From this I took the idea of two people from different walks of life who had to teach each other to do their fantastical jobs. I loved this dynamic—I imagined their frustration at not being able to do the job right, and instead needing to teach someone else to do it well. Two people who need to trade places and learn from one another, not just when it comes to their jobs, but in their lives as well.
This relationship really kicked the story off for me, and I spent a great deal of time planning their romance. I also have a vague memory of a story I read in college about two people who share a bunk on a space station—where room is tight, so people can’t have their own sleeping space. But they never see each other, because they work opposite shifts by design, each leaving notes for the other. They fall in love just through the notes they leave. This idea of people who develop a romance unconventionally was extremely appealing to me.
Because two of my influences were Japanese in origin, I decided to lean into this, basing Yumi’s culture on historical Korea and Painter’s on a more modern Japan. I leaned into some tropes （like the hot spring） from manga and anime—and this also dovetailed nicely into the “trade places” concept I’d been considering. Some excellent anime （Your Name by Makoto Shinkai being the standout in my opinion） uses this idea—that of two people needing to live one another’s lives.
That said, one thing that was important to me in this story was interaction. Your Name, and that story I can’t remember, both depend on people growing fond of one another in absence—and while that’s a neat dynamic, I wanted something different. I wanted plenty of interaction. Indeed, I wanted to isolate them from other people, and focus the two inwardly, as they grew together. This romantic goal, again inspired by things my wife has said about stories she loves, is what drove me to write this story in my free time, as a gift for her.
One we’re both pleased that you now get to share.
Brandon Sanderson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. In addition to completing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, he is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn saga, Warbreaker? the Stormlight Archive series beginning with The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist, the Skyward series, the Reckoners series beginning with Steelheart, and the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series. He won the Hugo Award for The Emperor’s Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel? Elantris. For behind-the-scenes information on all his books, visit brandonsanderson.com.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Aliya Chen is an illustrator and visual development artist whose work is most often inspired by fantastical stories, foreign music, and the natural world. Outside of art, she loves to bake for friends and explore coastal trails with her family.