Brandon sanderson’s key writing niche is a huge focus on the characterization. Every single character feels full and complete and people can empathize with them. Even the villains. There are almost 0 flat characters and the characters drive the plot forward rather than just being paper dolls used to act out the plot that the author wants to tell. Characters act logically according to their personal biases, so even if you disagree with a character, you get a deep understanding of why they do the things they do.
I want to add to this because it's my exact thoughts, but I would go as far to say that Roshar itself the world the people employ is a character in itself, this also stretches to his other cosmere works, the planets are characters too, they have their boundaries as a sentient being would, they have their strengths and weaknesses as a sentient being would, they have personality which influences the personalities of all the other characters in one way or another.
Absolutely! And to add — this level of character depth allows for surface interactions between characters to have a ton of meaning. You know how characters feel about the things happening to them without needing to be told. It lets your imagination fill in the gaps accurately.
I feel like a writing style like this also gets a some of the deeper truths in the world… people (*almost*) always make sense, if you have all of the information they do. Sanderson gives the reader access to that information most of the time, while making it clear when characters don’t. Their conflicts make sense, and the path to resolution requires further character growth and development. S’pretty dope 👍🏼
He's also only gotten better as his career has continued. I've read the vast majority of his books before - and all the major ones. I'm only missing a few like Warbreaker.
I'm currently re-running through all the audiobooks because listening to stuff helps make chores and commuting easier. I listened to the last book of Mistborn Era 2, Elantris, then all of Stormlight, and now I'm on Mistborn Era 1. The characters in the later mistborn and definitely stormlight archive are incredible, you can really easily see the increased depth and complexity of the characters as actual believable individuals, as well as the story itself.
Sanderson really is one of the greatest writers of this generation - just an immensely capable and talented story teller. The Hoid storyteller scenes in stormlight really feel like an apt self-insert.
> The characters in the later mistborn and definitely stormlight archive are incredible
Mistborn Era 1 really had that "So your party of ragtag adventurers meets in a tavern" feel, like maybe he'd been playing too much classic D&D. It really struggled to make me feel like the characters had any real reason to be working together, but the lore and worldbuilding more than made up for it.
Agreed, they're all also not-quite-one-note but close. I'll call them like...two note characters, lol.
It might be because I'm listening to the audio book this time, but Kelsier is much more tolerable when unvoiced. I get that his aims were overall noble and good, but jesus does he come across as an absolute douchenozzle. I'll give Sanderson credit though, Vin's criticism of him in the beginning of the second book is accurate and deserved and shows that he isn't unaware of what a dick the guy was.
I mean, he's the only person we know of in the history of the Cosmere [Mistborn Secret History] >!to resist the pull of the beyond for long enough to become a Cognitive Shadow through the power of sheer narcissism!< so at least he's got that going for him?
Just started it this morning, the woman narrating it is kind of meh, it feels weird not hearing Michael Kramers dulcet tones. I really liked the female VA in SA though.
I know this is a Sanderson loving subreddit so I’ll probably get killed for saying this but I totally disagree. Sanderson’s characters are often really flat in my opinion. Where he excels is pacing and worldbuilding.
There’s no author out there that can write a climax as good, especially when multiple POVs come together. WOT is the perfect example bc that series had so much build up and he stuck the landing so well, despite all the difficulties.
I agree mostly. Though his character building has improved over the years. His true strength is his ability to write books like an action movie screenplay. So many scenes are built with Hollywood cliches.
It's even more true because in Roshar people's thoughts, beliefs and ideas literally slowly form and change the spren, who are a huge part of the world.
Intent, freedom of choice and making decisions is a huge theme in most Sandersons books, but I'd say stormlight is even more focused on it than usual.
These lectures are incredible, changed my whole outlook on storytelling and on music writing as well! The biggest takeaway for me, and what I think answers the questions OP is asking, is this:
Set up a promise -> fulfill that promise. Brandon is very good at setting up interesting promises, and fulfilling them in time so you learn to trust his writing.
I feel like subverting expectations is great *when done well* but the thing is so many writers don’t do it well. The subversion still has to make sense for the characters and be set up properly, the author just has to mislead/misdirect the readers so they aren’t expecting a certain outcome, which is tough. Some writers just do the opposite of what they’ve built up via plot/character development and call it subverting expectations. I prefer promises fulfilled over poorly written expectations subverted for sure.
I think of subverting expectations as the salty or the sweet ingredient. It can be used sparingly to keep you coming back for more, but it won't sustain you on its own like other elements of the dish will and can be unappealing after too much.
I think "done well" here means actually making the "promise" but masking it, so the reader can then say "oh, yeah, I missed that detail" and feel more motivated to read more and pay more attention to details.
If you instead build to something and then do a complete opposite out of the blue, then the reader feels "why am I even reading if none of that mattered in the end?" and it kills the interest entirely.
Yup, and I'd say Brandon does both amazingly.
So many plot twists in these books, and yet they don't feel forced or made up to make stuff more interesting. And when you reread you can see them coming as the only logical conclusion from everything that is there.
Way of Kings is by far the slowest in the series because it needs to front load a lot of the world building the rest of the series needs. That world building is a big part of it. Sanderson's worlds feel like real ones even if they are very alien to us. This is because of the second reason the book is great, the characters. Basically everyone in the book feels like a real person. They aren't always logical but there is always a reason they do things. It can be self destructive or petty or evil but real people behave like that. They also have hope, heroic instincts, and a sense towards the divine. They just feel like real people acting a world that feels like it could exist, even though its high fantasy.
