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Tress Resumes Shipping + Weekly Update Hello! Welcome to another Weekly Update. I’m your Brandon, Brandon. So far, I have been working away since returning on Stormlight 5, and I am at, Bing! 34%. Another percentage point up. Feeling pretty good about that. It’s been just a little hard to get back into the groove.…
Brandon’s Back! + Weekly Update Hi! I’m back. I came back and it was 28 degrees, and there was a foot of snow on my car in the parking lot at the airport. So I don’t know how long I’ll say but I am back from Hawaii. Thank you all for tuning in to see…
Update on Printing Tress + Weekly Update ISAAC: Hello there! I’m Isaac Stewart, standing in for Brandon today. I am over Creative Development at Dragonsteel. And Brandon’s in Hawaii, out of the office, having fun, writing on the beach. He has an update for us later in the video about how things are going with…
Cytoverse Shipping Has Begun! + Weekly Update Hey, everybody! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. Now, I will be gone next week, so someone else will be sitting in this chair. I hope you treat them well. I’ll be back in a couple weeks. I’m heading off to Hawaii with my family. But for now,…
Limited Hoid Boxes For Sale + Weekly Update Hey, Weekly Update time! I’m wearing my Hoid shirt from the Hoid box. That will be relevant in just a minute. But first, Bing! I am at 29% on Stormlight. I had a good week of writing. I also managed to sneak in a quick revision on…
Brandon’s Bookclub Coming Soon + Weekly Update Hey, Brandon here with a quick Weekly Update. I am back on Stormlight 5. I have written roughly 4,000 words this week, which equates to 1%. Bing! 28% We’re kind of rushing through this Weekly Update. We’re doing it last minute because of so many things happening this…
Defiant Revisions Completed + Weekly Update Hey, Brandon here. Sorry about the canceled livestream last week. We had several members of my household get COVID, so I decided to cancel the livestream and some other things, such as recording my Weekly Update last week, and I’m doing it on Monday instead. I have tested negative…
Weekly Updates are Moving to Tuesdays + Weekly Update Hey, Weekly Update time. So, things have been going very well with Defiant. I am, Bing!, 85% done with that book. I hope to turn it in very early next week with my self-imposed deadline, February 1st. And then I can turn back to Stormlight 5.…
The Science of Magic: Tress of the Emerald Sea with Mark Rober If you haven’t had a chance, check out the video I did with Mark Rober as we discussed the magic of fluidization in Tress of the Emerald Sea.
A First Look at Tress of the Emerald Sea + Weekly Update Hey, everybody. Brandon here with—hot off the presses—the first copy of Secret Project 1, Tress of the Emerald Sea. This has been sent to us overnight super-fast so that we would have one to show off but the rest of them are on…
Dark One: Forgotten Out Now! + Weekly Update Hey, everybody! Weekly Update time with a special guest. We’ll get to him in a second. First, I want to give you an update on what I’ve been writing. I have been revising Defiant, the final book of the Skyward series, and I am, Bing! About 33%…
The Year of Sanderson Starts Now! The Year of Sanderson Starts Now!
Secret Project #1 Out Tomorrow! + Weekly Update Hey, everybody! So, Weekly Update time. First things first. There was a lot of snow, and we still haven’t seen our print copies of Secret Project 1. So we have made an executive decision. We’re going to start shipping out February’s box right now. As soon as…
State of the Sanderson 2022 Introduction Wow. What a year. I can remember writing this essay last year, and being all giddy about the fact that I was hiding four secret novels from you all. I said, “Maybe next year, I’ll be able to explain to you all why my year was so strange.” One…
Stormlight 5 Milestone + Weekly Update Hey! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. So, bit of a slower week this week, a shorter update. That’s because things are winding down a little bit for the holidays. But I still have some fun things for you. First one is Stormlight 5. We are at, Bing!, 25%.…
Lightweaver Ornament Out Now + Weekly Update Hey! So welcome back to Weekly Updates. We took a week off, and it’s been a busy week for me. I had the holiday here in America, Thanksgiving. But I did get some writing done after that. And so I met my goal, just squeaked by it, for…
The Lost Metal Is Out Now + Weekly Update Hey! Brandon with your Weekly Update. So, Lost Metal is out. We had Dragonsteel 2022 last week. It was a smash success. It was huge. You guys are awesome. We had a wonderful time. There are multiple videos here on my channel where you can watch…
Join Us At Dragonsteel 2022 + Weekly Update Hey! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. First off, you’re here for Stormlight 5, which is, Bing! At 18%, slowly moving up. We are inching along. I had a pretty decent week doing SandoWriMo. This is National Novel Writing Month, and I am posting my word counts…
MTG Summit this Friday + Weekly Update Hey! It is time for your Weekly Update. First off, I have gotten back into Stormlight 5. I actually only got about 2,000 words last week, and so the percentage bar probably hasn’t inched up yet. But I am working on that full time now because it is…
Halloween Stream Tonight + Weekly Update Brandon here with your Weekly Update. Secret Project 4 final draft, Bing! is done. I actually finished that mid-last week a few days ahead of schedule. So I’m feeling pretty good about that one. That means that all of the secret projects are now a wrap. I have done…
Charity Magic Draft is Live + Weekly Update Hi. I am here with your Weekly Update again. So first things first, I am working on Secret Project 4, where I am, Bing! 70% of the way done. This might seem a small amount, since last week I was 50%, and I should have been a…
Signed Copies Of The Lost Metal + Weekly Update Hello! Welcome to the Weekly Update. I am back from New York Comic Con. We will have some videos of the panels that I did there coming up on the YouTube channel at some point. There was a really fun one I did with Diana Gabaldon…
Stormlight Premium Figurines Kickstarter Campaign with Brotherwise Games Introduction Today, we launch a new Kickstarter campaign—for Stormlight minis and painted figurines. This affords me a chance to talk about a few things relating to the behind the scenes of how this Kickstarter came about, why we’ve partnered with Brotherwise for it, and how I want…
Stormlight Five Update One Hello, all! I know some of you may have been waiting for this. It’s time for the first in a series of updates about your book! I wanted to wait until I’d made good progress this month before I stopped to write one of these updates, and I do apologize for leaving you in…
Moonbreaker Announcement + Weekly Update Hey, guys. Brandon here with your Weekly Update. First off, Stormlight. We are moving up, bing! 2% to 14% this week. I’ve had a very good week on Stormlight 5. I have one more week to work on Stormlight before I’m required to do some other revisions. It’s going really…
Free “Shadows of Self” eBook! + Weekly Update Hey! Brandon here with your Weekly Update! Number one, Stormlight 5, is going pretty well. I’m going to conservatively move the percentage up to, Bing! 12%. It probably will end the week a little higher than that but that feels about right to me now. Writing is…
Prologue to Stormlight 5 Introduction Hey, all! We wanted to send one final excerpt to you to both say thank you, and give a warning that the Kickstarter is coming to an end. Today is the last day, and it ends at 5:00 MDT. I’m so grateful to you all for the overwhelming show of…
First Look at Secret Project Four (Hint: it’s Stormlight Adjacent) Introduction Hello everyone! Welcome to the next Secret Project reveal! If you have no idea what I’m talking about here, I recommend you start here. For full info about our Kickstarter, you should visit the campaign page. If you missed my reveal for the first…
First Look at Secret Project #3 Introduction Hello everyone! Welcome to the next Secret Project reveal! If you have no idea what I’m talking about here, I recommend you start here. For full info about our Kickstarter, you should visit the campaign page. If you missed my reveal for the first two Secret Projects, you…
Some FAQs You Might Enjoy Hey, all. It has been, to say the least, a wild two weeks for me. After seeing some of the discourse around what is going on with the Kickstarter, I thought you all might enjoy it if I answered a few questions I’ve been getting. (Or ones I’ve been seeing…
First Look at Secret Project #2 Introduction Hello everyone! It’s been a mindblowing few weeks. All of us here at Dragonsteel HQ are in awe over the wonderful support you’ve been showing these quirky little books. If you’ve somehow stayed out of the loop, we launched a Kickstarter for four secret novels that I wrote over…
I Am Flabbergasted! Adam here. I will update this text once the video has been transcribed.
First Look at Secret Project #1 Hello, all! It’s been a wild few days. If you somehow didn’t hear about it, we announced a Kickstarter for four secret novels! It’s live now, and is…well, kind of unbelievable. We will likely soon become the #1 Kickstarter of all time. You can watch my YouTube announcement here,…
The Lost Metal (Mistborn 7) + Weekly Update Adam here. I will update this text once the video has been transcribed.
The Lost Metal Weekly Update Hey! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. Not a whole lot to talk about this week, just I’ve been plugging away at Wax and Wayne 4, The Lost Metal. I am, bing!, right at 70%, and I am ready for the home stretch to finish this thing off. I’m very…
Update on The Lost Metal Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I have been working hard on Wax and Wayne 4, The Lost Metal. I dedicated a lot of time to it last week and I am at, bing!, 60%, just under the 2/3 mark on that one. I will cross the 2/3 mark next…
White Sand Omnibus News + Weekly Update Hey, Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I spent this week working hard on the new Wax and Wayne novel, going through a pretty significant revision using beta reader comments and my comments from my editor. So I did about—I’m about a third of the way through that…
Dragonsteel 2022 Convention Announcement + Weekly Update Brandon here with your Weekly Update. Sorry to miss one last week. Things got a little hectic. But we have one for you this week. I have been working mostly on two things. Wax and Wayne 4 revision, which I’m still not that far in. I’m about 20,000…
Dave Wolverton—A Friend and Mentor On Friday, my writing mentor Dave Wolverton (who also wrote under the pen name David Farland) passed away in his sixties from complications relating to a fall. It’s with complex emotions that I approach writing a few things here. The community has lost a great and wonderful man, and I…
Started Writing Szeth! + Weekly Update So this week, having finished the draft of Defiant, I have started really getting into Stormlight 5, and I’ve been working on the outline, just kind of refining the outline for the Szeth backstory sequence. And today I wrote a little bit of that. I’m not ready for a…
Starting Stormlight Five! It’s been a couple of weeks, since we were all off for the holidays. And I actually took a little bit of a break. I worked half days through part of the holidays, which left me a little bit behind on Defiant, book 4 of Skyward. And so last week I had…
State of the Sanderson 2021 Welcome to my yearly wrap-up. In this essay, I’ll talk about projects recently released, ones upcoming, and ones in limbo. It’s usually a very long post, so feel free to jump to the section that interests you most using the following handy set of links. Introduction Part One: My Year…
State of the Sanderson is Live! + Weekly Update Hello. Brandon here with your Weekly Update. So first of all, the State of the Sanderson is out today! What is the State of the Sanderson? Well, every year around my birthday, which also coincides with Koloss Head Munching Day in the Mistborn world, we release…
Alcatraz and Lost Metal News + a Question I Have for You Hey, Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I am working my way through Defiant, the fourth book of the Skyward series. I’m about, bing! 66%, two-thirds of the way there. I have a few weeks left to finish that, so hopefully I will…
Some Thoughts from Brandon on Episode Three Hey, all! Sorry I haven’t been able to post here right when new episodes release. Having a book launch and the holidays kind of prevented me from digging in deep with the WoT launch. However, in order to make it up to you, I’ve pulled out my actual…
Packed Weekly Update + Leatherbound Discussion with Isaac Hey, everybody! Brandon here with your Weekly Update of all the random things happening in Sanderland. This week I am up to, bing! 55% on Defiant. A little bit of a slow week for me this week, just kind of catching up after the holidays and all…
Weekly Update From the Festival of Trees Hi! Brandon here with our Weekly Update. We’re a day late because I wanted to show you our tree. This is actually at the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake. We do one of these every year for charity. You can actually bid on this tree if you…
Cytonic Out Tomorrow! + MiniCon Starts Today! Hey! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I have been busy signing stacks and stacks of copies of Cytonic because it is out tomorrow. Please go give it a look. This is the third book of the Skyward series. I’m working on the fourth one now and, in…
Some Thoughts from Brandon on Episode Two The title is a little bit of a lie. Because I’m going to do more Episode One first. I finally saw the finished product tonight–on the big screen, in 4k, with an atmos sound system. 🙂 I knew that some of my larger suggestions had been adopted, but…
