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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 13
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 / Misc questions
Tips on foreshadowing
- Usually you need to be more heavy handed than you think
Good working relationships with editors and agent
- Let your agent be the bad guy
Pen names
- Very few good reasons to use a pen name
Making magic feel rare
9:22 / Brandon’s revision process
Very individual process
- Brandon became a good writer when he learned how to revise
He writes the book straight through, changing things mid stride without going back (adding themes, removing characters, etc)
- For Brandon, momentum is everything so he doesn’t stop
Version 1: Straight through
Version 2: Continuity
- Fixes everything he noted as he went through version 1
Version 3 (after small gap): First polish draft
- Cut 15% line by line, clean up prose
After v3, he sends it to alpha readers (agent, editor, writing group, wife)
- 6 month gap; distance from project is wonderful
- For new writers, write a new book during this break
Version 4: Incorporate alpha feedback and big-picture stuff
- In the Way of Kings book, he created a new POV for Adolin at this stage
- This is the hardest revision for him; fundamental changes might mean major rewrites
Version 5: Polish; less on cutting, more on dialogue, voice, etc
Sends it to betas and gets feedback; shorter break
Version 6: Incorporate editor and beta comments and other final thoughts
Version 7: Copyedit (with publisher)
Version 8: Proofread (with publisher)
23:46 / Questions about revisions
Alpha readers are better if they are writers themselves; beta readers are better as non-writers.
Writing groups are bad with pacing
For Brandon, Versions 2 through 6 take about half as long (combined) as the time it took him to write Version 1 through
36:07 / Revising for discovery writers
39:32 / Writer psychology
Being a writer is about observing people and extrapolating
Find a motivation factor to get yourself to work
48:07 / Misc questions
52:27 / Thriller plotting
Start and end every chapter on a hook
Brandon doesn’t do this as much; epic fantasy is different than thriller, his chapters are 3-4K words
1:00:19 / Linguistic variations
i've seen all the 2012 videos now and i really enjoy them. they're informative and entertaining. i wish this sort of thing had been available at my school. all i got was a single "creative writing" class taught by an old English teacher who just didn't get the whole "creative" thing. but so far, they have only inspired me to write a horror story called "the Bells of Brigham" about someone who goes insane from the constant super-loud ringing of class bells, and now every time the bells ring, they are driven to kill!
(i'm not actually going to write that, so if someone else wants it, go for it.)
Reading for 8 hours a day sounds amazing. Socializing sucks. I hate that you can't really hear the student's questions, but I really love that these videos are available
It fascinates me that he prefers the first draft and hates revisions. I love revisions. The first draft feels like work, but the other drafts feel like art. Sanderson seems to feel the reverse
Draft #2 is where the real artwork starts. Like detailing a sculpture.
It's because he's a pantser. The first draft is when the story is discovered.
Can you give some details on what you do? I personally dont like revisions myself and am curious
Writers can be successful either way
@@jennijulander5139 he is certainly not a pantser. He outlines and maps the story heavily before he begins writing. I do find it interesting that he doesn’t like revisions considering how much he likes structuring.
I can relate so much with the first thing he said. I always feel like when I'm writing a first draft that I make everything too obvious, but when I read back a little while later it turns out that I'm way too subtle and I don't understand what's going on. XD It's like I jump from one topic to the next too fast. I try to read from the perspective of a reader though and that really helps. :)
Great video! I was confused by the Robert Jordan references, and then remembered that Sanderson helped write the last couple.
A friend used her real name and she picked up a stalker who knew where her husband worked and where her children went to school. It became terribly unsettling. I think it depends on your genre.
43:00 Yea that's kind of how I am too. I run pretty happy all the time =) I'll consider myself lucky!
5:00 what if your name is LeStrange like myself (yes, my real name) and everyone thinks you're doing Potter fanfic?
I say just make it English "the Strange" so like if your name is John it would be John the Strange
Master Class
The sound for the students is really low, and if you raise the volume to hear them, you hear Brandon drinking or chewing very loudly. Isn't there a way to bring up the volume of their microphone separately?
You can use a compressor and gate - you compress the heck out of the signal, gate everything bellow the students talking, and use a lot of makeup gain. But that's something you would have to download the video and do yourself.
Where are this writing groups?
Zoltarman he teaches at BYU.
Love Sanderson so much, but the gulping sounds in this lecture make me feel violent. The mic does not need to be that sensitive
What is this one or two sittings crap? Who does that??
I love his videos.... but he must consume 3,000 calories per lecture with all the drinking and eating. What's up with that?
Seriously, it’s very unprofessional for him to chomp, and chew, and guzzle, and slurp, etc. all throughout.
Maybe he's hungry? He's a multi-millionaire author. He can eat when he wants. People are listening to these lectures for the useful content, not to critique the professor's manners.
Maybe it helps keep his mouth from drying out and his throat from getting scratchy while he speaks... or maybe he’s just hungry and thirsty. I don’t mind it (and people eating with their mouth open is usually like fingers on a chalk board to me).
Maybe he gets low blood sugar and needs to snack frequently.
He said why in another video. He eats his lunch in class so he can stay longer and has more time for the students
Its almost like this is an in person lecture that is generously being offered online as well