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Wheel of Time News

An Hour With Harriet

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.

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The Bell Tolls

2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."

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Your search for the tag 'amol:wip' yielded 176 results

  • 1

    Interview: 2010

    Jaron Frenk (11 August 2010)

    When [Towers of Midnight] is done, how far along are you with A Memory of Light? (How much is already written?)

    Brandon Sanderson (11 August 2010)

    Only the parts Mr. Jordan wrote. I haven't done anything for A Memory of Light yet.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: 2010

    Brandon Sanderson (17 August 2010)

    Q: When do you start A Memory of Light? (Asked with a smile, but with real curiosity too I'm sure.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A: I start it January 1st. I'm taking four months to relax my brain and work on something else, to refresh myself and keep creative.

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: 2012

    Terez

    For a complete catalog of Brandon's tweets, visit the Twitter Portal at Brandon's website.

    Brandon Sanderson (12 March 2011)

    And lo, 1% of A Memory of Light done, as per my website progress bar. My reading's been slow this last month, but I made up for it by working on a scene.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Here! A (kind of) screenshot of the beginning of the end of the Wheel of Time. http://twitpic.com/48wm4n

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those asking: Yes, I write in courier. I apprenticed as a writer during an era where it was still the standard among the old guard.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I also underline instead of italicize, use "--" instead of an emdash, and have habits relating to other old-school typesetting artifacts.

    TROLLOC TALK

    Will you hold a new charity contest for A Memory of Light, but this time for Trolloc/Dreadlord/Darkfriend names? We think you should.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I WILL hold a new contest like that. Likely to help fund Jordancon.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (14 MARCH)

    People are asking about the files in the picture I posted on Saturday. The one that says "Alan Outline NEW" references Alan, RJ's assistant.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Alan is a member of "Team Jordan" and was the one who compiled the original outline for A Memory of Light using all of the files and scenes RJ had.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I have taken it and changed things around a lot, added to it, and it has evolved over the years. But it is the Memory of Light outline.

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: 2012

    Simon Dovey (16 March 2011)

    Is March 2012 an accurate publishing date for A Memory of Light?

    Brandon Sanderson (16 March 2011)

    I'm basically saying "Sometime in 2012." It will depend mostly on how long revisions take.

    Austin Moore (12 APRIL)

    If book doesn't make March deadline, will it be April or would it be bumped back further for a better release period?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I honestly don't know. That's going to be Tom and Harriet's decision.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I just need to make sure I turn it in late this year sometime; from there, it could be launched any time 2012 they want.

    Footnote

    The release date ended up being pushed back first to November 2012 (announced at JordanCon 2011) and then to January 2013.

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (8 April 2011)

    By the way, I AM still doing the #wotrr. Been a little too busy to tweet regularly these last few weeks. Will get back into it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those following along, I'm right at the end of The Shadow Rising. Love this book. But man is it long. :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, I've still been writing on A Memory of Light at the same time. But I had to do the Alloy of Law copyedit last week, which slowed me a tad.

    LACOBUS

    I started #wotrr same time as you and I'm just finishing The Path of Daggers! Sorry couldn't resist steaming ahead.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. I'll catch up, maybe. I spend a lot of time making notes and building the outline.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (11 April 2011)

    Working on a scene that RJ wrote part of. In some ways, those are the toughest ones. Most time consuming, at least.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    How much do you usually have to change of RJ's scenes? Just the first part and the last so it fits in well or what?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Depends on the scene. If I'm lucky, it's what you explained. But getting my parts to match can be a LOT of work.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That's especially true if it's a new character, without a viewpoint narrative I can study except for the unfinished scene.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some of the scenes need more, as they are first drafts RJ intended to revise. I try not to change too much, but some of the scenes were ones where he was careful to lay down important things—like motivation—first, but didn't work on setting very much. (I'm working on one of those now.)

    DAVEJUSTDAVE

    RE: reworking RJ's scenes. Ever get tired and goof? "As Rand reached for the Shardblade..er...Callandor"...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. No, I haven't done that. Usually when writing WoT I make sure I'm very steeped in reading it at the time.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (12 APRIL)

    Scene I worked on yesterday is done. A Memory of Light is now at 2% done. (Assuming a 300k length, or about the length of The Gathering Storm.)

    DAVID WILSON

    How fast do you expect the % to increase? I'm not badgering, just curious :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    My goal is 2-3% a week while doing the reread. Then to step it up a bit from there.

    FELIX

    On a more serious note, which book are up to your #wotrr project?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Book five. I've completed two scenes from A Memory of Light as well.

    Tags

  • 7

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (27 April 2011)

    WoT update: I've been doing more writing than reading lately, but keep running into walls. Tossed a few scenes. I'll work it out eventually.

    Tags

  • 8

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (5 May 2011)

    Note that I have a few percentage points to add to the progress bars on my website; we have to wait for the site to be fixed first, though.

    HERIDFAN

    Please do tell how many percentage points were added! Are you still doing #wotrr?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, but slowly, as I've gotten sucked into writing a few scenes. I'll bounce back and forth.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (16 May 2011)

    Just wrote the wind scene for A Memory of Light.

    JIM NEWBERRY

    I knew you would ruin it! There are NO fart jokes in WoT, buddy!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Lol.

    ESHAAN KOSHAL

    How long do we need to wait for the book? :D

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Next year sometime.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    To those asking, I'm not going to tell you where the wind rose, folks. It's the very last of them. I can't spoil something like that.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Slowly working through some things on A Memory of Light. There are some tough things I need to get right, though I can't say more.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (17 MAY)

    Percentage meter on my website is still down. Just tried to update A Memory of Light and blanked things. We're at about 5%, though.

    Tags

  • 10

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (24 May 2011)

    Ahhhhh. International business. Plenty of room. This bodes well for writing. I finished a page or two of A Memory of Light on the previous flight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (27 MAY)

    Just finished a scene in A Memory of Light that people have been waiting to read for a long, long time...

    Tags

  • 11

    Interview: 2012

    Wayne Strydom (2 June 2011)

    Tweet us a line or two from A Memory of Light please guy????

    Brandon Sanderson (2 June 2011)

    The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend... /trollface

    Tags

  • 12

    Interview: 2012

    Nicole Francis (3 June 2011)

    Read three Mistborn books in three days. @BrandSanderson must have a magic pen.

    Brandon Sanderson (3 June 2011)

    Unfortunately, that pen runs on the tortured screams of Wheel of Time readers waiting for their final book...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Updated A Memory of Light finished status to 12%. Sitting in my hotel and writing after something like six media interviews in London today.

    AIDAN MCCLEAN

    Do we have an approximate date for publication? I need to start my re-read to get ready :-)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Next year sometime. Latest: November. Earliest: March. More likely later than earlier.

    MATT MAYS (6 JULY)

    Quick question :) What happened to A Memory of Light coming out this November? Your original post explaining the split says November.

    MATT Mays

    I assume it was too much work and I am cool with that. I am just wondering. Did I miss a blog post explaining the change? Thanks.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    There have been a couple of blog posts. Basically, it just wasn't feasible.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Harriet asked for more time for editing; she was feeling rushed. I also needed more time.

    Tags

  • 13

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (30 June 2011)

    Just revised the percentage bar for A Memory of Light, bumping it up to 20% finished to reflect the work I've done in the last few weeks.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Back at work on A Memory of Light. I can get in a few more hours tonight.

    KEVIN B. CARR

    Please finish A Memory of Light and I'll buy The Way of Kings... Yeah, I'm late, so be it!

    BRANDON SANDERSON (1 JULY)

    Ha. Consider that a deal. (Of course, I was going to finish A Memory of Light anyway...) :)

    Tags

  • 14

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (6 July 2011)

    Working away at A Memory of Light. Doing a Rand viewpoint now. (Yes, to contrast Towers of Midnight, there will many of his direct viewpoints in this one.)

    ERIN KELLY (9 JULY)

    The end of Wheel of Time is very imminent. Next year, if @BrandSanderson is to be believed (I trust him).

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Next year for sure. I'm getting close to the 1/3 mark done with the last book. It's moving well.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Work on A Memory of Light should speed up from here out. I've done a lot of groundwork and outlining. Many scenes are all but finished.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I should be getting done about 1% a day from here out, though that's partially because I haven't yet counted some of that groundwork.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For now, I've updated the % bar on my website to 22%, reflecting the 66k words worth of chapters solidly and completely finished.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    "Men thought violence could solve anything. If she'd had a stout stick, she'd have thumped all three until they saw reason."—Nynaeve

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    (Note: that quote is edited for size.) Yes, I'm back to my #wotrr, now that outlining on A Memory of Light is done, though my focus is still on writing.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I now have over 20k of you jokers following me on Twitter. Wonder what % came hoping to see me post a line from A Memory of Light by accident.

    Tags

  • 15

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (11 July 2011)

    Today, I've been working on the tactics for the Last Battle, looking to make them as authentic as possible. A lot to keep in mind here.

    CHRIS EDWARDS

    Do you have a tentative time frame for when A Memory of Light will be out? Trying to figure out when to start my re-read.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sometime next year. Hard to say specifically; depends on how long Harriet takes to edit.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Enough people are asking that I'll go over the A Memory of Light release timeline again here for you.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Goal: Turn in in the first draft November 8th. Following that, editing and revisions. Those are the uncertain part. 3-6 months are likely.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    So, best case for the book out is March. Worst case is November next year. (Harriet has asked Tor for more time to edit this time.)

    LOUISE LEWIS (12 JULY)

    Didn't I read somewhere that Robert Jordan already wrote the last chapter?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    He did. It's great.

    Tags

  • 16

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (13 July 2011)

    A Memory of Light First Draft progress bar update. 22% -> 24% One quarter is around the corner.

    SPEARSISTER

    Are there any notes released to the public concerning A Memory of Light? Please, I hope you get time to write back.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    By notes, you mean Mr. Jordan's notes? We might release some of them after the book is out. Harriet's call.

    MARTIN GJESDAL (15 JULY)

    Is March 2012 still a realistic release date for A Memory of Light?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Very. It will happen almost certainly.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Oops. I didn't see the "March" before that. 2012 is certain. March not certain yet.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    March is probably the earliest it could be out. Latest would be November. It will be Tor and Harriet's call.

    Tags

  • 17

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (18 July 2011)

    Man, @MaryRobinette's travel karma must have rubbed off on me. Delayed here TOO. Guess I'll work on your book in the airport, WoTfans.

    Tags

  • 18

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (22 July 2011)

    Just updated the % bar on A Memory of Light from 24% to 27% to reflect this week's work so far. A lot of travel this week, with ComicCon, slowed me down.

    JORDAN BRADFORD

    Just got Elantris and Warbreaker at Waldenbooks' liquidation.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sweet. Nice score. I once got all of King's Black Tower at a similar deal.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. Just looked at my last tweet, which was a direct reply to someone, and realized a mistake I made. Gives a clue what I'm working on...

    Footnote

    King's series is called "The Dark Tower".

    Tags

  • 19

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (25 July 2011)

    By the way, A Memory of Light % done has moved from 27% -> 30%. Expect sharp rises this week; I hit a patch where I've already done a lot of work.

    WERTHEAD

    Final WHEEL OF TIME novel approaching a third-done? Impressive. Probably too much to hope we'll get it earlier than Nov 12?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It's really going to depend on Harriet, Adam. My goal is to turn it in before I go on tour November.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    From there, we'll go to revisions. Harriet has asked for more time to edit this one. (She worries the last had too many mistakes.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON (26 JULY)

    I love working on Perrin's scenes. I can't really explain why, but the two of us have always clicked.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    6k words of material for A Memory of Light (some worked on previously) added to the main storyline. 2% more done, bringing us to 32%.

    Tags

  • 20

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (28 July 2011)

    There is a LOT of warfare/action in this book. I know that should be expected, but I thought I'd warn you anyway...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Two more % added to the bar for today and yesterday's work. A Memory of Light is now 34% done, so we've passed the 1/3 mark.

    Tags

  • 21

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (1 August 2011)

    Moving A Memory of Light's progress bar up 2% to 36%. Expect it to move a tad more slowly this week than last. This patch has less work done on it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (2 AUGUST)

    I wonder if it would be too spoilery to post a running count of significant named WoT characters who have died so far in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Granted, that count might be 0 so far, so no spoilers yet. I'm just saying... It could be fun to start a count.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    (Note, I'm not going to do it. Too spoilery. Just trying to think of things to tweet about the books, as there's so little I can say.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    How about a non-spoilery Easter egg instead? Each of the three prologues has had at least one complete scene written by RJ before he died.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    When I split the books, I split the prologue in a way that at least one of those scenes went into each book.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Prologues were important to RJ, particularly in the later books, and I wanted his stamp to be on each one of the three prologues.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    The scene with the Borderland towers in Towers of Midnight prologue was all RJ correct?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes. I've confirmed that before. Good eye, if you spotted it on your own.

    Tags

  • 22

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (3 August 2011)

    I'm currently writing "Through Lines" on A Memory of Light, meaning I'm taking one character or group and going beginning to end.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'll end up writing the ending a number of times through different eyes, each separated by a short book's number of pages. Odd experience.

    CHRISTOPHER SKINNER

    How do you do that without diminishing the impact of the "big finish" (I mean there's denouement anyway, but the climax)?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Careful planning, followed by a lot of reads-through of the entire book to smooth and enhance.

    NEIL MCKINNON

    Did you do that with Rand/Egwene in The Gathering Storm and Mat/Perrin Towers of Midnight?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, I did.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    At about 20 scenes and 50k words, the first "Through Line" of A Memory of Light is done. I can't tell you who it is, but I'm very pleased.

    ERIC PETERS

    Why wouldn't you be able to tell us who it is? Is it a real secret who all of the characters in the book are at this point?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some people don't want any kind of spoiler. Knowing there are 50k words of someone means they don't die at the start.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    If you look back through my Twitter feed, you can figure out who it is. [It was Perrin.] I might do a blog post on it too, with a spoiler warning.

    SHARON VERNON

    Do you find it easier to write "through lines" and then tie it all up together later?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For a very big, complex book, it's basically the only way I can do it. Otherwise, I lose character voices.

    FRANK KWIATOWSKI

    Is this your style, or how RJ wanted it? Just curious.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (4 AUGUST)

    What specifically are you asking about? The writing of "Through Lines?"

    FRANK KWIATOWSKI

    You mentioned writing the same ending multiple times. I'm taking it as the same ending being reviewed from different POVs?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Different pieces of what, together, will be the ending sequences of the book.

    CONNOR EVERINGHAM

    I'm guessing that with one through line at 50k words, A Memory of Light will be a massive book?Will chunks be taken out during editing?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I always edit down, rather than up. I overwrite intentionally on first drafts. But the book will be big.

    PHIL

    I might just be ignorant here, but what's a "Through Line"?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Where you write one character's parts, all the way through the book.

    Tags

  • 23

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (4 August 2011)

    Still working on A Memory of Light. That deadline (which is self-imposed, but still important to me) of November is starting to loom.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Blarg. This scene is just way too bland for the level of awesomeness it is supposed to include. Scrapping it.

    JD

    How many words did you scrap? And how much time was invested?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Maybe three hours worth of writing. Not that much. 1500 words, perhaps?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    New scene has more kick to it, I'm pleased to report.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (5 AUGUST)

    One more short scene just added to the A Memory of Light prologue. It needs one more, but I haven't decided which one yet.

    Tags

  • 24

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (11 August 2011)

    I moved the A Memory of Light progress bar up one more point, to 38%. Slow going this week. Head cold + lots of pre-writing to do + sister's wedding.

    Jay

    Will A Memory of Light actually be the last book? or do you think you will split it up again? Are you thinking of 2012 release?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It will not be split. I'm pretty certain. 2012 for sure.

    Greg Lindsey

    Hi Brandon! Any guesstimations on when we might see A Memory of Light cover art? Thanks!

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was just asking Tor about this, actually. I think it's a little ways off. Maybe first of next year.

    Tags

  • 25

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (16 August 2010)

    Working on a big climactic scene. Was going to tweet that, then realized, pretty much all of them in this book fit that description...

    TEREZ

    That's good to know. It makes more sense than something like The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight with long stretches of not-much-happening.

    TEREZ

    In other words, I think it will reassure the fans who doubt you can pull it off in just one more book. ;)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yeah, it's really going to be one. I'm 125k or so in, and it feels right. I'll get it all in.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'm moving the A Memory of Light progress bar up 2%, to 40%. Should easily hit 50% by the end of the month.

    RICK WATSON

    How's the chances of a release in the spring looking in your opinion?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    So so. I'll be straight with you; it would be a LOT of work to get it out then. Possible, we've done it that fast before.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    However, that was when we were trying to hit the holiday season, and it resulted in a book with typos and mistakes.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    My guess right now is that neither Tor nor Harriet will want to push for that.

    CHRIS EDWARDS

    Can't wait, been WoT fan for years. You have a different style, but I can deal. I'm going to start reading your other work.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Thank you. I understand the style is different, and I hope it's not too distracting.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    Shed any tears yet writing any particular scenes? ;)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    There have been a few tough ones.

    Tags

  • 26

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (23 August 2011)

    Okay, back from WorldCon and (mostly) recovered. Back to work on A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Blarg. This chapter and viewpoint isn't working. Going to try Thom for a bit instead. Need to be inspired by a storyteller.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    So are you saying Thom is still alive? Good to know:)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Well, he starts the book alive. I'll say that. Who knows where in the book this scene will go?

    JOSIAH DAVID REPP

    How far through writing that book are you?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    40%

    Tags

  • 27

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (24 August 2011)

    Update on that scene that wasn't working in A Memory of Light yesterday: tried it again today and it worked just fine.

    THOMAS LACHESIS

    Did you try a new way in to the scene? Or, was it simply stepping away from it?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Stepping away from it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Moving A Memory of Light completion bar from 40% -> 43%. Assuming the rest of the week works as well as today did, it will move quickly for a while.

    Tags

  • 28

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (30 August 2011)

    Writing A Memory of Light makes me tired. There are a lot of exhausted people in this novel.

    LUCKERS

    Have you seen this A Memory of Light fan art of the ta'veren? It's fickan awesome. http://tinyurl.com/4qtxjus

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've seen it, and I do like it a lot.

    Tags

  • 29

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (31 August 2011)

    Dang. I just pulled off something in A Memory of Light that is GRRM-esque. I'm not certain if I should apologize, feel awesome, or go take a shower.

    SARAH WALTERS

    Haven't read GRRM, should I? Also, I recommend feeling awesome and writing more of A Memory of Light, but I'm biased.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Depends on your threshold for content. His writing is genius, but he is very brutal. I could only stomach the first one.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    His short stories are awesome, by the way. I've liked every one of those I've read.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Also, the Minas Tirith theme is playing on Pandora. Perfect.

    TEREZ

    Gah, now you've got me thinking Boromir/Gawyn.

    FOOTNOTE—TEREZ

    I have no idea if Brandon saw that tweet, but his next one came after it, for what it's worth. Some more info was given on this in the reddit Q&A, and there might be another clue here.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some good mythological underpinnings and references in this scene, as I believe RJ would have done.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    If I ever get to write the annotations for this book as I plan, this scene will be a nice one to talk about.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    One of the challenges in writing these books is to get mythology right. Not too overt, with careful references. RJ left help, fortunately.

    JOHANN THORSSON

    You mean like Rand having a wound in his side, a la Jesus on the cross?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That's one of very, very many. But yes. And, you know, Rand being a sheepherder...

    SIMEN ISAK DITLEFSEN

    RJ used a lot of mythological inspiration. But I haven't seen a lot of Greek myths used. Have you?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It's there. Look where Perrin gets wounded.

    SIMEN ISAK DITLEFSEN

    ahh... The Achilles arrow?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Look up blacksmith gods. Hephaestus, Wayland. And, you know, Perun...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    But I felt RJ thought Greek/Roman was overdone, so stayed away from using it as much as Norse/Celtic/Native American.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Okay, signing off for the night. I need to be up for my Q&A on reddit come noon my time. (I'll tweet a reminder.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Moved the A Memory of Light progress bar up to 48% complete to reflect work done so far this week. Been a good week.

