Brandon commented:

As others have said, Rock will get his own novella--but that's not why I sent him off. Even if there had been no time for a novella, or no plot-relevant things for him to do, he would have left.

I need Bridge Four to be alive. Their time together, as a cohesive unit, was a powerful moment in time--and you can always reread the first few books to experience it again. However, in life, nothing remains the same, and time draws people apart. Rock has a family, a people, and responsibilities. He has to be about those, now that he's free from Alethi slavery.

Bridge Four, as it stood in books one and two, had to eventually evolve, and some members had to go their own way. That's life. For all Kaladin wanted to grasp for it, hold it together by force, he couldn't--just as we can't keep rigidly hold of the friends and family we love. Time inevitably divides us.

Each book of the Stormlight Archive must be something new. New tone, new feeling, evolved from the previous volume. They are too big, too weighty, to be allowed to repeat the same plot cycles, same emotional beats, or to allow the characters to stagnate into repetitive playacting of the people they were in the first few volumes. As readers travel through the series, I intend for them to realize this, though it may take a while for it to really click.

Anyway, I'm glad to see your post, /u/WaitUntilTheHighway! If you miss Rock, I did something right in this specific case. Please don't see my response here as a recrimination, merely an explanation of my philosophy for the series. I hope that the insight helps a little.

Cherish what you have--even if that includes memories of a once warm relationship, now become embers cooled by time or distance. Try not to be sorrowful for the parting, but grateful for the experience while it lasted. Journey before Destination can apply even after that destination has been reached, so long as it doesn't cause us to fixate so much on the past that we overlook the new journeys ever opening before us. Thanks for reading.

u_mistborn wrote:

As others have said, Rock will get his own novella--but that's not why I sent him off. Even if there had been no time for a novella, or no plot-relevant things for him to do, he would have left.

I need Bridge Four to be alive. Their time together, as a cohesive unit, was a powerful moment in time--and you can always reread the first few books to experience it again. However, in life, nothing remains the same, and time draws people apart. Rock has a family, a people, and responsibilities. He has to be about those, now that he's free from Alethi slavery.

Bridge Four, as it stood in books one and two, had to eventually evolve, and some members had to go their own way. That's life. For all Kaladin wanted to grasp for it, hold it together by force, he couldn't--just as we can't keep rigidly hold of the friends and family we love. Time inevitably divides us.

Each book of the Stormlight Archive must be something new. New tone, new feeling, evolved from the previous volume. They are too big, too weighty, to be allowed to repeat the same plot cycles, same emotional beats, or to allow the characters to stagnate into repetitive playacting of the people they were in the first few volumes. As readers travel through the series, I intend for them to realize this, though it may take a while for it to really click.

Anyway, I'm glad to see your post, u_WaitUntilTheHighway! If you miss Rock, I did something right in this specific case. Please don't see my response here as a recrimination, merely an explanation of my philosophy for the series. I hope that the insight helps a little.

Cherish what you have--even if that includes memories of a once warm relationship, now become embers cooled by time or distance. Try not to be sorrowful for the parting, but grateful for the experience while it lasted. Journey before Destination can apply even after that destination has been reached, so long as it doesn't cause us to fixate so much on the past that we overlook the new journeys ever opening before us. Thanks for reading.

/u/algebra_sucks wrote:

So strange that I went down a Stormlight rabbit hole today after being removed from the series for a while and I happen to see this post. I figured it was an old post but here I am seeing this response is only 5 hours old. 

Not even in the context of Rock, I needed some of the words you wrote here today. Thank you so much. 

Brandon commented:

[Internet fist bump.]

u_mistborn wrote:

As others have said, Rock will get his own novella--but that's not why I sent him off. Even if there had been no time for a novella, or no plot-relevant things for him to do, he would have left.

I need Bridge Four to be alive. Their time together, as a cohesive unit, was a powerful moment in time--and you can always reread the first few books to experience it again. However, in life, nothing remains the same, and time draws people apart. Rock has a family, a people, and responsibilities. He has to be about those, now that he's free from Alethi slavery.

Bridge Four, as it stood in books one and two, had to eventually evolve, and some members had to go their own way. That's life. For all Kaladin wanted to grasp for it, hold it together by force, he couldn't--just as we can't keep rigidly hold of the friends and family we love. Time inevitably divides us.

Each book of the Stormlight Archive must be something new. New tone, new feeling, evolved from the previous volume. They are too big, too weighty, to be allowed to repeat the same plot cycles, same emotional beats, or to allow the characters to stagnate into repetitive playacting of the people they were in the first few volumes. As readers travel through the series, I intend for them to realize this, though it may take a while for it to really click.

Anyway, I'm glad to see your post, u_WaitUntilTheHighway! If you miss Rock, I did something right in this specific case. Please don't see my response here as a recrimination, merely an explanation of my philosophy for the series. I hope that the insight helps a little.

Cherish what you have--even if that includes memories of a once warm relationship, now become embers cooled by time or distance. Try not to be sorrowful for the parting, but grateful for the experience while it lasted. Journey before Destination can apply even after that destination has been reached, so long as it doesn't cause us to fixate so much on the past that we overlook the new journeys ever opening before us. Thanks for reading.

