Discussion on Brandon Sanderson's new Blog "Splitting AMOL"

[Khalus]

Thought I'd get this started with choice quotes by Mr. Sanderson and my short thoughts on each!  What do you all think about these decisions now that we know the nitty gritty details of how AMoL being split into 3 novels came about!  I'm still for it and very happy that we're getting one novel in Nov and more to come. 

 

 

~Splitting AMOL by Brandon Sanderson~

 

To get this into one book, I'd need to railroad the story from climax to climax. I'd have to ignore a lot of the smaller characters--and even some aspects of the larger characters. I just couldn't justify that. It wouldn't do the story justice. I cringed to consider what I would have to cut or ignore.

 

Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps readers would have preferred a single, condensed volume so that they at least knew what happened. But I just couldn't do it. The Wheel of Time deserved better.

 

Exactly how I feel!  I want to see this done right and complete no matter how many novels it takes!

 

I wanted to do what I felt Mr. Jordan would have done. I felt, and feel, a debt to him for what he did with this series. He had promised readers a big, big book--not big for big's sake, but big because there was so much to do, so much to tie up. I decided that I would do whatever the story demanded, no matter how many words it would require, no matter how mad it made people. I would not artificially inflate the book--but I would treat each character, even the minor characters, with care and consideration.

 

Yes, I too believe that RJ would've split the novel also regardless of what he had said before.

 

By this point, I'd already warned Tom and Harriet that I saw the length being very large, but I hadn't told Tom the 700-800k number. When I'd mentioned 400k to him once, he'd been wary. He explained to me that he felt 400k was unprintably large in today's publishing market. Things have changed since the 90's, and booksellers are increasingly frustrated with the fantasy genre, which tends to take up a lot of shelf space with very few books. There is constant pressure from the big chain bookstores to keep things smaller and thinner. When I'd turned in Mistborn 2 (revised and already trimmed) at 250k, production and marketing had nearly had a fit, complaining that the book would cost more to print than it would make. Tom approved the publication of the book anyway. (And fortunately we managed to fit it into enough pages--and sell enough copies--that it was still profitable.)

 

There we go, not profitable and takes up lots of space on shelves or none at all, makes tons more sense...I actually didn't think about this at all even though I'm all for 3 more novels instead of one!

 

What I didn't realize was just how taxing this process was going to be. There's only so much one person can write in a year. Before working on AMoL, my average wordcount for a year was around 300k. One 200k epic fantasy, then 50-100k on other projects. During 2008 I wrote over 400k--fully a third more than usual, and that was done with three months of my working time spent re-reading and taking notes on the Wheel of Time series. (Yes, it was easier because of materials left by Mr. Jordan. However, that was offset by the need to become an expert on thousands of characters, places, themes, and worldbuilding elements. All in all, even with outlines, notes, and written materials Mr. Jordan left, I'd say this was the most difficult 400k I've ever written.)

 

These have been my thoughts of late too...this is just a huge amount of work for one person to do and get it out and complete in 1 novel in the timeline that had been announced.

 

One of the most dominating points was this: it had been four years since the fans had been given KNIFE OF DREAMS. Tom felt that we NEEDED to provide them a book in 2009. They couldn't wait until I finished the entire volume to publish something.

 

Thank You very much for this!

 

If you make this choice, the readers don't get a book in 2009. You're not sure when they'll get a book. Brandon took a year to write 400k words, and feels that he's around halfway done.

 

So, if you choose this option, let's say Brandon writes all 2009, delivers you a rough draft of a full, 800k book in 2010. 800k words would take roughly eight months to edit and revise. Production would take another eight months or so. (Minimum.) You'd be looking at releasing the book somewhere in summer 2011. Perhaps one volume in June and another in August.

 

So essentially if everyone thats complaining they only want one novel, would you still be willing to wait until 2011 for it...another 2+ years!  This new 3 novel approach give us content and something to read over and over each year while we wait on the finale.

