#I would attach actual quotes and critique his writing and grammar and sentence structure if somebody asked but I did delete all the

[alectology-archive]

What you dont like about sanderson writing?! I'm starting to read his books and so far i like it, but i always appreciate other opinions

that’s fine, I’ve already stated plainly on my blog before that I can recognise why his books are probably enjoyable for a lot of people because he structures his stories in ways that make them very readable. a lot of people probably enjoy his plot twists too, although I always thought he was very cruel and cynical with his storytelling (re: specifically with how he pokes fun at himself and the genres he’s working with in a manner decidedly meant to evoke ridicule. like… where is your fucking whimsy! he has no respect for the artistic process of writing besides telling stories - and as a writer myself I can’t abide that kind of an author being paraded around as an aspirational figure) and very disconnected from reality (specifically with respect to Reverse Misogyny, Reverse Racism and Oppressed People Should Find A Middle Ground With Oppressors. it frankly disgusts me) besides being just terrible at handling any theme even if I can concede that some of his ideas are good (on that note, I think his worldbuilding is also very overrated, constituting a mish mash of different concepts that don’t quite cohere. you can tell that he used to run dnd games). I just think his stories are probably more comparable to pjo, writing and skillwise, and I enjoyed one of them better (it was pjo). I also outgrew young adult long ago, which means his works could never appeal to me even if he wasn’t Like That (whatever That means when you’re a kind of very privileged white mormon guy who has a very protective fan base). The problem that is the terrible quality of his work also mostly stems from pumping out 500k-1 million words a year. it’s just not possible for any of that to be very good, I’m sorry. at one point quantity does very much become indicative of quality. no good or sane writer would publish any of that material unless it was heavily, heavily edited (his books are not well edited either, but I feel sorry for whoever his editor is). I don’t think there’s a single line anybody could pull from his works that I would find poignant, meaningful or quotable precisely because of his tendency to put down on paper anything and everything that occurs to him (there’s a reason why his works read like a disjointed stream of consciousness). his works also convey the sort of smug, contented state of confident self-possession he’s managed to reach where he’s comfortable publishing any piece of bad writing (I’m saying this after reading the first couple chapters of tress of the emerald sea, so I don’t think anyone can really accuse me of not reading his recent and therefore, supposedly, better works) because he has an established fan base that’s ready to eat it up. he also does suck at writing women. like a lot. it’s a conversation that nobody is really ready for even when they critique the deplorable depictions of oppression and class dynamics in his books - his male characters are always the real stars of the show and are clearly very dear to him besides being the vessels through which he inserts a lot of religious commentary that specifically stems from his background. he also does (consciously and unconsciously) insert lot of conservative rhetoric in his books when he’s writing his female characters.

whatever - I’m not stopping you from enjoying his stuff. but to put it very crudely, I think his stories also suffer from the same issues that the mcu does.

#this is probably not a great response because I’m in class but it’s my most measured one yet. success. #you can check out my ‘brandon’ tag for other complaints/criticism/general #thoughts about his body of work if you want. #I would attach actual quotes and critique his writing and grammar and sentence structure if somebody asked but I did delete all the #ebooks of his stuff I had for my own mental health. I just don’t care enough about somebody I hate That Much to spend a lot of time #critiquing. I’d rather critique even the worst of sjm’s stuff probably. idk. #asks #anon asks #brandon #sanderson critical