Creating Believable Backstories for Characters-Brandon Sanderson
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- This is a segment from Live Signing Session #22. You can watch the whole clip here: • #22-Brandon Sanderson ...
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What a low-key flex to sign stacks of books while talking about writing.
He's said it's to make the constant signing less boring
@@Fidgottio Indeed, he found a way to help himself and an aspiring writer at the same time.
@@andrewdressler6173 i find it entertaining lol
I honestly don't understand people who buy signed books like this. Part of the joy of a signed book is the interaction between the author and the reader.
@@joncarroll2040 its also part of the publisher's contract with authors i think that signed books would automatically part of sale since its a signed copy. i forgot the exact term and process.
"Making clear their motivations that will let the reader understand that, so that the character doesn't feel schizophrenic... unless they are, indeed, schizophrenic." - Brandon Sanderson
One of his close friends is Dan Wells, author of Hollow City - a novel in which the protagonist has schizophrenia. So, perhaps a more natural clarification than it would otherwise be.
Except that schizophrenia doesn't involve multiple personalities, despite that common misconception.
@@MrPesht You brought that one to the table all on your own, sir.
Severe Schizophrenia is when you can hear, see and smell the devil on the backseat of your car, but you know that it is not real.
Most of the time it is just random, usually violent, voices.
Multipersonality disorder is something else.
Symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions and confused thinking, which may be continuous or (more frequently) come and go, which lead people suffering from the condition to “act out of character” at seemingly random times.
That is what it means when a character “feels schizophrenic”.
I'm good at unintentionally making things look unintentional
Lmao same. Sometimes my characters make a decision that actually would fill up a plot hole I didn't knew existed 😂😂
@@Emancy3 I love that. It makes characters seem more real to me when they don’t turn out like I expected them to. It’s as if they have a life of their own.
@@Emancy3 I really love filling in some plot holes, too, but I really have to fill it in a right time tho, so that it doesn’t feel forced like some shitty Naruto anime fillers.
@@whitesenpai7688 I know you're not talking about the curry of life tho.
A certain person has also been known to write entire unpublished novellas to determine a character’s between book activities... XD
Who
@@popshop9197 Brandon Sanderson likely. Seeing as he wrote a novella and decided to turn it into a series
@@popshop9197
SPOILER FOR END OF WORDS OF RADIANCE
He apparently has a lot written down for what Jasnah did during WoR
... such as stealing pancakes
@@godminnette2 not to mention Dragonsteel. An entire Hoid/Yolen story, which I'm guessing we will get at some point.
Great video, definitely wasn't distracted by the Among Us characters on the white board!
I wanted to see if anyone else noticed that.
I guess he's an Amogus fan
same lol
NOOOOOO HAHAHA
Brandon is the impostor
Four words I live by when writing:
*NO MOVE WITHOUT MOTIVE.*
Even if it's not obvious, characters certainly must have reason for acting the way they do, which must then stay consistent with their character overall and with the rest of the plot (or explained why when it doesn't) ...
That is a very good piece of advice. Did you come up with that yourself, or did you hear it from someone else? Either way, very good advice
@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 It's something I came up with and decided to go by when working on my own stories, and it's done wonders for helping me keep things more consistent. :) Happy writing!
*M O* T I *V E*
Anyone else catch how BOSS this video is? We are getting excellent writing information from someone signing HUNDREDS of copies of his book. It's such a subtle flex. I love it.
"Every character is their own protagonist in their own story"
That's why I feel like I would enjoy the backstory of every character Brandon writes
It's the same reason there are so many conspiracy theory videos regarding GRRM's characters, it's pretty clear he's given a lot of thought to his characters and their motivations before ever putting them to the page. Love it when authors do that.
@@TunezCottage when he’s actually writing.
I would love one for Dockson.
The quality still varies a lot. His main characters backstories are usually very good but the second level ones have large holes and are quite more generic.
2:38 Took this one a bit literally when you were writing Wayne, didn't you?
i would pay to see Brandon review One piece xD
Yesssss
YES HOLY SHIT... As a Sanderson fan that loves One piece to death, I'm so curious what he would think of this masterpiece...