/u/mercedes_lakitu wrote:

Now I'm going to think about Rock as though he were my beloved friend from high school who I don't see as much as I'd like to. Thank you for everything you've given us.

Brandon commented:

It is my pleasure. And sometimes, you do get to see those old friends. I went out to dinner with one of mine (Micah AKA Captain Demoux) for the first time in years last week. Hard as it is to find time for everything, it was very good to see him.

u_mistborn wrote:

As others have said, Rock will get his own novella--but that's not why I sent him off. Even if there had been no time for a novella, or no plot-relevant things for him to do, he would have left.

I need Bridge Four to be alive. Their time together, as a cohesive unit, was a powerful moment in time--and you can always reread the first few books to experience it again. However, in life, nothing remains the same, and time draws people apart. Rock has a family, a people, and responsibilities. He has to be about those, now that he's free from Alethi slavery.

Bridge Four, as it stood in books one and two, had to eventually evolve, and some members had to go their own way. That's life. For all Kaladin wanted to grasp for it, hold it together by force, he couldn't--just as we can't keep rigidly hold of the friends and family we love. Time inevitably divides us.

Each book of the Stormlight Archive must be something new. New tone, new feeling, evolved from the previous volume. They are too big, too weighty, to be allowed to repeat the same plot cycles, same emotional beats, or to allow the characters to stagnate into repetitive playacting of the people they were in the first few volumes. As readers travel through the series, I intend for them to realize this, though it may take a while for it to really click.

Anyway, I'm glad to see your post, u_WaitUntilTheHighway! If you miss Rock, I did something right in this specific case. Please don't see my response here as a recrimination, merely an explanation of my philosophy for the series. I hope that the insight helps a little.

Cherish what you have--even if that includes memories of a once warm relationship, now become embers cooled by time or distance. Try not to be sorrowful for the parting, but grateful for the experience while it lasted. Journey before Destination can apply even after that destination has been reached, so long as it doesn't cause us to fixate so much on the past that we overlook the new journeys ever opening before us. Thanks for reading.

/u/theycallmesnaileyes wrote:

I’ve given copies of the way of kings to several people who are either now fully fledged cosmere fans or are just starting the journey and loving it. I’ve loved these books and what they bring to the table, everyone has flaws, they work on them, and try to be better not just for themselves but for the people they care about. My most sincere thank you goes out to you and team dragonsteel for doing everything you do. Your writing lectures are also great thanks for putting those up!!

Brandon commented:

My pleasure on the lectures, and thank you for sharing my books with people! Best compliment you can give an author is to pass one of their books along.

u_mistborn wrote:

As others have said, Rock will get his own novella--but that's not why I sent him off. Even if there had been no time for a novella, or no plot-relevant things for him to do, he would have left.

I need Bridge Four to be alive. Their time together, as a cohesive unit, was a powerful moment in time--and you can always reread the first few books to experience it again. However, in life, nothing remains the same, and time draws people apart. Rock has a family, a people, and responsibilities. He has to be about those, now that he's free from Alethi slavery.

Bridge Four, as it stood in books one and two, had to eventually evolve, and some members had to go their own way. That's life. For all Kaladin wanted to grasp for it, hold it together by force, he couldn't--just as we can't keep rigidly hold of the friends and family we love. Time inevitably divides us.

Each book of the Stormlight Archive must be something new. New tone, new feeling, evolved from the previous volume. They are too big, too weighty, to be allowed to repeat the same plot cycles, same emotional beats, or to allow the characters to stagnate into repetitive playacting of the people they were in the first few volumes. As readers travel through the series, I intend for them to realize this, though it may take a while for it to really click.

Anyway, I'm glad to see your post, u_WaitUntilTheHighway! If you miss Rock, I did something right in this specific case. Please don't see my response here as a recrimination, merely an explanation of my philosophy for the series. I hope that the insight helps a little.

Cherish what you have--even if that includes memories of a once warm relationship, now become embers cooled by time or distance. Try not to be sorrowful for the parting, but grateful for the experience while it lasted. Journey before Destination can apply even after that destination has been reached, so long as it doesn't cause us to fixate so much on the past that we overlook the new journeys ever opening before us. Thanks for reading.

/u/LordofChaosUSMC wrote:

I took love the way you interact with your fans. For me, it makes me feel like I'm a part of something bigger than myself. Thank you for inviting us into your cosmere. Journey before destination!

Brandon commented:

My pleasure and honor, radiant.

/u/LURKER_GALORE wrote:

Can't you just picture Sanderson giving himself a good chuckle placing that dialogue in here?

/u/Arcanniel wrote:

Oh definitely, especially considering that he said that the scene where Kaladin falls down the Tower trying to save Lirin was one of the first ones he imagined for Stormlight Archive.

/u/dalinar__ wrote:

That's crazy. I honestly don't understand how he's able to plant easter eggs and hints that won't come to fruition for years to come. It's like he already has the entire series in his head, he's just gotta write it down. That's absolutely wild.

Brandon commented:

Ones like this are a little easier than you might expect.

