How To Worldbuild on Earth? - Brandon Sanderson's Writing Lecture #9 (2025)

Brandon Sanderson is back in class answering some of the questions that burned within the hearts of his students. He delves deep into the philosophy of worldbuilding within your novels along with provides expert knowledge on ways to make it better.

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Chapters
(0:00) - Introduction
(0:31) - Starting the Q&A
(1:56) - Handling World-Building In Our World
(10:01) - Descriptions from Characters
(12:36) - Getting Into Your Characters Head
(15:20) - Worldbuilding Not Important to Characters
(19:08) - When To Stop Introducing New Elements
(21:20) - What Tools For Worldbuilding?
(28:15) - Doing a Late Introduction
(30:11) - Describing A 1st Person Character
(35:26) - Best Gorilla In the Phone Booth
(38:46) - Creating Supplemental Material
(42:55) - How to Write Graphic Novels
(44:59) - Creating Your Map
(49:26) - Advice Books for Writers
(52:16) - Scene/Sequel
(55:57) - Using Worldbuilding in War
(1:00:35) - The Others
(1:06:21) - Brandon's Pet Peeve
(1:08:56) - What Can I get Away With?
(1:11:49) - Same Named Sources