Some Thoughts from Brandon on Episode One Haven’t watched the final product yet, as I wasn’t able to make the premier. Disclosure, I’m one of the producers. My part equated to reading the scripts and offering feedback directly to Rafe, the show runner. I’ll be watching tonight, and there are a few details I’m curious…
Weekly Update from Hawaii! Hello, everybody. I am Brandon, here for a very different sort of Weekly Update for you. I am at the Turtle Bay Resort on beautiful North Shore Oahu in Hawaii. I’ve been writing here for the last week or so, a little over a week. And I’ve been working on the…
SandoWriMo + Weekly Update Hello, and welcome to Weekly Update. I am still in costume. If you are wondering why, then go watch the livestream from last Saturday, the VOD of it. You can see me in full costume. I’ve taken off the wig, which is why we’ve got some weird stuff up on my…
ReDawn Out Tomorrow! + Livestream This Saturday! Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I’m about 80% of the way through the things I need to get done in order to start the new Skyward book. I anticipate I’m going to get to it pretty soon here. The goal is still to have that one done…
Weekly Update + How to Get Into My 2022 BYU Class Hey! Weekly Update time. It’s getting to be winter and it’s getting kind of cold, so I’ve broken out the authorial jacket with the nice patches on the elbows. I feel very professorly coming to you today. A few quick updates. Skyward news. We…
TWO GIVEAWAYS! + Mistborn Playing Cards and Regular Updates Hey, Brandon here for your Weekly Update. Things are moving along on Wax and Wayne, which I am finished with the 2.0 draft and people are doing the beta reads. So not much of an update there. On Skyward 4 I am still in the pre-writing…
Limited Way of Kings Leatherbounds Available Now! + W&W and Skyward 4 Updates Weekly Update time from Brandon. All right. Wax and Wayne 4 is off to the beta readers. It has begun that process. The 2.0 draft, as I have mentioned, is done. So that one, bing! 100% on our second draft. I, right…
New Book Out Tomorrow! + W&W 4 Update BRANDON: Hey, Brandon here with Janci! JANCI: Hello! BRANDON: We are here to announce that Sunreach is coming out tomorrow. We are really excited. Janci, what is Sunreach? JANCI: Sunreach is a Skyward novella that is all about the members of Skyward Flight. BRANDON: About six years…
Sunreach Cover Reveal + An Apology All right. Brandon here for our Weekly Update. Two fun things and one apology. Fun thing one, Wax and Wayne, bing!, 75%. This is for draft number two. I should be finishing that this week and turning it in, which leaves next we me starting on the fourth Skyward…
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT + W&W and FanX Update Hey, everyone! Weekly Update time. This is a big one. All right? I’ve got a lot of stuff to talk about today. Very briefly, Wax and Wayne 4 going very well, 2.0 draft. I am somewhere around, bing!, 70% on that. But we’re going to move off of…
Emperor’s Soul Poll + Evershore and W&W 4 Update Hello, everyone! Back for a Weekly Update. Sorry about last week. Producer Adam was on vacation, and he had a very good vacation, and we like him to go on vacation on occasion because we like to keep our Adam very happy because he’s the one…
Taking a Quick Break From W&W 4 + Poll Results Hey, Brandon here in theater mode today with your Weekly Update. Wax and Wayne 4 is, bing!, at 40% on the second draft. That’s not going to move this week because I am actually shifting gears to work on the third of the Skyward novellas…
Launching Into the 2nd Draft of The Lost Metal + Cytoverse Update Hey, everyone! Weekly Update time. Got a couple of cool things for you today. The first is, I have launched into the second draft of Wax and Wayne 4. This is how I do things. I finished it and took one day to…
W&W 4 Is Done! + Way of Kings Prime Audiobook and T-Shirt Poll Hey, Weekly Update time. It’s time for some celebrations because Wax and Wayne 4 is done, 100%. I finished it last Wednesday, which is last night to me but a few days ago to you. That book is moving on to second…
W&W 4 (The Lost Metal) Is Nearing Its Completion! Hey, everyone! Brandon here for our Weekly Update. I am hard at work on Wax and Wayne. We are getting to the final stretch. I have it at 85% right now as this recording is happening. This recording is happening on Wednesday (the Wednesday before you…
W&W 4 Update + Magellan Visits! Hey, everyone, Brandon here for the Weekly Update. I thought I’d bring Magellan along. He’s already bitten the button off of my jacket. I’m going to try to get him not to bite anymore. So I’m going to give him a nut. (Magellan, you want this? Yeah. Yeah, you…
Lux Is Out This Week + W&W 4 Update Hey, guys, Weekly Update time. This is going to be a bit of an outlier of a week. While you’re getting this update, I am flying home from Atlanta where I was at JordanCon. Hopefully, I had a wonderful time chatting with my friends at JordanCon.…
Sanderson T-800 Confirmed! + W&W 4 Update I have something fun to talk about this week. I just did one of the oddest book signings of my life. I was sitting here, in American Fork, Utah, and I did a book signing in Barcelona, Spain. How did this work? They set up this thing, and…
W&W 4 (Mistborn #7) is 2/3 Done! Hey, everybody! It is time for another Weekly Update, and I’m going to talk to you about Wax and Wayne 4. Now, I was reading the comment section to one of my previous updates, and someone had been a little confused about how I was writing this book.…
W&W 4 + New Reckoners Novel Update All right, everybody. It’s Brandon’s Weekly Update. So, Wax and Wayne. I passed, bing, 60%. Probably a little past that by now, but that’s what I am at right now, and really excited with how the story is going. I have actually—I can’t tell you too much, I…
Cover reveal for Lux: A Texas Reckoners Novel Adam here. I’m sure most of you reading this have been following Brandon’s social media—particularly his YouTube channel—and have seen/heard him discuss some of his upcoming projects where he’s partnered with other authors to help tell stories that he’s unable (due to other writing deadlines) to write…
W&W 4 Update + Leatherbound Poll Results Hey, Brandon here for your Weekly Update. We are super thankful to you guys for filling out the poll last week regarding the leather bounds. It’s given us a lot of good direction. Today Isaac and I talked a lot about how, number one, we can get unsigned…
Wax & Wayne 4 Update + Leatherbound Poll Hey, everybody! Brandon here. Couple things to talk about this week. Wax and Wayne is really close to 50%. But it’s not quite there yet because I had to take this week off and do something else. I’m actually pushing the due date for Wax and Wayne,…
The Strangely Melancholy Ending to The Good Place I’m a little behind everyone else when it comes to this show, as my wife and I tend to give television programs a good rest between seasons, rather than binging the entire thing as once. So I only just watched the ending to The Good Place, and…
Intentionally Blank Episode 1 — Popcornture vs Stubad Adam here. If you’ve been following Brandon’s Weekly Update videos on his YouTube channel, this won’t come as a surprise. If you haven’t been, well… surprise! Brandon and his good friend—and NYC Bestseller—Dan Wells have started a podcast together where they talk about movies, TV shows, videogames,…
New Project Announcement + W&W4 and Kickstarter Update Brandon here. I have a lot of updates this week. I have, like, four things I need to talk to you about. First one is Cytonic. We have announced the name of the third book in the Skyward series. We have announced a release date. It’s up…
Why is Kelsier in Fortnite? Plus Cytonic and W&W4 Update Hey! Brandon here for the Weekly Update. You might have missed our announcements this week, this last week, so I’m going to go over them again with you. The first one is Cytonic. We have a title, and we have a cover for the new…
Project Hail Mary Review Hey, guys! I actually have something different for you. I have a book review. I normally do these on my Goodreads. But I’m here in front of the camera. I just did my weekly update. And I thought, what if I just did a vlog version of this. It’s going to…
Cytonic (Skyward 3) cover and title reveal! Adam here. I know many of you have been *patiently* waiting for us to finally reveal the cover and title for the third volume in Brandon’s Skyward Series—many of you correctly guessing this would be our first announcement after Brandon’s vague teasing in his most recent Weekly Update…
Wax & Wayne 4 Update + Warbreaker Giveaway All right. Brandon here with your Weekly Update. We have two announcements coming this week that I can’t announce right now. One is on Wednesday and one is on Thursday. Watch our website. We’ll talk about it. One of them you’re expecting. It will not surprise you…
Dark One Out Tomorrow + W&W4 and Kickstarter Update Brandon here for our Weekly Update. Got some fun things to talk to you about today. First thing is I should let you know Wax and Wayne still going pretty well. I just went over 20%. And by Monday, I’m going to guess I’m around 22%-23%,…
Wax & Wayne 4 Update + Board Game Poll Results All right, everybody. It’s time for our Weekly Update. I didn’t have any sort of recordings yesterday, on Thursday, so I’m doing this on Friday just in my office again. Which means, I’m sorry, this probably came up a little bit late since Adam won’t…
Wax & Wayne Update + Stormlight Archive Game Question Hey! Brandon here. You know, I said that these were not going to be weekly probably, even though I was going to call them weekly, and now we’ve done one every week. So here is our Weekly Update. I am still working on Wax and Wayne…
Wax & Wayne 4 Update + Cosmere Art Book Question Hey! Brandon here for our next Weekly Update. This is an exciting one because I have been writing on the new Wax and Wayne book, and I am 7,000 words into it. I have had three very solid days of writing. I want to get…
Wax & Wayne #4 Writing Has Begun! Hey! Brandon here for your Weekly Update In this Weekly Update, I have a couple of cool things for you. The first one is to announce we have gotten the last piece of swag from the Kickstarter rewards, the playing cards. Or we have been shipped them. They…
Wax & Wayne Update + Stormlight Question for UK Readers Brandon here with your Weekly Update. I have been working hard on the new Wax and Wayne novel, prewriting. But I would say, it’s kind of a rough count, that I’m about 40% done with that. We don’t actually have a progress bar for this…
Skyward 3 is Done! + New Shirt and Kickstarter Update Hey, Brandon here for our Weekly Update. This is a big one. Skyward 3 is done. Last night, I’m recording this on Thursday, these go up on Monday, so last night I turned in the book, the 5.0 edition of it finally. It was a…
Skyward 3 Update, New Socks + Kickstarter Update! All right. Brandon here with our Weekly Update. The third book of the Skyward series, I have finished the 4th draft and immediately started the next draft, last draft, the 5.0. And I’m about 30% through that draft. The goal is to turn that in the 31st…
Skyward 3 Update + Mini-Hardcover Question Hey, this is Brandon. Time for our Weekly-ish Update. I am still working on Skyward 3. We came up with a name. It’s going to be announced eventually. We’re going to let the publisher do it. I’m working through the 4.0. And I am 10,000 words away from the…
Skyward 3 Has a Title. But I Can’t Tell You Yet Hey, Brandon here. Weekly Update. I am still working on Skyward book 3, which we just named. But I can’t tell you what the name is yet because the publisher wants to do publicity. It’s not going to be Nowhere. I’d warned you guys…
Skyward Draft 3.0 is done + Kickstarter Update Hey, Brandon here. I want to start a new thing on my YouTube channel, which is periodically giving you updates on the books I’m writing. This should happen every other week, sometimes every week. We’ll call it the Weekly Update. It may not actually be every week.…
My Work Life Balance as a Writer (Video at bottom.) I am a big proponent of a good balance in life. And this can be hard to do as a writer. Because a lot of you who want to write professionally, by necessity, have to have another job. When I took this class back in…
State of the Sanderson 2020 Welcome to my yearly wrap-up. In this essay, I’ll talk about projects recently released, ones upcoming, and ones in limbo. It’s usually a very long post, so feel free to jump to the section that interests you most using the following handy set of links. Introduction Part One: Mainframe Announcements…
Rhythm of War is Out! Adam here. I know it’s a bit weird to be just seeing a post about Rhythm of War being released. But between the frantic preparations (including a hard drive failing at the worst possible time) and the holiday, a post was something that I kept pushing off in wake of…
Dawnshard is Out! Dawnshard is Out! Adam here. The long-anticipated novella is finally out today! For those of you who haven’t been following Brandon on social media, or this summer’s past Kickstarter for the 10th-anniversary edition of The Way of Kings, then this will probably be a very happy surprise for you. If you’re preparing…
Rhythm of War ARC Giveaway! Adam here. And I have another exciting giveaway in celebration of, not only the upcoming release of Rhythm of War but also because Brandon’s newsletter just surpassed 100K subscribers. So firstly, thank you so much for your trust and willingness to deal with the extra form mail delivered to your…
Monsters Don’t Wear Underpants Kickstarter Campaign Today, my art director, Isaac Stewart, opened his Kickstarter campaign for his children’s book Monsters Don’t Wear Underpants: A Lift-the-Flap Book. Isaac was instrumental in designing and running The Way of Kings leatherbound campaign, so while the subject matter is quite different from The Stormlight Archive, I think this…
