Opportunity Cost-How Do I Decide What to Write Next? (No Readings)
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- Опубликовано: 10 янв 2021
- This video is the cobbled together segments from my speech at the Rhythm of War Release party last November. To keep the length down, I've removed the readings from this video. If you want to hear the various readings, you can watch them here: • Rhythm of War Release ...
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Развлечения
SHEEESH Brando Sando is flexing with that background
This son of a gun bought the terrain next to his actual house , built another house and dug a giant ass hole in the ground to make what he calls a "supervillain lair" with life sized stuff about his books and fantasy in general, he's said it still needs work done but we should get a tour once it's eventually finished. Lmao.
They did a little extra here cause this was from the rhythm of war release party
It’s every fantasy author’s dream to one day make enough money from their writing to be able to afford whatever modern amenities and luxuries the world has to offer... so they can instead live like a person in the Dark Ages 🥲
fuckin eh he is. What I wouldn't do for that pot selection.
@@lucasros1254 are there any pictures about that? :O
I feel like you should pay someone to stand and gently play a lute behind you :P
Or make it a patreon tier?
Sagaz.....
"Toss a coin to your Brandon, oh readers of fiction, oh readers of fiction, oh-oh-oh..."
that would be Hoid's first came in our universe
You go into your mind palace and craft the universes of your fantasy epics.
His brain must be incredibly organised
@@javadasadi7858 it feels so good to organize all the stuff i wrote down so i can immediately go to work when i wanna write some more lol
Elementary houseofleaves 🕵🏽
With this background it feels that Brandon became a guest lecturer in Hogwarts. Quite fitting!
This man is a blessing for the genre. He is so mindnummingly productive. A story takes him 6 months? Others need years! He sets the bar so very high and puts other established author to shame doing so, its surreal.
Please keep em coming, youre amazing.
Sometimes I ask myself if he should write under different names, so the other fantasy authors have a Chance to let their name hear... Then I thought: Nope, who cares, just write MORE Brandon.
nice name... can't disagree though
Brandon is also an amazing creative in major part because he works like a demon and he LISTENS. He has the wisdom to choose his friends and advisors wisely and created an awesome team to support his endeavors.
It’s sort of like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ motif. It’s all about Frodo (the hero) and his journey...but without the Fellowship, the tale would have been barely begun. So, Thank you Brandon for the creation of Dragonsteel Productions - the Ur Father of the Cosmere.
Thought the background was greenscreen until he sat down.
the only one that can slightly compete is abercrombie
You are the first person who made me understand that the first draft should be a free-flowing process (no self-editing during that stage), and that it is in the revision that the story really gets made. It was a heavy fog that you lifted from me. Thank you for that.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, given the recent announcement of 5 secret projects, but near the end, when he says, "My upcoming books, there are no secrets among those," it looks to me like he says it with a knowing smile.
"No secrets" and a year later he pops 4 big ones on us. Brandon Sanderson was clearly _dying_ to tell us the secret then.
Watching this video right on the heels of Brandon releasing his video confession about writing 5 novels... on top of his regular publishing schedule. So... can you say ironic?
and at 30:11 "there are no secrets among those" just puts it over the top... BrandSand... the king!
"No secret among those" is definitely a hint at the upcoming secret books!
@30:10
When you studied economics and your favorite author says "opportunity cost." And he actually used it correctly!
now im curious, what are some wrong ways to talk about opportunity cost?
@@Raikeran Some might take it literally, like the opportunity cost of me going to disneyland, is the price of the ticket and the time to go there when really, it's that I would have maybe preferred spending my money on x and time on y.
That background is shanazzzyyyyyyy
Using "entropy" as a metaphor AND explaining why technically it's not scientifically correct, is exactly why I love your content. You are aware of the science but knows when to use the "rule of cool" :)
A world without the Cosmere would be the darkest timeline. I'm glad your early books got rejected then, because the Cosmere is what opened me up to the possibilities of writing novels. Elantris, Mistborn, and The Stormlight Archive turned my whole life around and gave it direction
Real question for me isn’t how you decide what to write next, but rather, how you make your signature look so friggin cool. No matter how much I practice mine it always comes out looking less like a John Hancock, and more like a reminder for parents to keep the markers in the higher drawer, because I replicate ‘wall art’ made by a toddler every time I endorse a check.
