work I didn’t want to zombify them too much, so I gave them like a blood pump, like a pulse of the heart, very softly, every couple of minutes or something, and remember they’re being sustained directly by the magic so I was able to fudge some of the stuff. There’s some other things that would happen, like the gas would cause them to expand and such, I didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want them to go all the way to zombie and so I made some basic metabolic processes happen, but more magically caused than physically.
Sazed is saying that his density also increases when he increases his weight, but Wax says it doesn’t; which is it?
Sazed is making a mistake. His muscular structure changes to accomodate the weight, that’s what he was talking about. Strength and muscle tone and things like that. I might have gotten it wrong in that scene, I don’t really remember, but that’s what we decided to do in the end. The weight thing is really tricky.
Why does the increase in muscles with weight increase in feruchemy not also happen with allomancy?
With feruchemy, you store your own strength and get it back later. With allomancy, you draw strength from the magic.
Why does Taln’s Honorblade scream for Dalinar?
Check out the descriptions of the swords in book 1 and book 2. The hint is they’re not the same sword.
If we knew more about Jasnah’s past, would there be a moment where she’s gifted zircon at some A:
(Chuckles) Um, I think this theory is probably going to lead you to a dead end. important time in her life?
In the third Stormlight book, are we going to learn more about the Ghostbloods, and about the organisation Mraize is in?
Yes, and yes.
What’s the favorite question you’ve ever received, and what was your answer?
Would you like some cookies, and yes (something with chocolate and something else to complement it). Followed closely by would you like some Magic cards, to which the answer is also yes.
Is there meant to be a direct connection between the efficiency for transferring Breaths and the stamp magic in Emperor’s Soul? Because both work better with things close to what they’re supposed to be like.
Only in that all magics work on the same fundamental rules. I wasn’t specifically linking those two in my head when I wrote them. It’s a fundamental rule in the Cosmere that your perception, what you’re thinking, how much something matches what you doing, and how much you’re able to visualize what you want to have happen, it’s all related in the cognitive aspects of the magics. And the spiritual I suppose.
Regarding Hemalurgy and its basis in the Pits of Hathsin being Ruin’s body, my theory is that Kelsier gained his Mistborn powers from being in the Pits of Hathsin.
It’s a good theory. I’m neither going to confirm or deny it. It is possible that you will see it confirmed or denied at some point. I’ve got some things that I want to write about Kelsier. You have not seen the last of that man, I want to write down some stuff that happened.
What’s your most terrifying character and why is it Nightblood?
Nightblood is pretty terrifying… An object created that’s made to destroy evil and doesn’t know what it is? Yeah… I wanted you to think that Nightblood in the hands of Szeth is one of the most terrifying things that you have ever contemplated.
What would happen if one compounds copper?
A lot of people have been asking that, I don’t know why they’ve all suddenly latching onto it. But you are going to get RAFO’d on that.
Nightblood feeds on Investiture, so could an Allomancer burning, say, steel, draw Nightblood and fuel it off of that?
Yes, Nightblood would feed off that Kinetic Investiture, you could make that work. You would need to keep that portal open, and he would eat the power instead of whatever you were planning to do with it, and when you ran out of metal he’d kill you.
Would it also work with whatever you have in a Coppermind?
Yes, theoretically that could work too. That’s a very good question, and you’re the first to ask that.
Nightblood ,
investiture
You mentioned that Kelsier is still around meddling, are you planning on having him meddle in a little more overt manner any time soon?
That’s a RAFO. A big, big RAFO.
Are you working on a sequel to Rithmatist?
I started working on it, realized I didn’t know the Aztec culture well enough, so I went and read four books on Aztec culture, but by then deadlines were due on something else so I had to jump. I rebuild my outline using my new knowledge but I gotta find time to write it. It’s going to have a killer plot, I’m really excited for it.
Would you ever want to write an episode for Doctor Who?
I would consider it. But I don’t have enough screenplay writing background right now, so I would have to work with someone else. So if there’s a screenwriter willing to work with me, then yeah.
Why did Jasnah try to have Elhokar’s wife assassinated?
Well, you’ll need to get to know Elhokar’s wife a little better before you’ll get an answer to that. But understand that Jasnah is very deliberate in her choices, and protecting her family is one of her most important personal mandates.
When were the Ghostbloods founded?
I’m gonna RAFO that.
Does Tia know Prof’s weakness?
Yes.
Are we going to get more of Lift?
Yes, she is one of the main characters in the second five.
Are there lovespren?
A lot of people have been asking about this. There are passionspren. Lovespren I haven’t really talked about much, but….
What happens if you burn atium at the same time as cadmium or bendalloy?
That would be really cool to see.
If you could ditch the entire Cosmere and start fresh, what would you write about?[From the audience]: Fifty Shades of Grey fanfic!
Yeah, that. Fifty Shades of Grey fanfic.
Except Brandon’s would be much tamer…
Yeah, I don’t think mine would hit quite the same demographic.
It would have an awesome magic system though.
Yeah, it would be based on the color grey, where each shade of grey produces a different magic effect.
Brandon on writing ,
hypotheticals ,
fifty shades of awakening
For Stormlight, is there going to be a Jasnah…?
Yes, there will be. She is scheduled right now for book #6.
Was Hoid ever two different people?
There have been other people named Hoid in the past, but you have never met them.
Is OreSeur… is a member of the same species a worldjumper?
Yes, there are several kandra who are worldhoppers.They are usually homebodies, but there are some who have gone off.
Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs personality test?
Yeah, I am whatever one that Mastermind is.
INTJ?
Yeah.
Brandon on personality
The metals, the ones used in Allomancy, are they naturally occurring on Roshar?
Yes.
And all the alloys too?
Oh, all the alloys on Roshar… The magic of the metals, the metals are actually the key, so there is no power in the actual metal. You can use metals from other worlds. Metal is like a password.
metals ,
Roshar ,
Metallic Arts
You’ve spoken before how DNA exists on multiple different levels in your magic systems. I hear somewhere that Hemalurgy actually splices something into your DNA - so what does that imply for inheritability?
It is not inheritable.
Should all the Shardworlds have radios and the like, and progress in that…
Should they?
Could they.
Yeah, they could.
cosmere ,
technology
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