Tor's decision to split AMoL

[water_seeker]

I voted yes.  It's a good idea simply for one reason:  A very thick book would be difficult, if not impossible, to open wide enough to read--especially without damaging the book.  I really like being able to open a book, read it, and have it in one piece later so I can read it again.

 

If that reason isn't good enough then there is this--I have large hands (can palm a basketball easily) and a book 1/3 the size of aMoL can cramp my hands...a book of that size would kill them.  :-\

[safwd]

Sure i would love to see the story come out in one book but i dont have a problem with it being split.

I love Mr. Jordans quote that he would finish the series in one more book if it took a new binding technique and a wheelbarrow as much as everyone else but i really didnt see how this story could have ever finished with just one more book. You certainly cant have a 800,000 word book.

I read Brandons take on the split and it seems pretty reasonable. And i dont think what he had to add to the first book will change the story, he just didnt see it as reasonable to have a book that just ends with nothing really accomplished, and i agree. So he moved around a little bit, not really added anything new, just re-organized.

Anyway, as long as the story is good and i can at least sort of believe that it was still Mr. Jordan writting it i will be happy.

[safwd]

I wanted to add something else.

Alot of people are complaining because this move is all about making more money, and ya know what, your probably right, a bit of this is too make more money.

 

But Tor has often been refered to as "The house that Jordan built" and Robert Jordan will not be putting any more bricks on that house.

Can you really blame them. And if a couple extra books makes Harriets life a bit easier im perfectly fine with that.

 

[Jonn]

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I voted No.

...

 

 

Werthead,

All that you pointed out is right down the pipe, spot on. I REALLY have a problem with the restructuring of this piece. It REALLY bothers me. Good breakdown.

 

 

[CUBAREY]

I am concerned about Sanderson's statement that he had to add 25,000 words of material to Vol I that wasn't supposed to be there (specifically, material from later in the book) to give the book 'closure'. Apparently Vol II will require even more, Vol III hopefully less. This work entails structural changes to AMoL, presumably meaning variations from the outline RJ provided. Even worse, it definitely means the end of AMoL as a single novel merely split into three sections for publication purposes. This seems immediately to be in violation of RJ's wish the story is finished in one more novel, as it is now being finished in three.

 

That is not what Sanderson said. He said that Tor asked him whether he could find a cut off point for the first book at around 225K but that he told them the cutoff point was at 275K words and later thought that it would be better to include an additional 25K worth of scenes in the first book (scenes he had always intended to write) in order to better round off the first book. The scenes are being added just as filler nor are they being arbitrarily added to the first book instead they are scenes that were intended to be included in AMOL. Moreover, they are not scenes that seemed to have been dictated by JR's notes to be placed in a latter part of the story. They are scenes that would be required to be written in any case and which Sanderson believes fit best in the first third of the final story (the three book set which AMOL has grown into). Thus neither their inclusion generally nor their in the first book specifically in anyway detracts from RJ's vision.

[Majsju]

Regarding the "restructuring". Either it is important that things happen at a certain point, in which case Brandon can not move them aound. Or, it does not matter where a certain event takes place, in which case we will most likely not notice what has been moved.

And as Cuba said, we are talking about scenes that were always meant to be included. Scenes that in Brandons eyes fits better in pt1 than in pt2. And I think he is in quite a better position to make that judgement than anyone here.

 

 

[Ludmian]

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As he said, we should still treat it as one major book-A Memory of Light-being divided into three sections.

 

If they had been titled A Memory of Light. Volume 1. A Memory of Light. Volume 2, etc. and published together or within a short period of time, then sure, no problem. But not now. People should accept that there is no more A Memory of Light. There are three books that cover the same events that AMoL would and are about the same size combined that AMoL would have been, but still they are separate books that RJ did not intend to write.

 

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As fans we should be supporting the decisions they make because they are the experts;

 

???

 

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I think people should check out his blog. He put on a post explaining how the decision to split came about; he says splitting it is the only way to keep the promise of fans getting something this year. We have just over six months to wait.

 

A promise? What promise? Their decision to publish the book in November 2009 is not a promise. It's just a tentative publication date based on their premature and erroneous assumption of how long the book will be and how long it will take Brandon to write it. Such dates get delayed all the time (*cough* George Martin *cough). If the book is not written you can't possibly publish it. Period. Werthead is right, they should have waited until the book is finished and then make their decisions.

 

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No, Roxinos, if I understand it, the argument that some people are making is that Jordan would have somehow stuffed the entire story into 300 - 350 K words, so that it could be told in one volume.  That would mean that the decision was to add material that Jordan would not have added, to artificially make more volumes that Jordan would never have written, for the sole purpose of extorting more money from the victimized fans.

 

Again you are misrepresenting facts. I doubt anybody here thinks RJ could have made AMoL 300,000 words long. Even if someone actually said this somewhere, I'm sure you perfectly know that this idea is not wide-spread here.

 

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I do have to agree with RAW on the point that Jordan DID continually promise to end it in "Just two more books guys".

 

Not "just two more books". "At least two more books". Or rather it was "At least three more books" until CoT was published. And with AMoL it was "Just one more book". Do you see the difference?

