Sanderson apparently wrote a very gracious response to all this and asked that everyone respect Jason, as a fellow writer. Nah.

Jason's anger reminds me of when I read an absolutely SCATHING article about how much Hall and Oates suck. The writer's perspective was basically that they don't write songs with an intense amount of depth or political/social messaging. Was the most aggressively hipster thing I've ever read. Like, my guy, happiness and simplicity is an equally valid part of life, and if a dude wants to write about how pretty his girlfriend's smile is, IT'S FINE

My husband reads Brandon Sanderson and enjoys his work. I have never read it myself. I have read Kehe's article though. It's quite odd. I don't see the evidence that Sanderson has done anything wrong nor has he done anything different than other writers; he's just had a lot more success. He's created a community and a loyal fan base. He's created a business. And, frankly, the sentences Kehe pointed out as "bad writing" can be found in any author's work. Not everyone's editor catches everything and not every sentence can be poetry. What struck me the most about the article however was the betrayal of trust. Again, I am not a Sanderson fan, but he invited Kehe into his home, went to dinner with him, shared a movie, and let Kehe meet his family. Kehe didn't have to write a fluff piece but he could have been fair with his critiques. This felt like a rant one would find on a personal blog. It left me wondering "what did Brandon Sanderson ever do to you?" (Ironically, this publicity may only boost Sanderson's sales even more.)

You did a good job highlighting the main criticism of Jason: he's just a lazy writer. Couldn't come up with an interesting story, so fell back on tropes. Sanderson is successful because he gives his readers what they want: fun adventures in fantasy worlds. And my guess is that Jason has not even read one of Sanderson's novels cover to cover.

You know how we've all wondered who the audience is for 'Velma', 'She-Hulk', and 'Santa, Inc.'? They are for this guy, the self-appointed cultural elite who are always two seconds away from proclaiming how they are superior to the proletariat in every single way, then two seconds after that proving themselves wrong. And color me surprised that Salk Lake City isn't a mecca for Asian cuisine; next you'll tell me its hard to find a good burger in Osaka.

The bitterness and jealousy from a journo who can't hack it as a novelist and now attacking a bestseller who can.

One more thing about Brandon Sanderson - you just click his blog and instantly you know what is the status of his projects ...For example today, on 3 April, we know that he finished 35% of the 5 volume of Stormlight... He really respects the fans and does a lot of stuff for us (like goes to the bookstores at the airports where he travels and signs his books there...later he gives a message that you can find his books with his autographs here). And the most important thing: he just writes books that are just fun to read!!!

You are so right. I am a leftist, but its so awful on both sides on political spectrum. I am trying to getting rid of all the angry stuff out of me life and am becoming much happier. Maybe we can get to the point when both sides can talk to each other again.

I had no idea who Sanderson is or what he’s written, but a friend of mine mentioned this article to me- he thought I would be interested since, like Sanderson, I am also “extremely Mormon”. I enjoy the positivity you bring to KZfaq. It’s a sharp contrast from all the angry reviewers. Nice work.

I read the article and it was mind boggling to me, that the man nearly a weeks worth of time to spend with one of the highest selling fantasy authors in the history of the world... and all he could think about was himself. You had a story he wanted to tell and he spent a week in vain trying to find things to support it. Here's a crazy thought for Jason, why not ask that guy more about why he was so moved by a Sanderson novel that he changed his life, started a family, then named his kid after one of Sanderson's characters. Maybe explore ANY of these people's excitement at the convention. Maybe stop insulting your interviewee to their face and be humble enough to figure out why he's ragingly successful with every book he ever puts out and he's put out hecking 54 of them! Figure out why he can write a book with almost no editing! Figure out why his pacing is good, how he can have so many stories in his head at once. Ask him about his notes and how he keeps 4 series apart while writing them all at the same time. Ask him about his plan for his massive Wheel of Time rivaling saga. Does he worry about every running out of ideas for Stormlight because he's putting them into other books. All of these things I would have been fascinated to read about. Even when giving Sanderson a "win" in the article by writing about how he's saying something you felt was profound, it had a to be a qualified win by adding, "for once, I'm enraptured," holy crap this guy was frustrating to read. Even an author I hated I would have been annoyed about this lack of perspective from the journalist. He's freaking rich and famous... BECAUSE OF HIS WRITING. So maybe figure out why that is instead of insulting the writing.

no clue who any of the people being discussed here are, but still enjoyed the video 🙂

You should do more videos about books and the writing industry. I'm glad I found your channel, I feel like there's a new algorithm recommending smaller channels like yours.

it's not only the news, most of the content on social media is designed to get you mad, after I deactivated my facebook I realized that I didn't lose much, other that some pages of people or groups that I follow I actually feel better

Only Joe Letteri would have the lamp turn on when you said 'white'. I knew he'd help you out!

