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Brandon Sanderson on Writing, Storytelling and Fantasy Books

2021-02-26 · Podcast or interview · Ali, Brandon Sanderson · recording, 1 h 31 min · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: Work and career, Health, sleep and habits, Books and reading, YouTube, writing online and creators, Business and entrepreneurship, Money and investing, Tools, apps and tech) · mode: Conversation and interview · tags: His medical past, His own products discussed

In a Deep Dive livestream, Ali interviews his favourite author, Brandon Sanderson, on how he became a writer after 13 unsold novels, accepting that writing might stay a hobby, finding fulfilling work, making himself write through word counts and structure, sharing profits with his team, money and financial independence, the New York Times bestseller list and his productivity rules.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Ali welcomes his favourite author, Brandon Sanderson, to the Deep Dive livestream

  • ★★ Ali always tries to schedule calls at eight or nine in the morning to force himself out of bed. — 00:00:02

00:00:44 — Brandon's day: two four-hour writing sessions and a night-owl schedule

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson writes in two sessions of about four hours: each has spin-up and spin-down time, and four hours gives him about two hours of really efficient writing in the middle. — 00:01:36 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson has always been a night owl and finds working at night peaceful, with fewer distractions. — 00:01:36 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson stops work at 5 p.m., spends time with his family until 10, writes again from 10 until 2 a.m., and keeps 2 to 4 a.m. for whatever he wants to do. — 00:02:01 · Brandon Sanderson

00:02:56 — Becoming a writer: 13 novels before Elantris sold, a standalone first, advances

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson discovered books at 14, when a good teacher got him into reading, and found a connection to fantasy and science fiction that had been missing from his life. — 00:03:19 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson began considering writing professionally around 17, finished his first novel at 22 and then moved his major from chemistry to English to try to become a writer. — 00:03:49 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson wrote 13 novels before selling one: he sold his sixth, Elantris, in 2003 while polishing the 13th; it came out in 2005, when he was about 30. — 00:04:53 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali and many friends who are huge Brandon Sanderson fans share book recommendations in a WhatsApp group they call the Sander Lads. — 00:05:19 · WhatsApp, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali's years follow Sanderson audiobooks: Mistborn in his final year of medical school (2017–18), Stormlight Archive books one to three on his walks to work as a first-year doctor, then The Wheel of Time on his hour's drive in his second year. — 00:05:19 · Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, The Wheel of Time, AirPods
  • ★★ Ali read Elantris only a few months earlier, having skipped it because it was not part of a series, and it kept him up until about six in the morning three nights running. (hedged) — 00:06:22
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson insisted his first published book be a standalone, although the publisher wanted sequels, so that his calling card to readers would be a complete story. — 00:08:28 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: In fiction, Brandon Sanderson says, books are sold on proposal only by celebrities with a fan base or established novelists; a new author has to finish the whole book first. — 00:09:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's first contract, for Elantris and Mistborn, paid $10,000 per book spread over three to four years. — 00:09:57 · Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: In his early career Brandon Sanderson lived on the public-school teacher's salary of his wife, whom he married in 2006, about a year after Elantris came out. — 00:10:26 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says advances for a first science fiction or fantasy book are typically between $5,000 and $10,000. — 00:10:26 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says a first-time author's book occasionally sells at auction for $250,000 or so. — 00:11:09 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson tells would-be fiction writers to expect their careers to take a while to pay, if they are lucky enough to make a living at all. — 00:11:38 · Brandon Sanderson

00:12:03 — Keeping going unpublished: writing as a hobby, passion and fulfilling work, night shifts

