Prolific fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson (@BrandSanderson) has done aspiring writers a great favor.
While you may know Brandon Sanderson as the author of the Mistborn trilogy (now series), THE WAY OF KINGS (the first of a 10-part series) or the author chosen to finish Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, he also teaches at Brigham Young University.
As Brandon Sanderson announced on his blog, one of his students has filmed all of Sanderson’s class lectures, and he will be posting them online. Lectures one through three have already been posted, and more are forthcoming. Be patient though, because this is a student effort, and that student has other classes and finals to worry about.
The class is a Creative Writing class, and Brandon Sanderson requires his students to write 50,000 words. Although this is the same length as NaNoWriMo, Sanderson’s students have three months to write instead of one. The class expects students to have some familiarity with sci fi and fantasy, and I don’t expect much literary fiction to come out of the class. Instead, I think every student will be writing a fantasy or sci fi novel. Anyway, the class lectures are broken down into 15-20 minute chunks, so they are easy to view. The audio sometimes fades out (it can be hard to hear questions from students), but stick with it. The class lectures start from a very basic foundation and build from there. I’m sure you’ll find some great tips.
And be sure to check back for updates. This will likely become a great resource for writers interested in writing a sci fi or fantasy novel.