Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 66

2014 Charity Fantasy Author Calendar Now Available

Way back in January I talked about a Kickstarter campaign by photographer Lauren Zurchin for a calendar featuring fantasy authors in costumes. Well, the kickstarter was successful, the calendar has been finished, and it’s now available for you to preorder, with an expected shipping date in the second week of November. Here is my photo:

This photoshoot was a blast to do—you can see some behind-the-scenes photos here. Looking at the other photos in the calendar, Lauren put something together that’s really top-notch.

The other authors included are: Holly Black, Gail Carriger, Cassandra Clare, Tessa Gratton, Lauren Kate, Gregory Maguire, Brandon Mull, Lauren Oliver, Christopher Paolini, Patrick Rothfuss, Maggie Stiefvater, Tad Williams, and Brenna Yovanoff. Each month features a photograph of a different author (or authors, in one case) dressed in custom costumes made by Lauren and placed in unique locations with one-of-a-kind props. The overall effect is sometimes dark, sometimes ethereal, sometimes whimsical, and completely fantasy.

Proceeds will go to two charities: First Book and Worldbuilders. Curious to find out more about the calendar and the causes? Watch this video to learn about the project in the authors’ own words.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT: Writing Process

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 five. 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: Writing Process

Part of the reason I’d decided upon doing Rand/Egwene first was because I knew that this book—Perrin’s sequence in particular—was going to be the trickiest of the four major viewpoint sequences. Of the four leads, I felt Perrin was one of those who needed the most growth. In fact, he had as much to grow as Rand did—but in more subtle ways. Rand’s descent was a result of the multitude of forces pushing against him, bearing him down, threating to crush him. He was brought to the point where he was because his personality issues were magnified a hundred times over by the extreme circumstances of his life. He cracked while trying desperately to find the right thing to do.

Perrin was different. He had major hangups that he consistently refused to confront, and in many ways was the farthest of the main characters from where he needed to be. Rand’s transformation was more dramatic, but Perrin’s was just as necessary.

It should be noted that I felt, both from the notes and my own readings of the series, that Mat was basically where Robert Jordan wanted him to be. This remains true even after I re-looked at Mat and tried to fix my interpretation of him. That doesn’t mean that Mat is finished as a character, just that he was where Mr. Jordan wanted him for the Last Battle. Mat was going to have another series all his own after the main group of books, and some of his character progress was saved for those. (Note that those books are not going to be written.)

Egwene had a small amount of development left to do, but was mostly there. In The Gathering Storm, she faced the most critical challenges of her career, but Robert Jordan had brought her to the point where she needed to be in Knife of Dreams, and in the notes for A Memory of Light he had indicated specifically how she was to progress. It was mostly a matter of using the confrontations in the White Tower to manifest things she had already learned, and to show once and for all the person she had become.

As for the other characters, Elayne was where she needed to be, but Avi was not. (She had a great deal of growth left to her.) Nynaeve had reached the peak of her development, in my opinion, as had Min. At least this is my read on it, which is reflected in my interpretations of the various arcs of the characters.

Perrin

Perrin is my favorite character in the series, and has been since I was a youth. Like many readers, I was frustrated by his choices through the later books, though the writer in me really appreciated Robert Jordan’s skillful guidance of the character. The problems Perrin confronted (sometimes poorly) highlighted his uncomfortable relationship with the wolves, his unwillingness to cut himself a break, and his ability to devote himself so utterly to one task that everything else vanished. (As a note, I feel this is one of the major things that made me empathize with Perrin for all those years. Of the main characters, he is the only artist. However, he’s an artist like me—a focused project builder. A craftsman.)

Though I wanted to be careful not to overdo the concept, one of my goals in these last few books was to bring back ideas and conflicts from the first books—creating parallels and emphasizing the cyclical nature of the Wheel of Time. Again, this was dangerous. I didn’t want these books to become a series of in-jokes, homages, and repetitions.

However, there are places where it was not only appropriate, but vital that we return to these themes. I felt one of those involved the Whitecloaks and Perrin, specifically the two Children of the Light he had killed during his clash with them in the very first book. This was a tricky sequence to plot. I wanted Perrin to manifest leadership in a way different from Rand or Egwene. Robert Jordan instructed that Perrin become a king, and I loved this plot arc for him—but in beginning it with the Whitecloaks, I threatened to leave Perrin weak and passive as a character. Of all the sequences in the books, I struggled with this one the most—mostly because of my own aspirations, goals, and dreams for what Perrin could become.

His plot is my favorite of the four for those reasons.