    ELVAN

    I believe you are trying to kill us by triggering extreme amounts of anticipation and excitement. Some of us don't have the heart to take it you know. Seriously though, can't wait.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. Just trying to keep everyone involved, if only in a small way. ;)

    Tags

  • 30

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (1 September 2011)

    That's another "Through Line" on A Memory of Light finished. Now, back to the middle of the book to write forward on another character.

    CRAIG FOSTER

    So writing A Memory of Light is more like building a giant Dagwood sandwich than it is like baking a birthday cake?

    CRAIG FOSTER

    ...in that you're taking finished products and making them fit together as opposed to mixing it altogether start to finish...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That's it.

    GARETH BARTON

    Question... Do you write each character in one go? The full story for that person, then splice it in with the others?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I often do, if they are in different places. If together, I write them together.

    Tags

  • 31

    Interview: 2012

    Austin Moore (5 September 2011)

    Is A Memory of Light still on par to being around the length of Towers of Midnight?

    Brandon Sanderson (5 September 2011)

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 32

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (7 September 2011)

    Sometimes, it feels like cheating to have Alan and Maria (Robert Jordan's assistants) to look things up for me on these books.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For example, Alan is a military history buff, and has been my personal "Great Captain" for A Memory of Light, giving valuable advice on tactics.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Finished a really awesome scene today, and started one that turned out meh. I'll have to rework that one come this evening.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Not counting that scene, but counting the awesome one, A Memory of Light is at 52% done now.

    JOHN UNDERWOOD

    52%? That's great! I'm wondering though how did you come up with that number?

    JOHN UNDERWOOD

    Do you have a specific number of pages in mind to finish the book?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've used 300k words as a rough estimate for each of these books for getting the % bar.

    Tags

  • 33

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (10 September 2011)

    Finished another "Through Line" of A Memory of Light. This one turned out really, really well. I'm kind of surprised, honestly.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This is a character I think many readers are less excited about, but the story here is very powerful. I'm pleased.

    HARSH AGARWAL

    When can we expect the last book to be released?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Next year sometime. Spring at the earliest (I don't think it's likely) fall at the latest.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Nice big jump in the progress bar today as I pull a few things I'd already been working on and place them in the book. 52% -> 56%.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those curious, I've been timing lately and looking at my historical wordcounts (I often keep lists of daily progress.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Writing a given amount of words on the Wheel of Time takes about twice as long as it does when working on non-WoT books.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I think this is due to: 1) The complexity of working in such a long series. 2) Making sure character voices match those in RJ's writing.

    TERRY SIMPSON

    Which character voice have you found it hardest to duplicate? And has that difficulty stayed consistent for each book?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Mat. Yes, he has always been the toughest.

    CAITLIN GRANT

    Love knowing progress but just remembered Tor will likely delay e-release. #frustration

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Not Tor, actually. Harriet. I'm working on her, though.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The delay last time was because The New York Times didn't count ebook sales for bestseller lists.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A lot of people are asking about the release date for A Memory of Light, so I'll talk about it again. I just couldn't get it out for this November.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    My new rough-draft goal is November, with a revised book sent to Harriet January 1st. Book could be out any time between March (unlikely) and November.

    OSKAR KOIVUJUURI

    This November? I thought it was always supposed to be released March of next year? Oh well.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I was hoping March. It's theoretically possible...but Harriet thinks not. She wants more time to edit than she had for Towers of Midnight.

    Tags

  • 34

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (12 September 2011)

    I have three more major 'Through Lines' for this book, then some spot fill-ins of smaller characters. After that, some work on the climax.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The ending will actually be the easiest part of this book for me, as RJ wrote large chunks of it himself.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    So while it may look like I'm not far enough along to be finished in November, the last 10% or so will jump forward very quickly.

    TEREZ

    But you said those were the most time-consuming parts for you. :s

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scenes he half finished are very tough. Scenes he totally finished are easy.

    GRAE WOLFFE

    This is the final edit before going to print then? Or one more go-through after this?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This is just the first draft, I'm afraid.

    Tags

  • 35

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (28 October 2011)

    I find myself thinking "It's been forever since I wrote Perrin. I'll be glad to get back to him." Then I realize his sequence is done.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Note that this isn't because Perrin isn't in the book much. (He is.) It's because I wrote his chapters first.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It is odd, knowing that some characters have had their stories told, that no more will be written about them. You'll feel this next year.

    Tags

  • 36

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (17 September 2011)

    Sorry for the lack of updates and replies on Facebook/Twitter lately, folks. Been working hard on your book. Seven weeks until my deadline...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Granted, that's a deadline I set for myself, so it can move if I feel it needs to. I'd still like to hit it. A Memory of Light progress bar moved to 61%.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some are asking how I get guess the % finished of a book not done. I've been using 300k words as a guess. (As I did for Towers of Midnight.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Since The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight were both around 300k, and they got me 2/3 through the outline, I think it's a pretty good estimate.

    Tags

  • 37

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (21 September 2011)

    Sigh. Some good scenes getting done despite some distractions over the last few days, but...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    ...Egwene's through line keeps adding chapters. I've tried to write the last one of this sequence three times, and split it each time.

    Tags

  • 38

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (22 September 2011)

    Pandora's playing a LDS children's song: 1) This does NOT fit the Last Battle. 2) How's it know I'm Mormon? It's a Tangerine Dream station.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It's now playing Michael Buble. Somewhere in my thumbs-upping, I may have deviated from the station's electronica theme just a tad...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'm going to inject Pink Floyd into the station to shake it up. By the way, I listened to Pulse again this week. Man, that album is awesome.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some of the most fun I get to have comes when Mat describes someone in his head. (Can't match RJ at doing so, but it's still fun.)

    Tags

  • 39

    Interview: Sep 3rd, 2005

    Isabel

    Have you started writing the next book already?

    Robert Jordan

    In a sort of desultory way, working, the week after I handed in the final manuscript, and sent it off to New York, I started working half day here, three quarter day there, a half day again.

    Matt Hatch

    Well, I am hoping for that fifteen hundred page book.

    Robert Jordan

    It may be—I am not saying it will be that big—and I will fight them doing a George R.R Martin on me.

    Matt Hatch

    Yeah, please do.

    Tags

  • 40

    Interview: 2012

    Austin Moore (23 September 2011)

    You recently said you were just over 60% finished with A Memory of Light; how much % will RJ's ending take up when you put it in?

    Brandon Sanderson (23 September 2011)

    I'm guessing about 10%.

    Austin Moore

    Is it gonna get slid right in or are you going to adjust it some to fit into how you're leading up to it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The ending scene will work fine, no changes. I've targeted things that way, as I didn't want the ending scene to change.

    Brandon Sanderson

    However, he left a TON of 'after the end scene' type stuff that is probably epilogue material. That I'll need to modify.

    Tags

  • 41

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (26 September 2011)

    A Memory of Light progress bar moved from 61% to 66%. Sorry about the lack of movement last week. I forgot to tick up the progress bar.

    Tags

  • 42

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (28 September 2011)

    An important moment in A Memory of Light centers on one character turning to another and asking, "How much do you trust Mat Cauthon?" How much indeed.

    Tags

  • 43

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (30 September 2011)

    FINALLY done with the through line I've been working on for weeks now. Progress bar moved to 70% done.

    SRINATH UPADHYAYULA

    When can we expect it??? What do you think?? #reallyreallycan'twait!!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sometime next year. I suspect they'll set a date when I give them the first draft in November.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Now, to fire a gun that has been sitting on the mantle since the middle (chapters 30-40) of book 3.

    TEREZ

    Now THAT is a good clue. (The Mat one was not incredibly surprising, but this one will be fun.)

    TEREZ

    Want to discuss @BrandSanderson's latest A Memory of Light clue? It's a good one!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Theoryland thread on what I just posted: http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6057 Thanks @Terez27.

    BEN KLUGE

    Has anyone got close yet:) ?

    TEREZ

    Pfft, we've barely started yet.

    BEN KLUGE

    I know—but once we have got started the odds of possibly getting an answer drop from very low to zero.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. I already flirt with giving away too much. I doubt you'll pull anything more from me for a while.

    4TH AGE

    I'm sure with how conscious you are of us examining your every word you checked, so are you SURE it's in those chapters?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    99% sure.

    TEREZ

    Would you at least confirm you're not talking about 13-13? You referenced that as a Chekhov's Gun before Towers of Midnight...

    TEREZ

    ...and so the association is hard to shake. But it was introduced in The Dragon Reborn 22 and of course already showed up in Towers of Midnight.

    TEREZ

    And technically, you could be referring to that since we didn't actually see the turning. And 99%. :( ... ;)

    BRANDON SANDERSON (5 OCTOBER)

    Mat is so much fun to write. The trick, which is hard, is to get the right mix of humor & awesome. One without the other just isn't Mat.

    TEREZ

    Ahh, confirmation. And good luck with Mat. ;)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Not sure what I'm confirming, but okay. On the thing I tweeted before, it's obviously NOT 13x13. It is cool, but smaller than that.

    TEREZ

    Cool. I was talking about the fact that you were working on Mat's 'through line'. I had assumed you were. Smaller? Hmm.

    FOOTNOTE—TEREZ

    In retrospect I'm not so sure he was working on Mat's through line because in the previous one, he specified he was writing Mat's thoughts.

    Tags

  • 44

    Interview: Mar 15th, 2008

    Brandon Sanderson

    (For you trivia buffs, the longest book I've ever written was 306k long. It was The Way of Kings, which was the book I wrote right before Mistborn. The first draft of Well of Ascension was second, topping out at 258k in first draft form, though we cut it to about 245k before it went to press. So yes, A Memory of Light is going to be the longest book I've ever worked on. Though, since Mr. Jordan left large chunks of writing for the book—including much of the beginning and ending—I don't know that this will technically be the longest book I've written, assuming you count only words I myself wrote.)

    Tags

  • 45

    Interview: 2010

    Terez

    Here is an alphabetical list of names chosen, with details if given. They will be linked to EWOT pages when those are updated after the A Memory of Light comes out. The main auction for the speaking part was won by Sandip Mehta.

    Eric Allen (In the Tower Guard; gets sworn at by someone who swears a lot. Perhaps Uno?)
    Jesamyn Angelica
    Charlie Bachelder (Aiel fighting in Last Battle)
    Johnnie Lee Barrington, Jr. (Deathwatch Guard)
    Paul Benish (Malkieri)
    Melissa Bergevin
    Jonathan Brockelman (Whitecloak)
    Joff Brown (a city)
    Brandon Bryant (Band of the Red Hand)
    Jonathan Burt (Whitecloak)
    Helen Cousins
    Jay Dauro (Deathwatch Guard)
    Shaun Davis
    Gavin Doyle
    Natalie Doyle
    Daniel Egonsson
    Kevin Fanshier
    Jacob Figler (Band of the Red Hand)
    Craig Foster (Borderlander; does not live long.)
    Filis [Emery?] (Green Ajah)
    Shani Gamble
    [?] Gilbert, son of Chris
    Courtney Gliszczynski (First name used.)
    Cindy Goodman
    Michael Gonzalez
    Mione Haak
    Laura Hayden
    Laura Hepburn
    Hugh Hill
    Andrew Holcombe
    Steven Karam
    Rion Kinosaki
    Einar Laastad Kjosavik (Asha'man who is balefired by a Forsaken.)
    Sean Little
    Nils Loodin (Aiel scout)
    Glen MacDonald (Deathwatch Guard)
    Sandip Mehta
    Mikayla Micomonaco (damane)
    Robert Moreau
    Bach Payson (Borderlander; does not live long.)
    Eric Peters
    Eleanor Pettener (Wise One, or perhaps an apprentice.)
    Alex Prescott
    Bryan Ragon (Borderlander; does not live long; dies well.)
    Sally Rankin
    Kimberly Readdy (Wise One, or perhaps an apprentice.)
    Kris Ring (Seanchan Blood)
    Anna Roberts
    Nikhil Rode (Aiel scout)
    Robert Rose
    Angela Ryddingwood
    Maureen Sampson (Aes Sedai)
    San D'ma Shadar (Group referenced by Mat which fought in a historic battle; translates to "Slayers of the Shadow".)
    Michael Sarcone (Darkfriend, on request.)
    Nathan Sawyer
    Eric Silva
    Shane Spears (Aiel, of course.)
    Leisha Springer
    Margaret St. John (Maiden name [not tweeted] will be a Seanchan general.)
    Caitlin Sullivan (White Ajah)
    Roger Trask (Aiel fighting in Last Battle)
    Lindsey Turnbow (wolf)
    Neil Tweed (Some woods, named after the original owners.)
    Pia Maria Vaajakallio (Aes Sedai)
    Kurt Wagoner (Two Rivers man)
    Eyal Weinstock
    Jordan White (wolf)
    Shiv Whorra
    Harm Wieringa
    Savannah Rose Young (Seanchan general)
    Jason Zigmont

    Brandon Sanderson (5 October 2011)

    Do you want your name to appear in A Memory of Light? Click here.

    SHAWN J

    Not sure if you wish to defend yourself: http://www.reddit.com...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Thanks for the heads up.

    PETER AZP

    "The auction will be through eBay and 10% of the proceeds will go to the Mayo Clinic" Wait, 10%? What about to the other 90?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    To Jordancon, a non-profit. (It's all there in the blog post.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    On the A Memory of Light name drive: this is PRIMARILY a fund raiser for Jordancon, which Harriet and I believe deserves support.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For a while, I've been wanting to do this to help Jordancon make ends meet, as I think it is a great way to honor RJ's name and legacy.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Please note that Jordancon HAS applied to be tax-exempt as a 501(c)3. This means you will probably be able to deduct your donations.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (10 OCTOBER)

    Cindy Goodman, just drew your name to be in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Jason Zigmont, I just used (a variation of) your name in A Memory of Light. Details, for those confused, here.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Glen MacDonald, welcome to the Deathwatch Guard. (Explanation)

    BRANDON SANDERSON (13 OCTOBER)

    Running on too little sleep; I'm having trouble getting A Memory of Light written on the plane. Instead, I'm going to start filling in name placeholders.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Shane Spears, you are first. Yes, you will be Aiel. There's really no way I could pass that up. Steven Karam, you are in A Memory of Light too.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    So everyone who donates gets their name in? Or are you just selecting a few?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Selecting semi-randomly, I'm afraid. Everyone is in 'spiritually' but I won't have enough names for all.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Eric Peters, you're in. Kimberly Readdy, you are wise, are you not?

    ALCHEMIST

    Can you say approximately how many names you will be needing? just so i know just how small my chance is... :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Maybe a hundred.

    NATHAN SMITH

    What do you have in as placeholders?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I use "***" to placehold in books, sometimes with one letter at the end to keep different placeheld people straight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Eleanor Pettener, you are soon to be wise. Laura Hayden, you're in. Shani Gamble, are you a boy or a girl? Name websites can't decide.

    JAMES STARKE

    Have you started drawing names for the JordanCon auction? Also, there's no clear date as to when the drawing really "ends" ...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, this is for the JordanCon deal. I'm pretty sure that the first cutoff is right. Anyone before then has a chance.

    SHIVAM BHATT

    How do you decide which names you're going to pick? is it based on sound or?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sometimes, I draw. Others, I just scroll, then stop at a name and work on it a moment. See if it works.

    FANTASY AUTHOR

    (waving hand wildly) How about dropping in a fellow author? Granted, an indie author, but an epic fantasy indie author.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Nothing wrong with being indie. But, in this case, I'm only using people who donated.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For all still wondering what's up with these names, and how to join in the fun, here is that link again.

    CHAD ROSENTHAL

    Is there a spot where you post the names? Just in case we miss the tweets?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I will try to post them all at the end.

    ZACAJ

    What are the chances of a name getting used if you donate?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Hard to say. It will depend on number of donators and number of names needed. Between 1% and 10% maybe?

    BRANDON SANDERSON (18 OCTOBER)

    Eric Allen, you're in the Tower Guard. Someone just swore at you, but he swears at lots of people. (How to get in)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Einar Laastad Kjosavik, the good news is you're an Asha'man. The bad news is that one of the Forsaken just balefired you.

    SELENE O'ROURKE

    So if half my name is a Forsaken's alias, and the other half is an Aiel chief, should I even think about going on the list?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. Well, I do change most of the names, so anything can theoretically be used.

    JALIL JAMES

    Hey man, so If we donate to the good cause we are guaranteed a spot in the book or names get pulled off the list at random?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Mostly random, I'm afraid. There is one 'sure shot' auction coming up, but last time that went for A LOT of money.

    COEN ZUIDERVAART (20 OCTOBER)

    How many names do you still need in the book? And how many new names are there actually? Was just curious to those numbers.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'll use around a hundred in the book, I think. Still need to choose most of those.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Mikayla Micomonaco, congrats! You're in A Memory of Light. I hope you don't mind being a damane. Details.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Margaret St. John, you are a Seanchan general. (Using your maiden name; thanks for providing that. It worked great.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Joff Brown, I drew your name next. I made you into a city, actually.

    JEFF WEISSBERG

    A "city" in the Blight?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A Memory of Light will reveal it for sure.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (21 OCTOBER)

    People are asking how many more names I'll use, as the book is 80% done. I left placeholders in dozens of names earlier that will be filled.

    DAMIEN BAUMGART

    Are you just dropping names in as is or will they be "Wheel of Time-ified"?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    WoT-ified.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (24 OCTOBER)

    Alex Prescott, you are in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Jonathan Burt and Jonathan Brockelman, you two are a pair of Whitecloaks.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (25 OCTOBER)

    Need a name for a sister from the Green Ajah. And...the name chosen was David Emery, who entered the name of his late sister, Filis.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (1 NOVEMBER)

    The A Memory of Light name auction has begun. One winner. Or enter the drawing, multiple winners.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (3 NOVEMBER)

    I am still picking names to go in the book, as per this blog post. Should be more of those tonight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (4 NOVEMBER)

    The "Get your name in A Memory of Light" charity auction had to be restarted due to ebay issues. Here's the new link.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Enough people have asked, so it bears repeating. The name auction and the name drawing are different. Explanation here.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (29 NOVEMBER)

    Thursday is the final day to enter the drawing to get your name in A Memory of Light. Details here.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (1 DECEMBER)

    Today's the final day to enter the drawing (& support JordanCon) to get your name in A Memory of Light. Last chance.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The drawing to get your name in A Memory of Light closes to entries in 4 hours. I still have a lot of names to draw.

    DAN GOLDMAN

    How many more names are left to draw?

    BRANDON SANDERSON (2 DECEMBER)

    Still a good fifty, I'd say.

    REBECCA LOVATT

    Have you been using people's names for characters? Haven't seen any posts/updates with that in a long time.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've been putting in placeholders, and will be drawing out names over the next few months to replace them.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (28 DECEMBER)

    Shaun Davis, I just used your name in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Shiv Whorra, I needed another name, and you're in too.

    KELLY

    Is there a running list somewhere of the reader names you've used? And I hope you're feeling completely well soon. : )

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    We'll post them all once I'm done.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those asking about names: this was done as a fund-raiser for JordanCon, so I'm no longer taking names. (Sorry.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Explanation follows. (I do this sort of thing for all of my books, though, so there will be chances for other books.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Robert Moreau and Robert Rose, you two are next. Welcome to A Memory of Light.

    SIMON ST. ERIC

    It is so exciting to see you pulling the names out of the hat... how many do you think you'll end up using? :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Still many more.

    BRANDON BALLENGER

    Since you're not taking names anymore and have a full rough draft, could you make a guess at our odds of being drawn?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Really hard to guess. I have about 1,000 placeholders in the book, as told to me by Word, but...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Most of those are not "replace a name here" notes, but instead "Look this up" or "describe this better" or "continuity check."

