Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Peter Ahlstrom on April 11, 2007, 10:48:12 PM
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...is great stuff. Mwa ha ha ha ha.
Brandon is really fleshing out his portfolio.
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You shouldn't taunt them so, Ookla.
Of course, if they aren't watching bs.com closely, they may not even be able to figure out what you're talking about.
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Had you not already taunted the masses with the words said acronym stands for, I would have held my peace!
(I'll shut up now. Don't want to kill the goose.)
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You do know that YASP means "Yaks Are Super Pretty". EUOL's got this thing for Yaks...and we don't tend to talk about it much, kind of embarrassing to those of use related to him...not to mention weird.
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Yucky and Soggy Pizza. He's going into the restaurant business with a risky "reverse psychology" marketing campaign.
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So, uh, this book is now done.
Yeah. 20 days on this one, three of them Sundays (when I don't work). One of them was today (Monday) where, being the fool I am, I set a new personal record for writing.
23,700 words, 125 pages.
(Whew. I've got a headache...)
Of course, it's not DONE done. Needs to be drafted, edited, and cleaned up. But, the rough draft is there. Now, maybe, I can get on with Dragonsteel. (Stupid side project book, popping out and distracting me from what I'm actually being paid to write.)
I actually hate telling people how fast some of these books come, because I don't want to look like a hack. It's just that with me, when it works, it works. I haven't finished a book since October/November, so it's been a while. Good to get another one done. Plus, it was a YA one viewpoint novel. (100,000 words almost exactly.) That goes more quickly for me than my Tor books.
Still, feels really nice to have this one out of my system. Now, we'll have to see if my agent can actually sell the blasted thing....
p.s. Time for sleep. Sleep good.
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That's got to count as some sort of mental disorder. Granted, it's a disorder that earns you money, but still...
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23,700 words, 125 pages.Â
I actually hate telling people how fast some of these books come, because I don't want to look like a hack. It's just that with me, when it works, it works. I haven't finished a book since October/November, so it's been a while. Good to get another one done. Plus, it was a YA one viewpoint novel. (100,000 words almost exactly.) That goes more quickly for me than my Tor books.Â
Confused: is it 100,000 words total, and the 23,000 words came in one day? Or was it 23,700 words total for the YA? Because that seems awful short to me.
ETA: Nevermind. I just reread you post and realized you were saying that amount was your record for the day!
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Yeah, that's one day.
I wrote from 7am until 3am. Couldn't. Stop. Ending. Too. Close.
Then, I laid in bed, feeling like my entire brain had been sucked out. It was the strangest feeling, like every bit of my mind had been deadened, and my head just sat there throbbing.
But, it's done now. Huzahh!
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Show off.
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Can't wait to read the second half. ;)
CJ Cherryh says "I wrote Cuckoo's Egg in two weeks from start to first draft, but that was after being bitten by a Brown Recluse spider and being hyped on the Medrol they gave me to counter the venom: I didn't sleep more than an hour at a time for those two weeks, and didn't leave the house or turn on the telly." Brandon does it without being hyped up on anything but the story. (Unless there's something you're not telling us, Brandon?).
How are your fingers/wrists? Any typing strain? Both times I did my a novel rewrite in a rush after procrastinating, I hurt all over. My setup isn't very ergonomic.
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23,700 words, 125 pages.Â
The funny thing here is this is a children's book, he just needs someone to illustrate it now and is going to try and sell it to Golden Books.
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That's got to count as some sort of mental disorder. Granted, it's a disorder that earns you money, but still...
I'm leaning towards some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder at the moment. Generally, being a workaholic (even if you love you job) is considered a compulsion if it isn't part of personality disorder.
Interesting enough, I'm seriously considering declaring studying mental health and artistic endeavors as a thesis for graduate school research. I'll be looking for case studies then. So EUOL, just come down with something like schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder in the next year or so...
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He may be crazy, but the books are crazy good. I want to play the scribbler video game which could be based on this program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df8wAla57PI
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That's got to count as some sort of mental disorder. Granted, it's a disorder that earns you money, but still...
I'm leaning towards some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder at the moment. Generally, being a workaholic (even if you love you job) is considered a compulsion if it isn't part of personality disorder.
Interesting enough, I'm seriously considering declaring studying mental health and artistic endeavors as a thesis for graduate school research. I'll be looking for case studies then. So EUOL, just come down with something like schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder in the next year or so...
Unless it is obsessive compulsive personality disorder then he enjoys his work too much to be O.C.D.
