Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 65

Signing Tonight in Orem & Playing Magic

Hey, all! This evening I’m going down to Dragon’s Keep’s Orem store. They’ll have books for sale, including the The Emperor’s Soul hardcover and the Firstborn/Defending Elysium hardcover. You can also bring any number of books from anywhere else. I’ll sign books and talk to you, even if you’re not interested in playing Magic.

If you want to sign up for the Magic draft, register by calling the store at (801) 225-5039. The cost is $15.

Date: Thursday, November 21, 2013

Time: 6:30 p.m. until very late

Place: Dragon’s Keep

Address: 48 W 300 N

Orem, UT 84057

New York Event Video + Updates

Did you know you can get this cool Allomantic Table Medallion and other jewelry in my store? There are also books signed & personalized by me (including hardcovers of The Emperor’s Soul and this year’s “Firstborn”/”Defending Elysium” combo), T-shirts, Feruchemical Table prints, and Allomantic symbol decals. If you’re interested in giving any of those things as a gift this holiday season, be sure to check the holiday shipping deadlines.

This past weekend in New York I did an event with James Dasher and Christopher Paolini where we talked about the genre and read from each other’s books. You can see the full video here. (Yes, Christopher’s microphone issue gets solved early on, so don’t let that bother you.)

Kickstarter campaign for a video game they’re making set in a world they’ve created. Check it out.

New York City on Saturday!

Steelheart is still on sale for $4.79 on the US Kindle store, Nook, and Google Play. Additionally, The Way of Kings is on sale for $1.99 on the US Kindle store and the iBookstore—and they’ve now been joined by Nook at the same price.

This Saturday I’ll be in New York City with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner. This is a ticketed event at the 92nd Street Y, and tickets range from $15 to $22.

Please note that this event has limited time available for signing. After the three of us offer up some witty expostulation, we’ll be signing for one hour only (because there’s another event scheduled in the venue afterward). For this reason, the event organizers are limiting signings to one book that you bring from home. You can also buy a copy of Steelheart at the signing and get it signed as well, making a maximum of two books per person (but no other books of mine will be for sale at the event).

If there’s time left at the end of the hour there’s a chance you may be able to get additional books signed, but this seems unlikely to me because I expect a big crowd. Sorry! I’ll also try to pre-sign their copies of Steelheart so you can grab one and go without standing in line, if you want. But I’m not positive there will be time for this.

Their website says that 92Y On Demand may have video clips of the event after it’s over.

Here’s their description of the event:

These three giants of YA fantasy need no introduction. Multiple award-winners, they dominate bestsellers lists with their epic novels.

We’re thrilled that all three have agreed to join us for a discussion about what’s important in the fantasy genre, film news and updates (including the latest on The Maze Runner) and what’s next from each of them.

There will be a selling and signing of Christopher Paolini’s Eragon: Collector’s Edition, James Dashner’s The Eye of Minds and Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart following the event.

Ebooks on sale, Writing Excuses, Goodreads & Updates

As of this writing, Steelheart is still on sale for $4.79 on the US Kindle store, Nook, and Google Play. Additionally, The Way of Kings is on sale for $1.99 on the US Kindle store and the iBookstore. As these are sales that the individual stores are putting on rather than the publisher, they’re not something that we have any idea how long to expect to last.

This week’s Writing Excuses writing advice show was recorded with a live audience at Gen Con and has us answering the following questions with guest Wesley Chu:

How do you write 1st-person POV from a gender other than your own?
Do you have a set schedule for writing time?
How do you boost your word count without padding, AND without adding characters?
How can prose be used to convey emotion without stating character feelings outright?

Steelheart, The Rithmatist, and A Memory of Light are up for votes in the Goodreads Choice Awards semifinal round. Looks like The Rithmatist got enough write-in votes in the previous round to be added to this round. Since you can only vote for one book in each category, vote splitting is going to be an issue in the YA science fiction/fantasy category. Of course, you should vote for the book you feel is the most deserving, whether it’s one of mine or not!

Tor.com’s reread of The Way of Kings hit a critical flashback chapter: chapter 44, “The Weeping.” They also started a series of articles on magic in The Way of Kings, and the first one talks about stormlight and the Nahel bond.

