Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: guessingo on January 15, 2010, 09:38:07 PM
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I put some questions inside other threads about him, so I am making this thread so it is easier for people to find.
There are probably for peter...
how many hours/week does brandon spend writing? It sounds like he lives and breathes writing.
also, was the Timewasters site created by people in Utah?
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Ooo Ooo Ima be useful! This exact question was just answered in another thread just a lil while ago.
Brandon has been working like a dog for long hours. He spends up to 14 hours per day writing, but he wants to get to where he's spending more like 9 hours a day.
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Also, yes, TWG was created by recently-graduated BYU students. I think Fell (Dan Wells) owns the site.
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That said, by no means is the following limited to BYU folk - otherwise I'd have been chased off years ago.
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Maybe they are working on a scheme to get rid of us non-Utahians.
>:( YOU CAN'T REMOVE US ALL! >:(
Heh.
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I noticed a post from Peter that Towers of Midnight will not be out until March 2011. Is this because of Brandon's other novels? Or is towers of midnight harder to write than he thought? The website said it is 82% done.
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If they try, I'll just have to send my hubby to Utah to gain a foothold. I'm kind of tethered here in the frozen north.
guessingo: I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned that Brandon anticipates his progress meters for the WoT novels (since they're pretty long novels) may get to 150% or so before he considers the writing "done" - then, because they're WoT novels (and not technically his universe but one he's permitted to use), they probably require a longer process prior to publication.
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guessingo, Brandon mentioned this on Twitter & Facebook this week, and he'll do a bigger blog post on it later.
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From what I gathered, this one is requiring much more thought on pacing and even content than TGS did, just by the nature of what plot lines are left to cover before Tarmon Gai'don. Mr. Sanderson doesn't want it to feel like, I believe his words were, "Everything that didn't fit into TGS." or something along those lines. I'm sure when it's not your world you're writing in, when you're trying really hard to make things fit into the allotted number of books, when the series is so dang big as it is, and when he is taking the criticisms of TGS into account on this novel, that it's serving to require more time.
That said, if ToM is as cool as TGS was, I don't care if it takes him 2 years. Besides, we've waited longer than that for some of the Robert Jordan installments in the series, right?
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when did brandon become a full time writer. from what i have read it takes authors several published books before they can quit their job and write full time.
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Way back when on the forums you'll see that Brandon was writing full time even when he did have a job.
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He quit his day (night) job when he got his first book contract.
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Doesn't he still teach at BYU?
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Yes, he does. But it's one class that he teaches one night a week, one semester a year.
It's a scifi/fantasy writing class, and it's very educational.
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Yes, he does. But it's one class that he teaches one night a week, one semester a year.
It's a scifi/fantasy writing class, and it's very educational.
The only reason I want to go to YBU/BYU... apart from, ya know, actually getting a masters or continuing my education... :D
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The night job I was referring to was his hotel job. And he also used to teach Freshman English...you can bet he doesn't do that anymore.
The writing class is a 300-level class, theoretically junior-level, but it fills up before juniors can register because seniors get priority. Before Brandon did his raffle for 6 slots in the class, of the 14 people who were registered, 13 were seniors and 1 was a graduate student. So that's 20 actual students. But with people auditing or sitting in, the room that seats 70 is full and there were people sitting on the floor the first day...
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Wow...just wow...
1. Knew about the hotel job (incidentally, I do something along the same lines - it makes you either go crazy or become a font of creativity and gives you a lot of time to study unusual "characters" in detail).
2. The 20 seats and a massive number of sit-ins - wow. I've only seen this kind of thing once (it takes a massive reputation within your chosen field to get that kind of response). I had an amazing professor once (also taught only 300 level courses) who had 400 seat lecture halls booked and half a dozen TAs (more a question of crowd control than anything) because of this kind of thing.
If he gets a bigger classroom, they will come!
Incidentally, I wonder how much of a madhouse it becomes at signings and convention panels he takes part in now.
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That's pretty awesome about the sit-ins. At UNCC, they'd chase you out if you weren't enrolled. (Well, they were supposed to. If you had an in with the professor, you'd probably be able to slide.)
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Um... Don't tell anyone I said that.
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Your secret's safe with us ;)
Um, what do TAs actually do? We don't have them in Australia - lectures are just the lecturer standing at the front of the room talking to us for a couple of hours. I'm guessing they're like tutors - generally, as well as a lecture each week, you also have a tutorial, which is more like a classroom scenario - about 30 students, questions, answers, case studies etc.
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Um... Don't tell anyone I said that.
Heh. I was assuming that keeping 70 extra people hanging around the classroom would be impossible.
