As a child, Brandon Sanderson, enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested for him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This all changed in 8th grade when an astute teacher, Mrs. Reader, gave Brandon Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly.
Sanderson thoroughly enjoyed this book, and went in search of anything similar. He discovered such authors as David Eddings, Melanie Rawn, Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card. He continued to be an avid reader through junior high and high school, and he liked epic fantasy so much that he even tried his hand at writing some. His first attempts, he says, were dreadful.
In 1994, Brandon enrolled at Brigham Young University as a Biochemistry major. From 1995-1997 he took time away from his studies to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Brandon often says that it was during this time in Seoul, Korea that he realized that he didn’t miss chemistry one bit, but he did miss writing. Upon his return to BYU, Brandon became an English major, much to the dismay of his mother, who had always hoped he would become a doctor.
Sanderson began writing in earnest, taking a job as the night desk clerk at a local hotel because they allowed him to write while at work. During this era, he went to school full time during the day, worked nights to pay for his schooling, and wrote as much as he could. He says it made for a rather dismal social life, but he finished seven novels during his undergraduate years. Sanderson submitted many manuscripts for publication, and accumulated quite a pile of rejection letters. In spite of this, he continued to be a dedicated writer.
Volunteering for The Leading Edge, BYU’s semi-professional science fiction and fantasy magazine, was a wonderful experience for him. He read lots of submissions, formed some lifelong friendships, and even served as Editor-in-Chief during his senior year.
Sanderson learned much about the business side of being a writer by taking a class from David Farland, author of the popular Runelords series. One piece of advice Farland gave him was to attend conventions, such as Worldcon and World Fantasy, in order to connect with industry professionals. Sanderson and a small group of friends who were also aspiring writers began to do so. He eventually met both his current agent and one of his editors at conventions.
It was in 2003, while Sanderson was in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, that he got a call from an editor at Tor who wanted to buy one of his books. He had submitted the manuscript a year and a half earlier, and had almost given up on hearing anything, so he was surprised and delighted to receive the offer. In May 2005, Sanderson held in his hand his first published novel, Elantris. He has since had published his Mistborn trilogy, several standalone books, and the first volume of his projected ten-book epic series, The Stormlight Archives.
In 2004, after graduating with his Master’s degree in creative writing from Brigham Young University, Sanderson was asked to teach the class he had taken as an undergraduate student from Farland. In spite of his busy schedule, Sanderson continues to teach this one section of creative writing focused on science fiction and fantasy because he enjoys helping aspiring writers. It also gets him out of the house, he says.
Sanderson married Emily Bushman in 2006. They ran in many of the same circles at BYU during their student days, since Emily majored in English as well. They never met, however, until a mutual friend set them up on a date in 2005. She had spent seven years as a teacher, but chose to quit with the birth of their son in October of 2007. She now works from home part time as Sanderson’s business manager.
His repertoire expanded into the children’s market when Scholastic published Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, a middle-grade novel, in October of 2007. Nancy Pearl gave this book a very favorable review on National Public Radio, which pleased Sanderson fans. Since the release of Alcatraz, Sanderson has enjoyed visiting schools and interacting with younger readers.
In December of 2007, Sanderson was selected by Harriet Rigney to complete A Memory of Light, book twelve in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. While it started out as a single novel, Sanderson found that he wouldn’t be able to tie up all the loose ends satisfactorily within one book, so it expanded to three. The first book, The Gathering Storm, was released in 2009, followed by Towers of Midnight in 2010 and the final book, A Memory of Light, in January 2013.
His recent works include the novellas Legion (2012) and The Emperor’s Soul (2012, set in the same world as Elantris), and the novel, The Rithmatist (2013). The novel Steelheart is set for release in September 2013, and the second volume in The Stormlight Archives in January 2014.
You can visit his website here.
Photo by Nihonjoe.