    BRANDON SANDERSON (29 DECEMBER)

    Brandon Bryant, welcome to the Band of the Red Hand. (Unfortunately, we're not accepting new names. Details)

    CHRISTOPHER SKINNER

    I know no new names—for those of us who put ours in the hat before, how many spots approximately are left? What are our chances?!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I have no idea, I'm afraid. There are about 2k people in the drawing. Maybe a hundred names? Rough guesses.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (3 JANUARY 2012)

    Daniel Egonsson, I drew your name for A Memory of Light. (Unfortunately, we're not accepting new names. Details: http://www.mistborn.com/blog/1021/)

    HUNTER SESTREN

    But for those of us in the drawing we still have a shot right?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Gavin Doyle, you're in too. (Yes, I will eventually post a list of all of these.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Jacob Figler, you're next. (Sorry, ladies. I'll draw some female names soon.)

    JACOB FIGLER

    Hey that's me!!! Are you saying my name is going to be in A Memory of Light???

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yup. You're in the Band of the Red Hand.

    JACOB FIGLER

    YES!!! Check out the shirt I got yesterday hahaha! Perfect! And THANKS!!! http://yfrog.com/ob7i2zpj

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Useful picture. Now I can describe you. :)

    JACOB FIGLER

    haha, well if you need any details let me know!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Okay, here's a woman: Jesamyn Angelica, you're in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (4 JANUARY)

    Kevin Fanshier, I only needed one name for A Memory of Light today, but yours is it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (12 JANUARY)

    Kurt Wagoner, you're in A Memory of Light as a Two Rivers man.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Laura Hepburn, I have chosen your name for A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Leisha Springer, your name came up next.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Nathan Sawyer, you were drawn next.

    ROBERT ROTH

    Do you or your assistant keep a list of drawn names? Can you post them?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I do keep a list, and will post them eventually.

    SEAN RYAN

    When you write a book do you fill the less important names in later?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Often I do just that. It can break the flow of writing to develop the right name, particularly when I might cut that scene.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (13 JANUARY)

    Angela Ryddingwood, I have drawn your name.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Bach Payson, I put you in A Memory of Light, but immediately killed you. Sorry 'bout that.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Oh, and Bryan Ragon, same goes for you. You died well, though.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Craig Foster, you round out the trio of dead Borderlanders I needed for this scene.

    GREG LINDSEY

    Just curious Brandon, are the names coming out of the proverbial hat, or do you look for names that can be easily WOTified?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Most things are pretty easy to wot-ify. And, since I can use either first or last, I haven't yet found any that don't work.

    SEAN CORSON

    Are you changing the names of people you put in A Memory of Light to make them more "Randland" appropriate?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    They are changed.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (16 JANUARY)

    Michael Gonzalez, your name came up next. (Yes, I am wot-izing all of these.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON (20 JANUARY)

    Mione Haak, I drew your name for A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Neil Tweed, you too.

    NEIL TWEED

    Who am I? Dark or light? Do I die well?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I try not to use fan names for the shadow very often. I actually named some woods after you.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    You would have been one of the original owners of the land where the woods were, I should think.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Nikhil Rode and Nils Loodin, I needed two Aiel scouts.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (23 JANUARY)

    Kris Ring, you're a member of the Seanchan Blood.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (24 JANUARY)

    Johnnie Lee Barrington, Jr. and Jay Dauro, you are members of the Deathwatch Guard.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Paul Benish, hope you look good in the hadori.

    DANIEL NELSON

    I'm confused. You are still using names but won't take anymore? So my name may still come up assuming you aren't done us ...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It very well might. If you are on the list, there is a chance.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (25 JANUARY)

    Pia Maria Vaajakallio, you are Aes Sedai.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Maureen Sampson, you're in the White Tower too.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Natalie Doyle, your name came up for A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Melissa Bergevin, your name came up next.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (26 JANUARY)

    Harm Wieringa, your name came up next.

    SHAUN DUQUETTE

    Taking a long time to add the names hehe

    BRANDON SANDERSON (27 JANUARY)

    I'm doing the first revision, and running across places where I left placeholders instead of names.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Jordan White, you're a wolf.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Lindsey Turnbow, you too.

    M. KLOMPENHOUWER

    Is anyone keeping track of the names that are being drawn for A Memory of Light?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, they are. We'll post them eventually.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (30 JANUARY)

    Savannah Rose Young, you're a Seanchan general.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sally Rankin, your name came up too.

    ZACHARY NORTH

    They all get changed. Some as little as Thom or Mat (if appropriate.) Some to things very different.

    ADAM GOUCHER

    How many names got submitted?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Three thousand, I think.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (6 FEBRUARY)

    Anna Roberts and Andrew Holcombe, I drew your names most recently for A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Caitlin Sullivan, you're in the White Ajah.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Courtney Gliszczynski, your name came up next. I think I'll adapt your first name, not your last, if that's all right...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Michael Sarcone, you asked to be a Darkfriend for some reason, and I obliged.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (7 FEBRUARY)

    Chris Gilbert, you entered your son's name into A Memory of Light and it has been used.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (8 FEBRUARY)

    Drew a bunch of names I didn't report. Eric Silva, Hugh Hill, Sean Little, Rion Kinosaki, Helen Cousins, Eyal Weinstock.

    SEAN LITTLE

    This is Sean Little, the guy that emailed you previously regarding putting in a group name. Did that entry have...

    SEAN LITTLE

    ...San D'ma Shadar as the name?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes.

    SEAN LITTLE

    Thank you very much.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Trying to figure out the San in that phrase, though. Is the "San" a name, or a word in the Old Tongue I'm missing?

    SEAN LITTLE

    The translation used on the site (made by our Old Tongue experts) is Slayers of the Shadow. I could ask for the exact translation.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That works for me. I actually put the name in a place where it could refer to a group, so I'll tweak it to do so.

    ANTHONY AZIZ

    Your favorite Two Rivers man, Azi al'Thone, back to bug you again :D I had put in an entry for SDS as well... and since...

    ANTHONY AZIZ

    ...I'm a member of SDS of TV.Net, I'm wondering what (if any) possibility there is of making Azi part of it?

    ANTHONY AZIZ

    Of course, I understand if that's complicated or doesn't fit with the story—had to ask anyways.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The group is referenced by Mat as being part of a historical battle.

    ANTHONY AZIZ

    Oh okay! Yes, that would be really hard to make work then :P Thanks for the response, Great Lord :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON (14 FEBRUARY)

    Working on one of the big, climactic sections at the end of A Memory of Light right now. Not many names left to draw, I'm afraid. A handful, maybe.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Remember, there is a special group of Dragonsworn in the Last Battle representing all who donated, so even if you aren't named, you're there.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (15 FEBRUARY)

    Roger Trask and Charlie Bachelder, turns out I needed two more Aiel to fight in the Last Battle.

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  • 46

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (6 October 2011)

    Well, THAT was a scene people have been waiting to read for many books. You know, it's very hard to talk about A Memory of Light without spoilers.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Let's see...what can I say without spoilers? This involves two near-deaths in a scene where most wouldn't expect any. #AesSedaivagueness

    MICHAEL ZODDA

    The Return of Narg!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, @wordsbyzodda. It's obviously the return of Narg that I'm talking about. The Dark One transmigrated him into a sheep.

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  • 47

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (6 October 2011)

    A Memory of Light progress bar moved to 75%. This puts it at 225k words so far, roughly the size of book eight. (Using 300k as a guess for the final.)

    ERIC PETERS

    One of the interviews mentioned the last book getting split up into two books, did you still think 300k words is a good number?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, it's a good number. The book will run longer (mine always do) but it will be roughly that length. 400k at the upper end.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    You can now order a signed copy of Towers of Midnight from my site. Plus holiday shipping deadlines.

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  • 48

    Interview: Oct 21st, 2009

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    On October 27, Book 12 of The Wheel of Time, The Gathering Storm, goes on sale nationally. Completed by Brandon Sanderson from notes and partials left by Robert Jordan, it is very good. I was its editor, as I was editor on ALL the Wheel books, and Maria Simons, Jordan's right hand for over 12 years, and Alan Romanczuk, Jordan's left hand (just because you can't have two right hands unless you are ... Shiva, is it?) have worked very closely with Brandon as well. We three—Harriet, Maria, and Alan—have really worked as Team Jordan on this book, and will do so on the following two, which will complete the Wheel. Book 13 will be titled Towers of Midnight, and Book 14 will be A Memory of Light.

    Even Jordan couldn't have written everything he left in one volume, although he thought he could. But you recall that he thought he could write the entire Wheel in six volumes.

    Try The Gathering Storm. I think you'll like it a lot. I do.

    Best,
    Harriet McDougal

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  • 49

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    Nadine

    Brandon, you are noted for your fairly concise epic novels. But I am curious about how the final volume of The Wheel of Time, which was envisioned by Robert Jordan as a final and single book, got to be so long? Not just a little longer but incredibly longer (possibly over 900,000 words).

    1. Did Robert Jordan totally miscalculate the size his final book? Or didn't he get too far writing it and had no idea of how long it would be?
    2. Is it including every note Jordan had on the subject because no one is sure what he really wanted to use?
    3. Is it being turned into a self-contained trilogy because a lot of people (like me) haven't read the entire 11 book series (or by now have forgotten the story), and it has to include some back-story?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've wondered this myself, actually, in some form. As a long time reader of the series, when he began saying it would be one book, I was very curious how he'd pull it off. And then I saw the notes, and I was left scratching my head a little bit.

    It's not option three—I was doing a little bit more of this, but Harriet requested that I scale it back. Her opinion (and it was Robert Jordan's opinion) is that the series is much too long to spend time recapping in every book. She was right, and I trimmed a lot of it.

    #2 might have some influence here. Robert Jordan could have chosen to cut out characters and leave out scenes he had in the notes; it doesn't feel right for me to do that.

    But I think, overall, it's something that you didn't mention at all. Robert Jordan knew this was going to be a BIG book. He began promising it would be the last, but also that it would be so big that readers would need a cart to get it out of the store. I think he was planning a single, massive book at 800k words or so.

    But he DID want it to be one book—partially, I suspect, because he knew his time was short. He wanted to get it done. If he hadn't been sick, however, I don't think he would have started calling this the last book.

    Harriet has told me on several occasions that she didn't think he would have done it in one book, if he'd been given the freedom to approach the writing how he wanted. In the end, there is SO much to do that it was going to end up like this no matter what. Unless I crammed it all in and forgot about a lot of the characters.

    Would Robert Jordan have been able to do it in one book? Really? I don't know. I think that, if he'd lived, he might have worked some magic and gotten it done in one 400 or 500k volume. But I feel the need to be very careful and not ruin this series by strangulation. It's not going to go on forever, but it does need a little room to breathe.

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  • 50

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    Ryan_G

    I have a very specific question about The Wheel of Time series. One of my favorite characters has been MIA for way too long. I'm assuming Moiraine Damodred returns to the playing field. I'm just wanting to know if it will be in the upcoming book or further on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is exactly the sort of thing I've been asked by the Jordan estate to stay quiet about, I'm afraid. (Sorry.) Some things the fans are expecting will happen in this book. But some things had to be saved for the next two volumes. And of Mr. Jordan's instructions were quite surprising, when seen in the light of what everyone expects will happen.

    That's really not an answer, is it? Well, let's just call it a RAFO.

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  • 51

    Interview: Nov 9th, 2009

    Brandon Sanderson

    Writing The Gathering Storm, Brandon admits he received input from numerous sources. He was, however, uncomfortable discussing the amount of input and the amount of freedom he had in writing The Gathering Storm. He says maybe after A Memory of Light he will reveal a bit more about what specifically was RJ's. Generally though, he was unrestricted in his writing, and Harriet, as editor, was there to perfect what he had done.

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  • 52

    Interview: Apr 22nd, 2009

    Richard Fife

    So, next panel was Team Jordan, which I also gophered. Alan and Maria, RJ's assistants, Wilson, Harriet, Brandon, and Tom all offered us some good logic and reasoning behind the split, what to expect in the writing, and told us that while they would not mind seeing the prologue e-pub'd over at Simon & Schuster, the agent is currently in England, and any exact details will have to wait. The reasons for the split are much as one might expect: the whole of A Memory of Light is starting to look more like it might be 900k words, so three 300k books just made more sense.

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    Also, Harriet promised us (to many applause) that we will not get just one very satisfying climax in The Gathering Storm, but TWO! The whole A Memory of Light has 6 total, and they have organized the material and action to give us two in each book. To this effect, though, do not expect to see absolutely everyone. They had to save some stuff for book 2 and 3, so if the character/plot you are wanting the most isn't in book 12, it likely will be in book 13. More on exactly why later.

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  • 53

    Interview: Apr 22nd, 2009

    Richard Fife

    After that, I went, like a proper hobbit, and had second breakfast with—ready for it?—Tom, Harriet, and Wilson, amongst a smattering of others, including a few Tor.com readers/posters. That was great conversation as well, but hey, when is it not? After that was done, I sat in on another Brandon Sanderson panel, and now, finally, for "How is A Memory of Light being organized?".

    Brandon Sanderson

    OK, I’ll start by saying Brandon did not tell us any names/characters who are going to be where, so I will have to be as vague as him. Although, I think I saw a chart somewhere that will give us an idea, if someone wants to be investigative.

    So, the story as stands at the end of Knife of Dreams has four "plot arcs" that are more or less related through "geography, fate, thought, etc." At the end of each of those arcs was a giant chunk of joined material that was "Tarmon Gai'don" and made up roughly 1/3 of the story. Brandon started writing these plot arcs like four separate novels with the intent to intersperse them. He had finished the third arc and hit 400k words when they decided they had to split it.

    So, what they are doing: the first two plot arcs he wrote are going to be MOSTLY included in The Gathering Storm, as well some set-up/teaser of the other two. Then, in the second book (Working title The Shifting Winds, by the by, but we were promised it is going to be changed) is going to continue from that set-up/teaser of the third and fourth plot arcs, and including the final setup of the first two so that everyone hits at the same point and is ready for Tarmon Gai'don. Book three (working title is Tarmon Gai'don, but it might be A Memory of Light), will be, yes, Tarmon Gai'don. So, there ya go.

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  • 54

    Interview: Aug 23rd, 2010

    Brandon Sanderson

    Anyway, be sure to check back during this week, as I intend to make up for missed blog posts (sorry about the lack of those these last few months) by posting frequently this week. I'll probably do a few posts about The Way of Kings, which is only about a week away now, and maybe talk about the projects I've got planned for the free months.

    Right now, my plan is to start on A Memory of Light on January first.

    Thank you all for being awesome.

    Brandon

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  • 55

    Interview: Sep 17th, 2010

    Mad Hatter

    If you can tell us, what's the tentative title for Book 2? And estimated release date? I know you've plenty left to tackle with WoT 14 so we'll take anything you say with that in mind.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good. The tentative title was originally Highprince of War. I’m not decided on that yet, because it might be Shallan’s book, not Dalinar’s book. It depends on whose flashbacks I decide to tell, and which ones will complement the events of the next book. Though I have an expansive outline for the series, I really have to sit down and get a more detailed outline for the second book before I decide which title I want. If it’s Dalinar’s book, it will be Highprince of War. If it’s Shallan’s book it will not be. Tentative release date? I’m going to start on A Memory of Light January first, and it will be published probably about three months after I finish it. (Knowing how Tor’s publishing my books these days.) It will just depend on how long that takes to write. Then I will start on The Stormlight Archive 2 after that. I don’t anticipate that book being as hard to write as A Memory of Light, which is going to take a lot of time and a lot of work. Best case is that I finish A Memory of Light in August of next year, it gets published in November, and I write the sequel to The Way of Kings starting immediately after that and finish it in the middle of the next year so it can be published November 2012. That’s the best-case scenario. But it’s what I hope to be able to do; we’ll see.

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  • 56

    Interview: Sep 13th, 2010

    Patrick

    What can readers expect from the second volume of The Stormlight Archive? Any tentative title or release date?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I originally had titled the second book Highprince of War. I'm not sure if I will keep that title, depending on who its central character ends up being. With the Stormlight Archive, I am playing with the form of the epic fantasy novel in a way that's very exciting to me that I haven't done since Elantris. If you read Elantris, the form of that book was very important in how it developed, with its chapter triad system. The books in this series also have a very specific form. Each book will focus on one character. That character will get flashbacks exploring their past, to show you how they arrived where they are. But the book will progress the narrative for everyone. For instance, this book was Kaladin's book, and you got flashbacks for him. He will appear substantially in the next book, and you'll have lots of viewpoints from him, but it will be someone else's book and that character will get flashbacks. Each book will have one central character, with two or three major characters who have no flashbacks and not quite as much screen time—characters like Dalinar and Shallan in the first book, and to a lesser extent Adolin and Szeth.

    The other thing that will continue is the interludes. I really enjoyed including those in the book; I'm not sure what people will think of them, but most of them are essentially going to be short stories set somewhere in the world, that enhance the main narrative and show different aspects of the world without forcing you to follow yet another plotline. They're just quick one-offs. You'll see those between parts in all of the other books.

    Tentative release date? I have to finish A Memory of Light first. I don’t know how long that will take to write. In a perfect world, which is probably not going to happen, the ideal case is that I’m able to finish A Memory of Light by around August of 2011, whereupon it gets published in November 2011 and I start Stormlight Two January of the next year and it's ready for publication in November 2012. That would be the ideal situation. I often do manage to hit the deadlines in ideal situations, but I'm not making any promises on this one. I'm thinking 2012 spring is more likely for A Memory of Light, but we'll see.

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  • 57

    Interview: Sep 13th, 2010

    Patrick

    As the overall story arc is nearing its conclusion and a panoply of plotlines are approaching their culmination in Towers of Midnight, is there added pressure for you as A Memory of Light draws nearer and you need to close the show with a bang?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. You phrased that very well. I don't know if I can add anything more to that; you've got it. Now, the nice thing to keep in mind is that I don't have to write the ending. The BANG has already been written by Robert Jordan, and as a reader I found it extremely satisfying when I reached it. And so I feel very confident that the ending of the next book is going to be what everyone has been hoping for and wanting—without being exactly what they expect. I think the ending that Robert Jordan is just wonderful. So at least I don't have to worry about that. But I do have to make this the best book that I can possibly write, and it's going to be a challenge. It's part of why I've decided that I have to slow down, as I said earlier, and just take my time on this one.

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  • 58

    Interview: Oct 19th, 2010

    John Ottinger

    Since you are now one book removed from Jordan's original composition, are you finding yourself having to be more original, since it is likely that you have less Jordan prepared material to work with?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Actually, the balance is rather similar, because of the way I developed the books. Half of the prologue scenes that Robert Jordan worked on ended up in The Gathering Storm; half ended up in Towers of Midnight. I'd say a third of the other material he worked on ended up in The Gathering Storm, and a third ended up in Towers of Midnight. In both cases I've had one character's plotline at the core of the book that was very well plotted out and worked on by Robert Jordan, and one plotline that to a greater extent I've had to add to of myself. That's been the same in both books.

    Working on A Memory of Light is going to be a different experience, because the greater amount of what Robert Jordan worked on is weighted toward the end of the book rather than all along one character viewpoint. But there will still be a lot of it there, and in that case I'm writing toward it. You have to remember that the way I write these books often is to take a viewpoint cluster, a group of characters, and write them through from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. Which means that I've already, even in The Gathering Storm, had to work on viewpoint lines for which there was less from Robert Jordan to use. So it's been the same experience—it's really divided by plotlines.

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  • 59

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2010

    Brandon Sanderson

    PART ONE: WHEEL OF TIME BOOKS PUBLICATION TIMELINE

    I posted earlier that Towers of Midnight is done, turned in, and ready for a November Second release. I'm feeling pretty good (though a little frazzled) at managing to get it in on deadline, by the promised date I gave you all in the blog post I made regarding splitting the novels. I stand by what I said there. I'm not expanding the outline left to me; I'm telling the same story I would have, even if the book hadn't been split. The order of chapters will be different in some cases, but nothing will be deleted or added.

    Current projections are for the final book, A Memory of Light, to be about the length of the other two. (Around three hundred thousand words, or eight hundred pages in hardcover.) There are some who are hoping for it to be huge, the biggest in the series, but I will write it at the length it needs to be. I've finished two books, and have done two-thirds of the outline. So that gives a good indication that the final chunk will be the same length as the other two.