There’s an interview with me (mostly about Steelheart) over at Read Sleep Repeat. Also, before the Magic draft last week I sat down to chat with Dungeon Crawlers Radio for an hour on a bunch of different topics. I have another Magic draft next week.

And another reminder to check the holiday shipping deadlines in my store, if you want to order signed books (including the convention exclusive), jewelry, shirts, or other items you might want to give as gifts.

STEELHEART Exclusive Editions + Steelhunt Photos & Updates

I mentioned a while back that Steelheart has four exclusive editions in different stores. I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about each one.

Barnes & Noble: Chapter 1 annotation

My website has chapter-by-chapter annotations that I wrote for many of my books, and people often tell me how much they love them and ask when I’m going to put up more. However, writing them is so time-consuming that it’s been hard for me to get annotations for my books done lately. Steelheart, however, has one annotation for you. The first chapter is repeated in the back of the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition, with one of my characterisitic annotations done in-line in a really cool way—as you read, you can get my commentary on the chapter, kind of like a director’s commentary on DVD. I think it’s super cool that they did this, and I hope that you’ll check it out.

Books-A-Million: Regalia Epic File

We worked very hard to make the images in the exclusive editions all super cool. Regalia is the primary antagonist in Firefight, the sequel to Steelheart, so if you want a taste of what’s going on in the sequel, you should go check out the Books-A-Million exclusive and read up on Regalia.

Wal-Mart: Obliteration Epic File

Months back I tweeted that I’d decided to use a certain fantasy novelist I know as a model for one of the primary villains in the sequel to Steelheart. (I did this very lovingly, I assure you.) I love how the profile turned out. You should check out the Wal-Mart exclusive edition of the book and see if you can guess who I pictured as Obliteration, the person who’s been destroying cities all across the Fractured States.

Target: Newton Epic File

In the Target exclusive edition you get to read about Newton, also one of the antagonists in Firefight. She has some of the coolest types of Epic powers in this world, and I’m really excited to write stories about her. I hope that you will enjoy getting a little glimpse into what will be going on and will be able to imagine some of the cool things she’ll do in the sequel.

Steelhunt Update

Now, an update on the Steelhunt. If you haven’t heard about it before, this involves a secret area of my website that you need a code to enter, to unlock bonus content and previews (including of Words of Radiance and Shadows of Self). Five have been unlocked so far, and the Steelhunters are on the cusp of unlocking the sixth, with more to follow.

I left codes on lenticular postcards in books in many different bookstores. At the bottom of this post I’ll list a few more stores that have codes you can find, but I’ve also given some codes away on Twitter and Facebook. Here are the results of a contest I ran on Facebook (the contest is over now!) where you had to share the Steelheart trailer (YouTube link) and post a picture of yourself holding one of my books in front of a local landmark. Below are some of the winners:

The first entry was from Mark a.k.a. Harakeke. (He’s best known in the fan community as the person who first deciphered the Navani’s Notebook pages in The Way of Kings.) Here he is standing by “Modern Art” by Betty Sabo at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque holding that (and Modern Art is holding Steelheart).

And here’s the most spectacular entry, from Stephen Megison. I can verify that that is indeed the Earth that he is flying by, while holding The Way of Kings. (The really funny thing is that he took the photo without knowing about the contest. Stephen is just the kind of guy who goes skydiving with his favorite books. I wholeheartedly approve of this awesomeness.)

Here’s the first winner from South America. Maricruz is standing in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia with Aleación de Ley (you may know it as The Alloy of Law). Great, Maricruz!

Here’s Miro standing by Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa holding Legion/The Emperor’s Soul. Excellent!

Here’s the first winner from Australia. Mione is standing by the Playhouse Theater in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia with The Way of Kings.

Dorien is the first winner from Europe. Here she is standing by Kasteel van Velm in Velm, Belgium with The Way of Kings.

In Donnguan, China at the Pullman Dongguan Forum, Christian has the ebook of The Way of Kings on his laptop. That works!

We never did receive an entry from Antarctica. If you have one of my books in Antarctica and want to send me a picture, I’ll still send you a code!

These photos were so great to see, I decided that everyone who entered is a winner. If that means you, look for my assistant to private message a code to you on Facebook later today (check your “other” messages folder if you have one). Here are a few more great entries.

