Brandon Sanderson

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Brandon Sanderson at Lucca Comics & Games (Italy 2016)

Brandon Sanderson (born December 19, 1975 in Lincoln , Nebraska ) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction literature . The majority of his work can be assigned to the subgenre of high fantasy . Sanderson was best known for his Mistborn series (Eng. Nebelgeboren ). He finished the very popular and influential cycle The Wheel of Time after its creator Robert Jordan passed away.

Life

Brandon Sanderson was born on December 19, 1975 in Lincoln, capital of the US state of Nebraska, and grew up there. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In 1994 he began studying biochemistry at the private Brigham Young University in Provo , Utah . From 1995 to 1997 he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Seoul , South Korea . Upon his return, he dropped out of biochemistry and enrolled in English instead. He graduated in 2004 with a master's degree in creative writing . Even at university, he took part in the semi-professional “Leading Edge” project, a science fiction magazine. He financed his studies by working as a night porter for a hotel, which allowed him to write while on the job. During this time he completed 13 books and offered them to various publishers for publication. Tor Books accepted his sixth manuscript, the novel Elantris , in 2003 and published it in 2005 as Sanderson's debut. Since July 2006, Sanderson has been married to Emily Bushman. You have three sons and live in American Fork, Utah.

Create

After his debut novel Elantris , Tor Books published Sanderson's trilogy Mistborn in the following years , which was published in German by Heyne Verlag from 2009 and also made the author known in Germany. In 2007, Brandon Sanderson was chosen by Harriet McDougal Rigney, Robert Jordan's widow, to complete her husband's wheels of time . Sanderson, who is himself a big fan of the Wheel of Time , accepted and closed the series with three books by 2013. Sanderson started his most ambitious project in 2010 with the book Way of Kings . It is the first volume of the Stormlight Archive , the scope of which is designed for ten books.

Writing process

Brandon Sanderson is considered to be an extremely productive author who says of himself that his daily workload is not particularly high, but he delivers it every day. He gets up around noon and then writes until around 5:00 p.m. The subsequent time until around 10:00 p.m. belongs to the family. This is followed by a second writing pad until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. According to his own statements, he writes about 100,000 words in three months for new works. Although he is only working on one new work at a time, it is quite common for him to edit revisions of other works in the meantime. Between work on extensive books, he often slips in shorter works to freshen up. These smaller projects also give him the opportunity to try out new and experimental ideas. Sanderson publishes a lengthy blog post on his homepage, usually around his birthday in December, about the current status of all his projects. In this "State of the Sanderson" he sums up the events of the past year and the plans for the future.

Sanderson's Laws of Magic

Trademarks of Brandon Sanderson's books are very well elaborated, often unusual systems of magic. In developing these magic systems, he follows rules that he himself calls Sanderson's Laws of Magic .

  1. An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic. ("An author's ability to solve problems using magic is proportional to the reader's understanding of that magic.").
  2. Limitations> Powers ("Limitations on Powers ")
  3. Expand what you already have before you add something new. ("Extend what you already have before adding something new.")

Following the Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov Sanderson completed his three laws by a zeroth law:

  2. When in doubt, err on the side of awesome. ("When in doubt, tend towards the great.")

Cosmere

Most of Brandon Sanderson's novels are set in the same universe, the Cosmere. Here, at the beginning of the plot, the deity Adonalsium was killed and its power and intentions were divided into 16 parts, an event known as "shattering". These parts (called "shards") were picked up by people present who thus became gods themselves. The new deities (also referred to as "shards") were distributed across different planetary systems of the Cosmere and their conflicts form the background plot. The novel series play on different planets of the Cosmere (called "shardworlds") on which different magic systems have manifested themselves through the influence of the shards. The novel series have a superficial plot and they can be read without knowledge of what is going on in the Cosmere. Sanderson plans about 35 main novels in the Cosmere, whereby the background plot around the story of the Cosmere should come more and more to the fore over time so that it will form the main plot in the final novels.

Teaching

Brandon Sanderson is a part-time faculty member on the humanities faculty at Brigham Young University. There he offers a lecture on creative writing every winter semester. The 2016 lecture is available to the public as a video recording.
Together with Dan Wells , Howard Tayler and Mary Robinette Kowal , he has moderated the writing guide podcast Writing Excuses since 2008 , in which various aspects of the writing process are discussed for 15 minutes a week.
Sanderson presents his own writing process very transparently by publishing detailed comments on some of his works on his homepage. With the novel Warbreaker , he even went so far as to document the entire process from the first drafts to the finished work online during the creation.

