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Your search for the tag 'rj on fame' yielded 43 results

  • 1

    Interview: Oct 21st, 1994

    AOL Chat 1 (Verbatim)

    Aaron

    Hi. I suppose you already know through some of the signings and various letters that you have large fan clubs on most of the major online services and that we've basically been going through the books with a fine tooth comb. I believe you've even seen the FAQ. I was wondering on whether you expected anything like this and has it affected you in any way?

    Robert Jordan

    I never expected anything in the least like this, and as far as affecting me in any way—I now look through the peephole before I open doors.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Jan, 1991

    Starlog Interview (Verbatim)

    William B. Thompson

    Throughout the years, genre fiction always has suffered from a sort of stepchild reputation, in part because so much formulaic, derivative, clumsy work has been produced in the various categories. Then again, as Jordan points out, much the same can be said of any literary form. Regardless of the fictional landscape he explores—fantasy, Westerns, historical—he rejects the creative straitjacket whose constraints allow no deviation from a basic genre formula.

    Robert Jordan

    "Genre survives; Moby Dick is an adventure story, for heaven's sake. William Shakespeare wrote comedies. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote mysteries. What dooms a book is believing you have to stay within the guidelines. And with each book you write, in whatever genre, you must strive to make it better than the preceding one. You hope one day to write The Canterbury Tales, something that will last 1,000 years."

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  • 3

    Interview: Jan, 1991

    Starlog Interview (Verbatim)

    William B. Thompson

    In his office in Charleston's storied Confederate Home, Jordan sits, pondering a measure of the eternal grail, if you will, though not a holy one.

    Robert Jordan

    "If you're lucky, people will be reading your books in 20 years after you're dead. If you're very lucky, they'll be reading them 50 years later, 100 years later if you're extraordinarily fortunate.

    "The writer doesn't achieve immortality. Books do. And if people are reading and enjoying my books centuries from now, I couldn't be happier."

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: Oct 19th, 1994

    Compuserve Chat (Verbatim)

    Andrew S

    Did you think the series would become this popular?

    Robert Jordan

    No. I hoped, but I never thought.

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: Nov 1st, 1994

    Fast Forward

    Did you think it would be the kind of phenomenon it is? The last two have been on the best seller lists.

    Robert Jordan

    Are you kidding?!

    Fast Forward

    Did you have any idea it was going to have this kind of success?

    Robert Jordan

    Of course not! I mean you hope for something like this. Nobody writes a book and hopes for a flop. And, all right, maybe if you write something you've turned out in a month just to get enough money to pay the rent, you're not hoping really, with any real thought of it making The New York Times, say. But any book you write ordinarily, you hope it's going to be successful, and maybe in the back of your head there's some little dream that, "Yes this one, this one will make The Times. And they'll invite me to Stockholm as well." You know, if you're going to dream, why not dream? But practicality says, "Forget it Jack."

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  • 6

    Interview: Oct, 1994

    Dave Slusher

    Now, let's talk a little about when you first started writing this series. Did you have any indication that it would be as popular and take off the way it has?

    Robert Jordan

    Of course not. Look, I hoped that the series would be successful. Nobody writes a book and hopes it's going to be a flop. But as far as this—no, I had no notion, no notion at all.

    Dave Slusher

    And I'm sure that you're aware of it. For example, on the internet there's a very large group devoted to your work. Very in-depth discussion. Does this flatter you, that people are so willing to discuss in very, very fine detail?

    Robert Jordan

    It's a wonderful ego stroking. And it's also astonishing. I've known it about it for some time, and I'm not certain I'm over it yet, really. It does sort of make me want to drop my jaw. I find it astonishing. And, as I say, it's very very flattering, very flattering.

    Dave Slusher

    Do you find that people's interpretations of the book, do they match up with what you intend? Or do people sometimes bring to you an interpretation that you hadn't thought of yourself?

