Got to meet Brandon last night in Pittsburg. Not many people there (about 20) so I was excited. Brandon was extremely gracious and as always very transparent. I was bummed that so many people obviously hadn't read his blog or his forum posts, because many of the questions were variations of those he's already answered here and there. Regardless, it was an excellent time.
He read a section from Way of Kings. He prefaced it by saying this exact scene may not make it into any final cut of the books, but something akin to it probably would. There were many names and references to which I was unfamiliar (obviously), but the scene is a dance, and an assassin wearing white (much to-do about the fact he was wearing white), is on his way to "visit" the king who has retired for the evening. The interesting thing that came out of the reading was a cultural moray followed by the people who have sent the assassin - that an assassin should wear white, because you should give the person you are about to assassinate the chance to see you coming. Seems a tad counterproductive, but I liked the principle.
When asked a question about the formations of his magic systems, Brandon answered much the way he has on his posts - but added some detail about the magic in Way of Kings. He has said that he likes linking science, specifically physics, to something arcane or magical and thus creates a very realistic, visceral system. Way of Kings uses the 4 known forces - gravity, magnetism, the strong atomic force, and the weak atomic force, as the "science" behind the system. He marries that to an arcane power derived from oath making (and I'm assuming breaking), to form his magic system. I have absolutely no idea how that works - that why he's writing it and I'm reading it - but it sounds much more intriguing than the "additive and subtractive" magic system found in Goodkind's series.
The two hours flew by, and I found at the end I hadn't said half the things I'd wanted to say, but couldn't help walking away from the experience feeling like I'd just sat down and had coffee with a friend who happens to be a best-selling author.
Well done, Brandon.