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

[Jonn]

I guess I just don't think it would be such a bad thing to be defined by being the one to have finally completed the finest epic written in 50 years.

 

To be defined as the one who ruined the finest epic in 50 years, that's something I wouldn't want to ponder.

 

Look, I'm not knocking his own original work, which I find to be pretty great. He has his own fans independent of the Wheel of Time, but by far the Wheel of Time fan community is much larger, and doing a great job on Memory will only garner him greater fanfare and support.

 

Besides, he has admitted that he's pretty much done with Mistborn 3, which I do believe is his great original work up to this point in his career. That series stands out and is a great accomplishment. But even Sanderson will admit that his style and his choice of career even, is highly influenced by Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time series.

 

To be tapped to finish the last book...I would be obsessed with pouring all of my effort into that work if I were in his position.

3 books of my own series finished and well received. Another series optioned for film, and loads of support and respect coming from fans...

I mean, it's insane to think that there is anything bigger on his to do list than the final chapter in the Wheel of Time series.

 

That said, I don't doubt that he takes it very seriously, and honestly I don't expect him to drop EVERYTHING for Memory of Light.

Yeah, we're used to waiting, but this is the first time we've had to wait on someone other than RJ to get our next fix of Wheel of Time.

Sanderson, I can't honestly say I'm accustomed to waiting on, but he is very interactive and is regular with is updates, so I am grateful for his candor.

 

My question was to see what everyone else thought of how he's progressing and apparently, everyone is pretty nonchalant about it.

 

One thing I'd like to see out of this is a sort of documentation of the process of being the one writing this book. It'd be cool to have a book or even a film that follows Sanderson as he writes the book, looks over notes, toils. Sort of like a deluxe DVD edition of a movie except instead of extras from filming, it's just Sanderson discussing parts of the book as he writes and rewrites his drafts. Conversations with the press, and fans, people close to the project, TOR, Harriet and others. I think it'd be a story of a relatively obscure fantasy writer taking on a gargantuan task with such seemingly carefree gusto. His influences, and how his family helps him.

It's pretty compelling. I've seen documentaries about lesser topics that were quite fascinating.

[CUBAREY]

As of 8/11/08 Brandon has completed 40% of first draft. That's 7% in one week, a week in which he attended a convention.  I dear say we can see light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully its not an oncoming train!).

[RAND AL THOR]

40% !!! I'm impressed

[CUBAREY]

IT'S UP TO 46% AS OF 8/15/8.

 

THAT'S 16% IN TWO WEEKS!

sANDERSON may actually be able to meet his december 31 deadline.

[Raistlin]

At this rate he can finish thew first draft early. Heres hoping he can keep this up. I am assuming there are probly alot of notes from RJ he is using now.

[CatinaSedai]

i hope he does well.  i read elantris and he did alright with it but he isnt like jordan. 

[Andrew the Great]

As mentioned, mistborn is the better of his works.

 

47%, plus 50% done with second draft of the first 25%.

[Hybrid]

I thought Elantris was pretty good on the first read, but it doesn't have great rereadability unfortunately :P.  Part of its charm comes from the mystery of the Aons, and once you know that it's not as appealing unfortunately.  I haven't read Mistborn yet.

[Charlz Guybon]

He's up to 48% now, that's almost 200,000 words! :o

 

Unfortunately, I read on wotmania from 2 seperate sources who spoke to Sanderson at Worldcon and they say he's admited that he underestimated the length of the book by 100-200,000 words, and it might have to be split into two volumes due to binding issues.  :(

[RAND AL THOR]

He's up to 48% now, that's almost 200,000 words! :o

 

Unfortunately, I read on wotmania from 2 seperate sources who spoke to Sanderson at Worldcon and they say he's admited that he underestimated the length of the book by 100-200,000 words, and it might have to be split into two volumes due to binding issues.  :(

 

Quite an underestimation!  :D

 

 

And its 49!!!! Half done! ;D

[Arlen]

is it me - or - there seems to be an awful lot of loose ends that need to be tied up before the final battle,  Matt giving away half the world to shadow, the split tower, Morgase ( the deposed Queen of Andor), Elaines two brothers, the seanchan, Padan fain, the dream tower thingie, Mazrim and Logain, Lanfear, and the dude using the true source not to mention Rand still having to unite the lands, mayhap iI will need to reread the 11 books again but im almost positive these questions are still unanswered and im pretty sure one book will not satisfy all of them adequately.  it took one book to bring perrins issue to a close.  I have Faith in BS in his ability to tell a good story, but i believe at least one more book will be needed to finish this tale adequately.

[Avery]

Honestly, I don't expect every plot line to be tied up neatly. That would be very... Goodkind-ish.

 

I think we'll see multiple plot lines resolve themselves (that is, the same event solves several lines) or events that we'll have to assume takes place after the end.

