#22—Brandon Sanderson Live Signing Session

Welcome to another (mostly spoiler-free) live signing session. Today I’m signing tip-in sheets for the leatherbound edition of The Way of Kings.

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[Rhadagar]

Hi. Just a rough set of timestamps for the video.

<Intro>

00:00:00 [And we are live.]

00:00:08 [Brandon gives the team a heads up.]

00:00:11 [Hello, how the signing is going to work for the stream and tonight’s planned content.]

00:01:36 [Dawnshard announcement.]

00:02:55 [Where is Jello?]

00:03:10 Do you have an update for when the Dawnshard audiobook will be released?

00:04:10 [Good news for the rhythm of War audiobook!]

<Q&A With Brandon>

00:05:01 [Where the questions will be sourced from.]

00:05:20 How do you decide at which point of the story to start the story? I always find myself starting to early or too late, but never on time.

00:07:41 How do you write multiple projects while still being able to; A) ensure good quality and B) get them out in a timely manner?

00:10:46 [And we’re moving.]

00:10:58 What are these things I’m signing, Kara? [Brandon to Kara.]

00:11:37 [Brandon finishes answering the multiple projects question.]

00:12:24 Were can we get the books you were just signing? [Fielded by Adam and Kara.]

00:12:49 [Why you can’t get hardcover copies Rhythm of War from Brandon’s store right away.] [Also, Mainframe, a Brandon Sanderson audiobook company!]

00:014:32 [A secret video game project you say…]

00:14:54 [Thursdays are busy forever, sorry Adam.] [Also, replaced with movie stuff, you say…]

00:15:18 How do you come up with your believable backstories of characters? Do you have any tips for smooth execution of them?

00:16:46 [And we are moving.]

00:16:58 [Answer continues.]

00:19:10 [The dead pens society. Yeeted.]

00:19:20 [Answer continues.]

00:21:11 How often should characters’ appearance be described?

00:28:04 [We can still see you.]

00:28:14 Do you find it more comfortable when discussing your books with others while writing them or after your “garbage” draft? [And we’re moving.]

00:29:03 [Stacking instructions.]

00:29:30 [Answer continues.]

00:29:58 Do you have any advice on someone thinking of getting into writing on how they can develop a sense of good storytelling?

00:32:40 Which do you prefer, to read and write a serious book with silly moments or a silly book with serious ones.

00:33:54 When you are aware of certain plot/character arcs that needed some tweaking, such as not enough progress or payoff, how do you determine what said fix should be and where and how to answer it properly without spending a significant amount of time?

00:37:49 [And we are moving.]

00:37:53 How do you set up the correct reader expectations when your beginning does not follow one of the traditional tropes like boy on farm?

00:42:41 Is there actually a wrong way to start a story? I’ve heard people say you shouldn’t start by describing the weather or using dialogue. If it is pulled off in an interesting way, does this matter?

00:45:50 How do you make so many distinct personalities for your characters?

00:49:41 I was wondering how the inside jokes in the acknowledgements got started. I noticed Isaacs symbols first and then peter’s interesting adjectives. Are there any others that maybe people haven’t noticed? [And we’re moving.]

00:55:23 [Nerdcognito! :D ]

00:55:33 [Answer continues.]

01:00:30 You mentioned that Rhythm of War has a sequence that you’ve had in your head for a long time. Any other scenes, without spoilers, from Stormlight Archive that you are excited to have in the story? [And we are moving.]

01:03:04 [No worries Adam, I believe this is quite common! The number of timecodes I’ve missed…]

01:03:09 When you are working on a magic system and there are elements that just don’t fit, what would you do to make it work?

01:09:19 Is the in-world ‘The Way of kings’ meant to be the exact opposite of ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli?

01:10:22 How did you plan your writing time when you were not a professional writer? [And we’re moving.]

01:13:45 [Book check.]

01:14:20 [Future stream scheduling. No stream on Thanksgiving.]

01:14:35 [Brandon on holidays.]

01:16:27 Do you have any tips for avoiding info dumps?

01:20:37 Did you ever consider using a pen name, if so, why didn’t you? [And we are moving.] [This dinosaur erotica thing is coming up far too often to be a coincidence 😉]

01:27:43 [Winn Sanderson in chat being such a dad.] [Brandon tells a story about his dad.]

01:29:55 As a new writer the line between third limited and omniscient is really unclear to me. How do you portray Kaladin’s thoughts without breaking perspective and where do you draw the line between these? [And we’re moving.]

01:35:22 How hard would you judge me knowing I had never read Dune? [Adam to Brandon.]

01:35:47 What advice do you have for a perfectionist who is never satisfied with what they write and subsequently becomes demotivated?

