Redraft the story, remove the attempts at being Neal Stephenson-esque mysterious and subtle, and build the story around the characters instead of the fantastical “hook” which underpins this future sci-fi idea, and this could be a tremendously exciting and captivating novella. It didn’t live up to Brandon Sanderson’s normal quality of storytelling and lacked his normal spit and polish. I was, thus, somewhat disappointed with Snapshot. So much is left unsaid or even outright ignored that, instead of having a fully-formed novella, I feel we are left with an unformed elevator pitch.

But it felt as if the author was trying to reach beyond his abilities not his writing abilities – we all know Sanderson is one of the finest writers currently practicing their craft – but beyond his natural expertise and knowledge. Let’s be honest, it’s Brandon Sanderson, it was never going to be bad. The reveal relies too much on the author’s understanding, and not enough on what the reader has been shown or told. The underlying premise is not particularly well fleshed-out – too many details left off the bone and too many questions left unanswered, such that, by the time the rug is ripped out from underneath us – as was expected from the very first pages – you’re not exactly sure of all of the twists and turns. It reads like a creative writing class short story assignment: “Here’s your angle, here’s your trope, and here’s your character flaw – show me what you’ve got.” The same can be said for Snapshot, Sanderson’s latest novella, that was published early 2017 (but which I only just got my hands on). It felt as if it was a good first try, but that needed to have the rough edges sanded off. You could see the characters who were designed around, “What is this character’s flaw, what makes him memorable, what are some personality quirks,” etc. A prime example was his Reckoners series, which started with Steelheart, which at times read as if it was a first-draft story written for a creative writing class. Unfortunately, some of his work reflects what I imagine stems from these classes.

I have not had the time to watch the videos that often appear of these classes, but I have listened to Sanderson’s podcasts and read his work enough to get a sense of what he might teach. It is not a craft everyone can manage – and many have tried.īrandon Sanderson, in my opinion, gets it right half of the time.Īnyone with even a vague interest in the fantasy genre at the moment not only knows of Brandon Sanderson, but also knows that he teaches a creative writing course at Brigham Young University (BYU). It requires the ability to tell a self-contained story that feels as if it has been taken straight out of the middle of a book whilst at the same time giving it its own three-act structure – beginning, middle, and end. Short fiction – be they short stories or their longer cousins, the novella – is an artform that not everyone can master.

Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson