In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and I talk about breaking the rules. We’ve said that you’ve got to learn the rules before you break them, so now it’s time to talk about why to break them.

Tomorrow I’m starting the second leg of my book tour, and Harriet McDougal will join me for many of the stops. Details on my events page.

Wed Feb 6: San Diego w/Harriet
Thu Feb 7: Los Angeles area w/Harriet
Fri Feb 8: Sacramento area w/Harriet
Sat Feb 9: San Francisco w/Harriet
Mon Feb 11: Portland area w/Harriet
Tue Feb 12: Seattle w/Harriet
Thu Feb 14: Vancouver, BC area
Fri Feb 15: Toronto
Sat Feb 16: Milford, NH
Mon Feb 18: Baltimore area w/Harriet
Tue Feb 19: Philadelphia w/Harriet
Wed Feb 20: Raleigh w/Harriet
Thu Feb 21: Atlanta area w/Harriet
Fri Feb 22: Birmingham, AL w/Harriet

I’ll also go to various conventions this year, and there are two or three book tours later this year that aren’t planned out yet. I’ll try to stop somewhere in Texas for the THE RITHMATIST tour in May, and I’m thinking of going to the UK around November or so. If you want to receive my newsletter, and get email reminders when I’ll be signing near you, tell me your city here.

I’ve uploaded the second video of me writing the Rysn interlude from the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS. If you missed the first video with the prewriting, it’s here. This week’s video starts the interlude itself.

Earlier this year I told you about an IndieGoGo project to produce an anthology that would contain chapters from my original 2002 version of The Way of Kings (sometimes called Way of Kings Prime). Well, the anthology is finished, and IndieGoGo backers received their ebook copies a few weeks ago. The hardcovers have also been printed and right now I’m signing the ones that I was supposed to sign. The books will ship out this week and next.

For those of you who weren’t involved in the IndieGoGo campaign, an ebook of the finished Altered Perceptions anthology is now available. You can buy it at the usual ebook stores—links are to the upper right. The ebook sale is being run by Waygate Foundation, a public charity that was founded by prominent Wheel of Time fans, for which I sit on the Board of Directors. Waygate Foundation, in turn, will donate 90% of the net proceeds from the ebook sale to Robison Wells’s chosen charity, Bring Change 2 Mind.

Thirty-one different authors (including Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, Shannon Hale, Larry Correia, Brandon Mull, and Seanan McGuire among many others) came together to make this anthology happen. It contains original stories, deleted scenes, and essays from the contributors about how mental illness has affected their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

I talked more about the concept for the anthology here, and you can read a snippet of my Way of Kings Prime excerpt here. Included in the book are six chapters totaling 31,000 words (or a little shorter than The Emperor’s Soul). In the first, the young spearman whose name I later changed to Kaladin made a choice that was opposite a pivotal choice Kaladin makes in the version of The Way of Kings that was eventually published. The next five chapters chronicle his adjustment to his new way of life, including his training under a certain grumpy swordmaster who you met in Words of Radiance and elsewhere.

I do want to make clear that these chapters are not even close to canon and can’t be considered to be very good. It’s obvious that I made the right choice to shelve this version of The Way of Kings and rewrite it from scratch years later, after I felt my writing skills had improved to the extent that I could do justice to the ambitious project that is the Stormlight Archive. These chapters are meant, like all my other deleted scenes, as a curiosity, a look at what might have been.

More important is the Altered Perceptions anthology’s glimpse at how the lives of so many people, including people I care about deeply, are affected by mental illness. There are some fantastic and heartbreaking essays here, and I hope you read every one.

Last month I talked about Altered Perceptions, the anthology to benefit my friend Robison Wells who’s suffering from mental illness. Well, the IndieGoGo campaign is in its final week, and I’ve added a few perks to the campaign. More on those farther down.

