Brandon Sanderson's Blog

When Lloyd Alexander (author of many novels including the Chronicles of Prydain) passed away, he left his papers to the BYU library, which has an exhibit that is a recreation of Alexander's home office. BYU student Jared Crossley is making a documentary on Lloyd Alexander, the short version of which will accompany the exhibit and the long version of which will be used by various literary organizations and libraries. To finance the documentary, he is running a Kickstarter campaign. If you're a Lloyd Alexander fan, check it out.

Supanova put up a recording of my panel and reading that I did in Melbourne. At the beginning I read for fifteen minutes from my forthcoming novella LEGION from Subterranean Press. It's followed by some Q&A.

The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode is a microcasting one where we cover a bunch of topics quickly. This one touches on:
Prologues and epilogues
Using drawings to get across settings
Simple tricks for naming things
Would you self-publish if you had a do-over?
How do you keep a powerful character interesting?
Foreshadowing
Trimming
Flashbacks

This week's ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers the very beginning of the Brandon Avalanche. My assistant has also uploaded another Twitter posts archive.

Tor.com's science blogger Dr. Lee Falin has another post on the science of Allomancy. This one discusses how zinc and brass might work. (Also see tin and copper.)

Scott Ashton uploaded a couple more of my creative writing class lectures. You can see them below.

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Here's my schedule as Writer Guest of Honor of this weekend's BayCon. There's not a signing on the schedule, which means that I'll sign books whenever you catch me somewhere at the con, unless I'm running to get somewhere else.

I'm also doing a Magic: The Gathering draft, probably Avacyn Restored or something in the Innistrad block, Saturday night. See below for details.

BayCon 2012, Santa Clara, CA

Dates: May 25–28, 2012

Place: BayCon 2012

Address: Santa Clara Hyatt

5101 Great America Parkway

Santa Clara, CA 95054

Schedule: The complete listing is here.

FRIDAY

Opening Ceremonies 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Ballroom A

(Brandon Sanderson, Cathy Beckstead, Cruz Arellanes III (M), Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin, Scott Beckstead, Stephan Martiniere)

Time for the cruise to set sail. Join the BayCon Chairman and our Honored Guests as they get the convention started.

Ghostwriting—Literally! What's it Like to Pick Up a Deceased Writer's Pen? 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Ballroom A

(Brandon Sanderson (M), Kevin Andrew Murphy, Deborah J. Ross, Diana L. Paxson)

Many of our favorite authors were in the middle of writing something when they passed away. What's it like to pick up a deceased author's pen? Is it more important to create the author's intent, or is it ok to add your own style when you're now the one doing the work.

Meet the Guests 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Ballroom B-C-D

(Brandon Sanderson, Cathy Beckstead, Cruz Arellanes III (M), Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin, Scott Beckstead, Stephan Martiniere)

Come meet the Cruise Captain, BayCon 2012 Chairman Cruz Arellanes. Mingle with our guests as our Toastmasters regale us with interesting anecdotes and introduce our Guests of Honor.

SATURDAY

How the Style of Writing Can Make a Book Readable 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Winchester

(Brandon Sanderson, Norm Sperling, Chaz Brenchley (M), Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, Diana L. Paxson)

First person? Omniscient? First-person smart aleck? A discussion of how and why the point of view changes our liking or disliking of a storyline. How does the way authors convey their story, film noir, western, fairytale, tall tale, all come together or fall apart for the reader?

Writer Guest of Honor Interview 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Ballroom B-C-D

(Brandon Sanderson, Dani Kollin (M))

Our Writer Guest of Honor Brandon Sanderson spills his secrets during an interview with Toastmaster Dani Kollin.

Aspiring Writers Toolkit 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Winchester

(Brandon Sanderson, Todd McCaffrey, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff (M))

What kinds of workshops are there for writers? When might they help you? When might they not help you? Panelists discuss their workshop experiences and help you avoid some of the pitfalls.

Magic the Gathering Tournament with the Writer GoH 9:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. (or later) in Magnolia

Brandon will be hosting (and playing in) a celebrity Magic draft (a type of tournament). There will be room for fifteen players, with sign-ups in the Gaming Room. There will be a fee, which will include fresh card decks.

