This framework distills Sanderson's university writing course into a practical toolkit for writing your first novel.
The framework has two parts:
explanations/ — Learn the craft. Short, example-driven guides on each aspect of book writing. Read these to understand why and how. Max 1 page per concept.
templates/ — Build your book. Blank worksheets organized into numbered subfolders that match the explanations. Each template links back to its explanation. Copy the folder for your current step into your book's working directory and fill them in.
- Read
explanations/01-Story-Concept-and-Premise.md - Copy
templates/01-story-concept/and fill out the story concept sheet - Move on to the next numbered folder when you're ready
- Loop back as your story develops — this isn't strictly linear
| Step | Explanation | Templates Folder |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Concept | Story Concept & Premise | 01-story-concept/ — Story Concept Sheet |
| 2. World | World Building & Magic Systems | 02-world-and-magic/ — World Bible · Magic System Worksheet |
| 3. Characters | Characters | 03-characters/ — Character Sheet (copy per character) · Contrast Grid |
| 4. Plot | Plot Structure & Promises | 04-plot-structure/ — Plot Architecture · Promise Tracker · Subplot Tracker |
| 5. Outline | Outlining & Scene Writing | 05-outlining-and-scenes/ — Book Outline Grid · Chapter Outline (copy per chapter) · Scene Checklist |
| 6. Write | Just write. Don't revise. Get Draft 1 done. | |
| 7. Foreshadow | Foreshadowing & Mysteries | 06-foreshadowing/ — Foreshadowing Tracker · Chekhov's Gun Audit |
| 8. Revise | Revision & Editing | 07-revision/ — Revision Bug List · Draft Pass Checklist · Beta Reader Feedback |
- Ideas are cheap. Mashup things until something clicks. Just start.
- Promise → Progress → Payoff. This is the engine of every story at every scale.
- Flaws > Powers. Characters are interesting when dealing with what they can't do.
- Expand before adding. 2 deep rules beat 30 shallow ones.
- Your first 5 books are for learning. The product of your writing time is YOU, not the novel.
- You can fix anything in revision. Especially foreshadowing. Get the draft done first.
- Daily word goals. 1k words/day. Track it. 80-90k words = a novel.
- Original lecture notes: Writing Rules.md
- Sanderson's lecture notes: brandonsanderson.com/blogs/blog/tagged/2025-lecture-notes
- Full lecture playlist: YouTube