Brandon's Philosophy on Plot-Promises, Progress, and Payoffs
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- This is a short segment from my 2021 Creative Writing Lectures at BYU. If you want to watch my lectures in their entirety, you can watch all of my 2020 lectures here: • Lecture #1: Introducti...
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These videos literally cured my writer's block.
Yup
Honestly same.
I don't want to read anything from an author that doesn't correctly use the word 'literally', though... Writer's block is not an illness, just a sign of ineptitude regarding one's own tasks.
Same. Whenever I get in a rut I just watch one of these or his livestreams and then I'm all fired up and excited to keep writing
@@senseofwonder4062 no one cares
It's mind-blowing for me. On the other side of the world, in Ukraine, with only mobile internet, I'm watching free lection from famous writer and learning how to write my first novel. I still can't believe that this is possible.
Thank you, Mr. Sanderson, for putting your lections online and free.
Hope you’re still alive…
@@TheMastermind729 I've been so desensitized to the world recently I found that humourous, what dark times we find ourselves in :(
Hope you're good man 👍👍
Slava Ukraini
I'm honestly so grateful that he puts these amazing quality writing videos up for FREE
All authors adore alliteration, and Brandon Sanderson ain't an anomaly after all.
👌
Aye, nice pfp
This was a strangely satisfying read
So do some us dreamers
Added alliterative appeal
"dont write a story where only a second passages in 50 pages"
five episodes of HxH characters climbing stairs over the course of ten seconds intensifies
And it's perfect.
All writing advice saying "don't do X" should include an asterisk saying: "unless you can actually pull it off"...
@@alexmir1763 I like HxH but you gotta admit the Chimera Ant arc didn't have great pacing
That said, I agree with the sentiment overall
@@lloydnoid6506 I agree. But I only referred to the stair-climbing part, not to the chimera arc as a whole.
@alexmir1763 nah it was so weird and boring. I quit watching after that
@@danascully1248 There's a pretty wide consensus that the chimera ant arc was one of the best stories in anime, ever. It's okay not to like it, of course, but you need to be honest with yourself as to your general taste. And in case you are relatively young, I'd recommend waiting a few years. I'm not trying to make fun of you, my taste in stories changed over time too.
As an engineer, learning how to architect stories and language using formulas and theory is weirdly empowering.
Authors all create their own personal formulas for repeated success while not being obvious enough to the reader to be boring, and seeing this larger hierarchy to story creation makes me want to try it myself.
Thanks for posting these!
Problem-solving the stories instead of feeling the feelings helps a lot to people who value thinking more than feelings.
“I think most authors care way too much about opening lines.”
Easy for you to say Mr. “Szeth Son-Son-Vallano wore white on the day he was to kill a king.”
Mr. “Ash fell from the sky.”
I think the thing to keep in mind is that a good first line is still important, but it's not the be-all and end-all. People really overthink it with the mindset of "I need a perfect first line or nobody's gonna read my book!"
If your opening line is the most interesting part of your first chapter, that's not a good thing.
@@Hmm_Ace_Attorney_Channel aaand there;s also revisions which can easily fix that
@@alexandreprodan5014 You'll revise the wrong way if you think the first line is the most important part of your hook.
@@Hmm_Ace_Attorney_Channel the whole point of my comment was to imply it isn't so...yeah.
Those aren't particularly good opening lines though so his opinion checks out
Its strangely reassuring to hear what Brandon does and realize your doing some of the same things already.
Very true,
It means you’re on the right path, but every writer has a process that works for them. You just have to find yours.
Exactly, when he first started talking about the promise of the plot early on in the book I thought, “Fuck! I don’t start my story with a mini version of the main conflict!” but then as he continued I thought “Wait a minute, I DID. I just didn’t know it.”
One of the best "they get to the place and the place isn't there anymore" scenes I've seen comes from the Dragonlance books. This is a world that has been ravaged by a Cataclysm that could well have served as Robert Jordan's inspiration for "the Breaking of the World." A party of adventurers needs to get to a place far away, so they venture across a great distance to a city that sits at the edge of the sea, renowned for its masterful shipbuilders...
and when they get there, they find the broken down ships sitting in the middle of a bunch of dry land, because the Cataclysm rearranged the face of the world and the sea isn't there anymore!