As a writer, I would love to see more about tropes you love/hate, what comes across as weak writing, trends you'd like to see more/less of, and gaps in the market. I have plenty of stories and ideas for them, but the perspective of potential readers is deeply valuable. P.S. I see you with your EIGHT D&D handbooks and full alternate art Harry Potter set

However odd Mormon beliefs strike people, they have been some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I went to school with several and knew some during my time in the Air Force. Salt of the earth folks.

Brandon Sanderson is a talented author. I`m enjoying The Stormlight Archive and look forward to the next novel. He`s rich because he writes books that are entertaining and imaginative. And who cares if he is Mormon. I`ve met a lot of Mormons and they`ve all been very polite and respectful. What does putting salt on his Japanese food have to do with his fantasy writing? Read The Emperor`s Soul. Sanderson utilizes his experiences and knowledge from his time in Korea to create a wonderful story.

Loved the “a Mormon in fact” part. Been watching your channel for about a month now and I enjoy it and will keep watching :)

Now, people can’t have good things. There always needs to be a problem, something to be angry about. ‘Enjoy your life’ is something that people really need to consider, instead of needlessly criticizing innocent things. Clearly modern journalism don’t like seeing being happy and/or successful

Even if it's true that Sanderson writes at a sixth grade level, the themes he puts in his novels are anything but juvenile. If anything, his simple writing makes it easier for readers to understand and think about the tough topics he covers, especially in The Stormlight Archive.

I know comments like these may seem like fleeting, empty gestures…but this is really a great channel with great content and you’ve got a great presence and sense of humor. I could easily see this channel hitting 10,000, then 100,000, then maybe 500,000 subs and so on. Always look forward to your videos 👍

So we are just doing exposés on normal people now? I’m constantly thankful I didn’t go down the journalism path as I intended when I was in college. This is pretty pathetic to witness.

Wait. I remember being taught back in high school (90s) that modern journalism writes at a 6th-8th grade level. That was before the crazy wokeness took it even lower to basic grade school-level professional name-calling. Seriously, it seems that the more people depend on appearing intellectual, the more they're desperately trying to make up for a severe lack of it.

As a book worm who doesn't get enough time to sit and read, I must thank this article cause now I'm interested in reading some of these when I do have the time. Any recommendations on which to start?

It's a real conundrum what to do about the modern state of journalism. On the one hand this is America, we need to have a completely free press no matter what because how are we supposed to support freedom and democracy around the world if we don't uphold it ourselves? But on the other hand we have all of these elitist hacks living in leaky studio apartments putting out all of this drivel about nonsense. The internet kind of destroyed the economics of journalism and now there's just no patience or standards.

Thanks. I needed to see this video. I subbed to a lot of channels that said what everybody was thinking but never lifted a finger to change or make their own things and start a new industry or movement. It was addicting and fun but Im tired of the grief-mongering. I want to be part of a movement that does more than collect superchats and keep the outrage flowing. Im glad im done with any positive expectations from those channels. I hate that i had to be nudged awake by brief, algorithm-subverting honesty from hosts to begin to see the hole i had fallen into. I like your channel. It's the real honesty and unapologetic swears I came to youtube for in the beginning. Keep it up.

Kehe just burned all the bridges in front of him. If Jason will spitefully abuse an author as genuine and generous as Sanderson who, let me emphasize, INVITED HIM INTO HIS HOME AND SHARED HIS FAMILY TIME WITH HIM, then no one is safe. No author or creator of any kind should trust Jason or a Wired, “journalist,” ever again.

Why in the world would people actually try and target Sanderson this way. He’s the most inoffensive, apolitical and middle of the road fantasy author you could possibly find. Seriously the reason his books are so successful are because there so neutrally open for anyone lol just why and try make a thing out him haha

Given Wired's "review" of Hogwarts Legacy (it just barely resembles an article, much less a review), and how it got roundly clowned after being posted, my expectations of any journalism from Wired were already rock bottom to begin with.

People love YA so much because it's easy to read and gets to the point. It takes me a few days to a few weeks to read Rothfuss or Martin but Sanderson I just can't put down. speaking of those two,, its been 10 years since they've published the next book in a series. Im guessing it's because they get bored thinking of the 1000th way to describe the rocks or wood on the house. Sanderson writes in a way that's easy to read and he can put them out at a ridiculous pace.

