Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: yakumo fujii on September 23, 2010, 10:04:42 AM
-
Let speculation run rampant!
Just finished the 1st scene of a totally secret project I'm not supposed to be writing. Nobody tell my editor, agent, or publisher. Weeee... 3:33 PM Sep 20th via TweetDeck
Known projects - A Memory of Light, Scribbler, TWoK2 (The Highprince of War).
-
A screenplay that descibes humanity in the the days before the breaking of Adonalsium. :D
I just noticed that "Adonalsium" isn't a word the spell-checker on this PC know, hahaha. :D
-
some thoughts
1. He is writing Twilight fan fiction
2. He has decided to go dark. He is writing a dark, twisted fantasy novel that makes George RR Martin's books look like childrens literature
3. He is serving as Peter Ahlstrom's assistant while he works on his first book.
4. He is writing an essay about how he is not a fantasy writer
5. He has taken a position in the Obama administration as the Czar of Fantasy writing. His first act is to waterboard Terry Goodkind.
-
1. He's conducting a seminar on "how to make fantasy readers think your characters are swearing without using a single swear word."
2. He's writing Christian romance novels for Heartsong.
3. He's developing an exclusive deck of Magic cards.
4. He's been tapped to host at the Academy Awards.
5. He's developing a new line of Mistborn cosplay clothing for Halloween.
6. He's secretly building a granite vault somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
-
3. He is serving as Peter Ahlstrom's assistant while he works on his first book.
I love this one! :D
-
My guess/hope is Warbreaker 2.
-
5. He has taken a position in the Obama administration as the Czar of Fantasy writing. His first act is to waterboard Terry Goodkind.
I cannot tell you how much I loved this. I got into Sword of Truth back when there were only a couple books, and wound up feeling duty-bound to read it. But after about the fifth book, the series began its slow, depressing trek towards becoming the "Twilight" of high fantasy. Now, in hindsight, it makes so much more sense. Richard is a Mary Sue, and the whole series is about kinky sex and conservatism.
Oh, I take it back. It's not "Twilight", it's John Ringo's "Paladin of Shadows" series (http://hradzka.livejournal.com/194753.html).
Anyway, my guess would be the Wheel of Time outriggers, but I could well be wrong. Everything else is stuff we know he means to work on anyway, so it doesn't seem like it'd be a big secret if he were working on them.
-
I think it's likely the second Stormlight Archive book which he's not meant to start for 15 months....
-
I'll be the voice of dissent and say that I think it's most likely something entirely new that we know nothing about. Brandon has often said he enjoys working on new things...
-
Its a fifth Alcatraz book.
(*crosses fingers and wishes really hard*)
-
Its a fifth Alcatraz book.
(*crosses fingers and wishes really hard*)
I doubt that, given how dissatisfied he's been with Scholastic.
-
Its a fifth Alcatraz book.
(*crosses fingers and wishes really hard*)
I doubt that, given how dissatisfied he's been with Scholastic.
Which is exactly why he'd have to keep it a secret!
-
From his Twitter:
Am working on New Super Secret Project Mark II. It can be so relaxing to work on something that involves no deadlines or expectations.
Sooo... two secret projects? Or is this the same secret project and he's already on revision 2? With Brandon it's hard to speculate, the man writes more than he breathes, I think.
-
I hope its the sequels to both Elantris and Warbreaker. Fingers crossed.
-
some thoughts
1. He is writing Twilight fan fiction
:D
2. He has decided to go dark. He is writing a dark, twisted fantasy novel that makes George RR Martin's books look like childrens literature
I would like that... very much, lol. >:D
3. He is serving as Peter Ahlstrom's assistant while he works on his first book.
Laughed HARD at that one.
4. He is writing an essay about how he is not a fantasy writer
Considring the speed with which he writes books, an essay would be finished in no time.
5. He has taken a position in the Obama administration as the Czar of Fantasy writing. His first act is to waterboard Terry Goodkind.
Hehe, noone seems to like him, and WOTmaniacs least of all.
-
Its a fifth Alcatraz book.
(*crosses fingers and wishes really hard*)
I doubt that, given how dissatisfied he's been with Scholastic.
what is wrong with scholastic?
-
George RR Martin fans have convinced him to try his hand at A Song of Ice and Fire, as they figure he can finish the entire series before Martin releases his next book.
-
George RR Martin fans have convinced him to try his hand at A Song of Ice and Fire, as they figure he can finish the entire series before Martin releases his next book.
That's hilarious, haha. I haven't read any of them yet, since it takes him soooo long to release books. I'll wait until it's done. Which probably means I'll be waiting for another 20 years or so, right?
-
George RR Martin fans have convinced him to try his hand at A Song of Ice and Fire, as they figure he can finish the entire series before Martin releases his next book.
