Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 83

Alcatraz Annotations + Updates

In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about brevity.

Since all the chapters of my abandoned novel MYTHWALKER have now been uploaded, it's time to start dishing out something else for your weekly bonus content. So my assistant has put up the first annotation for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS. This one talks about the process of coming up with the title for the book, with the various (and often ridiculously long) options that were considered.

If you're not familiar with my book annotations, think of them as the director's commentary on a special edition DVD. On your second read-through of a book, you may be interested to hear what I have to say about each chapter. Currently I have completed annotations for ELANTRIS, the Mistborn trilogy, and WARBREAKER. Check them all out. (Spoilers from later in the book than the current chapter are hidden.)

My assistant also uploaded another Twitter posts archive.

The leatherbound Wheel of Time charity auction for Worldbuilders is currently at $1,725.00. Wow!

I believe there are still slots available for the Magic the Gathering: Dark Ascension prerelease in West Valley this Friday. They don't count a slot as filled until you prepay, so give them a call.

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Magic: Dark Ascension Prerelease

Hey, all. The new Magic the Gathering set is coming out in a little while, and the prerelease is this weekend. Dan and I had a lot of fun at the prerelease last time, so we're going to be doing it again—with a twist.

Like for Innistrad, we'll be going to Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley at midnight on Friday. However, to shake things up, instead of drafting we'll be doing a sealed deck tournament. (If you aren't familiar with this, you get six packs and build a deck out of those packs.)

We will do an 18-person tournament, not including Dan and me. (So, 20 people.) As 12 of the 18 people play games against one another, Dan and I will team up against the six others in an Archenemy game with both Dan and me as the archenemies. Then, when those games are done, the six who played us will rotate out and six others will come in to play against us. And then, not surprisingly, we'll play the last six.

This means we only have EIGHTEEN slots. We need to restrict it so that the tournament will work and so that we don't end up staying TOO late. Therefore, if you want one of the slots, you'll have to call Epic and preregister/prepay. There's a chance I'll be open to playing side games, like always, but I can't guarantee it. (And, as always with these, I'm happy to sign books and might even have some copies of my novels for sale/trade. I'll try to show up around 11:30 if anyone needs books signed.)

So, details again:

Day: The night of Friday the 27th of January.

Time: Midnight (okay, so that means technically this starts on Saturday . . . )

What: 18-person Sealed Deck tournament, with special games against Brandon and Dan.

Where: Epic Puzzles & Games
3612 W 4700 S #4

Salt Lake City, UT 84820

How: Preregister by calling this number: (801) 982-0167

There will be some other fun things to this. (Beat Dan and me, and you will probably get a prize. Also, it's likely that the tournament will be two-headed giant. We'll explain the rules when you come, but if you have a buddy and want to sign up in pairs, go ahead.) Hopefully we'll see many of you there. Or, at the very least, 18 of you . . .

Brandon

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Signed, leatherbound THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT auction for Worldbuilders charity

Every year for the past several years, NAME OF THE WIND and THE WISE MAN'S FEAR author (and good buddy of mine) Patrick Rothfuss has run a charity drive where he matches at 50% donations to Heifer International through his Worldbuilders team page. Everyone who enters the general drawing gets a chance at a huge number of prizes. There are also individual auctions on several of the most desirable items. Pat explains it best.

I've donated various books to the prize pool before, and this year I and Badali Jewelry have teamed up to donate a special Wheel of Time package to the auctions. My contribution is from among my personal leatherbound copies of THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. With each Wheel of Time book that is released, Tor puts out a limited edition of 126 signed copies, 100 of them numbered for commercial release, and 26 of them lettered for publisher and author use. I received copies B and S of both books, and I'm donating the matched set of S copies.

Please see Pat's description below. The auction itself is here, and you can see the other auction items here. And remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page, you get a chance to win a book from the general prize pool.

AUCTION: signed, leather-bound copies of The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson with Wheel of Time jewelry.

These gorgeous gold-lettered books are leather-bound and designated "S" out of 26 lettered copies. The books come in their own matching leather slipcase, feature a facsimile of Robert Jordan's signature, and are signed by Brandon Sanderson.

In addition to these stunning best-selling books, this auction includes three lovely pieces of jewelry inspired by Jordan's series: an Asha'man Dragon Pin, a Dedicated Sword Pin, and a Great Serpent Ring.

We are very grateful to Brandon Sanderson for his donation of these rare books, and to the folks at Badali for making things even sweeter with the addition of the jewelry.

To see more pictures of these gorgeous books, or to place a bid on the auction, click here.

