Claims that RJ did not write books 4-11

[Ahaz Flagg]

I have no talked to 3 people who swear up and down RJ did not wirte but the first three books.

 

 

Now, I find this very funny. Their supposed reason is that the people in the book have changed so much. Now of course, anyone who has read the series will notice a big difference from book 1 to say book 4, I argue with one of them on a weekly basis. I try to expalin that no one could have written it but RJ, you just get a feel for RJ's writing, and to think anyone would take over and use the same pen name is very iggnorant, imho. 

 

Has anyone else met anyone like this?

[SonAr]

I think Moore wrote them, just after writing the script for 9/11 movie.

[JenniferL]

That's the first I've heard of it.

 

But Jordan wrote all his books.  The writing style doesn't change. The plotting does. The later books are definitely looser than the early ones. But it's definitely his writing.

 

Honestly, from what I know of his personality, he never would have accepted someone else playing in his sandbox, even if he was getting the credit.

[Cadsuane]

Their supposed reason is that the people in the book have changed so much.

 

Next time they say this, remind them that anyone who went through the events that the characters went through in the first three (or even just ONE) books would have to change... a lot. The size of their world grew a thousandfold, moving from only ever having lived in a tiny rural town to traveling the entire continent, meeting with powerful people and things they thought lived only in legends, and even becoming powerful people. Things like that will tend to change a person. A lot.  :D

 

If these friends of yours want a series where the characters change very little regardless of what events they experience, tell them to read the Belgariad. It's a fun tale, but very safe, as far as fantasy goes.

[Skowsa]

I would actually use the fact that the characters do change as a reason why RJ must have written the books. A ghost writer would have followed the characters more stubbornly and changed very little form the original material (in this case the first three books). The true author of the characters would have the assumed flexibility to do whatever he wanted to his characters.

[Ahaz Flagg]

Their supposed reason is that the people in the book have changed so much.

 

Next time they say this, remind them that anyone who went through the events that the characters went through in the first three (or even just ONE) books would have to change... a lot. The size of their world grew a thousandfold, moving from only ever having lived in a tiny rural town to traveling the entire continent, meeting with powerful people and things they thought lived only in legends, and even becoming powerful people. Things like that will tend to change a person. A lot.  :D

 

If these friends of yours want a series where the characters change very little regardless of what events they experience, tell them to read the Belgariad. It's a fun tale, but very safe, as far as fantasy goes.

 

I did use thoughs arguments:).  still some people are hard headed.  Belgarid is to tame for me now!! I set all my standards of books by RJ now, and its real hard for anyone to stand up to that!!  :)

[eclipse0]

If you've ever known someone who's been in the military before they joined up, then you know for a fact that people change when they experience and/or witness combat.  I've know a handful of people who went to Iraq/Afghanistan and have been drastically changed.  You can see the hardness that has been infused into their personality.  Battle forces people to mature quickly, whether it be soldiers or civilians. Hence the changes we've seen in the younger main characters such as Rand, Matt, Perrin, Nynaeve, Egwene, Min and Elayne, Galad and Gawyn.

 

Other elements of life also change people, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Tragedy, Shock, Responsibilty, Love and Desparation often change people drastically.  These would account for changes in Lan, Morainne, Siuan, Leane, Elaida, other Aes Sedai, Avienda, The other Aiel, Egeanin, Some of the Other Seanchan, Bayle Domon, Julian, other Tairens, Tam, and the Two Rivers folks in general.

[anamul]

There might have been a tiny bit of credulity in such statement if your friend claimed that RJ hadn't written the books after book6. Cause according to some that includes me think that WOT has taken a slight downfall after book 6.

 

But then again u will have to say that book 11 was written by him, as in knife of dreams things began to assume its older shape again developing on the intermediate books.

 

Then it leaves us to "book 7 to book 10".

 

Anyway, anyone who has read WOT will know the style as same. RJ's style can be recognised in all the books in the series. U can tell, its RJ.

[The Dragon Reborn]

The best thing to do would simply be to not even dignify such ridiculous claims with a response.