 

I suspect the final product will be right around 300,000k words.

 

Thats fricken huge for the 1st part this Nov.

 

(Plus, Brandon keeps increasing the final estimate, which--now that I've added some material to this book--indicates that the final product will easily be over 800k.)

 

Sounds good to me...so will we end up with three 300k novels in the long run at this rate?

 

And I guess that's what I'm trying to show you with all of this: No matter how the book is split, cut, or divided, the last portion wouldn't come out until 2011. Why? It goes back to that first decision I made, the one to write the book the length I felt it needed to be. And so, it's not the greedy publisher, stringing you along that is keeping you from reading the ending. It's not the fault of production taking a long time. The blame rests on me.

 

Nah, the blame doesn't land on you at all Mr. Sanderson!  You're doing the best anyone can do with so much left to tie up and complete and I'm all for you taking your time and doing this right.  All your decisions have been fine by me and I look forward to reading your work!

 

You're getting a book this year. You'll get one next year. You'll get one the year after that. I don't know which months in 2010 or 2011 the books will come out. You can keep hope they'll be sooner, but you might want to listen to Tom's November, November estimate, as I feel it's the absolute latest you'd see the books.

 

I know some of you will be mad that it is getting split; I feel for you, and I hope to be able to persuade Tor and Harriet to publish a special edition omnibus some day. But...well, they're both convinced that it will be too long for that. I'm not going to fight for it right now; I'll wait until the books come out.

 

Yay, and omnibus or not, It'll still be content!  I don't see an 800k+ novel ever being printed, but it would be neat to see!  Might as well try and do an Omnibus of the entire series in one binding just to see if it can be done and if anyone would buy it...rofl!

 

I will continue to fight to get the books released as quickly as is reasonable. But I have to write them first. You've been able to watch my progress bar; you know that I'm working and the book is getting written. I'm not going on vacations and living it up. I'm working. Hard. Sixty, seventy, sometimes eighty hour weeks.

 

I won't make you wait an undue amount of time. But please understand that some of the things you want are mutually exclusive. You want a high quality book that is of an enormous length published quickly. Get me a time machine and I'll see what I can do.

 

Does make a lot of sense!  Helps to have the books written to be able to release them!  {directed at all those complaining they want one book this Nov.}

 

But even I can only do so much. We'll get these books to you. At the slowest, they will be November, November, November--meaning that they all come out in the space of two years. Perhaps it will be faster. If we can do them more quickly, and keep the quality up, I will continue to advocate for that. But I honestly don't know if I can do another two years like these last sixteen months. I'm exhausted. I've pushed very, very hard to get you a book in 2009 because you've been waiting so long. But I can't promise that I'll be able to keep the same schedule. Plus, I do have other commitments, contracts signed to other publishers, fans of other writings of mine who cannot be ignored. I'll need to write another Alcatraz book this year sometime. And I will have to do revisions on THE WAY OF KINGS, which I've stayed pretty quiet about. I'm planning to do these things during down time on AMoL, when waiting for revision notes or the like. But I also can't afford to get burned out on The Wheel of Time. You deserve better than that.

 

Exactly exactly exactly what I've been thinking all along, before these announcements and what I posted in the news announcement this morning!  Everyone complaining give Mr. Sanderson a break and let him finish the books in the best possible way so in the end many of us don't turn around and complain they were not done well enough!

 

 

 

 

 

[metria31183]

I was ready to pissed about the split until I read Brandon's blog post.  Now it makes much more sense and I actually agree with the decision.  And have a LOT of sympathy for Brandon.  I'm not a writer and I never realized exactly how much work goes into writing a novel on the scale he is righting.

 

I believe his blog post said "Quit whining and be thankful for what you're getting" in as polite a way as possible.  So that's exactly what I'm going to do.  I'm very happy that we are getting a book this year and I would much rather have an excellent beginning of AMoL than a mediocre whole.