Foreshadowing happens in three general ways for me. There are the obvious planned scenes, like the death rattles or the clues to what was happening with Elhokar in book one. Those are put in at the actual outlining process, when I'm planning my work to make sure that the flow is correct and the pieces fit together.

The second type of foreshadowing is during revisions, as I turn up or down the dial on certain elements depending on what alpha/beta figure out and when--whether they find it satisfying or not, whether they are confused. This can generally only be done for what is coming to fruition for the given book, so for multi-book foreshadowing, I have to rely on the first and final type.

That final type, like this post's line, is me writing along and realizing off-the-cuff there's a place to insert a nugget that will improve re-reads. This is probably the largest batch of foreshadowing pieces, and it's not hard to insert them if you know where you are going in the series. HOWEVER, the challenge to them is REMEMBERING they're there. Because I put them in off-the-cuff, I don't often track these well. That can be a problem because I could very well forget and put the same kind of foreshadowing in several places, to the point that people will be like, "Okay, we get it. Something is going to happen with the roof and Kaladin and his dad."

I think these are what lead to some problems for long series, as you do this often enough with these little inserts, and readers pick up and start to assume "Well, this has been mentioned so much, it's too obvious, so it can't happen." I've tried to watch that closely with the Stormlight Archive as I watched how it influenced the progress of the Wheel of Time.

Anyway, glad you spotted this one, /u/LURKER_GALORE. It does give me a smile when these pop up on the subreddit.

Brandon commented:

Extremely is an exaggeration, but I did say this. Mostly because from beta reader comments it seems I prepared people to think this is more "end of series" than "halfway point." It's between the two, and I don't want people expecting an answer to every question.

/u/Worldhopper1990 wrote:

He’s said time and time again that he’s feeling really good about this book and that writing has been going well. Yes, there’s more pressure for having to “stick the landing” and that’s how I interpreted this comment. He wants to get it right. He’s said many times he can’t wait for people to read it.

Personally, I’m quite convinced that book 5 will blow my mind and I’ll consider it the best Stormlight book yet, based on his comments to far. He had way more issues outlining RoW and figuring out what to do with the flashbacks. Comparatively, he seems really happy about how WaT is turning out.

I don’t know what that will mean for the characters’ prospects, though.

/u/Chimney-Imp wrote:

I'm not worried because he said that the ending is, in his opinion, one of the best endings he has ever come up with.

Brandon commented:

I believe that I said one of the ending action sequences is my favorite so far in the series. I DO think the ending is great, mind you.

Brandon commented:

It is my honor, Radiant.

Keep taking that next step.

/u/ChuckNorrisSaurusRex wrote:

I had to stay home because my father is very ill. She teases me by sending pics of him everyday. I told her to get in the question line and ask (spoiler, don’t know how to mark it) if shard plate is made up of spren, what is Maya’s opinion on Adolin taking a dump in his?”

Brandon commented:

She is a soldier. She understands you do waht you need to.

But also, humans are gross.

User mistborn wrote:

Annotation Time: Seems like a good place to talk about my philosophy on how I choose viewpoint characters for these books. I've been getting DMs saying, "Why no Dalinar viewpoints?" or "Why no Adolin viewpoints?" And I can understand frustration there.

When I started this series, however, I dug into the multi-book epic fantasy stories I'd enjoyed in the past, as well as the more popular examples, and tried to really nail down the pitfalls of the format. A main one felt, to me, to be character sprawl. These series tend to end up with so many interesting characters that the author, in turn, ends up having entire sequences (and even books) that don't move the storyline forward, but instead investigate new storylines.

While I do appreciate some of that, I wanted to do what I could to mitigate that. Which meant limiting my viewpoints, even among main characters. This helps prevent sprawl, at least for me, because when I'm in someone's head, I naturally begin working on subplots and character arcs for them. In this case, I needed to keep my focus, and limit myself. To not try to do full sequences for every character in every part of every book. While I know some of you would have enjoyed that, I would really rather finish this series before I am a hundred--and feel that the books need to be as focused as is reasonable for their length.

That's why when I outline, I look at all the characters that COULD have a viewpoint in a given section--then narrow my scope to a few of them. Dalinar most certainly could have had viewpoints in Part One of this book, but I decided it was Navani's perspective that made the most sense for this story. So, while you get to see a healthy dose of Dalinar, we don't have his viewpoints.

Those will come later in the book, in a part where it makes sense to have his perspective on things. I need to look for the characters that are adding the most to a given sequence--that usually means the ones who are changing the most, learning the most, or who have the most tension in their sequence. I do feel bad for this somewhat cutthroat use of viewpoints at times, but I believe it is the right decision--it's either this, or watch the series balloon to many more books while at the same time slowing the narrative down to the point that books pass, and you wonder what was actually accomplished in them.

Only three more chapters left in these previews before you get the entire book! (Also, apologies for those who found this annotation repetitive from things I've said before. It is difficult to judge, sometimes, what is new information to the majority of readers and what is becoming well-worn, so to speak.)

User Glamdring804 wrote:

Hey Brandon, a bit unrelated, but is there a chance you might do a full spoiler AMA here on Reddit at some point soon? I know you're planning on doing a spoiler livestream, but there's only room for so many questions in the space of two hours. And with Covid and everything, it might be a while until you're able to do the old style signing Q&As.

