This Sanderson Article Gets Unhinged (In My Opinion)
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- So Wired did a piece on Brandon Sanderson. It... it didn't turn out like you might think.
The Article: www.wired.com/...
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Can’t believe this person had the audacity to attack Sanderson’s prose, when it took him 5 months to write “I don’t like Brandon Sanderson”.
Criticising prose is, like, the most snobby angle to take as a literature critic.
@@TheLizardKing752 Yeah, that whole section reeks of, “I can’t wait to get out of this hick town. I’ve got a decanter of my finest farts waiting for me back home.”
@@jmike426 I sip sherry and read James Joyce on the fainting couch in the veranda with my Italian greyhound.
To be fair, the article author did write "I don't like Brandon Sanderson" about 400 different ways so that may have taken a while.
Even if you are calculating a slow-AF typing speed (30PWM) for an industry professional writer, It would only take around 2 hours to physically type an article of 4k words. Consider it may take another couple hours of composition to actually put the article together. What should have taken a writer a single day of work (at most) took this clown 5 months?
"Most of what he says isn't worth saying" is a hell of a take when writing an article not worth writing.
Right?!?!!
That's some good projection right there.
It’s also, please forgive me, so stereotypical American. He’s basically pissed, that Sanderson doesn’t say anything “exciting” or “profound” or as he calls it: quotable. Like someone can only be interesting if they sound like some tacky piece of entertainment…
@@bjorngerlach7829 Naw. I have traveled all over the world. People have bad takes like this everywhere.
Perfectly sums it up to me
My wife and I decided on the perfect metaphor for this article: "The jock is mad that the nerd didn't do his homework for him."
That's exactly it, you both are geniuses 😂
😄👍
OMG. 😂You guys are so right. Very similar energy.
"Jocks" don't write articles for The Wire.
This is very clealy written by a San Francisco hipster type.
I once met mr. Sanderson at a diner. He ordered intravenous alphabet soup and ten thousand napkins. By the time my soft boiled egg arrived the napkins were off to editing. He looked into my eyes and said "Ka-Ching, motherf***er!" I have been crying ever since.
This is the best remark in the flaming pit that is this comment section 😂
Holy fuck, I'm laughing so hard
OMG this had me laughing so hard.
He's LDS, He would have said "Mother fudger" and then apologized for his language.
This took me awhile. I’m glad I took the time.
The reporter set out to write a mean spirited takedown of Brandon Sanderson and then cried in the shower because there wasn’t any dirt to dig up, it’s pathetic
That sounds about right
It could just be me, but I also got a sense of deep jealousy.
Any excuse that could (or couldn't) be taken to paint BS as someone who didn't earn his success was taken, along with pointing out how success full he is.
IDK, just seems like someone was very jealous.
This "writer" seems like he built an online career while cooped up in his room all his life and finally was given the chance to go out, meet and sniff people.
@@squngy0 Theres a lot of failed writers who do journalism so it wouldnt surprise me
Exactly.
Ok I can't listen to this whole thing because it's making me too mad, but this feels like one of those situations where someone just doesn't like or get Some Popular Thing, and instead of accepting that they have personal tastes and that's a fine and neutral thing, they go digging for some Profound Moral Correctness that justifies/explains their opinion and makes it the Objectively Right One. "I don't like Brando Sando so there has to be a good reason." What results is a self-congratulatory spiral that inadvertently exposes their Whole Ass and makes them look judgmental, conniving and cruel - because that's what they were doing. In absence of a real concrere reason to pin their dislike on, and unable to truly believe their proposed objective answer ("maybe you're a bad writer") they engage in schoolyard bullying of his clothes, his looks, his religion, his fans, his friends and family. We are witnessing a very sad, very small person scrabbling desperately for validation of their cruelty because they lack the confidence to simply and harmlessly feel a certain way about a certain thing.
Nice to know these guys don't just evaporate after high school, I guess?
-R
This is so right!
Well said 👏
Good description of an under acknowledged toxic internet phenomena.
Go off Red, did not expect to see you here but damn we all need to let a comment like this off once in a while.
Your assessment brings to mind Anton Ego’s last words In Ratatouille after eating at Gusteau’s
Props to Daniel for reading the whole thing out, so now no one has to click on the article and feed Wired the clicks they wanted for this rage bait.
My thoughts exactly.
Tbh this article got push notified to me by Google. I read the first few paragraphs and stopped reading as obvious BS was BS. Wasn't onlineuch for a couple of days and came back to this. It's a shame that my click would count as 'engagement' as this article is pretty pathetic.
It's like Daniel happened onto some wannabe journalist's suicide note and decided to read it to the world. I'm glad that I don't have to go to the actual article to read it. I have no respect for Wired magazine for publishing such an obvious hit-piece. Wired really must want to cut their readership in half because Sanderson wouldn't be so popular if his works weren't any good.
Yessss
This.
This is one of those articles that reveals WAY more about the person who wrote it than about the person who is supposed to be the subject of the article.
it was hilarious...we got his entire psychological profile in one essay, and nothing about Brandon other than he's happy and he's some superhuman who feels no pain
The fact that one of Sanderson's employees had to tell this guy that "he HAS to try the shower" might reveal that he was actually the person with B.O. at Dragonsteel LMAO
FACTS
My nose not work, because I have NEVER encountered anyone smelly at a con. Or I'm lucky. Or it's a stereotype, who knows?
I've been to a lot of cons and use to actually work them (so about 2 a month at that point) and is say more than half of them have smelly areas, usually on show floors. But it's not all of the for sure. Anime cons seem to be most likely, I had less bad experiences at science fiction and developer conferences. Every Doctor Who con I've ever been to has been clear. @@FlyingFocs
What stuck out to me was that the wired writer was so offended by wholesome things. He was offended by it at every turn. Wholesome conversation. Faithful family members, friends, and fans. People refusing to be insulting or gossip. A Wholesome movie. Spiritual comments. A family dinner. Even basic kindness, like letting a strange reporter stay in your nicest room. He hated all of it.
Yes. This so true and strange. The Wired writer felt so victimized by Sanderson and his family/team’s kindness and goodness
I think he wanted to hate him before he met him. He isn't hateable so it fueled this rant.
Typical costal journo
@@robhillman2238 almost feels like a Lovecraft protagonist
Honestly it feels like this guy felt personally insulted that Sanderson didn't give him good enough material for an actual hit piece so he just decided to whine for the entire article instead.
This just makes me sad for Brandon. Like he invited you into his home, you met his family, his closest friends. You shared meals with him and learned some intimate details of his personal life that probably shouldn’t have been shared. Then you vomited on your keyboard and insulted him with everything you had for no reason. What a way to treat the hospitality and kindness he showed
Apparently the author was friendly and trying to get close the whole time. So true snake in the grass.
So disgusting...
That article showed me nothing about Sanderson and everything about the person who wrote the article.
What a way to treat someone who was kind to you.
This should make you sad about the author of this article. Brandon is fine.
Shit like this gets you baked into pies in some fantasy worlds
This whole article is just like "How dare these lovely people invite me into their home and treat me with such gracious hospitality." Like sheesh dude.
Seriously... The big scoop here is that Brandon... is a normal dude who gets excited talking about things he loves? Holy crap, call the FBI.
I love how he framed sanderson buying him tickets to the Greatest Showman as some horrifying thing
@@poggestfrog He didn't even buy him tickets, he just showed it to him in his home theater. The author could've asked Sanderson to put on a different movie at any time.
@@poggestfrog i wish that the worst thing that ever happend to me was a famous author showing you a movie that you dislike
Alternative title: "I suffered through this anti-Brandon Sanderson hit-piece so you don't have to". Thank you for this invaluable public service, Daniel, much appreciated.
I know! And we don't have to click into the article to give then views
I like how the author found the time to kick a small local Chinese restaurant in between their other garbage takes. Real classy
Local Chinese restaurants are some of the best things ever. Idk what that article writer is one about lol
As someone also from SF, yeah the Chinese food in Salt Lake City likely won't be as good, but why mention that in your article? "Flopsy Utah Chinese" - sorry they cater to a different clientele and that the Asian population there isn't as big as it is here? All it makes him sound like is a pompous coastal elite.