    However, I do have to acknowledge that this is going to be the hardest chunk, for several reasons. The number of plots to be dealt with, the number of characters that need to be balanced, the sheer tactics and logistics of the Last Battle . . . there is a lot going on in this book, and it will be orders of magnitude more difficult than the previous two novels.

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  • 60

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2010

    Brandon Sanderson

    PART THREE: WARNINGS

    And so, we're entering the "refresh and work on side projects" stage of the writing process. I did this after The Gathering Storm, and I really need it now. I am therefore taking time off between now and January first. I get to write anything I want. It will probably be bizarre and unexpected; things that keep me fresh, things I haven't tried before.

    I ask your forbearance. I do believe that as a writer who has begun series, it is my responsibility to see that the other pieces of the story are written in a timely manner. However—and it may seem odd—I need to work on these other things to keep my next Wheel of Time and Stormlight installments good. It's how my process works.

    So, that's the first warning. I'm taking a break for three months. The second warning is that I can't promise I'll hit the final deadline on the Wheel of Time series. (The last one was supposed to be out in November 2011.) The problem is this: starting January, it will have been three years since I read the Wheel of Time series start to finish. That's too long. I'm starting to forget things. I won't feel comfortable starting the final book until I've done another re-read, and this is going to slow me down by three or four months. It's an unexpected delay I didn't fit into my original projections of how long it would take me to write the books.

    If I miss the deadline (which is more likely than not) it won't be by much. A few months, likely the same amount of time it takes me to do the re-read. But it is what must be done. So, I'd suggest that we set MARCH 2012 as the expected date of A Memory of Light. I suspect there will be some grumbling about this, but I feel I should let you know now, rather than later. It won't be an enormous delay, however. If my previous track record earns me anything, I hope it is the benefit of the doubt when it comes to me promising the release dates of books. I won't leave you hanging too long.

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  • 61

    Interview: Oct 29th, 2010

    James Rundle

    And have you had to put your own series on hold while working on The Wheel Of Time, or are you working on both?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I put mostly everything on hold. Certainly, a lot of stuff I write as a writer is in between books—I like to switch things up to keep myself from being burned out. I'm a compulsive writer, I love to do this. I write a lot because it's my passion but I do have to switch it up. So after the first one, after The Gathering Storm, I took a break and I wrote something else. It's a book that I've been working on for some 15 years by that point, it's called The Way Of Kings. It was something that I needed to do at that time. And now that I've finished Towers Of Midnight, I'm taking a short break and I'm writing something else. It's going to be much smaller, not an epic. It's just something to refresh myself for a couple of months before I go into A Memory Of Light. So yes and no. I have put a lot of things on hold, and that was kind of difficult, but at the same time the way that I am as a writer, I couldn't just work on one thing for three or four years straight. I had to stop and do side projects to keep me fresh. So you will occasionally see things, for instance The Way Of Kings, which is the start of a new series, my own massive epic so to speak. But you won't see the sequel for that until after A Memory Of Light is done, because I can't justify stopping long enough when this needs to be done.

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  • 62

    Interview: Oct 29th, 2010

    James Rundle

    So is A Memory Of Light still tentatively scheduled for 2011?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's scheduled for next year, yes. I'm going to start working on it in January. One thing that's going to slow me down, though, and I have to warn fans of this, is that it's now been three years since I've read the series straight through. I read it straight through when I started, but it's been three years now, so come January I have to re-read the series. I'm starting to forget things and that's not good, so that'll slow me down by three months or so. My expectation is that it'll push the book back by three months. If I started it in January, I could have it done and out by November, but I just don't feel right about that, so more likely you're going to see it in February.

    James Rundle

    In 2012?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. There's still a chance you'll see it in November, but I have to re-read the series, and I want to take my time with the last one. You'll probably see it in spring 2012.

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  • 63

    Interview: Nov 16th, 2010

    Brandon Sanderson

    He mentioned that doing Towers of Midnight and rewriting/editing The Way of Kings the same year was quite intense in terms of time. He is still committed to getting books out quickly and regularly, but The Way of Kings and Towers of Midnight in one year was more than he wants to do on a regular basis.

    He is going to take three months to reread the series and plans to have A Memory of Light done by end 2011 for a release in early 2012.

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  • 64

    Interview: Nov 8th, 2010

    Question

    Do you already have an outline for A Memory of Light? Is it partially built or do you have to do the whole thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's partially done. I have an outline, but Team Jordan hasn't read it yet. They will in March. I am also going to read through the entire series again before I start the last book.

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  • 65

    Interview: Jan 6th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    I spent the next little while tweaking Alloy of Law. I did a writing exercise to practice dialogue, which I posted. I've actually got more of that than I posted. (Maybe five chapters' worth.) I'll try to post more of that in the weeks ahead. I also did some work on Steelheart, which is coming together—but slowly.

    I'm through with all of that now, however, and as of Monday I'm working full-time on the Wheel of Time. I'll do another blog post on that here soon.

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  • 66

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Richard Fife

    Let's get to the big question here, the title of the panel. The status question: where are we at with A Memory of Light?

    Brandon Sanderson

    2% done.

    Richard Fife

    How long do you expect it might take to finish?

    Brandon Sanderson

    About till the end of the year-ish.

    Richard Fife

    And, as such, when might we see it on shelves?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some time next year.

    I can answer some of that a little more in depth. I am anticipating the length of the book to be about the length of The Gathering Storm. I am two-thirds of the way done with the notes with two of the three books, so that's a pretty good indicator. Because of that, I keep a progress bar on my web site, and every three thousand words of rough draft I write, I will increase that progress bar by 1%. Which means that you can know exactly how much is written. And three thousand words... I think in word count because I'm a writer—it's what we start doing—that's for a Wheel of Time book, that's like between half and a third of a chapter because Wheel of Time books have long chapters. It's basically a medium length to longer scene, but not a chapter. And so there are two scenes done. And you can go and you can look at The Gathering Storm which is about 300,000 words, and you can guess based on that, 1% of that is 3000 words.

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  • 67

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Richard Fife

    So we know you're doing the re-read of the series right now, and Twittering about it frantically. But how else are you preparing yourself to write the mother of all conclusions?

    Brandon Sanderson

    How am I preparing myself?

    Richard Fife

    And this actually is for all four of you.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll go first but I think that others will have some things to say along these lines. I think one of the things we're doing is we're slowing it down a bit. We all got overworked last year, and getting Towers of Midnight out by the date that we had promised and that Tor wanted it has had detrimental effects on our ability to work at the beginning of this year. And so, we are going to slow it down a bit. One of the reasons for this is the re-read, but one of the reasons is we just worked too hard last year. And there are repercussions for doing that, and if we do that again, you're going to end up with a bad book. So, I think that's one of the preparations we're doing. We're building in more time for revision, is really what we're doing.

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    I second that. Brandon is one of the world's fastest writers, but I am not one of the world's fastest editors. Last year was what Jim and I, well what I learned to do for Robert Jordan was curbside edits, kind of drive-by edits, but after a while that has a big cost. And there was no way, looking at the last book, that I could do my part of the work again as fast as I did last year.

    Richard Fife

    Alan? You have anything?

    Alan Romanczuk

    Preparation?

    (Mumbled conversation ensues between Alan and Brandon and something about battles...)

    Brandon Sanderson

    All I was going to say is, we're doing a lot of reading, all of us, in historical battles and the history of warfare in order to prime ourselves. I'm not going to tell you what specifically we're reading, but we are doing a lot of research in that area, particularly Alan and I.

    Tags

  • 68

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Ted Herman

    Is the prologue going to be a real prologue that's kind of split off between the first two prologues?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Can you define split off from the first two prologues?

    Ted Herman

    Well, the second one was a true prologue, even though it was part of three books that were originally going to be one book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The prologue will be like the other two. In fact, we even still have several scenes that Robert Jordan worked on for the prologue, just like we've had in the previous ones. We've mentioned the bulk of the actual writing he did was on the ending and on the prologue, and I have been able to fit several scenes from what he did in each of the prologues, and there's still some of that for this one.

    Tags

  • 69

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Question

    There's a lot of plot lines. Well, the pace of the books have changed a lot, immensely, from The Eye of the World all the way to what's going to come out in A Memory of Light. What are we going to expect in A Memory of Light? I know there's a lot of loose ends to tie up before it all finishes up. Are we going to expect it to be something very hectic? Is it going to be action packed the entire time, or is it going to be something less paced (?)?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm gonna RAFO that. Because that's talking too much about the core soul of what the book is. And honestly, you're going to have to decide that. I'm going to have to see what people think of it after I write it, if that makes sense. I don't think I can armchair decide if people are going to feel that this is . . . how people are going to feel this is. It's going to be a good book, and it will feel slightly different from Gathering Storm and slightly different from Towers of Midnight, just like each book in the series has felt slightly different than those before them.

    There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, though Robert Jordan has in his notes specifically several to not tie up. He says, 'this does not get resolved'. And so those will not be resolved. He wanted the world to keep on living and breathing even after the series was done. We are tying up pretty much everything that he did not tell us not to tie up, if my double negative worked there. And so the pace is going to be fairly quick-paced is basically what I can say, but I don't want to say anything more than that.

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  • 70

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Richard Fife

    Getting a little bit more back to the preparation thing, how are you handling the stress of you are now finishing the Wheel, it's not even another installment, this is Tarmon Gai'don. Is this any additional stress you're feeling, trying to deal with?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Robert Jordan wrote the ending, so that removes the greater bulk, I think, of that. There's stress to working on all of these, but I wouldn't say that this one has more stress than the others because my job has always been to get you to his ending without screwing it up. That's my job.

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    And you're doing it. Beautifully.

    Brandon Sanderson

    But, you know, in my mind these basically still are really one book, still. And when I write a book, I divide it up into sections in my head, anyway. Right now, I'm not even writing that. Right now I'm writing the prologue. And that section will get done, and I'll write the next section, and the next section. And then I'll get to the section that Robert Jordan did himself, and I can put that in, and that's the ending. If I didn't have that, this would be twenty times more stressful. I don't know if it would be possible as a project if we didn't have that.

    Richard Fife

    That's good to hear. Alan, Maria, do you have anything, stress levels or anything that you're noticing, unique to dealing with the end right now?

    Maria Simons

    Well, after all the typos and stuff in Towers, I'm really feeling compelled to do my darndest to have the next one be lots cleaner.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Though we will say, we can mention that there were a large number of beta readers from the Wheel of Time community, that we can now make share our blame, because they missed them all, too.

    Maria Simons

    Oh, and I found one that—we had it absolutely perfect going in to Tor, but somehow a word just vanished into the ether.

    Audience

    Retire the RAFO cap.

    Maria Simons

    It will be retired, but not yet.

    Terez

    You'll still have to think, those things that aren't supposed to be revealed that you know.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, there'll be the things that aren't supposed to be revealed. And those will have to be kept close to your heart.

    Maria Simons

    That's not a problem. No, I can't RAFO, but it'll be okay—just, 'no comment'. I've been practicing that one.

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  • 71

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Leigh Butler

    What do think you're going to feel like once it is actually done and out and over? Is it just going to relief? Do you think you're going to be kind of sad? Collapse in a puddle on the floor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    All of the above. It's going to be a major relief; there will be a sadness to it. There will be definitely a sadness, though having read the ending already, that sadness began for me in 2007, because the series is already finished for me. The work isn't done, but the series is finished. And so that melancholy, it won't come to a crux until that book is finally out. But I think the others might, you know they've been working on this much longer than I have, so they may have something different to say.

    Alan Romanczuk

    Yeah, it's been a long ride. It's going to be wonderful to have it finished; it's going to be sad that it will be finished. It won't be totally finished for Harriet, Maria, and myself because we'll be producing the encyclopedia, which will come out approximately a year after this book hits the bookshelves. This is the longest I've ever held a job. And you know, it hasn't felt like a job. I always say that my life is primarily fantasy, if you include very vivid dreams, the food I eat, what I do after dinner, there's very little reality left in my world. So I'm curious to see how that's going to change when this is all over. But yeah, it's been a great ride.

    Maria Simons

    It's been a very good ride. And it'll be good to have it finished in some ways, and it will be sad. I've been doing this fifteen years now, and it's going to be different. But, I am looking forward to being able to actually really talk about the Wheel of Time without having to think really hard about every word I say.

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  • 72

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2011

    Question

    Can you describe at this point—I hope this doesn't jump too much into spoiler territory—can you describe how you're approaching the tone of this book? I know The Gathering Storm, from the first page of The Gathering Storm, I thought, wow, this is grim. And as it goes and it goes, and as Rand goes and goes, this book goes to a dark place. And then, in Towers, from almost the first chapter, you're like, oh wow, this is a very different experience we've got, with Rand coming back down. But even the whole book just felt different. Can you describe at a top level how the tone of this next book is going to feel? Is it going to be grim? Is it going to be one of happy victory? (laughter) That's not really where I'm going. What I'm really going for, is just from the notion of as the book is going, how does the tone go?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is much like the other question I wasn't sure I wanted to get into, just because it's too early to be talking about that. And so I really think I'll just leave this one alone. It's a good question to ask and be thinking of, and I do do these things consciously, but I don't think it's time to talk about it yet.

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  • 73

    Interview: May 30th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right, so on the trainride, there was talk of the prologues, Brandon said that in each of the prologues for the last three books there is one section that was fully written by RJ—in The Gathering Storm it was the farmer scene and in Towers of Midnight it was the Borderlanders' scene.

    He said that the prologue will most probably be released ahead of time again (no big surprise there) and ideally he'd like for people to be able to buy the prologue and then get that much discount on the actual book, however that's difficult to manage with laws and regulations and such.

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  • 74

    Interview: May 30th, 2011

    Isabel

    Another question I asked was about the structure of A Memory of Light.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is perfectly clear, Brandon knows every scene, but he just has to write it.

    The title A Memory of Light is still fitting for the book. I was wondering about it, because RJ origiinally wanted all in one book.

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  • 75

    Interview: May 30th, 2011

    Isabel

    Oh yeah, about the release date [of A Memory of Light].

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon hopes to finish the book this year, but the release date depends on how fast the editing is going. Harriet wants to take six months to edit it. As everyone knows, last year was hell and went too quickly with editing.

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  • 76

    Interview: May 30th, 2011

    Isabel

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon is working also on the prologue, chapter one, and some other random scenes for A Memory of Light. He told us that one part of the prologue is mostly RJ's. For the last book it was the Borderlands part in the prologue and the farmer part in The Gathering Storm.

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  • 77

    Interview: May 30th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon hopes to finish A Memory of Light near the end of the year and turn it in for editing. Then Harriet will get all the time she needs (probably six months) to edit the book. If we wouldn't have got him into Amsterdam he could have written a chapter while waiting at the airport. So sorry folks, that we caused a small delay.

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  • 78

    Interview: Jun 4th, 2011

    Question

    The second question focused on the release date of A Memory of Light, the final book in the series.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sanderson answered that it would be in 2012, probably between March and November, but more likely to be towards the end of the year. The reason for this is because Harriet had requested more time to edit the book as she felt the previous books were rushed, hence the typos. During the book signing stage, Sanderson also revealed that his re-read of the Wheel of Time was another reason.

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  • 79

    Interview: Aug 1st, 2011

    SciFi Bulgaria

    How's the writing of A Memory of Light coming along? Can you tell us something more about it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm currently at the 34% mark on the first draft, and I plan to finish the draft before I go on tour in November for the release of The Alloy of Law. At that point the book will go into the editing stage, which will take several months. Harriet wants to make sure we take enough time polishing this book so it isn't released with a lot of mistakes, and I agree with this choice. This is the final book; it has to be done right.

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  • 80

    Interview: Aug 29th, 2011

    Literatopia

    What can we expect from you in the near (and far) future? Do you have any specific plans or are you still waiting to be inspired for further work?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've always got things in the works, but to announce them this is probably not the forum or the time to announce them. People can watch my website. I'm very excited that the new Mistborn book, The Alloy of Law, is coming out in November. And of course I'm working on the last book of the Wheel of Time, which will be released sometime in 2012. Beyond that? I'm pretty busy with the things that I've put on my plate, so perhaps I will stay away from teasing people with things that are years and years off.

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  • 81

    Interview: Aug 21st, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    No publishing date has been chosen for A Memory of Light, it depends on how long the editing takes. (On Sunday he said that it was likely to be sometime between June and November 2012.)

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  • 82

    Interview: Oct 10th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've put up another Twitter archive post. And as I continue writing the first draft of A Memory of Light (now up to 75% of my 300,000-word projection), keep your eye on Twitter and Facebook. Each time I come across a spot in the book where I need to insert a new name, I'll pick one from the A Memory of Light fundraiser drawing that's currently ongoing, and I'll announce whose name I picked. For more info see last week's post.

    Tags

  • 83

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Reddit AMA 2011 (Verbatim)

    Axelkappa ()

    You previously mentioned on twitter a GRRM-esque moment in A Memory of Light. Any more on that? In the end are you going to apologize or feel awesome?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When the book is out, ask me about this. I'll tell you which one it was. It's something I was struggling with, trying different takes on. Finally, some things came together. I'll say more, but I'll put it in spoiler text. (It's not very spoilery, but some people don't want to know anything.) [highlight to read] It is a moment of awesomeness, but also is somewhat cruel. There is a death involved. It could be from the side of the Light, it could be from the side of the Shadow.

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  • 84

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    A Memory of Light will most likely out between June and Nov 2012.

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  • 85

    Interview: Aug 4th, 2011

    Question

    The first question is cut off. Mi'chelle believes the question is: How epic is the Last Battle?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I guess it depends on your definition of 'epic'. I mean, it feels pretty epic to me. There's a lot of stuff going on in this book. I hope people don't get lost, is what I'm worried about. I mean, everything is kind of coming to a head. I can't say much, but it's pretty epic.

    Question

    For the Last Battle how many points of view are you doing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm using a lot of them. There's going to be all the mainstays. Rand will get viewpoints again. Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne. And there will be some Tuon, and then there will be some little shots from all over the place. The Great Captains will all be involved, so you'll be seeing from them. You'll be seeing from pretty much everybody. I'm trying to give at least one little scene from them if we've had a major perspective [from them], we'll try to do some from them. But, you know, the core is going to be the main characters. So: the Two Rivers guys and the Wonder Girls, basically, if you follow the parlance from the websites.

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  • 86

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Reddit AMA 2011 (Verbatim)

    Jezrien ()

    Do you ever feel a real desire to just start on the Stormlight Archive 2? A Memory of Light must have its perks to write but do you ever just want to get stuck in to book two?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I do feel that desire to get on to Stormlight 2. However, this is not a new feeling. In every book—at about the 50% mark or so—I want to be moving on to the next book. By then, I've already done a lot of the exciting things in worldbuilding and discovering characters, but I'm not yet to the exciting ending.

    This is a challenge for a lot of writers. I know Neil Gaiman has spoken on it before. I have trained myself to remain focused on the project at hand.

    Jezrien

    Do you ever take breaks away from A Memory of Light and go over notes and ideas for the next installment of the Stormlight Archive?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, I do take breaks and outline other projects (specifically Stormlight.) But not for long.

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  • 87

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Reddit AMA 2011 (Verbatim)

    VardaNienna ()

    On your Twitter you said that the bar for A Memory of Light is around 48%; I just want to thank you for putting the effort the book deserves into it, and I was just wondering how long approximately it will take to finish writing? I just don't like guesstimating because I'm usually way off. Absolutely love your work!

    Brandon Sanderson

    For a lot of books, I go faster and faster as I approach the ending.

    My goal for this one is to be done November 8th, when I go on tour. That means doing about 5% a week, or 15k words. At six days a week, that's very doable. Assuming I don't do any more day-long reddit AMAs...

    Fast speed for me is 4k a day. Slow is about 1.5k.

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  • 88

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    TaurusRW

    Will the material written for A Memory of Light by Jordan remain intact in the published novel or will you rewrite it to match your on style of writing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I am leaving it as intact as possible. In some places, a paragraph at the beginning or end of a section has to be changed to streamline it into the rest of the narrative. In others, line edits have to be done (mostly by Harriet) to fix the language. (Nothing we have from him is in more than a rough draft form.)