I had other goals for Perrin in this book. His experiences in the Wolf Dream needed to return, I felt, and push toward a final climax in the Last Hunt. This meant returning to a confrontation with Slayer, a mirrored character to Perrin with a dual nature. I wanted to highlight Perrin’s instinctive use of his powers, as a contrast to the thoughtful, learned use of power represented by Egwene. People have asked if I think Perrin is better at Tel’aran’rhiod than Egwene. I don’t think he is, the balefire-bending scene notwithstanding. They represent two sides of a coin, instinct and learning. In some cases Perrin will be more capable, and in others Egwene will shine.

The forging of Perrin’s hammer, the death of Hopper, and the wounding of Perrin in the leg (which is mythologically significant) were in my narrative plan for him from the get-go. However, weaving them all together involved a lot of head/wall-bashing. I wanted a significance to Perrin’s interactions with the Way of the Leaf as well, and to build a rapport between him and Galad—in my reads of the characters, I felt they would make for unlikely friends.

Of all the major plot sequences in the books, Perrin’s was the one where I had the most freedom—but also the most danger of straying too far from Robert Jordan’s vision for who the character should be. His instructions for Perrin focused almost entirely on the person Perrin would be after the Last Battle, with little or no direction on how to bring him there. Perrin was fully in my hands, and I wanted to take extra care to guide my favorite character toward the ending.

I will note, by the way, that Verin’s interaction with Egwene in The Gathering Storm was my biggest surprise from the notes. My second biggest was the Thom/Moiraine engagement. Robert Jordan wrote that scene, and I was surprised to read it. (As I said, though I loved and had read the books, there are plenty of fans who were bigger fans than myself—and to them, this was no surprise.) I didn’t pick up the subtle hints of a relationship between the two of them until my reread following my getting the notes.

Mat

Robert Jordan had written much of Mat’s plot, and left instructions on much of the rest. My challenge with Mat in this book, then, wasn’t to complete his arc—which was quite good. It was to do a better job with Mat than I had in the previous book.

In order to do Mat right, I went back to Robert Jordan’s writing. This time, I dissected Mat, looking at him as a craftsman. I saw a depth of internal narrative that was unlike anything I’d analyzed before. Of all the Wheel of Time characters, Mat is the least trustworthy narrator. What he thinks, feels, and does are sometimes three very different things. His narrative itself is filled with snark and beautifully clever lines, but a relative few of those actually leave his lips. The harder he tries to do something, often the worse it turns out for him. Mat’s at his best when he lets instinct lead, regardless of what his internal monologue says.

This makes him very tricky to write, and is why my initial gut instinct on how to do him was wrong. I think for a lot of Wheel of Time readers, Mat is the big surprise in the series. The sometimes snarky, but often grumpy sidekick from the first two books transforms into a unique blend of awesomeness I haven’t found in any other story.

I feel that my stab at writing Mat in Towers of Midnight is far better than it was in The Gathering Storm, though I’m not sure I got him right until A Memory of Light. I know some fans will disagree that I ever did get him right, but I am pleased with—and comfortable with—the Mat of these latter two books. Though, of course, having Robert Jordan’s more detailed instructions for Mat in these books does help.

To be continued.

Libros en Español, Writing Excuses & Steelhunt update

For my readers who prefer books in Spanish: I found out last week that four of my books are currently priced at 2,84€ on Kindle in Spain. You can also get them on other Kindle stores (such as Mexico or elsewhere), but the price will vary according to your location.

Elantris (España) (México) (otros)
Nacidos de la Bruma 1 (España) (México) (otros)
Nacidos de la Bruma 2 (España) (México) (otros)
Nacidos de la Bruma 3 (España) (México) (otros)

This week’s Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and me is titled “The Internal Heckler vs. The Internal Editor.” Check it out.

I’m home from the Steelheart tour now, though there is one more event left in New York: my appearance at the 92nd Street Y on November 16th with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner. That is a ticketed event, so if you’re in New York and would like to go, see details here.

While I was on tour I left signed copies of Steelheart at many stores. See the Steelhunt posts for locations. The biggest of these was Powell’s, where I left 100 signed copies, a random ten of which contained Steelhunt codes. There are also some copies at the locations listed below.

The tour being over doesn’t mean that the Steelhunt is over. I’m going to talk about new ways to get a code on Twitter and Facebook this week. As soon as we run some numbers on how many outstanding codes there are.

A few more stores with signed copies of Steelheart:

Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego. Thanks, Patrick!
The Signed Page Thanks, Shawn!
Warwick’s Bookstore in the San Diego airport. Many signed books; codes in Steelhearts on the back wall.