The anthology will have five chapters of the original 2003 draft of The Way of Kings that was very different from the published version, and on Twitter and Facebook last week I promised that when the campaign hit 60% funded, I’d post a teaser snippet of the moment when Kaladin made an opposite choice to the one he made in the final published version of the book. Well, the campaign just hit 60% funded, so the snippet is hereby included at the bottom of this post. There’s a lot more that will be the anthology—these are long chapters, and the five together are about 27,000 words. Included in those chapters are scenes of Merin (as Kaladin was named at that point) training with a certain sword master (under his original name).

I really want to help Rob out. So the perks that I’ve added today are these:

1. Phone call from me. I’ll call you and chat for 15 minutes or so about books, life, cats, mac&cheese, or whatever. Already sold out while I was writing the blog post, sorry!
2. Advance reading copy of Stormlight 3, as soon as one of these exists. Or if they decide not to make ARCs like they didn’t with Words of Radiance, then I’ll send you an early electronic copy. Already sold out, sorry again!
3. Join Bridge Four! (If that’s what you choose.) I’ll put you in one of my upcoming books. This one is not sold out yet, but it also would help Rob Wells a lot more than the other campaign perks.

Now, I realize each of those are beyond many of your budgets. That’s why there’s also the $28 hardcover book option and the $10 ebook option. And I know I haven’t said much about it, but the anthology includes contributions from 30 other authors. You’re getting a lot of material for $10 or $28 (or you can contribute more than that, and choose either of those as your perk). Please consider making a contribution.

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Elhokar cursed. “That move exposes our entire central line! Who is in charge back there?”

“My son,” Dalenar said.

“Renarin? The boy couldn’t duel a blind woman.”

“He’s well-practiced at tactics,” Dalenar said stiffly. “If you’d wanted to appoint someone else, you should have done it before you went dashing off to try and get yourself killed.”

Elhokar turned, his eyes dark at the lack of respect.

Be careful, Dalenar warned himself. This is not your brother. Elhokar is a different man. “We should return, your majesty,” Dalenar said, wrestling down his anger. “It is not safe.”

Elhokar waved his hand dismissively at the word ‘safe.’ His honor guard had finally managed to catch up, pushing through a widening gap that was dividing the Prallan army into two separate forces. In the distance, several more Prallan towers were rolling forward into the fray—a final, desperate attempt to turn the battle. However, with the Aleth central line threatened, they could actually make a difference.

Dalenar felt a sudden stab of worry. The battle had nearly been theirs. However, if the Prallans pressed the west, and if those towers held . . .

Renarin, what in the name of the Thoughtgiver are you doing?

The honor guard approached, accompanied by a large group of spearmen and one mounted man. Meridas regarded the corpses and fallen tower with his usual indifference. Dalenar, however, was impressed to see the man approach. Meridas was no Shardbearer—his armor was a simple breastplate of normal steel, and he wore a regular sword at his side. Venturing away from the relative safety of the tower was a brave feat, even if he was accompanied by several hundred soldiers.

“Meridas,” the king said as the councilor bowed differentially. “Good. I need your horse.”

“Your majesty?” the merchant asked with concern as Elhokar dismissed his Blade—the weapon disappearing back into smoke—and clinked forward, waving for the tall merchant to dismount.

“Elhokar . . .” Dalenar said warningly.

The king, however, simply raise a forestalling hand. “I’m just going back to the tower, uncle. I need to find out how much of a mess your son has made of our battle.”

“The scouts discovered an army of Prallans far to the west,” Meridas explained as he dismounted. “I told him to send a messenger for you, but he withdrew the line instead, fearing that we would be flanked.”

Dalenar frowned, finally understanding Meridas’s willingness to enter the field. This wasn’t the loyal vassal braving the battle to seek his king, it was the petulant underling seeking an ear to tell his tale.

“Your majesty,” Dalenar said, stepping forward. “Wait for Aredor to—”

The king mounted Meridas’ horse, then kicked it into a gallop without a word. Dalenar tried to summon his frustration, but it was growing increasingly difficult. He had sworn his life to defend the son of the brother he had loved. Spears he could block, Shardbearers he could duel, but the boy’s own stubbornness made for an impossible battle.