    But where I can, I'm not changing anything. Because of this, readers who look very closely might be able to tell where I wrote and where he wrote. But I don't think it is noticeable without detailed scrutiny.

    I suggest to readers that they read the book straight through the first time without trying to pick out which piece was written by which author. I'm hoping to get permission to speak more specifically about how it was all divided once the three books are all out. Then, you can know for certain. But for now, I would prefer (and I'm certain Mr. Jordan would prefer) that you see through the prose and enjoy the story.

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  • 89

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    ErrantKnave

    WOT questions: Will all three A Memory of Light books feature Rand, Mat, and Perrin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Short answer: Yes.

    Longer answer: They will all three appear in all three books, but it will not be equally balanced. Some characters will be more of a focus in some of the books, and other will be more of a focus in others. This is particularly true of the first two volumes, where I had to juggle which characters would be a focus in one, and which will be a focus in the other.

    ErrantKnave

    I ask because you said the prologue Robert Jordan wrote would probably be split over two books.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it will be. I don't know yet if the third volume will have a prologue or not. The material Mr. Jordan wrote for the prologue is split, half in the prologue of The Gathering Storm, half in the prologue of the second volume.

    ErrantKnave

    Does this mean story arcs are getting split as well?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I tried to keep story arcs contained in a single book. We'll get glimpses from some of the characters in the first book, with a more complete story arc in the second book. And we'll get story arcs in the first book from some characters, followed by glimpses in the second.

    The split actually turned out really well. I think I managed to get a balance working where characters don't vanish for entire volumes, but we still get to have complete character arcs.

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  • 90

    Interview: Nov 11th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    A Memory of Light is already near 300,000 words (he's marked it 90% on his web page), plus there's about 20,000 for RJ's ending, and BWS needs about another 20,000 to get the two joined up. It will likely end up at around 340,000 words—roughly the size of Towers of Midnight. He needs 2-3 good solid weeks of writing to finish it up, which will have to wait until this signing tour is over. He expects to finish the first draft by early December. Final release date will depend on how much time Harriet needs for editing as well as the marketing people's choice for good timing—like not going directly up against another major competitor for the #1 spot on the NYT Bestseller List. Sometime between July and November next year.

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  • 91

    Interview: 2012

    Werthead (11 October 2011)

    Interesting. Orbit's new 'Turn the Wheel of Time' promo thing seems adamant that A Memory of Light will be November 2012.

    WERTHEAD

    I thought that was still up in the air and an earlier release was possible (especially if @BrandSanderson delivers by Jan 2012).

    Brandon Sanderson (11 October 2011)

    The date hasn't been picked yet, so theoretically anything next year is possible.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    However, realistically, I doubt Tor will pass up the holiday season for the last WoT book. Or at least the summer season.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    While they COULD pick spring, it wouldn't make much sense marketing wise, and I think Harriet wants a good six months to edit.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That means July is the earliest, November the latest, we will see the book. I'd put my money on somewhere in-between.

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  • 92

    Interview: Nov 15th, 2010

    Alex C. Telander

    Yep. So you kind of mentioned you'd have no books coming out in the next year. So when do you plan on having the next Stormlight Archive book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will start writing the next Stormlight Archive book as soon as A Memory of Light is done and we're satisfied with it. And so, I haven't been able to give people a strict date on that. What I've been telling people right now is January 1st I'm starting back on the Wheel of Time. I'm going to re-read the entire series. And then I'm going to start working on A Memory of Light, and it's however long it takes. In the past, it's taken working on these around a year to eighteen months to get them all finished and turned in. And who knows how long this last one will take, because the Wheel of Time books take me much longer than my own books because of that need, before I write every viewpoint, to spend time re-reading Robert Jordan's books. And so, I've just been telling people one year from the publication date of A Memory of Light looks like a likely bet for the next Stormlight book.

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  • 93

    Interview: Nov 9th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, I'm off on my tour. The Alloy of Law release party was a blast, even though the bookstore was a little light on copies. We managed to get everyone a book, I think. So huzzah, and forward.

    One of the things I announced yesterday on Twitter and Facebook was another Great Hunt to coincide with my tour. If you aren't familiar with it, this is a concept from the Wheel of Time books which I (very loosely) adapted into a scavenger hunt to hold while on tour. I leave codes hidden around the world for Wheel of Time fans to locate, and they collectively input them into a web page which slowly unlocks text for everyone to see. (You can read a recap of last year's Great Hunt here.)

    I have some thirty codes to reveal, hide, or otherwise give out while on tour this time. I may hide some inside books in certain bookstores. I might give them to individuals (like Tor employees) for safe keeping, and require you to figure out who they are. Or, perhaps, you might have to do something else. Whatever strikes me.

    Before we go farther, however, some ground rules:

    1. The codes are inside envelopes this year, with a label requesting that a bookstore employee NOT open the envelope and read the code over the phone. I'll probably prepare the bookstore employees for what is coming. You are required to fetch the codes yourself, or at least send someone you personally know to get the code. I don't want you bothering employees of any store—whether it be bookstores or someone from a store next door—to do the work for you. They aren't being paid to fetch codes. If you know someone in the area and can send them, go for it. Avoid bothering strangers.

    2. All but four of the codes need to be entered in order to reveal the secret, but each one inputted will reveal small bits. This is a collective endeavor. Share information, work together. Once you find a code, input it on this page. Everyone else, feel free to watch the page and try to figure out what the secret is going to be as more is revealed.

    3. It is okay to try to guess codes. They have something in common. In a way, they are some fun information themselves.

    4. If you want to get involved, both Theoryland and Dragonmount (among others) are likely to have threads where you can post, participate, and see what codes have been found and what others have been tried. You can follow the hunt's progress by searching for the hashtag #wotgh on Twitter.

    Now, as to the secret itself, I feel I should manage some expectations. Last year, we revealed a chapter from the upcoming Wheel of Time book. There are no chapters that are ready this time; they're all in first-draft stage. So the secret this time will not be something quite so earth-shattering. (Sorry.)

    I still think it is cool, though it is more in the 'cool curiosity' category rather than the 'sneak peek' category. This is something that was written by Robert Jordan himself, and is taken directly from his notes. People have frequently asked us to show some of the notes, and Harriet agreed to let us show you this chunk. It is illustrative of the kinds of things you'd find in the notes themselves.

    So, swear the hunter's oath and get to it! Let's have some fun. I plan to give away some of these in each city I visit, so UK Wheel of Time fans, you should have plenty of opportunities this year to help out.

    Best,

    Brandon

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  • 94

    Interview: Nov 7th, 2011

    Neth

    Since pretty much all fantasy fans are eagerly anticipating one story or another from you, let's do the obligatory update on your on-going projects. How is A Memory of Light coming? Stormlight Archive 2? The Rithmatist? Alcatraz? Are any other side projects about to unexpectedly see the light of day?

    Brandon Sanderson

    As of doing this interview, the last book of the Wheel of Time is nearly done, but boy, that's a big "nearly." There's so much work to do with the last chunk of this book that it's feeling pretty overwhelming right now. My goal is to have a revised manuscript in to Harriet by January 1st. When it comes out will depend on how long it takes to edit it.

    The second Stormlight Archive book is in the planning stages; I should go right into writing that starting January 1st, with it coming out hopefully around a year after that, maybe March 2013. That's a long wait since The Way of Kings was released, and I hate to make people wait that much, but I plan to write the third book fairly soon thereafter.

    Alcatraz is on hold until I decide what to do with the series. I will write one more book in that eventually. The Rithmatist is exciting; it's fun; but I also don't want to have too many balls up in the air that people are reading and having to keep track of. So I keep delaying it with Tor, saying we shouldn't release it until I'm sure I can commit to getting the trilogy done in a reasonable amount of time.

    Other than that, I have a few random side projects in the works that should be coming your direction. I always have random side projects in the works, but none of those are ready for announcement yet.

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  • 95

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2011)

    Okay, over the next two weeks, I'll write the final climatic scenes of the entire Wheel of Time. All save the last scene, which RJ did.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    New Music bought. (New Daft Punk and E.S. Posthumus.) Deep breath taken. Goal: 10% (30k words) in two weeks. And...go.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    And, not by coincidence, Happy Birthday to Robert Jordan. May you rest in peace, master storyteller.

    MIGNON FOGARTY

    No pressure, right? ;-)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    If I hit my goal today, I'm going to open the Magic card gift that Aaron Thompson sent me via the wishlist. Aaron, you're awesome. Thanks!

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  • 96

    Interview: 2012

    Pants McGee (20 October 2011)

    A couple of days ago, you said your goal for the next handful of days was 30k words. How final- or draft-ish are those 30k?

    Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2011)

    Pretty draft-ish. I tend to do a quick first draft, then polish a lot.

    DENNIS HIGBEE

    How many more drafts do you expect to go through before you turn A Memory of Light in to Harriet?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Two or three.

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  • 97

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (21 October 2011)

    I'm pleased to say that I'm nearly to my goal this week, and should hit it with work tonight. Moving the A Memory of Light progress bar to 80%.

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  • 98

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (25 October 2011)

    Writing on A Memory of Light might be a little slower this week. Been coordinating heavily with Alan R. from Team Jordan on Last Battle tactics.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It should be noted that Alan R (Team Jordan member) has been acting as my own personal Great Captain on A Memory of Light, and really doing a great job.

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  • 99

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (3 November 2011)

    Sorry to vanish for a few days, folks. Been making a big push to get A Memory of Light done. Still a lot of work to do, but the end is in sight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Cautiously moving the A Memory of Light progress bar up to 90% done, reflecting work finished this week and last.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This last 10% is going to be tough to call. I'm not ready to put in the chunk that RJ wrote yet. We're close, but not there yet.

    FANTASY AUTHOR

    Are you starting to get a little wistful? Getting to the end must feel... so final.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yeah. I am, and it does.

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  • 100

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Meyer (14 November 2011)

    Do you have a narrowed down release window for A Memory of Light yet?

    Brandon Sanderson (14 November 2011)

    I've been all over on this, when people ask me. I think Tor has been saying fall, but I am not certain.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The thing is, we don't know how long it will take to edit. We want to be very careful with this one.

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  • 101

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (14 November 2011)

    It appears that people in Lexington don't eat late lunches. Both room service and the pizza place near are closed for lunch already.

    BRANDON

    Pizza hut it is. And, it looks like (for the first time on the tour) I have a chunk of time to write. I'll get to it, then.

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  • 102

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Reddit AMA 2011 (Verbatim)

    douchebag karren ()

    Do you work on one story until it's done, or do you work on one, then move to another, then come back to the first?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I usually write new material for one book at a time, but will often jump off of that for a while and do edits on another, then come back. With A Memory of Light, for example, I'll probably finish it in November, write something very short to clear my mind, then come back and do edits while I start working on the second Stormlight book.

    Tags

  • 103

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (27 November 2011)

    After three weeks on the road, and 25 hours of travel today, am finally home.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (28 NOVEMBER)

    Back at home, sitting before my fireplace, taking a deep breath and preparing to dive back into A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (1 DECEMBER)

    Still hard at work on A Memory of Light here. Want to do a blog post to wrap up The Great Hunt and my tour, but so far, haven't had time.

    Tags

  • 104

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (2 December 2011)

    Moved A Memory of Light from 90% done to 92% done on my website progress bar. Getting very close now.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Writing a conversation between two of the Forsaken right now.

    DEL REY SPECTRA

    I read this too quickly and thought you said "writing a conversation between two of the Foreskin right now".

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That would be a VERY different book, eh?

    Tags

  • 105

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (6 December 2011)

    For those who do not know, Darrell Sweet—illustrator of all of the Wheel of Time covers—has passed away. My thoughts.

    ANDREA DIGNEY

    If the cover is scrapped, will the book be delayed?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No. We have enough time for someone else to do one.

    Tags

  • 106

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (8 December 2011)

    Okay, A Memory of Light is going fine..the book is awesome, but it feels like I've been working on it FOREVER. I need some motivation, so...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'm going to start doing what I did last year. If I hit my wordcounts, I will open a pack of Magic cards as a reward. Yes, I'm a nerd.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    People are asking how close the draft is to being done. Close, but I keep realizing there are points that need expanding.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Current length of A Memory of Light: 313,000 words. Towers of Midnight—the longest of the two I've done so far—was 335k. A Memory of Light will be at least that long.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It WILL come out next year, and will not be split again. I'm close to the end, but still have several weeks worth of hard work to do.

    SKYLA GRIMES

    Is there a word-count length that you are encouraged not to exceed?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Over 400k would really be pushing it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    And, as 5:00 rolls around, I have managed (barely) to hit my 2k wordcount goal so far today. Time for a Magic pack!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This one was sent to be by a fan, via my Amazon wishlist. (No name was included.) Whoever you are, thanks! The rare is: http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=246954

    LOCAL VIEWER

    Is the infamous last scene Robert Jordan left behind already part of the 313,000 words?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No, it is not. So the 'finished' length is actually longer. I haven't put that chunk in yet.

    JEFF

    Is your average word count goal/day usually 2k?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    On a WoT novel, which is much harder, that is a fair count. On something simpler, 3-4k is average.

    DONAGH MARNANE

    I'm just wondering why you have a daily wordcount—surely the quality is more important than the length?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I believe that daily goals are important, as crafting a great book requires work as much as it does inspiration.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Laying down a rough first draft, then polishing over and over, is the path I've found to creating excellent work.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    Have you written through the ending for all the main characters? If so, is the rest just "expanding" scenes out?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Not all of them yet. Just a few.

    ROBYN ESTERBIZZLE

    You are working on the final book in an epic series that people have been reading for decades and you need a game for motivation?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Even when you love what you do, it can be hard to work 12 hour days to finish a book after an exhausting tour.

    Tags

  • 107

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (9 December 2011)

    Back at work on A Memory of Light. May be the day to reveal a side-character's long-hidden motivations .

    JAMES BIRTLES

    Do we get a clue as to whom this character is?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    If I told you that, you'd be expecting it. I'm afraid it is a RAFO. This character HAS been a little suspicious.

    LEBO GUME

    Mr. @BrandSanderson please stop teasing A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Sorry. Some people really want to watch the progress, and so I try to keep the posts as spoiler-free as possible.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This afternoon's "Brandon opens Magic cards as he writes" comes sponsored by Sarah Bartram, who sent the cards off my wishlist. Thanks!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The rare was this card (which is sweet, since I like zombie cards): http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=230786

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just wrote a scene with Bela in it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    This scene is one that RJ left instruction for in his notes; it gave me shivers when reading.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Okay, that scene's done, and it is beyond awesome. Over 3k done; opening another pack sent by Sarah B. ...Mythic rare! http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247236

    Tags

  • 108

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (12 December 2011)

    Okay, deep breath, back to work at the WoT. Can I be finished by Koloss Head-munching Day? (December 19th.) We shall see...

    BEN TACOMA

    Who would win—a massive Koloss or an Ogier warrior from Seanchan?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ogier are far smarter and better-trained. A koloss would have a hard time winning.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    (For those confused, Koloss Head-Munching Day happens on my birthday. It has a long backstory that won't fit into my post here.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The short is this: A fan asked if there were any holidays in the Mistborn world. I jokingly said Koloss Head-Munching Day. Fans ran with it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For today's A Memory of Light work, I'm jumping back in the book a little ways and catching up a character to the rest.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just finished re-reading some important bits of WoT Book Two in order to write this next section of A Memory of Light.

    CHRISTOPHER

    When is A Memory of Light out? I thought January, but I've heard it's been put back?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    My goal is to finish it by January. Sorry about the delay. It will be next year some time, but probably later in the year.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Current A Memory of Light length: 322,000 words. Moving us to 94% done, though I can't say exactly how much is left. 94% is just a guess at this point.

    Tags

  • 109

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (13 December 2011)

    Just finished a scene in A Memory of Light that ranks among the most visually powerful I've ever done. I REALLY want to see this one in film form.

    Brandon Sanderson

    A lot of questions about the WoT film rights. Universal has the rights. Maybe I should have phrased my last tweet as...

    Brandon Sanderson

    "Dear Universal, please do a good job on the first WoT movie, because you really, REALLY need to get to book 14 and do this scene."

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't know how far off the WoT film is. The screenwriters produced a new draft of the script a few weeks back. I have not read it.

    Selene O'Rourke

    I would love to see a Wheel of Time movie series or TV miniseries. Has anyone optioned that you can mention?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Universal has the rights. Not an option, but a full buy-out.

    Muaz Zekeria

    Just out of curiosity would you prefer WoT to be a film series or a TV series a la Game of Thrones? Also keep up the great work.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would prefer television.

    Killer Bob

    Do you know if the film is going to be super-long like the Lord of the Rings movies, split in parts like Harry Potter or something ...

    Killer Bob

    ...else? Also, thank you for finishing WoT! I really, really like the books you've written, they're excellent!

    Killer Bob

    By that I mean the WoT books. I like the other books too (especially Mistborn), but not as much as WoT.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thanks for reading! The plan now is one film that covers Eye of the World, and will be somewhat long.

    Chase Emory

    I don't understand why you wouldn't be working integrally with the screenwriter, I hope they realize that this isn't a movie...

    Chase Emory

    ...that they can just pump out. They need to do an amazing job or not waste their time.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm hoping they will let me comment on the screenplay, but so far, I've been kind of busy with A Memory of Light...

    Nate Rios

    I haven't read WOT but these A Memory of Light Tweets are making me want to check it out! I've not read any of Jordan's work. Thoughts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I love the WoT, and have for many years. It is a long journey, however, so be warned.

    Christopher

    When is A Memory of Light out; I thought January, but I've heard its been put back?

    Shaun Duquette

    Gah,this is unacceptable!! You've already delayed this once!!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not much I can do, I'm afraid. I'm turning it in on time; the date is being set by the publisher.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, that scene is done. Now I have a few quick, one-shot viewpoints to do. People you may not expect.

    Josh Hlibichuk

    Do we get a Dark One PoV? Is that question an auto-RAFO?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO, of course. :)

    Tags

  • 110

    Interview: Jun, 2011

    Marie Curie

    Here's the first one, posted 14 October 2011. It's basically just a plug to look out for promotional stuff over the next year or so. I do like how it displays at the end that A Memory of Light is coming out in November 2012. And I was also amused by Brandon's glasses being crooked...

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is Brandon Sanderson, sitting here in London as we begin the last year until the Wheel of Time finally ends. This is a very bittersweet experience for a lot of us. I know a lot of you have been reading the books for quite a long time. I started them myself back in, boy, 1990, so we're coming to the end. And as this last year passes, we will be doing lots of fun events. You can watch the Orbit web site for all sorts of interesting promotions. And, as we launch Towers of Midnight in paperback, we're going to do all sorts of fun promotions.

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  • 111

    Interview: Jun, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    But mostly, I guess I just wanted to say that this is your last chance to read the series before the end comes. And so, read along with me. Read along with the other fans as we approach this final book, A Memory of Light, which will be coming out some time in 2012.

    Tags

  • 112

    Interview: Dec 15th, 2011

    Question

    Quick question I get asked all the time working here at Barnes and Noble. When are you expected general release dates for Stormlight Archive #2 and A Memory of Light?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Alright, so this is what I'm doing right now. I am turning in A Memory of Light December 31st. If I don't, Harriet will probably fly to my house and shake me. And so I will start writing Stormlight 2 right then. It's going to be a tough year because I want to get that done as soon as it is reasonable but I also have to edit the wheel of time book. and I will balance those two projects. Wheel of Time—I will tell you, most likely is October, November. We would like it to be sooner, but we have to wait on Harriet's edits, and beyond that, it's the last book, and she requested extra time to make sure we get everything in it.

    That is my guess right now. Stormlight 2, if I'm on the ball, is March or April of the following year [2013]. That is what I'm really shooting for. The only other release that I have potentially is Tor has been hanging on to my children's books that they haven't yet been sure when they want to release. They actually have a book that is called Scribbler , which has been renamed the Rithmatist, and people see me talk about it. I actually wrote that one back in 2007 I think? Yeah, 2007. They've been hanging on to that one. I keep being noncomittal on that because it needs heavy rewrites.