Just write it hundreds of thousands of times and it will be perfect
Its almost ridiculous, but like everything with writing: Practice. Do it a million times, and don't be afraid to change it to your pleasing. Stylizing is good!
also hire an awesome art director to turn it into a badass logo
If you can't hire someone to help design a better one, look at some calligraphy fonts and try a few different versions of the letters. Then slowly write the new sig, focusing on getting the loops/angles/joins how you want them. Then as you get more comfortable with it work on doing it faster.
5:47
You can't just give us permission to lock you in a room and make you write us a book. There is a horror movie about that. You already write fast enough
Meh, the heat-death of the universe is inevitable. Having stories to pass the intervening time is a true gift - it's a way for us all to squeeze in countless lives across myriad worlds in the fleeting time we're given, and for that I'm eternally grateful.
I remember asking my mom if she could buy me legos instead of subway. That was my first opportunity cost experience.
You inspire me to write. I wrote before I discovered you, but you inspire me to push forward. I lack belief in myself when it comes to my stories. I'm a high-school drop out that discovered my love for reading and writing while in prison. I try not to let that define me, but I would be lying if I said it didn't. I feel like an imposter when I write. I feel like I'm not smart enough. Hopefully I overcome those internal battles. Thank you for all you do!
@@neptune1442 thank you, i really appreciate that!
Hope you’re writing is going well friend ❤
And here I sit... working on 2 books for the last 10 years. Never let them go out of my mind. Never once was I disrupted by another story, but the fact that most writers say things like "push through your first novel it will not be good but you need the feel of it" discourages me to actually bring it on paper. I cant let go and want to do those 2 but want to do them right and good.
So I work on them with researching how to write, working on my Plot and Characters and gather all the knowledge about writing but shy away from actually writing the scenes and procrastinate. Mainly because I dont want them to be bad and fail at them. =/
Can you write a similar story intended to be a throw away novel, just so you can say you have finished a book? Maybe it will sharpen your claws and give you some knowledge and experience to get to your 2 main books.
Good gracious I just left a long rambling monologue on my sister's phone on, essentially, opportunity cost of working in a writing-heavy field and having no bandwidth left for personal projects... and then this video appears in my feed. Always Mr. Sanderson 18 steps ahead yet right on time.
"(Your) stories are pictures of you. (Your) stories both cannot be perfect and are already perfect at the same time."
Brilliant
This is so fascinating in hindsight with the Kickstarter and the recent news. This must’ve been the origins of that project.
Just gonna mention something. You're point about being able to finish a novel changed your whole world, makes me want to power through a draft I've been having recently. Thank you very much good sir!
What I wish, is that I had known who you were about 10 years ago and taken one of your classes. They have changed my writing habits and given me the tools I needed to succeed.
The funniest thing to know is that I found you on Shadiversity’s channel. I was researching some weapon logic and found Shad, he gushed about you (many times), then you showed up on his channel and after that I began to look into you, and so I have been scouring your videos for every bit of wisdom I can find. I am a sci-fantasy writer so nearly every bit of wisdom you share is poignant for me.
Expect your name to show up along side Frank Herbert and Shad in my acknowledgements.
How is it going? Any updates? :D@@AethyrPrime
They say in the time it takes you to ask Martin how the next book is going, Brandon Sanderson writes a new 1000 page book...
Its true XD
I thought he was standing in front of a green screen until he sat down in that chair. LOL.
It feels so good listening to Brandon not because he tells good stories, but because I can relate to them. When Brandon talks about White Sand I can just nod and say "Yep, I was there."
I too am an aspiring writers. And for many many years I was writing short stories and things like that, because that's what I had heard one had to do, start off with short stories. None of them were good and in the back of my head the idea was growing that I wanted to write a novel. I am a rambler, I want to take my time exploring the world and characters, but you can't do that in a short story.
One day, after a particulary hard breakup, I felt backed into a corner. And so I thought about getting back up and do one thing I had always wanted to do: Write a novel! And for a good while, I was writing first drafts of some fantasy novels. Those were still terrible, but at least I was writing and I was having a good time.