    Robert Jordan

    Well, more often they're trying to work out details of what I'm intending to do, and what I have meant by things that I've already written. I've been sent in some cases sheets of Frequently Asked Questions and the answers that have been deduced. The only thing is, they're right between 20 percent, and oh, 33 percent of the time. They're almost right maybe another 20 percent of the time, 25 percent. And the rest of the time, they've gotten off into an incredibly wild tangent that makes me wonder if I ought to re-read the books to figure out how they came up with this.

    I do look at what they have said. And by that, I mean I look at it when somebody sends me a print-out. I'm not on the 'nets, normally. But sometimes people will send me a print-out of a couple of days of discussion, or a Frequently Asked Questions list, as I said. And I'll look at that, and it does give me some feedback.

    There are things in the books that I have tried to bury very deeply. And if, from the discussion or from the questions, I can see that they're beginning to get close to something I want to keep buried, I know that I have to be more subtle from now on, that I haven't been subtle enough. Or, on the other hand, there are some times when I realize that they're spending a lot of time discussing something that I was certainly not trying to make obscure that I thought was perfectly obvious. Then it becomes plain to me that I've gone the opposite way. I didn't say enough about it for them to understand. So then I have to maybe reiterate a little bit.

    But I certainly—I don't change the plots or anything like that. I'm certainly not going to alter the fates of major characters or anything of that sort, whether someone has figured out what that's going to be or not. I must say, they've not figured out very much of that accurately, but it's fun to see.

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  • 7

    Interview: Jun 27th, 1996

    AOL Chat 1 (Verbatim)

    Argive000

    Mr. Jordan, I want to inform you that a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame has just completed a thesis on the rebirth of philosophy in literature centered around your Wheel of Time series.

    Robert Jordan

    That's very nice to know. I've had several people send my copies of their master's theses and other undergraduate theses, comparing me to Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. It's enough to swell my head. Luckily, my wife takes care of that little problem. ;)

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  • 8

    Interview: Jun 28th, 1997

    Hawkeye

    Did you anticipate, and do you appreciate, such a cultish following?

    Robert Jordan

    I certainly never anticipated it. I'm not certain that it is a "cultish" following. I hope that it doesn't fall under that definition. As far as appreciating it, I'm very appreciative. I hope that's what you mean.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: Aug 30th, 1999

    Question

    I was amazed at the proliferation when I started looking on the web in preparation for meeting you, at the number of Robert Jordan sites there are and the number of other activities your books have spurred. Games and art galleries, you can spend hours on the web let alone hours reading your books. Are you surprised by the proliferation of extra book Robert Jordan things that have emerged and the proliferation of fan clubs and sites and games and all the other spinoffs?

    Robert Jordan

    The whole damn thing surprises me. I just set out to write some stories and I hoped I'd get some people to read them. I never really had any thought that as many people would start reading them as have. I never gave any thought to the possibility of all the fan clubs or web sites, none of that. Sorry to be boring, but I just set out to write some stories.

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  • 10

    Interview: Mar, 2000

    Robert Jordan

    Right now I have fame, whatever you want to call it, but I'm not going to keep writing the same thing. I like fantasy, and I will write fantasy, but it's not all going to be 'The Wheel of Time'. I intend to change universe, rules, worlds, cultures, characters, everything, with the books I do when I finish 'The Wheel of Time'.

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  • 11

    Interview: Mar, 2000

    Question

    Did you expect the Wheel of Time to be as well received as it has been?

    Robert Jordan

    Good God, no! I’ve been told I have a healthy ego—a necessity for any writer—but I would have to be a stone cold egomaniac to have expected anything like what has happened.

    Tags

  • 12

    Interview: Nov 11th, 2000

    Candice from Greenville, North Carolina

    Do you ever feel under a lot of pressure to finish the books due to their popularity?

    Robert Jordan

    Well, sometimes. But I know where I'm going, I know how I want to finish it, I do not intend to speed up the pace to get there faster. In truth, the greatest pressure to finish it, I think, comes from ME. I won't really have done it until I finish it.