    So it needs a heavy rewrite. It would take like 2-3 months, and I've not had 2-3 months to dedicate to it. The other book they have of mine is Steelheart, which I've read from at things at signings and whatnot, it's a book I wrote a while ago during one of my breaks. They may release one of those next year, I'm not sure. Probably not The Rithmatist, because I don't have 2-3 months to spare. We may see Steelheart next Summer or next Fall. The thing is, they are in the process of acquiring the Alcatraz books from Scholastic, to repackage them, and they said they probably going to get that deal for sure, so they have them. So they probably want to do an original, like Steelheart, or Rithmatist, before they release the Alcatraz books, so they say "Hey, Tor has Brandon's children's books, now here is a new children's book, and by the way, here are repackaged books." Kind of in tandem in the publicity place. If they were going to do this, Steelheart in September, alongside Alcatraz 1 repackaged in September, and then 2, 3, 4 repackaged in the next months, and then Alcatraz 5.

    So that is what's going on right there. A lot of it depends on how long it takes to write Stormlight 2.

    MEMBER OF THE AUDIENCE

    It's okay, we're Wheel of Time fans. We're used to waiting. (laughter)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I want to be more punctual than some authors have been recently in fantasy. (laughter) The thing about it is, we sometimes give Robert Jordan some grief about this but he was really good. There was a book a year for many years and then he went to a book every two years, and it wasn’t until late in his career when he was sick that he got a lot slower. He is actually a good model to follow. I’d like to have a book every year, going forward for as long as I can. I’d really like to do 2 Stormlight Archives every three years, if possible. I’m not sure if that’s viable or not.

    JOSH

    We would like that too. (laughter)

    Footnote

    Brandon is now shooting for late 2013, early 2014 for the Words of Radiance release date

    Tags

  • 113

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (14 December 2011)

    Back at work on A Memory of Light. I have two early sequences I left half-finished because I felt I needed to lay down more important sequences first.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Still working on those smaller, early-book sequences I mentioned . This one involves a character who had his first viewpoint in Towers of Midnight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Good progress on A Memory of Light this week. Around 3k Monday and Tuesday, and 2.4k words today so far.

    Tags

  • 114

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (15 December 2011)

    Scene I'm working on needs to be trashed and rewritten from a different viewpoint. Ah, well.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Okay, the scene is working much better now. Basically, a half-day lost, but it is worth backing up if something isn't working.

    JOE LAVOIE

    When you say a scene isn't "working" what does that mean? Bad mojo, doesn't feel right, or its there a technical reason?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    All three, actually. Mostly, it just feels wrong.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    And it is fixed now. Hard to judge my wordcount today, since I spent time fixing, but I'm opening a pack of Magic cards as a reward.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Current length of A Memory of Light: 335,000 words, same size as Towers of Midnight. And I haven't finished yet, nor have I added in RJ's ending.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Even with edits, this will be the longest of the three WoT books I've done. Don't worry about it being split, though. That won't happen.

    DANIEL ANDERSON

    Is RJ's ending ready for primetime? Or do you have an outline of how it is supposed to go?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I should be able to put it in without changing anything other than a quick smoothing of the language.

    SISTER INFANT

    Will there be any indication in the book as to when RJ's ending starts? Like a footnote from you or Harriet or something?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No, but I will tell you once the book is out, after you've read it.

    JOHN ANDERSON

    Hello! Just wondering, was the Borderland Tower sequence in Towers of Midnight (with Malenarin Rai) originally part of RJ's prologue?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    He wrote most of that scene himself, actually.

    JOHN ANDERSON

    Cool! Are you allowed to say whether it was part of his prologue (which I gather you split and distributed over The Gathering Storm/Towers of Midnight)?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, it was.

    JOE KOGELMANN

    What was the logest of all the WoT books? How many words?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Longest ones have been around 390k words. Books Four and Six. I forget which was the longer.

    STEPHEN HART

    Any chance of reading these alternate scenes once A Memory of Light is released; on your website maybe? Kinda like DVD deleted scenes...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Maybe.

    GREG LINDSEY

    Why do you suppose Wikipedia is inaccurate, saying Towers of Midnight [is] 325,998? Should it be edited? Are those word counts reliable?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Likely, theirs is without the glossary, which I just noticed mine has in it.

    BRYAN

    but but but...Wikipedia says Towers of Midnight is 325,998 words! Who to trust, Wikipedia or the author!? *brain explodes*

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just noticed my edocument has the glossary attached. Maybe that's the reason for the difference. Mine is pre-copyedit too.

    DASUGO

    You usually go through a vicious edit phase right?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes. I tend to cut 10%, but Harriet's suggestions have usually added about that much, and we've balanced at the end.

    Tags

  • 115

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (16 December 2011)

    Still have a little work to do on this little sequence near the beginning of the book.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A little background: I wrote half of it in June, but felt I needed to be working on main characters more, so left it to write Perrin.

    Tags

  • 116

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (19 December 2011)

    Many thanks, all, for the birthday (and Koloss Head-munching Day) wishes! You are all awesome. To celebrate, I'm writing A Memory of Light. ;)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    To get ready for today's writing, I have put on my "Blood and Bloody ashes" shirt from Ta'veren Tees. (https://taverentees.com/threads/)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Note that my wife stole my Koloss Head-Munching Day shirt for the day, which is why I'm not wearing it. (http://store.inkwing.com/happy-koloss-head-munching-day-t-shirt)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Also, for A Memory of Light, I did finish the early-book material I'd left for later, and am back at the ending. My shirt is very appropriate today.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Hm... I haven't given any good A Memory of Light teases today, have I? Well, right now, one of the Forsaken is wearing the image of another Forsaken.

    POOKA

    And I was hoping you would say one of the Forsaken was wearing another's pants.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Well, that too, of course.

    Tags

  • 117

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (20 December 2011)

    Still hard at work on A Memory of Light. Today's scenes involve lots of loud noises.

    MARK HOWARD

    Just curious, have you read the end scenes that RJ wrote? Or are you waiting till you get there?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I read them as soon as I got them. I needed to use them as a target 'goal' for the book.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Now, on to a scene that finally, at long last, fulfills something Min saw long ago...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've finished all characters except Rand and Mat. (Note, I'm not writing in order; other characters have already-written scenes after this.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Now, I have to finish Mat's climax, write a few more Rand scenes, then add in RJ's ending material. Then we're done. Very close now.

    PATRICK

    What are your thoughts on ending the WoT series that Robert Jordan started so long ago? :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Solemnity.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    After a few hours with the family, am back at work on A Memory of Light. It's slightly possible that I'll finish it sometime during the night.

    JENNIFER LIANG

    Would that make tonight A Memory of Light Eve?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. Yes, I guess it would.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    You can follow along, if you wish. I have twenty small points on my outline left to hit. Maybe 10k words or so. I'll tweet as I pass them.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    First scene out of twenty finished. (Note that I'm using 'scene' here liberally to mean a point on the plot outline.)

    FRANK KWIATKOWSKI

    Can you tell us who has the last chapter?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Afraid that would spoil too much.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Note that as I approach an ending, my writing speed goes up, as I get momentum. 10k tonight is not impossible. (Though most days I do 2-3.)

    BRENT WEEKS

    Good luck!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Thanks!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Two out of twenty scenes done. Eighteen left, and A Memory of Light will be finished.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Three out of Twenty of the remaining scenes in A Memory of Light have been finished. (If you're just now seeing this, check back to my last few posts.)

    MARCUS ENGSTROM

    How long was it after the first two books were finished until they were published?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For the first one, about a year. For the next, about six months. This will probably be closer to the first than the second.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene four was slightly shorter than the others. 4 out of 20 finished so far tonight.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #5 finished. 25% through the ending of A Memory of Light. Feeling good about these scenes. All is going very well.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Some of you have asked if I got the Magic cards you sent me off of my Amazon wishlist. I did! I'm waiting to open them until I'm done with A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A few of these scenes are pretty emotional ones for me. It's been a long, long road. I started reading the WoT twenty-one years ago.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just finished scene #6 out of the 20 remaining in A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene seven is done. Thirteen more to go. This one...this one was tough to write.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've apparently inspired a drinking game with this on both Twitter and Facebook. I'd join in, but: 1) Mormon. 2) BUSY WRITING END OF WOT. :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #8 is a tricky one. I know how it has to go, I just need to do it carefully. Getting close to having it right.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #8 is finished. This is going well. I often build momentum like this during a powerful book ending, and this one is very powerful.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    We shall see. We've still got three or four hours before I'd normally turn in for bed. If I start to get sleepy, I'll call it for the night.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No sense in pushing on if the quality starts to flag. Knowing myself, though, I'll be too excited to be tired for a while yet. Onward!

    LOCALPCGUY

    Glad to hear things are ending well! I can't wait to read it. Think I have time for a full re-read before A Memory of Light?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Depends on how quickly you read. :)

    DAVID MACKAY

    Cannot wait, but I agree. Is it really going to take a year to edit and publish?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've done a dozen drafts each of the previous two books. That kind of thing takes a little bit of time...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I just did something to Mat that I've been gleefully waiting to do for three years.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Don't stress the thing I did to Mat too much. It's a little (and fun) thing I've wanted to see him do for a long time.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I have finished scene #9 out of 20 I need to write before A Memory of Light is done.

    AVI DOBKIN

    Best of luck to @BrandSanderson as I turn in for the night. I'm giddy for A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Hopefully, you will wake to find the book finished.

    CHRISTINA BOULARD

    It's almost 3:30am here and I SHOULD be in bed, but I feel like I need 2 stay up and cheer you on and also to witness THE END!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ha. Well, there are still hours left to go, I suspect. I started at...what, 9:00 here? I'm to 1/2 and it's almost 2:00?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those asking, it's almost 2:00 am here. The night is still young.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just finished Scene #10. Halfway there!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I don't expect it to go longer than those. After editing, I'm pretty sure we'll settle at 350-360k words. (About 10% longer than Towers of Midnight.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Brace yourselves. I just finished the last Mat Cauthon scene that, in all likelihood, will ever be written.

    FRANK KWIATKOWSKI

    General writing question: after The editor edits, is it typical for an author to add/rewrite, or only the editor?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Only the author rewrites or adds. Never the editor. (in most cases.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The fourteenth scene was Mat's, and now I've finished the fifteenth scene. Five more to go, and A Memory of Light is done.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just finished scene #16. Four more to go. Guess I'm not stopping tonight, eh?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #17 is finished. I was a tad on the longer side for the ones I'm doing here, as are the last three. 5:00 am here.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I keep flashing back to times I've read the WoT books through my life. Looking back, you could call Rand/Mat/Perrin my oldest friends.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #18 is done. Two more to go.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Scene #19 is done. Deep breath. I'm beginning the last scene I will write in the Wheel of Time, then will add RJ's ending.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I've been listening to Pandora as I do this, but am wondering if I should pick a specific song to listen to as I finish. Suggestions?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    My choice for a song to play as I write the last few paragraphs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Ladies and gentlemen, A Memory of Light—the final book in The Wheel of Time—has been finished.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Now I'll open a metric gigaton of Magic cards that have been sent to me by fans, sleep for a day, and rest until next week.Then: revisions!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    As for when the book will come out, Tor should do an announcement soon. Revisions will take a good six months. So fall, I expect.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Another common question: How many revisions will I do? The last two took about a dozen. (On non-WoT books, I do about seven or eight.)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Also, it's going to be tough to give direct replies to questions right now, what with like 1000 people tweeting/facebooking at me. :)

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    But lots of people are asking about outriggers/prequels. The answer is still the same. We'd rather not risk exploiting RJ's legacy.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It is a step I don't think we want to take. Better to stop while we're ahead. I'm sorry, but they probably won't ever happen.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    And now, yes, I will go to sleep. 7am here. That's 10 hours of solid writing after a full day of solid writing, so I'm beat.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Thank you all for the good wishes. May you find water and shade.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (AFTER A NAP)

    Ah. Good morning, all. (Yes, it's five in the afternoon here.) Checking email, and...INBOX EXPLOSION. I guess I was expecting it. :)

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  • 118

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (28 December 2011)

    Whew. Got the flu on Sunday night, only now recovering. Time to start the Memory of Light second draft.

    SARAH ISTED

    I'm curious—will Harriet edit RJ's last scene or are we going to see it as is?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Harriet will edit it, as she's edited everything else. (But maybe we'll post the earlier form sometime after the book's out.)

    AUSTIN MOORE

    For second draft are you going through and making corrections to stuff Team Jordan pointed out?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No, second draft is for fixing things I know need fixing. The draft is pretty messy right now.

    AUSTIN MOORE

    Ah ok that's interesting. That's one great thing I love about you updating us on this is I'm fascinated at all that goes...

    AUSTIN MOORE

    ...into large books like these. It's definitely not one or two draft processes haha.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Both of the previous ones went through about a dozen drafts.

    MATTHEW RAMSEY

    How long does a second draft usually take?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A couple of weeks, usually. It's different for different books, though, depending on how 'clean' the first draft is.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yay! First scene revised. Only (...counts...) two hundred and twenty one left to go. ... Oh. Back to work, I guess.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Of course, not all scenes are the same length. A better guide will be this: I'm on page 15 of 1800 manuscript pages in the revision.

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  • 119

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (3 January 2012)

    3% done (60/1800 pages) done on the A Memory of Light draft. It will speed up quickly as I get my groove.

    Tags

  • 120

    Interview: Dec 19th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    The biggest news for this week is that the long-awaited Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG from Crafty Games is now available in ebook form. The hardcover and paperback copies will come next month or so, and we are planning a local release party for those once we have more details on the exact date. Anyway, I do hope to be able to share more thoughts on the exciting release of this game once I can take a breather from writing A Memory of Light (that deadline is coming up fast, and I'm very hard at work on it).

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  • 121

    Interview: Dec 27th, 2011

    Brandon Sanderson

    My assistant has put up a new Twitter posts collection that includes my live-tweeting of finishing the first draft of A Memory of Light. If you want to cut to the chase, the part you really want to read is here below. I'll post more details later.

    Footnote

    Brandon posted a portion of his Tweets about finishing the first draft of A Memory of Light in this blog entry. Since they are included elsewhere in the database, they have not been reproduced here.

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  • 122

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is just a quick update as I recover from my Taiwan trip and get back into the swing of the second draft of A Memory of Light. First off, this week's Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians annotation talks about the dedication page.

    Tags

  • 123

    Interview: 2012

    Shaun Duquette (12 January 2012)

    Are you almost done whatever it is you're doing with A Memory of Light? Because drawing out the last book is getting crazy.

    Brandon Sanderson (12 January 2012)

    I'm trying to get it revised as quickly as I can. This book is going to need a lot of care to make sure I don't miss anything.

    EIREMAUVE (13 JANUARY)

    Who has the most POVs? Is it a tie between a couple people?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Boy, I haven't counted. Rand/Perrin/Egwene/Mat are all probably about neck and neck.

    L-Etrengere

    [Now-protected tweet that said something about Egwene getting so many POVs.]

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Well, she IS one of the main characters of the series. It would be kind of odd to leave her out of the Last Battle...

    WILL HAGEN

    Will there be an audiobook release along side the text (with Micheal perhaps)?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, there should be.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Okay, I'm off until later tonight. Progress on the revision is going well; I expect to be done by mid-February, maybe by the end of January.

    NICK

    Is there an official release date for the final book yet? Last I heard was March.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    There isn't yet, though it will be fall. Harriet asked for more time to edit, and I needed time to do more research.

    JARED OLSEN

    You probably hear this often, but you have done an outstanding job on WOT books. Thank you for honoring Jordan and saving fans. #mistborn

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    It has been an honor.

    Tags

  • 124

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (19 January 2012)

    Right now, taking a (short) break from the WoT rewrite to spend an evening working on the Mistborn video game script.

    MAUZ ZEKERIA

    Any plans for a WoT game?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes, there are many plans. I don't know how far along they are, however.

    MARIT K. AMUNDSEN

    Any news for a date on WoT?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Fall, most likely.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For those curious, I did finish the video game work I needed to do last night, and am back at work on the WoT revision today.

    PAUL MCINTYRE

    Was Towers of Midnight the last book to be published? I live in Ireland so news travels slow. XD

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes.

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  • 125

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (25 January 2012)

    Saw an ad for a LAN party today, and (I kid you not) my first thought was: "What's Lan doing away from the battlefield?"

    Tags

  • 126

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (30 January 2012)

    Boarded the plane for Tokyo, stage two of my Flight to Taiwan. 10 hours, during which I will be editing A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (31 JANUARY)

    Hm. 1:00 am at home, 5:00pm here. I've been up for twenty-three hours now. Perhaps not the best time to try working on A Memory of Light.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (1 FEBRUARY)

    I wrote a few short Wheel of Time posts for @tordotcom. The first, on THE EYE OF THE WORLD, went up today.http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/02/wheel-of-time-musings-the-eye-of-the-world

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  • 127

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (8 February 2012)

    Oh, bureaucracy, you are my bane. It always takes me like five minutes to figure out how to spell that word...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Other fun things from Brandon's spelling mind: I always want to write Darlin Sisnera's name "Darlin Sinestro." Crossover time!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Don't even get me started on algai'd'siswai and siswai'aman, by the way.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Just updated the % for A Memory of Light draft two to 70%. Should have the whole book done and off to Harriet in a week or so.

    KIERAN KERR

    Hi Brandon. What's the official release date for the final Wheel of Time novel? Can't wait!!!!

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I don't think there is one yet. Fall, sometime, probably. But Harriet is the one who will decide.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    A lot of people ask after the release date. Fall/Winter this year is still likely. However, I would like to note that Harriet is in charge.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    She hasn't yet read the entire book; she gets to decide when it will be released. She can delay it or push it up, whatever she wants.

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  • 128

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (14 February 2012)

    Working on one of the big, climactic sections at the end of A Memory of Light right now. Not many names left to draw, I'm afraid. A handful, maybe.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (15 FEBRUARY)

    There's another of my Wheel of Time musings up at @tordotcom, this one about The Great Hunt. http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/02/wheel-of-time-musings-the-great-hunt

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    By the way, as many have noted, it appears that RJ, myself, and Wheel of Time were involved in a Jeopardy! clue yesterday.

    TOR.COM (16 FEBRUARY)

    The release date for A Memory of Light, the final volume of The Wheel of Time (@torbooks ), has been revealed: http://bit.ly/x2BVp5

    JASON DENZEL

    For people wondering, it takes a long time to go from a first draft to final draft. @BrandSanderson did 16 edits on The Gathering Storm.

    COWSLIP

    It must publish before 21.12.2012... what if the Mayan are right?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Lol.

    SLEEPINGHOUR

    So...January 2013? Is this because @BrandSanderson needs time to join the witness protection program before the fans learn who dies in A Memory of Light?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    No, but I might need to head into it now, once the more vocal fanbase hears their book is delayed a few more months.

    KVOTHE THE ARCANE

    My respect for Harriet has gone downhill. I think If I were to look in her eyes all I'd see are $$

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I'm not sure why, since this choice might end up costing her money. It certainly isn't a market decision.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    The release date for A Memory of Light has been set. Here are my thoughts. http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/1058/A-MEMORY-OF-LIGHT-Release-Date

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For anyone having trouble reaching my blog post on the release date of A Memory of Light, it's mirrored on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/notes/brandon-sanderson/a-memory-of-light-release-date/10150562895062219

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  • 129

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (21 February 2012)

    Hey, all. A Memory of Light revision is all done and sent off. The next draft is the big one, where I put in Harriet's comments. That can take a while.

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  • 130

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (22 March 2012)

    Working away on A Memory of Light. Lots of back-and-forth with Team Jordan as we work on edits and revisions.

    Tags

  • 131

    Interview: 2012

    elquesogrande (February 2012)

    /r/Fantasy is closing in on 10,000 readers and, to celebrate, one lucky r/Fantasy member will win a hardcover copy of The Name of the Wind or The Wise Man's Fear—signed by Patrick Rothfuss with a personalized message of the winner's choice.

    To enter, simply put your favorite fantasy-related quote below. Don't have a favorite quote? Hmm...google one up or just write down something clever.

    At an arbitrary point of my choosing on Friday, February 3rd I will tally up the total number of people who entered and use a random number generator to help pick the winner.

