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…
Kansas City this weekend + Updates Tomorrow I’m off to Kansas City for the ConQuesT convention that starts on Friday. My complete schedule (including a “Play Magic with Brandon” game) down below. Also, copies of the Perfect State/Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell con exclusive double hardcover will be available at the Basement Books booth in the…
New Writing Excuses + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Build an Entire World? Are You Crazy?, we address those of you who who start writing the story before you finish building your world. Letting the story drive the worldbuilding can often be more efficient. Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of…
New Writing Excuses episode + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Q&A on Beginnings, we answer some of your questions on the matter. Here are some of the questions: What are there differences between the beginnings in different forms? How do you begin in media res when you’re not writing action? What’s the biggest…
Signing tonight in Sharjah! Tonight I will be doing a signing; details can be found below and on the events page. This will be my last public event for this trip to the UAE and I want to sign your books! As always, if you want email reminders of when I’ll be appearing in a city…
Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival + Updates This afternoon I am heading off to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival in the United Arab Emirates. For those of you who are in the vicinity, I look forward to seeing you there! So far I’ve listed a panel on Thursday the 23rd on my events calendar, and I’ll try to add…
The Rithmatist ebook sale in the UK + Updates Good news for everyone in the UK! The Rithmatist is on sale on Kindle (and may be price-matched at other vendors) until May 4th. I have country-specific links in the tabs here. And for everyone else (including those in the UK), my novella Perfect State came out a couple of weeks…
New Writing Excuses episode + Updates There is a new Writing Excuses episode this week: How Much of the Beginning Needs to Come First? We all have cool things we want to put in our stories, which means we need what sets it up earlier. In this episode we talk about how to determine which of these elements needs…
Minicon 50 starts today! Minnesota! I’m in Minneapolis for Minicon starting today, and I’m also signing in St. Paul on Saturday. Here’s my complete schedule. My assistant Peter will also have copies of the Perfect State/Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell hardcover double that you can pick up at the convention for $20.…
New novella: Perfect State Today marks the release of a new novella of mine, Perfect State. This one is a bit different from anything else I’ve written, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Here’s the blurb: God-Emperor Kairominas is lord of all he surveys. He has defeated all foes, has united the entire world beneath his…
Newsletter coming tomorrow + Updates My almost quarterly newsletter is being sent out tomorrow; you can see past ones here. It will have an exclusive preview of one of my future books, so if you’re not on the list, now is a good time to sign up. If you fill in the “Metro Areas” field in the…
Newsletter coming next week + Updates I usually send out three or four newsletters each year; you can see past ones here. In the last couple of newsletters I included just for newsletter subscribers an exclusive preview of a future book, and that trend will continue with the next newsletter that I’m sending out next week.…
Brandon Mull Launch Party for Crystal Keepers Tonight Just a quick note to say that tonight in the Salt Lake City area I’ll be at the launch party for my good friend Brandon Mull’s book Five Kingdoms: Crystal Keepers. Come join Brandon Mull and me along with: Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey series), Chad Morris (The Cragbridge…
New Writing Excuses + Updates If you missed it, my novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell is available as an independent ebook. I talk more about that here. In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Project In Depth: “Parallel Perspectives”, we discuss the 13-page graphic story (“comic book”) found at the end of Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel and focus on…
Goodbye, Sir Terry I woke to the news that Sir Terry Pratchett has passed away. I knew this was coming, but—as with the passing of Robert Jordan almost eight years back—it still hit me like a slap to the face. Many of you know of my fondness for Pratchett’s works. If you aren’t aware, here’s a…
Hugo nomination deadline, Shadows for Silence ebook release + Updates Don’t forget, the deadline to nominate anything for the Hugo Awards (if you’re a member of the 2014, 2015, or 2016 Worldcons) is tomorrow! For more details see my award eligibility post here. My Cosmere novella Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell is now out as…
Three Stories in New Formats Words of Radiance launched in paperback this week, so if you’ve been waiting to grab it, now might be a great time! (The ebook price was supposed to drop at the same time, but due to a glitch that won’t happen until Monday or Tuesday.) I don’t usually do much of…
Writing Excuses episode on story structure + Updates This month’s Writing Excuses syllabus topic is story structure. In Where is my Story Coming From?, we talk about where the story starts for the writer. The deadline for the 2015 Writing Excuses Retreat Scholarships is fast approaching. You can see the application details for the Carl Brandon Society Scholarship…
Steelhunt contest winners! For those who were not aware, I ran some contests through Facebook and Twitter a few weeks ago. Winners receive a set of Epic stand-up die-cut cards, and all are collected below! One contest was for people to tweet their favorite of David’s bad metaphors from Steelheart and Firefight. Here are the winners (selected randomly). You can find a…
Shadows of Self cover reveal + Updates Shadows of Self, my new Mistborn novel coming out in October, now has an awesome cover by the ever-talented Chris McGrath. Tor.com has the full reveal. I have more exciting news for the Reckoners series. Steelheart was nominated for the 2014-15 Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers. In this week’s Writing Excuses episode, Q&A on…
Chicago Signing Tonight. Huzzah! When Firefight came out last month I didn’t have a stop in the Chicago area, but I’ll be there tonight at Anderson’s in Naperville, before recording some Writing Excuses episodes in the next few days and doing a school visit early next week. If you’re in the area, stop by the signing, but…
New Writing Excuses + Update We at Writing Excuses are continuing February’s focus on characters in this week’s new episode, Who Are All These People?, where we explore some of the challenges involved in building a cast for your story. You need to know why you are putting your characters in your book and what the purpose each…
Brian McClellan’s The Autumn Republic Isaac here with the promised reminder that The Autumn Republic—the third volume of Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage Trilogy—was released this week. Those of you who enjoy Brandon’s fantasy novels will likely find a lot to sink your teeth into with Brian’s. As we’ve mentioned before, Brian was a student of Brandon’s…
Taiwan + Updates Greetings from Taiwan! I will be attending the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) this week. I’ll have more information on my exhibition schedule later this week. Watch this space for details. For those who want to attend, here’s address: Taipei World Trade Center 10F., No.180, Section 1, Keelung Road Taipei City, Taiwan 110…
New Writing Excuses, Firefight tour photos + Updates In this week’s Writing Excuses episode, What Do You Mean My Main Character Is Boring?, we lead off February’s Master Class with the exploration of a common problem: the main character is often the least interesting person in the story. It’s something that each of the hosts has struggled with,…
Come see me at Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience tomorrow! Hey everyone in Utah, I’ll be at FanX on Saturday, so you should come on down. I know a lot of you want to get Firefight signed—the booth I’m signing at won’t have copies (though we will have some of my older big titles), but the Shadow…
Woven Map Reveal, More McClellan, a Second Staveley, and Legos! Assistant Isaac here with a cornucopia of cosmopoietic cartographies. (Yes, I searched the dictionary for that second word. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with worldbuilding.) When I started working directly for Brandon, I pretty much finished up all my freelance projects and…
Philly signing CANCELED, new Writing Excuses episode + Updates I have some bleak news for everyone in Philadelphia: The signing tomorrow is canceled due to snow and the airlines canceling flights. I was going to be signing at Children’s Book World in Haverford. Instead, we will be trying to reschedule. But in the meantime, we’ll send them…
Firefight Tour, Award Nomination Season + Updates My tour for Firefight continues through the rest of this week: Find the full tour schedule and details here. Tonight (1/21) at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona at 6:00 p.m. Friday, January 23 at Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas at 6:30 p.m. (They also have hardcovers of Mitosis available,…
Award Nomination Season! Hey, all! It’s the time of year again when nominations have opened for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. To nominate for the Nebula Awards, you need to be a member of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. To nominate for the Hugo Awards this year, you need to be a member of…
Firefight Tour, a new Writing Excuses episode + Updates Firefight was released last week in the US and UK and the tour is underway. You can see the full tour schedule here. My next tour stop will be at Powell’s in Beaverton, Oregon on January 16th at 7:00 p.m. It looks like this isn’t a ticketed event,…
Steelheart ebook sale ending With the release earlier this week of Firefight, the second book in the Reckoners trilogy, the publishers put the ebook of the first Reckoners novel, Steelheart, on sale at $2.99 in the US and £1.99 in the UK. Well, tomorrow is the final day for that special discount in the US, and then…
Firefight released in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand etc. + Steelhunt contest Today is the official release date of Gollancz’s edition of Firefight in print, ebook, and audio in the UK and Commonwealth or former Commonwealth countries. Check out the tabs to the right for links to where to find the book. To celebrate the release of the Gollancz…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for January 2015 Happy New Year, everyone! Brandon here, thanking you once again for supporting my writing. You’re getting this because you signed up for the newsletter on my website. We send around three or four of these a year. If you’d rather not get the letter, just send a reply asking…
Firefight is out + Steelhunt 2015! Last night we had the first signing for Firefight, and I hope everyone who came out had a great time. The book is now available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook in the United States, Canada, Europe, and many other places. (The official release date for the UK, Ireland, Australia, New…
Firefight Prologue Prologue I watched Calamity rise. I was six years old then, as I stood in the night on the balcony of our apartment. I can still remember how the old air conditioner rattled in the window next to me, covering the sound of Father’s crying. The overworked machine hung out over a plummet…
Firefight release tomorrow! Early Utah release today, new Writing Excuses season + Updates Firefight comes out Tuesday in the US and Canada (and it comes out on Thursday in the UK, but some stores there already have it on shelves). I’ll say more about the book tomorrow, but you can see my full tour schedule here. The…
Firefight book tour & io9 post about superhero books Happy new year! The release of Firefight is next week. I did a post yesterday at io9 talking about writing superhero books that you should check out, and they also announced the dates for the book tour. Full details are on my events page, but a summary is below. Monday, January…
The Way of Kings ebook giveaway ending + Updates All, this is your last chance to get The Way of Kings ebook for free from the iBookstore (with a US-linked iTunes account). This deal only goes through December 31st 2014, so you should hurry up and get it here! (If you don’t see The Way of Kings on that…
Legion: Skin Deep free on Audible + Updates If you haven’t heard yet, Legion: Skin Deep is free on Audible (outisde the UK/Aus/NZ etc.) until Wednesday December, 24th. Use the link to the right. Firefight‘s release is two weeks away, and Audible has put up an audio preview that you can hear below. Links for preordering are here.…
Application deadline for my BYU creative writing class is Monday It’s that time again, so I’m just going to post the same thing I did last year. Many of you know that I teach a creative writing class at Brigham Young University once per year, Thursday evenings each Winter semester. As an undergraduate I took…
Steelheart ebook sale + Mistborn dice Kickstarter The release of Firefight is just three weeks away! My book tour should be announced very soon. And for the next few weeks up until the Firefight release, the first book in the Reckoners trilogy, Steelheart, has its ebook on sale for $2.99 in the US and Canada. (Check the country tabs to…
New Writing Excuses Episode + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, From the Page to the Stage, we were lucky enough to have Allison W. Hill and Austin Hill sit down with us to talk about turning A Night of Blacker Darkness, by Dan Wells, into a stage play. Words of Radiance has been selected for…
Words of Radiance among Audible’s Best of 2014 + Updates It was a close call this year, but thanks to your voting, Words of Radiance is #1 in Listener Favorites and Fantasy on Audible’s Best of 2014. It’s a great way to follow up 2013’s Listener Favorites win with Steelheart. Thank you! The Legion sequel, Legion: Skin Deep, was released a couple…
Saturday signing at the Orem Library Just a quick update before the weekend. I’m working on a new State of the Sanderson post talking about various things such as Shadows of Self being finished, but it’s not quite ready. Hopefully next week. If you missed it yesterday, the Altered Perceptions ebook is out, with deleted scenes from…
Altered Perceptions Altered Perceptions is the anthology put together for the IndieGoGo campaign to benefit Robison Wells, who was crippled by debt caused by his mental illnesses. Sales of this ebook edition will go to charity, with 90% of the net proceeds benefiting Bring Change 2 Mind. The ebook is sold by the Waygate Foundation by arrangement with Fearful Symmetry. This anthology…
Chapters from the original draft of The Way of Kings in the Altered Perceptions anthology Earlier this year I told you about an IndieGoGo project to produce an anthology that would contain chapters from my original 2002 version of The Way of Kings (sometimes called Way of Kings Prime). Well, the anthology is finished, and IndieGoGo backers received…
Cory Doctorow on Writing Excuses + Updates If you missed it last week, the Legion sequel, Legion: Skin Deep, has been released (except for in the UK and associated territories). Go get it now in all formats! Cory Doctorow joined the Writing Excuses crew at Westercon 67 to talk with us about the Neurobolics of Characters—the techniques and methods…
Low-priced ebooks including The Alloy of Law As I mentioned yesterday, I’m signing today in Idaho Falls. But there are some ebooks at low prices that I want to talk about. For links to where you can buy these books, click on the titles below. The second Legion book, Legion: Skin Deep, which came out this week,…
Black Friday + Signing in Idaho Falls on Saturday I hope everyone is having a great Black Friday—as a reminder, my store has some awesome new items. See here for details. And my book Legion: Skin Deep was released this week. See my previous post for details on that. Tomorrow, I’m signing in Idaho Falls. Details are below. Idaho Falls, ID – Barnes…
Introducing Legion: Skin Deep About two years ago, I wrote a little novella called Legion about a man with a very strange psychological makeup. Part of my goal in writing it was to see if I could make my personal brand of . . . whatever it is I do work in a more contemporary story. The greater goal (as…
Isaac Stewart on the artwork for Sixth of the Dusk Brandon’s assistant Isaac here to talk about the process of creating the ebook cover for Sixth of the Dusk. We knew from the beginning of the Shadows Beneath anthology project that at some point we wanted to release Brandon’s story by itself, especially for those who just wanted the…
Mitosis released in the UK/Australia/New Zealand/Ireland Rejoice! My Reckoners short novelette Mitosis was finally released today by Gollancz in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland (and other Commonwealth countries, plus everywhere outside the US/Canada). Check the store links in the various tabs to the right. Mitosis takes place between Steelheart and Firefight, which will be released on January 6 in…
New in the Brandon Sanderson Store + Updates New Brandon Sanderson Store items are below, but first some updates! Words of Radiance is in the final round of voting for the Goodreads Choice Awards in the category Best Fantasy of 2014. It’s up against nine other books, so if you’ve read many of them, consider voting for the one…
Holiday Shipping Deadlines + Updates Below you’ll find the holiday deadlines for the Brandon Sanderson Store. But before then, some updates! Writing Excuses has three episodes I haven’t mentioned yet. All were recorded at Westercon or FantasyCon. First up, Mette Ivie Harrison and J.R. Johannson joined us to talk about writing for the mystery genre. Next, the…
The Rithmatist ebook on sale today Just a quick note: the ebook of The Rithmatist is on sale today for $1.99 in the US and Canada, and it looks like it’s €1.78 in continental Europe. Check your local region to see the price there—links are on the right. I don’t know how long this lasts, but I’m guessing it’s…
Grammy Awards Nominations: Mistborn This is something that doesn’t apply to many of you, but if you’re a voting member of The Recording Academy, and you’re a Mistborn fan, you may want to take a look at your ballot. 57th GRAMMY AWARDS For Your Consideration: MISTBORN – THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson in 5.1…
Mistborn Adventure Game Alloy of Law supplement, New Allomancer Jak story + Giveaway A few weeks ago, Crafty Games, the makers of the Mistborn Adventure Game, released their second supplement for the game (after the Terris supplement). This new one covers the Alloy of Law era. As in the original adventure game book, where I wrote a short story for the…
Sixth of the Dusk solo ebook out now! Today marks the worldwide release of the standalone ebook for my Cosmere novella Sixth of the Dusk. It’s the same novella that I included in the ebook and hardcover of Shadows Beneath: the Writing Excuses Anthology, which also has stories from Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler.…
Writing Excuses Episodes & Caribbean Retreat There are two new Writing Excuses episodes to talk about: Fan Writing, with Chris Garcia The Convention-Author Relationship, with Deirdre Saoirse Moen Both episodes were recorded at Westercon/FantasyCon earlier this year in front of a live audience. Chris has worked in fanzines for years (and won a Hugo Award…
The Accidental Highwayman I blurbed a book! I know, I know. That doesn’t happen very often these days, but Susan, my YA editor at Tor, approached me with a project she is very excited and passionate about: The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp. And after reading it, I have to highly recommend it—Susan has discovered a gem.…
Mitosis audiobook free on Audible I’m happy to announce that Mitosis (the novelette that takes place between Steelheart and Firefight) has been released as an audiobook. What’s more, Audible is putting it up for free for a limited time. The talented Macleod Andrews returns as the audiobook’s narrator—and he will return for the Firefight audiobook as well, which comes out in January and which you can…
Mistborn Trade Paperbacks + New York Comic Con Schedule Back in May I mentioned the new trade paperbacks for the Mistborn trilogy that were coming out, starting with the first book. Since then, The Well of Ascension was released in August, and The Hero of Ages came out this week. All three books have gorgeous Sam Weber cover art, and Isaac Stewart…
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) starts in November, and tons of people all over the world will take the challenge to write a 50,000-word novel within the month. To help keep you motivated as you write, I’ll be contributing a Pep Talk this year (also check out my 2011 Pep Talk). One of this year’s sponsors is StoryBundle, and they’re…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for September 2014 Hey, all. Brandon here with a quick newsletter. I’ll be heading out to the Writing Excuses retreat very soon, and after that will be at New York Comic Con. But before I go, I wanted to mention a few books to keep your eyes out for. (And at the…
Writing Excuses episodes, Interview with Buzzy Mag & Updates I’m behind on mentioning the episodes of the Writing Excuses writing advice show that have aired recently. Many of these episodes were recorded in front of a live audience at Westercon and FantasyCon in Salt Lake City. Science Fiction as Science Education (with Brad Voytek) What…
Mistborn ebook on sale Hey, all. The Mistborn ebook (first book in the Mistborn trilogy, sometimes titled The Final Empire) is on sale for $2.99 at all vendors (in the US)—and I just found out that the sale ends on Sunday the 28th. After that it will go back up to its regular price. See the links on…
Steelheart paperback release! This week marks the release of Steelheart as a trade paperback in the US and a mass market paperback in the UK. We received our copies, and they look great! There’s a picture below. The new paperback cover matches the cover for the sequel, Firefight, and I think it looks great. It’s hard to tell…
The Way of Kings Free on iTunes! (Update: And Kindle in the US) Back in June, Tor approached us and asked if we’d be willing to let Apple give away The Way of Kings for free as part of a promotion to encourage people to update their Apple devices to iOS 8. I was enthusiastic about the…
Assistant Peter Recommends: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett It’s Brandon’s assistant Peter again with another book to recommend to you. I first read Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs (which was released today) back in November when an early copy was sent here to the Dragonsteel offices. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to think…
Infinity Blade fan film kickstarter Hey all. I found out about this recently, and it looks pretty cool to me. A couple of fans want to make a live-action fan film for the Infinity Blade story. (If you’re not familiar with Infinity Blade, it’s a series of iOS games by ChAIR Entertainment/Epic Games that I also wrote…
Shadows Beneath on sale this week for Salt Lake Comic Con This weekend is Salt Lake Comic Con, and at the Dragonsteel booth I’ll have hardcovers of the Writing Excuses anthology Shadows Beneath on sale for $20. Howard and Dan will also be at the convention, so you’ll be able to get the signatures of three of the…
Assistant Peter Recommends: The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks Hello there! Brandon’s assistant Peter here. This is the start of a sporadic feature on Brandon’s blog where I recommend something to you. But don’t worry, this probably won’t happen very often. I am also going to recommend something else to you in two weeks, but…
This was Conspiracy, and I had a really solid control deck. I was dominating the board against the fan, whose name I believe was Jason. (Might be some other J-name. Sorry if I got it wrong!) Well, I was feeling pretty confident and then suddenly, he played . This wiped out all creatures, but more importantly, wiped out the little creatures I was using with to create white mana.
Ice Bucket Challenge So, both Donald Mustard and Jason Denzel called me out on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I figured since I was on tour for that whole strange scavenger hunt thing and couldn’t participate, I should do something for this one. Besides, it turns out we could kill two birds with one stone. We here at Dragonsteel Entertainment…
The Wheel of Time Did Not Win a Hugo. (And that’s okay.) For those who haven’t yet seen the results of the 2014 Hugo Awards, they have been posted here. The Wheel of Time, despite displaying a fine showing for first place votes, ultimately did not prevail in winning a Hugo Award. (Though Mary’s excellent novelette,…
Tweets and Writing Excuses episodes My assistant Peter has uploaded the July Twitter posts archive, as well as the beginning of the August archive. Writing Excuses has two new episodes up. First is one on Adjusting Character Proactivity. Next we have a microcasting episode that touches on the following topics: Are there biases against non-English writers submitting manuscripts in English?…
My Calgary schedule starting today—Three events open to the public I’m in Calgary, Alberta, Canada today through Sunday. The When Words Collide convention is sold out, but there are three events that are free and open to the public. See full details below. Thursday, August 7, 7:00–9:00 p.m. Fish Creek Library Signing (open to the public) Address: 11161…
My UK schedule today through Wednesday I arrived in the UK late Saturday night, and I have five events in three days. Hope to see many of you there! This is my only trip to the UK this year. Please note: The evening signings on Monday and Tuesday will have more time for running over if…
My Celsius 232 schedule in Spain Next week I will be in the UK, but right now I’m in Avilés, Spain for the Celsius 232 convention (which has free admission, so come on out). Here’s my complete schedule! Aquí está mi agenda completa. Address: Plaza Domingo Alvarez Acebal, 2 33402 Avilés, Spain THURSDAY/JUEVES, July 31 Time: 10:00–12:00 Place:…
Hugo voting deadline this week + GraphicAudio Well of Ascension & Updates The deadline for voting in the Hugo Awards is Thursday night at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. The online ballot can be submitted here by all World Science Fiction Society members, either who will be attending Loncon 3 from August 14th through 18th, or who have a supporting membership. I posted…
San Diego Comic-Con Freebies Comic-Con International has started in San Diego this weekend, but I’m not there this year. Instead, I’m flying out tomorrow morning to Spain for Celsius 232, and then flying to the UK. But that doesn’t mean Comic-Con is bereft of things Sanderson. There are two great freebies that you can pick up. The Firefight chapter…
Awesome Prizes from Wizards of the Coast + Magic in Spain & UK Warning! This is a Magic: The Gathering post. If you’re interested in the game, particularly if you want to play some Magic with me in Spain or the UK in the next few weeks, read on. Otherwise, I promise I’ll post a…
Legion: Skin Deep cover revealed! I’m pleased to present to you Jon Foster’s cover illustration for the second Legion novella, Legion: Skin Deep, coming later this year from Subterranean Press. I think Mr. Foster did a fantastic job with this illustration, and I like it even better than his cover for Subterranean Press’s edition of the original Legion.…
StoryBundle contests + Miscellaneous Updates The SciFi ebook StoryBundle with my novella Legion is available only until Wednesday night, so the clock is ticking. I’m running three giveaway contests (ending very soon!) where you can win the DRM-free ebook bundle: One on Twitter, one on Facebook, and one on Google+. The rules for each are slightly different, so check out the posts…
Salt Lake City! Westercon/FantasyCon today! Starting today I (and the rest of the Writing Excuses crew) will be at two conventions in Salt Lake City, Westercon and FantasyCon! “Two conventions?” you say. “But which one shall I attend!” I know, it’s a bit strange, but being a member of either convention will also get you into the other…
Introducing the Writing Excuses Anthology! Ladies and gentlemen, I’m beyond proud to introduce to you Shadows Beneath, a collection of four stories written by the members of Writing Excuses, my podcast. In it, I present “Sixth of the Dusk,” a brand-new Cosmere novella. The stories you will find in Shadows Beneath are: “I.E.Demon,” by Dan Wells. US soldiers in…
Legion Sequel Preorder + Storybundle Available Now A couple months ago my novella The Emperor’s Soul was available as part of a fantasy-themed DRM-free ebook bundle from Storybundle. A lot of readers enjoyed getting the book that way, so now I’m repeating the experiment with my thriller novella Legion, available for the next three weeks along with eight other…
Warning! This is a Magic: The Gathering-related post, so those of you not interested in my random hobby need not read further. (Well, not much further, since I ended up putting a writing update next. For those wondering, I’m currently doing the last revisions on Firefight—sequel to Steelheart—and working on the sequel to The Rithmatist. I’m still planning to start Stormlight Three, Stones Unhallowed, late summer. Follow along on the progress bars!)
Hugo Voter Packet with The Wheel of Time, Convention Deadlines, White Sand Graphic Novels The Hugo Voter Packet (including all of the Wheel of Time ebooks) is now available. If you’re a Worldcon member, go to this link to download it. It’s not too late to join—Supporting Memberships to Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention…
Legend Award Voting, Writing Excuses, Defending Elysium Audio, Shallan’s Lullaby Voting for the David Gemmell Legend Award ends on Saturday, and anyone can vote for free. If you’ve read the nominated works, I encourage you to vote. The nominees are: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett…
Signed The Rithmatist hardcovers, new paperbacks, new UK artwork + ebooks It’s now been a year since The Rithmatist was released, so my assistant Kara has made signed hardcovers available in my store. For those of you who prefer paperbacks, Tor has released a new trade paperback that you can find in the teen section of the bookstore.…
Want to join Bridge Four? The Altered Perceptions anthology final week drive Last month I talked about Altered Perceptions, the anthology to benefit my friend Robison Wells who’s suffering from mental illness. Well, the IndieGoGo campaign is in its final week, and I’ve added a few perks to the campaign. More on those farther down. The anthology…
Balticon Schedule + Play Magic with Brandon + New Mistborn YA Trade Paperback In less than an hour I’m leaving to fly out to Baltimore for Balticon. My schedule is below. I want to specifically highlight the “Play Magic: The Gathering with Brandon” event on Saturday night. We’ll be doing a draft at a cost of…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for May 2014 Hey, all! Brandon here. It’s been a few months since the release of Words of Radiance, and the book was a smash success. Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm. I’m unlikely to tour again until early next year, so I wanted to drop you all a…
Mistborn Adventure Game Terris Supplement & Giveaway Contest The first supplement to the Mistborn Adventure Game pen-and-paper RPG has been released. Called Terris: Wrought of Copper, Crafty Games describes it as providing a detailed look at the history of the Terris Dominance and its people. Inside you’ll find a guide to the city of Tathingdwen, the heart of…
Video Chat Today, Paste Magazine Article + Updates Today I’ll be doing a Google+ video chat hangout with fellow fantasy author Brian McClellan. The event description says: Join these two writers as they talk about their newest books, the epic fantasy genre, and writing as a career in a live, online event on May 1st! We’ll…
Chapters from the original draft of THE WAY OF KINGS available in anthology to benefit Robison Wells A lot has been happening this week for me, including Hugo nominations and cover reveals. While all of this is awesome, I’ve been worried about the Altered Perceptions anthology getting lost, and I’d like to take a moment to speak…
FIREFIGHT Cover Reveal and Giveaway Contest Firefight has a cover! And I think it’s awesome. It was revealed yesterday at Entertainment Weekly Shelf Life, which has a short interview with me explaining the new direction for the covers. The book turned out really, really well and we want to get a copy into your hands! Because…
The Wheel of Time Nominated for a Hugo Award The Wheel of Time, as a whole, has been nominated for a Hugo Award for best novel. I am thrilled, honored, and excited—and when Harriet heard the news, she lit up as I’ve never seen her do before. Thank you. Congratulations to all of the other nominees! I…
Salt Lake FanXperience This Weekend + Jewelry & Updates The Salt Lake City Comic Con FanXperience starts on Thursday, and I’ll be there this Saturday only. My schedule is at the bottom of the post, but first some updates! The Brandon Sanderson Store has some new jewelry. One item is the Bondsmith Glyph and another is the Oathbringer Shardblade Pendant. The most recent…
My JordanCon Schedule Tonight I’m flying to Atlanta (along with my assistants Isaac and Peter) for JordanCon. This year’s author guest of honor is Patrick Rothfuss, and there are many other great guests as well. I hope to see a lot of you there! My schedule is below, including the live writing session that will be…
Online Events This Week + Updates I have two online events to talk about: the Booktalk Nation Video Chat on Wednesday, and the second writing/brainstorming livestream on Friday. The Wednesday event is hosted by Booktalk Nation, and it will run for half an hour starting at 5:00 p.m. Mountain time (7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific, 23:00 GMT).…
Games Creatures Play is out this week! I have a new short story out this week in the horror anthology Games Creatures Play, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner. When Charlaine invited me to be part of this anthology and explained what it was going to be about, I knew I had to write…
Words of Radiance Deleted Interlude: Stick [Important note for context: This was released on April 1st, 2014.] I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a…
Deleted Interlude from Words of Radiance For your reading pleasure, here is an interlude that I decided to cut from Words of Radiance. It offers new insight into a minor character who is very important to the book, and I believe that readers will want to experience it. It is called Interlude: Stick.
The Emperor’s Soul Deleted Prologue: Imperial Fool Note: It’s best if you have read The Emperor’s Soul before you read this deleted prologue. Shai pressed her fingernail into one of the stone blocks of her prison cell. The stone gave way slightly. She rubbed the dust between her fingers, frowning. “Limestone?” she asked softly. “Who makes a cell…
Hugo Nominations Deadline Tonight Back in January I put up a long post about award nominations, with a particular mention of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. Well, if you’re a member of the 2013, 2014, or 2015 World Science Fiction conventions, it’s time to submit your nomination form for the Hugo Awards. The deadline is tomorrow morning at 7:59 a.m. BST—since this…
StoryBundle last chance, Sugarhouse signing, Shardhunt, Lego Shattered Plains Today is the final day to get the Epic Fantasy Bundle (which includes The Emperor’s Soul if you’re outside the UK and associated territories) from StoryBundle. After 11:00 p.m. Mountain time today, the bundle will no longer be available. By the way, the winners of yesterday’s contest are Ashley…
Storybundle Contest, Signed WoR, Writing Excuses Wednesday night is the last chance to name your price for StoryBundle‘s Epic Fantasy Bundle. They’ve given me fifteen download codes to give away. Five of them are being given away on Twitter and five on Facebook. I’ll also give away five here on the blog. My assistant says I have to put…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for March 2014 This is Brandon, and welcome to my newsletter. Words of Radiance Is Out! My Essay on Epic Fantasy Stormlight Merchandise Words of Radiance Book Tour and Worldwide Conventions The Shardhunt Words of Radiance Is Out! At long last, Words of Radiance (book two in the Stormlight Archive) is out…
Signed books, Shardhunt, midnight release video, Writing Excuses & updates Tomorrow I’m signing at Joseph-Beth in Lexington. This is a numbered signing, but if you don’t have a ticket they’ll let you sneak in at the end. Still, it’s nice to buy something from the store while you’re there. Signed Michael Whelan art prints will also…
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Ten Here is the first 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 Nine Here is the first 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 Eight Here is the first 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 Seven Here is the first 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 Six Here is the first 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 Five Here is the first 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 Four Here is the first 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 first 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! Also, please note that there are not yet annotations for the prologue or first chapter.