@@Kedai610 pretty sure Californians get off on talking about how bad Utah is after visiting. It happens often 😂
@Kedai To be fair, authentic and good aren't one and the same. General tso is absolutely delicious but isn't authentic. But yeah a town 4x the size will probably have better food options.
@@Kedai610 I was born in San Diego, moved to the rockies when I was 9 and I can honestly say one of the things I miss most is proper sushi. Ironically the best Sushi I've ever had was from a local shop in Columbus Ohio (seriously Haiku is a fantastic place if your in town and can afford to drop $40 on lunch), the most disappointing place was Nakama in Pittsburg that I think was trying a little too hard to be upper class.
I also met Sanderson once. I drove from my utterly luxurious and scintillating home state of Minnesota to the decrepit, backwater cesspit that is Utah. I met Sanderson at one of his fan conventions, which I went to so that I could explain to all of king Sanderson's peasants that Sanderson's work is bad and that they should feel bad, as bad as I do every waking moment of my miserable life as a roving journalist who has to suffer through writing one article EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. When Sanderson and I finally met, my first question was, "what am I even doing here in goddamn nowheresville with a bunch of nerds?" He had no answer, of course. To follow up, I asked him a very straightforward and unbiased question: "why do all of your fans smell bad, why is your religion bad, why do you look so stupid, why are your books terrible, why aren't you more quotable, why are you simultaneously famous and yet nobody at my local Wholefoods has heard of you, why is your shower so good, and why am I crying?" Not surprisingly, he had no answer to that either. Or rather, he did answer it, but who cares? It wasn't a riveting answer, therefore I did not write it. In conclusion: why is everyone in Utah mad at me now?
This is top-tier sarcasm and I am here for it!
You wrote the entire article faster than the five months he took to puke it out
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@Tom D you're my hero hahah
Lmao
Sanderson is definitely not "extremely mormon". In the latest episode of his podcast he described himself as just over the 50% mark on the spiritual to skeptical scale. He is very understanding of people of other or no faith and his written several agnostic or atheist characters in a very human, non-condemning way. He has talked about the fact that he has questioned his faith and so cannot blame other people for coming to different decisions than him. This sort of understanding is the opposite of any type of religious extremism...
And funnily enough, that is a fairly decent way (IMO) of describing the general culture of mormons as looking at people of other or no faith. I am a member myself, and certainly more conservative than Brandon, and I resonate with every point you wrote. Mormons aren't really very weird or extreme at all in general.
Anyone who knows ACTUAL "extreme Mormons" would know that he would never get away with staying in his community writing the things he writes lol.
@@dexter5653 Uh . . . I guess it depends on your definition of extreme.
@Cameron Williamson depends on the ones you meet ig..... but I've met some people on VERY different ends of the spectrum.
@@DanielLopez-ob9jz That doesn't negate Cameron's point at all, though? I've met extreme Christians, atheists, toxic fans of different fandoms, and more, but that doesn't preclude me from realizing that not all members of whatever community are that way. Most people in any group are just regular people, with good points and bad points, and the vocal extremists shouldn't paint your perception. If everyday people were loudly proclaiming everywhere how normal they were, they wouldn't exactly be normal, would they?
this was VERY cathartic to listen to - thanks for covering this lol
True. I would have had to scream at my screen had I not listned to the article through Daniel. XD Now it was more like disagreeing with the article alongside Daniel. ^^
I was on the Writing Excuses Retreat last September, which Brandon Sanderson attended. A random fan was on the ship and happened to share an elevator with him on his way to a WXR-exclusive event. The fan came to the entrance of the event shortly afterward with their parent and a copy of one of his books, asking very politely if there was any way to get an autograph. I asked him if he would be willing to autograph the book, and instead, he asked me to bring them and their parent into the event where he spent about 10 minutes talking with them while signing their book.
He was absolutely kind anytime I saw him.
Just proof that you can be a genuinely kind person and someone will still find a reason to talk shit about you.
And that’s sometimes people make you out to be a bad person only because they want to feel justified in being vile to you.
Reminds me of the old adage, "if you meet an asshole first thing in the morning you've met an asshole, if you meet assholes all day long, you're the asshole."
Mr. Sanderson met an asshole that day.
@@fenixchief7 The Raylan Givens School of Philosophy.
Usually you get more shit and less defense. Sanderson is popular enough to get tons of defense, at least.
The writer is from San Francisco n went to Utah. San Fran is where all the super crazy left leaning politicos come from. I guarentee you they made up their mind about Sanderson once they learned he was religious.
They really complained about Sanderson describing unnecessary character expression and wrote a paragraph about the salt on his ramen
😂😂😂😂 Right on the money!
Putting salt on Ramen isn’t a food heist but it is a food crime. A talented author could incorporate this as a funny anecdote without being a dick and of course mentioning his son. The fact that he couldn’t says everything about the author.
@@HardlyDOTA We tease my dad in RL about how much salt he puts on everything. Who'd ever do that in an actual article about a guy you're interviewing? That doesn't even mention saying it about his son. It's tacky enough even without that.
Well, most Ramen is already pretty salty. Roman legionaries used to be paid in salt. Thus, salt is analogous with money.
Brandon Sanderson salting an already salty dish means that he is a bourgeois megalomaniac who revels in excess.
We can therefore assume that B-Money is, in fact, not a character but rather Sandersons true face revealed with plausible comedic deniability.
/s obviously
@@HardlyDOTA it's already so salty lol
Daniel, you have my utmost respect, sir.
Also I really do need to express: I work on the Dragonsteel art team directly with Isaac. I illustrated the Alcatraz series, and did those standees of the Mistborn Era 2 characters at the convention. Our team is great, I love them a lot.
I am not Mormon/LDS. Nor am I related to anyone at Dragonsteel. I was a kid drawing fanart that Isaac contacted at the tail end of my college career and offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. Fullstop.
Please do not attack the author of this article, folks, even if it offends you as much as it offended me. Question his agenda, for sure, but also DO understand that Brandon and his team are the real deal, in my humble opinion.
@Mark DiSalvi as a huge fan of the series, I’m right with you, and so delighted to be able to be part of the journey!
If you ever feel like you’ve done something dumb, just remember that someone wrote this article.
😂😂
Me: *feeling afraid of failing a deadline at work*
Me: "Well, at least I didn't write that psycho Wired article and embarrass myself in front of millions of people*
Me: *feels better*
😂😂
I can understand that some asshole wrote it. I can't understand how an editor let them publish it.
Not only that, put someone approved it for publication
Imagine going to a fancon and asking people “but this thing you love isn’t really that Good, right?” And being surprised when you get confused looks.
Yeah, Imagine doing that at a Star Wars convention or something. You'd get laughed out of the building and/or clubbed with lightsabers.
But how someone making an effort to go to a phantasy convention, obviously a hobby, could spend money on a sword and get it delivered home? Is this journalist for real?
@@Swiergotka78 bro, I'm not sure what exactly you're saying. People going to fantasy conventions can't have jobs or money? Or that buying swords isn't a real thing people do?
@@fenixchief7 pretty sure he's pointing out the absurdity of the journalist commenting on this.
@@fenixchief7 I was being sarcastic - people at fancons are usually more into their passions than just "lukewarm" fans, so how would anybody be surprised to see them geek out and buy stuff? Isn't it exactly what people go to fancons for? And how is a sword any less acceptable than a 200$ bottle of wine, perfume, hat, bag or shoes which so many people spend money on.
As a former Mormon raised in Utah who went on to live and work in NYC and later SF, this article does not surprise me one bit. I've felt that smug condescension my entire adult life, especially when people learn that I left the Mormon church and thus feel more at ease telling me what they really think. What the Wired author truly despises is that Brandon is happy. People like that genuinely believe that the only thing worth chasing in life is status among the crowd that hobnobs in places like The Battery in SF, or Soho House in Malibu. That is the status this Wired author craves with every fiber of his being, and the fact that Sanderson has wealth, status and happiness outside of what the author deems important offends him. It violates his worldview, and thus he must cast Sanderson as a deviant meriting nothing more than contempt and derision.
