Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Morderkaine on October 12, 2010, 01:08:28 AM
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I have transcribed most* of the interview - including um's, uh's, stuttering and other such things - that the folks in charge of The 17th Shard did back in August and placed it in a publicly viewable Google doc (the whole thing is well over 8000 words and would require 23 post to contain it on the forums).
Interview: http://www.17thshard.com/interviews/17th%20shard%20august%20interview.mp3
Transcript: http://tinyurl.com/17th-Shard-Transcript
Transcript Direct Link: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1CLbNI75ALivItrWXy03c0Mh2ASDeF5jAV1y5eEA8Udw&hl=en_GB&pli=1#
Cleaned-Up Transcript (done by ryos): http://www.17thshard.com/news/?p=48
*There were a couple things barely caught by the mics that I just couldn't make out as well as one case where a race from an un-published book was mentioned, the spelling of which I had to guess.
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Kaladin's old name should be spelled Merin. And the Wheel of Time character mentioned is Perrin.
Also, it would look better without the ums. :)
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Thank you Peter, I have fixed those. I toyed with the idea of cleaning up the dialogue but in the end I decide to stay as true to the actual audio as possible. I may do a cleaned up version later. Of course, anyone else is welcome to do so as well and I will add the link(s) to my post, with credit of course.
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Thank you Peter, I have fixed those. I toyed with the idea of cleaning up the dialogue but in the end I decide to stay as true to the actual audio as possible. I may do a cleaned up version later. Of course, anyone else is welcome to do so as well and I will add the link(s) to my post, with credit of course.
Is it alright with you if I post it to the 17th Shard blog? If it is and I do, I'll clean up the ums.
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Thank you Peter, I have fixed those. I toyed with the idea of cleaning up the dialogue but in the end I decide to stay as true to the actual audio as possible. I may do a cleaned up version later. Of course, anyone else is welcome to do so as well and I will add the link(s) to my post, with credit of course.
Is it alright with you if I post it to the 17th Shard blog? If it is and I do, I'll clean up the ums.
Fine by me. I also posted the transcript links on the 17th Shard Forums BTW.
Here's a link to that topic: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/index.php/topic,335.0.html
Also if anyone else wants to post the transcript links on any other fansite(s) and/or blog(s), please feel free.
Y0u can just credit Morderkaine on TWG and/or 17th Shard.
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It's honestly hard to read the transcript with all the "ums" and grammatical errors, however faithful it might be to the audio. There's a reason writers don't use straight transcription in most cases. It's like listening to audio with constant static breakups.
You're not doing Brandon any favors, either. Reading it like that makes him sound slow and somewhat uncertain about what he's saying.
If you want to keep a faithful transcript, that's awesome, but for the convenience of readers could you please post a cleanup version? Hell, send me a writeable version of the Google doc and I'll do it. 'Cause reading it straight is really quite maddening, and it appears to be an absolutely fascinating intervew.
I'm sure I'll understand everything clearly when I listen to it, but I actually prefer reading interviews like this over listening to them.
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It was an interesting read, some of it had already been discussed on here. Mostly the bit about how each Order has access to two magic systems.
Inkthinker's right though, um and ahs be natural in spoken speech, but in a transcription they are disruptive to the reading. Also on the topic of Inkthinker: if it wasn't for him, the Stormlight Archive wouldn't have the Shattered Plains in it.
I thought it was pretty amusing that Brandon had forgotten that he'd given us Cultivation's name, in these big book series, it must be pretty easy to forget minor things. (Case in point: There is a climatic battle scene at the end of Robert Jordan's Winter Heart, but with all the characters around, he completely forgotten to mention the position of one of the minor ones, Erian.)
This is the 2nd interview where he mentioned that in Way of Kings Prime, Kaladin made the opposite decision he made in Way of Kings, and it happened at the beginning instead of the end. Should I take that to mean that he took the Shardplate and Shardblade in WoK Prime, or is he talking about something else.
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Yeah he's mentioned that a lot about Kaladin's decision. I'd really like to know the turning point. I knew about it going into the book, so I was even looking for it. For a long time, I was convinced it was the part when he's being sold off to the army and telling the woman he can fight, but Tvlak (sp?) says he's a deserter and dooms him to bridge duty.
One very interesting thing I found in the interview:
...some of the magic systems have been discovered on different planets, and some of them do work. A lot of them don't, but some of them do. It depends on your spiritual DNA, what people are able to do and things like that but, you know, if you find a way to do illusion magic in one of my worlds it's gonna work pretty much like Lightweaving, regardless of which planet your on. If that makes sense.
Sooooo Elantrian magic on Roshar, right? Right?
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I thought it was pretty amusing that Brandon had forgotten that he'd given us Cultivation's name, in these big book series, it must be pretty easy to forget minor things. (Case in point: There is a climatic battle scene at the end of Robert Jordan's Winter Heart, but with all the characters around, he completely forgotten to mention the position of one of the minor ones, Erian.)
Did you read the transcript, or listen to the interview? Because when I listened to it, it sounded like he was faking ignorance. He knew where they got Cultivation's name.
Minor WoT spoilers: Jordan didn't just forget a minor character, he forgot to mention Semirhage.
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This is the illustration he spoke about in the interview.
(http://inkthinker.cryhavok.org/Post/kings/landscapesBW.jpg)
Brandon's initially asked me to imagine the world as a combination of a desert badlands and an above-ground coral reef. Much of his initial references involved branch coral or plate coral, but while looking around I also discovered brain coral. Brain coral has twisting patterns of evenly shaped and spaced valleys, and I imagined trying to walk across something like this, always having to jump chasms or backtrack, never being able to travel in a straight line.
