BS latest blog

[Isabel]

**at least the wot parts**

Various Updates



I'm sorry to be so sparse with the posting this week. If you've been following the progress bar, you might have noticed that AMoL jumped up one percent each day for the first three days of the week. I've been hitting the drafting hard, as I want to get a large chunk done before Worldcon distracts me in two weeks.

I've been working on mostly material that Mr. Jordan left behind, which is the larger reason why I've been able to move so quickly. There's still a lot to do on many of these sections he wrote, however. Some are in outline form, others were dictated in an almost 'screenplay' format without anything other than dialogue. Some others are complete as-is, and I can just drop them into the document without changes.

Overall, however, what has been left behind has allowed let me move at about double speed. We'll see if I can keep it up for another few days or so, as it would be nice to be at the 1/3rd mark by the end of the week. (Though that would take another 12k in another three days. Whew!)

========================================

I told people that the progression bar would move up faster if he ran into Jordans writing. He is now at 30 percent. Although it might not be 30 percent ;)
So i think the last 10 or 5 percent will also go fast :)

[Nazbaque]

Isa, please clarify what you mean by this:
He is now at 30 percent. Although it might not be 30 percent
It is confusing to say the least

[Isabel]

I think he estimated that the book would somewhere between 300-400 k. So the percentage bar is based on that.
However if it will be longer or shorter the bar can change later on ;)

[Nazbaque]

aaaah... I see...

[The Seeker]

300-400 k???? K as in what

[Nazbaque]

k = 1000 and I assume we are talking about words not pages

[The Seeker]

Thats what i thought but i wanted to verify.

[lurk]

k = 1000 and I assume we are talking about words not pages

ah and here i was thinking k as in kb text format :confused:

yup it finally happened, too much work in front of a computer, I have gone mental :eek:

[Weird Harold]

300-400 k???? K as in what
Probably words which would make aMoL slightly longer than tFoH or LoC (both in the 375,000-390,000 word range.

[Marie Curie 7]

Yeah, BS is basing the progress bar on 400,000 words (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/629/Back!):

Well, I'm back from my trip to Charleston. We got some really good work done and I'm excited to get back to writing. Expect that percentage bar to go up a couple more points this week. Just so that you know, I've decided to use 400k as the wordcount basis for the progress bar. I'm still not sure how long the book will be--it could be longer than that, it could be shorter--but that seemed an appropriate base line. I'll be able to tell you more as the process continues.

However, Brandon recently expressed some worry (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/658/Warbreaker-and-A-Memory-of-Light-General-Updates) that the book might turn out to be even longer than 400K (posted on 6/23/08):

And, as for AMoL, I've been looking through what we have done and I'm very pleased with it. There will need to be edits done, of course, but I'm very excited at how this project is going. I'm still on target to get it done by the end of the year, I hope, but as I've warned before...this book is going to be LONG. I'm hoping to keep it to between 400k and 500k words in length, but I worry that it might stretch longer. We shall see. As everyone knows, there is a lot to tie up, and the more I work on it the more I realize that I can't place a hardfast limit on its length. It could end up at 350k,it could end up at 600k. Whatever it takes to write this story the way Mr. Jordan would have wanted it.

Mr. Jordan promised that this would be one book, even if Tor had to invent a new binding method to print it! Well, I intend to write it as one book. However, I do want people to be aware that I have no power over whether or not this thing gets cut into two volumes after I've finished it. That will be up to the publisher and Harriet. It's really too early to tell if a cut will be considered or not. (And to be honest, I think it's unlikely that the book will need to be cut.) But I do think readers should be aware of the possibility. (Part of the reason Tor could end up having to cut it would have to do with bookstore pressures. They're already very upset with Tor at the length of its books, as they take up a lot of shelf space at the store and earn less money per inch for the booksellers than books in other genres.)

Anyway, my job is to write the book at the length it needs to be to make the best book possible, whatever that length may be. We'll let Harriet and Tor decide how to present the final product! Keep an eye on the blog for future updates, as I'll know more about length once I've finished a few of the other sections.

(Also, know that if Tor does decide to cut the book, I will lobby heavily for a couple of things. First, a special collector's edition with both books in one that can be ordered by the hardcore readers who want one volume. Second, to have both volumes released in stores around the same time, rather than waiting years between.)

[4Alethinos]

Yes, the power of 13! I have held for years that the number of books had to be 13. Even if RJ, et al., wrote it as 12 books.

"I takes so little to make me happy. Even sunshine on my shoulders." :cool:

[Isabel]

No way.... It will be 12 books. A memory of light will be the last title, even if they have to bind it in 2 books. (out on the same time)

[Nazbaque]

But the 13 books would mean that AMOL is the last and in one volume. 12 books + NS.

