Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 40

Reader Mail: Anxiety about Writing

All, I’ve been wanting to post reader mail responses more often, but it keeps falling through the cracks. Hopefully I’ll be able to make this more frequent in the future.

My assistant Peter received the following message and passed it on to me. The sender gave me permission to post the exchange here, but she and her friend asked for names not to be included.

I have a huge favor to ask of you. I just want to tell you a little bit about my best friend. [Name] is Brandon’s biggest fan. He raves about Sanderson’s work and got me into the Mistborn series.. Which was nothing short of extraordinary. [Name] is also a fantastic author—he emulates Brandon with his own voice and it’s truly astounding. Recently, he’s completely stopped writing because he’s afraid of what other people are going to think of his work. I don’t know if there’s any way to do this, but if Brandon could send me a little message that I could pass on to him—I think that would probably do the trick. [Name] is the best person I know and he has an incredibly story just waiting to be told. I’m willing to try whatever it takes to get that story out into the world.

Here is the message I wrote in response—and the same goes for anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation, when you’re so anxious about what other people will think of your writing that it’s keeping you from continuing.

[Name],

I hear that you’re having some rough time in your writing, mainly related to worries over what people might say about it.

Dealing with insecurities like this is a very individual process, and so I don’t want to be presumptive and act like I have the answers. But if it helps, every author I’ve ever known has had these same feelings. I was so worried about it at first that I didn’t even tell my roommates—my very best friends—that I was writing books until I’d already finished three.

For me, the transformation happened slowly. But the more I wrote, the more confident I became—not in the writing itself, but in my enjoyment of it. In those early years, it mattered less and less what others thought, as I wasn’t writing the stories for them. I was writing because of the pure enjoyment I got from creation.

Putting this first made me much more able to accept the idea that people would be critical of my work—because that was secondary, like someone looking over my shoulder and commenting on my choice of dinners. If I’m enjoying the feast, what does it matter what someone else thinks of how I’m cutting the food?

As I said, this is individual. But my advice: Don’t treat the book or story you’re working on as the main product of your time writing. Instead, look at your enjoyment, fulfillment, and progress as a writer as the primary reasons you write.

Best of luck to you!

Brandon

Volunteering at my booth at Phoenix Comicon + Updates

I’m going to be heading to Phoenix at the beginning of June with the Writing Excuses crew for Phoenix Comicon. Our schedule is still being finalized, but as soon as that’s done the details of my part of the schedule will be posted on the upcoming events page on my website. Also, my assistant Kara is running my booth at PHXCC, and she’s looking for local volunteers to help out. She has put a sign-up sheet here.

The ebook for Perfect State is still on sale at 99¢ worldwide (with some minor local variation). Mitosis is also on sale at 99¢ (at least in the US) for the rest of May. And starting today through the end of this weekend, for Audible members who have an available credit in their account, Steelheart is available in an Audible 2-for-1 sale. (That link only works if you have at least one credit. I don’t know whether this is US-only or what.)

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Fashion for Writers, Rebecca McKinney sits down with us on how we should go about describing the clothing our characters are wearing. How do we use that to add depth to our story? What are the common mistakes that writers make when they start dressing their characters?

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Dalinar received a surprise or two that he badly needed. This week, in Chapter 79, he has his first actual conversation with a Listener since his brother was killed, and learns more surprising new notions.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for April and May.

Tweets May 2016

BrandSanderson Mon May 02
My Hugo Award-nominated standalone novella Perfect State is now on sale at 99¢ worldwide link pic

timothystarner Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson I have some friends who want to be writers. They are really into the idea of self-publishing, what are your thought on it?

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@timothystarner It’s a solid way to build a career these days, and should not be ignored as a possibility.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@timothystarner They just need to make sure not to skimp on editing or cover.

Tee_1UP Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson I’ve read and reread Calamity looking for clues but I can’t figure out what mizzys powers are! Why did you not reveal them?