[Hybrid]

is it me - or - there seems to be an awful lot of loose ends that need to be tied up before the final battle,  Matt giving away half the world to shadow, the split tower, Morgase ( the deposed Queen of Andor), Elaines two brothers, the seanchan, Padan fain, the dream tower thingie, Mazrim and Logain, Lanfear, and the dude using the true source not to mention Rand still having to unite the lands, mayhap iI will need to reread the 11 books again but im almost positive these questions are still unanswered and im pretty sure one book will not satisfy all of them adequately.  it took one book to bring perrins issue to a close.  I have Faith in BS in his ability to tell a good story, but i believe at least one more book will be needed to finish this tale adequately.

 

There are an awful lot of loose ends to tie up, indeed.  Which is why everyone is convinced the book will be enormous.  A few things.  One, Mat isn't giving half the world to shadow, he's giving up half the light of the world to save the world.  This (when coupled with various dreams and viewings) almost certainly means he's losing an eye during Moiraine's rescue.  Two, KOD was about normal sized for WOT books, and it tied up a number of loose ends: Faile's capture, the Shaido situation as a whole, Mat and Tuon's marriage, Elayne's situation in Andor, and Semirhage.  Also, RJ said that not all plot threads would be resolved and of the ones that have to be resolved, many will tie together.

[runner1]

He's up to 48% now, that's almost 200,000 words! :o

 

Unfortunately, I read on wotmania from 2 seperate sources who spoke to Sanderson at Worldcon and they say he's admited that he underestimated the length of the book by 100-200,000 words, and it might have to be split into two volumes due to binding issues.  :(

 

Quite an underestimation!  :D

 

 

And its 49!!!! Half done! ;D

 

Holy crap!

Didn't he say somewhere that he had gave an estimate of 400-500,000 words, or that was the number he was aiming for?

That means the book will be around 600-700,000 words?

Maybe they can shrink the font a lot...LOL. :o ;D

 

[Charlz Guybon]

He's up to 48% now, that's almost 200,000 words! :o

 

Unfortunately, I read on wotmania from 2 seperate sources who spoke to Sanderson at Worldcon and they say he's admited that he underestimated the length of the book by 100-200,000 words, and it might have to be split into two volumes due to binding issues.  :(

 

Quite an underestimation!  :D

 

 

And its 49!!!! Half done! ;D

 

Was it really unexpected though?

[Charlz Guybon]

Ah, here's another source.

 

http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5959.15

Yes. I'll go into more detail in the report, but Tom is dubious the book won't end up being split into two volumes. It sounds like the probability is high of a part-1-October/part-2-November release, with the possibility of a collectors-quality special edition single volume. However, no one will know for sure until the book is done. Brandon is just under 200,000 words and told Tom the book is 1/3 done, but it's possible the other viewpoints will end up shorter than currently estimated.

[DemandredFO]

If it will be two books it will be, I don't want BS to cut vital stuff just to make the book one volume

[RAND AL THOR]

62% done!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

 

And now there's something saying 'AMOL reqrite 95% done'

 

Does that mean he's rewriting the incomplete first draft before completing it? If so, that is somewhat unusual.

[Thorum]

He said somewhere he had separated the book in quarters (3 groups of characters + Last Battle). The rewrite is probably about the first quarter.

[Leopoled Boothe]

62% done!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

 

And now there's something saying 'AMOL reqrite 95% done'

 

Does that mean he's rewriting the incomplete first draft before completing it? If so, that is somewhat unusual.

 

I think he's re-writing the first 50%, or more, so he can send it to Harriet for editing.  He said he wanted to polish it up a bit before sending it to her.

[Charlz Guybon]

62% done!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

 

And now there's something saying 'AMOL reqrite 95% done'

 

Does that mean he's rewriting the incomplete first draft before completing it? If so, that is somewhat unusual.

 

From his blog post on the 9th

 

In AMoL news, you might notice a little slowdown on the percentage bar these next few weeks.  I need to do a revision of what I've done already and send it off to Harriet.  I'll still be writing some new material, but not as much as during the break-neck speed of July and August.  I'm still thinking I'm on schedule to have 400k by December 31st.  Now, as to whether or not that will actually be the full novel...we'll see.  (Hint, I'm betting it's not.)

[triadruid]

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.

This is the best reply so far to the question of why he isn't pouring all of his energy into it.

 

Hell, the man was writing part of AMoL *at* Dragon*Con! He's just a workaholic who can manage multiple tasks, as far as I can tell; it's not "unenthusiasm" as realism.

[Charlz Guybon]

He's mostly just doing this now though. I think the only other thing he's doing is the final rewrite of Alcatraz 3.

[CUBAREY]

62% done!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

And now there's something saying 'AMOL reqrite 95% done'

 

Does that mean he's rewriting the incomplete first draft before completing it? If so, that is somewhat unusual.

 

Brandon explained in his Blog that he was going to submit the part he has already written (and is in the process of rewriting) to Harriot. This is so she can edit it and give him some feedback on whether he is going awry and will need to do a major rewrite or whether he has it about write and will only have to do minor revisions.

[CatinaSedai]

i almost wouldnt wanna be in sandersons shoes for this book.  imagine if it is as bad as phantom menace for star wars?