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GeekDad, at Wired Magazine, did a really great interview with Brandon Sanderson about his experience with finishing Robert Jordans's Wheel of Time Series. Brandon talks about the pressure involved in taking on this massive project and "the daunting task of not being the one who screws up The Wheel of Time."
I actually never finished the WOT series as I found the female characters to be too annoying but I'm tempted to pick the books up again just because I love Brandon Sanderson's writing. One part of the interview that I thought was particularly interesting was Brandon's reflection on how he views the book characters differently, now as an adult, then he did when he was younger.
- When I was a kid, I found myself resisting the oppression of Moiraine and Nynaeve, and these older people who were trying to keep the younger guys locked in. I read the series now as an adult, and I feel like one of these people, saying, “Listen to Moiraine’s advice, Rand! Don’t do that-you’re being stupid!” I find myself empathizing with the older characters. It’s a testament to Robert Jordan’s skill as a writer, the ability to write so many people from so many different walks of life. As you change and become a different person, as you grow, as we all do, you’ll begin to see the perspective of other people in the book. It was quite shocking to me.
And if you are a fan of Brandon Sanderson, or if you are just looking for good writing tips, check out his podcast Writing Excuses. I love listening to it, even though I'm not a writer.
3 comments:
I love Brandon Sanderson's books. They are just genius from the story lines to the magic systems he creates. I have not read what he has helped with in Wheel of Time, as I have not read into this series yet.
I have visited his site of writing excuses and there are some great excuses on there. I get a kick out of some of them.
Great post.
I have to say that I think each of Sanderson's books has gradually improved and in his last book, Warbreaker, he was in top form. While I had enjoyed Elentris I had been expecting a lot more from it after all the hype, and while I liked the first Mistborn book I couldn't get into the second one. But in Mistborn Sanderson made up for many of the things I felt were lacking in the previous books.
Writing Excuses is great. They have some great suggestions about writing and story building and Sanderson and the two other guys are just really fun to listen to.
I have a few friends that I made over at Barnes & Nobles forum site and we discuss & speculate on books as we read them. We have really enjoyed Brandon's books there.
I loved the Mistborn trilogy and each book got better. Not only with the plot line but with the character development along with tieing all the ends together. I loved how he left hints along the way.
Then I read Elantris which is done well but I thought there were a lot of loose ends and the character strength didn't hit me as much till after the half way point. But still enjoyed it.
We also finished up with Warbreaker when it came out. I would think it would be hard to write a character who is unsure of them self yet still had their morals & belief system in place internally and fight these against what they see in the world. All in the end to turn out to be a new person with a blend of the old morals and beliefs raised on along with how the world is with other beliefs in it. All the characters where well written through the world book along with the world creation and the plot. And it is a stand alone novel!
Brandon has a style all his own and has perfected it in each book. I can't wait to see what Brandon has up his sleeve next and how he will tackle his own epic series starting with the Way of Kings. He has a great mind and I think it will be amazing. (I probably am understating.)
~sorry for such a long message. I just started going.~
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