#Hrathen was the most believable of them all. there was actually something going on in there

[onlycosmere]

Least Favorite Novel of the Cosmere 

GodsShoeShine23 :  I'd say Alloy of Law. I just honestly didn't really care about Wax and Wayne until they were more fleshed out in Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning. For Once, Brandon kind of just threw us right into the action from the get-go, but did so in a way where I had no real motivation to root for the main characters of the book other than them being the main characters of the book.

Brandon Sanderson: I wonder sometimes if I should do a full-on rewrite of Alloy. It would also be my vote for weakest Cosmere novel. (I think it's probably my weakest novel overall.) The big problem came from it being a short story, that became a novella, that became a fun little novel not meant to do any heavy lifting. But the series went from there to get some of my strongest books, as I fell in love with world and characters, and became a full-blown era rather than a pit stop between tow large eras.

So you have something weaker, meant as a kind of "Secret History" novella, to a load-bearing pillar of the Mistborn series. And it's the place where already (coming off the main trilogy) where people were the most likely to abandon Mistborn as a larger mega-series. So I have my weakest cosmere book in a pivotal place in the sequence.

The solution could be to just take it and give it a ground-up rewrite with more depth of characterization and narrative rigor. But then, we have the problem of their being two significantly different versions of a book, which causes other logistical problems.

GodsShoeShine23: I find it hilarious that the one time I’m not praising your novels, you end up stumbling upon my comment, lol.

In all seriousness, I thought Alloy of Law was still a pretty fun read. I like the expansion on the magic system that was built up in Era 1, and Wayne honestly ends up being one of my all time favorite characters in the cosmere. I always thought to myself that Alloy of Law read like a novella, so it’s actually interesting to see that it was originally based on a short story idea essentially.

I will say this though; I expected to see most people vote Elantris as the weakest book as seen in the comments, but I honestly found it to be much more entertaining than people lead me to believe. Hrathen may be my favorite antagonist you’ve written, and I’m wondering if more will be revealed about his charcater in the sequels.

#mistborn #the bands of mourning #elantris #cosmere #cfsbf #brandon sanderson #branderson #wob #kind of #long post

[whisperofthewaves]

one thing I can say for sure, rereading Elantris ten years later after all the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive books so far, it is so refreshing to finally understand what the hell was going on there magic-wise.

#cosmere #elantris #I remember when I read it the first tiem #between the plot the characters and the absolute confusion that was the magic system to me back then #I just gave up and I'm not even sure if I actually finished the book #I kinda knew what happened to Hrathen and that Elantris got back online but that was it #it sure will be interesting to revisit this world in the upcoming books #considering Sanderson's years of added writing experience #gods the characters here were Not Good. wow was the politics NOT Good #Raoden was - eh can live with it but it sure feels like he's Elend's unevolved form #Sarene was comically utterly no good terrible #just wow. #Hrathen was the most believable of them all. there was actually something going on in there #2nd plane characters varied #they were mostly palatable #but had their Moments #Dilaf was a bloody joke #there are tears in my eyes whenever I remember Iaden was a leader of a fucking satanic cult from a 80/90s movie #and this was all because Sanderson clearly didn't know how else to get rid of this character when he needed to lmao #I was half-convinced at some point after that I will find out Raoden's mother was his first victim #through some throwaway line in a loosely relevant dialogue #I'm laughing at all this in a good-natured way now #but I fully understand now why it took me a literal decade to touch another Sanderson book

[acertaincritic]

Writer’s Rambling - Multiple POV

I’m too tired to write my book today, and besides, I just finished one yesterday, I need some time to rest, OK? (is the excuse I tell myself.) Either way, I thought that I’ll at least cook up this writer’s rambling that I had thought about some time ago. Treat it like a Christmas gift. Or not. Basically do whatever you want.

This may grow quite long, so I’m putting it under the cut.

A few months ago I stumbled upon an article written by an editor that advised against using multiple POV in your book. It was just one article, so I soon forgot about it, but then, a couple of weeks ago I saw it again, coming from an entirely different source. So I stopped to think - is there an issue with multiple POV?