Hemmingway wrote at a 6th grade level. I love Sanderson's prose. Simple. Doesn't get in the way of the story.

Really glad I found this channel

Someone salted their food?! I'm aghast.

I loved this video. It was just hilarious! Serious point. It's not 'new' that newspapers and magazines have 'high-brow' critics that pan things the majority of people enjoy. If that reviewers comments fit what their target audience wants and beliefs then fine, good for them, but if not, what is the logic to having such people 'on a pay-roll'? How is their critique 'valuable' enough to desire being paid for instead of them posting their rant for free on their Blog?

Everyone is going at this article hard. It's well deserved. The article was an uncalled for smear job, and an incredibly lazy one at that.

I have to wonder whether pretension and pomposity are the main lessons taught for journalism degrees these days. Sensationalism was always there to some degree, however.

I don’t often read “news” articles anymore, the fastest way to make me not care about your opinion or think you’re a liar is to tell me you’re a “journalist”.

What I say about Sanderson is "he makes magic systems then writes a book to put it in."

They need us to be mad, and they don't have to try too hard, because they are annoying as feck.

I genuinely enjoy your content. Reasonable, moderate, nuanced, with a sprinkling of smart-ass. I know this isn't profound or anything, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on whatever the opposite of performative diversity is. Performative racism? Counter Virtue Signaling? DeSantis-ism? ;-) I'm referring to all the media hoopla surrounding CRT, book banning, bathroom bills, etc. In my view (could be wrong), none of these spectacles end up affecting our daily lives very much; but boy, do they send our collective blood pressure through the roof! Seems like diversionary theater to keep our populace divided.

Roll for Insight. ... Nat 20!!! Greg Owens definitely has an open invite to my core friends and family DND cookouts. Yes, DND and grilling goes perfectly with a cold beverage and witty banter.

Watching your videos just makes me feel good.

I read the article. It was quite an unengaging read.

I like you. You say reasonable things that don't make me feel stabby. I shall continue watching you. And the Wired article was such a cringe hit piece on both Sanderson and anyone who reads him (or apparently reads or watches or likes anything that isn't designed to encourage self loathing). It reminds me of all those articles that came out in Huff Post a few years back, chastising anyone over the age of 10 who enjoyed reading Harry Potter, and telling them they really should feel ashamed of themselves. In my corner of the world, there was for a long while a current of people dunking on indie authors, claiming that even if we're successful we're still loser hacks, because we didn't get approved by the gatekeepers. People can be caustic. I cry about this every time I nap on my bed made of money. It's truly sad.

Mistborn trilogy is one of the best pieces of fantasy ever written.

As an aspiring writer, one positive thing from this article is that it reaffirmed to me that I don't have to be perfect with my prose to write and be successful.

I am a Mormon. It's funny to me how people talk about being accepting and tolerant but it's totally okay to bash Mormons. That's not even our name by the way. We're The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I've not read Sanderson's books but I have heard of him. I just don't really read cuz I'm lazy. XP And if you didn't already know, The Maze Runner in the video and that's written by an LDS author too. I think the title of your video alone says a lot about journalism. They want you angry for clicks. So just ignore them.

Journalism died when they figured out they could shape politics and society.

The title is accurate since Greg is SO MAD in this video😂

What a sad excuse of an article .... I'm glad you tore it apart and really laid out how ridiculous this because I think sometimes people just scroll-read and don't realize how much of an article like this is just bullying and bellyaching

I'd love to hear your thoughts on 1883 or Wolf Walkers. I'm also going to check out Brandon Sanderson!

6:18, so do I. (In the Stormlight Archive main series , I haven’t read any of his other books.)

Polarisation of each and every discussion is the best way to build a society which resembles an ape cage full of screaming monkeys throwing their s**t each others. Too busy to notice they're in a cage...

I have read quite a few Sanderson books. Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, etc. Also I read The Reckoners. I generally don't go for YA books, but I did enjoy The Reckoners. Anyone who says Sanderson writes "simple prose" is a moron. He writes "accessible prose". He doesn't use words that no one except uppity english majors use when regular, everyday, words will more than suffice. Why is that? It's because he is a skilled writer and isn't doing it to impress the english majors. He is writing books for everyone, including us peasants.

I read it and laughed, seriously, who does this?

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. This “journalist” sounds lazy and inept. Thanks for your summary and critique!

