Hello Internet, I am Steve. Welcome to RAFO!
Now, who is Brandon Sanderson?
You probably know him as your favorite author
of the Mistborn Trilogy, Elantris, Warbreaker,
The Way of Kings, The Stormlight Archive,
The Reckoners series, or the last few books
of the Wheel of Time. But, after digging through
a lot of Reddit AMA's, Word of Brandon archives,
and a whole bunch of interviews, here are
Ten Things you didn't know about Brandon Sanderson.
Number 1!
He's written forty-five published works in
the past 14 years.
That means we get about three and a bit published
things from Brandon Sanderson every single
year. It's amazing!
Totals over fifteen thousand pages, and each
page averages about three hundred words. So
if you took all of the words you speak during
a full year, and replaced them with words
from Brandon Sanderson's novels, it would
take you basically that entire year to get
through everything he's written.
Number 2!
He's won A LOT of awards. He's had seven number
one New York Times Bestselling books, had
multiple other books that have been on the
New York Times Bestseller list. He's won awards
for Best Epic Fantasy Novel, Best Speculative
Fiction Novel, Best Novel of the Year, the
coveted Reddit "Golden Stabby" award, (He
got the first one, because he's that awesome!)
and the HUGO AWARD. *glory sounds*
The first award he won was actually in high
school. He submitted a short story to a writing
contest and took first place! You can actually
read that story on his website.
Number 3!
He didn't like reading as a kid! That's right.
Brandon Winn Sanderson, born December 19th,
1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Young Brandon Sanderson did not like to read
until the fourth grade! I can only assume
he spent his time eating blackberries instead.
When his teacher, MRS. READER, introduced
him to Dragonsbane, by Barbara Hambly. Check
out that cover. Right? I'd get sucked in too.
He started his first novel at fifteen years
old, but was so embarrassed by it, he hid
it behind a painting in his bedroom so his
family wouldn't find it.
Number 4!
Brandon Sanderson is a Mormon
(sing song) "I belong to the church of Jesus
Christ..."
Moved to Provo, went to BYU, almost wasn't
a writer - he was a biochem major his first
year of college, served a mission for the
LDS church in Korea. When he was on his mission
he realized he really missed writing, but
didn't miss chemistry. At all. So coming home,
changed his major to English and continued
to write.
While he was at BYU, he was roommates with
another famous Mormon: Ken Jennings! Who won
Jeopardy like eighty-seven times in a row!
Number 5!
Before he was a writer he had tons of different
jobs: paper route when he was twelve years
old, road-side corn seller in Idaho, tie-selling
kiosk in the mall, camera photo assistant
on picture trips down to Southern Utah, and
Editor-in-Chief of the University Sci-Fi magazine.
Now he currently actually teaches at BYU,
Creative Writing classes, one class every
year.
Number 6!
He wrote thirteen books before he sold his
first one. Most of those first books were
written when he was a hotel night-clerk, where
the only instruction for his job was "Don't
fall asleep." So he wrote instead. Thirteen
books! And Elantris, his first published book,
was number six. Elantris sat on an editors
desk for a year and a half before they got
the gumption to actually read it because it
was so thick. Three chapters in, they called
him immediately. Funny thing: by that point,
Brandon had changed his phone number, his
email address because he was on AOL, his address.
All of his contact information was different
from what he originally gave to the editor
when he submitted the manuscript.
The editor had to track him down through his
BYU student account to find how to actually
get a hold of him, so he could say that he
wanted to buy a book.
Of those twelve unpublished novels, you can
actually read entirely four of them. White
Sand, which is now being turned into a graphic
novel, Mistborn Prime, which is basically
what Mistborn was based off of, Aether of
Night, the only canon thing is the magic system
but learning about the magic system in this
one is awesome, and Dragonsteel, his masters
thesis. The only way you can read it is by
going to Brigham Young University and checking
it out at the library.
There are also selections from others: Mythwalker,
you can read chapters of online, Way of Kings
Prime, which was his first attempt at the
Way of Kings story, and Liar of Partinel,
which is Hoid's origin story, there are chapters
online as well.
Number 8!
He finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time
series because of a eulogy. He wrote a eulogy
for Robert Jordan, someone gave a copy of
that eulogy to Robert Jordan's widow, Harriet
McDougal. She read that and said "This guy
gets it," hired him to finish the Wheel of
Time. After he had published two books! Elantris
and the first Mistborn. Then he gets one of
the greatest fantasy series of our time to
finish.
Number 9!
Brandon Sanderson is a normal person.
On July 7th, 2006 he married a fellow English
student: Emily Bushman. Because who could
resist this:
Everyone in the wedding party got swords.
He lives in American Fork, Utah with his wife
and three kids: Limeboy, Meatloaf, and Melvin.
Number 10!
According to a recent Q & A, Brandon Sanderson
is RETIRED!
Don't worry, that's not what it means.
"At the end of the Wheel of Time, we paid
off my house, we put enough in savings for
the kids and for umm for whatever we would
need to pay for the rest of our lives and
I retired. I retired like four years ago.
Retired for me means I get to write extra
books, so thank you guys for that!"
And now some extra tidbits, what are Brandon
Sanderson's favorite things? Favorite...
Author: Terry Pratchett
Time to write: midnight to four am
Cookie: Oatmeal with butterscotch
Webcomic: Dr McNinja
Beverage: Ice water
Tabletop RPG: West End's old Star Wars
Citrus Fruit: Mandarin oranges
Pizza topping: double pepperoni
Dogs: Huskies and Collies
Non Sci-fi book: Les Mis
Non Sci-fi author: Victor Hugo
Word: Inchoate. In-cho-ate? In-cho-atay?
Soup: really good chicken noodle
Food: Mac and cheese
Videogame: Dark Souls, or Bloodborne
Social Activity: playing Magic: The Gathering
Thank you so much for watching! Huge shoutout
to Brandon Sanderson himself for providing
some of the childhood photos.
Comment below what your favorite Sander-fact
was, and be sure to subscribe so you're notified
for next weeks video.
If you want to learn more about Brandon Sanderson,
I'll put some links in the description so
you can Read And Find Out.