My novel that would change my way of thinking and my life in a sense was a fantasy adventure stories. It was just wonderful! I mean that was my first very good story that I had ever written, at least that is how I felt!
Suddenly I had accomplished this huge task, I had conquered a mountain! Hurray for me! Suddenly things were possible.
As of writing this, my fantasy novel is going through it's 4th draft. I have done a lot of changes and I think the story is getting better.
I have also written about nine more stories, some of them good and some of them are bad. A real stinker I was working on was a fantasy story, where a lot of philosophy had snuck in. The plot was convoluted as all heck, with an "Idea world" that was a metaphysical plane, and the characters were terrible.
But there is always the next story to work on.... And I am even thinking of a sequel of "my great novel". My pop tells me "Dream big, let reality have it's say and let them meet in the middle."
Congrats to you man!
"Git 'er done." Keep at it, it's incredibly easy to get your work out there now. Maybe your next step is finding a few beta readers to help you refine it. Just make sure to get the right kind of beta reader by checking out videos about that subject including some of Brandon's videos of his creative writing class he teaches once a year.
I've so far finished 3 novels. I wish that had made me feel any closer to success like it did for Brandon, but I finished my last novel five years ago and have been struggling to even write since then.
How wonderful to come across your RUclips channel.
Just wanted to mention, the huge fireplaces in some of your videos are magnificent.
His confidence reminds me so much of Gavilar. Hopefully Brandon doesn’t get assassinated before his grand plans came to fruition.
Sezeth son son vallano , truth less of shinovar wore white on the day he was to kill a .............
"You. Cannot. Have him." -Kaladin in the hall outside a Branderson lecture.
Omg you're in an actual dungeon. Im jealous.
18:55 I can't imagine I would ever heard in my life the phrase "I haven't told him about the 36 books outline" and have it be true.
this video is surprisingly incredibly inspirational
Broooo, this is what I needed to hear! I've been struggling for years just to avoid distraction and DECIDE what I want to do in terms of skills and projects I want to pursue for the foreseeable future and get better at! What do I want to HAVE done? Now that's a question!
All things craft & business aside, I’ve gotta say that the fireplace behind Brandon is something I need in my life. I don’t know if it is actually real or a Zoom backdrop, but now it is in my head and I want one.
Yes. I do too. Or something as grand, stylish, and potentially warm. The question now becomes where to get the fuel for such a massive fireplace?
@@jchinckley We’re gonna need a forest...
A great lecture on the Uncertainty Principle :-D
Hands down no question all time favorite writer ,brilliant
Hey Adam! Would you say Brandon: "THANK YOU for the amazing content" on my behalf, please? Thanks!
For all of us!!
Brandon, I think you're just the coolest.
Awesome! Thank you ❤
I have the exact same thought when I try to think of what to write next. My life is only so long and I can only write so many stories and it is so hard to decide.
What I’ve been doing for almost a year since I’ve started writing my first novel is writing down all the really cool book ideas into my phone, I know I want to write these ideas but I don’t want to abandon my current project so I just write them down for when I finally get finish my book
I write because I love writing. On average I crank out three full length novels a year start to finish. It is an amazing feeling every time I finish a novel. It never gets old.
You released anything yet?
Feeling FOMO is one of humanity's fallacies. Go with something and be done with the decision making. So in writing, just write don't care how good it is, you can always edit, you can always go on to something new. Just write, write, write.
Hoid backstory OMGGGG!!!!! The day Branderson stops writing will be a tragic day for sure...
I love the set behind him really sets the tone
Amazing. A true inspiration.
Brandon is a great teacher
i kinda wanna cry. wonderful message
What a GREAT fireplace!!!!
love this extemporaneous style
Elantris is my second favorite Brandon Sanderson book.
The Emperor's Soul is my absolute favorite.
Sixth of the Dusk is my favorite short story. {Edited}
I'm a die hard fan of the Stormlight Archive and the 1st Mistborn trilogy.
And now you know all these useless facts about me.
6th of... dawn? Dusk, right?
