Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 45

Shadows of Self and the Mistborn Mega-Series

Shadows of Self is out today in hardcover in the UK, and I’m touring the UK this week and next. I talked in a previous post about the book release, and will point you toward that one if you’ve not read much of the Mistborn series. (Or if you’re not interested in the writing side of why I make the decisions I do.)

However, for those who want to dig deeper into what’s going on here, I wanted to talk about the Mistborn series as a whole. As I was developing the Cosmere, I knew I wanted a few threads to span the entire mega-sequence, which was going to cover thousands of years. For this reason, I built into the outline a couple of “core” series.

One of these is the Stormlight Archive, where we have the Heralds who span ages, and which I eventually decided to break into two distinct arcs. Other series touch on the idea of long-standing characters. Dragonsteel, for example, will be kind of a bookend series. We’ll get novels on Hoid’s origins, then jump all the way to the end and get novels from his viewpoint late in the entire Cosmere sequence.

With Mistborn, I wanted to do something different. For aesthetic reasons, I wanted a fantasy world that changed, that grew updated and modernized. One of my personal mandates as a lover of the epic fantasy genre is to try to take what has been done before and push the stories in directions I think the genre hasn’t looked at often enough.

I pitched Mistorn as a series of trilogies, which many of you probably already know. Each series was to cover a different era in the world (Scadrial), and each was to be about different characters—starting with an epic fantasy trilogy, expanding eventually into a space opera science fiction series. The magic would be the common thread here, rather than specific characters.

There was a greater purpose to this, more than just wanting a fantasy world that modernized. The point was to actually show the passage of time in the universe, and to make you, the reader, feel the weight of that passage.

Some of the Cosmere characters, like Hoid, are functionally immortal—in that, at least, they don’t age and are rather difficult to kill. I felt that when readers approached a grand epic where none of the characters changed, the experience would be lacking something. I could tell you things were changing, but if there were always the same characters, it wouldn’t feel like the universe was aging.

I think you get this problem already in some big epic series. (More on that below.) Here, I wanted the Cosmere to evoke a sense of moving through eras. There will be some continuing threads. (A few characters from Mistborn will be weaved through the entire thing.) However, to make this all work, I decided I needed to do something daring—I needed to reboot the Mistborn world periodically with new characters and new settings.

As a warning to writers out there, this is usually considered a publishing faux pas. Readers like continuing characters, and creating breaks as I have done (and will continue to do) often undermines sales. Readers naturally feel a momentum in finishing a series, and if you give them a break point—with everything wrapped up—the push to get out the door and read the next book isn’t there.

However, while that’s the rule of thumb in publishing, I worry it has led to poor artistic decisions in some series. When series get very long, a weird thing seems to happen in reader brains. While they want to read about their familiar characters, they’ve sometimes started to feel annoyed by them—and are really just reading to find out what happens to them in the end.

While we love continuing characters, we also seem to get fatigued with them. (Unless the author does some clever things, like how Jim Butcher has handled Dresden.)

The Mistborn reboots are one method I’m using to combat this. Reader reactions, through both reviews and sales of my first reboot, have so far been positive—but I know my publisher is very concerned about this strategy.

I’m confident nonetheless that it is best for the long-term health of Mistborn.

So how does Shadows of Self fit into this entire framework? Well, The Alloy of Law was (kind of) an accident. It wasn’t planned to be part of the original sequence of Mistborn sub-series, but it’s also an excellent example of why you shouldn’t feel too married to an outline.

As I was working on Stormlight, I realized that it was going to be a long time (perhaps ten years) between The Hero of Ages and my ability to get back to the Mistborn world to do the first of the “second” series. I sat down to write a short story as a means of offering a stop-gap, but was disappointed with it.

That’s when I took a step back and asked myself how I really wanted to approach all of this. What I decided upon was that I wanted a new Mistborn series that acted as a counterpoint to Stormlight. Something for Mistborn fans that pulled out some of the core concepts of the series (Allomantic action, heist stories) and mashed them with another genre—as opposed to epic fantasy—to produce something that would be faster-paced than Stormlight, and also tighter in focus.