[Barmacral]

Having met Brandon in person, I'd like to say that I trust his judgement on this sort of thing, and what he is saying IS entirely reasonable. I don't like the 2 year wait, but I'll live with it if Brandon thinks its for the best.

[Majsju]

I don't like the 2 year wait, but I'll live with it if Brandon thinks its for the best.

 

The two year wait would have happened anyway.

[Casco]

After reading his blog... i trust Brandon for 100% on this matter. It would be cool if he stops at 1 miljon words though :D

I would hate if the story ends with ...the Dark lord takes a long breath and fall down dead. - At last the shadow is defeted, Rand says. Moiraine answers - Yes, at last. THE END.

I realy want something after TG is done....to know whats happens after. Will Mat be a ruler with Tuon and stuff..will Perrin be the lord of two rivers. Things like that. And dont forget...will Logain finaly marry the red sister he have bounded?? Haha that would be awesome.

[Khalus]

After reading his blog... i trust Brandon for 100% on this matter. It would be cool if he stops at 1 miljon words though :D

I would hate if the story ends with ...the Dark lord takes a long breath and fall down dead. - At last the shadow is defeted, Rand says. Moiraine answers - Yes, at last. THE END.

I realy want something after TG is done....to know whats happens after. Will Mat be a ruler with Tuon and stuff..will Perrin be the lord of two rivers. Things like that. And dont forget...will Logain finaly marry the red sister he have bounded?? Haha that would be awesome.

 

 

oh nices....would be interesting to see it all end near the beginning of Book #3 and then the rest of the novel detail what happens to all the main characters and how life is after wards.  Does the 3rd Age just suddenly end with the death of the Dark One and the 4th Age start? hrm

[Barmacral]

I don't like the 2 year wait, but I'll live with it if Brandon thinks its for the best.

 

The two year wait would have happened anyway.

 

I realise that, doesn't mean I have to like it.

[Jestr1323]

Same here Metria, reading the other post about it being split had me all up and ready to get frustrated, but Brandon's blog totally opened my eyes. It's always hard looking at something from only your point of view. It helps seeing Brandon's point of view as well as some of the other he mentioned.

[Majsju]

 

I realy want something after TG is done....to know whats happens after. Will Mat be a ruler with Tuon and stuff..will Perrin be the lord of two rivers. Things like that. And dont forget...will Logain finaly marry the red sister he have bounded?? Haha that would be awesome.

 

 

oh nices....would be interesting to see it all end near the beginning of Book #3 and then the rest of the novel detail what happens to all the main characters and how life is after wards.  Does the 3rd Age just suddenly end with the death of the Dark One and the 4th Age start? hrm

 

Well, that is simpy not going to happen, since RJ has clearly stated that he will leave quite a bit haning in the air.

All major plotlines will be concluded, as well as most of the big-but-not-major. But aside from that, all bets are off. RJ wanted to give is an ending that kept the world alive in our minds, where we would have to imagine what happened afterwards.

[Casco]

I do think the 2 masked heroes need to anounce the 4rth age though :)

[Majsju]

Considering that their birth heralds a new age, you will not see them running around with masks, being all heroy and stuff. Unless you consider leaking from both ends count as heroic, that we might get a glimpse of ;D

[Casco]

Hehehe true. i didnt remember that they have to be born first. I allways thought that the role they have as a hero of the horn was enough.

[Mutsumi]

The longer the book is the better in my opinion! More  to read. I think everyone kinda knew it would take a huge amount of text to bring the story to an end and that can't be written overnight, so gettign the first part this year is a plus in my opinion. Gives us something to work with while waiting for the rest.

[Kaznen]

As long as Mat at the Tower of Ghenji is resolved in the the first one, I can live with it.

 

If it turns out to be another CoT though....