@@ephraimcullen yes! You're right :P
Elantris is the first book I read of him. Never stop since ! I PRAY for a next chapter of this story 😫😫
Wow, I have this problem! I have too many ideas and after my current major project (the first three books in a 6-book Epic) I’m going to have to choose very wisely, because aside from building just a writing career I’m also working to become a musician and a RUclips content creator. Times are tough … 😅
Brandon Sanderson is the GigaChad of fantasy writing.
‘’My upcoming books, there are no secrets among those’’ says while literally writing 5-in his own words-‘’Secret Projects’’
Dude you are so sympathetic.
Brandon Sanderson ASMR book crafting.... thank you!
He is so real...like no other
ah so this is where all the stormlight money went...
Awesome room you have there, wow
I like the setting
"Every story I choose to tell kills a thousand other ones."
I really struggle not to edit my first drafts as I write. As I write something, I realise that the logic does not seem to hold, or I know for a fact that there is a more appropriate word or that I am writing too many "Ands" and "long running sentences" and "Too much of description or too little description"...and may others....and all I can say is...Critic me is very active while I write.
The worst is the fact that even character names end up with that scrutiny.
but I think that these videos do help keep reminding me that I should let the first draft be the first draft.
Being so open about not dating for years is highly relatable, took me a long time too
I love this man
Brandon beautiful den there looks like so beautiful! All ya need now is a nice ornate chalice ;)
You know that in secret.... you are writing extra novels!!! (Thank you!!!)
Brandon as much as we all want you to finish the Cosmere books it shouldn't come at the expensive of your own happiness, aspirations or life goals! I know in my heart if I was just told to write things that didn't make me happy, I would feel incomplete and not whole for not achieving what I wanted to do in life or the way in which I would like to be remembered. Its just my take how i would decide on what to write next - what makes me happy and wanting to continue with a career in writing. But I also see the dilemma on how people view your legacy and remember your works for what they want you to have completed in a life time. Tough choice to make.
Btw do you use the Surface book 3 for your writing computer or can you recommend another?
YO that Sixth of the Dusk reading was stellar btw. Spoilery in some ways but worth it imo.
3:55 "But there's one question that, the older I've gotten, the more difficult the opportunity cost has become to me. And that question is: What should I write next?" _Boo hoo!_ Try starting out in your mid-50s. The opportunity costs to me are staggering. I'm making the leap from short story to novel and narrowed numerous book ideas to three -- then spent six months deciding which I should write. Ugh. In those six months I could have finished a first draft.
Your insights abound and astound:
8:32 "It was more important for me to tell stories than what I was telling." I knew this as I wrote countless short stories to practice my craft. Then I forgot it when I wanted to write a book.
8:46 "Finishing and doing something you thought was really difficult." And paraphrasing you, once you accomplish something for the first time, doing it again becomes much easier.
30:44 "'What do I want to have done?' rather than 'what do I want to do now.'" I call this the "as if" principle. I envision what it will be like to have accomplished a significant goal. To get there, much of what I do, I do _as if_ I've already achieved it.
Opportunity cost indeed. Excellent point in a poignant video. Thank you.
I guess I'm a few years behind even you. I've not written anything to completion since I was a teen. Now I'll be 60 in less than 7 months. But I know exactly what I want to write. The harder part for me will be getting good enough at the craft to actually begin writing it. Meaning I have to write a few novels that have almost nothing (if anything) to do with what I've been working on and thinking about since my teens. It has morphed and changed for the better over the years, but I still have that experience of finishing a novel-length project ahead of me. And I still also (on top of what I know I want to have written) have more ideas/prompts than I could ever really finish in an average human lifespan.
If you want to have written something, it helps to actually sit down and write. Often, and a lot.
For a moment, when the video started, I thought his phone was a pipe.
Good for him👍👍
Always interesting to listen to your story when you started writing. I want to write, but it is always so hard... So hearing you saying that you needed, what was it? 4 years to write your first book, helps.
Also how come that Shadiversity is a fan of someone who wrote something called „I hate Dragons“?
33:30 Sixth of Dusk sequel, to avoid spoilers I recommend waiting 15 years for this book to be released. 4 years later, book is released..... oh BS
Pans. But no pots. Very suspicious. But I'll keep reading his books.
