Why Does Mr. Sanderson Write These Books?

[Nick11]

      Let's start this with Brandon. You're awesome, I love the books. Next on the agenda, me. I am pretty neutral on this topic. This is my first post, but I have read most of Mr. Sanderson's books and I have been a fan of this site for awhile. I am an enlisted turned officer in the US Army with a bachelors in organizational psychology that focused on leader development.I like to think I have 2 or 3 cents to add on a number of things concerning leadership, perseverance, and moral philosophy.

 

     I was talking with a close friend about this series. Shocking I know, but we started to get on to a topic a little less discussed. It started when I thought " The Stormlight Archive in today's world is a near equivalent to Nohadon's book The Way of Kings on Roshar". What I mean by that is when Dalinar picks up the book The Way of Kings by Nohadon he reads a book on how we ought to think and act. When us fans of Mr. Sanderson pick up The Stormlight Archive we pick up a series on how we ought to think and act.

 

     When my mind finally came up with this idea after a lot of reading (and a lot of drinking...responsibly...ish) I started thinking why would I become a writer? To find this out I reflected on why I joined the Service. Soldier's join this organization that is devoted to protecting Americans and their inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you're an anti government protester then we join the Army to kill and commit war crimes ( I know that is a generalization, but I had a poor experience). Anyway I joined because of the former. It was for a purpose greater than myself, and greater than an organization that is worried about profit. It was to make myself better, and to launch a career outside of the Army if I chose not to serve for 20 years. I joined to make a difference by bettering myself and the lives of others.

 

     If I became a writer I would do it to make a difference by bettering myself and the lives of others. So that leads me to my main point. Why does Brandon Sanderson write these books? Well I have no idea since I do not know him, but this what it looks like to me. In a world where war has dominated an entire generation, where children commit atrocities in school shootings, where politicians call each other Nazi's, where a sense of entitlement is the norm, where pop culture is re-enforcing superficial values, where families end up broken, we need a counterbalance in the culture that idealizes love, honor, humility, integrity, loyalty, perseverance, and many other values you can find in Mr. Sanderson's writing. If you have read Dave Grossman's On Killing you will realize the extremely significant impact our culture of movies, video games, media, and general entertainment has on the population. Through these books Sanderson commits a set of constructive ideals, philosophies, and critical thinking into the culture of this nation.

 

     As an Officer I can make a powerful impact on 7-10 people, who can make a powerful impact on roughly the same amount of people, and so on. So if we  take a battalion commander who is in the military for 20 years and they could influence around 500-900 people (that influence may or may not be too large). In his or her entire career he/she could influence thousands in some way, but only significantly influencing a handful at a time over 20 years. I also should add that when I or my commanders and mentors train me and others we often read. As a successful writer Mr. Sanderson can influence as many people who picks up his books.

 

     To make a significant change over 350 million people  or more you cannot just have a single leader, parent, president, CEO, or general that is an excellent person. That will most certainly make a difference, but to change an entire nation or the world you need an entire people making better choices. To make a difference over an audience that large you need to adjust the culture. In American culture entertainment is very dominate. It takes a massive amount of resources and a great many people to inject constructive movies, media, video games, gossip etc into the culture. As an author you need relatively less resources and people, and you can impart a more detailed concept and potentially greater impact through a story people want to read ( in my case I can barley put the books down).

 

What I see Brandon Sanderson doing is creating a story that entertains us ( which does make a nice living for him and his family), but he does it in a lens that inspires us to be better. When we make ourselves a bit more honorable and competent, we in turn can influence others to do the same. He has the potential in reaching millions, which is a step this world needs to making it a better place. So I salute you Brandon for making a difference in this soldier's life and any others that agree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scriptorian he/him]

Well said. This is one big reason why I love his books so much. On top of being awesome, well-written, compelling, and whatever else, his books are also powerful statements about morality, good vs. evil, and whatever else. I find the WoK alone to be a more significant, thought-provoking work than anything I was forced to read in high school English. 

[Zenith]

I have to agree. WoK and WoR are very focused on honor and the concept of honor, which I find quite refreshing. It's an important topic today, as society's values slowly become less important, and the issue is rarely brought up. Do you do anything you can to succeed? Do you step on people and ruin lives if they stand in your way? How bad does something be to be acceptable "for the greater good"? Is what Amaram did OK? Is what Mr. T does OK? Would you kill an innocent to save 10? How about Wit's story to Kaladin in WoK (Just...anything about that)? It's a great thought experiment, especially for the timeliness (which Hoid discusses), and the novelty of it, and it's all presented in an entertaining and gentle format, so it brings the reader to think about the subject, without cramming it down their throats. The (maybe) subtle invitation to think about it makes it more appealing to think on than something that blatantly asks you to think on it.

Ok, so I got a little meandering there towards the end, but I just love this subject, bravo Mr. Sanderson, bravo.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Zenith

[FeatherWriter she/her]

On a more lighthearted note, we know exactly why Brandon writes his novels! It's the same reason Alcatraz writes his, I bet! Because he likes to torture people!
 

Some people assume that authors write books because we have vivid imaginations and want to share our vision. Other people assume that authors write because we are bursting with stories, and therefore must scribble those stories down in moments of creative propondidty.