(Technically an obsession is when one thinks of something and doesn't want to think about it, and then thinks about it again, and again and rinse lather repeat! [sometimes quite literally the last step with compulsions])
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So he doesn't want to think about Scribbler, but he can't get it out of his head, so he thinks about it some more until he starts writing some, then realizes he needs to work on Dragonsteel so he doesn't want think about Scribbler any more, but he can't stop think about Scribbler so he writes some more, then he decides he should really be thinking about Dragonsteel instead of Scribbler,... Sounds pretty OCD to me.
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A lot of people are a little OCD about something. The rest of my house may get to be a mess, but my books will be stacked and shelved in order by size and alphabetically! Brandon's OCD is just a little more useful than mine. ;D I'm already looking forward to reading it. ^^ Just take care of yourself Brandon, and don't get carpal tunnel!
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I have always thought it takes at least a little bit of an OCD tendency to be an editor, because you have to be fastidious about little details like commas and grammatical errors. Not full-on OCD, just a touch. But it's a socially acceptable form of OCD.
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When I worked at the HumPub, I think I met a few student editors who would be strong candidates to be diagnosed with full-on OCD. At least one that I can think of could let a newspaper article, a magazine article, or even a book go by without checking it for grammatical errors and making editing marks. Then she would have to rant about any errors she found for at least a week. It was a little creepy to be honest.
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I know editors like that, who rant over authors who change their marks, or who rant about people misplacing a comma here or there. It bothers me, because the truth is few people see their own typos, and it's nothing to rant about. It's just the nature of an imperfect being, and the whole reason for my job, to catch stuff like that (among other larger issues). It's the whole reason copyeditors exist, and it's certainly not personal.
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I miss the good old days (i.e., last week) of writing in Brandon's basement for hours at a time. This full-time job crap is killing my writing, and I'm lucky to get a chapter a day.
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You know, in my abnormal psych class, the professor made a point of explaining that almost all disorders were just natural human behaviors taken too far to the extreme. It's like personality traits all have a continuum. On one side, you have normal behavior, on the other it's abnormal. The line in the middle is the point where the behavior or thought process begins interfering with the person's ability to live their life.
I think if we look at each of us, we'll find 'disorders' that are normal parts of our personalities. These things aren't cause for problem unless they interfere.
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That's kind of how I was thinking as I was writing my response--that "fastidious" when it's really just "fastidious" is just a character trait, but taken to its extreme is a bad thing. But it's still funny to me to think about a good editor channeling OCD tendencies in a socially acceptable way.
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Karen and I are obsessed with reading this book, and we want to finish it now!!! I am in the middle of reading a Lloyd Alexander book, a Terry Pratchett book, and a Kim Stanley Robinson book, and I am much more interested to see what happens next in Scribbler than in any of those.
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I understand completely. He sent me part 2 a while ago when I was at school, and I spent all afternoon reading instead of grading papers. (At least when you read from the computer screen it looks as though you are working!) So is there some sort of disorder for obsessive readers?
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I'm sure there is, though mine is in remission a lot more often nowadays than it used to be.
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I've been able to read a lot more lately than usual--chalk up one more point for unemployment.
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Didn't you mention something about a full-time job earlier in this thread?
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heh. I think Fell must be reminiscing about the good ol' days of unemployment.
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Unemployment is awesome, and I highly recommend it.
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Unemployment is what gave you the forum you're currently using.
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Yesiree. TWG: Brought to you by unemployment.
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Ookla, check your inbox.
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You taunt me so! I'm going to get home from work and find that Karen has already finished it while I slaved away at my September scripts.
Er, I mean...thank you! You are awesome.
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I believe I mentioned that last summer.
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Hey Brandon, you wouldn't happen to need anyone to else to read this for you, would you? If so I'd be happy to take a look at it. :)
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Paris,
Thanks for the offer, and I'll certainly take you up on it. As this book stars a sixteen year old, you're right in the target to tell me if I have him thinking like he should.
I'm doing a 3.0 revision right now, which should be done sometime around the weekend. I'll fire you off a copy then, okay?
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Alright, sounds good. I have to ask though, you're already on 3.0, shouldn't you be working on Dragonsteel? :)
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Hey Ookla, did you read it yet? I finished earlier today. (I just wanted to join in the general taunting.) ;)
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Karen HAD just finished it when I got home from work, and she was giddy from the avalanche. I spent the whole evening reading, and finished just now. I will have to digest a while before writing final comments.
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Avalanche? Whatever do you mean?
FMP: 3.0 is the draft I send my agent. 1.0 is first draft, 2.0 is fixing major problems, 3.0 is a 10% cut with a line edit to make the thing readable. It'll only take me a week. Then I get to grade papers. THEN I get to go back to Dragonsteel.