That's a really interesting and compelling take. Unfortunately there are plenty of people nowadays who seem to resent anything outside of their "ideal reality," and see people thriving in a different lifestyle as undeserved or somehow wrong.
I felt that too. The happiness upsets him. He can't comprehend it. He describes how happy they are, then describes himself crying.
"It violates his worldview, and thus he must cast Sanderson as a deviant meriting nothing more than contempt and derision." Ironic since that's what super religious people are often criticized of doing.
@@jampersand0 oh the writer is religious alright, just not theistic. They've got a "higher calling," acceptable virtues and tenants, sinners and deviants, and their own little holy land. They've found their own little golden bull and resents Sanderson for not believing as he does.
Grew up in conservative Christian Kansas. I got a PhD at a school in SoCal, and the people I met weren't quite this bad, but the things they said about Americans who didn't think like them could be so breathtaking. They couldn't even hear how they came off to people outside their little world--which they thought was THE World. They're supposed to be the smart, sophisticated, tolerant ones, and they were just so ignorant. It was mind-blowing for me... but this article is just more of the same--a permanent exhibit. I think you're right. The writer is eating his heart out with envy. He can't admit what Sanderson has is real or important because what would that say about his life?
This article is fundamentally unkind. The author talks about crying in Sanderson’s home because he(?) couldn’t find an angle on this story, through no fault of the author or his team. Making that angle trashing the character, family, fans, and faith of someone who treated you with kindness is such an awful choice.
That makes a lot of sense as a reading. I wondered why he mentioned crying and how bad a time he was having. I guess it was just a way to complain about being bad at his job without coming off as completely unprofessional.
@@veelogation3890 yeah, I don’t want to trash this article’s author, that just extends the negativity. I don’t know his talent level or frame of mind, I just think this particular piece of writing was, as you put it, unprofessional.
It's a straight up hit piece in my opinion. The author doesn't like Mormons, and it almost seems like his motive was to seek out problematic famous Mormons in the public sphere to "take down" and he was trying DESPERATELY to related something, ANYTHING, about Sanderson to bad religion for said take down, only he couldn't find anything bad, and so he switched gears, no expose on alt-right bigoted X-phobic past, ok, no worries, let's just belittle the man, his wife, his children, his community, his city and state, the restaurants that he frequents, and paint him as an irrelevant weirdo who compares himself to God and whose prose sucks and thus is someone we should all find irrelevant and who should disappear so we don't talk about him already. W. T. F.
Why was this guy crying all the time? He seems like he was having pretty powerful emotional reactions to this whole experience. Dude seems like he needs some help.
Just as bad, an editor presumably read it and approved it for publication.
What the actual fuck?
This is singlehandedly one of the weirdest articles I've ever read. I'm glad to see you took a look at it as well Daniel!
If I didn't know who Sanderson was before reading that article, I would walk away from it assuming Sanderson is some megalomaniacal rich Mormon cult leader.
The author of this article is being negative on purpose for attention.
The endless "Mormon" exoticism continues, long after it was birthed a hundred and fifty years ago.
We are just another church. Stop conflating us with Warren Jeffs and stuff. I'm so dadgum tired, and really would prefer that people just forgot we existed.
I'm honestly not even sure what I would think about Sanderson after reading this article, I feel like the article says much more about the author than it does about Sanderson. It's actually kind of impressive how the author completely failed to make any kind of coherent claim about who or what Sanderson is.
Am I the only one who thinks that someone decided to ask an AI for a Sanderson Article?
I mean... what the f*ck?
Some things feel so randomly out of place, half of the things that are mentioned could be told by anyone watching one of his livestreams and the other half sounds like made up crap (maybe it's true I personally don't know and any knew Informations I gained from this article, will be locked away simply because I have no way of knowing if any of this is actually real, since the author tries to make every little thing sound as horrible as possible)...
@@jackwriter1908okay so I am not the only one who thought that. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprise that the author got lazy, and made the entire thing thru ai.
This is honestly horrible. Imagine opening your house to someone like that and 6 months later that person comes out with something like this.
I honestly cannot fathom the fact that someone at Wired read this and was like "yep, let's publish this". Like... what the hell?
Why not? They did the same thing with Hogwards Legacy. Wired is full on cancel culture.
They did it because people read it, made videos about it, etc. The only thing 99% of online article publishers care about is traffic and ad revenue. Controversy generally equals profit.
I may be wrong but I think the writer is a senior editor at Wired. So I don't know how many had to actually look at it before it got published
@@rsrocha1984 this doesn't look like an attempt at canceling so much as an attempt to get canceled
@@NameTaken123 You nailed it.
Ive met Sanderson early in his career for a book signing, and he invited me and a couple others back to his hotel to play Magic the Gathering. He was an awesome guy. I really enjoyed the evening and we introduced him to St Louis Style Pizza from Imos. He's honestly just a normal nerdy guy, he's not all that different than most of the people I play D&D with. I don't know what got up this guys butt, but I've hung out with Sanderson for an entire evening and he was great. And this is also coming from a pretty strong athiest.
That's actually a really cool story!
Well let's be frank here, this journalist gives me "I envy him so god damn much!" vibes. This is likely because Brandon despite being super nerdy has a good family life, strong character, solidified beliefs, is a prolific writer and got that cash monay this dork can only drool about get for his writing. Plus he's creative and this writer obviously isn't.
I’m just so proud y you introduced him to St. Louis Style Pizza
OK, who do I have to pay off to get a chance to kick back and play MTG with Sando? With pizza? Bonus!
I agree I'm an atheist as well and he seems really nice. I met him at a WOT party at dragon con in 2012 I think and there weren't many people there so he was just talking to everyone. Crazy to think now that he's gotten so much more popular.
I'm not Mormon, Christian, or even "religious" in the conventional sense of the term, but I really appreciate you calling Jason out for being so unfair and ignorant about Mormonism. I have several problems with the LDS church myself, but the way to solve those problems is through serious investigation and honest critique, not thoughtless dismissal and bigotry.
This. I am in the faith, but I’m more aware of the issue than many of the older folks in the faith are (most likely due to people online). If you approach people in a sense of “I have these issues, here’s my thoughts” and make sure they know you’re acting without malice, you are much more likely to get through to a person. Articles like this are the reason people stop listening to the good criticisms and it drives me insane.
@@Spiney09yeah and others just assume we don’t see the issues when in fact we do
I actually find the fact that Sanderson admits that he struggles with emotions and ‘pain’ and uses his profoundly emotional writing as a way to express that is beautiful.
YEAH. And that's not too uncommon a thing, it's just that it's being talked about more; Painting it like they did is super messed up
A good writer could have found a moving angle for that story. Not here.
@@gdhuertas07 RIGHT?! But the issue is that the writer never bothered to read Sanderson's work or even try to find some passages people find moving
I don't know what his mental health is like but my depression makes me emotionally dead a lot of the time, and his books make me feel things.
Brandon and emotional writing? What?
The insistence this writer has on portraying Sanderson as weird for 'not feeling' is honestly one of the nastiest parts of the article in my opinion. It's very middle school bully. There are PLENTY of reasons people struggle with 'feeling' and none of them mean that someone is any less human
18:03
Heartwarming story about a man who felt inspired by Brandon’s stories, turned his life around, and become a happy father.
The Author of this Article: What a weird NERD!
this seems like in Harry Potter when Rita Skeeter attacked all the main characters, but i never thought i’d see something like that outside of a young adult fantasy series
Then you've luckily never heard of the right wing British tabloid press that inspired Skeeter
@@insertname2035 don't you mean the left-wing British press. Yours faithfully a Brit and a centrist.
@@thedeadd.c.207 I'm also a British centrist 🤣 the British press is definitely right wing (the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Times, the Spectator, the daily express for example) . Even in the books Mr Dursley reads the Daily Mail. JKR has made it pretty obvious who Skeeter is inspired by.
@@thedeadd.c.207 You might be British, but you're not the only one here and this comment is deluded 😂. The Sun and the Mail are the most needlessly aggressive papers we have in the UK and they're both right wing.
@@nectanbo Dude the Daily mail is basically the fox news of Britain.
