This Sanderson Article Gets Unhinged (In My Opinion) 

Can’t believe this person had the audacity to attack Sanderson’s prose, when it took him 5 months to write “I don’t like Brandon Sanderson”.

"Most of what he says isn't worth saying" is a hell of a take when writing an article not worth writing.

Ok I can't listen to this whole thing because it's making me too mad, but this feels like one of those situations where someone just doesn't like or get Some Popular Thing, and instead of accepting that they have personal tastes and that's a fine and neutral thing, they go digging for some Profound Moral Correctness that justifies/explains their opinion and makes it the Objectively Right One. "I don't like Brando Sando so there has to be a good reason." What results is a self-congratulatory spiral that inadvertently exposes their Whole Ass and makes them look judgmental, conniving and cruel - because that's what they were doing. In absence of a real concrere reason to pin their dislike on, and unable to truly believe their proposed objective answer ("maybe you're a bad writer") they engage in schoolyard bullying of his clothes, his looks, his religion, his fans, his friends and family. We are witnessing a very sad, very small person scrabbling desperately for validation of their cruelty because they lack the confidence to simply and harmlessly feel a certain way about a certain thing. Nice to know these guys don't just evaporate after high school, I guess? -R

My wife and I decided on the perfect metaphor for this article: "The jock is mad that the nerd didn't do his homework for him."

The reporter set out to write a mean spirited takedown of Brandon Sanderson and then cried in the shower because there wasn’t any dirt to dig up, it’s pathetic

I once met mr. Sanderson at a diner. He ordered intravenous alphabet soup and ten thousand napkins. By the time my soft boiled egg arrived the napkins were off to editing. He looked into my eyes and said "Ka-Ching, motherf***er!" I have been crying ever since.

The fact that one of Sanderson's employees had to tell this guy that "he HAS to try the shower" might reveal that he was actually the person with B.O. at Dragonsteel LMAO

This is one of those articles that reveals WAY more about the person who wrote it than about the person who is supposed to be the subject of the article.

Props to Daniel for reading the whole thing out, so now no one has to click on the article and feed Wired the clicks they wanted for this rage bait.

I like how the author found the time to kick a small local Chinese restaurant in between their other garbage takes. Real classy

This whole article is just like "How dare these lovely people invite me into their home and treat me with such gracious hospitality." Like sheesh dude.

I also met Sanderson once. I drove from my utterly luxurious and scintillating home state of Minnesota to the decrepit, backwater cesspit that is Utah. I met Sanderson at one of his fan conventions, which I went to so that I could explain to all of king Sanderson's peasants that Sanderson's work is bad and that they should feel bad, as bad as I do every waking moment of my miserable life as a roving journalist who has to suffer through writing one article EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. When Sanderson and I finally met, my first question was, "what am I even doing here in goddamn nowheresville with a bunch of nerds?" He had no answer, of course. To follow up, I asked him a very straightforward and unbiased question: "why do all of your fans smell bad, why is your religion bad, why do you look so stupid, why are your books terrible, why aren't you more quotable, why are you simultaneously famous and yet nobody at my local Wholefoods has heard of you, why is your shower so good, and why am I crying?" Not surprisingly, he had no answer to that either. Or rather, he did answer it, but who cares? It wasn't a riveting answer, therefore I did not write it. In conclusion: why is everyone in Utah mad at me now?

"This is what I drove all the way from San Francisco to the suburbs of Salt Lake City in the freezing-cold dead of winter for? For previously frozen dim sum and freeze-dried conversation?" As a non-American, I wonder if it is normal for people in America to go to someone's house, eat their food, and then go online and publicly insult them and the food they put on the table in front of them as a welcome? This is so disrespectful and horrible and quite frankly bizzare, I'm literally embarassed to even read this article.

What stuck out to me was that the wired writer was so offended by wholesome things. He was offended by it at every turn. Wholesome conversation. Faithful family members, friends, and fans. People refusing to be insulting or gossip. A Wholesome movie. Spiritual comments. A family dinner. Even basic kindness, like letting a strange reporter stay in your nicest room. He hated all of it.

This is honestly horrible. Imagine opening your house to someone like that and 6 months later that person comes out with something like this.

