Brandon Sanderson on Constructing a Fiction Empire, Creating $40M+ Kickstarter Campaigns, Unbreakable Habits, The Artwork of World-Constructing, and The Science of Magic Programs (#794)

Brandon Sanderson (@BrandSanderson) is the #1 New York Instances bestselling writer of The Stormlight Archive sequence and the Mistborn saga; the middle-grade sequence Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians; and the young-adult novels The Rithmatist, the Reckoners trilogy, and the Skyward sequence. He has bought greater than 40 million books in 35 languages, and he’s a four-time nominee for the Hugo Awards, successful in 2013 for his novella The Emperor’s Soul. That very same yr, he was chosen to finish Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time sequence, culminating in A Reminiscence of Gentle.

Brandon cohosts (with fellow writer Dan Wells) the favored Deliberately Clean podcast and teaches inventive writing at Brigham Younger College.

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DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Notice from Tim’s staff: The beneath will likely be up to date with the ultimate checklist of hyperlinks and timestamps shortly.

Books

• Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly: A middle-aged girl and her husband go on a quest to kill a dragon and save the dominion.
• The Manner of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: A fantasy novel with a tough magic system the place characters can use metallic to reinforce their talents.
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: An epic fantasy novel centered across the One Ring and a magic system primarily based on the powers of Gandalf.
• The Title of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: A fantasy novel that Brandon Sanderson considers a superb first novel.
• On Writing by Stephen King: A e-book in regards to the craft of writing that emphasizes the significance of discovering your personal method as a author.
• How one can Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card: A information to writing fantasy and science fiction that emphasizes the significance of world-building.
• Writing to Promote by Scott Meredith: A information to writing that focuses on the enterprise facet of publishing.
• Save the Cat! The Final E-book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Want by Blake Snyder: A e-book about screenwriting that gives a structured strategy to storytelling.
• Save the Cat! Goes to the Motion pictures by Blake Snyder: A e-book about screenwriting that examines completely different genres inside the subject.
• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson: A fantasy novel with a tough magic system the place characters can use metallic to reinforce their talents.
• The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson: A sequence of epic fantasy novels with a posh magic system and a give attention to character growth.
• The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: A fantasy heist novel that’s extra targeted on the heist style than Sanderson’s Mistborn sequence.
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan: An epic fantasy sequence that was completed by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan’s loss of life.
• Tigana by Man Gavriel Kay: A standalone fantasy novel that’s slower-paced than fashionable fantasy however digs deep into one world.
• Lions of Al-Rassan by Man Gavriel Kay: A standalone fantasy novel that’s slower-paced than fashionable fantasy however digs deep into one world.
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman: A fantasy novel that’s enjoyable and eccentric, however doesn’t take itself too critically.
• Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: A standalone fantasy novel that could be a good start line for readers new to Sanderson’s work.

Motion pictures

• Avatar: A science fiction movie that contains a conlang created particularly for the film.
• Sneakers: A heist movie that Brandon Sanderson cites as certainly one of his favorites.
• The Sting: A heist movie that Brandon Sanderson cites as certainly one of his favorites.
• Ocean’s Eleven: A heist movie that Brandon Sanderson cites as certainly one of his favorites.
• The Italian Job: A heist movie that Brandon Sanderson cites as certainly one of his favorites.
• The Princess Bride: A fantasy movie that’s enjoyable and eccentric, however doesn’t take itself too critically.
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child: A traditional movie written by William Goldman, the writer of The Princess Bride.

Reveals

• Writing Excuses (Podcast): A podcast in regards to the craft of writing, that includes Brandon Sanderson and different authors.
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: An improv comedy present that Brandon Sanderson makes use of as inspiration for his writing workout routines.
• Recreation of Thrones: A fantasy TV sequence primarily based on the books by George R.R. Martin, identified for its advanced characters and unpredictable plot.
• Arcane: A fantasy TV sequence that contains a magepunk aesthetic, the place magic is mixed with expertise.
• The Colbert Report: A satirical information present that when featured Brandon Sanderson’s image in a phase about Zeppelins.
• The Historical past Channel: A TV channel that Brandon Sanderson’s former editor, Moshe, used to observe as a type of self-medication.

Establishments

• Brigham Younger College: The college the place Brandon Sanderson presently teaches a inventive writing class.
• UC Irvine: The college the place Brandon Sanderson’s Eighth-grade English instructor, Ms. Reader, wished to be a professor.
• The Hugo Awards: The Academy Awards of science fiction and fantasy, the place Brandon Sanderson as soon as acquired a pin from Cory Doctorow.

Ideas

• Conlang: A constructed language, resembling Klingon or Elvish, that’s created particularly for a fictional world.
• World Builder’s Illness: The tendency for fantasy writers to get slowed down in world-building on the expense of the story.
• The Hero’s Journey: A standard narrative construction in fantasy, the place a hero goes on a quest, faces challenges, and in the end triumphs over evil.
• Three Act Play: A standard narrative construction in performs and movies, the place the story is split into three acts: setup, confrontation, and determination.
• Magepunk: A subgenre of fantasy the place magic is mixed with expertise, resembling within the TV sequence Arcane.
• Sanderson’s Legal guidelines of Magic: Three guidelines that Brandon Sanderson follows when creating magic techniques for his fantasy novels.