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The Brandon Avalancheâ„¢
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I would also like to read/comment on it, unless you already have plenty/too many doing so already.
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FMP: 3.0 is the draft I send my agent. 1.0 is first draft, 2.0 is fixing major problems, 3.0 is a 10% cut with a line edit to make the thing readable. It'll only take me a week. Then I get to grade papers. THEN I get to go back to Dragonsteel.Â
Ah, I see. So logical and organized. No wonder I didn't understand.
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yo, EUOL!!! I would like to take a look at this! All this taunting is driving me MAD!!!
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You know EUOL, you really need to start charging a surcharge for people to read this stuff like $2 or something.
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Alright Brandon, I got the email with Scribbler in it. Hopefully I'll have read it and sent you comments by the middle of next week or so, but who knows.
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hey i just read the first chapter in the free chapters for warbreaker and i thot it was the most interesting beginning compared to warbreaker, elantris, and mistborn. is there a way i can read some more of it?
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I read the 1st chapter of Sribbler which is on bs.com....and its very interesting.
Would like to read more, if possible. ;)
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The sample chapters at the end of Warbreaker are for Mistborn, Elantris, and Alcatraz. Not Scribbler.
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http://www.brandonsanderson.com/drafts/warbreaker/scribblerch1.doc
??
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Well. That is an interesting beginning. Can they do this form of magic in anything besides chalk? Etchings in stone or metal, ink drawings, or such like that? I know not the chaklings (maybe in ink), but some of the basic defenses or something like that?
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He may be crazy, but the books are crazy good. I want to play the scribbler video game which could be based on this program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df8wAla57PI
Here is the game I was thinking of when reading the first chapter of Scibbler:
http://shedletsky.com/euclideancrisis/media.html
The game is still in development. The students at Stanford behind the game were finalists at the Independent Games Festival. (http://shedletsky.com/euclideancrisis/)
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he put another chapter out too at the warbreaker page. Its pretty cool but the way the people talk sounds a bit too much like today sometimes. He should put something like how the warbreaker people always swear saying colors so that it sounds more different. Hope he keeps putting some more chapters up though or the book comes out so i can buy it
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I was never clear on what century Scribbler takes place in.
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I got the impression that it was sort of an alternate history where the technology went a different direction (i.e. springwork rather than steam and then oil), although I think that could be clarified.
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I'm still trying to hammer out the setting on this one, so comments like First made are very helpful to me. I'm not sure if I want to leave the 'sexy' comment in there or not. That's one of the big offenders.
My original idea for it was, actually, something more along the lines of Lemony Snicket or His Dark Materials. They aren't alternate histories, but something else--where the book doesn't really define which century it's taking place in, and where some things are modern and some are not. However, my books tend to be more 'hard' than theirs, so I don't know if I can get away with it or not.
As for those who asked to read the book, I have to be very careful whom I send this to, as it isn't sold yet and so if it gets posted on the internet, it could really foul up my chances of finding a publisher. That said, I will be looking for some readers when I do the next draft, so if you still want to read it, PM me and when I do the rewrite in a month or so, I'll pick a few and send out copies for review.
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I want to read "Lemony Snicket and His Dark Materials."
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if its going to be like sort of modern like you said, i would say to put something more than just the way they talk. Just like having somebody use a sink could help--although depending on how modern you want it to be, that particular way of doing it might be less helpful and more just confusing. I dont know if you did in anything like that in the later chapters , but other than their speech everything seemed pretty medieval to me. It might just be because that's when most of the books that i've read and had magic in them were set, though.
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Late 19th century or early 20th century seems most likely, unless that universe's version of the Civil War happens at some other time.
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is there a civil war going on? i only got to read the first two chapters, cuz thats all he put on his site, so i have no idea.
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It's eventually mentioned that it's some years (several decades, I assume) after a war that threatened to break the United Isles apart.
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I have enjoyed the first three chapters of Scribbler that you have put on your website, but there are a couple of things that strike me. First, is there a connection between the number of Rhithmatic schools (eight) and the age at which an individual is chosen to become a Rhithmatist (eight)? Second, the Master seems somewhat reminiscent of the Lord Ruler, at least in that they both remember/ choose their favorites. I remark on this because I find that it makes a much better story when one book by an author does not remind me of another they wrote in a different universe. So far, I think you have done a remarkable job of keeping the worlds seperate! Thanks!