I honestly think this guy went looking for dirt on Sanderson, hoping he'd be mean or rude, and was extremely disappointed to find Sanderson is the real deal. He's a good man and he's mad about it.
100% this
I think you're probably right. That brain surgeon dude who ran for president in...2012...I honestly can't remember his name right now. But anyway, I remember back then there was a podcast with at least one major journalist and some other guy. Anyway, point was, it was very plainly admitted that at least some (not sure the number) journalists went so hard after Ben Carson (is his name!) to try to desperately find dirt. And they couldn't. And it made them even more mad and truly hate him more than they already did.
Regardless of politics, journalists (which in this case of the Wired article, is a misnomer) can have this diabolical drive to just try and find dirt on people. I think it's the type of specific person who can't believe that there are probably millions of people who live up to their own moral code and have no skeletons in their closet. And it enrages them.
Of course he dud hes from San Francisco. Just look up the kinda people who live there.
@@SoullessAIMusic Scott Manley's from San Francisco! I met him once; he's really nice!
@@csweezey18 your name reinforces my statement.
I’m a bitter atheist exmormon and I will die for Sanderson. He is what Christians should aspire to be. So genuinely wholesome, kind and understanding.
Same. Every time I've seen an interview of Brando Sando, he's nothing but endearing and intelligent.
Same!!
I’m a member of the church and have met many unsavory members but Sanderson is what all members and religious people in general should try to be
SAME! I first found out about him being mormon a few years ago, after watching his lectures and reading some of his books, and it was a cold shock. I've got a lot of trauma built up there. I'm not exmormon, because I never considered myself mormon, but I did grow up in it. I just never once believed. Learning he was mormon instantly knocked me into fight or flight, suddenly realizing WHY all my mormon family members were happy I was reading Sanderson. But this man is so kind, empathetic, understanding, and most importantly - capable of change. You get that sense just from reading his books, but when you actually listen to him talk about his craft, life, his values, it's all laid bare. What a genuine human being.
Knew a mormon dude like that in the military. Very cool, down to earth guy. That is a lot how brandon comes off as so I dont really get the hate the piece was talking about. Im sure the church has its issues but this seems more like he was projecting his dislike of religion onto Sanderson.
Who just randomly hates Hugh Jackman so much that they burst into tears upon seeing him in a movie? Like that is a profoundly weird reaction to have.
I sincerely don’t think this guy is emotionally stable. Like, he needs help
Right. Who doesn't like Hugh Jackman? That's the biggest red flag in this entire article.
@@whawhawhawhaaaai mean seriously, hate people like Jared Leto for example, I mean even big stars like Tom Cruise its plenty justified. But Hugh Jackman? Dude’s pretty damn great and wholesome and hasn’t even had any outburst like Christian Bale or anything, he has a great record and good career. Wtf is wrong with this writer he’s genuinely unstable and probably suffers from some trauma. I mean an intense distrust of anyone nice or acting nice sounds like he has some unprocessed trauma, dunno why he’s even allowed to write
Yeah it's like he just doesn't understand kindness or good people doing good things because they are good. Feel a bit sorry for this writer now he has a lot of baggage, a lot of needs.
Maybe he was previously traumatized by a wolverine attack.
Sanderson just posted a statement/answer about this article on his reddit. I have copied it here.
"All,
I appreciate the kind words and support.
Not sure how, or if, I should respond to the Wired article. I get that Jason, in writing it, felt incredibly conflicted about the fact that he finds me lame and boring. I’m baffled how he seemed to find every single person on his trip--my friends, my family, my fans--to be worthy of derision.
But he also feels sincere in his attempt to try to understand. While he legitimately seems to dislike me and my writing, I don't think that's why he came to see me. He wasn't looking for a hit piece--he was looking to explore the world through his writing. In that, he and I are the same, and I respect him for it, even if much of his tone seems quite dismissive of many people and ideas I care deeply about.
The strangest part for me is how Jason says he had trouble finding the real me. He says he wants something true or genuine. But he had the genuine me all that time. He really did. What I said, apparently, wasn't anything he found useful for writing an article. That doesn't make it not genuine or true.
I am not offended that the true me bores him. Honestly, I'm a guy who enjoys his job, loves his family, and is a little obsessive about his stories. There's no hidden trauma. No skeletons in my closet. Just a guy trying to understand the world through story. That IS kind of boring, from an outsider's perspective. I can see how it is difficult to write an article about me for that reason.
But at the same time, I’m worried about the way he treats our entire community. I understand that he didn’t just talk about me, but about you. As has been happening to fantasy fans for years, the general attitude of anyone writing about us is that we should be ashamed for enjoying what we enjoy. In that, the tone feels like it was written during the 80s. “Look at these silly nerds, liking things! How dare they like things! Don’t they know the thing they like is dumb?”
As a community, let’s take a deep breath. It’s all right. I appreciate you standing up for me, but please leave Jason alone. This might feel like an attack on us, on you, but it’s not. Jason wrote what he felt he needed--and as a writer, he is my colleague. Please show him respect. He should not be attacked for sharing his feelings. If we attack people for doing so, we make the world a worse place, because fewer people will be willing to be their authentic selves.
That said, let me say one thing. You, my friends, are not boring or lame. In Going Postal, one of my favorite novels, Sir Terry Pratchett has a character fascinated by collecting pins. Not pins like you might think--they aren't like Disney pins, or character pins. They are pins like tacks used to pin things to walls. Outsiders find it difficult to understand why he loves them so much. But he does.
In the book, pins are a stand-in for collecting stamps, but also a commentary on the way we as human beings are constantly finding wonder in the world around us. That is part of what makes us special. The man who collects those pins--Stanley Howler--IS special. In part BECAUSE of his passion. And the more you get to know him, or anyone, the more interesting you find them. This is a truism in life. People are interesting, every one of them--and being a writer is about finding out why.
In that way, the ability to make Stanley interesting is part of what makes Pratchett a genius, in my opinion. That's WRITING. Not merely using words. It’s what I aspire to be able to do. People are wonderful, fascinating, brilliant balls of walking contradiction, passion, and beauty. I find it an exciting challenge to make certain that the perspective of the washwoman or the monk sitting and reading a book is as interesting in a story as that of the king or the tech-mogul.
And I find value in you. Your passion for my work is a big part of why I write. You make my life special. Thank you.
(NOTE: I do want to make it clear, again that I bear Jason no ill will. I like him. Please leave him alone. He seems to be a sincere man who tried very hard to find a story, discovered that there wasn't one that interested him, then floundered in trying to figure out what he could say to make deadline. I respect him for trying his best to write what he obviously found a difficult article.
He’s a person, remember, just like each of us.)"
He is obviously hurt, but still acts like a true gentleman. I feel proud to be a reader of his work.
Sanderson is just awesome. This is a classy response that owns this Jason guy.
🙌
Make Stanley proud and give this post a pin
He just cockslapped Jason on the cheeks😂😂
Sanderson is such a class act.
Imagine being such a poor writer that you need to include literal book quotes and chat GPT to increase your personal word count to a 4,000 word magazine article in the same amount of time that your target took to write 2 entire books. And edit 7. And literally teach a college level writing course. And still maintain a big family and attend conventions and have a meaningful faith...
Clearly one of these is not the same.
And then Sando's response to this is unbelievably forgiving. What an incredible guy
What was Sanderson’s response? I’m only finding this now sorry.
@Spiney09 Please show him respect,” Sanderson wrote. “He should not be attacked for sharing his feelings.…I bear Jason no ill will. I like him. Please leave him alone. He seems to be a sincere man who tried very hard to find a story, discovered that there wasn’t one that interested him, then floundered in trying to figure out what he could say to make deadline. I respect him for trying his best to write what he obviously found a difficult article. He’s a person, remember, just like each of us.”
To me, that was actually very polite and insulting at the same time
@@marcelolage1395 he went with the “kill them with kindness” approach it seems.
I cant get over that they let this be published. Its like Tumblr rant material.
Twitter! I meant Twitter! 🤣
I've seen bad Tumblr rants that were better written and more coherent than this article.