The Rhythm of War Release Party Details + Swag Bundle Hello, everyone! Adam here. I’ve heard that there has been a bit of confusion surrounding some of the details that have recently come out regarding signed copies of Rhythm of War and the release party scheduled for Tuesday, November 17th, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. EST.…
Creative Writing 2021 at BYU Brandon’s assistant Karen here. It’s that time again—time to send in your applications for Brandon’s Winter 2021 English 318R class. Each year Brandon likes to teach a Creative Writing class at his alma mater, Brigham Young University. The lecture portion of his class (English 490R) is open to all students,…
100K YouTube Subscriber Thank You + Giveaway Adam here. You’re probably here after watching Brandon’s recent video on YouTube about his channel reaching 100k subscribers. We had no idea the channel would grow so quickly and the engagement be so avid. So first off, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for your…
Cover Reveal for The Original Adam here. If you’ve been following Brandon’s Live Signing Sessions this year on YouTube (also on his Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch channels), than this won’t come as a surprise, but Brandon has been working on *yet* another project—this time an audio original—called The Original, which he co-authored with his friend,…
If You Missed the Kickstarter + Legion Paperback We’ve heard from some of you that you didn’t find out about The Way of Kings leatherbound Kickstarter until after the campaign had ended. We’ve opened a BackerKit store for those who might’ve missed the campaign or were unable to back it while it was ongoing. Here’s…
Only Two Stretch Goals left! Adam here. It has been an exciting few weeks since we launched the Kickstarter last month. So it’s a bit weird to be saying this already, but our Kickstarter for the special leatherbound edition of The Way of Kings ends in just a few days! It officially ends Friday at…
Funded in Three Minutes! Adam here. We are in awe. Everyone here at Dragonsteel Entertainment is just blown away by the incredible reception of the Way of Kings leatherbound Kickstarter. Watching the numbers climb so quickly, reaching funding in only three minutes, was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. Then to see…
The Way of Kings Leatherbound Kickstarter Sneak Peek I’m excited to announce my Kickstarter for The Way of Kings leatherbound. It will go live Tuesday, July 7th at 9:00 AM MDT and go through Friday, August 7th at 3:00 PM MDT. If you don’t want to miss out on the first day, check out the…
The Ten Orders of Knights Radiant In the Stormlight Archive, the Knights Radiant are a group of magic users called Surgebinders, tasked with protecting Roshar from the Desolations, events that happen intermittently throughout history when dark forces besiege the planet. When the fate of Roshar hangs in the balance, spirits called Radiant spren seek candidates…
Announcing the Official Knights Radiant Order Quiz + Stormlight Phone Wallpaper Isaac here with some fun news. We’re getting close to announcing the start and end dates for The Way of Kings leatherbound Kickstarter, but in the meantime, we want to share some exciting additions to the website. We’ve mentioned in a few places that…
Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive Adam and Isaac here. Several months ago, Johnny O’Neal from Brotherwise came out to Utah to show us an early test copy of Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive. We had a blast. The artwork was incredible, the gameplay was engaging, and most of all—at least for me (Adam)—it…
Way of Kings Kickstarter: Bridge Four Poster Reveal Isaac here. As many of you know, we’re hard at work preparing for our summer Kickstarter for the Dragonsteel edition of The Way of Kings. Today we’re kicking off the ramp-up period before the Kickstarter with a reveal we’ve been holding onto for quite some time. Several…
Alternate Stormlight Symbol Reveal Art director Isaac here with an art reveal today. Recently Brandon, Kara, and Adam have been discussing publicity for Rhythm of War, and one thing that Tor has asked for is a simplified symbol to represent the Stormlight Archive on certain marketing materials. Now, to be clear, we love the original…
Advice for Marrying a Writer or Creator Brandon’s wife Emily here. I was recently on one of Brandon’s livestreams where I was asked for advice in regards to being married to an author or creator. The below is the (edited for reading) answer I gave during the livestream. If you’d rather watch it than read…
Wheel of Time anniversary and Award Season 2020 Hey, all. This week marks the 30th anniversary of the start of The Wheel of Time! I wanted to write something up for you, but I ended up using it for a new foreword for The Eye of the World that Tor is releasing. So you’ll be…
January YouTube Livestream In order to get the Way of Kings leatherbound ready for our Kickstarter this summer, I need to sign thousands upon thousands of copies of the first signature. (A “signature” in this context means a group of pages of the book that will eventually be trimmed and bound together. You’ll see what…
State of the Sanderson 2019 Introduction Welcome, everyone, to our final State of the Sanderson for the decade! If you’re not familiar with these posts, each December I take a look back at my year and talk about the projects I’ve been working on. Then I turn an eye to the future to see where…
The Warbreaker leatherbound is here (finally)! And socks! Adam here. Many of you reading this probably already saw my post from a few weeks ago giving you your first peak at the new Dragonsteel special leather bound edition of Warbreaker. Well today, I am please to (finally) announce that we have recieved confirmation from the…
Assistant Adam recommends James Islington’s The Light of All that Falls Those of you who pay attention to the blog have probably noticed a lot of recommendations coming from Brandon’s assistants over the last few months. First was Peter’s recommendation of Brent Week’s Burning White, the final volume in the Lightbringer series. Then, last week,…
Assistants Adam and Isaac recommend Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan (Out today, December 3) Brian McClellan’s final book in the Gods of Blood and Powder series releases today—Blood of Empire. Not only does this book complete this latest trilogy, it also completes the second trilogy set in his Powder Mage world. Fresh off the…
I Hate Dragons Chapter Four Chapter Four No, that’s not an error. Brandon wasn’t happy with the third chapter, so he didn’t share it. I believe it introduces the sorceress character, but you can read straight from chapter two to chapter four without noticing any gap. Skip sat down on a large stone near where…
I Hate Dragons Chapter Two Chapter Two “I’m so very tired,” Skip proclaimed in a loud voice. He was quite proud of his acting, not that any group of players would have hired him. It wasn’t good for business to have your theater periodically swarmed by hungry dragons. “Also,” Skip said. “I hate sunlight. So…
I Hate Dragons Extended Version This is a slightly fleshed-out and extended version of the dialogue writing exercise Brandon posted in January 2011. This was posted on Brandon’s forum in May 2011 since we were having some issues with the website at that time, but it’s now getting a more permanent placement. Chapter One “Master Johnston?” “Yes,…
I Hate Dragons In December 2010, Brandon posted a note on his Twitter feed suggesting a dialogue writing exercise. This is his result. For those who are following along, here’s what I did for my writing exercise. I actually managed to make it something of a self-contained story. If you want to read up on the rules,…
Mistborn – The Eleventh Metal Brandon wrote this Kelsier prequel story for the Mistborn Adventure Game from Crafty Games. Here’s a short preview. The first way to read the full story was to buy the tabletop RPG in ebook or hardcopy. It is also now included in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. The Eleventh Metal by Brandon…
The Hope of Elantris The following is a short story I wrote in the Elantris world back in January of 2006. At that point,Elantris had only been out in stores for about seven or eight months, but I actually hadn’t written anything new on the story or world since 2000, when I’d finished the first draft of the…
Warbreaker Deleted Scenes: Mab the Cook While I was writing the first draft of WARBREAKER, I toyed with having Mab the cook be sent with Siri to be a lady’s maid. I didn’t intend this while planning the book, but after writing Mab—and having so much fun with her character—I wanted to keep hold of…
One of the unique features of this site is the annotation section, where Brandon himself shares behind-the-scenes articles about each chapter of his books. These are meant to be read only after you’ve reached that point of the book—they’re likely to contain spoilers for that chapter and earlier. But so that each annotation will not spoil the rest of the book after that point, we’ve developed a system for displaying spoilers only when you want to read them.
Legion excerptEXCERPT Enjoy this excerpt from Brandon Sanderson’s novella Legion, out today from Subterranean Press. Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins,…
Perfect StateEXCERPT On the three-hundredth anniversary of my birth, I finally managed to conquer the world. The entire world. It had made for a rather memorable birthday present, though admittedly I’d been placed into this world with the intention and expectation that I’d someday rule it. The next fifty years had put me at risk…
Defending ElysiumBY BRANDON SANDERSON The woman thrashed and spasmed in the hospital bed. Her dark hair was matted to her head with sweat, and her uncontrolled motions seemed almost epileptic. Her eyes, however, did not have the wildness of the insane—instead they were focused. Determined. She was not mad; she just couldn’t control her muscles.…
Warbreaker Leatherbound Preorders Adam here. I know many of you have been waiting for the day we start talking about the special Tenth-Anniversary Leatherbound Edition of Warbreaker. Well, today is that day! On top of that, I’m going to tell you how you can get your hands on one of these beautiful books (skip to the…
Brandon’s art director Isaac here. My ten-year old daughter—nicknamed “W”—has been reading Skyward in preparation for the release of Starsight on November 26th. She’s read plenty of books before, but this is the first time I’ve seen her dive into something this hefty. Of course, I’m terribly proud of her for reading a book that’s over 500 pages.
Adam here. We are only three weeks away from the release of Starsight and its coinciding party. As we’ve said before, if you’re hoping to get a personalized copy of one of Brandon’s books this holiday season, your only opportunity will be at the Starsight release party on November 26th.
Adam here. In recent years, when Brandon releases a new book, we have offered a limited quantity of signed and numbered copies to Weller Book Works—a local book seller—to ship copies around the world for people who are unable to attend the release party. Starting with Oathbringer, we opted to turn this into a fundraising event by asking for small donations that will be sent to Worldbuilders—a geek-centered nonprofit supporting humanitarian efforts worldwide—which you should definitely check out.
Assistant Peter Recommends: The Burning White by Brent Weeks Hello again. Brandon’s assistant Peter here with another recommendation. It’s been a long time since the last one, whew! Today the fifth and final book in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, The Burning White was released. If you’ve read the previous books, the most important thing here…
Tips & hints for applying to Brandon’s BYU class Brandon’s assistant Karen here. Brandon has asked me to judge the applications for his English 318r class and choose the 15 writers who will be in his small group workshops. This year I will only be considering the first 65 applications I receive. Based on the…
FAQ Friday – Is my story too derivative? I, not so recently, got an email asking me the following question. I hope my response will be useful to my fellow writers. You can read my last FAQ Friday post here. Question: I’m absolutely in love with the world I’ve created and have spent years in its…
Mistborn Paperbacks 2019 Brandon’s art director Isaac here. The Mistborn series book covers have had a colorful history of different illustrations: the beautiful originals by Jon Foster, Chris McGrath’s iconic renditions that we can probably thank for some of the paperbacks’ success over the years, and of course let’s not forget Sam Weber’s fantastic covers…
FAQ Friday – Alternatives to flashback scenes A few weeks ago, a Redditor reached out to me in a direct message to ask a question. I hope my response will be useful to my fellow writers. You can read my last FAQ Friday post here. Question: My commute to work has given me the opportunity…
FAQ Friday – How do I narrow the gap between storytelling and story writing? It’s been a few weeks since my last FAQ Friday post about the need to start books with a prologue, as my travel schedule has been quite extensive as of late. As before, this post will take the same format as…
Salt Lake Comic Con schedule & Magic draft Thursday through Saturday I’ll be at the Salt Palace for Salt Lake Comic Con. I’m on various panels and am signing multiple times all three days. I’ll also be doing a Magic: The Gathering draft on Thursday night; see details below on how to sign up ahead of…
If you’re hoping to get a ticket to a signing not held at Brandon’s booth, check out Dragon Con’s website for how to acquire tickets.