@@andyzhang7890 That Haki sucks
Praise the sun! 🙌🏻 ☀️
Literally HOW does he ALWAYS KNOW??
I was thinking about my characters' backstories and then immediately got a notification for this video 😂
Me, too. I have been working on fixing the backstory of one of the two POV characters in my current project.
While I'm writing, something I've found out is that the best character quirks and plot points, I don't so much make up. I discover them. I'll be thinking of what to do, writing along, and I'll just get a eureka moment. As if it's always been there, but my flashlight has only now focused on it.
The same thing happens with names. I'll try so many different names for a character but eventually, I'll find the name which feels like that character has always had, and they can never have any other name.
Love how you’re multitasking🤣 not only getting signings done but also a couple of youtube videos. It saves a lot of time.
I like the different, more edited style of this video. Thanks for putting these together, Adam!
Over the past year, I've started planning my stories out with a PowerPoint slide show to use as a basic model for the book. When I do characters I pick two fictional characters or real people and find two pictures and place them on the character slide and use a combination of those two to create the personality and things of the character. For example in my current project which is a urban fantasy, the main characters are a father and daughter who are truck drivers. For the father I used Bill Engvall and Aragorn and the daughter I used Hannah Montana and Rhonda Rousey. It's been helping me create how they would see the world and what they would do in certain situations.
That's a really interesting approach, actually. Thank you.
Abradolph Lincler
@@cernunnos8344 bro ...
interesting, sounds like you'd like screenwriting
How did it pan out? I'm very curious about the Montana-Rousey character.
brandon packs in more useful advice in 5 minutes than most authortubers do for their whole channel.
I'm always waiting for these kinds of videos, they help me with my novel Thank you Brandon!
Idk if you know or not, but I recently discovered that he has a pod cast called writing excuses that’s full of this kind of stuff.
I truly love this man for what he's doing
I'm good at having ideas, like, lot of them. And sometimes i can make unconsciously things that work for what i'm working on.
Even so, characters are my weakest. I struggled so much trying to make personalities, and then struggled onto the people arround them all being white, and now i have a lot of extra work.
I absolutely love these videos - they are my bible for writing fiction!
I'm finding the new editing a bit jarring sometimes though. I like that similar topics are being put together, but when every natural pause is edited out I find myself gasping because Sanderson doesn't seem to be breathing.
I love the amongus on the whiteboard
My ADHD kept making me pay attention to the movement of books being signed and not to the subject I really wanted to care about :')
He's not perfect, he's a bit vain, a bit too establishment, but I suppose he provides a service to people by uploading these.
3:30 I wonder what kaladin's favourite movie would be 😂😂
@@ProperlyParanoid could well be!!
Can you imagine a world where Brandon Sanderson could follow his own writing advice?
Always useful thank you.
also characters aren't just there to fulfill a role. they more or less might ask themselves "why do i live on this planet and who am i?" like a real person does.
Petition for advice from everyone:
My main character Irian is in a fantasy world where humans and merfolk are at war. Irian's belongs to a poor farming family, and after a bad season limits a harvest, and his sister takes to a prolonged bad illness, Irian decides to move down to the coast, and find work.
Specifically, he goes to work at a scale farm, where captured merfolk have their colorful scales harvested to make jewelry and other luxury items.
Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do to add to or improve his backstory?
Try building more on the relationship between him and his sister. His character could completely changed based on if he hates his sister and she treats him terribly or if they have an amazing relationship. You could make him driven by the fear of losing his sister, or driven by his parents perhaps, and thereby be bitter about having to leave home.
That story sounds amazing!
@Seth Kok Yeah, that's one of the big ones - he's not crazy rabid against them, but he doesn't like them - his uncle was killed when merfolk took out the ship he was on, living his new wife a widow.
The only backstory I see in your character is that he is from a poor family and he has a job descaling merfolk. The war is world-building and his sister's sickness is her story/world building. If her sickness affected him directly, like, he needs to this job to pay for medicine (very generic btw) then her story becomes his. And if this merfolk war affected him directly, other than giving him a job, then that would add to his backstory. For example, his village is poor because of over taxation.
@@genevievem.619 Thanks! It'll be on scribblehub soon.