More like a 4chan shitpost
@@stevenrasche3159 I didn't mean the quality. Its like the vibe, I guess? It's not even specifically a Tumblr thing really just personal dislike opinion piece which is all well and good! But wired?
Oi! This is not like Tumblr, it is Twitter snarls puffed up to article length.
@@thekawaiislartibartfast42 I get what you mean, it feels like the journalist was throwing a prolonged tantrum in the format of an article.
The article is so bizarre its like an article you would expect to read 20 years ago about d&d or something and the weird obsession with pointing out he lives in utah
Maybe in the early 90s but not 20 years ago. There would have been far too much fascination about the weird subculture aspects of DnD by then.
It’s so freaking weird that he went to the convention and was just going around to fans being like “Say he’s a bad writer. Say it, say it now!”
He may not be written about a lot in the mainstream, but my god is it hard not to find an article about him in the publishing world, or hear about him on a bookish podcast
Seriously, the fact that mainstream media doesn't talk about Sanderson is an indictment of the media and not of him. The media should talk about books and authors more and not just focus on the ones that get movie deals.
But didn’t NYT do a piece on him when the kickstarter happened?
@@estacoda545 Yeah, mostly just because it shattered every record on the platform. It said the bare minimum about his work itself.
i think the fact that sanderson already has his own podcast and is realy widely talked about in social media makes it so that his publisher has less of a need to go chassing after articles and mainstream media to market his work. people forget that articles dont just happen there is a marketing team and all behind these stuff. sandersons marketing team has just a different target audience that isn't much on the mainstream media. so spending time and money on the mainstream media doesnt make that much sens when you already have a huge presence on youtube ,tiktok,instagram and so on.
@@fedos well, they do everything to discourage reading of just about anything.
The the Author of the Article just cant wrap his head around the fact that Brandon is a pretty regular guy (besides his obvious skill in Writing and the Business aspect of writing) is just so weird. The Author wants for Brandon to have something shady going on or whatever. He just isn't happy with the answer, that Brandon is probably just a Nerd who has turned his hobby into is Job with great success.
Right, dude probably wanted to have the next J.K. Rowling controversy to break, but despite his own sucess Brandon seems still like a pretty regular and still generous guy.
I have never before grown to respect person while someone is actively trying to insult them to me. To react with such kindness and patience to such disrespect as this is simply amazing.
This one thing in the article irks me more than anything: I’m studying master's in anthropology and interviews are one of our basic tools. There’re probably some differences in how anthropologists and journalists use interviews, but one thing that got HAMMERED into me was that if your interlocutor wants to remain anonymous or doesn’t want you to mention certain things that aren’t necessary for your research, YOU ABIDE BY THEIR WISHES!!! What this author did is not only sleazy af, but also highly unethical and makes my blood boil.
Agreed. This journalist is the Nice Guy of the writing world imo. Like "Oh you want me to respect your boundaries? Geez, you're a weirdo."
The other part that struck me was that they mentioned they had spent 5 months writing this "article", presenting it like that's the norm. A teenager in 1st year uni/college taking an Arts/Humanities focused course to become a journalist will produce that volume of work to a higher standard and in less time for each of their four subjects.
Makes you wonder if supposed journalists don't have to bother with "petty, small things" like ethics. I've got a bachelors in industrial engineering and management, and we had a whole section of a course dedicated to ethics and the importance of it, and what I did was waaaaay less likely to have a negative impact on someone.
Journalism doesn't have ethics. It is an entirely parasitic industry
TL;DR if you don't want to engage with the article: Weird successful Mormon author who is actually bad at writing is weird and has weird Mormon beliefs that affect his bad writing, and the weird people who like his books are weirdly enthusiastic about also being weird. Not to mention, he's kinda weird.
He's also weird. I think you forgot to mention that.
If I didn't know any better I'd say the writer thinks Brando is kinda weird, and it might be because he's Mormon. Not sure why I get that vibe though
@@John73John Oh did I leave that out? Weird.
Don't forget to mention that he lives in utah, in a weird gated community, in utah, as a mormon, like a weirdo, in utah.
@@jackwriter1908 I mean, I live in Utah not 10 miles from Sanderson. It IS weird 😂
As a member of the church I can 100% say that he is not an “extreme Mormon” I also don’t see any direct ties within his writing to the church or any heavy influences. Sad people just attacking my faith for no reason😢
This is one of the most unhinged things I've ever had read to me by a man on the internet @__@
Oh, wow, that’s saying a *lot*
You must not spend much time on the internets
the whole media is this unhinged but you know about e subject matter so you notice how unhinged they are. it's called the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. You see other media and don't realize the rest of it is lying just as boldly, but knowing you don't know the facts.
He‘s a literal youtuber
It isn't about the content of the article... it's just how nonsensical it is. The dude had NOTHING negative to say about Sanderson, but still framed it negatively.
This just feels so cruel and mean. Especially the part about him not feeling pain like he admitted Sanderson was feeling uncomfortable, pained and embarrassed yet still keeps prodding and then uses it to insult and kinda dehumanize him it just literally feels like school yard bullying. The whole article just feels surreal and strange. Like what even was that. The guy just comes off as so petty and mean spirited
WTF??? I was one of the lucky few who attended the first ever Writing Excuses writing retreat in TN (in Mary Robinette Kowal's family's home). 20 of us lived with Brandon, Dan Wells, Mary, and Howard Taylor for a week. Ate meals together, played games together, watched movies together, and listened to them teach us how to be more effective writers for 40 hours that week. I continued to see Dan and Howard yearly at GenCon, and Brandon was there in 2018, and still was just as nice, friendly, polite, and fun as he was in 2013. I never found him to be "weird" nor did I find him excitable. He was actually quiet and seemed shy except when he had to be "on" for classes or the podcast. It's as if this person didn't really meet Brandon Sanderson at all.
I like how the author complains about Utah as if it's Sanderson's fault. Like yeah, totally forgot Sanderson created the entire state of Utah.
OH NO! Utah is COLD in the winter?! Better blame it on this dude I CHOSE to meet with!!
Also, the author says it as if San Francisco is any better. They literally have an app that tracks human feces on the streets.
I SWEAR I AM NOT KIDDING!
Well he does believe Sanderson is God apparently
@Gabriela no no, he's not THIS guys God. He's the god of dweebs and nerds. The author is totally stable and seperate from all that.
Of course sanderson founded the entire state of utah.
Positive spin: the fact that Sanderson has had a main stream media outlet write a hacky hit piece on him is proof that his work and fantasy lit in general is becoming more and more important to culture as a whole. Usually it’s only politicians and rockstars that get this kind of treatment. Cmon guys, this means we’ve won!
it's not just those and this isn't a mainstream media outlet either. At the end of the day, fantasy doesn't really find itself on the literary canon all that often. it might be easy to be dismissive of that but I think, even if this article is too scathing, that a lot of fantasy currently lacks encouragement of critical analysis
I disagree. Sanderson is a very popular very prolific mid-tier fantasy writer. He's fine, but he isn't threatening any kind of established order. He isn't even threatening to say anything new.
You're employing the same kind of cope that conspiracy theorists use when the mainstream debunks their harmful ideas. In this instance, there is no conspiracy to discredit Sanderson, just one edgy article writer who knows that controversy can be spun into engagement.
@@calastyphon3414 🤓
@@peterheke maybe not his writing. But he personally is challenging Amazon pretty directly
@@Nortarachanges that's a good point, but I don't think there's any evidence this jerk is in their employ.
Brandon Sanderson’s civil response to this hit piece article just makes me like him even more.
this "article" was straight up bullying and you can feel in every response that he was deeply hurt by it. I've never even met Sanderson but his stories have been important to me for years and reading his reddit post on this just made me cry.
I'm not even a fan of Sanderson, but the way the journalist made fun of his clothes, the place he lives in, and generally book-lovers in conventions with nerd stereotypes, feels like he was a classic high-school bully who never grew up.
I am not a religious person but think people deserve to be able to believe what they want to believe. I feel like there probably aren’t tons if write ups on him because he puts himself out there to his fans, pretty much weekly. He’s always been so engaged with the fanbase. The writing is awesome. How prolific he is boggles my mind, especially because the quality is so good. This article is mean-spirited and embarrassing to both the author and Wired.
