Sanderson's Way of Kings reading

[CupofDice]

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/806/Signing-Right-Now

 

I am stuck in Tennessee, and my attempts at a gateway have not worked >_>. Anyone going or have gone to this. If so please post at least a synopsis (if it is allowed by Sanderson of course) or what you can remember of the reading (IF IT IS ALLOWED BY SANDERSON OF COURSE :P). I am really looking forward to this new series. A 10 book new epic fantasy by a writer who is getting more experienced every year sounds pretty damn good.

[Toy and Minion]

If I read it correctly, it happened at 2-4 PM today.  It's already passed.

 

Which irks me because if I had known about it yesterday, I could have gone! >.<

[CupofDice]

Ouch. Hopefully someone who went will be kind enough to report back either here or somewhere like the TGS prologue excerpt reading. Google will be my friend in the coming days.

[Toy and Minion]

Things seem to be going like this for me with frustrating repetition lately.

[CupofDice]

http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=c0fct04vbidda987esks4bef22&topic=6953.0

 

Some info here. First book, The Stormlight Archive.

 

This should tie you up for a good ten years after you finish The Wheel of Time. Does it mean that you are not going to write anymore one- or three- volume epic fantasy novels?

 

Can you give us some hints as to what The Way of Kings will be about?

 

"But, then, KINGS turned out very, very well.  (The first book is complete as of yesterday.)  What is it about?  Well...I'm struggling to find words to explain it.  I could easily give a one or two line pitch on my previous books, but the scope of what I'm trying with this novel is such that it defies my attempts to pin it down.

 

It happens in a world where hurricane-like storms crash over the land every few days.  All of plant life and animal life has had to evolve to deal with this.  Plants, for instance, have shells they can withdraw into before a storm.  Even trees pull in their leaves and branches.  There is no soil, just endless fields of rock. 

 

According to the mythology of the world, mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls.  Heaven.  Well, a group of evil spirits known as the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men.  Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers chased them there, trying to push them off of Roshar and into Damnation. 

 

The voidbringers came against man a hundred by a hundred times, trying to destroy them or push them away.  To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades.  Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, men resisted the Voidbringers ten thousand times, finally winning and finding peace.

 

Or so the legends say.  Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield.  The entire world, essentially, is at war with itself--and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind.  Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.

 

That's the backstory.  Probably too much of it.  (Sorry.)  The book follows a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight.  It will deal with the truth of what happened deep in mankind's past.  Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

 

I've been working on this book for ten years now.  Rather than making it easier to describe and explain, that has made it more daunting.  I'm sure I'll get better at it as I revise and as people ask me more often."

 

Damn, that sounds a bit similar to my vague story in TCS. Void, lost history :(.

 

Next i been hearing about the way of kings series u are starting. are you planning to have that as a single book or going to try and make it like a trilogy like mistborn or a large 10 or more book series.

It's going to be a big series.  No promises on length right now, but I feel that it is going to be long.  I have 10 books plotted right now, though some of those might get combined--essentially, there are 10 plot arcs I want to cover.  But expect it to be big.  The first book is done, and came in at 380,000 words before editing.

 

Will The Way of Kings series be based on one of the worlds and magic systems you have already created or are you inventing a totally new one for this series?

 

It will be new.  There are going to be a lot of different types of magic in the world (I see there's a question below asking about that, so I'll answer more there.)  But there will be two main magic systems for the first book.  The first will deal with the manipulation of fundamental forces. (Gravity, Strong/weak atomic forces, Electromagnetic force, that sort of thing.)  The second will be a transformation based magic system, whereby people can transform objects into one of the world's ten elements.

 

One common theme in magic systems across fantasy is the use of artifacts to focus, increase or do something specific with the magic. Inclusion of artifacts is something you have avoided in your magic systems (although I will say I haven't missed them). Is there a reason for this? How has your writing changed with the 'forced' introduction of artifacts (i.e. finishing the Wheel of Time)? Do you plan on using artifacts in your own works after you finish the Wheel of Time?

 

However, I think there is a lot of room to explore magic artifacts.  I've long been wanting to do something that refines magic and uses technology based on it, in kind of a magic-punk sort of way.  KINGS, for instance, does use artifacts and magical items--very specific kinds, mind you, that are built into the framework of the magic system.  But they're there.  One of the big elements of this world will be the existence of Shardplate (magically enhanced, powered plate armor) and Shardblades (large, summonable swords designed to cut through steel and stone.)

 

Is there any information about Way of Kings that you can give us at this time?

I've wanted to do a long epic for a while.  I guess that's what comes from reading Jordan and the others while growing up.  And so, way back in the late 90's--when I was experimenting with my style--I started working on ideas for a longer form series.  I knew the real trick for me would be to do it in a way that it didn't feel stale after just a few books; there needed to be enough to the world, the magic, and the plot arcs that I (and hopefully readers) would keep interested in the series for such a long time.

 

What it gives me (the thing that I want in doing a longer epic) is the chance to grow characters across a larger number of books.  Dig into their pasts, explore what makes them think the way they do, in ways that even a trilogy cannot. In KINGS,  I don't want to do a longer 'saga' style series, with each book having a new set of characters.  I want this to be one overarching story.

 

One of the things that has itched at me for long time in my fantasy reading is the sense of loss that so many fantasy series have.  I'm not complaining, mind you--I love these books.  But it seems like a theme in a large number of fantasy books is the disappearance of magic and wonder from the world.  In Tolkien, the Elves are leaving.  In Jordan, technology is growing and perhaps beginning an age where it will overshadow magic.  It's very present in Brooks, where the fantasy world is becoming our world.  Even Eddings seemed to have it, with a sense that sorcerers are less common, and with things like the only Dragons dying, the gods leaving. 

 

I've wanted to do a series, then, where the magic isn't going away--it's coming back.  Where the world is becoming a more wondrous place.  Where new races aren't vanishing, they're being discovered. 

 

Obviously, I'm not the first to approach a fantasy this way.  Maybe I'm reading too much into the other books, seeing something that isn't there.  But the return of magic is one of the main concepts that is driving me.

Well, that and enormous swords and magical power armor.

 

Do you know when we'll start seeing Way of Kings? Sample chapters in particular. This series sounds freaking amazing and I can't wait to see more of it. So, yeah..now that the first draft is finished (congratulations, by the way), I'm quite curious...

 

My plan is to start releasing sample chapters of Kings next year sometime in the spring.  Not too close to draw any attention away from the release of The Gathering Storm, but far enough ahead of the Kings launch to give a good preview.  February, perhaps?  If you don't see them by then, I officially give you permission to send my assistant a reminder email to 'poke' me into doing it. 

 

I almost forgot, now that The Way of Kings first book, first draft is finished. When can we expect that to hit the shelves?

 

August or September of next year.  (Huzzah!)