I finished Brandon Sanderson’s Lectures – here are my thoughts.

First and foremost, I need to emphasize how absolutely amazing it is that these lectures are available for free! Brandon Sanderson is likely the most prolific fantasy/sci-fi writer of his generation. With 50 million copies sold, and 70 books written, he could be charging premium prices for a spot in his lecture hall – but he doesn’t. The lectures are free, and I urge every sci-fi/fantasy writer to take advantage of them! 

Throughout the series Sanderson takes you through a deep assessment of character development, plot development, world-building, and finally – the business of writing (dun dun dunnnnn).  

Personally, I was the most interested in plot and character development, as world-building tends to be lower on my priority list. While Sanderson is most renowned for his world-building, I think he puts it best when he emphasizes the hierarchy of importance here. You can have a good story with strong plot/characters but subpar world-building, but, you can’t have a good story with strong world-building, and subpar characters/plot. Of course, one should strive to master all three elements. 

I was also drawn to the concept of promise → progress → payoff. This is the idea that throughout your book, you’re making promises to your readers, giving them ideas about how the story will progress. The success of your plot structure depends on making that progress toward your promise, eventually achieving a satisfying payoff. 

Aside from the excellent writing advice, Brandon Sanderson includes several lectures on ‘demystifying the publishing process’ and getting an agent. He even touches on indie/hybrid models, although he is quick to point out his perspective here is limited.

All of these were amazing lessons, but what impressed me most about Brandon Sanderson’s lectures was his tendency towards realism. Now to be clear – I don’t mean pessimism. Rather, he strikes an excellent balance between honesty and inspiration. It’s tough out there. One can’t underestimate the role luck plays in breaking through.

The harsh reality is that sometimes diligence just isn’t enough, so it's important to look in the mirror and ask oneself: If you never ‘made it’ as a professional writer, would you still write books? If the answer is ‘no’, you might want to reassess. If the answer is ‘yes’ then you’ve already won.

I cried at the end of the series when Brandon looked across the classroom and said, “If you’ve written a book, you are in the elite, and you are my colleague.”

I have written a book – I’ve written several. I’ll keep pushing as hard as I can, because I don’t want to look up to these writers when I know I’m capable of looking at them from side to side. Still, those words meant a lot. I learned so much from these lectures, but if all I’d gotten out of them was hearing Brandon Sanderson call me his colleague, it would have been worth it.