Ernest Hemingway's books are studied in U.S. high schools as part of great English language works, and he wrote incredibly simple prose... that conveyed deeper meaning through mechanisms like subtext. Simple prose is only just simple when there's nothing else going on underneath the surface or overall.
“…it’s called social anxiety. And, yeah, you’re at a convention where that condition is A LITTLE MORE COMMON.” 😂
The article is 100% rage-bait.
“As you travel the twists of Twitter
As you pass through the Lands of Zuck
And the frogs and the pinks overwhelm you with links
And the links overwhelmingly suck
When the Redditors ask if you've read it
When the TikTokkers talk and tic
Hold this admonition close to your breast:
It's bad on purpose to make you click.”
-Scott Alexander
If nothing else, this article helped me discover Scott Alexander.
That's beautiful 🥲
Imagine an editor at Wired being like "Yeah, good 👍" lol Blows my mind.
And Brandon just posted a response that may be the nicest, most understanding post I have ever seen after a situation like this.
Where's the response?
@@goosewithagibus there's a couple of comments here quoting it, but it appears to be on reddit
Love the reek of ableism hanging over this article. The implication that because Brandon doesn’t emote as strongly as he’d like means he doesn’t feel any emotions, and that that’s a bad thing. The weird invasiveness about the food he eats throughout their meetings. Being extremely weird about the fact that he happens to have a high pain tolerance. Like what the fuck does all this have to do with his writing??!
"Then I watch his son salt his yakisoba. I could cry..."
This dude has some serious issues if that's how he writes.
THANK YOU! I was thinking this exact thing. He acts like pain tolerance make Sanderson some strange inhuman thing, when really the most you could extrapolate from it is that Sanderson might be neurodivergent - and even that's a stretch from one detail
As if it was weird that people actually eat at restaurants.
@@charlesc.r.9324 Feeling physical pain is a scale thing and I'm quite insensitive but how would that reflect on my personality and life in any way, other than perhaps getting injured more often than others, I really couldn't say. To me it's almost as banal as judging people based upon their hair or eye color.
@@Swiergotka78"Judging people based on eye color"
Boy howdy do I have a book series for you.
Man wrote hit piece and only managed to hit himself.
Bravo. That line made me chuckle.
This guy is the senior editor of wired......explains why this got through editorial but also how he got that position is an absolute mystery. His own writing is shocking. I'm not even really a Sanderson fan. This strikes me as doing a hit on big writer for clickbait when the fan base lash out. Don't give him what he wants.
It's all so insubstantial in it's criticism and insults too, it reads like a trashy satire and I'm not sure if any of it even happened. I'm also not sure if they are trying to ape Sanderson's style, or what the article puts forward as its view of his writing style. I don't have anything to get around the sub thing so I can't really read any of their other articles right now to see what their deal is.
Otherwise the bit about the kids eating habits was a bit over the line I think, it's like they were aiming to say something else but they could only comment on the salt without getting into outright offensive territory. IDK though that might be a bit unfair, it just felt off.
Hey, you just said his writing is shocking. Id say he did a good job than.
@@Grux_ASG entitled to your opinion but I personally found it fairly scatter brained, almost childlike, mismanaged with no direction of purpose. Almost not even worth publishing but hey that's just my opinion. Would love to hear your thoughts. All for constructive discussion if you're seeing something I'm not.
@@Grux_ASG did you mean he did a good job then? I don't mean it was for shocking as in shock value I'm meaning the actual quality of his writing in the subject at hand. I agree it definitely was for shock value.
@@skullfullofbatsbut its a bad job if its so wrong that you get nice told off. By the person you tried to smear. Like did he want to be known as the guy who hates sanderson?
Daniel you mentioned you have dyslexia and reading out loud is a challenge but man, you must have worked so incredibly hard because I could not tell at all. I'm really impressed and proud of you, thank you for everything you do.
yeah true i don't have dyslexia and he reads aloud better than i do
"I guess...I guess because I admitted to him that I'm not a person who feels pain very easily, he thought he should see how deep the knife would go?"
Goes to Sanderson’s *house* to *talk to Sanderson* about *his work* and then complains that’s exactly what he had to do?
I’m sorry what?
I'm reminded of that article where a game journalist went to a press event for Rock Band 4 and complained about the entire thing because they don't even like rock music
Like...what were you expecting? Lol
and he got PAID for the pleasure. WTF? I'd pay to be able to do that. Like what the heck.
Gotta love gems like: "For now, there is only Sanderson, both wordful and wordless, the best-selling writer no writer writes about because writers only know how to talk about words."
WHAT.
Seriously. What an obnoxious sentence filled with delusional self importance. He seems to have word smithed to sound clever but ultimately it ends up contrived and stupid. This journalist is clearly thinks personal attacks and prolific vitriol make him a “critic”. This article is garbage.
Unintelligible.
This... kind of reads like poetry.
On its own, it's not actually terrible writing; it's just the kind of sentence that you need to build up to for the entire article, so that when it finally arrives the reader knows exactly what you mean. It's quite a lot of work, actually. Which the author of this piece didn't do.
I’m glad you made this video. I was horrified at how the editors at Wired let that article publish as it was. It was full of inaccuracies and downright a personal attack by the interviewer on Brandon Sanderson. Maybe the journalist was looking for attention. Perhaps Wired was too. Maybe they were thinking, “Any publicity, even bad publicity is good, “ for both Wired and the “journalist” that wrote the article. That approach doesn’t hold water in the age of social media. It’s a good way to get canceled. The article has so much bias it goes beyond any semblance of an opinion piece and exhibits attributes of slander and defamation. Wired should publish a retraction and a public apology to Sanderson and his family.
It was Patrick Rothfuss disguised as a Wired reporter.
"Sanderson writes ENTIRELY TOO FAST."
I haven't read any of Sanderson's books but this article came up on my feed. I read it all the way through, and the only thing I learned in this article is that Sanderson is passionate, humble, a hard worker, and shared his success with his friends and family. And the writer has some weird takes lol.
Please let the article be the impetus for you to start reading Brandon Sanderson. He's a great writer
Oh, yes, the metal system of magic is sooooooooo hard to film.
Character drinks a vial which has some small pieces of metal in a liquid and gets super strong.
Audience: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???
Journalists have it hard these days when someone like Brandon tells you everything you want to know several times a week. This fellow did not deal with the problem well.
This guy isn't a journalist. When someone writes something like this, which is pure pettiness imo, they forfeit that title.
Wait a minute... In the beginning of the article the author says he's read 17 or maybe 20 he's not sure books from Sanderson but they all blend together... Then later he admits he's not read a single book from Sanderson that he's criticizing in this article. How the hell could he have read 20 books from Sanderson and yet never read the most popular books in the entire genre?
One of the things that stands out to me is how long this journalist got to dedicate to this piece. I was a journalist for three years, working for a daily newspaper. I won a number of awards for profile pieces. I would interview someone for less than an hour, write for less than three hours, and wind up with 1-2 page article. (I wasn't allowed to write longer articles because of the format, but I easily could have.) Let me spend a day with Sanderson and give me a day to write it, and I would create something way better than this guy from Wired. How did this guy get this job? Why did the magazine give him the green light to make it like this?
He's a senior editor, apparently
man I haven't finished the video yet (I'm at 11 minutes) and it already feels like the article has dragged on way past its limit, the dude knows how to yap
This article has strong "highschool bully angry that the nerds ended up being more successful than him" vibes.
Daniel I don't owe any loyalty to Sanderson, I'm not the same religion, I'm not from the same place etc... But honestly your reactions here were perfect. It felt like the goal of the article was to shoot him down. Sanderson shouldn't be disliked for his prolific writing, nor for his religion, nor for having a spouse who exists around him. I felt awful reading the article, it made me feel better to see a reaction (yours) which was as horrified as mine.
The goal was clicks. The author of this piece sold his soul for clicks, imo. Pissing people off on the internet = $$$. That’s all there is to it.
…and maybe a bit of old fashion envy.