[Kura]

Hehe, it has to be RJ, there are very few other writers who could handle such a complex plot, and most of them have their own series to worry about.

 

You want an example of what happens when a bad-decent writer tries to handle something of WoT's calibur, go read Sword of Truth. ;)

 

(Sorry to all legitimate SoT fans out there, but I have very little patience with the series)

[Jonn]

There might have been a tiny bit of credulity in such statement if your friend claimed that RJ hadn't written the books after book6. Cause according to some that includes me think that WOT has taken a slight downfall after book 6.

 

But then again u will have to say that book 11 was written by him, as in knife of dreams things began to assume its older shape again developing on the intermediate books.

 

Then it leaves us to "book 7 to book 10".

 

Anyway, anyone who has read WOT will know the style as same. RJ's style can be recognised in all the books in the series. U can tell, its RJ.

 

I guess I can sort of see your point, but I loved Winter's Heart.

 

Anyhow...I've always thought that someone's writing is basically like their voice. You can change your voice to some degree, you can play with your accent, use different words that you might like to add to your vernacular, repeat things other people have said to you, even mimic someone else's voice...but still, there's something about a person's voice, if you've come to listen to it long enough...once you know someone's voice, they can try their best to disguise it, and maybe they will even fool you once in a while, but you can always tell it's them somehow...hard to explain, I guess.

 

I had a habit of looking around for scraps of Harry Potter books online before the actual book would be published and I would come across these fake transcripts of the supposedly leaked new volume. Within half a sentence, almost, I could tell it wasn't Rowling. I'm sure it would only take that for me to make out a fake Jordan book.

 

Nope, RJ's style is very distinct. Even the misprints and typos are very RJ..lol.

[Child of Lir]

There's none so blind as those that won't see...

[eclipse0]

People who refuse to open there eyes are truly blind, but those people who see things that aren't there, well those people are in straight jackets.

[trakand_01]

"I have no talked to 3 people who swear up and down RJ did not wirte but the first three books."

 

I do no believe it, you do sound like an Illianer.

[eclipse0]

Ha ha, I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that!

[Ahaz Flagg]

"I have no talked to 3 people who swear up and down RJ did not wirte but the first three books."

 

I do no believe it, you do sound like an Illianer.

 

Illianer? certianly not!!

[Barmoz]

I can see how someone might get that impression, although for the wrong reasons.  The writing style is very much the same, what changed I think is that by book 4, the series had gotten a significant amount of success and the continuation was never in doubt.  Keep in mind, while he was a successful fantasy author, I imagine his greatest commercial successes before WoT were stand alone novels in someone else's sandbox with his work with the Conan universe. 

 

In the earlier books, book 1 in particular, I think the editors probably adjusted RJ's initial version to make it more of a "stand alone" story.  If the book had not sold well, and there had never been additional books, it would have been a decent stand alone novel, everyone would just assume that Rand killed the Dark One and saved the world.  Book 2 has a little bit of a repeat of the same circumstances, the Seanchan are driven back, another battle with "the Dark One" where Rand prevails, if it had bombed, it could have ended there as well.  It wasn't until the series became established that I think RJ got the freedom to pursue his intended "epic".  I imagine if he could have gone back and rewritten the first couple books, we might have seem dramatically different climactic scenes and finishes. 

 

Well, that's my first post, don't gentle me!

[Orange Fescue]

I have no talked to 3 people who swear up and down RJ did not wirte but the first three books.

 

 

Now, I find this very funny. Their supposed reason is that the people in the book have changed so much. Now of course, anyone who has read the series will notice a big difference from book 1 to say book 4, I argue with one of them on a weekly basis. I try to expalin that no one could have written it but RJ, you just get a feel for RJ's writing, and to think anyone would take over and use the same pen name is very iggnorant, imho. 

 

Has anyone else met anyone like this?

Tell them "it's called 'character development'" and move on. Seriously, do they expect everyone to stay 16 forever? After travelling the world, fighting in major wars and becoming world leaders?