Well, guess now it's only the right thing to do to email the administration. (Obviously j/k. :p)
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TA's are Teacher Assistants and more or less do all the jobs the Prof doesn't want to do.... like grading papers
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TAs are graduate students. they typically get free tuition and a small stipend ($8000-15000) to grade papers and such for the professors. Larger lecture classes always have them. lower level undergraduate classes typically meet 3 times/week. once for a large lecture with the professor and twice/week in smaller sections with TAs. it is how large public universities manage their costs by cramming 300 kids into a classroom. but then again you don't need special attention for a generic history 101 class.
Being a teaching assistant or a research assistant (doing research for professors) is how most graduate students pay for PhDs since its so expensive. Unlike TAs , research assistants are often funded by grants. so if a physics professor winds a grant to create a black hole machine, it will include money to cover research assistant pay. The university I think kicks in free tuition, but the grant covers the pay (it is basically below minimum wage).
anyway back to Brandon questions. I was reading the earlier posts here. Wasn't it about 1.5 years between the time brandon got a book contract and his book was published? He didn't get alot of money up front. so did he live on ramen noodles and in his parents basement until his books started selling? That sounds like a huge risk. Most authors don't make enough money to become full time writers and need other jobs. Especaially until they get several books published and get an income stream going.
btw, I am mos about 450 pages into the firs mistborn book. I like it. it is a fun read. he seems to have alot of potential as a writer. I am not burning through books. I don't have the time to sit there and read right now.
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I'm guessing they're like tutors - generally, as well as a lecture each week, you also have a tutorial, which is more like a classroom scenario - about 30 students, questions, answers, case studies etc.
Yes, TAs sometimes do that. I had a Calculus class that had lectures MWF and review/quiz sessions TTh. The lecture was like 300 people with the professor, and the TTh sessions were around 30 students with a TA. (His name was Nephi Noble. I am not kidding.) After the first week or so I never went to the lectures and just went to the review/quiz sessions. (I knew almost all the material already; I got a 5 on the AP Calculus AB test. If I'd taken the AP Calculus BC test instead and gotten only a 3 I wouldn't have had to take that class.) (Actually now I can't remember how many times a week the class met. I must be overestimating. 2 lectures/1 review-quiz session? Whatever.)
Brandon knew how to live on little money, and advance payment for a book is generally something like 1/3 on contract, 1/3 on acceptance, and 1/3 on publication. He signed a 2-book deal to start with. The second book was WAY OF KINGS, but he soon replaced that half of the contract with a 3-book deal for the Mistborn trilogy. So Brandon had plenty of book money to live on before Elantris even came out. Maybe not enough for some people, but Brandon wasn't in the habit of spending money on anything other than magic cards.
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and the TTh sessions were around 30 students with a TA. (His name was Nephi Noble. I am not kidding.)
*does a double take*
Nephi Noble was a friend of mine when I was in college back in the dark ages. He was an eternal student (ended up getting a PHD in Mathematics, if I remember right). I think he left the area, haven't heard from him in ages. This discussion forum is pretty much the last place I would have thought to see his name. :o
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What has been said about TA's is true, but what Rob and Cavin actually do in Brandon's class isn't exactly the same thing. He has them run errands for him, or go to get something he needs, or set up the computer for him. The other thing they do is go around to writing groups that Brandon doesn't go to and give critiques on what needs to be improved in our writing.
Well, they also make random side comments in class and make all of us laugh, but I don't think that's part of the job description.
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Can I just say, OT, that Dount Cooku is the best handle I've ever come across?
We can now return to our regularly scheduled thread.
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
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^ Lucky. :(
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
It's true. It's been great so far. Can't wait for the next class, actually.
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
It's true. It's been great so far. Can't wait for the next class, actually.
Mhm, I'm sure the o~nly reason you can't wait is for class. ;)
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
It's true. It's been great so far. Can't wait for the next class, actually.
Mhm, I'm sure the o~nly reason you can't wait is for class. ;)
*Glare*
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
It's true. It's been great so far. Can't wait for the next class, actually.
Mhm, I'm sure the o~nly reason you can't wait is for class. ;)
*Glare*
Why you glaring at me? D:
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i'm proud to say i am one of those 50 or so sit-ins. great class. i'm really enjoying it
It's true. It's been great so far. Can't wait for the next class, actually.
Mhm, I'm sure the o~nly reason you can't wait is for class. ;)
*Glare*
Why you glaring at me? D:
Feeling sarcastic much? *peace!*
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Oh OK. xD
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Okay, now *I* want to check out his class.
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Oh ook, I love you in a very not scary way.
*laughs even more*
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And why do we love Ook now?
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Because his comment made me laugh a ton.
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1. Why does Brandon use EUOL for his name? Most authors with sites use their own names. What does it stand for?