Honors

Brandon Sanderson was nominated twice for the John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award . In 2011 he won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Way of Kings . Sanderson won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Short Novel with The Emperor's Soul . Writing Excuses won in the same year with the seventh season also in the category 'Best Related Work'. Works by Brandon Sanderson topped the New York Times bestseller list several times .

Dragonsteel Entertainment

Dragonsteel Entertainment LLC is a small company owned by Brandon Sanderson who supports him in his work. She employs Brandon Sanderson's private assistants and runs his webshop. The company acts as a publisher for some of the shorter works or special editions. It is named after the unpublished book Dragonsteel , which forms the chronological beginning of the action framework in Cosmere.

Trivia

Brandon Sanderson is a keen player in the trading card game Magic: The Gathering and describes it as his greatest hobby. He occasionally competes against his fans in tournaments at conventions.

Sanderson has a pet macaw called Magellan , who also appears frequently in video questionnaires, video interviews, and the like. According to Sanderson, the macaw comes closest to his childhood desire for a dragon as a pet.

Works

Cosmere

Independent works
  • Warbreaker , Roman, 2009, German Sturmklänge , Heyne, Munich 2010, ISBN 3-453-52713-5 .
  • The Emperor's Soul , Novelle, 2012, German The Soul of the King , Heyne, Munich 2014, ISBN 3-453-31524-3 (together with the novels Legion and Infinity Blade, the blade of infinity ).
  • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell , Short Story, 2013 (originally published in the anthology Dangerous Women by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois ).
  • Sixth of the Dusk , Short Story, 2014 (originally published in Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology ).
  • Arcanum Unbounded , Collection of Novellas, Short Stories and Essays, 2016.
Elantris
  • Elantris , Roman, 2005, German Elantris , Heyne, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-453-52167-6 .
  • The Hope of Elantris , short story, 2006.
Mistborn Era 1 (Mistborn)
  • Mistborn: The Final Empire , Roman, 2006, German children of the fog , Heyne, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-453-52336-9 .
  • Mistborn: The Well of Ascension , Roman, 2007, German Warrior of Fire , Heyne, Munich 2010, ISBN 3-453-52337-7 .
  • Mistborn: The Hero of Ages , Roman, 2008, German ruler of light , Heyne, Munich 2010, ISBN 3-453-52338-5 . (New edition appears as "Hero of All Times", 2019, ISBN 3-492-70468-9 )
  • The Eleventh Metal , short story, 2011 (originally appeared in the role-playing game Mistborn Adventure Game ).
  • Mistborn: Secret History , Novelle 2016.
Mistborn era 2
  • Mistborn: The Alloy of Law , Roman, 2011, German Jäger der Macht , Heyne, Munich 2012, ISBN 3-453-52942-1 .
  • Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania , short story, 2014 (originally appeared in the role-playing game Mistborn Adventure Game ).
  • Mistborn: Shadows of Self , Roman, 2015, German shadow over Elantel, Piper , Munich 2017, ISBN 3-492-70435-2 .
  • Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning , Roman, 2016, German bands of mourning, Piper, Munich 2017, ISBN 3-492-70444-1 .
The Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Chronicles)
  • The Way of Kings , Roman, 2010, German in two volumes
  • Words of Radiance , Roman, 2014, German in two volumes
  • Edgedancer , Novelle, 2016, published in Arcanum Unbounded ., German. Die Tänzerin am Abgrund , Heyne, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-453-31769-7 .
  • Oathbringer , Roman, 2017, German in two volumes
  • Dawnshard , novella, 2020 (planned).
  • Rhythm of War , Roman, 2020 (planned).
White sand
  • White Sand, Vol. 1 , Comic, 2016.
  • White Sand, Vol. 2 , Comic, 2018.
  • White Sand, Vol. 3 , Comic, 2019.