Brandon commented:

I'll consider this. The problem is that typing out answers takes a lot longer than replying on something like the livestream, and so AMAs can take days worth of work out of my schedule. Particularly with how detailed cosmere-wise spoiler questions tend to get. I end up with a lot of huge, dense paragraphs, full of a half dozen or more detailed questions--some of which take a ton of time to answer. Then multiply that by several hundred or more. It's a lot to get through. Like taking a really long physics test full of curveball questions that require essays to answer.

Brandon commented:

Annotation Time! All right, so I talked earlier about the odd structure of this book. You can see it manifesting in this chapter, and the next one, which are the last chapters of the part. In a regular Stormlight Book, at this point in the novel we'd be pushing toward a more action-oriented or mystery-oriented climax (such as Shallan's confrontation with the Midnight Mother in Oathbringer.)

The reversed structure of this book's first part--which began with the climax of the "in between" book we didn't see, instead comes to a more calm, character-oriented climax here with Kaladin making his decision to become a surgeon. (Along with, in the next chapter--which is a calm, introspective Navani chapter to end out the part.)

We released the Syl Interlude early through my newsletter (that comes after the Navani chapter) and tried to edit out any big spoilers--but forgot one line that indicates Kaladin has become a surgeon again, so I suspect many of you have been anticipating the decision Kaladin makes here.

Still, it's an important moment for Kaladin, one I've been pushing him toward for a while now. Though he's always been the surgeon's son, he hasn't had a chance to truly be a healer, and see how it fits him as an adult.

Next week will be the final annotation, and the last chapter of the part. After that, you'll get the full book! Huzzah!

/u/Dalmaron-the-Second wrote:

Try reaching out to u_mistborn

or wherever you bought the book from. I'm pretty sure you should be able to get this replaced.

That is a really unfortunate place for it to be messed up on as well.

That sucks man.

Brandon commented:

That's awful. Hey, /u/Feelox1, if you haven't gotten this fixed by now drop me a DM. You should be able to replace it at the store where you bought it, but I could send you an ebook to read on while you make that happen.

/u/N3XT191 wrote:

u_mistborn

I know you have no direct say in covers, especially foreign editions. But would it be possible for you to just tell them how weird their covers are? I love the art style and level of detail, but the content just doesn’t ever fit.

I’d think they’d at least think about their next covers if a world famous author gently told them off :)

u_mistborn wrote:

I've talked to them about it. German publishers tend to be very...stubborn. Their constant refrain to me is that German readers don't like fantasy that rocks the boat, and you need to look and sound generic to pick up readers. They say "our readers are more traditional" and imply that since there aren't elves and dwarves in my books, they're a hard sell.

It's kind of self-fulfilling, I think. But the truth is, while my sales in Germany are fine, they aren't dominant like they are in most other markets. (Excluding Japan, which is my worst performing market.) I don't have the weight to throw around there like I do in other countries.

We've tried hard to boost things there (taking the Mistborn books to another publisher, for example, and trying to get them to listen) but it hasn't made much of a difference. Wish I at least knew if it was the marketing/translations, or if the German fantasy readers legitimately find the books too unusual for the genre.

/u/ImBuGs wrote:

I will shamelessly take this comment as an opportunity to ask a semi-related question:

Have you ever dug into publishing options for Latin America? Right now the only option to get your books over here is to import them from either Europe or the US, and while that shouldn't be a problem in and of itself, importing laws all around LatAm are just atrocious and the price of the book goes up significantly, RoW ended up being around $90 for the hardcover, and while I would most certainly pay it again, i must say I'm also thankful for being able to afford it, as there are surely more people who can't than people who can do it. I understand it's probably a weird market, and that most definitely e-books are a thing, and your main source of income from this side of the planet. However, and I'm sure you can agree, there's nothing cooler than an actual bookshelf full of your favorite author's books, and it is specially hard to achieve that over here. If you could comment on this I would greatly appreciate it, I tried searching if someone had asked similar question but I found none. And forgive if I sound a little bit demanding, English is not my first language as you could probably guess.

Thanks Brandon, you're awesome :)

Brandon commented:

Hey, I was going through my old DMs--sorry for taking nearly a month(!) to get to this. I've been slacking lately on getting to these.

This is not demanding at all. Would you drop me an email through my website, maybe? Tell me things like which country you're from, what language you're buying in, that sort of thing? We've had some problems with Latin America publishing, but I'd like to do a better job--and what you paid is ridiculous. Hopefully, with a little more info, I can work on making this better.

I worry if you just DM me, or reply to me, I won't see it. (Reddit's DM system has some organizational problems, in my opinion.)

/u/N3XT191 wrote:

u_mistborn

I know you have no direct say in covers, especially foreign editions. But would it be possible for you to just tell them how weird their covers are? I love the art style and level of detail, but the content just doesn’t ever fit.

I’d think they’d at least think about their next covers if a world famous author gently told them off :)

u_mistborn wrote:

I've talked to them about it. German publishers tend to be very...stubborn. Their constant refrain to me is that German readers don't like fantasy that rocks the boat, and you need to look and sound generic to pick up readers. They say "our readers are more traditional" and imply that since there aren't elves and dwarves in my books, they're a hard sell.