I've been to many of Sanderson's lectures. He's such a down to earth and humble person. He has so much insight, yet never acts snobby. Never would imagine someone would take shots at him for being so approachable despite his fame.
As a piece of flamebait, it is a SUPERB article. Viewed any other way it might be one of the worst selections of words ever put together into a “cohesive” thought.
Edit: I just can’t see why WIRED would think this is a good idea to publish. It’s going to be a bit before authors, especially those in the fantasy realm, feel comfortable talking to their journalists. Jason DEFINITELY won’t be interviewing people any time soon.
Isn't the author of the article also the senior editor? I don't know that wired is going to put him in a shelf over this.
@@BebornReborn Probably not, considering the insane amount of clicks this article probably generated.
Are you kidding? This is what Wired has been for years.
rage = clicks, clicks = money. It's the real reason discourse has been so toxic over the past few years.
@@robertreid2931 Oh yeah right, that's why I stopped reading it. 😉
Alternate title: Author of WIRED article is trying to see what he can get away with before getting fired.
Yeah, imagine how much money this clown wasted and then spent 4 months to come up with this?
Naw they won't fire him at least not yet. Wired likes these kinds of stories because it drives traffic to them. They literally are almost as bad as a tabloid.
He's a senior editor - he's likely the one in charge of the firing
That little insert from Sanderson’s response was like a breath of fresh air of good writing, my lord.
I’ve never read a single Sanderson book, but this article made my blood boil.
Right?! I mean when the journalist brags about insulting Brandon’s wife and friends that just makes me mad.
May I recommend them, especially (as an encapsulation of his style) the recent Tress of the Emerald Sea? They're not for everyone, but I personally find them some of the most delightful, entertaining, and wholesome media out there.
Tress is A fantastic work of mature fiction it reads like a classic fairy story in many ways.
Same boat, fam
Could it be that this author realized that, by just writing "I don't like Brandon Sanderson.", he's 3,995 words off the mark and won't get a paycheck?
8:15 “In the five months or so which it has taken me to write this magazine story…, Sanderson has published two books” that sounds like a skill issue on their part
What the hell!? Brandon Sanderson is someone not only millions of readers appreciate and look up to, but an entire generation of young aspiring authors as well. I’ve watched his BYU lectures 2-3 times now, and I would never have had the courage or confidence to write my first novel without the content he FREELY provides online. Dude finished the Wheel Of Time and delivered an ending that fans loved. He’s a huge success, an incredibly hard worker, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. This is the most bizarre article with terrible takes all the way down.
Well, I didn't love beverything about that WOT ending but I thought he did a commendable job for sure.
Fantasy books without sex scenes are my favourite fantasy books and someone needs to cater to this audience (me)
I’m in that audience too!
I view sex in fiction the same way I view swearing or violence. If the story can justify it, great. If it's there just to add edgy points, lame.
@@BP-dn9nv i understand that however all of the characters are entirely unsexual for me and i cannot stand it any other way 🥲
PLEASE post more non-sexual series! I'm a total prude, and need reading suggestions 😅
As someone who grew up Mormon, who is now VERY MUCH NOT...gotta be honest I read 3 Storm-light books and I think the first era of Mistborn before I even found out the dude was Mormon. I'm pretty anti organized religion in general these days, but his books have never read as veiled doctrine to me. Now that I'm aware of his religious beliefs, in hindsight I could possibly point out some recurring themes or values he likes to highlight in his stories...but honestly nothing I couldn't point out in a different Author's fantasy story that has godly beings in it..after all it is a fantasy.
Yeah, I see him as Mormon the same way my mother is Catholic - they're both fantastic people that focus on the good parts of their respective religions but maybe turn a bit of a blind eye to the actions of the churches their nominally derives from.
Yeah same here, grew up the same way and not a fan at all of religion as there are over 4000 of them actively practiced right now and each thinks they are the one true one, the very best. It all just seems like delusion on a grand scale to me.
I am a big fan of Sanderson's work and got introduced to him when he wrapped up the wheel of time series, and from there I moved onto the mistborn books, elantris, warbreaker, stormlight archive, wax and wayne, all of it was fantastic. I never knew his religion or cared until now, I haven't noticed it in the his books and I suppose that's all that matters. If anything, his writing has gotten more spicy over time and less tame.
Though, overall, I really dislike mormonism/lds stuff as I've never felt worse or been more hurt than I was growing up in that cult hell without a choice. It just tries to control your life and steal 10% of your income for life and keep you constantly feeling shame and guilt. It was a great day when I discovered the exmormon subreddit over a decade ago and got access to the resources and knowledge needed to leave that cult hellscape behind. I guess I don't really know how to feel knowing Brandon is a part of that. sigh..
Yeah, like, when I was reading Mistborn for the first time, I was specifically looking for Mormon references, since I'm not wild about getting preached to in books (being a pretty secular Jewish guy), and I honestly couldn't find anything, apart from being sort of vague about alcohol, since most Mormons don't drink (not sure if Sanderson is a teetotaler or not). So, like, if I was actively looking for preachiness and not finding it, I don't think bringing up his Mormonism in connection to his books is really all that relevant.
I’m being dead serious.. I picked up VERY early into way of kings that he was religious and I correctly guessed Mormon. It’s pretty obvious, the repression oozes off the page.
Don't forget the fact that a lot of values from Christianity and Judaism are integral parts of western society. I'm not a believer in any faith, but my stories do include aspects of religion. To be kind towards your fellow man is a virtue, etc.
I'm more of a liberal myself, as in European liberal. That means that, even if I have religious values, I'm also actively pointing out the democratic values and corrupting nature of power and zealous believers. To fight for rights and freedom of any person, etc. is what is most dear to me.
I'm a gay latter-day saint (Mormon) which I mention only to point out that there are many types of people in every religion and it is never a good idea to make blanket judgements based on religion as this author did. Much respect to Daniel for sharing his opinions on religion as honestly respectfuly as he did. Way to be true to your own personal values!
Love this! I'm a member and people just jump to conclusions don't they? lol
Get out of there lmao
I apologize if this is to personal, but I have known several gay people who were disfellowshipped, excommunicated, or otherwise barred from membership. How do you get around the stated prohibition against acting on same sex attraction? Or do you adhere? My friends were not able to.
Leave that cult
blink twice if you need help
As a Mormon myself I think it’s VERY important to note that little in his stories feel based off church doctrine at all. To be completely honest I thought Robert Jordan was a Mormon reading through the early books in the Wheel of Time (he’s not), and never have I gotten that sense from Brandon’s literature. I’m currently rereading Wax and Wayne and it’s even struck me how clearly progressive he tends to write his heroes (something that the most stereotypical and annoying Mormons wouldn’t been keen to do). Mericy is progressively changing the police force. Milan is a revealing, sexually, confident woman whos people change genders. Ranette is gay. That’s not really what most people would expect when reading a series written by a Mormon author.
The thing that saddens me most is how malicious this feels. Modern society talks about racism, sexism and gender discrimination often. But sometimes religious discrimination feels like it gets pushed aside. I get it, religious people have a well documented and extensive list of times they have been unfairly judgmental. But that doesn’t mean it’s ok to discriminate back on someone, especially when they themselves are innocent of such judgement.
Thank you!
Having recently reread the Ender Saga and noting the many places LDS theology peeks through Card's writing (even more so when I remember the "Alvin the Maker" series), I was expecting to see more of the same when I read Mistborn for the first time this month. There just wasn't anything. If I didn't know Sanderson was LDS going in, Mistborn would not have clued me in.
Ah, an Audible bro. It’s “Marasi”, by the by. And “MeLaan”.
Now, about historical discrimination, let’s be frank about Latter-Day Saints. If we, as a society, can assert that wrongs done in the past to entire peoples in this country (omitting a few inconvenient facts in the process) now entitles them to modern day recompense, I wonder where my modern day recompense is for mine and my friends’ ancestors who were repeatedly driven from their homes by mobs. What of those who were tarred and feathered simply because they believed differently and were growing too numerous, who after volunteering to defend their country in war, were offered no assistance by the US government when an extermination order was issued, once again driving them from their homes and into uncertainty and they fled across the Great Plains, who were then attacked by the US Army in their own land.
