Breaking news on A Memory of Light: three volumes (maybe) & cover art

[yakumo fujii]

None of this bothers me except for the titles, they're just so generic.

I don't understand why they didn't use some of the more descriptive lines of the Karaetheon Cycle like so many of the other books.

[Shard]

Yeah it's so generic I just heard the title on an episode of Angel.

"A Gathering Storm, is it"?  I just shook my head sadly.

[jamhaw]

I wish they didn't pick Gathering Storm however. Too bland. You would think they could come up with a better title.

[Miyabi]

It is a very common theme, but it seems to work for the concept that is being aimed for.

やくも、ふじいは日本人ですか。
(Is yakumo fujii japanese?)

[Rrikor]

I thought Brandon said that it is not going to be AMoL vol 1, 2, 3 because the book stores said it would not work well with the computer systems and could cause confusion.  That is why we got a lime title for this book. It was suppose to be AMoL: Gathering Clouds but when they got rid of the AMoL part they made it The Gathering Storm.  That title just sounds so generic for me but it is done now.  The second  book will probably get a new name from what was originally chosen (Shifting Winds).  Brandon said he wanted to put a better title on it when it doesn't have the AMol part. .The last book will still be AMoL.

[Miyabi]

Rrikor - site your source please?

Everything I have read says that it will be

AMoL : The Gathering Storm
AMoL : Shifting Winds
AMoL : Tarmon Gai'Don

[daschaich]

Rrikor - site your source please?

Everything I have read says that it will be

AMoL : The Gathering Storm
AMoL : Shifting Winds
AMoL : Tarmon Gai'Don

From brandonsanderson.com:

...

Now, some words about titles. Where did THE GATHERING STORM come from? Well, in January where it was decided to split the book, I continued to advocate for something that would indicate that this was ONE book, split into three parts. (I still see it that way.) And so, I suggested that they all be named A MEMORY OF LIGHT with subtitles. I love the title A MEMORY OF LIGHT; I think it's poetic and appropriate. Plus, it was Mr. Jordan's title for the book. That alone is good enough reason to keep it.

And so, I suggested smaller, shorter, more generic sub-titles for each of the parts. With a long, evocative title like A MEMORY OF LIGHT as the supertitle, the subtitles needed to be shorter and more basic, as to not draw attention. The first of these was named GATHERING CLOUDS by Maria's suggestion. Book two would be SHIFTING WINDS, book three TARMON GAI'DON, all with the supertitle of A MEMORY OF LIGHT.

We proceeded with that as our plan for several months. And then, suddenly, Tom got word from marketing that the titles needed to change. The bookstores didn't like them. (You'll find that the bookstores control a lot in publishing. You'd be surprised at how often the decisions are made because of what they want.) In this case, the bookstores worried that having three books titled AMoL would be too confusing for the computer system and the people doing the reordering. They asked for the supertitle to be cut, leaving us with the title GATHERING CLOUDS.

I shot off an email to Harriet, explaining that I never intended that title to be the one that carried the book. It was too generic, too basic. She went to Tom with some suggestions for alternates, and THE GATHERING STORM was what they decided. This all happened in a matter of hours, most of it occurring before I got up in the morning. (I sent her an email at night, then by the time I rose, they'd made the decision out on the east coast.) Some materials had already gone out as GATHERING CLOUDS, and I wonder if THE GATHERING STORM was chosen because it was similar. I know it was the one out of those suggested by Harriet that Tom liked the most. It's somewhat standard, but also safe.

That title swap came at me rather fast. I plan to be ready for the next one, so hopefully we'll have the time to produce something a little more evocative. I don't mind THE GATHERING STORM, but I do realize that it is one of the more bland Wheel of Time titles. (My favorite title, by the way, is THE CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT.)

...

[Miyabi]

I totally missed that one paragraph. o.O

[Bookstore Guy]

having all the titles with "A Memory of Light" in them would have sucked in a bookstore. intelligent bookstore people would have made it work, but lets face it, a majority of bookstore workers now days don't put out the effort to do a good job.

as for the title itself, it isn't any worse than some of the others, and it is very much a theme that has been pushed by characters in the novels.

[Rrikor]

Thanks for finding the quote for me daschaich.  I would have put it in this morning but I did not have time to go back through the blogs.  Now at least we should get a better name for the next book. 

[Shard]

At least Gathering Storm is better then Gathering Clouds.

[Rrikor]

It is better then Gathering clouds but it seams so bland.   I have heard the phrase before and it is alreayd the title of a book by Winston Churchill.  Granted I don't exptect a war documentary by Winston Churchill to be confused with WoT. 

[Shard]

Your right it is bland and over used, even in an episode of Angel the phrase was used. I'm just saying it could be worse, at least the title's only crime is being a bit boring. At least it's not painful *cough* Attack of the Clones *cough*

[yakumo fujii]

Your right it is bland and over used, even in an episode of Angel the phrase was used. I'm just saying it could be worse, at least the title's only crime is being a bit boring. At least it's not painful *cough* Attack of the Clones *cough*

It doesn't make business sense either, at least Lucas could trademark "Attack of the Clones", Tor can't trademark "The Gathering Storm", it's a common phrase that has been used as the title of numerous works before.

[Renoard]

Trademarking titles from merchandising has gotten out of hand.  The result is in my opinion beginning to eat into the fabric of poetic expression.  I see the need to prevent  pirate from stamping out unlicensed copies of books and paraphernalia, but I'd like to see criminal penalties for commercial plagiarism displace the use of trademarks in literature and entertainment.

I can see why "Wheel of Time" need to be a brand, but trademarking the words means that another author who has a completely different take on the term is prevented from doing much with it without awkward constructions.  It's an old argument though.

Upshot is that the names of the individual volumes don't really need to be all that unique as long as they are fitting.  And frankly, I believe most people are concerned more with the series title and volume number.  A gathering storm fits the tone of the other volumes.

The problem I might have with it is the issue of passivity.  Rigney's titles follow a pattern that describes the beginning, plateau, climax and if it had ended with AMOL falling off point.  The book titles help you know where you are in the concise novel The Wheel of Time.  A Gathering Storm has less punch than Knife of Dreams where it should have had more and lead seamlessly into Tarmon Gaiden, a good title.