But it was on Taselhoffs map!! Lol so good.
I wish D & D saw this video when they were writing season 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones
How original...
Exactly my thoughts!
What a clever, original TH-cam comment
@@jakehopkins6989 Maybe unoriginal it fits.
Agreed main problem is that season 7 and 8 went against every promeise on tone and even genre during first four season (because I believe that show went downhill after that) First four seasons were like Godfather, dark gritty when you knew that anybody can die at any moment. Good naive guys get rekt, most ruthles evil guys are winning. It was realistic. Last two seasons were like freaking MCU, were good guys were constantly winning and getting whatever they wanted, while ruthless evil guys were suddenly naive as hell and stupid (Littlefinger) Also realism was shaft down the toilet so we get scene when one handed cripple somehow beats equivalent of Viking. Disgusting.
This is golden content in an accessible presentation method. Thank you.
Brandon is very adorable when he gets all excited about plot - even when the plot's not his own. 😁
"it's spelled right now, you can't tell me it's not--it's in my own language..."
lol
31:17 I believe this is data being badly understood. I've seen multiple writing advices saying that putting foreshadowing and implicit meaning is a good thing. There were times I was afraid of going through a mystery story for a second time, since I already knew the solution, but it was actually very entertaining seeing all the hints, and it gives a whole new perspective on the work. I see this as an example of why you should go through stories more than once.
Fun fact: a barrel-maker is called a *cooper.* Cooper is a classic English profession-surname like Smith or Carpenter.
"Today we will talk about Plot".
(Unholy Stephen King noises in the background)
Giant turtle noices
* Raymond Chandler passes the flask with a sigh*
Stephen King is Right. Story over Plot.
@@Infamous1892
If either suck, they both suck.
Hey Brandon, thanks for everything. You writing and lectures have reinvigorated my love of creative fiction - I am positive I wouldn't be where I'm at today without you.
I wish the writers for The Book of Boba Fett had taken less than 40 minutes of their lives to watch this video...Thanks for being awesome Brandon Sanderson!
I will never understand how some “professional” writers have no inkling of the fundamentals of writing. I guess it’s concrete proof that Hollywood rewards personal networking and loyalty over competence.
I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when the series was starting to get popular. I didn't think much of it the first time through-though now I appreciate it for its world building in its context with the rest of the series. I've since realized that I liked it less because its twist at the end *is that its plot is actually relevant to the rest of the series.* Dobby even tells us that Voldemort isn't the villain this time.
Love how he breaks down the original Star Wars' plot beat by beat - it's a very telling analysis! It really just boils down to 'little ship vs big ship' at its core (with the other plot beats cresting upon it) which represents the entire struggle between the plucky Rebellion and oppressive Empire so well.
When you described an intense prologue followed by developing a kid on a farm, I immediately thought of Star Wars. I never thought of this before, but the opening scene of A New Hope has a lot in common with a prologue.
It IS a prologue…that’s the point
This is the biggest revelation for me. Applied to my failed book and I see already, that I made wrong promise, thus my progress felt like not important, and then I pushed the payoff to the book two! One Brandon's video showed me what is wrong, when professional editors and my collegues who are writers already did not, while giving me their opinions on my writing. These clasess and mr. Sanderson are worth all the money in the world. If/when I get my first book published, Brandon Sanderson will be credited as most influential and useful teacher I had so far.
30:17 Brandon: "He's a barrelwright."
Me, loving Tolkien's writing too much: "He's a barrow wight!?" * gasp *
Better call Tom!
Now there's a comedic possibility.
For anyone interested, Michael Arndt breaks down the 3 sets of stakes in 'A New Hope' (internal, external and philosophical) and how they are reversed at the climax of the movie.
It's a 90 minute video called 'insanely great endings'
You knocked one out of the park here, Brandon -- superb lecture!
I would never have considered that readers want to know what's going to happen, but now that I think about it, I feel satisfied knowing what's coming and I sit back to enjoy the ride. Also, and although I'm far removed from my preschool years, I can understand the feeling of "I knew it!" we get from knowing what's going to happen, even if we'd been spoon-fed the info.
