Brandon's quick tips are 40 minutes long, and that just makes so much sense (not a bad thing).

"Here's what you need as a teen writer." > Me, a 24 year old man "Go on." Edit: I just want to say, the sheer volume of you all proudly admitting where you are starting is a reminder to me to finish my novel. Thank you all. Edit 2: 25,000 words, y'all. I hope you are chipping away yourselves! Edit 3: Glad to see everyone is still working hard. Nearly at 40,000 words, now. Life stuff got in the way, so I am a little off course. And that is okay! I look at Brandon, often out of shameful desire to work as hard as he does. But that is envy masquerading as hope. What I truly needed was to push my limits, not meeting someone else's. Lifting more weight, not that of an Olympian. I started having 2,000 word count sessions 4 days a week. Which puts me on track to finish in March. Here's hoping. Best of luck, all! Edit 4: Hey everyone. I wanted to chime in as my progress came to a bit of a halt these last few months due to some mental issues. And while you don't need a highlight of my life, I figured since we are all reaching out to one another for a sense of grounding, it could help to mention what I've been doing. First, find small ways to contribute if you can't seem to make yourself work. What helps me is recordings. I love talking things out, it's one of the reasons I DM for my friends, and having a recording of a character arc or slab of world building really helps get my juices going. Second is read. I've been absorbed by other pleasures that have stopped feeling like such. It's withered away a lot of my self motivation. But reading seems to pull me back into effort. If you are struggling to write, pick up a fiction and chew some pages.

"I am going to go quickly through these" *Spends 10 minuttes talking about his roommate who is a sewage treatment engineer*

Brandon: "If you want to be a writer, you need to work as hard as an engineer" Me who is studying chemical engineering: "Interesting"

As an actual sewage treatment engineer I am offended. We’re a lot cooler than IBM workers

“So what do you do for a living?” “I make water more watery”

People: That's a one in a million shot. Sanderson: *so you're SAYING there's a chance!*

15:16 Teacher: 3 out of 25 of you will go pro. Everybody else: What?! My mind: *I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!*

Brandon - Stands in front of a white board before giving tips. Me - Notices white board, also all the markers on it, gets excited to see Brandon writing/drawing up notes on said board. Brandon - Has assistant tape pre-written on pieces of paper to the white board. Me - "Wow, even your presentations are filled with unexpected plot twists, well played Mr. Sanderson!"

Now I want to write a book about dragon law enforcement.

Write consistently is one of the most difficult things to do indeed.

The moment I accepted it was okay to just want to write fanfiction and never become a professional writer, a weight was taken off my shoulders!

“These 10 tips will be pretty rapid fire” - video is 40 minutes long...😂😂

On the note of being a successful writer being a one in a million chance: "Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten." -Sir Terry Pratchett, Mort

Here's a mantra that I tell myself whenever I doubt my ability as a writer. "I may not be as good as the best, but I'm definitely better then the worse." There's plenty of poorly written books and movies out there, and if they can get made, then I surely have the ability to succeed as well.

Hiding stories because you are ashamed of them is literally the story of my life!

*automatically looks for timestamp guy*

I think I can speak for all the young writers here, the amount of learning and advice we get from watching your videos Brandon is extraordinary! It means the world to us that someone like you pulls down the curtain and desperately tries to teach us how to be successful In this industry. You are our role model in this walk and I couldn’t fathom someone being a better one!

I love how Isabel pretend to use tape to put the "PowerPoint" posters up when she was clearly glowing with Stormlight. Now I am curious if she is a windrunner or a skybreaker.

38:27 The comedic timing of this final poster just... flopping down like that, literally at the very end of the whole presentation, is *hilarious*

Summary with timestamps: 1.) Advice can be good for some people but bad for others 1:15 2.) You don't have to become a professional writer 3:35 3.) ...but it is a viable job choice 6:25 4.) Nobody will make you become a writer 8:55 5.) You may not end up writing what you think you will 16:16 6.) Tastes vary, and that's okay 20:46 7.) Successful writing is usually created using techniques you should learn 22:38 8.) Revision is a different skill from writing but it is important 26:37 9.) Determination is more important than talent 30:40 10.) It doesn't have to be fun but it should be satisfying 35:56

As a TA called Isabelle I had a moment of irrational panic right at the start there xD

Things I learned from this lecture: 1) Story time with Brandon Sanderson is awsome 2) Brandon Sanderson should never be a professional statistic analyzer 3) A bunch of stuff about writing

"These tips are going to be pretty rapid-fire" Sure they are, Brandon, sure they are.

37:03 "the 4th draft of a thousand-page novel" man i really can't imagine what book he could possibly be talking about there

Thank you for the "it is a viable job choice" bullet point. One of the most devastating things I was told as a kid was that "wanting to write stories doesn't make you special. EVERYONE wants to write a story. The reason you say it's the only work that gets you excited every day and doesn't feel like work is because it ISN'T work. It's a passion, and a self-indulgent one-time goal at most."

