creative writing · 4:19am Dec 12th, 2016
(Chapter 27 progress: 650 words, currently reviewing my notes to make sure I can get away with the things I'm about to do)
There are creative writers around here, right? Check this shit out.
Does the bbcode understand playlists? Whatever. Anyway, Brandon Sanderson, an author who knows what he's doing, posted an entire course's worth of lectures on creative writing (with a focus on fantasy and sci fi, though all of this is pretty universally applicable). If you need a refresher because it's been a while since you took the class yourself, or you haven't taken one yet, this is a wonderful resource. I've been learning a lot from it too, in spite of having taken classes and read a fair few books about all this. Not that I'm an expert, or I think I'm better than anyone--all I'm saying is, this isn't the stuff you always hear. His course can't be summarized by Vonnegut's list, and you can't just learn all this by rereading Orson Scott Card's book on the topic.
You'll hear things you've already heard, of course, especially at first. That's how you know it's real. Some of the things you'll be rehearing are the things Sanderson has said that have already had an impact, such as his rule that "An author's ability to solve conflict satisfactorily with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic." Ever heard that one? Personally I struggle with it. It's a great rule. He's got more. In fact he's got 12 full, hour-long lectures, which I've so conveniently linked above.
He's also a FUCKING NERD, oh my god. This is a professor who put a blazer over a Firefly t-shirt, who mentions his Magic card collection in passing, and who gets just a little bit of visible stage fright when nobody laughs at one of his dad jokes (but only for a moment because he is a professional).
I respect his work, too. He's a master of hard magic systems. His yearly release schedule is absolutely voluminous. And hey, he did a rock solid job of finishing Wheel of Time, although I never got around to reading the last book.
My wrists are killing me so I have to stop gushing, but maybe have a look?
Please don't worry too much about the criticism I made of the last chapter about how Mag's heterosexuality was "solved" too quickly:
clearly you had a plan about that and I just misunderstood and thought that the last chapter would be the end of it!
4336792 Were you waiting for me to do a blog so you could say that somewhere other than the comment section proper? Ha!
Yeah, I've got a plan, and it's still happening. But I'm accelerating it because you're the third person to express a problem with all this. You know who the first person was? Me. I was saying the same thing in a PM to AA the other week. Yeah, I regret the way I introduced this subplot. I think I could have done a better job of signaling how the reader should interpret what was going on. Normally I don't like telling the reader what level of stupidity/sarcasm/craziness/kindness/spite/sincerity Mag is operating on, because she often doesn't know either; she just runs her mouth all day and doubles down on whatever comes out. But I can't expect the reader to do everything for me.
Today's fun fact, before chapter one I decided Mag should be straight because there are so many gay lady characters on this site. It was a calculated choice based on representation and because there seemed to be a gap in the "market." I also think trying to write from a lesbian perspective is a trap for straight guys who aren't confident in their ability to write about the experience of being attracted to a man. We've all got an excuse because it's tough to ship an all-female cast without doing this, but I still think my logic applies.
Sanderson is probably my current favorite author because yea. Dude is a machine who comes up with really really fun worlds and his only missteps I fault him for are the ending to Reckoners which felt like a huge Ass-Pull compared to say the Mistborn trilogy, and how some of Kaladin & Shallan's stuff in Way of Kings dragged on a bit.
But I forgive him because he ended WoT in such an epic fashion and even with those flaws all his original stuff rules. Yep. I'm a fangirl.
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... maybe....
oh, who's AA? a prereader?
4337219 That'd be Arcanist Ascendant, the editor. He's a cool dude whose opinions I respect.
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Damn skippy.
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well then kudos to you both: i really, really really like this story, not just for the unique premise but for the strong characterization, everyone feels and sounds like a real person!
Mag is just a big ball of anxiety and issues, but she's aware of it and still tries to function most of the time rather than wallow in it! Gotta admire that, even though I can't relate to it!
Oh, man, I listen to Brandon Sanderson on Writing Excuses all the time. He's great! Gonna binge watch all of these while I draw some cover art.
4454603 Good. Goooood.