As a former Mormon raised in Utah who went on to live and work in NYC and later SF, this article does not surprise me one bit. I've felt that smug condescension my entire adult life, especially when people learn that I left the Mormon church and thus feel more at ease telling me what they really think. What the Wired author truly despises is that Brandon is happy. People like that genuinely believe that the only thing worth chasing in life is status among the crowd that hobnobs in places like The Battery in SF, or Soho House in Malibu. That is the status this Wired author craves with every fiber of his being, and the fact that Sanderson has wealth, status and happiness outside of what the author deems important offends him. It violates his worldview, and thus he must cast Sanderson as a deviant meriting nothing more than contempt and derision.

Sanderson is definitely not "extremely mormon". In the latest episode of his podcast he described himself as just over the 50% mark on the spiritual to skeptical scale. He is very understanding of people of other or no faith and his written several agnostic or atheist characters in a very human, non-condemning way. He has talked about the fact that he has questioned his faith and so cannot blame other people for coming to different decisions than him. This sort of understanding is the opposite of any type of religious extremism...

They really complained about Sanderson describing unnecessary character expression and wrote a paragraph about the salt on his ramen

18:03 Heartwarming story about a man who felt inspired by Brandon’s stories, turned his life around, and become a happy father. The Author of this Article: What a weird NERD!

I was on the Writing Excuses Retreat last September, which Brandon Sanderson attended. A random fan was on the ship and happened to share an elevator with him on his way to a WXR-exclusive event. The fan came to the entrance of the event shortly afterward with their parent and a copy of one of his books, asking very politely if there was any way to get an autograph. I asked him if he would be willing to autograph the book, and instead, he asked me to bring them and their parent into the event where he spent about 10 minutes talking with them while signing their book. He was absolutely kind anytime I saw him.

this was VERY cathartic to listen to - thanks for covering this lol

This just makes me sad for Brandon. Like he invited you into his home, you met his family, his closest friends. You shared meals with him and learned some intimate details of his personal life that probably shouldn’t have been shared. Then you vomited on your keyboard and insulted him with everything you had for no reason. What a way to treat the hospitality and kindness he showed

Daniel, you have my utmost respect, sir. Also I really do need to express: I work on the Dragonsteel art team directly with Isaac. I illustrated the Alcatraz series, and did those standees of the Mistborn Era 2 characters at the convention. Our team is great, I love them a lot. I am not Mormon/LDS. Nor am I related to anyone at Dragonsteel. I was a kid drawing fanart that Isaac contacted at the tail end of my college career and offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. Fullstop. Please do not attack the author of this article, folks, even if it offends you as much as it offended me. Question his agenda, for sure, but also DO understand that Brandon and his team are the real deal, in my humble opinion.

I’m a bitter atheist exmormon and I will die for Sanderson. He is what Christians should aspire to be. So genuinely wholesome, kind and understanding.

Alternative title: "I suffered through this anti-Brandon Sanderson hit-piece so you don't have to". Thank you for this invaluable public service, Daniel, much appreciated.

This article is fundamentally unkind. The author talks about crying in Sanderson’s home because he(?) couldn’t find an angle on this story, through no fault of the author or his team. Making that angle trashing the character, family, fans, and faith of someone who treated you with kindness is such an awful choice.

Imagine being such a poor writer that you need to include literal book quotes and chat GPT to increase your personal word count to a 4,000 word magazine article in the same amount of time that your target took to write 2 entire books. And edit 7. And literally teach a college level writing course. And still maintain a big family and attend conventions and have a meaningful faith... Clearly one of these is not the same. And then Sando's response to this is unbelievably forgiving. What an incredible guy

I'm not Mormon, Christian, or even "religious" in the conventional sense of the term, but I really appreciate you calling Jason out for being so unfair and ignorant about Mormonism. I have several problems with the LDS church myself, but the way to solve those problems is through serious investigation and honest critique, not thoughtless dismissal and bigotry.

If you ever feel like you’ve done something dumb, just remember that someone wrote this article.

Who just randomly hates Hugh Jackman so much that they burst into tears upon seeing him in a movie? Like that is a profoundly weird reaction to have.