"If you want to make it as a professional writer you need to work as hard as the people who are trying to become engineers, but you need to do it without people giving you the structure." This is a real gem right here and something very, very few people understand.

The two dislikes are from 1) Adam the social media director and 2) Adam's pro golf dreams. 4:40

I think the biggest piece of advice that works that I’ve gotten- it came to you- is to just write and let those drafts flow. The more you write, the better you get. 13 books before published? So? It doesn’t matter. Consistently writing is the key to success; the more you practice, the better you get.

Brandon: This is going to be quickfire because I have to get through ten of these Also Brandon: *explains the details and intricacies of his friend's microchip water purification job* I love these videos man, THANK YOU!

I started by selling a few articles and a novella. That led to a full time job writing training materials (at a nuclear power plant, no less, lol) and then spent nearly 20 years as a technical writer, software manuals, etc. All the while, I read constantly and wrote fiction on the side. Now, retired, I just write fiction. I don't submit anything for publication. I am perfectly content writing for myself, writing stories I like to read, and putting them on my Kindle for something I can read and reread when I'm too old to write any more (though I honestly can't see me ever being that old! -- Ha-ha).

Watching Brandon Sanderson talking about how a 60% in engineering is good is honestly so relatable

"These are gonna be pretty rapid-fire" 40 minutes later Lol we love you Brandon

"He makes water more watery" true wisdom

He's not kidding. As hard as I try to "write everyday" my willpower gives out and go back to old habits. It's still taking time to instill proper writing habits in me.

Me, at damn near 40 years old: :::FURIOUSLY SCRIBBLING NOTES:::

"Chaos become Order!" That is quotable.

I believe these things he mentioned don't just apply to writing, they apply to most forms of art.

"Make fun of him for being a glorified sewage treatment engineer" *seems like a good way to make fun of my friends*

"There are as many right ways of writing as there are authors" that's the smartest thing I have heard all day.

Hi, I have zero interest in writing; I just love to listen to Brando Sando talk about stuff

This type of advice is awesome, even for a non-teenage. It really seems to apply to anyone interested in starting writing.

For some reason I really needed to hear the bit about not needing to write professionally. My writing doesn't have to be lucrative to be helpful to me and/or others. This has unclogged some mental weirdness for me. Thanks, Brandon!

I grew up reading heroic fantasy and thought, yeah-I want to do that! Then I started writing and it was not at all heroic fantasy. Blew my mind.

He really called me out with the starting a new book instead of revising my old ones

I've just decided I wanted to be a writer, and I'm 32 years old😂 I may never write anything worth a damn, but I'm going to try!

Sixteen-year old, novel coming out either at the end of the year or next year. This is incredible. I feel very excited for the future as a writer thanks to this. Thanks so much.

Branden: "You may not end up writing what you think you will." I love horror. Reading, watching, listening to podcasts... I wanted to write horror for years, but I'm not very good at it. I've been working on a fantasy story for a year and feeling like I have no business writing fantasy. I needed to hear this.

top tip - if you have motivational issues (depressive personality/etc - me) then absolutely learn to love outlines. way too often i am dragged away from my keyboard and amazing ideas/plots/etc are lost to the colander of memory, use an outline and write in a modular fashion and your condition will be less of a curse. POW. Git that writin onnnn!

Shout-out to Brandon's assistant who put the papers perfectly on the whiteboard! You also helped the flow of the video and giving the advice.

I'd be willing to bet the other 22 out of 25 didn't have the perseverance to write 12 books to keep fighting to go pro -- that matters!

“Maybe some of you like to write stories because you like fanfiction” Me: *currently watching writing videos to avoid working on my fanfic bc of writers block*

I've been writing since I was 13 and I'm touching 25 now. I'm yet to publish or even finish my first "real" book but I've loved every second of the stories I've created. Plus being a note hoarder I've been able to accurately map how and when i got better, what inspired me and what I changed over the years. Ever since I started I've had one consistent story in my mind that I feel I must publish at some point, even if it flops, it's like a promise to my younger self that it wasn't all a waste of time, because even if I fail and never become a successful author I tried and I certainly enjoyed the journey regardless of the destination, success would just be a bonus at this point. Moral of the story, don't be so hard on yourself, writing is a hobby that can become a career but it's okay if doesn't, part of the beauty is that there is no pressure, it's just you putting pen to paper and making yourself happy because you're allowed to.