FAQ Friday – Do I need to start my book with a prologue? You may have seen my first post of this nature a few weeks ago addressing the elephant in the writer’s room about the nagging feeling of dissatisfaction about the previous day’s efforts. This post will take the same format as the last,…
FAQ Friday – Unsatisfied with Your Writing? As I’m sure you can imagine, I get queried quite frequently about writing advice. Occasionally, when responding to these emailed requests, I see an opportunity to respond to the writing community at large. So, while my answer is written in direct response to the sender, I hope it…
New fan art + Updates Reader Nate Kohl sent in these awesome photos of the woodburning project he did that features Szeth with some Allomantic symbols. In this week’s Writing Excuses episode, Hooking Young Readers, we sit down with Kily Snyder, the Media Specialist (school librarian) at Discovery Middle School in Indiana, to help answer those often asked…
More interviews from Germany + Updates Adam here. A few weeks ago I posted about one of Brandon’s (and Isaac’s) interviews in Germany to his social media pages. You read the interview in Germanhere, or download a PDF of the English version a few paragraphs down. Brandon was also interviewed by the German site FantasyBlogger,…
Calamity Is Done! I have finished the second draft of Calamity, the third and final book of the Reckoners trilogy. As I’ve said before, my second draft of a story is the one where I do “bug fixing.” Essentially, I read through again and tweak any problems I know the book has, trying to make it readable by…
Giuramento (Oathbringer) is out! Adam here. Everyone here at Team Dragonsteel is completely blown away by how great this book looks. Without a doubt, this is one of the highest-quality foreign editions we’ve seen of one of Brandon’s books. For a few years now we’ve been hearing the pleas of our readers in Italy, and…
Brandon at FanX 2019 + Update Adam here. If you live in the Salt Lake City vicinity, or you don’t mind traveling, Brandon will be at FanX 2019 this weekend. You can see his schedule for FanX below, as well as on his Upcoming Events page which also shows all his future events. Friday, April…
Announcing Davriel’s Magic: The Gathering Cards Hey, all! If you’ll indulge my nerd hobby for a moment, I’ve got something cool to share with you. As you may know, I wrote a little story called Children of the Nameless last year—something of a gift to the community and a way of being involved in Magic the Gathering,…
Hugo nominations closing tonight + Updates Adam here. Nominations for the 2019 Hugo Awards close tonight at 11:59 Pacific Daylight Time. A few months ago Brandon wrote short blog about his works that were up for various award eligibility which you can read in full here, but I will give brief bullet points below. Skyward is eligible…
Writing Excuses Workshop and Retreat 2019 + Weekly Update Adam here. If you’re interested in writing you should check out the Writing Excuses Workshop and Retreat which departs from Houston and sails September 13th through 22nd and is packed with intensive seminars, writing exercises, small group breakout sessions, and more. Attendees will also be invited to attend…
Tour with Harriet, Writing Excuses, Stormlight 2 video In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and I talk about breaking the rules. We’ve said that you’ve got to learn the rules before you break them, so now it’s time to talk about why to break them. Tomorrow I’m…
The Hero of Ages leatherbound, personalizations open + updates Adam here. We have some exciting news for those of you who have been waiting to order your Dragonsteel leatherbound edition of The Hero of Ages: you can now get your copy signed and personalized! We are still behind schedule so it may still take 8-12 weeks…
Award Season, Spring 2019 All, I’m hard at work on Stormlight 4. (No title yet—but you can read my update on Reddit a week or so ago right here, if you missed it.) In the meantime though, it’s time for the yearly roundup of stories I’ve released that are eligible for various awards. It was a…
Hero of Ages leatherbound, Children of the Nameless AMA + Updates Adam here. I want to begin this final blog post of the year with some good news. The Dragonsteel leatherbound edition of The Hero of Ages has arrived! Many of the Dragonsteel Minions have been working long (and often very late hours) to get these books…
A Christmas Present Introduction: The Short Version I’ve got a new story out for you to read. It’s free, and you can dive into it by going to this link. Enjoy! Once you’ve read it, here are some links of places to talk about it, all of which are likely to contain spoilers. Discussion on Reddit Discussion…
The Hero of Ages leather bound, Cyber Monday sale + Audible sale The Hero of Ages Leather Bound Adam here. We have some exciting news for all of you who have been “patiently” waiting the arrival of the Mistborn: The Hero of Ages leather bound. Well… we still don’t have them and we just found out that…
Skyward is out today! Once in a while, an idea takes hold of me, and I just can’t be satisfied until I sit down and write it. Skyward was one of those books. Some of the initial ideas had been floating around in my head for years, but once everything clicked together in my mind, it consumed…
Skyward is out next week! Adam here. With Skyward being released next week I wanted to go over the few options you have to get a signed and numbered copy as well as the release party details. If you’ve been paying attention to Brandon’s social media channels none of what I’m about to tell you…
Voices in My Head: Part Three Hello, all! This is my third and final essay tying in with the release of my new book, Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds. The book has been released for about a week now, and I hope you’ve all had a chance to check it out. This story is…
Voices in My Head: Part Two Hey, all! This is the second part of a three-part series of essays related to the release of my book, Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds. Find Part One posted here. And just in case you haven’t seen anything about it yet, the book is out right now in fine…
Voices in My Head: Part One Hello, all! My new book is coming out next week! Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds is a compilation of three stories that tie together to form a single narrative. Two of the stories (Legion and Legion: Skin Deep) were available previously, but the third (Lies of the Beholder) is exclusive to…
The conclusion to Brandon’s Legion series is almost here! In a few short weeks you’ll get to read the finale to Stephen Leeds’s story, complete with J.C.’s lovable antics, Tobias’s calming Wikipedia-like knowledge, and Ivy’s psychological profiling.
Signed and numbered copies of Legion for release party Adam here. We are only a few short weeks away from the release of Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds which includes the finale of the Legion saga, Legion: Lies of the beholder. The Legion Release Party will take place at Brigham Young University on…
FanX Confirmation All, I have decided for certain that I will be attending FanX (formerly Salt Lake Comic Con). If you haven’t been following the drama, I joined in many other authors signing a letter that challenged the convention to do a better job presenting a safe place for our fans to attend. While FanX has made a number…
Worldcon Wrap-up and Dragon Awards I had an excellent time at Worldcon this year. We got a chunk of Writing Excuses episodes recorded, and I was able to hang out with a number of friends I hadn’t seen in a while. On top of that, I felt that the panels went well, even if they were a little crowded…
Unfettered III All, Today, I have the opportunity to share with you something extra special. As some of you know, during the revision process of A Memory of Light, two lengthy sections ended up on the cutting room floor. The first, which we titled River of Souls, was included in the first Unfettered Anthology. The second,…
Call to Adventure: Stormlight As GenCon 2018 is in full swing, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy attending it. I couldn’t make it this year, but I do have a big announcement for fans of gaming. Next year, you’ll be able to play a Stormlight Archive card game. In Fall 2019, Brotherwise Games will…
Hugo voting deadline, Audible sale + Updates Adam here. I just wanted to give all of you a little reminder that the Hugo Award voting deadline is tomorrow (July, 31st). Voting is open to all supporting and attending members of Worldcon 76. If you’re wanting to cast your vote but aren’t a Worlcon member, it’s not…
Signing near Idaho Falls this weekend + Updates Adam here. I have some exciting news for those of you in driving distance of Idaho Falls, Idaho. This Saturday Brandon will be appearing at Iona Days just a few miles away. You can see his full schedule below, as well as on his Upcoming Events page, but it will include…
New Writing Excuses episode + Update Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Characters as Foils, Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice talk about foils. A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another character. The foil might be a sidekick, an antagonist, a romantic interest, or really any other character who gets enough…
Harassment at FanX All, I don’t normally discuss charged issues on my social media, but I do find harassment at science fiction conventions a topic that is very important to discuss. It is also very relevant to my fans, as conventions are often how they interact with me. Recently, Salt Lake City’s biggest media convention…
MisCon 32 and BookCon 2018 Schedules Adam here. I wanted to make you aware of Brandon’s travel plans over the next week or so, in case you might be in a position to say hello. Right now he is in Missoula, Montana for MisCon 32 and has several events during the event. You can see an abbreviated…
Skyward Cover Reveal Hey, all. If you’ve been following along, you know that my next big project is a book series called Skyward. This is my next YA project with Random House (though, like Steelheart, it walks the line between YA and adult–and is being published in my adult line with my other books in…
New Writing Excuses episode + update Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Character Nuance, Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice talk about characters who have conflict built right into them; characters whose attributes and attitudes might seem to contradict one another; characters who like, y’know… actual people. Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread of Oathbringer, we…
Legion: Lies of the Beholder limited edition + Updates Adam here. I saw a ton of questions about Subterranean Press doing a limited edition hardcover printing of the final Stephen Leeds book, Legion: Lies of the Beholder, that would match the first two Legion books. In case you missed the announcement that went out earlier this…
Foil Maps + Updates Dragonsteel art director Isaac here. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen me post about the maps for the latest Osten Ard books by Tad Williams: The Heart of What Was Lost and The Witchwood Crown. The original trilogy was what hooked me on epic fantasy in the late 80s/early…
Weekly Update Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Handling a Large Cast, Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice discuss their favorite techniques for managing large casts of characters, and how their processes differ from when writing small casts. What does “large” and “Small” mean? Last week, we looked at foolish oaths, broken oaths, and the necessity…
White Sand Vol. 2 Signing Tomorrow As most of you already know, my graphic novel White Sand Vol. 2 was released a few weeks ago. I will be doing a signing at the Dragons Keep in Orem, at 2 p.m. tomorrow. So if you’ve been wanting to get your hands on a signed copy of White Sand Vol. 2, feel…
A quick update on my writing projects Hey, all! Just a quick update here on how things are going. First and foremost, I’ve worked through the rough draft and the first polish of Skyward. I love the book, and it is off to my publisher; I’m hoping for feedback soon. That done, I finally had time…
White Sand Volume 2 is out today! Dragonsteel art director Isaac here. For the last year, we’ve been working close with Dynamite to bring you Volume 2 of the White Sand graphic novel, and today it finally releases. Let me introduce this next volume in the series with a bit of a history lesson. White Sand has an interesting background.…
The Reckoners board game, The Way of Kings VR Experience + Update Adam here. If you’ve been following Brandon’s Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you will know that it’s been quite the exciting week for us here at Dragonsteel Headquarters. For those who haven’t, here’s a quick rundown. In a previous post we showed you you a bit about the cooperative board…
New Writing Excuses Episode + Updates Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Villain, Antagonist, Obstacle, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard breakdown (you guessed it) villains, antagonists, and obstacles. What’s the difference between villains and antagonists? How is an obstacle character different from those other two? How are they alike? And most importantly, how can we…
Awards Season 2018 Hey, all. It’s awards nomination season again! As is tradition, I’d like to do a quick post highlighting what I have that is eligible for the various awards in sf/f. As always, I request that you nominate based on work, not author. If you are eligible to nominate, and truly think one…
Announcing the Oathbringer Reread + Updates Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Protagonists Who Aren’t Sympathetic, Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard discuss protagonists who, per writer intent, do not engender audience sympathy. Alice Arneson and Lyndsey Luther of Tor.com announced their new reread series for Oathbringer. This week they introduce themselves but next week they’ll launch…
The Way of Kings, Escape the Shattered Plains VR Experience Virtual reality makes the viewer an active participant in the story, allowing them to step into the creator’s imagination and explore their world. You are fully immersed in the experience. And we can’t imagine a better world to enter than that of The Way of Kings.…
The Reckoners board game + Updates Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, What Writers Get Wrong, with Aliette de Bodard, Dan, Mary, Aliette, and Howard discuss “What writers get wrong.” This year the third-week episodes will follow this theme and each of the episodes will feature an expert guest who will help us understand what…
Kaladin Album + Update Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Hero, Protagonist, Main Character, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard start the new season with a quick discussion exploring the differences between heroes, protagonists, and main characters. Beginning with addressing the question “wait, aren’t they all the same person?” Because that’s the elephant in the room.…
Weekly Update Adam here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Cross-Genres as Gateways, Brandon, Piper, Howard, and Dan talk about books which have drawn them from genres where they’re most comfortable and what can be learned about your own writing by reading those gateway books. Brandon will be speaking at the Superstars Writing Seminar in February. If…
Signed books in Orem and Sugarhouse (Salt Lake City) If you’ve been following my website or social media you will already know that I had two signings this past week. One at the Sugarhouse (Salt Lake City) Barnes & Noble and another last night at the Orem Barnes & Noble–they even had a little Oathbringer Christmas tree which…