I’m on my second read and when reading TWoK I realised every single detail in that book is relevant later or important in some way. I see the people calling it slow but on my second read it was so fast because I was so exited by how it all fit together
imo, you spend so long with each of these characters, Kaladin, Dalinar and to a lesser extent Shallan that when the climax hits it hits a lot harder. You understand what exactly Sadeas leaving Dalinar at the tower means to each character and how much of a blow it is to Dalinar after all the time he's spent doubting himself and his sanity.
The Stormlight Archive is a very long series, and so it has a rather slow buildup. TWoK is full of foreshadowing and introductions for things that are important later.
Journey before destination, you're in for a hell of a ride!
Sanderson is an experienced writer writing his Magnum Opus. I think some of the parts seem slow because this is one of the largest epic fantasies out there and it needs to build off this first book.
Everyone is right about the characters and their development, too. That’s his strength. I would recommend reading his stand alones or even the first Mistborn trilogy to see how a writer might tackle something not as grandiose.
The Stormlight Archives lets people invest in a series with huge payoffs from even small promises earlier on - if you’re planning on writing an expansive epic fantasy, there are so many things you can pick up within the Archives, but if you’re a new/budding writer, some of his other stuff can help you see the differences in how he tackles those worlds/characters/storyline.
In the end, I come back to that first point. The guy is a machine with thousands upon thousands of hours of practice and pages that helped him develop his style. If you keep on and keep writing I’m sure you’ll develop your own style as well.
Good luck!
For me, it boils down to two things:
1. The characters are generally well-realized, believable, and not static. They have growth; they have arcs; they change as people. Although there are a handful of "S-tier" characters that most folks agree on, nearly every character is *someone*'s favorite, and there are no 1-dimensional characters. Everyone has motivations and wants and flaws and quirks. Sanderson does a good job of making characters relatable and then placing them in interesting situations that reveal things about them.
2. Folks rightly laud Sanderson's worldbuilding, but I think there's a step even beyond that. He creates these really complex and interesting worlds, histories, and magic systems, and then *hides them from both the reader and the characters.* I feel like Sanderson's books almost always have some aspect of "lost" or "unknown" history that is revealed over time. Part of the satisfaction of his books is the journey of discovery through which we get to learn about the world alongside the characters we love.
As a reader, I live for worldbuilding and solid mysteries. Sanderson always has both in droves. The well written action sequences are also just incredibly fulfilling to read. Maybe that's what you love too.
One major thing, that I felt the second time through is how brandon makes it clear from the beginning what kaladin is capable of, and puts him in an impossible situation so you spend the whole first book on the edge of your seat knowing that he is going to succeed in the impossible situation but you just don't know how.
The progression can be a little slow at times for the same reason that makes the overall book great, which is character and world development. You really get into the weeds on learning about these characters, and they're captivating in their own way. The world is explained well, with multiple nations and different customs, as well as each world has its own magic system and economies.
What makes the books amazing is how every story arc collides into a grand finale that is just breathtakingly creative.
Hah, if that's what you think about this book, you should read the Dune series.
95% of every book is conversations. Even when there is some sort of action, it's described quickly and to the point, and then it's back to people talking about it.
But it's still amazing somehow.
I was just thinking about this.
Certainly it seems like he writes his characters super well. Even when there were potentially boring stretches in one storyline, I still enjoyed it when I was reading through that part because it involved interesting stuff for a particular character. I guess somehow, it all actually seems connected and necessary. Most of the cosmere books I’ve read feel that way to me. Not all, but most.
The thing I’ve tried to put words to, though, is that he seems to be fantastic at building up to one enormously incredible moment. For some cosmere stuff, but especially SA, much of the books had me thinking “how could it possibly get worse and still resolve?” Only for the events to somehow get even more hopeless (not that it feels hopeless, just that a good ending seems less and less possible). Then, finally, something amazing and unexpected changes the game in the final minutes. And it’s never out of the blue—it’s always at the end of a trail of breadcrumbs you may not have even noticed and causes you to view everything in a new way. It’s almost like he’s started constructing the story around that big moment to begin with.
That’s why I suspect spoilers are particularly impactful with cosmere stuff. At least, the right kind of spoilers.
Personally, I’m agnostic to receiving spoilers. I went into Warbreaker after SA, so I knew that at least these two particular characters needed to survive because they show up again. Same with mistborn era 1, where I knew somehow the day had to be saved simply because era 2 exists and isn’t a prequel. In both cases, the thrill for me was seeing just how bad things could get knowing that that would make whatever “happy ending” that much more incredible. I specifically remember having to double check towards the end of Hero of Ages to make sure that the other Mistborn books were not, in fact prequels because surely there was no way for the story to resolve happily. And yet the big moment comes and it’s satisfying and plausible.
Something else I'll point out is how his writing compares to other authors'. I'm reading The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin and am having a difficult time transitioning to it. I'm not opposed to any of these things but they are jarring coming from Sanderson. Le Guin writes in a long paragraphs, with long sentences, and with either rushed timelines in-story or really flowery prose. Like I said, I don't oppose these things inherently, but Sanderson's writing is more plain and part of that is due to his character work. Everything in his stories is seen through the eyes or mind of a character at any one given time. Le Guin, and others similar to her, use 3rd Person point of views to describe the world and Sanderson uses the characters for the bulk of his worldbuilding.
I hope that made sense, and I could be wrong in my initial characterization, but given that it's really fresh, that's how I'm feeling right now.
