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

[ryos]

The Gathering Storm...OF FAN OUTRAGE!!!

I'm really impressed with the pace of Brandon's writing here. I hope he eases off the accelerator a bit, even if it means further delays.

The ironic thing, for me at least, about this whole ordeal is that Brandon's hypothetical alternative - railroading the book from climax to climax and cutting minor characters and plotlines to get it done in 400K - actually sounds awesome. I stopped reading WoT after book eight in frustration over the endless dawdling with minor characters and plotlines. Based on Amazon reviews of those last few books, it seems I'm not alone.

What happened to RJ's promise that he wouldn't try and resolve everything? He may have changed his mind...or maybe, this 800K behemoth actually doesn't resolve everything. In which case, I further dread reading books 9, 10, and 11 in the series reread I'm planning to do.

In any case, kudos to Brandon, Harriet, Tor, and everyone involved for the handling of this work.

Edit: I should probably mention that the above is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I don't actually think the rushed 400K scenario is what they should have done, given the circumstances...however, I do wish that RJ's legacy were such that it could have happened that way.

[Casco]

If you didnt read the book 9,10 and 11 i recomend it. The 11th book is one of the best in the series imo.
All the small plots will have its meaning..at least alot of them.

[Rrikor]

I finally got to read Brandon's response on the splitting of the books and I am glad to see there is a logical reason for splitting the book into 3 volumes.  I am glad that it is not just a marketing ploy and that the books are going to be thouroughly done.  I hope he still gets time to work on his other projects as well too.  I still have to pick up the Alcatraz books and read them.  The only part of the post that I didn't like is this.

However, some of the important things you are waiting for had--by necessity--be reserved for the second book

I am guessing that this means I won't find out who killed Asmo in book on then.  I am glad he is taking the time to do the series right thought.  Railroading the series would have not felt right.  It would have completely broken the feeling of having RJs last book because the writing style would have had to differ so much.

[Yuoaman]

I can't wait to read the first volume, three volumes means more words for me to devour...

[Shard]

I wouldn't say that is true Rrikor, we could still find out about Asmo's murderer since that's not going to be a End Game story thread. I mean it wasn't supposed to be a big mystery in the first place.

[Renoard]

Ugh. I didn't see this thread or the quotes till just now.

There are a lot of threads that need to be tied and I can see how a new writer would have themes that he feels bound to develop, I just hope we don't end up with a trio of rinky tink 200K YA novels.  That would derail the whole series. The only reason I see that as a threat is that last I heard the book was winding down toward appx. 700K hmmm 700/3=233pp....

Kind of a depressing thought.

Now if it grew because of the split say 350K+ per volume...

[Bookstore Guy]

Ugh. I didn't see this thread or the quotes till just now.

There are a lot of threads that need to be tied and I can see how a new writer would have themes that he feels bound to develop, I just hope we don't end up with a trio of rinky tink 200K YA novels.  That would derail the whole series. The only reason I see that as a threat is that last I heard the book was winding down toward appx. 700K hmmm 700/3=233pp....

Kind of a depressing thought.

Now if it grew because of the split say 350K+ per volume...

Did you not read the article on Brandon's website? he stated that each book would more than likely end up in the 300K range. The estimate for the word count several months ago was 750K, so im not sure where your 700 number is coming from. He is now estimating it to be around 800-900K. And honestly, to say you think he might make them YA? Seriously? First of all, 200K isn't a YA length in the least. 200K is a good sized novel, and YA rarely crack 90K. Secondly, Brandon knows the difference between writing YA and writing Adult fantasy - do you really think he would mistake the WoT for YA? Come on now...

[Renoard]

Not knowing him, I couldn't really know what to expect.    And not being the fan type I don't actually check his site with any regularity.   I read the estimates about 2 weeks ago and I read some blog entries.  I might have gotten the 750K from that.  But I'm encouraged to hear at least 300k although from the writer perspective, it seems that longer or shorter would be easier.

As for YA.  An awful lot of YA is close to 200k.  Case in point Green Riders call. I could go on but would be tedious.  90k sounds more like tweenie novels...

