I think I might be learning something ...

After reading and thoroughly enjoying Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, I was excited to find out that the classes he taught last year at BYU are available on line at http://www.writeaboutdragons.com/brandon_w2012/.

While listening to his lectures I realized I’ve missed out on some of the basics that one learns if they actually study English and writing. For example, I didn’t realize that a world mired by conspiracies was part of my setting. I knew that the Minnesota, the mall of America, and Nevis were parts of my setting but I had thought conspiracy was part of the plot. This of course made my plot (a girl searching for the truth about her mother’s death and what happens when she finds out) a lot more complicated than it needed to be (in terms of a keeping it straight in my own head as well as for the readers, as to what is happening and why). They’re still intricately connected, and thus not easily separated. But if I think of it in terms of:

Character: Sarah, an impatient, strong willed girl

Plot: Girl searches for the truth about her mother’s death

Setting: World of “supernatural” power mired in conspiracy

And the story is how all of those interact, and is of course excitingly complicated. But now making the conflict that arises from those interactions into scenes is much simpler and hopefully easier to follow. And recognizing Sarah’s progression through the complicated maze of all the problems that arise from having to live in that world I created for her should be a lot easier for the readers as well.

So hopefully those of you that bought the “limited first edition” of my book don’t feel cheated that the story is going to be so much better in the next release (and hopefully it is a lot better), because it’s always been an incredibly exciting story in my head. And maybe if I finally get good enough at sharing the story it will become so wonderful for everyone else that those “limited first editions” will become quite valuable.

And for those of you that haven’t bought this “limited first edition,” I highly doubt that I’ve sold enough that those that have bought it are worried about you devaluing their investment by also buying a copy. So if you’re worried about having missed out on this tremendous opportunity, and of course you should be, you can still buy a copy (and I’ll still even autograph it for free).