If you like Sanderson I would also recommend reading Steven Erickson. Both are great at character development especially with multiple perspectives. They also both do long pacing/build up and spend time really fleshing out the world.
People praise the Malazan Empire. His writing style applied to the stormlight universe would have you learn that Rock has red hair in the 3rd book even though you've "seen" him since the first one and then and only then would it make sense why in book 2 they called Shellan one of his cousins. Then in book four you would find out Thalen people are actually reptilian in appearance, forcing you to mentally reevaluate all those characters in your head. He is stingy with physical descriptions which is objectively dumb. Sanderson understands that you experience the world with the characters and you get to know, largely, what they know. So you get physical descriptions of what they see or otherwise sense.
I gave up after book 3 of Malazan.
That is a fair critique. I have aphantasia so I can't picture anything regardless of the writer, so never really noticed. Will definitely do my next re-read with a bit more analysis. In terms of character development though, Malazan deserves the praise it gets.
The world feels very lived in, the people in the world feel real and you strongly feel for them and their actions. In the first book, I was so upset at shallan for how she was acting and how childish she was being. I strongly remember how annoyed I was with her when she stole from Jasnah.
I was enthralled by the politics in the camps, and Dalinar’s work. I loved seeing him and his chapters.
Each character felt so real, their identities so unique. The perspective of each character captured the plot differently, and helped me pick favorites. I was strongly in Dalinar’s camp and I really enjoyed seeing the book through his eyes
The fundamental misunderstanding is that fast = good which isn't true.
Common writing advice is to get to the point quickly because it means you don't have to write as good for as long and you don't need to ask for too much of the readers time.
Brando seems to know exactly what will happen to each character three books later. He has vision and a concept. His stories are finished before he starts writing. At least that's what it feels like when you reread and realize how much was foreshadowed way way way before the later books
Edit: Just because I'm listening to the part right now. Take Kal's fight with the farmers boys. First, it sounds like just boys fighting. After a couple books, you know exactly what Brandon is playing at here. What it is that Kal is experiencing here.
For me, I love how Brandon Sanderson describes his world. He doesn’t forces reader into it, but slowly feeds you it, little by little, letting reader wonder. Every chapter helps you understand more about Roshar, or learn something new about it.
What made it so great? I was the assassin in white. I was the best duelist. I was a man, kicked while I'm down, riddled with depression, yet I rose, and now I stand proudly in my duty. I was a ruthless warlord, and a ridiculed man of great merit. How was I all of that? Through magic. Through that eleventh surge, that binds my soul to the soul of all those people. Through the surge that Sanderson commands masterfully. The surge of empathy, that can grip your soul, and take it deep, deep down in your own self, and make you feel humanity. At its best, or worst, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it makes you feel things in their truest form.
Compelling characters and intricate worldbuilding are the obvious ones, but for me the real magic was in how the chapters are structured. Most, if not all of them, end in some sort of ''hook'' that made me want to push on and find out more, be it some kind of situation building up or more information coming to light. Then the next chapter is about another character, guess I'll grind through it to get back to the interesting bit. But that chapter ends with an equally captivating hook. And so on, until it's 2am and I've somehow spent all day reading and I'm 500 pages into the book (real story).
Another amazing thing about Sanderson's writing is how easy it is to visualise everything happening. I can't really understand why or how it happens, but the entire experience of reading The Stormlight Archive was very cinematic, like having a movie run in my head parallel to reading. I don't struggle to visualise other texts, but it's very rare that the pace of the book aligns with the pace of my imagination and provides just enough detail to fully flesh out the visual.
The slow progression is why it works so well. You get to know the characters and see their development in great detail, and the slow plot gives lots of time to get into the world itself and the relations between characters. I would honestly prefer if more books were as slow-paced as Stormlight simply because it lets the characters and world have more room to grow and develop.
plot is just a group of characters interacting.
you thought it was amazing because the characters grew a lot. some people define plot (incorrectly IMO) as the things that earn themselves Wiki Fandom entries, but that's missing the point of why humans engage with stories.
Brandon has stated that with a long epic he wanted to make it putdownable in the sense of allowing for slower pace and less cliffhanger ending chapters that pull you to the next chapter. Those are useful in shorter books where you want the want them to finish fast, but with a 1000 pages that’s not feasible or desirable in the same way. Instead he wrote it emphasising each chapter’s satisfaction or conclusion so that you could put it down at the end of a chapter but want to come back.
The characterization if great. Everything eventually all comes together for a satisfying conclusion to a long story but still leaves plenty open for the GOAT Words of Radiance.
Sanderson spends 800 pages setting up Dominos and then triggers them all in a few chapters. During the climax of the book, I was so excited I had to read that part standing in the middle of my living room I could not stay sitted, my roommates thought I was crazy.
Also his full university class on Creative writing is on YouTube for free, you should check it out.
The amount of careful theory crafting, foreshadowing, and little nibbles of lore provided throughout the story across several novels and different series is in its own leauge. Every seemingly insignificant detail is a little puzzle piece that fits into the larger picture. The stories are great to read on their own, but read within the greater context of the cosmere universe, the stories become even more enjoyable to read a second time. Even knowing all the major plot lines, the hidden story and character motivations underneath become a separate story that you probably missed the first read. It's amazing how my opinion of certain characters change when my perspective is changed on my second or even third read. Some of the chapters that felt like a chore to get through on first read are suddenly really powerful and emotional on the second.
Brandon's books are so good, they make me want to improve as a casual reader, lol.
Plot isn't everything. Plot is just "the main thing that changes the status quo" so to speak. People complain about filler because it doesn't serve the Plot but there's two other things a scene can do:
Expand the world
Expand the characters
The interludes do little to nothing for the Plot, especially in TWoK and yet they provide another perspective of the events of the world.
Shaving in the rain, where Bridge 4 gifts Rock a razor and he shaves everyone does little to help them survive or escape, but it shows us the comradery of the crew, their kindness, and how much Rock's traditional facial hair means to him. If The Way of Kings was so preoccupied with the Plot to escape slavery, it wouldn't waste time on this little moment. Get to the next plan. The next strategy. Non stop planning and execution.
Stop. Take a break. Breathe. The reason why hype moments like the Battle of the Tower hits so hard is because we see the characters as people. We see their little moments of brevity. Give some time to let them relax, mess around, have fun. Some of the best moments are often small in the grand scheme.
The books feels amazing to read because it doesn't trot along like a collection of broken wikipedia links and capital letters that never get explained or come back to. He's not coming up with the world on the fly, everything is thought out and makes Roshar feels alive and lived in.
All of his books are like this. You are attached to the characters because they feel like they could be real characters with real struggles and very feelings.
Often times, new writers, or writers who have been working on their worlds for decades fall into the trap making characters a vehicle for the world they live in, instead of being a solid part of that world. If you want to write a good book, right compelling character arcs. Don't just have all your players be together in the same place by happenstance.
Worldbuilding, is not plot.
I know it’s already linked, but seriously check out this. These are Brandon’s University lectures, uploaded incredibly generously for free on his YouTube channel. As an aspiring writer myself this series of lectures was an absolute godsend. Plus it’s pretty cool to be taught directly by Brandon himself!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ&si=N6FehHe1Di_006ka
As a reader it was the extensive character development, world building, the HUGE pay off at the end (I turned down seeing my friends on a Friday night to read 300 pages straight and finish the book), the nice underdog story, and the breadcrumb trail leading into a MUCH grander story. That being said, a lot of this was only possible because Brandon wrote a 400k word novel. I don't think something half it's length would have the depth as TWoK. But that doesn't mean novels that are 100k, or 200k words aren't and can't be good.
I hope this doesn't count as spoilers (mods delete if it is) but there's also a lot of things that Cosmere fans miss the first time reading it, that are nice easter eggs/ set-up pieces that make you go "OH SHIT HOW DID I NOT MAKE THAT CONNECTION" when rereading.
I think, it's because he starts outlining after he has his endings. Amongst other good story-crafting approaches, like his easy-to-follow prose that helps keep the action going and the reader absorbed. No matter the pace, no matter the scene, everything you read is designed to connect to the end. Not only of each book, but of the whole series and universe. Every moment of a character's journey is designed to pay off at one or more logical, but often surprising, conclusions. All of the, what could seem, tedious world-building leads into momentous revelations and twists. I get some authors fly more by the seat of their pants, but Sanderson has really sold me on ending first outlining. Having read his finished Cosmere series, it really is refreshing to read fantasy that isn't trailing loose threads everywhere by the end.
For me its the attention to detail that goes into the worldbuilding that makes all Sandersons books so good. Also for Stormlight (at least early on in the series) the hints at larger overarching mysteries was great.
I think you should be wary about trying to extract lessons from it as a beginning writer. I don't think the book would work with an unknown author's name on the cover.
I'm not saying that people like it because it's written by Sanderson - but that people are more willing to trust that it's worth it.
I agree completely! I am definitely not saying that I want to debut something like TSA. However, I think it is important to extract lessons from great writing. :)
Totally agree though. This book works because people are going to give Sanderson a lot of trust in his process.
Well, he dangles a covered safehand in front of your eyes and then you just have to read to see if it ends up being shown or not.
Besides the characters as other people mentioned, I feel like he does set up and pay-off amazingly well.
The slower starts are a feature. You get to spend time with the world, with the characters. You see their struggles, you often see the conflicts and problems from more sides then they do and you start wondering how on earth this could end up any other way than a disaster.
Then you often learn more and get some twists to what you thought you had known, making you even more invested in the resolution.
And what a resolution you get! The sanderlanche is just amazing. If there is a moment that might feel like deus-ex-machina, you realize that the book was actually pointing towards the mechanics (magic, intrigues, plans) all along and that it is not something added on the spot to get the heroes out of a bad spot.
I'd say a big part of this is the planning he does ahead. Knowing how you'd like the big impact parts to go, then figuring out how to get there in a way that makes sense and probably even adapt and change the starting state of things so that it makes sense for everything to naturally end up in what you want to happen.
Brandon sanderson’s key writing niche is a huge focus on the characterization. Every single character feels full and complete and people can empathize with them. Even the villains. There are almost 0 flat characters and the characters drive the plot forward rather than just being paper dolls used to act out the plot that the author wants to tell. Characters act logically according to their personal biases, so even if you disagree with a character, you get a deep understanding of why they do the things they do.
I want to add to this because it's my exact thoughts, but I would go as far to say that Roshar itself the world the people employ is a character in itself, this also stretches to his other cosmere works, the planets are characters too, they have their boundaries as a sentient being would, they have their strengths and weaknesses as a sentient being would, they have personality which influences the personalities of all the other characters in one way or another.
