With his standalone debut novel Elantris and the current Mistborn trilogy, the second volume ( The Well of Ascension ) of which was recently released in August 2007, Brandon Sanderson has established himself as a writer to watch and has become one of my favorite new fantasy authors out there. So securing an interview was always a goal of mine. Unfortunately, Mr. Sanderson has quite the workload, finishing up the Mistborn trilogy, writing a new children’s fantasy series that just debuted ( Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians —October 1, 2007), working on various other projects ( *Warbreaker , Dragonsteel , Scribbler , etc.), not to mention the book tour and a new addition to the family :D So, I was extremely grateful that Mr. Sanderson took the time to answer what questions he could and I hope that you’ll enjoy the following interview. And for more Q&A fun, be sure to check out A Dribble of Ink ‘s recent interview with Mr. Sanderson HERE. Thanks for reading and much love & respect.*
In both Elantris and Mistborn: The Final Empire you pointedly made an effort to defy certain age-old, fantasy clichés. What formulaic story elements did you try to redefine or avoid in the second volume of the Mistborn trilogy?
In The Well of Ascension I focused on the concept of prophecy. So many fantasy stories involve the idea of an ancient, infallible, and comprehensible prophesy which guides the actions of the characters. In The Well of Ascension I wanted to show the dangers of relying only on prophecy to provide a guide for your life. I also wanted to turn on its head my own concept of optimism. Many fantasies, including Elantris , show that If you are just determined enough you will succeed. I wanted to deal with what happens if you believe in yourself and things go wrong anyway.
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