    Brandon Sanderson (February 2012)

    So tempted to post a quote from the unpublished last book of the Wheel of Time here.

    blowing_chunks

    Please do!

    If you win, your personalised inscription could be one for the ages.

    "I, Patrick Rothfuss, acknowledge that Brandon Sanderson's beard is superior to mine."

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. Now that might just be worth it...

    Of course, I already have Pat's books signed to me. I don't want to take the chance from anyone else. More importantly, though, I haven't gotten back edits on A Memory of Light from Harriet yet—so any line I post could be one that she decided to cut, or one she found a continuity error in. If I had a draft she'd seen, I might actually do it.

    Mat does say "Blood and Bloody Ashes!" a few times, though. Does that count?

    shepherdless

    If not, at least post a quote from another source. I find it interesting to see what one the best writers of the genre (not to blow smoke up your ass) favorite quote is.

    Brandon Sanderson

    From the Wheel of Time, it's Lan's "Portion of Wisdom" quote.

    "You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing this. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway."

    From any fantasy work? Wow, that would be a tough one. Maybe Vimes on the economics of buying new footwear?

    Tags

  • 132

    Interview: Feb 16th, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    Tor and Harriet have set the release date for A Memory of Light. Again. While I've been working on the book, this has happened a half dozen times, with varying levels of publicity surrounding the date.

    This time we're saying January 8th. How likely is this one? Well, honestly, I don't know. Seems like it's the most firm of the lot. However, you've got to understand a couple of things.

    First off, I don't set release dates, particularly not on these books. I pick my deadlines, then work to meet them. Tor and Harriet decide when the book is going to come out, judging by editing requirements, market factors, and the workings of the publishing machine. I didn't find out this one had been set as this day until long after the fact. So please, complaining to me . . . well, it's just not going to do anything but distract me from working on the book.

    Secondly, Harriet is very, VERY worried about getting this book right. It's the last book in the series. There are no chances to change things after this, and revising a book like this takes time. Harriet would probably prefer even more space than this publication date gives us. She also isn't capable of pulling the long hours she might once have pulled. (And she shouldn't be expected to.)

    It's not all on Harriet, though, not by a mile. I turned in a 360,000-word book. That's 20% longer than what they wanted, and that means each step of editing and production will require 20% more time than they had set aside. In addition, while I've set my own deadlines, I've come right up against them and (in a few cases) tiptoed across. For example, instead of sending a revised book at the end of December, I only had a first draft. That's the length pushing me back and making me revise expectations.

    I realize that all you care about is getting your book, and this sounds like a lot of excuses. But here's the thing. You'll get the book when Harriet is ready to give it to you. Not before. If this were just me, I could work a big pile of 16-hour days and get it to you in the fall. But it's not just me, and beyond that, the last time I did that (on Towers of Midnight, which went through eleven drafts) we ended up with a pile of typos and wore Harriet out so much she said she didn't recover for well over six months.

    I sincerely thought that we'd be releasing the book this fall. January 8th was a surprise to me when they told me. However, Harriet picked the last possible week the book could reasonably come out, because she wants as much time as possible to edit it.

    I still think it's very possible that all will go smoothly and Harriet will push the book up. It happened with The Gathering Storm, I believe, though that was only pushed up by a week. However, for now, we just have to assume January 8th is when it's coming out.

    Best,

    Brandon

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  • 133

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (5 April 2012)

    Back at my hotel to work on A Memory of Light after a visit to the Perth Mint. Seeing gold be poured set a story brewing in my mind...

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  • 134

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (22 April 2012)

    Bart on Facebook asked for A Memory of Light status, so I thought I'd post for all of you. Revision is going well, but is a lot of work. Halfway done.

    Tags

  • 135

    Interview: 2012

    Josh Doughty (21 April 2012)

    Are you able to do A Memory of Light reading during your panel at SupaNova today?

    Brandon Sanderson (21 April 2012)

    I'm afraid not. Harriet would rather it be special to JordanCon.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (26 APRIL)

    Tor dot com has posted the single-scene excerpt from the prologue of A Memory of Light that Harriet read at JordanCon.

    Tags

  • 136

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    Harriet read the first scene of the prologue of A Memory of Light, which was from the point of view of Bayrd, a member of Jarid Sarand's army, whose family had remained loyal to House Sarand for years. The scene told of the army's suffering as a result of starvation (they had resorted to boiling bits of grass and leather to try to eat) and also due to a bubble of evil which had turned all the metal in the camp soft and pliable. Jarid Sarand, however, was convinced that the hardships the army had been struggling with were the work of Elayne and her Aes Sedai 'witches' (Jarid seemed just a little bit looney). Because all the metal weapons were no longer useful, Bayrd resorted to fashioning a spear point from slate to replace a metal one. The scene ended with Bayrd restraining Jarid by tying him to a tree and the remainder of Sarand's army leaving to head north to fight for Andor in the Last Battle.

    Footnote

    The excerpt from the Prologue of A Memory of Light was released a few days later by Tor.

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  • 137

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Question

    Harriet was asked about the change in the publication date for A Memory of Light from November 2012 to January 2013.

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    She noted that the publication date previously set by Tor was November 27, 2012, which falls after Thanksgiving. Upon seeing that release date, Harriet felt that it would be too late for substantial marketing and sales for the holiday season, and probably more importantly, she felt strongly that she didn't want to rush this final book in any way. Therefore, it was decided to move the release date to January 8, 2013, which will provide extra time for editing but still falls within the Year of the Dragon.

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  • 138

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Question

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

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Peter first spoke in general terms about Brandon's writing routine. He said that Brandon typically gets up around noon, writes from about 1-4pm, spends time with family and stuff, then goes back to writing from about 8pm-4am, and finally sleeps from about 4am to noon. Rinse, cycle, repeat. Peter also said that Brandon has a treadmill desk, and he frequently works at that when he's home or by one of the fireplaces he has in his house. Harriet then noted that she loves fireplaces and wanted to know whether Brandon's were wood-burning or gas. Peter said they're gas fireplaces.

    Harriet McDougal Rigney

    Then Harriet described the editing process for A Memory of Light. She said that Brandon has completed the first draft (as was previously reported). Team Jordan is currently working on reviewing the first draft and making suggestions for corrections and edits. They have divided the manuscript into 9 sections plus the epilogue for editing purposes; Team Jordan has sent the edits for parts 1-6 to Brandon and are currently working on edits for the later sections. [Brandon recently tweeted that he is about halfway done with the second draft, and it is going well so far.]

    With regard to the editing duties, Harriet primarily oversees the characterizations and prose, Maria deals with continuity issues, and Alan deals with military stuff, geography, and the timeline. Harriet also said that she and Brandon have had some "animated" conversations about whether or not to cut some specific scenes.

    After all the suggested edits for the first draft are sent to Brandon and he has made the revisions, then presumably Team Jordan will review the second draft and provide another round of suggestions for revisions. The beta reader phase has to be fit in there somewhere, too. Ultimately, Harriet said that the goal for getting a final draft to Tor is June 15, 2012. That should give Tor plenty of time to get the book out by January 2013.

    Tags

  • 139

    Interview: May, 2012

    Michael Whelan

    As you know, there was a specific scene already chosen as the source idea for the cover image, so I was spared going through my usual process of reading the book, then trying to distill it into one image. I often lose a lot of time trying to pick which scene or cover idea to go with from the narrative. On the other hand, there was a lot of research required to familiarize myself with the particular attributes of the three characters I knew were going to be in the image. Not having read the Wheel of Time series yet, I had a lot of catching up to do! I knew a cave was going to be in the image, so the question then became “should we see the characters from the outside going in or from the inside as they are entering?” While I mulled the possibilities over in my mind I began to sketch out some poses and costuming ideas, trying to feel my way into the image.

    Then I did several preliminary layouts in monochrome acrylics or digital media, sometimes going back and forth between the two.

    After it was decided which concept to go with, I first played around with my acrylics experimenting with making stalactite shapes using paint and a squeegee. After that, I felt ready to start the background work. Usually I work from background to foreground, but this time I decided to work the middle area first, then do the figure of Rand and the background/sky area at the same time.

    Here’s a few shots of the painting as it progressed. The background color of the panel was a light grey tone. The acetate in the center was left in place to mask out the sky area and keep it clean until I was ready to work on it.

    I was fortunately well supplied with cave photos to use as reference because I had recently gone to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, where I took some pictures of some pretty strange stuff:

    But I wasn’t happy with my visualizations of the figures, especially Rand. I tried using myself as a model, without much success.

    I was also feeling frustrated about the coat I wanted to have Rand wearing in the picture. Sure, I could have faked it if the figure was small in the picture, but with Rand being so “up close and personal” as it were, I thought I should take the time to get it right.

    I mentioned all this in a conversation with Dan Dos Santos, and he graciously took the time to help me find a model and find the kind of coat I was looking for. He introduced me to famed illustrator Edward Vebell, which was a humbling experience, I can tell you. Ed’s had a stellar career and is a real pro’s pro—and there were stacks of his paintings all over the place, amazing stuff from the 1940’s onward.

    But the thing is, Ed also happens to own an amazing costume collection which he rents out to other artists, photographers, theatre productions, etc. Dan and I almost got lost in his attic looking through the hundreds of coats and military uniforms. We found a couple of likely candidates, and the next day the model came to my studio and Dan shared his photo and lighting setup with me so I could try out his equipment setup.

    It was great; almost too good, actually. I felt a little like a guy wearing several watches and never knowing what the real time is. There were so many good reference photos to work with it was hard to cull out one or two to work from and leave the rest. The main thing I look for in posing a model is to check the reality against my visualization of a pose, and correct any errors. Once I had the information I was looking for, things proceeded at a steady pace until the painting was complete.

    Tags

  • 140

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (16 May 2012)

    I'm sorry I don't have more specific WoT posts for you—I know that Harriet prefers me to be more closed-mouthed. However...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Maria from Team Jordan has finished her revision notes for the entire book, as has Harriet herself. So we're only waiting on Alan's notes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    As he's playing "Great Captain" for me on A Memory of Light, his notes are vital—and he needs to be detailed. When I get them, I can finish revising.

    Roberto Sánze

    Sooooo...there might be a sooner release date than the current for January?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible, but I don't know how likely.

    Roberto Sánze

    Darn, I need to haste to be ready for A Memory of Light once it releases. Is there gonna be a ebook version along with the physical book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (Winces.) Harriet has a distrust of ebooks; she prefers to delay the release. It is her call. (Ebook is a few months later.)

    Terez

    Do we have chapter names yet? Or do you know how many chapters there will be? Or is that a secret?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No chapter names yet, as it won't be until this draft is finished that I settle on the number of chapters. Some are being combined.

    Mark Prybyla

    I'm truly hoping this book is 1/3 battles/fights.

    Brandon Sanderson

    More than 1/3, I'd say...

    Daniel Shepard

    Forgive me for not understanding, but what does this mean? Release date's not going to change, is it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably not. It's just a progress update, so people know things are still moving behind-the-scenes.

    Richard Collett

    How's The Stormlight Archive coming? I need more.

    Brandon Sanderson

    A Memory of Light comes first. I will get to the next Stormlight book soon, but not until A Memory of Light is done to my satisfaction.

    (Facebook)


    Yosun Erdemli

    So this means we will be reading the final volume sooner than first announced?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible, but I don't know how likely. I still need to do two drafts, I feel. Then there are beta reads, then proofreads, then we need at least two months to get the books printed and shipped.

    Adam Sloan

    What does it take to be one of the beta readers?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Be one of the major members of fandom for years, and personally know Harriet. (Sorry.)

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  • 141

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (21 May 2012)

    WoT update: Today, I added a new Rand scene to the book. One of many I've been working on, but this one came together first.

    Jason Palmer

    ? Is it a complete NEW scene? If so is it because the editors thought it would fit into the book more, is this the second draft?

    Brandon Sanderson

    New scene. We often add new scenes in the second, third, or even last drafts of a book.

    Greg Lindsey

    Feel free to add as much as the binding will allow!! Thanks for everything! By the way do you have an updated word count estimate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No updated count yet. We'll see how much more I add this time around—I'm cutting it too.

    Daniel Shepard

    Can/Will you tell us anything about it? Please? :)

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm afraid I can't say much. I try to be extra-careful with WoT scenes out of respect for Harriet.

    Simon Draper

    When is the last book being published? I can't believe it's the end of the series already.

    Brandon Sanderson

    January.

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  • 142

    Interview: 2012

    Maria Simons (21 May 2012)

    Team Jordan update: We’ve been getting a lot of questions about Brandon’s note that Harriet and I are finished with A Memory of Light, and Alan is almost finished. “Finished” here refers only to the first draft. The same day that I finished A Memory of Light, I started A Memory of Light (the second draft, or at least the portion of the second draft that Brandon has sent us). Harriet has already completed that section, and is ready to move on when we receive more. Alan should finish the first draft this week, and he will immediately begin again too. We’re not by any means truly finished with the book—we’re all working very hard, and we trust that Brandon is too. We want to get every detail right, and that takes time. Don't worry; it's worth waiting for.

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  • 143

    Interview: Apr 30th, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    Also, in case anyone missed it last week when I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook, Tor.com has put up the excerpt of the prologue to A Memory of Light that Harriet read recently at JordanCon. As for the rest of the book, we are still hard at work on revisions.

    Tags

  • 144

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (6 June 2012)

    Currently about 250,000 words (of 350,000) into my fourth draft of A Memory of Light. This is the hardest of the drafts. Next one should go faster.

    Dick Mock

    How many drafts do you usually do on your novels?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Between eight and twelve, if you count the proofreads.

    R.T. Kaelin

    Curious... How many drafts is typical for you?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Between eight and twelve.

    Dylan Bronstein

    Do you from scratch on each draft?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, I don't start from scratch most times. Only in extreme cases. A "Draft" for me is a complete, beginning-to-end, revamp of the book line by line. About half of the drafts are deep content drafts, the other half focus on prose.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Re: Timing—Yes, we're still on track for January. (I still secretly hope for sooner.)

    Ross Colwell

    Curious what makes this one the hardest.

    Brandon Sanderson

    This one is the hardest because it's the first one I do where I have to fix problems Team Jordan has found. That is difficult, as sometimes I've written entire sequences that have continuity errors with something in the series, so those sequences need to be pulled out and replaced with something that works.

    John O'Meara

    Does it get longer and shorter from draft to draft?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some drafts make the book shorter, others longer. Usually, prose focused drafts shorten the book while content drafts make it longer.

    Jason Palmer

    Brandon, you've probably explained the draft system before, but for the uneducated can you possibly explain it again to me please?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sure. First draft is my initial write of the book. Second draft is where I go through and fix major problems I introduced while writing the book. (For example, sometimes I'll add a character in because I find I need one, but I don't go back and revise them into earlier chapters until the second draft.) Third draft is a polish, fixing language and prose. Fourth draft is my first editorial draft, working with the editor to fix problems. Fifth is a second editorial draft. From there, I alternate between further polishing drafts and smaller-level editorial drafts as long as needs be.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Re: Stormlight—It's next. I will begin it as soon as A Memory of Light is done right. Likely, I'll start into it after draft five or six of A Memory of Light.

    Brandon Sanderson

    RE: Length—This will be slightly longer than Towers of Midnight, I believe.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Re: Stormlight 2—It is next, I promise. I'm very eager to start, but I have to make sure A Memory of Light is done right first. You don't get many chances to work on a book like this one.

    Tags

  • 145

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (9 June 2012)

    Working on a new Rand scene today too. Still a few more I want to add. This is probably the last draft where I will add new scenes, though.

    Brandon Sanderson

    New Rand scene turned out great. Now, to revamp the next five to be just as awesome.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's funny how time passes when I'm working on writing. It's been four hours since I started on the scene, and I barely noticed.

    Brenda Waldrop

    That I understand. I get in a writing groove and the next thing I know it's tomorrow!

    Shaunna Willoughby

    Focus is like an alternate plane of existence.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's funny. I make a post, like the one a while back, and then think "I'll get back and answer people in a bit." Then, four hours later, I think "Okay, scene is done. Let's see what people are saying." That timestamp glares back at me, and there are like fifty posts I haven't ever replied to.

    Sam Noble

    Do you know the Game of Thrones guy? He could learn something from your work ethic.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. Well, perhaps. But I could learn something from his writing skill, I suspect. We'll see how prolific I am when I'm his age.

    Vegas Surreal

    We need @BrandSanderson to stay healthy; you're supposed to get up and stretch every 20 minutes!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Don't worry. I have a treadmill desk I work at.

    Marcus McQuarter

    How long is the book going to be at minimum?

    Brandon Sanderson

    350k words, I'd guess. First draft was 360. Next draft trimmed about 30k. I'm slowly increasing it back up.

    Tags

  • 146

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (13 June 2012)

    A Memory of Light Update: On page 1500 of 1900 pages in my fourth draft. Still have a few new scenes to add.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Will do one more major draft after this, and then we will move into more line-edit/small tweaks drafts.

    Brandon Sanderson

    For those asking, about two manuscript pages become one final hardcover page. (Though it varies.) I'm planning seven or eight drafts total.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The drafts of this book have been more extensive than those of the previous two, but we will do fewer of them, probably.

    Jim

    How many offers do you get for volunteer proof readers each day?

    Brandon Sanderson

    At least one a post. :)

    Hyrum Tanner

    Is the word count still about 370K or has it increased?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is hard to say, as my draft has lots of Team Jordan comments that are being counted in the final. I think it's 340k right now.

    Austin Moore

    So would you say final book will be around 1000 pages or so?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a good estimate.

    RJ Chap

    Do you ever sell/auction copies of your drafts? Are you allowed?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have done it for charity in the past, but never with a WoT book.

    Matt Perry

    Still on for The 8th of January? ‪#countingthedays

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 147

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (18 June 2012)

    A Memory of Light teaser: The book contains a new verse to a beloved WoT song. (Just posting to let you all know the revision goes well.)

    Jeff Gray

    Do you revise sections that Mr Jordan wrote, or just your own? No implication, just curious. :-)

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's a good question. I initially tried to leave them all alone and let Harriet revise them.

    Brandon Sanderson

    She told me to be more aggressive in smoothing out scenes to blend them together. I still do try to touch his as little as I can.

    Ian Thomson

    First tweet to you, but I wanted to say I'm so very excited for A Memory of Light! Can we change the release to January 7th? That's my birthday!

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll see what I can do... ;)

    Footnote

    The song is probably "Jak o' the Shadows".

    Tags

  • 148

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (29 June 2012)

    I just sent my complete revision of A Memory of Light to Harriet. This is the fourth draft, and was every extensive a revision.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Drafts of this book so far have been more in-depth than on Towers of Midnight or The Gathering Storm. I suspect we'll do seven or eight drafts total of this book.

    Doug Hill

    Are you trying to hint at a 2015 release date now? Because now I'm picturing Doc Brown with the book in the Delorean. >_<

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, we'll have it done and ready for January.

    Tags

  • 149

    Interview: 2012

    Soccer Hooligan (5 July 2012)

    How about an update on when A Memory of Light will be published?

    Brandon Sanderson (5 July 2012)

    Still January 8th, so far as I know. One more draft to do.

    wehaveatrex (6 July)

    When the WoT is done, are you planning to write anything about the process of adapting RJ's work, like a Special Feature?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would like to, but no promises.

    Shaun Duquette

    This is tragic, on the final draft and we still can't get the book by October or November!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, when you count copyedit, proofreads, and printing time, it is still going to be tight.

    Tags

  • 150

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (10 July 2012)

    Last draft of A Memory of Light needs to be done soon. For today, I'm polishing off the last two new Rand scenes (of about eight) I'm adding to the book.

    Ray Ellerd (11 July)

    Any news on WoT? Know you're sick of that question. Sorry... :)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, other than the last Rand scene (which I'm writing right now) not much. Need to finish the final draft as soon as possible.

    Brandon Sanderson (12 July)

    Comic-conning for the night done. (Had dinner with a Hollywood producer.) Now, for some more WoT editing!

    Jean Diata

    You know, it IS okay to rest and play once in a while!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. Not when we're past deadline on this book. I'll rest when it's done.

