Do some people not understand that this is not just a series of books, but this is almost like one big book, and each volume that you’re publishing every couple years is like another chapter in that book?
Another set of chapters. Some people don’t realize that. But you must begin with The Eye of the World . If you have never read me before, and you pick up Crossroads of Twilight , you will if you are lucky last ten pages before you drop the book, not knowing who these people are, not understanding what they are doing, and without any comprehension of why they are doing it.
Do you not make any allowance for people joining you in mid-stream? Do people need to start from book one?
You do need to start from book one. I made minimal allowance for that in the beginning, and then decided that I could not afford to. I was afraid that the earlier books would go out of print, which they have not. The Eye of the World has been in print in hardcover continuously for thirteen years this month. But I was afraid of that, and I did make some effort to make each book in the beginning a place that you could start at. But it was not really a good place to start, because you still miss a lot. There are things that have gone before that you really need to know.
You’d spend 400 pages just recapping, wouldn’t you?
By this time, I would. By this time, I could spend the entire novel doing nothing but a recapitulation of what’s gone before.
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