01:40:13 [Chat creates a pen name for Brandon.]

01:40:38 [Brandon engages in some light trolling.]

01:41:58 Do you have any suggestions for indicating development inside a secondary character when you re writing from a different viewpoint character?

01:44:09 [Adam with the sneaky reminders.]

01:44:45 How will the Rhythm of War release party work? [Brandon also explains why it is the way it is.] [And we’re moving.]

<Kickstarter Swag Show And Tell>

01:50:18 [Chicken Scout patches.] [ Shardblade proficiency on screen at 01:50:33 and Chasmfiend wrangling at 01:50:49 ]

01:51:42 [The backer pin.]

01:52:25 [Order pins.]

01:53:05 [Status update on the other Kickstarter swag.]

01:55:03 [Brandon decides to do overtime.]

<Q&A Continues>

01:55:22 How do you frame contradictions within characters actions to be a reflection of their complexity rather than inconsistency? {And we are moving.}

01:57:05 [Copies of the second Infinity Blade book.] [Also, Brandon and that Fortnight money…]

01:58:37 You mentioned a balance between dialog and character beats. Wouldn’t uninterrupted dialogue also run the risk of sounding to unrealistic or overly expository?

02:02:09 How many of your current book projects do you have outlined and how many are just thoughts for now?

02:02:42 How would you suggest writing the gap in generational values for fantasy culture? [Some interesting real World stuff here.]

02:08:28 [Book Check.]

02:08:41 [Brandon on knowing that real World stuff.]

02:09:10 Have you ever cried writing a scene? [And we’re moving. (Please excuse the pun.)]

02:10:21 [Tales from The Vault.] [A short verbal tour of Brandon’s outline archive.]

02:14:43 [Thank you and the timing for the upcoming streams.]

02:15:21 [Goodbye.]

02:15:23 [Fade to black.]

02:15:29 [The Brandon Sanderson Draconic Signature logo.]

[ryanvance]

Is anyone else looking decades into the future where you’ll have your library composed of 30+ different cosmere leatherbounds

[jaredpoulter]

Brandon's advice about accepting who you are now while acknowledging that you are not yet the person you want to be is pretty profound, not just for aspiring authors, but for life in general.

[reinierovertoom]

How to do infodumps? In Oathbringer, Brandon did the cleverest one I've seen so far. We needed to learn more about the history of Roshar, so Brandon had Dalinar manage to take more and more control over his visions, which helped him learn more and more about what happened during the desolations. In this way, the infodumps felt like achievements of Dalinar rather than reading dry history books, and we happily ate up all the info while cheering for the character of Dalinar.

[lilwinchester]

I hope they mention Daniel Greene's unboxing video of the Kickstarter Way of Kings. It shows these masterpieces perfectly

[rymdalkis]

I've always enjoyed the in-jokes in the acknowledgement sections, and I must say that The Ineffable Peter Ahlstrom and Ben "can you please just spell my name right for once, Brandon" Olzedixploxipllentivar are two new bangers for Rhythm of War

[voidsabre_]

I love that I finally got a question answered by Brandon, and such a long and interesting answer too

[stephenmaher]

Brandon: talks about Character Tells

Shallan: Blushes furiously at the idea that she has a character tell

[Abunchaponys]

Brandon we also need a part one storm light art book or world book!! Would be awesome as a leather bound for the collection!

[MorningStar-djwl]

My husband gave me a signed book for Christmas one year. I wondered if the signature was Brandon Sanderson's. I get it now. :-)

[dashdotdot]

I do enjoy this nerdery, even if it's weeks after. Loved RoW. Loved Dawnshard. Can't wait for more.

[OddModlin]

Its cool watching your work flow troubleshooting around the signing

[squashedeyeball]

Bless you man. Hours each day, delivering signatures for you readers. You hold a vast force of goodness in your heart!

[MrKenilles]

1:15:05 - Brando Sando, the workaholic

[tsimmons]

29:54: mandatory Writing Excuses/Howard Tayler callback - "Luxury!!"

[avsambart]

Brandon not minding writing during Thanksgiving is something I did not expect, but I should've expected it 😂

[jaredpoulter]

Thank you for including the link to Dawnshard at Amazon. I had a $10 ebook credit that I did not know about expiring in 4 days. Yay for a free ebook!

[Abunchaponys]

Well Brandon listening to your live streams and seeing how awesome you are. I’ve done it now. I only need two more of your leather bounds nowww. 🤣😭

[ViperRT]

I tear up every time Nynaeve drops Lan off in the Borderlands and starts telling people that the Golden Crane is riding for Tarmon Gai'don "will he ride alone?"

[paulregan]

When you don't need the timestamp guy because you just watch the whole thing anyway.