The actual Shattered Plains in the book are more like a dropped plate of glass. The shapes of the plateaus are irregular and the chasms deeper and more varied, the tops less flat and even. But the basic idea is pretty interestingly similar. Brandon had never described the Plains to me, and I never read Dragonsteel. I was just running with the "above-ground coral reef" design mandate, and hit upon a convergent concept unrelated to his initial draft.
So, imagining it like a labyrinth of chasms topped by a plains-like surface (composed largely of the hiding grass and rough coral/anemone/seaweed-like plants), I thought that perhaps the Highstorms don't necessarily ravage the bottoms of the crevasses (unless the wind turns just right or a flash-flood clears it all out) the way they do the surface. So while the tops of the Plains are scoured of all but the toughest plants, the chasms themselves are teeming with life. Water collects in the low places and creates misty, swampy territory. Tiny cremlings chitter and vinebuds wave their faintly luminescent tendrils in the moist air.
It's hard for me to say how much of what appears in the book comes from just a handful of rough doodles. I had a very loose idea that looked very different, and what ultimately appears in the novels is far better than I had imagined. It's an environment I hope we get to explore more thoroughly.
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No, I actually think Brandon forgot he'd put Cultivation's name in the book. :)
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No, I actually think Brandon forgot he'd put Cultivation's name in the book. :)
;D Awesome.
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You know what I'd like to know? I wonder if there's any correlation between Kalad in Warbreaker and Kaladin in The Way of Kings. There's only a two letter difference...
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Oh, oh! Can we put those images in the blog post of the transcript that is totally happening real soon now? Oh, can we, can we please? :o
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Awesome pics Inkthinker!
You know what I'd like to know? I wonder if there's any correlation between Kalad in Warbreaker and Kaladin in The Way of Kings. There's only a two letter difference...
I don't think so. We actually get Kalad's PoV, and he makes no mention of another planet, let alone being a herald, and that is pretty important. The fact that he is an important character in Warbreaker, would imply that he is not going to be an important character in a completely separate series.
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Oh, oh! Can we put those images in the blog post of the transcript that is totally happening real soon now? Oh, can we, can we please? :o
If it's good with Brandon, it's good with me.
Just remember that it's not meant to represent the way the Plains look in the novel (I don't want to confuse anyone who sees it out of context). It's the original pitch concept, which changed a lot before the final draft.
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It should be OK, since we showed that at the art panel at Dragon*Con. However, let's not release any other concept art (even other images from that panel) for now. Brandon may want to do annotations involving them at a future date, and it would be nice to have never-before-seen stuff for those. :)
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Heh, I wonder if PANFO will catch on as terminology.
Did he say there were way more than 16 shards? Did I hear that right?
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Heh, I wonder if PANFO will catch on as terminology.
Did he say there were way more than 16 shards? Did I hear that right?
I think he said there were more than 16 alloys each from Atium and Lerasium. Btw, would they still be called Atium and Lerasium, considering that Ati and Leras are dead? Shouldn't they be Sazediumone and Sazediumtwo?
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Heh, I wonder if PANFO will catch on as terminology.
Did he say there were way more than 16 shards? Did I hear that right?
I think he said there were more than 16 alloys each from Atium and Lerasium. Btw, would they still be called Atium and Lerasium, considering that Ati and Leras are dead? Shouldn't they be Sazediumone and Sazediumtwo?
How 'bout Sazedium and Sazedite?
Perhaps Sazedium and Terrisium? :P
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Heh, I wonder if PANFO will catch on as terminology.
Did he say there were way more than 16 shards? Did I hear that right?
I think he said there were more than 16 alloys each from Atium and Lerasium. Btw, would they still be called Atium and Lerasium, considering that Ati and Leras are dead? Shouldn't they be Sazediumone and Sazediumtwo?
How 'bout Sazedium and Sazedite?
Perhaps Sazedium and Terrisium? :P
Actually, thinking more on it, wouldn't there only be one metal now? If I recall, Atium was the body of Ati/Chaos, and Lerasium was the body of Leras/Preservation. With one person holding both shards, wouldn't there now only be one metal? So... Sazedium could grant a person limited view of the future along with the powers of a mistborn.
Although, perhaps there will be no god metals at all. If Lerasium came about because of Preservation's sacrifice and Atium because of Chaos's imprisonment, wouldn't that mean that Sazedium will only come about if Sazed sacrifices a portion of his power, is imprisoned by another Shardholder, or other such cosmic event?
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I just posted a cleaned-up version on the 17th shard blog. http://www.17thshard.com/news/?p=48
I did my best, but oh man, that was long, and there was a lot to clean. So, I'm sure it could be better, and there are bound to be errors that slipped through. Feel free to post corrections in the comments.
Thanks to Morderkaine for doing the raw transcription. It wouldn't have happened without you.
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Actually, thinking more on it, wouldn't there only be one metal now? If I recall, Atium was the body of Ati/Chaos, and Lerasium was the body of Leras/Preservation. With one person holding both shards, wouldn't there now only be one metal? So... Sazedium could grant a person limited view of the future along with the powers of a mistborn.
Although, perhaps there will be no god metals at all. If Lerasium came about because of Preservation's sacrifice and Atium because of Chaos's imprisonment, wouldn't that mean that Sazedium will only come about if Sazed sacrifices a portion of his power, is imprisoned by another Shardholder, or other such cosmic event?
Ruin, not Chaos!
Anyway, the metals were the physical embodiments of the shards, named after the person who held that shard. So Atium and Lerasium will still exist separately, as the shards are still separate, just held by only one shardholders. Maybe the names should be changed as Ati and Leras are now dead, but they've been called atium and lerasium for so long now, there really isn't any point changing them.