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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 'the hook' yielded 11 results
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1
Interview: Oct 20th, 1994
LOC Signing Report - Delemin (Paraphrased)Robert Jordan
Jordan said he didn't give Randland a name because he always found it unrealistic for a fantasy world to have a name. After all, we don't have a real name for our world. He also said he always left something unresolved at the end of each book. He says we never have everything wrapped up in our lives, so why should his characters? He considered leaving a hook at the end of the last book and never resolving it. : - < > (screaming in anguish)Footnote
This is the first of several mentions of the 'hook'; some believe this has to do with Aviendha's visions of the future in Towers of Midnight.Tags
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2
Interview: Aug 4th, 1996
ACOS Signing Report - Dean West (Paraphrased)Question
Are you going to conclude each plot? Little and big? (He really doesn't like when authors do this!)Robert Jordan
No. I plan to leave some things left unanswered (Asmodean??? Arrgh!) I do not like it when other authors clean every little thread up. It is too clean. It isn't very realistic of problems, especially problems of this magnitude. They just don't always get solved. Also, I plan to leave the very last scene with a big hook leaving you with a great big question. (After he said this his wife looked at him and said, "Really?")Tags
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3
Interview: Dec, 2000
Orbit Interview (Verbatim)Orbit
With so many plot strands now running through The Wheel of Time, will all of them be resolved at the very end or will there be some surprising conclusions earlier on?Robert Jordan
Some plot lines will be resolved before the end, but all of the major plot lines will be resolved by the end. On the other hand, some minor plot lines will not be resolved. In fact, in the last scene of the last book, I intend to set a small hook for what some may see as future books. But I will walk away and not look back. One thing that has irritated me with some books is that, come the end, all of the characters' problems are solved, all of the world's problems are solved, and you might well sit the whole place on a shelf and put a bell-jar over it to keep the dust off. When I finish the Wheel of Time, I hope to leave the reader feeling that this world is still chugging along out there somewhere, still alive and kicking.Tags
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4
Interview: Nov 6th, 1998
Amazon.com Interview (Verbatim)Therese Littleton
So will the male-female duality be resolved? Or is this a "read and find-out" question?
Robert Jordan
Read and find out. What I consider the major story lines will be resolved. There will be a number of minor story lines that will not be resolved, for the simple reason that there is no point to any real world where everything is resolved. That's always something that has irritated me about some novels—that you reach a point at the end of the book, and everyone's problems have now been solved, and all of the world's problems have been solved. I get the feeling I could put these characters and this world on a shelf and put a bell jar over them and go away. There's nothing left there alive.
That's the way it's going to be. I even intend to set a small hook in the last scene.
Therese Littleton
Wow... you're going to drive people crazy!Robert Jordan
I know, I know. I've been thinking about getting some of those Groucho glasses with the mustache.Tags
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5
Interview: Apr 7th, 2001
Elf Fantasy Fair - Aan'allein (Verbatim)Question
Someone asked the regular question about the amount of books to come and why it's taking so long.Robert Jordan
There are a number of storylines that I want to tell, a number of stories that I want to tell. Basically I think of this as a story of people surviving the upheaval of their culture. ... You know, when I began I knew the beginning, I knew the end and I knew certain major events that I wanted to happen in between, so that I would arrive at the proper conclusion, the conclusion of the story that I wanted to arrive at. And it simply wasn't possible to get everything in there as quickly as I thought. The people must all undergo changes. The cultures must undergo changes.Question
Could it be possible that it will never end?Robert Jordan
Uhm, no, there is no possibility that it will never end. I will wrap up all of the major storylines, I will wrap up some of the minor storylines. Other minor storylines will be left hanging, and I'm going to do worse than that. I am going to set a hook in the last scene of the last book, that will make some people who don't believe what I say, think that I am setting up a sequel. What I am doing, what I will be doing, is trying to leave you with a view of a world that is still alive. One hope that some fantasies have is that when you reach the end of the book, or you reach the end of the trilogy, all the characters' problems are solved. All of the things that they have been doing are neatly tied of in a bow, all of their world's problems have been solved. And there's no juice left, there's no life left. you think 'I ought to set this world on a shelf and put a bell-jar on top of it, to keep the dust off.
