Why does Brandon Sanderson get to break the “rules”?
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- Everyone can learn to write. But not everyone is going to become a once-in-a-generation novelist. The only way to get there, though, is by trying a bunch of stuff. Writing, figuring out what works, and stop hoping the internet will give you the answers. #publishing #writerscommunity #writingadvice #writingtips
Brandon Sanderson can break the rules because he understands them and can apply them at a master level. It is not a set of skills that is so out of reach that you must be born different. These are techniques that can be learned. If they can't, then everyone who pays to attend his seminars should get their money back.
There's an essay in Orson Scott Card's "Ender's World" collection where he explains a bunch of writing rules and then gives examples of times he broke them and why. If you understand the "rules" well enough, you can find ways to break them that can have great payoffs for your writing. The example I remember is in Ender's Game, there's a scene where OSC changes narrators subtly from Ender to Bean during a conversation. Normally not something you should do, but in this case it was brilliant.
I heard him give a keynote about all of this once, too
The book also starts with nothing but unattributed dialogue, which typically doesn't work well. It works for Ender's Game because none of the people who were talking were important. It's quickly understood that the important thing is the person they are talking about.
2:53 "you're not gonna hone those skills by listening to some lady on the internet" I heard a similar sentiment years ago, it's very valuable advice.
"How did Pixel make Cave Story (video game) all by himself in only 5 years? How do I be like that?"
"Well, he sure didn't do it by asking someone on the internet 'How do I make a masterpiece all by myself in only 5 years?'"
Hear, hear!
I watch Gotham Chess, he's a channel that offers chess improvement sutff and tournament recaps . The Gotham often highlights moves he finds ridiculous, that while he would criticize one of his students for such a move, top grandmasters understand the game so fundamentally that they don't need the same guardrails as us. I'd imagine it's the same for basically everything in life heuristics are only so useful at the top level of anything
Levy is a very smart guy. I’d trust a lot of his advice.
This is awesome. Subscribed.
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what are the rules XD ?
Sorry, as much as I love Brandon’s writing, characterizing the gap you feel as an unclimbable a mountain of talent is wrong imo.
1. Brandon has spoken at great length about the mountain of writing, revising and rewriting he has done to hone his skills, and still employs beta readers to tell him when something sucks. Write, read and write again to find a voice and feel that works.
2. The “rules” are there in service to an underlying emotional truth that stories are built on. Find that truth, and break any rule that impedes it knowing there is an emotional cost elsewhere. Brandon imho is good at finding those truths and building stories around them that play and poke at it. It’s an experience thing, so read more, watch movies, play games and learn what about those things you like to find an undergirding you can then build on yourself.
Yeah the end of the video is all about how absolutely anybody could have this talent in them and they need to get off the internet and go write to develop it
I don't really respect pedestalism
He's not better than anyone at all. He's a horrible writer, his books are an absolute bore fest, terribly written. And he isn't a good person. I know people who know him personally and they've all said he's a pos behind closed doors.