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Sanderson's Second Law + Updates

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode covers more on fauna and flora. Check it out.

My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts archive and the final chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He's also put up my Sanderson's Second Law article, which was first printed in the June 2011 issue of LEADING EDGE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. The failure of MYTHWALKER was a contributing factor that led me to develop the Second Law.

A few years back, I wrote an essay on creating magic systems that I titled Sanderson's First Law. It had to do with the nature of foreshadowing as it relates to solving problems with magic. In that essay, I implied that I had other "laws" for magic systems that I'd someday talk about. Well, that time has come, as I've finally distilled my thoughts for the second law into an explanation that will work.

I'll start, however, by noting that none of these "laws" are absolute. Nor am I the only one to talk about them. By calling them "Sanderson's Laws" I'm merely referring to them in the way I think of them—they are rules I try to live by when designing magic systems for my books. There are a lot of ways to write, and the only real "laws" are the ones that work for you.

These work for me. I think they are actually all principles of good writing, not just writing as it pertains to magic systems. However, because magic systems are one of the things I most like to toy with in my writing, I have designed them in such a way that they encourage me toward stronger, and more interesting, magic in my fantasy books.

Read the rest here.

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Updates + Hugo-Eligible Works & Gemmell Award Nomination

My assistant put up another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. This one is exciting. There's just one chapter left.

In this week's Writing Excuses episode, Dan, Mary, Howard and I talk about worldbuilding flora and fauna. Check it out.

It's award nomination season again, so here's a quick reminder of what I've released that's eligible this year.

Eligible in the category Best Related Work:

Writing Excuses Season Six

Eligible in the category Best Novel:

The Alloy of Law

Eligible in the category Best Novella:

Infinity Blade: Awakening

Eligible in the category Best Short Story:

"The Eleventh Metal" (in the Mistborn Adventure Game)

You can nominate at this link by March 11th, 2012, if you are a member of the 2011 (Reno), 2012 (Chicago), or 2013 (San Antonio) World Science Fiction Conventions by January 31st, 2012. For more information on how the Hugo Award works, see my breakdown last year.

My fiction is additionally eligible to be nominated for a Nebula Award by February 15th, 2012, if you happen to be a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

I've also learned that THE ALLOY OF LAW is on the long list of nominees for this year's David Gemmell Legend Award, and the first round of voting is open now and runs through March 31st. Last year The Way of Kings won the award, to my great pleasure, so I already have the awesome battleaxe. Please vote for the book you think deserves it this year.

Plus I have a vested interest in the nominations of Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler, my Writing Excuses partners (aside from my brother Producer Jordo, whose only eligible work is Writing Excuses itself). Last year Mary won the Best Short Story Hugo for "For Want of a Nail," but Howard and Dan were defeated by worthy opponents in their categories. This year Dan is eligible with I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU and A NIGHT OF BLACKER DARKNESS for Best Novel and "The Mountain of the Lord" in MORMONS & MONSTERS for Best Novella, Howard with SCHLOCK MERCENARY: FORCE MULTIPLICATION and "Deus Ex Nauseum" from SCHLOCK MERCENARY: EMPEROR PIUS DEI for Best Graphic Story, and Mary with "Goodhouse Keeping" from COURTS OF THE FEY for Best Short Story, "Kiss Me Twice" from the June 2011 ASIMOV'S for Best Novella, and "Whatnot" (a puppet play performed at the 2011 Worldcon) for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

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Soulcaster Fan Jewelry, Writing Excuses Season 7 & MYTHWALKER

Forum member FeatherWriter posted this image of the Soulcaster that her mother made her for Christmas. Cool!

Season 7 of the writing advice podcast Writing Excuses that I do with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells has just kicked off. In the first episode, we talk about when good characters go bad.

My assistant also uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. There are three chapters left.

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First Draft Finished + Updates

This week's Writing Excuses episode is titled "Help, I Can't End My Book!" This is the final podcast of this season for Howard, Mary, Dan, and me. Check it out.

There's a new chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up.

My assistant has put up a new Twitter posts collection that includes my live-tweeting of finishing the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. If you want to cut to the chase, the part you really want to read is here below. I'll post more details later.

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
Ladies and gentlemen, A Memory of Light—the final book in The Wheel of Time—has been finished.

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
Now I'll open a metric gigaton of Magic cards that have been sent to me by fans, sleep for a day, and rest until next week.Then: revisions!

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
As for when the book will come out, Tor should do an announcement soon. Revisions will take a good six months. So fall, I expect.