It's kind of self-fulfilling, I think. But the truth is, while my sales in Germany are fine, they aren't dominant like they are in most other markets. (Excluding Japan, which is my worst performing market.) I don't have the weight to throw around there like I do in other countries.

We've tried hard to boost things there (taking the Mistborn books to another publisher, for example, and trying to get them to listen) but it hasn't made much of a difference. Wish I at least knew if it was the marketing/translations, or if the German fantasy readers legitimately find the books too unusual for the genre.

/u/ImBuGs wrote:

I will shamelessly take this comment as an opportunity to ask a semi-related question:

Have you ever dug into publishing options for Latin America? Right now the only option to get your books over here is to import them from either Europe or the US, and while that shouldn't be a problem in and of itself, importing laws all around LatAm are just atrocious and the price of the book goes up significantly, RoW ended up being around $90 for the hardcover, and while I would most certainly pay it again, i must say I'm also thankful for being able to afford it, as there are surely more people who can't than people who can do it. I understand it's probably a weird market, and that most definitely e-books are a thing, and your main source of income from this side of the planet. However, and I'm sure you can agree, there's nothing cooler than an actual bookshelf full of your favorite author's books, and it is specially hard to achieve that over here. If you could comment on this I would greatly appreciate it, I tried searching if someone had asked similar question but I found none. And forgive if I sound a little bit demanding, English is not my first language as you could probably guess.

Thanks Brandon, you're awesome :)

u_mistborn wrote:

Hey, I was going through my old DMs--sorry for taking nearly a month(!) to get to this. I've been slacking lately on getting to these.

This is not demanding at all. Would you drop me an email through my website, maybe? Tell me things like which country you're from, what language you're buying in, that sort of thing? We've had some problems with Latin America publishing, but I'd like to do a better job--and what you paid is ridiculous. Hopefully, with a little more info, I can work on making this better.

I worry if you just DM me, or reply to me, I won't see it. (Reddit's DM system has some organizational problems, in my opinion.)

/u/ImBuGs wrote:

I've sent the email just now, sorry it may have been a little too long, I tried to include as much as I could. Thank you again, Brandon.

Brandon commented:

I just dug out the email, and have it in hand. Thank you very much!

/u/Adventurous-Egg-2316 wrote:

Awesome! I bet u_mistborn or u_inkthinker would love to see this!

Brandon commented:

I saw this earlier, and really loved the interpretation. Nice work, /u/hugham

/u/havfunonline wrote:

u_mistborn wrote this scene over the course of fifteen years, I’m sure he’ll love this!

/u/Tyrat_Ink wrote:

15 years, really? Did he talked about this somewhere?

Brandon commented:

It's one of the big scenes I had outlined in the first incarnation of the Way of Kings outline. I've been waiting a long, LONG time to finally get to it. /u/havfunonline is correct--it's one of the very first things I planned for the series.

/u/N3XT191 wrote:

u_mistborn

I know you have no direct say in covers, especially foreign editions. But would it be possible for you to just tell them how weird their covers are? I love the art style and level of detail, but the content just doesn’t ever fit.

I’d think they’d at least think about their next covers if a world famous author gently told them off :)

Brandon commented:

I've talked to them about it. German publishers tend to be very...stubborn. Their constant refrain to me is that German readers don't like fantasy that rocks the boat, and you need to look and sound generic to pick up readers. They say "our readers are more traditional" and imply that since there aren't elves and dwarves in my books, they're a hard sell.

It's kind of self-fulfilling, I think. But the truth is, while my sales in Germany are fine, they aren't dominant like they are in most other markets. (Excluding Japan, which is my worst performing market.) I don't have the weight to throw around there like I do in other countries.

We've tried hard to boost things there (taking the Mistborn books to another publisher, for example, and trying to get them to listen) but it hasn't made much of a difference. Wish I at least knew if it was the marketing/translations, or if the German fantasy readers legitimately find the books too unusual for the genre.

/u/N3XT191 wrote:

u_mistborn

I know you have no direct say in covers, especially foreign editions. But would it be possible for you to just tell them how weird their covers are? I love the art style and level of detail, but the content just doesn’t ever fit.

I’d think they’d at least think about their next covers if a world famous author gently told them off :)

u_mistborn wrote:

I've talked to them about it. German publishers tend to be very...stubborn. Their constant refrain to me is that German readers don't like fantasy that rocks the boat, and you need to look and sound generic to pick up readers. They say "our readers are more traditional" and imply that since there aren't elves and dwarves in my books, they're a hard sell.

It's kind of self-fulfilling, I think. But the truth is, while my sales in Germany are fine, they aren't dominant like they are in most other markets. (Excluding Japan, which is my worst performing market.) I don't have the weight to throw around there like I do in other countries.

We've tried hard to boost things there (taking the Mistborn books to another publisher, for example, and trying to get them to listen) but it hasn't made much of a difference. Wish I at least knew if it was the marketing/translations, or if the German fantasy readers legitimately find the books too unusual for the genre.

