Brandon Sanderson up to 22% done on Memory of Light.

[Razor]

So that means only 78% still to go!  ::)

[RAND AL THOR]

There should be an identical progress bar on this website too.

[Safia al-Maaz]

where is said progress bar?

[RAND AL THOR]

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/

[Safia al-Maaz]

thanks!

[Jonn]

I'm pretty surprised that this community isn't updating this topic on a constant basis. He's a full third of the way through on his first draft, and he seems pretty excited about it.

 

This seems like a good sign to me, because he pretty much has the same taste I do when it comes to the series, and what parts he likes about it.

 

You can tell he's just bursting to let us know more about what is going on.

 

Last I saw he had the bar up to 33%, and I'm confident it will be up to 40% before we know it.

 

Heard he's working on a screenplay for one of his books. Someone should ask him what he thinks about writinga script for Eye of the World.

 

[Majsju]

There is little reason to update this on a daily basis, considering what the percentage bar actually means.

 

First of all, the percentage bar is based on Brandons estimate of how long AMOL will be. This is bound to change every now and then.

 

Second, this is a first draft. He has not yet recieved any feedback from harriet and the others. I would expect that he has to at the very least deliver a second draft before the actual editing process starts, and that process will be a minimum of six months, probably longer to make sure everything is there, and all the dots are connected in a logical way.

[wconn1979]

There is little reason to update this on a daily basis, considering what the percentage bar actually means.

 

First of all, the percentage bar is based on Brandons estimate of how long AMOL will be. This is bound to change every now and then.

 

Second, this is a first draft. He has not yet recieved any feedback from harriet and the others. I would expect that he has to at the very least deliver a second draft before the actual editing process starts, and that process will be a minimum of six months, probably longer to make sure everything is there, and all the dots are connected in a logical way.

 

Still, seeing the progress bar move even a little is far better than wondering how the writeing is going.

[CUBAREY]

There is little reason to update this on a daily basis, considering what the percentage bar actually means.

 

First of all, the percentage bar is based on Brandons estimate of how long AMOL will be. This is bound to change every now and then.

 

Second, this is a first draft. He has not yet recieved any feedback from harriet and the others. I would expect that he has to at the very least deliver a second draft before the actual editing process starts, and that process will be a minimum of six months, probably longer to make sure everything is there, and all the dots are connected in a logical way.

 

It Should be noted that Sanderson iss 33% through first draft and his blog indicates 50% thru on a second draft (that is he is 17 1/2 % through on a second draft).

 

Moreover, as Brandon Sanderson has explained the chunk of writing he is now doing (everything after the 25% mark) is much more tying in RJ's notes and dictations then the original writing that he did in the first 25%, thus the "writing" is going much faster in this part. He still hopes to submit a completed Draft to Harriet by the end of the year. He is still confident that A Memoty of Light (or at least the first part) will be published in the fall or winter of 2009.

[DemandredFO]

I know it probably won't happen but it would be nice to have the prologue by Christmas.

[Jonn]

I didn't say that the topic should be updated every day...I said constantly, because Sanderson pretty much constantly updates his progress and mentions his work on the book on his website.

 

You would think his feedback would be noted more than, oh...once every two weeks.

 

I mean, am I the only one interested in his notes on the last book of the series? I think not.

 

Just a little stunned by the relative silence here specifically about his progress is all.

 

Granted he's not RJ, but this topic is kind of important to me. I'm also not without some concern and criticism about the way he works and manages his time.

 

Not being an published author myself, I can't say that I am totally locked into his methods or by what circumstances he must abide in continuing his work. I do know he has his own projects like Mistborn and things like Writing Excuses where he helpfully discusses the writing process.

 

But the selfish man that I am does question whether or not that Mr. Sanderson should or shouldn't devote an ever increasing amount of time on perfecting RJ's vision...

 

I'm a fan of Sanderson's work already, but honestly if it weren't for him getting tapped to finish the series, I most likely wouldn't have picked him out of the crowd of writers who populate the genre. This series could come to DEFINE Sanderson's career, which is indeed scary, I can empathize. But if I'm determined not to eff up this opportunity...I'm kind of on the tip that he should put some of his side projects on the back burner and concentrate on A Memory of Light as RJ would be doing at this very moment, were we still blessed by his presence in this world.

Not to be too callous about it. He's been making good progress by his account lately, but there have been times where I'm looking at his blog and wondering..."Should Sanderson really be expending this much energy on his book signing schedule, AND Writing Excuses (which I'm an avid listener btw), AND all the conventions, AND his school work AND...