[Voss]

After reading Brandon's blog post on the split I have to admit that the reasons are all very logical and make sense. Then I realized that I was still angry about it. I wasn't mad about the extra time or the money. I was angry because

 

THREE BOOKS IS NOT HOW JORDAN INTENDED IT

 

For the first time the course of the book has been intentionally changed from how Jordan wanted it. To those who say it could not have been done in one book, nonsense. Robert knew better than anyone on the planet today what it would take to finish in one book and he thought it could be done.

 

All the writing Jordan completed on amol, all the outlines he did, all the voice recordings he made were done with the expectation that the rest of the story would be told in one shot. The first 400k Brandon wrote is the version that is closest to what Jordan wanted. Cutting that 400k up into something that can stand as its own book means it's no longer Jordan's A Memory of Light is it? It is now something else, something lesser, something inferior.

 

I don't care how long it would have taken. I don't care how much it would have cost for me to purchase. All I wanted out of amol was for it to be as close to what Jordan intended as was humanly possible. Instead what I am getting is something that can be pushed out in the all important holiday season? Something that won't piss off the chain book stores because it is too big?

 

Just change the name already. A Memory of Light was to be the final book that completed Jordan's epic and that doesn't really exist anymore now does it? Whatever is published after this is just some accountants idea of what Jordan should have done to end his series, not actually what Jordan wanted and I find it disgusting.

 

To be clear I blame none of this on Sanderson. It's obvious that he has been writing the book as well as he knows how to and I am extremely appreciative of that as well as the shear volume of work he has done.

 

 

 

 

Wild speculation time: Book 1 climax will be the return of Moraine.

 

 

 

 

[Casco]

Yepp, the return of Moiraine and the reniunion with Mat and Rand, and Rand meeting with Tuon :D

[RobertAlexWillis]

THREE BOOKS IS NOT HOW JORDAN INTENDED IT

 

Given what we have of his statements, that is certainly true.

 

It is also true that, unfortunately, he did not live to finish it.

 

What we will get cannot ever be exactly what he would have given us.  That is simply the way it is.  The moment he died, this book got a lot larger, because when Brandon and Harriet write for him, they have to err on the side of including things that he might or might not have.  There has always been more of this story than what we got on the page.  Robert Jordan, as its writer, always did the first editing between all that was in his mind and notes to what he put on the page.  The writing process is now a different one.

 

Brandon and Harriet had the choice between making "one book" their ONLY consideration, and warping the story until it would fit, or not taking this one, single requirement and making it supersede every other consideration.  I think that they have made the right choice.  They are telling the story, completely as they can, to get as close as they can to what RJ wanted us to know.

 

In splitting up the books to tell the whole story, I believe they are giving us something closer to what Jordan wanted.  Getting the story right was always a greater concern than "one and only one more book".

 

This is my own bit of pop psychology here, but it may be that RJ was so adamant about "one more book" because he knew he was dying, and there was no way he could write two or three more.  He really desired to finish it himself, and so he drew the line at "one more no matter what".

 

In the end, I think it is a bit presumptuous for any of us to think that we know what he would have wanted better than his wife and editor.  Really.  I don't think that Harriet is doing this because she's hard up for profits.  In fact, I admit that if there is anything I find offensive in this conversation, it is the implication that somehow Brandon and Harriet are ghoulishly dragging this out for as long as they can to bring in a few extra bucks.

 

I understand eagerness to get the story.  I really do!  I want it now!  But you can't always get what you want, and casting aspersions, even just by implication, is not called for.  I have seen nothing but integrity and genuine best-effort in the process so far, and don't expect to see anything else.

[Khalus]

 

This is my own bit of pop psychology here, but it may be that RJ was so adamant about "one more book" because he knew he was dying, and there was no way he could write two or three more.  He really desired to finish it himself, and so he drew the line at "one more no matter what".

 

That is something I've been thinking over for awhile too.  RJ did say that he wanted WoT to end in the next and final book and that he would do it and didn't want anyone else to finish it for him.  Regardless of the good reports we got from time to time, RJ knew he was dying and knew it would be impossible to write 2-3 more novels and thus settled on one which he tried to complete and it would contain as much as was needed for one more book.