As I recall, Brandon has already specifically stated that he would not accept the job of finishing A Song of Ice and Fire even if it were offered to him after Martin dies. Yes, this was in response to fans asking him about it.
-
George RR Martin fans have convinced him to try his hand at A Song of Ice and Fire, as they figure he can finish the entire series before Martin releases his next book.
rofl...
-
5. He has taken a position in the Obama administration as the Czar of Fantasy writing. His first act is to waterboard Terry Badkind.
FTFY
-
George RR Martin fans have convinced him to try his hand at A Song of Ice and Fire, as they figure he can finish the entire series before Martin releases his next book.
YMMD. :D ;D
-
Its a fifth Alcatraz book.
(*crosses fingers and wishes really hard*)
I doubt that, given how dissatisfied he's been with Scholastic.
what is wrong with scholastic?
He's mentioned several times that they're difficult to work with, since he doesn't see eye to eye with them.
-
You'd think that once he was well established (which he is) and it's the FIFTH book of the series (that's making them money) that they wouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. *sigh* Bureaucracy....
-
guessingo that was hilarious. I'm annoyed at Scholastic because they only have Alcatraz VS the Evil Librarians on audio. I understand they probably only put the first one on audio before hand incase Brandon's career flopped but it hasnt. Alcatraz was hilarious, I wish they'd put 2&3 on audio.
-
Didn't he say at the Seattle reading (or somewhere) that he wrote 600 words of a Mistborn short story on the plane? Maybe it's something related to that.
-
Didn't he say at the Seattle reading (or somewhere) that he wrote 600 words of a Mistborn short story on the plane? Maybe it's something related to that.
The very thought of a hint of a possibility of such has just made my day.
-
lol. SCRIBBLER TWO!!!!! ZOMG!
For those of you who weren't around "Y.A.S.P. (Yet Another Secret Project)" was Scribbler.
So I conclude mark II must mean Scribbler II. =DDDDDDDDDDDD
-
Oh someone PLEASE!!!!!! waterboard Goodkind!! My hope is that he is working with scientists to manufacture shardblades. ;D
-
Oh someone PLEASE!!!!!! waterboard Goodkind!! My hope is that he is working with scientists to manufacture shardblades. ;D
This would no doubt inspire Goodkind to write a novel about the incident, explaining -- at great length -- how waterboarding him was perfectly justified. Unfortunate side-effects would be a) sex scenes involving waterboarding, and b) Goodkind writing another novel. So I have to say it's not worth it.
-
Oh someone PLEASE!!!!!! waterboard Goodkind!! My hope is that he is working with scientists to manufacture shardblades. ;D
This would no doubt inspire Goodkind to write a novel about the incident, explaining -- at great length -- how waterboarding him was perfectly justified. Unfortunate side-effects would be a) sex scenes involving waterboarding, and b) Goodkind writing another novel. So I have to say it's not worth it.
My spleen hurts from laughing so hard.
-
lol. SCRIBBLER TWO!!!!! ZOMG!
For those of you who weren't around "Y.A.S.P. (Yet Another Secret Project)" was Scribbler.
So I conclude mark II must mean Scribbler II. =DDDDDDDDDDDD
That's funny. As soon as I read twitter I responded "scribbler 2?!?!?!". Makes sense since Scribbler got picked up.
-
Scholastic turned down Alcatraz 5 (if I remember right), which means that he can have someone else publish it. He said that he would probably write Nightblood like he did Warbreaker, where he writes some chapters, post them online, and continue (Which will be a mess now that he's so popular).
My money is on a completely new novel (unlikely), Elantris 2, or, probably, a short story or two. I've really enjoyed his sci-fi short stories in the past, and look forward to more of them.
-
18% down on Brandon's Super Secret Project Mark II!!! :D
-
Scholastic turned down Alcatraz 5 (if I remember right), which means that he can have someone else publish it.
The trouble as I understand it is that, due to Scholastic's mismarketing and underprinting of Alcatraz, it hasn't sold very well, so it's a tough sell to get any other publisher to pick up the final book of a series that they don't own (and so don't control the marketing/distribution of). If it had strong sales numbers backing it up then it might be a risk worth taking, but as it is...
-
Scholastic turned down Alcatraz 5, but will keep the first 4 books until they go out of print. So it's hard to get a sequel published somewhere else.
-
There's now a meter on Brandon's website for Super Secret Project Mark II. If he's already 18% done with it, I don't think it could be novel-length...
But this is Brandon, after all. You never know.