That way, I could alternate big epics and tight, action character stories. I could keep Mistborn alive in people’s minds while I labored on Stormlight.

The Alloy of Law was the result, an experiment in a second-era Mistborn series between the first two planned trilogies. The first book wasn’t truly accidental, then, nor did it come from a short story. (I’ve seen both reported, and have tacitly perpetuated the idea, as it’s easier than explaining the entire process.) I chose early 20th century because it’s a time period I find fascinating, and was intrigued by the idea of the little-city lawman pulled into big-city politics.

Alloy wasn’t an accident, but it was an experiment. I wasn’t certain how readers would respond to not only a soft reboot like this, but also one that changed tone (from epic to focused). Was it too much?

The results have been fantastic, I’m happy to report. The Alloy of Law is consistently the bestselling book in my backlists, barring the original trilogy or Stormlight books. Fan reaction in person was enthusiastic.

So I sat down and plotted a proper trilogy with Wax and Wayne. That trilogy starts with Shadows of Self. It connects to The Alloy of Law directly, but is more intentional in where it is taking the characters, pointed toward a three-book arc. (The Bands of Mourning, the second of the arc, comes out in January. The final book of the arc hasn’t been written yet; I’ll dig into that after Stormlight 3 is done.)

You can see why this is sometimes hard to explain. What is Shadows of Self? It’s the start of a trilogy within a series that comes after a one-off with the same characters that was in turn a sequel to an original trilogy with different characters.

But I promise that it is awesome.

Hopefully this digging into my own writing psychology has been useful (or at least interesting) for you readers and writers out there. As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy Shadows of Self!

I’m on TV!

[Note, I’m still on tour for Shadows of Self. If you’ve somehow missed the fact that I have a new book out, then read these blog posts, and come see me on tour! Events are listed here.]

Last year, we got a very intriguing offer. A production company in Minneapolis was filming a series on mythology for the History Channel, and they wanted to know if I’d be interested in appearing as a guest.

My initial inclination was to turn down the request, as my time these days is at a premium. Also, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be on a program reminiscent of the one done with the “aliens” guy.

However, talking to my agent, I decided to just roll with it. It was a fun opportunity, and most importantly, they were contacting us in relation to my professor’s hat—they wanted an expert on mythology, storytelling, and what makes human beings intrigued by certain types of stories.

Now, I’d been on the small screen before. Including that fateful moment where I appeared on a local news channel in front of a bunch of stormtroopers, beside the actress who played the evil Kryptonian woman from Superman 2 back in the day. Ah, the places my life has taken me…

Well, I’m pleased to say that despite my reservations, the experience of filming for this series (titled True Monsters now, instead of True Myths as in the original pitch to me) was excellent. Though the series pitch was about whether or not these mythological monsters are real (hint: they’re not), the questions directed at me were exclusively within my particular wheelhouse. We talked about why people want to believe in myths, why they tell stories, and why we consider some myths real (like my own religious faith) while we disregard others.

It was actually a very fun shoot, with me getting to be very professorial and talk about things I love and am passionate about. Now, upon writing this, I can’t say how it turned out. I haven’t seen a cut, and who knows how they spliced me in—or if they even ended up using me at all! However, I did find out that a certain Patrick Rothfuss was also interviewed, so it should be a fun program to watch either way.

Perhaps this thing will come together in a way that makes it seem like I’m telling you all that bigfoot is real. (And, in so doing, help prove the complaint that sensationalism is infecting our educational programming.)

However, my experiences with the producers are making me lean the other direction. I’m anticipating a fun program, which might toy with the real-world explanations of why certain myths started, then dig into what makes human beings so fond of telling stories to one another.

And if not, well, let me just get this out of the way:

True Monsters will be airing on the History Channel on October 9 (that’s today) at 10/9c.

Shadows of Self is out!