Evan with Steelheart at the statue of Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama—the largest iron statue in the world!

Wheel of Time beta reader Linda holding A Memory of Light by the Sydney Opera House.

Nicole at the Johnson Space Center.

Jason dressed as Tellingdwar the Littlest Terrisman, at the Purdue Engineering Fountain.

Becca in my hometown of Lincoln, apparently at the Water Tower of Nebrask.

And even more photos! Check out each of these: Noor, Rachael, Francesco, Necrosage, Tammy, and Daniel.

Congrats to all the winners, and enjoy the previews! There will be more Steelhunt opportunities in the future. For now, check out these bookstores that hid some codes in their books! I can’t guarantee that the codes are still there, since some of them were placed a while ago. And if you are a bookseller who placed codes in your store and I haven’t mentioned it yet in the blog, let me know. Also let me know if you’re a bookseller who wants to place codes!

Powell’s Books at Portland International Airport (Thanks, Billie)
Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle (Thanks, Justus)
The Bookloft in Enterprise, OR (Thanks, Mary)
Village Books in Bellingham, WA (Thanks, Laura)

Play Magic with Brandon, Firstborn/Defending Elysium hardcover, Holiday shipping deadlines, Kindle MatchBook + Updates

Lots of news for you today! First off, I’ll be doing two Magic: The Gathering drafts this month that you can sign up for if you’re local to Utah. I’ll be at Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley this Thursday, and I’ll be at Dragon’s Keep’s Orem store on the 21st. See the links for details.

I’m happy to say that I have two books up for votes in the first round of this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards. Steelheart is nominated in the category of YA Fantasy & Science Fiction, and you can vote here. And the final volume of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, is nominated in the Best Fantasy category. You can vote for that here. Additionally, Steelheart and The Rithmatist were both nominated for YALSA’s Best Fiction for YA.

Amazon has launched their Kindle MatchBook program in the US, which allows you to get ebooks for a reduced rate if you’ve bought the print version of a book from Amazon. You can read more about it and see your own list of eligible titles here. Now, I’ve long been in favor of offering a good way to get an ebook along with the print version of a book, and Amazon’s program is a good first step. Tor has decided to do a pilot program with MatchBook that includes three of my books: Mistborn: The Final Empire, Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings. All three Kindle versions are available for $2.99 if you buy or bought the print version from Amazon.

I’ve also included the ebook of my Hugo Award-winning novella The Emperor’s Soul in the MatchBook program for free. Legion is eligible too, but the MatchBook option will only show up if you previously bought the hardcover from Amazon, since it sold out and they don’t have any more copies. And as always, if you bought the print book of either novella elsewhere, I’ll give you the ebook for free if you email. Details on that are at the bottom of the page here.

Writing Excuses has posted two episodes that I haven’t mentioned on the blog. First is an episode with Wesley Chu about realistic melee fighting. And next is one of the biggest luminaries we’ve ever had as a guest: Tom Doherty, publisher of Tor, talked with us about publishing.

My assistant Peter has uploaded another of my Twitter posts archives. This one is for October and includes that massive fantasy chat I did with Christopher Paolini.

Way back in March I announced a convention exclusive hardcover of my novelettes Firstborn and Defending Elysium.

Well, since convention season is over, you can now order a signed & personalized copy of the hardcover in my store. And did you know you can buy signed hardcovers of all of my books that have been out for at least a year, plus signed bookplates to put in your own books? I also have jewelry, T-shirts, prints, and decals.

My store manager Kara has also given me this year’s deadlines for ordering from the store if you want your items to arrive by December 24th. These are:

December 1: International orders. (This is a “best-effort” date: International shipping is unpredictable, but this date matches recent delivery times.)
December 7: Jewelry and personalized books
December 14: T-shirts, prints, and “signature only” books

One last bit of news that should make fans of Farscape and Stargate: SG-1 happy: I recently found out that Claudia Black will be the audiobook narrator for my novella “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell” that is appearing in the upcoming Dangerous Women anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. That book comes out in just one month, but I’m not sure if the audiobook comes out at the same time—it’s not up for preorder yet on Audible. You can read an excerpt of my story here.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: A MEMORY OF LIGHT: The Black Tower

Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here. And as a side note, Amazon’s US Kindle store today has The Way of Kings at $1.26 for some reason.