As a member of the church I can 100% say that he is not an “extreme Mormon” I also don’t see any direct ties within his writing to the church or any heavy influences. Sad people just attacking my faith for no reason😢

I have never before grown to respect person while someone is actively trying to insult them to me. To react with such kindness and patience to such disrespect as this is simply amazing.

The insistence this writer has on portraying Sanderson as weird for 'not feeling' is honestly one of the nastiest parts of the article in my opinion. It's very middle school bully. There are PLENTY of reasons people struggle with 'feeling' and none of them mean that someone is any less human

Just proof that you can be a genuinely kind person and someone will still find a reason to talk shit about you.

It’s so freaking weird that he went to the convention and was just going around to fans being like “Say he’s a bad writer. Say it, say it now!”

WTF??? I was one of the lucky few who attended the first ever Writing Excuses writing retreat in TN (in Mary Robinette Kowal's family's home). 20 of us lived with Brandon, Dan Wells, Mary, and Howard Taylor for a week. Ate meals together, played games together, watched movies together, and listened to them teach us how to be more effective writers for 40 hours that week. I continued to see Dan and Howard yearly at GenCon, and Brandon was there in 2018, and still was just as nice, friendly, polite, and fun as he was in 2013. I never found him to be "weird" nor did I find him excitable. He was actually quiet and seemed shy except when he had to be "on" for classes or the podcast. It's as if this person didn't really meet Brandon Sanderson at all.

Imagine going to a fancon and asking people “but this thing you love isn’t really that Good, right?” And being surprised when you get confused looks.

Ive met Sanderson early in his career for a book signing, and he invited me and a couple others back to his hotel to play Magic the Gathering. He was an awesome guy. I really enjoyed the evening and we introduced him to St Louis Style Pizza from Imos. He's honestly just a normal nerdy guy, he's not all that different than most of the people I play D&D with. I don't know what got up this guys butt, but I've hung out with Sanderson for an entire evening and he was great. And this is also coming from a pretty strong athiest.

Brandon Sanderson’s civil response to this hit piece article just makes me like him even more.

Man wrote hit piece and only managed to hit himself.

Having quit the Mormon church just last year, I can say with fair certainty that Brandon is not “extremely Mormon”😂. I have my issues with the church but they have nothing to do with Brandon’s character or ability to write

This is one of the most unhinged things I've ever had read to me by a man on the internet @__@

Ernest Hemingway's books are studied in U.S. high schools as part of great English language works, and he wrote incredibly simple prose... that conveyed deeper meaning through mechanisms like subtext. Simple prose is only just simple when there's nothing else going on underneath the surface or overall.

"I guess...I guess because I admitted to him that I'm not a person who feels pain very easily, he thought he should see how deep the knife would go?"

I actually find the fact that Sanderson admits that he struggles with emotions and ‘pain’ and uses his profoundly emotional writing as a way to express that is beautiful.

I like how the author complains about Utah as if it's Sanderson's fault. Like yeah, totally forgot Sanderson created the entire state of Utah.

I haven't read all of Brandon's books and haven't loved all of the ones I read. I will say though...the ending of Stormlight I got me in tears, not even Tolkien did that for me and I am a massive Tolkien fan. I have nothing but respect for Brandon and his body of work. He is a powerhouse.

Imagine an editor at Wired being like "Yeah, good 👍" lol Blows my mind.

I honestly cannot fathom the fact that someone at Wired read this and was like "yep, let's publish this". Like... what the hell?

this seems like in Harry Potter when Rita Skeeter attacked all the main characters, but i never thought i’d see something like that outside of a young adult fantasy series

Oh, yes, the metal system of magic is sooooooooo hard to film. Character drinks a vial which has some small pieces of metal in a liquid and gets super strong. Audience: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???

8:15 “In the five months or so which it has taken me to write this magazine story…, Sanderson has published two books” that sounds like a skill issue on their part

This is singlehandedly one of the weirdest articles I've ever read. I'm glad to see you took a look at it as well Daniel! If I didn't know who Sanderson was before reading that article, I would walk away from it assuming Sanderson is some megalomaniacal rich Mormon cult leader.

