Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Twitter 2009-2010 (WoT) (Verbatim)

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

Brandon had indicated in The Gathering Storm signing reports that Cyndane was 'much weaker' than Lanfear. However, Graendal indicated in The Path of Daggers that Cyndane was, while weaker than Lanfear, still stronger than her, so we knew she wasn't that much weaker. It's still up in the air after Towers of Midnight as to why she wasn't drained as much as Moiraine. The Eelfinn claimed that they killed her by draining her too quickly, but Moiraine thinks that someone came for her. Anyway, we badgered Brandon about it, so he cleared up the confusion.

cyndane, lanfear, eelfinn, moiraine, errors, animated discussions,

Robert Jordan's Blog: A Small Addition (Verbatim)

For Patrick Crunkleton, Harriet and I both look forward to returning to Rome. We enjoy Italy a great deal, though there are occasional "animated discussions" over the merits of Rome versus Florence versus getting off into the Tuscan and Umbrian hills, while avoiding most tourists, of course. We have run into some festivals up there that we had no idea were happening, and they were great fun despite the (other) tourists. And some of the best meals I have ever had were in little Italian villages where there was no English on the menu (always a good sign anywhere) and maybe six words of English available among the entire staff.

harriet, animated discussions, rj on life,

JordanCon AMOL Status Report - Marie Curie (Paraphrased)

There was a question about the process of writing A Memory of Light.

Harriet McDougal Rigney

amol:wip, a memory of light, harriet, maria, alan, peter, editing, brandon's routine, animated discussions,

LibertyCon 2012 - AMOL Update Panel (Verbatim)

When you're...you know, speaking with regards to all three books that you wrote, if there's an issue where you think a character or a plot should go one way, and Harriet or any of the others thinks it should go another way, how does that work?

Harriet wins. Harriet always wins. Usually what happens is that there'll be...if Harriet says something, we just do it. The only time when there's questioning is when I disagree with Maria or Alan, and we both kind of make our arguments. We do these in-line edits with track changes in Microsoft Word; we'll have whole conversations there, where I'll say "This is why I think this character would do what they're doing," and Maria would come in and say, "This is why I think you're wrong and they wouldn't do this," and we'll have big discussions, and Harriet'll make the call, and then I'll do it as Harriet says, 'cause Harriet knows the characters better than anyone.

And so there are times when I've been overruled—it happens on every book—and there are times where Harriet said, "No, I think Brandon's right," and Maria and Alan—her superfans—disagree, but the way that fandom works, we all disagree on things. You'll find this, and I disagree with some people on how character interpretations will happen, and things like that. Some people, for instance, don't think my Talmanes is true to Jim's Talmanes. Things like that. That's the sort of thing we're arguing over. It's very rarely over main characters, but it's like, "Is Talmanes acting like Talmanes would?" And I read the character one way, and some people read the character another way, and I just have to go with my interpretation, and if Harriet says, "No, this isn't right," I revise it. If Harriet says, "No, this feels right to me," then we just go with it.

Question

Was there ever a case where you and Maria and Alan had a difference of opinion and Harriet had a completely different take?

Brandon Sanderson

That all four of us had a different take? Yeah, that's happened; that's very rare but it has happened. We're trying to piece together something that's...there's always this consideration of "What would Jim do?" But there's also a consideration of Brandon as author, not knowing what Jim would do, what does Brandon think needs to happen narratively? And there are some things where I, reading the books as an author, say "This is where he was going." "No, he didn't say it in the notes." "No, it's nowhere in there; he doesn't make mention of it." "This is where he was going; my understanding of story structure, plotting and things, and I can say, you know, as sure as I can say anything, that this is what he was going to do." And, you know, sometimes Maria and Alan, they look at the notes and say, "No, that's not at all what he was going to do; look what the notes say." And I say, "No, that's not what they're saying," and we have arguments about that too.

There's lots of discussing going on. We're all very passionate about the Wheel of Time. It'd be like getting Jenn and Jason from Dragonmount and Matt from Theoryland together and hashing out what they think about where Demandred is, or something like that. There are gonna be lots of passionate discussions. I think, at the end of the day, that makes the book better, and the fact that we have kind of...Harriet tends to just...if she has a feeling, she lets us argue about it, and then she says, like...you know, 'cause she's the one that would sit at dinner and discuss the characters with Jim. None of us did that, and she did that for twenty years, so...yeah.

brandon on writing wot, harriet, team jordan, alan, maria, animated discussions, characterization, plotting, who wrote what?,

JordanCon 2012 - AMOL Update Panel (Verbatim)

I was just wondering if we have a rough idea of how long the next book's gonna be, how many pages (hardcover).