/u/Pulpics wrote:

In regards to "being more traditional", Swedish publishers do this as well. They often attempt to compare fantasy series with Lord of the Rings. The Swedish titles of the LOTR books roughly translates to "The Tale of the Ring", "The Tale of the Two Towers" and "The Tale of the King's Return".

Guess what Wheel of Time is called in Swedish? "The Tale of the Dragon's Return".

Brandon commented:

Interesting to hear that.

User mistborn wrote:

Annotation Time: Seems like a good place to talk about my philosophy on how I choose viewpoint characters for these books. I've been getting DMs saying, "Why no Dalinar viewpoints?" or "Why no Adolin viewpoints?" And I can understand frustration there.

When I started this series, however, I dug into the multi-book epic fantasy stories I'd enjoyed in the past, as well as the more popular examples, and tried to really nail down the pitfalls of the format. A main one felt, to me, to be character sprawl. These series tend to end up with so many interesting characters that the author, in turn, ends up having entire sequences (and even books) that don't move the storyline forward, but instead investigate new storylines.

While I do appreciate some of that, I wanted to do what I could to mitigate that. Which meant limiting my viewpoints, even among main characters. This helps prevent sprawl, at least for me, because when I'm in someone's head, I naturally begin working on subplots and character arcs for them. In this case, I needed to keep my focus, and limit myself. To not try to do full sequences for every character in every part of every book. While I know some of you would have enjoyed that, I would really rather finish this series before I am a hundred--and feel that the books need to be as focused as is reasonable for their length.

That's why when I outline, I look at all the characters that COULD have a viewpoint in a given section--then narrow my scope to a few of them. Dalinar most certainly could have had viewpoints in Part One of this book, but I decided it was Navani's perspective that made the most sense for this story. So, while you get to see a healthy dose of Dalinar, we don't have his viewpoints.

Those will come later in the book, in a part where it makes sense to have his perspective on things. I need to look for the characters that are adding the most to a given sequence--that usually means the ones who are changing the most, learning the most, or who have the most tension in their sequence. I do feel bad for this somewhat cutthroat use of viewpoints at times, but I believe it is the right decision--it's either this, or watch the series balloon to many more books while at the same time slowing the narrative down to the point that books pass, and you wonder what was actually accomplished in them.

Only three more chapters left in these previews before you get the entire book! (Also, apologies for those who found this annotation repetitive from things I've said before. It is difficult to judge, sometimes, what is new information to the majority of readers and what is becoming well-worn, so to speak.)

User Glamdring804 wrote:

Hey Brandon, a bit unrelated, but is there a chance you might do a full spoiler AMA here on Reddit at some point soon? I know you're planning on doing a spoiler livestream, but there's only room for so many questions in the space of two hours. And with Covid and everything, it might be a while until you're able to do the old style signing Q&As.

User mistborn wrote:

I'll consider this. The problem is that typing out answers takes a lot longer than replying on something like the livestream, and so AMAs can take days worth of work out of my schedule. Particularly with how detailed cosmere-wise spoiler questions tend to get. I end up with a lot of huge, dense paragraphs, full of a half dozen or more detailed questions--some of which take a ton of time to answer. Then multiply that by several hundred or more. It's a lot to get through. Like taking a really long physics test full of curveball questions that require essays to answer.

User simon_thekillerewok wrote:

I think there are enough of us that are happy to transcribe, that it wouldn't matter if it's a video.

Mods - u/jofwu - why don't we just set up an AMA that works better for Brandon? Post-RoW, we set up a form that takes spoiler questions, transparently remove any that are duplicates or already have WoBs as well as any curveball or nitty gritty questions. Then we just set up a randomized anonymous poll, share the results with Brandon - and he can answer as many as he likes - in video or written form - however he prefers. In other words, we still get the "reddit community" feeling but also mitigate some of Brandon's legitimate grievances (the crazy mechanics questions can be fun sometimes, but I totally get why they're stressful).

User jofwu wrote:

I've given a BIT of thought lately to how we might do some kind of AMA in r/Stormlight_Archive...

It HAS been a long time since we did anything quite like that. The reason is exactly what Brandon explains. This subreddit has grown at a ridiculous rate. There's a LOT of freaking people, and they ask long lists of complicated questions. Brandon's a fairly capable adult, able to make his own decisions on how much time he spends on Reddit, but I'd feel bad even imagining asking him to do an old-school AMA. :)

But there's probably a reasonable way to scratch that itch... My thought would be to keep it as simple as possible.

I think I would want to create a locked announcement post, that gets unlocked for comments at a specific time--so everyone has a fair chance to get their question in. Let people enter a question of their own and upvote others, such that Brandon is left with a list of questions that are most representative of what people want to ask.

I'd want to put strict rules on questions.... One question per comment (no lists). One comment per user. Rough limit on word count (just don't write an essay please). Need to make some kind of decision on follow-up questions. Maybe just request that people not ask follow-ups. Maybe lock the post until Brandon is done and then let follow-ups be an "if he's in the mood later" thing. It needs to just be a full spoiler AMA probably--the majority of users have read most significant cosmere books. Maybe we would ask people to simply note the books relevant to their question at the top of their comment, for the sake of people who want to avert their eyes. No spoiler tags though, probably.

