The Five Throwaway Books
Declare the first five attempts unsendable in advance, and the pressure that stops most people disappears.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 91%
Returning from a mission in Korea, Sanderson decided to become a writer and applied the regimented structure he had learned there, plus his accountant mother's discipline, to the problem. He had heard that a writer's first five books are generally terrible, and rather than being discouraged he found it liberating: 'that's good, I don't have to be good yet.' So he declared the first five off-limits for submission and wrote six. No agent, no test readers, no submissions — pure production. The input is a declared number. The mechanism is removing the quality judgement entirely from the first N attempts, which converts an unbearable evaluative task into a countable one, while ensuring every attempt is a complete work rather than a fragment. He also varied deliberately across the five: an epic fantasy, a comedic Terry Pratchett-style fantasy, a cyberpunk, a space opera, and a sequel to his own epic fantasy, which taught him what he actually wanted to write. The output was Elantris, book six, which he eventually sold — though not before writing seven more. The full arc is important and rarely quoted: he wrote thirteen novels before selling one, and sold number six only after finishing number thirteen, with a genuine dark night of the soul at book twelve. Sanderson is explicit that this is bad advice for some people; Patrick Rothfuss published his first novel, having spent as long revising it as Sanderson spent writing five.
Origin
Sanderson built the plan on returning from two years in Korea, combining his accountant mother's business discipline with the regimented structure of missionary life, after hearing the common wisdom that a writer's first five books are terrible.
Core principles
- 01If the first five attempts are terrible by definition, you are relieved of the obligation to be good yet.
- 02Declaring the throwaway count in advance converts anxiety about quality into a simple production target.
- 03Volume of complete works, not fragments, is what builds the skill — each one must be finished.
- 04Deliberately varying the subgenre across the practice run tells you what you actually want to write.
- 05The count is personal calibration, not a rule; some people publish their first attempt brilliantly after heavy revision.
- 06The dark moment arrives long after the practice run ends, and surviving it is part of the framework.
How to run it
- 1
Declare the throwaway number out loud
Choose how many complete works you will produce before allowing yourself to submit anything, and treat that number as fixed. Sanderson chose five, and the decision itself is what took the pressure off.
Pro tip The relief is the point — if the number does not make you feel freer, it is too small.
Watch out A vague 'a few practice pieces' does not work; the number must be specific enough to count against.
- 2
Finish every one
Each attempt must be a complete work. Sanderson wrote five entire novels, not five openings — completion is what teaches structure, endings and stamina.
Pro tip Bad endings still teach you how endings work; abandoned drafts teach nothing.
Watch out Serial abandonment disguised as practice is the most common failure of this framework.
- 3
Vary the subgenre deliberately
Spread the practice run across different forms. Sanderson's five covered epic fantasy, comedic fantasy, cyberpunk, space opera and a sequel — the sequel specifically to test whether that was what he wanted to do.
Pro tip Use the run as a preference experiment, not just a skill drill.
- 4
Withhold from the market and from validation
Send nothing during the run. Sanderson had no test readers and no agent — he did not even know what an agent was — and only began sharing around book five.
Pro tip Removing the audience removes the incentive to polish instead of finish.
Watch out Early submission converts practice into evaluation and reinstates exactly the pressure you removed.
- 5
Start submitting at the number, and keep writing
When you reach the declared count, begin querying while continuing to produce. Sanderson started submitting around book six and had eight or nine written by the time he was meeting editors.
Pro tip Having new work in progress makes rejections about a manuscript rather than about you.
- 6
Plan for the crisis well past the number
Expect the hardest moment to arrive long after the practice run. Sanderson's came at book twelve: twelve books, nobody buying, wondering whether he was simply bad at this.
Pro tip He sold book six after finishing book thirteen — the sale can come from anywhere in the back catalogue.
Watch out Treating the declared number as the point where success is due is how people quit at book twelve.
In the wild
Sanderson finished five unsubmitted books, then Elantris as book six, which was the one he eventually sold — but not immediately. He kept writing while submitting, hit a genuine crisis at book twelve wondering whether he was bad at this, and finished book thirteen, The Way of Kings Prime, before the sale of book six came through. He notes books seven and eight were good enough to have broken him out; he simply never published them.
→ The advance was $10,000 spread over three years, while his wife supported them on a $22,000 public school teacher's salary.
Sanderson is explicit that this is bad advice for some writers. Patrick Rothfuss published his first novel, The Name of the Wind, and it is brilliant — but Rothfuss spent as much time revising that one book as Sanderson spent writing five. The framework is a calibration to how a given person learns, not a universal law.
→ Two opposite methods, both producing career-defining debuts, which is why Sanderson teaches craft as a toolbox rather than a prescription.
Common mistakes
Submitting the practice work anyway
The moment you send a throwaway out, it stops being a throwaway and starts being judged. The entire mechanism depends on the work genuinely having no stakes.
Assuming the number is when success arrives
Sanderson's own crisis came at book twelve, six past his declared count, and he sold book six only after finishing thirteen. Treating the number as a deadline for results sets you up to quit exactly where the payoff was forming.
Copying the count without matching the method
Five throwaways suits someone who learns by producing new complete works. A reviser like Rothfuss would waste years on it. Pick the number that fits how you actually improve.
Is it for you?
Best for
People at the start of a craft with a long apprenticeship curve who can afford years of unpublished output.
Not ideal for
Anyone who needs income from the work immediately, or whose craft rewards heavy revision of one piece over volume of new ones.
From the transcript
“I heard your first five books are generally terrible I said well that's good I don't have to be good yet it took a lot…”
“the first five I'm not going to send out to any Publishers”
“I wrote 13 novels before I sold one I sold number six after I'd finished number 13”
“I'm at book number 12 and I'm like what am I doing 12 books and no one's buying them”
From the episode
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