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: In Brandon Sanderson's experience about one in 20 or 30 people who really dedicate themselves to writing go on to have a career, against the one in a million he was told. — 00:12:40 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson compares writing to amateur sport: nobody asks his publicist, who loves golf, when he will go pro, yet people who start a book are asked when they will publish and monetise it. — 00:14:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says writing is not the thing to do for a stable career and good earnings. — 00:14:46 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson decided that if at 99 he had written 100 unpublished novels, he would still be a bigger success than if he gave up something he truly loved; writing could become his hobby. — 00:14:46 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says a writer need not become astronomically successful to have a career, but must accept the risk that writing may stay a hobby. — 00:16:27 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali sees two strands in figuring out what to do with life: find something you enjoy and do it, or find enjoyment in the things you are already doing. — 00:16:54
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says he was myopic before he was published in thinking everyone must have an all-consuming passion; he does not think that is true, and there are many very fulfilling jobs. — 00:18:18 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson tells people who like writing that programming feels very similar: a college programming class made that semester the hardest he ever had for writing. — 00:18:49 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson advises finding out what you find fulfilling (meeting a need, being creative, problem solving) and then looking at the many careers that target that grouping. — 00:20:23 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson wishes the way people are prepared for work offered more variety, with more chances to try different jobs and majors. — 00:21:18 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's teachers thought he did not like reading; in fact he had not found the right books, and the world building of fantasy novels made him a huge reader. — 00:21:47 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali used to enjoy hospital night shifts: with electronic prescribing he sat at the front desk, prescribing on one screen and planning YouTube videos on the other, and got a lot of non-doctor work done. — 00:22:08
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson took a hotel night job to have free time at work for writing, but warns it does not suit everyone: larger hotels give night auditors tasks, and many people are not productive at those hours. — 00:23:17 · Brandon Sanderson

00:24:33 — Chronotypes and Brandon's sleep schedule

  • ★★ Ali, starting to look into chronotypes, says he will try to get one of his sports-medicine friends, who analyse athletes' optimum performance, on his channel to have his own analysed. — 00:24:33
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson finds chronotypes interesting but thinks the science is not settled: what he reads seems very speculative. — 00:24:33 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson keeps falling back into the same sleep schedule: when first married he tried for a few months to change it, since his wife got up at six for school, and it was miserable. — 00:25:02 · Brandon Sanderson

00:25:24 — Brandon's influences, what he reads now and how writing changed his reading

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: The book that first pulled Brandon Sanderson into reading was Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane, a lesser-known novel he still loves; as a writer he was more influenced by Anne McCaffrey. — 00:25:50 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Guy Gavriel Kay's single-volume epic fantasies astounded Brandon Sanderson, who calls him criminally under-read; Kay helped Christopher Tolkien put The Silmarillion together. — 00:26:19 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: The Wheel of Time, the first big epic fantasy series Brandon Sanderson got into, inspired him, as did Melanie Rawn's magic systems early in his career. — 00:26:51 · The Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson has less reading time than he used to; much of his reading is new authors' books he might blurb and books by friends. — 00:27:20 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson recommends Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, out in May, as probably the best book he read last year (2020); Weir also wrote The Martian. — 00:28:46 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★ Ali pre-ordered Project Hail Mary on Amazon on Brandon Sanderson's recommendation. — 00:29:15 · Amazon, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Since becoming a writer, Brandon Sanderson no longer finishes books he is not getting anything out of, whereas when younger he finished everything. — 00:30:50 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson now reads appreciating writers' craftsmanship, which he finds more satisfying in many ways, but he has lost the wonder he felt reading when younger. — 00:31:19 · Brandon Sanderson

00:32:17 — Worrying about being derivative, the chef and the cook, the same lesson on YouTube

  • ★ Ali keeps Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist on his desk at all times. — 00:32:17 · Austin Kleon
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson thinks authors worry too much about seeming derivative: early books do feel derivative, which is why first books are not published. — 00:32:42 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says human creativity works by recombination: given the same concept, two authors write wildly different books; we remix, putting a horn on a horse rather than inventing a wholly new creature. — 00:33:29 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson teaches his students to be chefs rather than cooks: break down something you love to why you love it at a fundamental level, then rebuild it into something your own. — 00:34:21 · Brandon Sanderson

    “look at something you love and break it down to why you love it on a fundamental level”

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's example is Inception: it follows the beats of a heist but feels wholly original because Christopher Nolan and his brother broke down what makes a heist work. — 00:35:38 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Ali says YouTube works the same way: look at creators whose videos you like, work out what you like about them, bring it into your own videos and do not worry about originality at the start, because you will find your own voice. — 00:36:06
  • ★ Brandon Sanderson notes that whole channels of comedic retellings of factual events now owe their DNA to one successful Bill Wurtz video. — 00:37:01 · Brandon Sanderson