And here are three stores that don’t have signed copies of Steelheart, but they do have Steelhunt codes:

Queen Anne Book Company, Seattle. Thanks, Tegan!
Books & Company in Oconomowoc, WI. Thanks, Lisa! Several of these have signed bookplates.
Barnes & Noble, Evanston IL. Thanks, Curtis! The code here is in another of my books, not Steelheart. Happy hunting!

The Bieberllama

Well, the results are in: whose book sold best, James’s or Brandon’s—and the winner is Brandon.

…

Brandon Mull.

That’s right, Brandon Mull’s Wild Born has defeated both Steelheart and The Eye of Minds. Brandon Mull is a good friend of mine and James Dashner’s, and his book outsold both of ours last week, so I’m declaring him the winner. This means that both James and I have the honor of changing our social media profile pictures to Justin Bieber. James already changed his photo. I’m now proud to present to you the photo that will adorn my profiles for the next couple weeks or so:

Please share this Facebook post so that all your friends may bask in the glory of the Bieberllama.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: THE GATHERING STORM: 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 four. 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.

The Gathering Storm: What did I learn?

The obvious thing I learned has to do with juggling so many side plots. I’d attempted this level of complexity one time before in my life, the first draft of The Way of Kings. (Written in 2002–2003, this was very different from the version I published in 2010, which was rebuilt from the ground up and written from page one a second time.) The book had major problems, and I felt at the time they came from inexpert juggling of its multitude of viewpoints. I’ve since advised new writers that this is a potential trap—adding complexity by way of many viewpoints, when the book may not need it. Many great epics we love in the genre (The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire included) start with a small group of characters, many in the same location, before splitting into much larger experiences with expansive numbers of viewpoints.

I couldn’t afford to be bad at this any longer. Fortunately, finishing the Mistborn trilogy had taught me a lot about juggling viewpoints. Approaching The Wheel of Time, I was better able to divide viewpoints, arrange them in a novel, and keep them in narrative rhythm with one another—so they complemented one another, rather than distracting or confusing the reader.

The other primary thing I feel I gained working on this book is a better understanding of my outlining process. Robert Jordan, as I said in previous installments, seems to have been more of a discovery writer than an outline writer—I’m the opposite. Working with The Gathering Storm forced me to take all of these notes and fragments of scenes and build a cohesive story from them. It worked surprisingly well. Somehow, my own process melded perfectly with the challenge of building a book from all of these parts. (That’s not to say that the book itself was perfect—just that my process adapted very naturally to the challenge of outlining these novels.)

There are a lot of little things. Harriet’s careful line edits taught me to be more specific in my word choice. The invaluable contributions of Alan and Maria taught me the importance of having assistants to help with projects this large, and showed me how to make the best use of that help. (It was something I started out bad at doing—my first few requests of Alan and Maria were to collect things I never ended up needing, for example.) I gained a new awe for the passion of Wheel of Time fandom, and feel I grew to understand them—particularly the very enthusiastic fans—a little better. This, in turn, has informed my interactions with my own readers.

I also learned that the way I do characters (which is the one part of the process I do more like a discovery writer) can betray me. As evidenced below.

The Gathering Storm: What did I do wrong?

My take on Mat is very divisive among Wheel of Time fans. A great number feel I did him poorly in The Gathering Storm. I’ve had a similar number approach me and tell me they like my Mat better than they did in previous books. Unfortunately, in doing so, these latter readers prove that the first readers are right. People don’t come to me and say “I like your Perrin” or “I dislike your Perrin.” They don’t do it for Rand, Egwene, or any of the other major characters. While undoubtedly there are some who feel this way about those characters, there isn’t a consensus opinion among a large number of fans as there is that Mat was DIFFERENT in The Gathering Storm. Those who like him better are likely ones who just naturally prefer the way I do a roguish character as opposed to the way Robert Jordan did one. It doesn’t mean Mat is better—just that I wrote him differently, and anytime there’s a difference, some will prefer the changed version. (There are even people who prefer New Coke!)

I don’t mean to demean the opinions of those who feel Mat was great in The Gathering Storm. I’m glad you enjoyed him, and I think there is some excellent writing involved in his viewpoints. However, I feel that I was wrong and the critics are right. Looking at Robert Jordan’s Mat and what I wrote, there are some subtle differences that made Mat read wrong to a sizable portion of the audience. (Jason Denzel, who is a good friend, was the first to point it out to me—not maliciously, but truthfully. His comment was along the lines of, “I think your take on Mat feels like very early books Mat.” This was a nice way of saying that my Mat lacked some of the depth of characterization he’d gained over the course of the latter books of the series.)