Annotation The Alloy of Law Chapter Two Here is the first 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…
Tour Goodies from Readers Hello, Sanderson fans! This is Emily, Brandon’s wife and business manager. Brandon is on tour for Words of Radiance (tonight and tomorrow he’s in Arizona), so I’m posting on his behalf today. The purpose of this post is to say thank you. People are so kind to Brandon at signings, and I’m grateful for that.…
Signing in TX, NE, AZ; Stores that ship signed copies; Storybundle & Updates My book tour for Words of Radiance continues today. Tonight I’m in Houston, and later in the week I’m in Omaha, Phoenix, and Tucson. My whole tour is listed here. If you don’t live near one of the tour cities and want…
Mistborn: THE FINAL EMPIRE a £1.49 Daily Deal in the UK Friday only + tour updates Just a quick note to let you know that in the UK today only (Friday), Mistborn: The Final Empire is the Kindle Daily Deal at £1.49. If you’re in the UK but you prefer to buy your ebooks somewhere other than Amazon, check…
THE EMPEROR’S SOUL at Storybundle + WORDS OF RADIANCE tour notes Words of Radiance came out yesterday. I’m on tour now; today I’m signing in the Los Angeles area and tomorrow I’ll be in the Bay Area for a lunchtime signing and an evening signing. We had a great turnout at the midnight release, and the BYU Bookstore ordered enough copies that they…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for March 2014 This is Brandon, and welcome to my newsletter. Words of Radiance Is Out! My Essay on Epic Fantasy Stormlight Merchandise Words of Radiance Book Tour and Worldwide Conventions The Shardhunt Words of Radiance Is Out! At long last, Words of Radiance (book two in the Stormlight Archive) is out…
WORDS OF RADIANCE release party tonight + Updates Writing Excuses has two new episodes: “When is your handwavium good enough?” and “What to do when truth is stranger than fiction.” Also, all of my February tweets have been uploaded here. Words of Radiance comes out tomorrow in the US and Canada in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook (the…
UPDATE: Gaming for a Cause this Friday night in SLC ans have asked about tonight’s event: Why pay money to play Magic with me when they often can come and play Magic with me for free? So in lieu of me coming tonight, I’m sending an early signed copy of Words of Radiance to auction off for…
One week left! Spoiler-free reviews of WORDS OF RADIANCE Words of Radiance comes out in one week. Here are some early non-spoiler reviews: Alice at Tor.com, Carl at Tor.com, Eric & Josh at 17thShard. On Saturday I went up to Weller Book Works and signed 500 copies of Words of Radiance. So if you ordered from them, it’s in the process of…
New Stormlight merch and A Memory of Light hardcovers in the store Hello everyone! This is Kara, the manager of Brandon’s online store. With the upcoming release of Words of Radiance, we’ve added some awesome new products, and I’m pretty excited about them. T-Shirts You might remember our Bridge Four and Stormlight Archive shirts from the days of InkWing.com.…
Mistborn Film Rights As many of you know, a Mistborn film has been in the development stages for several years now. The producers, Paloppa Pictures, were wonderful to partner with and worked very hard to bring a Mistborn vision to the big screen. However, their rights have just lapsed. They’re still interested in the project, but we’re in this…
Writing Class Videos & Updates First some updates on Words of Radiance, which comes out in less than two weeks. It’s almost here! Tor.com has posted what it was like to be a beta reader (note: I’m not currently looking for additional beta readers) and spoiler-free reactions to the book, and they’re mailing out daily context-free snippets. You can see…
Words of Radiance Sample Chapters Currently the Words of Radiance sample chapters are hosted on Tor.com. Prologue, chapter 1, chapter 2 Chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5 Chapter 6, chapter 8, chapter 9 Chapter 10, chapter 12, chapter 14, interlude 1 Interlude 9
I’m the toastmaster at LTUE this weekend LTUE starts tomorrow (Thursday) in Provo, with guest of honor Orson Scott Card, and I’ll be playing in the Magic tournament on Thursday night. I’ll also be on a couple of panels on Friday and Saturday, and I’ll do a reading and signing Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening I’ll…
WORDS OF RADIANCE Release Events This is going to be a long post. If you want to know how to get numbered copies of Words of Radiance, scroll down to the general release events info, the info on the BYU signing, on the San Diego signing, or on the Weller Book Works signing-by-mail (now sold out—see below for more info). Item…
THE WAY OF KINGS at £1.99 in the UK, sale ends today It’s evening there in the UK, but I’ve so far neglected to mention the £1.99 ebook sale on The Way of Kings on Kindle. And now it’s the final day of the sale, as far as we know. Some of the other ebook stores have…
Regarding Awards I’m a little late to the party this year, but I wanted to post a few words about awards season. If you want to nominate for the Hugo Awards you either need to have had a membership to last year’s Worldcon in San Antonio, or you need to be registered for this year’s Worldcon…
Preview Chapters, Writing Video, Writing Excuses & Updates The Words of Radiance audiobook is now available for preorder on Audible in the US, as well as on CD via the links at the right. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are well into recording the narration, and it will be released the same day as the hardcover and ebook. The…
Worldbuilders hit its goal, so we’re going to give this write-a-thon thing a try. I’ve settled on this Friday, January 17th, from 2:00 p.m. Mountain time until 7:00 p.m.
Signing on Saturday at the Sandy Costco! Sorry for the late notice on this—my assistants have been busy getting a book ready. Tomorrow at noon I’m signing in the Salt Lake City area, at the Costco in Sandy. This probably won’t be a good venue for me to do a reading and group Q&A, but…
My Class Starts Today For those who aren’t aware, I teach a course entitled “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” at Brigham Young University. The course is focused on the nuts and bolts of having a writing career. Characterization, worldbuilding, plotting, and publication. In previous years, a graduate student recorded my lectures as a…
Words of Radiance preview chapters & Shallan art Just dropping in to say that the first preview chapters of Words of Radiance are now up on Tor.com. This is the prologue and first two chapters. More preview chapters will follow in the coming weeks. There’s also a post about the Shallan endpapers that Michael Whelan painted for the book. Plus you can…
STEELHEART at $1.99 today in the US Just a quick note that Steelheart is $1.99 today only, in the US Kindle and Nook stores. You can also check the other stores to see if anyone is price-matching. Happy New Year!
Last-Minute Holiday Items It’s too late to have things shipped in time for Christmas from the store, but you can send gift certificates. These are sent by email to whoever you want to receive one, and you can buy them here. The Sugarhouse Barnes & Noble has signed copies of The Rithmatist, Steelheart, The Way of Kings, and all three of my Wheel…
Many of you know that I teach a creative writing class at Brigham Young University once per year. As an undergraduate I took this class from David Farland when he was teaching it, and it was invaluable to me as a budding writer. When Dave moved on, I took over the class as I feel that it’s…
Worldbuilders Hey, all. As the holiday season is here, I wanted to give a shout-out to Worldbuilders, Pat Rothfuss’s yearly, F&SF-themed charity drive. Pat puts a great deal of work into the charity, and I love how it brings the community together to do something great. The charity he supports (Heifer International) is quite worthy, and…
Words of Radiance is done! + Signing in Orem Saturday First off, keep in mind that the shipping deadline for signed books and other nifty things is tomorrow! Look here for more details. I’m also appearing at the Orem Library Holiday Author Extravaganza tomorrow morning; see my events calendar. For those who missed my posts on social media…
Signing at Hill AFB (Today!), Idaho Falls, Pocatello This (long) weekend I have three signings for you. Today at Hill Air Force Base (military ID required to get on base—sorry for the short notice!), Idaho Falls on Saturday, and Pocatello on Monday. Details are below. I’ll sign any book I wrote that you bring, and…
Two shorts released! All, I’ve got some fun news for you here in the holiday season. I have not one, but two different stories coming out today. The first is Mitosis, a novelette set between books one and two of The Reckoners. If you enjoyed Steelheart, I think you’ll enjoy this story—but I do have to warn…
2013 Holiday Sales My store manager Kara has set up some sales in the Brandon Sanderson store that I’ll tell you about below. But first I want to mention that the Steelheart ebook is $2.49 today in the US on Amazon and the Google Play store. The Way of Kings is also on sale at $2.99 in the US across all ebook vendors; for links…
Signing Tonight in Orem & Playing Magic Hey, all! This evening I’m going down to Dragon’s Keep’s Orem store. They’ll have books for sale, including the The Emperor’s Soul hardcover and the Firstborn/Defending Elysium hardcover. You can also bring any number of books from anywhere else. I’ll sign books and talk to you, even if you’re not interested in…
New York Event Video + Updates Did you know you can get this cool Allomantic Table Medallion and other jewelry in my store? There are also books signed & personalized by me (including hardcovers of The Emperor’s Soul and this year’s “Firstborn”/”Defending Elysium” combo), T-shirts, Feruchemical Table prints, and Allomantic symbol decals. If you’re interested in giving any of those things as a gift this holiday…
New York City on Saturday! Steelheart is still on sale for $4.79 on the US Kindle store, Nook, and Google Play. Additionally, The Way of Kings is on sale for $1.99 on the US Kindle store and the iBookstore—and they’ve now been joined by Nook at the same price. This Saturday I’ll be in New York City with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner.…
Ebooks on sale, Writing Excuses, Goodreads & Updates As of this writing, Steelheart is still on sale for $4.79 on the US Kindle store, Nook, and Google Play. Additionally, The Way of Kings is on sale for $1.99 on the US Kindle store and the iBookstore. As these are sales that the individual stores are putting on rather than the publisher, they’re not something…
STEELHEART Exclusive Editions + Steelhunt Photos & Updates I mentioned a while back that Steelheart has four exclusive editions in different stores. I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about each one. Barnes & Noble: Chapter 1 annotation My website has chapter-by-chapter annotations that I wrote for many of my books, and people often tell me…
Play Magic with Brandon, Firstborn/Defending Elysium hardcover, Holiday shipping deadlines, Kindle MatchBook + Updates Lots of news for you today! First off, I’ll be doing two Magic: The Gathering drafts this month that you can sign up for if you’re local to Utah. I’ll be at Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley this Thursday, and…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: A MEMORY OF LIGHT: The Black Tower Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. And as a…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: A MEMORY OF LIGHT: Perrin and Egwene Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an explanation…
Two More Mistborn Novels Hey, all. I’m neck-deep in Stormlight revisions, but wanted to pause and give you a little update on other books I’m working on. On my tour, I frequently read from the first chapter of a new novel in the Mistborn world, a sequel to The Alloy of Law. (In fact, you can…
STEELHEART Release in the UK + UK Trailer Steelheart was released Thursday in the UK! In the upper right of this post are tabs where you can see links to buy the book in the UK and associated territories. I wrote a blog post for my UK publisher, Gollancz, which you can see here. Fantasy Faction also…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT: What I Learned Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an explanation of…
2014 Charity Fantasy Author Calendar Now Available Way back in January I talked about a Kickstarter campaign by photographer Lauren Zurchin for a calendar featuring fantasy authors in costumes. Well, the kickstarter was successful, the calendar has been finished, and it’s now available for you to preorder, with an expected shipping date in the second week of November. Here is…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT: Writing Process Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an explanation of my…
Libros en Español, Writing Excuses & Steelhunt update For my readers who prefer books in Spanish: I found out last week that four of my books are currently priced at 2,84€ on Kindle in Spain. You can also get them on other Kindle stores (such as Mexico or elsewhere), but the price will vary according…
The Bieberllama Well, the results are in: whose book sold best, James’s or Brandon’s—and the winner is Brandon. … Brandon Mull. That’s right, Brandon Mull’s Wild Born has defeated both Steelheart and The Eye of Minds. Brandon Mull is a good friend of mine and James Dashner’s, and his book outsold both of ours last week, so I’m declaring him…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: THE GATHERING STORM: What I Learned Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an explanation of…
Vodník at $1.99 + Steelhunt update Hey all. I found out that Bryce Moore’s Vodník, a book I really enjoyed (so much that I wrote a cover quote for it: “Vodník is compelling, interesting and darkly humorous. I think you’ll love it.”) is on sale right now as a $1.99 ebook. See the links on the right.…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: The Gathering Storm: Writing Process Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult section. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an…
Signed STEELHEART at Powell’s + Steelhunt update The Steelheart tour continues. Today and tomorrow I’m in the Bay Area, and next week I’m in Seattle and San Diego. See my full schedule for details. I’ve also arranged for Steelhunt codes to be hidden at a few more stores. (See these posts for a Steelhunt explanation and other participating locations.) Latest on…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: The Process Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult section. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. For an explanation of my Wheel of Time…
THE EYE OF MINDS + Steelhunt updates Two weeks ago I talked about a bet I have with James Dashner that hinges on how many copies Steelheart and The Eye of Minds sell in their first week of release. Well, The Eye of Minds came out yesterday. You should totally check it out, especially if you want to see me forced to become…
The Wheel of Time Retrospective: The Notes Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It’s sitting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult section. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. I usually do a Q&A session as…
Writing Excuses catch-up & Updates Writing Excuses has put up a couple of episodes that I haven’t mentioned yet. There’s an episode on dystopian fiction featuring Cherie Priest, one on publishing featuring Subterranean Press’s publisher Bill Schafer, and a Q&A session from our Out of Excuses writing retreat talking about these questions: How have your opinions on self-publishing changed in the…
More places to get signed books All, Looking for a place to get a signed copy of Steelheart? The bookstores I’ve been visiting might be a great place to look—and they are eager to ship to you, if you live out of the area. I posted about a few on Tuesday. Here are some more: Chicago, Anderson’s BookshopThis…
Shadows of Self Note: This is an early draft subject to change. I figure I should write one of these things, the book read. To tell my side. Not the side the historians will tell for me. I doubt they’ll get it right. I don’t know that I’d like them to anyhow. Wax tapped the…
Steelhunt, Week Two We have entered week two of Steelheart’s release—by Wednesday, we’ll know what the opening week numbers were, and that will become the benchmark that Dashner will try to beat with The Eye of Minds. The loser will then become Justin Bieber. Many thanks to all who checked out the book last week. Of course, you’re…
The STEELHEART Big Idea + Games Creatures Play I’ve started my tour for Steelheart! After two very successful Utah signings, I’ve flown off to Texas where I will have events in Houston and Austin. You can check out my full schedule here. To accompany the Steelheart release, I’ve posted a guest Big Idea essay over at John Scalzi’s Whatever blog. It starts off like…
Sanderson’s Third Law of Magic We’re celebrating the release of Steelheart, my new novel! It’s out this week. If you missed yesterday’s post, you can read up on the book here, listen to the first five chapters of the audiobook here, and watch the trailer here. Please consider going to your retailer of choice and looking at the novel.…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for September 2013 Hey, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter this time around. Just wanted to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the Sanderverse these days. Contents Steelheart is out today! Words of Radiance progress Steelheart Tour and Release Party Steelhunt and Blog Posts Welcoming Isaac and Kara…
Steelheart Launch Day It’s here! Steelheart is out! The trailer is here, if you haven’t seen it. Also, if you live in Utah, please come see me tonight at the Orem Barnes & Noble! 5–8:00 p.m., with signed and numbered copies. Yesterday I talked about the tour and the Steelhunt I’m doing along with it. Now, I’ve got to admit something to you…
Introducing the Steelhunt Steelheart comes out tomorrow! If you live local to Utah, please consider coming to the launch party at the Barnes & Noble in Orem from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. All copies will be numbered and pre-signed, so you won’t have to wait in line unless you want a personalization. I would really like to see this…
Infinity Blade videos, IB:III out today, & Letter to Robert Jordan First some updates. The Writing Excuses podcast had episodes on transitioning characters in prominence and on when fail happens in your career. This week I added some videos to my YouTube channel. First is a letter to Robert Jordan that I recorded for Google Play. Then there are some videos…
Hugo Awards Comic & Video The Hugo Awards UStream page has posted the full recording of this year’s ceremony, with no pesky gaps from technical difficulties. You can find it here and it’s embedded at the bottom of this post. The entire ceremony is a celebration of science fiction and fantasy fandom featuring luminaries of the field,…
STEELHEART book trailer & free 5-chapter sample ebook/audiobook Random House has released their book trailer for Steelheart, and it’s pretty awesome! Check it out below. They’ve also released a 5-chapter sampler ebook (and Audible has a sampler audiobook) that you can see download links for here. (Ignore the text that says “Buy the Book”—it’s a free download.) Right…
A question for my German and other foreign-language readers If you haven’t seen the Steelheart book trailer, the prologue, or the teaser chapters (Chapter Ten and Chapter Eleven), please go give them a look! The release date is fast approaching, so think about preordering the book from your favorite vendor. Weller Book Works has a few signed & numbered copies left. You…
Hugo Awards! Everyone, I come to you today deeply humbled and appreciative. Over the weekend at Worldcon in San Antonio, I was honored with not one, but two Hugo awards. Though I’m thrilled to have Writing Excuses finally win after several years of losses, I’m beyond flattered to have been given a fiction award in…
Infinity Blade: Redemption + Updates Hey, all! I had an exciting time at Worldcon, as you might have heard. I’m working on a long blog post about the experience, and it will go up tomorrow. (Actually, be sure to check my site tomorrow regardless…) For today, though, I wanted to announce the release of my…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Twenty-Two The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Voko sat, poking at the dinner fire. Around the camp, men stood with subdued postures. They knew they had failed, though they didn’t know quite what…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Twenty-One The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “He’s going to try and betray us,” Voko pointed out. “That’s what I would have done.” Devin used the side of his hand to push back…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Twenty The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “Excuse me.” Vvenna looked up to see the dark-skinned shadowling approaching. She suppressed a shiver. Though this strange forest world was becoming familiar to her, she…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Nineteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Siri had to force herself to stay awake as she sat on her throne. There was one thing she hadn’t figured on when she had started…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Eighteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings.Siri knelt quietly, staring at the shadowy Amberite floor. Two weeks had passed since her marriage, and so far nothing had happened. Every night had progressed exactly…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Seventeen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin could smell the camp before he could see it. Whoever was cooking the afternoon meal—probably Den—wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Devin wrinkled…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Sixteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. The doors shut behind her. The large fire growled in its place, bathing one half of the room in shifting orange light. The shadows grew stronger…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Fifteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Skeer stood looking the empty clearing, his eyes utterly dumbfounded. It was possible to tell something had been there, once—the grasses were flattened where tents had…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Fourteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. The princess, surprisingly, gave Devin no problems. She maintained her silence, trudging behind him, hands tied to the improvised leash. Hine continued to shoot her uncomfortable…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Thirteen The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Vvenna woke to an incredible headache. She nearly moaned in pain. Fortunately, two decades of training kept her from breaking Posture. Instead, she did the same…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Twelve The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Siri woke to the strange voice. She blinked in the night’s darkness. Some fool was bellowing just a short distance away—probably a street vendor outside her…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Eleven The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “It was Quin’s idea,” Skeer explained. Devin raised an eyebrow, shooting a look toward Hine. The older warrior met Devin’s eyes—he was suspicious too. “What plan…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Ten The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin ducked backward, parrying two blows at the same time. Voko and Ralan moved with the efficiency of practiced teammates. They used their height difference to…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Nine The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin tossed a pinch of mayseed into the pot, one hand stirring while the other added spices. He had stopped wondering how he knew what the…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Eight The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. The blasphemous slaughter of House Kkeris overshadowed the Emperor’s wedding celebration. The month was to have been one of mirth and joy for Kkoloss and Eruntu…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Seven The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “This is the glorious rebellion?” Devin asked unenthusiastically. They had spent most of the night hiding from Sserin patrols, and had waited for light to actually…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Six The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “So, what now, son?” Devin looked up with surprise. The forest’s broad-leafed trees made odd shadows in the darkness, and the canopy above seemed to trap…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Five The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. “I am tired now, so I will go to sleep.” Ix made the comment in his normal, emotionless voice as he looked around to make certain…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Four The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin sat in the detention cart morosely, pulled up against the side of the bars, his head slightly bowed. The cart was nothing more than a…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Three The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin soon learned why the soldiers used a race to choose their new members. That first day he marched so much that his feet began to…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter Two The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Miles away from the village and its orchards, Prince Vevinn Vas Kkeris regarded his troop schematics with annoyance. Sseria was planning something. King Denn Vas Sserin…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Chapter One The following is a draft chapter of Brandon’s unfinished novel Mythwalker from 2001. Brandon later repurposed some elements of this story into Warbreaker, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings. Devin could see his nervous breath puffing out in front of him. A low morning mist still clutched the ground in some places, seeping between hills…
Warbreaker Prime: Mythwalker Prologue You’ve seen this story before. It began with a young hero, an unknown peasant boy who rose out of obscurity. The boy was an unlikely savior, but something—whether it be fate, prophecy, or God—guided him from birth. Eventually, he came to an understanding of his true power and truer purpose, becoming…
The Way of Kings Prime: Jeksonsonvallano One of the big differences between the 2003 version of The Way of Kings and the published version was a massive restructuring of timelines. With Szeth, where he began in the old version is a combination of what became the prologue and the epilogue of his storyline in the new version.…
Mistborn 2 Alternate Ending Part Two This is the second half of the alternate ending. Please read This Part First. It includes an explanation. Thanks! # Sazed reigned in his horse—he had worked the other one too hard, and had been forced to leave it behind as it took lame—and climbed off. The landscape was scraggly,…
Mistborn 2 Alternate Ending Mistborn: The Well of Ascension Alternate Ending Disclaimer Well, first off let me say that this will—obviously—contain MAJOR SPOILERS for not only Mistborn Two, but first book as well. If you haven’t read either novel, might I request you give them a read? Or, perhaps go download WARBREAKER, the free novel…
Steelheart Chapter Eleven This chapter was originally posted on MTV Geek on July 13th, 2013. My first move was to go back in and toss Roy’s rifle, which he had been crawling toward, out the door. Then I checked on the two other soldiers. One was dead; the other had a weak pulse—but he wasn’t going…
Steelheart Chapter Ten No, skipping from the Prologue to Chapter Ten is not an error. So far, only the Prologue and Chapters Ten and Eleven have been revealed. This chapter was originally posted on MTV Geek on July 13th, 2013. I crossed the street toward my flat, hands in the pockets of my jacket, fingering the roll…
Steelheart Prologue This was originally posted on A.V. Club on May, 16, 2013. I’ve seen Steelheart bleed. It happened ten years ago; I was eight. My father and I were at the First Union Bank on Adams Street. We used the old street names back then, before the Annexation. The bank was enormous. A single open…
Elantris Alternate Ending Material (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS!) Welcome to the final bit of ELANTRIS deleted scenes. On this page, you’ll find a group of things that were cut from the climax of the book, including an alternate ending to the Raoden/Sarene/Dilaf fight in Teod. First, however, I’d like to make a sincere request that if…
Elantris Deleted Scenes 2 (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS!) Welcome to the second batch of ELANTRIS deleted scenes. The largest single cuts all had to do with the Mad Prince sections, and so I don’t know if these deleted scenes will be as interesting to you. However, I do have a few little tidbits that you might…
Elantris Deleted Scenes: The Mad Prince (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS!) These scenes occur near the end of the book, and involve a character I cut completely from the novel. Eton was Raoden’s brother, and was introduced later in the book as a secondary villain. Telrii now fits the roles Eton once did. (For more explanations, see…
Warbreaker Rights and Downloads RIGHTS VERSIONS COMPARISONS For older versions of the book, scroll down to the bottom. You can also find PDF and Mobile Reader versions of the book there. For rights explanations, read on. RIGHTS I am releasing each draft of WARBREAKER under a Creative Commons non-commercial, non-derivative work license. For an official…
Warbreaker Ars Arcanum TABLE OF THE HEIGHTENINGS Heightening Number Approximate Breaths Needed to Reach This Heightening Effects of the Heightening First 50 Aura Recognition Second 200 Perfect Pitch Third 600 Perfect Color Recognition Fourth 1,000 Perfect Life Recognition Fifth 2,000 Agelessness Sixth 3,500 Instinctive Awakening Seventh 5,000 Invested Breath Recognition Eighth 10,000 Command Breaking Ninth…
Warbreaker Epilogue The next day, an army of a thousand stone soldiers charged from the gates of the city, running down the highway after the Lifeless who had left the day before. Vivenna stood outside the city, leaning against the wall, watching them go. How often did I stand under the gaze of those D’Denir, she…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Eight The closet door opened, letting in lanternlight. Vivenna looked up, gagged and bound, at Vasher’s silhouette. He dragged Nightblood behind him, covered—as usual—by his silver sheath. Looking very tired, Vasher knelt and undid her gag. “About time,” she noted. He smiled wanly. “I don’t have any Breath remaining,” he said quietly. “It…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Seven Bluefingers led Siri—held by several Lifeless—up to the fourth floor of the palace. The top floor. They entered a room lavishly decorated with rich colors, even for Hallandren. Lifeless guards there let them pass, bowing their heads to Bluefingers. All the Lifeless in the city are controlled by Bluefingers and his scribes, she…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Six Vivenna hung outside the window, breathing deeply, sweating heavily. She’d peeked inside. Denth was in there, as was Tonk Fah. Vasher was hanging from a hook on the ceiling. He was bloodied, and he held no Breath, but he seemed to be alive. Can I stop both Denth and Tonk Fah? she thought. Her arms…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Five “There is fighting at the front gates, Your Excellency,” the bloodied soldier said. “The insurgents are fighting each other there. We . . . we might be able to get out.” Siri felt a stab of relief. Finally, something going right. Treledees turned toward her. “If we can get into the city, the people will…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Four What’s the word on the street, Tuft?” Vivenna asked, sidling up to a beggar. He snorted, holding out his cup to those few who passed in the early light. Tuft was always one of the first to arrive in the mornings. “Why do I care?” he said. “Come on,” Vivenna said. “You…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Three Vivenna waited up for Vasher. He did not return. She paced in the small, one-room hideout—the sixth in a series. They never spent more than a few days in each location. Unadorned, it held only their bedrolls, Vasher’s pack, and a single flickering candle. Vasher would have chastised her for wasting the…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Two Lightsong sat in one of the rooms of his palace, surrounded by finery, a cup of wine in his hand. Despite the very late hour, servants moved in and out, piling up furniture, paintings, vases, and small sculptures. Anything that could be moved. The riches sat in heaps. Lightsong lounged back on…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-One I’m glad you came back for me, Nightblood said. It was very lonely in that closet. Vasher didn’t reply as he walked across the top of the wall surrounding the Court of Gods. It was late, dark, and quiet, though a few of the palaces still shone with light. One of those belonged to…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifty “And so we each have twenty thousand,” Blushweaver said, walking beside Lightsong on the stone pathway that led in a circle around the arena. “Yes,” Lightsong said. Their priests, attendants, and servant s followed in a holy herd, though the two gods had refused palanquin or parasol. They walked alone, side by…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Nine Vasher found her practicing again. He hovered outside the window, lowered down from the roof via an Awak ened rope which gripped him about the waist. Inside, Vivenna repeatedly Awakened a strip of cloth, unaware of Vasher. She Commanded the cloth to wiggle across the room, wrap around a cup, then bring…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Eight Susebron didn’t leave in the mornings anymore. Siri lay in the bed beside him, curled slightly, her skin against his. He slept peacefully, chest going up and down, the white bed sheets throwing out prismatic colors around him as they inevitably reacted to his presence. A few months back, who could have…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Seven Lightsong tried not to think about his dreams. He tried not to think about T’Telir in flames. Of people dying. Of the world, essentially, ending. He stood on the second story of his palace, looking over the Court of Gods. The second story was essentially a covered roof, open on all sides.…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Six Vivenna choked down her meal. The dried meat tasted strongly of fish, but she had learned that by breathing through her mouth, she could ignore much of the flavor. She ate every bite, then washed the taste away with a few mouthfuls of warm boiled water. She was alone in the room.…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Five That night, Lightsong dreamed of T’Telir burning. Of the God King dead and of soldiers in the streets. Of Lifeless killing people in colorful clothing. And of a black sword. Read the annotation.
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Four Siri watched Susebron with affection as he ate a third dessert. Their night’s meal lay spread out on the table and floor, some dishes completely devoured, others barely tasted. That first night when Susebron had ordered a meal had started a tradition. Now they ordered food every night—though only after Siri did…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Three Vivenna awoke, sick, tired, thirsty, starving. But alive. She opened her eyes, feeling a strange sensation. Comfort. She was in a comfortable soft bed. She sat up immediately; her head spun. “I’d be careful,” a voice said. “Your body is weak.” She blinked fuzzy eyes, focusing on a figure sitting at a…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Two “Her Grace is not interested in seeing you,” the priestess said, maintaining a reverent posture. “Well I’m not interested in her uninterest,” Lightsong said. “Perhaps you should ask her again, just to be sure.” The priestess bowed her head. “My pardons, Your Grace, but I have already asked fourteen times. Goddess Allmother…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty-One Vivenna presented her coin. “One bit?” Cads asked. “That’s all? One single bit?” He was among the dirtiest men she’d met, even in the streets. He liked fancy clothing, though. It was his style—worn and dirty clothing in the latest designs. He seemed to think it was funny. A mockery of the highborn. He…
The Way of Kings Chapter Six Chapters 4 through 6 are currently available exclusively in audiobook form to members of Tor.com and will be posted here at a later date. If you would like to listen to them now, head over to Tor.com(registration required).
