Timewaster's Guide Archive

This is an option. It is not guaranteed to be made into a movie. Wheel of Time has been optioned before and the books were not made into a movie. Stephen Kings Dark Tower was optioned with a big name director who just quit the project. Dianna Gabaldon said in one of her podcasts that she has been paid $250,000 for options and no movie got made.

I tried to google this Pallopa pictures. They don't even have a website. It sounds like some new company. I really have no idea how development companies work. Do they write the script and then try to sell it to a studio? Does anyone know? My understanding is that this process typically takes several years even if a movie gets made. It can be 2 years just for script revisions. Brad Pitts company has the option on World War Z and if you look at the film for it on wikipedia it has been in revision for something like 2 years with no end in site.

Does anyone know more about how the movie business works and what this development company does. Do they just do the script and then sell it to a studio?

Robert Jordan said somewhere (I read it somewhere) that he does not read his published books. He listens to them on audio books. the same man and woman have done all of his books. They do a VERY good job.

Speed isn't the most important thing. I like recorded books for a re-read. I can also do other things. Such as listen in my car going to work, taking a walk, riding my bike, house work.

Does anyone know how good the audio books of brandons books are? The quality can vary depending on the performer.

I have read all of the Masters of Rome books. All of the WoT books up to book 9 (I am re-listening to books 1-11 on audio before reading Gathering Storm) and I am halfway through Brandon's first Mistborn book.

Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough is one of the best historical series EVER written by anyone and absolutely the best novels about the late Republican period in rome EVER written (and I read alot of history). She deserves any award anyone can throw at her. They are also not really easy reads. There are insane numbers of characters(exponentially more than wheel of time), the romans all seem to have similiar names so its really hard to keep track (she is being historically accurate), plus the latin terms are hard to keep track of at first even with the appendix. Colleen McCullough is a genious. I do NOT say that lightly.

Wheel of Time is MUCH easier to read. The first book is the best fantasy book I have ever read. It is better than Mistborn (Brandon would agree so I am not trolling). It probably deserved a pullitzer prize consideration, but you don't get one for this genre.

Yes later books bog down and sort of get lost. Here is what I recommend.

Read or listen to the first 3 on tape. They are VERY good. You then will have a good enough idea of what is going on to jump to book 12. Use this website to help keep track of stuff.

http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/

That website is INCREDIBLY detailed.
There are also massive numbers of websites about the wheel of time and forums if you are unsure of what is going on.

There are also the WoT forums here. Brandon has a number of Q&A postings. Note that these are VERY detailed questions you won't get even on 1 read. Alot of them Brandon doesn't know the answer to and has to refer to Robert Jordan's assistant.


http://forums.dragonmount.com

I HIGHLY recommend reading The Eye of the World. I am listening to all of them all over again on recorded books before reading The Gathering Storm. I read some of these books almost 20 years ago. I forgot how much I forgot.

BTW, I do like Mistborn. I like the Brandon just jumps into the action. I like his concise writing style also.