[Isabel]

NS isn't part of the main series ;)

[Ishara]

Says who? :p I would say it is...

[Terez]

We're already up to 13 counting the BWB...

[4Alethinos]

I would definitely count New Spring as a book in the series whether it is a prequel or not. The BWB is more like an appendix than a part of the series as a novel, irrespective of how novel it may be.

I do agree that one cannot count the last title as two books just because it may be bound into two volumes. However, It still counts as 13 volumes in the series. There is no requirement to count NS or the BWB in that instance to satisfy my desire to see my prophecy fulfilled. After all, we see prophecy fulfilled in many strange ways and I will take my fulfilled guess any way that I may.

"Seers and prophets continue to be without honor in their own country." :eek:

[Brita]

The ticker is at 40% ! That number gives me warm, fuzzy feeling :)

I didn't want to post a new thread just for an updated ticker, but just had to share the exciting progress.

[Nazbaque]

10% in less than three weeks...

if he keeps this up the book will be ready for editing and printing in roughly four months. Yeah ain't gonna see it this year, but maybe Jan 2009 and at latest Mar 2009.

[Isabel]

Naz: BS is not RJ. Harriet will want to take a good look at it and make sure it's all proper before it's done. So this will take extra time.
Expect BS be done around december this year.

[Nazbaque]

Okay so you say I should grant extra time yet your own estimate is earlier than mine. And I think Harriet isn't waiting for the whole version but looking over BS's shoulder.

[Isabel]

Naz: december 2008 done doesn't mean published in feb 2009.
I mean BS done with one first draft of the last book. Than it will be edited, rewritten etc.
I think it will be published september -december 2009. Way later than you.

[Nazbaque]

Okay then since you agreed with the he will be done this december (four months fom now) part, but disagreed with how much editing takes, why didn't you put that in your first reply post?

[Isabel]

Naz: that was what i was trying to say ;) I can't help that you think when BS is done that the book is done :p

[Nazbaque]

I don't think that. Like I said he is done in december, Harriet is watching over his shoulder editing everything he gets done as he gets it done final edit done during new years and printing done by March. This may be optimistic but not what you said.

And if you go to look at what you wrote when you replied to my first estimate post you should find that it was YOU who sounded like "the book is done when BS is done"

Now before you start trying to put words in my mouth again I warn you that I like to argue. Win, loose, doesn't matter. The thrill is in the debate. A lot like fighting saidin really.

[Davian93]

Mid 2010 at the earliest...I have a feeling that there will be at least 2 probably 3 drafts plus a final full edit (few months) and then printing. He's at 40% of the first draft right now and slogging along at around 2% a week.

[Yuri33]

I remember hearing somewhere that it takes anywhere from 2-5 times longer than the original took for even the best to forge a work of art. I'm not claiming BS is committing forgery, but the analogy still stands. I'm leaning towards the longer timelines rather than the shorter ones.

[Terez]

Hey Yuri. Was starting to worry about you again. :D

[GonzoTheGreat]

Well, a case could be made for saying that it is an authorised forgery. So the estimate may be pretty accurate, even if it isn't all that pretty.

[Brita]

"Expect the worst, but hope for the best."

That is my pearl of wisdom for today.

[Yuri33]

Hey Yuri. Was starting to worry about you again.

Note to self. I am never going into surgery.

[Terez]

What if it's a matter of life or death??

[Yuri33]

Har Har.

[Marie Curie 7]

I don't think that. Like I said he is done in december, Harriet is watching over his shoulder editing everything he gets done as he gets it done final edit done during new years and printing done by March. This may be optimistic but not what you said.

Well, no, Harriet is not really looking over his shoulder. BS said in July (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/669/Back-to-AMoL!) that he hadn't even sent the first part of AMoL to her yet:


BS Blog, 7/11/08

Next on the plate is to do a couple solid drafts on the 25% of AMOL which I've finished. I need to get it into a state that Harriet can look at and send it too her as soon as possible, as this chunk threatens to be the one that could need the most revisions. How well she thinks I did on these pages will be a very good barometer of how much draft work I'll have to do on the entire book once it's complete.

And another related comment (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/672/Denver-Followup-and-AMoL-Update):


BS Blog, 7/17/08

I've finished through my big revision of the first section of AMoL that I have done, but I'm leaving the percentage bar at 50%. I plan to turn my attention to writing the next chunk of the book, but will leave this simmering, and probably read through it one more time at the end of the month. I know that Mr. Jordan never let people read his material until he'd done several drafts, and I want to have at least read this over once more before sending it to Harriet.