I honestly think this guy went looking for dirt on Sanderson, hoping he'd be mean or rude, and was extremely disappointed to find Sanderson is the real deal. He's a good man and he's mad about it.

One of the things that stands out to me is how long this journalist got to dedicate to this piece. I was a journalist for three years, working for a daily newspaper. I won a number of awards for profile pieces. I would interview someone for less than an hour, write for less than three hours, and wind up with 1-2 page article. (I wasn't allowed to write longer articles because of the format, but I easily could have.) Let me spend a day with Sanderson and give me a day to write it, and I would create something way better than this guy from Wired. How did this guy get this job? Why did the magazine give him the green light to make it like this?

I've been to many of Sanderson's lectures. He's such a down to earth and humble person. He has so much insight, yet never acts snobby. Never would imagine someone would take shots at him for being so approachable despite his fame.

Fantasy books without sex scenes are my favourite fantasy books and someone needs to cater to this audience (me)

Sanderson just posted a statement/answer about this article on his reddit. I have copied it here. "All, I appreciate the kind words and support. Not sure how, or if, I should respond to the Wired article. I get that Jason, in writing it, felt incredibly conflicted about the fact that he finds me lame and boring. I’m baffled how he seemed to find every single person on his trip--my friends, my family, my fans--to be worthy of derision. But he also feels sincere in his attempt to try to understand. While he legitimately seems to dislike me and my writing, I don't think that's why he came to see me. He wasn't looking for a hit piece--he was looking to explore the world through his writing. In that, he and I are the same, and I respect him for it, even if much of his tone seems quite dismissive of many people and ideas I care deeply about. The strangest part for me is how Jason says he had trouble finding the real me. He says he wants something true or genuine. But he had the genuine me all that time. He really did. What I said, apparently, wasn't anything he found useful for writing an article. That doesn't make it not genuine or true. I am not offended that the true me bores him. Honestly, I'm a guy who enjoys his job, loves his family, and is a little obsessive about his stories. There's no hidden trauma. No skeletons in my closet. Just a guy trying to understand the world through story. That IS kind of boring, from an outsider's perspective. I can see how it is difficult to write an article about me for that reason. But at the same time, I’m worried about the way he treats our entire community. I understand that he didn’t just talk about me, but about you. As has been happening to fantasy fans for years, the general attitude of anyone writing about us is that we should be ashamed for enjoying what we enjoy. In that, the tone feels like it was written during the 80s. “Look at these silly nerds, liking things! How dare they like things! Don’t they know the thing they like is dumb?” As a community, let’s take a deep breath. It’s all right. I appreciate you standing up for me, but please leave Jason alone. This might feel like an attack on us, on you, but it’s not. Jason wrote what he felt he needed--and as a writer, he is my colleague. Please show him respect. He should not be attacked for sharing his feelings. If we attack people for doing so, we make the world a worse place, because fewer people will be willing to be their authentic selves. That said, let me say one thing. You, my friends, are not boring or lame. In Going Postal, one of my favorite novels, Sir Terry Pratchett has a character fascinated by collecting pins. Not pins like you might think--they aren't like Disney pins, or character pins. They are pins like tacks used to pin things to walls. Outsiders find it difficult to understand why he loves them so much. But he does. In the book, pins are a stand-in for collecting stamps, but also a commentary on the way we as human beings are constantly finding wonder in the world around us. That is part of what makes us special. The man who collects those pins--Stanley Howler--IS special. In part BECAUSE of his passion. And the more you get to know him, or anyone, the more interesting you find them. This is a truism in life. People are interesting, every one of them--and being a writer is about finding out why. In that way, the ability to make Stanley interesting is part of what makes Pratchett a genius, in my opinion. That's WRITING. Not merely using words. It’s what I aspire to be able to do. People are wonderful, fascinating, brilliant balls of walking contradiction, passion, and beauty. I find it an exciting challenge to make certain that the perspective of the washwoman or the monk sitting and reading a book is as interesting in a story as that of the king or the tech-mogul. And I find value in you. Your passion for my work is a big part of why I write. You make my life special. Thank you. (NOTE: I do want to make it clear, again that I bear Jason no ill will. I like him. Please leave him alone. He seems to be a sincere man who tried very hard to find a story, discovered that there wasn't one that interested him, then floundered in trying to figure out what he could say to make deadline. I respect him for trying his best to write what he obviously found a difficult article. He’s a person, remember, just like each of us.)" He is obviously hurt, but still acts like a true gentleman. I feel proud to be a reader of his work.