The Way of Kings Chapter Five Chapters 4 through 6 are currently available exclusively in audiobook form to members of Tor.com and will be posted here at a later date. If you would like to listen to them now, head over to Tor.com(registration required).
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The Way of Kings Chapter Three Chapters 1 through 3 are currently available exclusively to members of Tor.com and will be posted here at a later date. If you would like to read them now, head over to Tor.com (registration required).
The Way of Kings Chapter Two Chapters 1 through 3 are currently available exclusively to members of Tor.com and will be posted here at a later date. If you would like to read them now, head over to Tor.com (registration required).
The Way of Kings Chapter One Chapters 1 through 3 are currently available exclusively to members of Tor.com and will be posted here at a later date. If you would like to read them now, head over to Tor.com (registration required).
The Way of Kings Prologue To Kill “The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather . . . we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.” —Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month…
The Way of Kings Prelude Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stumbled to a stop before the body of a dying thunderclast. The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions from its chest broken and cracked. The monstrosity was vaguely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long limbs that sprouted from granite shoulders.…
The Rithmatist Excerpt Read the prologue and first five chapters of The Rithmatist over at Tor.com.
Towers of Midnight Chapter EightThe Seven-Striped Lass Mat sat on a worn stool, his arms leaning against a dark wooden bar counter. The air smelled good—of ale, smoke, and of the washcloth that had recently wiped the counter. He liked that. There was something calming about a good, rowdy tavern that was also kept clean.…
The Gathering Storm Chapter One The first chapter of The Gathering Storm, book 12 of The Wheel of Time, which Brandon co-wrote based on Robert Jordan’s notes, has been released online and will be available until the book comes out on October 27, 2009. We’d like to be able to present it to you here, but…
The Emperors Soul ExcerptEXCERPT Enjoy this excerpt from Brandon Sanderson’s novella The Emperor’s Soul, out now from Tachyon Publications. When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of…
Mistborn 3 Chapter Three Introduction: The following is a chapter from Brandon Sanderson’s novel MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. This is the third and final book of the trilogy, so if you haven’t read any previous volumes, you may want to start here instead. Find more about the Mistborn books at the Mistborn Trilogy portal here on Brandon’s website.…
Mistborn 3 Chapter Two Introduction: The following is a chapter from Brandon Sanderson’s novel MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. This is the third and final book of the trilogy, so if you haven’t read any previous volumes, you may want to start here instead. Find more about the Mistborn books at the Mistborn Trilogy portal here on Brandon’s website.…
Mistborn 3 Chapter One Introduction: The following is a chapter from Brandon Sanderson’s novel MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. This is the third and final book of the trilogy, so if you haven’t read any previous volumes, you may want to start here instead. Find more about the Mistborn books at the Mistborn Trilogy portal here on Brandon’s website.…
Mistborn 3 Prologue Introduction: The following is a chapter from Brandon Sanderson’s novel MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. This is the third and final book of the trilogy, so if you haven’t read any previous volumes, you may want to start here instead. Find more about the Mistborn books at the Mistborn Trilogy portal here on Brandon’s website. THE…
Mistborn 2 Chapter Three My brethren ignore the other facts. They cannot connect the other strange things that are happening. They are deaf to my objections and blind to my discoveries. Elend dropped his pen to his desk with a sigh, then leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. Elend figured that he…
Mistborn 2 Chapter Two I have begun to wonder if I am the only sane man left. Can the others not see? They have been waiting so long for their hero to come—the one spoken of in Terris prophecies—that they quickly jump between conclusions, presuming that each story and legend applies to this one man.…
Mistborn 2 Chapter One I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted. The army crept like a dark stain across the horizon. King Elend Venture stood motionless upon the Luthadel city wall, looking out at the enemy troops. Around him, ash fell from the sky in fat, lazy…
Mistborn Chapter Three We arrived in Terris earlier this week, and, I have to say, I find the countryside beautiful. The great mountains to the north—with their bald snowcaps and forested mantles—stand like watchful gods over this land of green fertility. My own lands to the south are mostly flat; I think that they might…
Mistborn Chapter Two If men read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains. The Terris prophecies say that I will have the power to save the world. They hint, however, that I will have the power to destroy it as well. In Kelsier’s…
Mistborn Chapter One I consider myself to be a man of principle. But, what man does not? Even the cutthroat, I have noticed, considers his actions “moral” after a fashion. Perhaps another person, reading of my life, would name me a religious tyrant. He could call me arrogant. What is to make that man’s opinion…
Mistborn Prologue Sometimes, I worry that I’m not the hero everyone thinks I am. . . . The philosophers assure me that this is the time, that the signs have been met. But I still wonder if they have the wrong man. So many people depend on me. They say I will hold the future of the entire…
Infinity Blade: Awakening Chapter Two The God King came awake with a deep gasp. It was the uncontrolled gasp of one who had been without breath for too long. The gasp of the dead returning to life, his heart pounding, his eyes opening wide. It was a terrifying, yet exhilarating feeling. It was a feeling…
Infinity Blade: Awakening Chapter One “He wasn’t supposed to win,” Master Renn hissed. Siris could hear them talking in the other room of Renn’s hut. Siris sat quietly, holding a small bowl of soup in one hand. Fenweed, a very healthy soup. A warrior’s soup. It tasted like dishwater. “Well,” Master Shanna said, “we can’t exactly…
Infinity Blade: Awakening Prologue God’s death didn’t do much to change the lives of the people of Drem’s Maw. In fact, most of them didn’t even know their deity had been slain. Those who did, however, took advantage. “There is nothing at all to worry about,” Weallix said, raising his hands as he stood upon…
Elantris Chapter Three None of Arelon’s people greeted their savior when he arrived. It was an affront, of course, but not an unexpected one. The people of Arelon—especially those living near the infamous city of Elantris—were known for their godless, even heretical, ways. Hrathen had come to change that. He had three months to convert…
Elantris Chapter Two Sarene stepped off of the ship to discover that she was a widow. It was shocking news, of course, but not as devastating as it could have been. After all, she had never met her husband. In fact, when Sarene had left her homeland, she and Raoden had only been engaged. She…
Elantris Chapter One Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity. Still drowsy, Raoden sat up, blinking in the soft morning light. Just outside his open balcony windows he could see the enormous city of Elantris in the distance, its stark walls casting a deep…
Elantris Prologue Elantris was beautiful, once. It was called the city of the gods: a place of power, radiance, and magic. Visitors say that the very stones glowed with an inner light, and that the city contained wondrous arcane marvels. At night, Elantris shone like a great silvery fire, visible even from a great distance.…
Alcatraz 4 Chapter Six Whew! Those were some boring chapters, weren’t they? I know you really didn’t want to hear—in intricate detail—about the workings of the Nalhallan sewer systems. Nor did you care to get a scholarly explanation of the original Nalhallan alphabet and how the letters are based on logographic representations of ancient Cabafloo. And, of…
Alcatraz 4 Chapter Two So there I was, holding a pink teddy bear in my hand. It had a red bow and an inviting, cute, bearlike smile. Also, it was ticking. “Now what?” I asked. “Now you throw it, idiot!” Bastille said urgently. I frowned, then tossed the bear to the side, through the open…
Alcatraz 4 Author’s Foreword I am an idiot. You should know this already, if you’ve read the previous three volumes of my autobiography. If, by chance, you haven’t read them, then don’t worry. You’ll get the idea. After all, nothing in this book will make any kind of sense to you. You’ll be confused at the difference…
Alcatraz 3 Chapter Two I hate explosions. Not only are they generally bad for one’s health, but they’re just so demanding. Whenever one comes along, you have to pay attention to it instead of whatever else you were doing. In fact, explosions are suspiciously like baby sisters in that regard. Fortunately, I’m not going to…
Alcatraz 3 Chapter One So, there I was, hanging upside down underneath a gigantic glass bird, speeding along at a hundred miles an hour above the ocean, in no danger whatsoever. That’s right. I wasn’t in any danger. I was more safe at that moment than I’d ever been in my entire life, despite a…
Alcatraz 3 Author’s Foreword I am awesome. No, really. I’m the most amazing person you’ve ever read about. Or that you ever will read about. There’s nobody like me out there. I’m Alcatraz Smedry, the unbelievably incredible. If you’ve read the previous two volumes of my autobiography (and I hope that you have, for if you haven’t,…
Alcatraz 2 Chapter Two This is the second book of the series. Those of you who have read the first book can skip this introduction and move on. The rest of you, stay put. I’d like to congratulate you on finding this book. I’m glad you’re reading a serious work about real world politics, rather…
Alcatraz 2 Chapter One So, there I was, slumped in my chair, waiting in a drab airport terminal, munching absently on a bag of stale potato chips. Not the beginning you expected, is it? You likely thought that I would start this book with something exciting. A scene involving evil Librarians, perhaps—something with altars, Alivened,…
Alcatraz 2 Author’s Foreword I am a liar. I realize that you may not believe this. In fact, hope that you don’t. Not only would that make the statement particularly ironic, but it means you have very far to fall. You see, I know that you Free Kingdomers have heard stories about me. Perhaps you’ve…
Warbreaker Chapter Forty Siri was enjoying a meal on the court green when Treledees found her. She ignored him, content to pick at the dishes in front of her. The sea, she had decided, was quite strange. What else could be said of a place that could spawn creatures with such wiggly tentacles and boneless…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Nine A week living in the gutters served to drastically change Vivenna’s perspective on life. She sold her hair on the second day for a depressingly small amount of money. The food that she’d bought hadn’t even filled her stomach, and she didn’t have the strength to regrow the locks. The haircut didn’t…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Eight Lightsong sat on the edge of his bed, sweat thick on his brow as he stared down at the floor in front of him. He was breathing heavily. Llarimar eyed a lesser scribe, who lowered his pen. Servants clustered around the edges of the bedchamber. They had, at his request, woken him…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Seven In the slums it could seem like night, even during the full light of day. Vivenna wandered, aimless, stepping over soiled bits of colorful trash. She knew that she should find a place to hide and stay there. Yet she wasn’t really thinking straight anymore. Parlin was dead. He’d been her friend…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Six I will not leave you, Susebron wrote, sitting on the floor beside the bed, his back propped up by pillows. I promise. “How can you be sure?” Siri asked from her place on the bed. “Maybe once you have an heir, you’ll grow tired of life, then give away your Breath.” First of all, he…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Five Vivenna awoke sore, tired, and terrified. She tried struggling, but her hands and legs were tied. She succeeded only in rolling herself into an even less comfortable position. She was in a dark room, gagged, her face pressing awkwardly against a splintering wood floor. She still wore her skirt, an expensive foreign…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Four Lightsong watched the young queen dart away from his pavilion and felt an odd sense of guilt. How very uncharacteristic of me, he thought, taking a sip of wine. After the grapes, it tasted a little sour. Maybe the sourness was from something else. He’d spoken to Siri about the God King’s death in…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Three Jewels worked quietly, ignoring Vivenna and pulling another stitch tight. Clod’s guts—intestines, stomach, and some other things Vivenna didn’t want to identify—lay on the floor beside him, carefully pulled out and arranged so that they could be repaired. Jewels was working on the intestines at the moment, sewing with a special thick…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Two He was always gone when Siri awoke. She lay in the deep, well-stuffed bed, morning light streaming through the window. Already, the day was growing warm, and even her single sheet was too hot. She threw it off but remained on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. She could tell from…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-One “I feel I have to ask one more time,” Denth said. “Do we have to go through with this?” Denth walked with Vivenna, Tonk Fah, Jewels, and Clod. Parlin had stayed behind at Denth’s suggestion. He was worried about the dangers of the meeting, and didn’t want another body to keep track of. “Yes,…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirty Lightsong!” Blushweaver said, hands on hips. “What in the name of the Iridescent Tones are you doing?” Lightsong ignored her, instead applying his hands to the clump of muddy clay in front of him. His servants and priests stood in a large ring, looking nearly as confused as Blushweaver—who had arrived at…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Nine Tell me about the mountains, Susebron wrote. Siri smiled. “Mountains?” Please, he wrote, sitting in his chair beside the bed. Siri lay on one side; her bulky dress had been too hot for this evening, so she sat in her shift with a sheet over her, resting on one elbow so she could see…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Eight The meeting is set, my lady,” Thame said. “The men are eager. Your work in T’Telir is gaining more and more notoriety.” Vivenna wasn’t sure what she thought of that. She sipped her juice. The lukewarm liquid was addictively flavorful, although she wished for some Idrian ice. Thame looked at her eagerly.…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Seven Something happened to those previous God Kings, Siri thought, striding through the endless rooms of the God King’s palace, her servants scurrying behind. Something that Bluefingers fears will happen to Susebron. It will be dangerous to both the God King and myself. She continued to walk, trailing a train made from countless tassels of…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Six Lightsong awoke and immediately climbed from bed. He stood up, stretched, and smiled. “Beautiful day,” he said. His servants stood at the edges of the room, watching uncertainly. “What?” Lightsong asked, holding out his arms. “Come on, let’s get dressed.” They rushed forward. Llarimar entered shortly after. Lightsong often wondered how early…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Five Vivenna went among the people of T’Telir and couldn’t help feeling that every one of them recognized her. She fought the feeling down. It was actually a miracle that Thame—who came from her own home city—had been able to pick her out. The people around her would have no way of connecting…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Four Siri’s servants clustered around her uncertainly as she walked into the chaotic room. She wore a blue and white gown with a ten-foot train. As she entered, scribes and priests looked up in shock; some immediately scrambled to their feet, bowing. Others just stared as she passed, her serving women doing their…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Three Lightsong found Blushweaver in the grassy portion of the courtyard behind her palace. She was enjoying the art of one of the city’s master gardeners. Lightsong strolled through the grass, his entourage hovering around him, holding up a large parasol to shield him from the sun, and generally seeing that he was…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Two Weatherlove, god of storms, selected one of the wooden spheres from the rack, then hefted it in his hand. It had been built to fill the palm of a god, and was weighted in the middle with lead. Carved with rings across the surface, it was painted a deep blue. “A doubling…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-One Vasher stood atop the palace of the God King, watching the sun drop above the western rain forest. The sunset was vibrant amidst the clouds, colors flaring, beautiful reds and oranges painting the trees. Then the sun disappeared and the colors faded. Some said that before a man died, his BioChromatic aura…
Warbreaker Chapter Twenty For the first time in her several weeks at the palace, Siri stood before the God King’s door and felt neither worried nor tired. Bluefingers, oddly, wasn’t scribbling on his pad. He watched her silently, expression unreadable. Siri almost smiled to herself. Gone were the days when she’d had to lie on…
Warbreaker Chapter Nineteen “This is nice,” Denth said, looking over the house. “Strong wood paneling. Will break very cleanly.” “Yeah,” Tonk Fah added, peeking into a closet. “And it has plenty of storage. Bet we could fit a good half-dozen bodies in here alone.” Vivenna shot the two mercenaries a look, causing them to chuckle…
Warbreaker Chapter Eighteen Siri stood before the door to her husband’s bedchamber, shuffling nervously. As usual, Bluefingers stood beside her, and he was the only other one in the hallway. He scribbled on his pad, giving no indication of how he always knew when it was time for her to enter. For once, she didn’t…
Warbreaker Chapter Seventeen Vivenna walked back toward Lemex’s house, dissecting the argument she’d heard at the Court of Gods. Her tutors had instructed her that discussions in the Court Assembly didn’t always lead to action; just because they talked of war didn’t mean it would happen. This discussion, however, seemed to mean more. It was…
Warbreaker Chapter Sixteen “. . . still say that we cannot possibly justify military action against Idris!” a priest shouted. The man wore blue and gold. It was Stillmark’s high priest—Lightsong couldn’t quite remember the man’s name. Nanrovah? The argument was not unexpected. Lightsong leaned forward. Nanrovah and his master, Stillmark, were both staunch traditionalists. They tended…
Warbreaker Chapter Fifteen Breath catching in her chest, Siri turned. She found him standing behind her, though she had no idea how he had arrived. There was no entrance back there, just the stone wall. He wore white. She hadn’t expected that. Something about his BioChroma made the pure white split as she’d seen before, breaking up…
Warbreaker Chapter Fourteen “It’s raining,” Lightsong noted. “Very astute, Your Grace,” Llarimar said, walking beside his god. “I’m not fond of rain.” “So you have often noted, Your Grace.” “I’m a god,” Lightsong said. “Shouldn’t I have power over the weather? How can it rain if I don’t want it to?” “There are currently twenty-five…
Warbreaker Chapter Thirteen “I’ll give it away,” Vivenna said firmly. She sat with the mercenaries in Lemex’s home. It was the day after the Breaths had been forced upon her, and she had spent a restless night, letting the mercenaries and the nurse see to the disposal of Lemex’s body. She didn’t remember falling asleep…
Warbreaker Chapter Twelve Eventually, Lightsong had to hear petitions. It was annoying, since the Wedding Jubilation wouldn’t even be over for another few days. The people, however, needed their gods. He knew he shouldn’t feel annoyed. He’d gotten most of a week off for the wedding fete—conspicuously unattended by either the bride or groom—and that…
Infinity Blade: Redemption Pre-Order Starts Today ChAIR ENTERTAINMENT & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BRANDON SANDERSON ANNOUNCE NEW CHAPTER IN INFINITY BLADE SAGA, INFINITY BLADE: REDEMPTION Pre-Order the Novella Now Exclusively on iBooks Salt Lake City, UT (August 20, 2013) — ChAIR Entertainment, a division of Epic Games Inc., today announced Infinity Blade: Redemption, the second in a…
Tomorrow and Saturday I’ll be at Gen Con. My schedule is below. See you there! But first, if you haven’t seen the STEELHEART teaser trailer, the prologue, or teaser chapters, please go give them a look! The release date is fast approaching, so think about preordering the book from your favorite vendor. (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Audible, Apple, Kobo, Google Play.) If you would like a signed and numbered copy, Weller Book Works will begin accepting orders TODAY for delivery on or very shortly after September 24th. (Or you can come to the release event at the Orem Barnes & Noble on September 24th. More details later.) Mysterious Galaxy and Shawn Speakman’s The Signed Page will also have signed books available to preorder, but they won’t be shipped until I sign them in October.
Signed Perrin T-Shirt Charity Auction & Updates Some quick updates today. But first, if you haven’t seen the STEELHEART teaser trailer, the prologue, or teaser chapters, please go give them a look! The release date is fast approaching, so think about preordering the book from your favorite vendor. (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Audible, Apple, Kobo, Google Play.) If you would…
Steelheart Preorder and Mega Vault Winners It’s time to announce the winners of the STEELHEART Mega Vault Fan Art contest. First, if you haven’t seen the teaser trailer, the prologue, or teaser chapters for STEELHEART, please go give them a look! STEELHEART Preorders The release date for STEELHEART is fast approaching, so think about preordering the book from…
Alcatraz Third Person Chapter Two You’re probably wondering about the beginning of the previous chapter, with its reference to evil librarians, altars made from encyclopedias, and its general feeling of “Oh, No! Alcatraz is going to be sacrificed!” This is known, in stories, as a ‘hook.’ It is a vulgar literary convention used to unfairly…
Alcatraz Third Person Chapter One Assistant Peter’s note: Brandon originally wrote the entire book in third person. For Brandon’s explanation, see this annotation. I’m posting two chapters from the draft before Brandon changed the book to first person. There’s something about facing death while tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias—realizing that you’re about to…
Alcatraz Chapter Two Now, you’re probably wondering about the beginning of the previous chapter, with its reference to evil Librarians, altars made from encyclopedias, and its general feeling of “Oh, No! Alcatraz is going to be sacrificed!” Before we get to this, let me explain something about myself. I’ve been many things in my life.…
Alcatraz Chapter One So, there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians. As you might imagine, that sort of situation can be quite disturbing. It does funny things to the brain to be in such danger—in fact, it…
Alcatraz Author’s Foreword Author’s Foreword Note: The following is a sample chapter from Brandon’s middle-grade novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians which was published by Scholastic Press in October of 2007. You can read more about where Alcatraz came from right here. Enjoy! I am not a good person. Oh, I know what the stories say about me.…
Warbreaker Chapter Eleven But surely we can bend the rules a little bit,” Siri said, walking quickly beside Treledees. Treledees eyed her. The priest—high priest of the God King—would have been tall even without the elaborate miter on his head. With it, he seemed to tower over her almost like one of the Returned. Well,…
Warbreaker Chapter Ten Vivenna’s hair instantly bleached to a stark white. Think! she told herself. You’ve been trained in politics! You studied hostage negotiation. But . . . what do you do when you arethe hostage? Suddenly, the two men burst out laughing. The larger man thumped the table several times with his hand, causing his bird to squawk. “Sorry, Princess,” Denth—the thinner…
Warbreaker Chapter Nine Vivenna—firstborn child of Dedelin, king of Idris—gazed upon the grand city of T’Telir. It was the ugliest place she had ever seen. People jostled their way through the streets, draped flagrantly in colors, yelling, and talking, and moving, and stinking, and coughing, and bumping. Her hair lightened to grey, she pulled her…
Warbreaker Chapter Eight Siri groaned, rolling over. Her back hurt, her arms hurt, and her head hurt. In fact, she was so uncomfortable that she couldn’t stay asleep, despite her fatigue. She sat up, holding her head. She’d spent the night on the floor of the God King’s bedchamber—sleeping, kind of. Sunlight poured into the…
Warbreaker Chapter Seven The door shut behind her. A large fire growled in a hearth to her left, bringing a shifting orange light to the large room. The black walls seemed to draw in and absorb the illumination, making deep shadows at the edges of the room. Siri stood quietly in her ornate velvet dress,…
Warbreaker Chapter Six Siri stepped from the carriage. Immediately, dozens of servants in blue and silver swarmed around her, pulling her away. Siri turned, alarmed, looking back toward her soldiers. The men stepped forward, but Treledees held up his hand. “The Vessel will go alone,” the priest declared. Siri felt a stab of fear. This…
Warbreaker Chapter Five This will complicate things, Vasher thought, standing in the shadows atop the wall that enclosed the Court of Gods. What’s wrong? Nightblood asked. So the rebels actually sent a princess. Doesn’t change your plans. Vasher waited, watching, as the new queen’s carriage crept up the incline and disappeared into the palace’s maw. What? Nightblood demanded. Even…
Warbreaker Chapter Four Siri’s carriage rolled to a stop outside of T’Telir, capital of Hallandren. She stared out the window and realized something very, very intimidating: Her people had no idea what it meant to be ostentatious. Flowers weren’t ostentatious. Ten soldiers protecting a carriage was not ostentatious. Throwing a tantrum in public wasn’t ostentatious. The field…
Warbreaker Chapter Three Lightsong didn’t remember dying. His priests, however, assured him that his death had been extremely inspiring. Noble. Grand. Heroic. One did not Return unless one died in a way that exemplified the great virtues of human existence. That was why the Iridescent Tones sent the Returned back; they acted as examples, and…
Warbreaker Chapter Two Siri sat, stunned, in a rattling carriage, her homeland growing more and more distant with each bump and shake. Two days had passed, and she still didn’t understand. This was supposed to be Vivenna’s task. Everybody understood that. Idris had thrown a celebration on the day of Vivenna’s birth. The king had…
Warbreaker Chapter One There were great advantages to being unimportant. True, by many people’s standards, Siri wasn’t “unimportant.” She was, after all, the daughter of a king. Fortunately, her father had four living children, and Siri—at seventeen years of age—was the youngest. Fafen, the daughter just older than Siri, had done the family duty and…
Warbreaker Prologue It’s funny, Vasher thought, how many things begin with my getting thrown into prison. The guards laughed to one another, slamming the cell door shut with a clang. Vasher stood and dusted himself off, rolling his shoulder and wincing. While the bottom half of his cell door was solid wood, the top half was barred,…
Warbreaker Acknowledgements Working on Warbreaker was an unusual process in some ways; you can read more about it on my website. Suffice it to say that I had a more varied pool of alpha readers than normally, many of whom I know primarily through their handles on my forums. I’ve tried to get everyone’s names in here,…
Warbreaker Rights Explanation I am releasing Warbreaker under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. For an official explanation of this, visit the Creative Commons website. In a more specific explanation, this means that: 1) You are free to share this book with anyone you like, provided you don’t change the document at all…
Warbreaker Introduction Welcome! My name is Brandon Sanderson. Before anything else, I’d like to thank you for your interest in my books. I hope you enjoy Warbreaker. In case you don’t know, I’m a professional fantasy novelist. My first book, Elantris, was published in some thirteen languages, earned me a Campbell nomination, and got starred reviews in…
Spokane this week! Tomorrow I’m heading out to Spokane for SpoCon, and I’ll also be signing at Barnes & Noble. Details are below. There’s no signing listed at SpoCon itself, but I will sign books if you find me between panels. See you there! As always, see my future events on my events page. Barnes &…
Updates Catch-Up + Michael Whelan Stormlight 2 Cover Playing catch-up with the Writing Excuses podcast, we did episodes on both Writing Reluctant Characters and Combining Dialogue, Blocking, and Description. We also did a Q&A session at the Out of Excuses Retreat that touches on these questions: To Dan: How did you go about selling your first trilogy in Germany before…
Hugo Awards Voting Deadline is July 31, 2013 The Hugos are one of the most prestigious awards in our field, and they are given out by the readers themselves. The deadline for voting for the Hugo Awards is approaching quickly. Less than a week left! For a ballot to be counted, it needs to be…
JTVCcmNibG9jayUyMGlkJTNEJTIyMjU2OSUyMiU1RA==It has been quite a busy time these last six or seven months. Too busy, maybe? A lot of great experiences, but it has cut into my time to be at home writing. Let me give you a little update of what I’m doing writing-wise.