-
Peter, what's Brandon's percentage marking based on? Number of pages done? Is there a certain landmark that gets him to the next percentage? First draft finished is 50%? Final draft is 85%? Publishing ready is 100%? Or is it each phase gets its own zero to 100 percentage? Just curious as to how the "Mind of Sanderson" works. :)
-
Peter, what's Brandon's percentage marking based on? Number of pages done? Is there a certain landmark that gets him to the next percentage? First draft finished is 50%? Final draft is 85%? Publishing ready is 100%? Or is it each phase gets its own zero to 100 percentage? Just curious as to how the "Mind of Sanderson" works. :)
I'm not Peter, but as an observer I have observed:
1. Each phase gets its own bar. So first draft, rewrite, revision, etc. all get their own bars.
2. For drafts, each bar's percentage is based on Brandon's rough estimate of how big something will turn out. He has been known to adjust this target during the course of writing.
3. For revisions, the bar's percentage is obviously how far he has progressed through the revision. So when half the book has been revised, the bar reads 50%.
4. The bars don't get updated very often. IMHO that's a good thing—he really does have better things to do.
-
Okay, so now Brandon says he's done things (secret projects) like this before, and of the five or so he's done only one's made it to print. If that is Alcatraz, I wonder what the other four are...
-
Scribbler, Dark One, King's Necromancer, and...? There's one more I know about but that's a short story, and then there's that other thing...and that other thing...one of which may be what he's working on now, but it may be something completely new.
-
Scribbler, Dark One, King's Necromancer, and...? There's one more I know about but that's a short story, and then there's that other thing...and that other thing...one of which may be what he's working on now, but it may be something completely new.
Can anyone give a quick summary of each story?
-
Especially the Thing, That One Thing, and The Other Thing. Those sound awesome!
;D
-
Especially the Thing, That One Thing, and The Other Thing. Those sound awesome!
;D
I know those titles just really grab your attention, haha. :)
-
Scribbler, Dark One, King's Necromancer, and...? There's one more I know about but that's a short story, and then there's that other thing...and that other thing...one of which may be what he's working on now, but it may be something completely new.
Wasn't there also Steelheart?
-
That was one of the other things.
-
i haven't been on in a long time but just wanted to say this topic was a fun read. i wish i could add speculation into what he is doing. ???
... a mistborn console game would be AWESOME though!!!
-
Scholastic turned down Alcatraz 5, but will keep the first 4 books until they go out of print. So it's hard to get a sequel published somewhere else.
gah! will book 5 ever see the light of day?
-
My secret hope is that it becomes another free ebook like Warbreaker. That's only if Brandon decides not to give up on it and doesn't wrap things up in 4, and the publishing situation is truly hopeless. Big ifs, but one can dream, right?
-
Could be Dragonsteel... but considering that's another series I don't know how realistic it would be to work on two series at the same time, three if you consider WoT. Then again, Brandon seems to have a supernatural ability to write quite a bit :)
-
So now it has "Pizza" in the title... I hope that's just a goofy placeholder title and there's an amazingly epic one to be released soon.
-
If I were the gloating sort, I would point out that my suggestion that it's something entirely new that we haven't heard of before grows more and more likely with each new comment The Brandon makes about it. Nyah!
If I weren't the gloating sort, I'd still bring it up, since it is relevant to our interests in this here thread.
-
Wow...Pizza? A magic system based on pizza? Seems like college campuses would have the monopoly on power in that case. Would frozen pizzas work as well? How about deep dish...more power? What about Bagel Bites?
LOL...okay, I know... ::) But it's a fun idea.... ;D
-
Holy crap! it jumped from 18% done to 42% done!!!
-
My ideas for the nane...
Pizza: The final topping- The future of pizza making involves warp cores, death grips, and someone that reminds you of Sylar.
Kung Pow Pizza- Instead of the awesome sensei being a janitor, he makes pizzas! (Sauce on, meat on, sauce on, meat on)/A story of a small-time china restraunt that decides to go italian and has a hard time making it.
Pizzaborn- instead of metals, imagine pizza! And hawaiian is the equivalent to atium...
Pizza Never Lives Tomorrow Or Dies- A script for a movie about pizza employee #008, who is secretly a spy who uses his mad pizza skills to defeat bad guys with evil laughs (or at least sinister looks)!
Pizza Wars- A long time ago, in a restraunt far far away..... FOOD FIGHT! (taglines: Use the sauce Luigi/Luigi- I am your chef!!!/Search your toppings it is true)
-
hmmmm...necromancy and pizza. I wonder if he's bringing the peperoni slices back to life.
-
I think the project is about a necromancer who resurrects the ancient Shard of Pizza, the mysterious 17th shard that has been so much speculated about. This is followed by mysterious deaths due to heart attacks, sudden attacks of obesity and strange appearances of pepperoni pizzas in unlikely places.
-
Pizza
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a la Sanderson?
-
Teenage Zombie Ninja Turtles, and Splinter is the necromancer that resurrected them.