 

We don't know everything that was said in his final days to his family and friends when he told them the story and how it would end.  What Brandon and Harriot are doing now is quite possibly the alternative to what he wanted above and we may never know the real truth.  Since he was unable to finish and his legacy has been handed over too Mr. Sanderson they may be doing what RJ really wanted had he been able too, but again I doubt we'll ever know the truth of this speculation.

 

There are many people that keep quoting this is not what RJ intended and that may be true, but dying as young as he did was also one of those major unintended things about life we can't control and things change.  Please get over this fact and move on...and be very grateful that we will be getting more than one book, and a movie, and a new game/MMO, and who knows maybe even the other 2 prequels.

[Machin_Shin]

I too was upset until reading the blog. I guess I didn't realize how much time and work goes into writing a novel such as this. It is insane how many different things have to be organized.

 

One thing that is disappointing to me is that the books in the series will total 14. With all the symbolism and use of the number 13, how fitting would it be to have 13 books? I was a bit sad when I had learned that there would be 12 books total - I'd always thought it would be 13. Now that we hear it will be 14, it's even worse.

 

I can't complain too much I guess, but I want to know how this story ends!

[Kaznen]

aMoL was originally the working title, I remember that being something he said right after KoD was released.

 

With the all the books being one long story, like Lord of the Rings, I think it's pointless to call the last three books aMoL part 1, 2, and 3.  Just call the next book The Gathering Storm and leave A Memory of Light for one of the books after that.

[Samudor]

Well, it certainly has been an up and down ride concerning this last book. The first fear I had was that someone like Salvatore or Goodkind would write this book. My fears were allayed when a young author who I had come to like got the job.

 

My next concern was the length, and the time. To be honest, I can't say that I'm happy about waiting until 2011 to get my hands on the end.

 

Now that that is said, I can't be happier or more excited about what I just read on Sanderson's sight. Instead of squishing or squeezing, he is going to do it right. I was concerned with the rumors that perhaps Tor would split a 400k word book into 3 parts which would have upset me. Instead we're going to get 3 "complete" novels to bring about the end of one of the greatest epics I've ever read in my life. Those of us who would imply this is a ploy to get more money, I think that perhaps you've let the cynicism of those idiots in the White Tower infect you. This is perhaps the best news about this series I've heard in a long while. Think! We're going to get a book this year- something I thought impossible- one with a natural arc, and a good climax(I hope it's the return of Moiraine as well!), and we have two more years of WOT goodness to get our hands on.

 

I'm not sure how you expected Brandon Sanderson to do better than 400k in just 16 months....for those of us non math people, that is better than 25k a month!....but seriously, you have to acknowledge that what he has done is terrific so far. I think we will end up with something that is very close to what RJ would have given us. There is just no way you can finish it all in 400k words- essentially that was about the length of SR and LOC if I'm correct.

 

Think about it....the Seanchan attack on the Tower, Perrin and the Prophet, Mat, Thom and Moiraine, Elayne solidifying Andor, Lan gathering the Borderlanders, that huge f****** army of Borderlanders and what they're up to, the Children of the Light, and this is all before the crap hits the fan!

Seriously, all that stuff is 400k on it's own! This decision was tough I think for them, and I'm glad they made the right one.

 

[glennergy1]

Robert knew better than anyone on the planet today what it would take to finish in one book and he thought it could be done.

 

Oh, really?  Just like Robert "knew better than anyone on the planet" that the entire series would be completed in a trilogy, and he still hadn't completed it -- eight books later?  As incredible of writer (and man) as he was, do you really trust that RJ was a good judge of the length of his own stories?

