Have you read the WIRED profile on Brandon Sanderson?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by haertig

I certainly do, for names and locations. If I can't say it in my head - full stop. I re-read the word over and over until I can. This is probably why I don't read as much fantasy as I'd like. Some of the character names can throw me into an endless loop.

This sounds very strange to me.

Perhaps one of the reasons I don't do anything like this is that I've been reading translated books with strange names since early childhood. Estonian children's books too, of course, but a lot of the books I read as a child were translated from English, French, Russian and from many other languages. I had no idea how to pronounce the foreign names in them and so I didn't even try, I just read. I never acquired the habit to figure out the pronunciation.

I imagine children in the English-speaking countries read fewer translated books, though I might be wrong in this.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I do. At least foreign character names and places, trying to imagine how they would sound when spoken aloud. Whenever Superman came up against Mr. Mxyzptlk I would have a rough time.

I don't vocalize, but I try to read the names/places as correct as I can.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Believe me. Over the years, I've read the hilarously bad book Creation Descending three or four times. I've read the sequels as well. I'm not in an ivory tower tut-tutting the Neanderthal Sanderson fans.

Problem with the book linked is that there's no eBook.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Problem with the book linked is that there's no eBook.

I have an ebook. I actually asked a friend to scan and convert the trilogy for me.

They are dumb books, but I have nostalgia for them. My grandmother (who LOVED fantasy and sword & planet stories with Boris Vallejo covers) sent me the first one. So I have a soft spot for it.

Thinking back, I had a cool grandma. She sent me the book mentioned, the first Thieves World, the first Gor book and Michael Moorcock's The Land Leviathan.

[tomsem]

I've collected a few Sanderson books, but have yet to read any of them, and may never get around to reading any.

And no, I have not read the article, or have interest in doing so. Not the sort of thing I would trust Wired to inform me about.

I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but do like some of it.

[Critteranne]

For contrast and comparison, meet the Brandon Sanderson profile in Esquire:
Welcome to Brandon Sanderson's Fantasy Empire

It is positive and yet manages to touch on some of the issues people have with Mormonism (including tithing(.

Note: This is not a reaction to the WIRED article -- this article was already planned (and probably being written) before that one.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

For contrast and comparison, meet the Brandon Sanderson profile in Esquire:
Welcome to Brandon Sanderson's Fantasy Empire

Thanks for that. It was an interesting article. Sanderson seems like he's trying his best to do right by as many people as he can.

It is positive and yet manages to touch on some of the issues people have with Mormonism (including tithing(.

I'm not a Sanderson fan, just because I wasn't wild about his writing.

And as an LGBT person that lived in California at the time of Prop 8 I have issues with the Mormon Church.

But to say you shouldn't support an author you like because some of that money will go to the author's church seems ridiculous.

If you like an author's work, read it. If the author is still alive, support them. Try to avoid as much about their personal lives as you can.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Try to avoid as much about their personal lives as you can.

Exactly this. I have absolutely no desire to stick my nose in any personal stuff of any author I've read (unless they've been dead for a couple hundred years, and maybe not even then). One thing is sure, no one of us is perfect and you can find something unpleasant in everyone's life if you start to look closely enough. Why would I want to do that? There's enough s**t going on in my own life.

[Luffy]

I neither like or hate Sanderson. I mean it is complicated. I admire his work but he is as inconsistent as most authors that I like. I never buy wholesale into the bibliography of any author. Anyway, the first 2 Stormlight Archive books are what I prefer over even a couple of the Potter books. I tried to read the first Mistborn Trilogy. The 1st, The Final Empire, was quite good, although something seemed off that I didn't detect in the SA stories. The 2nd one was facepalm inducing, while the 3rd I DNFed after 20 pages.

After a few years, with reading SA books 3 and 4 along the way, I tried Mistborn 4. The crude writing surprised even a skeptic like me. From the beginning Sanderson tried to set up a quick arc (don't want to use spoiler tags). I realised then that he got some beliefs wrong (not talking about religion). It was worth reading that part of the book to get the epiphany that a writer as experienced and intelligent as Sanderson can have such blunt ideas about what and what doesn't work. All of this was my reaction to the experience. I understand that 99% of his fans love the Mistborn books. I just wanted to share this, because I understood even less about why I like certain books and why I ditch the writing of some of my favourite authors.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The only Sanderson book I've yet read is Elantris and my opinions of it pretty much match what the article states. Elantris was original, I've not read another fantasy like it. And the characters were stronger than I expected. But in the end... I dunno. I didn't like it much and won't go out of my way to pick up more of his work.

