Brandon Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is best known for the Cosmere universe, in which most of his fantasy novels (most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive) are set. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska before attending Brigham Young University, where he received degrees in English literature and creative writing. He created Sanderson's Laws of Magic and popularized the terms hard magic and soft magic systems. In 2008 Sanderson started a podcast with author Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses, involving topics about creating genre writing and webcomics. In 2016, the American media company DMG Entertainment licensed the movie rights to Sanderson's entire Cosmere universe.