SUNDAY

Evolution of Female Characters in SF and Fantasy 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Ballroom A

(Brandon Sanderson, Juliette Wade (M), Veronica Belmont, Deborah J. Ross, Daryl G. Frazetti, Diana L. Paxson)

From damsels in distress to sword-wielding, gun-toting, and military masterminds, have women found their place, or are they "feminized" men? Do the women truly reflect changing attitudes about the roles of women?

World Building Basics 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Ballroom B-C-D

(Brandon Sanderson, Pat MacEwen, Juliette Wade, Paula Butler, David J. Peterson (M), Eytan Kollin)

Panelists discuss the basics of world-building. If you are going to set your fantasy or science fiction piece is an alien place, what kinds of things should you think of, prior to doing so?

MONDAY

Top 10 Rookie Author Gaffes 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Ballroom A

(Brandon Sanderson, Leslie Ann Moore, Berry Kercheval, Marty Halpern (M), Eytan Kollin)

What are the most common ways to prevent your first sale, and how can you avoid them? Why do so many of them involve teenage vampires?

Authors: Stop Blocking Your Own Potential! 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Ballroom A

(Brandon Sanderson, Tony N. Todaro, Deborah J. Ross (M))

For years the publishing industry has pushed and pulled authors into "marketable" categories that they can quantify, but today's readers are looking for something different. As long as you believe in your work and the enjoyment that it brings to you and those like you, give it to the masses. Figure out who you are, what you want the world to see, and commit to it! Then figure out how to reach people like you and go out and sell books!

Closing Ceremonies 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Winchester

(Brandon Sanderson, Cathy Beckstead, Cruz Arellanes III (M), Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin, Scott Beckstead, Stephan Martiniere)

Join our Guests of Honor and Toastmasters as we return to port and bid a fond farewell to BayCon 2012!

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There's a new ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation up. This one talks about chapter thirteen, when Alcatraz breaks out of the Librarians' holding cell.

This week's Writing Excuses episode is another one that was recorded at Life, the Universe & Everything in front of a live audience. It's about writing carthartic horror and features Michael R. Collings and Michaelbrent Collings.

Richard Allred sent me a recording of a Mistborn Adventure Game session that he did at Epic Puzzles & Games at the end of March. It's almost three hours long, but if you're curious about the gameplay, you might want to give some of it a listen.

Hosted by kiwi6.com file hosting. Download mp3 - Free File Hosting.

That leads me to today's big announcement. You know that I play Magic: the Gathering with readers a lot, but have you ever wanted to play an RPG with me? At Gen Con in August, Crafty Games will host a special session of the Mistborn Adventure Game with me as a player. This is going to be a five-hour session, and six seats will be raffled off at the Crafty Games booth during the con. For more details, see the Crafty Games site. You can also find out more about the Mistborn Adventure Game there.

Scott Ashton has uploaded another of my creative writing class lectures. This one covers plotting, with a short introduction by my former student Peggy Eddleman talking about her experience getting a publishing deal. Her novel THROUGH THE BOMB'S BREATH will be published by Random House next year. (Part 3 of the video is currently not working, but I assume Scott will fix that soon.)

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The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers the chapter where Alcatraz gets tortured. Check it out.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Q&A with James Dashner at Life, the Universe & Everything. We cover the following audience-supplied questions:

Why is the ARC of James's first book so different from the later books?
How do you handle paragraph- and sentence-level edits?
How do you plot your stories?
How do you craft endings that are both satisfying, and leave the reader wanting more?
What do you do when your compelling villain threatens to take over the whole book?

Scott Ashton put up two more lectures from my creative writing class. The first one, Lecture 5, features Nebula Award-winning writer Eric James Stone talking about writing short stories. (I was away at a convention.)

The next one, Lecture 6, covers networking and pitching. Unfortunately there were technical difficulties and the first 20 minutes of the lecture got missed, but the first part of the rest of it is here:

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Right now I'm in Las Vegas for this year's edition of the Superstars Writing Seminar where I'm an instructor. I posted about this several times over the last few months, so I hope it's not a surprise to anyone!

Hal-Con in Halifax, Nova Scotia has been added to my events calendar for October this year. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of Canadian readers! That should be my final convention for 2012, and then will come the book tour in January, which is in the planning stages. For my current schedule as it stands, see the previous link.

The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode is another one that was recorded in front of a live audience at Life, the Universe & Everything. It features James A. Owen talking with Dan, Mary, Howard, and me about discovering your voice.