2. I am most of the way through the first mistborn book. I hope to finish it tonight (as I said, I don't have alot of time for reading right now so it takes me 2 weeks to finish a book). I don't recall seeing anything about the shard world info. I saw a post on the forum about how elantris, warbreaker, and mistborn are related as shardworld.
is that the atium? Does that appear in all the books? don't give away too much. I am at the beginning of the 5th part (I think).
3. when you publish a book. I am guessing that the commission on sales comes after it covers the advance right? So if you get an advance of $10,000 and you have a 10% commission (I have no idea what it is) on a hardcover. I would guess the publisher sells the hardcover to the bookstore for say $12/book?(how much do publishers sell books to bookstores for?) I am not sure. so you get $1.20/book, but you don't get any of the commission money until the first $10,000 is covered. Then 15% of that goes to the Agent.
4. I often see alot of bestsellers on mark down at bookstores. So they bought too many books. Do bookstores only pay full price for books they actually sell at full price? They always seem to buy too m any books so after a few months you can get a $20 book for $6.
I am also willing to bet that most authors don't sell enough to write full time.
5. Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors? I saw a presentation he did at Jordancon(it is on google video) where he mentioned the Thomas Covenant books. I have had those on a shelf for 10 years. He also liked the Dragonbone chair(I think I read part of this and didn't like it a long tiem ago_). For some reason he doesn't like Terry Goodkind personally (I read part of his first book and didn't like it). Who else does he like?
5. Is the Lord Ruler in part based on the Tyrant from Dune? This is the son of Paul Muadib. He is not in the movie and is only a child at the end of the Sci-Fi series. He is the tyrant in the 4th book. They are very similiar. Tyrants who don't raelly want to be tyrants, live along time, and are basically depressed about it all.
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2. I am most of the way through the first mistborn book. I hope to finish it tonight (as I said, I don't have alot of time for reading right now so it takes me 2 weeks to finish a book). I don't recall seeing anything about the shard world info. I saw a post on the forum about how elantris, warbreaker, and mistborn are related as shardworld.
is that the atium? Does that appear in all the books? don't give away too much. I am at the beginning of the 5th part (I think).
Atium has nothing to do with it. Elantris, Warbreaker, and Mistborn are related in that they are all in the same universe with the same basic creation mythos. This has consequences related to how the magic systems work, and there may eventually be some stories tying everything together.
Very minor spoiler about a minor character (copy and paste to rot13.com (http://rot13.com/) to read):
Gurer vf bar punenpgre gung nccrnef va nyy guerr frevrf. Ur hfhnyyl tbrf ol gur anzr bs Ubvq, naq guvf unf orra pbasvezrq ol Oenaqba gb npghnyyl or gur fnzr vaqvivqhny, abg whfg crbcyr funevat n anzr.
Somewhat more major spoiler about the creation mythos/magic system thing (again, rot13.com):
Gurer vf fbzrguvat pnyyrq Nqbanyfvhz (vg'f zragvbarq va bar bs gur Ureb bs Ntrf puncgre rcvtencuf, ohg zvffcryyrq jvgubhg gur y) juvpu jnf, nf sne nf jr pna gryy, cebonoyl fbzrguvat nxva gb Tbq. Nqbanyfvhz jnf oebxra sne va gur cnfg, naq vf abj va gur sbez bs znal qvfgvapg Funeqf, juvpu ner qvfgevohgrq npebff gur inevbhf jbeyqf va guvf svpgvbany havirefr. Gur cbjref bs gur Funeqf bs Nqbanyfvhz ner erfcbafvoyr sbe gur angher naq inevrgl bs gur zntvp flfgrzf va gurfr obbxf.
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EUOL stands for Evil Undead Over Lord. I believe this was what Brandon was called back when he was the editor for The Leading Edge, BYU's sf&f magazine. Timewasters was started by a bunch of Leading Edge guys, before Brandon was published, so they used names from before. Similarly, Dan Wells is Fellfrosch.
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I have never heard of a college having a SFF magazine. Do they have an English degree for people who want to write this? Having so much SFF at a university that many of us percieve as being very religious is kind of odd. Does this ever come at odds with BYU administration?
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Not the administration. The English department did decide to stop sponsoring the magazine a couple years ago, because they are snobs and don't realize or don't care that the university's most successful writers have come through TLE, but the department of Linguistics and English Language (which has the editing & publishing degree) picked up sponsorship so things continued as normal. (At least one of the Linguistics professors also writes science fiction.) The magazine has now been around for 30 years, and I have not heard of any university-affiliated genre magazine with such a track record.
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I have never heard of a college having a SFF magazine. Do they have an English degree for people who want to write this? Having so much SFF at a university that many of us percieve as being very religious is kind of odd. Does this ever come at odds with BYU administration?