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one other thing i noticed was that sometimes it sounds like its really simple and you either are a rithmatist or you're not, but other times they talk about its "eight years too late for that" and it sounds like he had a chance to become a rithmatist but he missed it
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What it seems to me then, is that being a Rithmatist is not a question of "you have the gift or not" but more like "you've been chosen to do this or not." Joel has abilities, except he somehow missed his chance. Like something should have been given to him when he was 8 (at inception?) but it didn't happen. He wasn't good enough, or maybe it coincided with his father's death. Still, and this is from three chapters, I think he gets the ability somehow. The tutoring or the knowledge of that one secret that keeps him from bringing his work to life. Maybe the villain is the Scribbler, but maybe he is one as well. Interjected speculation with no real basis in fact.
Something... It's late.
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yeah from the first chapter ive really hoped he finds a way to do it because it would really be a waste of his talent and a major let down, at least for me, if he couldnt bring his drawings to life. But i think he'll almost definitely become a rithmatist because brandon really set it up so it seems like he deserves it--the only thing is that it might happen just at the very end of the book. That would be fine but it would be a bit too much like Elantris, and almost the same thing happened with the God King in Warbreaker too.
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Is there any way to still get in on reading a copy of this thing? I randomly found the three sample chapters and I'm intrigued.
I imagine EUOL's working on TOM and WoK, but hey, if there's any chance I can read about people dueling each other with lines on a chalkboard, I am taking it.
Also, twenty psycho-fan points to whoever reenacts a Rithmatics duel on one of those drawing java programs. Wait, scratch that. A hundred. I'm willing to reach into the coffers.
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It's actually done on the ground around you usually. Chalk boards are used really only for demonstrations.
I think it would be a fun game for the NDSi. It would already have a place where you could draw and it would be rather. . . interesting. =] Plus the second screen would give you the ability to see what your opponent was doing and give space between you. I think that would be more fun than a Java based program, because unless you have a tablet, drawing on a computer sucks.
EDIT: Unless you meant that M.I.T. smart board thing. That would be pretty cool. Especially if you could like, make one big enough to stand on.
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Dude, Chris, we totally have to do this at the WoK release!!! You and I will study up, and get someone else to ref for us, and we'll make rules to account for the fact that the lines don't move. It would be so much fun! And there's room out on the square too... plus, you'll be dress properly already.
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Yeah, with the Duster Jacket my grandma is making me!
=D
I'm totally going to flare it up and use the Taylor. Just FYI. xD Sadly, we'd have to have someone there who knows how the system works. Maybe we could Talk EUOL or Ook into reffing for us. Also, we should record it and put it on YouTube for all these guys to see. ha ha.
EDIT:: Gosh, I need to practice drawing circles. 0.0
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No freaking joke.
And as for a mod, Kendra could as long as she makes sure to come down. I doubt that Peter or EUOL will have time.
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She read it? Coolness. I'll have to offer to drive her as long as she makes it to Poky I'll bring her the rest of the way.
Seriously, stupid monkey in the phone booth is killing me.
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I would be very willing to referee the competition. Should we just keep the system as it is at the beginning?
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Zaz! I forgot you live around here (I know, bad of me, eh?) As for the system, I think we should all get in an IM convo and figure out the exact point system. Obviously we can't have the chalkings and lines of vigor killing everything.
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Yeah, chalkings and lines of vigor will be the hardest part to judge.
Do you have AIM Zas?
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or MSN.
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No freaking joke.
And as for a mod, Kendra could as long as she makes sure to come down. I doubt that Peter or EUOL will have time.
Oh, if I'm not on vacation, I will for sure be there. Even if the only way for me to get to Poky is to take the Salt Lake Express. I'm coming. That's that.
Would it be realistic to have 2 refs? So then you two duel and me and Zas ref it, each keeping track of the lines of vigor and the chalkings for each duelist (one ref for one duelist)?
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We'll probably need a ref for each circle. We'll also need people to carry lines of vigor and lines of making. Also, cameramen.
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I would actually love to see this. Film it.
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I'm going to put it to music once it's done. ;]
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The thing about the chalkings and lines of vigor is that they won't need to be people who know what's going on. All they need to know "take this and send it that way". And I think two refs is a very good idea.
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OK, this has been bothering me for ages.
What does Y.A.S.P stand for?
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I've been wondering this for a while, but then two seconds ago I think I figured it out.
Young Adult Steampunk.
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Good one! It's actually Yet Another Secret Project. That's what Brandon had labeled it on it's progress bar before he announced the name.
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It's really weird when two different acronyms can describe the same thing very effectively.
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Even though it's not right I really like your answer Eric. xD
Thanks Peter.
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So. About this Scribbler duel. Bad news, at least for me. I found out tonight that my family is going on vacation to SoCal August 15-22. Which means that I won't be able to be a ref, or meet you cool people then (assuming that doesn't happen sometime before it, like LTUE), and going to my first release party. And I was really looking forward to all of that. I am very sad.