Does anybody else think it would be a cool thing to get Brandon Sanderson to do an AMA? I’m really curious about how he went about writing the last few novels of the series. How would we go about getting him to do an AMA?
What do you want to know about the process? I sometimes have to be vague about what I did and what RJ did, as Harriet prefers people to read the books and enjoy them without spending a lot of time trying to pick out the differences between our styles. I can try to answer a few questions if you pitch them at me, though.
I don’t have any questions, I just wanted to thank you for all of your hard work and dedication that you have put into finishing this series.
I picked up this series about 10 or 12 years ago, and being in Randland helped me get through some tough times. I was very sad when Jordan died, and when Harriet made the announcement that you were going to finish the series, I must admit that I had my doubts.
So I figured I would take a look at your work, and picked up Mistborn. That book was awesome! So after finishing the trilogy, I was like “Ok, this guy can write, he is the perfect pick to finish WoT.”
I wanted to jump in and start reading The Gathering Storm , but by that point it had been a while since I had read Knife of Dreams , so I went back and started at the beginning, and when I got to the books you wrote, I was very impressed.
There were so many good moments in The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight , I don’t know where to begin. The one that stands out the most in my mind is Mat’s story at the end of Towers of Midnight .
Anyways, I’m really looking forward to the release of A Memory of Light . You rock, Brandon Sanderson!
tl;dr: Just wanted to let Sanderson know how much it means to me that he has done such a stellar job in completing one of the fantasy series that is near and dear to my heart.
It has been an honor.
I’ve read things before from you saying that you received a lot of written guidance as well as ideas that hadn’t been fully fleshed out by Mr. Jordan to help you take the stories towards the conclusion he’d always had in mind.
Once you had worked through the stories that Mr. Jordan wanted to be told in your head and got down to writing, was there anything that you really wanted to include or thought would have a special level of awesomity but felt that you shouldn’t because it went against (or would probably be against, under different circumstances) the ideas Jordan had?
For clarification, did you ever feel like a character should experience something that Mr. Jordan hadn’t mentioned or had clearly discouraged? Or feel that something should happen that Mr. Jordan hadn’t conceived or didn’t want?
This is a good question. Yes, there are things I’d have done differently—but out of respect for Mr. Jordan’s desires and the integrity of the series, I haven’t done them. For example, I like to use magic in ways that Mr. Jordan didn’t. You see me playing with this a little bit in my use of gateways. There are many things possible with weaves (particularly since you can tie them off) that I feel exploring would have changed the focus of the stories in ways I don’t think Mr. Jordan would have wanted.
One thing that specifically came up once was me wanting to delve more into the Heroes of the Horn. The Wheel has always turned, and time is infinite. If people can occasionally be added to the Horn, that would mean that the number of people tied to the Horn is also infinite unless people get unbound as well as bound. I wanted to explore this idea—in conversation only, this isn’t a plot point—but was persuaded by Team Jordan that RJ wanted nobody ever to be unbound, and that exploration in this direction would go against his vision for the world.
Thank you for your answer, I’ve never had the pleasure of interacting with you directly before, although I am making my through your series of lectures on YouTube (that I’ve always assumed you consented to?) which are truly very informative.
You mentioned that there are aspects of the world of the WoT that you would like to explore in ways that Mr Jordan wouldn’t. Would you be interested in writing spin off books, perhaps with different characters set in the same universe/world? Regardless of your interest in doing something like that, would you ever be allowed to?
On a slightly related note, do you feel that there are any aspects (characters, magic, unexplored possibilities etc.) in the WoT series that have since influenced your other writings?
The main reason I haven’t done things like this is because it’s not my world, and I feel it should remain closer to RJ’s vision. So, even if I were to do spin offs (which I don’t think will happen) I would feel the same constraints. My goal has never to be to turn the Wheel of Time into something else; there is plenty of room in my own work to explore magic as I like to explore it. In the Wheel of Time, the magic is RJ’s—and should remain true (as much as possible) to his vision.
I would say that RJ’s work, and my experience on the WoT, has taught me a number of things. RJ was far more subtle in some of his plotting than I am, and I’d like to think that seeing that has helped me learn to be better in that area. I also like how wonderful his third person limited viewpoint can be, as proven by Mat. (See the other answer I gave.) The way he shaped a narrative to the character giving it is amazing, and has influenced me greatly.
Thanks again for the answer. I’m going to be far more conscious of Mat’s narrative from now on with that answer!
brandon on writing wot ,
harriet ,
who wrote what? ,
brandon on magic ,
heroes of the horn ,
team jordan
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