 

I understand this may be the way he works, but if I were tapped to finish perhaps the most epic of epics, my primary focus would be that project and banging away at it until I get it done and get it right.

 

Still, I have great confidence that this will be a success, and his enthusiasm is evident. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in that he's trying not to drive himself crazy.

 

Here's to hoping all ends well and sooner than we expect.

[RAND AL THOR]

Writers have a life

 

That's one reason why I'm very patient about AMOL.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

Just a little stunned by the relative silence here specifically about his progress is all.

But this kind of thread appears every so often. Given that he's only at 20%ish ... then what's the fuss? We know it's going to take a while.

This series could come to DEFINE Sanderson's career, which is indeed scary, I can empathize.

If I were him I'd be hoping that this DOESN'T define his career. I mean, really, does he want to be known as that guy who finished off the WOT? Probably not.

But if I'm determined not to eff up this opportunity...I'm kind of on the tip that he should put some of his side projects on the back burner and concentrate on A Memory of Light as RJ would be doing at this very moment, were we still blessed by his presence in this world.

But why should he? He's obviously not contracted to. Additionally, he's probably got a core of fans who read his other books. Why risk losing them by working on a series they might not care about to the exclusion of everything else?

 

That's what has brought him success and recognition ... probably what brought him to Harriet's attention in the first place.

 

The guy has commitments, clearly. Whoever signed him up must have known this and respected them...

Writers have a life

That's one reason why I'm very patient about AMOL.

Exactly.

 

[Hybrid]

Hey, I'm new on Dragonmount and an avid WoT fan. ;D

 

Anyways, my opinion is that BS should spend as much time as possible on AMoL.  I don't want him to rush just so we can read it ASAP.  AMoL is the last book in WoT, and if it doesn't meet up to the standard set by the last books, I would be sorely disappointed indeed.

 

That being said, I know that one thing that helps me in revising papers I write for school is spending as much time as possible between drafts, so the work I've just done isn't fresh in my mind.  So I hope BS spends a lot of time in between his work on WoT on his other projects.  Not too much, but enough that every time he revises his work, it looks new to him.

[CUBAREY]

But if I'm determined not to eff up this opportunity...I'm kind of on the tip that he should put some of his side projects on the back burner and concentrate on A Memory of Light as RJ would be doing at this very moment, were we still blessed by his presence in this world.

 

But why should he? He's obviously not contracted to. Additionally, he's probably got a core of fans who read his other books. Why risk losing them by working on a series they might not care about to the exclusion of everything else?

 

That's what has brought him success and recognition ... probably what brought him to Harriet's attention in the first place.

 

Actually, his side ventures (his own books) are quite in hand. Mistbor 3 is set to publish later this year, Warbreaker is through it's 6th draft and is with his editor. Even his young adult series Alcatraz has no immediate deadlines to meet. He is contractually obligated to turn in a completed draft of AMOL by the end of the year and he seems quite confident he can meet this deadline.  As much of the rest of the book appears to be thoroughly notated and/or tapes by RJ explaining the action exist, the writing should go much quicker then the first 25% of the novel which was left the least completed by RJ.

 

Moreover, AMOL will hopefully not Define his carreer, mut it might MAKE his career. A well received AMOL would not only increase his fans but would put him in that select group of fantasy authors that have elivered large sales to their publishers. This makes a world of difference to an author. Having a large succes would under his belt BS would not have to shop his new works around but could expect publishers to be much more forthcoming.

[Majsju]

As Thin and Cub said, I certainly hope AMOL will not define Brandons career, since he is such a talented writer, and his own works are more than good enough to define his career without any references to WOT.

 

I have great hopes for Brandons own books once AMOL is published, I think he has it in him to reach...perhaps not the level of RK and Martin, but certainly that of Feist, Tad Williams etc.

[Luckers]

Frankly i think he could get up there--it's true Warbreaker and Elantris are probably can't be put up in the heights of fantasy, for all that they are both great reads, but the Fallen Empire series is brilliant. The intrigue, the historical development, the twists, the characterisations--i mark them as all being on par, or aspiring to the level of Martin or the others.

 

Oh, he's not there yet, i think, but he is well on his way.

[Leopoled Boothe]

I'm a fan of Sanderson's work already, but honestly if it weren't for him getting tapped to finish the series, I most likely wouldn't have picked him out of the crowd of writers who populate the genre. This series could come to DEFINE Sanderson's career, which is indeed scary, I can empathize. But if I'm determined not to eff up this opportunity...I'm kind of on the tip that he should put some of his side projects on the back burner and concentrate on A Memory of Light as RJ would be doing at this very moment, were we still blessed by his presence in this world.