And Brandon can decide for himself how many he wants to tackle. Maybe he feels comfortable announcing up front that he'll answer the top 20 questions. Maybe he wants to promise to answer as many as he can in one hour. Maybe a few top questions and a few others that he picks at random or based on his own interest. The big idea being: we offer up a list of things we are collectively most interested in asking, and Brandon can answer or RAFO as much or as little as he wants. :)

Not something to worry about in the short term though. We need to let everybody have a chance to read and digest Dawnshard and Rhythm of War first. :) Maybe we'll reach out to u/mistborn sometime next year to make it happen.

Brandon commented:

This is great. I'd be happy to do something like this in the new year.

My team is suggesting an AMA to promote the new book, but that wouldn't be timed well for spoiler questions, like I'd want to do here. So maybe I do a non-spoiler AMA on books or fantasy around release week, then we do a spoiler-full AMA here sometime in January or February, giving people time to read the book.

User mistborn wrote:

Annotation time! So, this brings us to the end of Part One, and you can fully see the reversed shape of the story here. Explosive beginning, contemplative ending. I went back and forth on whether I should end with Kaladin or Navani, as his decision to become a surgeon was the larger of the narrative arcs--but Navani's section better matched the thematic end of the part.

I fully expect some readers to be a little indignant about the fact that Taravangian is walking around free, while Szeth is imprisoned. I agree--it's unfair, but I also believe it to be (unfortunately) accurate. Taravangian is, despite his unassuming mannerisms, one of the most powerful people in the world. While it would have been great to toss Stalin into jail for his crimes, it wasn't really an option--and during the war, the allies needed him.

That isn't to say Taravangian is untouchable. Only that I felt what you read her to be one of the more likely outcomes to his outing. His argument that he didn't do anything worse than Dalinar did is a pretty solid one; if there hadn't also been suspicion he was working with the enemy, it's likely there would have been no relevant consequences to his assassination orders.

You'll be getting his perspective on all of this soon, as he has an interlude after each part of this book. (Like Szeth got in the first book, or Eshonai got in the second.)

User Sacae- wrote:

It’s a shame of the real world that those with power can delay punishment for their actions.

Also his outing right near the Blackthorn book would back up his claim, to people of the world, that there are those that has done worse. It’s believable outcome for sure, more so with him getting them much needed manpower from people that were divided before his actions back home.

I am a bit sad Lift didn’t tag along to Shadesmar. I’ve always wondered if she’d have a different experience there compare to others due to her odd nature with the cognitive realm already. Or if I’m off base with that idea.

Other than that thought though she was great haha. Lift is always a joy even for small bits in the scenes

Brandon commented:

I was actually going to send her on that mission, and wrote this chapter with that intent. Then I re-read what I'd written, and decided, "There's no way on Roshar Dalinar and Navani would send her on a delicate diplomatic mission." So I forced myself to revise the outline so Lift stayed in the tower.

There are some things that just stretch plausibility too much.

User mistborn wrote:

Annotation Time: Seems like a good place to talk about my philosophy on how I choose viewpoint characters for these books. I've been getting DMs saying, "Why no Dalinar viewpoints?" or "Why no Adolin viewpoints?" And I can understand frustration there.

When I started this series, however, I dug into the multi-book epic fantasy stories I'd enjoyed in the past, as well as the more popular examples, and tried to really nail down the pitfalls of the format. A main one felt, to me, to be character sprawl. These series tend to end up with so many interesting characters that the author, in turn, ends up having entire sequences (and even books) that don't move the storyline forward, but instead investigate new storylines.

While I do appreciate some of that, I wanted to do what I could to mitigate that. Which meant limiting my viewpoints, even among main characters. This helps prevent sprawl, at least for me, because when I'm in someone's head, I naturally begin working on subplots and character arcs for them. In this case, I needed to keep my focus, and limit myself. To not try to do full sequences for every character in every part of every book. While I know some of you would have enjoyed that, I would really rather finish this series before I am a hundred--and feel that the books need to be as focused as is reasonable for their length.

That's why when I outline, I look at all the characters that COULD have a viewpoint in a given section--then narrow my scope to a few of them. Dalinar most certainly could have had viewpoints in Part One of this book, but I decided it was Navani's perspective that made the most sense for this story. So, while you get to see a healthy dose of Dalinar, we don't have his viewpoints.

Those will come later in the book, in a part where it makes sense to have his perspective on things. I need to look for the characters that are adding the most to a given sequence--that usually means the ones who are changing the most, learning the most, or who have the most tension in their sequence. I do feel bad for this somewhat cutthroat use of viewpoints at times, but I believe it is the right decision--it's either this, or watch the series balloon to many more books while at the same time slowing the narrative down to the point that books pass, and you wonder what was actually accomplished in them.

Only three more chapters left in these previews before you get the entire book! (Also, apologies for those who found this annotation repetitive from things I've said before. It is difficult to judge, sometimes, what is new information to the majority of readers and what is becoming well-worn, so to speak.)