You don't just perceive it as being religious, it IS religious. Fortunately, the religion in question happens to have a very favorable view of the arts, up to and including fantasy literature. Brandon has his own little shelf in the bookstore. (Last I checked, they still have some signed WARBREAKER hardbacks, and a whole pile of TGS.)
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Peter...
You missed these... I am the question man on these forums.
1. Why does Brandon use EUOL for his name? Most authors with sites use their own names. What does it stand for?
2. I am most of the way through the first mistborn book. I hope to finish it tonight (as I said, I don't have alot of time for reading right now so it takes me 2 weeks to finish a book). I don't recall seeing anything about the shard world info. I saw a post on the forum about how elantris, warbreaker, and mistborn are related as shardworld.
is that the atium? Does that appear in all the books? don't give away too much. I am at the beginning of the 5th part (I think).
3. when you publish a book. I am guessing that the commission on sales comes after it covers the advance right? So if you get an advance of $10,000 and you have a 10% commission (I have no idea what it is) on a hardcover. I would guess the publisher sells the hardcover to the bookstore for say $12/book?(how much do publishers sell books to bookstores for?) I am not sure. so you get $1.20/book, but you don't get any of the commission money until the first $10,000 is covered. Then 15% of that goes to the Agent.
4. I often see alot of bestsellers on mark down at bookstores. So they bought too many books. Do bookstores only pay full price for books they actually sell at full price? They always seem to buy too m any books so after a few months you can get a $20 book for $6.
I am also willing to bet that most authors don't sell enough to write full time.
5. Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors? I saw a presentation he did at Jordancon(it is on google video) where he mentioned the Thomas Covenant books. I have had those on a shelf for 10 years. He also liked the Dragonbone chair(I think I read part of this and didn't like it a long tiem ago_). For some reason he doesn't like Terry Goodkind personally (I read part of his first book and didn't like it). Who else does he like?
5. Is the Lord Ruler in part based on the Tyrant from Dune? This is the son of Paul Muadib. He is not in the movie and is only a child at the end of the Sci-Fi series. He is the tyrant in the 4th book. They are very similiar. Tyrants who don't raelly want to be tyrants, live along time, and are basically depressed about it all.
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Leon II was in the miniseries however he was a teenager instead of being 8 or 9, he even fuses with the worm. In the Movie he is just a babe yes, and Paul kills Duncan (It's him in the book, possibly someone else in the movie) to save him, when in the book Duncan gets his memories back and drops the knife.
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Peter...
You missed these... I am the question man on these forums.
I already answered your question 2.
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guessingo - many of your questions have already been answered. I'll try to answer what I can.
Sigyn answered # 1
douglas answered #2
There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe. I tend to believe that most people who have read all of his books have no idea there is anything at all to link them together. Mr. Sanderson has been VERY subtle about anything connecting the worlds in his books so far. Most of the information we know about the Shard Worlds is in these forums, his web site, or in interviews. And there hasn't been very much information released that way either. To learn more about the Shard Worlds, your best source of information will be to keep reading the rest of his published books, and then read The Stormlight Archive as it is published.
3. when you publish a book. I am guessing that the commission on sales comes after it covers the advance right?
Yes, the advance is literally "commissions paid in advance".
Here is a blog post by Mr. Sanderson where he touches briefly on royalties.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/778/Reader-Mail
4. I often see alot of bestsellers on mark down at bookstores. So they bought too many books. Do bookstores only pay full price for books they actually sell at full price?
The short answer is "it depends". Here's a site that discusses almost everything to do with book royalties.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/contract.htm
I think the part about "Reserve Against Returns" is interesting.
Here's another blog post by Mr. Sanderson that discusses royalties on hardcovers vs paperbacks.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/403/Essay-Why-We-Like-Hardback-Books
5. Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors?
Brandon's FAQ mentions how Barbara Hambly got him interested in reading when he was a kid.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/page/21/Brandon-Sanderson-FAQ (I expect his FAQ will help answer some of your other questions)
I know he enjoyed David Eddings as a young teenager. He still reads Terry Pratchett. Robert Jordan (obviously). Pat Rothfuss
5. Is the Lord Ruler in part based on the Tyrant from Dune?
No. The best descriptions for what inspired the Lord Ruler is in Mr. Sanderson's interviews. Either video, or Audio.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/search.php?search_string=interview Click "Go"
OR
Search through the blogger version of his blog.
http://mistborn.blogspot.com/search?q=interview
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This page gives some good info on what inspired the Mistborn Trilogy and the Lord Ruler.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/Mistborn/
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douglas answered #2
There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe. I tend to believe that most people who have read all of his books have no idea there is anything at all to link them together. Mr. Sanderson has been VERY subtle about anything connecting the worlds in his books so far.
