dannnex

I know I literally just did one of these, but I found this while browsing the arcanum and had to share.

Brandon: 

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter One

There are a couple of interesting things about this chapter. First off, it didn't originally start with Raoden waking up. When I first wrote the book, I threw Raoden directly into the city, line one. That original line was: "It wasn't until Raoden heard the gate swing closed behind him, booming with a shocking sound of finality, that he realized he had been damned."

While this line worked pretty well, I found I had to do an extended flashback showing him waking up and frightening the maid, etc. In the end, I realized that this was a bulky construction that didn't really speed the novel up–but rather slowed it down. So, I rewrote the first scene to have Raoden waking up, seeing Elantris, and then realizing he'd been taken by the Shaod.

Happily, I eventually managed to preserve the original line with its catchy feel. I don't usually do things like this–I don't believe in the standard "hook" idea. However, when I was thinking about this book, the first lines of the first three chapters were some of the first things that occurred to me. 

Elantris Annotations (June 7, 2005)

Also Brandon:

’Ash fell from the sky.’
’Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.’
‘“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” Cenn asked.’
‘Dalinar Kholin appeared in the vision standing beside the memory of a dead god.’
’Marsh struggled to kill himself.’
’I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages.’
’It’s funny, Vasher thought, how many things begin with my getting thrown in prison.’
‘Jasnah Kholin pretended to enjoy the party, giving no indication that she pretended to have one of the guests killed.’
’Lift prepared to be awesome.”
’Gaotona ran his fingers across the thick canvas, inspecting one of the greatest works of art he had ever seen. Unfortunately, it was a lie.’
’Kelsier burned the Eleventh Metal.’
‘Death hunted beneath the waves.’

Yep, Brandon totally doesn’t use ‘hooks’ in his stories.