 

On the contrary, I'd say that he was in chronic denial about the length of the series, using the length of his "trilogy" to judge by!  (No offense intended here, I say this in a spirit of love for the man).  If you were a betting man and had to put your entire life savings on the line, would you bet that he'd finish in one book, given the huge number of unresolved plotlines remaining after book 11, both major and minor, and his history of (grossly mis-)judging the length of this story?

 

Personally, I feel certain that despite all his promises, the book would have been broken up into at least two books.  From what Brandon is saying in his blog, it even seems likely that it might have been three. 

 

All this aside -- I am psyched!  We're going to have a new book in 7 months and 2 days!

[Luckers]

THREE BOOKS IS NOT HOW JORDAN INTENDED IT

 

Unfortunately many of RJ's intentions fell through--most by his own hand. He never intended for the series to approach even remotely 12 books--so how can you be angry on his behalf for what was a failure of foresight on his part? It's happened to him many times.

[Mr Ares]

He explained to me that he felt 400k was unprintably large in today's publishing market. Things have changed since the 90's.

There we go, not profitable and takes up lots of space on shelves or none at all, makes tons more sense...I actually didn't think about this at all even though I'm all for 3 more novels instead of one!

Funny to think that a book that large is unprintably so in the current market, yet the longest WoT book (in page count) is Lord of Chaos at just over 1,000, while Tor books published Steven Erikson's The Bonehunters (my edition is just over 1,200 pages), and the even longer Reaper's Gale by the same author (I don't have the mmpb, but I'm pretty sure the page count is higher), and the EVEN LONGER Toll The Hounds - just last year. So things have changed since the 90s, enough so that a midlist author like Erikson (whose sales are nothing like as good as RJ's) can get 1,200 page doorstoppers published three years running, but one of the biggest names in modern fantasy needs shorter books. I'm not sure how the conclusion that Erikson is profitable with his monsters, and RJ isn't with his, when his longest to date have fewer pages (and so would be thinner), and his greater sales. See, some people did think about it, and find things don't quite add up. Tor is willing to put out longer books by less successful authors. Bookshops are willing to stock these longer books by less successful authors.

 

One of the most dominating points was this: it had been four years since the fans had been given KNIFE OF DREAMS. Tom felt that we NEEDED to provide them a book in 2009. They couldn't wait until I finished the entire volume to publish something.

Thank You very much for this!

 

If you make this choice, the readers don't get a book in 2009. You're not sure when they'll get a book. Brandon took a year to write 400k words, and feels that he's around halfway done.

 

So, if you choose this option, let's say Brandon writes all 2009, delivers you a rough draft of a full, 800k book in 2010. 800k words would take roughly eight months to edit and revise. Production would take another eight months or so. (Minimum.) You'd be looking at releasing the book somewhere in summer 2011. Perhaps one volume in June and another in August.

So essentially if everyone thats complaining they only want one novel, would you still be willing to wait until 2011 for it...another 2+ years! This new 3 novel approach give us content and something to read over and over each year while we wait on the finale.

Let us not forget that George R.R. Martin fans waited 5 years between A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, Tolkien fans waited 22 years between the end of Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, then it was 30 before Children of Hurin, even 17 between the Hobbit and Fellowship, while Jack Vance fans waited 17 years between Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga. Long waits are not unheard of in fantasy, so while it might be nice to get some of the book, history shows that yes, people will wait. They will wait however long it takes.

 

I suspect the final product will be right around 300,000k words.

 

Thats fricken huge for the 1st part this Nov.

Not really. It's about the sixth longest book, after The Shadow Rising, Lord of Chaos, Fires of Heaven, Knife of Dreams, Eye of the World. Big, certainly, but not the biggest we've seen by a long shot. In fact, the best part of 100,000 words short of the longest.

 

Does make a lot of sense!  Helps to have the books written to be able to release them! {directed at all those complaining they want one book this Nov.}

That would be nobody then.

 

THREE BOOKS IS NOT HOW JORDAN INTENDED IT.

He also didn't intend Brandon Sanderson to write it. Things don't always go to plan, and the moment he snuffed it the book he would have written was never going to be written.

