Lecture #6: Worldbuilding Part Two — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Grounding the reader in a huge political setting with one concrete example reminds me of the elevators in Arcane. One shining elevator takes Jayce with Grayson UP to meet his destiny with the counselors of Piltover. One dilapidated elevator takes Vi and her crew DOWN to meet their destiny in what will one day become Zaun.

I love how one of the best living writers has trouble spellling 😂

Talking about a society that wears masks... in a lecture posted March 2020.
Someone in that room is a prophet.

genuine question, i know theres little chance of brandon or whoever runs the account seeing this, but my question is: we talked about grounding the reader in concrete reality with small bits of world building, so is there a time where leaving it to the abstract is better or more effective for your story? any examples of this? how would you go about doing it?

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I agree that more concrete does not mean more better, especially if the distinction does not affect the story.

If you tell a story about a dog, and do not specify what type of dog and it does not affect the story, then it's ok to allow the reader some flexibility in imagining their own details.

I come from a perspective influenced by ttrpgs and writing adventures, so I tend to think sometimes less is more. Who cares what the bar tender looks like? That can be for the players/reader to imagine.

The idea of being aware of abstract vs concrete vocabulary is interesting where it applies to everyday communication too!

Just being aware of the words you used and how easily they can be misinterpreted.

Homie called the economic collapse due to Corona

Honest it's super interesting to me that Sanderson can't spell words like climate. I kinda get hierarchy. But climate and stuff, even though I feel like any native English speaker should be able to spell climate with ease. I actually find it super refreshing and kinda brave that he is so open about how bad he is at spelling. Thank God for word spelling check bro otherwise we might never had Brandon share free lectures online because he likely wouldn't ever get published xD

Romance military thing
One person is a general
Another person is a shock trooper whos about to be sent on a suicide mission

What I say is
Worldbuilding affects the outside challenges the characters have to face.
Those challenges should generally reflect the themes. Dune, for example, in pretty much EVERY challenge they have to face, is about overcoming instinct with the power of the human mind. Instinct tells us to swing our sword faster, instinct tells us to walk on the sand with rhythm, especially when a thumper is on the ground. Instinct tells us to dive for the caves to hide from the attacks, instinct tells us to cry.
Every single problem I listed is intrensically linked to the setting.
In my book, the themes are how factions break us apart and individuality and self-sustaining lifestyles are squashed under other peoples quarrels. So to test the main character, a military deserter, he has to make compromises for his freedom all the time. The power system is literally dictated by your ability to think for yourself more than everyone else.

One of the students sounds EXACTLY like that one girl on YT Shorts who reads tumblr posts

This was amazing 👏🏽

I loved Sliders for this very reason.

I can't believe One Piece didn't make that board 😢

I want to learn world building because I want to create the world I wish we lived in.
A multiverse to be precise. And no, it doesn't have superheroes or magic. Math is magic 😊

World Building - Jane Austen write romantic horror because of the economics in her world building, where you either marry well or your family starves.

Hey Brandon, love your work in the book, AND in the classroom! I feel blessed to have access to these courses. Ty for being you.

Brilliant

I've watched these about 10 times now. Great to revisit when you are stuck.

I love when he name drops Steven Erickson. And steep learning curve!

There's actually a very great horror story called "The Bottle Imp" that focuses a lot on the economy in order to enhance its horror aspect. Basically, the premise is that there is this magical bottle with an evil imp in it. The imp will grant you any wish for material wealth you desire, but if you die with the bottle in your possession, you will go to Hell. Unfortunately, the only way for a person to get rid of the bottle is to sell the bottle to another person for a price LESS than what you bought it for, the idea being that eventually the price of the bottle will go so low that nobody can sell it any cheaper.

OK, so the Economic based Horror got me really thinking. I had to write my idea somewhere :D

A cyberpunk world where everyone has an implant. A ransomware virus has been spreading. If you get infected there is a countdown until it erases a precious memory from your mind. Our MC wakes up one morning with no memories of the past few years to a family he doesn't know. And his 'apparent' wife has a ticking clock above her head...

Not sure if this is more thriller than horror, but thought it was neat.

omg the coronavirus destroying the world comment aged poorly...

How to spell approach? LMFAO

"Are you sure that's not for romance?" Sanderson with the jokes!

Horror in a setting with a particular economic situation.
First guy: What if coronavirus destroys China's economy?
Video posted 6 Mar 2020

Listen Magic is both Cultural and Physical Wicca is a religion dealing in magic and I know he doesn't like elemental but magic does not exist without a world of elements neither does alchemy.

Hi, I'm Sally and I have worldbuilding disease. 😆

I love that he can't spell, I can't either

Thank you for the Steven Ericson shout-out! He's the best ❤️❤️❤️

I thought these world building episodes were going to be the least useful to me as I'm not really writing a whole fantasy world at the moment, but this was amazing to think about how the environment can impact the story, and is still really relevant for setting things in the real world. The whole series has been amazing so far!

Coming to this video two years later, its interesting to hear Brandon talking about how he's never done a fast blitz release where he announces an entire line at once... before the Secret Projects happened.

Also really wierd to hear someone shout out "Coronavirus destroys China's economy" as a horror idea. That must have been super early days in the pandemic before it got everywhere.

I like that there are two notes on the board that say "Good" and "Shameful" that point to two sets of markers.

Came for the world building lecture, stayed for the expo marker skills