Final Wheel of Time book to be published in three volumes

[Krug]

Press release: http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=483

Brandon Sanderson on splitting the books:
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL

 

[LightPhoenix]

My first thought: how fitting.

However, I then went and read the author's post. I must say that I'm not terribly surprised it will take three books to wrap up. It became readily apparent to me that RJ never had a clear plan to wrap up the books, and when that time did come along, there would be a lot that would need to be said. What I liked the most was that he was forthright about it. The fact that he went through the books taking notes on what needed to be wrapped up is more than I speculate RJ ever did. While I won't be reading the books, these are signs that they'll be handled well.

One surprising number though was that 1000 words a day was a good day for a writer. I guess that's three to four pages of writing, but it comes off as low. It makes NaNoWriMo a little more impressive and a little less true to the reality of being a writer. I'm sure that a professional writers are a little more thought out though.

 

[El Mahdi]

Thanks for the scoop! (I have to spread some XP around yet or I'd have hooked you up for the scoop.)

edit: Read the release and the Blog. Sounds to me like the book was definitely placed in good hands. As much as I want the book right now, I know that's just not possible. And, if three books is what it will take to do the story justice, then I'm glad he's made the hard decision to do that. So, I guess I'll just have to have patience. But Ahhh, the anticipation!

 

[Mouseferatu]

One surprising number though was that 1000 words a day was a good day for a writer. I guess that's three to four pages of writing, but it comes off as low. It makes NaNoWriMo a little more impressive and a little less true to the reality of being a writer. I'm sure that a professional writers are a little more thought out though.

The trick isn't just producing 1,000 words a day; it's averaging 1,000 usable words per day. Once you take into account time spent in outlining, editing, and rewriting, that number starts to look a lot more impressive.

I myself average more than 2,000 words per day on days when I'm actually writing, but that doesn't take into account the aforementioned outlining or editing time, nor does it take into account any dead time I might have between contracts or projects. I'm sure if you averaged my word count over the course of any given year, it would come to a lot less than that. And this is all I do; a lot of authors write in addition to some form of day job.

 

[Orius]

However, I then went and read the author's post. I must say that I'm not terribly surprised it will take three books to wrap up. It became readily apparent to me that RJ never had a clear plan to wrap up the books, and when that time did come along, there would be a lot that would need to be said. What I liked the most was that he was forthright about it. The fact that he went through the books taking notes on what needed to be wrapped up is more than I speculate RJ ever did. While I won't be reading the books, these are signs that they'll be handled well.

I think RJ didn't have the story plotted out very well past Lord of Chaos or A Crown of Swords. Up to those books, the story was very well plotted and strung together. Once one hits The Path of Daggers though, the cohesion starts to unravel, there are even signs of it starting in ACoS, and gets to its worst at Crossroads of Twilight. I think past LoC, RJ knew some of the major scenes that would occur, but not so much the stuff that led up to them. He had stated many time that he knew how the story was going to end and had known since he began, but he just didn't have it all plotted out.

It's good that Sanderson is really going over the notes and books and familiarizing himself with it as much as possible. RJ had the story in his head, and could just write it from that; I know from just DMing how much of my campaigns only exist in imagination and have never taken form as written notes or computer files. Sanderson doesn't have all that was in RJ's mind.

 

[LightPhoenix]

The trick isn't just producing 1,000 words a day; it's averaging 1,000 usable words per day. Once you take into account time spent in outlining, editing, and rewriting, that number starts to look a lot more impressive.

I myself average more than 2,000 words per day on days when I'm actually writing, but that doesn't take into account the aforementioned outlining or editing time, nor does it take into account any dead time I might have between contracts or projects. I'm sure if you averaged my word count over the course of any given year, it would come to a lot less than that. And this is all I do; a lot of authors write in addition to some form of day job.

Thanks Ari! I don't know too much about the writing process, except as it pertains to writing grants and science papers. I was hoping someone would come by and provide a little more insight.

 

[El Mahdi]

The trick isn't just producing 1,000 words a day; it's averaging 1,000 usable words per day.

...snip...

I'm sure if you averaged my word count over the course of any given year, it would come to a lot less than that. And this is all I do; a lot of authors write in addition to some form of day job.

Yeah, I can believe all of this. I've been reading Dreamer of Dune recently (just finishing up the part where he's writing Dune). Between speech writing jobs for election campaigns, working as a researcher and photographer for a newspaper, and the massive amount of research, editing and re-writing he did; it took Herbert something like 10 or 15 years to write Dune. Talk about dedication. I have a lot of respect for all of you writers who are able to do this. (By the way, if you haven't read Dreamer of Dune yet, it would definitely be worth your time. It's an incredible peek behind the curtain of an amazing writer.)

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

You know, when I first saw this I was sure it was an April Fools' prank. I'm not sure how I feel about this honestly. TWoT is one of my favorite series of books. I started reading it right after The Great Hunt came out; I was in middle school. Each time a new book came out I have reread the entire series.

Now, though, as much as I still like it; I'm growing weary of it. I think the digression of the last few books started to burn me out on the books. And even though my first thought after Knife of Dreams was "how in the hell is this going to get wrapped up in one book?" I don't know if I am down for three more. Perhaps if they are tighter than the last four, it won't be so bad. Oh, I'll read them, no doubt, but this time I'll probably wait until they are all out.

 

[drothgery]

Now, though, as much as I still like it; I'm growing weary of it. I think the digression of the last few books started to burn me out on the books. And even though my first thought after Knife of Dreams was "how in the hell is this going to get wrapped up in one book?" I don't know if I am down for three more. Perhaps if they are tighter than the last four, it won't be so bad. Oh, I'll read them, no doubt, but this time I'll probably wait until they are all out.

Have you checked out anything else Brandon Sanderson has written? Based on Elantris and the Mistborn books, I'd say if he can't get it done in less than 750,000 words (and binding limits and logical break points mean that will make it three books), then there's not a writer alive who could do it well in less, and if Jim Rigney (aka Robert Jordan) were alive and healthy it probably would have taken him four or five books to wrap things up.

 

[Orius]

Damn, I forgot to make the crack that it would take at least one volume alone of arm-folding, sniffing, braid-tugging, neckline descriptions, and skirt smoothing to make it worthy of Jordan!

That's what I get for posting so late at night.