When I meet other aspiring authors, I often get asked questions about improving one’s writing. I can share a little bit, but like anything in life, we’re always learning and growing. So, I’m always reading or listening to resources on writing.
Perhaps one of the best resources, especially for new authors, is Brandon Sanderson’s lecture series on writing. He guest lectures at an American university and has been doing so for a number of years. He recently (2025) made new recordings of his lectures. In these lectures, he breaks down topics around writing interspersed with Q and A. The topics include:
- Lecture 1: Writing Philosophy
- Lecture 2: Promise, Progress, Payoff – Plot Theory
- Lecture 3: Story Structures – Plot Theory
- Lecture 4: Plot Q&A
- Lecture 5: Creating Proactive, Relatable, and Capable Characters
- Lecture 6: Customizing your Character
- Lecture 7: Sanderson’s Laws of Magic
- Lecture 8: The Tools to Make Your Worlds Better
- Lecture 9: How To Worldbuild on Earth
- Lecture 10: How Publishing Works
There might be one or two more lectures, but this is what’s out so far. There are some extra videos to watch as well. So you can always type Brandon Sanderson Lectures in YouTube’s search, and you’ll get even more content. Brandon Sanderson is very honest and humble in his approach. He gives a lot of good information about what to do ‘right’ when building stories. At the same time, he shares about his mistakes and what he did wrong in his books.
Another resource I’d like to offer is from the lecture series completed in 2020. He has a guest lecture come and teach on writing short stories. During the lecture, she walked the class through a short story writing exercise. Here’s the link: Writing Short Stories. I confess that I’ve never been great at writing short stories, as my ideas quickly become complex. This simple writing exercise has been very helpful. I hope you find it a usable resource as well.
K. M. Wray 