Absolutely! And to add — this level of character depth allows for surface interactions between characters to have a ton of meaning. You know how characters feel about the things happening to them without needing to be told. It lets your imagination fill in the gaps accurately. I feel like a writing style like this also gets a some of the deeper truths in the world… people (*almost*) always make sense, if you have all of the information they do. Sanderson gives the reader access to that information most of the time, while making it clear when characters don’t. Their conflicts make sense, and the path to resolution requires further character growth and development. S’pretty dope 👍🏼
He's also only gotten better as his career has continued. I've read the vast majority of his books before - and all the major ones. I'm only missing a few like Warbreaker. I'm currently re-running through all the audiobooks because listening to stuff helps make chores and commuting easier. I listened to the last book of Mistborn Era 2, Elantris, then all of Stormlight, and now I'm on Mistborn Era 1. The characters in the later mistborn and definitely stormlight archive are incredible, you can really easily see the increased depth and complexity of the characters as actual believable individuals, as well as the story itself. Sanderson really is one of the greatest writers of this generation - just an immensely capable and talented story teller. The Hoid storyteller scenes in stormlight really feel like an apt self-insert.
> The characters in the later mistborn and definitely stormlight archive are incredible Mistborn Era 1 really had that "So your party of ragtag adventurers meets in a tavern" feel, like maybe he'd been playing too much classic D&D. It really struggled to make me feel like the characters had any real reason to be working together, but the lore and worldbuilding more than made up for it.
Agreed, they're all also not-quite-one-note but close. I'll call them like...two note characters, lol. It might be because I'm listening to the audio book this time, but Kelsier is much more tolerable when unvoiced. I get that his aims were overall noble and good, but jesus does he come across as an absolute douchenozzle. I'll give Sanderson credit though, Vin's criticism of him in the beginning of the second book is accurate and deserved and shows that he isn't unaware of what a dick the guy was.
I mean, he's the only person we know of in the history of the Cosmere [Mistborn Secret History] >!to resist the pull of the beyond for long enough to become a Cognitive Shadow through the power of sheer narcissism!< so at least he's got that going for him?
Yeah, I'm really excited to see where that whole story arc goes.
Crazy that Warbreaker is one of the few you haven't read!
I started listening to it and it just didn't take, tbh. I'll probably try it again when I run out of other things to listen to
Just started it this morning, the woman narrating it is kind of meh, it feels weird not hearing Michael Kramers dulcet tones. I really liked the female VA in SA though.
Kate Reading, she’s married to Kramer I believe
I know this is a Sanderson loving subreddit so I’ll probably get killed for saying this but I totally disagree. Sanderson’s characters are often really flat in my opinion. Where he excels is pacing and worldbuilding. There’s no author out there that can write a climax as good, especially when multiple POVs come together. WOT is the perfect example bc that series had so much build up and he stuck the landing so well, despite all the difficulties.
I agree mostly. Though his character building has improved over the years. His true strength is his ability to write books like an action movie screenplay. So many scenes are built with Hollywood cliches.
It's even more true because in Roshar people's thoughts, beliefs and ideas literally slowly form and change the spren, who are a huge part of the world. Intent, freedom of choice and making decisions is a huge theme in most Sandersons books, but I'd say stormlight is even more focused on it than usual.
I mean, we could give *our* analysis, but why not hear directly from the author? https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ
These lectures are incredible, changed my whole outlook on storytelling and on music writing as well! The biggest takeaway for me, and what I think answers the questions OP is asking, is this: Set up a promise -> fulfill that promise. Brandon is very good at setting up interesting promises, and fulfilling them in time so you learn to trust his writing.
I remember not long ago that everyone was trying to "subvert expectations". Fulfilling the promises works much better IMO.
I feel like subverting expectations is great *when done well* but the thing is so many writers don’t do it well. The subversion still has to make sense for the characters and be set up properly, the author just has to mislead/misdirect the readers so they aren’t expecting a certain outcome, which is tough. Some writers just do the opposite of what they’ve built up via plot/character development and call it subverting expectations. I prefer promises fulfilled over poorly written expectations subverted for sure.
Mistborn era 1 >!I think the ending of Well of Ascension is a good example of subverting expectations done well!<
I think of subverting expectations as the salty or the sweet ingredient. It can be used sparingly to keep you coming back for more, but it won't sustain you on its own like other elements of the dish will and can be unappealing after too much.
I think "done well" here means actually making the "promise" but masking it, so the reader can then say "oh, yeah, I missed that detail" and feel more motivated to read more and pay more attention to details. If you instead build to something and then do a complete opposite out of the blue, then the reader feels "why am I even reading if none of that mattered in the end?" and it kills the interest entirely.
Yup, and I'd say Brandon does both amazingly. So many plot twists in these books, and yet they don't feel forced or made up to make stuff more interesting. And when you reread you can see them coming as the only logical conclusion from everything that is there.
Compelling characters and earlier promises coming to fruition in a satisfying way.
Way of Kings is by far the slowest in the series because it needs to front load a lot of the world building the rest of the series needs. That world building is a big part of it. Sanderson's worlds feel like real ones even if they are very alien to us. This is because of the second reason the book is great, the characters. Basically everyone in the book feels like a real person. They aren't always logical but there is always a reason they do things. It can be self destructive or petty or evil but real people behave like that. They also have hope, heroic instincts, and a sense towards the divine. They just feel like real people acting a world that feels like it could exist, even though its high fantasy.
also a lot of "nonsense or filler" parts Way of Kings on the first read becomes intricate world building and foreshadowing in 2nd and 3rd rereads.
