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

[chemteach1977]

@Mr. Ares-  Please don't bring up George RR Martin.  tSoIaF is what we are trying to avoid here.  Martin should be ashamed of himself.  Robert Jordan will almost certainly finish tWoT first even though the man has passed away!  Martin fans will unfortunately face this same sort of situation in a decade or two.  Unless Martin manages to live and continue writing into his late nineties, he will never finish that series.

 

Also, the only comparison to Tolkien that matters is the three volumes of the Lord of the Rings. Those three volumes were published fairly close together. There was no indication following the Hobbit that another story was forthcoming.  And Tolkien himself never had any real plans of publishing the Silmarillion.  Just because people will wait, does not mean they should have to.

 

Brandon Sanderson deserves respect mostly for being so accountable to his fans and Mr. Jordan's fans.  I am amazed that he is willing to put up progress bars on a creative project at all.  Much less take the time to explain how and why he makes the decisions that he does.  Most other creative people (authors, film-makers, artists, etc.) would say "This is my work, it'll be done when i feel like it.  Shove off!"

 

At this point my only concern is the quality of the work.  I just hope that end result feels like a good conclusion to this series.  I have begun my reread of the series (currently on the Great Hunt) in anticipation.  The cost does not seem like a big hurdle to me.  Books are so much cheaper than say a video game.  

[Luckers]

and be very grateful that we will be getting more than one book,

 

You realise we are not gaining anything. Brandon stated these books would not be fluffed out at all--the same material originally intended to be in one is not simply going to be in three, no additions.

[Werthead]

@Mr. Ares-  Please don't bring up George RR Martin.  tSoIaF is what we are trying to avoid here.  Martin should be ashamed of himself.  Robert Jordan will almost certainly finish tWoT first even though the man has passed away!  Martin fans will unfortunately face this same sort of situation in a decade or two.  Unless Martin manages to live and continue writing into his late nineties, he will never finish that series.

 

Based on the writing speed of all the books to date, it will take another six to eight years once ADWD is released for the final volume to come out, at the end of which GRRM will be 68. That is on the high side for an author, but not unprecedented. Jack Vance published his last book when 90, for example. Patrick Tilley is also still working on new books at 83, Brian Aldiss at 84 (his latest novel, HARM, is impressive) and Gene Wolfe is still producing very well-received, award-nominated work in his late 70s, and Michael Moorcock in his early 70s.

 

And Tolkien himself never had any real plans of publishing the Silmarillion.

 

Tolkien wanted to publish The Silmarillion at the same time as LotR (despite being unfinished). When Unwin Allen refused, he took both books to Collins, who messed him around for three years before he gave up, went back to Unwin Allen and got the LotR published by itself. That's why although Tolkien finished the final revisions to the text of LotR in 1949, the first book didn't come out until 1954.

 

Brandon Sanderson deserves respect mostly for being so accountable to his fans and Mr. Jordan's fans.  I am amazed that he is willing to put up progress bars on a creative project at all.  Much less take the time to explain how and why he makes the decisions that he does.  Most other creative people (authors, film-makers, artists, etc.) would say "This is my work, it'll be done when i feel like it.  Shove off!"

 

I agree, and I hugely regret that a lot of the fans' annoyance with the situation has spilled over onto blame on Sanderson, who has proven to be above-board and massively hard-working on this project. I don't think another author would be able to take this project on in the first place.

[spothistto]

As for me I don't care if they split into three. I would be happy if the books kept coming and coming. It is Wheel of Time after all, I would read the books that are out from the start to the end all the time, but damn school takes up all the time.

 

My only concern is the waiting between books. I'm not sure if I could endure long waits, but I have so far. And we will get a taste of Memory of Light this year! This calls for celebration *drinks a bottle of vodka*...

[Jestr1323]

cheers to that spothistto!!  ;D

[Jonn]

Sanderson has explained hasn't he?

 

He either could fight and get the book published in 2 volumes and therefore the first volume would be fragmented and not done this year, a double disappointment...OR he can opt to do what he has decided to do now, which is to produce a first of three volumes COMPLETE work for us THIS YEAR.

