Writing Tools: Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 Creative Writing Lecture Class (it’s free and invaluable)

 Writing Tools  6 Responses »
Jun 112012
 

 

No money for a writing workshop this summer?

That’s ok, because you’ve got author Brandon Sanderson to the rescue!

Brandon Sanderson’s 2012 creative writing lecture class at Brigham Young University was recorded and posted free online for everyone to enjoy and learn from. (Also all are on YouTube)  The class is pretty fantastic, though the first few videos have some technical issues, it doesn’t matter. Brandon’s handwriting on the white board is horrifying, so you’ll do just as well sticking your headphones in and listening while you multi-task.

I’m a HUGE fan of his character section. The class is weighted specifically for science fiction authors (which Brandon is) but you do not need to be a sci-fi writer to get a lot out of this class. He just uses a lot of classic sci-fi as his examples. His YA knowledge is a little bit lacking, I think, just a little bit, but that’s fine. He writes for adults so I don’t expect him to be an expert at YA and he admits he’s not. Still, most of his lectures are about craft, and that’s pretty universal no matter what you write.

He also participates in a podcast with authors Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and (the amazing!) Dan Wells. The podcast is called Writing Excuses and it’s OMG brilliant. The latest podcast, in fact, is about time travel. And you guys know how I feel about time travel.  I like their tag line too:

Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.

Your Writing Tools:

 

 

Video 1: