Karen here, one of Brandon’s assistants. I’m usually in charge of continuity: making sure that little details, like the color of a minor character’s eyes or the shape of each kind of spren, are consistant from one book to the next. I also keep a master timeline so that each viewpoint character lives the same number of days between joint scenes.

I occasionally get assigned other tasks that require attention to detail and the ability to organize large amounts of information so that the important bits are easily accessible. Think Himalaya from Alcatraz vs the Knights of Crystalia.

Brandon has wanted a FAQ on his website for years, but it has always been a lower priority than say, getting books edited and published. When the subject came up again, I volunteered and we all agreed that it was a job perfectly suited to my skill set. The last person who worked on the task gave me hundreds of pages of interviews, responses to fan mail, transcripts of Q&A sessions at signings, and lists of the sort of questions that should be covered.

My task was to:

1. Edit the questions. Most fan mail is a bit down from rambling, with paragraphs about why they want to know the answer, and details and examples that clarify what they’re asking about. The FAQ needs a single sentence of about five to seven words.

2. Edit the answers. These questions are, by definition frequently asked, and Brandon answers them slightly differently each time. I combined the answers so that they included all the juicy details without a ton of repetition.

3. Weed out the irrelevant. It’s fun to know that someone named their baby Kaladin, or what Brandon’s favorite pizza topping is, but those don’t really belong in the FAQ.

4. Organize the questions. A FAQ is no good to people if they can’t quickly find the answer they’re looking for. Brandon specifically asked for a nested structure to group similar questions together and make it less intimidating than one giant list.

I do want to warn that when you get into questions about specific books, there are major spoilers. Even reading the questions, without looking at the answers can be dangerous. I recommend reading an entire book or series before digging into its section in the FAQ.

I know that the FAQ is not complete. There are many more old interviews archived in the database at Theoryland.com that I’m slowly getting to while also working on continuity for Oathbringer. You can always send questions and comments through the fan mail form , but if you think your question will have general appeal and ought to be addressed in the FAQ, you can send them directly to me at karen@brandonsanderson.com and I’ll try to get an answer for you. Brandon and I reserve the right to RAFO any question that deserves it.

I hope this resource that will be interesting and useful to you, the fans. I hope it will answer questions that you’ve always kind of wondered about, but never asked. So dig in, binge read if you want, and enjoy yourselves. I present to you, the FAQ!

Karen