Behind him, several attendants stripped the Shardplate off of the young man Dalenar had killed. He had been no older than Renarin, a boy forced into the role of a man by circumstances and title. Once, hatred and fury had lent Dalenar their power. Now, pity was sapping his strength as steadily as age.

He was so distracted by his unpleasant emotions that it took him a moment to register Aredor’s yell. Dalenar’s head snapped up, turning toward his son, who was leaping atop his horse and summoning his Shardblade.

Dalenar followed his son’s gaze, looking past the frantic honor guard, past the confused Meridas. The king had been unhorsed somehow, and stood, looking dazed, his Shardblade still unsummoned. Above him a mounted figure raised its weapon to strike again. A fourth enemy Shardbearer. Where had he come from?

They were too far away. Aredor couldn’t get to him, and the honor guard had been left behind. Blue-uniformed corpses lay scattered around the two figures—men cut down while Dalenar hadn’t been looking. Other spearmen were running away, or standing stunned. The king . . .

One, solitary spearman in blue suddenly dashed across the rocks and jumped at the unnamed Shardbearer. Only one man.

But it was enough. The spearman jumped up with a heroic bound, tossing aside his spear and grabbing ahold of the enemy Shardbearer’s waist. The weight threw off the surprised Prallan’s strike, and he missed the king. Unbalanced, the Shardbearer reached desperately for his reins, but missed. He tumbled backward, the brave Aleth spearman hanging stubbornly to the man’s waist.

The king recovered his wits, summoning his Shardblade and backing away. Tensets of footmen, realizing their opportunity, jumped for the fallen Shardbearer, spears raised.

A lot has been happening this week for me, including Hugo nominations and cover reveals. While all of this is awesome, I’ve been worried about the Altered Perceptions anthology getting lost, and I’d like to take a moment to speak about it. First, I’ll talk about what it is, and then I’ll talk about why we’re doing it.

What Is Altered Perceptions?

This anthology will collect “altered” versions of published stories—deleted scenes, alternate endings, original concept chapters, and that sort of thing.

For it, I’m letting people see—for the first time—a large chunk of the original version of The Way of Kings, which I wrote in 2002–2003. This version is very different, and involves a different course in life for Kaladin as a character—all due to a simple decision he makes one way in this book, but a completely different way in the published novel.

These chapters are quite fun, as I consider what happened in The Way of Kings Prime (as I now call it) to be an “alternate reality” version of the events in the published books. The characters are almost all exactly the same people, but their backstories are different, and that has transformed who they are and how they react to the world around them. Roshar is similar, yet wildly different, as this was before I brought in the spren as a major world element.

If you’re a fan of the Stormlight Archive, I think you’ll find these chapters quite interesting. The anthology also includes a lot of very cool scenes, chapters, and stories from awesome authors, so please check it out.

Why Are We Doing It?

This anthology was my idea, conceived to benefit my friend Robison Wells, a writer who has nearly been crushed by the weight of severe and unexpected mental illness. The money will help him pay his debts, which came upon him as a result of losing his job following the advent of his difficulties. They came upon him quite unexpectedly, and his story serves as a reminder to all of us that mental illness—though something we speak about far less often—can come upon a person as unexpectedly as cancer or heart disease.

Rob is a great guy, and a great member of my local writing community. He has published several novels nationally, all of which are quite good, and was the primary force behind the founding of the Whitney Awards, created to honor LDS writers. He’s also the brother of Dan Wells, my podcasting buddy.

The anthology is being launched via an IndieGoGo campaign, which you can read more about here. There’s also a video with a bit more from Rob on his condition, and I talk about the idea for the anthology at around the 3:09 mark. As for what you get for contributing to the campaign, a simple ten bucks will get you the ebook of every contribution to the anthology, DRM-free, to be used on any platform you desire. However, there are also other cool things up for grabs. (Critiques, dinners, signed editions, and Larry Correia blowing things up with a big gun.)

Rob has been spectacular at getting a handle on his illness and learning to manage it. He has written new books and has them on submission. We’re confident that if we can help him dig out from underneath some of this debt, he will be able to cope long-term. We hope that you’ll be interested enough in this project to lend a hand and get something cool in return.