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@Tee_1UP I wanted to be vague because I need to have freedom to tweak them when I write a follow-up.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@Tee_1UP I have plans, but can’t lock myself in too much until the outline for Mizzy’s book is done.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
Scott’s cover looks great on the third Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians books! link

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
In case you missed it last week, ATL airport (A, B, E, F Gates) and SLC airport (C gates) have plenty of signed Sanderson books.

AJMO539 Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson why do you go to Atlanta so much?

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@AJMO539 I fly Delta, because SLC is a Delta hub, and ATL is their biggest hub. So I connect through there very, very often.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@AJMO539 Also, it’s a big center of Wheel of Time fandom, with Jordancon being held there every year.

Nooevve Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson have you ever been to Norway? Love your mistborn-series!

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@Nooevve I’ve been to Oslo once, but it was a few years back. Would love to get back some day!

mikezentz Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson just finished all your works for the second time. You rock bro! I’ve never teared up reading fantasy before.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@mikezentz Thanks!

pikemarsh Tue May 03
@BrandSanderson I’m flying from Atlanta to SLC next week. Which stores have the books?

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@pikemarsh I hear that the B gate one is sold out. So look at the Simply Books in the A or F gates, or the NYT bookstore in the E gates.

BrandSanderson Tue May 03
@pikemarsh All are in the portion of the gates central to the concourse, with the escalators. Check YA as well as sf/f.

Perfect State at 99¢ + Updates

As I mentioned last week, my standalone novella Perfect State has been nominated for this year’s Hugo Award. In honor of that nomination, the ebook is now on sale at 99¢ worldwide (with some local variation). Check your region by using the widget to the right. I’ll soon post the deleted scene and the annotation that I mentioned, but I want to tweak the annotation a bit first.

In other news, here’s a video by YouTuber Skillagrim arguing Lightsabers vs. Shardblades. (You can see more of his stuff on Facebook and his YouTube channel.) Note: SPOILERS for Words of Radiance.

There are a couple of new Writing Excuses episodes I haven’t mentioned yet. The first, Elemental Adventure Q&A, where we answer many of the questions you may still have questions about how to apply elemental adventure in your work. Hopefully your questions are similar to the ones we collected below, because these are the ones we answered:

What do readers like more: protagonists going through lots of different incidents and locations, or through a few that are similar to each other?
What lessons can we learn from adventure games?
How can we make action scenes that adventurous, but that are not fight scenes?
Are there tropes we should stay away from in adventure fiction?
Do you have suggestions for non-western styles of adventure fiction?
How do you safely skip the long, boring parts of a journey without missing out on necessary character development?

For the second episode, Elemental Horror, we’re joined by Steve Diamond, who helps us kick off our month on the elemental genre of horror. We explore the emotional components that readers seek from horror, and then drill down into the ways that we can create those reactions in our readers.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Shallan and Navani began their scholarly collaboration, while Kaladin started to take small steps back toward Honor. This week, in Chapter 78, Shallan gives Dalinar some truth and some defiance, and Parshendi are encountered.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for April.

Hugo Awards 2016

Introduction

I’m pleased, and proud, to announce that my novella Perfect State has been nominated for a Hugo Award. I look forward to seeing many of you in Kansas City, at this year’s Worldcon.

I’ve prepared a deleted scene and annotation for Perfect State, which I’ll be releasing soon in celebration. I would normally put this up today, but I have something else I want to talk about first.

If you’re not interested in the behind-the-scenes of the Hugos, this would be a good place to stop reading. I know many of you are tired of hearing about the politics of the award. Starting next year the rules should be changing so that all this will be less big of a deal. So if you’re not interested, you can move on and safely know this is probably going to die down eventually.

Thank you to everyone who nominated.

For those who want to know my thoughts on the actual politics of it, feel free to keep reading. I’m going to assume you’re at least passingly familiar with Sad Puppies, and what happened last year.