The "You don't have to be a professional writer" is the best one. I absolutely love writing and have been building a world for years but I'm already a musician and I found I just need a creative outlet where there is no pressure to perform. I tend to have the most productive writing times when I'm under pressure for upcoming musical performance or project. If I do decide to send my work to a publisher one day then that happens but its not a goal. And I enjoy the process so much more like this. I also hide my work - I don't print it (though I back it up on multiple hard drives) and I've only let my siblings and husband read snippets.

Parents: you should try engineering. Teacher: you absolutely should study literature, and absolutely creative writing! But maybe look into teaching? Lecturer: have you considered copywriting? And by the way - we only accept literary fiction here.. Me: guess I can't just write books then. Me now: working in an office is the absolute worst, why didn't I spend the last 5 years writing?! Oh yeah, because everyone told me its not possible.

As a teen with dreams of becoming a writer this feels like the perfect video for me. You always motivate me, thanks!

I just want to say as a teen writer, I knew about none of these things and I am very appreciative of the help you give writers in need. Thank you.

Thank you so much, your advice is great! I'm 16 and extremely dyslexic. After getting picked on at school when I was around 10 years old. I decided I wanted to overcome my disability and become a writer. I have been grinding for about 6 years and learning as much as I can about writing and creating stories. thank you so much for the advice and encouragement!

That grandfather joke caught me off guard. Nearly spit out my coffee.

This might sound weird or supremely melodramatic, but thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I just started writing a year ago, but even now I wish I had found this video because there has been lots of crying over this, hehe. Especially when I get stuck writing then overthink about how terrible and cliche my whole story is. I don't really like posting comments at all, but: This video sorta fortified me and making me excited to write something that I've been stuck on for weeks, so thank you. (Also, you managed to keep my eyes on the video the entire time, which doesn't happen most of the time :D I wish there was a love it button)

I really liked what Brandon had accomplished with Wheel of Time. I don’t think it’s perfect, but that series is still one of my absolute favorite. I read one of Brandons books a couple years later. I got through about 6-10 chapters (Warbreaker I think, it was a long time ago so I don’t remember) and I was bored out of my mind. Despite this, Brandon’s classes and advice videos are S tier learning in my opinion.

I've found that my skill as a fiction writer has greatly benefited from my academic career. Writing diverse papers to a high standard has drilled into me certain habits like revision, research, writing technique, grasp of voice etc. It probably helps that my subject is History and I specialize in analysis of aspects of the 'norm' and the 'other' as they appear in historical literature and mythology. I quite literally study and write about stories.

I appreciate that one of your tips is "write consistently" not "write every day" or "follow this formulaic writing process". I finished my first novel in the 15-20 min before class on Tuesdays and Thursdays in college. Just sat in that coffee shop and wrote. Sure I wrote other times when I felt inspired, but twice a week I had dedicated writing time. And it's a lot like doing homework. When I'm taking 6 classes, I'm not going to be doing homework from every class every day. I dedicate 1 day a week to each class's homework. Once a week is consistent and that's what counts.

He’s very right about revision. When I was a teenager I never wanted to edit/revise my work. To me if it was meant to be perfect it would come out that way. Now as someone in my late 20’s I realize editing is so very much an important aspect to writing something. It can turn an alright piece into a solid piece. And no one is going to judge you for editing!

hello Brandon, I'm 15 and listening to you talk passionately about what you do is better then watching any movie! thank you for inspiring me and thousands of other creative people, cant wait until I experience that feeling of finishing a book! thank you once again. :)

We absolutely loved having Brandon participate in our conference again. He is awesome!

This advice applied to me more than I thought as a wastewater treatment engineering student opting to take extra writing classes to get better 😂 I am masochistic when it comes to homework I guess lol

I'm definitely not an outliner! You just made me realize that. So many times I just gave up and lost motivation to write because I had everything outlined and then I didn't want to "write it all over again". I did this my whole life basically. Maybe going spontaneous will get good stories out of me

Thanks, Sanderson! I'm a mexican writer, and I basically went through all the things you described. It is inspiring, and I totally agree with the "create a writing habit" bit. That's what I try to hammer into my students; without a habit, you won't write anything, ever.

Number 5 really resonates with me. I thought i was weird for loving to read a broad range of genres but especially epic fantasies and mysteries. But now I finally have the opportunity to be published soon in my country and ended up writing drama. Thank you Brandon! I love your books!

What a king to mention fanfiction, family histories, and RPGs. This is super true, that's how most people nowadays write, they're not publishing stories all the time, they're sharing them online and getting critique and advice and growing.

“Build a consistent writing habit.” Check! Brandon can you please post a video telling us your story on how you worked out building a consistent writing habit for yourself with all the stuff you have going on in your life?

29:48 The hallmarks of a successful creator, are people who know how to take good stories they've created, and make them great 14:00

Writing consistently for me is only hard when I take a break or something happens that stops me for more than a day or two. I normally have found I can write 3-7 thousand words a day when I get into it pretty much everyday and then I went on a vacation with my family for a week and then took me 3+ months to get back into the habit XD I found just not stopping even if its a few hundred words a day on vacations is the only way I can stay consistent.