Words of Radiance Ikraa Interlude Brandon abandoned this interlude and instead decided to introduce Lift, who he had been building as a character for years, via the Azish emperor situation. Also, the concept of the emperor whose every action was public is something else Brandon had been planning for years, originally for a non-Cosmere novel.…
Officially Announcing: Skyward Hey! I’m back from tour, and let me say, it was quite the experience. I knew you all were excited for Oathbringer—but I didn’t understand just how excited you were. Oathbringer, as of this writing, is still the #1 most read book on Amazon’s “what are people reading” chart. (I guess the length might have something to do…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 11 And now comes the redemption chapter. This is the sort of thing that I write books to do. It’s the sort of chapter that I really hope to be able to pull off. That may seem strange to some of you, as it’s not the climatic ending or…
Words of Radiance Chapter Climax 1 This is a discarded draft of Shallan finishing the Shattered Plains drawing in chapter 81. Shallan moved her fingers along the map, measuring distances with the back of her pen, making sure that the four quadrants of the map were equal. The paper was relatively dry, despite that omnipresent…
The Well of Ascension leatherbound edition is here! I have some exciting news for you: after months of waiting, our special leatherbound edition of The Well of Ascension has finally shipped from the printer. Huzzah! Like our edition of Elantris, and Mistborn: The Final Empire the Dragonsteel edition of The Well of Ascension is bound in premium bonded leather, and the pages…
Words of Radiance Chapter Adolin 3-3 This discarded scene section would have taken place in chapter 51 as Adolin went to meet Eshonai in Dalinar’s place. “So,” Shallan said from the palanquin being carried beside him. “Why me?” Kaladin and his bridgemen, in the disguise of porters, held the poles to her palanquin. Adolin had…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 10 Kal helps his father work on a young girl’s hand For years I had been wanting to do a full-blown flashback-sequence book. Flashbacks (or non-linear storytelling) can be a powerful narrative device, but they’re also dangerous. They can make a book harder to get into (nothing new for…
Words of Radiance Chapter Kaladin Insert 3 This partial scene took place in chapter 32 after Kaladin awakes from his vision. Brandon eliminated the need for this section by having Kaladin already be at the Pinnacle when he woke up. He was in his room of the barracks, alone. He’d been so tired following the…
Words of Radiance Chapter Shallan 13 The following abandoned scene was replaced by the second half of chapter 31. Shallan walked up to the rim of a rock formation, looking to the northeast, toward the Shattered Plains. She couldn’t see them yet, but the caravan leaders promised they were only a few days off. She…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 9 Kaladin in Bridge Four This chapter is probably the most depressing thing I’ve ever written. Writing a depressed character, someone in this bad a situation, is risky. It goes against almost every writing rule out there. A character like this can’t be active, and there is basically no…
Words of Radiance Bandit Attack Draft This is a scrapped scene of the bandits attacking Shallan and Tvlakv’s wagons. Clangs rose from behind, the sounds of metal and rocks. Shallan turned sharply and some of the slaves moaned. “What was that?” she demanded of Bluth. “Tag left a trap,” he said. “Someone was poking around…
The Way of Kings: Tien’s Death Attempt 1 [Assistant Peter’s note: This is Brandon’s first attempt at writing Kaladin’s flashback scene including Tien’s death. Brandon quickly abandoned this version and then wrote the published version two days later.] “This is a mistake,” Kaladin said, hurrying across the grassy rock through camp. “Amaram promised that he would remain…
UK tour for Oathbringer + Updates I am getting ready to head off to the UK for the last leg of my Oathbringer tour. You can check out my Upcoming Events page for full details, but if you’re near one of these tour stops, I’d love to see you there, but if you can’t make it that’s okay. The…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 8 Shallan Rejected Again I do wonder at reader reaction to these Shallan sequences. Some in the writing group found these scenes too long. They figured it was inevitable that Shallan would end up as Jasnah’s ward, and so spending several chapters with Shallan working overtime to secure the…
Oathbringer Art Roundup Part 1 Brandon’s art director Isaac here with some insights on the art process for Oathbringer. We add a lot of illustrations to most of Brandon’s books, but the Stormlight Archive gets a special amount of attention. We fill each volume with sketches from Shallan and Navani, maps of cities and other locations,…
The Way of Kings early brainstorms / outlines Assistant Peter’s note: Following are some of Brandon’s notes when he was planning the 2010 version of The Way of Kings. At the beginning of these it looks a lot like Way of Kings Prime, but then it starts to look more like the version we know and love.…
The Way of Kings Chapter 28 (D) This early draft chapter corresponds to the published chapter 28. The first scene here was changed to Adolin’s point of view in the published book, and there are important changes throughout. Dalinar stood with gauntleted hands clasped behind his back, watching two chulls follow their handler, stepping up…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 7 I’ve taken some visual art classes. I’m terrible at drawing—as you would expect from someone without a lot of experience—but I felt it would be important to know how visual art works and how artists think. Listening to the professors talk was in many ways more useful than…
The Way of Kings Chapter 26 (D) This early draft chapter corresponds to chapter 26 in the final book. “I stood in the darkened monastery chamber,” the woman read, standing at the lectern with the tome open before her, “its reaches painted with pools of black where light did not wander. I sat on the…
Oathbringer is (finally) out! Well, the day you’ve been (not so patiently) waiting for has finally arrived. Huzzah! I know that this has been a long wait for many of you as my team and I have been working on this book for about 19 months. We thank you for your patience, and we are…
The Way of Kings Chapters 23 and 24 (D) This early draft chapter corresponds to parts of chapter 24, with a bit that went much earlier, into chapter 12. The first scene here was cut entirely, and included the only on-screen appearance of Dalinar’s head Stormwarden, Elthebar, who is mentioned twice by name in the…
The Way of Kings Chapter 20 (D) This early draft chapter corresponds to parts of chapter 18 and all of chapter 22. Dalinar strode down the hallway of the king’s war palace, booted feet clomping on marble flooring, the sound echoing against stone walls broken by windows on the leeward side. Those windows were the…
The Way of Kings Chapter 18 (D) This early draft chapter corresponds to parts of chapter 15 and chapter 18. You may notice that some lines appearing in the final book are here spoken by other characters. Four hours after the hunt, Dalinar and the others still waited on their plateau. The mound that had…
One of the problems with The Way of Kings Prime was it had too many characters competing for the limelight. It lacked focus. One could argue that the published The Way of Kings is kind of all over the place itself—indeed, a lot of the plot threads don’t connect until the end. (And then only in some limited ways.)
The Way of Kings Chapter 16 (D) This chapter is largely the same as chapter 13 in the final book, with a major difference at the end. You should be able to see why Brandon made this change. Ten heartbeats. One. That was how long it took to summon a Shardblade. If Dalinar’s heart was…
Roshar’s Date System [Assistant Peter’s note: This post was written back in May by Karen Ahlstrom, Brandon’s continuity editor, but again it slipped through the cracks. I’m sorry, Karen!] I knew I’d have to deal with it sometime, and it finally caught up with me today. My Master Cosmere Timeline spreadsheet has far too many…
The Way of Kings Chapter 15 (D) This chapter continues the theme from the previous deleted scene, but it also references some major concepts that were changed in the final book. Gemhearts are quite different, “capturing plateaus” is a thing in this war, and Dalinar has a mysterious tattoo… This chapter also corresponds to parts…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 4 This chapter in particular was a challenge to write. My experience with Sazed in The Hero of Ages warned me that a character deep in depression can be a difficult and dangerous thing to write. Depression is a serious challenge for real people—and therefore also for characters. Additionally,…
Oathbringer’s Timeline [Assistant Peter’s note: This post was written back in March by Karen Ahlstrom, but it fell through the cracks while we were working on Oathbringer.] I just finished the timeline for Oathbringer, and thought you might like to hear about the process. (Spoiler warning: There may be tidbits of information in this article about the…
The Way of Kings Chapter 13 (D) One of Brandon’s largest revisions in the early writing of the 2010 version of The Way of Kings was a restructuring of Dalinar’s first chapters. The reaction from Brandon’s writing group after they finished reading the chapters from Part Two in the first week of 2010 let him know about…
This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010).
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 3 Shallan I chose to use Shallan as my other main character in Part One, rather than Dalinar, because I felt her sequence better offset Kaladin’s. He was going to some very dark places, and her sequence is a little lighter. She is the only ‘new’ main character in…
How to apply for Brandon’s 2018 BYU Class Brandon’s assistant Karen here. It’s that time again—time to send in your applications for Brandon’s Winter 2018 English 318R class. We’re going to do things a bit differently this year, so I’ll go over the changes before I go into the details of how to apply. Because…
This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010).
Edgedancer is out! Edgedancer, a novella that was originally published last year as part of Arcanum Unbounded, was just released in eBook and (gorgeous) small hardcover yesterday. For those of you who don’t know, the events that take place in Edgedancer occur between the closing of Words of Radiance and the forthcoming Oathbringer and is often referred to as Stormlight 2.5. The…
This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010).
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 2 Here we finally get to the book’s main character, though I suspect that most readers won’t catch that he is the one until we’ve come back to him at time or two. Discounting Shallan, who was not in Way of Kings Prime, Kaladin is the one who went…
This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010).
Dragonsteel Prime Chapter 30: Bridge Four 3 This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010). The bones glowed softly in the torchlight. They lay in heaps, blanketing one another, some held together limply by the remnants of decayed…
Annotation The Way of Kings Chapter 1 This was a controversial chapter for my writing group and my editor, and was wrapped up in the whole learning curve argument. It was suggested several times that if this chapter were from Kaladin’s viewpoint, the book wouldn’t feel quite so overwhelming at the start. After all, Chapters…
Dragonsteel Prime Chapter 28: Bridge Four 2 This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010). Death. It surrounded him, reached for him, and took his friends. He could hear himself screaming as the arrows fell, killing the defenseless…
This chapter comes from the 2000 draft of a book called Dragonsteel. Some of the settings, situations, and characters were repurposed into The Way of Kings (2010).
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 22: Merin 5 This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. Note: This chapter contains minor spoilers for Words of Radiance. Merin clanked through the hallways of the Kholinar palace, looking for Aredor. He found Renarin instead. The younger son was in…
Oathbringer Sample Chapters Currently the Oathbringer sample chapters are hosted on Tor.com. All of Part One of the book will be available to view on their website, three chapters each week until the book is released. Enjoy!
Oathbringer Release Party Brandon’s assistant Kara here with details for the Oathbringer midnight release party. Further down in the post I’ll outline how to get your signed and numbered copies of the book. VIP Backstage Party Tickets We’ve run out of space at the BYU store, so we’re trying something new this year. BYU is still hosting…
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 17: Merin 4 This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. Note: This chapter contains minor spoilers for Words of Radiance. Merin stood perched on the side of the stone wall, looking down. Kholinar’s walls were lofty and thick. Their sides smoothed…
Annotation The Way of Kings Prelude In classic Sanderson fashion, the beginning of this book was the part to see the biggest edits. I usually start a novel, write from beginning to end, then go back and play heavily with my beginning to better match the tone of the book. Here, one of my big…
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 12: Merin 3 This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. Note: This chapter contains minor spoilers for Words of Radiance. Merin stood uncomfortably, trying not to blush in embarrassment as the tailor pulled out yet another seasilk cloth—this one red—and draped…
Salt Lake Comic Con & LDSPPA Hey, all! Oathbringer’s release feels like it’s just around the corner–some of you may disagree with me on that–and for those of you who are reading the excerpts on Tor.com, you can now read chapters 10–12 on their website. My other project, The Apocalypse Guard, is moving along nicely. I recently finished…
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 5: Merin 2 This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. Three days after the battle, clinging to his horse’s saddle as the ground blurred by below, Merin had cause to regret his oath to Lord Dalenar. Every…
Robert Jordan Tenth Year Commemoration It’s been ten years since Robert Jordan died. In some ways, I find this a difficult post to write. I’ve known for years I would want to put something here when this day arrived. At the same time, I’ve always found it a strange thing to remember the day of…
The world map for Roshar changed dramatically between various iterations of the book.
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 3: Merin 1 This is a chapter from the original 2002 draft of The Way of Kings. The 2010 published version was completely rewritten. The monks taught that wind was the voice of the Almighty. The storms were His fury—a tempest to remind of His omnipotent will. The gentle breezes were…
Way of Kings Prime Chapter 1: Dalenar 1 Assistant Peter’s note: The book Altered Perceptions had a one-year limited ebook release. There are a handful of hardcovers still available on Brandon’s store. Essay for Altered Perceptions I am one of those who grew up without a lot of experience with mental illness—in fact, I’d say that my upbringing…
The endpapers were one of the things that we weren’t certain whether we’d get into the final book or not. Tor was iffy on paying for them, as they add a large expense to the novels. In the end, Tor stepped up because they believed in the project, for which I am very grateful.