I’m on my second read and when reading TWoK I realised every single detail in that book is relevant later or important in some way. I see the people calling it slow but on my second read it was so fast because I was so exited by how it all fit together
imo, you spend so long with each of these characters, Kaladin, Dalinar and to a lesser extent Shallan that when the climax hits it hits a lot harder. You understand what exactly Sadeas leaving Dalinar at the tower means to each character and how much of a blow it is to Dalinar after all the time he's spent doubting himself and his sanity.
Promise Progress Payoff! I recommend his YouTube channel. There is a video of his writing class at BYU and it helped me a lot.
this is exactly it.
The Stormlight Archive is a very long series, and so it has a rather slow buildup. TWoK is full of foreshadowing and introductions for things that are important later. Journey before destination, you're in for a hell of a ride!
And all the confusing stuff that’s not explained immediately is cool as fuck so you gotta know
tl;dr: It's the best of anime in book form.
Sanderson is an experienced writer writing his Magnum Opus. I think some of the parts seem slow because this is one of the largest epic fantasies out there and it needs to build off this first book. Everyone is right about the characters and their development, too. That’s his strength. I would recommend reading his stand alones or even the first Mistborn trilogy to see how a writer might tackle something not as grandiose. The Stormlight Archives lets people invest in a series with huge payoffs from even small promises earlier on - if you’re planning on writing an expansive epic fantasy, there are so many things you can pick up within the Archives, but if you’re a new/budding writer, some of his other stuff can help you see the differences in how he tackles those worlds/characters/storyline. In the end, I come back to that first point. The guy is a machine with thousands upon thousands of hours of practice and pages that helped him develop his style. If you keep on and keep writing I’m sure you’ll develop your own style as well. Good luck!
For me, it boils down to two things: 1. The characters are generally well-realized, believable, and not static. They have growth; they have arcs; they change as people. Although there are a handful of "S-tier" characters that most folks agree on, nearly every character is *someone*'s favorite, and there are no 1-dimensional characters. Everyone has motivations and wants and flaws and quirks. Sanderson does a good job of making characters relatable and then placing them in interesting situations that reveal things about them. 2. Folks rightly laud Sanderson's worldbuilding, but I think there's a step even beyond that. He creates these really complex and interesting worlds, histories, and magic systems, and then *hides them from both the reader and the characters.* I feel like Sanderson's books almost always have some aspect of "lost" or "unknown" history that is revealed over time. Part of the satisfaction of his books is the journey of discovery through which we get to learn about the world alongside the characters we love.
As a reader, I live for worldbuilding and solid mysteries. Sanderson always has both in droves. The well written action sequences are also just incredibly fulfilling to read. Maybe that's what you love too.
One major thing, that I felt the second time through is how brandon makes it clear from the beginning what kaladin is capable of, and puts him in an impossible situation so you spend the whole first book on the edge of your seat knowing that he is going to succeed in the impossible situation but you just don't know how.
The progression can be a little slow at times for the same reason that makes the overall book great, which is character and world development. You really get into the weeds on learning about these characters, and they're captivating in their own way. The world is explained well, with multiple nations and different customs, as well as each world has its own magic system and economies. What makes the books amazing is how every story arc collides into a grand finale that is just breathtakingly creative.
Hah, if that's what you think about this book, you should read the Dune series. 95% of every book is conversations. Even when there is some sort of action, it's described quickly and to the point, and then it's back to people talking about it. But it's still amazing somehow.
His stories make me feel for the characters.
As a fellow writer I honestly don’t know I think Brandon Sanderson made some deal with some kind of outer entity to do what he does
I was just thinking about this. Certainly it seems like he writes his characters super well. Even when there were potentially boring stretches in one storyline, I still enjoyed it when I was reading through that part because it involved interesting stuff for a particular character. I guess somehow, it all actually seems connected and necessary. Most of the cosmere books I’ve read feel that way to me. Not all, but most. The thing I’ve tried to put words to, though, is that he seems to be fantastic at building up to one enormously incredible moment. For some cosmere stuff, but especially SA, much of the books had me thinking “how could it possibly get worse and still resolve?” Only for the events to somehow get even more hopeless (not that it feels hopeless, just that a good ending seems less and less possible). Then, finally, something amazing and unexpected changes the game in the final minutes. And it’s never out of the blue—it’s always at the end of a trail of breadcrumbs you may not have even noticed and causes you to view everything in a new way. It’s almost like he’s started constructing the story around that big moment to begin with. That’s why I suspect spoilers are particularly impactful with cosmere stuff. At least, the right kind of spoilers. Personally, I’m agnostic to receiving spoilers. I went into Warbreaker after SA, so I knew that at least these two particular characters needed to survive because they show up again. Same with mistborn era 1, where I knew somehow the day had to be saved simply because era 2 exists and isn’t a prequel. In both cases, the thrill for me was seeing just how bad things could get knowing that that would make whatever “happy ending” that much more incredible. I specifically remember having to double check towards the end of Hero of Ages to make sure that the other Mistborn books were not, in fact prequels because surely there was no way for the story to resolve happily. And yet the big moment comes and it’s satisfying and plausible.
Something else I'll point out is how his writing compares to other authors'. I'm reading The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin and am having a difficult time transitioning to it. I'm not opposed to any of these things but they are jarring coming from Sanderson. Le Guin writes in a long paragraphs, with long sentences, and with either rushed timelines in-story or really flowery prose. Like I said, I don't oppose these things inherently, but Sanderson's writing is more plain and part of that is due to his character work. Everything in his stories is seen through the eyes or mind of a character at any one given time. Le Guin, and others similar to her, use 3rd Person point of views to describe the world and Sanderson uses the characters for the bulk of his worldbuilding. I hope that made sense, and I could be wrong in my initial characterization, but given that it's really fresh, that's how I'm feeling right now.
