The creators of that new show in amazon should have watched this: "Why did you love LOTR so much? It was not about the setting, elves and dwarves. It is its HEART that really grabbed you" 10:53
46:36 I did the same thing once in a chat room. It was actually the story I'm working on now... like, 20+ years later. I just started with what I knew, which wasn't much at all, and just started telling the chat room what happened. It led to interest, and they wanted to know more, so I wrote more. I wrote a complete chapter's worth of scene and dialogue, little narrative because of the medium, and it was the most I had done for that story than in all the months before, where I daydreamed and pondered and hoped I could write. I think, just doing it, and doing it live, was what spurred me to continue and finish the tale. I didn't even know what I was going to say, because for all that time pondering and wondering for months, I had almost nothing to show. When I began to tell what little I knew, it led directly into what I knew should happen next, and then what should happen next, and after that. I didn't even know I had these things in me until they came out in the chatroom. That one little session, and especially the interested audience and the feedback, really helped to shape the future story I would eventually want to tell. It's not the same story now, but it is a better story for having been told in that way in that place at that time. I highly recommend doing something like this if you feel stuck. The mere fact that someone else is asking you "Woah, cool, then what happened?" is so inspiring and motivating, you find the writing to be fun and more like a game. "Can I convince them I know what is going on here?". I didn't think I could, until I found out I could by trying.
I love the Stormlight archive, and Sanderson.. but him wearing that hat is the result of him being the most elite dude on campus. No one can tell him anything lol
I just realized, one of the biggest differences between the characters of Superman and Batman is action. Superman reacts to events, deals with the villain, and goes back to wait for more events to react to. Batman actively prowls the night, looking for crimes and clues of crimes, plays detective, solves mysteries and generally pursues his own ideals and desires, namely ridding the streets of Gotham of the criminal element and bringing justice to the world. Wow. I think it's starting to click here.
I write down so much. I use Notepad for notes, and I have such files as, "people, places, things", "what happens next", "things that must happen" and "woah, cool". Or maybe just a file with a character's name with all the things I know about them, or a file called dialogue with things I want said. Sometimes if it's just random, I'll call it "things and stuff", or "random wanderings of insanity". It's super helpful to sort through all these ideas and concepts and to organize them, admittedly a bit haphazardly at times, so I can see what's where, why it's cool, or just to make sure I don't forget that vampires have electric bills to pay too.
I do the same, then copy and paste the Notes file into Scrivener. Then I work out which points I can use in my WIP, open up that file in Scrivener and make notes re character or whatever in the file of the book I am writing.
I have to laugh because I finally looked up Dan Wells' 7 point story structure and I love Sanderson's lectures and I'm devouring them all but I swear that 2010 50 minute crappily edited video of Wells' lecture on 7 point story structure at some conference was every bit as helpful as all of these lectures are! It looks like Sanderson taught the class in Spring 2020 because the second to last class was posted May 29, streaming. You could attend the class virtually, I think, if we can figure out what time Mountain Standard Time it starts on Friday the 5th.
I enjoy these videos and find them a great help but to say hitchhikers as no characters and is just a comedy novel makes me ask if he as ever read it. Marvin the paranoid android alone is an unforgettable character. Although I have a couple of prattchet novels never really got on with them-personal thing i know.
I wish I had seen this video like two months ago >_> I had listened some wordcounts from one of Sanderson's other videos and, on the basis of his wordcounts, decided I should shoot for 100-110k words for my YA novel. However, earlier this month, I started to look into wordcounts again and saw 90k pitched around as being a marketable number. Already I was like "Oh shit," because at this point I'm probably going to clock in at 105-110k. Now I'm hearing Sanderson mention that YA is really more like 75k so I'm in more trouble. I guess I'll have to cut some major stuff when I go to revise? Maybe move characters and scenes to a later novel somehow.
Watching this from 2021 and seeing someone cough this much in front of a class of people all sitting together and coughing as well just feels sooo weird.
Weeeell, depends on how pedantic you want to be. Conflict doesn't have to be large scale or cataclysmic. Look at something like Jane Austen. Not much happens in pride and prejudice in the grand scale, and no one is on the brink of death or anything, but there is lots of conflict.
Conflict is used to mean any conflicting goal or idea that two characters might have, it doesn't have to be about violence or rivalry. Two best friends debating over where to go for coffee is a conflict. It's what makes the difference between an interesting story and a list of events.