Furthermore, let’s not confuse writing about something as condoning it. I don’t know what Brandon’s views are on the regressive insanity that pervades in our society masquerading as “progressivism”, but I do know that he sees individuals and likes to get in their heads. One of his greatest strengths is understanding people and how they view themselves.
Lastly, I admit that I find it incredibly hypocritical when Latter-Day Saints talk about the “stereotypical” and “annoying” ones who are who are not as cool as they are because (many of them) are simply trying to be better than they currently are and they know what’s right and what’s wrong. Granted this isn’t always the case. It depends on the individual. But I believe what Dalinar said about his own journey: something like that often the hypocrite is just someone trying to change. When you talk about judgemental Mormons in that way, you are doing exactly what you accuse them of doing. Perhaps you are also just trying to become a better person.
Sorry for the rant. It didn’t have to be you. This kind of thing is all over this comment section. I just snapped here. Also, I’m not going to bother proofreading this. I hope it is at least coherent.
I see people do this with religion like Islam and neopaganism too. The amount of timws I hear paganistic people called delusional by so-called "secularists" is so gross.
Primarily Christian religions. Other religions are held in high esteem.
Hearing that Sanderson is a Mormon was a big surprise to me bc I never got this vibe from his books with all their versatility of characters, motivations, worldviews, sexual orientations and ethics. So as a fan of his books I don't care. I'm not his friend, I'm not reading his diary, I am not even his fan - I just love his books. And while I understand that the author and his works are deeply intertwined, as someone who has written a few pages of prose myself I also understand that stories grow beyond what a writer is on a personal level. Would we like Talkien or Jordan if we knew them personally? Maybe we wouldn't. It doesn't change that we love their works. When you enjoy something, be it a fantastic dinner, a great movie, a delicious bottle of wine or a mindblowing painting - how much of that delight comes from knowing the religious views of the maker and how important is it that he's rich, a workaholic, numb to pain or enjoys Asian cuisine? But if you were to write about an author and have spent a couple of days with him I guess most of us would write less about ourselves and more about that person. And not just the superficial stuff like their food choices. Does his son love the journey of Caladin? Does his wife feel connected to any female character? What do they love most about Brandon Sanderson? How did he start to write? How and why did he become a Mormon? Why is it so important to him to include all sorts of mental and emotional disorders in his stories? If you were given a chance to spend a few days around Sanderson, just imagine all the questions you could ask. I guess the author of that article was too busy with himself to grasp that opportunity with any grace.
what is wrong with being mormon exactly???
@@waddleburr8048 Wrong? Did anybody say that? His books seem to be written by a very open minded person who doesn't follow any discriminating religion or philosophy. Most religions discriminate (believers vs non-believers, conformity vs non-conformity, sexuality etc.) and put their dogmas above all others. I don't know much about Mormonism, but from what I've heard it's not the most liberal and tolerant religion. But as long as religious beliefs don't cause suffering, I'm for freedom of choice.
@@waddleburr8048 nothing wrong with a person choosing to be a member of the LDS. The church itself is pretty unpleasant tho.
I won’t buy any more of Brandon Sanderson’s books new, because he tithes to the church.
I still love his work, and will still read them, just won’t financially support the LDS indirectly if I can avoid it.
I’m not suggesting any course of action for anyone else, I’m stating mine.
@@kelvinrichardson5324 what made you hate the church so much???
@@kelvinrichardson5324 To be fair, money changes hands constantly in general. Someone down the line somewhere does something we don't like. I'm not going to stop tipping a bagger at a grocery store because I find out he's Mormon, or not take my car to the auto shop because I find out the guy who works on my car donates to a charity I'm not too fond of. I guess I'm just the kind of person that separates what one does with who they are. I dunno, weird mentality in my opinion. Then again, I'm the kind of person who thinks most boycotts are ineffective.
No author appeals to everyone. There are popular and good authors that I personally don't like. That doesn't mean they aren't good or that their fans are wrong for liking them; it simply means they don't appeal to me personally.
This...'article' was so weird and mean-spirited. Thank you, Daniel, for suffering through it; I loved your commentary.
“[Kehe] should not be attacked for sharing his feelings,” Sanderson wrote. “If we attack people for doing so, we make the world a worse place, because fewer people will be willing to be their authentic selves.” - Sanderson
He's a better person than I am 😂
that is a profound level of empathy there.
I loved Sanderson's writing class online. It was one of the best I've taken on writing, I was greatful he freely gave away such valuable information and he seems like a lovely person!
...This article "writer" needs to take some writing classes and go to therapy about his bullying.
Me too.
This Article pisses me off which is clearly the point. This article was made to make people rage so this person can drive rage clicks to there article. I won't go as far to say this person will claim the victim when people call them out on this article but it won't surprise me if that happens. Thanks for covering it Daniel so I don't have to read it. You have done us all a service.
Yes and I hope people will not fall for it
It is sad, if you check their like/retuit average that this is the most "successful" article in their TW by far. I just can't believe what it's been said there, and I'm also sadden by the disrespect to everything milions of people love, but mostly the harmful and unprofessional tone, and bullying even Sanderson's lovely family and especially, the >kids
Kinda wild that some 500 RTs is their most successful article for an account of 10M follows.
I think its because of 2 reasons.
The biggest is that many do not know who Sanderson is. When an ill informed reader looks through the article they see spicy takes and insults and rather gets a dose of schadenfreude or believe it because... Well, why would the writer write all of this if it isn't true? (I do not believe this, i can not remember an article that left me feeling this queazy)
The second reason is that it appeals to a growing amount of Anti Sanderson sentiments. They will read this article, see "Sanderson bad" support the article and leave.
It took this guy 5 months to write this?!
When I was going to a community college, I woke up in the middle of the night at the horrifying realization that I hadn't written my English Finals paper, and in that fevered adrenaline rush managed to write a better paper in that half of the night that's better than this.
"What?! They only save lives?! Vin puts her head through a person!"
I'm glad that we both immediately thought of the exact same moment in response to that silly statement. My next thoughts were that time she accidentally an entire army, and that time that a prominent villain had enough time to squint into the sky and ask "is that thing rushing towards me some sort of smol angery bird?" before Vin taught his limbs to file restraining orders.
Taught his limbs to file restraining orders, lmao
@@keatonr776 I can't claim credit for that joke, I got it from a Max0r video, but I don't remember which one.
She doesn't put her head through a person, she headbutts someone so hard that their head explodes 🤣 it is insanity!! Vinsanity even!!!
I mean my first though talking about "princely characters" was Adolin just straight out deciding a certain highprince was a problem and murdering him in a side hall and tossing his sword out the window.
@Day to be honest I don't like Kaladin as a character. But given we share a lot of the same mental health issues I can certainly respect the character and empathize with him.
In college, I took a class on world religions. On the first day, our professor told us that while we would no doubt have many different opinions on the legitimacy of these religions, we should always remember to have empathy for the people who follow them. Remember that despite our different beliefs, we are all human beings. We can debate the existence of gods, souls, etc., while still respecting one another as people.
I think this journalist would have benefitted from that class.
Sazed would agree
So, to start, I am also queer and irreligious. 🙌🏻
I think I maybe love Brandy Sandy (that’s what I call him 🥰) more than you do. I agree that he and his writing is not perfect, but he has brought me a lot of joy over the past however many years I’ve been reading his stories. 😊
I also happened to meet him in person and I was the most awkward human imaginable, but he was so gracious and gave me a Cosmere pin. 😳 I cherish it so much!!
Your commentary on this poor excuse of an article was the best I’ve seen. Thank you. ❤
Man I had no idea Sanderson salted his Ramen. What a monster.
What I meant was Sanderson Cult leader ritualistically salts his Ramen in front of "family member" and allows this minor to copy his bizarre behavior. What a monster.
I can only agree. The unrecognizable noises must be an eldritch language he uses to communicate with Lovecraftian horrors, which he hides by saying he is a Mormon.
Let us not forget the cardinal sins of talking with ones’ mouth full and liking Wolverine
Ok i agree,so unforgivable to have an admitedly weird ramen style. He is satan personsified.