The newest Mistborn book, Shadows of Self, is out. (In hardcover, ebook, and audio in the US and Canada; in the UK the ebook and audiobook come out on Thursday the 8th, but the hardcover there comes out on the 15th to coincide with my UK visit starting the next day.)

My job here is to convince you to want to read it in a few hundred words or less, which is a weird job. I remember reading a Robert Jordan interview back in the day where someone asked him to summarize what his book was about, and he replied something along the lines of, “I wrote it at the length I did because that’s how long it took to tell that story properly. So read it, and you’ll find out what it’s about.”

Wise words from Mr. Jordan, though the realities of us all having too much to fill our time means that I should take a stab at helping you understand this book in a short few words. So here goes.

It is awesome.

Too short? All right, well, Shadows of Self is the continuing adventures of two Allomancers from the Roughs who get sucked into big-city politics and crimes. It’s like if Clint Eastwood had magical gunslinging powers, and starred in a 1910s New York City version of CSI—along with his sidekick, Simon Pegg playing a barely-reformed, lecherous pickpocket with the ability to freeze time. Including cameos from the original Mistborn trilogy sprinkled throughout.

I do suggest you start with The Alloy of Law, the first book of this new sequence—as it is intended as a new entry point to the Mistborn world. (If you read that already, there are preview chapters of the new book here.) But I feel you’ll love these books—there are a striking number of readers who prefer the new era Mistborn books, which is shocking to me but also very flattering.

Either way, they’re intended to be fun, fast-paced, and interesting to act as a balance to Stormlight, which is long, epic, and requires a lot of mental energy to keep track of the large cast. I plan to do shorter books like this with Mistborn until I get to a break point in Stormlight, then move to a new Mistborn era and do some longer books, before jumping back to Stormlight. That way, I’m never asking you to read two series with large casts and a lot to keep track of.

That doesn’t mean the books aren’t deep. But these are more tightly focused on a handful of characters, with plots more personal to them, rather than dealing with sweeping conflicts affecting entire continents.

So go check it out! I really hope you’ll enjoy it, and come see me on my tour in both the United States and the United Kingdom! Dates are found here, linked in my events section. Note that everyone coming to the Denver signing today at 6:00 will get a numbered copy of the book!

Come back later in the week when I dig a little further into why I created the Mistborn series the way I did, and how this new sequence fits into the larger puzzle.

Brandon

Elantris Tenth Anniversary Edition

Huzzah! Shadows of Self (Mistborn five, the second in the Wax and Wayne era of books) is out tomorrow!

I’ll have a blog post about that, and my tour, tomorrow. Though if you’re curious, the dates are on the events page of my website. Also, if you live in Utah, please consider coming to the midnight release tonight! You’ll get a numbered edition if you come here. (The store isn’t sold out yet, but they encourage you to come in during the day today to pre-pay to make sure you get a copy.) There will also be numbered books at the signing in Denver on release day.

Today, I want to take some time to talk to you not about a new book, but an old one. The oldest of mine that has been published, as a matter of fact. Elantris is getting a tenth anniversary edition. We’ve been working very hard on getting this ready for you, and it is launching in stores tomorrow alongside the new Mistborn novel. I’ll talk about this at the bottom of the post; and be warned, there’s a special announcement there as well.

Releasing this can’t help but make me reminisce. This past spring marked the tenth anniversary of Elantris’s release. That makes ten years of Sanderson novels.

It seems like such a short time, and such a vast time all at once. In ten years, Robert Jordan released nine books of the Wheel of Time. About ten years came between the release of Anne McCaffrey’s initial Pern novel and the sixth. When I first picked up fantasy novels in ’89, David Eddings—who then seemed like the dominant writer of the genre—had only been publishing fantasy novels for about seven years.

I feel nowhere near as well established as these authors were when I started reading. Looking back at ten years, and making this kind of comparison, causes my head to spin and the universe to settle in strange ways around me—like I just stepped out of some strange portal in spacetime.