I love the last one (I agree with all of them) but the last one is amazing I’ve loved writing since I was a little girl and I’m currently writing a book or novel idk, but I’m almost finished with Chapter 4, I’m 38 pages in and 18,400 something words and I’ve never thought I would get here, I’ve written a lot of short things that I wanted to turn into a book but they weren’t right, I’m 3 months into my book so I’m kinda slow at it but I’m very proud of myself

Brandon may have changed his major to English after the first year, but his handwriting looks like a Chemistry major's. :P

Please keep posting and writing, Brandon! You are a big inspiration

Brandon comes across as such a generous-hearted person.

My favorite Picasso quote keeps me motivated- “When your muse arrives, she must find you WORKING!”

Thank you Brandon for acknowledging that fan fiction is legitimate writing. Teens deserve more support.

"or you make America turn out to be communist cause you stepped on a butterfly" watch me go back in time stepping on every butterfly I see

I really enjoyed point 5 about how you might not end up writing what you think you will. I love sci-fi, and most of sci-fi is space opera. I thought I was going to write tons of space opera, but I also love detective stories. Right now, I'm working on a sci-fi detective thriller, and I'm having a lot more fun than I did when writing my space opera. I'm hoping to write a cyberpunk book soon, and I am very excited to finish my detective thriller

Brandon’s new videos are really showcasing his love of science fiction short stories and I am here for it!

Very inspiring, Brandon! :) Gonna have to rewatch this whole thing! The thing about Luck, something I wanted to share.... I have read some stoic philosophy, and one quote from the philosopher Seneca is "Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation". Now, of course there are moments when things just seem to fall down into your lap, but I have started to think of luck as just that: Preparation + Opportunity. Say for example when you were at the con with your friend and you HADN'T written anything, you were still dreaming about it but hadn't gone the distance? You wouldn't have been prepared. Or say you hadn't gone to the con with your friend? You would've missed the opportunity.

Videos like these from Brandon have been extremely encouraging and really motivating for me. It's nice to see a professional writer break down certain aspects of the craft to help authors who are just starting out! Really appreciate it, thank you a lot, sir!

I love the bow by the final poster XD

9:18 - "If you can't tell, story time is what I like." -- Best line ever

His info and sense of humor make it easy to digest. I appreciate it

First point is SOOO GOOD: Sanderson is King of good advice + grain of salt = find what works for you. Second point even better: I've never enjoyed/been passionate about anything like I am about writing, so I'll keep doing it regardless of conventional success. Thanks for all you do!

Great job Brandon - keep it up - proud of you!

This is SO helpful, entertaining, motivating and just plain fun to watch!! There will be so many acknowledgements in future books thanking Brandon for pumping out writing advice videos (I at least know I am going to thank him). Keep making the videos Brandon (and the rest of the team)!

Thank you Brandon! The advice you gave here was shockingly supportive. I’m going through my first novel right now and your advice definitely put me more at ease. Thank you :)

The Stephen King advice from tip one is for me. Outlines killed me in high school. I would talk to my teachers and some would get it, most wouldn't. The ones that wouldn't allow me to get away with no outline, would get an outline that had nothing to do with my story. The outline would be the last thing I did and I would just jot down nonsense. My teachers would question me on it, of course, but I would just tell them my outline triggered connections for my story at that time. Never failed due to turning in a "bad" outline.

I love this man. An author and teacher that richly deserves sincere admiration and respect from all of us. You have inspired me to pick up my passion with both hands and instilled in my heart true determination to not only be the best writer I can be, but also to find real satisfaction in the work I do. Take care and keep the wonder and wisdom flowing. Thank you Brandon.

I’ve recently gotten into writing and reading fanfiction again to help me deal with trauma and the dial ointment of life, and I forgot how much I loved writing. The point about revision vs writing is so true. Sometimes I think I’m a better Revisor than writer, and sometimes the opposite. And the last tip is important for all jobs and, honestly, all sides of life. It’s won’t always be fun, but it should be satisfying 😊 thanks for putting that into words!

Thank you for taking the time to teach us things. I really enjoy your style as a teacher. It makes it so much fun and love your work!

In all honesty, I think I am like this Mr. Dan you spoke of. Every time I feel as though I have bettered my writing skills by a significant degree, I revise my writings. As a matter of fact, I have revised a 40k piece of work about 4 and a half times now.

As a chemical engineer I can confirm we are sewage nerds

I havent read a book by you, but these video just got me willing to read them, and the final point is just as satisfying as the intrinsic meaning of the message. Thank so much!

Thanks for the upload brandon!!!