For an explanation of my Wheel of Time retrospective, see the previous posts on the topic. Here’s post number eight. Before we begin, it should be stated that this post will contain spoilers for the entire series, ending included. If you haven’t finished, you will want to do so before reading this post.

Robert Jordan didn’t leave me a ton of direction regarding the Black Tower. There were a few gems that we knew, but in a lot of places I was left to follow my instincts regarding the plotting points he had built across the last few books. He did leave a lot of clear instructions regarding Taim, fortunately, including his backstory and instructions for a scene where Taim was named as one of the Forsaken.

Androl and Pevara

In working on the Black Tower plot, one thing I realized early on was that I wanted a new viewpoint character to be involved. One reason was that we didn’t have anyone to really show the lives of the everyday members of the Black Tower. It felt like a hole in the viewpoint mosaic for the series. In addition, each wheel of time book—almost without exception—has either introduced a new viewpoint character or added a great deal of depth to a character who had only seen minimal use before. As we were drawing near to the end of the series, I didn’t want to expand this very far. However, I did want to add at least one character across the three books I was doing.

I went to Team Jordan with the suggestion that I could fulfill both of these purposes by using one of the rank-and-file members of the Black Tower, preferably someone who wasn’t a full Asha’man and was something of a blank slate. They suggested Androl. The notes were silent regarding him, and while he had been around, he so far hadn’t had the spotlight on him. He seemed the perfect character to dig into.

A few more things got spun into this sequence. One was my desire to expand the usage of gateways in the series. For years, as an aspiring writer, I imagined how I would use gateways if writing a book that included them. I went so far as to include in the Stormlight Archive a magic system built around a similar teleportation mechanic. Being able to work on the Wheel of Time was a thrill for many reasons, but one big one was that it let me play with one of my favorite magic systems and nudge it in a few new directions. I’ve said that I didn’t want to make a large number of new weaves, but instead find ways to use established weaves in new ways. I also liked the idea of expanding on the system for people who have a specific talent in certain areas of the One Power.

Androl became my gateway expert. Another vital key in building him came from Harriet, who mailed me a long article about a leatherworker she found in Mr. Jordan’s notes. She said, “He was planning to use this somewhere, but we don’t know where.”

One final piece for his storyline came during my rereads of the series, where I felt that at times the fandom had been too down on the Red Ajah. True, they had some serious problems with their leadership in the books, but their purpose was noble. I feel that many readers wanted to treat them as the Wheel of Time equivalent of Slytherin—the house of no-goods, with every member a various form of nasty. Robert Jordan himself worked to counteract this, adding a great deal of depth to the ajah by introducing Pevara. She had long been one of my favorite side characters, and I wanted her to have a strong plot in the last books. Building a relationship between her and Androl felt very natural to me, as it not only allowed me to explore the bonding process, but also let me work a small romance into the last three books—another thing that was present in most Wheel of Time books. The ways I pushed the Androl/Pevara bond was also something of an exploration and experiment. Though this was suggested by the things Robert Jordan wrote, I did have some freedom in how to adapt it. I felt that paralleling the wolf bond made sense, with (of course) its own distinctions.

Finding a place to put the Pevara/Androl sequence into the books, however, proved difficult. Towers of Midnight was the book where we suffered the biggest time crunch. That was the novel where I’d plotted to put most of the Black Tower sequence, but in the end it didn’t fit—partially because we just didn’t have time for me to write it. So, while I did finish some chapters to put there, the soul of the sequence got pushed off to A Memory of Light, if I managed to find time for it.

I did find time—in part because of cutting the Perrin sequence. Losing those 17,000 words left an imbalance to the pacing of the final book. It needed a plot sequence with more specific tension to balance out the more sweeping sequences early in the book where characters plan, plot, and argue. I was able to expand Androl/Pevara to fit this hole, and to show a lot of things I really wanted to show in the books.