Firms

• Dragonsteel: Brandon Sanderson’s firm, which handles the manufacturing and distribution of his books and merchandise.
• Random Home Audio: The audiobook writer that Brandon Sanderson works with.
• Tor: Brandon Sanderson’s major writer for his fantasy novels.
• Macmillan: The dad or mum firm of Tor, which was concerned in a dispute with Amazon over e-book pricing.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: The non secular group that Brandon Sanderson is a member of, which influenced his determination to go on a mission to Korea.
• Celsius: A science fiction and fantasy conference in Spain that Brandon Sanderson has attended.
• USA At present: A nationwide newspaper that when featured a narrative about Zeppelins, which led to Brandon Sanderson’s image showing on The Colbert Report.
• Discord: A social media platform that Brandon Sanderson makes use of to speak together with his beta readers.
• E-book Speak: A e-book evaluate web site that has helped drive gross sales of Brandon Sanderson’s e-book, Tress of the Emerald Sea.
• Steam: A digital distribution platform for video video games, which Brandon Sanderson makes use of to play video games in his free time.
• Kickstarter: A crowdfunding platform that Brandon Sanderson has used to efficiently fund the publication of his books.

Further useful objects:

• “Brandon Sanderson’s BYU Lectures on Writing Fantasy”: This YouTube playlist incorporates Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on writing fantasy, which cowl subjects resembling worldbuilding, magic techniques, and character growth.
• “King Sejong the Nice“: This Wikipedia article gives info on King Sejong the Nice, the Korean king who created the Korean writing system.
• “Hangul“: This Wikipedia article gives info on the Korean writing system, together with its historical past and construction.
• “How one can Learn Korean in 15 Minutes“: This webcomic gives a fundamental introduction to the Korean writing system.
• “Esperanto“: This Wikipedia article gives info on Esperanto, a constructed language that’s supposed to be straightforward to study and use as a common second language.
• “Writing Excuses“: This web site gives info on the Writing Excuses podcast, which options Brandon Sanderson and different authors discussing the craft of writing.
• “Brandon Sanderson’s First Regulation of Magic“: This weblog submit explains Brandon Sanderson’s First Regulation of Magic, which states that an writer’s potential to resolve battle with magic is straight proportional to how effectively the reader¹ understands stated magic.
• “The Dying Spiral in Publishing“: This text explains the idea of the loss of life spiral in publishing, the place a e-book’s gross sales decline with every subsequent printing, resulting in fewer copies being ordered and fewer visibility in bookstores.
• “The Cosmere“: This Coppermind web page gives info on the Cosmere, the shared universe that connects a lot of Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy novels.
• “Sanderson’s Three Legal guidelines of Magic“: This weblog submit explains Brandon Sanderson’s Three Legal guidelines of Magic, that are tips that he follows when creating magic techniques for his fantasy novels.

Timestamps:

00:00 Meet Brandon Sanderson

07:10 Soundcheck Enjoyable and Reminiscence Abilities

11:21 Brandon’s Writing Journey and Inventive Course of

25:35 Educating Inventive Writing and Publishing Insights

38:08 Brandon’s Early Studying Expertise

44:18 Discovering the Magic of Storytelling

45:32 A Journey from C Scholar to A Scholar

47:02 The Affect of a Nice Trainer

48:51 Understanding Narrative and Plot

56:42 The Artwork of Character Improvement

01:09:42 Balancing Writing and Private Life

01:24:04 Assembly Editors and Early Struggles

01:24:30 First E-book Sale and Monetary Realities

01:25:28 The Hazard of the Second E-book

01:25:49 Hitting the Bestseller Checklist

01:26:34 Amazon and the Altering Market

01:29:03 Entrepreneurial Shift and Direct Gross sales

01:36:45 Constructing a Staff and Crowdfunding

01:42:50 Kickstarter Success and Classes Discovered

01:52:22 COVID and Inventive Freedom

02:02:53 Brandon Sanderson’s Colbert Report Cameo

02:03:48 Kickstarter Success and Subscription Containers

02:09:01 Take a look at Readers and Suggestions Course of

02:14:16 Warbreaker and Inventive Commons Experiment

02:22:50 Navigating Publishing Offers and Platforms

02:33:26 The Wheel of Time Alternative

02:42:36 The Name to End The Wheel of Time

02:43:10 Negotiating the Deal

02:43:56 The Struggles of Mistborn

02:45:02 The Cosmere and Constructing an Viewers

02:48:25 The Dying Spiral in Publishing

02:52:29 Magic Programs and Their Significance

03:00:39 Sanderson’s Three Legal guidelines of Magic

03:14:35 The Zero Regulation and Closing Ideas

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