Not to be too callous about it. He's been making good progress by his account lately, but there have been times where I'm looking at his blog and wondering..."Should Sanderson really be expending this much energy on his book signing schedule, AND Writing Excuses (which I'm an avid listener btw), AND all the conventions, AND his school work AND...

 

We can't expect Sanderson to put all his other projects completely on the back burner.  It would be fair neither to him nor to his fans.  Just for a moment lets put the shoe on the other foot, supose that at some point in the past ten years RJ had been asked to complete a series by an arthor who had passed away.  Now how would you have felt if he had completely put WOT on the back burner in order to complete that series.  I'm guessing you would be furious, I know I would.  We have to keep in mind that Brandon did have fans before he stated working on AMOL and they are anxiously awaiting the new instalments of Mistborn just has we anxiously await new volumes of WOT.  Realy, the only way Brandon can be fair to everybody is by making time for both his origional projects and WOT.  That can't be easy but so far it seems he doing a good job of it.  So please cut the guy a break.

[wconn1979]

We can't expect Sanderson to put all his other projects completely on the back burner.  It would be fair neither to him nor to his fans.  Just for a moment lets put the shoe on the other foot, supose that at some point in the past ten years RJ had been asked to complete a series by an arthor who had passed away.  Now how would you have felt if he had completely put WOT on the back burner in order to complete that series.  I'm guessing you would be furious, I know I would.  We have to keep in mind that Brandon did have fans before he stated working on AMOL and they are anxiously awaiting the new instalments of Mistborn just has we anxiously await new volumes of WOT.  Realy, the only way Brandon can be fair to everybody is by making time for both his origional projects and WOT.  That can't be easy but so far it seems he doing a good job of it.  So please cut the guy a break.

 

 

[move][glow=red,2,300]Well Said![/glow][/move]

 

[Jonn]

Just a little stunned by the relative silence here specifically about his progress is all.

But this kind of thread appears every so often. Given that he's only at 20%ish ... then what's the fuss? We know it's going to take a while.

 

Well, it's been about a month with little talk about it so I thought it warranted some comment.

And...it's around a third of the way finished with his first draft, which he says contains most of the less defined bits of RJ's writings.

I'd say that's significant.

 

Also...we're supposed to be huge fans of the Wheel of time, many of us having spent the past  decade or more waiting for the finale.

As much as Brandon Sanderson is keen to keep his fans from before Memory of Light, he's now responsible for the millions of fans waiting for the end.

To his credit, he always updates on his progress with the book.

 

I just imagined that people would be...I don't know, excited that this is occurring. For months we weren't even sure we would see RJ's series come to fruition, but now we have an author taking over who is very open to sharing his journey as he writes one of the most anticipated books in the last quarter of a century.

 

I just get the feeling that a lot of people here are kind of unenthusiastic about the whole thing.

 

This series could come to DEFINE Sanderson's career, which is indeed scary, I can empathize.

 

If I were him I'd be hoping that this DOESN'T define his career. I mean, really, does he want to be known as that guy who finished off the WOT? Probably not.

 

I disagree. I think he's said several times that he's quite honored to be chosen and he takes the task very seriously. Not only that, but he loves the series, so it's personal to him.

If he's known as the author who completed the Wheel of Time, that's a great thing to be known for. I'm thankful that someone as skilled as him is doing it.

 

Look, I posed the question to see what the general feeling was about Sanderson's work on the book.

 

I do realize that if RJ was still with us, he'd probably be doing conventions and signings if his health was good.

I also get the feeling that Sanderson is pretty prolific when it comes to producing material. I mean the guy does always seem to be working on three different things at once on a light day.

 

The question I ponder is, what if he were to turn all of his attention to Memory of Light as his 98% focus, close to what RJ would be doing.

That is a goal isn't it? To get the final book as close to the way RJ wanted it as possible. ..

I imagine it requires a lot of focus and a lot of work. I don't think I've ever heard of this exact scenario, the final book of a long series being published with posthumous guidance from the original author...

 

I won't downplay it. This is important to me, as it no doubt is to many of us. I admire and respect what Sanderson is doing, but naturally I am anxious about the process and the outcome as a whole.

 

RJ poured every bit of himself into this work. As much as I can empathize with Sanderson's gargantuan task, I expect no less from him than his 100% focus and effort on this project.

 

There's a lot at stake for him.