Read preview #2 of STEELHEART, STEELHEART poster, STEELHEART book trailer! So, I’m at Comic-Con in San Diego right now. You can see my schedule here. Among the other things I’m doing at the con is an interview with MTV Geek. That’s not a public event at the convention, but they will be streaming it live on their…
My San Diego Comic-Con International Schedule I’m leaving today for Comic-Con, and I’ll be there Friday through Sunday. See you there! There will also be a Steelheart trailer reveal online on Sunday with MTV Geek; I’ll add the link later. Date: July 19-21, 2013 Place: San Diego Convention Center Address: 111 West Harbor Drive San Diego, CA 92101 Schedule: Friday,…
THE RITHMATIST Tour Swag Recently I got back from the The Rithmatist tour, so it’s time for me to post some pictures of some of the cool things I saw and some of the neat things you all gave me. I appreciate the time and thought put into the gifts. Take a look at this Steel Inquisitor…
THIS IS HOW YOU DIE, Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death The anthology THIS IS HOW YOU DIE, sequel to THE MACHINE OF DEATH, was released today. I don’t have a story in it (I was considering submitting something, but I’m way too busy), but my friend and alpha reader Karen Stay…
STEELHEART fan art contest ends tonight + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is entitled “Your First Contract” and it’s about exactly that! We’re not lawyers so don’t consider this to be legal advice, but as a writer you’re a a small business owner who should be thinking about this sort of thing. The STEELHEART…
My ConnectiCon Schedule I’m in Connecticut this weekend for ConnectiCon. Below is my schedule! But also, the STEELHEART fanart contest (you can win books!) is still ongoing, with a deadline of Monday. Details here, and the first entries from readers are up here. ConnectiCon, Hartford Place: ConnectiCon Address: Connecticut Convention Center 100 Columbus Boulevard Hartford, CT 06103 Phone: 860-249-6000 Type: Convention…
Random House Mega Vault Contest + Updates Below I have info on a contest that’s Steelheart-related (sorry, for the US and Canada only). But first some updates. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode covers chapter breakdowns—what determines our chapter breaks? How do we handle POV shifts, scene/sequel balance, and other considerations when we’re carving our stories into…
Updates for this week In this week’s Writing Excuses episode, Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talk about Space Opera. Give it a listen. My assistant Peter has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. There will be another one next week; we’re a bit behind. As always, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook (both have basically the same content) for up-to-the-minute…
Guest post by Elise Matthesen: How to Report Sexual Harassment (A friend of mine wrote this, and I and a few other people in the community are posting her narrative to raise awareness. —Brandon) How to Report Sexual Harassment by Elise Mattheson We’re geeks. We learn things and share, right? Well, this year at WisCon…
UNFETTERED (with A MEMORY OF LIGHT deleted sequence) now out + Updates The ebook for UNFETTERED, which contains the A MEMORY OF LIGHT deleted sequence “River of Souls,” has now been released. Details below. Tor.com’s reread of THE WAY OF KINGS reached chapters 16 and 17, the first flashback with Laral and Tien, and Kaladin leading…
Saturday Spanish Fork Costco signing time change Hey there, everyone who was planning to come to my signing tomorrow—I just found out that it’s going to start an hour earlier than previously announced. So if you can swing it, please try to come at 11:00 a.m. instead of noon. I’ve never done a Costco signing…
June is Audiobook Month + Updates This week the Writing Excuses podcast has a “project in depth” episode on Mary Robinette Kowal’s novella “Kiss Me Twice,” which was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula last year. Give it a listen, though you’ll probably want to read the novella first. Tor.com had a couple of The Way of Kings articles last week. First…
Alcatraz in the UK & Updates ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS has now been released in the UK (and presumably also in Australia and New Zealand). That means all four books are now out, and since they all came out this year, it should be relatively easy to find them on shelves and in ebook…
Book trailer for THE RITHMATIST & Kickstarter for HEX Tor made a book trailer for THE RITHMATIST (which is out now). Enjoy! There’s also a cool Kickstarter campaign (well past its goal, ending in two days) from Cryptozoic Entertainment for a digital TCG/MMO called HEX. The developers of the (targeted for fall 2014) MISTBORN: BIRTHRIGHT video game, Little Orbit,…
Signing Tonight at the Provo Library + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses episode talks about prewriting with our guest E.J. Patten, author of RETURN TO EXILE and THE LEGEND THIEF. Check it out. The Tor.com reread of THE WAY OF KINGS has reached chapter 12, covering the introduction of Dalinar and Adolin. I’m signing tonight at the Provo Library, with books sold…
THE RITHMATIST Illustrations, Book Expo America & Updates The newest Writing Excuses podcast episode is called “What The Avengers Did Right.” It has a bunch of spoilers for that movie and talks about it from the point of view of a writer. I’ve uploaded all of Ben McSweeney’s awesome illustrations for THE RITHMATIST. This includes the map (which…
My Phoenix Comicon Schedule Today through Sunday I’m in Phoenix for Phoenix Comicon. Here’s my schedule. Thu, 6:00-7:00PM (Room 104B) Books & Authors Phoenix Comicon Kickoff Kick of Phoenix Comicon 2013’s Books and Authors programming with a brief look at what all is going on this weekend and a group interview with several of our author…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for May 2013 In this newsletter: The Rithmatist is out! The Rithmatist Tour Steelheart is coming in September. (Prologue going live Thursday!) Baby Melvin is here, and growing up too quickly Words of Radiance (Stormlight 2) update From Brandon. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. If…
Hugo Voter Packet Out Now, Signed THE RITHMATIST + Updates A few weeks ago I talked about the Hugo Voter Packet and how for a $60 supporting membership to Worldcon you could get copies of most of the Hugo Award-nominated works. Well, the packet was finally released today, so if you’re already a member go download…
STEELHEART Prologue + Signed THE RITHMATIST Tor.com’s reread of THE WAY OF KINGS reaches chapter 11 today, which is Kaladin’s low point. My YA dystopia STEELHEART comes out in September. Today the Onion AV Club put up the prologue of the book. Check it out! I’m in the middle of the tour for my YA fantasy THE…
THE RITHMATIST Out Now The Rithmatist is out! Buy it from the links to the right or visit your local bookstore. (In the UK/Australia, the release date is May 23rd.) My book tour starts tonight in New York and continues in Philadelphia, Denver, Omaha, New Orleans, Houston, San Jose, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Provo, and Spanish Fork. For…
Quick Update Just a quick update today. I’m on my way to New York for the release of THE RITHMATIST on Tuesday. More about that in another post tomorrow, but The Book Smugglers have an interview with me where I talk about it and about writing YA, among other things. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about the…
THE RITHMATIST audiobook, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL ebook at $2.99 & Updates My YA fantasy novel THE RITHMATIST comes out next week. Read the first 5 chapters here and check out my signing tour schedule here. Tor.com also put up an article today talking about the book’s magic system. I’m also pleased to report that Michael…
JordanCon Swag I got back from JordanCon a few days ago. Often times at cons and signings, my readers bring me small gifts. I’m deeply grateful for the time and thought put into these, and I try to post pictures of some of them from time to time. JordanCon was no exception. Here are some…
My essay on Terry Pratchett + Updates On Saturday Tor.com posted an essay of mine entitled “Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Might Be The Highest Form of Literature on the Planet.” I’ve mentioned my love of Terry Pratchett a few times on the blog before, but in this essay I lay out my whole case. Michael Whelan…
THE RITHMATIST Book Tour + Signed Copies My YA fantasy novel THE RITHMATIST comes out on May 14th in the US/Canada, and May 23rd in UK/Commonwealth countries. (Read the prologue and first five chapters here.) This book tour’s stops are listed at the bottom of this post, and included are a bunch of cities I haven’t…
Stormlight Videos + Updates This past weekend I had a great time at JordanCon. Next year‘s Author Guest of Honor will be Patrick Rothfuss, with Artist Guest of Honor Larry Elmore. It should be awesome. While I was there I signed a number of books for two booksellers, The Missing Volume and Basement Books. They each…
My JordanCon Schedule + Updates This weekend I’ll be at JordanCon in Atlanta. My schedule is below, and the full schedule is here. Guests of Honor this year are Seanan McGuire (a.k.a. Mira Grant) and Michael Whelan. Team Jordan will also be participating. Stormlight/Mistborn/Rithmatist artists Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney will also be there. They have a…
Reddit AMA + Updates I’m doing a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) right now at /r/fantasy. Ask away. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about narrative rhythm. Here’s the penultimate video of me writing the Rysn interlude from WORDS OF RADIANCE, the next Stormlight book. Next week I’ll put up the conclusion and the sped-up version with everything…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT ebook + Updates A few random pieces of catch-up news for today. The ebook for A MEMORY OF LIGHT came out this week, if you didn’t notice. You can find it at the usual vendors. This week the Writing Excuses podcast has another brainstorming episode, where I come up with a concept…
Helping Ben Wolverton Many of you know that a certain author, Dave Wolverton (who also writes as David Farland), was an important mentor to me early in my career. Well, Dave has run into some difficult times recently, as his son Ben had a longboarding accident and is now in a coma. Dave, like many…
WITHOUT A SUMMER + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is called “Fake It Till You Make It” and in it Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talk about the things we do or have done to feel professional. Also, as I mentioned earlier this week, Writing Excuses has been nominated once again for the…
THE EMPEROR’S SOUL Nominated for a Hugo Award! The nominations for the 2013 Hugo Awards were recently released, and I’m elated to announce that The Emperor’s Soul has been nominated for Best Novella. This is, quite frankly, awesome. It’s my first major award nomination in a fiction category. Alongside it, Writing Excuses has been nominated for Best Related Work for…
2013 Convention Exclusive: Firstborn & Defending Elysium This year I’ll be going to several conventions—JordanCon, Phoenix Comicon, ConnectiCon, and SpoCon (among others not yet announced). Last year I started doing convention exclusives, which I’d been wanting to do for a while—something to make it worth the effort for people to go out of their way…
Podcasts, STEELHEART & THE RITHMATIST Covers, Writing Video A couple new podcast episodes for you. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is an in-depth discussion of “Deus ex Nauseum,” Howard’s bonus story at the end of Schlock Mercenary: Emperor Pius Dei. Also, on the Farland’s Authors Advisory Conference Calls, artists Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney (whose work has appeared…
Stormlight 2 Video + Writing Excuses In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Robison Wells joins us once again to talk about abnormal psychology. There are a lot of depths there to plumb for characterization, so check it out. My assistant has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. And there’s a new video up of me writing WORDS…
Way of Kings ebook for $2.99, Giveaway, & Tor.com Reread Today Tor.com announced they’re doing a reread for THE WAY OF KINGS. You can read the announcement here. Buy the $2.99 ebook here (DRM-free): Kindle (US)(CA) Nook iBooks (US)(CA) Kobo Dragonmount If you’re not familiar with Tor.com’s rereads, which they’ve done for The Wheel of Time and other…
Writing Excuses & Writing Video Just a quick update today. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another brainstorming episode. This time Mary, Dan, and I help Howard brainstorm for a comic. Though apparently the end result was a failure! Check it out. I’ve also uploaded another video of me writing WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to…
Hugo Nomination Deadline + Signed Copies of AMoL Below I have bookstore listings where you can find signed copies of A MEMORY OF LIGHT (and a few have THE EMPEROR’S SOUL as well). They will ship to you, so give them a call! This Sunday night is the deadline for nominating for the Hugo Awards,…
Writing Excuses & Stormlight Archive writing video Just a quick post today. The newest Writing Excuses podcast episode is another where we sat down with Dan’s brother Robison Wells. This time we talked about writing and personal health. Give it a listen. For the fifth of my Stormlight Archive volume two writing videos, we were able to…
Stormlight writing video & music + Updates The most recent podcast episode of Writing Excuses features Dan’s brother Robison Wells talking with us about cliffhangers and icebergs—when it’s a good idea to leave people in the dark, and when it’s a bad idea. Check it out. My assistant Peter has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. This…
Life, the Universe, & Everything 31 starts today in Provo The local symposium (read: convention) on science fiction and fantasy starts today. I was planning to be there, but instead I’m on tour. I’ll be in Vancouver tonight and Toronto tomorrow. But if you’re in Utah, you should check out LTUE! The guest of honor this year…
Videos & Updates I donated a signed first edition of MISTBORN for an auction at Con or Bust, which helps fans of color attend SFF conventions. Check it out. The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about retellings and adaptations. Believe it or not, yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the very first episode. Wow! I have…
Stormlight 2 Writing Video, Hugo Nomination Deadline, DANGEROUS WOMEN & Updates Michael Whelan has put up an awesome post on his process for painting the cover of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Very, very cool. If you’re at all interested in art or illustration you should check it out. You can also buy signed prints in his store.…
Worldbuilders, Tour Dates & Updates Pat Rothfuss’s Worldbuilders charity drive runs until midnight tonight Central time. Today is the last chance to donate this year, with a good chance to win a cool donated book. The latest batch includes a signed leatherbound copy of my novella LEGION. By the way, last week’s THE GATHERING STORM auction went for $300. This week’s…
Spectre Kickstarter from Jason Denzel Hey all, this is just a quick post to let you know about the Spectre Kickstarter from Jason Denzel. Remember this awesome Towers of Midnight trailer from a couple years ago? Jason (founder of Dragonmount & all-around cool guy) was responsible for making that trailer. Well, he has also filmed a short epic fantasy…
For those who missed the news and are wondering about the A MEMORY OF LIGHT ebook, I talked about it at the bottom of my blog post last week.
I’m sitting here on a plane, flying to Minneapolis after signing 1280(!) books last night at the midnight release of A Memory of Light. That marks it as my largest signing ever, though a whole lot of readers (understandably) grabbed their pre-signed books and ran off to read them, rather than waiting for a personalization.
YA Novels + AMoL 8:00 Q&A Map + Updates Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive cover reveal for my YA post-apocalyptic novel STEELHEART that’s coming out from Delacorte in September. Check it out here. Also, Tor.com put up the prologue and first chapter of my YA fantasy THE RITHMATIST that’s coming out in May. Read them here. (Illustrations by Ben McSweeney, who…
Hugo Nomination Season Hugo nomination season is upon us! If you are unaware, the Hugo Award is given by fans attending that year’s Worldcon. (This year’s convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas. I do plan to attend, as I went to Dragon*Con last year, and I try to vary which one I go to.)…
AMoL Q&A time change! Also, Waygate Foundation & Updates Planning to attend the midnight release of A MEMORY OF LIGHT at the BYU Bookstore? Want to see Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet McDougal at the event? Then be sure to check out the newest details. Harriet can’t stay up for the midnight release itself, but she…
Signing & Magic Draft in Salt Lake area Saturday Just a quick reminder that I have a signing up in West Valley tomorrow, followed by a Magic draft. The signing is focused on the Mistborn RPG, but I’ll have my other books there too. Hope to see many of you there! Details below. Signing &…
Utah events this week + Updates Writing Excuses has two new episodes this week due to a goof on our part. We had planned to hold Mary’s brainstorming episode back until the spring, but we forgot that there was a direct followup episode. The followup got released first and people were confused, so we’ve gone…
Signing Thursday in West Jordan Just a quick note to remind you that I’ll be signing at the Jordan Landing Barnes & Noble tomorrow. Details are below. I also have signings this month in Orem, West Valley, and the Salt Lake City Library. Some of those include Magic drafts. See my events page for details. Date: 12.06.12 Time: 6:30…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT happenings + Updates A MEMORY OF LIGHT happenings + Updates This post will have quite a few random tidbits. First off, my friend Tracy Hickman wrote to tell me about a holiday serial novel he and Laura are putting up. If you preorder, you can read and comment on the chapters as…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for December 2012 In this newsletter: Brandon’s new novella The Emperor’s Soul is out now! December signings A Memory of Light book tour schedule Other events Hi there. It’s Brandon’s assistant Peter again (plus a few words from Brandon). Brandon’s new novella, The Emperor’s Soul Brandon says: I’m extremely proud of this…
Fan Art, Shirts, NaNoWriMo InkWing, which does Mistborn and Stormlight Archive shirts, has a new blog post announcing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, as well as a limited edition Windrunner pin. Plus they have a contest for a free T-shirt. Check it out. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about raising the stakes—putting things at risk…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT Release Events This is going to be a long post. If you want to know how to get numbered copies of the book, scroll down. ITEM #1: THE TOUR Tor is almost ready to announce the book tour. When it gets announced, all of the signings will be listed on my events page,…
THE ALLOY OF LAW signed hardcovers, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL episode + Updates Since it’s been out for a year and the mass market paperback has been released, I’m now putting THE ALLOY OF LAW in my signed hardcovers store. I also have a 6-pack that includes the four Mistborn books, Elantris, and Warbreaker for a special holiday price…
Two Utah signings this week, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL ebook, Writing Excuses Retreat scholarship My novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL came out in trade paperback a few weeks ago, and the ebook version is out today. You can find it at most of the ebook stores, but we’re still waiting to hear from Google Play about this…
Toronto this weekend: Chapters Markham & World Fantasy (sold out, 1 membership available!) I’ve flown up to Toronto for the World Fantasy convention. My schedule is below. I’m also doing an off-site bookstore signing at Chapters in Markham on Saturday. See below for details. Hope to see many of you there! The convention is sold…
Canadians! Halifax, Toronto I’ll be in Halifax, Nova Scotia this weekend for Hal-Con. My schedule is below. Next weekend I’ll be in Toronto; I’ll post my full schedule next week, or you can check my events page. I’ll have two signings in Utah after I get back from there. I will sign copies of THE EMPEROR’S SOUL…
EMPEROR’S SOUL signing-by-mail, AMoL audiobook promo, Holiday shipping deadline + Updates This post will be another run-down of a bunch of different topics. Weller Book Works is once again handling a signing-by-mail for one of my releases. In this case, since THE EMPEROR’S SOUL is already out in bookstores, it’s going to run slightly differently.…
The Emperor’s Soul Now Available Though the official release date is still two weeks away, it appears that B&N, Amazon, and a number of indy bookstores all have copies of The Emperor’s Soul in stock. I’d like to take this chance to introduce the book to you. You can read an excerpt here on Tor.com. In working on the Wheel of Time…
Updates, Contests, Random Links This week’s Writing Excuses episode features Janci Patterson and talks about writing contemporary YA fiction. I mentioned Janci’s book CHASING THE SKIP a couple of weeks ago. She has a lot of great insights, so give it a listen! I’ve got a rather random collection of links for you today. First up, my friend…
LEGION ebook available now! As I write this, my novella LEGION is being uploaded to the various ebook stores. It should now be for sale everywhere at $2.99. Check out the beautiful cover of the ebook version by the talented Isaac Stewart (also known for his work on the maps and symbols for many of…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT deleted sequence “River of Souls” to appear in UNFETTERED anthology Shawn Speakman has put together a great anthology coming out in early 2013 that features a bunch of big names in the fantasy field (including Terry Brooks, Pat Rothfuss, Tad Williams, and others). He asked the authors to record videos to promote…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT Signing-by-Mail (SOLD OUT) + Updates First some housekeeping. I should mention that Subterranean Press has a handful of the leatherbound signed limited edition of LEGION leftover and available for order on their site. In completely unrelated news, my assistant has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. There are two Writing Excuses episodes up that I…
LEGION (free) on Audible + Google Hangout with Pat Rothfuss, Cherie Priest & Terry Brooks My novella LEGION came out a month ago in hardcover and two weeks ago as an ebook. Now the audio version is available for download. Until the end of 2012, the Audible version of LEGION comes at a price of $0.00. (Steep, I know.)…
CHASING THE SKIP by Janci Patterson I’ve got a special announcement today. Perhaps not as special for you as it is me, but hopefully you’ll find it interesting enough to read onward. You see, one of my good friends—and former students—is releasing a book tomorrow. Her name is Janci Patterson, and the book is called CHASING…
THE RITHMATIST Cover Art + Updates I sent out a newsletter over the last couple of weeks, which you can see here. If you want to be on the mailing list (I send maybe three or four of these per year), sign up here. And if you want me to email you when I’m signing near…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for September 2012 In this newsletter: Introduction Brandon’s new novella, Legion, is out now! A new Sanderson on the way A Memory of Light is Done A Memory of Light book tour Stormlight Two progress Two YA books to be released next year INTRODUCTION Hi, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter…
Late Notice Signing! Hey, all. It’s last minute, but I’ll be joining the mass signing at the Orem, UT Barnes and Noble tomorrow (Saturday.) The event is at 4:00, and I should be there for at least an hour. Maybe two. Event: Signing Where: 330 East 1300 South, Orem, UT 84058 Phone: 801-229-1611 Time: Saturday…
League of Utah Writers Roundup This Weekend The most recent Writing Excuses episode is entitled “Pantsing.” In it, Howard, Mary, Dan and I talk about discovery writing (a.k.a. “seat-of-your-pants” writing). Check it out. I’m doing two events on Saturday at this weekend’s Roundup in Park City. First at 12:00 noon, Pemberly and I will join Howard and Sandra Tayler…
Writing Excuses Parsec + A MEMORY OF LIGHT Excerpt In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Mary, Howard, and I help Dan brainstorm ideas for a military thriller short story. The working title is “I.E.Demon” and you can hear us hash it out. This past weekend, at the Parsec Awards ceremony at Dragon*Con, Writing Excuses…
Magic with Brandon at Dragon*Con + LEGION out now Hey, all! This is kind of late and all, but here are the details on this year’s Dragon*Con Magic draft. I think we’ll go ahead and go with the 8:30 time on Friday. The location is the WoT track room—Roswell 1-2 in the Westin. (Same place…
This week’s Writing Excuses episode was recorded live at Gen Con and features Monte Cook talking with Mary, Howard, and me about writing gaming fiction. On a related topic, this weekend we will learn the fate of the two awards Writing Excuses has been nominated for: the Hugo Award in the Best Related Work category, and the Parsec Award in the Best Podcast about Speculative Fiction Content Creation category. Mary and Howard will be at the Hugo Awards ceremony at Worldcon in Chicago, and I will attend the Parsec Awards ceremony at Dragon*Con in Atlanta.
My Albuquerque Bubonicon Schedule This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is titled “How to Start the Next One.” Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about how to move from writing one project to another, specifically something that’s not a sequel or is very different in tone from your previous book. Tomorrow I’m flying out to…
My Gen Con Schedule I’m heading to Indianapolis for Gen Con today, and my full schedule is below. This con runs quite a bit differently from other conventions I’ve been to. For one thing, each event or panel is individually ticketed (though the book signings are not ticketed). And since the panels I am on…
Isaac and Kara at InkWing have news about the Feruchemical Table prints and Szeth shirts. I’ll just quote from their blog post here.
THE WAY OF KINGS Deleted Scene + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and me focuses on writing authentic emotion. Give it a listen. Since the ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotations are all posted now, I’m running out of bonus content to show you. If you…
August Conventions, LEGION & Updates A reminder about the conventions I’ll be attending this month. I’ll be in Indianapolis for Gen Con August 16th through 19th, Albuquerque for Bubonicon the 24th through 26th, and Atlanta for Dragon*Con the 31st through September 3rd. I’ll put up more details and my full schedule as each convention approaches. My novella LEGION comes out from…
Mistborn Adventure Game Release Event in Provo Saturday As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Game Den in Provo is going to throw a release event on August 4th (tomorrow) for the Mistborn Adventure Game from Crafty Games, and I will be there signing. Hopefully you called them to preorder a copy—they will only…
Today I got up, and I did not have a Wheel of Time book to work on. I finished the final revision on A Memory of Light early in the morning Saturday, then sent it off to Team Jordan. And I was done. Team Jordan will handle the copyedits and proofreads; I might have a chime-in now…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Twenty All right. It’s true. I lied to you. I really am going to get to that scene with the altar. I promise. It’s not a gimmick. Or, uh, it’s not just a gimmick. You’ll find out more in book two, but let’s just say that an Oculator’s blood mixed with glass…
Hugo Voting Deadline Tomorrow + Updates Somehow I missed announcing that Writing Excuses Season Six was nominated for a Hugo Award in the Best Related Work category. The voting deadline is tomorrow (Tuesday the 31st), and you can vote if you are a supporting or attending member of this year’s World Science Fiction convention in Chicago. Other nominations from the…
My Chattanooga LibertyCon Schedule This Weekend Today I’m flying out to Chattanooga to be Literary Guest of Honor for LibertyCon this weekend. Below is my schedule. See you there! And remember that I’ll be at Gen Con, Bubonicon, and Dragon*Con in August. Date: July 20-22, 2012 Place: LibertyCon 25 Address: The Chattanooga Choo-Choo 1400 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone: (800)…
Mistborn Adventure Game Release Event in Provo The printed version of the Mistborn Adventure Game from Crafty Games has finally shipped, and everyone who preordered should have received their copy by now or should receive it very soon. Gam Den in Provo is going to throw a release event on August 4th for the book, and I…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Nineteen What do mockingbirds have to do with that, anyway? To make it clear, I actually like To Kill a Mockingbird. However, it was one of the books that people gave me when I was younger that was wrong for me at the time. It’s good to read classics, and it’s good…
Interviews + Updates The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers the penultimate chapter, including the meaning of the name “Rashid” as in the Sands of Rashid. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and me talks about the villain problem. By that we mean when the hero…
San Diego Comic-Con! (NOTE: Scroll all the way down for my booth schedule.) (PLEASE NOTICE: The Friday spotlight panel starts at 1:00, not at noon as previously announced!) This is the first year I’ve been a Special Guest at SDCC. On top of that, Gen Con has me as their Author Guest of Honor and Dragon*Con is…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Eighteen The ending of a book is both the best and the worst part to read. This is very true. I loathe and love endings. I remember still that some of the most sweet experiences in reading happened when I was in high school, and was nearing the end of one of…
Final 2012 Creative Writing Lecture + Updates There’s a new ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation on the site. There are only three left after this one, which mentions that the end of a book is the best and worst part, among other things. My assistant has also uploaded another Twitter posts archive. Two more Writing Excuses…
My Comic-Con Schedule I’m a Special Guest at Comic-Con International in San Diego next week. My schedule is below. I’ll also have a table in Artist’s Alley (#II-10) where I will often hang out (and maybe play some Magic if it’s feasible) when I don’t have a scheduled event. Kara and Isaac from InkWing will be manning…
M13 Prerelease For those who enjoy hanging out and playing Magic, it looks like I’ll be able to swing going to the prerelease of the new core set this weekend. I’ll be doing it at Epic Puzzles & Games in SLC, like previous prereleases, at midnight on Friday night. No need to sign up this…
THE HOLLOW CITY Release Party Tonight My good friend and Writing Excuses cohost Dan Wells’ new book THE HOLLOW CITY is out today. The release party is tonight at Weller Book Works (the bookstore formerly known as Sam Weller’s, at their new location, which has parking!) in Trolley Square. Mary, Howard, and I are going…
June is Audiobook Month Readers have been asking if my forthcoming novellas LEGION and THE EMPEROR’S SOUL will be released in audio versions. The answer is that they will be—we have deals made for these, but I’m not sure how quickly the audiobooks will be released compared to the book versions. I’ll let you know when I have more…
Szeth T-Shirt Contest, Lecture Video + Updates InkWing has another T-shirt contest going on at their blog, for a shirt that will be available at Comic-Con in San Diego. They don’t have a picture of the shirt yet, but it’s going to use Ben McSweeney’s image of Szeth from THE WAY OF KINGS. InkWing has also…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Seventeen I didn’t take the opportunity to point out anything at the beginning of this chapter. This editorial–the one I put in the middle of the chapter, rather than at the beginning–was one of those inspired directly by readers. A lot of the fan mail I get mentions that a reader was…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Sixteen Obscure References Chapter Sixteen is the chapter for random obscure references and jokes. Perhaps I did this unconsciously, rather than having more full-blown asides (though my editor did cut one about soy sauce and ninjas from the next chapter–I’m serious) because I wanted things to move quickly. Anyway, here’s a list…
I Hate Dragons Speech Competition + Updates My assistant uploaded a new ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation. This one covers chapter sixteen, which has various obscure references including a dinosaur eating the “C” section of science fiction books. There are two new episodes of the Writing Excuses podcast up. First Mary, Howard, Dan, and I…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Fifteen Moron. Heh. I was working on this chapter, and I wondered, “Could I be lucky enough to discover that there’s a city out there named Moron?” And indeed there were a lot of them that I found. Most were in South America, however, and had an accent on the o. Same…
Lloyd Alexander Documentary Kickstarter, Creative Writing Lectures + Updates When Lloyd Alexander (author of many novels including the Chronicles of Prydain) passed away, he left his papers to the BYU library, which has an exhibit that is a recreation of Alexander’s home office. BYU student Jared Crossley is making a documentary on Lloyd Alexander, the…
Bay Area this weekend: BayCon, including Magic Here’s my schedule as Writer Guest of Honor of this weekend’s BayCon. There’s not a signing on the schedule, which means that I’ll sign books whenever you catch me somewhere at the con, unless I’m running to get somewhere else. I’m also doing a Magic: The Gathering draft,…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Fourteen And here the action picks up again. I love me a good action scene. There’s something very fun about constructing action on the page. Partially, I think, because it’s tough to do. In a movie, you can make the visuals happen the way you want to. However, in a book, you…
Updates + Reader Mail The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode starts a new “Project in Depth” series where Mary, Howard, Dan, and I take a project that one of us has completed and grill the creator about it. These episodes necessarily contain spoilers. The first one covers Howard’s Hugo-nominated Schlock Mercenary volume Force Multiplication. In future episodes (not all in…
Play the Mistborn Adventure Game with Me at Gen Con + Updates There’s a new ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation up. This one talks about chapter thirteen, when Alcatraz breaks out of the Librarians’ holding cell. This week’s Writing Excuses episode is another one that was recorded at Life, the Universe & Everything in…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Thirteen And I spent fourteen years in prison, where I obtained the learning of a gentleman and discovered the location of a buried treasure. Yes, that’s a Count of Monte Cristo joke in the introduction here. No, things didn’t pass that quickly in that book, but the years did fly by. (If…
More Creative Writing Lectures + Updates The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers the chapter where Alcatraz gets tortured. Check it out. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode features Q&A with James Dashner at Life, the Universe & Everything. We cover the following audience-supplied questions: Why is the ARC of James’s first book so different…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Twelve The Alcatraz Smedry you think you know is a farce. And now we get the cynical side of Alcatraz’s character growth. It was an interesting experiment, writing this book from the perspective of someone looking back. I knew what I wanted to have happened in Alcatraz’s life (remember, when I changed…
Class Lecture on Characterization + Updates Right now I’m in Las Vegas for this year’s edition of the Superstars Writing Seminar where I’m an instructor. I posted about this several times over the last few months, so I hope it’s not a surprise to anyone! Hal-Con in Halifax, Nova Scotia has been added to my events calendar for October this…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Eleven Authors like to torture people. If I had to pick, this would be my second-favorite rant. The mousetrap one is fun, but this one actually says something. It offers commentary. Even if it is ridiculous. I’ve wondered about this concept. Why, exactly, do authors do what they do? Why do I…
Magic with Brandon and Dan: Avacyn Restored Hey, all! This weekend is the Avacyn Restored prerelease, and as with the previous two sets, Dan and I are going to head up to Epic Puzzles & Games for their midnight release party. We’re hoping you are all interested in playing with us again, because as long…
Mary Robinette Kowal Signing in SLC Tonight Just a quick note that my good friend and Writing Excuses cohost Mary Robinette Kowal will be appearing tonight in Salt Lake at Weller Book Works. This is Sam Weller’s new store in Trolley Square, where there’s actually parking unlike at their old location. Go see her and…
Creative Writing Class Lectures + Updates I arrived home from Australia yesterday to find that yet another surprise home makeover had taken place. (The previous one was after my New York Comic-Con trip.) In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Larry Correia joins Mary, Howard, Dan, and me in front of a live audience at Life, the Universe &…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Ten Are you annoyed with me yet? This beginning is exactly what I like about the form of this book. Here, I can go on and on about how you shouldn’t separate readers from the payoff of cliffhangers–all the while keeping you from getting the payoff of the cliffhanger at the end…
My Gold Coast Schedule, JordanCon, Superstars Writing Seminar Supanova Gold Coast 2012 Date: April 20-22, 2012 Address: Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre 2684 Gold Coast Highway Broadbeach QLD 4218, Australia FRIDAY 6:00 p.m.: Opening Ceremony SATURDAY 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Signing at Dymocks booth #67 1:50-2:35 p.m.: Panel in Filmink Features room B 3:10-5:30 p.m.: Signing at…