Annotation The Way of Kings Introduction Welcome to the annotations, being written at long last. Normally, I do annotations for a book while going over the copyedit. That all started to change in 2009 when my time got very short due to finishing the Wheel of Time novels. I also started handing the duty of…
Storybundle featuring Sixth of the Dusk For those of you who follow my social media channels, this won’t come as a surprise but Sixth of the Dusk is being featured in StoryBundle’s annual Truly Epic Fantasy collection which is curated by Kevin J. Anderson. Along with my work, this bundle will also feature pieces from the legendary author R.A.…
Kaladin: the original book soundtrack from The Black Piper We have some exciting news coming to you this fall, and no, this is not about Oathbringer (this time). The Black Piper, a cinematic band from Provo, Utah, has composed their debut album Kaladin. And as you might have guessed, this original book soundtrack was inspired by The Way…
Oathbringer’s Final Step For those who didn’t see it, right before he left on vacation a few weeks ago, Peter arranged for his daughter to do the ceremonial “stair toss” of the new Stormlight book. This is a tradition that started when she was a baby, and tossed the manuscript of The Way of Kings down the stairs. Now we get…
Gen Con Hey, all! Things are going well with both Oathbringer and other projects, and I should have a blog post for you about those going up fairly soon. In the meantime, however, I wanted to let you know that I’ll be attending Gen Con (Indianapolis) this weekend. Unlike most conventions I attend, here I’ll have a full-blown booth…
Making a mess with papers, FAQ Friday + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, What Makes a Good Monster, with Courtney Alameda, Howard, Mary, Dan, with guest host Susan Chang talk Monsters with Courtney Alameda at LTUE 2017. What makes the best ones so good? We discuss some of our favorites, and how the…
#FaqFriday voting and weekly update! In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Narrative Bumper Pool, with Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel, Howard, Dan, with special guests Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel who have extensive experience writing for games. This week they talk about writing for interactive stories, like tabletop RPG’s, or video games. Last week, in…
FAQ Friday Poll, Oathbringer’s UK Cover + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, “Oh Crap, the Cops are Here!”, Howard, Dan, Steve Diamond, and special guest Joe McKinney tackle law-enforcement. We invited Steve Diamond, who has been a guest before, and who has some law enforcement background, to help us grill Joe McKinney, who…
New Writing Excuses, #FaqFriday Poll Results + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Narrative Bumper Pool, with Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel, Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley talk revision. Revision: it’s when you make a too-short piece longer, or a too-long piece shorter. (It’s also a great many other things, suggesting that this…
New Writing Excuses episode + updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Proposals, Pitches, and Queries, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard talk about selling your stuff. In this episode we discuss query letters, pitches, and proposals—the tools that you use to present your material to people who can pay you for it, and who will…
FAQFriday voting and weekly update In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Hybrid Outlining and Discovery Writing, Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Piper answer some questions: what can discovery writers learn from outlining? What can outliners learn from discovery writing? Is there a balance between the two that can serve as a happy, productive place for writers?…
#FaqFriday voting and weekly update In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Retrofitting Structure into a First Draft, Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley speak, at least in part, to discovery writers. In this case, talking about how to take a non-outlined work and apply a structure to it in revisions. Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing…
On my way to Toronto for Ad Astra 2017 I will be off to the airport in a few minutes heading to Toronto for Ad Astra 2017. I would love to see you there this weekend, but if you can’t make it that’s okay. The greatest compliment you can give me is to read my books.…
The Brandon Sanderson Humble Book Bundle For those of you who have been paying attention to my various feeds on my social media channels this won’t come as a surprise, but for those of you who are just seeing this, Humble Bundle has put together a collection which includes many of my shorter works as well as…
Tor.com is offering a free download of The Way of Kings I have some great news for all the US and Canada readers: in preparation for the Oathbringer release later this year, Tor.com is offering a free download of the ebook edition of The Way of Kings, the first volume of the Stormlight Archive, today and…
Brian McClellan’s Sins of Empire Adam here. Brian McClellan is a favorite with members of team Dragonsteel; you can read previous posts from Isaac and me experience more uncontrollable gushing about The Powder Mage trilogy, specifically The Crimson Campaign and The Autumn Republic. Brian recently released his follow-up to The Powder Mage trilogy with Sins of Empire that builds on the all…
Weekly Update! Adam here. As you can probably imagine, Brandon’s inbox is flooded daily with questions ranging from inquiries about his favorite color to asking how everything in the cosmere ends. For obvious reasons, Brandon can’t answer all of these. What I am going to start doing is to create a weekly poll of questions—hopefully…
Weekly Update! In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Q&A on Viewpoint, Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard answer your questions about viewpoint. Here they are! Do you have tips and tricks for making 3rd-person omniscient compelling? How do you make 3rd-person limited compelling? Is it normal to need several drafts to nail down a character’s voice?…
Snapshot is out! Hey, all! I’ve been deep into revisions on Oathbringer. Turns out, big books don’t just take a long time to write—they take a long time to revise. (Who knew?) Last year during my trip to the United Arab Emirates, I took a break from working on Oathbringer to write a novella, as is my habit…
Awards season is here! Mistborn and the Best Series award. Hello, everyone! I’ve had my nose to the grindstone working on Oathbringer. However, as awards season is upon us again, I’m pausing to do my yearly roundup of what I have that is eligible. I know that to many of you, the science fiction awards (and…
Boskone schedule + updates Brandon will be in Boston next week for Boskone 54 below is a brief overview of his schedule. You can see all the details, including his future trips, on his Upcoming Events page. Friday My Toughest Book Time: 15:00 – 16:00 Signing Time: 17:00 – 18:00 Saturday Mistborn: House War Game Demo Time: 11:00 – 12:00 Building a…
MGM options Brandon’s forthcoming novella Snapshot Adam here. Yes, you read that right. Snapshot, Brandon’s forthcoming novella, was just optioned by MGM. Broken Road Productions and Entertainment 360 (Office Christmas Party) are to produce. If you’re not familiar with Snapshot, you can find a brief synopsis below. You can use the widget to the right to see preorder…
Interview with Brandon + Updates Brandon, while touring in Italy for his European tour last fall, sat down for a few minutes with Isola Illyon –an online publication known in Italy as a central hub for information on fantasy and gaming– to talk about fantasy, and whatever else came to mind. In this week’s new Writing Excuses…
New Writing Excuses Episode + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Variations on First Person, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard spend a few minutes on the administrative stuff before jumping into January’s structural topic, the first person voice, with a discussion of the variations in how that POV is presented. We cover some of…
2017 English 318 Application Wrap-Up Hi all, Karen here. I’ve just finished reading and evaluating the applications for Brandon’s English 318R class at BYU. For those of you who don’t know, Brandon teaches a creative writing class each winter semester. The lecture portion of the class (English 321R) is open to as many students as…
Elantris leatherbound update + Calamity audio & Updates So I have some bad news and some good news: We have officially sold out of the first printing of the Elantris leatherbound edition. But don’t lose hope; we should have a second printing shipped early in the new year. I will announce any updates as they come. I…
Snapshot Cover Reveal, How to get your hands on the Mistborn Leatherbound + Updates Adam here. You may remember a post that Brandon wrote this past summer regarding a novella he finished on his trip to the United Arab Emirates. It is called Snapshot and is a science fiction detective thriller. Normally when Brandon releases…
Elantris Leatherbound (Official) It’s here, and it’s beautiful! This is the official launch, so feel free to retweet, blog, or otherwise share this post with people you know who are fans of Elantris! I made a little preview post last week, because of shipping deadlines, but here is the official (with pictures) post about the Elantris Leatherbound edition! Below you’ll…
Tenth Anniversary Leather Edition of Mistborn: The Final Empire + Other Goodies Kara here with an update on Brandon’s store, just in time for the holidays. We’ve been busy putting together several new products, and I’m excited to tell you about them. First off, you might’ve heard rumors about our continuing the line of books…
Arcanum Unbounded Tour Starts Today + Updates Adam here. Brandon is currently heading out to the airport to start his “short” tour for Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. If you’re not familiar with what Arcanum Unbounded is, check out Brandon’s introduction to it here. I have listed his tour stops below, but if you want to see…
Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians Black Friday Sale Adam here. Awesome news everyone! The Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians ebook is on sale (at least in the U.S.) TODAY ONLY at $2.99 for Kindle users. It may be discounted in a few other regions as well (check your local region for pricing using the links to the…
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection is out today! My new book is out today! Supposedly, it’s a short story collection, but I’m not known for the “short” part so much as the “story” part. So, really, it’s a collection of long stories, with some shorter pieces gluing them together. Almost a decade ago, I decided…
What to read while you wait for Arcanum Unbounded! Hey, all! I’ve been working very hard on Stormlight Three, trying to get it done before I go on tour for Arcanum Unbounded (which comes out next week, hint hint). The tour actually happens a few weeks later. See the (unfortunately short) list of cities here. However,…
The Brandonsanderson.com FAQ is now live! Karen here, one of Brandon’s assistants. I’m usually in charge of continuity: making sure that little details, like the color of a minor character’s eyes or the shape of each kind of spren, are consistant from one book to the next. I also keep a master timeline so that…
Tips on getting accepted into my Creative Writing class at BYU I teach a Creative Writing class at my Alma Mater, Brigham Young University each year. It’s always winter semester, one evening per week. It should generally be Thursday at 5:10pm but not necessarily. The class name is English 318R/321R My class is split into…
Calamity & The Bands of Mourning in Semi-final + New Writing Excuses Episode Adam here. Brandon is not human. I haven’t ascertained exactly what he is. He could be a robot, which is a common theory posed by many of his readers due to his prodigious production rate. Maybe he’s an alien or some other…
Arcanum Unbounded BYU Release Party On Tuesday, November 22nd at 7:00 p.m., I will be doing the world’s first signing for Arcanum Unbounded. Please note that this is not a midnight release, as we’ve done in the past, though there will likely be midnight release parties for future books, just not this time around. We’re using the Digital…
European tour continues in Barcelona & Lisbon, RPG ebook Humble Bundle + Updates Adam here. Sorry about missing last week’s update post; I have been traveling in Europe with Brandon (mostly, but I will get to that in a minute) and didn’t have good internet access. So if you have been lost—or as I like…
Introducing Arcanum Unbounded Hey, all. I’m still in Europe on tour. (I’ll be in Barcelona next, followed by Lisbon.) But I don’t want to get so busy with this and writing Stormlight Three that I forget to give you a heads-up on Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection, coming out this month. When it became apparent that Stormlight…
Italy! Lucca Comics & Games Festival This Weekend I’ve mentioned this a few times, and you’ve seen this if you check my upcoming events page, but today through Monday I’m at the Lucca Comics & Games Festival in Lucca, Italy. I’ll be doing a lot of panels and signings, so I hope to see many of you there!…
European tour starts now + Arcanum Unbounded tour next month I’m in the process of flying to Paris, where I will have a signing on Saturday. Please see my events page for full details. Here’s a breakdown of my European tour: Paris – Sat Oct 22nd Lucca, Italy – Fri Oct 28th–Tue Nov 1st Barcelona – Thu…
Warbreaker prologue reread + Writing Excuses on Elemental Drama In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Elemental Drama as a Sub-Genre, the Writing Excuses crew turns their focus on elemental drama. This can be tricky as it’s basically “character change,” and a great many stories use character change in some way—it’s almost ubiquitous. In this episode…
Review of Goldenhand on Goodreads Goldenhand Garth Nix (Note: For an explanation of my Goodreads policy, please see here.) For Writers The Short Version Rating Notes Bias Notes Anyone who hasn’t read Sabriel, the beginning of the Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix, is missing out. I consider reading it, during the years I was trying…
Final 2016 Sanderson Lecture + Updates Brandon’s assistant Adam here. Due to the overwhelming number of people who request for Brandon to work on Oathbringer (Stormlight 3) and nothing else, I asked Brandon if he wouldn’t mind if I took the weekly update posts off his plate to give him more time to devote to the enormous…
Utah Humanities Book Festival in Ogden on Saturday As it says on my events page, tomorrow I will be attending the Utah Humanities Book Festival in Ogden, Utah. I would love to see you there this weekend, but if you can’t make it that’s okay. The greatest compliment you can give me is to read my books. My…
Review of Ink and Ashes on Goodreads Ink and Ashes Valynne E. Maetani (Note: For an explanation of my Goodreads policy, please see here.) For Writers The Short Version Rating Notes Bias Notes This excellent YA book sits carefully nestled between several genres. The packaging lists it as a thriller, and that’s not a bad…
Alcatraz: The Big Reveal Any of you who haven’t read the Evil Librarians series might want to duck out here, because I’m going to talk about the big reveal at the end of the fifth novel. This is a post that’s been brewing since 2006, so I’m eager to talk about it—but anyone who has read stories…
Alcatraz ebook sale + Shadows for Silence in Storybundle Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians book 5, The Dark Talent, came out this week—including the ebook and the digital audiobook from Audible and iTunes (not in all regions); the CD version comes out on October 15th. Check the region tabs in the widget to see what’s available…
Alcatraz 5: The Dark Talent is out now! Hey Hushlanders, Alcatraz Smedry here. The fifth and final volume of my autobiography is now available in print, ebook, and audio form! The Librarians will try to stop this information getting out if they can, so as in the past we’ve made this book look like a…
Dragon Con this weekend! I’m on my way to Dragon Con in Atlanta, and I’ll be doing events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My full schedule is below. By the way, The Missing Volume booth will have early copies of the fifth book in the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series, The Dark Talent, available for purchase. It doesn’t…
Review of Ghost Talkers up on Goodreads Hey, all. I’ve long wanted to start using my Goodreads account, and it seemed like reviews would be a good place to begin. Eventually, I hope to be able to get some more questions answered there—for now, I’m just going to try to post periodic book reviews. Be warned,…
Mistborn board game Kickstarter ending + Updates Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the final day to back the Mistborn: House War board game Kickstarter campaign. All stretch goals have been unlocked, including an expansion covering the time period of The Well of Ascension called Mistborn: The Siege of Luthadel, which is now available as a $30 add-on. The fifth installment of the 2016…
Audible’s Much Loved Sale + Updates Firefight, from the Reckoners series, was selected to be featured in Audible’s Much Loved Listens 2-for-1 sale, which began this Sunday and runs until Monday, August 22nd. You can check the entire selection of titles available for Audible members to get 2 books for only 1 credit here. In this…
In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Element of Humor, we ask, what is the driving force that gets readers to turn pages in a book that is primarily a work of humor? More importantly, how do we as writers get that driver into our books? We cover this, and provide some starting points for writers seeking to improve their humor writing, along with a bunch of neat techniques and a long example for deconstruction.