Those first few years feel so distant. Signings where nobody showed up to see me. This wasn’t unexpected; nobody knew who I was. I would make the bookstore move my signing table to the front of the store, near the doors, and I’d stand there like a free sample salesman at Costco, trying to get people to taste a sip of Sanderson novels.

Those were the days of driving my ancient car to signings, managing tours on a shoestring budget, often traveling with other authors to share expenses. I’m oddly fond of those days, even as I contemplate a tour starting next week that will be filled with first-class flights, handlers and publicists at every step, and sleek black cars with men in suits to drive me about. I was far less busy back in those early days, and could write without distractions or worries about deadlines.

I’m incredibly grateful for where I am now, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m able able to do awesome things, like the Cosmere or the Elantris special edition. At the same time, there was something unique about those early years, when the eyes weren’t on me as they are now. It’s a lot harder for the magician to pull tricks when the audience is watching him so keenly.

Either way, it is with pride that I get to officially introduce you to the Elantris Tenth Anniversary Edition. This book will be released in three print formats, including trade paperback and hardcover, starting tomorrow. The changes are pervasive, but minor, and I’ll list them below. First off, some questions I’m anticipating.

This is now the canon version of the book, which doesn’t matter much for continuity—it just means that we’ll be (slowly) updating all formats across all countries to match this text. The mass market paperback will transform to this edition in a year or so.
For now, this is only a North American release, though I believe the text should make its way to the UK edition fairly soon, starting with the ebook. (Not sure on the bonus material.) Some non-English-speaking countries are also planning to do tenth anniversary editions, and we’ll try to keep you up to date on them.
The ebook will update to this text, and if you’ve purchased Elantris in ebook you will get the tenth anniversary edition for free. On some ebook platforms like iBooks the update should happen automatically, and on other platforms like Kindle you have to email customer support and ask them to update your file. If—for some reason—you want to preserve the old text, you might want to make a backup of the file. (Tor books are DRM-free, so you should be able to do this.)
The audiobook is a tougher nut to crack, since the publisher has to re-record the new edition. It’s going to be harder to give it away for free to people who have bought the old one, because of expenses incurred. We’ll see what we can do, but as of right now, I think they’re planning to release it as a separate edition.

As for the changes, we went through the book with a fine-tooth comb, and gave it a copyedit more along the lines of what we do these days, fixing many small grammatical and continuity errors. There are no substantive changes, however, unless you count things like moving a building from one side of the city to the other in order to make distances and scale work for the visuals.

Also included is a foreword by Dan Wells and a much expanded appendix, including the Mad Prince sequence of deleted scenes. The art has been reworked by Isaac Stewart, who updated the Aon symbols and the maps in the front, better matching my vision for how the landscape ties into the novel. And there is one brand-new scene somewhere you might not be expecting to find one.

That, however, isn’t the special announcement. I mentioned three print formats. Well, for a while people have been asking if I’m going to do leatherbound editions of my books, like has been done with the Wheel of Time. We decided to jump in with this book, and my team has created a beautiful leatherbound edition to publish with Tor’s support.

This edition will have all the text, a leatherbound exterior, and a multi-page full art section including my favorite covers and art for the series from across the world. Additionally, all the interiors are printed in two colors, blue and black, with the Aons and accent text in blue. And the pages are smyth sewn instead of glued like most books on the market today. We’re anticipating this book selling for around $100–$125, as I personally felt that some leatherbound editions of books have been too pricey. It will be released this November, if the printing goes according to plan, and while it won’t be a limited release (we will reprint if needed) I will do a hand-signed and numbered sub-edition like I do with all newly released books.

You’ll be able to get copies of this book at my online store or at select bookstores I frequent on tour. It won’t likely be available at your local Barnes & Noble or on Amazon, though the regular tenth anniversary edition should be at both—and I hope you check the edition when it comes out tomorrow at your local bookstore! (I just wanted to make you aware that a leatherbound is coming, in case you’re interested in that instead. There will be a full announcement for that in November.)