My Mat wasn’t an attempt to fix or change Mat—the sense that Mat is “off” was created by me trusting my instincts and in this case being wrong. You see, as I say above, I discovery-write characters. I write a viewpoint, and then judge if it has the right feel. I try again, changing the way the character reacts and thinks, until I arrive at the right feel. It’s like casting different actors in a role, and I do this quite deliberately—I feel that there is a danger in outlining as much as I do. It risks leaving your characters feeling wooden, that they are simply filling roles in a plot. (I find that many thrillers, which as a genre focus on tight plotting, have this problem.)

To combat this, I let my characters grow more organically. I allow them to violate the plot outline, and then revise the outline to fit the people they are becoming. They often do this, but mostly in very small ways—usually, my casting process finds the right person for the plot, and this doesn’t require major revisions as they grow.

However, I’ve read The Wheel of Time over and over—and I had never noticed that my picture of Mat was still deeply influenced by his book one/two appearance. The sidekick rogue. While some of my favorite parts of the series are his latter appearances where he gains a great deal of characterization (although this starts in book three), I cast the wrong Mat in these books, and I simply wrote him poorly. It was a version of Mat, and I don’t think it’s a disaster—but he’s much farther from his correct characterization than the other characters are.

The interesting thing about this is, though it is the biggest mistake I made in my writing of The Gathering Storm, it also is one of the things that taught me the most. My digging into viewpoint for the next book became one of the greatest learning experiences of my career so far.

To be continued.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: The Gathering Storm: 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 four. 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.

The Gathering Storm: What did I learn?

The obvious thing I learned has to do with juggling so many side plots. I’d attempted this level of complexity one time before in my life, the first draft of The Way of Kings. (Written in 2002–2003, this was very different from the version I published in 2010, which was rebuilt from the ground up and written from page one a second time.) The book had major problems, and I felt at the time they came from inexpert juggling of its multitude of viewpoints. I’ve since advised new writers that this is a potential trap—adding complexity by way of many viewpoints, when the book may not need it. Many great epics we love in the genre (The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire included) start with a small group of characters, many in the same location, before splitting into much larger experiences with expansive numbers of viewpoints.

I couldn’t afford to be bad at this any longer. Fortunately, finishing the Mistborn trilogy had taught me a lot about juggling viewpoints. Approaching The Wheel of Time, I was better able to divide viewpoints, arrange them in a novel, and keep them in narrative rhythm with one another—so they complemented one another, rather than distracting or confusing the reader.

The other primary thing I feel I gained working on this book is a better understanding of my outlining process. Robert Jordan, as I said in previous installments, seems to have been more of a discovery writer than an outline writer—I’m the opposite. Working with The Gathering Storm forced me to take all of these notes and fragments of scenes and build a cohesive story from them. It worked surprisingly well. Somehow, my own process melded perfectly with the challenge of building a book from all of these parts. (That’s not to say that the book itself was perfect—just that my process adapted very naturally to the challenge of outlining these novels.)

There are a lot of little things. Harriet’s careful line edits taught me to be more specific in my word choice. The invaluable contributions of Alan and Maria taught me the importance of having assistants to help with projects this large, and showed me how to make the best use of that help. (It was something I started out bad at doing—my first few requests of Alan and Maria were to collect things I never ended up needing, for example.) I gained a new awe for the passion of Wheel of Time fandom, and feel I grew to understand them—particularly the very enthusiastic fans—a little better. This, in turn, has informed my interactions with my own readers.

I also learned that the way I do characters (which is the one part of the process I do more like a discovery writer) can betray me. As evidenced below.

The Gathering Storm: What did I do wrong?

My take on Mat is very divisive among Wheel of Time fans. A great number feel I did him poorly in The Gathering Storm. I’ve had a similar number approach me and tell me they like my Mat better than they did in previous books. Unfortunately, in doing so, these latter readers prove that the first readers are right. People don’t come to me and say “I like your Perrin” or “I dislike your Perrin.” They don’t do it for Rand, Egwene, or any of the other major characters. While undoubtedly there are some who feel this way about those characters, there isn’t a consensus opinion among a large number of fans as there is that Mat was DIFFERENT in The Gathering Storm. Those who like him better are likely ones who just naturally prefer the way I do a roguish character as opposed to the way Robert Jordan did one. It doesn’t mean Mat is better—just that I wrote him differently, and anytime there’s a difference, some will prefer the changed version. (There are even people who prefer New Coke!)

