Timewaster's Guide Archive

I'm in the same boat as Miyabi, in that I just started reading WoT after hearing about Brandon being chosen as the one to finish it (I'm about 150 pages into the first one).

It's kind of ironic too, because I'm reading a copy of The Eye of the World that I purchased the week that Robert Jordan passed away, at one of Brandon's signings.   Brandon was out here in Denver and stayed for a good hour and a half after the signing to chat with a small handful (less than 5) of his fans who stayed around.  He was answering all kinds of questions, and one thing he talked about was the Wheel of Time series and the impact it (and Jordan) had on him.  I'd say he spent 15-20 minutes discussing the series with us.  This was of course before he knew he would be finishing it.  The way Brandon spoke of the series more than convinced me that it would be something I would enjoy.  Thus, I went home with a copy of The Eye of the World.  I'm not very far into it, but so far it has been quite good.

I believe that some people already have signed copies of MB3  

If you want a signed copy, go to a signing.  They are very very worth it.  Brandon is a really awesome person.  Lots of people in his type of position say they enjoy engaging with fans, but with Brandon, you really get the feeling that he genuinely does.  He's always willing to share advice or answer questions.  I've been to a couple signings now and all have been great.

He could always include it in the Potteresque epilogue

From what I have seen, you do more than any other author that I have followed in terms of communicating with your fans before, during and after the writing process. What, if anything, can we look forward to you sharing with us while you work to complete this book? Also, will you be doing annotations of the chapters once you are done writing this book?

He was asked this at the signing in Denver.

He basically said he isn't going to do the annotations, but he does want to release a much more in depth "the making of" type of book.  He said if it was something he did/could do, it would contain things such as which sections are Jordan's and which are Brandon's.

I'm not sure where else to put this as it somewhat pertains to all of these threads, but I think it will fit here.

I just got back from the signing Brandon did in Denver today and I asked him about these threads.  I think people might find the following information interesting (hence why I'm posting it).

He was asked if he read these threads.  He said he did at first, but since has stopped visiting them.  When he was reading them, he had to strongly resist the urge to post corrections to things that people would find out later.  However, once the book is out (and people have a chance to read it), he plans on stopping by and adding where necessary.

I think all of that is pretty well assumed by many.  However, the next part is interesting.

He then added that the "bumps" (the part of each chapter in italics at the beginning of them) are written by a character who "knows everything."  Thus, they go in depth into some of the more finer details of what is speculated in these threads.  Such as how allomancy works or (these were exact examples) "Why everyone in the world doesn't have black lung disease" and "why the world got hotter instead of cooler in the nuclear winter scenario" (ie all the ash blocking out the sun).   He seemed to imply that the bumps contained information about the series and world that were written in a scientific or almost encyclopedic way.

Other interesting things to note, is that he said in the next week or so, he will put up the first chapter of the book on his site, doing more after.  In the end, there will be 4 chapters, which will give you one from each of the viewpoints (except one I believe he said).

Finally, he had 3 copies of Hero of Ages complete with cover art and text.  It was pretty amazing being that close to all the answers.

As Brandon has said on his blog, he'll be doing a signing in Denver on Saturday.  Is anyone else from here planning on being there?

Quote from: Phaz on July 24, 2008, 10:23:16 PM

IMO him forcing a character into that role for the sake of having a character in that role could take away from the story.

I wouldn't want him to make one of his characters gay just to have a gay character or be 'politically correct' or for any other reason.  However, if he decided that one of his characters was gay, because the character is gay, I would be totally ok with that.

I wasn't attempting to 'force' anything here.  I am just that I would enjoy the prospect and I think that he would do a very good job if he did.

I suppose that wording was a little harsh.  I don't mean to say that you were suggesting that.

I also think Brandon would do an excellent job with this, as from what I've seen he does an excellent job with everything.

I just feel like if something isn't "natural" to a character, it's very very very difficult to make the story flow well.  I feel like the best stories are written by the authors in which the characters are real to them.  They don't really decide what should happen and how things should be, everything just kind of comes to them from some mysterious parallel universe and they simply write down that story as it takes place.

(Note: when I say "natural" here, I don't mean to imply "natural" in the way that some people say homosexuality isn't "natural".  But rather "natural" in the sense of what fits best with the character, like Vin being female instead of male)