You Are the Piece of Art
The work is a by-product; the person you become making it is the actual asset, which is why you can park 300,000 words.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 90%
Ferriss presses Sanderson on something most people find impossible: he has parked three major books, including one 300,000-word Stormlight novel where the protagonist had the wrong personality the entire way through. He wrote it again years later with a different personality and it worked. Asked for the inner monologue that makes this possible, Sanderson names a ground rule: the piece of art is not just the story you are creating, you are the piece of art, and the time you spend writing is improving you as a writer, which is the most important thing. The book is almost a by-product. The input is a work you suspect is broken. The mechanism is a reframe of where value accumulates — if the writer is the asset, then a discarded book still deposited its full return, and the sunk cost argument evaporates. He observes that this is the concrete difference between professionals and amateurs: professionals throw away chapters constantly, and he is convinced one of the main causes of writer's block is that your instincts know the chapter is wrong while your unwillingness to lose the work stops you continuing or restarting. The output is the freedom to park. He gives two triggers: the finished book does not give him 'the shine, the feel of excitement' he wanted, or alpha and beta readers respond in ways completely opposite to his intent. Crucially, he distinguishes a defect from a valid response — you cannot make impressionism better by not being impressionist.
Origin
Sanderson developed the principle across three major shelved books, most painfully The Way of Kings Prime in 2002, a 300,000-word novel whose lead character had the wrong personality throughout. Only one of the three has ever been revived.
Core principles
- 01The piece of art is not only the story you are creating — you are the piece of art, and the time spent is improving you.
- 02If the person is the asset, no individual project can be a total loss, which is what makes discarding possible.
- 03Professionals throw away chapters routinely; amateurs cannot, and that gap is largely psychological rather than technical.
- 04One major cause of writer's block is knowing instinctively that the chapter is wrong while refusing to discard the work already done.
- 05Two signals justify parking a finished work: it lacks the shine you wanted, or test readers respond opposite to your intent.
- 06Not every negative response is a defect — some responses are simply part of what the piece of art is.
How to run it
- 1
Install the ground rule before you need it
Adopt the position that the practice is improving you and the artefact is secondary. Sanderson calls this a ground rule precisely because it has to be in place before the crisis, not argued for during it.
Pro tip Write down what each finished project taught you; the list makes the claim concrete rather than consoling.
- 2
Trust the instinct that says a chapter is wrong
When you stall, test whether the block is really a correct instinct about the material. Sanderson believes this is one of the main causes of writer's block: you know enough to know it is wrong, and will not throw it away.
Pro tip Throw the chapter out and restart the next day rather than trying to repair it in place.
Watch out Pushing through a chapter your instincts have rejected produces work you will discard later anyway, at greater cost.
- 3
Check for the shine
On finishing, ask whether the work gives you the feel of excitement you wanted. Sanderson's phrasing is deliberately non-analytical — sometimes he cannot name what is wrong for a long time.
Pro tip Not being able to articulate the problem is not evidence there is no problem.
Watch out Do not force a diagnosis in order to justify shipping.
- 4
Read test response against intent
Compare what alpha and beta readers actually experienced with what you meant. The signal is opposition: they are bored by the parts you wanted enjoyed, and annoyed by the character you wanted them to click with.
Pro tip The diagnostic is direction of response, not volume of complaints.
- 5
Separate a defect from a legitimate response
Decide whether the reaction indicates something fundamentally wrong or is simply how some portion of the audience will meet this piece. Sanderson: you cannot make impressionism better by not being impressionist.
Pro tip A response you are willing to own is a stylistic decision; one you cannot explain is a defect.
Watch out This step is also where people rationalise real problems as artistic intent — be honest about which you are doing.
- 6
Park it and let it lie fallow
Shelve rather than destroy, and do not return until you can name the failure. Sanderson eventually identified two problems with The Way of Kings Prime — wrong protagonist personality and too many simultaneous opening storylines — and rewrote it. The other two are still fallow.
Pro tip Record what you could not yet see; that note is what lets a future you revive it.
Watch out Rewriting before you understand the failure reproduces the failure at higher cost.
In the wild
Sanderson wrote a 300,000-word novel with the character Kaladin carrying the wrong personality from beginning to end, and only realised at the end that it was simply wrong. He also diagnosed a second fault: influenced by the Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones, he opened with a huge cast, missing that both of those series started small and grew, so he had written the beginnings of ten character stories and completed none. He set it aside without knowing why it failed.
→ Years later, having identified both faults, he rewrote it with a different personality and it worked; the two other parked books remain fallow.
At smaller scale the same discipline runs constantly. Writing Mistborn, Sanderson drafted three different first chapters for Vin, each with a different personality. He started her as a confident Artful Dodger type working the underworld, and it simply did not work. He cannot fully explain how he knew — he calls it art rather than science, a feel acquired over time.
→ The third personality is the one that shipped, and the two discarded versions cost days rather than years because he discarded them fast.
Common mistakes
Repairing a chapter your instincts have already rejected
The block is the diagnosis. Sanderson's view is that you have enough practice to know it is wrong, and the attempt to save the words is what keeps you stuck rather than any lack of ideas.
Rewriting before you understand the failure
Sanderson parked The Way of Kings for years and only rewrote it once he could name both problems. Restarting while still confused reproduces the original faults with a new coat of prose.
Using 'it's the art' to ship a broken book
The distinction between a defect and a legitimate audience response is real but easily abused. If you cannot articulate why the response is one you intend to own, it is a defect wearing an artistic justification.
Is it for you?
Best for
Long-form creators with years invested in a project who need a defensible basis for shelving work rather than shipping it broken.
Not ideal for
Contexts with hard external delivery obligations, or people already prone to abandoning work before it is finished.
From the transcript
“the piece of art is not necessarily just The Story You're creating that you are the piece of art the time you spend writing is…”
“one of the things that Pros do that amateurs have trouble with in writing is Pros throw away chapters a lot in my experience”
“there's a lot of causes of writers block but one of the main ones I'm convinced is that you're writing the chapter wrong”
“I wrote an entire novel like 300,000 words long with the character having the wrong personality the entire time”
From the episode
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