I don’t mean to demean the opinions of those who feel Mat was great in The Gathering Storm. I’m glad you enjoyed him, and I think there is some excellent writing involved in his viewpoints. However, I feel that I was wrong and the critics are right. Looking at Robert Jordan’s Mat and what I wrote, there are some subtle differences that made Mat read wrong to a sizable portion of the audience. (Jason Denzel, who is a good friend, was the first to point it out to me—not maliciously, but truthfully. His comment was along the lines of, “I think your take on Mat feels like very early books Mat.” This was a nice way of saying that my Mat lacked some of the depth of characterization he’d gained over the course of the latter books of the series.)

My Mat wasn’t an attempt to fix or change Mat—the sense that Mat is “off” was created by me trusting my instincts and in this case being wrong. You see, as I say above, I discovery-write characters. I write a viewpoint, and then judge if it has the right feel. I try again, changing the way the character reacts and thinks, until I arrive at the right feel. It’s like casting different actors in a role, and I do this quite deliberately—I feel that there is a danger in outlining as much as I do. It risks leaving your characters feeling wooden, that they are simply filling roles in a plot. (I find that many thrillers, which as a genre focus on tight plotting, have this problem.)

To combat this, I let my characters grow more organically. I allow them to violate the plot outline, and then revise the outline to fit the people they are becoming. They often do this, but mostly in very small ways—usually, my casting process finds the right person for the plot, and this doesn’t require major revisions as they grow.

However, I’ve read The Wheel of Time over and over—and I had never noticed that my picture of Mat was still deeply influenced by his book one/two appearance. The sidekick rogue. While some of my favorite parts of the series are his latter appearances where he gains a great deal of characterization (although this starts in book three), I cast the wrong Mat in these books, and I simply wrote him poorly. It was a version of Mat, and I don’t think it’s a disaster—but he’s much farther from his correct characterization than the other characters are.

The interesting thing about this is, though it is the biggest mistake I made in my writing of The Gathering Storm, it also is one of the things that taught me the most. My digging into viewpoint for the next book became one of the greatest learning experiences of my career so far.

To be continued.

Vodník at $1.99 + Steelhunt update

Hey all. I found out that Bryce Moore’s Vodník, a book I really enjoyed (so much that I wrote a cover quote for it: “Vodník is compelling, interesting and darkly humorous. I think you’ll love it.”) is on sale right now as a $1.99 ebook. See the links on the right. You can also read the first 45 pages of the book for free here.

Meanwhile, my Steelheart tour is nearly at an end. This evening I sign at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego at 7:00 p.m., and then tomorrow I fly back home at last. There will be another signing in Utah this weekend, and the big New York City event with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner in November, but basically this is the end for the tour (and I can get back to writing full-time).

However, the Steelhunt continues. I’ve left codes in many bookstores; see previous posts for locations. If you’ve been wondering what exclusive content has been unlocked so far, it includes three full chapters from book sequels that have not yet been published and substantial beginning chunks of two pieces of short fiction (one of which is a sequel to a popular novella of mine, the other of which takes place on a previously unseen Cosmere world). The more codes get found and entered into a confidential location on the site, the more content is unlocked for every participant to see.

Here are three more great indie bookstores where you can find Steelhunt codes:

Reader’s Guide in Salem, Oregon
(If you stop in, say hi to Kim for me)
Klindt’s Booksellers in The Dalles, Oregon
(Tell Tina you saw this post)
Bob’s Beach Books in Lincoln City, Oregon
(Many thanks to Diana)

More ways to participate in the Steelhunt are yet to come, so keep your eyes peeled.

The Wheel of Time Retrospective: The Gathering Storm: Writing Process

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 section. 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 beginning of my first post, which talked about the notes, and my second post on the process. Here’s post number three.

The Gathering Storm: Writing Process

I attacked the project in earnest in the summer and fall of 2008. I realized early on that there was too much to keep in mind for me to write in a strict chronological fashion, as I had normally done in the past. For this project, I needed to take groups of characters, dump all of the information about them into my mind (like loading a program into RAM), and write for weeks on just that group. This way, I could keep track of the voices of the many characters and maintain the numerous subplots.

The hardest part of this project, I feel, was keeping track of the subplots and the voices of the side characters. This is not surprising; though I’d read the Wheel of Time many times, I was not a superfan. I loved the books, but I was not among the people who made websites, wikis, and the like for the books. I read the books to study the writing and enjoy the story; I did not spend too much time keeping track of which minor Aes Sedai was which.