I hope I have the opposite reaction, because not being able to decide which story to write next was crippling to me. I find it easier now.
After all... the most important step is the next one.
Choosing the next book definitely falls within that.
This is not to do with the video, but would you please make a video with the artists that made the different languages of Roshar come to life. They could do a tutorial on how to make your own glyphs maybe? It would be fantastic!
Thanks for reading.
tl;dw
Hey Brandon, how do I decide what to work on next?
Brandon: Death is coming....sooner than you think...
Anyone happen to know in which video he goes into more detail about Mistborn (27:10)?
Comrade Sanderson
After listening to part of this, i am realizing that I am an adult, and have an aversion to childish strories that go on forever.
A serious genius
You talking about altering the timeline, it reminded me of The Simpsons where Homer time travels via the toaster and keeps messing up the future.
His rules for choosing his next book to write:
1. Not Rithmatist 2
2. This video
Rithmatist is one I'm sure we all want more of... but gosh I'm so glad that Wax and Wayne is finally finishing up. It felt almost like he forgot it for a while.
Same same lol, as much as his fans may love his unique ideas. He knows he should keep pushing his big series forward or make the fans suffer
@@pyrojkl Hullo fellow Wind Waker fan
If there was one, and only one, question I could ask you Brando it's this: What do you think TRULY makes someone or something entertaining?
When it comes to stories I've always wondered this.
We, as an audience, tend to know when something is entertaining pretty accurately... but not exactly pinpoint HOW it's entertaining.
"This is entertaining because of the fights! It's entertaining because of these plots! It's entertaining because of these characters! Bla bla bla!" All of these reasonings yet they'll completely miss the mark, although sometimes... their aim is true.
On the other hand, loads of professionals of the entertainment industry give out tons of advice and structures on stories: 3-5 act structure, scene-sequel structure, dialogue tips, writing advice, etc.
However I've seen a few if not lots of stories that seem to do everything right, "officially," yet... they're just boring. But, at the same time, I've seen lots of stories that are riddled with plot holes, tons of unlikable stereotypes and clichés, poorly written characters, etc. and yet are very enjoyable and successful.
You have been posed this same question before in your lectures, "Why is it some stories work and some just don't?"
Personally I think the answer lies in one thing... entertainment.
BUT... what does that even mean? What does it mean to be entertained?
- To make us feel something?
- To make us engaged?
- To make us think?
- All of the above or something else?
Personally I have my own theory on it (which was hinted in the above paragraph) but truth be told I'm just a random guy no one knows. I can't say I know what I'm talking about if I've never seen success.
So I'll ask you, a well read man who's published truly great works of art for decades and been met with loads of success; What do you think makes someone or something TRULY entertaining?
Dear sir, artists have been trying to answer this question since entertainment was first put forth as both a category and an abstract concept.
The short answer? It’s subjective. What you find entertaining may be dull to me. I’ve heard people say they aren’t religious, yet they still read the Christian Bible, or other religious texts from time to time, for no reason other than the stories therein. Those individuals find entertainment in the story of David and Goliath, Noah’s Arc, or Samson and Delilah, while many others read those same stories in a much different fashion; as part of their worship/faith.
I don’t think any person can accurately isolate or define the one universal quality to a piece of media-no matter if it happens to be novels, films, Netflix original programs, and so on-that is THE THING that makes Entertainment... well, entertainment. “Are you not entertained?” Think of the context and meaning of that particular quote. Once upon a time, people went to watch men slaughtering each other, or being eaten by lions, for their entertainment. Now days, I think we can all agree (I hope, but then again, maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic in saying so), such a practice is awful and inhumane.
Getting back to what I was saying earlier; the fact that I hate watching sports, when so many others can’t get enough of their favorite teams, should illustrate just how subjective it all is.
What makes something entertainment? Being marketed or categorized as such by the mass market. What makes something entertain-ing? That’s like asking what is art?
To quote the most famous answer to another question of similar phrasing: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”
I am obviously not Brandon Sanderson but hopefully this adds to the dialogue you have here in some meaningful way.
With all that being said...
