[Aptorian]

I've watched a bunch of these today. They are quite good. As a guy who aspires to one day, eventually, maybe, perhaps write a book this is a pretty interesting lecture. It doesn't hurt that Sanderson actually seems to be a good lecturer, if not educator.

[lastname]

Oops. I read the title and assumed these were courses Brandon Sanderson is attending ... as a student

This post has been edited by lastname: 23 September 2013 - 11:19 AM

[Tapper]

I wonder if he has a lesson dedicated to romance & intimacy...

Snide remark aside, that's pretty cool.

[End of Disc One]

I've watched bits of his lectures before. I have no interest in being a writer but his lectures are pretty good.

[HiddenOne]

It is sad that I find myself so deprived of intellectual input, that I will view this just to see if it sets off any sparks in my brain


Edit: Maybe just one

This post has been edited by HiddenOne: 23 September 2013 - 07:09 PM

[Dolmen 2.0]

This is a nice introductory lecture. Easy to grasp and Sandersons experience comes across.

When talking to a class its always a good sign if you can get the class to share a few laughs and still contribute to the discussion. I like the piano metaphor more than the Baseball player metaphor. A star baseball player can be quite a find but I think the key determinant of his success is how many times he can clear his bases, get home runs etc. after that I feel the nounces of what he does with his strikes are hard to pick up, and very hard to control. Baseball is a participation sport, writing is purely personal. what you can do with the page is more akin to what you can do with an instrument.

I use the same principal in my classes to explain how art masters were singled out. They used colour theory to subliminally implant instructions on how to view and appreciate their work. Colour compliments set the mood and composition directed the eye. No one has to teach you how incredible a piece by Salvador Dali, Leonardo Da vinci or Gaugin actualy is. You can feel it in the way your eye traces the page. It literaly is like listening to music.

When I start to think of writing in this way I immediately pick on two points hampering a persons creative development. Good writing is truly about reading mileage as much as it is about actual practice. The better read you are, the more genres you cover in your reading history, the better you are at imagining and interpreting any scene. The original ideas flow better if you have varied sources to draw from. I fail at this horribly, my tenses always mix and words never filter out the way I see them in my head. I can't deny the effect reading more has though, as I force myself to read/view/listen to more artistry I find my creative thoughts arrive easier and develop faster.

The Second Point Hampering creative development is Patience. I get impatient with how horrible I am now compared to where I want to be, I often skip on the daily work-out necessary to build on my skills because it feels futile. I've come across many autobiographies of Artists describing how frustrated they felt learning the basics. The scales in particular were a major hassle for musicians. Life drawings for the artists and when it comes to writing well I guess the ever daunting blank page can stress you out, it certainly stresses me.

I wonder if Sanderson covers all this in his lectures? Its one thing to identify the problems, I still have issues working on them.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 23 September 2013 - 07:03 PM

[Aptorian]

I am watching the 4th lecture right now. It has stayed relatively rudimentary so far. He's working out from various examples using them to point out weaknesses and strengths in certain tried and tested approaches.

This is the entire list of videos in the course:

http://www.writeabou.../brandon_w2012/

Quote

Lecture 1

Intro
Ideas are cheap
Class format
Gardeners vs Architects
Writing group essentials

Lecture 2

What makes a good plot
Plots by outlining
Plots by discovery
YA Genres
Adult Genres

Lecture 3

Intro to Prose
First Person Viewpoints
Third Person Viewpoints
Description part 1
Description part 2

Lecture 4

Sympathetic Characters Part 1
Sympathetic Characters Part 2
Show us the Character
Giving Characters a Life Beyond the Plot
Character Creation Example Part 1
Character Creation Example Part 2

Lecture 5

Short Story MasterGuest Lecture

Lecture 6

Networking Via Conventions
Some Alternatives to Cons
Meeting Editors and Agents
Three Goals When Meeting Agents
Pitches
Some Questions and Statistics

Lecture 7

A Success Story – Part 1
A Success Story – Part 2
The Three Act Format
Try-Fail Cycles
The Heroes Journey
Brandon’s Plotting Method

Lecture 8

Random Questions
Agents and Contracts
Agents and New York
Agents and Translation Rights
Misc. Agent Duties
A Little on Getting a Good Agent
Book Advances & Royalties
A Tidbit on the Fiction Industry

Lecture 9

Misc Questions (1/7)
Thinking of Setting as a Character
World Building Geography Part 1
World Building Geography Part 2
Creating Interesting Nations & Towns
Sanderson’s First Law of Magic
Sanderson’s Second Law of Magic

Lecture 10 (Complete Audio)

Misc Questions
Dialogue Mechanics
Replacing Adjectives and Passive Voice
Orwellian Prose
Intro to Modern Self Publishing
Mechanics of Self Publishing Online
Business Models for Self Publishing
Some Final Thoughts on Self Publishing

Lecture 11 (Complete Audio)

Misc Questions
Making Stories Meaningful
Three Rules for Fight Scenes
Things Movie Fight Scenes Can’t Do…
The Larger Narrative Flow of a Scene
Realism vs Hollywoodification
Plotting Romances

Lecture 12

Avoiding Being Scammed
RoFR’s, Advances, & Royalties
IP Rights & Publishing Firms
Ebook vs Traditional Contracts
Small But Important Clauses
Getting a Good Agent

Lecture 13

Misc Questions
Brandon’s Revision Process
Misc. Questions on Revising
Revising for Discovery Writers
A Little Writerly Psychology
Thriller Plotting
Linguistic Variation

[Dolmen 2.0]

Wow, finding that following this on audio works, I'm listening to the list here:

http://www.writeabou...ads/audio/2012/

[Dolmen 2.0]

Finally Sanderson mentions Erikson In the last quarter of L03E02 - First Person Viewpoints!

Sorry was waiting for it more than I realized.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 25 September 2013 - 02:28 PM

[Aptorian]

He's brought him up before that hasn't he? I remember him using GotM as an example of a book with an extreme learning curve and the challenge this poses when trying to sell you book to the reader.

I also believe he compliments Erikson at one point for being "the most important/interesting author to emerge in the late 90s.

Generally I was fascinated to hear about the so called "crash" that occurred somewhere around the late 90s, early 00s where the sales of Sci-fi and Fantasy dropped dramatically. In connection with the SF-F sales list thread Werthead is meaintaining this probably goes a long way to explain the ridiculous book sales of earlier block buster authors like Jordan, Goodkind, Feíst, etc. compared to the more modern authors.

[HiddenOne]

Nerds are escaping reality in ever-increasing numbers through the internet instead of books; it's sad really as in some ways, those two things seem diametrically opposed.

[Dolmen 2.0]

 Crustaceous Apt, on 25 September 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

He's brought him up before that hasn't he? I remember him using GotM as an example of a book with an extreme learning curve and the challenge this poses when trying to sell you book to the reader.

I also believe he compliments Erikson at one point for being "the most important/interesting author to emerge in the late 90s.

Generally I was fascinated to hear about the so called "crash" that occurred somewhere around the late 90s, early 00s where the sales of Sci-fi and Fantasy dropped dramatically. In connection with the SF-F sales list thread Werthead is meaintaining this probably goes a long way to explain the ridiculous book sales of earlier block buster authors like Jordan, Goodkind, Feíst, etc. compared to the more modern authors.

Yeah the learning Curve bit was entertaining as hell because its so true.

Nerds are also playing a lot more games. Games that eat up precious reading time but also offer alot more content. Its tough to compete with the stories new age gaming offers, it engages all your senses and things like MMorpgs eat up all the time a new generation of the potential hardcore fantasy readers may have for books.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 26 September 2013 - 03:39 PM