Sanderson 2016.9 - Guest Brandon Mull

Brandon Sanderson’s 2016 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 9: Brandon Mull (Guest Lecture)
This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user camerapanda. The authorized filming is thanks to Brandon's friend Earl Cahill and his assistants from CameraPanda.com (go support them). The lecture was filmed at Brigham Young University.
I've color corrected the original shots, transcribed the whiteboard, and taken some notes w/ timestamps to help you follow along.
** LECTURE NOTES **
0:10 / Brandon Mull introduces himself
- There is always more to learn
- Brandon sees five key elements to a good story
6:42 / Characters
- All stories live or die here
- Descriptions are always an opportunity to show how the character reacts
- We get to know characters through reactions/wants/etc, so leverage those things to suck in readers
- We can explore truths about human behavior in fiction
- What makes characters matter to readers?
- - Relatable, understanding motives
15:37 / Setup to Pay off
- Emotional responses make characters more real
19:36 / Know your characters
- We need to know our characters to pull off this illusion
- However you brainstorm, you need to put it to work to get to this understanding
- Consistency is important; change needs to be motivated
- - This isn’t really true to life, real people are a lot less consistent
22:53 / Character relationships
- Family, romance, mentor, friends
- Fit in lots of relationships
- - As the characters matter more to each other, they will matter more to the reader
25:46 / Bring life
- This is the challenge
- The trick is making an individual character
- - An age and gender does not define a person
32:00 / Trouble
- Plot starts with trouble thrown at a character (internal or external)
- Trouble is a spectrum; even small things can matter to the reader
36:45 / Decisions
- Characters confronting trouble must make a decision
- The choice is based on the character
38:50 / Consequences
- Author can control the outcome, but the reader must believe them
- Luck should hurt as much as it helps
- Characters need to earn the good consequences
- - Usually by going through bad consequences first
- Plot is the cycle of Trouble -- Decisions -- Consequences
50:10 / Questions
- In a pitch, publishers want to know if 1) a book fits into a category and 2) it is different in a cool way
- What are the differences in humor / action between MG and YA
- - MG has a main character 12-14 and they confront the world from that level
- - MG tends to action (PG) over violence (R); romance to crushes over sexuality
- - YA is fairly open-ended; romance can be more sexual; violence and language can be more explicit
- Brandon Mull and writing groups
- - He wasn’t into them when he was young
1:00:06 / Creative Judgement
- You need to learn when stuff works and when it doesn’t work
- - Not just your own work; every movie or show you watch, reflect on what you are enjoying and why (and what you aren’t and avoid those mistakes)
- Can’t be taught, needs to be discovered, much like voice
1:03:55 / Voice
- If all of your friends told the same story, they would all say it a different way
- Voice is the music you hear of what a story should sound like
- Authors get paid for their storytelling voice, not their ideas
- Every scene must accomplish something
- - It could just be humor, but it must do something for the reader
- Learn to pick good moments to tell
1:10:04 / Brandon Mull’s Method
- Starts with a movie in his head from daydreaming
- Fleshes out the daydream as he writes it
1:13:05 / How to make fantasy worlds cool
- Character! Particularly if they are humorous
- Show readers stuff they haven’t seen before
- Write what you are most into, not what someone else wants to see

[@shines9290]

If you are thinking of skipping this class because it isn't Sanderson- DON'T!
I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture! I am now following Brandon Mull on all social media and cannot wait to read his books.
He is funny, sincere, wise, and his segways had me laughing out lout.

[@wickeddelight]

segways -> segues :D But yeah, Brandon Mull gave a cool lecture here :)

[@shines9290]

@@wickeddelight Hahahhaaaa. Yes. I did mean segues and not Segways... though they also make lol .

[@shines9290]

"I don't want to write a whole sentence...I am not getting paid very much to do this. " hahahah

[@HooktonFonnix]

This guy is a nice contrast to Sanderson. It proves there's more than one method to being a successful writer. Great lecture

[@Kaiwalski]

As someone who read all his books from a young age I loved this!

[@Eyeyeyimonvacation]

This guy is so adorably dorky and funny. Lots of good information.

[@ASMRChess]

This guy is amazing!

[@shines9290]

Love this guy! Super funny and engaging.

[@ThomasSchannel]

47:00 lol

love it

[@velvtania]

What a great guy!

[@kyrawitt4232]

Great lecture.