If you ever DO discover the thing that makes something entertaining, PLEASE DM me, so we can bottle it up, and sell it by the truckload!! Lol.
@@citizensguard3433 @Citizen’s Guard Your comment absolutely adds more to the potential dialogue! It's a great answer to the question.
That said, I'd like to pose you a counter question to the, "simple," answer.
What if there are multiple instances that makes us entertained; multiple forms of entertainment and thus multiple ways to be entertained?
It's true that we can't possibly determine what makes something SOLELY entertaining if we are entertained by different things. With that logic in mind, it's understandable to think that entertainment is purely subjective and based on whatever is marketed as such.
However, what if we looked at it a different way?
Take our tastes in entertainment:
You may prefer Intrigue: you like to THINK about something when reading/watching the story; to be fascinated by certain aspects. Thus u may watch something like Ergo Proxy to be wildly entertained by the philosophical mystery of that story.
I may prefer emotional connection: I like to feel something when reading/watching the story or just watch dumb fun and laugh. Thus I may watch something like One Piece to be wildly entertained by the emotional characters and comedy of that story.
In this particular instance we're both being entertained by something we prefer, and they are different from one another... wouldn't that mean there's multiple forms of entertainment?
I've always heard people say that the answer is simply subjective but I've never heard of someone say that there's multiple forms of entertainment.
When it comes to the subjectivity issue, I think of it like this: Being a good chef!
Say a chef decides to cook salmon, your favorite food! (Figuratively for argument's sake) But when you taste the chef's salmon, you could practically feel the salmon climbing back out of your mouth it's so horrible! So the chef tries again and again to make the perfect salmon and one day, it's the best salmon you've ever tasted. You invite other salmon lovers and they ALL love it!
But... one day you invite Brandon himself to taste it.
Here's the thing... he just doesn't like salmon. No matter how good it is, he will never like it. It doesn't mean he doesn't like food, he just doesn't like salmon.
So in this instance, it helps the chef a lot more when he knows how to make more than just salmon.
What if Entertainment is the same?
If two people are entertained by different things: Intense action or romantic comedies, wouldn't that just mean there's different forms of entertainment and thus different ways to be entertained?
@@citizensguard3433 Understood. Once we find the universal secret of entertainment, we'll become the wealthiest pair in the world! 😂
Dreamchaser
I’d say, do what should be done with all of the intricate questions in life: write a story around it! Doing that tends to produce some really great stories.
The thing he said about the most important moment in his early career being when he finished his first novel... A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
whoa is that the lair
Nice
Just to clarify, Dragonsteel hasn't been published yet, right?
Edit: Nevermind, video answers it.
Badass background
Quick question. How do you think about clothing in your world? How do you come up with them? For a world with many different cultures and quite large. I've been struggling with them.
Usually comes down to climate and function. Followed by status(upper class may prioritze fashion than function and want to look different than the worker class).
@@Ryuksgelus that doesn't fully explain aesthetic. That can give you some sense of material and style, but aesthetically authors come up with designs in their head. I'm curious as to how he thinks about it. Because he has a good amount of variation in his clothing.
@@tempestuous2090 I am not a writer but when I read a story I often notice a historical or cultural inspiration for the clothing based off of a specific culture or a combination of cultures
@@extonjonas6820 yeah. But usually when you go outside of standard fantasy clothing which tends to be European inspired, there's possibility if using something culturally significant and not quite right for you to use. So though you can use historical inspirations, it's best to create your own aesthetic. Like for example Sanderson differentiates between kaladins clothing and shallans clothing.
White Sand is going to be made into novellas?! So we are getting a canon prose version at some point? That'd be so amazing!
I doubt it. I think there will be an eventual Taldain novel/novella, but I think when he said that, he meant for it to be, but someone approached him and was like 'hey wanna make a graphic novel?' and he was like okay!
White Sand might get a canon prose version but no promises. See 01:43:22 of live signing #24
I can solve this internal debate of yours for you . Stormlight . Lots and lots of stormlight books
Is there anywhere we can hear the section of the book that got cut out at 22:43?
RIP Peter in the cold!
22:43 Awww come on!
Branderson is his own grandfather confirmed
Anyone know when the next live livestream is?