Alex Johnson Same. This just popped into my head and I know it's random, but I'm trying to gather people to have a "writing group". Don't know if you'd be interested in swapping some stuff?

Didn't he say The Wheel of Time? He usually points out Matrim Cauthon as a good example of it.

I was willing to take that risk. In this class, we only had two chances for Brandon to critique our writing. The moment it seemed like he was offering a third, I *jumped* on it, even if I risked public humiliation. During the cut at @1:02:46, he even offered me the chance to back out, and I vehemently refused. I mean, worst case scenario would be that some people on the internet would laugh at my work without having any way to trace it back to me. And instead, I got one of the highest compliments my writing had ever received at @1:14:55. I treasure this video, and come back to it any time I feel like my writing is crap and that I should just throw in the towel.

@@Talonos2 That is amazing. He seems like such a thoughtful man. I hope you are still writing.

@Brennan Smith I second what @SHINES said . I appreciate your bravery putting this out there. I've watched A LOT of these lectures that are posted, and the exercise the you allowed has been one of the most valuable ones that I've seen. I wish I saw more of these in his future lectures.

I honestly thought the sentence he cut was great and should have stayed in

@@Talonos2 Man you saw the chance and took it! I respect that. I'd never have done what you did! Congratulations.

LOL

nah he wasn't. this was after his throat was awful and was in a middle of a busy schedule. he's just tired. you can check the previous lectures from 3-6.

I do too. There’s a popular story on royal road that uses first person present, and the story is set in the 1800s American south with period accurate dialogue. Very ambitious project and I DNF’d it so fast. It’s certainly unique though.

I think what he means is that in order to write in omniscient well, you should make sure all viewpoints are being shown/represented in a consistent way so the reader doesn't feel the book is hiding something or not showing the full story

Applause to the guy attacking the opinion of a professional writer.

Well... that's exactly what it is.

You have to remember it's a short lecture. It's supposed to be opinionated and brash, that's the style. It's about rapidly expressing practical ideas with loose and flippant metaphors, rather than delving into serious philosophy. Just providing tools for the listener to use in the short term, to then take and use as assets alongside their later life experiences. You can sit through an entire lecture disagreeing with 80% of what they say, but it's about taking the core effective concepts which are useful to you. If they're going to say nothing which could be disputed, they'd be saying nothing at all. They have to skim over being so explicit in the details of their opinion, to get as much constructive info out as possible.

He talks about Tolkien elsewhere, he clearly has read it. I personally see Brandon's teachings almost as jumping off from lotr and silmarillion and injecting more spontineity and flow. I fucking love lotr, and have tattoos and swords and special editions etc. - dont think Im knocking lotr. I just think Sanderson has taken the incredible epic fantasy Tolkien and Jordan brought into the world and helped the genre continue to expand in a way I havent seen anyone else do. A lot of writers fall into the trap of trying to be Tolkien 2, and it ends up riddled with droning and repetetive jargon.

I don't think Tolkien would sell well today.