The newest Writing Excuses podcast episode is called “What The Avengers Did Right.” It has a bunch of spoilers for that movie and talks about it from the point of view of a writer.

I’ve uploaded all of Ben McSweeney’s awesome illustrations for THE RITHMATIST. This includes the map (which isn’t in the ebook right now) and a couple of doodles that didn’t make it into the final book. If you have the audiobook, we prepared a script for Michael Kramer that included the text from the diagrams so you shouldn’t be missing anything essential, but it will probably still help quite a bit to be able to see these illustrations.

If you haven’t seen them, I also have interior illustration galleries for THE WAY OF KINGS and THE ALLOY OF LAW.

Tor.com’s reread of THE WAY OF KINGS has reached the end of part one. The most recent post covers the first set of interludes and talks about the search for Hoid.

This week I will be at Book Expo America in New York. Here’s my schedule:

Date: May 30-31, 2013
Place: Book Expo America
Address: Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
655 W 34th St
New York, NY 10001

THURSDAY, May 30th

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Author Signing at Meeting Room MR 3211 (Tor Table #17)
The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist
(Note: This event is ticketed.)

4:00-5:00 p.m.
RHCB Booth Signing
Booth #3940, Table #1
Steelheart

FRIDAY, May 31st

3:00-4:00 p.m.
Signing at Tor Booth 1557
The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist

4:00-5:00 p.m.
Audio Publishers Association Author Tea
Janis Ian, Bill Bryson, Louise Penny, Brandon Sanderson
(Note: This event is ticketed.)

This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is called “Fake It Till You Make It” and in it Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talk about the things we do or have done to feel professional.

Also, as I mentioned earlier this week, Writing Excuses has been nominated once again for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work! Our announcement on that is here. And if you missed my announcement of THE EMPEROR’S SOUL being nominated for Best Novella, it is here. Howard’s Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia is also nominated for Best Graphic Story. If you want to be able vote for the Hugo Awards, I talk about that in my previous post.

Mary’s new book WITHOUT A SUMMER is also out this week. The first two books in the series were excellent, so you’re sure to enjoy this one too!

Tor.com has put up chapter 2 and chapter 3 of my forthcoming YA fantasy THE RITHMATIST. (If you missed them, the prologue and chapter 1 are here.) The book comes out next month. Tor has also announced a mobile campaign involving (at the moment) the Wheel of Time and THE RITHMATIST. On your mobile phone text “EPIC” to 555111 to receive facts, trivia, and more (and no, that’s not an April Fools joke, though it was announced on April 1st). Or you can sign up at this link.

Irene at Tor also sent me this beautiful poster (the scale may not be obvious in the photo, but the frame is about 22″ by 30″) with a long quote from chapter 4 of THE EYE OF THE WORLD. Robert Jordan truly was a master at making a story come alive before our eyes.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Tor.com has also started a reread of THE WAY OF KINGS in preparation for the release of the sequel, WORDS OF RADIANCE, hopefully later this year. Two reread posts have gone up so far, the first one covering the prelude and the second talking about the prologue. And the ebook of KINGS is still $2.99 for the next week or so.

This week we received copies of the new German edition of ELANTRIS. We also received copies of WRITING FANTASY HEROES: POWERFUL ADVICE FROM THE PROS. I wrote an essay in this book, about writing cinematic fight scenes. There are also contributions from other SF luminaries including Alex Bledsoe, Jennifer Brozek, Orson Scott Card, Glen Cook, Steven Erikson, Ian C. Esslemont, Cecelia Holland, Howard Andrew Jones, Paul Kearney, Ari Marmell, Janet and Chris Morris, Cat Rambo, and C.L. Werner.

And here’s the newest video of me writing a chapter from WORDS OF RADIANCE.

A couple new podcast episodes for you. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is an in-depth discussion of “Deus ex Nauseum,” Howard’s bonus story at the end of Schlock Mercenary: Emperor Pius Dei. Also, on the Farland’s Authors Advisory Conference Calls, artists Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney (whose work has appeared in the Mistborn books, THE WAY OF KINGS, and THE RITHMATIST, among many others), joined to talk about how artwork can enhance a novel. You can listen to a recording of the call here.

