[something about the prequels and fanfiction]
Fan fiction has never really taken off in the Wheel of Time fandom. Partly the reason for that is because Robert Jordan did not like fanfic—he didn’t like other people playing in his sandbox—and so when me and Jason became aware that he didn’t like fanfic, we pretty much killed it on Dragonmount, and because we killed it on Dragonmount, that meant everybody else killed it too, because people pretty much follow our lead, so there’s never really been a lot of fanfic in the Wheel of Time. There is some out there—if you look around you can find some like on fanfic.net—but it’s never really taken off for whatever reason. And I think it’s partly because we killed it very quickly, but I think it’s also partly because a lot of what is special about the Wheel of Time is the unique voice of Robert Jordan, and for the most part other people writing in that universe, it’s crap. Even if they’re a really good writer, it’s…[Brandon] is really the only person I like writing in the Wheel of Time universe other than Jim, so…I think that’s another reason why it doesn’t take off, because it’s pretty obvious it’s not Robert Jordan.
Right, the Wheel of Time is about Robert Jordan’s voice in a lot of ways, and the reason we’re all still reading this is because we like that voice. And there are books that are slower than other books, and those of us who just love his voice, love those books.
It doesn’t matter, I really like Crossroads of Twilight . I’m sorry!
Yes, because that’s what we’re reading the books for. I mean, of course it’s the characters also, but time with Jim and the characters is what these books are about, and as much as we like the epic battles and things, at their core it’s Jim and the characters.
Yeah, and it’s his prose, and it’s his writing style, and just the way he presents everything. And so, fanfic can’t capture that.
I think there’s a real loyalty to him as an author as well when you find out, as a fan, that he doesn’t like that kind of fanfiction, then you don’t even feel inclined to do it.
He was very—I mean, if you guys read the interviews—it was only like the last minutes that he changed his mind on even having the series finished by someone else. For years, he was gonna…what was it, burn his hard drives, and things like that…
…and salt the earth, yeah…
Yeah. There was going to be no ending. It was only like the last month or two that he said, “No, go ahead and find somebody and have it finished.” So, yeah.
We’re all really glad that he said that.
Yeah, you almost didn’t have this.
[something about hunting the guy down and taking his kneecaps ]
Yeah.
So, watch out for those kneecaps.
Okay. If my kneecaps float off mysteriously…
That is mysterious.
…and you see a shadow with the hat and a cane, and maybe a pipe… (laughter)
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