Ask Brandon

[Spriggan]

I'm curious about the French version. Who picked it up over there? Release date? Are they going to go directly to paperback or come out with hardback too? That sort of thing. Also, are they going to redo the art for the cover? I really hope they don't redo the cover art. The cover here is gorgeous, but my main reason for hoping they don't is that I haven't seen too many French covers on translations of fantasy that aren't absolutely hideous, completely unrelated to the book, or both.

Well for one think I know the French version Raoden is being re-written as a Jerry Lewis style character, the crazy french and their Jerry Lewis fetish.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

And costarring Charles Bronson as Hrathen.

[EUOL]

Ookla:  Yes, they had 80 copies on hand, fortunately.  They had people calling them the day before, people who had read the article, worried that the store would sell out.  It almost did!

Shrain: Elantris initial was between 11k and 12k.  I've been told that's a tad above average.  The second and third printings were between 1k and 2k each.  I won't actually know about returns for some time yet.  Ookla's numbers are a good judge, but they don't include a lot of markets, so it's tough to tell, even knowing the bookscan numbers.  I'll have figures on returns sometime early next summer.  (But, yes, 30% is the mark of an average book.  Get more returns than that, and it's not a good sign.  Get fewer than that, and it's a good sign.)

Oh, and the number they've been using for MISTBORN is 25k.  They were talking 15k for ELANTRIS around this time, and did 11.5, if that gives you a frame of reference.  


Vaj:  Calmann-Lévy has the French rights.  I honestly don't know what they'll do for the cover.  Some of the smaller markets (Thai, for instance) have contacted Stephen and asked to use his cover.  The larger markets, however, tend to like to do their own art.  So, who knows what the French cover will look like.  I wish I could tell you when it will be out, but I honestly don't know.  Hopefully sometime next year.

[MPlease]

Yay! It's not Poche! I've refused to read some of the books they've translated simply because the covers were so disturbing. I know you should judge a book by its cover, but really, abstract nude people on the covers of LeGuin's Earthsea series really didn't make me want to read their translations of it... Thank goodness that Calmann-Lévy tends to do good covers.

[Shrain]

Thanks for all the info, Brandon. Very interesting!
Wow, 25K for MISTBORN. That's definitely impressive. I can't wait to see the cover art...
And, speaking of cover art, given Vaj's comments, I'm awfully curious to see how the French cover will turn out.

[RaoCar]

OK i am still working on finishing the book. So far it is good. I bought at the signing in Provo. Thx Brandon. Anyways...

1. How in the world did you come up with the names for all the characters and language?

2. As a writer how long did it take you to get the idea right for Elantris?

[EUOL]

The names for ELANTRIS came from a desire to have something that looked and felt original.  I started with the concept of three-letter, two syllable words.  (IE, two long vowel sounds put together with consonants.)  I ended up with things like:

Rao
Teo
Ashe
Ene
And such.

Then, I built names around them.  You can read more at:

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book.php?id=1&section=6

There's a pronunciation guide at the top.  The second section, however, contains some major spoilers--so I'd ask that you finish the book before reading that part.


As for the idea...that's a harder one to answer.  The first ideas for ELANTRIS germinated when I was in my teens.  I didn't get around to writing the book until 1999, however.  The book came together when I had a combination of the right ideas in my head--that's how I write books.  I can't just have one good idea, I have to have a half-dozen or so of them that work together.  It all has to feel right.

With ELANTRIS, everything clicked in 99, and after that it took me about eight months to write.  Add in a half-dozen rewrites (mostly to tweak Sarene's character, cut the Mad Prince, and fix some worldbuidling elements) and you have the book you're now holding.

[RaoCar]

Thx a lot. I am have discovered from Terry Brook's Sometimes the Magic Works, that idea can just be something simple, or complex. If an idea stays with me for at least 24 hours than i go with it. But most of them don't. Thx again for the help and the signed book. I should have went and listend to you read. We were in the mall for another 2 hours before hour movie started. Darn.