Author Topic: Others writing Wheel of Time?  (Read 6649 times)

Reaves

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2009, 01:12:54 PM »
I guess I could see it working, but I wouldn't be interested in reading them.  To be honest though, I don't see it happening. Star Wars is a much bigger/ more popular franchise than WoT.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2009, 01:14:34 PM by Reaves »
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Ehran

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2009, 04:01:47 PM »
Sure, why not?  If you don't want to read anyone other than RJ writing the stories nobody is forcing you to buy the books.  For others, that love the setting, its a way to continue to be entertained.  Nothing wrong with that.

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2009, 05:38:01 PM »
Would Wheel of Time be accepted by readers if it was written by authors other than Jordan or Sanderson?  What would happen if, after AMoL, the market was flooded with WOT novels by many different authors?  Wouldn't the new novels, if written poorly, ruin the original series, by discouraging new readers from reading them?  What if, after 10-20 years after AMoL, Brandon Sanderson were to return to WOT.

Imagine the fanfare. Imagine the excitement. Brandon Sanderson, NY Times bestseller, returns to WOT. Uses RJ's "Lost Notes" to finish the WOT prequel.  Wouldn't that be the best way to reinvigorate an old series?  From there other authors could explore the world creating there own new characters and storylines. 

I'm not against others writing in the WOT universe.  I do believe though that RJ's characters should only be written by Brandon Sanderson, and that Tor should wait a decade or two before starting to writing them.

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Shard

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2009, 08:36:51 PM »
I guess if Sanderson's original fans don't mind him doing more RJ work then his own. I really don't want too many authors on this. Star Wars is different, it's more expansive then WoT. From Jordancon we heard that Harriet is going to write the final Encyclopedia for WoT. I suppose they will find some way to get Brandon to write more WoT books.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2009, 11:25:34 PM »
Did everyone read Brandon's response to the question?
Quote
I think the concept of anyone else working on the Wheel of Time was very painful for Robert Jordan. But in the last months before his death, he became determined–even insistent–that the series be completed after he passed away–and that means the part of the story that he had outlined to appear in the final book, now split into three due to length. He also previously had ideas for two more prequels and the outrigger novels set after the series’ end, but those were not a priority in his last few months. At this point we’re not sure Robert Jordan would have wanted those books to be written in his absence, and no one involved in finishing the series now feels the same urgency about them. I know that a lot of fans want to see those books eventually, but I ask that you please respect Harriet’s ability to decide their fate. If Harriet feels that he would not have wanted them done or that there aren’t enough notes or materials to complete the books in a way that would have made him proud, then the books should not be written. As for other books in the Wheel of Time universe that Robert Jordan did not have any plans to write or to arrange to be written, that’s not something I contemplate. When an author creates a world so rich that readers want an unending supply of books set in that world, that’s just a testament to the author’s skill as a storyteller–it doesn’t mean that having people write an unending supply of books in that world is a good idea. Stories have beginnings, middles, and endings for a reason, and ignoring that is detrimental to the integrity of the story. Robert Jordan had a vision for the Wheel of Time, and it’s important to be faithful to that vision. We’d rather leave his legacy as it stands than have bad books attached to his name.
Also at JordanCon at a panel Brandon said, "There's not going to be a Lews Therin book. There's not going to be an Artur Hawkwing book." Plus some other stuff along those lines but I don't remember exactly. Harriet was right there on the panel so I think he spoke for her as well where that was concerned.
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happyman

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2009, 11:58:46 PM »
The real problem with this, that I can see is, is Sturgeon's law.

Sorry folks.  Most fiction written in somebody else's universe is crap, just like most things written.  Frankly, it's worse than that.  The really good authors don't have to borrow, or they can do it more subtly, and so most things written in a pre-existing universe tend to self-select towards the poorer end of writing.

The current case is completely different.  Brandon is an established writer with his own worlds.  He came in only to fill in after Author Existence Failure.  Whole different ball game.
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sporkify

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #21 on: May 26, 2009, 10:30:48 AM »
Author Existence Failure. 
Tvtropes is awesome! 

...sorry, just caught the refrence.


