Chef Writer VS Cook Writer
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 лют 2021
- This is a short segment from my 2021 Creative Writing Lectures at BYU. If you want to watch my lectures in their entirety, you can watch all of my 2020 lectures here: • Lecture #1: Introducti...
Link to Dawnshard: www.amazon.com/dp/B08MXXWYT7?t...
Stay up to date by following my newsletter: www.brandonsanderson.com/#sig...
Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: store.brandonsanderson.com/
You can also follow me on:
Facebook: / brandsanderson
Twitter: / brandsanderson
Instagram: / brandsanderson
Twitch: / mistbornbrandon
Frequently asked questions: faq.brandonsanderson.com/ - Розваги
And if you’re actually a tiny rat under another guy’s chef hat, you’re a ghost writer! A Writeatouille!
Writeatouille. That's brilliant 😂😂😂
Writeatouille is my new favourite word
This is the best comment I have seen in ages. Chef level UA-cam commentary.
The question is, why is a writer wearing a chef's hat? Does he to method writing?
Romance is probably the worst offender. Not all stories need a romance. Yet it's accepted as a given in most stories written today that if you have two leads, they are going to end up together.
I feel like this applies to a lot of skills. This is just all round good advice.
@@AlastairGames I second this. Brandon brings amazing clarity to things he is trying to teach people.
Not to building buildings though. Those better be up to code.
Brandon Sanderson is the teacher I wish I had, back when I first started writing stories.
Never too late for a new teacher. Also, here have 69 likes!
Understand the rules so you can know when to break them.
I think Interstellar directed by Chiropter Nolan is a good example of a chief at work. Interstellar has many commonalties with the typical fantasy story. You have a farmer who is chosen to go on this long trip to save humanity and gets a bit of advice from an old wise mentor. Yet I haven’t seen anyone call Interstellar cliché.
He hides the elements very well. Not to mention the original story is written by Nobel prize winning physicist Kip Thorne, so the elements of science ring true.
"I think Interstellar directed by Chiropter Nolan is a good example of a chief at work."
@@TomorrowWeLive perfection in one sentence.
I haven’t met anyone whose seen it, though.
@@evilallensmithee Haha nice
How does he always find the most meaningful distinctions?? What a legend..
As a Chef I am happy that you differentiate. Similar but not the same. Love your work. Bring on the Lopin!!!
Ok but what do you call a writer like me who barely knows how to use a microwave
Doomed
Inexperienced
Keep practicing.
I couldn’t even pull out the ingredients
Twilight fan fic writer
I love this explanation! Totally going to borrow it as a computer programmer, because in my line of work we are basically in the business of writing (exceptionally complex) recipes, and you can't do that well unless you understand how the ingredients work and interact with one another.
yes, I thought of programming too, especially when comes to stuff like hacking. There's using a script someone else wrote and then there's understanding how what you're trying to hack is built well enough for you to find a potential vulnerability and exploit it. Programming and writing are my two biggest interests so I love when they converge.
Design patterns, paradigms, heck, even whitespace rules - they're helpful recipes, but if you follow them religiously and/or don't adapt them to your situation, you're gonna write some awful, awful code. Definitely want to be a chef programmer, who does everything (within reason) with intention and understanding.
@@berylliosis5250 Yeah, being a "cook" programmer will never be sustainable. It makes you easily replaceable and you'll fall flat in the face of a unique problem.
@@notan3144 most programmers are cooks and they do pretty well. Stack exchange carries most of the industry
@@specialknees6798 I suppose with the current shortage but 10-20 years from now? If you're a cook, you can be automated.
2:25 “Let me Explain”
No need, the metaphor was perfect.
I’m more of a three year old who has only just discovered the kitchen cupboard.
This makes me think of something I've always been told about cooking, and how it absolutely applies to writing as well: Don't be afraid to experiment! Try that new "spice"! Add a dash of "sugar" where you might otherwise not! Innovate!
The worst thing that can happen is that it doesn't work, and that in and of itself is a valuable learning experience, as long as you take the time to examine *why* it didn't work. And who knows? Just because it didn't work in this "dish" doesn't have to mean that it won't work in any.
