Youtor
Sanderson 20132 General World building
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=zCbcwd_fuao
Brandon Sanderson’s 2013 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 2 • This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user writeaboutdragons. I’ve provided some notes with timestamps below, and occasional color correction. Enjoy! • *Notes* • 2:00 / Writing stories • Plot, Setting and Character are the three elements of a story that meet over conflict • Irony: world-building defines SF/F, yet it is generally the least important thing in a good story • 7:02 / Info dumps • Avoid info dumps, particularly at the start of the story • Always be in-character • Writing should be lean, but this can be cleaned up in later drafts • 9:40 / Learning curves • How long it takes for the reader to get proficiency in your world • All books have a curve for the reader to learn the setting, conflicts, etc • Lots of books choose their learning curve very deliberately • 13:50 / Tools for keeping YA learning curves lower • Often the MC will start in the real world before going to fantasy world; this lowers learning curve • - Reader only has to get used to a few things at a time • “Watson” character is someone in the book who doesn’t know the same things the reader doesn’t know, so you have an excuse to explain things to the character (and thus reader) • First person protagonist allows you to info dump in character easier • 19:40 / Familiar vs Strange • Each genre expects a certain balance, which changes over time • 24:00 / Example trend: gritty from Game of Thrones • 27:56 / Generating physical setting and cultural setting • physical= cool stuff that would be there even if people didn’t exist • cultural= cool stuff that is only there because of the people • Take the most chances to do something original in your setting • 36:55 / Show vs Tell: ways to make info interesting • Dialogue is more interesting to a reader than description, so have people discuss things • Inner thoughts that show a reaction to something instead of describing it • Description through a character lens • 45:34 / Focusing your story • Avoid world-builder’s disease • Pick a couple things to emphasize and make unique, don’t try to do them all • 53:10 / Start small if you want to be a career writer • Very risky to put all your eggs in one basket • 1:02:12 / Question on world building • What do you focus on when the world is not very different? • How do you focus on setting without overemphasizing it? • Before you are established, you can’t test reader patience very much • 1:09:28 / Magic and satisfying resolutions • Them more you want magic to resolve conflict, the better your readers need to understand the magic system • - Really a comment about foreshadowing • Limitations are more important than powers themselves
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