Rand and Logain

I made a few interesting decisions with the Black Tower sequence. The first was to not involve Rand. Though it would have been a nice narrative balance to have Rand come save the Asha’man in contrast to them saving him in book six, I felt that Rand was riding to the rescue too often. The Black Tower was about to lose him permanently, and if its members could not face their problems on their own, then thematically they’d be left at the end of the series hampered and undermined. Beyond this, I believed that Rand’s personality (as shown in earlier books) would push him to avoid being pulled into a potential trap at the Black Tower. His argument that he couldn’t risk a confrontation is a good one. Androl and company had to face their problems on their own—save for the help of an Aes Sedai, another thing I felt to be thematically important.

Perhaps the most controversial decision (among Team Jordan) that I made with this sequence was to push Logain toward being a darker figure. Following his extended torture, I felt that Logain would emerge as a different person—though he’d always been somewhat dark. Some members of Team Jordan felt he was past that, and I disagreed. Logan was a false Dragon, gentled then healed, head of a group of men going insane who owed loyalty to Rand—but who rarely interacted with him. There is so much going on with this guy that he could have carried an entire series on his own.

I wanted him to wrestle with all of this. Logain’s life ever since his capture way back when seemed to have been one of being shoved this way and then that. He needed to decide for himself what kind of Black Tower he was going to rule, if he was going to earn the honor of men as was promised. (And yes, this had not yet happened at the end of the series.) Logain, so far as I know, never once let go of power in the series—it was always ripped from his fingers. In this case, he was allowed to choose.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: A MEMORY OF LIGHT: Perrin and Egwene

Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here.

For an explanation of my Wheel of Time retrospective, see the previous posts on the topic. Here’s post number seven. Before we begin, it should be stated that this post will contain spoilers for the entire series, ending included. If you haven’t finished, you will want to do so before reading this post.

Now we come to the big one. The Last Battle, the final book of the Wheel of Time.

There was so much to pack into this book that at times I wondered if I’d be able to create a cohesive narrative from it. The danger was that instead, it would feel like a sequence of “Oh, hey, I forgot to tie this up” loose ends being completed one after another. Many of these things did need to be tied up, but it needed to happen in a way that came together into a story.

Perrin

When I launched into this book, I’d just finished Towers of Midnight and was in a very “Perrin is awesome” mood. I wanted to keep writing Perrin, so I did his sequence for the book first. It worked, to an extent. I love the Perrin parts of this book. However, by the end—and after finishing the other viewpoints—we found that the book had way too much Perrin in it. Cutting the sequence where Perrin travels through the Ways to try to close the Caemlyn waygate from behind was one method of balancing this out. The sequence was also cut because Harriet felt I’d gone too far in the direction of returning to previous themes in the series, bringing back something better left alone so we could focus on the Last Battle. (In addition, Maria thought my descriptions of the Ways just didn’t fit the story.)

This was a 17,000-word sequence (and it ended with the Ogier rescuing Perrin and his company from the Black Wind, driving it off with their song). I love the sequence, but unlike the sequence with Bao (the deleted scenes named “River of Souls” and included in the Unfettered anthology) it is not canon. It couldn’t happen for a multitude of reasons, and got trimmed.

Otherwise, Perrin ended up as I wanted him. A lot of people were surprised that I knocked him out of the fighting for a big chunk of the Last Battle, but I felt it appropriate. The fighting armies were Mat’s show, and Perrin’s focus for the fighting was to join Rand and protect him in the Wolf Dream. There was so much else going on, I decided to bench him for a chunk of the warfare—and I’m pleased with the result. It brought real impact to the Slayer fight, where Perrin was left wounded.

Egwene

There were three particular things that were quite a challenge in writing this last book. The first was how to use Rand fighting the Dark One in a way that would be interesting, visual, and powerful. The second was how to do the tactics of a large-scale battle. The final one had to do with Egwene.

In his notes, Robert Jordan was very specific about the fact that Rand and Egwene needed to almost come to blows in the lead-up to the Last Battle. He called it the grand union of the armies against Rand, whose decisions were considered too radical, too dangerous, to be allowed to proceed. Moiraine was to be the force that brought the two of them together, unifying the armies of light, cementing her importance—and showing why she needed to be rescued by Mat before the Last Battle. (There were a lot of instructions about what Moiraine was to say, and some good writing on that meeting at the Field of Merrilor.)

