Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Since I lived in the sticks, I decided to differ from the norm and went to the signing thinking there wouldn't be a vast crowd, I was wrong sigh. I did manage to get all of my books signed which was great. I talked with RJ, but he appeared to be very distant which is understandable considering his position. What was really neat was that I was able to talk with Mrs. Jordan for 20 minutes. First off, she was an angel. She talked a lot about things that her husband couldn't since he was busy signing books.

It turns out that she's an editor for Tor, not only for her husband's work but for others as well. She said that The Eye of the World took four years to write because he had to create all of the countries in Randland first. As has been mentioned by others on the net, his first idea for the series is going to be the last scene; his next was the breaking down of Rand's door in The Eye of the World. The rest has been ad lib. from there.

harriet

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the eye of the world

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the last scene

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rj the man

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genesis

Next we talked about Lord of Chaos and its creation. It took a long time to compile, in fact TOO much time. It was "supposed" to be done by April 1994 at the latest. However, it wasn't even close to being done. Somewhere past the deadline, they lost a chapter [I believe it was Dumai's Wells, which might explain why it's so choppy]. They flew RJ up to New York and he wrote the final parts in a hotel for about two weeks. He finished on August 28, 1994. Tor had to do MAJOR overtime to check and edit it for its Oct. 12 release date. Mrs. Jordan also added that Lord of Chaos was their most difficult one composed ever. It was a real marker as to how fast they could produce a novel at this point in the series. After his book signing tour he's going straight to his word processor and type through Thanksgiving and probably Xmas, 'cause he hasn't even started yet. RJ made an arrangement with a manager (I think) from Tor for a March deadline. If book seven wasn't completed by that time, then the fall release would be cancelled, meaning that book seven will not be released to as late as Fall 1996 possibly. This manager seems to have forgotten this arrangement and wanted to have it released by fall 1995, under pressure from Tor publishing and the parent St. Martin's it appears.

harriet

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lord of chaos

I myself personally hope RJ doesn't try to kill himself to meet this deadline. Even though I love this series, I would hate to see the style and plot go to hell cause he was rushed, even thought I would tear my hair out for all his waiting. Even though RJ is a good writer, I don't think a writer with a judicial stenographer's hand would be able to make that deadline. I look forward to his next book, whenever it comes.

Brian Bax