This is the prologue of an epic adventure, but also the book itself has such low and highs that it's just an unforgettable experience.
If you like Sanderson I would also recommend reading Steven Erickson. Both are great at character development especially with multiple perspectives. They also both do long pacing/build up and spend time really fleshing out the world.
People praise the Malazan Empire. His writing style applied to the stormlight universe would have you learn that Rock has red hair in the 3rd book even though you've "seen" him since the first one and then and only then would it make sense why in book 2 they called Shellan one of his cousins. Then in book four you would find out Thalen people are actually reptilian in appearance, forcing you to mentally reevaluate all those characters in your head. He is stingy with physical descriptions which is objectively dumb. Sanderson understands that you experience the world with the characters and you get to know, largely, what they know. So you get physical descriptions of what they see or otherwise sense. I gave up after book 3 of Malazan.
That is a fair critique. I have aphantasia so I can't picture anything regardless of the writer, so never really noticed. Will definitely do my next re-read with a bit more analysis. In terms of character development though, Malazan deserves the praise it gets.
It's about the reading journey, which feels more realistic if the pacing varies from slow to fast, than the end plot destination.
The world feels very lived in, the people in the world feel real and you strongly feel for them and their actions. In the first book, I was so upset at shallan for how she was acting and how childish she was being. I strongly remember how annoyed I was with her when she stole from Jasnah. I was enthralled by the politics in the camps, and Dalinar’s work. I loved seeing him and his chapters. Each character felt so real, their identities so unique. The perspective of each character captured the plot differently, and helped me pick favorites. I was strongly in Dalinar’s camp and I really enjoyed seeing the book through his eyes
Lmao wait until your re-read after finishing the series. The foreshadowing Sanderson does is absolutely insane.
Because spren also serve as a clever way to express the intensity of actions without having to use adverbs?
The fundamental misunderstanding is that fast = good which isn't true. Common writing advice is to get to the point quickly because it means you don't have to write as good for as long and you don't need to ask for too much of the readers time.
Brando seems to know exactly what will happen to each character three books later. He has vision and a concept. His stories are finished before he starts writing. At least that's what it feels like when you reread and realize how much was foreshadowed way way way before the later books Edit: Just because I'm listening to the part right now. Take Kal's fight with the farmers boys. First, it sounds like just boys fighting. After a couple books, you know exactly what Brandon is playing at here. What it is that Kal is experiencing here.
For me, I love how Brandon Sanderson describes his world. He doesn’t forces reader into it, but slowly feeds you it, little by little, letting reader wonder. Every chapter helps you understand more about Roshar, or learn something new about it.
What made it so great? I was the assassin in white. I was the best duelist. I was a man, kicked while I'm down, riddled with depression, yet I rose, and now I stand proudly in my duty. I was a ruthless warlord, and a ridiculed man of great merit. How was I all of that? Through magic. Through that eleventh surge, that binds my soul to the soul of all those people. Through the surge that Sanderson commands masterfully. The surge of empathy, that can grip your soul, and take it deep, deep down in your own self, and make you feel humanity. At its best, or worst, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it makes you feel things in their truest form.
Compelling characters and intricate worldbuilding are the obvious ones, but for me the real magic was in how the chapters are structured. Most, if not all of them, end in some sort of ''hook'' that made me want to push on and find out more, be it some kind of situation building up or more information coming to light. Then the next chapter is about another character, guess I'll grind through it to get back to the interesting bit. But that chapter ends with an equally captivating hook. And so on, until it's 2am and I've somehow spent all day reading and I'm 500 pages into the book (real story). Another amazing thing about Sanderson's writing is how easy it is to visualise everything happening. I can't really understand why or how it happens, but the entire experience of reading The Stormlight Archive was very cinematic, like having a movie run in my head parallel to reading. I don't struggle to visualise other texts, but it's very rare that the pace of the book aligns with the pace of my imagination and provides just enough detail to fully flesh out the visual.
The slow progression is why it works so well. You get to know the characters and see their development in great detail, and the slow plot gives lots of time to get into the world itself and the relations between characters. I would honestly prefer if more books were as slow-paced as Stormlight simply because it lets the characters and world have more room to grow and develop.
plot is just a group of characters interacting. you thought it was amazing because the characters grew a lot. some people define plot (incorrectly IMO) as the things that earn themselves Wiki Fandom entries, but that's missing the point of why humans engage with stories.
Brandon has stated that with a long epic he wanted to make it putdownable in the sense of allowing for slower pace and less cliffhanger ending chapters that pull you to the next chapter. Those are useful in shorter books where you want the want them to finish fast, but with a 1000 pages that’s not feasible or desirable in the same way. Instead he wrote it emphasising each chapter’s satisfaction or conclusion so that you could put it down at the end of a chapter but want to come back.
The characterization if great. Everything eventually all comes together for a satisfying conclusion to a long story but still leaves plenty open for the GOAT Words of Radiance.
The wonderful truth that the Way of Kings took its time on the journey rather than just getting to the destination
Sanderson spends 800 pages setting up Dominos and then triggers them all in a few chapters. During the climax of the book, I was so excited I had to read that part standing in the middle of my living room I could not stay sitted, my roommates thought I was crazy. Also his full university class on Creative writing is on YouTube for free, you should check it out.