Yeah, that's the angle I'm going for. Irian really cares about his sister, but medicine for her condition is prohibitively expensive. His work on the scale farm pays well, but he soon finds himself living in excess, at least from his point of view, and taking more share of the money he makes than he thinks he should.
A problem I have though is what I term logistics in the story. Irian's sister is a driving part of his character, but his family is far away from what's going on.
Make the main character a female otherwise and it be a younger brother otherwise you'll be accused of misogyny by fridging.
Nunca entiendo una palabra de lo que dices pero solo por que no hablo Inglés igualmente me encantan mucho tus libros :3
I also love it when it seems like a story is just a description of whats happening in some alternate dimension. Don't like it when it feels like fanfiction, very deliberate and obvious.
@Brandon Sanderson, I have no idea how you knew this was exactly the video I needed but somehow you did and I am very thankful for it!
ok sanderson, what is Kal's favorite movie?
Mulan, and yes he sang "I'll make a man out of you" when training bridge four
@@cernunnos8344 i like that answer
@@cernunnos8344 I literallt imagined this while reading
Do I get anything for being the first to like this video?
Heres a gold star stick it on your forehead ⭐
Having ADHD makes me hyperfocus on his signing skills and drip every word he said
One piece is the GOAT at flashbacks
I'm also interested why I can see Among Us characters in the background. 😂😂😂
Yes! The learning-to-appreciate-the-meta took me so long. Dickens used to be a slog, but now I enjoy dissecting his stories.
That whiteboard is sus
what fundamental driving forces for a characters?
I feel this, me and my partner like to write little stories and we both say what we like and dont, we offer help to each other.
I often write my partners side characters and antagonist backstory like it was just part of the story you didn't see and you're getting put into whatever the "start" is.
I love to put things that affects thier behavior and things that can be remembered later by association to new events, not planned events just oh hey theyve been in a car crash too when thinking of scenes.
this man is signing books 24/7
This is why collecting autographs is such a completely meaningless endeavor. Mr Sanderson, stop! Draw a little smiley face once in a while, or a cartoon, dog, or write something cryptic, or obscene and very offensive. Honestly, let's see something that expresses your character and personality inscribed on those inside pages, rather than just a robotic, repetitive, thoughtless scribble.
Clever of Brandon to get in some weightlifting practice while talking to us.
Did anybody see the Among us on the board in the back?
Finally, I am not alone.
brandon sanderson talking about creating believable backstories for characters
the amogus on the whiteboard in the background:
The pulling back the curtain moment is so relatable for me. I made a whole RUclips episode one it.
When I watch these videos it always ends up being an examination of if so do what he's talking about well. Most of the time the answer is no, but I feel like I have this one down pretty well.
i just finish stromlight 3, te amo sanderson
not going to lie I didn't hear a word you said bc I was so distracted by the signing
2:53 "so the character doesn't feel schizophrenic, well unless they _are_ schizophrenic" 😂
Oh christ he's auto writing again. Spirit's protect us all
gotta love the solaire shirt
Thanks for the pointers, thoroughly appreciated, but with each signature I lost track of part of your message; easier to follow if I look away and listen. Stop signing the damn books and connect with your audience! 😂😂😂
Hi Brandon, How do you write natural dialogues
Make it fit with your characters personality
Really helps to read it out to yourself out loud
He doesn't.
Brandon is my favorite author but it had to be said...
Hey, Brandon, didn't your mom ever tell you not to draw doodles in books? ;)
...The kind of grind you have to go through to sign as many books as that... Holy crap.
It's funny how many videos have Brandon signing books while explaining stuff. His signed books must be very easy to come by.
I love your books.
Can you talk about tone and what types of things writers can do to make sure they convey the right tone?
Bro had a logo made from his signature 😂 that's awesome
I feel like Brandon is my long-lost brother because I see a lot of similarities in my approach and his. Especially the take on character profiles
Awesome! Yes, this is useful! Contextually describe chars as opposed to generating their backstories w/ info dumps 😃 Took plenty of notes, thank you, Brandon! 🧩
YEEEEEEESSSS!!!!! YES!!!!! THAT. This is the best video on character writing and it's so short! After a lot of disappointing stuff this is a blessing, i LOVED the part of them being different people to different people, how i never thought of that?!
