8 ms·

Take all advice you see online from successful people with a grain of salt. It is inherently biased. The software industry, for example is filled with people w

Take all advice you see online from successful people with a grain of salt. It is inherently biased. The software industry, for example is filled with people who are extraordinarily talented at math in high school and thus get into the good schools. There are exceptions where people find the passion to code later on in life, but by and large, the "cream of the crop" fits the definition of the former.

musicale 5y ago
I heard Brandon Sanderson talk once and I was like "wow, this is one of the most organized writers I've ever heard of." I suspect his organization, methodology, and work style are partially responsible for his success. I kind of wish we had been able to lock Sanderson in a room with George RR Martin to finish Song of Ice and Fire before Game of Thrones went past the novels.
- swyx 5y ago
  it wouldnt be unheard of to call in Sanderson to finish a fantasy novel series someone else started.
  - dlp211 5y ago
    Sanderson would almost certainly not finish GoT. He does high fantasy, not grimdark. There are plenty of grimdark authors that would be far better suited to finishing GoT.
    - freddie_mercury 5y ago
      Not "almost certainly". He has explicitly said he wouldn't do it. He doesn't like the series, disagrees with Martin's pessimistic take on humanity, and believes the content clashes with his religion. Quote from him: "….the point is moot, as I wouldn’t say yes to finishing ASOIAF, if asked. (And I don’t think they’d ask me.) I’d respectfully decline. I wouldn’t be right for the job for many reasons." https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4uwjq9/spoilers_everything_twow_isnt_coming_this_year_is/d6lotl1/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4uwjq9/spoilers_eve...
  - akmarinov 5y ago
    No, thank you. We know broadly how GoT ends. I prefer that we get more Stormlight and Cosmere.
    - chrisan 5y ago
      Man, the way he can crank out stories I'd be surprised if him helping GoT would affect his timelines at all
- irrational 5y ago
  Or the guy who wrote Name of the Wind.
  - turbocon 5y ago
    Patrick Rothfuss
nefitty 5y ago
I think it helps to find people slightly ahead of you on the same journey. Their internal map of the topic is slightly more filled out, so the difference is easier to manage. I want to learn AI programming, and I'd more effectively learn from someone who has just gotten their head around Prolog than from a PhD at DeepMind.
andrewflnr 5y ago
One of the things I respect about Sanderson is that he's very aware of this effect and factors it into his advice (or at least tries). :)
musicale 5y ago
A few other examples from writing: Stephen King is famously a seat-of-the-pants writer, not knowing where his characters and settings are going to take him. He is also famous for reading constantly whenever he isn't writing or sleeping. Where other writers might avoid reading to avoid plagiarism or distraction, King eats books for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. R.L. Stine is famous for cranking out hundreds of horror novels. I recall him writing that a good horror novel requires a good ending, so he actually writes the ending first to make sure that it does. In contrast to Stephen King, he always knows exactly where he is going and about in how many pages. It took (the non-prolific and perfectionistic) Gustave Flaubert 5 years to write Madame Bovary, and he wrote that he worked from 1pm to 1am (presumably shifting to 2pm when he started spending an hour a day tutoring his niece.) Neal Stephenson famously quit email to apply more of his time writing for a larger audience.
cf141q5325 5y ago
One of his lectures centered around what to do once you are finished writing the book. And it was to do your best to make changes to make it commercially viable. I think that is a great example for the kind of teaching style. He lists all the important perspectives without which you will crash into problems. Its not a "How to make it as a successful author", but "How to be less of an unsuccessful one".

musicale 5y ago

I heard Brandon Sanderson talk once and I was like "wow, this is one of the most organized writers I've ever heard of." I suspect his organization, methodology, and work style are partially responsible for his success. I kind of wish we had been able to lock Sanderson in a room with George RR Martin to finish Song of Ice and Fire before Game of Thrones went past the novels.

swyx 5y ago
it wouldnt be unheard of to call in Sanderson to finish a fantasy novel series someone else started.
- dlp211 5y ago
  Sanderson would almost certainly not finish GoT. He does high fantasy, not grimdark. There are plenty of grimdark authors that would be far better suited to finishing GoT.
  - freddie_mercury 5y ago
    Not "almost certainly". He has explicitly said he wouldn't do it. He doesn't like the series, disagrees with Martin's pessimistic take on humanity, and believes the content clashes with his religion. Quote from him: "….the point is moot, as I wouldn’t say yes to finishing ASOIAF, if asked. (And I don’t think they’d ask me.) I’d respectfully decline. I wouldn’t be right for the job for many reasons." https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4uwjq9/spoilers_everything_twow_isnt_coming_this_year_is/d6lotl1/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4uwjq9/spoilers_eve...
- akmarinov 5y ago
  No, thank you. We know broadly how GoT ends. I prefer that we get more Stormlight and Cosmere.
  - chrisan 5y ago
    Man, the way he can crank out stories I'd be surprised if him helping GoT would affect his timelines at all
irrational 5y ago
Or the guy who wrote Name of the Wind.
- turbocon 5y ago
  Patrick Rothfuss

nefitty 5y ago

I think it helps to find people slightly ahead of you on the same journey. Their internal map of the topic is slightly more filled out, so the difference is easier to manage. I want to learn AI programming, and I'd more effectively learn from someone who has just gotten their head around Prolog than from a PhD at DeepMind.

andrewflnr 5y ago

One of the things I respect about Sanderson is that he's very aware of this effect and factors it into his advice (or at least tries). :)

musicale 5y ago

A few other examples from writing: Stephen King is famously a seat-of-the-pants writer, not knowing where his characters and settings are going to take him. He is also famous for reading constantly whenever he isn't writing or sleeping. Where other writers might avoid reading to avoid plagiarism or distraction, King eats books for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. R.L. Stine is famous for cranking out hundreds of horror novels. I recall him writing that a good horror novel requires a good ending, so he actually writes the ending first to make sure that it does. In contrast to Stephen King, he always knows exactly where he is going and about in how many pages. It took (the non-prolific and perfectionistic) Gustave Flaubert 5 years to write Madame Bovary, and he wrote that he worked from 1pm to 1am (presumably shifting to 2pm when he started spending an hour a day tutoring his niece.) Neal Stephenson famously quit email to apply more of his time writing for a larger audience.

cf141q5325 5y ago

One of his lectures centered around what to do once you are finished writing the book. And it was to do your best to make changes to make it commercially viable. I think that is a great example for the kind of teaching style. He lists all the important perspectives without which you will crash into problems. Its not a "How to make it as a successful author", but "How to be less of an unsuccessful one".