Sad Puppies

For the 2015 season, and the one before, I proactively went to Sad Puppies and asked them not to include any of my works on their slates. I did this for a few reasons.

First: Many of the Sad Puppies felt that there was a behind-the-scenes cabal working in science fiction to prevent people with certain ideological views from winning awards. (They named Tor Books, my publisher, as a kind of illuminati-like force behind this.)

This is terribly inaccurate. I know a lot about Tor. I love Tor. Editors and staff at Tor couldn’t agree on what to order for lunch most days; I sincerely doubt they could pull strings on something like award nominations. Tor is a huge group of editors with vast ideological differences, and they represent some of the best people in fandom I’ve ever known. Some very vocal ones are ideologically opposed to many of those in Sad Puppies, but there are plenty who have other opinions.

Beyond that, I’ve seen many people who are conservative, or who write popular fiction, win Hugo Awards. I was sympathetic to the claim (made by the Puppies) that the stories they like weren’t getting nominations, and I encouraged them to participate and nominate. But I didn’t want to be part of their movement, because I felt it had shaky foundations.

Second: I didn’t like the way many of the Puppies talked. They could be belligerent and argumentative, using tactics that felt more likely to silence opposition instead of provoke discussion. In addition, they associated with people even worse. (More on this below.) Some leaders in the movement verbally attacked people I respect and love.

Third: I didn’t like the idea of a slate for the Hugos—a specific list of stories, which (at least implicitly) encouraged the followers to vote exactly the same as their fellows. I felt this put ideology ahead of quality, which is against the spirit of the Hugo Awards.

These awards are supposed to be about the best of sf/f. We are not supposed to vote or nominate simply for our favorite writers, nor choose things just because they advance our viewpoint. (Though things we nominate and vote for can indeed do both things.) We are to examine pieces outside of authorship and pick ones that represent the best of the community.

I am passionate about this award. (I wrote about this in the past, giving my reasons why.) As a Hugo laureate myself, I don’t want to see the Hugo being treated poorly. I felt that the slate the Puppies were advocating was dangerous for the award, and against its spirit.

Last Year: Behind the Scenes

Last year, I spent many months in communication with the organizers of Sad Puppies. Several of them live here in Utah. I considered myself in a good position to speak with them, as I was friendly and on good terms with them—but ideologically, I was on the other side: rather liberal politically, published by the very publisher they were disparaging.

We exchanged very long emails. My goal was to convince them there was no cabal against them, to encourage them to be more understanding in their posts, and to steer them away from slates. I felt that if they would present themselves better to those inside “mainstream” fandom, they would find themselves welcomed into the community.

I also wrote letters to people on what I’ll term “my side.” Many of these went to my editor, Moshe, who came to the forefront of many anti-puppies arguments on Facebook and on blogs. I argued to him that the Sad Puppies are a legitimately passionate group of fans, deserving of being listened to. I told him we should hear them out and encourage them to participate in the community. (So long as they can do so without being hateful.)

At the end of the season, I feel that in much of the media the Sad Puppies were treated poorly. People ignored many of their points, calling them names instead of looking at what they were actually saying. At the Hugo Awards ceremony, I was not fond of the way many in the audience applauded when No Award won. (I can understand voting No Award, mind you, but I feel the applause was in terrible taste—and in many cases it hurt members of our community who deserved better.)

My experiences with all of this last year led me to a great deal of introspection. I eventually decided not to ask Sad Puppies to remove me from their list. This is in part because believe that the Sad Puppies—though misguided in places and still way too belligerent—love science fiction and fantasy, and have evolved into a group that really does want to see the Hugo treated well.

More importantly, I don’t believe I should be in the business of choosing which fans are allowed to like, or not like, my fiction. And this is a more important point I think we need to discuss.

The Darker Side

As most probably agree, the Sad Puppies are not the big problem here. There is another group who are simply determined to burn the house down, with everyone inside. Though there might be people in this group who are sincere, I believe that their leader (and much of the movement) is instead just trying to stir up controversy. They paint targets on people expressly to subject them to hateful ridicule. They have targeted friends of mine this way, and have said terrible, terrible things. They worked to nominate things simply out of spite and amusement.

