How Sanderson produces Awe in his Literature (and how other books do too)

How Sanderson produces Awe in his Literature (and how other books do too)

A 15-card presentation by Andrew G. Perazzo

 

What produces awe in literature?

 

I find science fiction more awe-inspiring than fantasy.

 

Yet I love Brandon Sanderson's works, which are fantasy.  Why?

 

To gain awe, one needs a base of normailty, which in books such as fantasy is created by laws and rules.

 

Talking instantaneous for us doesn't produce awe because it's the norm, for fantasy worlds like Sanderson's Elantris, it isn't the norm and so produces awe.

 

The rules and laws established need to be the basis of everything or else we can get Deux Ex Machina.

 

Like eagles suddenly appearing to rescue Frodo from Mount Doom.  Where'd the eagles come from?  Why not use them earlier?

 

Harry Potter's climax is based on the system of magic dealing with wand ownership, and so isn't Deux Ex Machina; the ending fits within the established magic rules.

 

Using Deux Ex Machina can cause a reader to go outside the story: not good for awe.

 

Sanderson is a hard magic writer, and all his magic systems have hard and fast laws.

 

Like in Hero of Ages, there is the ability to draw forth power out of metal.

 

Using this system instead of some unknown magic spell to defeat the villain is much more satisfying to the reader.

 

This is because Sanderson sets up little hints and pieces of what he's going to do, and then at the end simply aligns them for you so that you see how they all fit.

 

This alignment causes an epiphany in the reader, and also wonder at how the author was so clever at setting it up.

 

For these reasons, Sanderson's works and other hard fantasy novels inspire awe.

The End.