I would have to disagree - I'm pretty sure that any observant reader who has read at least two of his published adult works (Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker) will notice that, while we're obviously on different worlds, we have a stable link whose method of insertion only changes in Warbreaker.
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When I said "There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe." I worded it like a fact, when it is really just my opinion.
I have to admit I didn't notice the connection when I read his books. It wasn't until I started to frequent these forums that I learned about the Cosmere. I also didn't read the books back to back.
I read Elantris in 2005, and the Mistborn books when they came out (2006, 2007, 2008), and then I read Warbreaker when it was published in 2009. I didn't read any of the electronic versions of Warbreaker.
I tend to forget a lot of the subtleties within a year of reading a book. Maybe I would have noticed the hint(s) if I had read the books closer together, but I kind of doubt it. According to Mellington, that makes me an "unobservant reader". :P
But, regardless if Mr. Sanderson meant for the average reader to notice the subtle hints, this is what he said on the matter:
"You will never need to know any of this to read and enjoy my books, but there is an overarching story behind all of them, going on in the background."
source: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Fantasy-Science-Fiction/Post-Questions-For-Brandon-Sanderson-Here/m-p/362867
I'm not one of those who does a lot of speculation about the Shards and Adonalsium, but it is interesting that Mr. Sanderson designed an overarching story with these worlds that seem unconnected (to me) at first glance. I am very curious what he does with it in his future books.
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I have never heard of a college having a SFF magazine. Do they have an English degree for people who want to write this? Having so much SFF at a university that many of us percieve as being very religious is kind of odd. Does this ever come at odds with BYU administration?
You don't just perceive it as being religious, it IS religious. Fortunately, the religion in question happens to have a very favorable view of the arts, up to and including fantasy literature. Brandon has his own little shelf in the bookstore. (Last I checked, they still have some signed WARBREAKER hardbacks, and a whole pile of TGS.)
No need to beat around the bush. BYU is a private school owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest sect of the group of religions colloquially known as Mormons. It's mission is unapologetically and officially to provide Latter-day Saint students with the best possible education combining both faith and secular scholarship (people who are not LDS can and do attend, but that's not the point). It operates with huge subsidies from the organized church. There have been and continue to be hiccups (evolution, anybody? But before jumping to conclusions, I have heard that the current biology curriculum at BYU is 100% modern Darwinism) but all in all, most of these controversies are, quite frankly, tempests in a teacup. The hard sciences are extremely well supported, as I can attest from personal experience.
As for the school interfering with Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, I haven't heard anything about it. Orson Scott Card managed to do OK for himself, although I understand while he was there, he was actually studying how to direct plays.
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There is no need to repost full questions from just a few posts earlier in the thread.
I didn't notice the Hoid phenomenon myself until Brandon was posting Warbreaker and his Liar of Partinel sample chapters at the same time. I think it's very easy to miss his Elantris/Mistborn connection if you don't read the books soon after each other.
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Vatdoro:
Whoa...you've made something offensive which wasn't meant that way.
I read that you didn't think the majority of readers noticed, I was simply voicing that I disagree.
I am someone who likes puzzles and theories, it's the way I'm wired.
I'm not sure if reading the books only as they were published made a difference for you - I'd been following the CCL drafts of Warbreaker for a while so perhaps I picked up on things differently due to reading Warbreaker half a dozen times while waiting for new installments of Mistborn.
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I just finished the first mistborn books and I don't recall any mention of Adonalsium? Did I miss something. I just started the 2nd one.
Thank you for the answers guys. I am not trying to start a fight on the forums with my questions about BYU.
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I believe Adonalsium is not mentioned until Book 3.
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I believe Adonalsium is not mentioned until Book 3.
And only once, and only in the chapter epigraphs, and it's misspelled as Adonasium.
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how many books has brandon sold? I see bestseller lists, but I have no idea how many sales it takes to geton there. If you are 20th on the New York Times bestseller list for a week. Is that 20,000 sales?
also, when brandon goes on book signings, is that something that the publisher pays? Or does it get taken out of his commission?
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Never mentioned by name until that point (in fact, Leras was never mentioned by name either in the books).
Lack of names and terminology when something is of significance in the Cosmere (my stalking victim politely introduces himself...using a consistent alias rather than whatever his name REALLY is) is...frequently the case. You could almost gauge the importance of a thing by how hard we have to look for the name of it.
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Vatdoro:
Whoa...you've made something offensive which wasn't meant that way.