Reader Mail: Survey of Awesomeness Occasionally I receive some very cool, and creative, emails from my readers from around the world. Recently I received a survey from a few of my (self-described) weirdest, nerdiest, and most number one fans: Jessica, Matthew, and Jared Ashcraft. I thought it would be fun to share it with all…
New Elantris Maps Poster Set + Updates The new Elantris maps poster set is now available in my online store for those who have been asking. These maps were composed by Isaac Stewart for the 10th anniversary and leatherbound edition of Elantris. The seventh installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “Character,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode,…
Lucca Comics & Games Festival + Updates For my European readers (or those of you interested in going to Italy this fall!) I will be in Italy at the end of October as the guest of honor at the Lucca Comics & Games Festival. I will announce my exact festival schedule once it is finalized. For…
Limited edition of new novella now up for preorder It’s time to talk novellas. I commonly do one or two of these a year (this year, I did Mistborn:Secret History and the Stormlight novella Edgedancer, coming out in November in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection). These shorts are ways for me to explore cool or intriguing ideas in a…
New Worldbuilding Lecture + Updates The fourth installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “World Building,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “The Illusionist Writer,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy! In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Impostor Syndrome, with Alyssa Wong, the Campbell Award nominee and Nebula Award winner joins…
New Writing Lecture + Updates The third installment of the 2016 Sanderson Lectures, “The Illusionist Writer,” is now live! If you missed last week’s episode, “Cook vs. Chef,” you can catch up on all the videos here. Enjoy! In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Elemental Thriller, we discuss the difference between the drivers in thrillers, horror…
White Sand Release & Signings Starting Tonight! Many of you have been asking for details about the release of White Sand. For those who don’t know, this is a book I wrote around the same time as Elantris—but which I didn’t ever sell. It needed a solid revision before I could send it out, and there were…
Perfect State Annotation Two: Consequences of the Cut Cutting the last scene was not without costs to the story. For the longest time, after removing this scene, something about what remained bothered me. I had trouble placing what was wrong. The story went through editorial revisions and beta reads, none of which revealed what was…
YALLFest 2015 + Updates For those who haven’t heard, I will be a keynote speaker at YALLFest in Charleston this November along with Brandon Mull, Richelle Mead, and R.L. Stine. Back 2010, Elbakin.net in France gave an award to the first Mistborn book. This year, The Way of Kings has been nominated for the 2015 version of the same award. Best of…
2016 Sanderson Lectures All, Several years back, grad student Scott Ashton asked me if he could record my BYU lectures and post them for an online curriculum as part of a project he was doing. I said yes, and it was never supposed to be “a thing,” not really. It was a student doing a…
Perfect State Annotation One: Why I Cut the Deleted Scene This story began with the idea of taking some common tropes in science fiction—the brain in a jar, the Matrix-like virtual existence—and trying to flip them upside down. In every story I’ve seen with these tropes, they’re presented as terrible signs of a dystopian existence.…
Perfect State deleted scene + Mistborn: House War Kickstarter I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to post a deleted scene for Perfect State (which is nominated for the Hugo Award for best novella, and voting is now open for all 2016 Worldcon members), as well as annotations. My assistant Peter has finally gotten around to…
Perfect State deleted scene This scene is to be read after you finish reading the novella. I do consider this to still be canon for the world of Perfect State, but I cut it for various reasons that I will discuss in the subsequent annotations. Melhi pushed idly with her foot, swinging her swiveling bucket chair…
The Bands of Mourning signed copies + Updates If you were unable to get your hands on a signed and numbered copy of The Bands of Mourning, now is your chance! Weller Book Works has announced that they have some available to purchase, and they ship worldwide. Click here to see more details and order your…
Barnes & Noble B-Fest This Weekend I will be at the Orem Barnes & Noble this Saturday, June 11th, for the first ever B-Fest. This is a national teen book festival that will take place in Barnes & Noble stores all over the country June 10th–12th. Hundreds of authors of teen books will be making…
New Fan Art, Ebook Sale + Updates As I shared on Twitter and Facebook yesterday, one of my readers from Australia, David Fonti, for his visual effects class made a cool video of himself in Shardplate. Great work, David. I’ve embedded the video below. As a quick reminder, today is the last day to get your copy of the Elantris ebook for…
Writing Excuses, Signed Books & Updates Just a quick update before the weekend. On Monday I will have a big post for Magic: The Gathering players, so look forward to that! The latest Writing Excuses writing advice show episode talks about worldbuilding without breaking viewpoint. We’ve also uploaded this year’s submission for the Hugo Voter Packet…
Two Phoenix Events Starting Tonight I’m heading to Phoenix today along with the entire Writing Excuses team to attend a massive bookstore signing (it’s free!) and for Phoenix Comicon (registration required). You can see my event schedule below or on the upcoming events page on my website. I hope you can make it to either event (or both!) Elevengeddon…
Ebook Sale Continues + Updates As I mentioned last week, the Elantris ebook is on sale for $2.99 until June 7th, and then from June 6th to the 16th The Rithmatist will be only $1.99. My Hugo Award-nominated novella Perfect State is also still priced at 99¢, worldwide! If you have not done so already, consider checking these out. In this…
2016 Writing Excuses cruise price going up in June I haven’t mentioned this year’s Writing Excuses retreat (September 17th–24th) very much, but I thought I’d drop a note about the impending price rise. Due the the cruise line’s requirements, May 31st is the last day to register at the current rate, and we hear it will…
Ebook Sales, B-Fest Schedule + Updates The Way of Kings ebook is on sale for just $2.99 (this may be US-only, but you can check your region’s pricing using the links to the right). This sale ends on May 30th, so don’t delay! Also on May 30th, the Elantris ebook goes on sale for $2.99 until June 7th,…
All, I’ve been wanting to post reader mail responses more often, but it keeps falling through the cracks. Hopefully I’ll be able to make this more frequent in the future.
Volunteering at my booth at Phoenix Comicon + Updates I’m going to be heading to Phoenix at the beginning of June with the Writing Excuses crew for Phoenix Comicon. Our schedule is still being finalized, but as soon as that’s done the details of my part of the schedule will be posted on the upcoming events…
Perfect State at 99¢ + Updates As I mentioned last week, my standalone novella Perfect State has been nominated for this year’s Hugo Award. In honor of that nomination, the ebook is now on sale at 99¢ worldwide (with some local variation). Check your region by using the widget to the right. I’ll soon post the deleted scene…
Hugo Awards 2016 Introduction I’m pleased, and proud, to announce that my novella Perfect State has been nominated for a Hugo Award. I look forward to seeing many of you in Kansas City, at this year’s Worldcon. I’ve prepared a deleted scene and annotation for Perfect State, which I’ll be releasing soon in celebration. I would normally put this…
JordanCon this Weekend I’m heading to Atlanta tomorrow to attend JordanCon (you can register at the door). The Guests of Honor are Catherine Asaro and John Picacio with Linda Taglieri as Toasmaster. You can see my event schedule below or on the upcoming events page on my website. I hope to see many of you there! JordanCon Place: Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center Address: 246 Perimeter…
New Writing Excuses + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Adventure as a Subgenre, we explore using the element of adventure as an ingredient in something that has far more than adventure going on in it. Why do we like adventure? What draws the reader forward? Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words…
Reader photos from recent conventions + Updates Yesterday I announced the forthcoming Mistborn board game, Mistborn: House War. If you haven’t read that post yet, check it out! I hit two conventions recently, first Salt Lake City FanX and then up to Wisconsin for Odyssey Con this past weekend. (I will be at JordanCon in Atlanta next weekend.) Here’s…
Announcing the Mistborn: House War board game Mistborn fans, here’s some news that you probably didn’t know we’ve been waiting to announce. And that’s the Mistborn: House War board game coming out from Crafty Games, the makers of the Mistborn Adventure Game. Take a peek at the game’s cover art below. Crafty has been planning, designing, and playtesting…
Wisconsin This Weekend + Updates I’m heading to Wisconsin tomorrow to attend Odyssey Con (registration required). I will be a Guest of Honor alongside Margaret Weis and Marjorie Liu. You can see my event schedule below or on the upcoming events page on my website. I hope to see many of you there! Saturday, April 9 Interview with Brandon Sanderson Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.…
Alcatraz is Back! I’ve been touring around so much lately, I haven’t had a chance to do write about something very important to me. My middle grade fantasy series, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, is finally back in print. Huzzah! These goofy books have quite the devoted following, and over the years one of the number…
Writing Excuses Patreon + Updates Writing Excuses, my podcast, now has a Patreon. Patreon is a different kind of crowdfunding vehicle. Here, instead of giving money to fund some product, you give a little money each month to support an ongoing artistic endeavor. In turn, based on how much you are pledging each month, you get…
FanX Tomorrow + Hugo Nomination Deadline Hey, everyone. This is a reminder that I’ll be at FanX this weekend, for Saturday only. This is basically Salt Lake City’s spring Comic Con, so it’s bound to be a lively experience. Here is my schedule, which you can also find on my events page: Salt Lake Comic…
Graphic Audio of The Stormlight Archive + Updates Most of my novels are available as unabridged audiobooks, and some are also available from Graphic Audio as dramatized editions. So far they’ve put out Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Mistborn trilogy, with The Alloy of Law coming in May. Well, this week also marks the release of their production of the first part…
Emirates Literature Festival + Updates I am currently in the air, on my way to the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai, and I have been getting questions about the schedule for the festival. My assistant Adam has updated it on my website, so if you want to see full details, take a look at my Upcoming…
The Apocalypse Guard All, I’m back from tour, and slowly recuperating (and getting ready for my trip to Dubai). Calamity, I’m proud to say, did fantastically. Thank you all for your support! I didn’t think we had much of a chance on the bestseller lists this time, as—because of quirks in the system—we were up against…
Brandon’s Calamity Tour… So Far Hey everyone! Brandon’s assistant Adam here. As you probably know, Brandon has been on tour for his latest release, Calamity, which is the final book of The Reckoners series. While on tour, he likes to take pictures of people who show up in costume, or bring in something that stands out.…
The Calamity Tour Continues + Updates The Calamity tour has been going strong for about a week now, and I have been fortunate enough to visit with some awesome people so far. The rest of my brief schedule is below; check my events calendar for full details on the tour. I hope to see many of you at the…
Calamity is Out! The Calamity Release Party at the Orem Barnes & Noble is just a few hours from now. This is the final book of the Reckoners trilogy that began with Steelheart, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of the end. You can see my brief schedule below; check my events calendar for full details on…
LTUE in Provo This Weekend I’m getting ready to walk out the door to head to LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything), the local convention in Provo, UT. I’ll be there over the next three days, and you can see a brief listing of my schedule below. My full schedule is on my events page, and for more…
Calamity Preorder Hey, all! Shockingly, there’s another book launch around the corner! Calamity releases one week from today. I feel like I just did this…because I did. The Bands of Mourning, as you know, was a somewhat accidental book—and Tor slotting it in January meant that my normal release schedule of fall book/spring book has been somewhat upended.…