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
Another common question: How many revisions will I do? The last two took about a dozen. (On non-WoT books, I do about seven or eight.)

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
Also, it's going to be tough to give direct replies to questions right now, what with like 1000 people tweeting/facebooking at me. :)

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
But lots of people are asking about outriggers/prequels. The answer is still the same. We'd rather not risk exploiting RJ's legacy. (more)

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
It is a step I don't think we want to take. Better to stop while we're ahead. I'm sorry, but they probably won't ever happen.

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
And now, yes, I will go to sleep. 7am here. That's 10 hours of solid writing after a full day of solid writing, so I'm beat.

BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21
Thank you all for the good wishes. May you find water and shade.

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Mistborn Adventure Game Out Now + Updates

My assistant has uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He also put up a new Twitter posts archive.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talking about character foils. Give it a listen.

The biggest news for this week is that the long-awaited Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG from Crafty Games is now available in ebook form. The hardcover and paperback copies will come next month or so, and we are planning a local release party for those once we have more details on the exact date. Anyway, I do hope to be able to share more thoughts on the exciting release of this game once I can take a breather from writing A MEMORY OF LIGHT (that deadline is coming up fast, and I'm very hard at work on it).

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Utah Signings This Week

I'll be signing twice in Utah this week in the run-up to Christmas. Details are below. Sorry, Idaho Falls folks, but I don't currently plan to go there as I usually would this time of year. I need to keep buckling down here and finish writing A MEMORY OF LIGHT. As always, you can tell me your city and I'll email you when I'm visiting nearby. And check my events calendar to see my current schedule for next year.

Barnes & Noble, West Jordan, UT

Date: Thursday, 12.15.11 Time: 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Jordan Landing
Address: 7157 Plaza Center Drive
West Jordan, UT 84084
Phone: (801) 282-1324

Barnes & Noble, Orem, UT

Date: Saturday, 12.17.11 Time: 2:00 pm–4:00 pm
Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – University Crossings Plaza
Address: 330 E University Parkway
Orem, UT 84058
Phone: (801) 229-1611

I'll sign any book of mine that you bring or buy at either store, but it's nice to buy at least one book (it doesn't have to be one of mine!) that day in order to support the store hosting me.

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Where to buy signed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW + Updates

First some updates. The naming rights auction for a Stormlight (or other) character that I talked about last week ends in 38 hours, as do most of Orion's other auctions benefiting the UK charity Samaritans.

My assistant Peter has put up another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. Quite a bit happens in this one. And he also put together another Twitter posts archive.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman talking with Mary and Dan at the recent World Fantasy convention. Interstitial Art is the topic—books that don't fit well in any particular genre category.

Mistborn and Stormlight Archive T-shirt store InkWing's T-shirt contest this month involves Koloss Head-Munching Day (December 19th). They're also asking for photos of people wearing the Koloss Head-Munching Day shirt. In related news, Ta'veren Tees has a Wheel of Time Christmas ornament they're giving away with orders over $40 that use a coupon code, and they're also in the middle of a "Twelve Tees of Christmas" sale.

Many of the booksellers I visited during my recent tour still have signed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW. Check my events calendar to see if I'll be near you anytime soon. If I won't be, give one of the following stores a call. (You can also tell me your city and I'll email you when I'm visiting nearby.)

Mysterious Galaxy

7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Suite #302

San Diego, CA 92111

(858) 268-4747

Alone among the stores on this list, Mysterious Galaxy has signed copies of a lot of my other books, not just THE ALLOY OF LAW, and will ship worldwide. Give them a call.

Murder by the Book, Houston

2342 Bissonnet

Houston, TX 77005

(713) 524-8597

(888) 424-2842

Murder by the Book's copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW are signed not only by me but also by interior artist Ben McSweeney, who illustrated the book's newspaper broadsheet.

Chapters Metrotown

Metropolis, Metrotown 4700 Kingsway

Burnaby, BC V5H 4M1, Canada

(604) 431-0463

This Chapters will have your cheapest shipping option for delivery anywhere in Canada.

Forbidden Planet

179 Shaftesbury Avenue

WC2H 8JR London, United Kingdom

0207 420 3666

Forbidden Planet will also ship worldwide, but they're probably your best bet for getting a signed copy of THE ALLOY OF LAW in Europe. Their copies are all the UK edition of of the book. They also have some signed THE WAY OF KINGS split paperbacks: Part 1, Part 2.

I will eventually add this book to my website store as well, but I won't do that until it has been on the shelf for about a year and the mass market paperback has been released already. Please support your local bookseller.

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