Brandon Sanderson Lecture 1: Writing group essentials (5/5)
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- Опубликовано: 11 окт 2024
- In which Brandon lays down the beef on the essentials of having effective and productive writing groups. Next up: Lecture 2 - What makes a good plot at • Brandon Sanderson Lect... . Browse all the lectures in one place at www.writeaboutd...
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I like how he says 'no talking' when you get workshopped; its tough because you want to explain yourself. His other tips are so very true
That's easy. Write it down and reply once the rest of the group is finished reviewing.
If your book gets published, you won't be able to explain yourself at the audience. The book itself is all they're gonna see, so if you have to promise something do it within the writing. I think that's the purpose of the "no talking" rule.
Brandon's hand gestures had my 9 week old kitten attacking my monitor :) It was slightly adorable :D
So I watched all 5 videos from Lecture 1. I have to say thanks to you guys (and or gals?) for making these lectures available.
After reading fantasy novels for the last several year I kind of feel like I would like to write a book just for the fun of it. I have really enjoyed Brandon's work with the Mistborn series, The Way of Kings, and his work on the WoT series. Being able to learn about writing from his is beyond awesome.
Tony Smith Four years later... did you do it?
7 years later, did you do it?
8 years later, did you do it
12 years later, did you do it?
A little summary (about how to give better feedback)
1- GOOD feedback:
-avoid broad compliments like "well done!" or "I like it" that doesn't give much relevant information.
-don't suggest how anyone should do anything. Just focus on your experience or reactions about it (the feedback itself).
2- SPECIFIC feedback:
-about what is being said like
"I like this character and I would like to know where is going to" or
"I don't like this character, I find it boring and I don't care what happens to"
3- DESCRIPTIVE, not prescriptive:
-describing the reaction it's way more useful than trying to explain what is what we think is causing it. So focus on what you feel or like/dislike, not the reasons behind it.
4- IGNORE things that are little:
-in the case of his writing group he is referring to typos and so on. It's an "alpha" text, so there will be tons of changes and rewriting yet.
5- NO TACKY:
-while anyone is giving feedback about your writing, just shut up. Trying to justify or explain things will bias your reader or ruin the whole experience.
That series is worth gold guys ! thx for uploading !
I love this! Really absorbing this wonderful breakdown of writing processes. Thank you!
This is such an amazing lecture. BIG thanks to you for uploading them, it means a lot to people who are starting out with writing.
Thank you for this videos. I'm from Brazil, but and still, this catch me and I'm very glad that I can learn good things...
Ps:I'm a architect. And I always wonder why I always do a project and them don't wanna see anymore because I have THIS GREAT NEW IDEA .... well. I will review my methods... tnks
(Srry bad english)
9 years later, did you write something you're proud of by now?
I'll probably never talk in a ciritique, but its always important if they say a character is boring, they explain why they are boring. If I don't know why, I have no idea how to fix it.
Just got done with writing an annoying character. It is so much more irritating to write one down than to read one.
Do writing groups meet before actual writing begins? For example during the outlining and brainstorming phases?
It was exciting please give details
these are helpful, thank you professor!
this actually makes me want to write a book...
Where is this? I want to take this class...
BYU
thanks for this
This is the video to share with your spouse if you're a writer.
but will it blend?
I wonder how this applies to episodic video games
Good advice for my design group too!
The whole premise of this is stupid. He's lecturing to people about what they should and shouldn't do or say in a fluid, dynamic situation, as if writers are robots or soldiers being drilled. He's saying don't be prescriptive about advice, just be descriptive as that's more useful. How can telling somebody 'it's boring' be of any use? That's a purely subjective comment.
Yeah that’s the point. Because that’s exactly how an audience will experience your story. Ultimately, that’s who you’re writing the story for so how the reader reacts to the story, and what they feel when reading it, is important
He’s saying that you shouldn’t offer specific suggestions for what the writer should do because that is telling the writer how to write their story. Instead the feedback should be geared towards explaining why something is or isn’t working. It’s not just saying “it’s boring”. It’s saying “this character is boring to me” and then either explaining why or the writer having to figure out why. That is very productive feedback because that means the audience will probably find that character boring too, and that won’t make for a good book if it isn’t improved upon
@@hellotherekenobi2156 But that's subjective. Just because you find the character boring, doesn't mean the next person will. Doesn't make any sense to me.
@@TomRogersOnline That’s why you have more than one opinion. And reading a book is subjective. But if you want to write a successful book that the MAJORITY of people will like, then you have to have feedback, because it gives you an idea of how your intended audience will react as well. It doesn’t mean you have to take their feedback as God’s word, but if you (as Brandon says in the video) put the feedback aside until later on, and once you’ve made more progress on the book you go back and find you actually agree with it, then you can make the necessary changes
That’s why films have test screenings. It’s why books have alpha and beta readers. It’s why games have alpha and beta builds. This is simply an exercise that teaches the students to not only give appropriate feedback, but also how to receive feedback and implement it properly into their books. So then, when they do become a (hopefully) successful author, they can extrapolate that out to larger test audiences and reading groups, as successful authors like Brandon Sanderson do. Yes, this is the exact process he uses before releasing a book
The problem seems here that you aren’t actually openly listening to the video and taking all the information in. Because if you did, you’d know that Sanderson explains all of this in said video. How can you hope to be one of the greats if you’re unwilling to learn from the greats? Humility is key
@@TomRogersOnline I mean there's a general "creative" rule regarding feedback; people are always right about saying they're not enjoying themselves, but they're usually wrong when explaining what you need to change about the thing. So for professionals in any creative industry, it's often enough to learn "when" the person experienced boredom, and they can quickly figure out for themselves why someone might be bored in that section of the book. Though of course, just saying "bored" is not the best feedback - it'd help with some context about the person's state of mind, perhaps hearing them "recap the story up to that point" would help the professional pinpoint more accurately what the feedback is really indicating.
Also if one person is bored, then there might be one billion people who'd get bored by that same place. So it's valid feedback to say you're bored in an area, because the professional can take it more seriously after the next two people says the same thing. But imagine... what if nobody was honest about being bored? That would be witholding valuable feedback