00:37:58 — Making yourself do the things you want to have done: sticks, carrots, word counts, structure

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson calls making yourself do the things you want to have done a personal philosophy: he truly enjoys writing, but it is still work, and he likes some parts less than others. — 00:38:33 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: A book takes Brandon Sanderson six to 18 months of slow, steady work; on most days he enjoys it once he gets into it, but has to force himself to start. — 00:39:10 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Before he was published, Brandon Sanderson was driven by a stick, a phantom cubicle he joked was chasing him; then tracking his daily word count on a spreadsheet worked, because he liked seeing himself inch closer to finishing. — 00:39:40 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson once rewarded finished work with a pack of Magic: The Gathering cards, but once he could afford 100 packs a day, the carrot stopped working. — 00:41:15 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson advises learning to hack your brain: find out what motivates you day to day and how your brain works, and trick yourself into doing what you want to have done, so the days become very satisfying. — 00:42:14 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: On a day when Brandon Sanderson makes his word count, plays a video game for a couple of hours and spends three hours with his kids and a couple with his wife, he goes to bed incredibly fulfilled. — 00:42:44 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Some writers binge, writing a book in three months; Brandon Sanderson works slow and steady, makes every day satisfying and advises being happy now through work-life balance and family time rather than putting happiness off. — 00:43:13 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ When interviewed on this topic, Ali lands on "journey before destination", which he calls a very good mantra for life. — 00:44:05 · journey before destination
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Asked why he is so prolific, Brandon Sanderson says he really is not: writers of the pulp days, paid by the word, did far more. — 00:44:29 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says artists lack the structures for long-term productivity that businesses such as Google build for their staff; writers have to be self-motivated. — 00:44:58 · Google, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says it is no wonder writers lack work-life balance: nobody talks about building habits, and everyone says to wait for the inner muse. — 00:46:51 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Asked if he is an artist with the work ethic of an accountant, Brandon Sanderson says his mother, an accountant, taught him a good work ethic when he was young. — 00:47:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali often cannot be bothered to film a YouTube video but does it anyway; once started it is fun, and afterwards he is glad he forced himself through that early stage. — 00:48:24
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson thinks it a terrible idea to make doctors' first ten years miserable, as if they must feel pain to deserve a higher wage later. — 00:48:59 · Brandon Sanderson

00:49:00 — Ownership: percentage bonuses for his team

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says ownership is one of the things that makes people want to work, and doubts people are proportionally rewarded for their work in many businesses. — 00:50:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's full-time employees and partners get a percentage of what he makes as a yearly bonus, smaller but real. — 00:50:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says Isaac Stewart, who brings his artistic talent to the maps and symbols of the books, deserves a cut, not just a salary. — 00:50:45 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali has been thinking about a percentage of profits for his team, who help him with YouTube and the business. — 00:51:58
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson's first basket of staff, his officers (long-serving full-timers involved in everything), get a yearly bonus of a percentage of the company's net on top of a market-rate salary. — 00:52:22 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: The second basket, the staff of Brandon Sanderson's store who handle online orders and Kickstarter, get bonuses based on store revenue. — 00:52:59 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's first employee was his editorial director Peter Ahlstrom, who for years gave feedback on his books for free as a friend and became a professional editor at Tokyopop. — 00:53:28 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: From the start Brandon Sanderson gave his staff a percentage, since he would not want to be part of something without part ownership; the percentage is theirs to pass on to their descendants. — 00:54:23 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson thinks sharing ownership with staff is the moral way to run a business. — 00:54:53 · Brandon Sanderson

00:55:51 — Money: income doubling, financial independence, The Wheel of Time, his two quests