As someone who grew up Mormon, who is now VERY MUCH NOT...gotta be honest I read 3 Storm-light books and I think the first era of Mistborn before I even found out the dude was Mormon. I'm pretty anti organized religion in general these days, but his books have never read as veiled doctrine to me. Now that I'm aware of his religious beliefs, in hindsight I could possibly point out some recurring themes or values he likes to highlight in his stories...but honestly nothing I couldn't point out in a different Author's fantasy story that has godly beings in it..after all it is a fantasy.

Hearing that Sanderson is a Mormon was a big surprise to me bc I never got this vibe from his books with all their versatility of characters, motivations, worldviews, sexual orientations and ethics. So as a fan of his books I don't care. I'm not his friend, I'm not reading his diary, I am not even his fan - I just love his books. And while I understand that the author and his works are deeply intertwined, as someone who has written a few pages of prose myself I also understand that stories grow beyond what a writer is on a personal level. Would we like Talkien or Jordan if we knew them personally? Maybe we wouldn't. It doesn't change that we love their works. When you enjoy something, be it a fantastic dinner, a great movie, a delicious bottle of wine or a mindblowing painting - how much of that delight comes from knowing the religious views of the maker and how important is it that he's rich, a workaholic, numb to pain or enjoys Asian cuisine? But if you were to write about an author and have spent a couple of days with him I guess most of us would write less about ourselves and more about that person. And not just the superficial stuff like their food choices. Does his son love the journey of Caladin? Does his wife feel connected to any female character? What do they love most about Brandon Sanderson? How did he start to write? How and why did he become a Mormon? Why is it so important to him to include all sorts of mental and emotional disorders in his stories? If you were given a chance to spend a few days around Sanderson, just imagine all the questions you could ask. I guess the author of that article was too busy with himself to grasp that opportunity with any grace.

The article is so bizarre its like an article you would expect to read 20 years ago about d&d or something and the weird obsession with pointing out he lives in utah

I cant get over that they let this be published. Its like Tumblr rant material. Twitter! I meant Twitter! 🤣

All I read was; "Man I'm jealous of this religious, talented, hard working and successful hyper capitalist."

I loved Sanderson's writing class online. It was one of the best I've taken on writing, I was greatful he freely gave away such valuable information and he seems like a lovely person! ...This article "writer" needs to take some writing classes and go to therapy about his bullying.

This was the saddest attempt at a hit piece I've ever seen edit: it just looks like the journalist was jealous and petty for no reason. I can't believe a somewhat reputable magazine published something so terribly unsophisticated

TL;DR if you don't want to engage with the article: Weird successful Mormon author who is actually bad at writing is weird and has weird Mormon beliefs that affect his bad writing, and the weird people who like his books are weirdly enthusiastic about also being weird. Not to mention, he's kinda weird.

That little insert from Sanderson’s response was like a breath of fresh air of good writing, my lord.

"This Tolkien guy is ok, but he sure writes a lot of Christian imagery. What a dork" -Senior Editor at Wired, probably

The article is 100% rage-bait. “As you travel the twists of Twitter As you pass through the Lands of Zuck And the frogs and the pinks overwhelm you with links And the links overwhelmingly suck When the Redditors ask if you've read it When the TikTokkers talk and tic Hold this admonition close to your breast: It's bad on purpose to make you click.” -Scott Alexander

The the Author of the Article just cant wrap his head around the fact that Brandon is a pretty regular guy (besides his obvious skill in Writing and the Business aspect of writing) is just so weird. The Author wants for Brandon to have something shady going on or whatever. He just isn't happy with the answer, that Brandon is probably just a Nerd who has turned his hobby into is Job with great success.

