Figured out why i didnt like books before I discovered Sanderson.

[Anonymous No.23092592]

I didn't like reading fiction, even though I enjoyed consuming fiction in general. I also enjoyed reading cyoas on >>>/tg/ and manga but not actual fiction books. Sanderson changed that and I figured out why.

The school system poisoned my brain, imprinting a certain idea of ficiton by feeding me "the classics". That is, prose that is either drama (as in, meant to be theatre and not a book) or "artsy" prose that is meant to be performative in of itself.

For example, On the Niemen has entire pages dedicated to describing the landscape, literal pages of descriptions of a hill or a river. For some, I guess, this kind of thing is impressive in of itself, but this fails to grasp the modern reader who has a computer and a TV and can view pictures of landscapes instead?
Or different books, which are written entirely in poem form. It sounds impressive at first, sure, but when actually trying to read the book and picture the story, it gets annoying to me, I find it more difficult to follow.

Sanderson is the first writer that I know of that both is explicitly writing his books with the goal of being books AND in a non-intruisive, easy to read style optimised for actually getting the story across.

>Error: Field too long.
cont in thread

[Anonymous No.23092596]

>>23092592
Where another author would do some shit like
>the bowmen of cavendish released their second and third fingers, letting go of that precious piece of wood, all in unison, these men and women thus trained to follow orders all at once. The life-changing, life-piercing bolts hovered in space for a moment, imperceptable to the human mind but theoretically nevertheless there, before being flung by the pressured, tired string, which was in turn held to the wooden arch they held with their other, exhausted hands. This instrument, the bow, passed down from one soldier to another, exchanging hands as countless a time as the amount of people it slayed, looking almost as tired as the soldiers themselves, ready to churn out another masterpiece of projectile art. But the recieving party was not ready. The arrows flew, covering the sun like a herd of sheep cover the pasture on Solsbury Hill, each individually glistening in the sun and yet, all together, blocking it, dimming the landscape once more, as they are bound to do time and time again.
Sanderson would instead write:
>The soldiers were tired, but they fired another volley as ordered. There were a lot of arrows.

I once read on some off topic thread on another board that what makes books interesting as opposed to other mediums is what some authors can "do with language". Attitudes like that made me reassured that I simply don't like books. I'm glad I found an author that proved that misconception wrong.

I hope this helps and if any of you went through something similar, please share, I doubt I'm the only one. I'd also like some recommendations as to more authors like this, because even though I like some of his books a lot of them are clearly meant for juveniles and I intend to skip all of those.

And thanks for reading my blog.

[OP No.23092606]

>>23092592
3/3
Im trans btw, that's all y'all. Remember to vote!!!

[Anonymous No.23092725]

>>23092592
Congratulations, another victim of polish education.

Just enjoy yourself, it all does not really matter.

I enjoy experimental blown out prose and hardly care about story and well, that is me.

[Anonymous No.23093446]

>>23092592
The classics fucking suck they are the worlds oldest bullshit job for paper pushers

[Anonymous No.23093457]

>>23092606
Why on EARTH did you think we needed to know that? Really, think hard.

[Anonymous No.23093906]

>>23092592
never read sanderson. what would you recommend starting with

[Anonymous No.23093909]

>>23092606
Lol. Well played.

[Anonymous No.23093916]

>>23092592
>The school system poisoned my brain, imprinting a certain idea of ficiton by feeding me "the classics".
A high school teacher is saying the opposite >>23093825. That you bums have it a bit too easy.

[Anonymous No.23093929]

>>23092592
You're right, but good luck convincing the prose queens of /lit/

[Anonymous No.23094104]

>>23092592
how about a smile there big guy

[Anonymous No.23094124]

>>23092596
The first paragraph is more visceral and evokes my imagination a lot more rather than the second one so the first is good, period. Congratulations, you played yourself. Recommend me books that are like the first paragraph

[Anonymous No.23094163]

I keep saying we need to evolve to shorter books, not sure why it’s not happening. We have every photo tvshow tik tok YouTube video etc at our fingertips now which we didn’t before. Start making 50-100 page novels that you can read in a few hours. Make it a series of books if it absolutely must go longer.

You can cut out all that unneeded filler and just keep the good parts of the plot.

[Anonymous No.23094173]

>>23094163
>We have every photo tvshow tik tok YouTube video
even more important then to read some long ass books

[Anonymous No.23094179]

>>23093906
The back cover!

[Anonymous No.23094467]

>>23094124
On the Niemen

[Anonymous No.23094715]

>>23094124
You're pretending
This isn't actually what you believe

[Anonymous No.23094724]

>>23094163
300p isn't really that long, but sure, we could have some 100p books
the real issue is that, contrary to what you might expect, people aren't interested in short fiction, it's why people read epic fantasy books, watch anime and tv shows
the average normie isn't interested in a variety of things, they're looking for something they like that's long so they don't have to make the effort of finding something new again a day later
being able to sink weeks into a 100h+ game, a 6 season show, or a 5 part+ book series is what the modern normie lives for
it literally is slop just made to be consumed

[Anonymous No.23094760]

>>23094715
Not him but I share his sentiment. Some books you read just for the joy of reading.
Sure, books can be writen in more econimical fashion but that doesn't necessarily mean those are more enjoyable, at least not to everyone.

[Anonymous No.23094827]

>>23094163
longer fiction allows you to write low quality bullshit that the reader won't notice
"maybe it makes sense later"
>you mention that 3 books later
"genius foreshadowing this was so good"

[Anonymous No.23094947]

>>23092596
I think that the first example "paints" a more vivid imagery than the second one. Using camera work as an analogy, the first one has more closeups and interesting perspectives than the second one, which feels like a single long shot without showing the closeup details.