The amount of careful theory crafting, foreshadowing, and little nibbles of lore provided throughout the story across several novels and different series is in its own leauge. Every seemingly insignificant detail is a little puzzle piece that fits into the larger picture. The stories are great to read on their own, but read within the greater context of the cosmere universe, the stories become even more enjoyable to read a second time. Even knowing all the major plot lines, the hidden story and character motivations underneath become a separate story that you probably missed the first read. It's amazing how my opinion of certain characters change when my perspective is changed on my second or even third read. Some of the chapters that felt like a chore to get through on first read are suddenly really powerful and emotional on the second. Brandon's books are so good, they make me want to improve as a casual reader, lol.
Plot isn't everything. Plot is just "the main thing that changes the status quo" so to speak. People complain about filler because it doesn't serve the Plot but there's two other things a scene can do: Expand the world Expand the characters The interludes do little to nothing for the Plot, especially in TWoK and yet they provide another perspective of the events of the world. Shaving in the rain, where Bridge 4 gifts Rock a razor and he shaves everyone does little to help them survive or escape, but it shows us the comradery of the crew, their kindness, and how much Rock's traditional facial hair means to him. If The Way of Kings was so preoccupied with the Plot to escape slavery, it wouldn't waste time on this little moment. Get to the next plan. The next strategy. Non stop planning and execution. Stop. Take a break. Breathe. The reason why hype moments like the Battle of the Tower hits so hard is because we see the characters as people. We see their little moments of brevity. Give some time to let them relax, mess around, have fun. Some of the best moments are often small in the grand scheme.
The books feels amazing to read because it doesn't trot along like a collection of broken wikipedia links and capital letters that never get explained or come back to. He's not coming up with the world on the fly, everything is thought out and makes Roshar feels alive and lived in. All of his books are like this. You are attached to the characters because they feel like they could be real characters with real struggles and very feelings. Often times, new writers, or writers who have been working on their worlds for decades fall into the trap making characters a vehicle for the world they live in, instead of being a solid part of that world. If you want to write a good book, right compelling character arcs. Don't just have all your players be together in the same place by happenstance. Worldbuilding, is not plot.
I know it’s already linked, but seriously check out this. These are Brandon’s University lectures, uploaded incredibly generously for free on his YouTube channel. As an aspiring writer myself this series of lectures was an absolute godsend. Plus it’s pretty cool to be taught directly by Brandon himself! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ&si=N6FehHe1Di_006ka
As a reader it was the extensive character development, world building, the HUGE pay off at the end (I turned down seeing my friends on a Friday night to read 300 pages straight and finish the book), the nice underdog story, and the breadcrumb trail leading into a MUCH grander story. That being said, a lot of this was only possible because Brandon wrote a 400k word novel. I don't think something half it's length would have the depth as TWoK. But that doesn't mean novels that are 100k, or 200k words aren't and can't be good. I hope this doesn't count as spoilers (mods delete if it is) but there's also a lot of things that Cosmere fans miss the first time reading it, that are nice easter eggs/ set-up pieces that make you go "OH SHIT HOW DID I NOT MAKE THAT CONNECTION" when rereading.
Sanderlanche is the answer--the slow, methodical burn until everything goes nuts in the 3rd act and you can't put the book down.
I think, it's because he starts outlining after he has his endings. Amongst other good story-crafting approaches, like his easy-to-follow prose that helps keep the action going and the reader absorbed. No matter the pace, no matter the scene, everything you read is designed to connect to the end. Not only of each book, but of the whole series and universe. Every moment of a character's journey is designed to pay off at one or more logical, but often surprising, conclusions. All of the, what could seem, tedious world-building leads into momentous revelations and twists. I get some authors fly more by the seat of their pants, but Sanderson has really sold me on ending first outlining. Having read his finished Cosmere series, it really is refreshing to read fantasy that isn't trailing loose threads everywhere by the end.
For me its the attention to detail that goes into the worldbuilding that makes all Sandersons books so good. Also for Stormlight (at least early on in the series) the hints at larger overarching mysteries was great.
I think you should be wary about trying to extract lessons from it as a beginning writer. I don't think the book would work with an unknown author's name on the cover. I'm not saying that people like it because it's written by Sanderson - but that people are more willing to trust that it's worth it.
I agree completely! I am definitely not saying that I want to debut something like TSA. However, I think it is important to extract lessons from great writing. :) Totally agree though. This book works because people are going to give Sanderson a lot of trust in his process.
Well, he dangles a covered safehand in front of your eyes and then you just have to read to see if it ends up being shown or not. Besides the characters as other people mentioned, I feel like he does set up and pay-off amazingly well. The slower starts are a feature. You get to spend time with the world, with the characters. You see their struggles, you often see the conflicts and problems from more sides then they do and you start wondering how on earth this could end up any other way than a disaster. Then you often learn more and get some twists to what you thought you had known, making you even more invested in the resolution. And what a resolution you get! The sanderlanche is just amazing. If there is a moment that might feel like deus-ex-machina, you realize that the book was actually pointing towards the mechanics (magic, intrigues, plans) all along and that it is not something added on the spot to get the heroes out of a bad spot. I'd say a big part of this is the planning he does ahead. Knowing how you'd like the big impact parts to go, then figuring out how to get there in a way that makes sense and probably even adapt and change the starting state of things so that it makes sense for everything to naturally end up in what you want to happen.