Calamity Tour + Updates The Calamity release is just two weeks away! Check my events calendar for full details on the Calamity tour. I hope to see many of you at the signings. Here’s a quick summary of the tour: Tuesday, February 16: Orem Wednesday, February 17: Seattle Friday, February 19: Denver Saturday, February 20: Philadelphia Monday, February 22: Chicago Tuesday, February 23: Milwaukee Wednesday, February 24: Houston…
Mistborn Releases + Award Nomination Season On Monday night we had a very successful release party for the newest Mistborn novel, The Bands of Mourning. It’s now available worldwide in print, audio, and ebook, and you can find links to where to get it in the tabs at the upper right of the post. If you…
The Bands of Mourning Launch Party + Updates Tonight is the night! The official launch party for The Bands of Mourning starts tonight at 10:00 pm at the BYU Bookstore. Don’t forget to swing by and get your number before 8:00 so you don’t lose your place in line (bring an ID and your proof of purchase).…
The Bands of Mourning BYU Midnight Release Party At 12:00 a.m. on January 26th, I will be doing the world’s first and only signing for The Bands of Mourning. In past years some readers have enjoyed camping out at the bookstore to get a low-numbered copy. But at the Shadows of Self release for various reasons, we tried something…
The Bands of Mourning Numbered Edition It’s quickly approaching book release time again! The Bands of Mourning, the new Mistborn book, comes out in roughly two weeks on January 26th. (January 28th in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand.) Sample chapters can be read on Tor’s site. Be aware, they contain spoilers for the previous books! Because of the extensive tour I did…
Writing Excuses News + Updates It’s 2016 and time for Writing Excuses to embark on a new season. This year we are going to explore what we write and why we write, but our guidepost will be the concept of Elemental Genres. In January we’ll stay high-level and firm up the framework. Starting in February…
National Novel Writing Month Recap Hey, all! I’ve got some interesting tidbits about Stormlight Three to share, relating to what I’ve been writing this month. Before we get to that, though, I do want to draw your attention to the items we have in the store. In addition to the Elantris leatherbound, as usual we’ve got most of…
The Rithmatist ebook sale + Updates Awesome news everyone! The Rithmatist ebook is on sale (at least in the U.S.) TODAY ONLY at $2.99 on most platforms (Nook users get a slightly better deal at $1.99). It’s being discounted in a few other regions as well (check your local region for pricing using the links to the right). For…
Elantris Leatherbound Update We’ve had quite the time getting the Elantris leatherbound in stock! It was supposed to be here a week and a half ago—but the shipping company lost the crates. (Yes, lost them.) As of this morning, they’ve been found, and we’ve been promised that they’re going to arrive tomorrow. We’ll be doing a real “official launch” blog post…
Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the book before reading the annotations!
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Seventeen Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Sixteen Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the book before reading the annotations!
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Fourteen Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Thirteen Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Twelve Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Eleven Here is the second batch of annotations for The Alloy of Law. As with all of the other annotations here on the site, each annotation contains spoilers for the current chapter. Spoilers for chapters after the current one are hidden by spoiler tags. We recommend you read the…
The Alloy of Law ebook at $2.99! Tor announced this week that the ebook for The Alloy of Law, the first book in the second Mistborn sequence, is on sale at $2.99 for the rest of the year. (At least in the US; other countries may see slightly different prices. I’ve heard people say it’s $4.99…
Goodreads Choice Awards Voting Ends Tonight + Updates First off, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to vote for the Goodreads Choice Awards already. The final round ends tonight. Firefight is nominated in the Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction category, and Shadows of Self is nominated in the Fantasy category. Best of luck to all the nominees! In this week’s…
Goodreads Choice Awards First Round + Updates In this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards, Shadows of Self is nominated in the Fantasy category and Firefight is in the YA Fantasy & SF category. The first round of voting wraps up this weekend. Congratulations to all of the nominees! And for those of you who didn’t see the post on my Twitter and Facebook…
The Wheel of Time Companion and Mystic Hey, all. I’m back from tour at long last, and am hard at work on Stormlight 3. In fact, because it’s national novel writing month, you might see me posting daily wordcounts on social media. Back in 2002, I finished the original draft of The Way of Kings over NaNoWriMo. (Finished…
Shadows of Self tour ends + Updates My tour for Shadows of Self wrapped up yesterday, and it was awesome to see so many of you! I will be posting some of the highlights from my tour over the next few weeks. If you were unable to come to one of my tour stops, it’s okay—the greatest…
UK tour continues + Updates My tour for the release of Shadows of Self continues this week in the UK. As always, if you would like me to send you an email when I’ll be appearing near you, tell me your metro area here. Tuesday, Oct 20: Sheffield & Newcastle Wednesday, Oct 21: Edinburgh Thursday, Oct 22: Leeds & Nottingham…
Shadows of Self and the Mistborn Mega-Series Shadows of Self is out today in hardcover in the UK, and I’m touring the UK this week and next. I talked in a previous post about the book release, and will point you toward that one if you’ve not read much of the Mistborn series. (Or if you’re not interested in…
I’m on TV! [Note, I’m still on tour for Shadows of Self. If you’ve somehow missed the fact that I have a new book out, then read these blog posts, and come see me on tour! Events are listed here.] Last year, we got a very intriguing offer. A production company in Minneapolis was filming a series on mythology…
Shadows of Self is out! The newest Mistborn book, Shadows of Self, is out. (In hardcover, ebook, and audio in the US and Canada; in the UK the ebook and audiobook come out on Thursday the 8th, but the hardcover there comes out on the 15th to coincide with my UK visit starting the next day.) My job…
Elantris Tenth Anniversary Edition Huzzah! Shadows of Self (Mistborn five, the second in the Wax and Wayne era of books) is out tomorrow! I’ll have a blog post about that, and my tour, tomorrow. Though if you’re curious, the dates are on the events page of my website. Also, if you live in Utah, please consider coming to the midnight…
Shadows of Self Chapter Six Preview + Updates Tor.com has put up chapter 6 of Shadows of Self. This newest Mistborn book, the sequel to The Alloy of Law, comes out in print, ebook, and audio next week. (Though in the UK, as we recently learned, the official print release date is October 15th, even though the UK ebook…
Signed copies of Shadows of Self + Updates As I mentioned last week, the midnight release at the BYU Store for the next Mistborn book, Shadows of Self, is using a digital line. If you plan to come to the midnight release, sign up for a line number now at this link. Last Thursday I went up to Weller…
Sign up NOW for the Shadows of Self BYU midnight release digital line As I said in my blog post earlier this week, we are going to be doing the signing at the October 5–6 BYU Store midnight release party for Shadows of Self a little differently from previous signings. In past years some readers have enjoyed camping…
Shadows of Self Release Events This is going to be a long post. If you want to know how to get numbered copies of Shadows of Self, scroll down to the general release events info, the info on the BYU signing, on the Denver signing, or on the Weller Book Works signing-by-mail. Item #1: The Tour Here are the places…
Writing Excuses episode on plot twists + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, How Does Context Shape Plot Twists?, we talk about plot twists. This episode covers the way in which the type of plot twist is dependent on, or signaled by, the context of the story. Getting plot twists right may mean surprising…
A Thousand Faces Hey, all. I’ve just finished revisions on Calamity, and have turned the book in to my publisher. Which means the Reckoners as a series is a wrap! I’m very pleased with the result and with the beta reader reactions, and am very much looking forward to you all getting to read the book.…
Sale price for Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell ending + Updates My Cosmere novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell has been on sale on Kindle in the US, and a few other vendors, during August. The 99¢ price is ending soon, so take a look if you haven’t already. In this…
Writing Excuses Q&A on Pacing + Updates The previous Writing Excuses episode on pacing covered the sense of progress. In this week’s episode, Q & A on Pacing, we wrap up this month’s discussion of pacing. Here are the questions we received from Twitter for answering during the episode: What are some early indications of a…
Time Change in Denver Hey, all! I need to make you aware of a time change to one of my events on the upcoming Shadows of Self tour. Soon after announcing the schedule, I had a reader mention to me that they were sad to have to choose between me and Jim Butcher, who was apparently going to be signing…
99¢ ebook, Spokane Worldcon Schedule + Updates My Cosmere novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell is on sale at 99¢ in the US on Kindle and a few other ebook vendors, for the rest of August. (And several people have been asking about audiobooks for this and for Perfect State. Those aren’t available yet, but they are in the…
Shadows of Self tour announcement + Updates For the Shadows of Self release on October 6th, I’ll be touring several cities in the US. You can see my tour stops on Tor.com, and full details (such as bookstore ticketing policies) will be posted on my events page as they come in. (And you can also see on that page my…
New Writing Excuses episode + Updates This month the Writing Excuses Master Class divides the concept of pacing into two parts: the sense of progress within the story, and the sense of the passage of time. In this week’s episode, How Do I Control the Reader’s Sense of Progress?, we tackle that first part, and discuss…
Steelheart News + Updates Steelheart has been nominated for another regional award, the 2016 Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Readers’ Choice Award, the oldest children’s choice award in the U.S. and Canada. It was established in 1940 by Seattle bookseller Harry Hartman, who believed every student should have an opportunity to select a book that gives him…
Calamity cover reveal & preview chapters + Updates As I tweeted about a couple of weeks ago, io9.com revealed the cover for Calamity. They also posted the prologue and first two chapters for you to sink your teeth into. We have some more fantastic news about Steelheart: it received another nomination for a state book award. This time it’s the Green Mountain…
Award Updates! Over the last few months I’ve mentioned various awards that some of my books have been up for or won. Here’s some more news and a few award photos for you. It’s been a particularly exciting time for Steelheart as it has been nominated (along with The Rithmatist) for the 2016 Oklahoma Sequoya Award (one of the oldest…
Shadows of Self Previews + Updates In case you missed my tweets about it, Tor.com has put up a few excerpts from Shadows of Self, which will be released in October. You can read the prologue, chapter one, and chapter two here. At Comic-Con this past weekend, Joel Cunningham of Barnes & Noble interviewed me about this book and its…
My Comic-Con Schedule This Weekend I’m at Comic-Con today and tomorrow doing a couple of signings and panels. Hope to see a number of you there! For future events, keep an eye on my events page. San Diego Comic-Con International 2015 Date: Fri, Jul 10, 2015 – Sat, Jul 11, 2015 Address: San Diego Convention Center 111 W…
Steelheart Awards + Updates I have some more exciting news: the students of Kentucky have chosen Steelheart as the 2015 winner of the Kentucky Bluegrass Award in the 6–8 category. It has also been selected as an Evergreen Teen Book Award nominee for 2015–2016. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Adrià Guxens at Spain’s Celsius 232 Festival a while…
Words of Radiance & Awards + Updates Words of Radiance has made it past the first round of voting for the 2015 David Gemmell Legend Award and is one of five nominees on the short list. (You may remember that The Way of Kings won this award back in 2011.) The polls are open from now until July 17th, and…