Either way, I leave you with my deepest thanks. My life is a whole lot more chaotic now than it was ten years ago, and that is because of your enthusiasm and support. I’m having a blast with this, loving every minute. Thank you for ten incredible, mind-blowing years. I can’t wait to show you what’s coming for both the Cosmere and other Sanderson realms in the next ten.

Brandon Sanderson

10/5/2015

Shadows of Self Chapter Six Preview + Updates

Tor.com has put up chapter 6 of Shadows of Self. This newest Mistborn book, the sequel to The Alloy of Law, comes out in print, ebook, and audio next week. (Though in the UK, as we recently learned, the official print release date is October 15th, even though the UK ebook and audio release date is October 8th. It’s confusing, I know.)

This week’s new Writing Excuses episode is a Q&A on Plot Twists where we are joined by Kevin J. Anderson at Sasquan/WorldCon 73 to take questions about plot twists. Here are the questions that came in from our live audience:

Genre Twists: good, bad, or ugly?
Can you compare and contrast a good plot twist with a bad one?
What is the biggest mistake professional authors make with regarding plot twists?

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, a date went in various unexpected directions. This week, in Chapter 56, Adolin goes forth to fight a duel that was supposed to be spectacular, but turns out to be a very different spectacle than he’d planned.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for September.

Signed copies of Shadows of Self + Updates

As I mentioned last week, the midnight release at the BYU Store for the next Mistborn book, Shadows of Self, is using a digital line. If you plan to come to the midnight release, sign up for a line number now at this link.

Last Thursday I went up to Weller Book Works to sign 750 copies of Shadows of Self. They have a few books left, and Weller can ship one to you worldwide, targeting arrival on October 6th. See ordering details here. I will also be doing quite a few other US and UK signings in October; see my events page for details.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, How Does Context Shape Dialog?, we continue our Master Class course on context. Specifically, the way dialog between characters may change meaning depending upon the context you create for them. This context may be the setting or genre, and it may also be the “beats” in which you describe what a person is doing while speaking. We talk about how to make this work for you, how to avoid some of the common pitfalls in writing dialog.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Shallan came to a sobering realization about the gentle disposition of the Ghostbloods and her preparedness to interact with the organization. This week, in Chapter 55, things lighten up as her next date with Adolin goes unexpected places, and meets unexpected people.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for September.

Sign up NOW for the Shadows of Self BYU midnight release digital line

As I said in my blog post earlier this week, we are going to be doing the signing at the October 5–6 BYU Store midnight release party for Shadows of Self a little differently from previous signings. In past years some readers have enjoyed camping out at the bookstore to get a low-numbered copy. This year, for various reasons, we’re trying something new: a digital line. Numbers 1–100 in the line will be assigned by raffle, and higher numbers will be assigned by the order you enter the digital line. For full details, see the previous post.

The signup form is now live right here at this link. You must enter within the first 24 hours after noon (Mountain Time) on Friday, September 18, to get into the raffle for the top 100 numbers. Only one submission per person. This is a line! (Duplicates will be deleted.)

Shadows of Self Release Events

This is going to be a long post. If you want to know how to get numbered copies of Shadows of Self, scroll down to the general release events info, the info on the BYU signing, on the Denver signing, or on the Weller Book Works signing-by-mail.

Item #1: The Tour

Here are the places I’m stopping at on my tour: Provo, Denver, Houston, San Diego, San Fransisco, San Jose, Portland, Chicago, Lansing, Boston, Manchester, London, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leeds, and Nottingham. For details, plus a few conventions I’ll be at later in the year, check my events page.

The focus of my tour stops will be on getting everyone’s books signed. I do plan to do a reading and answering questions at every stop, but I will also try to pre-sign some stock so that if you want a signed book and don’t want to stand in line for me to personalize it for you, you can just grab the book and go. But depending on scheduling, I may not have time to do this at every stop.