This is what productivity looks like
Praise the sun! \o/
The writers for Horizon Forbidden West should have watched this before writing Aloy's character.
Something about the "unless they are schizophrenic" being cut off is making me crack up lmao
Bruh the among us characters on the white board
Wow Brandon, signing a billion books while teaching about writing, what a flex...(jk. love the video!)
It’s so funny that almost every time I see a video of Brandon talking, he’s simultaneously signing books.
How do I stop myself from giving all the characters the same accent, while not accidentally giving characters the same accent when writing.
Can’t focus with him constantly autographing and moving so much! Oy!
Love the Solaire of Astora shirt!!
2:52
brandon: "so that the character doesn't feel schizophrenic"
my character being schizophrenic: "uh.. yes sir"
Is this going to be five minutes of him signing books? No thanks.
I literally could not pay any attention once I noticed the among us characters on the whiteboard behind him
And if you are writing a metacommentary...do the opposite of all that.
Why go to creative writing course when these videos exist.
This video is psychedelic indeed
Wow, I was just pondering this topic the other day. Thanks Brando Sando!
When Shallan faced Re-Shepir in Oathbringer I instantly though that this enemy was especifically created to be shallans dark counterpart, but this didnt take my out of the story, I loved it! Sometimes it isnt wrong to make something obvious if it helps the characters and the story. If shallan faced off against another enemy I wouldnt have felt this deepter conection between the two of them.
That whiteboard is sus.
It's harder for me to read books and watch movies because I see all the things that are being done and forget about the story.
❤️ The Jungle reference
what a guy
5:08 Is that the signature he's writing in the books?
yes its his signature. if you look closely you can see him write it in the video.
Dark Souls shirt. Nice ❤️👌
Can you mister make a subtitles for other language? For example Polish 😅
1: Spraw, żeby Twój czytelnik nie zauważył, że to Ty prowadzisz opowieść, a nie Twój bohater. Rzeczy, które robisz celowo i po coś (jako autor/ka) nie powinny na takie wyglądać.
2. Jak to osiągnąć? Myśl o postaci jak o bohaterze jej własnej historii, niezależnie od tego jaką jest jej rola w _Twojej_ historii. Dla postaci książka się nie zaczyna, to tylko wycinek z jej całego życia, które ewoluuje i toczy się naturalnym trybem.
3. Twoja postać powinna żyć własnym życiem, i powinny ją obchodzić rzeczy, które nie są bezpośrednio związane z fabułą książki.
4. Twoja postać, jak prawdziwi ludzie, ma więcej niż jedną rolę w swoim życiu i w Twojej książce. Będzie się różnie zachowywać w różnych sytuacjach, zakładać "różne kapelusze".
@@weareallbornmad410 dzięki
5. Nie twórz postaci poprzez rolę, jaką ma pełnić, a poprzez jej osobowość.
6. Znaj motywację swojej postaci i daj ją poznać czytelnikowi. Ta część wydaje się najważniejsza dla Sandersona - jeśli to wiesz, jesteś w stanie odpowiedzieć na wiele innych pytań.
Dodatkowe info:
- możesz wypełnić sobie tabelkę odpowiadającą na pytania o twoją postać. Brandon tego nie robi.
- zamiast tego stara się zrozumieć swoją postać: jak wygląda (i wyglądało kiedyś) jej życie? Jakie ma poglądy, jak widzi świat? Co w jej życiu sprawiło/sprawia, że akurat tak? W czym jej światopogląd różni się od autora?
- dobrze jest pokazywać czytelnikom info o Twojej postaci poprzez kontekst (np. to jakim językiem mówi) raczej niż wprost poprzez narratora.
blew my mind
great great answer
I like how he answers the question while signing his books. He wastes no time
I definitely like these little digestible videos. Reminds me to keep thinking about my stories.
Thumbs up for the sun bro shirt ☀️
Oh man. Don't tell me you're going to sign all of those
He signed those on stream a while ago. He signs books like crazy but hey, we get the livestreams!
I had to watch it twice. The first time I was mesmerized by all the signing. Like an archer shooting bullseye after bullseye
What a mind on this boy.
The board is an epic gaming moment.
Amogus
2:21
Green sus
You play dark souls?!!?