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  • 13

    Interview: Nov 11th, 2000

    Juris Koren from Sigil

    When you started writing WoT—or even after the first couple of books were published—did you ever expect the public reaction that WoT has received? All the popularity and fanfare and such? Or were you just sort-of writing for you and if it was well-received, fine; if not, fine?

    Robert Jordan

    I was writing for myself. I never expected any of this.

    Tags

  • 14

    Interview: Nov 6th, 1998

    Therese Littleton

    The Wheel of Time has been called the best fantasy epic of all time, and you've been compared with legendary fantasist J.R.R. Tolkien. How do you deal with all this adulation?

    Robert Jordan

    I grin nervously a lot. It's very nice. But my high school football coach gave me one of the best pieces of advice that someone in my position can have. He said, "Saturday morning, you can read the newspaper and you can believe how good they say you are. Monday, when you come to practice, nobody knows your name, and you have one week to get ready for the only game you'll ever have to make a reputation." So it's very nice to look around and have people pat me on the back and say, "Oh, you're wonderful, you're great, you're tremendous," but I know the end of this. I go and sit in front of the computer, and nobody knows my name, and I have one book to try and make a reputation.

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  • 15

    Interview: Nov 6th, 1998

    Therese Littleton

    You've got an especially enthusiastic readership. How do you deal with people who take your books too seriously?

    Robert Jordan

    Depends on what they're writing to me about. I explain that no, there really isn't a One Power, there is no ability to channel, and I cannot teach you these things because they don't exist. And I'm not a guru, I'm not a spiritual leader, do not quit your job. I will not allow you to sit at my feet. Go on with your life. But I don't read a lot of fan comments. I don't go on the Web. I don't pay any attention to it.

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  • 16

    Interview: Feb 9th, 2003

    Bill Thompson

    "Robert Jordan" is a trademark as well as a benchmark. Few writers experience this status, not that Jordan betrays any of the outward signs of celebrity.

    Robert Jordan

    "I have reacted (to it all) with continual surprise. I like it, of course. Who wouldn't? But I didn't expect it. Any writer hopes for success, and by success I mean acclaim, wonderful reviews and going up the best-seller lists. But only an idiot would expect it. There's another side to that, which I think some writers never get hold of. And that's the fact that one day it will go away. People like the books I am writing, and a lot of people have bought them. At some point I will write something that they don't like so well.

    "But you hope you keep climbing or that you will have several peaks during your career. What I am most concerned with, frankly, is trying to make each book better than the books that have gone before. If I haven't learned at least a little bit in the last 18 years then I would be a very sorry writer. I would like to be as good as I can be."

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  • 17

    Interview: Feb 26th, 2003

    Robert Jordan

    The tour went very well. The first night, in New York, the store count (that is, the count of attendance by the store) was over six hundred and fifty people, which was terrific. We had over six hundred in San Jose, and over five hundred a number of other places, ending with four hundred and fifty or so at the last two stops, Toronto and Edmonton. The only small crowds were about a hundred and fifty at a midday signing in LA (the local media escort said it was a very good number, but did point out that Monica Lewinsky drew over fifteen hundred, though Joan Collins got only twenty and was truly pissed), and about two hundred and fifty at a store which shall remain nameless, where the store manager admitted after the signing that they had somehow failed to put out any advertising at all, so it was all word of mouth. All in all, I feel wonderful about the whole thing. Touring is exhausting, frankly, but it is also exhilarating.

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  • 18

    Interview: Mar, 2003

    Tom Schaad

    Now you, along with several other prominent fantasy and science fiction authors, have a devoted fan following. Over a thousand websites are, one way or another, devoted to the world that you have created in the Wheel of Time books. And you, to a certain extent, actively communicate with some of these fans, through e-mails—answering e-mails, answering questions on boards when you’re available for answering questions from various people. On the Amazon.com board, for example—

    Robert Jordan

    Well, I’ve done interviews, online interviews. But I don’t show up in chatrooms, or things of that sort. There are arranged interviews, and then we have a chatroom set up, you know, but not beyond that.

