Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

When we decided that we would do author interviews to start off the month of July, my mind instantly jumped to my most favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. I wasn’t sure that such a successful and popular author would have time for my interview questions, but I knew I had to at least try. Imagine my surprise, when 3 weeks later I received answers to my interview questions. I was and still am ecstatic.

I would like to interview you about your most recent Mistborn novel, The Alloy of Law. Your Mistborn Trilogy ultimately inspired me to actually put fingers to keyboard and begin writing my very first novel and I feel it only appropriate to try to return the favor by helping others find your books as well.

What inspired you to take your Mistborn world into the realm of steampunk fantasy?

When I was originally working on the Mistborn trilogy, one of the things that interested me was taking this world and progressing it. Allomancy screamed to be used in a more advanced society where metal was a larger part of people’s lives. By ignoring that and setting it only in an epic fantasy world, I would miss out on the possibility for some really cool interactions. So as I was working on the first three books, I called my editor and said, "Hey, I’d really like to take this world after the trilogy and go forward with it."

I wasn’t planning to do anything steampunkish per se, but to move into a more modern world. But then I was between books of the Wheel of Time, and between books I often take a break and do something small. I started writing a short story set between the first two trilogies I planned in the Mistborn world, and that story expanded to become The Alloy of Law. I really enjoyed the concept and the characters in the story, so I kept going and it became a novel.

What is your favorite part of The Alloy of Law?

I would say my favorite part was getting to finally write about interactions between guns and Allomancy.

What was the hardest to write?

The most challenging part of that book was to keep a strong enough focus on the characters while writing a faster, shorter plot. That’s a balance I haven’t practiced nearly as much as I have with the epic fantasies, where I have basically as much time as I want with any given character. So that was a challenge.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

There’s not something I wish I had done differently, but I think the greatest weakness of the book is that for the ending to really work, you have to know some things about the original trilogy. For the rest of the book, you don’t need to know anything about the trilogy. So I wonder if that was the right move or not.

Within the Mistborn novels, is there a message you wish your readers to grasp?

Not in particular. I don’t go into a book wanting to teach anyone a message. I go in wanting to tell a good story, and I let the characters develop their messages as they see fit. Each book grew to have its own theme dependent on the characters of the given book, their passions and things like that. I do think that the whole concept of Kelsier, “the Survivor,” and pushing forward is an overarching theme of the entire series, but it’s not necessarily a message that I want people to get.

Did you learn anything from writing The Alloy of Law and what was it?

I learned that I can write a shorter novel. I'm certainly not as practiced at it, and there are things I need to get better at, but I've proved to myself that it's within my capacity to do.

RANDOM QUESTIONS

If you could play Magic:The Gathering with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

That’s an easy one. Richard Garfield, who created and designed Magic. I want him to sign some of my cards.

Have you ever hated something you wrote?

Yes—well, I’m not a person who hates much, but there are certainly pieces I was disappointed in, some of the early ones before I was published, when I hadn’t quite figured out how to do this yet. There were a couple of books that I felt turned out very poorly, and I was annoyed and frustrated by how poorly they turned out. That’s just part of the process of learning to be a writer.

How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

It depends on the type of bad review. There are, on Amazon, one-star reviews of my favorite books. Legitimate one-star reviews—people who just didn’t like the book. There’s a lot of variety to people out there, and my books are not right for everyone. No book is. How do I react to negative reviews? I just keep on going.

Thanks so much, Brandon, for taking time for your fans. I really appreciate getting to know a bit more about my favorite author.