Not really. I could tell you, and the reason is that the number...I've worked out the number of pages because the computer tells me, and as Brandon sends us parts, and I've added them all together with a pencil. But this is in 12-point type, and it includes a lot of editorial back-and-forth, so it's looking fat. But it's skinnier than it looks. And there are some sections Brandon and I are having—well, even one I don't think he's seen yet—animated conversations about cutting. Well see, I really hesitate very deeply to say because 12-point type is a lot bigger than 10-point, and then you have to adjust from manuscript page to printed and on and on...I think probably at least eight hundred.

Maria Simons

It's gonna be fat.

Harriet McDougal

It will at least be pleasingly plump. (laughter).

Melissa Craib

Just big-boned.

Alan Romanczuk

And it'll look great on the bookshelf.

Melissa Craib

Absolutely, very impressive!

a memory of light, animated discussions,

JordanCon 2012 - AMOL Update Panel (Verbatim)

Could you tell us a little bit about how the writing process for these last couple of books has been, how it is for this one, as there are so many people working on it?

Well, the first thing is that Brandon writes, and...you could talk about that, Peter. I don't really know much about Brandon's writing process except that it tends to be at night. (laughter)

Peter Ahlstrom

Well, for those who aren't aware, Brandon...(sigh)...Brandon tends to stay up until four o'clock in the morning writing, and then he gets up at noon. So he gets up at noon, and then he writes from about one to five, and then he is with the family until bedtime for the kids, and so from about...I guess he starts writing again at about eight, and then he keeps going until four. Some of you may be interested to know that he has a walking treadmill desk, so he does a lot of his writing standing up, walking on the treadmill (laughter) and when he's not at the treadmill, he's got multiple fireplaces around the house now, so he's usually in front of one of those.

Harriet McDougal

Are they wood-burning, or gas, or what? (laughter) I love fireplaces!

Peter Ahlstrom

Uh...they are gas fireplaces.

Harriet McDougal

Yeah, those are fun. Then Brandon gives us the first draft, and some bits are rough, and some are polished. And we go through it with our three various combs. Mine is characters and prose. Maria is continuity. I am not. (laughter) And she's a wizard at that, and Alan is a military wizard. And notice it's...I guess sexist, to give him the boy's stuff. (laughter).

Alan Romanczuk

I get all the alcohol as well. (laughter).

Harriet McDougal

That's just 'cause he's lucky.

Maria Simons

And Alan does Old Tongue and geography as well, because I kinda stink at both of those.

Harriet McDougal

And I just kind of lose my temper with the geography. (laughter) And then, we get this stuff, and with this book, we're doing a better...it is a better thing we are doing for our country this time. (laughter) We send our combined nit-picking to Brandon section by section, and right now he's had...what did I send you last week? Five?

Peter Ahlstrom

Part six.

Harriet McDougal

Six! I'm in eight; so is Maria. (to Alan) Where are you?

Alan Romanczuk

Seven.

Harriet McDougal

Seven. And we'll wait until Alan has finished eight before it goes back to Brandon, so that he doesn't lose his mind, and nine is followed only by the epilogue, so we're almost through. And then Brandon will send it back and there will probably be more animated conversation (laughter), and this time it will include words from Brandon that sort of say, "But you said..." (laughter) And we'll work it out, and we hope to have it in New York June 15th, and that might seem like a long time for January 8th. Believe me, it's not. And it will...is Paul Stevens here? Yeah, hey Paul! This will save...if we can do it, it will save the coffee cart from adding Prozac and Gelusil in massive amounts, right?

Paul Stevens

Yes.

Harriet McDougal

But it might be...there is [?] [whispered conversation with Alan, something about June 15th]

Maria Simons

Scary, isn't it? (laughter)

Harriet McDougal

That's the goal.

Melissa Craib

It is in two months.

Harriet McDougal

But, we don't think Brandon really needs to sleep. (laughter)

amol:wip, team jordan, brandon's routine, animated discussions,