Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 1

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 / Introduction to being a writer
Writing is not about inspiration, ideas, or luck
Writing is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced
Publishers can gauge your skill from the first page

6:55 / Course focus will be on Novel format
If you don’t read a lot of short fiction, you shouldn’t write a lot of short fiction
Writing short stories is no longer considered “the good way” to break into writing novels

10:25 / Ideas are cheap
A great writer will make a great novel from bland ideas
A weak writer will make a bad novel from the best ideas
A book does not come from a strike of inspiration
Jim Butcher anecdote: was given two silly ideas from an online forum challenge (Pokemon and lost roman legion), and wrote a bestselling novel

17:42 / Class format

24:37 / Discovery writers vs outliners/architects
Learning to write is about learning the different tools available and finding ones that work for you
Discovery writers work best without a lot of structure
George RR Martin is this type of writer; he uses the term gardener
Outliners work best when they know what their goal is, and they break it out into steps
A sequence of events or a map to help write the book
Orson Scott Card is this type of writer, as is Brandon Sanderson
Outliners tend to have explosive endings because they can plan it in advance
Most people fall into one of these camps, but you really don’t know which is better for you until you try both

31:00 / Pitfalls of each method
Discovery writers like to revise a lot, and get it right before they move on
Need to learn to just keep going so they don’t get stuck
Discovery writers have problems with endings, because they tend to finish the arcs abruptly
Outliners have “worldbuilder’s disease”
Need to focus the building so they can actually write the story
Brandon outlines his plots and discovery writes his characters

37:11 / Writing groups & workshopping
More useful for outliners than discovery writers, because feedback can influence the undiscovered plot
Good feedback includes a list of specific things that you liked, and a list of specific things that didn’t work for you
“You should…” is a not a helful comment.
Describing your reaction to something is much more helpful than telling them what you think is wrong with it
Ignore small stuff; don’t talk about prose unless it is a big issue.
Plot, character, and setting are the most important things to focus on
When you are being critiqued, do not speak! Soak it in and don’t influence the feedback.
Put all feedback aside until you come back around to revise the book