Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.
2012-04-30: I had the great pleasure of speaking with Harriet McDougal Rigney about her life. She's an amazing talent and person and it will take you less than an hour to agree.
2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."
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Apr 6th, 2001
Verbatim
Rotterdam, NL
Netherlands Tour
Donner
Aan'allein
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Anyway, Jordan arrived, telling us that he wanted to make an announcement. We'd come for Jordan and Pratchett, so there he was. He was both people, had a split personality and all. I'm sorry, I'm incapable of bringing it across as well as Jordan did, but it was funny, especially knowing all the rumors about Jordan being either George R.R. Martin, or Pratchett, or Goodkind, or any of the other bearded fantasy writers.
Then Pratchett arrived, wearing Jordan's hat.
The interviewers were the Dutch translators of the Wheel of Time, and no matter what I think about their translations, they at least know about WoT. (In fact, the Dutch translators are the only translators ever to have sent Jordan mail asking him questions.)
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Pratchett also told about the bad plane flight he'd had, in an airplane full of football fans. And how fantasy was considered less in the UK, because people wouldn't be enthusiastic about anything, except for football.
And that through careful purchasing you could wake up in a Manchester United bed, wear Manchester United pyjamas, and have a Manchester United alarm, and that this was perfectly acceptable, but that if you replaced Manchester United by Star Trek you'd suddenly be a freak.
Science fiction and fantasy fans are better than football fans because Star Trek fans don't get in huge fights with each other.
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Well, in terms of history, I see some similarity to the writing of a fantasy novel and the writing of a history novel. In both cases you are presenting a world that is totally strange and alien to the reader. And if you don't believe that, read a good novel set three hundred years ago, one that really describes the life and you'll find very little recognizable in it.
So there is a great deal of similarity there. The major difference is that if you're writing a good historical novel you must place the historical events where they actually happened, not shift them about at your own convenience. In a fantasy novel you can shift history for your own convenience. It's a great...a great aid.
That's, that's a part of it. Another part of it is that I felt I could discuss things writing fantasy that I couldn't discuss writing in other genres, things that I would have to...sidestep.
There's a great deal of the struggle between good and evil. I'm trying to decide what is good, and what is evil, what's right, what is wrong, am I doing the right thing? Not by preaching; simply the characters keeping face with a situation or they're gonna make a decision; they don't know enough, don't have enough information, and they don't know what the results are going to be; oh they know what the results are gonna be and they're wrong. We'll give them that. At least wrong a lot of the times. And they have to blunder on and blunder through anyway, cause that's all there is to do.
But if I wrote about that, if I tried to say that there is a right, there is a wrong, there is good, there is evil, it's tough to tell the difference, but you really have to make the try. ... It's worth the effort to try. If I said that in a mainstream novel, it would be laughed out of town.
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Jordan stated that the interviewers had misinterpreted what Terry said about masterpiece, because the definition of masterpiece was not the most magnificent work. The masterpiece is the proof that you have the skills to work alone, and he considered his first novel to be that.
The role of the editor is the first set of eyes, to tell you what you are too close to the book to see. The person who tells you that yes, you made a beautiful leg, and yes the it is perfectly, but you're ignoring the fact that it's longer than the other three legs on the table.
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Oh, Rando, I'm really sorry about this, but Jordan overthrew your toh-toes argument.
Pratchett was talking about you having to take care in fantasy not to use words like 'sandwich', unless you had the sandwich guy appear in your story.
Jordan disagreed: the writer is simply translating... And their word for a bit of unidentifiable meat wrapped in between some...two slices of greasy bread would translate as 'sandwich.' But that's not what they call it at all, that's just what you call it in English.
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The talk continued in the direction of fan fiction, with Jordan talking about stacks of paper he sometimes received. Sitting there I felt certain the female Dragon debate I'd given him was doomed, but listening to this again now, I have better hopes.
People occasionally send me various compilations of FAQs and things of that sort they've done about the books, or analyses of the books, and I will occasionally read that if I have time, but fan fiction, or other fiction, or 'I've read this book and would you please tell me what you think of it?' or stories, it gets returned to them.
I do not read it, I'm sorry. It's not because I think that anything is going to compete with my works, it's not, but it's because what Terry said, there are bozos out there.
I was accused in an anonymous letter to my publisher, of plagiarizing. That The Dragon Reborn was plagiarized. Now this infuriated me to such an extent that I'm going to incredible efforts to find out who'd written the damned letter. I knew it was a nutcase bozo somewhere, because I knew that every word was ripped out of the inside of my skull. And I'm going to find him, and push him into a corner, and beat him half to death with my walking stick [laughter], because he made me that mad, that he would make this accusation against me. And this was...in an anonymous letter, who is not making any effort, he's not trying to make any money out of it, he just wants to cause trouble.
There are guys out there who I know who said 'you know, I have this great idea' and the great idea they want to share with you is worth about as much as 'let's write a book about pilots' and the worst case is when they see something in the book and say, and they think that they can claim it was stolen from them. So I will not read fan fiction, I will not read anything that somebody sends to me. The only things I read are the books I buy.
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The audience questions only went on for a very short while. I came first. (300 people, and I went first. Again. I like this.) :)
Silly me decided on one of the probable RAFO questions however...
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The signing began, and all 300 people rushed forward. Heavy press there, luckily I was close to the authors, so out soon again.
Just before getting to Jordan, I heard a question about him once having trouble with his arm or something, and how he got over that.
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We could only have one book signed, so I went for "New Spring" in Legends, then I moved sideways to Pratchett. I really like how he signed his story "The Sea and Little Fishes" in Legends:
"The big sea does not care which way the little fishes swim..."
Obviously a play on how hard it would be to leave the mass of people behind me. Still, cutting sideways I managed to get out, shortly afterwards being joined by KuraFire and Iwitness. KuraFire and I had probably already missed the bus back, so we had a long time to idle away, talking about anything and everything and seeing the mass of people continuing to stay huge. Some 30 minutes later there were only some 30 people left who wanted books signed by Pratchett, and hardly any for Jordan (unbelievable enough there were actually more Pratchett fans there), so we got back in line again to have a second book signed. (And my first one personalized.)
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Here below a small report from I believe someone from Dromen and Demonen. Sorry I forgot who wrote it. :(
Anyway, for people who cannot read Dutch:
During the signing a man wanted to sign his books for his daughter. RJ asked her name and he said Emma. RJ looked at him and ask how old she was. The proud father said two months and explained that it would be a while before she read the books.
Jordan knew enough and said: Oh, that's someone else. See, there was this girl called Isabel the other day, and she claims she's 17 but I think she's only 12. She's going to show me her passport tomorrow. She nearly fainted...
(I didn't faint. :) )
Quite funny to hear this.
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