Some of the events are ticketed, which means that the bookstore requires you to buy the book from them in order to get it signed. I’ve asked for this to happen at as few booksellers as possible, but each store has the final call. Why would they do this? Well, a lot of stores have to bring in extra staff (or even rent extra space) in order to handle an enormous event like this. In the past, they’ve spent this money and then had everyone bring in books they bought from Amazon to get signed. It can be disheartening, as they lose money after all the work they put into holding an event. (In one famous case I heard of, a small bookstore held a signing where they spent hundreds on staff, promotion, and cookies, only to have over a hundred people, out of the hundred and twenty who came, bring in books they bought from Amazon.)

As I said, I’ve requested that the signings all be open to anyone. However, I can see the bookstores’ point. Please be respectful and realize one of the reasons that places like Amazon can give you the books so cheaply is that they don’t have to maintain or pay rent on expensive storefronts in retail areas. Support your local booksellers; it’s because of them that we can have signing events. If possible, I’d ask that you go and buy the book from the store where you’re planning to see me. You can buy it early and keep the receipt. If you bring the receipt with you to the signing, that’s as good as buying the book at the signing. Check each individual event description for each store’s detailed policy. Sometimes, at ticketed events, as long as you buy any hardcover book, they will let you get your other books signed. So, for instance, you could buy the Elantris Tenth Anniversary Author’s Definitive Edition (which also comes out on October 6th in the US) and then get it, The Way of Kings, and Steelheart (or any of my other books) signed. And even if you don’t buy your copy of Shadows of Self at the signing, it’s nice to support the store hosting me by buying at least one book (by any author) while you’re there.

I don’t yet have full details on which events are ticketed. I’ll add more information to the events page as it trickles in.

Finally, there may be a cap on the number of books I will personalize for you at a time. I’ll sign all your books, but personalizations can take a while, so if there’s a large crowd, to keep the line moving I may only personalize three books at a time. However, it’s just fine if you want to go to the end of the line again and wait to get three more books personalized. I will sign paperbacks. I will not sign books I did not write—e.g. the Wheel of Time books before The Gathering Storm. (Yes, people have asked; often about one per signing.)

The ebook and audiobook will be released the same day as the hardcover: October 6th in the US/Canada and October 8th in the UK/Australia/New Zealand. (If you live elsewhere, you’ll probably be able to import either the US or UK version.) I will sign audiobook CD sets, and even ebook readers, or anything else within reason (I don’t sign body parts).

Item #2: Release Events

I will be doing three special signings in conjunction with the book’s release on October 6th. As with my previous books, I will be numbering copies at these release events. The three events are: the BYU Store midnight release, the Weller Book Works mail order event, and the The Tattered Cover signing in Denver.

What does it mean to get a numbered copy? Well, just what it sounds like. If you get a book from one of the three release events, I’ll write a number on the title page that I sign. I intend to give out as many numbers as there are people who participate in those events (unless we run out of books). In a way, these numbers are less about being limited editions and more about getting a special add-on, an indication that you made it to one of the initial events. This is something I started doing for fun with my first book, and I had originally intended to limit the numbers to the first fifty people who got to me. However, I found that I felt bad stopping numbering if someone went to all the trouble to come to a release event, so I shifted to doing it this way.

I generally stagger my numbering so that lower numbers can be picked up from each signing. Each number is unique. I will rotate by 100s. (So, 1–100 are at BYU, 101–200 are at Weller Book Works, 201–300 are at The Tattered Cover, 301–400 are at BYU, etc.)

Each event will have its own rules regarding how you get your number and which number you get. Read on for info.

Item #3: BYU Midnight Release

At 12:00 a.m. on October 6th, I will be doing the world’s first signing for Shadows of Self. We are going to be doing this signing a little differently from previous signings. In past years some readers have enjoyed camping out at the bookstore to get a low-numbered copy. This year, for various reasons, we’re trying something new: a digital line. Numbers 1–100 in the line will be assigned by raffle, and higher numbers will be assigned by the order you enter the digital line. Further details from the BYU Store and my signing assistant Kara are below. The entry form will become available on Friday, September 18th (check back here right around noon on that day), and you must enter within the first 24 hours after that to get into the raffle for the top 100 numbers.

Only one submission per person. This is a line! (Duplicates will be deleted.)