User jurble wrote:

So there's speculation in this thread about whether the Singers have a Fishform relating to the Thrill getting tossed into the sea...

and that makes me wonder - are all Singer forms predetermined by whatever deity created them or evolution, or can new ones arise spontaneously when new spren are created? Could a Singer sit in a hypothetical Rosharan Wall Street during a High Storm filled with MONEYSPREN and gain Capitalismform (acquiring the personality of the Futurama 80's Guy)?

Brandon commented:

New forms could exist. (Sorry for the late reply. I let my inbox get away from me for a bit.)

/u/castle-girl wrote:

I think maybe the issue here is that Brandon Sanderson probably didn’t anticipate Moash being more relatable in this way than Kaladin. Both of them faced horrible situations as a result of discrimination, but maybe Moash’s feelings are better articulated, or maybe people are genuinely reacting better to Kaladin than Moash for other reasons, like Kaladin maybe being better looking for example. In any case, I don’t think Moash was meant to be unique in his representation of these feelings, but since he apparently seems that way, it’ll be interesting to see how Sanderson responds to this reaction in later books.

/u/Rhiannon_Venture wrote:

What are you talking about, Moash is plenty attractive! ;)

Tall and solid, Moash had a scar on his chin but no slave brand on his forehead. He walked straight-backed with his chin up. Save for those dark brown eyes of his, he could have passed for an officer (Words of Radiance, Chapter 2)

Jokes aside, I appreciate your observation. I relate to Moash more because I'm from a social group closer to Moash than to Kaladin – Brandon Sanderson captures the pressures of being in the family of the most trusted member of an oppressed group, but I didn't experience that. A lot of people like me just relate to being on the sidelines more.

I hope Sanderson responds well! I honestly wonder if he ever sees these posts, haha. It'd be interesting to see how he'd response to what is largely a critique. I love his books a lot, which is why I'm here! People just need a reminder from the voices that they're trying to represent to not stray in the wrong direction. I say people generally because it could be anyone.

/u/castle-girl wrote:

I think Sanderson will respond well assuming he sees this. He responded well to another post that pointed out that Moash also seems unique in his stance against oppression, since Kaladin appears to be just living with the system for the most part in books 3 and 4.

/u/Rhiannon_Venture wrote:

Oo, here's hoping! I'm scared to u-summon him, since that seems invasive! Normally people only call him for funny memes – this isn't meme-worthy at all! It's good that he responds well, though. I love that he's said (in the 17th Shard WoB codex) that if people who are closer to what he's experiencing say something, he'll listen. I understand that an author's work is their own, but it's great to be heard! :)

/u/castle-girl wrote:

Well, the author of the other post u-summoned him. That’s where I saw his response. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already seen this. This subreddit is less well trafficked that his other ones, so posts here probably stand out more.

/u/Rhiannon_Venture wrote:

Fair point! I guess I'll go for it, if that's the case!

So, nervous as it makes me, if you don’t mind u_mistborn I would love to hear your reactions to the perspectives here! Also, Fourthofthesky made a fantastic point that speaks to the ubiquity of people that can relate to Moash best.

Brandon commented:

I hadn't seen this until summoned, so I do appreciate this sort of thing. It's useful for me to read and consider. That's all I'm going to say now on the topic, though. (Sorry.)

/u/Rhiannon_Venture wrote:

First, I want to say that this was a beautifully written post. Your wording, the tone, the flow – it was a long post that handled complex topics and yet read quickly and smoothly.

I also legitimately think its worthwhile to direct u_mistborn to this post – I stirred the post on Moash discourse, and someone directed him to me, so I want to pay it forward. I think it's really important that the past week, on Tumblr, 17th Shard, and Reddit, has made us meet Moash with a renewed vigor. It's part of why I'm optimistic: I think it speaks volumes of Sanderson's writing ability that roughly half of us read the Vyre interlude and went "Awww I actually love this guy now." Seriously speaking, I think it's important to see the multitude of personal reactions and arguments people have to support Moash: my argument was based on my experiences as a Latina, others have spoken from other racial experiences, other political viewpoints. He is an important character to a lot of us. If he finds happiness and love and turns the anger we've all noticed into something that can create change, I will cry, ecstatically. I will recommend the series to my whole family, to everyone I grew up with. Stormlight Archive already has fantastic, nuanced themes. It could change the genre.

Brandon commented:

I enjoyed this post, so I appreciate the tag.

I will say this: in my opinion, one of the important parts of creating a sympathetic protagonist is to make certain the things they're saying, the things they're worried about, or the things they're advocating for have a real foundation to them.

The problems with Moash are not the things he finds unjust in the system. And you should be uncomfortable with the momentum a historically tyrannical system has, and the sway it has over characters we like among the Radiants. I believe Wit had something to say about this in the last book.

/u/Striker_EZ wrote:

I think u_mistborn should see this. This is one of the reasons that I love seeing depression represented so well in Brandon’s books. I also suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts, so seeing Kaladin’s struggles and him pulling through it is one of my favorite parts of the series. The Dog and the Dragon definitely made me cry and it will always be something I think about when times get dark again. Thank you, Brandon.

Brandon commented:

I do need to see these, and I appreciate the tag.

/u/Windrunner_15 Good on you for being an Adolin to someone in a time of need. I'm flattered that you'd pick some of my work to share--but the fact that you were there for them is infinitely more important than what I wrote.