I want nothing to do with them at all. Unfortunately, this year they put me on their slate. (Along with some other fan-favorite authors like Lois Bujold, Stephen King, and Neal Stephenson.)

If I’d known I was on this list, I would have asked to be taken off of it. This year, their list seems to include some people (I can’t know if I’m one) who are mainstream. People liked in the community, or likely to get a nomination anyway. They’ve done this, I presume, in order to see whether these people too would get “No Award.”

I can’t know how much the nomination of my novella was helped by this group, and even contemplating the idea is distasteful to me. This puts me in the position of having to decide whether or not to withdraw my nomination. It wouldn’t be heartbreaking for me to do so. I’ve won a Hugo in this category before, during the pre-Puppy years. I think my story is strong, but I will write other, stronger stories in the future. I’d be fine sitting it out this year.

I think that would be bad for fandom, and the award. Though I agree with those who withdrew nominations last year, I think we’re entering into a dangerous area. If we withdraw anytime someone like this person puts us on a slate, that gives them an enormous amount of power over us and the award. In addition, if we vote something under No Award anytime someone we don’t like advocates for it, then that’s the same as letting that person win the award whenever they want. Either way, we’re just being pushed around by a troll.

I’d like to think that we’ve learned from last year, and I have decided not to withdraw my nomination. I realize I’m setting myself up for being part of a potential blanket “No Award” voting slate this year. I will accept that, if it happens. But I don’t think letting a troll dictate my actions is going to work out better for me. And I certainly don’t want to insult the fans who nominated my work in good faith.

Therefore, I will stand by what I’ve always said: Nominate and vote for me only if you think the story itself deserves the recognition. Don’t vote for (or against) any person or their ideas. Vote for or against the story. Even when the nomination rules change next year (assuming the proposal gets enough votes again this year), we’re still likely to have a candidate in every category that was nominated in by certain elements.

In many cases, I feel it’s going to be impossible to separate which nominees are the result of trolls throwing rocks at us and which are the result of passionate fans who simply have different views from the mainstream. We’re going to have to do better than counter-voting, a point which many voices in the community, including Scalzi and GRRM, made last year.

I request that my fellow nominees consider not withdrawing. And I request that voters continue to look at the individual stories, artists, and editors, and judge based on the nominee themselves—rather than judging based on who is advocating for them.

Brandon

JordanCon this Weekend

I’m heading to Atlanta tomorrow to attend JordanCon (you can register at the door). The Guests of Honor are Catherine Asaro and John Picacio with Linda Taglieri as Toasmaster. You can see my event schedule below or on the upcoming events page on my website. I hope to see many of you there!

JordanCon

Place: Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center

Address: 246 Perimeter Center Parkway NE

Atlanta, GA 30346

Friday, April 22

Magic in Literature

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: Jefferson

Presenters: Catherine Asaro, Brandon Sanderson, Jason Denzel, Jonathan French, Tera Fulbright

Believable magic systems only! A look at the magic systems we love and what makes them work.

Saturday, April 23

Sandertrack RAFOlympics

Time: 2:30 p.m.

Location: Roosevelt

Presenters: Billy Todd, Brandon Sanderson

Open Q&A to grill Brandon. Try not to get RAFOed.

Costume Contest and Jordan Con Awards Ceremony

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: Carter

Presenters: Harriet McDougal, Brandon Sanderson, Jason Denzel

Come watch our costumers present their master works as we present the first annual Jordan Con Awards as well as the Deep South Con Rebel and Phoenix Awards.

Sunday, April 24

Brandon Sanderson Writing Lecture

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Location: Carter

Presenters: Brandon Sanderson

Brandon gives his lecture on Point of View and its uses.

Signing

Time: 2:30 p.m.