Both groups of people are completely wrong. Authors write books for one, and only one, reason: because we like to torture people.
Now, actual torture is frowned upon in civilized society. Fortunately, the authorial community has discovered in storytelling an even more powerful – and more fulfilling – means of causing agony in others. We write stories. And by doing so, we engage in a perfectly legal method of doing all kinds of mean and terrible things to our readers.
 
Take, for instance, the word I used above. Propondidty. There is no such word – I made it up. Why? Because it amused me to think of thousands of readers looking up a nonsense word in their dictionaries.
 
Authors also create lovable, friendly characters – then proceed to do terrible things to them (like throw them in unsightly, Librarian-controlled dungeons). This makes readers feel hurt and worried for the characters. The simple truth is that authors like making people squirm. If this weren’t the case, all novels would be filled completely with cute bunnies having birthday parties.
 
So, now you know the reason why I – one of the most wealthy and famous people in the Free Kingdoms – would bother writing a book. This is the only way I can prove to all of you that I’m not the heroic savior that you think I am. If you don’t believe what I’m telling you, then ask yourself this: would any decent, kindhearted individual become a writer? Of course not.

-Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians, Ch. 11

[Nick11]

Hahaha, I like it

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Hehe, I love that passage. "How you can be 100% positive that Brandon Sanderson wrote Alcatraz."

[Argent he/him]

Well. From what I can tell this both right and wrong.

 

On on hand, Brandon has talked about what inspired him to become a writer and write the books he wrote and still writes. It's cool. When he sits down to write a story, he doesn't think about the message he wants to send, he thinks about some cool idea. So in this regard you are wrong in glorifying him.

 

On the other hand, however, Brandon likes his fantasy heroic - both as a reader and as a writer. He is not interested in writing books about the horrors of war, or about dystopian worlds, or about situations in which being the bad guy actually turns out better for you. No, he writes stories about heroes - optimistic, uplifting, inspiring, epic, and heroic. It's what he likes to read, and so that's what he (usually) writes. So in this sense, you are right - he does write in a way that promotes goodness, he just doesn't do it for (primarily) that reason.

 

Heh, look at me talk like I know the man. I don't. But I am fairly skilled at stalking, and those are things he talks about occasionally in both interviews and his podcast, Writing Excuses. I definitely don't have the whole picture, but I can speak with some authority on the matter - assuming he hasn't been lying to the Internet all these years

[king of nowhere]

I don't believe brandon writ4es for that reason, but i think he's a good man (i mean, look at all the charity auctions he's raising) and he puts that in his books.

I also quite like the way his books are on the scale between cynism and idealism.

many works of fictions are excessively idealized, people getting rewarded for doing the right choices, everythin fixing in the end even if there was no good reason for it, that kind of stuff. not realistic, quite silly if applied to the real world.

then there are the grim dark books, where everyone is evil, good people are dumb and will die soon, and people are rewarded for taking the wrong decisions, even when there was no need for it. Some people call them realistic, makes me think what kind of crappy life they had. if the world was so bad, we wouldn't have stuff like human rights or state healtcare.

The works of sanderson are in the middle. sometimes characters are rewarded for taking the good action (example: vin convincing goradel to disert from the imperial army instead of killing him, goradel rescues her later) sometimes they have to pay a price for it (example: elend losing the crown). overall i never get the impression that the author is trying to use karma to pass a message. he shows people taking decisions and paying the prices. and he shows people deciding to be good not because it gives better or worse results than choosing evil, but because it is the right thing to do. and there is realistic conflict there.

 

personally, I can say that fantasy influenced my decision to become a better person - although most of it came from rpg videogames, cause I discovered sanderson only later. still, sometimes I think about sanderson's books to give me strength. Like, when I videogame online I am often tempted to thrwo sportsmanship to the wind, cause there's plenty of bad people there, but then I think, "someone must give the good example, so that others can follow" "yeah, I tried, but those people keep being jerkasses anyway, might as well stop caring" "kaladin had it harder than you, but he kept trying and he made the world a better place". Then I start laughing at the sillyness  of comparing not-ragequitting with making the world a better place. But still, I end up feeling I would lose some self respect if I behaved uncorrectly.

[The Shadow he/him]

Ok, so I got a little meandering there towards the end, but I just love this subject, bravo Mr. Sanderson, bravo.WoK and WoR are very focused on honor and the concept of honor, which I find quite refreshing. It's an important topic today, as society's values slowly become less important, and the issue is rarely brought up. Do you do anything you can to succeed? Do you step on people and ruin lives if they stand in your way? How bad does something be to be acceptable "for the greater good"? Is what Amaram did OK? Is what Mr. T does OK? Would you kill an innocent to save 10? How about Wit's story to Kaladin in WoK (Just...anything about that)? It's a great thought experiment, especially for the timeliness (which Hoid discusses), and the novelty of it, and it's all presented in an entertaining and gentle format, so it brings the reader to think about the subject, without cramming it down their throats. The (maybe) subtle invitation to think about it makes it more appealing to think on than something that blatantly asks you to think on it.

This, a million this. I favor, and always have, the chaotic good heroes and the anti-heroes in fiction. For example, I've never understood why heroes have such a issue with lying to the villain.

These books are reconstructing the idea of honor and restoring my faith in. Kaladin struggles, but he does what is right, because it's right.