For all you lazy people...

Finncon is fini. Parris and I have just staggereed back to our hotel room from the dead reindeer party. The party is still going strong and we would love to have stayed longer... till sunset, at least... but we have to be up early tomorrow to catch a ferry to Estonia, where I'll be doing a signing in Tallinn. Then the next day it's back across the sea to Helsinki again, just long enough to set off for Turku, where I've got another signing.

Finncon was terrific. The warmth and hospitality we've found here has completely ruined my image of Finland as a frozen wasteland. Who knew? The sauna was fun too. And then there were all the cute anime girls in costume offering free hugs...

Thanks to all my Finnish friends. Now off to Estonia!

Heading off to my signing.  If you live in Utah Valley, stop by!  I'll be reading from Way of Kings.

I should probably have blogged this before now.  But I've got a signing tomorrow at the Orem Barnes and Noble from 2-4pm.  If you're in the area, come drop by!

Next, it looks like I'm not going to make it to Dragon*Con this year.  I had been planning on going to both Dragoncon and Worldcon, but looking at the amount of work I need to do, I was having trouble justifying going to both.  I was all set to drop out of Worldcon, then Dragoncon contacted us and regretfully informed us that the WoT Track's request to have me out had been denied.  (Partially my fault for getting my application in late enough that the money had all be spent.)  That left me with a choice.  Pay my own way to Dragoncon, or go to Worldcon? 

In the end, the fact that Pemberly wants to see Montreal, mixed with the fact that I'm on programming at Worldcon, made me choose that one.  I already had a Worldcon ticket, and so it seemed foolish to drop out of that and go to DragonCon.

The Dragoncon folks promised us that they'd bring me in next year, and I promise to get my application in earlier next time.  For now, you Atlanta people will have to wait a little longer to see me.  I'll be back for JordanCon next year though. 

Also, there have been questions about the WARBREAKER audio.  Well, Graphic Audio is doing the dramatic presentation of it (and you can read an excellent review of their Elantris Audio adaptation right here) and it looks like October is when it will be out.  The unabridged, non-dramatic reading will be out from Recorded Books about the same time. 

Okay, let's get this rolling.  First off, remember that I'll be doing #tweettheauthor here in about 40 min.  (Starting at 12:00 Mountain.)  It's going to be interesting.  Can Brandon answer questions in 140 characters?  We shall see.  Feel free to start shooting me questions right about that time.  Just post them and include #tweettheauthor at the end.  I'll start sending out replies on my Twitter account, and they'll be targeted @ the person who asked the question.  So if my answer is confusing, you can click on their name to find the original question.

And, in conjunction with this, let me ask you this:  How clever are you?  My readers have a long history of posting fake reviews of THE WAY OF KINGS on Amazon.  (Since they have an entry for the book, and have had one for a good five years now, even though the book wasn't scheduled to come out until recently.)  To commemorate finishing the novel--and because I think it would be fun--I'm putting out a call for fake Twitter-length reviews of the book.  Post them today on Twitter, any time, and use the tag #FakeKings.  I will collect the best of them and post them on my blog, like I did with the Scaliz thing last week.  If you use Twitter and want a little more attention for your account, this would be a great way. 

If you don't have a Twitter account, and have no real interest in getting one, you can still follow along by doing a search on Twitter's site for one of the tags above.  You can watch my Twitter feed here.  If you want to post a fake Kings review Tweet, you can drop it onto my LJ, which allows anonymous posting.  I'll look there when I'm collecting my favorites.  (Just keep the posts short.)

So...why all of this Twitter stuff?  Is it just a fad?  I don't know.  It's fun for the moment, and if it all dies down eventually, I'll feel I've gotten what I want out of it.  I like how micr-blogging allows me to give a few updates each day for my readers.  I don't feel as much pressure to create blog posts, so when I do blog, the content is usually is a little more substantial.  Twitter works for me, as I have a feed going on my desktop and can watch what other authors and my friends are up to.  (Though, to be honest, I like the micro-blogging via facebook better, as people tend to post replies there and it feels more interactive.  With Twitter, you just send a tweet out there, and never know what people are thinking when they see it.)

So we're here in Helsinki, me from Santa Fe and Phipps by way of Ireland. Grey skies and rain, but the people are warm and friendly. Yesterday we visited Sveaborg, the great island fortress that I've written two stories about. "Gibraltar of the North," it was dubbed by John Quincy Adams. I can only conclude that JQA had never actually seen the Gibraltar of the south, since the resemblence between the two is nonexistent. Sveaborg is pretty cool in its own right, however, and I'm glad to have seen it.