    Tom Schaad

    Do you get much direct e-mail asking questions of certain aspects of—

    Robert Jordan

    No, because I don’t let anyone have my e-mail address.

    Tom Schaad

    Ah-ha.

    Robert Jordan

    I don’t have time. Even with the e-mail that I get with few people knowing my e-mail address, I quite often ignore e-mail for days, or even weeks on the assumption that if it’s important they’ll get back to me. And if I look at it and realize the same person has written me five times in the last three weeks, alright maybe there’s something I should look at there. I cannot answer all of the fan-mail as fully as I would like. I’ve now gotten to the point where I quite often have to simply send a card—a postcard saying, “Thank you for writing to me, and I do not have time to reply.” I hate that, but there’s no time.

    Tom Schaad

    It’s a reality, and quite honestly I think that most of the fans understand that, and would rather that you devoted your time to creating the next book that they can snatch off the shelves as quickly as possible so that they can get further along into the story. But now you’re on a tour.

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  • 19

    Interview: Mar, 2003

    Tom Schaad

    It’s practically near the end of the promotional book that you’ve been on for the Crossroads of Twilight. What’s the experience been like this time?

    Robert Jordan

    Oh, wonderful. It’s always wonderful. I spend most of my life as a hermit, sitting at my desk reading and writing, and I don’t get to speak to people very often. I talk to Harriet, my wife, and a few friends, but not to any great degree, any great number of people. But I come out on tour, and there are lots of people who want to talk to me, and it’s lots of fun. We’ve had large crowds a number of places. Over six hundred people some times.

    Tom Schaad

    Good heavens.

    Robert Jordan

    And it’s just been terrific.

    Tom Schaad

    So that... I would assume that’s... Now that’s got a be a validation of the work as a whole. To have that kind of a response when you make yourself available to the public to meet the author, the creator of something they feel very strongly about.

    Robert Jordan

    Yes, it’s a validation. Yes.

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  • 20

    Interview: Mar, 2003

    Tom Schaad

    And, of course, you’re getting more and more coverage in the general media. USA Today had you in the newspaper today, the day of this interview, talking about the success of the books and the impact that they’ve had. And the websites that have been created that are interested in this in every aspect of the world you’ve created, everything from fan-art to chat forums to role-playing mailing lists to web-rings to resources that intensively analyze every aspect of every line of every book that you’ve written. It’s just remarkable the level of interest.

    Robert Jordan

    It certainly amazes me.

    Tom Schaad

    Does it ever get to the point where it gets a little intrusive in terms of the kinds of things they want to find out about the chapters in the story?

    Robert Jordan

    No. No. I don’t visit the websites, so that doesn’t bother me. And when people ask me questions, whether it’s for a website or not, I either give them an answer which I don’t mind them taking out, or if I don’t want to answer, I have a standard reply for that, one I got from the net: RAFO. R-A-F-O. Read and Find Out.

    Tom Schaad

    Exactly.

    Robert Jordan

    An acronym developed from a phrase that I used to use a great deal. Still do, sometimes.

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  • 21

    Interview: Jan 6th, 2004

    London, England

    Do you ever visit any of the numerous fan sites on the web dedicated to The Wheel Of Time? Do you find it strange (or slightly unnerving) that people analyze your work(s) in order to create theories?

    Robert Jordan

    I find it interesting. It's not something I'd ever expected would happen, certainly.

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  • 22

    Interview: Dec 1st, 2005

    Tom Schaad

    You're in the middle of a new tour; we're about one third of the way through your US tour to promote Knife of Dreams, and last time we talked, we talked a little about the reaction of the fans that came to the readings, and your moments. Anything different in the flavor and the texture of the appearances you've made so far this time out?

