Timewaster's Guide Archive

Im curious as to what process you are using...are you just trying ot burn through them all quickly to refresh it all in yoru head?  Or are you taking copius notes every step of the way?  What is an example of the kinds of notes you ARE taking?  How are you approaching the whole project from that regard?

Im really looking fwd to reading your annotations on AMOL.

Ive always been interested to read some of the Stories from War of Power, hundreed years war, etc.  With the access to all of RJ's notes and such, I woudl think itd be possible, if there was any desire to do so after finishing AMOL.

As per Brandons blog he asks for a bit of feedback, so I figured I'd start a topic and throw my thoughts in.  His possibilities are:

Warbreaker sequel
Elantris sequel (Different characters, same world.)
Big Epic (five or six books on a new project)
Random Stand Alone
Dragonsteel (Which is written, but now I don't know when to release it.)
More books in the Mistborn world
(Note: Again, I wouldn't do any more with the same characters.  Their story is done after book three, as I promised it would be.)

First off, I'm sure all of these projects would be interesting, it's just a matter of choosing the best one.

Warbreaker: Its frutrating knowing there is more to the story but that you have to wait FOREVER for the sequel...when I finished Elantris I wanted to read the next book right away and was sad there wasn't one.  However, I agree with your sentiment that the time is right to REALLY make your mark and a sequel might not be the best way to do that.

Elantris:  Same problem as Warbreaker.  If/when you DO write this sequel though Brandon, I hope you don't compeltely ignore the characters from the first book....don't make them the main focus by any means, but it would nice to still have them affecting the world still (perhaps only from a political standpoint, what is that new government in Elantris going to do now, mentioning what the characters are doing even if we don't ever see them again).  My sentimental side likes the continuity of that.

Big Epic:  This is my vote as to what you should do...Read "The Carrots Revenge by Brandond Sanderson, co-author of AmoL, book 1 of the When Vegetables Attack chronicles!!" You have such a huge opportunity here to build your name and identity up with the other heavyweights of the Scifi/fantasy genre that I think starting fresh and setting up the giant series to followup your giant series conclusion is going to do that the best.  (could you even get a chapter preview of it in the AmOL hardcover like they do in paperback? mm, good times)

Random STand Alone - Definitely vote against this.  Standalones are fine in between series usually, but not in this opportunity...you need to build something.  Standalones you read and put down, series you HAVE to get the next book to see what happens.

Dragonsteel - didnt know this book existed...if you didnt already have warbreaker, Id say do somethign liek that with it online....other than that, you could just save it till you find yourself in a slump and need to get somethign new out.  Its your emergency reserve!

Mistborn 4:Alien invasion! I would vote gainst this....as much as I have enjoyed MB and its world, once youve finished the series theres no real reason to head back into it, at least not soon.  The other projects have more success potential in my mind.

My thoughts...what say you peanut gallery?

In reading the recent MB2 annotations, I found it kind of frustrating trying to remember what the chapters were about, since its been while since I read it.  Elantris and MB1 I read the annotations right away after I finished the book so it was all fresh...my thought was perhaps at the start of each chapter annotation there could be a bullet summary of what the chapter was about?  I.e.:

1.   Jeff finds the treasure map
2.  Nynavae sniffs loudly at the ever present use of the word bloody several times
3. John discovers hes really a woman

and then the annotation continues from that point...just a thought.

I second that, what company you work for?  Ive worked on and off several times with Ensemble Studios and a bit with Big Huge Games, both in QA, playtest, and design, but after making a few inquiriries neither comapny is in the market right now for anything like this....well thought out though so far, kudos!

Well, he did have Zane around....and considering how important the pits were, albeit secretly, it wouldnt be too far off to keep a mistborn around at the mines...lol, I dont know, its all academic anyway.  Brandon would have to chime in on it for there to be a real answer.

How about this...perhaps there were mistborn gaurds at the pits...using allomancy outside of the pits didnt destory the crystals, Kelsier had to go into them to destroy them later on...so, perhaps he had enough trace metals to kill off one of hte mistborn gaurds, catching him by surprise, and then taking his vials. Hed been around allomancers all his life, so he knew how everythign worked in theory...

On the lines of Elantris oddities...

Just finished the book, thoroughly enjoyed it, and my nitpicking in no way weakens said enjoyment, but one thing that stood out to me was how the Elantrians ate.  Without blood pumping through their body, how did they digest food?  Brandon mentions at some point that their digestive systems were working again, but that seems a rather difficult proposition to me.