[Asmo]

I don't understand why people think Sanderson should scrap everything temporarily to work on the Memory of Light. Personally, I've read through some of Brandon's works once I heard he would complete the Wheel of Time series. I can't say I was enthusiastic about Elantris, and only slightly more about Warbreaker, but I did enjoy Mistborn quite a bit and am anxiously waiting for the third installment. Even if I didn't like it at all, though, I still wouldn't support the notion of him giving up everything to complete aMoL. AMoL is not Brandon's book, it's Jordan's. Brandon has his own career to take care of, and however much writing aMoL will benefit him, that fact won't change. Brandon wants to, and has to, be remembered as the great author who completed the Wheel of Time series, not the author who became great by completing the Wheel of Time series.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

Well, it's been about a month with little talk about it so I thought it warranted some comment.

But there are always threads talking about AMOL. Little talk about the deadline, maybe, (I'd disagree), but plenty of talk about the content.

Also...we're supposed to be huge fans of the Wheel of time, many of us having spent the past  decade or more waiting for the finale.

As much as Brandon Sanderson is keen to keep his fans from before Memory of Light, he's now responsible for the millions of fans waiting for the end.

I'm certainly one of those people.

 

However, the view I take is that, well, I've been reading it for around, maybe, 10/11 years, I can wait a while yet.

I just imagined that people would be...I don't know, excited that this is occurring. For months we weren't even sure we would see RJ's series come to fruition, but now we have an author taking over who is very open to sharing his journey as he writes one of the most anticipated books in the last quarter of a century.

But there are threads...

 

And there is excitement. It's focused on the plot rather than the timescale.

I disagree. I think he's said several times that he's quite honored to be chosen and he takes the task very seriously. Not only that, but he loves the series, so it's personal to him.

There's no doubt he's honored and that he respects that.

 

But to suggest that he'd see this as the defining moment of his career?! Wow. I'm not an author, but a know people who are. The majority struggle for years to get published. Once they're published they stuggle for acclaim. They're under continuous pressure (you're only as good as your last book.) So, why, after seeing his hard work pay off would he want to be remembered as "That guy who wrote the final RJ book."

 

Sure, it's an honor, I'm sure he's over the moon to be doing it. He's a fan after all. But I seriously doubt he'd want this to define his career. That'd be pretty sad. I mean, the guy's young. For it to define his career, it would mean that all future books would be in the shadow of AMOL. That's pretty horrific if you're a writer, I'm sure.

That is a goal isn't it? To get the final book as close to the way RJ wanted it as possible. ..

To the exclusion of everything else? I'd be amazed if that ever crossed Harriet's mind. It clearly didn't as he's working on other things.

I expect no less from him than his 100% focus and effort on this project.

There's a lot at stake for him.

But then you'll clearly be (/ you've clearly been) disappointed.

 

Don't get me wrong. I can't wait for AMOL to be finished. But, given that I've been waiting for this for a long time ... well, actually, I can wait a little longer. Given that I'm on yet another reread and on these forums, well, that's enough for me at the moment. In the past I've put the books away for a couple of years and come back to them. I don't think I need to have the final one in my hands just yet. But yes, that's just me.

 

It's unrealistic to ask a professional author to drop it all in favour of AMOL. He's going to have to go back to his existing fans at the end of all of this. By doing both, well, he appeases all of us. Let's face it (and this will sound callous) RJ is dead ... we could be getting a published collection of his notes ala Tolkein ...

 

Take as much time as is needed, please.

[Dakeyras]

I just get the feeling that a lot of people here are kind of unenthusiastic about the whole thing.

 

I don't think it's a case of being unenthusiastic about it. I personally check Brandons site almost everyday hoping for more WoT news or another % on the bar but really, apart from the 1% increase over a couple of days what else is there to discuss? Whilst he does update regularly the biggest news he's given us thus far is that he's completed a major story arc of the book. What arc? What characters are involved? It's hard to hold a discussion about it when you don't know. Which leaves "Hey guys, Brandon completed another 1% of the first draft, only another year to go!"

 

....a year....:(

[sombrastewart]

Given the gaps we had between other Wheel books, we, as fans, are fairly conditioned to waiting.  We're excited, but it's tempered by experience.

[Hybrid]

Given the gaps we had between other Wheel books, we, as fans, are fairly conditioned to waiting.  We're excited, but it's tempered by experience.

 

Speak for yourself.  I, for one, started reading WoT around when KoD came out, so I had no waits. ;D  That being said, I do hope the Sanderson takes a long and careful time in finishing WoT.

 

Also, I agree that AMOL shouldn't define his career.  Part of being a great writer is creativity and originality, especially in the fantasy/scifi genre, where almost all books can be said to be similar in plot, character, etc.