You’ve inherited a world that is on the verge of destruction, and a main character who is now crippled, partially insane, and probably now blind.
(Brandon’s interjection: Yup indeed! Lots of conflict. Just the way I like it. This is the stuff that great epics are made of. It looks like Jason cut this part of the question when he did the original post. Probably for space issues.)
You’ve said before in other interviews that your fantasy novels ( Elantris , and the Mistborn series) were born in part by the notion of taking a typical fantasy concept and turning it on its head. For example, you said that while The Wheel of Time is about “peasants becoming kings”, your Elantris book is about “Kings who become peasants.” And one of the fundamental ideas behind the Mistborn series is the question: “What if the Dark One won?” Having explored those interesting ideas, what’s it like to suddenly find yourself writing the ending of a massive series which in large part defined the fantasy genre that many readers are familiar with?
I think I covered this one last year as well as I could. I’ll add to my response that I think, in our hearts, every one of us fantasy authors wants to write this classic story. There’s a piece of us who wants to emulate our masters, to do as they did, because they brought us such delight and emotion at reading. That’s why many authors, when they first begin, tend to write works that feel heavily derivative.
Most of us never publish those novels. We move on, like a tottering child, searching for our own voice. Trying to find a way to bring those same emotions to people, but by telling our own stories. Our own way. It’s the correct way of things. Telling the exact same story over and over again is an exercise in futility.
But I get the chance to actually do that, to be part of this thing that nurtured me through those years when I was a quiet fantasy reader who spent more time in his room with his books than outside with living people. I get to write on this story, I get to be part of the master’s work. That’s very humbling.
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