You will be required to preorder Shadows of Self by October 1st in order to be assigned a number and guarantee that a book will be there for you to pick up on October 6th. Books can be ordered online at byubookstore.com (choose the shipping option “Pick Up Signed & Numbered Copy at Oct. 5 Event” for pickup at the midnight release party), or order in the store. Books ordered through byubookstore.com will not be charged to your credit card until October 2nd.

You must pick up your number in person from the BYU Store on Monday, October 5, between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Bring a photo ID and your receipt or proof of purchase.

The BYU Store will reopen at 10:00 p.m. to host the book release party with some fun activities as well as prizes to be given out throughout the evening.

Around 10:45 p.m. Brandon will hold a reading and Q&A downstairs.

At 11:45 p.m., guests will be asked to begin lining up in numerical order in preparation for the distribution of books at midnight.

Once guests have picked up their signed & numbered book, they are free to leave or to get into a separate line to have their books personalized by Brandon.

If you do not pick up your number before 9:00 p.m., your number will be given to someone else. If you show up after this point to pick up your book you will be given a different number or a refund.

Cash registers will close at 1:00 a.m. All purchases must be made by this time.

Can’t attend? You can preorder a book and the BYU Store will send you a signed and numbered copy of Shadows of Self after the Midnight Release Party. You must purchase your copy by Oct. 1, and the numbers for these copies will be assigned after the event.

The bookstore has asked me to get there a bit early so I can be finished signing and numbering all the books by 10:00 or so. Once I am done, they will let everyone in and we’ll have a meet & greet where you can talk to me, ask me your burning questions, take pictures, etc. (The idea is that this will help the personalization line move more quickly after midnight.) There will also be things like trivia contests going on during this time.

Based on past events, I should be able to personalize everyone’s books, even if it takes until 3:00 a.m. Since all of the books will be pre-signed and numbered, everyone will get a numbered edition if they come. As I’m local, you can always just come, pick up a book, and leave—then get it personalized at some other signing when things aren’t so crazy. This will probably be a busy event, but it should be very easy to just come, get a pre-signed/numbered book, then buy it and take off without waiting in any lines after midnight.

Now, here’s the important part. It’s hard for stores to judge how many copies to order for this sort of event, and I’m worried that BYU might not order enough. They might run out. Therefore, they are letting you preorder to be assured you get a book. If you preorder, you are guaranteed a book. If you don’t preorder, it’s first come first served. If a lot of people preorder, they will get in more books to make sure everyone who ordered early is covered.

So, for this event, I strongly encourage you go to the website and order your book ahead of time. It will save you money and will make things easier for us. Let me say one more time, however, that you do not get your number based on when you preorder, though you do have to have paid for the book before you can get your number. You get the number based on when you signed up for the digital line. Preordering just guarantees that you get a copy, not that you get a low number—you have to sign up in the first 24 hours in order to be entered into the raffle for a low number. Still—please, please preorder soon so they can be sure to have enough books for the event. They have ordered a ton of copies, but it’s always possible they could underestimate and some readers could go home empty-handed. At the midnight release of A Memory of Light they were able to get a book to everyone only after a dozen people who had reserved more than one copy agreed to put off picking up their second copy until the next shipment came in!

Details:

BYU Store, Provo, UT

8:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. October 5th (numbers distributed)

10:00 p.m. October 5th (doors open)

12:00 a.m. October 6th (Monday night/Tuesday morning) (book released)

Preorder by going to the BYU Store website. (For the shipping option, choose “Pick Up Signed & Numbered Copy at Oct. 5 Event.”) You’ll need to bring your receipt or proof of purchase as well as your photo ID to the BYU Store before 9:00 p.m. in order to get your book number.

Item #4: The Tattered Cover

My signing at The Tattered Cover in Denver will run like most of the other signings I’ve done there in the past, except that since it’s taking place on release day, all copies of Shadows of Self that I sign there will also get numbered. The numbers will start at #201 and rotate every third hundred with the other two events.