Sorry if my reply sounded like I was offended. I can assure you I wasn't. ;) I really tried to make sure it didn't come across that way, but I guess I didn't succeed. *sigh*
I understand you think the hints are obvious. My take is the hints aren't that obvious to the average reader, and was giving a little more info about why I feel that way. I really didn't mean to start any kind of argument.
I believe the people who really enjoy digging into the mysteries of the Cosmere (as a group) probably feel the hints in the books are somewhat obvious. I tend to think the average Sanderson fan only reads his published works and not all the beta versions and sample chapters (Liar of Partinel) found on his site. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
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Wow, I spent weeks scouring the forums for this type of info when I coulda just made a new thread with a bunch of questions. Seems kind of too easy to me. :D
Make him work for this info! Search youngling, for the truth you must.
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How positions on the bestseller lists relate to actual book sales numbers depends on what other books are out at the same time and what time of year it is. Basically, there is no answer. But at this point, Brandon has sold hundreds of thousands of books.
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Brandon's presentation from jordancon is on google video. He said he likes Stephen Erickson also. Has anyone read him? I have never heard of him.
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Yeah, Steven Erikson is good. Be warned though, his world is HUGE. Tons of tribes, lots of different magic, many different continents (and realms and dimensions, etc). The first half of any book is usually very confusing to get through because of all the new characters and armies, and then the second half is one big thrill ride.
His books are called the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Book one is Gardens of the Moon: http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Malazan-Book-Fallen/dp/0765310015. Books 2 and 3 are some of the best I've ever read. So far the others range from pretty good to good, though I haven't read them all.
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Well Steve (Bookstore Guy), Slamel (Nick), Andrew, and I (currently there is debate as to what I am called the most popular the last 2 days is Menace to Society) are all groupies of Erickson so yeah he is awesome.
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Why doesn't Brandon like Terry Goodkind. Something about what goodkind wrote about fantasy readers right?
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I'd like to note (probably not the place, but still, I'm behind... so sue me) that WoK has a scene that is going to make it very obvious that the books are related. What exactly the scene consists of, I know not (yet), but I've been told he's been asked to add it. I can't wait for this freaking book!!!!!!
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Where doe Goodking and Rowling say that they dont like fantasy and don't want to be associated with fantasy? I read about the first 100 pages of Goodkinds first book and pitched it years ago. I thought it was amateurish B grade writing.
To be honest, alot of fantasy is really bad. I stopped reading fantasy for a long time (other than GRRM and Robert Jordan) because every time I would read the book cover to see what a fantasy book was about they all seemed to be the same story. Some kingdom is in trouble and they need so and so hero to save the day. Then again most fiction in general is not very good. I moved more into Science Fiction since they seemed to be about different stories, plus there are alot of different types. I really got into hard sci fi for a long time (Stephen Baxter, Harry Turtledove, and Neal Stephenson were my favorites). I recently read a sci-fi book called Spin which is completely original and different from any other sci-fi novel I ever read (Stephen King said the Robert Charles Wilson is his favorite sci fi author).
I am reading fantasy again a little bit, but I am choosy. I don't want to read about yet another hero who goes off to save the day. Especially with the really poor writing. I also read alot of historical fiction. I like historical fiction, particularly ancient and medievil history. I have to research the authors before i waste my time. Some authors spend incredible amounts of time on the research (Colleen McCullough, Sharon Kay Penman, and Steven Saylor to name a few, plus of course The Pillars of the Earth which is the best novel I have ever read), but alot learn bits and pieces of history and clearly don't know what they are writing about.
So I get where some self hating fantasy writers are coming from. Most of it is just bad. Where does Terry Goodkind and JK Rowling say they dont like fantasy?
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I'm reading Erickson's book one of the Malazan series right now. I'm more than 100 pages in, and I must say, so far I have no interest in the characters or the story at all.
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Gardens of the Moon is the weakest of the books.... and i really don't care for Erickson's introductions too many info dumps... however it is still one of the best series on the market today
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can someone post a link to the article that goodkind wrote where he said he doesnt like fantasy?
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There's a bunch of places. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find most of the ones that I've found in the past...I did find a pretty decent Q&A from late 2003 though. The link (http://cgi1.usatoday.com/mchat/20030805003/tscript.htm).
The pertinent quote:
Orem Utah: What do you think distinguishes your books from all of the other fantasy books out there, and why should readers choose to read your series?
Terry Goodkind: There are several things. First of all, I don't write fantasy. I write stories that have important human themes. They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or a world-building. I don't do either.
And in most fantasy magic is a mystical element. In my books fantasy is a metaphysical reality that behaves according to its own laws of identity.
Because most fantasy is about world-building and magic, a lot of it is plotless and has no story. My primary interest is in telling stories that are fun to read and make people think. That puts my books in a genre all their own.