I could no longer be lax in this area; I had to know every one of them. Part of Robert Jordan’s genius was in the individual personalities of all of these side characters. So I began dividing the last book (which was at that time still one novel in my mind) into sections. There were five of them. Four of these—one for Rand, one for Egwene, one for Mat, and one for Perrin—would push these four main plots toward the ending. They would happen roughly simultaneously. The other plotlines leading up to the Last Battle, and then the battle itself, were the fifth section.

It became obvious to me early in the outlining process that I was going to be writing a big book. I was well aware of what Robert Jordan had said about the final volume—you can find quotes from him on the internet where he promises it would be so large, fans would need a wheelbarrow to get it out of bookstores. I took this to heart, but knew that there was little chance Tor would let me write the book that large without cutting it.

Indeed, by late 2008, Tor had gotten word that I was promising Harriet a 2000-page book. I believe it was in January 2009 when I got the call from Harriet asking about splitting the books. I was ready for this. My first line was to tell her, “I still view this as one book, and would like to try and get it printed as one book if at all possible.” She took my arguments back to Tor, and had a long conversation with Tom Doherty. When she came back to me, she said they strongly advised a division.

I’m still not certain what would have happened if Robert Jordan had tried this. Perhaps Harriet would have persuaded him that the realities of publishing forbade a book so large. Either way, I felt I had made as strong an argument as I could—and I admitted, despite my desire to see the book as one volume as Robert Jordan had envisioned, that I would have to either discard several major parts of the outline or agree to split the novel.

I think we made the right choice. Three books gave me the chance to really dig into the project not as a one-off event, but as a process. Cutting major plotlines would have made the last book a rushed endeavor, requiring me to ignore several large threads. However, the division of the outline did create some problems, which I’ll talk about during the Towers of Midnight post.

When Harriet asked me about splitting the book, she wondered if there was a natural breaking point. I told her breaking it once wouldn’t work—but breaking it twice might. I didn’t feel A Memory of Light would work as two volumes. Looking at my outline and what I needed to accomplish, two books would either mean one very long book and one normal-sized one, or two books split equally. Both would have been awkward. The former because doing a double-sized Wheel of Time book would have the same problems as just printing the original 2000-page novel. 1400 pages isn’t much better in publishing terms. 1000, like some of the Wheel of Time books, already pushes against those limits.

The second option—two 1000-page books—was even more of a problem. If we cut it in the middle like that, we’d get the first half of all four plot sequences I mentioned above—but none of their climaxes. This (writing one book as a setup book, with the payoffs mostly happening in another book) was an experiment that Robert Jordan had already attempted, and he had spoken of the problems it created. He was a better writer than I am, and if he couldn’t accomplish such a split, I didn’t want to attempt it.

Instead, I felt that splitting the book as three books would allow us to have complete arcs in each one. Two, actually, for each of The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight—followed by the climactic book, A Memory of Light. So I set out to divide the plots and decide what would go where.

I knew fans would be skeptical of me taking over the project in the first place, and I knew they’d be more skeptical when we announced a three-book split. That meant I wanted my most dynamic plots in the first book. (I knew the ending would carry its own book, and was never worried about that one being dynamic enough.) In addition, I wanted to split the four sequences—Rand/Egwene/Mat/Perrin—so that we had at least one in each book that Robert Jordan had done a lot of work on. Rand and Perrin had much less material finished for them than Mat and Egwene. So it was either Rand/Egwene or Perrin/Mat for the first book.

It soon became clear that I needed to lead with Rand/Egwene. They mirrored each other in very interesting ways, with Rand’s narrative descent and Egwene’s narrative ascent. When Rand was being contemplative, Egwene’s plot had action—and vice versa. While my personal favorite of the four is Perrin’s arc, I felt his involved a lot of buildup and some less straightforward plotting as we pushed toward his climactic moments. I also decided that the plots would work with shaving off some of what Rand/Egwene were doing to save it for the second book, but I couldn’t do the same as easily for Perrin/Mat.

A book was forming in my head. Rand’s absolute power driving him toward destruction and Egwene’s specific lack of power elevating her toward rebuilding the White Tower. We needed a Mat section—I didn’t want him absent for the book—so Hinderstap was my creation, devised after Harriet asked me to be “more disturbing and horrifying” in regards to the bubbles of evil that were coming into the book.