The burden upon me was to realistically bring Rand and Egwene to the point where the reader believed they’d fight one another—or at least go to the Last Battle separately, without cohesion—if Moiraine hadn’t intervened. This was difficult. Having The Gathering Storm end on such a high note for Egwene left me struggling to figure out how, in Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light, to make her go at cross-purposes to Rand without alienating the reader from her viewpoints. I felt what she was doing was very realistic and in character for who she was, but I also knew that making the decisions she would make was going to cause some readers to be very annoyed with her.

In the end, I decided that the proper course was to let them be annoyed. The very same strength that had made Egwene shine in The Gathering Storm was also the strength that let her lead the Aes Sedai—of whom she had truly become one. The will of the Aes Sedai against the rest of the world is a major theme of the Wheel of Time, and say what you will of it, the theme is consistent—as are the characters. Egwene was at their head. Yes, I wanted her to be relatable, but I also wanted it clear that she was Aes Sedai, and she wasn’t about to let someone else dominate the decisions on how to approach the Last Battle.

Two More Mistborn Novels

Hey, all. I’m neck-deep in Stormlight revisions, but wanted to pause and give you a little update on other books I’m working on.

On my tour, I frequently read from the first chapter of a new novel in the Mistborn world, a sequel to The Alloy of Law. (In fact, you can watch my entire presentation right here. This reading comes at the 45:45 mark.) Tor, understandably, wanted to know when they could publish this book.

Well, it’s far from finished, but I do need to be thinking about what comes next. I know that many of you hope that it would be the third Stormlight book, as there has been such a long delay between the first and second. I do promise I’ll be more speedy with Stormlight novels in the future—this long delay should, hopefully, be the exception and not the rule. However, my process being what it is, I probably can’t move straight into Stormlight Three.

I’ve spoken about this concept a lot, so I might be repeating myself for some of you. One of the things that excites me about being a writer is the constant energy that comes from switching projects. I’m not one of those writers who can pick a series and write on it exclusively for years and years. Though I will frequently have one main project, I do other things between those larger books. Usually, these other books are small, quick, and the means by which I refresh myself and keep myself from getting burned out on the large project.

While writing the original Mistborn series, I wrote books in the Alcatraz series. While working on The Wheel of Time, I wrote a number of novellas—and The Alloy of Law itself. Now that I’m turning my attention to the Stormlight books as my main project, I’m going to need some things to squeeze between books in order to refresh myself.

For now, that’s going to be Alloy-era Mistborn novels. The second and third books in that series will include the same protagonists from the first, and will—if I’m doing it correctly—be exciting, fun, and deep, but not require you to keep track of a lot of characters or plots between novels. This way, I can balance the large, in-depth sequence of the Stormlight Archive with something lighter and more standalone in nature.

As many of you know, the Mistborn series was pitched to my editor way back when as a trilogy of trilogies, with an epic fantasy trilogy, followed by an urban fantasy trilogy with the same magic in the same world, followed finally by a science fiction trilogy in which the magic had become the means by which space travel was possible. The Alloy books aren’t part of this original plan, but in them you will find foreshadowing toward the second trilogy.

In the teen book realm, I’ll be bouncing between doing the The Rithmatist sequel and the sequels to Steelheart. I realize I have a lot on my plate, and I appreciate you putting up with me as I explore the stories I want to tell. My goal for the next five-year span is to finish up a number of these series, rather than starting anything new.

Anyway, back to revisions!

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT: What I Learned

Just a reminder, all. Steelheart—my new novel—is out right now! It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the Young Adult category. If you’re curious, you can read about the book here, and listen to a cool audio sample here.

For an explanation of my Wheel of Time retrospective, see the previous posts on the topic. Here’s post number six. Before we begin, it should be stated that this post will contain spoilers for the entire series, ending included. If you haven’t finished, you will want to do so before reading this post.

Towers of Midnight: What did I learn?
Set Your Sights High

I’ve never been one to dodge a challenge. However, after failing to do The Way of Kings right in 2002, I was timid about tackling complex narratives across many, many viewpoints. Towers of Midnight marked the largest-scale book I’d ever attempted, with the most complexity of viewpoints, the greatest number of distinct and different scenes to balance, and the most ambitious forms of storytelling. Aviendha’s trip through the glass pillars was the most audacious thing I believe I pitched at Team Jordan, and was one of the things about which they were the most skeptical. Perrin’s balance between action and inaction risked having him descend into passiveness.