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson's income doubled with every contract until it plateaued; at about $80,000 a year he started to feel good. — 00:56:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: From an author's income in the United States, Brandon Sanderson says, come 15% to the agent, 7.5% self-employment tax and health care. — 00:56:16 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: When Brandon Sanderson's income reached about $300,000 a year, money became irrelevant to him. — 00:57:27 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: At about $40,000 a year Brandon Sanderson hired a financial planner, aiming to be financially independent by about 60 in his volatile field; he got there at about 37. — 00:57:27 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson is paying off his house: strictly by the numbers it makes no sense, as the money could probably beat the interest rate invested, but as an artist he values the peace of mind of no house payment. — 00:58:25 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson would have finished The Wheel of Time for free, as a chance to reach several million epic fantasy fans; most offers of exposure for work are scams, but some opportunities are worth it. — 00:59:15 · The Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Harriet, Robert Jordan's widow, paid Brandon Sanderson a generous salary to finish The Wheel of Time, and that money made him financially independent. — 00:59:43 · The Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson has two quests: to finish the Cosmere sequence, only about halfway done, for his fans, and to create something of large-scale cultural significance, like George R. R. Martin. — 01:00:56 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Cultural significance needs a film or television project, Brandon Sanderson says, so his money now mainly lets him say no to bad movie deals and make good ones happen. — 01:02:19 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings (2010) was the last of Brandon Sanderson's books not to chart very high; with Words of Radiance his success exploded. — 01:02:55 · Brandon Sanderson

01:04:17 — The New York Times bestseller list and Ali's book goal

  • ★★★ With the book he is writing, Ali is aiming to hit the New York Times bestseller list, though he feels dirty admitting it given the baggage authors say comes with that goal. — 01:04:17
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson tells Ali that hitting the list is a reasonable goal for him: journey before destination does not mean ignoring the destination; new authors should not aim for the list with a first book, which they cannot control, but Ali has an established audience. — 01:04:41 · journey before destination, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Hitting the list the first time was very gratifying for Brandon Sanderson, because once you hit it you are a bestseller for life. — 01:05:41 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: When Brandon Sanderson broke in, the bottom of the New York Times hardcover fiction list took about 2,000 copies in a week; a very successful midlist hardcover sold 20,000 in its life, Elantris sold 10,000, and 10,000 meant never being dropped. — 01:06:37 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says the bestseller list measures momentum, not total sales: a book selling 1,900 copies a week for 50 weeks never hits the list yet can outsell books that do. — 01:07:06 · Brandon Sanderson

    “List is a measure of momentum, not a measure of total sales.”

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says the top spot of the New York Times fiction list in a competitive month probably takes about 120,000 copies in a week. (hedged) — 01:08:18 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson says that in fiction the New York Times list now pretty much follows actual sales as recorded by Nielsen. — 01:08:47 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Before ebooks, Brandon Sanderson says, 22,000 copies in a week could reach number one in a noncompetitive month such as January or February. — 01:09:36 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson knows a science fiction and fantasy author who hit number one on the New York Times list by strategically releasing in a month when he already had a following. — 01:09:36 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Early in his career Brandon Sanderson told readers that buying a book in its opening week helps most: sales in one week chart higher, and bookstores then give the book favourable placement. — 01:10:32 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson calls "bestseller" a marketing term that has lost much of its meaning: not a stamp of quality but, when it works, a stamp of a book's momentum. — 01:12:15 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Charting high no longer matters much to Brandon Sanderson, but he has never hit number one on the Sunday Times list, the UK's main list, and would like to. — 01:13:01 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson does not worry about missing number one: it means someone else sold more, not that he sold less. — 01:14:34 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Other publishers avoid releasing in the same week as a Stormlight Archive book, so it is hard for Brandon Sanderson not to hit number one in fiction. — 01:14:34 · The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson

01:15:51 — Writing tools: Microsoft Word and a personal wiki

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson writes in Microsoft Word; his one unusual tool is a local, open-source personal wiki (WickedPad, as heard) in which he and his team track Cosmere continuity, and he recommends the wiki way of looking things up. — 01:15:51 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: Besides the book itself, Brandon Sanderson keeps a separate notes file, an outline file and a "floating outline" of what he is writing immediately next. — 01:16:41 · Brandon Sanderson

01:17:09 — Fan theories, fractal world building and twists

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson recommends against changing your plans because of fan theories: if a writer does the job well, twists are foreshadowed and nothing comes out of nowhere. — 01:17:09 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson's "fractal world building": a casual reader sees and understands the big picture, while the closer a dedicated fan looks, the more detail there is to explore. — 01:18:26 · Brandon Sanderson

    “I have this thing I call fractal world building.”