Egwene

The Egwene plot was an absolute delight to work on. Of all the things that Robert Jordan had been building for this last book (including the final chapter) before he died, I feel this was the most fully formed. Egwene’s rise and the Seanchan assault played together perfectly in classic Wheel of Time fashion, and I got to participate in unique ways, working with his notes and instructions to craft his plotlines exactly as I feel he envisioned them.

One large change I did make was splitting the Egwene dinner with Elaida into two distinct scenes, instead of one single scene. I felt the pacing worked much better this way, and it complemented the Rand sequence better with the first dinner happening, Egwene getting sent to further work, then a climactic second dinner happening where I could really bring about Egwene’s victory, all without her ever channeling.

In the Egwene sequence, I got to do the most truly collaborative work with Robert Jordan. In other places, I inserted scenes he’d written. In many others, I had to go with my gut, lacking instruction. With Egwene, I had a blend of explanations of scenes, written scenes, and Q&A prompts from Robert Jordan that made me feel as if I were working directly with him to bring about the sequence. If you want to see a full sequence in the books that I think is the closest to the way he’d have done it if he could have, I’d suggest the Egwene sequence in The Gathering Storm. (And beyond. Most of what we have for her was by his direction, inclusive of the events leading up to—and including—Merrilor.)

Rand

In taking on this project, one of my personal goals—if the series would allow it—was to focus more time on the main characters, particularly Rand. I love the middle books, with their exploration of other plots and characters, but the first book presented to us Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene as our main characters. I feel that, in the true nature of the Wheel of Time, the appropriate thing to do was bring the attention back to them for the final books—and I feel Robert Jordan would have done so himself.

Rand needed to be the heart of the three novels. In pondering how to accomplish his outline, I was reminded of things I’d felt when first reading The Dragon Reborn. Rand’s anguish as a character was powerful to me, and I thought, “Surely he can’t go lower, be forced to go through more, than he’s had happen to him here.” The next few books affirmed this.

Then I read Lord of Chaos. That book breaks your heart; I found myself amazed that Rand could be brought down even lower. This progressed through the next books, with more being piled upon Rand—but the low points of Lord of Chaos are the most stark in my mind. I remember thinking, “Surely this is the bottom.”

That was why, in The Gathering Storm, I needed to attempt what Robert Jordan had successfully done twice. I needed to bring Rand even lower than the reader had assumed, expected, or even thought possible. This was in part to fulfill arcs Robert Jordan had in place, in part because of his love for the Monomyth and the Campbellian hero’s journey, but mostly because it felt right to me. Rand’s redemption, so to speak, needed to be preceded by his lowest point in the series.

This also offered me an interesting storytelling opportunity. In the original outline, Rand’s descent, his decision on Dragonmount, and his following actions as the Dragon Reborn would all happen in a single volume. In splitting the books, I could do the first part in one book, then have his actions in the second book introduce an interesting tension—the question of whether or not this new Rand was still the Rand we loved. I could prompt readers to fear that just as he became unrecognizable in the depths of his fall, he might become something unknowable in the heights of his redemption. It would make for a new kind of conflict, one I’d never explored before, through Towers of Midnight—before finally giving Rand more viewpoints in A Memory of Light to humanize him again. (Something Harriet was very glad to hear I was planning to do. Her main point regarding Rand was that he, in performing the actions he did in the last book, had to be very human in his approach to them. This was to be the story of an ordinary man who achieved something amazing, not an unknowable deity doing the same.)

Other Characters

I have a fondness for Aviendha, my personal favorite of the female leads in the Wheel of Time. (My favorite among the male leads is Perrin.) I wanted to see a return of Avi in the last books, as I felt we just hadn’t had enough of her lately. I also have an interesting relationship with Nynaeve, a character who I (as a young man) resented. My opinion of her is the one that grew the most during the course of my reading as just a fan, and by Knife of Dreams I absolutely loved her. I knew that with all of the crowding in the last books, she actually wouldn’t have a large part to play in the Last Battle. (Very few would be able to do so, beyond Rand/Egwene/Perrin/Mat.) Therefore, it was important to me to give her a solid and interesting sequence of scenes through both The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight. Her raising was not instructed by the notes, but was something I was insistent be in the books. (And along those lines, one thing Harriet insisted happen—and I was all too ready to oblige—was a meeting between Rand and his father.)

To be continued.

Writing Excuses, Steelheart tour, Steelhunt, and #NewEpics

At this year’s Out of Excuses writing retreat, the Writing Excuses crew did a microcasting episode that touches on these topics:

How do you find beta readers?
Legal and IP issues? Should you copyright your work before submitting?
Advice for a discovery writer?
As a fan, what is the best way to pay my favorite authors?
Can chapters be too short?
How much time do you spend reading?