I doubt that any author would find it easy to add additional stories that RJ did not plan out.  If they tried, the best they'd be able to do is a Tolkien jr.-esk stuffy work of attempted note-patchwork.  Some things make good background in-story, but wouldn't work out too well as an actual novel.
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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2009, 01:47:38 PM »
Why can't WoT be another gamesworkshop/warhammer world? as long as Harriet approves of everthing written?

it really depends on the ending of the last book imho...
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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2009, 04:23:23 PM »
Because if it becomes such it has just become, quite litterally, a pimped out name i don't remember the last time a read a dragonlance, warhammer, d&d book worth re-reading... not to mention the original idea is always the best
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Shard

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #24 on: May 26, 2009, 04:45:04 PM »
Yeah there is such a thing as too many people in the pool. I trust Brandon to do a good job but he's not going to want to write WoT forever especially when he has his own ideas he's been shelving. There is a point where the story should be left alone. I think Star Wars EU has past that point as there are developments I really don't like now.

With some of these Game universes the books get really really bad. Especially Magic the Gathering books, it was just really bad.
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Ehran

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #25 on: May 26, 2009, 06:27:51 PM »
... not to mention the original idea is always the best

Some (I would say most) of the best Star Wars stories have been without George Lucas' involvement.  I'm not comparing RJ to Lucas by any means, but a blanket statement that no one else could right interesting, quality, stories in this world probably isn't true.

Renoard

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #26 on: May 26, 2009, 06:43:50 PM »
Star Wars is never a good comparison.  It's comparing apples and oranges, because the original work is the moves.  The books were not written by Lucas, they were ghost written by different authors and adapted from the movies.  That never results in a good outcome.

Trek is a slightly different issue, because the original Trek was written by James Blish a SciFi writer with some street cred.  He wrote the scripts as script supervisor, and wrote the stories for each episode as a short story.  The stories including the episodes that never got filmed from season three were bound together as an anthology to prove it.  So there is some form of textual fiction that is contemporaneous with the scripts, some original in a sense that Star Wars never had.

A better comparison would be the hack work that has been made of Three Musketeers, since Dumas died.  Noone else has ever done a decent job with Dumas' fictional France or Court of Versailles.  Maybe the movie in the mid 90's?  But that is a different medium.  No other books have done as well with either Musketeers or Man in the Iron Mask.  Same issue that was mentioned earlier.  A good writer would want to build his own world and characters.
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Shard

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #27 on: May 26, 2009, 06:47:26 PM »
I liked the first books of the Star Wars that came out that were written by Timothy Zahn. However at the current state of the EU I'm not sure I like what the writers have done with it.

The problem with the Star Trek books is that they contradict not only each other but the show as well. Plus each show was a different cast of characters and sometimes different part of the universe but the same kind of universe. Though ad Jordancon Brandon did seem insistent that there would not be a Lews Therin book that there wouldn't be a Artur Hawking book either. At least not from him anyways.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #28 on: May 26, 2009, 07:41:10 PM »
D.C. Fontana was the script editor for the original Star Trek. Not James Blish, who was in the UK. Blish wrote his novelizations based on scripts written by other people which he had nothing to do with before or during filming. And they don't include unfilmed scripts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(Blish)

The original Star Wars novelization was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, a science fiction writer with some street cred.

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Renoard

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Re: Others writing Wheel of Time?
« Reply #29 on: May 26, 2009, 07:49:01 PM »
Ookla baby, I know you love wiki, but I owned a copy of the book, had it in my hot little hand and it did have the unfilmed episodes from the last half of season three.  The forward explained why they were there etc. :)

Now it's possible that Blish and his editor were able to say what they did without facts to back it, but I'm thinking the Rodenbury estate would have buried them in lawsuits if they did.

Foster has street cred, and he wrote the novelizations, and her wrote Splinter of the Mind's Eye as well.  But that doesn't change the fact that Star Wars was completely Lucas' baby and he intended it from day one as a film project with heavy commercialization.  Even gave up royalties in exchange for funding and exclusive ownership over merchandising. ;)

But in either case, the comparison is inadequate because the original work is not a novel or series of novels.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2009, 07:55:19 PM by Renoard »
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