Sydney Signing + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses continues our discussion of Mary Robinette Kowal’s outline of a middle-grade novel she planned back in 2003. At twenty-five minutes it’s a lot longer than our typical episode, but if you’re wondering about outlining, a listen will be worth your while. My assistant has put up another of my…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Nine Dinosaurs I’d like to be able to tell you where this came from, why I put it in the book, but . . . well, I have no idea. Remember, this book was–in essence–a long free write. I didn’t have much of an outline, setting, or anything else in mind. When…
My Melbourne Schedule; Sydney & Gold Coast Next Week Supanova Melbourne 2012 Date: April 13-15, 2012 Address: Melbourne Showgrounds Epsom Road Ascot Vale Victoria 3032 Australia FRIDAY 6:00 p.m.: Opening Ceremony SATURDAY 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Signing 1:30-3:30 p.m.: Signing 4:10-5:00 p.m.: Panel in the Supanova Seminar Room SUNDAY 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Signing 1:30-2:00 p.m.: Signing 2:20-3:05 p.m.:…
GLAMOUR IN GLASS, Suvudu Cage Match Finals, ALCATRAZ Annotation Today marks the release of Writing Excuses cohost Mary Robinette Kowal’s novel GLAMOUR IN GLASS, which you should read. On this week’s podcast episode, Mary offers up an outline from 2003 (of a middle-grade fantasy Mary was planning) for us to dissect, and it’s an educational…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Eight Elevators? How primitive. Of all of the things in this book, I think this chapter has the biggest stretch when it comes to worldbuilding. I really liked the concept of Free Kingdomers thinking of our modern world as primitive. Them thinking swords are more advanced than guns is a really fun…
Mistborn Movie Update and Hugo Nomination Two big updates today! First off, we at Writing Excuses are proud to be Hugo nominated in the Best Related Work category for our second year in a row. Huzzah! Thank you to all who nominated. (You can see the other nominees in all categories here, and you can also watch recordings…
Google+ Hangout on April 18th I’ll be hanging out on Google+ from the Google offices in Sydney, Australia on Wednesday, April 18th at 1:00 p.m. Australian EST. (In US Eastern Time, that’s 11:00 p.m. on April 17th.) If you would like to join the Hangout, post a question in the comments of this post on Google+ and…
Swancon $1 Gold Coin Day Friday in Perth All! I just wanted to give an extra shout-out for Swancon this weekend, particularly for what’s happening this Friday. The convention has been given a grant to run Friday as a “gold coin day” where you get into the convention for the day by paying a single…
New military SF story with Ethan Skarstedt in ARMORED When editor John Joseph Adams invited me to contribute a story to his ARMORED anthology focused on power armor, I naturally thought of Ethan Skarstedt, a friend in my writing group who specializes in military science fiction and has the combat experience to back it up–he’s…
Writing Excuses, ALCATRAZ annotation, CNN’s Geek Out Just a quick update for today. I’m currently flying to Australia. Yesterday’s Writing Excuses episode is all about writing excuses—all those handy tricks that the great authors use to prevent themselves from finishing any book before its time. There are a couple of quotes from me in an article on…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Seven Unwittingly made a friend’s pants fall down. Humor is hard to write. Not only is it subjective, but in a book you don’t have the benefit of a laughing crowd to help you get into the mood. Because of these things, I know that everyone who reads this book is going…
My Australian Schedule: Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast On Sunday my flight leaves for Australia, and I arrive on Tuesday. It’s a long flight. My schedule is below. I hope to see many of you there! Doom-Con, Swancon 37, Perth, Australia Date: April 5-9, 2012 (Easter weekend) Place: Doom-Con, Swancon 37 Address: 207 Adelaide Terrace Perth, Western Australia…
Moiraine vs. Kelsier, Gen Con Indy, Interview + Updates If you missed it on Twitter or Facebook, here’s the link to my Suvudu Cage Match writeup of Moiraine vs. Kelsier. Don’t expect an epic battle. I don’t have the time to spare to write something like that in this case. Instead, I played it very tongue-in-cheek. I flipped a…
Announcing the Mistborn Video Game Today we’re officially announcing Mistborn: Birthright, an action-RPG set in the Mistborn world. To those who have been paying close attention, much of this may not be surprising. The MB:B website went live earlier in the month, and I have tweeted several times about the impending game. In short, we’re…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Six Kindly pretend that you own a mousetrap factory. This mousetrap example is exactly the sort of thing I can do in a children’s book that I haven’t ever been able to make work in an adult book. I’m not sure why it feels so good in this format, while doesn’t quite…
Play Magic with Brandon at SLC Nerd Hey, there’s a gaming convention in SLC this weekend, and the friendly folks at Epic Games have invited me to play some Magic during it! This will be at a downtown Salt Lake convention center called The Complex, and it looks like there will be a lot of…
Topics we’ll cover at the 2012 Superstars Writing Seminar I’m one of the instructors at the upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas (April 30-May 2). Since the writing and publishing world has changed a lot over the past few years, when planning this year’s seminar we looked carefully at the past lectures and panel…
ALCATRAZ 2 Audiobook, Trailers + Updates In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Howard, Mary, and I talk about writing the omniscient viewpoint. (Dan wasn’t there; he was off saving his son from ninjas or something like that.) The newest ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation discusses my use of prison names, the setting, and Bastille. And…
Writing for Charity Conference This Saturday This Saturday I’ll be participating in the Writing for Charity conference at the Provo Library. For more information and how to register, check out their site. My schedule is below. There’s a book signing at the end of the day that’s open to the public. Writing for Charity Venue: Historic Provo…
Podcasts + Updates Last week I appeared on the Atomic Array podcast with the Crafty Games folks to talk about the Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another one where Howard, Mary, Dan, and I cover a bunch of questions very quickly: Is it better to include romance, horror, SF, or other genre elements to…
Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Four Smedry Talents We’re hitting our stride now. I think that this is where the book starts to really reflect what I imagined for it. Here, we’ve got some genuine tension, some worldbuilding, and some utter silliness. One of the early ideas for this book was a magic system where the characters…
Hugo Nominations Deadline, Suvudu Cage Match & Updates The most recent Writing Excuses episode features David Brin talking with Dan and Mary at the World Fantasy convention about the importance of criticism. The Hugo Awards nomination deadline is the end of this week. If you’re already a member of the 2011, 2012, or 2013 Worldcons, be…
Updates + More T-Shirts The newest ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers chapter two and talks about how The Simpsons already did everything. In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Howard, Mary, and I cover these questions from Twitter in a rapid-fire fashion: What do you do if you don’t like your characters? How do you keep your plot…
Updates + Bridge Four Shirts Just a very quick update today. If you didn’t read my post about the A MEMORY OF LIGHT release date, it’s here. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast features Mary and Dan speaking with Sarah Pinborough in an episode entitled The City as a Character. The most recent annotation for ALCATRAZ…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT Release Date Tor and Harriet have set the release date for A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Again. While I’ve been working on the book, this has happened a half dozen times, with varying levels of publicity surrounding the date. This time we’re saying January 8th. How likely is this one? Well, honestly, I don’t…
Sanderson’s Second Law A few years back, I wrote an essay on creating magic systems that I titled Sanderson’s First Law. It had to do with the nature of foreshadowing as it relates to solving problems with magic. In that essay, I implied that I had other “laws” for magic systems that I’d someday talk…
Alternate ALCATRAZ Chapters + Updates The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation talks about why I shifted the book from third person to first person. My assistant has also uploaded the third person versions of the first two chapters, which you can compare with the published versions. I’ve spent all day recording new episodes of the Writing…
Annotation Alcatraz Author’s Foreword This is probably a good place to talk about the shift from third person into first person. The book was originally written in the third person. There was a narrator telling us this story–someone listed as “Cecil G. Bagsworth the Third” on the title page. (Cecil, by the way, was invented…
Taiwan Trip Haul Hey, all! I had a wonderful time in Taiwan, and I thought I’d post some of the things I came home with. I always mean to do this following a tour, and hopefully I’ll make a habit of it from here out. First up, I wanted to show a few of the…
My LTUE Schedule Life, the Universe & Everything, the local SF convention/symposium, starts tomorrow at Utah Valley University. I’ll be attending on Friday and Saturday, and my schedule is below. Venue: Sorensen Student Center Utah Valley University 800 W University Pkwy Orem, UT 84058 FRIDAY 1:00-3:00 p.m., Center Stage Writing Excuses Podcast (2 hours) Brandon…
Newsletter + Updates This is just a quick update as I recover from my Taiwan trip and get back into the swing of the second draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. First off, this week’s ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation talks about the dedication page. The most recent Writing Excuses episode draws back the curtain…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for February 2012 2012 Conventions: Taiwan, Orem, Australia Australia Australia, Las Vegas, BayCon, SDCC, Chattanooga, Gen Con Indy, Albuquerque, Dragon*Con Hello again. It’s Brandon’s assistant, Peter. This newsletter is mostly about the conventions Brandon is going to attend this year, so if you keep up with the blog regularly and have already…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for February 2012 2012 Conventions: Taiwan, Orem, Australia Australia Australia, Las Vegas, BayCon, SDCC, Chattanooga, Gen Con Indy, Albuquerque, Dragon*Con Hello again. It’s Brandon’s assistant, Peter. This newsletter is mostly about the conventions Brandon is going to attend this year, so if you keep up with the blog regularly and have already…
Annotation Alcatraz Dedication This book is for my father. It’s a tough call, to match all the people you want to honor with the right books. My mother got my first book, which was a good match for her because it was very easily appreciated by people who don’t read fantasy and sf. And, of…
New novella “Legion” up for preorder at Subterranean Press “Legion” is a novella I wrote on the flight home from France last summer. It came from an idea I’d been kicking around in my head for a few months, and the time seemed right to explore it on paper. As it turned out very well,…
Superstars Writing Seminar Prize Drawing The upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas that I’ll be an instructor for at the end of April/beginning of May is having a drawing. For details, I’ll just quote their press release below. The first time I taught at this seminar, I was blown away by how awesome an…
2012 Conventions 2012 Conventions: Taiwan, Orem, Australia Australia Australia, Las Vegas, BayCon, SDCC, Chattanooga, Gen Con Indy, Albuquerque, Dragon*Con Peter here filling in for Brandon since he’s on a flight to Taiwan for the book expo. Below you’ll find most of Brandon’s convention schedule for 2012. There might be a couple more one-day stop-ins with…
Annotation Alcatraz Half Title Page This will be my first book ever published that doesn’t have a map in it. There was never really talk of one. For reasons that will be explained in the book, I didn’t want to start with a map that might give away interesting plot elements about the geography of…
Alcatraz Annotations + Updates In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about brevity. Since all the chapters of my abandoned novel MYTHWALKER have now been uploaded, it’s time to start dishing out something else for your weekly bonus content. So my assistant has put up the first annotation for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS.…
Magic: Dark Ascension Prerelease Hey, all. The new Magic the Gathering set is coming out in a little while, and the prerelease is this weekend. Dan and I had a lot of fun at the prerelease last time, so we’re going to be doing it again–with a twist. Like for Innistrad, we’ll be going to…
Annotation Alcatraz Alcatraz Title Page Well, here’s something I wasn’t sure I’d ever be doing: the annotations for Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. I’m looking at the proofs right now (January 2007), and have to say I’m impressed–and a little bit amazed–at the whirlwind (at least in publishing terms) history of this book. I’ll talk…
Signed, leatherbound THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT auction for Worldbuilders charity Every year for the past several years, NAME OF THE WIND and THE WISE MAN’S FEAR author (and good buddy of mine) Patrick Rothfuss has run a charity drive where he matches at 50% donations to Heifer International through his Worldbuilders team…
Sanderson’s Second Law + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode covers more on fauna and flora. Check it out. My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts archive and the final chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He’s also put up my Sanderson’s Second Law article, which was first printed in the June 2011 issue of LEADING EDGE SCIENCE FICTION…
Soulcaster Fan Jewelry, Writing Excuses Season 7 & MYTHWALKER Forum member FeatherWriter posted this image of the Soulcaster that her mother made her for Christmas. Cool! Season 7 of the writing advice podcast Writing Excuses that I do with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells has just kicked off. In the first episode,…
First Draft Finished + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses episode is titled “Help, I Can’t End My Book!” This is the final podcast of this season for Howard, Mary, Dan, and me. Check it out. There’s a new chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up. My assistant has put up a new Twitter posts collection that includes my…
Mistborn Adventure Game Out Now + Updates My assistant has uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He also put up a new Twitter posts archive. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode features Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talking about character foils. Give it a listen. The biggest news for this week is that the long-awaited Mistborn…
Utah Signings This Week I’ll be signing twice in Utah this week in the run-up to Christmas. Details are below. Sorry, Idaho Falls folks, but I don’t currently plan to go there as I usually would this time of year. I need to keep buckling down here and finish writing A MEMORY OF LIGHT. As…
Where to buy signed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW + Updates First some updates. The naming rights auction for a Stormlight (or other) character that I talked about last week ends in 38 hours, as do most of Orion’s other auctions benefiting the UK charity Samaritans. My assistant Peter has put up another chapter…
Stormlight (or other) Naming Rights Charity Auction I know we just finished one of these for A MEMORY OF LIGHT and JordanCon, but while I was in the UK, Marcus from Gollancz/Orion told me about the charity auctions they were going to be doing. 100% of their proceeds go to the Samaritans charity there in…
Darrell Sweet For those who do not know, Darrell Sweet—illustrator of all of the Wheel of Time covers—has passed away. The first of his covers I can remember seeing was his beautiful cover for THE EYE OF THE WORLD. I’m sure it wasn’t actually the first, however. Mr. Sweet was one of the premier fantasy…
Interview, Giveaways, Ordering Deadline & Updates In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I build fantasy settings that you can use. It was a bit of an experimental episode; I hope you enjoy it. The deadline to order signed books and have them shipped to U.S. addresses in time for the…
Magic with Brandon, Monday the 5th Edition So, I’m going to be heading up to Epic Games on Monday to do a spot on Dungeon Crawlers Radio. (Listen live from 6:00 to 7:00 on Monday. Details below.) I realized that if I’m going to be in a game store, I must play some Magic! I…
Official NaNoWriMo Pep Talk + Updates My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts collection and another MYTHWALKER chapter. This is a novel that I abandoned back in 2001, but I cannibalized the parts that were working into WARBREAKER when I started writing that. This chapter contains the first scene that another scene in…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for November 2011 Hi all! A note directly from Brandon here. I’m proud to present the new Mistborn book for you all, THE ALLOY OF LAW. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply…
Mistborn & Stormlight gamer bags + Updates In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about characters who do dumb things. There are a lot of traps that writers fall into involving this, and we talk about how to avoid them. InkWing has a limited number of Mistborn- and…
ALLOY illustrations, Blood and Bloody Ashes Shirt + Updates I’m in the middle of my tour for THE ALLOY OF LAW right now; I’m in Houston today and will be in London by Saturday. If you want email reminders when I’ll be near you, sign up and tell me your city. Meanwhile this year’s Great…
Mysterious Galaxy can ship you THE ALLOY OF LAW Hey all, just a quick note that Mysterious Galaxy, where I signed last night in San Diego, now has a bunch of autographed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW. If you want a copy and couldn’t get one from Sam Weller’s before they sold out, give…
New Wheel of Time Great Hunt Well, I’m off on my tour. The THE ALLOY OF LAW release party was a blast, even though the bookstore was a little light on copies. We managed to get everyone a book, I think. So huzzah, and forward. One of the things I announced yesterday on Twitter and…
THE ALLOY OF LAW midnight release tonight, Fan Trailer + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode features Jonathan Mayberry talking with Mary, Howard, and Dan about avoiding pigeonholing yourself as a writer. There’s a new chapter of my unfinished 2001 book MYTHWALKER up. The big news, of course, is the release of my new…
Mistborn: THE ALLOY OF LAW comes out in one week First, on an unrelated topic, the charity auction for getting your name in A MEMORY OF LIGHT is now live. There will be one winner, and the auction ends November 10th. You can also still donate to the drawing through December 1st and have a…
Alloy of Law T-shirt, Infinity Blade novella on Nook + Updates My assistant Becky wanted me to do one last shout-out for international signed book orders. The deadline is tonight, if you want them signed before I leave on tour. Anything you order after right now I won’t be able to sign until I return from the UK…
Holiday deadline, Mistborn pumpkin & Updates Here’s a really cool Mistborn pumpkin by deviantART member joh-wee. She calls it “Survivor of the Flames.” Be sure to check out the full image and the unlit version. My assistant Becky wanted me to remind international readers that the deadline for ordering books so I can sign them before…
Mistborn UK ebooks, Bulgarian ALLOY release, Mistborn metal music I’m very happy to report that the Mistborn trilogy ebooks are now, at long last, available again in the UK (and Australia and New Zealand) in what should be error-free editions (unlike the old versions that used to be available). This has been longer in coming…
Play Magic with Me: Saturday the 22nd Edition I had so much fun with the draft we did at Epic Games last month that Dan and I decided we’d do it again, only try to make it more accessible to people. So, we’re going to be going back to Epic Games (in West Valley Utah)…
THE ALLOY OF LAW in three weeks + Updates In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, award-winning editor Lou Anders joins Dan, Mary, and Howard to discuss writing endings. Give it a listen. My assistant posted another chapter of my abandoned novel MYTHWALKER from 2001. MISTBORN: THE ALLOY OF LAW will be released in…
My New York Comic Con Schedule NYCC is this weekend, and I’ll be there Saturday only. Here’s my schedule. Hope to see you there! But if you live in the area and can’t make it to the convention, I’ll be back in November for the THE ALLOY OF LAW tour. Check out my events calendar.…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT names + Updates I’ve put up another Twitter archive post. And as I continue writing the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT (now up to 75% of my 300,000-word projection), keep your eye on Twitter and Facebook. Each time I come across a spot in the book where I need to insert…
Get a personalized copy of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT + Holiday shipping Now that the mass market paperback of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT has been released, I’ve added signed hardcover copies of the book to my online store. I will personalize each copy to your request—you can have me write something like “Music to dazzle” or “Iron…
A MEMORY OF LIGHT Naming Rights for JordanCon and the Mayo Clinic Short version: I’m going to be drawing a bunch of names to adapt for use in A MEMORY OF LIGHT. To add your name to the pool, donate here. — EDIT: The donation period is over, now! Sorry. We will do something like…
New novella INFINITY BLADE: AWAKENING + Updates First some updates. There’s a new MYTHWALKER chapter up, and this week’s Writing Excuses episode features Pyr editorial director Lou Anders talking about the Hollywood Formula. In addition, Ta’veren Tees has a new shirt up for preorder, Tai’shar Manetheren, and they also have a coupon code. SHORT VERSION…
Fantasy Magazine interview with Leigh Butler + Updates Leigh Butler interviewed me for Fantasy Magazine. The interview talks about THE ALLOY OF LAW, the Stormlight Archive, the Wheel of Time, THE RITHMATIST, and rules of magic among other topics. It’s fairly extensive, so check it out. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode features Patrick Rothfuss’s…
Magic: The Gathering Tonight in West Valley Tonight is the prerelease for Innistrad, which features mechanics such as double-faced cards. The set looks cool, so I’ve decided to head up to Epic Puzzles & Games and try it out tonight. The details are below. If you plan to come, please get there around 11:30 and…
Mistborn Fan Trailer + Updates There’s a new chapter of my unfinished 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up. This is the chapter where things really start to happen. I’ve also uploaded a new collection of Twitter posts. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another that was recorded at the World Science Fiction Convention this year, and…
November 2011 UK Signing Tour My new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW, will be released on November 8th in North America and November 10th in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. (See here for how to get a signed copy of the U.S. hardcover, and you can read the first six chapters for free…
THE ALLOY OF LAW giveaways & ebooks + updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another one that was recorded at the World Science Fiction Convention. It features Lauren Beukes and talks about writing other cultures. Check it out. There’s a new MYTHWALKER chapter up. This one introduces Vvenna, who eventually became Vivenna in…
Updates + ALCATRAZ ebooks in French At the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno a couple of weeks ago, we recorded a few Writing Excuses podcast episodes. The first one features Patrick Rothfuss, and we discussed suspension of disbelief. Check it out. I’ve put up the third chapter of my unfinished novel MYTHWALKER from ten…
THE WAY OF KINGS interior illustrations now uploaded Here are all the interior illustrations from THE WAY OF KINGS. This should be especially useful if you’ve been squinting at the illustrations in the ebook. There’s also a link to the cover illustration wallpapers, which you can download if you are a Tor.com member.
Reddit IAmA, Signed THE WAY OF KINGS + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary, Dan, Howard, and me covers worldbuilding communications technology. The state of communications technology can have a wide-reaching effect on your story, so give it a listen. My assistant has uploaded another chapter of my unfinished and abandoned novel…
A NIGHT OF BLACKER DARKNESS My buddy and Writing Excuses cohost Dan Wells recently released his hilarious gothic vampire novel A NIGHT OF BLACKER DARKNESS as an ebook. I’m embedding a preview of it below, and you can get it on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Smashwords. This is still one of my personal favorite novels—quirky…
Forum move, ALLOY preview, Worldcon costumes + Updates The site that has hosted my forums for years, the Official Time-Waster’s Guide, has now officially gone offline. The front page hadn’t really been updated in years as staff members moved on to other projects, and few areas of the forum were still active, so it’s not…
THE ALLOY OF LAW Release Events This is a long post. If you want to know how to get numbered copies of MISTBORN: THE ALLOY OF LAW, scroll down. ITEM #1: THE TOUR This year’s tour will have two legs: A North American tour (for the first time it’s not just a U.S. tour—there’s a…
MYTHWALKER Prologue + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode covers making descriptions serve multiple purposes. This helps keep your descriptive passages from being dry, among other things. Give it a listen. I haven’t mentioned it here yet, but Tor.com put up chapter five of my new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW. There will…
My Worldcon Schedule Next week I’ll be at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, in Reno. My schedule is below, with a few comments from me interspersed. Worldcon is a great place to meet industry pros, so I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there. Highlights for me this year include the live…
Final WARBREAKER Annotation + Updates On this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talk about Orson Scott Card’s M.I.C.E. Quotient. That stands for Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event, and it is a valuable tool for improving your writing. The final WARBREAKER annotation is up. Next week my assistant Peter will start…
Annotation Warbreaker Book Wrap-Up And . . . those are the annotations! I hope you enjoyed reading them. As you can probably tell, I write them rather quickly. This, of course, is to give them that feel of an improvisational director’s commentary. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that when I work…
Signing tonight in West Jordan with Peter Orullian Just a quick reminder that I’ll be signing in West Jordan tonight. I’m going to be driving back from Idaho, so if I end up a tiny bit late that will be why. But I shouldn’t be late. I’ll try to bring some of the Elendel Daily…
Annotation Warbreaker Epilogue The Phantoms Charge Away Did they succeed? Yes, they did. The Lifeless were destroyed, and only a couple of the phantoms were lost. That still leaves Hallandren with a very powerful army. Fortunately, Siri and Susebron are the ones in charge of it, so things will be all right for a little…
Mistborn Adventure Game preorders + Updates Today’s WARBREAKER annotation covers the epilogue. There’s just one annotation left, folks. The WARBREAKER html version is also now completely uploaded. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast has another of our microcasting episodes. Mary, Howard, Dan, and I fielded questions from people on Twitter and answered them briefly. We discussed…
Last chance to vote for the Hugos The deadline to turn in your filled-out ballots for the Hugo Awards is this Sunday night, July 31st, at midnight Pacific time. I’ve talked about this before, but if you weren’t aware and would like to vote for the Hugos, you can still become a registered member of…
THE ALLOY OF LAW Signing Tour THE ALLOY OF LAW, my new Mistborn novel set 341 years after the events of THE HERO OF AGES, is coming out on November 8th. If you haven’t been aware, there are preview chapters up at Tor.com; chapter four just went up today. Below is my U.S. and Canada…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Eight Vasher Finds Vivenna I’m torn about this ending. It seems like this last chapter is a little anticlimactic, and yet at the same time, there is still the major conflict of the book to resolve. Or is it the major conflict of the book? Probably not, as I think about it.…
Australia 2012 visit, Signings + Updates I’ve added some events to my events calendar. First up is a joint signing with Peter Orullian (The Unremembered) in West Jordan on August 4th. I also added three conventions I’ll be going to in Australia in April 2012; there will probably be bookstore signings between these events, but…
Q&A Recording, T-Shirts & Updates I had a great time at Polaris in Toronto this past weekend. If you couldn’t be there, you can check out an mp3 of the Q&A session that I did, which @Thesleepingwolf has posted online here. (If you want to download it and can’t figure out which link to use,…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Seven Siri Is Led Up to a Room with an Altar Well, welcome to my favorite chapter in the book. (Of course, I do tend to say that about the climactic chapters of each book.) For me, this is the kind of chapter that drives one to write a book. The chance…
THE ALLOY OF LAW Sample Chapters First a couple of updates. There’s a new Warbreaker annotation up covering chapter 54 (with more about Old Chaps’s background, aside from the usual discussion about the climax), and there’s a new collection of Twitter posts. And the second Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary Robinette Kowal as an…
My San Diego Comic-Con schedule I’m on my way to the Polaris convention in Toronto right now (the schedule for that is here, with one correction: the Details, Filler, and Plot panel is now Saturday at 11 and the Ethics and the Wheel of Time panel is Sunday at noon). But since Comic-Con starts earlier…
My Toronto Convention Schedule It’s been listed on my events calendar for months, but in case you live near Toronto and weren’t aware, I will be there this weekend for Polaris 25. My schedule is below. Address: Sheraton Parkway Toronto North 600 Highway 7 East Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada L4B 1B2 FRIDAY 06:00 p.m., York…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Six Vivenna Saves Vasher—Kind Of Vivenna has a few things going for her here. First off, Denth has gotten rid of his Breath. He doesn’t want to have it as he tortures Vasher. It made him too aware, too pained. Being a drab as he does it is easier for him. With…
Updates + Sanderson’s Second Law in The Leading Edge Fantasy Faction did a video interview of me while I was in Europe. The result is over 30 minutes long, and covers topics such as the Way of the Kings, the Alloy of Law, Mistborn as a series, my writing process, The Wheel of Time, and…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-FIve Treledees Almost Tells Siri How to Pass On the God King’s Breath We get to see more of Siri taking charge here. In this tense situation, a lot of others would have been reduced to hysterics, but she’s come into her own, taking command, trying to get the information she needs.…
THE WAY OF KINGS Wins the David Gemmell Legend Award I’ve put up a new WARBREAKER annotation about chapter 55. Plus there’s also a new Writing Excuses episode up on professional organizations. As our cohost Mary Robinette Kowal is also the vice president of SFWA, she has many useful things to say on the topic.…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Four Vivenna Meets with the Beggar, Then Goes to Get Nightblood She lays it on a little thick here. But hey, if you’re a beggar, sometimes you like to be brownnosed. Plus, she’s new to this kind of thing, and she did give him a very pretty handkerchief. . . . It…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifty-Three Vivenna Wonders Where Vasher Is This is just a quick scene to update you on what Vivenna is doing. It’s approaching morning, so she’s been sitting and stewing all night. I felt we needed to at least get a glimpse of her here. If you can’t tell, the avalanche has begun.…
France Schedule + Mary Robinette Kowal Joins Writing Excuses The rest of my France schedule is below. But first a couple of updates. Writing Excuses enters its sixth season with an exciting announcement: Mary Robinette Kowal joins Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and me as our fourth full-time cast member. For the first episode of the…
Signing in Oslo Tomorrow Today my flight out of Strasbourg was delayed, so I missed my connecting flight to Oslo in Amsterdam. The result of that was an eight-hour wait in Amsterdam before the next flight, so I got to hang out with some of the local readers while eating pancakes and fries. If you’re…
I’m going to France, Norway, the UK, and France again This morning my plane took off for the first leg of my European tour. The flight was delayed, but I have a long layover in Cincinnati, so I’ll still get there in time for my connection. Anyway, here is my schedule of events. Les Imaginales,…
Updates + Hugo Voter Packet We’ve got a few more parts of the website working. The percentage bars on the left column are now functional again, and my assistant was able to put up another Twitter posts collection. New annotations and library items will have to wait for later though. There are two new Writing…
Gemmell Award Nominations + Updates The short list of six nominees for the David Gemmell Legend Award is out, and for the second year in a row I have two books on the list. Towers of Midnight and The Way of Kings join Brent Weeks’s The Black Prism, Pierre Pevel’s The Alchemist in the Shadows,…
More of “I Hate Dragons” Thank you all for helping me out with the Delta situation (and for helping my brother win his goofy contest). I wanted to do something nice, so I dredged up the chapters I wrote of “I Hate Dragons” as a writing exercise a few months back. I had originally written…
Anyone out there work for Delta Air Lines? Two big updates for today. The first is related to a tweet I made last night. I’m scheduled to fly to France later this month, and that trip is going to be smack-dab in the middle of working on the last WoT book. I worry that the…
My Penguicon Schedule This weekend I’m a guest of honor at Penguicon, which is a hybrid convention for science fiction/fantasy and open source software. Howard Tayler is the toastmaster, so it should be a lot of fun. If you’re in the Detroit area, consider registering at the door if you haven’t preregistered. Penguicon Troy Marriott…
Writing Excuses Nominated for a Hugo Award First off, there’s a new Warbreaker annotation that covers Vasher sneaking into the God King’s palace. It also talks about why one character doesn’t just kill another character. This week’s Writing Excuses episode, season 5 episode 34, covers story bibles. Dan, Howard, and I talk about different ways…
Stormlight Archive Name Auction Winner, T-Shirts + Updates Last week I talked about the charity auction to get your name in the next Stormlight Archive book. Well, the auction is now over. The winner is Jason Lynn Pittman, and his winning bid was $1,825, which will go to support Utah’s science fiction and fantasy symposium…
My JordanCon Schedule + Updates Tomorrow my assistant Peter and I are off to JordanCon in Atlanta. Their full schedule is listed here. My panels are below. Please pay special attention to the details of the Magic draft on Friday night, if you want to participate. There are also a couple of other updates. TOWERS…
Appear in the Sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS Ever since I started announcing on Twitter the names of fans that I was adapting to go into THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, readers have been asking me how to get their names put into the next book. Well, there will be another oppoturnity…
UK Cover Art for THE ALLOY OF LAW If you’re in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand and have been wondering how the cover art of Gollancz’s version of the next Mistborn book will appear, look no further. If you missed the US Tor cover and the cover flap synopsis, head over to Tor.com to…
Name Auction Coming, Music + Updates Want your name to appear as a character in the Stormlight Archive? There’s going to be an auction for just that starting on Wednesday to benefit the Life, the Universe, & Everything (LTUE) symposium. I’ll post more details when the auction begins. This year’s LTUE hosted the recording of…
Dan Wells says, “I don’t want to kill you.” This is just a quick note to say that my Writing Excuses cohost Dan Wells’s final John Cleaver book in the trilogy that began with I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER is out in both hardcover and trade paperback. The title is I DON’T WANT TO…
Siri and Susebron Decide to Reveal What Has Been Done to Him
Tsunami Relief Auctions, Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers Tor has donated a few of my books for auction at Genre for Japan, a charity drive to support the British Red Cross’s Japan Tsunami Appeal. The auctions include a THE WAY OF KINGS audiobook, hardcovers of THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, and a…
Hugo Nomination Deadline TomorrowHugo Nomination Deadline Tomorrow Back in January I posted about nominating and voting for the Hugo Awards. Well, if you’re eligible to nominate (you needed to be a registered Worldcon member by the end of January, or have been a member of last year’s Worldcon), the nomination deadline is tomorrow night. If…
Suvudu Cage Match: Vin vs. Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander Over at Suvudu, Vin is up against Zedd from Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. Here’s how I think the match would go down. Vin crouched behind the earthen bank, the scent of burned wood pungent in her nose. A stump smoldered nearby, specks of red flaring…
This annotation is almost all spoilers, I’m afraid.