The con proper starts tomorrow. Some come to Finncon if you can. It's free!

Housekeeping first.  Remember that I'll be doing on-line appearances tomorrow, where I'll be answering questions.  The one on Twitter will probably be way busy, so that should be interesting.  I'm getting to the odd state in my career where there will probably be far more questions than I have time to  answer, but I'll do my best.    Also, have you not seen Howard and Tracy Hickman's Extreme DM book?  If not, you're missing out.  It's awesome.  Some sample pages are here.

Now, the big news.  At about 6:00 am this morning, I finished THE WAY OF KINGS rewrite.  It ended up at 380k words, which is almost double the length of Mistborn.  (It's almost as long as THE SHADOW RISING, by Robert Jordan.)  Now, before you get TOO excited about that size, know that I tend to write too much on a first draft intentionally, and now plan to trim it down by at least 10%.  The final book should  be between 300k and 350k.  Either way, though, it's going to be a meaty book.  (Not long for long's sake, mind you.  That's just what it took to tell the story the right way.)

How did it turn out?  Well, to be honest, it's FANTASTIC.  This is a monstrous, beastly, awesome epic of a book.  And so I'm going to give Tor the official thumbs up so they can put it on the schedule for release next year.  The series title, if you haven't heard, is going to be called THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE. 

The book does everything I wanted it to, and then some.  It was a lot more work to revise it than I'd anticipated.  I essentially ended up writing the thing all over again, not keeping any of what had been written before.  But knowing the characters already helped a great deal.  (And if you guys ever see my wife at a convention, make sure to give her a thanks and a hug for deal with a husband who has been essentially working two full time jobs for much of this year--one on KINGS, one on THE WHEEL OF TIME.) 

Like any time I finish a book, there's still that itching, authorial paranoia that nobody is going to like what I've done.  I have chosen a career path where, instead of releasing all of my books in one series, I jump around.  I've done this partially because I want the freedom to reinvent myself.  Some of my favorite authors growing up seemed unable to give new life to a series when they started it, and ended up repeating the very same story and tone over and over.  I wanted to train myself to be doing new things, and wanted the freedom to write different books in different ways. 

I know I'm not as wildly different in my variation as some other authors, but at the same time, there's a different feel to each book/series I've done.  Hopefully, all will have great characters, a fun setting, and a compelling plot.  But there will always be those who prefer Elantris's thoughtful contemplativeness to Mistborn's action or Warbreaker's reversals and humor.  Each time I've released a new book, I've worried.  Will my audience follow me in this (slightly) new direction?  What will they think of what I've done?

KINGS is no different.  In fact, it's got me even more worried.  My goal for this book was to give it SCOPE.  The setting is the most distinctive I've written, with the largest world and the largest number of cultures and peoples.  The book (though mostly linear) involves flashbacks to character pasts, and sometimes firsthand looks at the deep past of the world.  At the same time, because of the enormity of what I'm trying, I found that the book couldn't telegraph as easily what it was about.

What does this mean?  Well, Mistborn and Elantris both did excellent jobs of telegraphing to the reader--right off--what the story was going to be about.  After the first few chapters of Mistborn, you pretty much knew that it would be a book about Kelsier's attempt to overthrow the Lord Ruler, mixed with Vin's training as a Mistborn.  Elantris was about Raoden trying to restore Elantris, Sarene investigating his disappearance, and Hrathen's attempts to convert the people.  Because of the scope of these books, I was able to get across very easily what they would be about  and what the central conflict would be.

KINGS...well, I have trouble describing what the heck KINGS is about.  While there are a number of plots bouncing around in those 380k words--and many of them do get resolved--the larger storylines are only just beginning.  The book isn't about one or two things, like Mistborn was.  It's about dozens.  And yet, the main character's plotline is simple: survival.  He's in a terrible, brutal situation, and he just wants to live.  

Anyway, the book needs a lot more revision, but it's in a state where I think we'll make it.  So send a little good will my way as I dig into it over the next eight months.  Maybe I'll be able to come up with a way to describe this beast. 

Candy Fireworks!

Originally published at TheCHANTIKI. Please leave any comments there.

We've been feeling bad about the fact that I can't get many places on tour.  Even this fall, with the WoT tour, I'll only be hitting a fraction of the places where people want me to visit.

So my wonderful publicist Dot has set up two events for me.  First off, the Barnes and Noble book clubs website (run by Paul Goat Allen, the author of several interesting recent blog posts) has kindly invited me in to do a three day Q&A session on their forums.  I'll be focusing on two threads in specific. 