Outside the Cosmeres

Independent works
  • Firstborn , short story, 2008.
  • Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine together with Ethan Skarstedt , Kurzgeschichte, 2012, published in the anthology Armored by John Joseph Adams
  • The Rithmatist , Roman, 2013, German. Der Rithmatist , Heyne, Munich 2015, ISBN 3-453-26986-1 .
  • Perfect State , novella, 2015.
  • Snapshot , novella, 2017
  • Magic the Gathering: Children of the Nameless , Roman, 2018
legion
  • Legion , Novelle, 2012, German Legion , Heyne, Munich 2014, ISBN 3-453-31524-3 (together with the novellas The Soul of the King and Infinity Blade, the blade of infinity ).
  • Legion: Skin Deep , novella, 2014.
  • Legion: Lies of the Beholder , novella, 2018
Infinity Blade
  • Infinity Blade: Awakening , Novelle, 2011 German Infinity Blade, the blade of infinity , Heyne, Munich 2014, ISBN 3-453-31524-3 (together with the novels The Soul of the King and Legion ).
  • Infinity Blade: Redemption , novella, 2013.
Alcatraz
  • Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians , Roman, 2007, German Alcatraz and the dark library , Heyne, Munich 2008, ISBN 3-453-52414-4 .
  • Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones , Roman, 2008, German Alcatraz and the parchment of death , Heyne, Munich 2008, ISBN 3-453-52415-2 .
  • Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia , Roman, 2009, German Alcatraz and the Knights of Crystallia , cbj, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-570-40151-4 .
  • Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens , Roman, 2010, German Alcatraz and the last battle , cbj, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-570-40152-1 .
  • Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent , novel, 2016.
The wheel of the time cycle
Reckoners series (The Avengers)
Skyward
  • Defending Elysium , short story, 2008, published in the October / November 2008 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine .
  • Skyward , Roman, 2018.
  • Starsight , Roman, 2019.
Dark One
  • Dark One, Vol. 1 , Comic, 2020 (planned).

Audio books

Most of Sanderson's works are available as audio books in both English and German. These are complete readings of the respective books that are available for download. In German the Rad der Zeit volumes are read by Helmut Krauss , all others by Detlef Bierstedt .

Other works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Famous Mormon Writers and Authors. In: The Morgan County News. Archived from the original on August 15, 2006 ; Retrieved August 10, 2006 .
  2. ↑ a b c About Brandon. In: brandonsanderson.com. Retrieved March 30, 2017 (American English).
  3. ^ Dragonsteel Entertainment. In: smashwords.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for May 2013. In: brandonsanderson.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2019 ; Retrieved May 19, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ Questions at Salt Lake ComicCon FanX 2016. In: Arcanum, The Brandon Sanderson archive. Retrieved December 28, 2018 (American English).
  6. ↑ a b State of the Sanderson 2018. In: brandonsanderson.com. December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018 (American English).
  7. ^ State of the Sanderson 2017. In: brandonsanderson.com. December 19, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (American English).
  8. ↑ Brandon Sandersoun: What Are Sanderson's Laws Of Magic? In: brandonsanderson.com. Retrieved May 13, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Aaryan Balu: Sanderson's Laws: Building a magic system for storytelling in Worldbuilding Magazine , Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2018 [1]
  10. ↑ State of the Sanderson 2019. In: brandonsanderson.com. December 19, 2019, accessed December 21, 2019 .
  11. ^ Brigham Young University, Humanities, Staff and Faculty Directory. Brigham Young University Humanities, accessed April 1, 2017 (American English).
  12. ↑ 2017 English 318 application wrap-up. In: brandonsanderson.com. January 3, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017 (American English).
  13. ↑ Warbreaker. In: brandonsanderson.com. August 21, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2020 (American English).
  14. ↑ Kaimi Wenger: MWS: Brandon Sanderson. In: Times & Seasons. June 11, 2007, accessed December 20, 2007 .
  15. ↑ David Gemmell Award winner. In: gemellaward.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2013 ; accessed on August 3, 2018 .
  16. ↑ 2013 Hugo Awards. In: The Hugo Awards. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .
  17. ^ New York Times bestseller list. In: The New York Times. January 27, 2013, accessed April 3, 2017 .
  18. ^ New York Times bestseller list. In: The New York Times. March 23, 2014, accessed April 3, 2017 .
  19. ^ Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC. In: openlibrary.org. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Sanderson, Brandon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH 19th December 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Lincoln (Nebraska) , Nebraska