Having grown up around Mormons and had lots of Mormon friends I've never seen their beliefs in Sanderson's work. Unlike the Twilight vampire series.

This article is symptomatic of the institutional villainization of religion in mainstream media today. My 1st thought was the Nashville shooting earlier this week, when I heard about this topic.

Not ashamed to say that Sanderson is my favorite author. I heard he was Mormon, which I always found strange. As reading his books and how he treats the subject of gods and religion, I would have assumed he was non-religious. Not that it really matters. His books are fantastic either way.

This was hilarious 😂

Whenever a foreigner pronounced "phở" I could only hear "fur" lol

New title suggestion for this video: They Need You to Be Mad (and So Do I)

Sanderson's Mistborn series is an excellent read.

When i think about current journalist, i think about only one thing: vultures.

All I know about Brandon Sanderson is that he is the generic fantasy novel churning machine with some some of the best artwork for his book covers (please tell me who are the artists! The book covers are dope!)

Love the Lego Movie reference.

One very huge situation comes to mind. Wall Street Journal. Pewdiepie. Need I say more? So, Greg. You like stealing comment ideas, eh? Then steal mine. Make a relatively short breakdown of the history of the battle between WSJ and Pewdiepie. I think your style and humor would complement the history of that event well.

4:43 So? What is the inherent merit of reading if it's not challenging and complex? What value does someone get reading The Maze Runner rather than just watching the movies?

Wuthering Heights is great.

Weird article. It has the style of an article about a Nobel price of literature winner but with contempt behind it. But yeah journalism is kind of dead through the internet and these ragebait articles only get you short term success, while alienating your core audience. I knew the a high tier journalist of a major German newspaper and he thought that the big newspapers will be gone in 20 years. Btw love your videos especially your balance between positivity/negativity.

So Sanderson achieves what every aspiring writer dreams about, multiple times, but he's also terrible at his craft. Meanwhile, Jason Kehe who (according to his profile) has published zero novels, rents an in-law unit of somebody's house, and makes roughly the median salary for the country is just awesome. Because he said so.

Props for the mug, it is awesome. I love how the snob writer does a hit job yet admits it took him four or five months to produce it. A real reporter could write a four thousand word story in under a week and I'm allowing for the softness of modern culture.

Yeah. It’s mostly why I’ve given up on journalism and just read source materials myself. More truth there anyways.

Sanderson is a good author to his fans and a good professor for aspiring fantasy authors. Whoever tries to knock him down is petty. You don’t have to be a fan but he’s a good dude.

When you mentioned brandon sanderson at the start of this video I got really concerned. Luckily you were just referring to him being slandered by a "journalist"

So many good points in this video. This article was pointless and mean.

The whole article can basically be broken down to the journalist going like: "His hair? Wack! His gear? Wack! His clothes? Wack! His foot stance? Wack! The way that he talks? Wack! The way that he doesn’t even like to smile? Wack! Me?! I’m tight as fuck!!"

the writer jumped to conclusions

I really wanted to like his books but they were very young adult, I'd have loved this book when I was twelve I just found his action pieces and writing very marvel age of Ultron.. I gave up after the third storm light book, again i can't stress enough how much I wanted to like them.The word Awesome doesn't belong in fantasy or at least the fantasy I love but for anyone else who loves him IL just say No I don't think I'm more clever because I found his books kiddie.

This guy should write for Rolling Stone. He'd fit right in.

I read and re-read Stephen King and Michael Crichton. Read Mario Puzo's The Godfather and The Hunger Games books this year. I find reading books more entertaining because you get to use your imagination as opposed to being force fed a story where the visuals and sounds all all provided for you. "When I was your age, television was called books." - - Peter Falk, playing the grandfather in The Princess Bride

I’ve read hundreds of books by dozens of authors and Sanderson’s books are top tier. He is a contender for the best of the best. He’s earned everything he has through hard work and talent. His books have mistakes and aspects that could have been better, but so does every single great Writer.