Also, Encyclopaedia WoT (http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/books/amol/index.html) has updated the BS AMoL progress graph through 8/1/08. I added the most recent points (42% as of ~8/16/08, and 50% as of 8/22/08 - yay!), and you can see that the projected finish date for the first draft of AMoL is now more like around February or March 2009.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o71/mariecurie7/amolprogress-3.gif

[Marie Curie 7]

BS posted some comments (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/689/Half-Way!) about reaching the halfway point in the first draft. He still thinks it might be longer than 400,000 words, though, so it might not really be 50%...

Half Way!
Posted on 08.22.08 Categories: A Memory of Light

I crossed the 50% mark on A MEMORY OF LIGHT last night. I still worry that this book will go longer than 400k, which means this wouldn't actually be halfway. However, it's 200k words, which is a nice milestone.

I know that a lot of people don't know how to judge wordcounts. When I use wordcounts to say how long a book is, readers will often say "So...how many pages is that?" I'm never sure how to respond to this, because page counts can be rather variable. Typesetters can work some real magic with font and layout to make a page count come out the way they want, which is why a lot of industry professionals end up using wordcount instead. (Of course there are also a variety of ways of arriving at Wordcount, depending on how you count...)

Anyway, I figured that I would come up with a list of books by myself and Mr. Jordan, give their wordcounts, then periodically place where this book fits into the list by comparison. Maybe that will help place where this book fits in so far.

AMOL Relative Length Chart: 8/22/08

Alcatraz/Evil Librarians 60,400
New Spring 121,815
---A MEMORY OF LIGHT 200k So Far!---
Elantris 202,765
The Final Empire 214,752
The Path of Daggers 226,687
Warbreaker 236,301
Winter's Heart 238,789
Hero of Ages 244,201
The Dragon Reborn 251,392
The Well of Ascension 252,739
The Great Hunt 267,078
Crossroads of Twilight 271,632
A Crown of Swords 295,028
The Eye of the World 305,902
Knife of Dreams 315,163
The Fires of Heaven 354,109
Lord of Chaos 389,264
The Shadow Rising 393,823

[Brita]

Some more comments from BS:

I got a lot of feedback to my previous post about hitting the halfway point. Thank you all for your good wishes and support. Some of you had questions, and rather respond directly, I thought I'd post answers here for everyone to see.

How do I get my wordcounts? Well, early on, I was trained to do the old "250 words per page" method which has been the historic method of doing it. To get this, you write in Courier New 12pt font with 1" margins (I think) and you generally end up getting about 250 words per page. I actually still type in Courier because of this training. Then, you can just estimate word count by how many pages you've written. (And in this method, a "word" is being defined as around six characters, not an actual full word.)

The problem with this is that it's not really that accurate. People's computers, for some reason, often paginate the same document in different ways. Plus, I soon learned that not everyone does it this way. (And not everyone likes to write/read in Courier.) The longer I've been working in publishing, the more I've had editors and publishers just say "Use the Wordcount function on word processor." So that's actually how I go about it. Easy and simple, though it has its own problems (it counts actual words, not number of characters, so a person who uses a lot of big words can have a smaller wordcount than the size of the printed book would indicated.) Still, I think it's consistent enough for my purposes. (Note that I got the wordcounts for the Wheel of Time books on the list from Wikipedia.)

The other question that popped up several times is this one: Am I including the pages that Mr. Jordan wrote in that wordcount. The answer is yes and no. What I'm doing is writing through the book by viewpoint grouping. That means I start at the beginning, then write through to near the end with a certain set of characters. Then I begin again with a new set of characters. This helps me focus in on those characters so that I don't have to keep track of QUITE so many things at once.

When I reach a section that Mr. Jordan finished, I insert it, then keep going. So the 200k that I've "written" so far includes chunks that I didn't write. However, the unfinished portions also include large chunks of Mr. Jordan's writing that AREN'T yet included in the 200k. I'll include them when I write those characters and get to the parts he has finished. Does that make sense?

Interesting- reading his posts give an idea of how daunting this task must be!

[Yuri33]

I have absolutely no experience with writing fiction (in fact, I'm a pretty poor writer overall!), but is this "viewpoint grouping" method a common way to write fiction? It sounds like a fascinating approach, but I can foresee a separate set of challenges as compared to the standard "beginning to end" approach.

[Sodas]

Funny how the Shadow Rising is the longest book in the series on that list ~ and my personal favorite. I really feel that Jordan paid extra attention to tSR and that is expressed in the word count. The attention to detail and naunce in tSR is second to none ihmo. I do hope BS continues that type of attention towards aMoL.