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Interview #422: Book Expo America Interview, Entry #3

Damon Cap

How do you feel that writing this book changes what you would have done in your life? I know it was probably a very difficult decision, because it’s such a great project. But how does this affect you as a writer?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s actually a great question. It was a difficult decision—it was the easiest difficult decision I’ve ever made. How about that? Because I made it in a snap. There’s no way I was going to pass this up. But at the same time, making that decision made me realize… I knew when I was making it, that this would change my life forever. And it would change… I mean, I had to set aside a number of book projects that I’ve wanted to write. That just got cast aside, and I just didn’t have time for it anymore. And I don’t know if I will write those books; if I’ll be able to write those books. It completely changed tracks—you know, you talk about a train being derailed—well, you know, I completely was thrown off-track to something completely different. It did change my career drastically.

DAMON CAP

Do you feel like—and this is going to be a difficult question—but do you feel like that it’s taken away a little bit of yourself? Do you feel like you’re going to be typecast as that person that wrote Jordan’s last book?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I don’t know. I don’t think so. Partially because I plan to do this and be done. I don’t plan to make a career of finishing other people’s books. In fact, I would have said no to pretty much anyone else. The Wheel of Time was the foundational and formative epic fantasy series of my childhood. These were the books I was reading—Rand, and Perrin, and Mat, they were my friends that I had growing up. This wasn’t something that I could say no to. Just from a kind of… I consider Robert Jordan a mentor. My hero in a lot of ways. There was no way I was going to say no. But I wouldn’t have said yes to pretty much anyone else, and I don’t plan to do other sorts of tie-in books. I’ve put my soul into this book. There is a piece of me in this. It’s hard to explain. It’s not like… I didn’t treat it like I was given a work-for-hire project. It’s not like I’m writing a Star Wars book, as fun as that would be, or something like this. I was given these notes and then essentially told by Harriet, “I want to see what you’re doing, after you’ve done with it, but you have full license. Do what you feel you need to do to write this book.” I was given essentially complete control. Now, Harriet—Robert Jordan’s wife—she has complete control.

DAMON CAP

The final say.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, she has the final say. But she’s an editor. And she didn’t tell me how to write the book. She gave me the notes and said, “Go. Do what you need to do to make a great book.” And so, this has become… It is a collaboration. It’s a true collaboration, that’s what they call it; I’m collaborating. And there were big holes that I had to fill in. Now, there are a lot of notes that he left behind and there’s a lot—this is mostly his book—but there’s a bit of me in it. And it’s not just a work-for-hire. Which actually… It’s good. I don’t feel like I’m, I don’t know, stepping in and just doing something. It’s hard to explain. I don’t know if that’s making any sense at all.

DAMON CAP

No, that’s definitely makes sense.

BRANDON SANDERSON

But I’m putting as much or more into this as I would put into one of my own books. And I don’t feel like this would typecast me any more than writing my own books typecasts me as a person who writes Brandon Sanderson books. If that makes sense. You get typecast as yourself; it’s impossible to not be typecast as yourself. So…yeah.

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