[Anonymous No.23095267]

>>23092592
Good fantasy authors:
>Konac clasped his head in his hands as through the force of his grip could hold in the rage spilling forth from it. Upon his knees, he could see his kinsmen slain, his legacy shattered, his grasp upon the Freehold sundered. He would have surrendered his very soul to consume it all in the white-hot fires of his malevolence.

Bad fantasy authors:
>Konac, who was the fifth of his name and whose feet had tread the Ten Thousand Steps of Cyre, stared in rage as the last ambitions of his father Bruic the Bold were scattered upon the Plains of Kummu where ten thousand years before the Emuroc of Scran had fallen from his horse and died. The omen signed so clear by the Skyward Sigil hung over the land as yet, and so it was that 457,000 men met their demise in the fires of Ungoplitantusk the Mighty.

Sanderson:
>Konac was mad and did not feel calm. He was mad at how things were going.

[Anonymous No.23095322]

>>23095267
>Bad fantasy authors:
Wow, it's almost like I'm reading Malazan.

[Anonymous No.23095479]

>>23095267
>blatant exposition bad
>words that dont convey anything good

[Anonymous No.23095528]

>>23095479
>My brain cannot handle details of any kind.

[Anonymous No.23095544]

>>23095528
using a lot of words is not the same as detail
>Konac clasped his head in his hands as through the force of his grip could hold in the rage spilling forth from it.
could easly be
>Enraged, Konac clasped his head in his hands.
and so on
you don't need to describe every action with a metaphor, especially if it's a simple action that can only be done in very few ways to begin with

[Anonymous No.23095628]

>>23092592
Literature education fucking sucks. The way you do it is by giving kids books made for kids. Then, when they turn into teenagers, they'll get bored of kids books and will turn ibto teenagers books. The same will happen when they reach young adult and adult. Meanwhile, in education they always teach you adult books for some reason, giving you the false sense that literatyre is boring or only for intelligent people.

[Anonymous No.23095665]

>>23095544
Not at all. The former paints a picture. You can visualize a man's skull coming apart and the force it's requiring to hold it together. Thus the difference between a guy weeping into his hands and a character barely holding it together is spelled out.

Showing versus saying.

>As they approached the city towered over them, and Konac swore the tips of the highest parapets raked lines into the passing clouds.

Versus your solution
>They got there and the walls were tall.

[Anonymous No.23095682]

>>23092592
This post convinced me to never read anything by Sanderson, and I am not one opposed to reading slop

[Anonymous No.23095874]

i can't even tell if this is straight from reddit anymore

[Anonymous No.23096179]

>>23092592
it's funny how Tolkien's books were magical/spiritual then the Americans got their hands on them and DUDE MAGIC SYSTEMS
DUDE HOLLYWOOD FILMS KILL THE ORCS

slop after slop after slop

an Irish man invents vampires and then it goes to America DUDE VAMPIRE ROMANCE FOR TEENAGER GIRLS AND A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE

[Anonymous No.23096238]

>>23096179
>an Irish man invents vampires
lol, lmao even, you are unironically a retard

[Anonymous No.23096280]

>>23092592
God-tier bait
I kneel

[Anonymous No.23096297]

>>23092596
>Attitudes like that made me reassured that I simply don't like books. I'm glad I found an author that proved that misconception wrong.
correct, you DO like books
what you don't like is literature

[Anonymous No.23096775]

>>23096297
brevity is the soul of wit

[Anonymous No.23097701]

If I've never read Sanderson what are the best books to start with?

[Anonymous No.23097721]

>>23092592
>>23092596
Shut up you drooling genre fiction retard, Jesus Christ.

[Anonymous No.23097934]

[Anonymous No.23097939]

It's over. There are no contenders

[Anonymous No.23097948]

They conclude "This is only the beginning for Sanderson’s reign"

God save the King!

[Anonymous No.23097981]

>>23097934
>>23097939
You post this ironically, but who would you consider the greatest active fantasy writer? It's been decades since anyone's written good fantasy.

[Anonymous No.23098017]

>>23095665
>They approached the city, towering over them like a monolith.
git gud nigga

[Anonymous No.23098067]

>>23097981
I don't care that he makes you Redditors seethe, The Name of the Wind is one of the greatest fantasy books ever written.

[Anonymous No.23098086]

>>23098067
>Name of the Wind
It came out over 15 years ago, anon. Wise Man's Fear was over a decade ago. Rothfuss isn't an active fantasy writer, nor is Martin.

[Anonymous No.23098090]

I love Brandon :3

[Anonymous No.23098503]

>>23097701
Mistborn

[Anonymous No.23098679]

>>23096775
Wit is a particular literary technique invented by John Lyly in "Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit" who wrote in such a verbose and ornate manner that Euphuism is named after him:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphuism

[Anonymous No.23099401]

>>23097701
Warbreaker or Mistborn 1, put off Mistborn 2 and 3 for later. They each spend half the book on recaps, you won't have any problem coming back to that series later on. You should read Warbreaker before Stormlight 2 or 3 and Mistborn 2-6 before Stormlight 4 if you want to understand everything that's going on. Elantris has a reference is Stormlight 4 but it's not necessary to the plot, you can safely skip it entirely at this point.

[Anonymous No.23101233]

>>23092596
you never read books outside of school until this month?

[Anonymous No.23102514]

>>23101233
Don't pretend like this isn't a phenomenon outside of school curriculum
Have you read wheel of time?

[Anonymous No.23102517]

>>23096280
/lit/ falls for another one

[Anonymous No.23102667]

So you enjoy your prose spartan and laconic, that's perfectly fine. There are plenty of writers available that will fulfill that need of yours. Dashiell Hammett and Hemingway are my particular favorites for when I am looking for something a lot less ornate. You should check those two out.