Decorated Vietnam War veteran Robert Jordan began putting quill to parchment in 1977, and hasn’t stopped since. Storytelling is in Jordan’s blood. The South Carolina native, who taught himself to read at age 4 and began reading Jules Verne and Mark Twain at age 5, has written novels set during the American Revolution, a dozen adventures featuring Robert E. Howard’s Conan, and, most notably, 12 epic novels (11 primary novels and one prequel) in his Wheel of Time fantasy series.
“The spoken word is the basis for all storytelling,” he told us from his 1797 home in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina. “My father and my uncles were storytellers. When we went fishing or hunting, there was always storytelling at night. I grew up with that oral tradition. I’ve always thought that my writing lends itself to being read aloud for that very reason.”
We asked him about the advantages of listening to a book as opposed to reading it.
“When reading an actual book,” he answered, “it’s possible to skip over things. You make connections in your head, and you find you’re not registering every word. But when it’s read to you, there’s a difference. You hear every word.”
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