Related, and perhaps a caveat: This doesn't really apply to a mysteries, does it? Mysteries require too much work for me. I prefer to relax with a good book, not ponder it and try to figure it out. People who enjoy mysteries might be overachievers.
"Brandons philosophy on plot."
I'd say I'm interested ... go on.
That's the promise. ;)
I'm fairly certain the Malcolm Gladwell book he referenced was "The Tipping Point."
I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in learning about epidemics in Gladwell fashion. "Outliers" was an excellent read as well.
I know the lecture hasn't changed that much, but we'll still watch them if you upload the whole thing.
The way he described A New Hope is kind of mind blowing.
Thank you so much for posting longer clips from the class. I am disappointed we don't get to watch the full classes this year. No matter what, there are always cool stories, jokes, etc. that happen during each class, and you are a wealth of info and inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us.
"4k scribbles on a white board" would be a good rap lyric.
4k scribbles on a whiteboard
Brandon is the handwriting dark lord
@@samus598 what he writes down strikes our hearts chord
His massive talent can’t be ignored
These videos are such a help. I've never been able to plot a story ahead of time without getting bored. Without a outline though I get lost and stuck in a story due to struggling with the fluff of a story
There’s a very distinct cognitive dissonance that happens to me whenever you talk about yourself in the third person
I love Brandon, I love his books. I probably will never write a book, but I feel like these make me a better reader. Also, I never caught that idea from the intro to Raiders that the trap was from the pressure plate and not the light. Mind Blown!
The secret is to make the reader guess the result, but not completely in the way they guessed
I like that
Bingo 👍
Rian Johnson: (uses secret twin reveals, death fakeouts, and retcon flashbacks to hide the fact that the rich guy whom everyone already hates did it)
Still haven’t read one of Mr Sanderson’s books, enjoying hearing him talk about them more than enough for now
Hi Brandon! I've been listening to your Nerd Of the Rings posts. I'm on the part when Gandalf returns to the Shire to discuss the Ring with Frodo who has been safeguarding it since Bilbo left. The discussion arose about whether or not the Ring was affecting Frodo since he took possession. I believe you said he Ring wasn't affecting him at that point.
I disagree. I disagree because Frodo refers to the Ring as belonging to HIM and Bilbo. Normally when something old and precious is passed along in a family the descendants usually credit complete ownership to an elder. For example "I proposed with my grandmother's wedding ring." "I keep my great grandmother's china in the cabinet." "My father passed away. I wear his watch to remember him." "I was married in my mother's wedding dress. My future daughter will be married in my mother's dress too." These objects can be handed down through generations with ownership being credited to someone who died decades ago. So Frodo claiming even partial ownership is odd and perhaps a clue that the Ring was reaching out to him from its hiding place.
“It’s in my own language!”
Touché, Brandon. Touché.
I should be sleeping rn... but it's Brandon's Philosophy
This guy is soo helpful to all wannabe writers. Huge help, thank u
Man, Sanderson. You're a true help! I'm halfway through my book cause of you!
Every screenwriter in Hollywood/Netflix/Paramount/Amazon over the last 10 years needs to watch this.
I love the idea of plotting stories this way. I got story I made my self... I was aiming on guaranteeing a promise to the protagonist's life and just having issues wd creating small conflicting stories in the middle that will later on lead to the development of my hero into a better, profound unique individual. I'm thinking of something very surprising and a complete struggle for the audience to realize at the end yet it happened and surprisingly good,❤❤❤ I just never knew that guaranteeing promises would be discussed in a systematized lesson like this. Very good help. Had new better ideas and more things to come❤❤❤ tnx master💪👍
"short segment"
38 minutes... :D
I watch these videos for motivation, it is so gratifying when I watch these and I find that I've already done half the things he talks about and then it motivates me further
Example: 9:40 , I've done this without trying and I'm so happy
I would argue that instead of people finding more enjoyment in knowing what is going to happen next, they enjoy the journey more if they know that there is a goal which they are moving towards.
Certainly, the feeling of being right when guessing how the story would unfold is strong, but if it's too easy and obvious, it would make it feel boring rather than exciting or interesting.
My favorite compromise is to write something that suprises most people, but something they realize COULD have been deduced through clues and foreshadowing. You'll have some that guessed it, but they'll feel rewarded, and some that realize so close to the reveal that's it's still exhilarating. But most will enjoy the surprise, but also enjoy the "oh! Of course".