Free numbered tickets for the signing line will be available beginning Tuesday, October 6, at 9:00 am, with the purchase of Shadows of Self at any Tattered Cover location (excluding the airport stores). Seating at the event is “open seating” and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Signing restrictions may apply. Please check back closer to the event for complete information.

Can’t make it to the signing? Request an autographed copy here: books@tatteredcover.com.

Since you can pick up your book starting Tuesday morning, hours before I arrive, obviously I won’t be able to pre-number the books. I’ll probably just put the numbers in while I sign after doing my reading and Q&A.

Item #5: Weller Book Works by Mail

I will be going to Weller Book Works on September 17th to sign, number, and personalize 750 copies. Weller will then ship them out; they will try to time the shipping so the book arrives at your door on October 6th. However, they’re not allowed to deliver before that date, so they can’t cut things too close and some books may arrive after the 6th. If that’s the case, though, they’ll try to keep the delay as short as possible. International orders will be shipped first, since those have the longest transit time. (Note that Weller Book Works cannot track packages internationally. They’ve tried.) Details from Weller Book Works:

The book will officially hit the shelves on October 6th, 2015, but if you order now, you can receive a signed and numbered copy with the inscription of your choice on your doorstep on or shortly after that date! We’re also offering a 20% discount from the retail price of $27.99, making the final price $22.39.

A bit of information about how this promotion works:

All orders will be processed through PayPal. We will not accept orders via email, phone, or any other means.
Local customers (any with Utah shipping addresses) will have the option to pick up the book in-store. These books will not be available until the release date of October 6th, 2015.
All other customers will have the option of receiving a book packaged in a padded envelope (Economy) or a box (Standard.) Both options are shipped USPS Priority Mail, so there will be no speed difference between the two—all books will be shipped to arrive on, or shortly after, October 6th, 2015.
All customers are limited to 2 orders of 1 book each. Any orders past this limit will be cancelled. Each order must be placed separately.

If you order by 12:00 noon on Tuesday, September 15 you will have the option to request an inscription. All requests will be passed onto Mr. Sanderson verbatim as he is signing. Just before you click ‘Pay Now’ there is an order review screen. In the middle of that screen, you will see a small link to add your inscription request. Filling that out will help us streamline the signing process. If there is no inscription request, we will assume that you would like the book simply signed and numbered.

Finally, PLEASE VERIFY YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS BEFORE PLACING YOUR ORDER!

Thank you all for reading, and I hope to sign a book for you at one of the tour events. Let me apologize in advance for how sloppy my signature is.

Writing Excuses episode on plot twists + Updates

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, How Does Context Shape Plot Twists?, we talk about plot twists. This episode covers the way in which the type of plot twist is dependent on, or signaled by, the context of the story. Getting plot twists right may mean surprising the reader, but it’s just as important to have the twist surprise the character.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Kaladin and Shallan both progressed in their Surgebinding skill development, moving forward toward their respective goals, but for each of them, progress was tainted by Amaram’s greed for Shards. This week, in Chapter 52, Adolin returns to the dueling arena once again, to provide another memorable show for the spectators.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for August and September.

Tweets September 2015

M_to_the_Bush Tue Sep 01
#nerdy #poll time: Which #weapon would you want? #AegisFang, the #ElderWand, or a #ShardBlade? @r_a_salvatore @BrandSanderson @jk_rowling

M_to_the_Bush Tue Sep 01
@BrandSanderson @jk_rowling care to chime in? Anyone else #nerdy out there in #nerdland? #readers of #fantasy unite !

BrandSanderson Wed Sep 02
@M_to_the_Bush @jk_rowling Well it is obvious what I would vote for…

mcahogarth Tue Sep 01
Hey, @Tuftears, didn’t you recommend The Emperor’s Soul to me?

Tuftears Tue Sep 01
@mcahogarth Yes? By @BrandSanderson

mcahogarth Tue Sep 01
@Tuftears @BrandSanderson I found fan art of it! By @mathiaarkoniel! Go look, it is spiffy!