ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 เม.ย. 2016
- Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 1
This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user writeaboutdragons. I’ve linked together the parts of the lecture into a single video, and provided some notes with timestamps below. Enjoy!
*Notes*
0:12 / Introduction to being a writer
- Writing is not about inspiration, ideas, or luck
- Writing is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced
- Publishers can gauge your skill from the first page
6:55 / Course focus will be on Novel format
- If you don’t read a lot of short fiction, you shouldn’t write a lot of short fiction
- Writing short stories is no longer considered “the good way” to break into writing novels
10:25 / Ideas are cheap
- A great writer will make a great novel from bland ideas
- A weak writer will make a bad novel from the best ideas
- A book does not come from a strike of inspiration
- Jim Butcher anecdote: was given two silly ideas from an online forum challenge (Pokemon and lost roman legion), and wrote a best-selling novel
17:42 / Class format
24:37 / Discovery writers vs outliners/architects
- Learning to write is about learning the different tools available and finding ones that work for you
- Discovery writers work best without a lot of structure
- George RR Martin is this type of writer; he uses the term gardener
- Outliners work best when they know what their goal is, and they break it out into steps
- - A sequence of events or a map to help write the book
- - Orson Scott Card is this type of writer, as is Brandon Sanderson
- Outliners tend to have explosive endings because they can plan it in advance
- Most people fall into one of these camps, but you really don’t know which is better for you until you try both
31:00 / Pitfalls of each method
- Discovery writers like to revise a lot, and get it right before they move on
- - Need to learn to just keep going so they don’t get stuck
- Discovery writers have problems with endings, because they tend to finish the arcs abruptly
- Outliners have “worldbuilder’s disease”
- - Need to focus the building so they can actually write the story
- Brandon outlines his plots and discovery writes his characters
37:11 / Writing groups & workshopping
- More useful for outliners than discovery writers, because feedback can influence the undiscovered plot
- Good feedback includes a list of specific things that you liked, and a list of specific things that didn’t work for you
- “You should…” is a not a helful comment.
- Describing your reaction to something is much more helpful than telling them what you think is wrong with it
- Ignore small stuff; don’t talk about prose unless it is a big issue.
- - Plot, character, and setting are the most important things to focus on
- When you are being critiqued, do not speak! Soak it in and don’t influence the feedback.
- Put all feedback aside until you come back around to revise the book
I don't have much interest in writing but I really enjoy these lectures. It's like watching a magician tell you how the magic is done.
"G.R.R. Martin is a discovery writer, if you can't tell my how long it takes him to write his books."
Oh, Brandon of 2012, you've no idea..
😂😂
Hey @zmunk, just really want to thank you for the wonderful work you've done putting these together. It's also really cool and respectful how you've left alone those lectures that Brandon uploads on his YT now.
Really appreciate it!
Thanks for that. Once he started his own YT channel, I felt I wasn't adding any value, vs before when these were scattered everywhere and often in pieces. Glad it's been useful to people :-)
These students don't know how lucky they are!
@Dean Vennard Pretty sure the people there are getting it for free as well. I think the class doesn't give credits, it's a workshop. Don't quote me on that though.
@@briandoeslife7182 he says at one point in a later video that it's a one credit class everyone gets an A in as long as they show up lol. Love Brando-Sando.
@@mattkhourie4037 Ah, yeah sry I was thinking of how he has a 15 person workshop as well as the class, but I guess you have to take the class to get into the worshop.
I love the categorization of writing styles. I had never thought of it more than I'm a messy writer. By his standard I'm a discovery writer. Much more positive.
I’ve learned so much watching his lectures, very grateful. 💚
I'm definitely a discovery writer. I'm discovering how to write a novel. This is my first. In spite of having an outline, every time, it seems, that I learn something new, I go back and make changes. And yes, I've been writing this for about 10 years, and am determined to finish it.
Did you finish it?
@@gray_mara I'm in the process of filling/ fixing plot holes. Going back through the first chapters (it's been awhile) there are scenes of foreshadowing that were never followed through on. Fortunately, I have room to expand.
@@kathyl6677 Ugh, plot holes are the worst! Congrats on your book progress, that's great to hear. You'll get there!
I knew Codex Alera was about the Roman Legion,but I didn't know it was about Pokemon too......lol
oh my god you are a treasure for doing this
Only 50,000 words? Super easy, barely an inconvenience.
At the end, the protagonist does a backflip, snaps the bad guy's neck, and saves the day
50k words is tight!
17:52 Goal of class, word count and timeline
this guy is actually a genious😆
What a great professor. I hope he makes it big someday!
Haha
Only if he finally finishes a book.
25:05 Brandon Sanderson makes a pun about the band Tool
Thank so much for this video Brandon. I learned so much. I know where I went wrong. I am looking forward to the next lectures.
I'm outlining a comic and it's sooo tedious. I just want to start drawing it but the plot's got me stuck
Get a writer and just draw.
Sounds like aliens or a water drain in the background.
Also, I love these lectures. So much.
Sounds like drowning pikmin to me.
Aliens confirmed. Somebody better call down the other dropship from the Sulaco...
best advice ever
What if I discovery write my outline ? 👁👄👁
Thanks for sharing this!
Military sci fi paranormal romance... what an idea! LOL
I disagree that you can tell how good someone is at piano in a minute. You can tell if someone is really bad at piano in one minute but the difference between an amateur, professional, and one in a million savant is much more difficult to discern. It would depend on what they are playing. There are amazing piano players that barely make a living and average piano players who make millions of dollars. There are hobbyist piano players who could blow your mind but never made a single dollar playing piano. In art the relationship between skill and success is tenuous at best. Art is incredibly subjective.
Great class.
Just a small note.
GRRM calls outliners "architects", because they make a plan and then follow it.
GRRM calls discovery writers "pantsers" because they write off the seat of their pants.
GRMM calls himself a "gardener" because he believes himself to be unique an special and imbued by the writing gods and the muses to be the one and only writer who is neither an architect nor a pantser, but gets the best of both worlds.
GRRM is an egomaniac.
cancer
Hope he sees this bro
pretty sure that comment was a reaction to students chatting making it unlistenable at times