 

The thing that kind of upset me about this whole process is that it took this long for everyone to come to grips with how this was actually going to work.

 

It was ok to let us assume the actual length of this novel, but I honestly have to say that Brandon Sanderson did himself no favors by putting up that progress bar the way he did. As reassuring as it was to see that was indeed progressing and working on the novel, it became utterly confusing to us when he started putting up numbers above 100%, explaining about estimated word counts, and then revising his estimates in that fashion with the outmoded percentage bar.

Good of him to try to keep us up to date, but there was a good stretch of months here when I had no clue what to think about what was happening.

 

Thing is, TOR and Co. didn't really help matters by their attitude either. They pretty much were non-confrontational about the whole deal, not really putting their foot down and asking Sanderson to do any particular thing in any particular direction. This is evident seeing as how shocked Tom Dorhety was at Sanderson's first estimate. I mean, how could you have gotten to the point where you were at a panel to discuss the book and not know something as crucial as how long the thing will be? Well, you know what, he didn't ask did he! I very much doubt that Sanderson was misleading his boss at TOR. That lack of communication rests on the boss' shoulders.

 

I must say though that the way it has been explained in the last few days has been much better. I feel like I have a much improved picture of what to expect and how this was going to be played out. I mean, I was thinking this last book would pan out at around 600,000 pages. Enormous! True, but still plausible to fit into two volumes...900,000 word estimate confirmed?

Goodness, that does require some serious reconsidering.

 

Bottom line, I do think this outfit will produce something so special for us in this last work, but I do think they need to pull it out a little and have better communication on the public and press side of things.

[Khalus]

but I do think they need to pull it out a little and have better communication on the public and press side of things.

 

I'm just glad they took the time to let us know what's going on with the series and Mr. Sanderson for fully explaining everything thats happened since RJ left us.  How many authors do you know that do this...I don't know very many and as was mentioned before most just say its my work and it'll be done when its done.

 

Since GRRM and SoIaF has been mentioned a lot of late I'll use him as an example...look at his main post about A Dance With Dragons and his refusal to update that post, yet he continues to drag us along in his blog about everything else he'e been doing and working on besides his bread n' butter series.  That to me is really annoying and I have fear that he'll never finish the series at this rate, but on the other hand I havn't yet read any of the SoIaF novels {Well I did read the Hedge Knight yesterday and plan to read Sworn Sword soon.}. 

 

I only recently{been a few yrs now but just recently have cleared time to read them} was made aware of his series from some workers at the local Borders cause I have such interest in WoT and SoT, and other epic fantasies.  {I-IV Hardcovers are in the mail and otw to me now!} 

[Gentled Ben]

Sanderson has explained hasn't he?

 

He either could fight and get the book published in 2 volumes and therefore the first volume would be fragmented and not done this year, a double disappointment...OR he can opt to do what he has decided to do now, which is to produce a first of three volumes COMPLETE work for us THIS YEAR.

 

Yes, he did explain, but I didn't understand his explanation until you made it clear by emphasizing with larger font. Thanks. 

[RobertAlexWillis]

Please Ben.  Don't make me laugh while eating hot wings!  ;D

[Mr Ares]

Since GRRM and SoIaF has been mentioned a lot of late I'll use him as an example...look at his main post about A Dance With Dragons and his refusal to update that post, yet he continues to drag us along in his blog about everything else he'e been doing and working on besides his bread n' butter series.

Well, his blog was set up for him to talk about things other than ASoIaF, so why is it wrong for him to use a blog that was supposed to let him talk about other things to talk about other things? And he did keep people up to date. It didn't do him any good. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He makes progress, it isn't enough. He gives an expected finish date, he gets it in the neck when he can't make it, he doesn't give one he still gets it in the neck. He has been working on ASoIaF, he has made progress, such should be obvious to anyone. But he works on other things - like the series that made his name (yes, he made his name with Wild Cards before ASoIaF. That series has a lot of fans, and has been around longer. Should he just ignore that fanbase?). The only announcement people will be happy with about ADWD is "it's done", so why should he bother giving out anything else? Whatever he says, people still aren't happy.