Certainly, there are "recipes" that are popular and successful combinations, and they are popular and successful for a reason. However, that doesn't mean that the unorthodox combination you've just dreamed up can't be popular or successful. You just have to take the plunge and find out.
I've watched all of Brandon's lectures but I keep watching all his new stuff anyway because I just like hearing him talk.
Ordered Elantris, Warbreaker and Mistborn after reading Stormlight, Can't wait to get into your writing more!
Elantris is good but more of a slow burn them stormlight. Warbreaker is similar. They are good just except it slower at first, totally with the read. Mistborn is amazing.
Is mistborn good for 13-14 yrs
Don’t forget The Alloy of Law! I really liked it almost more than Mistborn.
@@livelife5761 I'm 14 and read Mistborn, and I'm not even a native speaker. So, I'd say yeah, and it's fucking amazing.
@@livelife5761 I would think so. It's more Na or adult fiction than YA, but not due to any sort of "adult themes" or anything like that. The skyward series is not cosmere but great YA by Brandon Sanderson.
Short answer: probably
I've never heard this metaphor before, but I actually discovered a year or two ago that apparently I am more of a chef than a cook. I don't have any real experience with cooking, but in a mostly "what do we have in the fridge/pantry" kinda way, I've thrown things together that I think would taste good, and they have. My wife now tells me that I missed my calling as a chef. 😅
I'm an indie game dev in progress, and I can say that before I began my game dev journey my understanding of game design was 100% that of a cook, and it's been very rewarding & fun to become more of a game design chef.
I'm really glad I found your channel and really love your content. Thank you.
Ah, in my line of work this is known as Engineer vs Technician.
I know an engineer who is very proud to be one, but all I have ever heard from him was, how things DON‘T work.
So, there’s also the difference between an engineer and an inventive engineer. :)
Excellent
Lol NO. Engineers are mostly boring
You have a chef like Brandon Sanderson, who takes a recipe and flips it around and you have a chef like James Joyce who takes all the recipes for all the dishes he has ever learnt and makes and mishup out of them
I would something I have learnt on Creative Writing studies. Don't take one recipe and make small changes. If you want to have a little more spice, learn as much recpies as you can and try to analize them. It helps understanding (in non, cooing way) the purpose of a narrator and his role, semantics, time and space roles and sometimes you come to a conclusion that your story doesn't need to be realistic (I am talking about the concept of aburd in arts). There is soooo, much more than just simple hero's journey.
loving these videos
Awesome video, awesome analogy. Thank you for continuing to share your knowledge with all of us
Wow, fantastic metaphor Brandon! Helped me to finally realize what has always been wrong with my stories.
Another video! :)
Thank you for the amazing work, Brandon!
I don't write and I don't want to write but those videos are very enjoyable and informative. TY for posting them for free Brandon!
Sums it up perfectly. Thank you! We need more chefs.
This is delightful.
I would like to think of myself as a chef since I actively avoid books or articles that lay out "the perfect book" or "what literary agents want to see in your book" or "10 tropes agents are tired of seeing". Im gonna write what I want, tropes or not, and make my own story thank you very much! Lol
I watched those "10 Tropes Agents are tired of seeing," and couldn't write a single word for weeks, until I stopped following that advice😅
@@sipholukhele290 I feel like they still stick with me. I reread a scene and I'll think, "Dang, some agent isn't going to like this. Oh, well! 🤷♀️"
Wonderful!
I really hate those kind of articles, whenever I see a youtuber that posts a video like that, I wanna kick them! And I wanna ask them "So where is *your* Bestseller?! Since you know how to write and publish, where are your bestsellers?!"
@@Xarfax321 So fucking true. Authortubers that gatekeep like assholes, but then have a two star book on Goodreads. I'll follow Brandon's advice, thank you very much.
@@sipholukhele290 I mean those advices are probably not entirely wrong but framed in a wrong way. Yes, these possibly are the things that editors are tired of seeing but the consequent action should not be to avoid any of these but just some. Avoiding all of them is nearly impossible and will limit your creativity to a point that following every overused trope would lead to a better result.
I love me the Plagueis retcon, though. And the novel.
Same
So anyways I took that personally so I took every piece of it to heart
And here you have just outlined first principle thinking. Important not only for writing but for all aspects of life.
Thanks!
