Date: 2010-11-04
Type: Paraphrased
Location: Dallas, TX
Reporter: Catherine Sedai
The signing today was in Dallas, at Borders Bookstore.
Bob Kluttz, one of Jim’s (RJ’s) friends, lives in Texas, and he just happened to want to attend the event. Brandon asked him to sign copies of Towers of Midnight . RJ had Bob on several of his dedication pages in other books, and Brandon has him in the Towers of Midnight dedication. Bob was a good friend he bounced ideas around with, who he attributes some of his success.
Bob Kluttz is responsible for Encyclopaedia WoT .
Harriet read an excerpt from Distinctions (pg. 43-45, Padan Fain)
Her phone rings near the beginning of the reading, and without missing a beat, she picks it up and passes it over to Brandon, still reading aloud. She didn’t stop until the crowd started to laugh, and then she laughed too. She stopped for a moment and says “Well, we’ll just pretend that didn’t happen shall we.” And continues. (Harriet read this great passage AMAZINGLY. It’s not surprising, but it was awesome.)
Then they did some Q&A. Brandon requested that nobody’s questions contain spoilers for The Gathering Storm or Towers of Midnight . LAME! (I did not take notes or a recording device, so if you want to hear what went down word-for word, I’m sure you can find something in another thread, or on Dragonmount. Somebody was filming, as well. I just want to share my experience, and the most interesting things.)
So, spoiler-free, but NOTHING below is verbatim what was said, it’s all from memory:
Nobody asked about Asmodean. (I thought that was funny.)
Someone asked if Brandon writes the books in a jumping-around fashion or if he writes one character’s story at a time, and then they get spliced together in editing.
Brandon says he does write one character at a time, because you have to try to think like that character and feel like the character. He says to be able to write someone, it’s like uploading all the information about the character, and then using it until you’re done. Then you wipe your hard drive and download the next character. He goes on to say that the editing and splicing is almost entirely Harriet, but when Brandon feels strongly about something, he insists. (Brandon said one such point was at the beginning of Towers of Midnight , a cliffhanger ending to a chapter about Mat…) Harriet took the mic at this point and said that if Brandon puts his foot down, then that’s it, and he gets his way. They laugh.
Somebody asked if we will get to see an Aiel Wise One as a damane . (Pronounced DAH-mah-nay)
RAFO.
Somebody asked who his least favorite character is to write.
He said it was probably Gawyn. He said when you write a character, you try to think like them, and Gawyn is so frustrated with his situation that Brandon would get frustrated writing him. He asked Harriet to tell a funny story about Jim.
Jim would get into his characters so much that sometimes when he came to dinner I could tell who he had been writing. For example he would come in kinda hunched and slinking around near the walls and I would say “Have you been writing Padan Fain?” (Harriet and Brandon laugh)
Somebody asked who his favorite villain is to write.
He says that he enjoys a lot of them, but that writing Padan Fain is very enjoyable, because by this point in the story he is just bonkers (his word) so it’s fun to write such an insane perspective. He said specifically, the excerpt Harriet read aloud was pretty much his favorite to write. ( see above )
Someone asked him if he would do the evil Forsaken laugh he was purported to have done at some earlier time.
Brandon does an evil Mwa-ha-ha MWa-HA-HA laugh (hilarious), and everybody cheers. Then Brandon turns to the guy filming the event and says, “Oh no, you’re getting this on film” (laughs) “Any chance we can edit that out?” (joking. Camera man shakes his head no. Brandon laughs)
A guy named Louis asked what’s going to happen to Bela. (He pronounces it like “Bella”.)
Harriet corrects his pronunciation (it’s more like BAIL-a) and then, looking mysterious, asks “Would you believe that Bela is the Dark One?” (everybody laughs)
Those were the highlights of the Q&A, which was not very long.
For those of you who haven’t gone to one of these events, they distribute post-its and ask you to write your name, and anything you want Brandon to write in your book. I just wrote my name, as I couldn’t choose any one thing I would like him to write, but Brandon still jotted down a little something for me.
In my copy of The Gathering Storm , he wrote: To Catherine, May you always find water & shade.
In my copy of Towers of Midnight , he wrote: To Catherine, Iron to Bind!
Harriet signed both of my books, and Bob Kluttz signed my Towers of Midnight .
This is the first time I have gone to one of these things. I wish, and hope, that every fan has an opportunity like this one. It was absolutely incredible. Next year’s A Memory of Light tour is supposed to be pretty huge, so hopefully most people who want to go will have an opportunity.
The photo I linked below was taken on my cell phone, and I was off to the side of a very big crowd, but there was nobody in front of me.
Photo I took of Brandon and Harriet
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