Brandon Sanderson

Biography

Sanderson was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1975. After completing a two-year LDS mission in Seoul, South Korea in 1997 he attended Brigham Young University as an English major. During his graduate program at BYU Sanderson was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university. He completed his master's degree in creative writing in 2005.

In July 7, 2006, Sanderson married Emily Bushman, a fellow English major and teacher, who later became his business manager. They have three children and reside in American Fork, Utah.

Writing

In 1997, at the age of 21, Sanderson decided to become a professional writer. In the next two years he wrote five novels. By 2003 he had written twelve novels, all unpublished. While in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, Sanderson got a call from Tor editor Moshe Feder, who wanted to acquire one of his books. Sanderson had submitted the manuscript of his sixth novel, Elantris, a year and a half earlier. Elantris was published by Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy, in which "allomancers" — people who have the ability to ‘burn’ various metals and alloys after ingesting them — can enhance senses and allow control over powerful supernatural forces.

He followed up in 2007 with a sequel, The Well of Ascension. Later in that year, Sanderson published the children's novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, about a boy named Alcatraz with a talent for breaking things, who confronts a group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. In 2008, the third and final book in the Mistborn trilogy was published, titled The Hero of Ages, as well as the second book in the Alcatraz series, titled Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones.

In 2009, Tor Books published Warbreaker, which originally appeared serially on Sanderson’s website while he was writing the novel from 2006 to 2009. In the same year the third Alcatraz book followed, titled Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia.

After Robert Jordan’s death in September 2007, Sanderson was selected by Jordan's widow and editor, Harriet McDougal, to complete the final books in Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. McDougal asked him to finish the series after being deeply impressed by his first Mistborn novel. Tor Books made the announcement on December 7, 2007. After reviewing what was necessary to complete the series, Sanderson and Tor announced on March 30, 2009, that a final three books would be published instead of just one. The first of these, The Gathering Storm, was published on October 27, 2009, and reached the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.

In 2010, Sanderson published the first novel, titled The Way of Kings, in a planned ten-book series called The Stormlight Archive. It achieved the number seven slot on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. Towers of Midnight, the second-to-last Wheel of Time book, was published just over a year after The Gathering Storm on November 2, 2010, also debuting at number one on the bestseller list. The fourth Alcatraz novel, Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens, was published a month later on December 1.

In October 2011, he finished a novella e-book, Infinity Blade: Awakening, based on the action role-playing, iOS video game Infinity Blade, developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games. In November 2011, he published a sequel to the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Alloy of Law. It was originally planned as a standalone novel set about 300 years after the original trilogy, but it was later expanded into a four-book series. It debuted at number seven on the New York Times bestseller list.

On August 31, 2012, Sanderson published a science fiction novella entitled Legion. Another short work, The Emperor's Soul, appeared in October 2012. A few months later, on January 8, 2013, A Memory of Light was published, the final book in The Wheel of Time series. On May 14, 2013, Sanderson published the first in a new young adult series titled The Rithmatist. Another young adult book series, The Reckoners, began with the publication of Steelheart on September 24, 2013. Words of Radiance, the second book in The Stormlight Archive, was published on March 4, 2014. The second novella in the Legion series, Legion: Skin Deep, was published in November 2014. In January 2015, the second book of The Reckoners, titled Firefight, was published. On October 6, 2015, Sanderson published Mistborn: Shadows of Self as a direct sequel to The Alloy of Law. On November 16, 2015, JABberwocky Literary Agency, Sanderson's agency, announced that Sanderson has officially sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

On January 26, 2016, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning was published as the sequel to Shadows of Self. On February 16, 2016, the third and final book of the Reckoners trilogy, titled Calamity, was published. In June 2016, Sanderson's first graphic novel White Sand—written with Rik Hoskin—was released. The series is planned as a trilogy. The graphic novels are based off an original manuscript by Sanderson. On September 6, 2016, the fifth and final Alcatraz book was published, called Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent.

On November 22, 2016, an anthology of Cosmere short stories and novellas was published, titled Arcanum Unbounded: A Cosmere Collection. Oathbringer, the third book in The Stormlight Archive, will be published in November 14, 2017.

Teaching

Sanderson is adjunct faculty at Brigham Young University, teaching a creative writing course once per year. Sanderson also participates in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses with authors Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and web cartoonist Howard Tayler.

In explaining his writing theory, Sanderson has written about and taught what he refers to as "Sanderson's Three Laws of Magics". The First Law states, "An author's ability to solve conflict satisfactorily with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic." While originally created as a rule for magic systems in fantasy novels, Sanderson has specified that this law need not apply just to fantasy, but is also applicable to science fiction.

He qualifies the two extremes of design as being: (1) Hard Magic - magic/technology has well defined rules that the audience understands, and as a result, one can use this to solve conflict more easily as the capabilities are cleanly defined; and (2) Soft Magic - magic/technology has unclear or vague rules, or none at all, which allows for a greater sense of wonder to be attained for the reader, but the ability to solve problems without resorting to deus ex machina decreases.

The Second Law simply states "Limitations > Powers". That is, a character's weaknesses are more interesting than his or her abilities. In explaining the second law, Sanderson references the magic system of Superman, claiming that Superman's powers are not what make him interesting, but his limits, specifically his vulnerability to kryptonite and the code of ethics he received from his parents.

Sanderson's Third Law teaches, "Expand what you already have before you add something new." This implies that the writer should go deeper with worldbuilding before going wider. Magic, Sanderson points out, does not take place in a vacuum, and a good magic system should be interconnected with the world around it—it is related to the ecology, religion, economics, warfare, and politics of the world it inhabits.

Cosmere

The Cosmere is the name of the universe in which many of Sanderson's books exist. This idea came from his desire to create an epic length series without requiring readers to buy a ridiculous number of books. Because of that, he hides connections to his other works within each book, creating this "hidden epic". In the end, the Cosmere Cycle will include between 32-36 books.

The story of the Cosmere is about a mysterious being called Adonalsium, who existed on a world known as Yolen. Adonalsium was killed by a group of sixteen conspirators, causing its power to shatter into sixteen different Shards, each of which bears immense power. The sixteen people who took these Shards created new worlds, populating them with people and different types of magic. However, each Shard has an Intent, such as Ruin or Honor, and they became molded to it. A man named Hoid travels these so-called Shardworlds, interfering with the people of those worlds when they become heroes and come in contact with the Shards.

In October 2016, the movie rights to the entire Cosmere universe were licensed by DMG Entertainment.

Selected awards and honors

Sanderson has been nominated for and also won multiple awards for his various works. See Writing Excuses for additional awards and nominations.