 

RJ knew it would be impossible to write 2-3 more novels and thus settled on one which he tried to complete and it would contain as much as was needed for one more book.

In other words, he knew it would be impossible to write 2-3 more books, so just planned one the size of those 2-3 books. Same word count, fewer covers.

and be very grateful that we will be getting more than one book, and a movie, and a new game/MMO, and who knows maybe even the other 2 prequels.

I don't care about movies or games, and why, exactly, should I be grateful for more than one book? Admittedly, one volume would likely come at the risk of breaking the wrists of any who tried to lift it, doesn't mean we need to be grateful for it coming in three volumes. There is a middle ground, you know? Gratitude for having to pay out three times for a book that might be possible to do in two?

[Werthead]

Funny to think that a book that large is unprintably so in the current market, yet the longest WoT book (in page count) is Lord of Chaos at just over 1,000, while Tor books published Steven Erikson's The Bonehunters (my edition is just over 1,200 pages), and the even longer Reaper's Gale by the same author (I don't have the mmpb, but I'm pretty sure the page count is higher), and the EVEN LONGER Toll The Hounds - just last year. So things have changed since the 90s, enough so that a midlist author like Erikson (whose sales are nothing like as good as RJ's) can get 1,200 page doorstoppers published three years running, but one of the biggest names in modern fantasy needs shorter books. I'm not sure how the conclusion that Erikson is profitable with his monsters, and RJ isn't with his, when his longest to date have fewer pages (and so would be thinner), and his greater sales. See, some people did think about it, and find things don't quite add up. Tor is willing to put out longer books by less successful authors. Bookshops are willing to stock these longer books by less successful authors.

 

I was thinking that I was the only person who'd actually noticed this somewhat massive discrepency in their claims.

 

Let us not forget that George R.R. Martin fans waited 5 years between A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, Tolkien fans waited 22 years between the end of Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, then it was 30 before Children of Hurin, even 17 between the Hobbit and Fellowship, while Jack Vance fans waited 17 years between Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga. Long waits are not unheard of in fantasy, so while it might be nice to get some of the book, history shows that yes, people will wait. They will wait however long it takes.

 

You've also got the 12-year wait between the last two Jean M. Auel books, and when the book finally came out it was an immediate NYT bestseller. And WoT is higher-profile than Jack Vance or even GRRM (and probably not far off Auel).

 

Not really. It's about the sixth longest book, after The Shadow Rising, Lord of Chaos, Fires of Heaven, Knife of Dreams, Eye of the World. Big, certainly, but not the biggest we've seen by a long shot. In fact, the best part of 100,000 words short of the longest.

 

Since 300,000 words is apparently the maximum length a book can be these days, I am expecting Tor to announce any day that Books 1, 4, 5, 6 and 11 of WoT are now going to be pulled out of print.

 

Somehow I suspect this will not happen.

 

I don't care about movies or games, and why, exactly, should I be grateful for more than one book? Admittedly, one volume would likely come at the risk of breaking the wrists of any who tried to lift it, doesn't mean we need to be grateful for it coming in three volumes. There is a middle ground, you know? Gratitude for having to pay out three times for a book that might be possible to do in two?

 

In fairness, Tor have already answered this in their comments that Brandon reiterated on his blog. Tor wanted a book out this Christmas by any means necessary, and the only way to do it was to split the book in three. If Tor hadn't insisted on that, the book would have been two volumes, one published in summer 2010 and the other maybe in late 2011.

 

The SOLE other explanation for Tor's actions that I can discern is that they suspected, based on how the book the has already ballooned from 200,000 to 800,000 words, that further expansion was likely as Brandon got into the second half, and once the book pushed past 900,000 words then at that point a split into three would be necessary and unavoidable. If this is the case, this is actually a decent explanation for the triple split, but again they could have just come out and said that rather that use the very odd excuses they did.