Is there a character based off of Brandon

[Shadowspren]

Several of my friends are writing books at the moment and they all add characters that are clearly based off of themselves... however, because they are my friends it is easy for me to identify connecting traits from the character to the actual person.

 

having read just about all of Sanderson's books with a few exceptions, I have yet to see a character that I think is based off of Sanderson.

 

If I were Sanderson and had this complex book series with people that world hop between books I would want to be someone who appears in every book... not just one. So I am thinking that if there is a character that he based off of himself it would be Hoid... for several reasons.

 

1. Hoid is in just about every book that he has written
2. very little is known about Hoid at this point and so he can get away with it for now
3. Hoid has an awesome combination of powers from all the worlds that he has visited... probably some that we do not know about as of yet.

Any thoughts...?

Edited May 20, 2014 by Zaci-chan

[Swimmingly]

This concept is known as an author insert (least demeaning, but still meh), author avatar (a bit accusative), or Mary Sue (the character can do no wrong). All three are generally seen as marks of amateur writing, and break the fourth wall to an extent.

However, all characters are ultimately based on the writer, some more closely than others. Hoid goes for the more whimsical and comedic situations, and is certainly knowlegable, but he's a character unto himself and, frankly, is a bit to damnation clever for his own good at times, as well as being impulsive and improvisational. He's by no means a biographical character, though we do joke about him.

[WeiryWriter]

Brandon has said there is no "This-is-me character" but that all of his characters are at least based on a piece of him.  He has also explicitly said that Hoid is not him and that they are actually fairly different.

[Argent]

Many of his friends, however, make limited appearances. Peter (assistant) and Moshe (editor) both have multiple small cameos - not as themselves, but as names and maybe a personality trait here and there. It's usually like that with Brandon, he doesn't import a person he knows into the world, he takes an interesting and/or distinctive trait of theirs and uses that instead. An example I recall from Writing Excuses was how he got to make Sarene in Elantris more authentic; he said one of his friends was a pretty tall woman and the way she talked and thought about height was one of the ways he made Sarene's... awareness of her height be believable. 

[Firiel]

Brandon has said there is no "This-is-me character" but that all of his characters are at least based on a piece of him.  He has also explicitly said that Hoid is not him and that they are actually fairly different.

 

Hmmm... seems to know everything about the cosmere but refuses to speak of it except in hints and riddles... well, they have at least one thing in common!