So I guess readers who are interested in story rather than world-building and details of magic would have a good time reading my books.
And some other quotes....
Any writer who tries to write for readers instead of themselves is lost.
--Now, this initially sounds pretty decent, but coming from him and the context and the question asked of him ("Do you ever look at reader responses to your books on forums such as Amazon.com, and do you ever take these reader opinions to heart?") it makes you see that he doesn't care about the fans. Sure, don't let fans control your writing, but to completely ignore the reaction is ignorant.
Also, him saying this reminds me distinctly of Stephenie Meyer...And I hate being reminded of her existence.
And then another person mentioned a similarity between SoT and WoT and he said this:
If you notice a similarity, then you probably aren't old enough to read my books.
...haha. How kind...
Anyway...That's Terry. Very briefly.
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I read about the first 100 pages of Goodkinds first book. I didn't like it. I thought it was low grade B level fantasy. I remember throwing the book in the garbage. I won't read a book just to finish it. If I don't like it, I won't waste my time. I also need to point out that there are books I don't like because they don't fit my taste, that others really like.
I can't see how anyone would think that Goodkinds books are even in Robert Jordans league. To be fair the question about Goodkind and Jordan being in the same world is kind of silly. But that was an obnoxious response. I thought it was funny that he liked Stephen Counts. He writes B grade pulp thrillers. He made a super likeable every girl wants hero with generic writing. I read one book by him and did not like it.
It is good that goodkind doesn't read reviews. His latest book got killed. To be fair, the 1000s of negative responses to Jordans 10th book on Amazon didn't really affect his writing.
I am liking the 2nd mistborn book. About 100 pages into it.
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Why doesn't Brandon like Terry Goodkind. Something about what goodkind wrote about fantasy readers right?
People actually like Terry Goodkind? I've been subjecting myself to his works to see if there's anything to learn from them, but as far as I can tell, he should have been a pundit, not an author. Reading his opinions on why his work isn't fantasy have convinced me that there are essentially two things keeping his books afloat: Good plotting, and political identification with the protagonist.
An author who can't understand what makes their own work fantastic is B-list at best. Here's a hint: your work does not describe mundane events.
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I have never read Goodkind in the past and after reading what he says about his books and the way he speaks of the fantasy genre I don't think I ever will.
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his books have been turned into a B grade TV series called Legend of the Seeker. Anyone else think this series is loaded with S&M references?
The confessor is called "mistress"
The Amazon Woman warriors (mord sith? or something like that) dress like dominatrix and do you see what their weapons really look like? (this appears to be a fairly conservative forum and there may be kids so i won't say it explicitly)
I have a question for Peter: Brandon either wrote or said in an interivew that I saw that he learned alot from how Robert Jordan laid out a long series. How is Brandon plotting his Way of Kings series? Does he know the ending? Does he have rough outlines of each of the books? I have seen some good series get lost from not doing this. Stephen Kings Dark Tower series was great for the first 3 books, then got lost. It was obvious he had no idea where he wanted to go and then couldn't find his direction.
Has anyone read the Jim Butcher fantasy books? It looks like he set his in a roman empire like world. He is well known for the Dresden files. I never read those. I am not into mysteries. I am wondering if these are any good.
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Brandon knows the ending of the Stormlight Archive series and has a climax in mind for each book. He also knows what arc he wants each character to have. He'll write a detailed outline for each book when he starts writing that book.
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I've read the Alera Codex, Jim Butcher's fantasy series. Not the best, but not awful either. They definitely have an ending in sight. The last one just came out, but I haven't read it yet. I liked them better as the series went along.
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Brandon actually talked about those Jim Butcher books in his class last thursday. supposedly they came about because of an argument Butcher was having with someone about the importance of ideas. in order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it. the two ideas were a lost roman legion and Poke'mon.
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I like it when i get both.... but I'll settle for a good writer.
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In order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it.
Wow. I guess that's one way to win an argument....
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In order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it.
Wow. I guess that's one way to win an argument....
I might actually have to read hsi books now.
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I might actually have to read hsi books now.
I know. Me too. Sounds intriguing.
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His Dresden series is pretty good and the 1st book of the Alera Codex was fantastic and set up a great world with tons of potential. Unfortunately he got bogged down in the 2nd book and lost me. I set it down over a year ago after having only read about 1/3 of it. I don't know if I will ever restart it.
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So is Brandon friends with alot of these other fantasy writers? i am guessing he knows Jim Butcher? I would assume that alot of Science Fiction and Fantasy writers get to know each other from the cons. George RR Martin wrote multiple times that he was good friends with Robert Jordan.
Terry Pratchet writes more light-hearted and satirical fantasy rigtht? I think Brandon said he likes Pratchet. If I am going to read 1 pratchet book which should it be?