I liked Elantris. Went off a bit at the end, but I finished it, which means for me it was pretty good. I find his other stuff too long, but IMO he can write. He's talented.

In addition, he has publicly criticized audible for screwing authors. He has a bunch of lecture series on youtube and podcast about writing that are very good. There's a lot worse than Sanderson, for sure.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Quoth

All the ideas in HP are copied.

J. Rowling was just very lucky.

IMO Rowling is not lucky, she can write. She is talented. I suppose talent is luck. You got it or you ain't

I've read John Masefield, The Midnight Folk and I recall no connection except that they are magical. And there is nothing new under the sun, and ideas cannot be copyrighted.

Inspired by English Boarding School stories 1870s to 1980s. Sorry, but that is a silly criticism.

The Ibbotson link is a bit suspect, I'll acknowledge. But I doubt that is as well written.

Also, James Potter is the name of the MC in James and the Giant Peach. An homage?

I do think she is an old boot who doesn't tip. Also, judging by pictures of her childhood home, her tales of poverty are exaggerated. She also crusaded against the Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election, and so helped Bojjer Johnson and the Tories to wreck the country, so I loathe her. But she can write.

[Luffy]

Rowling's moral compass is sad to analyse. One day her core fans will grow older and know better. Or not. I don't mind rereading her HP books. If she writes a book rivalling Potter in the future, I wouldn't mind giving her my money.

[booklover6]

Update from Brandon Sanderson about Audible.

Coincidentally (NOT) all of the whisper-sync for voice titles in my Amazon wishlist that used to be available for 1.99 are going up to 7.47. (Three left in my wish list as of today)(Update-all went up). When I noticed I scrambled to buy some of them up. A couple of them that I clicked at 1.99 got billed at 7.47 so I had to contact Audible about that. (They refunded and gave them to me for free).

Glad authors will get more, but very sad about this change. I buy most of my Audible books via WSV with cash.

[paperwhite13]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

IMO Rowling is not lucky, she can write. She is talented. I suppose talent is luck. You got it or you ain't

I've read John Masefield, The Midnight Folk and I recall no connection except that they are magical. And there is nothing new under the sun, and ideas cannot be copyrighted.

Inspired by English Boarding School stories 1870s to 1980s. Sorry, but that is a silly criticism.

The Ibbotson link is a bit suspect, I'll acknowledge. But I doubt that is as well written.

Also, James Potter is the name of the MC in James and the Giant Peach. An homage?

I do think she is an old boot who doesn't tip. Also, judging by pictures of her childhood home, her tales of poverty are exaggerated. She also crusaded against the Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election, and so helped Bojjer Johnson and the Tories to wreck the country, so I loathe her. But she can write.

I agree with this 100%. I dislike her intensely for various reasons, including the anti-Corbyn stance, but she can certainly write well. You need ideas to write, but having ideas is nowhere near enough; it's entirely possible to take the best ideas out there and end up with an awful book--or use mostly unoriginal ones and still end up with a good one.

It's why AI is a problem--it doesn't only steal ideas, it has the (brute force) capacity to synthesize and steal execution too, and it'll only get better at the perfect crime of stealing.

[jackm8]

I'm so glad that I came across this article, I love every thing about it. It's a lot like reading one of Hunter S. Thomson pieces, gonzo journalism about modern things. It is harsh, it is mocking, it is critical towards obsessive fandom, and to Sanders and his writing as well, but I do think that it's also very flattering as well. Shame that that part went over the head of Sanders fanbase, and over him as well, judging by his reply to it.

Originally Posted by Luffy

Rowling's moral compass is sad to analyse. One day her core fans will grow older and know better. Or not. I don't mind rereading her HP books. If she writes a book rivalling Potter in the future, I wouldn't mind giving her my money.

Try her Troubled Blood. It's a later entry in the Cormoran Strike novels, but she takes care to introduce most important aspects of the series gradually. It's also a self-contained case, so I see no harm starting with the best of them. She's very up and down with her detective fiction, but Troubled, for me, is a true highlight of the genre of whodunint. Memorable cast of characters, and puzzling case that spans decades into the past, and is resolved in a truly spectacular manner.