When I finish the Wheel of Time, I want to do it in such a way that you will think it's still out there somewhere, people still doing things. This story has been concluded, this set of stories has been concluded, but they're still alive.
Question
mumble-mumble on the tape, but the answer should give you a general idea of the question.Robert Jordan
No, I will not continue writing it, I will be going on to something else, and nobody else will continue writing it, because I have an automatic contract set up that if anyone tries to sharecrop in my world, their kneecaps will be brought to me. [laughter]Question
What will you write next?Robert Jordan
Another fantasy novel, or a set of novels. More compact, I hope. That's...I've been working on it, you might say, in the back of my head for five or six years. A different world, a different set of circumstances; different cultures, different rules, no connection really, at all, to the world ... I'm writing about now. [Heh, seems even Jordan might want to have given Randland a name in the beginning so that we could refer to it as something other than Randland.] I want to make things different. [strong] I don't like doing the same thing again. It's a trap that writers find it very easy to fall in to. Fans say, 'tell me the story again, tell me more of the story', and the writer wants to do a different story. But the fan who loves this story says, 'tell me this story again.' [loud] 'I want the story again, daddy!' [laughter] So you tell the story again. And it is very much like telling the story to your child, because if you always tell the same story when the child screams, 'tell me the story again, daddy', you find out you can never ever tell a different story, that that is the only story that will be accepted. And I won't do that. I hope you come along with me, when I go on to different stories. But if you don't, I'm still gonna write the different stories. [laughter]Tags
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6
Interview: Jan 27th, 2003
COT Signing Report - Réal Heppelle (Paraphrased)Réal Heppelle
I just came back from the Toronto signing. All the details from the other book signings are the same except that there was no Q & A from the crowd. We were told he would take questions but he arrived 15 minutes late.Robert Jordan
He added that there would be a "hook" at the end of the series (which he had planned since 1984). This hook would lead readers to believe that there would be a sequel after WOT. However, he was quite clear that that would not happen. He stated that he hated getting to the end of a good book only to discover that everything comes to an end. He wanted to leave the end open so that there would be more "juice" left in his characters. He said that all major and minor plot lines would come to an end, but his characters' lives will continue.Tags
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7
Interview: Jul 14th, 2005
ComicCon Reports (Paraphrased)Question
Will everything eventually be resolved?Robert Jordan
All major threads will be resolved. Many of the secondary and tertiary threads will be resolved. He will leave holes because he wants to leave a world alive and kicking, not stored dust free under a bell jar. As late as the final scene he will leave a medium-sized "hook" that will have us thinking, "he's going to do a sequel!" but it's not going to happen.Tags
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8
Interview: Dec 15th, 2011
Alloy of Law Signing Report - Zas (Verbatim)Zas (Terez)
Robert Jordan often said that he intended to plant a 'hook' in the last scene, a teaser for an unresolved issue. Was this 'hook' something he planned to explore in the outriggers?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, and he actually wrote that part. You'll see it when the book comes out, and it's one of the lines that will go in unchanged. Sorry!
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9
Interview: Dec 5th, 2000
WH Signing Report - Br00se (Paraphrased)Robert Jordan
The next question was about the tying up of all threads, to which he said it was not going to happen. He then told how he didn't like it when in most books all the sub plots are tied up and that you could put the world in a bell jar and put it on a shelf. He wants his reads to imagine his world still living after the series is finished. He said that he was going to set a hook at the end of the last book and walk away.
He again stated that he only worked on one book at a time.
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10
Interview: Feb 8th, 2013
AMOL Signing Report - DJ Stipe (Paraphrased)Brandon and Harriet (paraphrased)
When asked about the ending he said he thought Robert Jordan left it open so the reader could fill in what happened for themselves. Then he said that he thought Rand probably did go talk to Tam before he left but maybe not Lan.
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