I love this man so much lol
Also I totally agree with the virgin birth part about Star Wars, that was weird, even if new expanded books added onto it, making Anakin a child of the Force created by Sidious
Why are there only segments from the 2021 lectures? I wanna watch them ALLLLL
Hollywood: But there's no romance b-plot. THERE'S NO ROMANCE B-PLOT. Quick, make him KISS HIS PASTA BOWL _phew_ crisis averted
Anyone here wants to join a writing group
I recommend r/writing if you are serious about this. There are lots of motivated people wanting to do writing groups there.
There are also some great book clubs at wattpad (if you can find them)
Yess me
@@cringyboring join our discord discord.gg/8sKQAg4c
Should I learn all of the different rhetorical devices? Useless the knowledge of those devices may be during the writing phase due to not thinking about them all that much, but in order to make the text stand out more, it would be extremely crucial, perhaps, to apply them during the revision process?
Hey Brandon, when you write, how do you come up with plot points - just, in general, things for the characters to do, stuff to fill the chapters. I'm having a hard time coming up with this.
obviously I'm not Sanderson, but generally, if I have a strong character, he'll move the plot along naturally towards certain directions, particularly when surrounded by a few more strong characters and thrown into a distinct setting with a distinct problem and motivation for all major characters.
His Outlines are goal-based. He has a dozen (or double that, in the case of Stormlight) important scenes, and then he starts thinking about what will make those scenes satisfying. When he has done that (which can take weeks!) and has arranged the things in the right order, he starts writing. He will then reference his outline and build upon it, but there is a golden rule he has, in which character (which he discovery writes) has always a right to veto plot.
That said, are you sure you want to be a writer if you don't have ideas? It's kinda integral, and the easy part. If even that is a problem, perhaps write fanfic? It's cool because you can hone your skill without having to come up with new stuff.
@@milospollonia1121 Thanks for your comment, it's very helpful. I don't think the problem is necessarily not having ideas, but trying to have _coherent_ ones.
I can totally write something right now, but I want to actually have direction.
@@milospollonia1121 You're completely right on his process; I've seen it outlined before and this is a great breakdown of how he does it.
On the other hand, your question of "are you sure you want to be a writer" is completely wrong. You can become a writer without starting with the instincts by training them. In fact, I'd argue that someone who struggled with this at first and then pushed through and learned how to do it will have stronger plot points than someone who didn't on average.
The plot points are the backbone of the story, so as an outliner, I start with those. First I figure out what I want from the story - how do I want the reader to feel when they hit the climax? What kind of scene would cause that feeling? What does a scene like that need to have built up to pull that off? And then, once I answer these questions, I look for how to connect those things. One way to do this if you already have a character is to ask, "What would this character struggle to accomplish?" And you tie that answer into the scene, then build the entire story out of that.
@@WasatchWind That is understandable. I find myself having more and more ideas the more I immerse myself in writing. For now, you could try writing short fiction, which has the advantage of being possible to base around one idea.
While novels are usually the interaction between a few dozen good ideas, a short story can totally work with two or three. Be aware though, short stories don't necessarily help you with novels!
The Hero's Journey is not even a recipe, it is an observation.
Many writers have used the hero's journey without having read Campbell.
I liked the video the moment I clicked, watched it, then wanted to like it again before I realised I already did XD
are the 2021 writing lectures free? I was wondering sense you put the 2020 link in the description instead. if they are free can someone link them below, thank you.
I hope he knows how much he sounds like Quinten Tarantino. Identical voice
My take in every story has been what they teach us in acting class: your character has to suffer, and the outcome doesn’t have to be be a good one. This is the classic tragedy, the fall from grace. It’s also the anti-hero’s journey, where the outcome is ambiguous or meaningless.
The main point is that there are endless variations and that life is never a clear path with a guaranteed outcome that matches our hopes or expectations. To me, it’s why The Witcher series is so good with its writing-you often only get a little of what you want, and you’re always constrained by the people and the madness going on around you. There’s almost never going to be someone to bail you out and you just often have to make do with what you’re given.