See, I’m a sucker for multiple POV, especially when I write. I feel happiest when I have three main POVs, together with a bunch of less important one-or-two-chapters ones. And you’re telling me that I have to stop if I want to get published?

Well, not exactly. I strongly believe, from what I see on the book market, that multiple POV isn’t an instant no-no from an agent. However, it does have it’s pitfalls, so let’s take a closer look at them so we can avoid them.

Avengers’ Effect

I believe that when a writer thinks up a multiple POV book, they have something like “The Avengers” in mind. A clash of opposing personalities, a bunch of fleshed-out characters mingling together. The problem is, this way of thinking completely glosses over all the ground work that Marvel did before releasing “The Avengers”. “Iron Man” had to be there first, and “Thor”, and “Captain America” too. Otherwise “The Avengers” wouldn’t have worked.

The thing is, books rarely can pull this trick off. Changing the main character in the series is at the top of “Things That Will Piss Your Reader Off” list, and releasing a set of separate books in the same universe for them to eventually come together isn’t something that a publishing house would willingly risk, especially from a new author.

So we end up with the necessity of putting all of our POVs into a single book. And while we often dream of “The Avengers”, what we usually get is watching “Iron Man” and “Thor” in turns, fifteen minutes each before switching. Doesn’t sound that entertaining, eh?

Challenges

Starting a book, particularly a book that is the first entry into a series, is tough. Lots of stuff must be done in the first chapter - hooking the reader, introducing our protagonist and the world, setting a frame for the entire story. With multiple POV book, we need to do this twice. Or thrice, if we want three main leads - and so on.

The thing is, very rarely all the POV characters will turn out equally interesting, so the reader will have a strong temptation to skip some of them. Sure, there are authors who can write pretty much anyone in an interesting way - like Brandon Sanderson - but it takes practice. If you read the same Brandon Sanderson’s “Elantris”, you may know what I’m talking about. From the three POVs there, readers usually point out at least one (most often Sarene) as tiresome to read. Nothing’s odd with that. See, Raoden’s struggles in the city of not-quite-undead beat the remaining two storylines in terms of tension by miles. Sarene’s ‘problems’ at court seem very trivial in comparison, and Hrathen, while at least interesting in terms of personality, just couldn’t compete at a certain point, either. I wanted to know what was going on with Raoden so badly, but at the end of each of his chapter I realized that I have to plod through two chapters before I can get back to him - and that killed me every time.

What to do?

Nevertheless, there are shortcuts we can use to make our multiple POV work even before we learn to hold the reader’s attention regardless of the character we write - and here they come.

1. At the beginning, don’t switch your POV too often. Basically, don’t switch POV within one chapter and don’t finish with cliffhangers. With cliffhangers, the chances of your reader skipping the other POVs rises, and we don’t want that, do we? Treat each chapter like a story unto itself. It’s not to say that you can’t rise the stakes - just don’t end halfway through a very tense moment.

2. Make your POVs related. For instance, if you introduce an antagonist in the first chapter of your MC’s POV, switching to their POV next may actually increase the reader’s interest in the story. It’s exciting to get to know both sides, and the final showdown between the MC and the antagonist will become so much more exciting... And of course, this is but one possibility.

3. Make certain that the POVs are different from each other. If they all read the same, then what’s the point? It can be accomplished in several different ways - distinctive character voice is possibly the most desired one, but another, easier way is putting the characters into very contrasting settings. Having a chapter from a soldier’s POV, showing them fight on the front line and losing their friends, and then jumping to a rich politician discussing war like something very abstract at a lavish dinner can work surprisingly well. Again, this is just an example - there’re countless ways to differentiate your POV characters’ circumstances from each other.

Of course, if you can have your POVs both contrast each other and be closely related at the same time, then it’s a double win.

Alternatively, if you look at your story closely and determine that you can cut some of the POVs out, do so. It may be painful, but quite possibly it will make for an easier run publishing. Making the majority of your chapters from one character’s POV and adding a different one only here and there, to provide more foreshadowing/information to the reader, is an option too - you don’t have to have a separate arc for every POV character, so long as they don’t appear often.

Here it is - my loose thoughts on the subject. I hope it helps.

Merry Christmas and a Salty New Year!

#writer's rambling #writing advice #writing