Essowe Tchalim asked Brent Weeks:

Hey Brent. Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love your books, both Night Angel and Lightbringer.The finesse and innovation that goes into your works is just remarkable. I get the impression that the magic system, and even the plot, in Lightbringer took a lot of time and research. Were you working on bits of Lightbringer while writing/editing the Night Angel trilogy? Thanks.

Brent Weeks Thank you! I didn't start working on Lightbringer until December of 2008. Editing and doing publicity for three books in three months drove everything else out of my head, and I wasn't sure whether I was going to write more Night Angel books immediately or try to do something very different. Obviously, I opted for the latter.
Yes, it took tons of time. I remember that by July, six months later, I hadn't written a single word of a single chapter. Just lots and lots of notes. This was somewhat terrifying, since I was supposed to turn in a book in August! Since then, I've figured out that my personal writing pace is roughly a big book every two years. I'm actually writing just as much and just as quickly as many authors who publish a book a year, mine just comes in bigger chunks. I like my pace because it does allow me to do the kind of research and outlining and re-outlining and editing that I like to do. I've felt the pressure before of, "I can't stop for two days to read up on this bit of history, because I can't give up two days of writing, or I'll miss my deadline --" and that place sucks. And for me, if I were in that book a year circle, my books would lack polish, depth, and detail.

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