Brandon Sanderson Lecture #8 – Worldbuilding Q&A

Note: I’ve been putting off watching this video for far too long. I’m not sure why, but I have an aversion to Q&A lectures. Time to bite the bullet and quit procrastinating.

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Overview – Brandon tries to answer multiple questions and since he only has about an hour, he talks very quickly. So it’s a bit hard to follow along. Luckily, someone on the YouTube page provided links to the relevant portions of the questions. For the most part, I think I could have skipped this lecture. At least if I ever need to review a certain point, it will be easy to quickly get there. Next lecture is the one I’m really looking forward to which is Character.

Questions:

• 1:38 – “What flaws do you (Sanderson) have, that make you a better writer?”
• 4:54 – “How do you create a magic that doesn’t seem like magic?”
• 6:11 – Internal vs. external consistency/logic
• 10:30 – Goes back to explain how internal vs. external logic plays into creating a magic system, that doesn’t seem like magic.
• 11:56 – “How do we give enough exposition to make the reader understand the world, but maintain mystery and twists?”
• 17:28 – “Do you change or modify rules based on the age of the intended reader?” + “Do you, while you’re writing, ever change your rules?” (Tbc. at 24:26, after the question below)
• 23:13 – “Do you ever have publishers or editors try to have you put more graphic content in?”
• 26:02 – Follow-up question from one of the students: “My central character is eight years old. What is the danger with that? Why don’t we see more adult books with child protagonists?”
• 29:05 – “This is back to the internal/external logic. What do you do if there’s a case where they may conflict? How do you choose which one is better?”
• 32:56 – “Is there a way to see hard magic disguised as soft magic in a book?”
• 35:37 – “How do you prevent world building from feeling like a chore?”
• 40:38 – “What’s my (Sanderson’s) opinion on fanfiction?”
• 41:34 – “How do you know if your magic system works?”
• 45:54 – “I’d love to screen write for animation. Any tips?”
• 48:02 – “Is editing fantasy/sci-fi a good backup plan?”
• 52:39 – “How can you make limits or weaknesses appear natural and not contrived?”
• 56:58 – “What does Brandon think of The Mandalorian?”
• 58:52 – “Are Sanderson’s Laws absolute?”
• 59:45 – “How do you decide that you need to add some new magic, and how do you add it smoothly without turning it into a deus ex machina/making it feel out of nowhere?”
• 1:04:47 – About revision

All lectures of Brandon Sanderson are now linked on the Storylines page if you wish to follow along in order.

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Brandon Sanderson Lecture #6 – Worldbuilding Part 2

Overall impression – Tremendous amount of information that is hard to quantify into notes. Lots of nuances. Definitely a lecture that needs to be viewed more than once.

Below is the notes I typed while listening to the lecture. Some of it may not make sense to you if you haven’t listened to the lecture. These are merely highlights of what I picked up on during the lecture.

Notes

Why world building?

• Impossible made plausible
• Theme
• Sense of wonder and/or exploration
• Sheer coolness
• Cultural butterfly effect
• Ability to approach ideas in disconnected way
• Play God

Worldbuilding in service of story – To enhance the story.

Info dumps/conveying info – avoid encyclopedia entries

Avoid butler/maid dialogue

pyramid of distraction

abstract vs. concrete

How steep is your learning curve to know the world. What is the setting of the story and how does it enhance it.

Divide worldbuilding into two types – Physical / Cultural Pick one from each type to focus on.

All lectures of Brandon Sanderson are now linked on the Storylines page if you wish to follow along in order.

Brandon Sanderson Lecture #5 – Worldbuilding Part One

Overall impression – At first I almost skipped the worldbuilding lectures as I’m not that into magic. I’m glad I did watch it as the writing process he uses for his fantasy books is also applicable to almost any genre. He explains worldbuilding by using a lot of examples. His second Law sparks a lot of ideas for me. Huge amount of information, I had to take periodic breaks to process what he was talking about.

Below is the notes I typed while listening to the lecture. Some of it may not make sense to you if you haven’t listened to the lecture. These are merely highlights of what I picked up on during the lecture.

Notes

Sanderson’s Laws

1. Your ability to solve problems with magic in a satisfying way is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic. (deus ex machina is a bad thing) – really a law of foreshadowing.
2. Flaws/limitations/costs are more interesting than powers. – Characterization building.
3. Before adding something new to your magic (setting), see if you can instead expand what you have. – Bigger is not necessarily better.

Hard magic vs. Soft magic – Hard is rules based, soft is more a sense of awe. Hard magic has consequences that is evident. Soft is also consequence, but hidden.

Sanderson’s Laws are for him to write. Writers can have their own laws for writing.

Avoiding info dumps when explaining magic systems. Use the try it out to explain it.

• Flaws – Things characters can/need to fix
• Limitations – Things characters can/need to overcome
• Costs – Consequences for the characters choices

Dig deeper into a concept and explore the different ramifications of it rather than throwing a bunch of stuff into a book.

Iceberg theory of worldbuilding. Readers see just the tip of the vast worldbuilding the author has done. In reality, that is false. The worldbuilding below the water is hollow.

Sanderson’s Zero Law – Always err on the side of what is awesome. (Ideas)

All lectures of Brandon Sanderson are now linked on the Storylines page if you wish to follow along in order.