WARBREAKER Annotation,Tweets, and Writing Excuses Episode on Rewriting Tracy Hickman and Dave Wolverton once again joined Dan and Howard for a podcast episode of Writing Excuses at the recent symposium on Life, the Universe, and Everything in Provo. This time they covered rewriting. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation is almost all about spoilers from chapter…
Vericon Schedule, Signing in Boston Area, ALLOY OF LAW Cover This weekend I’ll be Guest of Honor at Vericon at Harvard University. Other guests include Austin Grossman, Holly Black, Catherine Asaro, Sarah Smith, Ellen Kushner, and Delia Sherman. My schedule is below, and the full schedule is here. All of us will also be signing…
Wheel of Time Shirts There haven’t ever, so far as I know, been official Wheel of Time T-shirts. A lot of people have asked where they can get them. Finally we have a place: Ta’veren Tees. I’ve got a few of the shirts, and they’re awesome. (Particularly the Far Dareis Mai one.) Their press release…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Six Vivenna Sits Alone and Thinks about Her Place in the World Now Vivenna needed a “Who am I?” moment. I struggled with this chapter because I worried it was simply about a character who sits around and thinks. I tend to put a lot of those into my books, and I…
Updates & Tweets This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode covers e-publishing. This one was recorded at Life, the Universe & Everything, and Tracy Hickman and Dave Wolverton/Farland join Howard and Dan. I was at ConDFW that weekend. There’s a new Twitter posts collection up, covering the first half of this month. And the newest WARBREAKER…
Suvudu Cage Matches I blogged briefly yesterday about the Suvudu cage matches. I thought I’d dig into it a little further today, as I consider Monday updates (normally) to be more “Here’s what’s going on” updates. I prefer to move more in-depth posts to other days. So, the Suvudu cage match. First off, I’d like…
Reader Polls + Updates There have been a couple of reader polls lately that my books did well in. SFFWorld polled its forum members for readers’ favorite books of 2010, and THE WAY OF KINGS came out on top, with TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT in second. In addition, Tor.com held a poll to determine the best…
Siri and Susebron Talk about How the Next God King is Created
Review of THE WISE MAN’S FEAR First some updates. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode features Sherrilyn Kenyon talking about how to make your readers fear for your characters. The newest WARBREAKER annotation is on a climactic moment in the Siri/Susebron relationship. And there’s a new batch of Twitter posts up, covering the past month.…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Three Vivenna Awakens in Vasher’s Care Vivenna, as a character, was divided into two parts in my head. There was the Vivenna of the first half of the book, who was haughty and misled, though determined and self-confident. Then there was the break in the middle, where everything was taken away from…
French Interview + Updates While I was at the Utopiales convention I sat down for an interview with the great folks at Elbakin.net. (They’re the same ones who gave MISTBORN an award; see pictures in my convention report.) Well, they’ve now posted the interview in French, and it covers a ton of different topics. (There’s…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Forty-Two Lightsong Irritates Allmother’s Priestesses I believe I mentioned earlier why the squirrel is more capable than Llarimar expected it to be. The quality of the Commands (meaning the skill of the Awakener) is very important to Lifeless, particularly those who might not have been very skilled in life to begin with.…
Going to Dallas/Fort Worth + Updates I’ll be a guest of honor at ConDFW this weekend. My convention schedule is below. But first some updates. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another of the ones that Dan, Howard, and I recorded at the Superstars Writing Seminar. For this episode, Kevin J. Anderson joins us…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Forty-One Vivenna, Sick and Disoriented, Gets Turned Away by the Restaurant Keeper One of the ways I decided to make Vivenna’s sections here work better was by enhancing the fuzziness of her mind. By giving her this sense of numbness, I hope to indicate that something is not right with her. It’s…
Another Writing Excuses Video & WARBREAKER Annotation We’ve got another Writing Excuses video up for you. This week’s podcast episode covers using holidays in fantasy and science fiction, and Mary Robinette Kowal and Dave Wolverton/David Farland one again join Dan and Howard to discuss the topic. Moses Siregar III of Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing filmed…
Writing Excuses Video + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode covers film considerations, and Mary Robinette Kowal and Dave Wolverton/David Farland join Dan and Howard to discuss the topic. Appropriately, this episode was also filmed by Moses Siregar III of Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing, and the video is up on YouTube. The most recent…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Forty Siri Bullies Treledees Treledees, by the way, used to be called Tridees. My editor didn’t like the name, so I swapped it. I wanted a good, strong scene where we could see that Siri made the decision to keep her hair in check. Again, I’m moving her and Vivenna into different…
For Your Nomination Consideration + Worldcon Deadline Hugo Award nomination season began this month, so I thought I’d let you know what categories my works are eligible in. If you don’t know what the Hugo Awards are or how nominating and voting works, I also talk about that below. If you want to nominate, the…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Nine Vivenna Begs This chapter and the next one were originally a single chapter. In the drafting process, I realized that my original chapter just wouldn’t do. I’d been in a hurry to get on with Vivenna’s viewpoint, and I had been worried about spending a lot of time on the streets…
Updates + Tweets January 17-20 This week’s episode of Writing Excuses is one of those that was recorded during the Superstars Writing Seminar, and it’s on alternate history. I was doing a panel at the time, but Eric Flint and Mary Robinette Kowal were there with Howard and Dan to shed light on the topic.…
Updates + Tweets January 10-17 In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Howard, and I go over more dialogue writing exercises. By the way, we recorded seven great episodes at this past weekend’s Superstars Writing Seminar, with guests Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kevin J. Anderson, Eric Flint, David Farland, and Mary Robinette Kowal, so you have…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Seven Vivenna Wanders, Then Is Confronted by a Thief Who Takes Her Dress The next few Vivenna chapters are short. I wanted to convey that she’s on the streets for a time, but didn’t want us to have to wallow in her problems. I’ve seen books do that quite well, and I…
Updates, Tor.com Q&A, and Tweets January 6-10 In this week’s Writing Excuses episode, we talk about fulfilling promises to your readers, and we give specific examples from our own stories and others’. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation covers Vivenna’s character arc hitting rock bottom. I also talk about how to give your Breath away one…
Wrapping Up My Time Off As I stated in a blog post in the early fall, I took the months of September–December inclusive off from major projects. I do this to give myself some breathing room creatively and work on projects I don’t have a contract for. I also like to do writing exercises, try…
Siri Grows Her Hair for Susebron and Talks about Seduction
Updates + THE WAY OF KINGS in the UK This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode with Dan Wells and Howard Tayler is called Offending Your Readers—and specifically covers various ways you might offend your readers and how to avoid it. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation is about chapter 36, which is one of the most…
Superstars Writing Seminar Panel Schedule, January 13-15 Here’s the schedule of panels for the next Superstars Writing Seminar, which will be held in Salt Lake City this coming month. As you can see from the list of topics, this three-day seminar is packed with great stuff, no-nonsense and practical material taught by six bestselling authors.…
Your writing exercises and mine: “I Hate Dragons” 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, I posted them here. We did some analysis of other people’s writing on…
Interviews, Gemmell Award Nominations, Annotation There are two new interviews with me out there. First is this one at The Fringe, which covers some familiar ground with a few new questions. And then here’s one at Stormblessed, which sheds some new light on details in THE WAY OF KINGS. Both THE WAY OF KINGS and…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Five Vivenna Awakes, Bound by Vasher This chapter—with what happens in the latter part of it—is the most dangerous in the book. Dangerous to me as an author, I mean. I love good plot twists, but I worry about leaving them without proper foreshadowing. I’ve never done something as drastic as I…
Annotations, Writing Excuses, & Superstars Special The most recent WARBREAKER annotation covers Lightsong’s line, “My dear, did you just try to prove the existence of God with your cleavage?” among other topics. You may notice a bit of a slowdown in annotations from this point forward; weeks where only one annotation gets posted will be…
Writing Exercise: Dialogue Hey, all. If you weren’t watching twitter/facebook, I recently suggested a group writing exercise. I’m reposting here for those who watch only the blog. The next paragraphs have the earlier posts, as I originally wrote them. You guys want to do a writing exercise together? I’ve been wanting to do some dialogue…
Lightsong and Blushweaver Watch the Priests in the Arena
Writing Excuses Podcast Award Nomination, Worldbuilders Charity Drive Writing Excuses has been nominated for a Podcast Award in the Education category. We’re up against stiff competition from the likes of Radio Lab and Grammar Girl, so if you think we’d be a deserving recipient, go over there and vote. Apparently you can vote once every…
Final holiday shipping deadline Peter here. Brandon’s other assistant Becky wanted me to make one more blog post about signed book shipping. So that books shipped inside the U.S. by Priority Mail may arrive in time for Christmas, all orders must be in by midnight the night of December 12th. Becky will get Brandon to…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Three Vivenna and the Mercenaries Wait in the Safe House after the Lifeless Attack on the Slumlords Why does Jewels bother sewing up Clod? Why fix Lifeless at all? Denth’s answer is a fairly good one, but it could use some more explanation. You see, when one makes a Lifeless, the reason…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Two Siri Lies in Bed and Decides to Take Charge Reading through this scene again, I feel like it needs a bit of a trim. Ah well. There are always going to be sections like that that make it through. I felt that there needed to be a scene where Siri finally…
Questions, 30% Off Sale, Signings, Awards & Updates Do you have a question for me? Tor.com is soliciting questions for the next three days which they’ll then compile and send my way. I’m also taking questions on Goodreads’s Fantasy Book Club this month. They have one thread for questions about THE WAY OF KINGS and…
Alcatraz Four Release + Michael Whelan Prints One important bit of news is that the fourth Alcatraz book, ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS, was released officially in stores this week. I had reports of it being found on store shelves as early as last week, maybe even the week before. So it’s around. I’m very…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty One Vivenna Visits the Idrian Slums Vivenna probably should have expected what she would find here. She knows that the slumlords, who are Idrians, run whorehouses and illegal fighting leagues. However, she deluded herself into assuming that they employ Hallandren whores or that the fights aren’t all that bad. I think…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Thirty Lightsong Tries Pottery It’s been a while since one of the gods tried something like this. Lightsong isn’t the first, of course, to wonder at his old life and realize that some of his skills and abilities came with him to his new one. But he’s the first of this generation…
Updates + Writing Seminar In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Howard Tayler and I are joined by Scott Westerfeld to discuss visual components of novels. And in the most recent WARBREAKER annotations I talk about Vivenna’s plottings with Denth and Susebron’s spelling, among other things. In January I’ll be teaching at the Superstars Writing…
Vivenna Drinks Juice at an Outdoor Restaurant and Plans the Meeting with the Idrian Leaders in the City
France & Conventions As you may know I spent little over a week in France this month as a guest of the Utopiales convention in Nantes and of my publisher, Orbit France. This was, unequivocally, an awesome experience. Pemberly and I thoroughly enjoyed our time meeting with French fans, and my publisher certainly took good…
Interviews, Superstars Writing Seminar & Updates This past week’s WARBREAKER annotations cover the writing rule that characters who do things are more interesting than those who don’t, who followed Vasher into the palace, naked athletic competitions, and Lightsong’s indolence. In the most recent Writing Excuses episode, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and I are again joined by John…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Seven Bluefingers Avoids Siri, So She Goes to Find Lightsong I considered having the men performing the athletics competitions in the court be naked. After all, there’s been so much female nudity in the book so far that it would only be fair to balance it out. . . . I decided…
Order a personalized THE GATHERING STORM + Holiday shipping deadlines Peter here. Brandon got back from his book tour yesterday, but Pemberly told me that he went right to bed and slept for 15 hours straight. Anyway, the result of this is that Brandon is no longer out flying from state to state or country…
Signing Tuesday in Paris Peter here again, since Brandon is still in France. There’s a new Writing Excuses podcast episode up where Brandon, Dan, and Howard answer five mostly unrelated questions about writing. The questions they answered are listed here. And there’s a new WARBREAKER annotation up covering chapter twenty-five, largely about religion. Brandon will…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Five Vivenna and the Mercenaries Attack the Salt Merchant’s Shop A very quick and efficient way to hurt the future Hallandren war. Denth doesn’t mention that there are ways of preserving meat (drying and smoking) that don’t require salt—but even in most jerky methods, one uses a brine solution, so his argument…
Nantes, France Utopiales Convention Schedule + Signing in Paris There’s a new Writing Excuses podcast episode up where John Brown joins Howard, Dan, and me to discuss the creative process. Give it a listen. Tomorrow I’m flying to France to attend the Utopialies science fiction convention in Nantes. My schedule is below. (It seems to…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for November 2010 TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT IS OUT Hi there. It’s Brandon’s assistant Peter writing the newsletter this time. Brandon is currently at a signing in Cincinnati, and any spare minutes he does have he’ll probably spend writing, so it falls to me to write the newsletter. You’re receiving this because you…
Newsletter + Tweets October 28-November 4 Brandon’s assistant Peter here while Brandon is out on tour. Um, TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT has been released! I sent out a newsletter about that and a few other things yesterday. I also talk about the deadline for ordering stuff from Brandon’s store in time for Christmas delivery. You can…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Four Siri Visits the Palace Library The Priests here think that Siri is making a play for power, asserting her will in the palace. They wouldn’t have stopped her from reading in the library, if she’d wanted to. Treledees just wants to enforce his will over her and show that she can’t…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twenty-Three Lightsong Visits Blushweaver While She’s Enjoying a Gardener’s Art One of the things I wanted to do with this book was come up with different kinds of art that the gods could enjoy—things that we wouldn’t normally look at as traditional “art” but which in this world have been developed to…
Updates, Interview, & Superstars Writing Seminar First some updates. In the most recent Writing Excuses episode we cover the excuses that keep you from writing. And recent WARBREAKER annotations talk about Vasher infiltrating the palace, Lightsong playing Terachin, and Clod’s identity. TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT comes out in slightly less than one week. Yesterday I went…
Vasher Awakens His Clothing, Then Leaps off the Palace
TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Preorders, Tower Guard, Trailer First some housekeeping. The most recent Writing Excuses podcast is on avoiding melodrama. And the most recent WARBREAKER annotations cover Clod and the God King’s secret (a big spoiler if you haven’t read the book!). TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT will be released in fourteen days and seven hours. If you want to order a…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twenty Bluefingers Warns Siri Outside the God King’s Chamber I’ll admit that many of Siri’s thoughts here are complaints I myself have. She wonders why Bluefingers had to be so cryptic. It’s a weak literary device, in my opinion, always having people with knowledge tease with it but never give the full…
Another Long and Rambling Post™ on Future Books All, Let’s do a quick (okay, it’s me, so it won’t be quick) update to let everyone know what’s going on here at Dragonsteel Entertainment HQ. (Also known as me sitting on a chair in my bedroom while my eight-month-old son throws half-eaten graham crackers at me.)…
Updates + Video of Fantasy Authors Panel I have a long update coming probably tomorrow on the final Wheel of Time book A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the next Stormlight Archive book, sequels to other books I’ve written, and other projects. But for now just a quick post. The most recent WARBREAKER annotations cover Vivenna reading…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Eighteen Siri Decides to Spite the Priests, Then Reverses That Decision This chapter involves a bit of a backslide for both Siri and Lightsong. It was important to establish that they, as characters, are still the same people that you started reading the book about—even if both of them are being forced…
New York Comic Con Schedule I’m heading to the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center this weekend. I’ll only be at two events: a panel and a booth signing. My schedule follows. Hope to see you there! FRIDAY Fantasy Writers Panel 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m., Room 1A15 Join authors Joe Abercrombie (Best Served Cold),…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Seventeen Vivenna Returns to a Ransacked Home I’m a little annoyed at myself that it took so long to introduce Jewels. Here we are in chapter seventeen and she still hasn’t shown up. She barely gets a mention here. Unfortunately, I knew that her arrival would present problems for Vivenna, so I…
Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship Winner + Updates Back in June I mentioned the Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship given out by TarValon.net and awarded based on applicants’ essays on the topic “How I plan to use my studies to become a Servant of All.” Well, the winner of this year’s scholarship has been announced, and it’s…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Sixteen Lightsong Listens to the Priests Discuss War Is this an antiwar novel? I’m not sure, honestly. I didn’t sit down to write one, certainly. I rarely try to interject messages into my books, though sometimes they worm their way in. (The Alcatraz books are particularly bad about this.) A war here…
Tower Guard program + Signed & Numbered TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT The book’s release is getting closer, folks. Are you excited yet? Dragonmount has announced the Tower Guard program for the upcoming book tour, similar to the Storm Leaders program from last year. Basically, this is an opportunity for a few hardcore fans in each city…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifteen Part 2 Vivenna Sees Vasher I’m sorry that we don’t get to see Vasher as much as you all want. I considered adding more chapters in. I considered it several times during several rewrites. In the end, I just decided that his viewpoints had to remain as they were in the…
Registering for Worldcon, TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT News, InkWing T-Shirt The World Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon for short, is held in a different city throughout the world each year. Next year it will be in Reno, Nevada, from August 17th through 21st. Hundreds of professionals in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror field congregate along with…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fifteen Siri Sees the God King I think this is my favorite plotline of the book. The Siri/God King one, I mean. It’s hard to choose, but this is the one that I felt most interested in. (Though Lightsong’s ending chapters are powerful too.) I wanted the God King to be an…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fourteen Part 2 Vivenna Enters the Court Color harmonics are one of the things in this book that, I think, have some very interesting philosophical implications. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of perfect pitch. Pitches and tones are an absolute; music isn’t just something we humans devise and construct out…
TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Prologue ebook Released + Updates + Orem Library As of midnight last night, the prologue ebook for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT is now available to buy from the usual ebook stores: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc. There is also an audiobook version on Audible. Some people have wondered who would…
Guest Blogging, Babel Clash, Interviews, Authorpalooza Tomorrow, and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Tour Peter here again. Brandon is back from his tour, but he’s been very active online everywhere except his own website, it seems! First up, last weekend John Scalzi’s Whatever blog featured a guest post essay by Brandon entitled Postmodernism in Fantasy. For people…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Fourteen Lightsong and Blushweaver This is another of the scenes I revised heavily to make the conversation between Lightsong and Blushweaver more snappy. I work very hard in the beginning of the book to establish their personalities and their dialogue, and so the first few chapters were revised more heavily than the…
The Great Hunt Completed! Peter here again. Today at around 9:00 p.m. in Venice, Italy, intrepid Wheel of Time fan Federico located the final The Great Hunt code’s hiding place . . . and confirmed that the code was no longer there. Maybe someone saw Brandon’s friend Ryan place it on top of this photo…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Twelve Lightsong Hears Petitions The concept of petitions—and the gods being able to heal someone one time—grew out of my desire to have something about them that was miraculous. Something obvious, something more than just an ability to make vague prophecies. Their Breath auras are amazing, true, but an Awakener with a…
The Great Hunt Update Hi all, Brandon’s assistant Peter here. He’s off on his tour (Thursday’s stop is in the Chicago area), so he doesn’t have a lot of time to update the blog. He did write one blog post ahead of time, which I’ll post tomorrow probably. And you can keep track of his…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for September 2010 THE WAY OF KINGS IS OUT Hello! This is Brandon writing the newsletter this time around. (Sometimes, my assistant Peter does it, sometimes my wife Emily does it.) You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Nine Vivenna as a Viewpoint Character Generally, Vivenna is the readers’ least favorite character in the book. I can see why that is. Siri gets to be the flamboyant younger sister, Lightsong the pithy courtier, and Vasher the mysterious unknown. Vivenna, then, is saddled with the responsibility of being the older sister…
THE WAY OF KINGS Is Out It’s out. It’s finally out. I hadn’t expected this day to come for years yet. I had a careful path set up to doing the Stormlight Archive. Writing standalone novels and trilogies for a few more years yet, until I had the reputation both with fans and the publisher…
It’s Here This post originally appeared on Tor.com. I started writing my first novel when I was fifteen years old. I didn’t have a computer; I had an old, electric typewriter. It would remember your file on a disc, but it was really just a printer with an attached bare-bones word processor. (It had a…
Play Magic with Brandon at Dragon*Con Updates Guys, THE WAY OF KINGS comes out tomorrow! Wow. So long spent waiting. Look on Tor.com tomorrow for a cool post about my history working on the book, with pictures of a very early Brandon Sanderson manuscript. Before we do that, though, I want to do some updates…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Eight Siri Wakes Up Untouched, Then Explores the Palace These Siri chapters presented a little bit of a problem to me in that I generally focus my writing around conversations. A given chapter will have some action and description, but usually the series of scenes revolves around important discussions between characters. But…
THE WAY OF KINGS Midnight Release Numbering Policy Change Hi everyone, Brandon’s assistant Peter here, popping in to let you know of a procedural change at the BYU Bookstore for next week’s release of THE WAY OF KINGS. We had some reports from last year’s release party of people who had stood in line for…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Seven Siri Enters the God King’s Chambers This is one of those chapter breaks that is there for stylistic drama more than anything else. Thematically, these two chapters are really the same chapter. However, I wanted to break before she steps in because it works so well as a dramatic turn in…
Play Magic with Brandon at Dragon*Con I’ll be hitting Dragon*Con this year near the beginning of my tour, and I’m looking forward to finding some time to hang with readers and relax and play some Magic: The Gathering. As always, I play casual—meaning that I do it more for the fun and interaction than the…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Six Siri Is Bathed, Then Sent to the God King This was a strange sequence of chapters to write. I’ve spoken before on writing characters of the opposite gender. This has grown easier and easier for me over the years, partially—I think—because I started out so bad at it that I insisted…
TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Is Done First let me get to some quick updates. I’ve put up a few WARBREAKER annotations: two on chapter five and one on chapter six. Two new podcast episodes of Writing Excuses have also gone up, recorded live at Dragons & Fairy Tales bookstore. In the first one Dan, Howard, and…
Last Chance for THE WAY OF KINGS Numbered Copies [UPDATE: Sam Weller’s is reportedly sold out already. If we make other arrangements, I’ll mention it on Twitter and Facebook. Original post follows.] THE WAY OF KINGS comes out in less than 11 days, about 246 hours from now. At the release day events—the midnight BYU…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Five Part 2 Lightsong’s Dream The Lightsong sections received two major upgrades during the last few drafts of the novel. The first was the enhancement of his memories of his dreams. We don’t get to see the dreams, just their effect on him. In the original draft, these dreams were far less…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Five Vasher Watches Siri We get back to Vasher. Showing his viewpoints in the book was tricky. I wanted him to remain an enigma—I didn’t want you to know if you were rooting for him or not. But I did want you to think he was interesting. Nightblood Origins I’ve been wanting…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Four Part 2 Hawaii Why, yes, I did visit Hawaii in the middle of writing this book. Did you notice? Following Mistborn, I wanted to do a book set in a place that looked very different from the Final Empire. What’s different from a burned-out wasteland? Why, a tropical paradise of course!…
Writing for Charity + Updates On August 21st there will be a writing workshop in South Sandy, Utah whose purpose is to raise money to donate to schoolchildren. Specifically, they hope to donate a book to every child “in at least ten of the lowest socioeconomic populated schools in the state”—at least 6,000 books total.…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Four Naming in This Book The names in this novel, particularly in Hallandren and Idris, follow the concept of repeated consonant sounds. I wanted to try something a little more distinctive in this book than the names were in Mistborn. In that book, I intentionally backed away from the insane craziness of…
Signed Book Shipping Delays This post isn’t about the signed & numbered copies of THE WAY OF KINGS from Sam Weller’s, which will go out on schedule. Not surprisingly the demand is not quite as high as it was for THE GATHERING STORM, so if you haven’t ordered yet, you still have a good chance…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Three Part 2 Llarimar Llarimar is based on a friend of mine, Scott Franson. Back when I was working on Hero of Ages, my local church group had a service auction for the local food bank. The idea was that church members would offer up services—like a car wash, or some baked…
THE WAY OF KINGS Preview Chapters & Contests + Updates THE WAY OF KINGS will be released in less than one month. So it’s time for some more preview chapters, right? As of today, you can read chapters nine and eleven over at Tor.com (registration required). “Wait!” you may say. “What happened to chapters seven,…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Three Similarities Between Warbreaker and Elantris And finally, we arrive at my personal favorite character in the book. Lightsong the Bold, the god who doesn’t believe in his own religion. I had the idea for Lightsong a number of years ago. My first book, Elantris, dealt with the concept of men who…
Signing in Eagle Mountain with the Writing Excuses crew This Saturday (July 31st) Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and I will be appearing at the Dragons & Fairy Tales bookstore in Eagle Mountain, UT from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. We’ll be recording at least two episodes of our Writing Excuses podcast live in the store, and…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Two Part 2 Vivenna and Her Father Chat about Siri King Dedelin does love Siri. He’s a good man, but not quite as great a man as his daughters probably think. He does put Vivenna first. He loves her more. Perhaps because he relates to her; the two of them are very…
Updates, Tightening Language, and Suvudu Interview At Comic-Con this past weekend I did an interview with Shawn Speakman of Suvudu where I talk about THE WAY OF KINGS among other things. Check it out. In the most recent WARBREAKER annotations I talk about Ramblemen, Idris’s drabness, Mab the cook, and Dedelin’s decision, Siri’s departure and…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter Two Siri Rides South, Stunned Already, you should be able to see another tone shift in the book. We’ve gone from lazy highland romping to frustration and terror. My goal with this book was to keep that up—to always have things moving and the characters being pulled out of their comfortable lives…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter One Part 2 Ramblemen Ramblemen are more than simple traveling jugglers or storytellers. They’re merchants who specialize in bringing news (for a price) and stories as well as goods and services. Readers latched onto this word, and I’ve had a lot of people say, “I love that term! Why don’t we get…
My Comic-Con Schedule I’m flying out tomorrow for Comic-Con, so it’s time to post my schedule. There’s also an off-site signing for fans not attending the con. Comic-Con International, San Diego San Diego Convention Center, 111 W. Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101 THURSDAY July 22nd 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Room 24ABC Panel: “Once Upon a…
ARCs of THE WAY OF KINGS for Reviewers, Booksellers, and Librarians First the regular updates. In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Howard, and I talk about how writing a story from the end rather than the beginning is very often a good idea. And then we attempt to brainstorm a great ending on…
ELANTRIS Back in Stock + Sanderson 5-Pack Sale On the heels of signed copies of WARBREAKER coming to my online store a couple of weeks ago, signed copies of ELANTRIS are now finally back in stock. I think it’s been over a year—maybe over two—since we ran out of copies and had to pull it…
Annotation Warbreaker Chapter One Tone You can probably guess why I was worried about the transition from the prologue with Vasher to this chapter with Siri. The tone shift is quite dramatic. Actually, one of the things my agent complained a lot about with this book was the tone. Not just for this chapter shift,…
What else to say about the prologue? I’ll talk about Nightblood in a future annotation. Let’s see . . .
Ordering signed & numbered copies of THE WAY OF KINGS I’ve written up a long post about the events surrounding the release of THE WAY OF KINGS, including how to get signed and numbered copies even if you can’t come to a signing. It’s so long that I’ve put it on its own page.