    Umang Shah (13 July)

    Working on A Memory of Light's final draft?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yup.

    Brandon Sanderson

    All right, WoT editing for the day done. This is going really well—the book is very nearly done. Just polishing, now.

    Tags

  • 151

    Interview: 2012

    TellAllThePeople (June 2012)

    Wow I am amazed that you actively Reddit, how in the name of the dark one didn't I know this? If you have the time I just have one question! Is WoT really going to end this next book? there seem to be SO many loose end that, if the series is tried too be ended in one book, will be rushed or left unacknowledged/uncompleted! Anyway thanks for yor amazing work I loved the latest books!

    Brandon Sanderson (June 2012)

    Well, I guess "active" is a relative phrase, as I only now saw this.

    Yes, this is the ending. No, not every loose thread will be tied up. Robert Jordan left instructions for some to be left open.

    It doesn't feel rushed to me, but we'll have to see what the fans think.

    Tags

  • 152

    Interview: Jul 17th, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    About The Wheel of Time:

    Brandon delivered a little preamble/update on the progress of the book before reading the portion of Chapter One. "We are on time. Well, okay, we're late but we're on time enough that we're going to hit the January 8th [release date]."

    He went on to explain, "We know you were hoping we could push it up to a November release, but we need the extra time to make sure we get this right. [Unlike The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight] we don't get another chance at this. This is the last book."

    Further, Brandon mentioned that he had been up until 5 AM revising the novel, but added that he kind of likes to do that impulsively anyhow.

    Tags

  • 153

    Interview: Jul 20th, 2012

    Casey Phillips

    You've mentioned baseball a number of times, so what's your batting on screwing it up as little as possible, at this point?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So far, it's pretty good. There are a few things I got wrong, particularly in The Gathering Storm that I feel I did much better in Towers of Midnight and hope to do even better in A Memory of Light.

    Comparing it to batting averages, I would say I'm doing a decent job. What is that? A .28? [Laughs.] Percentage wise, I'm doing better than that—maybe 85 to 90 percent of the things I needed to be doing I've been able to hit.

    There's still that 10 percent that fans have to be lenient with me on, to some extent, because no one is going to get it to 100. I can hope to push it higher than I have, but there are certain things I've done that I've done a worse job on than I would have liked. There were some characters I didn’t quite get right in the first book.

    Tags

  • 154

    Interview: Jul 20th, 2012

    Casey Phillips

    What was the impetus for splitting the last novel into three novels?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was writing it to the length he instructed it was to be written. He wanted it to be so long, he said, that “it would take a wheelbarrow to get it out the doors.” The publisher and Harriet decided that was too long. I was supposed to split it into three novels because of the length I was writing it at. It came down to binding issues and things like that.

    Tags

  • 155

    Interview: Jul 20th, 2012

    Casey Phillips

    You're close to finishing the last draft of A Memory of Light, which will publish in January. How does it feel knowing the series is almost done?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, ask me in January, because I still see a huge mound of work ahead of me getting the last revision done and the copy edits and things like that. Ask me in January.

    Tags

  • 156

    Interview: Aug 1st, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    I finished the final revision on A Memory of Light early in the morning Saturday, then sent it off to Team Jordan. And I was done. Team Jordan will handle the copyedits and proofreads; I might have a chime-in now and then on how a passage should be tweaked or how a continuity issue should be addressed, but essentially, my involvement as a writer in the Wheel of Time has come to an end.

    Now, that doesn't mean my involvement with Wheel of Time fandom is over. I'll have my appearance at Dragon*Con this year, as well as the tour in January for A Memory of Light. Beyond that, I intend to frequently attend JordanCon and be available to WoT fans for years, even decades, to come. I intend to talk a great deal about the experience of writing these books, perhaps even post some blog entries about the subject.

    But the writing is done. I'm still a little in shock about that.

    Tags

  • 157

    Interview: Aug 1st, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    For five years, whatever I've been doing—whether it be going out to dinner, sitting down to write, or checking my email—I've known that there was more to do on the Wheel of Time. I've known that I gave my word to Harriet and to the fans that I would work hard to get those books out quickly, and I carried a weight of responsibility for the book being split and people being forced to wait years beyond when they expected to get the ending. For five years, I have worked long hours because of those reasons. All the time I could find, I dedicated to the Wheel of Time in one way or another.

    And then, today, I did not have a Wheel of Time book to work on.

    I've reached the end of the journey and set down my burdens. It's wonderful, relaxing, and solemn all at once. I love the Wheel of Time. It's also great to be done.

    And so, today, I officially take a step toward a line. I step away from being pilot of this series, and toward once again being just a fan. I will never cross back over that line—whatever else happens, I will have written three books in this series. I will continue to support and engage with Wheel of Time fandom. However, an ending has arrived for me, and it is time for my attention to be turned elsewhere.

    Tags

  • 158

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (19 July 2012)

    I have forgotten to update my progress bar lately. I just sent the first half of the seventh (lastish) draft to Harriet.

    Tags

  • 159

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (25 July 2012)

    Hadn't updated the A Memory of Light draft progress bar in a while. Now at 70%. Getting close to having this book done.

    Tags

  • 160

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (28 July 2012)

    Working away at A Memory of Light last draft. 80 pages remaining, and I'll be done. Probably will finish tonight.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Last draft is done, folks. From here, we head to copyedits. (And perhaps small tweaks here and there.) Basically, though, A Memory of Light is finished.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thanks for the good wishes, all. Final length of the book is around 360k words. Towers of Midnight was 335k, for reference.

    Peter Orullian

    Congratulations, Brandon. Most cool.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thanks! I'll tell you, I barely know what month it is, let alone what day... This has been a grueling set of revisions.

    Eric Pelletier

    Do we know if January 8th is the official A Memory of Light release or the date could still change?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably not going to change at this point.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Out tonight with Emily enjoying a celebratory steak for having finished the Wheel of Time. Five years of work, hard but satisfying.

    Tags

  • 161

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (30 July 2012)

    Got up today. No Wheel of Time book to work on. THIS IS VERY STRANGE. I think I will do a blog post about it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    For those who missed it, yes, all of my drafts on A Memory of Light are finished. There will be little tweaks here and there, but it's basically done.

    Tags

  • 162

    Interview: 2012

    Brandon Sanderson (1 August 2012)

    My thoughts on finishing the Wheel of Time.

    Andrew Frank

    Once A Memory of Light is released will you go back and point to which chapters in all three books were written by him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think I'll be allowed to do this.

    Tags

  • 163

    Interview: Jul 21st, 2012

    Jennifer Liang

    So, for people who don't stalk you on the Twitter, how about you tell us how far you are right now in the revision process.

    Brandon Sanderson

    My progress bar is not updated because I'm lazy—I need to tell Peter to update that when I post. I'm 50% through—maybe more like 55% of the way through the final revision of the last book. So, the final revision, here's how the process goes for those who are curious: I turned in the book like January 1st. At that point, that was first draft. Usually, I don't do revisions from editorial revisions on the first draft. I actually go through it a second time and do a second draft, and that's what I turn in. If I can get the time, I turn in a third draft. This time I turned in a second draft, so I did first draft and I said, "Okay, wait two weeks and let me get ahead of you in the second draft," and I was just sending them chunks as I finished the second draft. There's not time on this book to do the whole thing straight through and then send it, and things, and so they then start sending back things, and I start the third draft immediately, and we keep doing that until we get to this one which is seventh draft, I think is where we are right now—somewhere in there—like I've been, some of them I would do two drafts while I was waiting for things back on theirs.

    Anyway, and they just kept feeding me sixth draft sort of stuff that [had] been sitting on my computer, and they finally got the last of that to me last week which means that Maria and Alan and Harriet are all done, and it's all on me just to finish the last tweaks that they've requested in the book, and that's what this draft is, is the last tweaks. Things that they say, "Hey, we need this little thing fixed; we need to add this thing to this scene," or all that little stuff. Nothing major is happening in this one. I did add one new scene in this draft that I felt we needed but it's kind of a short one—it's only like five pages—um, but yeah, so that's where we are. My hope is, and goal is, to be able to turn it in next week some time. I dunno how viable that is. I'm probably way past 55% as I think about it, because I've been working each night. I was at 50% on like Wednesday, so I'm probably around the two-thirds mark, or something, right now, and then that will be it; it'll go to copy-edit and proofreads, all of which are handled by Team Jordan, of which I don't do anything unless they come up with a major continuity error or something like that. Somewhere in there, it will hopefully go to our lovely beta readers to make sure that I didn't put people in two places, so...that Sulin doesn't end up in two places at once. They missed that one though, so you can blame all of us on that one.

    Jennifer Liang

    I was like, "Whoa, a Wheel of Time book, I'm gonna just read this; I can't talk to anybody about it."

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. So, anyway, it'll go to copyedit and proofreads, and hopefully some beta reads for three months or so, and then it'll go to the printers, and that takes about...it's about a three month process, and they'll ship 'em here, and we ship 'em out to bookstores, and then that's when it comes out.

    Footnote

    The Sulin error was in The Gathering Storm, which had fewer beta readers than Towers of Midnight (Jenn was one of them), but the latter was on a tighter schedule which led to more typos, etc.

    Tags

  • 164

    Interview: Jul 21st, 2012

    Question

    So you were saying how you just added another scene recently, but do you think that'll be the actual last writing you do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It probably will end up being the last actual writing, will be that scene.

    Question

    Is it sort of like, you know, cathartic to you, or is it...you're so close to the end...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm so close to the end...ask me after the end. It's really weird, adding these new scenes. It's kinda like the shawarma scene from The Avengers...you know, they added that way after the fact, and that becomes their last touch—of course they'll probably do a sequel and things—but it's weird to add these scenes that are just right in the middle of the book, and that's actually the last writing you do, and that's the last writing you'll do on the Wheel of Time, if I don't add any more scenes, it will be this random little scene that's really just there to patch a hole, where I'm like "Oh, I haven't...you know, never mentioned this; I didn't foreshadow this correctly; I need an extra little scene here." It's by no means the most powerful scene in the book—it's a set-up scene, and it might end up being the last scene that I did—so if you ask me after the book's out, I'll tell you what it is.

    Tags

  • 165

    Interview: Jul 21st, 2012

    Jeffrey Daniel

    So what do you think the most challenging part of writing A Memory of Light was? Was it those logistics, or was it writing battle scenes, or...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, the battle scenes were the toughest part of A Memory of Light, definitely. At least the toughest for me, because it's not necessarily something I naturally excel at. I think I'm okay at it. I've read a lot of books...but I've read a lot of books. I haven't done it. Fortunately, Alan Romanczuk has done it. He was a soldier and Jim was a soldier, so I'm really relying a lot on him for getting it to feel right. You know, my book learning only gets me so far in the way that tactics are done and the way a battlefield plays out. So, that's been one of the big slow-downs for this. The other big slow-down for this has been just making sure we get everything in there. There are a lot of things that need to go in the book and there are some things that aren't going to make it. Jim said that certain things don't get resolved, and there are certain things we just didn't have time for and we said, "Okay, this just doesn't get resolved." And I'm sorry about that. He warned you, I will warn you: there are some non-resolutions.

    Joe O'Hara

    I don't know how other people would feel about that, but I kind of enjoy that. To me, that's where a fandom would go. We can continue to speculate and wonder and think about.

    Jennifer Liang

    Yeah, it gives us something to talk about. We can ride that or like ten years at least. (laughter)

    Jeffrey Daniel

    JordanCon will be good for a while. We'll have a lot of talking panels on that one.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will try to keep them quiet. There are two deleted scenes from the book that actually covered very interesting things. And after the books are out I will give you guys some hints and then you can spend the next ten years deciding what was in them.

    Jennifer Liang

    Yeah, we'll ask you some really weird questions over the next ten years. We used to do that to Robert Jordan. We'd ask him very oblique questions, hinting at the thing we really wanted to know, because we were like doing process of elimination, and logic trees and...yeah, he caught on.

    Tags

  • 166

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Question

    I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the release date timing, and how you guys decided when A Memory of Light would come out, and just all the decisions that went behind that.

    Harriet McDougal

    The book was originally planned for November, but when we got down to it in January, when Brandon turned in first draft material, I saw to my horror that Tor was planning to publish on November 27th. Excuse me, that's not really November—that's after Thanksgiving—and it seemed to me kind of a not very wonderful date. We needed time for editing, and for Brandon to come to a later draft status on the book, and the more we thought about it it seemed pretty nuts to break Brandon's back as well as ours to get a book ready for November 27th, which is sort of nothing...if if you're looking for Christmas, you have to get the book into the stores before Thanksgiving. You really do, because things are so nuts with Black Friday that the staff isn't actually gonna get stuff out of the back room in time, and thus we got to January, which seemed like a good bet. We would gain more time for the editing and to maintain the sanity of people at Tor Books and Peter and Maria and Alan, and moi. So somehow we arrived at January the 8th, which is a Tuesday, which it must be if you're aiming for number one on the Times list, because of the way Times reporting happens, and it keeps it in the last month of the Year of the Dragon, which seemed like a really good thing to do.

    Jason Denzel

    Harriet, I think that a lot of us would agree that, take all the time you need to make us the best book possible, right? (applause)

    Harriet McDougal

    If you reserve a copy of the book, that's not so long to wait after Christmas day itself, and in the old way of counting, the twelve days of Christmas do exist. Christmas is the first day.

    Melissa Craib

    Well, I think our families probably appreciate the fact that we will not be reading this during Christmas. I for one know I'm going to have to take two weeks off.

    Tags

  • 167

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Melissa Craib

    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?

    Harriet McDougal

    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)

    Tags

  • 168

    Interview: 2012

    Tom H. Brand (14 September 2012)

    Damn it @BrandSanderson Why didn't you finish the book 116 days early, so I could go straight from book 13 to book 14! #wotrr

    Brandon Sanderson (14 September 2012)

    Well, I WAS going to finish earlier,, but then I heard you were reading the books. I wanted you to have a true WoT experience.

    Tags

  • 169

    Interview: 2012

    T.J. Tesch (20 September 2012)

    I physically NEED the last wheel of time book. Why are you not working on it...

    Brandon Sanderson (20 September 2012)

    Uh, it's done. I'm not working on it because it's finished, turned in, and getting printed.

    Tags

  • 170

    Interview: 2013

    Twitter 2013 (WoT) (Verbatim)

    Brandon Sanderson (15 January 2013)

    Man, it feels good to be writing again. Revision (which I spent most of last year doing) is very important. But the writing is what I love.

    Brandon Sanderson

    About a year ago I turned in the rough draft of A Memory of Light. It was VERY rough. Took eight months of hard work to get it into shape.

    Tags

  • 171

    Interview: Feb 1st, 2013

    Question

    When you read the books, did you have an affinity for a character and as you wrote did you change?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When I read it was mostly Perrin. I'll admit I had a fondness for Mat later on, but it never became my supportive Perrin, even when he was down in the dumps. I didn't stop being a Perrin fan because he moped a little. He was my favorite all along. When it came time to write the books, Perrin remained my favorite. He was among my favorite viewpoints to write as well. I was very excited by the prospect of being able to do a lot of Perrin in Towers of Midnight, and having a lot of freedom with his sequences was a real pleasure. When I finished the rough draft of A Memory of Light, there was a lot of, like 20% more Perrin than Rand, so that didn't turn out right. It's really Rand's series, it needs more Rand, so when I sent it to Team Jordan, they said there was a lot of Perrin, so we upped the Rand count. There was a Perrin sequence that didn't really feel right for the book that was about 20,000 words, so we cut that out and added a Rand sequence that was about the same length which I had already been working on, and that helped restore the balance. When I started A Memory of Light I was fresh off Towers of Midnight and in a Perrin mindset, so I was like PERRIN IS AWESOME, did his stuff, then moved on to the other characters' arcs in succession.

    Tags

  • 172

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2013

    Question

    Which character's contribution to A Memory of Light did you enjoy most?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This book was supposed to be about Rand, and so Rand's contribution is the most important to me. So much so, that in the revising process we felt several times we needed to bring out more. One of the big elements of revision was, we needed to make sure that Rand remains the focus of this book, and even though things are going where there are lots of different sections and regions where Rand is not involved, we needed Rand to be at least the heart of the book.

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  • 173

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2013

    Question

    Can you talk a little bit about the "River of Souls" sequence?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, I can totally talk about this. So, "River of Souls" is about a specific character, and in the drafting process this is not something I actually pitched to Harriet early on, but in the later meetings I got together with them and pitched something which was a deviation from things Robert Jordan had said. Harriet told me from the get-go, Look you've got the notes, you've got the outline, you've got to be a writer, not a transcriber. Robert Jordan would not have kept this the way it is, that's not how we work, and in a lot of places he said I'm thinking of doing this, OR this, and you'll have to decide which of those to do, or to do a third.

    And so I pitched one of these kind of audacious sequences to her; sometimes these work, sometimes they don't. It's the sort of thing you need to do to create fiction, that I feel is daring, and you need to take these chances. But a lot of times you don't know if it's going to work until the book is done, and you can look at it together. And this was taking place in a region of the Wheel of Time world that Robert Jordan said I really don't think we're ever going to visit. Which is the part that was deviated, by doing this sequence. And it's not that long, only about 7,000 words, so it's like a novelette. I sent it to Harriet, and she said "I really like this, but we're going to cut it". The reason being, that it broke up the flow of the novel, and it was introducing too many new elements at the beginning of the volume that was supposed to be wrapping up elements. And those who do storytelling know that can be a really dangerous thing to do.

    Harriet McDougal

    That was the reason. It was a big additional segment, and this is not what you call a slim volume anyway. So as a reader, it was not fun. Not that there was anything wrong with the sequence, but it was not what my antennae said we needed. We needed to get on with it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, instead of going sideways, when we needed to go forward.

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  • 174

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2013

    Question

    A compliment to you, Harriet and the entire team that put this together, but the really stunning thing about the last book was how many characters had a role in this book, down to multiple dozens of people, secondary characters and below. How did one do that? How does one create that continuity? Obviously some of it comes from Jordan's original work, but how does one pull that all together?

    Harriet McDougal

    Someone in the audience said "magic". I don't know that there's a better answer.

    Brandon

    It was the biggest challenge of this last book. I've said for years, even before I was involved in the project, once you hit book seven in the Wheel of Time as a reader, you have to realize something that I realized. The series itself is not about Rand. The series is about all of these people facing the end of the world. Rand of course is at the center, and there are other figures close to the center, but the series is about all of these people. And going into the last book we all felt that the last book needed to evoke that. Rand needed to be the heart, but it needed to be about the world, all of these people facing the end of times. That was something we struggled with, went back and forth on. The creative process is a mysterious thing, even to us involved. I'm glad that you felt that, because when I went into it that was one of the things I said, this is what we need to do, it needs to feel like this, and if we are successful, that's what it will feel like.

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  • 175

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2013

    Question

    There was some little inconsistencies in the lengths of chapters, especially kind of in the last book...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, you're talking about the several hundred page chapter, and then the five page chapter?

    Question

    ...was that sort of picked to try to break up things specifically, or was that more in how it fell out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The chapter lengths, in this book in particular, were very consciously chosen. Under Harriet's direction, through the first two books Harriet came to me a lot and said "No, this chapter needs to be these viewpoints, and this chapter needs to be those viewpoints", and she actually taught me, I don't know if she realized that she was doing it, and then in the last book, she didn't have to do any of that. There was no changing of viewpoints between chapters. (Meaning via revision) Harriet had trained me better in chapter breaks and things like that, so I broke up the chapters. (To Harriet) I don't know if you even noticed that, in the previous two you did a lot of that, and this one you didn't.

    The very long chapter, a very, very long chapter, you can see it in the Table of Contents, the purpose of that is, I wanted you to feel like the characters do in that chapter. They can't put down their weapons and go to sleep. I don't want you to be able to put down the book and go to sleep. I want you to hit that chapter at 1AM, and be like "I gotta to be at work at seven, and I'll read just one more chapter". One of the things Harriet unconsciously showed me that I picked up on, was the use of chapters for that kind of narrative structure in a better way, so that was done very intentionally.

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