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Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 9
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 / Questions
- Who chooses excerpts for books
- Advice on how to process feedback from friends
- Comments on humor
- How do you outline a multi-book project
11:16 / Setting as a character
- Character and plot need to be the core of your story
- - You should still have a fantastic setting
- Treat your setting like a cast of characters
- - Each setting should have the same main things
- - - Personality, a backstory, quirks, strengths/flaws
17:00 / Geography and maps
- Key levels: World, Nations, Local setting
- - If you want to be a professional writer, building this should be a few months at most
- Coast lines are irregular
21:39 / Rivers
- Rivers flow away from mountains and towards oceans
- Rivers combine, they don’t split
- They flow as directly to the coast as possible
- Lakes feed out from only one place
26:55 / Mountains
- Come from tectonics or volcanos, so consider thinking about your plates
- Tall mountains are new, short mountains are old
29:30 / Deserts
- “Rain shadow” mountains block rain to one side only
- Seem to occur at the 30-deg latitudes
- Remember to transition between regions
34:02 / Maps in general
- Maps are optional
- Publisher probably wont prioritize making a map; you can have your own made and provide
- Don’t send a map with your manuscript
- 1 page of line art can go for ~$500
- You should make a map for yourself if your characters move around so you can keep track of distances (even if you don’t include it)
- - Note: horses don’t move much faster than people for long distances
41:00 / Notes on cities
- 10 farmers needed for every 1 city dweller
- 25K is a big medieval-stage city
- - Food/water deliver and waste removal govern size of cities
- Second city is 1/2 size of first city, third is 1/3, fourth is 1/4th
- Ports/harbors need to be defensible
48:05 / Cultures
- Ask a few “what if” questions about government, or religion, etc
- - Gender roles (not just reversed)
- - Race relations
- - - Brandon says to Google “racefail” to learn about pitfalls with doing this badly, here is one result annsomerville.net/a-themed-sum...
- - Language, offenses, economics, technology, warfare, family
- Pick maybe ~3 topics, and give them a few quirks each
1:00:12 / Magic systems: Sanderson’s first law
- Magic is a sliding scale between “wonder” and being a “plot device”
- Don’t try to solve plot problem with your magic unless you’ve let the reader understand the rules of magic
- - This really comes down to foreshadowing to avoid the deus ex machina
- Hard vs Soft magic: Hard means clearly defined rules, soft means not clearly defined
- - Example: Wolverine has very specific super powers that we all know = HARD system
- Advanced technology in sci-fi can be handled by the same rules as magic
1:16:05 / Sanderson’s second law
- Limitations are more interesting than abilities
- - Pick good limits to your magic, and a good cost for using your magic
- These are usually the core of good conflicts with your magic system
1:20:44 / Sanderson’s third law
- Everything should be interconnected
- When you add magic to the mix, consider the ramifications on your cultures and world