I’m glad you made this video. I was horrified at how the editors at Wired let that article publish as it was. It was full of inaccuracies and downright a personal attack by the interviewer on Brandon Sanderson. Maybe the journalist was looking for attention. Perhaps Wired was too. Maybe they were thinking, “Any publicity, even bad publicity is good, “ for both Wired and the “journalist” that wrote the article. That approach doesn’t hold water in the age of social media. It’s a good way to get canceled. The article has so much bias it goes beyond any semblance of an opinion piece and exhibits attributes of slander and defamation. Wired should publish a retraction and a public apology to Sanderson and his family.

It took this guy 5 months to write this?! When I was going to a community college, I woke up in the middle of the night at the horrifying realization that I hadn't written my English Finals paper, and in that fevered adrenaline rush managed to write a better paper in that half of the night that's better than this.

Gotta love gems like: "For now, there is only Sanderson, both wordful and wordless, the best-selling writer no writer writes about because writers only know how to talk about words." WHAT.

This guy is the senior editor of wired......explains why this got through editorial but also how he got that position is an absolute mystery. His own writing is shocking. I'm not even really a Sanderson fan. This strikes me as doing a hit on big writer for clickbait when the fan base lash out. Don't give him what he wants.

I actually miss tabletop gaming in Utah. I graduated from Payson High right near American Fork. I had the best games, players didn't intentionally railroad the games to hell, there was always drinks. It was always pleasant. Also as someone from Asia we also have strong family values and tend to have our family tied up in our businesses. But with alcohol. Mormons aren't half bad. Never once have I ever had a major issues with Utah Mormons.

I am now MORE likely to read Sanderson. Thank you, Jason!

It was Patrick Rothfuss disguised as a Wired reporter. "Sanderson writes ENTIRELY TOO FAST."

Love the reek of ableism hanging over this article. The implication that because Brandon doesn’t emote as strongly as he’d like means he doesn’t feel any emotions, and that that’s a bad thing. The weird invasiveness about the food he eats throughout their meetings. Being extremely weird about the fact that he happens to have a high pain tolerance. Like what the fuck does all this have to do with his writing??!

Dear Fellow Fantasy Nerds: this is what is commonly called a "hit piece". And was probably proposed as such when the writer (a senior editor?) approached Wired to write it. However, after failing to expose any sort of "seedy underbelly", and failing to come up with an actual story - which they actually sort of admit in the article - they shifted to make it personal While it's definitely sleazy, and Sanderson could understandably feel a bit betrayed, you could choose to take it as a roundabout compliment...after all, if a writer for a major publication chooses to do a hit piece on you, it's probably a sign you've truly made it It's also probably worth noting that many have said "there's no such thing as bad publicity"

As a former professor, yes. Plenty of us wore blazers and graphic T-shirts lol

He may not be written about a lot in the mainstream, but my god is it hard not to find an article about him in the publishing world, or hear about him on a bookish podcast

Positive spin: the fact that Sanderson has had a main stream media outlet write a hacky hit piece on him is proof that his work and fantasy lit in general is becoming more and more important to culture as a whole. Usually it’s only politicians and rockstars that get this kind of treatment. Cmon guys, this means we’ve won!

I can't imagine sitting down with a person and their family and then writing this. It's so cruel.

So, to start, I am also queer and irreligious. 🙌🏻 I think I maybe love Brandy Sandy (that’s what I call him 🥰) more than you do. I agree that he and his writing is not perfect, but he has brought me a lot of joy over the past however many years I’ve been reading his stories. 😊 I also happened to meet him in person and I was the most awkward human imaginable, but he was so gracious and gave me a Cosmere pin. 😳 I cherish it so much!! Your commentary on this poor excuse of an article was the best I’ve seen. Thank you. ❤

Wait a minute... In the beginning of the article the author says he's read 17 or maybe 20 he's not sure books from Sanderson but they all blend together... Then later he admits he's not read a single book from Sanderson that he's criticizing in this article. How the hell could he have read 20 books from Sanderson and yet never read the most popular books in the entire genre?