Successful author has $$$$. Shocker

The article really gives you the feeling of an outsider. Your looking in on something strange and new. You have read up on it, sure, but that doesn´t mean you fully understand it. Like being a foreigner in another country not really understanding the culture and language. Actually experiencing the people is another thing. You don´t feel like you belong, you´re the odd one out. You don´t really know the group dynamics yet. It´s also the struggle of understanding why people like things you dislike. And then debating wether you´re wrong or they´re wrong. On the one hand you want to fit in, but on the other you disagree with a lot of things in that group. This article isn´t really about Sanderson´s writing, but finding the reason for his popularity, despite his writing and low media profile and was then presented with a simple subjective emotionallly driven answer since that is what keeps people engaged and reading, which i´ll call soft factors. This stand in starc contrast to the snobby media critic way of judging the quality of media with, judging its prose, sentence structure, and more seen as "subjective" or hard factors. His struggle is to compute these to fundamentally opposed methods of judgement. The ending reads almost like a religous or at least spiritual epiphany, like he has reached enlightenment. It could be him accepting that he doesn´t understand the whole thing and capitulating trying to figure it out or you read it with more malice and it´s him asserting he sees through the whole thing, something noone else is able to see. Would fit the title. Kinda dependent on how much of a sense of superiority you want to prescribe the author. The ende feels like him crafting a conclusion about his whole experience maintaining his "hard factor" / "objective" quality measure and rejecting the "soft factor" / "subjective" on he has seen from fans. He´s back to where he started with a lot of experiences that still require further review. This whole thing is a mess, but a beatiful one at that. Quite interesting to read. Thanks for actually linking the article. Sadly don´t see that too often.

I read Sanderson for plot, not prose

Do you think everyone will still be mad when Sanderson finishes Winds of Winter?

Are you trying to get me mad about an article? Because you succeeded 😅

I read way of kings when it was new. I liked it enough to be bummed that there wasn't a sequel ready at the time. But the names in that book gave me a headache. He can't name. That's my critique.

Wait what channels are you talking about?

Scraping the comments, huh? Instant video: Ronin's (1998) use of mystery box versus the modern writer's use of mystery box.

bro lmao I remember reading that YA comment I was like wtf😂

Harvest this, and do a review of Back to the Barnyard series. You are welcome.

I consider you harvesting and the regurgitating my comments back to me to be very flattering 😉

You always have to love an unfamous writer crapping on a very successful writer’s prose. I don’t love Stephan King but the man can write.

Sanderson does have a simpler prose BUT his stories and characters work well so who cares. It’s a matter of taste. I read his work to disappear into the story. If I want to writhe with poetry I’ll read Atwood or Cormac McCarthy. Not every writer has to fulfill the same desires. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I can't be bothered to look up what it is called, but there is a form of writing where the speaker's criticism of someone they dislike tells you more about how awful the speaker is than anything else.

You mentioned that you look through the comments for ideas, so if it’s alright with you, I have a topic I’m curious to hear from you about: AI and AI image generators. Specifically the way people on both sides seem to be either “AI bad, support artists!” or “artists are bad, adapt and embrace AI!” and even people who are middle of the road like me, they also have conflicting opinions of this whole thing, which while not bad, is a bit overwhelming! I’m personally of the opinion that what needs to happen (and seems to be happening) is AI generators should be designed with creators like us in mind, and allow devs and artists to collaborate on the development, or at least, have an opt in feature! But again, that’s my take. I’m interested in your opinion of AI if you don’t mind? Though, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!

Anyway, everyone knows Grimdark fantasy and Joe Abercrombie is the cool thing now haha. Seriously though go read some Joe Abercrombie books. You get dragged over concrete and you find yourself coming back for more his stories and writing is that awesome

For a guy who went on and on about how someone else is a bad writer, Jason used 4000 words to say almost nothing.

So, I find your fear about becoming a rage baiter to be a bit ironic as one of the reasons I like your channel is because you’re not a rage baiter. I mean, I love a ruthless analysis that breaks down everything wrong with a show/movie/book with the best of them, but just that, analysis. I don’t appreciate the rage bait that I see regularly from other channels, particularly when they have nothing good to say about anything. There’s a difference between saying a product isn’t worth your time because it’s subpar versus the product is the living personification of evil, and by buying it, you’re evil too, or by not buying you’re not supporting XYZ and are thusly evil. Not everything is a battle in a culture war. As I’m not a KZfaqr there’s not a lot of advice I can offer about staying away from the slippery slope of faux rage baiting, but I think having something that you enjoy to talk about can be a boon. Maybe if there’s a dearth of decent modern media to talk about, you can make a top ten films list you think everyone should see or something of that nature; or start talking about media that isn’t currently trending, kinda like your Brooklyn 99 video. It may not pull the viewer numbers that modern media would, but I know it does me good to have something positive to talk about. For instance, I’ve been watching some old Akira Kurosawa films. It’s kinda amazing how well those films hold up. Anyway, enjoyed the video, the journalist is a schmuck but I enjoyed your take on it