Brandon Sanderson has become revered in recent years as not only a highly prolific and acclaimed fantasy author, but also someone who is very outspoken and interactive with his fans.
Between various ventures such as podcasts, frequent interviews, and even lectures at various schools, Sanderson has become something of a public figurehead when it comes to navigating the modern literary world. In addition to all of this, he is also very active on social media platforms, striving to call attention to great works and lesser-known authors in deeply admirable ways.
As a result, it’s fair to say that Sanderson is keenly tapped into the expectations of his fans and audience as a whole. Ever since his earlier days as a professional writer, stepping in at the behest of Robert Jordan’s wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, in the aftermath of Jordan’s death to finish out the Wheel of Time book series, Sanderson has performed a remarkable balancing act when it comes to what fans want and what they might actually need.
Brandon Sanderson still gets surprised by fan reactions
While he has spoken in the past about what he perceives to be the dangers of catering too much to fan desires, he is someone who has established a uniquely frank and open camaraderie with his fans. In a recent interview, Sanderson opened up about unexpected fan reactions to some of his writing, characters, and stories.
When asked at Worldcon if he could recall a particularly vivid reaction, positive or negative, to his work that caught him by surprise, Sanderson said, “It happens all the time, especially in beta reads. I never get it… because I do such extensive beta reads, I usually know.”
He went on to elaborate, saying:
“I’ll give you a negative and a positive. I was working on the third Skyward book, which is my YA series. And I had written this character to be interesting and to maybe be a possible romantic interest. And beta readers hated him. Which is nice in a way, because it means I had made the romance in previous books strong, and nobody wanted another possible rival for Spensa’s attention. They hated this character from day one; they could sense it. Too close in age, YA book, nope.”
In this case, Sanderson took the feedback in stride and ultimately took drastic action. “I took the whole character out and put an older mentor figure into that spot instead, because nobody liked him.”
However, he’s also been pleasantly befuddled by characters people have taken to that he didn’t necessarily expect.
“The one I haven’t been able to even still figure out is, there’s a scene in Words of Radiance where a character tries to use the magic for the first time, Shallan, she tried to build fire using her magic. The way the magic works, she has to convince the object to change forms, and she’s trying to get a stick to catch on fire. She cannot, and the stick refuses. And that stick became a fan favorite.”
Which just goes to show that no matter how well you know your audience, they will still find the capacity to surprise you, just as you find a way to surprise them.