Survival stories are a great example of this, and can lead to all kinds of unexpected outcomes. To me, that’s the joy of story telling-it’s when the story doesn’t follow a clear path. It’s when the protagonist fails and the outcome swings in another direction. It’s hearing something that makes you go: “oh, that makes sense, but it’s some messed up logic for a messed up situation”. That’s what makes good stories, and it can never be contrived like “Star Wars Virgin Baby”, it has to make sense, and if it doesn’t...well, that’s what a rewrite is for!
HI, I love your videos and they've helped me learn to write, but I was wondering if you had any advice on what to do if you suddenly feel like your concepts and stories are terrible?
This quote from his lectures last year has been helpful for me. ua-cam.com/video/jrIogch5DBU/v-deo.html
I’m not Brandon, but I’d say keep moving forward. All of us feel like our story is crap at some point. It’s important to finish then look back and learn. And revise :)
Always remember, when you’re doing your regular writing, you’re not supposed to have a perfect book in the end.
Write down your story, until you can put “THE END“ under it. Then put it away for some weeks, and start your next book.
After some time, pull the first book out again and read it, and you’ll find what you can do better. At this point, you’re probably rewriting it all over.
After that, you can do the fine tuning, the polishing.
Don’t give it to an agent / publisher unless you’re sure that you’ve given all you can give.
These are tips I got from another bestselling author. :)
@@3.k just to add to that, if there’s any misgivings you had, go back and change them. It’s your work. Let it be YOUR work.
Where can i find the complete lessons? I've watched all the old ones, and i need more. I want to get better at writing and in Italy there are no schools nor lectures for writers
Unfortunately Brandon explained in a previous stream that he could post clips but that the full lectures this time are being zoomed online to his students and that the university for whatever reason would not let him post them in their entirety.
@@JD-yg2xf Oh. that's unfortunate. I've joined a short workshop with mr Sanderson in Lucca, some years ago and since then I've felt the lack of good writing teachers in my country.
Have you watched _last year's_ lectures? If not, they ARE up on the channel, and they're great as well. You can also find much older lectures here on UA-cam, although I haven't watched those and I believe they are on a separate channel.
Also, if you like podcasts, check out Writing Excuses. Brandon is one of the main people on there and discusses every aspect of writing.
@@sterlingmuse5808 I've watched ALL of them and listened to the podcast. It's the only way for me to learn how to write like a pro. So, I enjoy studying this and I want more, even if I know there is no chance to be published in the USA.
@@carlovicenzi1016 Oh ok. Sorry then, you've done more than I have.
Well, I am a cook writer! I mean.... That IS my dayjob a cook... And I write. XD But the point was taken! I try to be a writer chef, because naturally my stories might use tropes. It's the same with being an actual chef, if I go to a restaurant and order a bread, I still want bread and note some odd mishmash that the chef felt like throwing together. However, in baking the bread one is still free to add a lot of flavors and ideas and say make a rye-bread or a wheat-bread, throw in some nuts or raisins in it, add this and that to it....
So if I write a fantasy story (which I love doing), I don't *have* to follow the Heros journey point-by-point. What if my hero for instance says "You know what, I quit!" and it's up to his followers to save the world?
I never liked much of the Heros journey anyway because it always has this element that The Gods have decided and so on.... But I like it a whole lot more when the hero is actually just an average joe who one day went "You know what? The world sucks and I am gonna do something about this!!"
Who are these crazy people hitting the thumbs down. Let me find ya'll. You leave your nasty thumbs-down- hitting-fingers and negativity out of my prince's youtube channel!
I am watching this video to become a chef.
Too bad he doesnt do any actual cooking. He starts well, but then he starts rambling about this "Star Wars"and "Hero's Journey" stuff that has nothing to do with cooking.
Hello Fresh calls for too much oil and salt... Lol
But you can only become a chef by being a cook first and practice to gain these understandings...
I'm a chef writer.
The virgin birth of Anakin skywalker was actually pretty interesting to me when I watched EP I as an adult (didn't quite get it as a kid). My hindu brain was like "Oh, it's like that Jesus dude from the bible! George lucas is making jedi space Jesus!" But I can understand why people would find it tacky.
So basically: Follow a recipe word for word and you’ll end up with a Mad Lib. Reference a recipe lightly but learn when to stray from it and you’ll have a respectable story.