Updates + More THE WAY OF KINGS Previews The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episodes feature the return of Howard Tayler after his hiatus from the episodes recorded at CONduit. First up we discuss avoiding stilted dialogue. Then we talk about major overhauls to broken stories. WARBREAKER annotations are going up, with entries added for…
Annotation Warbreaker Prologue Part 2 There are a couple of other relics from the original short story version of this chapter that made it into the final book. I toyed with cutting these, but figured that there were good reasons for them. The Guard Approaches, and His Clothing Becomes Brighter This is an essential part…
THE WAY OF KINGS Tour Details Here’s the list of all my signings for the upcoming tour. There are still a few details to be added, such as the events surrounding Dragon*Con and the details of the Sam Weller’s signing-by-mail, but they will be posted eventually. For the latest information on my appearances, check out…
Annotation Warbreaker Acknowledgments A lot of people helped me with this book. As you may or may not realize, I posted drafts of the novel online as I was writing it. It was a rather nerve-racking experience in many ways. My goal was to show the process of writing a novel as it happened. As…
June Is (was) Audiobook Month Well, here it is the last day of June and I haven’t mentioned audiobooks at all like I was supposed to, and we all know whose fault that was . . . that’s right, my assistant Peter. June is audiobook month! There are lots of audiobook-related posts on Twitter with…
Annotation Warbreaker Map The map for this book was done by the awesome Shawn Boyles. For this book, I wanted something with an illustrated feel to it. The Mistborn maps were supposed to look realistic and gritty—like maps from London during the nineteenth century. I wanted twisting, cramped streets and a sense of overcrowding. For…
Updates, THE WAY OF KINGS ARC Giveaway, Tour In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan and I are joined once more by James Dashner and Julie Wright to talk about “mating plumage”: book covers, titles, and first lines. Again, this episode was recorded at CONduit with the help of Dungeon Crawlers Radio. The…
Annotation Warbreaker Dedication This book is dedicated to my dear wife, Emily. I started writing this book when we were dating, and worked on it all through our engagement. I even took it on our honeymoon to Hawaii—though I didn’t actually get any writing done on it then. When I proposed to her, I wrote…
Special prices on signed WARBREAKER & Mistborn trilogy, plus Grammar Girl Giveaway & Updates As many of you know, I offer on my website signed hardcovers of books that have been out for a year or so, since by that time the paperback is available and the hardcover is more difficult to find in stores.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Epilogue The End This epilogue ties up a few loose ends, then sets up a couple of others. Much like most of my endings. At least now you know how Vin Snapped. Many people have wondered this, so I thought I should include it somewhere in the book. Here, with Vin and…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty-Two Sazed Ascendant The answer is yes, I planned it from the beginning. And I didn’t. It’s difficult for me, even as the author, to trace back when and where the various threads of a story began. I wrote all three of these books in a row, and to me, they’re…
Breaking into the YA Market & MISTBORN 3 Annotations In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast, Dan and I were joined at CONduit by Robison Wells (who happens to be Dan’s brother) and Janci Patterson (who happens to be an alpha reader of mine as well as a former student). Both have recently signed YA book…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty-One Part 4 Vin’s Sacrifice Killing Elend and leaving Vin alive would have been, in my opinion, more tragic than what happened. As I establish in a little bit, there is an afterlife in this cosmology. Better for them both to die and to be together. There were only two ways…
Preview THE WAY OF KINGS on Tor.com Today Tor.com has put up the first of several previews for THE WAY OF KINGS. Since the book won’t be in stores until August 31, you can guess there will be more goodies in the coming months. Stay tuned. The preview chapters will eventually make their way to…
The Way of Kings: An Introduction This post originally appeared on Tor.com. I’ve been asked to introduce The Way Of Kings to you. And I have no idea how to start. This is an odd position for me. Before, I’ve found it easy to explain my novels. Each one was built around one or two…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty-One Part 3 Elend’s Death I rewrote Elend’s death scene a number of times. In the first draft, it happened much more quickly. He and Marsh met, Elend’s atium ran out, and Marsh cut him down. Elend always got his “we’ve won” line, but Human wasn’t getting viewpoints, so we didn’t…
Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship applications, updates The folks over at TarValon.net let me know that applications for next school year’s scholarship are now being accepted. It’s a $500 scholarship open to all undergraduate students attending an accredited college or university, and the recipient is chosen based on their essay on the topic “How I plan…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty-One Prophecy I wasn’t certain how I wanted to treat prophecy in this book. On one hand, it’s a staple of fantasy books—and my goal in this series was to take the fantasy staples and turn them upon their heads in a way that hadn’t been done before. That meant I…
Last chance to vote for the David Gemmell Legend Award I’ve mentioned a few times that both WARBREAKER and THE GATHERING STORM are among five nominees for the David Gemmell Legend Award. Well, voting on the award ends on Monday May 31st. Since the award is based in the UK, I assume the voting closes…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty Part 2 Sazed Sees Mistwraiths I worry that I didn’t get to show mistwraiths very much in this book. It’s not that big of an issue—they’re only a minor world feature, and are only tangentially important. Still, they’re a part of the kandra past and culture, and I want readers…
Play Magic with Brandon at CONduit! All. The Magic draft at Jordancon was a blast, so I figured I’d try to get something rolling for CONduit this year. (It’s the science fiction convention up in Salt Lake.) A lot of people have written me wanting a chance to hang out with me and play. Well,…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighty Her Eyes Lingered Fondly If you’ve been keeping track, this Terriswoman is, indeed, the romantic interest I promised Micah DeMoux by the end of the book. He said he didn’t care if he ended up with an important character—that didn’t matter to him. He just wanted Captain Demoux to find…
Superstars Writing Seminar sessions now available A couple of months ago I was one of the presenters at the Superstars writing seminar in Pasadena with Eric Flint, David Farland, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rebecca Moesta. Several people who didn’t get the chance to attend have asked about getting their hands on copies of the sessions…
Provo Children’s Book Festival There’s an appearance today that I forgot to mention on the blog or website. The Provo Children’s Book Festival is happening at the Provo Library. It’s a great event, with lots of authors and fun. I believe there’s a free book being given to every child who comes. > Of course,…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Nine The Mists Chose Someone There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than even the author of these epigraphs knows. Reasons why Vin was chosen, and why the power of Preservation needed a new mind to control it. The author is right in that Preservation did need someone to…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Eight Sazed’s Second Time in Prison The other time Sazed was imprisoned was, of course, when he was thrown in jail in an attempt to get close to Vin and rescue her. That was way back at the end of book one. It strikes me as very amusing that the kandra…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Seven Elend Inspects Kredik Shaw A short Elend chapter here, again as kind of a slowdown between larger events. I’ll be curious to see what people think of Vin’s god scenes. It took a lot of playing around and work to determine how exactly I wanted her to interact and think…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Six The North Pole One of my big challenges in the geography of this world was figuring out how we could have a kingdom set at the pole of the world while at the same time maintaining a normal day/night cycle. My original plan was for the Well of Ascension to…
Catching Up on Updates Brandon’s assistant Peter here. He’s hard at work on TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, which you know if you’ve been following on Twitter or Facebook. And I’ve been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work for the WAY OF KINGS release (the book is being composited as we speak and is due back from…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Five The Second Generation Seizes Control This chapter is another indication of my attempt to space out the climaxes in my books. We’ve had the big Vin fight with the Inquisitors; now I’m going to back off from things just a tad so that the reader has time to catch his…
Play Magic with Brandon at Jordancon! First off, I hope many of you are planning to attend JordanCon in Atlanta this weekend. (Details here—you can still pick up a badge at the door.) This is a great convention, perhaps my favorite of those I attended last year. It’s warm and inviting, not too big but…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Four Allomantic Secrets Some people have asked me why the Lord Ruler was so careful to keep secrets about Allomancy. What would it have mattered if he let out that there were atium Mistings? Some of the secrets offered a sizable tactical advantage. Keeping back duralumin and aluminum gave him and…
Signing Tonight in Lincoln NE + Convention Tomorrow Brandon’s assistant here. He’s currently on a plane somewhere over Nebraska, 25 minutes after he was supposed to land in Omaha. He’s scheduled to sign tonight at the Nebraska Bookstore in Lincoln at 6:00 p.m., but he’s going to be late. Don’t expect him there before 6:45.…
Gemmell Voting,Wheel of Time Article,Audible Tournament Winner+Updates Voting has begun for the David Gemmell Legend Award, which I mentioned last week. It will continue through May 31st. Both WARBREAKER and THE GATHERING STORM are among the five nominees, but if you’re struggling to pick one I’d recommend THE GATHERING STORM since I feel it’s more…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Three Cinematic Writing I sometimes wonder just how much writers from my era have been influenced by the visual media of entertainment we’ve experienced. How do I imagine things differently because of my childhood watching television and movies? What have the improvements in special affects done for my ability to visualize…
Suvudu Cage Match: How It REALLY Went Down So, from what I’ve heard, Rand won the Suvudu cage match. This leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am pleased and proud. On the other hand, George R. R. Martin’s write-up of how he thought things would go was simply epic. In his version,…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Two Part 2 Marsh and the Earring Also, here we get a Marsh viewpoint. It’s almost our last one. (I think there is one more in the next chapter.) He didn’t get much screen time, but I hope that what he did get led you to this climax for him. Spook’s…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-Two Vin’s Climax Begins I set a high bar for myself with the previous books in this series. I knew I would need a climax to this one which would match the fight between Kelsier and the Lord Ruler in book one, which is undoubtedly the best action sequence I’ve ever…
Gemmel Nominations, Audible Tournament, Suvudu Cage Match + Updates Though there’s a lot of ground to cover, this post is going to have to be quick due to my WAY OF KINGS deadline coming up on April 8th. First off, the latest Writing Excuses podcast covers juggling multiple viewpoints. And the most recent MISTBORN 3…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy-One Sazed Finds No Easy Answer Now we get to dig deeply into some concepts of theology. Sazed came to the Homeland expecting deus ex religion. (Hee hee.) Instead, he discovers that his lost Terris religion is quite a lot like other religions. There are no easy answers to this question.…
Want to break in? Come to Minicon. A heads up to aspiring writers. If you live in the Twin Cities area, you should really be considering coming to Minicon. I spent hundreds of dollars when I was trying to break in going to conventions, trying to meet editors. Well here, you have a Tor editor…
Signing Thursday & Convention in Minneapolis Starting tomorrow, I’m going to have a busy weekend in Minneapolis. On Thursday night I’m signing at Dreamhaven Books, and then Friday to Sunday I’m Author Guest of Honor at Minicon. WARBREAKER cover artist Dan Dos Santos is the Artist Guest of Honor, and my Tor editor Moshe Feder…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventy The Reason for the Mistsickness So, it finally comes out. I wonder at this numbers plot, as I think many readers will glaze over it and ignore it. I think others will read into it and figure out what it means very quickly, then feel that the reveal here isn’t…
KINGS Preview inWARBREAKER Paperback Out Today+I AM NOT A SERIALKILLER The WARBREAKER paperback is officially out today, though some readers picked it up in places like Walmart starting last week. More on WARBREAKER below, but if you’ve read the book already there’s an additional reason to be excited about this release: the prologue to my…
KINGS final draft, THE GATHERING STORM in Audible’s tournament+Updates I mentioned on Twitter and Facebook that THE GATHERING STORM needed votes in Audible’s 2010 tournament. Last I heard, it was beating THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by four tenths of a percent. Voting ends today sometime—actually it may be over by the time you…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Nine Marsh Finds Goradel And, Goradel dies. I hope Rich appreciates the time and effort I put into this death scene. I mean, if you’ve gotta go, then facing down an Inquisitor in the night, surrounded by ash, and actually giving him some trouble is a pretty good way. Spook’s message…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Eight Sazed Takes Action Ladies and gentlemen, Sazed is back. This is the confident Sazed, the person who—without raising his voice, without seeming to make demands—can control a group and get the information he desires. He’s always claimed that he’s no leader, but he’s actually a fantastic one when he puts…
Signing Tonight in LA, ALCATRAZ Audiobook Sale + Updates I’m signing tonight at the Woodland Hills Barnes & Noble on Topanga Canyon at 7:00. Details are on my events page. See you there! A reader of mine, Chuck Doyle, mentioned on my Facebook page the other day that Audible is selling my middle-grade fantasy ALCATRAZ…
Signing in Los Angeles on Monday This is just a quick update to let you know I’ll be signing in the Los Angeles area on Monday. If you’re on the mailing list and told me you live near there, I’ve already sent an email. If you’d like reminders about signings in the future, contact me…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Seven The Pace Quickens Our chapters are shortening and speeding up. If you’ve read any of my previous books—and I certainly hope you have, if you’re reading book three of this series—then you’ll know that means we’re getting close to the ending. All I can say is this: Hold on tightly.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Six Talking Horses that Talk about Their Feelings A fun story about this chapters beings by me admitting that I didn’t come up with the “TenSoon digests a horse” trick at first. I tried writing this scene with Sazed clinging to TenSoon’s wolfhound back as they ran to the south. It…
Thoughts on THE WAY OF KINGS If you missed it, Tor posted the cover to THE WAY OF KINGS a little while ago. This, along with some of the marketing copy that Tor has posted on Amazon and the like, has people talking about the book. So far, I’ve been rather quiet about KINGS, mostly…
New Writing Excuses Episode, Hero of Ages Annotations I’ll be posting another of my long, rambling blog entries later this week, but for today I’ve just got the standard Monday updates. In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and I are joined once again by Jessica Day George to discuss writing…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Five Ham Says Not to Attack And, what is this? A climax for Ham? Hammond lovers, your faith has paid off. This is the best I could give him, but it seems to me like it works. All through the series, I’ve had him question and debate, and he rarely comes…
ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS Reader Mail Alcatraz let me know about the following library infiltration report. We led a successful infiltration of our local library on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and wanted to share this good news with you. Our team consists of seven fifth-grade students, one seventh-grade assistant coach and two grownups—NO, strike…
Michael Whelan Covers + Updates I’ve posted my thoughts on getting a Michael Whelan cover. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve always wondered who “They” are, and if—by chance—they’ve never heard of Michael Whelan. Because my experience in life has been very different. Head over to Tor.com to read the…
Michael Whelan, an appreciation This post originally appeared on Tor.com. Michael Whelan, The Way of Kings They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve always wondered who “They” are, and if—by chance—they’ve never heard of Michael Whelan. Because my experience in life has been very different. It’s been almost twenty years now…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Three Part 2 Vin the Politician Vin sells herself short sometimes on her ability to influence people and deal with political situations. She, perhaps, forgets that she began her career as an Allomancer by using the emotional metals, not the physical ones. Long before she was leaping through the mists, she…
A Final Plug for the Superstars of Writing Seminar I thought I’d do one final plug for the Superstars of Writing seminar I’ve been invited to attend. The time is getting near—it’s about three weeks away—and if there are those of you who are thinking of attending, you’ll probably want to get flights pretty soon.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Three Ruin and Preservation Were Human Ruin was human once. Vin implies it, and I’ll just come out and say it. Ruin and Preservation were both people, unconnected to the powers they eventually took upon themselves. I can’t say any more on that at this point, however. Ruin Helps Destruction Along…
THE WAY OF KINGS cover by Michael Whelan, I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER book trailer, Fan Sites + Updates Tor.com has released Michael Whelan’s cover art for THE WAY OF KINGS. They also have sketches and design commentary from Whelan himself. Go check it out. I think the cover is awesome—for more from me…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-Two Part 2 Betrayal and Trust Sazed’s discussion on betrayal and trust here is very important. It harks back to Vin’s conflicts in the first book, as well as one of the major interactions between her and Kelsier. Kelsier believed that it was better to trust people and be betrayed than…
Some Long-Awaited Updates Time to sit down and talk about some things. I hope this doesn’t get too rambly for you, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions about TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT and THE WAY OF KINGS, so I thought I’d give you some updates regarding what’s been happening over here at Dragonsteel Entertainment…
Updates, Audies, Vote for the David Gemmell Legend Award! In the most recent MISTBORN 3 annotations, I discuss Vin’s defense before Yomen and what happened to Janarle. And in this week’s Writing Excuses podcast, Dan, Howard, James Dashner, and I take questions from the crowd at LTU&E, covering a variety of topics. Check it out.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty-One What Happened to Janarle We finally get a brief mention of Janarle in this chapter. He is a side character who became a side side character. It’s important that he bowed to Vin at the end of the second book, but he quickly became someone I didn’t have time to…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for February 2010 Welcome to Brandon Sanderson’s first newsletter since, as far as I can tell, July 2006. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent Brandon fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.…
Photoshop Contest Winners, Wheel of Time Games, & Updates I’ve got the Photoshop contest winners below, but first the weekly updates. In the most recent MISTBORN 3 annotations I discuss TenSoon’s visit to Urteau and Vin attacking without using Allomancy. This past weekend was BYU’s science fiction/fantasy symposium, Life, the Universe & Everything. This was…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixty Silver, the Useless Metal I’ve annotated about this before, but I figured I’d mention it again. As you probably know, in book one, tin was originally silver. I swapped it out for various reasons. However, that left silver having no Allomantic powers. That feels strange to a lot of people…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Nine TenSoon Visits Urteau The fact that TenSoon is out of the homeland without a Contract is an important point, one I myself didn’t consider up until now. Always before, anyone who wanted to hire a kandra left a message in a designated place in Luthadel. The kandra found you—a creature…
Updates + Life, the Universe & Everything Schedule This week I’ll be the guest of honor at Life, the Universe & Everything, BYU’s annual symposium on science fiction and fantasy. It’s basically a convention with a fancier name (but there will be a few research papers presented), though most conventions aren’t free like LTUE is.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Eight Part 2 Spook in Ruin’s Power In this chapter, we show Spook almost completely under Ruin’s power. This is the ultimate culmination of everything that the force has been working toward with Spook. Ruin knows how to play off the lusts of mankind. Lust makes sense to Ruin, as he…
Photoshop Contest – Win a New Tor Book By now you’re probably very familiar with the whole AmazonFail deal that has been going on. Today, Scalzi made a shout-out for author support. I think that was a fine thing to do. Most of the authors involved don’t care so much about ebook pricing either way.…
Amazonfail 2010, Mythmaker Interview, Updates The big story over the weekend was that Amazon temporarily stopped selling all Macmillan books, which includes all my books from Tor, to protest Macmillan’s new ebook terms. There’s not a lot I have to add to this discussion, except to say that Tor’s publicity department thought the illustration accompanying…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Eight Spacing Out the Climaxes I tried something new in this book. I’ve been criticized—rightly—in the past for cramming too much into my endings. A good, fast-paced ending is great, but when you layer climax on top of climax, a little of it gets lost. I’ve been trying, therefore, to plot…
Annotation Elantris – The Hope of Elantris Matisse This short story actually has a very interesting backstory. If we flash back to January 2006, we find me having been dating Pemberly (her real name is Emily, but she goes by Pemberly online) for about two months. Our relationship was still quite new, and we weren’t…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Seven Vin Wonders If She’s Mad I love Vin’s paragraph on deciding if she’s mad or not. Zane spent his entire adult life debating this issue, trying to determine whether he was really insane or not and trying to figure out how much of the world around him was a fabrication…
Writing Excuses on MP3 CD + Updates This week’s Writing Excuses podcast is about How to Manage Your Influences—in other words, how to avoid letting other people’s work creep into your own. And if you enjoy listening to me, Howard, and Dan talk about writing, or want to catch up on our previous episodes, seasons…
California real estate/bankruptcy lawyer needed This is a shout-out for help for a friend of mine. A lot of people read my blog, so sometimes I turn to it as a last resort to solve a problem. Anyway, a friend of mine got caught in the housing bubble over a year ago and needs a…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Six Spook and Sazed Talk about Faith I say that I don’t try to put messages or morals into my writing, but that doesn’t mean they don’t appear there. It just means that I try to avoid sitting down and writing stories for the express purpose of getting across an agenda.…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Five Elend Sees the Mist Spirit Elend really does have a lot of faith in Vin, even if he doesn’t worship her. He ascribes an almost supernatural power to her. And, I can kind of see why he would. In these books, Vin’s almost less of a character and more a…
Superstars Writing Seminar in March I’ve been invited to teach at the upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar also featuring bestselling writers Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Rebecca Moesta, and Eric Flint, March 19th through 21st in Pasadena, CA. So many people ask me for writing advice and help with their work that I decided to say…
Writing Excuses, Annotation, GoodReads Just a quick and dirty update for today. In this week’s Writing Excuses podcast, the second episode of our new season, Dan, Howard, and I talk about heroism. And in the most recent MISTBORN 3 annotation I talk about eliminating metals. I really am taking questions over at GoodReads. I have…
Today’s Signing As I posted earlier in the week, I’ll be doing a signing in Eagle Mountain today. The store is called Dragons and Fairy Tales Books and Games. It’s a fairly new independent bookstore. I have a fondness for little independent bookstores. I bought EYE OF THE WORLD from one all those years ago,…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Three Beldre is a Normal Person The point Spook makes about Beldre being normal is an important one in this book. I think that readers might be overly harsh on her for her innocence and the way she ended up getting captured. (Though there is more going on there than the…
Signing in Eagle Mountain + Updates This Saturday I will be signing at a recently opened independent bookstore in Eagle Mountain, Utah called Dragons & Fairy Tales Books and Games. It’s not listed on my events page yet, but there is an event listing on Facebook. Since the store is located in such a new…
Mistborn Movie News I’m holding off on my regular Monday update until tomorrow in order to talk about the Mistborn movie deal press release that went out today and has popped up on a few genre news sites. When it comes to optioning my adult fantasy novels for the big screen, I’ve occasionally gotten nibbles…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-Two This Book’s Epigraphs The epigraphs from this book are quite a bit different from the ones in the previous two volumes. These are a much more scientific, and—unlike the first two sets—are not from the past, but from the future. (Though, like the other two, they’re from a written record…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty-One Elend Fights the Koloss in the Village This chapter gets my next award for favorite chapters in this book. (I think this is number four.) The next few Elend chapters run him through the ringer—and yet at the same time let him shine. He’s alone, forced to work through his…
Hugo nomination season, GoodReads Q&A, Pat Rothfuss’s Worldbuilders charity drive, Updates This year’s World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) will be held in Melbourne, Australia from September 2nd through September 6th. Unfortunately, I won’t be in attendance since I’ll be going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta that same weekend. However, every year the members of Worldcon vote…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifty Vin Tries to Defeat the Sedative That’s our dear, impulsive Vin. Drinking the drugged wine before five minutes had passed. Elend would have stewed in the cavern for days before making that same decision. I went back and forth on how difficult it might be to open those cans. I…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Nine Sazed’s Memorization Skills Okay, long chapter here. I’ll bet I have to split this annotation in two. But, let’s launch into it. First off, you should know that Sazed tends to gloss over just how hard he had to work to memorize those copperminds of his in the first place.…
Annotation- Defending Elysium It’s hard to dig back through my memory to the days when I wrote the rough draft of this story. What was going through my head? The story was written on a beach near Monterey California, and remains the only published piece of mine I did entirely in longhand before transcribing to…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Seven The Death of Bilg You may not recognize a cameo appearance by Bilg in this chapter. He was the soldier who punched Demoux. Who is Bilg? Well, if you go read book one, you’ll find a scene where Kelsier visits the caves where his army is training. He picks a…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Five “Reen” is Ruin Did you really think I’d bring Reen back? Well, maybe you did. It’s all right if you did; we in the fiction world have kind of acclimatized people to strange resurrections of long-dead characters. I’d guess it’s due to one of two things. Either 1) The author…
Everything in this half of the chapter annotation is hidden, so watch out for spoilers!
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Four Subtlety with the Power The Lord Ruler created koloss, kandra, and Inquisitors during his time holding the power. This took some practice and experimentation, however. As has been explained, holding the power granted some intuitive understanding of how to use it. For instance, he knew how to make Hemalurgic creatures—but…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Three The Ball at the Canton of Resource I didn’t want this chapter to be a repeat of the previous ball scene, so I kept the nostalgia to a minimum and focused on the plan. I hope I’ve established why Vin and Elend are willing to take this risk—a mixture of…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-Two Marsh Visits Penrod in Luthadel This chapter didn’t exist in the initial draft of the book; I added it in revisions. I originally liked the idea of the characters happening upon Luthadel later in the book and having to piece together what happened to Penrod from the aftermath of his…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Forty-One Sazed and Breeze Discuss the New Survivor I’m not sure whether this is an appropriate use of the term ostention or not. I guess Dr. Thursby, my folklore professor at college, will have to read the book and let me know. Seemed like it worked for me. For a lot…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Eight Preservation’s Power All right, so maybe I lied about there only being three magic systems in this book. It comes down to how you term the powers of Preservation and Ruin, who kind of blanket the entire system. There are a lot of things going on here, and—well, the truth…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Seven Part 2 Human Tries to Make a New Koloss Yes, koloss are people. I assume that many of you guessed this. Then, again, many of you probably didn’t. The clues are there, if you care to look—including the fact that small spikes were found in the koloss bodies after the…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Five The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Three The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Two Part 2 The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty-Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirty Part 2 The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Nine The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Eight The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Five The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty-One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twenty The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eighteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seventeen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Sixteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fifteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Fourteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Part One Wrap-Up The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Thirteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Twelve The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Eleven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Nine The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
DONE Housekeeping first. Remember that I’ll be doing on-line appearances tomorrow, where I’ll be answering questions. The one on Twitter will probably be way busy, so that should be interesting. I’m getting to the odd state in my career where there will probably be far more questions than I have time to answer, but I’ll…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Chapter One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Prologue The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about the prologue to MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Maps Just like the other two books, the maps in this volume are brought to you by the talented Isaac Stewart—video game designer, writer, and all-around great guy. Isaac is a member of my writing group, and he started work on the maps for Hero of Ages early, since we knew we’d…
Annotation Mistborn 3 Title Page Originally, this book was going to be called The Final Hero. In the first draft of book one, that was the term I was using for the hero from Terris lore. I changed this for a couple of reasons. First off, I just didn’t like the way The Final Hero…
Another Long-Winded Explanation of Various Things A few quick items. Hero of Ages has won the Romantic Times editor’s choice award. Huzzah! I wasn’t certain if I could announce this, but it looks like the magazine has shipped, so I think I can say it now. I’m deeply honored. The Romantic Times has done a…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Epilogue The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-nine The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Splitting A MEMORY OF LIGHT All right, now that the press release is out, let’s talk about some things. I like to be transparent with my readers, whenever possible, and I feel it’s time to let you in more fully on what has been happening this last year. Pull up a chair. Get some hot…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter fifty-eight The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Part Four Wrap-Up The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s…
My Sword First off, I’ve been getting a lot of email regarding the sword that Wilson gave me out of Robert Jordan’s collection. For Christmas, I asked my wife to have it cleaned and mounted, and so I wanted to wait until then to post pictures. That’s not all finished yet, but I figured I’ve…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Five Vin Kills Straff I told you that I couldn’t just let Straff die to a random poisoning. He’s been an antagonist for far too long–surviving through two whole books. He deserved a sword in the head. Oddly, there was a great deal of conversation in my writing groups…
Do You Want to Appear in A Memory of Light? It has become a tradition for me to auction off naming rights to one of the characters in each of my novels. In the past, I’ve done this locally, with a church group. People would ‘bid’ cans of food that they would donate to the…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 2, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-Three The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty-One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifty The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-nine The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Part Four Wrap-Up The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-eight The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-Six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-Five The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-Three The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty-One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Forty Chapter Forty Zane Visits Vin after the Fight in the Assembly She mistakes Zane for Elend here, which is a nice little subconscious indication of the mental turmoil she’s going through. The best part about this conversation is that I think Zane makes a lot of good points. That fight…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Nine The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Part Three Wrap-Up The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Eight The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Five The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-Two The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty-One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirty The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 2, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Eight The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Part Two Wrap-Up Part Two Wrap-Up And that, Elend getting deposed, leads us into the next section of the book. The first section was intended to re-establish the setting and character, part two introduced us to the plot. Now we’ll get into the thick of things, with the three different rulers vying…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Seven The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Six The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-five Vin and Tindwyl go Shopping Part of me wants to get the same reaction out of the reader that Vin gave in this chapter. “Shopping? They’re going SHOPPING?” I realize that this scene is a gamble. This is a book about a besieged city, and in the middle…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Four The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Three The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Two Vin spies on Ham in the Mists This chapter has another poetic introduction–I warned you about those, I believe. I hope it isn’t too out of place. Testing Ham in this way is something Vin really should have done earlier in the book. The problem is, I have…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twenty-One The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 2, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Nineteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Eighteen The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Seventeen Chapter Seventeen So, now the Watcher is named. I didn’t originally intend him to remain mysterious for so long. In fact, in the original draft, I had a viewpoint from him fairly early on. That’s been moved back in this version, to make things flow more quickly at the beginning,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Sixteen Chapter Sixteen Vin in her room This first scene is a classical Brandon scene–a character studying, thinking, and exploring who they are in their own head. Some people find my narrative style–with the thoughts, the conclusions, and the debates in the head–to be a little slow. I can understand that,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fifteen Chapter Fifteen The actions of this wildman here seem strangely logical to me for some reason. Everything he did simply felt right. Sometimes–well, most of the time–character work that way for me. It makes me worry, actually, that sometimes the characters are too clichéd. After all, if their actions and…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fourteen Yes, it was probably stupid of the crew to leave Elend alone with Tindwyl. I pushed this situation a little bit farther than, perhaps, is plausible. However, you have to remember how the Terris people are regarded by those in Luthadel. Terrismen are, in general, such kind and…
Amphigory! All right, there has been way too much highbrow political mumbo jumbo being posted on this website recently. It’s time we get back to our roots. And, what are those roots? Stupid puns, of course! Last week commemorated the passing of a certain political figure in American history, and so I just couldn’t help…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirteen Part Two Chapter Thirteen Part Two This Elend scene here is almost a direct parallel of the scene in book one where Kelsier first introduces the plan to his people. Elend has a much harder time of it. In fact, this scene–in conjunction with the scene with the Assembly–is supposed…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Thirteen Part One Chapter Thirteen I hope this first paragraph isn’t too overly-poetic for you. I have a tendancy to dabble in writing poetic language, and can veer into sections of prose that are a bit over-written. But, my editor didn’t strike this down, so I assume it’s all right. The…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Twelve Chapter Twelve This chapter is meant to be our ‘pay off’ chapter for the time we’ve invested into Sazed over the last few chapters. I, personally, think it’s the coolest chapter in this section of the book. Feruchemy really turned out well as a magic system, and I’m glad I…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Part One Wrap-Up Well, reading that section of the book again, I’m now very pleased with how it turned out. It introduces what I wanted it to, keeps things moving, and sets up the conflict for the book. It’s hard, however, to look at it objectively. It’s been through so many drafts,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Eleven Chapter Eleven A few things to watch out for. There might be an extra “Silver” or “Silvereye” stuck in the books somewhere. If you read the annotations in the last book, you’ll know that I changed the Allomantic metal of silver into tin at the last minute. I couldn’t find…
Amphigory + What I’m Working On Okay, so I’m off by a few hours. Sorry about that. I wanted to get this posted on Tuesday, but it will have to be a wee-hours Wednesday post. Scroll down for pun stupidity. Since It’s so late, I’m going to hold off on those annotations (since I have…
