To people other than the folks at PABBIS, that is...
From deseretnews.com:
Sanderson recently received a six-figure advance from Scholastic, the "Harry Potter"-series publisher, for a children's fantasy series about a boy named Alcatraz who does battle with a cult of evil librarians.
...
After a mere 16 days of writing, that line turned into a 50,000-word novel — that's about 300 pages.
The series, Sanderson's first attempt at children's fiction, tells the story of a boy who discovers he's part of a secret group of freedom fighters who battle librarians, an evil cult that controls the world by restricting information. Each of the freedom fighters has an unusual but surprisingly powerful magical skill, such as the ability to arrive late to appointments.
Serious potential for awesome. Also serious potential for really, really bad, but we'll wait and see, right?
I have to demur. I believe it has serious potential for suckitude, with minimum visible potential for awesome, meaning that if the book manages to achieve awesome, it will be doubly so.
And Leila -- where is the Brotherhood 2.0 shirt?
Posted by: Kelly Fineman | 15 March 2007 at 08:48 AM
Hee Hee! I want to read that! Evil librarians sounds veeeeery interesting.
Posted by: Shrieky | 15 March 2007 at 09:26 AM
50,000 words equals 300 pages? I guess if you set it in 16-point type. My upcoming book is 54,000 words and is 218 pp.
If he wrote it in sixteen days, however -- THAT is impressive. Or a great big warning sign. Not sure which.
Posted by: Eric Berlin | 15 March 2007 at 10:02 AM
What the article doesn't talk about is the time that Brandon put into revision, which was a lot. He tends to have fast first drafts and lots and lots of revision. He's a personal friend and I've read Alcatraz in early form, so I'll just put in my vote for it being serious potential for awesome. I'll recommend it. :)
Posted by: stacy | 15 March 2007 at 12:29 PM
Thanks for the kind words, Stacy.
I enjoyed the article, but of course, reporters tend to be a bit sensationalist. When I told the story about the sixteen day writing time, I was talking about how this book flowed essentially like a very long free write, with a lot of spontaneity and improvisation involved in the narrative. I then explained that--because the first draft had gone so fast--I'd needed to spend some two to three months on revision to make it actually publishable. The reporter, however, didn't put that part in. (And probably rightly so, for the pacing of the article.)
I certainly hope the book comes down more on the side of awesome and less on the side of really bad. :)
Posted by: Brandon Sanderson | 15 March 2007 at 02:29 PM
I hope the publisher makes some really cool Evil Librarian t-shirts.
And I hope they send me one.
It would be the perfect thing to wear to work! "I'm an Evil Librarian. Don't Ask Me How."
Posted by: Liz B | 15 March 2007 at 07:51 PM
It only took 16 days to write, that should be the giveaway.
We should ask Mr. Abundance of Katherines how long it took him to write his, then we'll know how long a good book takes.
Posted by: Adam S. | 15 March 2007 at 08:55 PM
Hey, thanks for the extra info, Brandon! I'll be watching for it.
Also, I checked out your website, and your author photo IS definitely in the Realm of Awesome.
Posted by: Leila | 16 March 2007 at 06:51 AM
Are you sure it wasn't written by Sean Hannity?
Maybe this could be quite funny. Maybe.
Posted by: E_I | 16 March 2007 at 08:09 AM