Ah, we have an expression in game design for this sort of thinking. "Cargo-cult" game design is when you add in mechanical, interactive conventions or systems wholesale without really looking at the nitty gritty of what consists of those systems and understanding why they work well together.
Love your videos, as always.
3:19: "The most famous Hero's Journey story is Star Wars."
Counterpoint: The most famous Hero's Journey story is Jesus Christ. The young Son of God left his home to come to this strange and fallen world, was born to a virgin, struggled against powerful opposing forces, was killed and descended into the realm of the dead, and returned to life bearing a great boon for his people. That's why it resonates so strongly with people from cultures rooted in Christianity: it's not just a story archetype, it's The Story.
The most famous *intentional* Heroes Journey is what he meant. Nobody reads the Bible as a book with a narrative, while Star Wars is a work of fiction meant to be enjoyed for its story.
Who?
The best books make the recipes, but the recipes do not make the best books.
So out it curiosity; how many other kids saw that in Star Wars the first time and went, “oh Anakin’s dad was a Jedi and his mom doesn’t want to rat out the guy to this other Jedi?”
Like it didn’t even occur to me to think there was literally no father, there’s a whole religion about a guy like that and plenty of, if not most of people still don’t believe it, no one is going to randomly throw that in for the backstory of the villain, no one is that tone deaf, no one would expect people to suspend disbelief for that.
I don't claim to be a chef but I find these literary formulas weird. In fact I didn't know thy even existed. I learned about their existence on youtube. A story is a set of events that compliment each other. That's how I see it. I always ask myself what happens next and then find a new piece and add it to the story line.
Nice, Sanderson thinks I qualify as a chef. It’s a nice thought, but horribly inaccurate.
Brandon I can't spell, but remember to write the rythamist🙌🙌🙌
Rithmatist. And I'd recommend you don't stress him. He has mentioned before that The Aztlanian (Rithmatist 2) has yet to be cracked. Trust in Brandon. Also perhaps don't criticise if you can't even spell???
@@milospollonia1121 Wow, do you really have to be that rude? Don't talk down to people like that.
His blog says that rithmatist should be coming in a couple years I think. And you asking is NOT stressing him out haha. Just check out his blog :)
first!
Second
I’ve gotta disagree with the idea that Lucas just didn’t understand the hero’s journey and randomly added a virgin birth. The Mortis and Yoda arcs in The Clone Wars give a better look into the nature of the Force and the Chosen One. I get not liking that aspect of the Prequels, but it’s simply untrue that Lucas didn’t have a reason.
Lucas is a chef, not a cook.
I wouldn't have picked the virgin birth in TPM of all things to critique but okay. I thought it added to the Force lore
Can't go wrong with the story of Christ!❤ Def noticed it in the WoT and Mistborn
He literally gives an example where you can go wrong with christ story.
I'm talking real life here. Can't go wrong with being eternally saved. Of course someone with the name of Death has to get upset about this.
In defense of Shmi's virgin birth of Anakin, it does lead an audience to expect him to be pure and good and all that, only for it to be subverted with his fall from grace... granted this only works if somebody doesn't know he eventually becomes Vader, but the Machete viewing order exists for a reason XD
Also, it sets up the whole narrative in Ep. III about Anakin trying to find a way to save Padme from death with the force.
And, given that Qui-Gon needed several reasons to be convinced that Anakin was the chosen one, in order to take him out of slavery, you can't get more convincing than that. Anakin needed a father figure (Qui-Gon) but only had Obi-Wan, and found that bond in Palpatine. It would have been harder to follow that thread if he had a father in TPM (even one who had abandoned him or died). All he had was his mother, and that is all he knew.
@@Ruylopez778 Yeah, I'm usually not one to jump out and engage in Star Wars apologetics, but I think Sanderson is off on this one! I have a lot of problems with the prequels, but Anakin being a virgin birth isn't one of those things.
So, be a Chef not a Cook... The only problem is when you start a complete new story as a Chef and six months before it got released, another Chef brings out his new Story. Now you are the Chef who thought about the sane things, because brilliant people think a like, but the readers are thinking, that Cook claims to be a Chef with the help of a Book that is a copy from the real Chefs work. And now you are the lying Cook.
What did I want to say? I don't remember.
Is it important? Probably not.
Am I going to stop to go on? Definetly.