-
Peter, do you know if this is something Brandon is hoping to publish or is he going to post this online? If he doesn't get it published (like the others at this point in time), what are the chances that we online will see it?
-
Someone will publish this.
-
Someone will publish this.
Like it's under contract or it's so awesome that someone will for sure take it?
-
I edited the post, but it didn't keep.
The way the market is now, there is no way that Brandon will not be able to find a publisher for anything he writes (as long as Brandon himself is happy with it). So while it's not under contract currently, that's not a problem.
There are a number of authors out there who only write under contract once they have established careers. For some authors, that is detrimental to their creativity. Lois McMaster Bujold mentioned that before she wrote her Sharing Knife first two books (it was one big book to start with, and IMHO should have stayed that way). Writing the books with no contract was much less stressful.
Brandon is doing something similar now. He has no external demands or expectations on his time for the rest of the year (except for touring). So he can write something that's fun and relaxing.
-
Well, according to Brandon's twitter, it involves a necromancer protagonist.
-
Well, according to Brandon's twitter, it involves a necromancer protagonist.
Surely the protagonist won't be an evil undead overlord.
-
maybe he is preparing his platform to challenge John Scalzi for the Science Fiction Writers Association presidency?
-
I edited the post, but it didn't keep.
The way the market is now, there is no way that Brandon will not be able to find a publisher for anything he writes (as long as Brandon himself is happy with it). So while it's not under contract currently, that's not a problem.
There are a number of authors out there who only write under contract once they have established careers. For some authors, that is detrimental to their creativity. Lois McMaster Bujold mentioned that before she wrote her Sharing Knife first two books (it was one big book to start with, and IMHO should have stayed that way). Writing the books with no contract was much less stressful.
Brandon is doing something similar now. He has no external demands or expectations on his time for the rest of the year (except for touring). So he can write something that's fun and relaxing.
john scalzi wrote that he did the same thing with his Little Fuzzy reboot. I would think that midlist authors may not be able to afford to write without a contract. If you spend alot of time on a story, then no one buys it or it gets you less money than you thought. That could be a problem for authors just getting by.
-
Since it's his secret project, it doesn't sound like he's that worried about it getting published...it's something that he wants to do because he wants to do it. Kind of like the books that he wrote back when he worked at the hotel. I've got a few projects like that that I want to do that will probably have to wait until I retire...*sigh*
-
"Secret project almost at 50%. For those guessing, yes it is urban fantasy. No vampires, with or without sparkles."
http://twitter.com/brandonsandrson
-
Urban fantasy with a necromancer hero? And pizza? Pizza with the Devil is my guess.
-
john scalzi wrote that he did the same thing with his Little Fuzzy reboot. I would think that midlist authors may not be able to afford to write without a contract. If you spend alot of time on a story, then no one buys it or it gets you less money than you thought. That could be a problem for authors just getting by.
I should think there's no such thing as wasted time spent writing, every bit you do is practice and you never know when you'll be able to use something you wrote a while ago but which didn't sell at the time. So long as you're not blowing off contract work or some other thing you could be doing to pay for bacon, I don't see how any writing isn't constructive in some way, even if it doesn't directly result in a sold book.
-
Yep...even Brandon's "doodles" are artwork compared to most authors...I'll take his practice works as well as the ones that he publishes. :)
-
I edited the post, but it didn't keep.
The way the market is now, there is no way that Brandon will not be able to find a publisher for anything he writes (as long as Brandon himself is happy with it). So while it's not under contract currently, that's not a problem.
There are a number of authors out there who only write under contract once they have established careers. For some authors, that is detrimental to their creativity. Lois McMaster Bujold mentioned that before she wrote her Sharing Knife first two books (it was one big book to start with, and IMHO should have stayed that way). Writing the books with no contract was much less stressful.
Brandon is doing something similar now. He has no external demands or expectations on his time for the rest of the year (except for touring). So he can write something that's fun and relaxing.
Peter, does this mean we might yet see books like Dark One, Steelheart or The King's Necromancer after all, if finding a publisher is no longer an issue? Or is the problem with those books now simply that Brandon doesn't like them enough to sell them?
-
Necromancer Urban Fantasy!!! Hmm......do you guys thinks it'll be YA or Adult?
-
Necromancer Urban Fantasy!!! Hmm......do you guys thinks it'll be YA or Adult?
A bit of both.
-
I was thinking more YA but you never know. Either way I know it's going to be a great story.
-
Peter, does this mean we might yet see books like Dark One, Steelheart or The King's Necromancer after all, if finding a publisher is no longer an issue? Or is the problem with those books now simply that Brandon doesn't like them enough to sell them?
Brandon hasn't finished any of those books. And with him writing a completely different necromancer book now, I doubt King's Necromancer will get finished.