I worked on the new version of The Way of Kings during this time, in 2009–10, when I was also working on Towers of Midnight. I doubt I will ever be more busy than I was in those two years, tackling two of the biggest books of my career at the same time. However, during this time I entered a place in my writing where something clicked, dealing with the next stage of my writing career. I’d always wanted to master the complex epic—my favorite stories of all time fit this mold. Before this, however, I’d done very few sequels—and Towers of Midnight was the most complicated sequel I’m ever likely to do.

I learned a great deal about myself during this period, and the results are on the pages of these two books, Towers of Midnight and The Way of Kings.

Depth of Viewpoint

Working on Mat sent me down a proverbial rabbit hole, as I studied—really studied—how a master approached the use of the third-person limited viewpoint. I have always respected Robert Jordan’s ability to characterize through viewpoint. (By this, I mean his ability to show how a person thinks and feels by the way they describe the world while you’re seeing through their eyes.) Mat changed my perspective on how to write narrative, and how to make characters live beyond the words stated about them.

When asked what I think Robert Jordan’s greatest skill was, I don’t say worldbuilding or juggling a complex narrative, though these are certainly two areas in which he excelled. No, I talk about his viewpoints. If there’s one thing I wish to learn from Robert Jordan, it’s how to accomplish this—how to make you feel a character’s culture, history, temperament, and current emotional state by the way they describe the simple things in the world around them.

I think I have improved at this. But it’s one of the things I believe I’ll be working on for my entire career.

Increased Subtlety

I like novels where a multitude of different threads, some hidden, twist together to a surprising conclusion. This is one area where I think I’ve, for the most part, done a good job in the past. Working on The Wheel of Time, however, I was able to see Robert Jordan’s hand in new ways—and see how delicate he could be with some of his plotting and characterization. I worry that sometimes, I beat people over the head with a character’s goals, theme, and motivations. It’s because I feel a character with well-defined motivations is one of the hallmarks of a strongly written story.

However, I do think I need to learn to be more subtle—and The Wheel of Time taught me a great deal about this. Robert Jordan’s light hand in dealing with the Thom/Moiraine relationship is a good example. Other characters, however, stand out as well—Pevara is an example. The subtle clues about how some of the Sitters who had been chosen were too young is another example of his very delicate hand. It’s not an important thread, in the grand scheme of things. Little touches like this, however, are what makes a world live beyond the page. It is something I think I learned from this project—not necessarily how to accomplish this (we’ll see if I can), but how to recognize and appreciate it.

Towers of Midnight: What did I do wrong?

I’m the culprit of numerous small mistakes, most of which there is no time to point out. The biggest flaw in my writing of Towers of Midnight, however, has to be the chronology.

All of my solo books have been basically chronological. Elantris had some funky storytelling where each group of three chapters happened concurrently, but most of my other books had a forward progression without much jumping back and forth in timeline for different characters.

The Wheel of Time, however, does jump around a lot—you just don’t notice it, as Robert Jordan juggled the timelines quite well. Mat could be progressing at one rate, and when you jumped to Perrin, you’d jump forward or back in time. Those who wanted to look for the clues could find out and build a timeline using the phases of the moon or other hints. Those who didn’t want to notice, however, were never thrown out by perceived incongruities.

When we split the books, some of the timeline things I’d done got too far out of sync. At the end of Knife of Dreams, the character viewpoints were somewhat out of sync, as Robert Jordan often wrote them. I didn’t have any experience juggling something like this, and in Towers of Midnight I flubbed it. Not that the timeline is messed up—it’s actually pretty good, all things considered. However, the perception of it brought us troubles. Because characters interacted across timelines, it felt like they were in two places at once (Tam is an example) even though it all worked narratively.

This made for some confusing moments for readers. Mr. Jordan did things like this without distracting; I didn’t juggle this as well, and because of it, I think the book suffered. I hope I’ve grown better, but it was eye-opening for me when Towers of Midnight came out and people mentioned being confused. I hadn’t even noticed the potential problem until the book was out.

To be continued.