Does Brandon or any of the fan base here have a list of books they like? I went to the main page to look for some books, but I have to cycle through lots of reviews. You don't have them listed with stars. As I have said before, most Science Fiction and Fantasy is not that good.
So far people here like Stephen Erickson, Jim Butcher (semi-mixed reviews), and Terry Pratchet(which book should I read?)
I am still on the 2nd mistborn book. I don't have alot of couch time for reading. I am listening to Fires of Heaven on tape and going through all of them on tape before reading book 12. I read the books years ago and stopped at about book 9 I think. So I forgot alot. The performances of the audio books for Wheel of Time is VERY good. It is a different experience listening to all of them at once instead of waiting years between books. I also use the WoT Encyclopedia to find stuff I missed. I never realized that Tom Merrillons stories were references to us in the first age.
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The Great Book of Amber (which is the collection of the Blood of Amber series) by Roger Zelazny is a great read, and anything by Heinlein if you like Sci-Fi.
Here are the books I listed as my favorites on facebook, I didn't put 2 of 1 series at all. (notice most fall into the sci fi/ fantasy genre)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (WoT)
Memories of Ice by Steven Erickson (Malazan Books of the Fallen series)
Foundation and Empire by Issac Asimov (Foundation series)
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert (Dune series)
Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven (Ringworld series)
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Mistborn: Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series)
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (Song of Ice and Fire series)
The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny (Blood of Amber series)
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I know Brandon likes
Robert Jordan
Terry Pratchett
Stephen Erickson
Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors?
Peter: Who are some of your favorite authors?
Kaz: I have read many of those
To kill a mockingbird is not sci-fi and every high school kid is required to read it anyway.
I did not like Stranger in a Strange Land. The book I liked by Heinlein is Starship Troopers. Much better than the movie
Ringword: Read the first one. I thought it was ok.
WoT: I found brandon since he took this over
Dune: Not a huge fan of this series. Books 5 and 6 were terrible. I did like books 1 and 4.
Asimov: I don't like his writing style. Nothing happens until the last page of a chapter.
Mistborn: On Book 2 now
Song of Ice and Fire: Waiting and waiting and waiting on book 5...
Flowers for Algernon: Another one of the high school required reading
Amber: I have had teh big book of amber on my shelf for years. I never read it. I'll give it a shot.
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I said most... and Flowers for Algernon that is required reading is the short story, it was made into a novel which won the nebula and possibly the hugo as well (the short story got the nebula in it's category). Asimov is awesome my favorite quote from any author is "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" which is from Foundation. Arthur C. Clarke however good his ideas are bugs me though. As for Dune 5 and 6 were pretty good 1 2 & 3 were phenomenal, his son's sucked though. I can't remember who but there is someone else on this forum, has his picture as himself and he hasn't been on in a while, but he loves Amber as well.
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I found that the novel version of Flowers for Algernon adds nothing to the excellent short story except for sex.
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I love Flowers for Algernon. It was almost certainly the first thing I read for school that really, really got to me.
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Peter you're right but Facebook doesn't have a place for short stories or i would list:
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
For a Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Mefisto In Onyx by Harlan Ellison
Permafrost by Roger Zelazny
A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison
Edit: Add Anthem by Ayn Rand
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Anthem is one of the few things written by Rand that I can stomach.
Anathem, though, was really good. The word "short" has nothing to do with that particular story, though.
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Fixed the typo, Prometheus FTW!!!
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Peter: Who are Brandons favorite authors and books?
What are your favorite books?
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Hi Peter,
I have a few questions about Brandon -- both having to do with writing.
1. As Brandon was learning the craft, did he spend time outlining books he read and admired? Did he read with highlighter in hand? Stuff like that? As an aspiring writer myself, I'm wondering about what kind of work/study I should be doing.
2. In terms of actual writing, what font does Brandon write in -- double-spaced Courier, single-spaced Times? Curious, that's all.
Thanks for the time.
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In regards to the second one I've heard him say it a couple of times. I know it's double spaced, but I think the font is 12 courier new, and I'm too lazy to go look right now. He also does all of his novels in manuscript format (underline for italics and such). If you want to see what I'm talking about, download the first version of WB. (Or, really, any of the versions that mention being in manuscript format.)
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Peter, I have a question. Brandon said somewhere (I think it was on his blog, just before the Twitter and B&N Q&A's) that he would be doing a Q&A here sometime. Do you know when that will be or if he's even going to do it anymore?
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Peter, do you know when Brandon is coming to the Denver-area on tour?
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Yeah, it's 12 point Courier New double spaced with 1" top/bottom 1.25" left/right margins.