That to me is really annoying

Fans saying "why isn't it done yet" or "why did you miss your deadline again" are probably annoying to GRRM. As the only news he has is "done when it's done", why should he report anything else? To give you false hope?

 

Please Ben. Don't make me laugh while eating hot wings!   ;D

That would be easier if we had some way of telling when you were eating hot wings. Perhaps some sort of status thing like the one that says whether you're online or not. I think the admins should get on with that.

[Luckers]

Please Ben.  Don't make me laugh while eating hot wings!

 

Dude, you came out easy--i spat wine all over my keyboard.

[Majsju]

Please Ben.  Don't make me laugh while eating hot wings!

 

Dude, you came out easy--i spat wine all over my keyboard.

 

*shakes head* Kids today, no respect for their booze.

[Gentled Ben]

Please Ben.  Don't make me laugh while eating hot wings!

 

Dude, you came out easy--i spat wine all over my keyboard.

 

*shakes head* Kids today, no respect for their booze.

I didn't mean to drive anyone to alcohol abuse.  :P

[Luckers]

Yes, because it was the alcohol that was harmed in that situation.

[Gentled Ben]

Yes, because it was the alcohol that was harmed in that situation.

And the keyboard, too.  :(

[Luckers]

My keyboard loved it. It's made in france.

[Mr Ares]

Yes, because it was the alcohol that was harmed in that situation.

And the keyboard, too.  :(

What about poor Luckers? He was almost at risk of being sober, a terrible thing for an Aussie.

[Gentled Ben]

Yes, because it was the alcohol that was harmed in that situation.

And the keyboard, too.  :(

What about poor Luckers? He was almost at risk of being sober, a terrible thing for an Aussie.

As an Aussie, he should have been drinking beer to begin with.

[Luckers]

It's like being cold, sad and lonely all at the same time.

 

Strangely though, my kidneys dont hurt so much--im probably hallucinating that though. *goes for a beer*

 

--to the kids out there... stay in school. (thats what hip flasks are for).

 

So... spam eh? Hmm, arn't there any moderators around. Sheesh!

[Gentled Ben]

It's probably okay to spam this thread. The situation is what it is, and we're all happy that the story will be written and published, regardless of what we feel about the method. In all three related threads, we're just nitpicking and being snippy with each other at this point. Better to play instead and move on.  ;)

[Shard]

I don't know Lucker's but the "Did egwene do the nasty?" has also been derailed lol. I can't wait for the book to come out and for the debating to begin anew.

[RobertAlexWillis]

I don't know Lucker's but the "Did egwene do the nasty?" has also been derailed lol.

 

Thats because its pretty plain that she didn't, so our program of cirrhosis prevention for Luckers via subtle comedy is much more interesting.

[Gentled Ben]

I don't know Lucker's but the "Did egwene do the nasty?" has also been derailed lol. I can't wait for the book to come out and for the debating to begin anew.

It was basically resolved and developed into something else. If there were still lots of issues with Egwene and Gawyn to discuss in that thread, then discussing Mat and Tylin would be inappropriate. If you still want to discuss whether or not Egwene did the nasty, you can always change the subject back again, but it just seems that most posters reached the conclusion "not really," and started talking about other stuff that at first was related but now, is a whole different subject. Yay for dynamic conversations.  :)

 

 

[Elgee]

choked on my cig, dropped it on the keyboard and now my shift & space keys are stuck  :P

 

but to give a nod in the direction of "keep on topic":

 

I don't know Lucker's but the "Did egwene do the nasty?" has also been derailed lol. I can't wait for the book to come out and for the debating to begin anew.

 

yet another plus point for 3 volumes: what the frig are we going to debate about once the series has ended??

 

[RobertAlexWillis]

choked on my cig, dropped it on the keyboard and now my shift & space keys are stuck

 

Yay, we're preventing lung cancer too!