EUOLogy: Goodbye Mr. Jordan Cross posted from the EUOLogy section of my website: My career, like many young fantasy authors, has been deeply influenced by Robert Jordan, and I find his passing a to be a tragedy for the entire community. I still remember the first time I saw EYE OF THE WORLD on bookshelves.…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Ten Chapter Ten There was an epic battle with my editor over some revision changes to this chapter. I though that the word to use for a place where someone stands to address a crowd was a “podium.” He said that was an adulteration of the language, and that the pure,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Nine Chapter Nine A very short Sazed chapter. Mostly, this was just here because I had to remind the readers that Sazed was doing things. Getting to the Conventical is going to take enough time that, if I hadn’t thrown in a small chapter like this, you would have gone a…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Eight Chapter eight So, Moshe and I BOTH worried about the fact that we’ve got two shadow mysterious figures showing up at the beginning of this book. Part of the problem is the rewrite, which mashed things together at the beginning of the novel, increasing the speed–but then melding things together…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Seven Here’s where we start to get some of our first real hints of the dominating plotline that will overshadow these two books: The Lord Ruler is dead. What in the world have we gotten ourselves into? As I mentioned in the previous Sazed annotation, I really like his scenes for…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Six Chapter Six So, here’s a little of the jovial friendship that I mentioned in the last annotation. One of the things I like about these books IS the way that the characters can get along and relax. It’s a bit tougher to pull off in this book–with Kelsier gone, and…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Five Chapter Five One of my writing groups had an intense reaction against Vin killing the dog in this scene. I’m not sure, still, WHY they got so upset–but they really didn’t like it that she killed a dog “in cold blood” as they put it. So, her little “I’m sorry…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Four Chapter Four Sazed was many people’s favorite character in the first book. I knew pretty early on in the writing process of that book that Sazed would become a major force in the novel. In fact, he was one of the very first characters I outlined and built in my…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Three Well, there you go. That chapter (with a big chunk of two) was originally the first chapter of the book. Oddly, moving it back made the book move more quickly, for me at least. It’s strange how you can sometimes speed up a novel by ADDING material. Speed in books,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter Two Chapter Two Allomantic fights are fun. I’ll admit it. I LIKE to write things that are fun. I’m an entertainer–and that is what my stories try to do. I think there’s great value in that. That said, I think this might be my least favorite fight in the book. You…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Chapter One Chapter One This was the hardest chapter in the entire book to write. That’s often the case for me. I will write a first chapter, continue on through the rest of the book, and then be forced to write the first chatper a few more times to get it right.…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Dedication Dedication This book is dedicated to my maternal grandmother. The last one was dedicated to my paternal grandmother. I didn’t just do that for cohesion. I see a lot of both women in myself. Mary Beth (from book one) is free-spirited and wacky. That’s the easiest side to see in me,…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Maps and Interior Art Maps and Interior Art Isaac has gone well beyond the call of duty here. The art department wasn’t expecting there to be revisions to the maps, and they actually complained a little bit when it happened, thinking that they’d get charged again. Isaac, however, just wanted to make…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Acknowledgements Page Acknowledgements There’s not a whole lot to say here. A lot of people are returning time and time again as alpha readers. They should get awards or something. I decided to expand a bit and give some different kinds of acknowledgments this time around. The more I learn about the…
Annotation Mistborn 2 Title Page Title Page This title was fairly easy to choose. Actually, the titles of all three books were easy to choose. I originally toyed with calling the Hero of Ages the Final Hero. So, because of that, I was tempted to come up with a “final” title to use for book…
Huzzah! Well, folks, I can safely say that I know ONE reason why the book has been so tough to find for some people. We got numbers for last week today, and they look pretty darn good. Bookscan (the Nielsen ratings for books) lists MISTBORN: WELL OF ASCENSION as the #3 hardback fantasy of the…
It’s Out! + Amphigory Mistborn: The Well of Ascension is out! We’re really keeping our fingers crossed for first week sales on this one, so if you’ve been waiting for it to come out, you should be happy to know that it’s on shelves pretty much everywhere! Some people have even been noting on my…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #7 This scene comes from the one where Breeze and Vin visit the skaa soup kitchen to help with the recruitment efforts. As I’ve mentioned in the annotations, a major shift in drafting was to make Kelsier more interested in the army and less focused on the “heist” of stealing from the…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #6 Since we had such a long outage last week, I figured I’d throw up another of these to make up for it. See how much I love you! One of the pivotal places I changed the book during drafting, as has been discussed in the annotations, was during the scene where…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #5 As requested, today I’ll post some more deleted scenes from Mistborn: The Final Empire. We’re getting into areas that include mild spoilers from the first quarter of the book, so if you haven’t read the novel, I suggest doing that first. Conveniently, it came out in paperback last week! (Note that Amazon still has hardcovers for…
Update From the Desert + Chapter I’m still down here in Southern Utah, but the hotel has interment access, so I figured it was time to get off my duff and post something. (Well, actually, I’m still sitting on my duff as I post, but you get the idea.) I don’t know if I mentioned,…
Final Empire Prime Vin Scene If you’ve been following the process, then you’ll remember that the book we now call Mistborn started out as two novels to me. I wrote rough drafts of both, wasn’t pleased with either one, and put them aside. Years later, I decided to try again, and (without looking back at the old…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #4 I’d almost forgotten about this one. The first time I tried to write a chapter from Vin’s viewpoint, she had a much, much different personality. My original goal was to have her be a very capable thief, leading the con against the priesthood. This chapter bothered me for a number of reasons. Explanation…
Amphigory! Yes, for those who were hoping these were gone, THOU FOOLS! Bad puns are my life-blood. Each time one makes Tage groan, I grow a little bit stronger. Soon I will rule the world. Need a clue? I’m hard at work at the Mistborn 3 rewrite, and–alas–have not had any time to read Harry…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #3 This is the 3.0 version of the chapter, the last one before I switched over to the version that eventually saw print. More commentary below. If you haven’t read the previous two incarnations of this chapter, find them Here and Here. ——Begin excerpt—— Sometimes, I worry that I’m not the hero everyone thinks I…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #2 Okay, keeping in line with the next month or so being “Mistborn 2 is coming out, everybody party!” month here, I’ve got more deleted goodness from the first Mistborn book. (Note the linkage at the bottom if you’re not aware of my two big signings coming up.) Monday, I showed you the…
Mistborn Deleted Scene #1 Okay, welcome to the Mistborn One deleted scenes. Writing a book is quite the process, and ideas evolve and change. Sometimes, things get cut because I myself don’t like them. Sometimes, the edits come by suggestions from my editor or my agent. In these sections, I’m going to post some of…
Mistborn Deleted Scenes Explanation On this page, I’ll include an archive of links to Mistborn: The Final Empire deleted scenes, as I post them to my website. I’ve decided that the easiest way to do this is to point back at the original blog post where I show off the scenes and discuss them. I’ll leave the…
Annotation Mistborn Book Wrap-Up The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to—and…
Annotation Mistborn Ars Arcanum Ars Arcanum It’s kind of surprising to me, but to some people, appendices like this can be very divisive topics. There are people who will pick up a book and check to see if it has a map and appendix–and if it has both, they’re more likely to read it. (I…
Mistborn Prime All right, as promised, here is the first chapter (actually, the prologue) from Mistborn Prime. That’s my name for the original ‘Mistborn’ book I wrote back in 2001. This isn’t too bad editing wise, but the writing itself isn’t up to my current skill level. So, please don’t hold that against me. However,…
Annotation Mistborn Epilogue Part Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Epilogue Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Epilogue Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Eight Part Four Chapter Thirty-Eight Part Four So, my favorite secret in the novel is the fact that the Lord Ruler is actually Rashek. I’m still not sure if this revelation will mean as much to readers as I want it to–it depends on them reading, and caring, about the story that…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Eight Part Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Eight Part Two Chapter Thirty-Eight Part Two You were probably expecting Marsh’s return–at least, you probably were when you read the chapter where he ‘died.’ Making Inquisitors via Hemalurgy requires killing other people (see book three for an explanation of the process) so there’s a lot of mess involved. Anyway, I planned…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Eight Part One Chapter Thirty-Eight Part One Vin’s entrance here is one of my favorite scenes in the book. Short, but very cinematic. It brings together all of the best images in the book–Allomantic pushes, stained glass, swirling mist, and the mistcloaks. The cloaks are something I really wanted to do. I…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Seven Part Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Seven Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Seven Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Six Part Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Six Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Six Part One Chapter Thirty-Six Part One Whew! These annotations just get longer and longer as the book draws to an end. I’ve got so much to talk about! The symbolism of the yellow sky here is one of my favorites in the book. This book, obviously, is not going to end…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Five Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Five Part One (Sorry–didn’t proofread this one when I wrote it, I’m kind of in a hurry. So, there might be typos! Chapter Thirty-Five Part One If you couldn’t tell, this is one of the climactic scenes I was writing toward. I’ll admit, I didn’t have this exact twist down when I…
Annotation Mistborn Part Four Wrap-Up Oo. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Actually, the section breaks mean a lot to me in this book. They divide the novel in my mind, as opposed to ELANTRIS, which was divided by viewpoint and not by section of the book. Often, when I write novels, I…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Four Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Four Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Three Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty-One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirty Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Eight The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Part Three Wrap-Up The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Chatper Twenty-Five Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Five Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Sanderson’s First Law Introduction I like magic systems. That’s probably evident to those of you who have read my work. A solid, interesting and innovative system of magic in a book is something that really appeals to me. True, characters are what make a story narratively powerful—but magic is a large part of what makes…
Chapter Twenty-Four Part Two (some spoilers hidden)
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Four Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Amphigory + Pemberly Moment + ?? It’s a special Valentine’s Week Amphigory: Need a clue? This is a bit harder. It has to do with the little cherub, and what he’s holding. Also, the text itself isn’t all that important. In case you’re new to the blog, every Tuesday I do random stupid puns in…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to—and including—this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Two Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-Two Part One The Annotated MISTBORN The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-one Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty-One Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twenty The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Nineteen Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Nineteen Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Eighteen Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Eighteen Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Seventeen Part Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Seventeen Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Happy New Year! (Amphigory Included) Did you think I forgot? I have two resolutions. Get back to work, and answer my email. Hopefully, this Amphigory isn’t that tough to figure out. It’s the first of what may be a series of alternate jobs for famous science fiction characters. Be afraid. File name has the solution.…
Copy Edit Done, Very Tired, Birthday Amphigory Happy birthday to me! I’ll try to get a Warbreaker up tomorrow. Might be late in the day. Check the file name for the hint for the picture above, if you need one.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Seventeen Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Sixteen Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Part Two Wrap-Up The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Sixteen Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Fourteen Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Today’s Post: Amphigory And, I’m off to Spain! I will do my best to update. Until then, Don’t Stop Believin’! Even though we go our Separate Ways, I’ll have Open Arms for the Wheel in the Sky! If you need more clues, look here:
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Fourteen Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Thirteen The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
With Thanks to Tage for the Idea…. Hint is in the file name of the original picture. I’ll put it in the optional text too, just in case. Warbreaker Tomorrow.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twelve Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Twelve Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
New Amphigory If you need a hint on one, look here. It should be enough of a clue. As I mentioned yesterday, the webcomic Sheldon–a personal favorite of mine–has a new home. Give the site a visit and poke through the archives.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Eleven The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Ten Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Look at the Head This is a tough one. Link to the title of the REAL film right here for a hint. Another one is in the image title. Solution is the image title of this image right here:
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to—and including—this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Amphigory (Sorry it’s late.) I posted this on my other blogs–the livejournal and blogger accounts–but completely forgot to post it on my own website. How silly is that? Here it is. A new Warbreaker chapter will also get posted today. Okay, so it’s only vaguely Halloweenish. But there IS a Vampire in there. I’ve been…
Annotation Mistborn Part One Wrap-Up The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Eight Part Two Chapter Eight Part Two In this chapter, for the first time, I straight out mention that plants aren’t green. I hoped that this concept would come across in the first few chapters. However, this sort of thing is difficult to enforce in people’s minds. The fact that there are…
Brad Pit Was Not Here New Amphigory Eleven! If you need a hint, click on the face of Evil Bert: Warbreaker Tomorrow
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Seven Part Two The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Hint is in the Image Title… In case you didn’t know, “Amphigory Eleven” is the title of the little visual pun website I’m working on. Eventually, these will all cross post over there as well. But, for now, you get them here. It’s a pun, it’s a puzzle, it’s an image. It may not actually…
Annotation + Various Things First off, let there be a new annotation for Mistborn! Chapter Seven, first half. Now, for your further entertainment, I present a feature which is quickly becoming a crowd favorite. I give you, a Pemberly moment: “I broke a nail when I got gas yesterday.” (This is, of course, another quote…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Six The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
He Thought it was French…. Tuesday Means new Amphigory Eleven! Click the image of Crazy Brandon for a spoiler. Soon, we plan to throw up a website just for these. They’ll still get mirrored over to the blog, so you don’t have to worry about that. However, they’ll also have their own site where you…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Four The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Three The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter Two Chapter Two Moshe mentioned to me that we’re going to have to do a book after the MISTBORN series that doesn’t have such a gloomy setting. First, I had ELANTRIS, with the city full of dark sludge. Now I’ve got MISTBORN, with the entire world full of black ash. The coincidence…
Annotation Mistborn Chapter One Second Half The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
There’s No Place Like it! By popular demand, I hereby declare Tuesdays to be Bad Visual Pun day! If you really want to laugh, I’d suggest this comic. As opposed to me, this guy actually has a sense of humor. Warbreaker tomorrow!
Annotation Mistborn Chapter One First Half The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book…
Annotation Mistborn Part One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and…
How you know you married the right girl (+ Annotation) First off, New Annotation! This is a good one, the first really meaty one for the book, I think. It’s got hidden text and everything. So, enjoy! All right, so Saturday was Pemberly’s birthday. (She, by the way, is a good three months older than…
The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read MISTBORN, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon.
Annotation Mistborn Prologue Part One The Annotated MISTBORN The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read…
Japanese Elantris Another pun for which I should be shot, a poem by Brandon Sanderson — The other day I was talking to a friend. We were discussing deserts. He wanted to say that Utah was more like a desert California. Obvious, yet true. He tried calling it more deserty. Desertish. Desert-like. He, of course,…
Signing + Two Bad Puns (For the Price of One.) So, the other day I was in the elevator. And, I wondered. On the Death Star, would it be called the Elle Vader? And then I realized that would only be appropriate for a lift that was restricted to female sith. I’ll be here all…
Annotation Mistborn Maps Maps I haven’t actually seen the map yet. I’m curious to see how it turns out. . . . The person doing it is Isaac Stewart, a guy in one of my writing groups. He’s a man of many talents, and works as an animator. He was very excited about MISTBORN, and…
Annotation Mistborn Dedication and Acknowledgement The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Second Title Page Title Page Two Okay, so here we see the words FINAL EMPIRE for the first time. Continuing the discussion I had in the last annotation, one of the books that I wrote after MISTBORN PRIME was called THE FINAL EMPIRE. (I now call it FINAL EMPIRE PRIME.) It was the…
Annotation Mistborn Title Page One The following is an author’s annotation that relates to a specific chapter of the book MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up…
Annotation Mistborn Introduction Introduction to the MISTBORN annotations So, here we are, the annotations for my second book, MISTBORN. I hope that everyone enjoyed the Annotations for ELANTRIS. If you haven’t read the book, it’s out in paperback now, so hurray! In case you’re not aware, this is how the process works. When I do…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for July 2006 Hello! Thank you all for your interest in me and my work. I have several points of exciting news for this letter, and not all have to do with my books. Marriage If you haven’t heard, I got married on July seventh, 2006, to the beautiful and intelligent Emily…
Annotation Elantris Book Wrap-Up You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to—and including—this chapter, you risk…
Annotation Elantris Epilogue Epilogue You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 63 Chapter Sixty-Three You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter,…
Annotation Elantris 62-3 Chapter Sixty-Two Part Three You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this…
Annotation Elantris 62-2 Chapter 62 Part Two You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this…
Annotation Elantris 62-1 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
Annotation Elantris 61-4 Chapter Sixty-One Part Four You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this…
Annotation Elantris 61-3 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
Annotation Elantris 61-2 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
Annotation Elantris 61-1 Chapter Sixty-One Part One You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this…
Annotation Elantris 60-4 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious spoilers! Please, if you haven’t read ELANTRIS, go visit the sample chapters, or perhaps purchase the book via Amazon. Note–thoughts about the chapter that might spoil events in later chapters have been hidden. You can reveal them via the button on the left, and they will appear in red. Not all chapters have hidden text–in fact, relatively few of them do. Thanks!
Annotation Elantris 60-2 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
Annotation Elantris 60-1 You are reading author’s annotations that relate to a specific chapter of the book ELANTRIS. Note that the following is NOT the text of the actual chapter, but a companion to the chapter, revealing “behind the scenes” information. If you have not read the book up to–and including–this chapter, you risk serious…
Annotation Elantris 59-2 Chapter fifty-nine part two Kiin gets a little over-confident here by letting the two of them go on top. However, he doesn’t know how powerful the Dakhor are. He assumes that his roof is unscalable. In addition, he realizes how difficult a situation he is in. Dilaf has an army–Kiin’s fortress house,…
Annotation Elantris 59-1 Chapter Fifty-Nine Part One I think I’ve noted that my viewpoints tend to speed up as I approach the endings of books. Well, ELANTRIS is a perfect example. We’re hopping viewpoints like a crazed body-snatcher. At the risk of sounding redundant, I did this to increase pacing and tension. Quick-rotating viewpoints give…
Annotation Elantris 58-4 Chapter Fifty Eight Part Four I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but this chapter forms a mini-triad of its own. It shows all three characters in their traditional rotation. It’s something fun I decided to, playing with my own format. The idea was to give an unconscious sense of urgency to…
Annotation Elantris 58-3 Chapter Fifty-Eight Part Three KIIN’S BACKGROUND So, call me melodramatic, but I think the Kiin surprise is one of my favorite in the novel. I’ve been foreshadowing this one from almost the beginning. And while it isn’t a major part of the plot, it does suddenly explain a lot about Kiin’s character.…
Annotation Elantris 58-2 Chapter Fifty-Eight Part Two I don’t know if you remember or not, but there was some small confusion on Raoden’s part earlier about who Sarene was getting to bring supply shipments into Elantris. They always came and left at night, and didn’t want anybody there to greet them. I realize we haven’t…
Annotation Elantris 58-1 Chapter Fifty-Eight–part one At least you can’t say that I didn’t warn you about the Avalanche. Okay, so I’m a prude. I’ll admit that. I like my characters to be married before they have sex. Besides, Sarene is right–she deserves a wedding. She’s waited since chapter two to have her big, princess’s…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 57 Chapter Fifty-Seven As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t want Hrathen’s affection for Sarene to ever be overt in the book. He’s not a man of passions, and I think he would be very good at keeping his interest unacknowledged, even in his own thoughts. He has ‘learned to ignore’ the passions…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 56 Chapter Fifty-Six This chapter begins with an interesting scene. There’s already a bit of tension between Sarene and Raoden. Nothing big, of course–but I think it’s realistic. People don’t always agree. Loving someone doesn’t change the fact that you sometimes think what they’re doing is flat-out dumb. It does, however, tend…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for February 2006 —Breaking News: Brandon will be appearing as a guest on the “Wakin’ Up With Rebecca and Kurt” radio show Wednesday, the 22nd at around 8:30 am. The station is AM 820, and should be available in Utah County and Salt Lake.— INTRODUCTION Howdy all! You’re getting this because you…
Annotation Elantris Part Two Wrap-Up Things certainly are moving along now. I told you the book would speed up as it approached the ending. There were some very good moments in this part. I like how removing the Mad Prince from the book streamlined the pacing, and I think it pushes quite well to the…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 54 Chapter Fifty-Four Poor Hrathen. He’s been getting jerked around a lot lately–it’s hard for him to react to events before new ones draw his attention. In addition, most of the Mad Prince scenes happened in his chapters. That meant that when I did the revision, he lost the largest number of…
Annotation Elantris 53-3 Chapter Fifty-Three Part Three There has been some confusion about Raoden’s line “After I left” to Sarene right before they go back into the kitchen. Right here, he’s getting ready to tell her that he’s really Raoden. He is implying that, after he left Kae (and was thrown into Elantris) he didn’t…
Annotation Elantris 53-2 Chapter Fifty-Three Part Two Yes, Ahan is a traitor. When building this book, I knew that I wanted one of the characters to betray the rest. I also knew that I didn’t want it to be the most obvious one in the group. This left me with a problem. I had to…
Annotation Elantris 53-1 Chapter fifty-Three Part One I hereby dub this chapter the official start of the Brandon Avalanche! Let the rejoicing begin. On a more serious note, I’ll get to some of the major events in the chapter in a moment. First, let’s talk over some smaller annotations. I like the fact that Lukel…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 51 Chapter fifty-one This is a different kind of Hrathen chapter. With it, I wanted to set the tone for the final section of the book. Only about 15% of the novel remains, and things are going to change for the last bit. You may have noticed a slight tone shift in…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 50 Chapter fifty Joshua absolutely hates it when I use plots like this. I don’t know why I insist on putting things like this (mistaken identities, people pretended to be someone else, that kind of plot) into my books. I think, deep down, I’ve got a weakness for old-school Shakespearean farces. Storytelling…
Annotation Elantris 49-1 Chapter Forty-Nine Part One My biggest worry about these chapters is that people will look at the map we put in the front of the book and realize that it doesn’t match the text. I really do like Jeff’s map–it’s well-drawn, and it has a very cool feel to it. I love…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-Eight Now we’re getting into the most heavily-edited chapters of the book. From here, if you’re curious about the Mad Prince version of the book, look in the ‘Deleted scenes’ section. For the rest of the annotations, just realize that what the Mad Prince once did, Telrii now does. There…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 45 Chapter Forty-Five I figured the rats metaphor in this chapter was appropriate. It seemed like the kind of connection that Hrathen would make–and it says something about him that he would think this way. He might be a sympathetic villain, and he might have some measure of nobility, but he isn’t…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 44 Chapter Forty-Four: Cutting the Mad Prince forced me to rewrite a bit of this chapter. As I mentioned, in the original draft, Raoden and Galladon saw Eton’s army crouching outside the city. At first, Sarene didn’t know what to make of this news. She decided it couldn’t be a Fjordell army–one…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 43 Chapter Forty-three So, in the original version of the book, Raoden and Galladon saw Eton’s army outside the city when they went up to the top of the wall. This shocked and concerned them, which is why they went searching for Sarene to get news about the outside world. More on…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 42 Chapter Forty-two Hum. I forgot how short many of these chapters got. Usually, I don’t let my chapters get this short in a book. I like longer chapters, and tend to be pretty stable in my chapter lengths. ELANTRIS, however, is an aberration. It has a good twenty chapters more than…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 41 Chapter Forty-One My biggest challenge in this chapter was to make it believable to a reader that the characters would accept Sarene as an Elantrian. The plotting of this section of the book relies on Sarene thinking that she’s actually been transformed–otherwise, she would try to escape, and I wouldn’t be…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-Nine I did this triad a little differently. You might notice that the Hrathen chapter starts off right where the Sarene chapter ends. Again, I eventually decided to be more loose with the triad system than I’d originally intended. It would have been to limiting to force all three chapters…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-eight: Ah, we needed some more Lukel. He hasn’t been around enough lately. I’m glad I had the presence of mind to throw in a character to balance out Shuden and Eondel’s solemnity. Lukel doesn’t really have much part in the plot, but he’s always there to throw in a…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Seven We’ve entered the section of the plot where Raoden has a few short chapters (this one and the one before.) As I mentioned, his major plot cycle–the three gangs–for the first part of the book is over. Right now, the most important things are happening on the outside of…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty-Six Dakhor. One of the better words I came up for this book, I think. Be patient with me–I’m going somewhere with this whole Dakhor monastery thing. We’ll get there eventually. For now, enjoy Hrathen’s visions. Or, rather, be disturbed by them. (Dakhor, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t a very…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-four I know it seems like I’m setting Shaor up for a return, but I really don’t intend to bring her back. At least, I didn’t when I wrote this chapter. The truth is, I just didn’t want to write a scene of the madmen returning with the torn up…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Three (No Hidden Spoilers) Another short, but powerful, Hrathen chapter. This is the head of Hrathen’s character climax for the first half of the book. He has been questioning his own faith ever since he first met Dilaf. It isn’t that he questions the truthfulness of the Derethi religion–he just…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-One: Raoden failed in finding ways to defeat Shaor’s gang on two separate occasions. First, there was the original infiltration with Galladon (in which Raoden hoped to convince Shaor to stop attacking.) This excursion was informative, but not successful. The second failure was in dealing with the wild men who…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 30 Chapter Thirty (No Hidden Spoilers. Sorry!) And, we finally get to figure out what is going on. As I said, this is one of my favorite triads because of the way it manages to string a cliff-hanger across three separate chapters. I’ve spoken often of how difficult it was, at times,…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 29 Chapter twenty-nine So, here we get the payoff for several hundred pages worth of hinting at Iadon’s insecuirty and paranoia. Plotting is all about payoffs, in my estimation. You have to earn your plot. You do that by putting the pieces together in the right places, so when you finally get…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty-Eight I’ve actually been called a ‘square peg’ before. I believe the line was “You’re one of those creative types–you’re a square peg, trying to fit into a round hole.” I was twenty-two, and was getting let go from one of my first jobs. That’s another story, though. Just note–apperantly,…
Annotation Elantris Part One Wrap-Up “The Shadow of Elantris.” These section headings were added in the last real draft I did, while I was visiting my father in Massachusetts during the summer of ’04. By then, the book’s title had firmly been changed from THE SPIRIT OF ELANTRIS to just ELANTRIS. I knew I needed…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Seven: (No Hidden Spoilers) One of the shortest, but most powerful, chapters in the book. I added the ‘head arteth’ conflict (the idea of everyone rejecting the appointment) later in the revision process so that I could have one more thing to push Hrathen over the edge. My only…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 26 Chapter twenty-six (No Hidden Spoilers) This book, as I’ve mentioned before, is a little less ‘tight’ than others I’ve written. There are chapters like this one, where nothing extremely important happens–I simply show life from one viewpoint, a state necessitated by one of the other two doing something very important. Still,…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-Three (No Spoilers. Sorry!) Sarene=Chaos If you want to read more on this topic, read the critical afterword to ELANTRIS I wrote for inclusion with my Master’s Thesis. (September’s goodie–find it on the goodie page for Elantris) The short of it, however, is that Sarene is a force of change…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 21 Some of the most fulfilling experiences in writing this book came from the Hrathen chapters. Though Joshua still occasionally complains that he finds Hrathen’s internal monologues to be slow and ponderous, I find them essential to the plot. Chapters like this chapter where we really get to see how Hrathen thinks…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty (No Spoilers) Ahan’s line here is one of my favorite openers in the book. Partially because it is amusing, and partially because it so perfectly represents what is going on in the story. Good political maneuvering, in my opinion, leads to shifts in power. Two or more sides vie,…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen (No Spoilers) Yes, okay. I’ll admit it. I started a chapter with a dream sequence. However, if you didn’t realize that it was a dream before you got to the end, they you obviously haven’t been paying much attention to the rest of the book. It’s usually good advice…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen (No Spoilers) Of all the books I’ve written, I think this one hearkens most closely to our own world. Usually, when I develop cultures and languages, I try to stay away form basing them too closely on any one Earth society or race. I’m not certain what made me…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen: (No Spoilers. Sorry!) When I teach writing, one of my major educational philosophies is that an author must understand his or her strengths. If you do something well, play to that strength. Write books that show off what you can do. This isn’t a reason to ignore, or to…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 10 Chapter Ten (No Spoilers. Sorry!) Are the Elantrians zombies? I’ve been asked this question before. The answer is a little bit yes, a little bit no. I very intentionally don’t make any references in the story to them being zombie-like, and I certainly don’t call them ‘undead.’ Both words bring a…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 9 Chapter Nine: This third ‘chapter triad’ is the first one where I do a real intersection of the three viewpoints. Raoden sees Hrathen on the wall, Sarene and Hrathen spar, then Hrathen thinks about his run-in with Sarene on his way to the meeting with the noblemen. I’m not sure if…
The economy of Arelon is one of the interesting features of this book. Even still, I’m not certain if I made things a little too odd here. The idea of nobility being tied directly to money is described so often by the characters that I worry that readers will think the system too foolish to have arisen. However, I think that by establishing the king as a former merchant—and by pointing out how the system was created quickly, to fill the void after the fall of Elantris—I manage to keep the economic and social situation in Arelon within the realm of possibility.
Annotation Elantris Chapter 6 Chapter six (No Spoliers. Sorry!) In this chapter, we first get to see some of the scars that Hrathen is hiding. Part of what makes him such a compelling character, I think, is the fact that he considers, questions, and seriously examines his own motivations. The things he did in Duladel…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 5 Chapter Five (No Spoilers–Sorry!) This chapter includes two very important events. The first is the establishment of Hrathen and Sarene’s relationship. The ‘dramatic eye-lock’ is, admittedly, over-used in fiction. However, I found it appropriate here, since I later have Hrathen remark on Sarene. I wanted to establish that the two had…
Annotation Elantris Chapter 1 Chapter One There are a couple of interesting things about this chapter. First off, it didn’t originally start with Raoden waking up. When I first wrote the book, I threw Raoden directly into the city, line one. That original line was: “It wasn’t until Raoden heard the gate swing closed behind…
Annotation Elantris Prologue Prologue I’m a very sequential writer. When I write a book, I usually start with the prologue and write straight through until I hit the epilogue. Though I can’t remember for certain, I’m pretty sure that this prologue was the first thing I ever wrote for Elantris. Back in those days, I…
Annotation Elantris Acknowledgements page I’ve had a few complaints about this page–but not the complaints I expected. When I was writing the acknowledgments, I was worried that I’d leave someone out who gave me good comments on the book. It took me a lot of searching through old records, but I think I finally found…
Annotation Elantris Dedication The Dedication I’ve always intended to dedicate my first published book to my mother. I poke a little fun at her here, since I can’t resist. However, I really do owe a lot of who I am–and what I’ve accomplished–to her. When I was in elementary school, I had mediocre grades–and my…
You’d be surprised how much can be said about the title of this book. Naming books is one of the most frustrating, and most fulfilling, elements of writing. I’m more fortunate than some authors I know–for most of my books, the names came easily. Sometimes, I even came up with the title before I wrote the book. (This has actually only happened once, when thought up the phrase ‘The Way of Kings,’ and thought ‘Man! That would be a great title for a book!.)
Annotation Elantris Introduction Welcome to the ELANTRIS Annotations section! The following are a series of short commentaries I wrote, each one individually linked to a specific chapter, page, or section in ELANTRIS. They give a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ information relating to the writing process, the concepts and characters of ELANTRIS, and whatever else…
Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for April 2005 INTRODUCTION Greetings, friends! Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Brandon Sanderson Newsletter. You’re getting this email because you signed up for my mailing list at Brandonsanderson.com. If you want off, just shoot us an email, and we’ll take you off the list. ELANTRIS NEWS It’s out! Yup, after…
Blogging I’m still not used to this blogging thing. The other day, my father told me that he reads these things. That made me pause and wonder if I’d said anything incriminating. . . . (He did chastize me for not mentioning him often enough.) I guess I should get used to the idea of…
As usual, this page has a couple of inside jokes buried in it. In the first Mistborn book, I referred to Peter Ahlstrom (one of my longtime friends and alpha readers
Annotation Mistborn 3 Dedication This one is for my brother, Jordan. He is, in a word, awesome. I don’t know if any of you had to grow up with a domineering older sibling, but I know my brother did. I’m the eldest, and when we were growing up, I was the “good” son. I did…
Centrifugal Warning: You are about to read a very bad story. The following is a historical document, of sorts. It’s one of the first short stories that I ever wrote. Way back in 1994—when I was a high school senior—I wrote this story to enter a writing contest being held in conjunction with the sf…