Tor.com has an article on the science of spren in the Stormlight Archive. It’s pretty interesting. They’re also giving away ten paperback copies of THE WAY OF KINGS on Goodreads (sorry, US only).

My YA books for this year now have UK covers in addition to the US covers that have been previously revealed. UK covers on the top row, US covers on the bottom row; click on each for the cover reveal posts. THE RITHMATIST comes out May 14th in the US and May 16th in the UK, and STEELHEART comes out September 24th in the US and September 26th in the UK. (In the US, book releases are traditionally on Tuesdays, and in the UK they’re usually on Thursdays.) And yes, the ebooks and audiobooks should be available at the same time too.

Here’s another video of me writing the Rysn interlude from WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS. This video features one song I listened to while writing this section: “Setting Sail” by 2002. © 2011 Galactic Playground Music. Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.

Just a quick update today. This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode is another brainstorming episode. This time Mary, Dan, and I help Howard brainstorm for a comic. Though apparently the end result was a failure! Check it out.

I’ve also uploaded another video of me writing WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS. Enjoy.

Just a quick post today. The newest Writing Excuses podcast episode is another where we sat down with Dan’s brother Robison Wells. This time we talked about writing and personal health. Give it a listen.

For the fifth of my Stormlight Archive volume two writing videos, we were able to get permission to include most of the music I listened to while writing this section. Many thanks to the artists, and do consider them when you’re trying to decide what to listen to in order to set the right mood while you write!

• “The Orange Fox Waits” composed & performed by Robin Spielberg. Used with Permission. ©2008 Robin Spielberg/Spobs Music
  Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.
• David Lanz, “Medley: Behind the Waterfall/Desert Rain” © 1991 Narada Productions, Inc
  Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.
• David Nevue, “Ascending with Angels” © 2001 Midnight Rain Productions
  Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.
• Tim Neumark, “The Dream of You” © 2007 Tim Neumark
  Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.
• Steven Cravis, “Reunion” © 1995 StevenCravis.com
  Website, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes.
• Dylan Patrick Smith, “Fading Dreams” © 2007 Other Realm Music
  CDBaby, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes

The most recent podcast episode of Writing Excuses features Dan’s brother Robison Wells talking with us about cliffhangers and icebergs—when it’s a good idea to leave people in the dark, and when it’s a bad idea. Check it out.

My assistant Peter has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. This one doesn’t have as many spoilers as the previous two, but there are still spoilers for A MEMORY OF LIGHT, so stay away from it if you haven’t finished the book yet.

Some readers have been asking if my book signings are spoiler-free. In general, yes. Spoilers are not allowed during the public Q&A part of the signing. However, I do allow people to ask spoiler questions when they make it up to the table to get their books signed. So if you haven’t finished the book, don’t listen in too closely to other people’s conversations.

This is my last week on the A MEMORY OF LIGHT tour, and I’ll visit the following cities:

Monday: Baltimore
Tuesday: Philadelphia
Wednesday: Raleigh
Thursday: Atlanta
Friday: Birmingham

Harriet will be at all of the events as well, and audiobook narrators Michael Kramer and Kate Reading will be with us at the Baltimore signing. Details are on my events page.

I’ll also have at least two more book tours later this year. In May we’ll have the THE RITHMATIST tour, and right now it looks like most of the cities I’ll hit will be different from the ones that were on the AMoL tour. Details to follow.

In the fourth of my Stormlight Archive volume two writing videos, two of the included songs are the actual songs I listened to while writing. I’ve been able to include them in the video thanks to the artists, Ray Lynch and Incendio. This might help you feel even more like you’re looking over my shoulder while I write.

“Her Knees Deep in Your Mind” by Ray Lynch. © © Ray Lynch Productions/BMI/1994

Music can be found on his website, Facebook, Amazon, and iTunes.

Incendio, “Temple of the Sun” © 2003 Incendio Music

Music can be found on Facebook, Amazon, and iTunes.