Location: Carter

New Writing Excuses + Updates

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Adventure as a Subgenre, we explore using the element of adventure as an ingredient in something that has far more than adventure going on in it. Why do we like adventure? What draws the reader forward?

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Taravangian saw the fruition of his plans in Jah Keved, and got a surprise visit. This week, in Chapter 76, Part Five launches with unanticipated alliances, unexpected revelations—and a discarded cloak.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for April.

Reader photos from recent conventions + Updates

Yesterday I announced the forthcoming Mistborn board game, Mistborn: House War. If you haven’t read that post yet, check it out!

I hit two conventions recently, first Salt Lake City FanX and then up to Wisconsin for Odyssey Con this past weekend. (I will be at JordanCon in Atlanta next weekend.) Here’s a small sampling of photos from the two cons. The FanX photographer was long-time reader Michael Bacera, and the Odyssey Con photos were taken by my assistant Adam. If you know someone in the photos, or see yourself, feel free to tag yourself on Facebook so you can brag to your friends.

FanX2016 with Brandon Sanderson – Kaladin in good company

FanX2016 with Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn with Hand Model

FanX2016 with Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn

FanX2016 with Brandon Sanderson – Wonder Woman

FanX2016 with Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn

Odyssey Con – Mistborn

Odyssey Con – Jasnah

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Environment, with L.E. Modessit, Jr., the latter joined us at LTUE for a discussion centered around the way the environment informs the story. We talk about lead in Roman plumbing, water lilies in Las Vegas sewers, and coal power in the British Empire, and how these examples can help us more effectively use the environments in our stories.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, we saw riots in Kholinar and suspicion in Narak. This week, in Interludes 12 and 13, war has devastated Jah Keved, and we join Taravangian there for the continuance of his strategy.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for April.

Announcing the Mistborn: House War board game

Mistborn fans, here’s some news that you probably didn’t know we’ve been waiting to announce. And that’s the Mistborn: House War board game coming out from Crafty Games, the makers of the Mistborn Adventure Game. Take a peek at the game’s cover art below.

Crafty has been planning, designing, and playtesting this game for quite some time, and now it’s ready to reveal to the world, with a Kickstarter campaign for it starting next month. We’ll have more details when that goes live.

My team has played through an early version of the game a couple times, and there are a number of board gamers out there who are going to enjoy this. In the game’s initial release the Luthadel noble houses’ politics takes the front seat, with other aspects of the Mistborn world such as Allomancy more in the background. Crafty has early ideas for future expansions, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Here’s what Crafty says about the new board game:

Mistborn: House War is a game of noble intrigue, set in the world of Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series.

Designed by Kevin Wilson (Arkham Horror, The X-Files, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past), Mistborn: House War puts you in command of the Final Empire’s great Houses during the cataclysmic events of Mistborn: The Final Empire.

Together, you must cooperate to solve myriad problems facing the empire, from environmental and social turmoil to political strife and outright rebellion. You’ll even have to stave off Kelsier, Vin, Sazed, and the other heroes of the novels to maintain the delicate balance held in place for the last thousand years.

Simultaneously, you’ll compete to become the most powerful House in the land by currying the favor of the almighty Lord Ruler. To win, you must build alliances, negotiate deals, and undermine both your enemies and your allies—all at just the right time. But be careful! Should the players’ stewardship fail, unrest will tear the Final Empire asunder and the House furthest from the top shall emerge the victor.

Mistborn: House War is created and developed by Crafty Games, publishers of the Mistborn Adventure Game, with cooperation from Brandon Sanderson and Dragonsteel Entertainment. It is funding on Kickstarter in May 2016, with an anticipated retail release date of April 2017.

Please subscribe to the Crafty Games Email Newsletter if you’d like to know more about Mistborn: House War, the Mistborn Adventure Game, and the upcoming May Kickstarter.

Tweets April 2016

‏@AKingdomofProse Fri Apr 01
@BrandSanderson Any recent signings at Chicago Midway Airport?