I agree you don't wanna make it too obvious, but what's FAR worse, is a reveal they NEVER could have pieced together... no matter how good the answer, they'll feel cheated for any time they spent trying.
I slightly misunderstood your comment.. I was speaking in reference to something shown in part but purposefully obscured in full. Ya know, anything that makes them start theorizing the answer.
For example: a masked character that is presented in a way that they are someone we know under the mask.
I feel this is all wrong. If I can predict how the movie is going to go, I stop watching. It's precisely the subverting of my expectations in a satisfying way that keeps me hooked.
Bless the souls of all involved
These videos have improved my writing so much! I keep having these great "ah hah!" moments while brainstorming.
This man is very good at writing
31:22 I like getting movies/books spoiled because if it is something cool I'm interested in what took place for that to happened, if it is boring then I don't have to watch the movie and at the same time know what happens. Is a win-win for me
Is anyone else watching this and also thinking about stories they like and how brilliantly those stories pull what he’s talking about off?
i love it when a writing lecture makes me realize why i liked the first planet of the apes but not the other ones XD
Just last night I was reading “On Writing” and Uncle Steve never plots “the characters find the way”
Who to listen to ? Uncle Steve or Uncle Brandon 😂😂
If you mean Stephen King, then I remember his way of writing is kind of peculiar, as he starts writing from a focal point.
As far as I remember, when something triggers his imagination, he envisions a scene, then goes backwards to find the characters' starting point and discover how they got there. After that is done, he returns to the scene and goes forward to see how they solved it.
Brandon talks about the two kinds of writers in another video, calling them architect and gardener respectively, in the way they build their books.
Use whatever method is suited for you. And even if you are a discovery writer, this lecture is handy for revisions. It can give you a structure that helps to see what went wrong, or how your writing can be better.
@@P.T.S.E. couldn’t agree more, more of a flippant comment based on the fact that my brain has been presented with these two opposing thought processes, by two legendary authors, in the space of about 12 hours 😀
Agree with Perfectly Timed System Error.
Also, remember these two giants write completely different kinds of stories.
@@dpeady78 (I paraphrased)
King - "Don't write your ideas down. If they're good enough they stick around."
Lynch - "Write down every idea as clear as you can, so that you understand the idea. Forgetting a great idea is a horrible feeling."
Now, who has better ideas, King or Lynch....?
If you are an excellent pantser then more power to you. If you aren't then at least basic planning needs to be there otherwise it can quickly lead to a mess.
R.I.P LAST JEDI
The dislike comes from the writer with writer's block.
I enjoy watching your videos. I'm a new subscriber and I've been having this huge writerblovk. You have explained so much very easily and I have only watched two of your videos thus far. Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom and knowledge with with. It is really helping and I'm very grateful 🙏 💕
I enjoy hearing that the idea of Progress can be simplified into a nested list. Whenever there is a situation where the hero opens a problem, there must be some way for them to close it. Character
That encourages me as a creative to make sure that the progress is properly sign-posted, like he said. If I ignore even a single element, the story is half-baked, since the characters would have earned an unnecessary component in their journey. Even worse, there is a massive gap in progress, since each roadblock should be overcome before the drive is finished!
Wait wait wait It wasn't a light activated trap??? it was really the pressure plate?!?!?!
I had to watch that movie multiple times to get that when I was younger but yeah, definitely a pressure plate
Hi Brandon, I'd really love to see the full 2021 lecture series (even though you have the 2020 lecture series up (minus the last lecture)). Any chance you could post them at some point?
Thank you Brandon! and thank you team! This is top notch! Content-wise and Production-wise!
So it wasn't a little ship blowing up a big ship, it was friend ship blowing up a big ship. Moral of the story, friendship is the best ship
I learn so much from your lectures and that is all I need to stay loyal. BUT the fact that you drop the occasional "Easter eggs" where you support my need to see *The Last Jedi* receive unlimited numbers of thrashings by whips (from Indiana Jones or any others willing to give out lashes, verbal or otherwise...) This guarantees my loyalty to ALWAYS stop whatever I'm doing and watch your videos!
Loved this, exactly what I needed with my writer’s block. Thank youUu, looking forward for your next upload!
