Author Brandon Sanderson is most well known for his lengthy fantasy epics and his intricately thought-out systems of magic. His Mistborn series of books garnered him much attention, and his Stormlight Archives series earned him accolades and writing awards. But his latest projects have now been packaged into a Kickstarter campaign that is very promising – at least one would expect so from the fan reaction.
Sanderson’s Kickstarter may be making records, but he didn’t reach this level of popularity overnight. There is a massive backlog of his works that reaches back to the early 2000s, and the story of his life is just as interesting. There are many reasons why Sanderson is so popular, and why one can expect to keep seeing his name in the future.
His Kickstarter Is The Most Successful Ever
At the start of March 2022, Sanderson launched a Kickstarter Campaign titled “Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson.” This Kickstarter achieved an unprecedented goal of a million dollars in just three days and has since hit more than $30 million. The last most funded project was for a series of smartwatches, which took more than a month to hit $20 million.
And why is this project so popular? For starters, Sanderson’s own popularity has exploded alongside the continued development of his bibliography. His solo works and works with other people continue to earn him praise. Additionally, this Kickstarter has a large number of options for backers, providing a number of methods for receiving the expected novels.
He Teaches At Brigham Young University
Sanderson’s love of writing doesn’t end with his own works; he also puts a great deal of effort towards helping the next generation of writers. Every year, he teaches a writing course at BYU, which continues to be one of the most popular classes. He himself fell in love with writing as a calling thanks to one of the previous professors who taught the course.
After graduation and developing his own career, BYU reached out to Sanderson after the previous professor passed away. Since then, he has actually recorded and uploaded his lectures to his own YouTube channel for free. While he does not often update or re-upload videos, this series is often recommended to new or hopeful writers.
He Is A Devoted Fan Of Magic: The Gathering
Among his vast bibliography are a number of projects from other IPs. One of his most well-known bits of credit is that he is a huge Magic the Gathering fan. He is a frequent player and has written a Magic the Gathering novel for Wizards of the Coast. The card game is well known for its well-designed and strong monster cards and multi-universe spanning story.
Set in the Magic: The Gathering universe, Magic: Children of the Nameless was a novella written by Sanderson and published for free via Wizards of the Coast. Though it is no longer available on their website, the story followed a young woman named Tacenda who lives in the Gothic Horror world of Innistrad. The novella displayed Sanderson’s skill at adapting existing lore and adding to it.
He Was Roommates With Ken Jennings
As a young man, Sanderson attended Brigham Young University. He has spoken at length about his experience with the university, including the people he met there. While many well-known people attended BYU, one of the most notable among the people Sanderson would meet is Ken Jennings, a part-time host of Jeopardy, and well as a past winner.
In fact, Ken was one of Brandon Sanderson’s roommates while attending college. While they bonded over their interests, they don’t appear to be close to this day. This seems to be one of those fun facts about how small a world it really is sometimes.
He Writes An Absurd Number Of Books
Part of the massive success of his Kickstarter campaign comes from the large amount of value that goes with it. The campaign’s “surprise novels” are four books that he has said he ‘accidentally’ wrote over the course of 2021. This alone would be a massive undertaking for a typical author, but Sanderson shows he is the kind of writer who can churn out novel after novel.
At the age of 46, he has written over 50 novels – and that’s just including those published or planned. Considering his writing career only began in full when he was about 30, he has written at least 2 books every year! Compared to most authors, this is an amazing output of fiction.
Most Of His Biggest Books Are Connected
One of the major draws of Sanderson’s works is that most of them are connected. His Mistborn trilogy, alongside the Stormlight Archives and other assorted novels, are all part of his shared universe called the ‘Cosmere.’
The Cosmere’s history is only just becoming clear, having been revealed in snippets over the course of dozens of novels and short stories. The general idea is that each of these worlds has fundamental origins that power the magic systems and lore of each story. Much like Stephen King and his Dark Tower series, Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives has brought many aspects of that shared universe into the light.
He Has Connections With Epic Games
Fortnite has maintained a large fanbase for quite a long time, and part of its continued popularity has to do with the large number of epic skins that allow players to show pride in their fandoms. Most of these skins are pop culture figures or other video game characters, but fans of Sanderson’s work might be surprised to learn that there is a skin set based on his Mistborn series.
It turns out that Donald Mustard, one of the heads of Fortnite, is actually friends with Sanderson, and the two worked together on this skin. The Cosmere Castaway set marked the first time a character was adapted from a book series, rather than a film or video game. This could very well open up doors for other sets to come.
He Finished Robert Jordan’s The Wheel Of Time Series
The Wheel of Time, now also a series on Amazon Prime, is a long-running book series that spans more than 23 years of publication, ending in 2013 with A Memory of Light. The novels were written by Robert Jordan, a truly impressive author in his own right. Robert Jordan sadly passed away in 2007 before finishing his epic series.
It was Jordan’s editor and widow, Harriet McDougal, who, according to Sanderson’s website, reached out to him to finish her late husband’s novels. She had read Mistborn and was impressed with his writing, and she trusted him with her husband’s legacy. Sanderson took Jordan’s notes and ended up finishing the novel – though it took him three novels to do it, rather than the expected one.
When He Writes About Magic, He Has Rules
One of the reasons his books are so popular is thanks to the rigorous rules he follows when writing them. As a fan of science-fiction and fantasy himself, Sanderson has a unique understanding of what makes the systems and rules of speculative fiction compelling. As such, Sanderson follows his own ‘Laws of Magic’ when writing.
The first rule is that a writer can only solve problems with magic if readers understand the rules – one can’t hand-wave away problems. The second is that the weaknesses and limits are more interesting than the powers themselves – Superman is cool, but Kryptonite is fascinating. Writers should always build upon the magic they have rather than make up something new that might complicate matters. Lastly, writers should err on the side of awesome – readers want to see cool things happen.
His Books Are Now In The Works For Films
It should come as no surprise that excitement for Sanderson’s works has drawn the attention of Hollywood and big studios alike. His grand and epic stories have drawn comparisons to other long-form fantasy tales that have done well, such as Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings. This, alongside his on-set work with the Wheel of Time series, mean good things for films in his future.
Once upon a time, there were plans for a Steelheart film based on a novel of the same name. This superhero story is likely defunct in the age of Marvel and DC, which take up most of the space. But much more promisingly, a Mistborn movie is in the works, with Brandon Sanderson consistently providing updates on his screenplay and thoughts on how the story will change.
