The measure of the man is his equilibrium. Global renown may have fattened his purse, but not his head. He has not been shanghaied by adulation down the unworthy paths of ego. Three of the ten books of “The Wheel of Time” have scaled the summit of The New York Times best-seller list. Crossroads of Twilight , his latest, is the first to open at the crest. He is gratified. He is not, however, calling for an attendant.
“You want the reader to be drawn into the world you create, to be immersed in it,” says Jordan, relaxing in his study. “But if I, as the writer, got that deeply into my world, it would produce very bad writing. You would lose the flow of what you are doing. I’m not suspending disbelief; I know I created this. What I’m after is getting other people to suspend the knowledge that they are reading a book and, for a little time, to feel that this thing is real.”
Frame of mind is key.
“I focus on sitting down to each book as if this is ‘It.’ Nobody has ever heard of Robert Jordan. I’ve got this one book that I’ve got to try to make good enough that people will know who Robert Jordan is. I know that’s a strange way to look at it, but it is very useful for trying to make the book good. It also helps me not worry about what’s gone before.”
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