    Robert Jordan

    No, no difference. People are full of praise, sometimes to the extent that I wonder if it's somebody else they're talking about instead of me. It's a lot of fun. One stop right after my birthday, they're saying 'Happy Birthday' to me; they just...I'm not sure how they learned it was my birthday, but they did.

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  • 23

    Interview: Apr, 2001

    Gerhard Hormann

    Unintentionally, you may have written the most ambitious work of fantasy in human history.

    Robert Jordan

    Maybe I have. But it is indeed unintentional. I did not know that the series would become this large, nor that it would this incredibly successful. To expect that, one would need an ego even bigger than mine. Every writer has a big ego, don’t get me wrong, but to consciously have planned all this, you would have to be suffering from megalomania.

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  • 24

    Interview: Oct 21st, 1994

    AOL Chat 2 (Verbatim)

    Question

    How did you initially break into fantasy writing? It seems like you've come from no where to suddenly be on top of the market.

    Robert Jordan

    I'm just another twenty-year overnight success.

    Tags

  • 25

    Interview: Oct 21st, 1994

    AOL Chat 2 (Verbatim)

    Question

    Mr. Jordan, Are you aware of the interest that has risen on the internet and here on AOL about your books?

    Robert Jordan

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 26

    Interview: Oct 21st, 1994

    AOL Chat 2 (Verbatim)

    Question

    I work in a bookstore, and I can testify that your books are very popular in Kentucky. I am looking forward to finishing the series. Were you surprised at the huge following that have become almost obsessed with Wheel of Time?

    Robert Jordan

    Yes, very much.

    Tags

  • 27

    Interview: Oct 21st, 1994

    AOL Chat 2 (Verbatim)

    Question

    I'm sorry. How long after publishing The Eye of the World did you recognize the extent of the popularity of your book, and did you know at that time that the "World" would grow to such a great proportion (i.e., that you'd have written this many books)?

    Robert Jordan

    I never expected anything like this, and I really don't know how long it took me to realize that the books were very popular. It rather crept up on me.

    Tags

  • 28

    Interview: Nov 9th, 2009

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    Harriet said Jim was surprised by the fandom for the series and that he thought it was egotistical to do readings from the books. He loved using the pseudonym since it helped him keep a low profile, and would talk to some local shopkeeper who asked if he was still writing LOL and he would say, "Yeah, I made the Times list!"

    Tags

  • 29

    Interview: May 5th, 2010

    Richard Fife

    The Wheel just passed its twentieth anniversary. Any reflections on where it has come from? Do you think that, starting back then, Jim thought it would turn into this?

    Wilson Grooms

    The answer is, obviously, pretty long. I know for sure that he did not think it would turn into this. Could he see all of the storylines and plots and this and envision that it could? Yes. But it was like lightning struck, and people liked it, which allowed him to expand on the story that he already had rattling around in his head. Had it not been that successful, he could have probably done the storyline in . . . three? Which is what he was kind of thinking at the beginning. Certainly not more than six. And it would have then been off to the next thing, which of course he already had in his head and was pretty close to ready to put pen to paper on. But, it took off, and it allowed him to tell that story in a greater detail.

    One of the greater things that I hear from people about what they like in the books is the detail. And yeah, OK, I've heard about the middle books dragging on, but I can tell you, even that, for him it was about making sure that people understood the detail well enough so that when other things come along down the line, they could go, "Aha! This is that!" Because, he could see it; he could see the tapestry and how it was sewn together. You can't describe the whole tapestry at one time. You've got to describe it thread by thread by thread until you back up and see it. And that is what he was doing.

    But no, never in his wildest dreams did he think it would be this successful and that it would turn into that many books. As evidence of that, this is not what he was going to be putting his name on. He thought he'd be putting "James Oliver Rigney Jr." on a further work down the road and that this was a stepping stone towards that. Little did he know that the lightning would strike and this would become the great work.