1)  Questions for Brandon Sanderson
2)  Talking about Warbreaker

(Most of my time will be on the first thread.)  So, feel free to ask me anything you want.  I can't promise that I'll get to everyone's questions, but I'm going to give it a try.  I'll be there the 8th-10th of July, so next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

The second event we'll be doing is a "Tweet the Author" session for those on Twitter.  Essentially, we'll be working this like a gigantic chat room session, where for an hour people are firing tweets at me, and I'm answering them on my twitter account.  Details are right here.  If you don't use Twitter, and have no intention of using it, you can follow the session without an account.  Just watch my twitter page or do a search for #tweettheauthor.  We'll be doing this 1-2pm CST on the 8th.  (Next Wednesday.  Also, I DO plan to do something like this on my own forum here soon, but we'll do the B&N one first, as to not compete.)

And, speaking of Twitter, I don't know if you noticed me being silly last week and sending everyone out to tweet about Scalzi (Link goes to my original post), but I thought I'd mention some of my favorites here on the blog.  My additions are in parenthesis.  (And these are by no means all of my favorites.  You people are quite clever.)

@Ryshon Scalzi uses a piece of his own hair as a quill, dipped in blood to write, when he runs out of hair or blood, game over

@nethspace Scalzi reveals Ayn Rand tattoo on inner thigh - world wish's it didn't have to see that

@Qurtyslyn Feeding Strawberry Lemonade to six aardvarks and letting them run free in a crowded mall was not Scalzi's best Idea.

@zediir Scarlzi is the real mastermind behind the great kitten conspiracy of 2008. (Bonus points for referencing an Alcatraz book, Zediir.)

@jdack Scalzi secretly hates bacon. (I knew it!  If you're confused, google Scalzi and Bacon for an explanation...)

@MCaron1234 Scalzi is, once again, minding his mash potatoes with a lemon zester. AS EXPECTED.

@dressagegrrrl When I ran into Scalzi at the Natl Clog Dancing Faire (der Klompen), he insulted my lederhosen! THEY WERE MY MOTHER'S, JERK. (I cannot explain why this one makes me crack up every time I read it.  Props, Dressagegrrrl)

jddennis Dinosaurs were originally around 10k yeras ago, but that was too close to Scalzi. They travelled back in time to escape him.

@Ockhamdesign scalzi writes under the pen name Stephanie Meyer. That woman in Utah is just a prop. He needs to finish Midnight Sun.  (Brilliant!)

@Sorsha76 Scalzi's shoes TOTALLY don't go with his pants!!!! ...and he commits genocide on Tuesdays.

@dragonmount Scalzi killed Asmodean. (My personal favorite.  Jason, you rock.)

@Fiirvoen @scalzi 's mother was a hampster and his father smelt...of ELDERBERRIES! (Someone had to do it.)  (Yes, yes they did.  That last parenthetical was part of the original post, by the way.)

@jbrodman @Scalzi lives off the tears of @wilw.

@ru3 You know, BaconCat was actually Scalzi's THIRD attempt. A moment of silence for ShishCatbab and Baked Angora.

@cjent77 Scalzi fixed the Iran election!  (Wow!  Was this before or after he committed genocide and killed Asmodean?)

@RobertAvi Scalzi reads the last page of a book first

@Tryndakai John Scalzi likes the taste of Soylent Green.

@miss_emmeline If Scalzi was ever cast as the Doctor, they'd have to change the name of the show to Doctor Who Cares?

@Tryndakai @Scalzi came up with midichlorians!

And, one final sin to top the others:

@Tryndakai @Scalzi had Firefly canceled!

There are dozens more, and I didn't even get to post all my favorites.  Go read everyone's clever words here.  Thank you all for being so cool about this.  It's got me thinking that I need to do something like this to make fun of myself, maybe alongside the #tweettheauthor thing.  Perhaps a game of "140 character faux reviews of Way of Kings...?" 

Actually, that sounds kind of fun.  We'll start it off next week under the tag #kingsway.  I'll post to kick it off.

Then hide under a rock.

Last week, BSC review was giving away Goblin Quest minis?  Well, this week they're giving away a full set of Mistborn Minis in a contest.  I believe the entry method is pretty simple--all you have to do is send them an email.  So head on over and give it a try!

In other news, Orson Scott Card unexpectedly reviewed the Mistborn Trilogy in one of his review columns.  It's near the middle of the page.

I am closing down book sales for a while, since I leave for Finland on July 5. Reopen in late July or August. If there's a signed book you want, please wait till then.