Nothing to do with anything really but I think I finally get how Sanderson was able to organize his thoughts to create the Cosmere.
Each and every planet of the Cosmere is SO expansive and SO mind-numbingly detailed that I couldn't figure out how Sanderson even organized his thoughts, esp. when considering that baskets of hints from stuff happening TODAY were planted in novels from over 20 years ago.
Yes, OP does the same, no doubt. But Sanderson's hints are so numerous, that Oda's sprinklings seem downright tame compared to what Sanderson put in motion. OP is understandable because he follows a core cast performing core actions. Sanderson is essentially dealing with MULTIPLE CORE CASTS TELLING THEIR OWN LORE-LADEN TALES THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME A MEGA-TALE.
It's f***ing insane and I had no idea how he could balance it all, even considering the fellow is a brilliant world-builder.
Until now.
I think I finally realized that every planet is (in essence) a 'super hero' and that Sanderson basically constructed an ideal superhero based on a set of abilities, then worked from there.
It's essentially like having a Wolverine Planet, a Storm Planet, a Rogue Planet, and Magneto Planet, etc. etc. Then, he considered how all of those powers could come together. Basically Space-Justic League or Space-Avengers.
The scale is WILDLY different. It's incomparable even, considering some planets have multiple 'powers'. But the idea is, breaking it up like that, "Gee would be cool if this planet had people who could utilize metal as a power." or "Would be cool if people on this planet were super-powered Power Rangers." and with that as a base, considered how to weave them together.
The fellow speaks at length about his process so maybe I've been proven wrong already but it just seemed to me that packaging his universe that way would have made planning, sculpting, and building much easier.