    But by putting the pen name, Robert Jordan, on these covers, it also afforded him some anonymity when the books started becoming a hit. As much as Jim loved the adoration and interaction with the fans, he's just Bubba. He's a private guy and was never more comfortable than when he was right there at home. The working office is just ten paces behind the back step of the house, and that was his world. He loved having people come to the home, but not so much going to them, because that is where he wanted to be. Writing with the pen name allowed him that anonymity to just be Jim Rigney at home, and some of the neighbors would say, "I think that he writes. I'm not sure, but I think he does."

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  • 30

    Interview: 2001

    Thus Spake the Creator (Paraphrased)

    Signing Report (Fan reaction to the books)

    Robert Jordan

    The FAQ was also mentioned, to which he gave his usual answer. One third is right, another is almost right, while the last is completely wrong. When asked whether he was surprised that there is so much discussion on the net everyday, he simply replied, "no". He then explained that it was important as an author to have a big ego, which he did. He then explained that you didn't have to be arrogant, even though he had been described so occasionally. To me he didn't come over as arrogant.

    Tags

  • 31

    Interview: Apr 10th, 2001

    Kurafire

    When you started writing, did you expect or hope to become so popular and famous?

    Robert Jordan

    I certainly did not expect it. That would go beyond having an ego, becoming an egomaniac. Everybody hopes that what they’re writing will be popular. I don’t think anybody writes a novel and says "I hope 50 people will read this". That’s all they want, just 50 people. You hope that what you write is gonna be popular, but you certainly don’t expect it.

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  • 32

    Interview: Jan 21st, 2003

    Robert Jordan

    The author also took great care in his signature. While he does not personalize and writes only his name, his signature is somewhat elaborate and done with a careful hand. He didn’t mind people taking time in taking pictures, as he is a self-described “photo-slut.”

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  • 33

    Interview: Jan 15th, 2003

    Robert Jordan

    He arrived shortly after Noon, and greeted us all, followed by the 'true pronunciations' the other stops received, and the announcement that pictures were fine, but if you were a guy, keep the clothes on. Because of the location (in aisle 14 next to the toys :), there wasn't room for much of an introduction, so he quickly sat down and began signing. Though I didn't hear the questions, he did spout a couple of his patented RAFO answers to some gentlemen in front of me. As the guy directly in front of me was having his book signed, I snapped a quick photo with my camera. Robert started ranting over people 'snapping shots of the top of my head!' It was all in good humor though. He wondered "what is it about the top of my head that people find so photogenic?" "I'm thinking of selling & bottling some of my hair, calling it Eau'd to Robert Jordan's head!" He said "I love having pictures taken, I'm a camera slut! You can take as many pictures as you want, as long as there are no bunny ears!" A very humorous guy!

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  • 34

    Interview: Oct 13th, 2005

    Domani Lass

    Great story that he told, and I'll paraphrase since I wasn't smart enough to bring like a tape recorder or anything.

    Robert Jordan

    He goes to Russia and is introduced to an ex-KGB fellow who told Jordan that he thought of his novels not as a bible to politics, but a poetry to the explanation of politics. That was probably the best part of the night when he said that.. and of course it wouldn't come off nearly as good when I say it, lol.

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  • 35

    Interview: Aug 31st, 1999

    Question

    Has your interaction with fans, for example, at conventions, affected your work?

    Robert Jordan

    A good bit of fan mail comes in. I don't have people showing up at my home. If they did it would stop me writing.

    QUESTION

    Is there any particular incident (a letter, a meeting, a comment) that stands out?

    ROBERT JORDAN

    No. I've told them I am not going to write something because they want to see it, or not write something because they don't. It's going to be what I want to write.

    I had a young woman call me a god. There was an 88 year old woman who wrote me a letter and asked me to "write fast".

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  • 36

    Interview: Dec 7th, 2000

    CNN Interview (Verbatim)

    Michele Dula Baum

    Heaven knows Web sites devoted to the series have certainly covered the Internet.

    Last year, Croatia native Sebastian Mileta found a virtual "Wheel of Time" game while surfing. He had never heard of the books, but thought the game compelling. The enthusiasm he saw in book forums convinced him to read a bit.