This week's ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers one of my favorite chapters, number eleven. It's the one where Alcatraz talks about how authors like to torture people. But that's not what makes it one of my favorites.

Also, in case anyone missed it last week when I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook, Tor.com has put up the excerpt of the prologue to A MEMORY OF LIGHT that Harriet read recently at JordanCon. As for the rest of the book, we are still hard at work on revisions.

My former student Scott Ashton posted another of my class lectures. This one is about characterization. There's also an email group for people who want to recreate the entire class experience online.

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Hey, all! This weekend is the Avacyn Restored prerelease, and as with the previous two sets, Dan and I are going to head up to Epic Puzzles & Games for their midnight release party. We're hoping you are all interested in playing with us again, because as long as we have a small crowd, Epic will rent us our own room to play in again.

We won't be participating in the Helvault promotion, as that is a closed thing that only a certain number of people can join. (And I'm sure it's full already.) As is normal for us, we're kind of deciding this at the last minute. But it will still be fun. We'll probably do a kind of two-headed giant format as we did last time, so feel free to bring a friend! We'll have our own tournament, with prizes. And, like last time, if you beat Dan and me you will be able to steal cards out of our decks. Sweet, eh?

Details are below. If you want to be guaranteed a spot, please call Epic Puzzles & Games and sign up, leaving your phone number. This will also let us know how many people we're going to have ahead of time. (We'll want at least sixteen, which is about what we've been getting at these things.) Also, note that it will probably be one of your last chances to see Dan before he moves away to Germany for a year.

Day: The night of Friday the 27th of April

Time: Midnight (so technically this starts on Saturday the 28th)

What: 18-person sealed deck two-headed giant tournament, with special games against Brandon and Dan

Where: Epic Puzzles & Games

3612 W 4700 S #4

Salt Lake City, UT 84820

How: Preregister by calling this number: (801) 982-0167

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Just a quick note that my good friend and Writing Excuses cohost Mary Robinette Kowal will be appearing tonight in Salt Lake at Weller Book Works. This is Sam Weller's new store in Trolley Square, where there's actually parking unlike at their old location. Go see her and get your copy of GLAMOUR AND GLASS signed!

Location: Weller Book Works

607 Trolley Square

Salt Lake City, UT

801.328.2586

Reading, Signing, & Shadow Puppet Show

7:00 p.m. April 25, 2012

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I arrived home from Australia yesterday to find that yet another surprise home makeover had taken place. (The previous one was after my New York Comic-Con trip.)

In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Larry Correia joins Mary, Howard, Dan, and me in front of a live audience at Life, the Universe & Everything to talk about guns in fiction. If you don't know much about guns and want to use them in your writing, give it a listen.

While I was in Australia, I did an interview for ABC Radio. You can find it here. My assistant has also uploaded a new Twitter posts archive.

The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers chapter ten, where I torture the reader some more by interrupting cliffhangers.

One of my students has started releasing my creative writing class lectures from this year online. Eventually you'll be able to find them all on this page.

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Supanova Melbourne 2012

Date: April 13–15, 2012

Address: Melbourne Showgrounds

Epsom Road

Ascot Vale

Victoria 3032 Australia

FRIDAY

6:00 p.m.: Opening Ceremony

SATURDAY

10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Signing

1:30–3:30 p.m.: Signing

4:10–5:00 p.m.: Panel in the Supanova Seminar Room

SUNDAY

10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Signing

1:30–2:00 p.m.: Signing

2:20–3:05 p.m.: Panel in the Supanova Seminar Room

3:45–5:30 p.m.: Signing

Now, you may ask what the panel topic is on both days. It looks like each will be a solo panel, so I may do a reading, Q&A, or something else. See you there!

And a reminder that I will be in Sydney and Gold Coast next week. You can get details on my events page.

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Today marks the release of Writing Excuses cohost Mary Robinette Kowal's novel GLAMOUR IN GLASS, which you should read. On this week's podcast episode, Mary offers up an outline from 2003 (of a middle-grade fantasy Mary was planning) for us to dissect, and it's an educational process.

The most recent ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation covers chapter eight. It explains why elevators are more primitive than stairs, and talks about the hidden continents that the Librarians don't want you to know about.

In the Suvudu Cage Match, you voted Moiraine into the final match, against Kylar Stern from Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. If you're interested, vote for who you think would win.

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