But I will take your encouragement and hope you are right.

[maxonennis]

Not knowing him, I couldn't really know what to expect.    And not being the fan type I don't actually check his site with any regularity.   I read the estimates about 2 weeks ago and I read some blog entries.  I might have gotten the 750K from that.  But I'm encouraged to hear at least 300k although from the writer perspective, it seems that longer or shorter would be easier.

As for YA.  An awful lot of YA is close to 200k.  Case in point Green Riders call. I could go on but would be tedious.  90k sounds more like tweenie novels...

But I will take your encouragement and hope you are right.

You can't sell a YA novel at 200K. Most YA is between 50K and 100K.

[Renoard]

Okay, I admit I've never tried to sell one, so of course I'll defer to your wisdom on that.  I'll say instead that there are books that are written with a juvenile tone and a high-school reading level that I had assumed (giving publishers the benefit of the doubt) were intended as YA.  These tend to run about 200k.

I think that Books may have misinterpreted my expression of concern as an attack on EUOL, who he seems to have an emotional investment in defending.  That was certainly not my intention.  As a consumer and student I was genuinely concerned about constantly evolving format. 

It does seem the Writing Excuses Thread seems to be a lot more flame retardant.

[Bookstore Guy]

I hope you didn't think I was flaming you, that certainly wasnt the intention. I was just pointing out that 200k isn't YA in most cases. As I recall, middle-grade ends around 50K, and then YA goes until 75K generally. Certainly there are exceptions, but a huge portion of YA falls well under 100K.  I think you are confusing a perceived YA tone with an actual YA novel. The Green Rider series is adult fantasy, shelved in adult fantasy. The tone of it may not be a sophisticated as certain other novels, but it is adult fantasy nevertheless. It may be simple (much like Brooks and Eddings are very simple), but it is not YA. Not only that, but Green Rider's Call is closer to 150K (compare its size to Sanderson's Elantris which clocks in a 202K and is 200 pages thicker).

For actual YA, there is a section in the bookstores designated for it. Most of the stuff there isn't very thick at all.

But yeah, you shouldnt have any worries about the tone of the further WoT novels. If you have read the Mistborn series, then you know it's tone is undeniably adult, and he is putting crazy effort into WoT to make it the book Joradn would have wanted it to be.

[Patriotic Kaz]

Whoa whoa mistborn is a fabolous series but you can't really compare it with WoT as WoT is so large because of its complexity it makes understanding LoTR and Dune childs play...(those are great books too btw) and that includes Dune's political scene which went over my head once or twice and i had to reread a paragraph or two.

[jnktoburen]

Lost in all the hub about length and timeliness is the fact that Brandon is not getting paid more for the extra work. He's doing it because the story needs it. Dude, you rock. I'm not sure how money works in these things, and I bet he gets a portion of sales, so 3 novels as opposed to 1 (especially #1 bestsellers which they are likely to be), should turn a sizeable profit.

Anyway, I'm glad that they have a plan, and we have at least a concept of what will occur. We should all thank Brandon for killing himself on this. At least he's not pulling a Pat Rothfuss (Who said -- my book isn't done. It will be done when I say it's done. Now kindly go sit on tacks. -- or something marginally less tactful.) Brandon actually seems to care about deadlines and other people's expectations. Kudos to him.

BTW... There's no way anyone should claim they didn't see this coming.

[Patriotic Kaz]

lol so true and heres my round of applause to Mr. Sanderson!!!!!

[Bookstore Guy]

Whoa whoa mistborn is a fabolous series but you can't really compare it with WoT as WoT is so large because of its complexity it makes understanding LoTR and Dune childs play...(those are great books too btw) and that includes Dune's political scene which went over my head once or twice and i had to reread a paragraph or two.

I respectfully disagree. WoT is large and long, yes, however I don't feel it is as complex as other series. I never said Mistborn was lesser/greater/equal to in complexity to WoT, I just said it has an adult tone to it, so people shouldn't worry about WoT. In my opinion, WoT had no learning curve - or it was such a ever-so-slight incline that it wasnt noticeable in the least.