One of my Twitter followers, Chase Wheatley, started a Steelheart #NewEpics game on Twitter on Friday and several other readers joined in. The idea is to give the name of an Epic, what their power is, and what their weakness is, with the hashtag #NewEpics. Such as this one: “Oracle: receives copy of tomorrow’s newspaper. Weakness: only receives the lifestyle section. #newepics #steelheart” These have been giving me a good chuckle and I’d love to see more—but don’t tweet them at @BrandSanderson because then only people searching the hashtag or my name will see the tweets.

The Steelheart book tour is drawing to a close. Today I’m in Seattle, and tomorrow I have an on-base event at Fort Lewis (military ID required). Wednesday I’m in San Deigo, and then I’m back home at last. Saturday I’ll drive up to West Jordan, and then the final stop is my event in New York at the 92nd Street Y with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner.

This past weekend I was in California in the Bay Area, and I signed books at a ton of stores and hid many Steelhunt codes. Since I posted about each stop on Twitter, many people have already gone to the stores to buy the books I signed, so I’m not sure how many are left—but give them a call or stop by to find out!

First off are the two stores where I did an event: Books Inc. in Mountain View and Barnes & Noble in El Cerrito. Thanks to everyone who came! And check out this fanart at my Mountain View signing by Dan Schreiner.

Here are the other stores I signed at, including some pictures I snapped of the stores.

Bay Book Company in Half Moon Bay is a delightful store and I left eight Steelhunt codes there.

At the Palo Alto Books Inc. at Town and Country Village, I signed many books and left prizes inside. Two Steelhunt codes.

Kepler’s Books at Menlo Park: many signed Sanderson books, two Steelhunt codes.

Barnes & Noble in Redwood City: signed books with prizes inside. Two Steelhunt codes in Steelheart.

Barnes & Noble at Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo: many signed books with prizes, and two Steelhunt codes in copies of Steelheart.

A Great Good Place for Books in Montclair Village in Oakland: signed Steelheart, two Steelhunt codes.

Borderlands Books in San Francisco: a great store I’ve been to many times before. I signed a ton of stock there, and they tweeted that you should call to reserve a signed copy of Steelheart.

And finally the airports. At the San Francisco Airport Hudson News by gate 41 I signed three copies of Steelheart and left Steelhunt codes in them. And last night I flew into Seattle; in the SeaTac Airport Hudson Books by gate C2 I signed The Rithmatist and Steelheart (two with Steelhunt codes) on the teen table. Signed epic fantasies are on the shelves!

Signed STEELHEART at Powell’s + Steelhunt update

The Steelheart tour continues. Today and tomorrow I’m in the Bay Area, and next week I’m in Seattle and San Diego. See my full schedule for details.

I’ve also arranged for Steelhunt codes to be hidden at a few more stores. (See these posts for a Steelhunt explanation and other participating locations.) Latest on the list is a hunting ground for all of you folks in Northern Michigan just south of Upper Michigan. There are 5 Steelhunt codes in Petoskey at McLean and Eakin Booksellers. Say hi to Zach for me when you stop by!

Now, Powell’s. Have I ever mentioned how much I like signing at Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing store in Beaverton, Oregon? They have a great space there for reading, and there’s always a huge crowd. Whenever I have a stop there it’s one of the three best signings of the tour, so I look forward to every visit.

This week’s signing at Powell’s was no exception. The turnout was excellent as usual. (Though I’m really sorry to hear a couple of people arrived after 9:00 and got turned away at the mall doors. Often my signings will go three hours or more, and a bookstore will stay open past their usual closing time until everyone has come through the line. But the mall location makes it difficult for people to get in after closing time, so I’ll try to make sure that’s noted on my schedule in the future.)

While I was at Powell’s I signed shelf stock of a hundred copies of Steelheart. Ten random copies have Steelhunt codes inside. They ship worldwide, and orders of $50 or more get free shipping to US addresses. Indies like Powell’s are what make a book tour possible—if everyone bought from Amazon, there wouldn’t be any bookstores and you wouldn’t be able to meet me at any signings. I am happy for you to read books in whatever format works best for you, but if you like hardcovers I urge you to consider supporting the bookstores. If you haven’t picked up Steelheart yet, think about choosing Powell’s. Note: Their website has a listing for the signed copies that’s different from the regular listing, so be sure you use the signed listing if you don’t stop by the store.