    "In the next two weeks, I read the first seven books in the series available then," he said. "I added Path of Daggers this winter and Winter's Heart (November 8)."

    Now a university student in Boston, Massachusetts, Mileta said his only complaint is that the series "is too addictive." Sometimes he doesn't "sleep or eat so I can read the book in one try."

    Fans have developed role-playing personalities based on characters in the series, and virtual communities have sprung up, matured, died off and been reborn in cyberspace.

    Robert Jordan

    All this leaves Jordan astonished and somewhat bemused.

    "I look at some of it occasionally, and I've been sent lists of addresses," the author said. "It's quite daunting."

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  • 37

    Interview: Dec 7th, 2000

    CNN Interview (Verbatim)

    Michele Dula Baum

    Sense of community

    Many fans say they enjoy the sense of community they find in online forums devoted to the series. And while they trade theories about what may happen to whom, or make suggestions of which actors and actresses they'd like to see in a movie, such forums are hardly restricted to book talk. They're often places to flirt and try on new personalities.

    Ultimately, they're places to connect.

    "Think of it as a sports bar," suggested Bill Garrett, a computer engineer in his late 20s who constructed a "Wheel of Time" Web site in the mid-1990s, which he has since archived and largely abandoned. "When the game's on TV, pretty much everybody watches it, but when the game fades they turn to talking with one another about their families, their jobs (and) the political scene."

    Garrett met his girlfriend through fandom, and others have made lasting ties, meeting at events across the globe. Still others have crossed the line from enjoyment to obsession.

    Robert Jordan

    "There are people who want me to teach them how to channel," said Jordan. He also remembers a medical student from Malaysia who asked to become his "spiritual disciple"—an opportunity Jordan declined.

    "I'm not a guru or a sage. I'm a storyteller. The only times I get disturbed is when I find people who seem to be taking this too seriously," he said.

    "I just wanted to write books I wanted to write," continued Jordan. "There's no writer who has not had enough ego to hope something he or she wrote would be seized on by the public—that something they write will last beyond them. But hoping and expecting are two different things. Expecting would be beyond ego."

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  • 38

    Interview: Dec 7th, 2000

    CNN Interview (Verbatim)

    Robert Jordan

    He's also come to enjoy a bit of his success, including the long, sleek limousine that delivered him to a book-signing engagement. Jordan also owns a Porsche Carrera sports car, but he's going to have to wait for those afternoons of lounging on a beach in the South of France that he has fantasized about. There are other fantasies to fulfill.

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  • 39

    Interview: May 15th, 2003

    Dario Olivero

    Many people think that you are the heir to Tolkien. How do you feel about that?

    Robert Jordan

    It's an honor. It is like a composer being compared to Mozart. But I'm me, I do not follow in his footsteps, I go my own way.

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  • 40

    Interview: Nov 9th, 2009

    Question

    Was Jim surprised by the massive fan base the series has generated?

    Harriet McDougal

    Oh yes. He even refused to do readings because “that would be showing off and egotistical”. However he enjoyed the anonymity of a pen name.

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  • 41

    Interview: Mar 15th, 2003

    Robert Jordan

    "I never envisioned this success," he adds. But he also wants to make one point very clear. "Many writers deny writing fantasy. They don't want to be locked in the ghetto. But I don't care. I say, I write fantasy."

    M. L. Van Valkenburgh

    With the growing success of the genre, thanks in part to the Lord of the Rings movies and the Harry Potter craze, perhaps the ghetto of fantasy is becoming gentrified and other writers will eventually be proud to say they write it as well.

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  • 42

    Interview: Apr, 2003

    Galgóczi Móni

    It is clear from your words that you would like to write down your dreams. How do you feel about the time and energy invested in proportion to the success?

    Robert Jordan

    Since I have a strong ego like any other writer, I expected some success, but the actual extent of it surprised me. I will admit it is a very, very nice feeling.

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