Sanderson is a good teacher
Am I the only one who feels suddenly compelled to write a story where the entire world is frozen in a single second?
Only nix the slow pace of that moment and have a frantic race for the characters to make sure that that second never ends. Because guess what, that moment is the worlds last! If the clock's thinnest arm struggles out even a single rotation before the worlds next plot point is penned, then the world will vanish into nothing.
Wait, scrap that idea. New series The Bookworm's Curse. Book 1: I've Read This Before.
I had a senior teacher once that nearly ripped me a new one because I misspelled a word on a board I wish this guy was my teacher
Canto Bight = failure being a teacher and the imperfection of novice heroes. It reflects the evolution in screenwriting from Saturday serials toward a postmodern prospective.
14:54 Now I want to see a book about that...
Wouldn't be surprised of it already exists.
Are we not gonna talk about how Brandon is casually flaunting that he's a blue mage on his tshirt?
This whole time I thought it was the light that activated the trap. I never realized Indi tricked him! Lol. I first saw Indian Jones when it was first released and I saw it so many times that I had it memorized.
“Or a Vine” - oh...the good ol days... 😂😂
I think soon enough we would have fantasy writers who are graduate of the Brandon Sanderson University. "we dont know how to spell, but our plots and characters are rad."
wish the people at disney and amazon watched these wonderful videos!
Still waiting on Luke to get his power converters from the Tosche Station...
30:10 A cooper is someone who makes barrels. A cartwright makes carts.
I wonder if Brandon has seen the Plinkett reviews. I'd love to know what he thinks about them if he has!
Plinkett reviews of which movies or shows?
@@Tiyev I was thinking about the Prequel reviews, and The Last Jedi, since he usually brings it up.
I was always underwhelmed by the introduction of Luke's piloting competence. He spends his days doing remedial work but is apparently a notorious and brilliant pilot at 16-ish (is he even younger?)
The lecture is great though, thank you so much for sharing!
Did you know that Backcountry moonshiners invented car racing? They needed vehicles that could outrun the cops & soon got bored, so they started racing to pass the time. Five or so years later all the moonshiners were racing for bragging rights. The stories spread & seemingly random pockets of people across the world had begun racing leagues of their own. So random outer rim kid being a ridiculously pilot sounds quite reasonable to me.
The Raiders of thr Lost Ark part - where do we learn that Indy is triggering a pressure plate to cause the spikes to jump out? Dont recall that at all, sounds like he's describing a detail from the novelization or something.
This guy knows so much!
So, tangible take for me, not keeping a promise in writing is like a misleading movie or game trailer.
It was the pressure plate!!!!!?? Came here for the plot lesson and now I'm rewatching Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Thanks for doing all these teaching videos! I learn a lot, and I'm sure many others do too.
I love these so much.
Very appreciative of this. Thank you!
24:40
The power of friendship
Hahaha I tell this to my friends and coworkers as a joke all the time 😂
Where's the rest this years shorter videos are gold!
Why r these always released at 12 am? I'm already having a hard time fixing my sleeping schedule 🤧
I randomly opened this video.. now i need to stop it, find paper and take notes 😁
Not sure if anyone else has noticed this but the thumbnail for this vid has a mispelled word. Maybe it was intentional? Makes me want to sit and watch it now lol.
great info here ... thank you
This was so well done👍👍
This was really educational and funny too. Thanks, Brandon! 👍
Genius stuff here. So helpful
Brandon - are you still doing this course?? It would be awesome to get a new course playlist!
Really great stuff, I just took 6 pages on notes on this 38 min lecture
Thanks for this video Brandon.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this 🙏
Are these lectures gonna be available in full or is this just a Patreon thing?
In any case, Brandon you are the best and I thoroughly enjoyed the 2020 course, which IS actually available for free on TH-cam
i think he said they won't post full lectures this year because they would be too similar to the 2020 ones
@@dakard1 Fair enough, the 2020 lectures are still quite valuable and highly re-watchable.
Solid gold. Thank you for sharing.
THANK U BRANDON SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE!!!! Please could you tell me: Does this work for anti-hero stories, you're example of Starwars - would this work if the story followed Luke but he turned into the baddy at the end, PLEASE???????????????