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: For world building, Brandon Sanderson advises not making it so obtuse that the casual fan is lost nor so simple that there is nowhere to dig, and doing both at once if possible. — 01:18:55 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson has learned that tricking readers just to surprise them is madness: it trades the long-term satisfaction of a series for the short-term thrill. — 01:19:23 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Like Frank Herbert in Dune, who relies on the suspense of readers knowing what will happen, Brandon Sanderson advises writers to ask how their book would work with no twists: never make a twist a gimmick or subvert expectations just to subvert them. — 01:21:07 · Brandon Sanderson

01:23:06 — Productivity tips: outline backward, every chapter a favourite, Thursdays, saying no

  • ★★ Ali wants to cut soundbites from this interview into a video on his productivity channel with a suitably clickbaity title, such as interviewing the world's most productive writer. — 01:23:06 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson outlines backward and writes forward: knowing his destination gives him constant momentum, because he is pushing towards something he thinks will be exciting. — 01:23:33 · Brandon Sanderson

    “I outline backward and I write forward.”

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson passes on his editorial director's mantra that every chapter should be able to be someone's favourite, with no boring filler, and applies it to life: make everything you do exciting to you in some way. — 01:24:01 · Brandon Sanderson

  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: Revision is Brandon Sanderson's least favourite part of writing, so he makes it exciting by writing an outline of the revision, since outlining is one of his favourite parts. — 01:24:26 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson puts all his non-writing work (interviews, meetings, his class, YouTube videos) on Thursdays, with a limited number of hours his team knows they cannot exceed. — 01:25:29 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson tells creative professionals to practise learning to say no, which is very hard when you want to take every publicity opportunity. — 01:26:49 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson says coming up with rules and criteria that let you say no is a really good plan, since you cannot say yes to everyone. — 01:27:30 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson now has a blanket rule of saying no to dinners with fans; before COVID his rule was one event a month. — 01:27:59 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Brandon Sanderson: In the Words of Radiance era Brandon Sanderson first hit number one on the New York Times list and began selling hundreds of thousands of copies instead of tens of thousands. — 01:28:27 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson: For a couple of years Brandon Sanderson overbooked himself: London four times, a 32-day Words of Radiance tour and signings of up to eight or nine hours, which was terrible for his productivity. — 01:29:12 · London, Brandon Sanderson

01:30:14 — Final message and sign-off

  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson's final message: find a way to enjoy it; he calls Ali's idea of making the things you need to do more enjoyable a really good philosophy for life. — 01:30:36 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali says he will use Brandon Sanderson's "find a way to enjoy it" as the quote for his book. — 01:30:36 · Brandon Sanderson

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Brandon Sanderson · chef versus cook · fractal world building · The New York Times

Also: People: Andy Weir · Angus · Anne McCaffrey · Austin Kleon · Barbara Hambly · Bill Wurtz · Christopher Nolan · Christopher Tolkien · Frank Herbert · George R. R. Martin · Guy Gavriel Kay · Harriet McDougal · Isaac Stewart · Kate Reading · Melanie Rawn · Michael Kramer · Peter Ahlstrom · Robert Jordan

Projects: Deep Dive

Works: Cosmere · Dragonsbane · Dune · Elantris · Feel-Good Productivity (book) · Harry Potter (book series) · Inception · Mistborn · Oathbringer · Project Hail Mary · Steal Like an Artist · The Martian · The Silmarillion · The Stormlight Archive · The Way of Kings · The Wheel of Time · Twilight · Words of Radiance

Organizations: Amazon · Google · Kickstarter · Reddit · The Sunday Times · Tokyopop

Concepts: chronotype · gamification · journey before destination

Places: London

Products: Microsoft Word · WhatsApp

Only in the description or credits: Brigham Young University · The Final Empire

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