One of the most prolific fantasy authors of our generation, Brandon Sanderson, has been kind enough to record and share one of this BYU courses on writing.

Below you’ll find 12 one hour classes that cover things like Plot, Character, Outlining World Building and many other important topics to writers. This is a wonderful free writing resource that he has given us, so take advantage.

Brandon Sanderson’s Class Overview

Brandon Sanderson outlines the agenda for his twelve class course:

Overview
Cook vs Chef
The Illusionist Writer
World Building
The Box
The Business of Writing
Character
Magic Systems
Brandon Mull Guest Lecture—Mull’s Writing Advice and Process
Plotting
Dialogue and Agents
Q&A

Cook vs. Chef

In the Cook vs Chef class Brandon Sanderson compares writing to preparing food. Do you want to be a cook that just blindly uses the ingredients of story without truly understanding why those ingredients work, do you want to be a chef that understands how to mix and match flavors and foods to create a wonderful dining experience? He goes over various elements of story, and why they are used they way they are.

The Illusionist Writer

In this episode Brandon compares writing to a stage magician or an illusionist. He goes into various tricks and techniques to suspend the reader’s belief as you are building out elements of your story like the promises you are subtly making to the reader, a sense of story progress and more.

World Building

Brandon goes into detail about world building. He and the class brainstorm various layers of the writer’s world. Physical vs Cultural, and many other useful elements that will make world building easier, and more thorough.

The Box

The box is an analogy that Brandon uses for the lens through which you present the world, and your characters. This colors everything, and essentially determines how the reader will experience your story.

The Business of Writing

In this session, Brandon reviews the business of writing, including factors such as: focus on writing then exploitation (separately), self-publishing, hybrid and small press, traditional publishing, best seller lists, book tours, marketing, publicity, Brandon’s early book tours, and bidding wars.

Character

In this episode, Brandon discusses the pyramid of abstraction, the concept of show don’t tell, the grand skill, and his acronym PROMS (Past, Relationships, Obligations, Motivations, Sensibilities.)

Magic Systems

In this video, Brandon reviews the origin of Sanderson’s laws, Sanderson’s first law in detail, hard and soft magic systems, Sanderson’s second law in detail, Sanderson’s third law in detail, and Sanderson’s zeroth law.

Brandon Mull Guest Lecture

Brandon Mull, the other Brandon, introduces himself, then covers: characters, gardeners and architects, relationships, trouble, decisions, consequences, YA / teen / middle grade, creative judgment, voice, the outline process, and making cool worlds

Plotting

Brandon (Sanderson) returns! He reviews what Plot is, promises, surprises v promises, making the middle interesting, bracketing, middles, satisfying endings, and author voice.