This one thing in the article irks me more than anything: I’m studying master's in anthropology and interviews are one of our basic tools. There’re probably some differences in how anthropologists and journalists use interviews, but one thing that got HAMMERED into me was that if your interlocutor wants to remain anonymous or doesn’t want you to mention certain things that aren’t necessary for your research, YOU ABIDE BY THEIR WISHES!!! What this author did is not only sleazy af, but also highly unethical and makes my blood boil.

This turned out exactly as I’ve expected. This is a great example of modern journalism.

I have a family member who is a poet, and (the rest of what follows is my take, based on decades of experience) that fact is central to their self-image. They can’t enjoy a work unless they actively admire the prose (and doesn’t challenge their beliefs). I never ask them what they’re reading anymore because they criticize almost everything. It seems like reading isn’t about enjoyment or experiencing something new - it’s an opportunity to feel superior. That’s the vibe I’m getting here. Also, does San Francisco not have nerds anymore? I haven’t been since the early 2000s, but at the time, the three major groups seems to be: - people who grew up in the area - people who talked a lot about New York - nerds who moved there for tech industry jobs

Man I had no idea Sanderson salted his Ramen. What a monster.

Could it be that this author realized that, by just writing "I don't like Brandon Sanderson.", he's 3,995 words off the mark and won't get a paycheck?

Oh my god. The implication that the vast majority of his characters are perfect good people. Most of them are morally gray AT BEST

I really like Sanderson's simple prose! English isn't my first language and I'm not an avid reader so Sanderson's books are very approachable for someone like me.

Goes to Sanderson’s *house* to *talk to Sanderson* about *his work* and then complains that’s exactly what he had to do? I’m sorry what?

“[Kehe] should not be attacked for sharing his feelings,” Sanderson wrote. “If we attack people for doing so, we make the world a worse place, because fewer people will be willing to be their authentic selves.” - Sanderson

the quiet "oh no" when the writer starts talking about mormonism relating to fantasy got me laughing so bad

I've been trying to find this article, but Wired just keeps asking me to sign up and give them money before I can get passed the first few paragraphs, so thanks for posting it in it's entirety and breaking it down. I can't help but think how awkward and seemingly antagonistic this writer comes across as, which is especially odd, because it all feels like it's on purpose. Like they're the hardened investigative journalist who knows their subject is hiding something dirty, something scandalous, and they're going to be the one to expose it, which is really out of place for something that should be falling somewhere in between a slice-of-life piece and an expose. I have a degree in journalism, granted I'm a bit older, but we covered a lot of interview tactics and in most cases, acting comfortable and being friendly with your subject tends to net the best overall collection of usable information. The writer said they have over 40 pages of notes and quotes and none of that is useful? I'm terribly out of practice writing interview pieces, as it's been 17 year, but I am sure there was more than enough information in there to write a story, it probably just wasn't what this "journalist" thought was useful for their ends. It just seems like they went into this interview with an axe to grind, for some reason. I have trouble thinking of a situation where make fun of or insulting someone's faith is necessary or respectful. Unless someone is shoving their nonsense in my face, it's none of my business what they personally believe, and you know what? Those different perspectives and world views make for different, engaging narratives and characters. Also, out of all the religious people I've met, in my experience, Mormons have been the nicest and least pushy out of religious folks I've interacted with. Do some of the things they believe seem a little weird? Hell yeah! But that's quite literally every religion, they all believe something weird at some point, it's par for the course. Also, what kind of person cries because they see Hugh Jackman? This has to be hyperbole, if the Jacked Man is making the writer cry, they need to do some solid introspection and maybe see a professional or two about being triggered by a large Aussie man in a musical.

This article has strong "highschool bully angry that the nerds ended up being more successful than him" vibes.

This just feels so cruel and mean. Especially the part about him not feeling pain like he admitted Sanderson was feeling uncomfortable, pained and embarrassed yet still keeps prodding and then uses it to insult and kinda dehumanize him it just literally feels like school yard bullying. The whole article just feels surreal and strange. Like what even was that. The guy just comes off as so petty and mean spirited

When you on a trance and thought you were writing a rant tweet but was actually making an article for your job

I just looked up Kehe's last few Wired articles. They're all like this. Everything he writes appears to aspire to be the screenplay of Hot Take: The Motion Picture.