[Jonn]

Ludmian's earlier response from the other thread:

 

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The reason for that was that he didn't see any breaking points in the remaining part of the story.

 

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That's a pretty big leap. Prove he thought that.

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Yet another report comes in from Kevin Dean, one of Dragonmount’s staff members who attended the event...

 

 

RJ then went on to say that during the signing, he would be asked a few questions, as he always is. The second person in line, he said, would ask “When is the next book coming out”. He gave us a gurantee that we could “take to the bank” that it would be on shelves shortly after he finished writing it. And the fourth person would inveriably ask, “How many more books in the series” which he explained the same way as other signing, about needing a “dolly” to carry the thing out. But unlike other accounts, he said at this point, it is not possible for him to write two more coherent books. He said he might get one coherent book, and one incoherent, or two semi-coherent, so tWoT would be finished by book 12. He then mentioned the two planned prequels, and said they would be written. After a brief pause, he said “… I would not write in the Wheel of Time universe again unless I had a GREAT idea. I may have had one.” He went on to say that he has an idea that MIGHT end up being two or maybe three “outrigger” novels, not part of the main sequence, and not prequels per se, but following other characters, at another time. He said this is not definite, and that he had to “poke around at the idea” before he decided. He doesn’t want to “write anything just to write it”.

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=234

 

RobertAlexWillis, I find it pretty appalling that you're basing your argument on the suggestion that generally speaking, Robert Jordan was a habitual liar.

 

He's been quoted as saying it much the same again and again regarding A Memory of Light, that he cannot see it being coherent if he were to split his final movement in the tale.

 

I recall him mentioning Crossroads of Twilight in this regard, that he had tried that variance with mixed results.

Now, I happen to have enjoyed Crossroads of Twilight, but I can see valid complaints from people who didn't.

 

I happen to believe that RJ was very sensitive to how his work was received, and Crossroads' reception was decidedly not as warm as Winter's Heart's (ironically) was. I don't think he wanted to split A Memory of Light for this particular reason.

 

My anticipation for his reasoning for A Memory of Light is that so much has to happen, simultaneously for the end to be reached in good time and follow a thematic tenor, that if he were to split it would end up being much like Winter's Heart, Crossroads of Twilight and parts of Knife of Dreams. Those three worked out as separate novels in my opinion, but many would argue that it's marginal with the middle novel, Crossroads...

 

Splitting the single book as Werthead and others including Roxinos have pointed out...is one thing, but to have to manufacture satisfactory endings for each part...That is essentially altering the work of Robert Jordan in a way that he really was against doing.

 

In his own words, he didn't think it would be coherent if he made that split, mind you this is not far removed from when Crossroads came out and drew the most criticism of any book RJ had written up to that point, but the fact that this bothered him speaks to his desire to complete in one book all the more strongly.

 

He did write for us, much as authors like to say otherwise. He wanted to give us an experience that was finally complete, something we could savor and follow straight through, a culmination of everything he has learned in over almost 2 decades now of writing his tale. He learned lessons from his elaboration of the story and how long it has taken.

 

I really don't like the talk about how he could never make up his mind when the tale would end. I TOTALLY DISAGREE with that. He knew the ending since the beginning. In a sense, he went on this adventure even as we were reading about it. He was witnessing the history of a world at the same time he was teaching it to us. What he has done is remarkable and as epic as the tale he's penned. I feel bad for people who need to reassure themselves by basically casting aspersions on a beloved author who passed away.

 

[Oh, he always went back on his word about the length of the series]

 

No, up until A Memory of Light, he was unsure. He would give rough estimates, ballpark estimations, and you know what dangit, he can do that if he wants. He's the author. I don't ever recall him saying before A Memory of Light that the next book would be the last or him saying you can take it to the bank, or ever did he express such a determination in his public statements about stopping the series...

 

I think it's just wild that people want to come at it like that. That his wishes for a final book were false even though he promised again and again that he wanted to do it his way...How indelicate.

 

I'm sorry, but that just bothers me a whole lot. I look at this series as a guiding force in my life and sensibilities, and I'm really not exaggerating that. I've lived with this series for half my life, and as the author of the series, though I've never personally met him, I look upon Robert Jordan as a mentor, on par with an older brother, as his influence is deep in my life and my outlook. It cuts when someone laments that he somehow misplayed the length of his series. So far I think the series has been just about as long as it needs to be. Others want to doubt him, I had faith in RJ's vision. If he had doubts about how long or how many more books he needed to finish I respected that because he always knew what he wanted by the time he put out his next book. Great work requires struggle and toil. But if the man is insistent that he is ready, then take him at his word. By every indication, he was ready and his intention was to finish.

 

You can reason your way out of heaven if you give your brain the chance.

 

And so, you can come up with all the reasons in the world why you think he would change his mind, but the key point is this:

 

He didn't.

 

That's a fact that won't ever change. Everything else is pure speculation.  

[Majsju]

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And so, you can come up with all the reasons in the world why you think he would change his mind, but the key point is this:

 

He didn't.

 

That's a fact that won't ever change. Everything else is pure speculation.  

 

The key point is this: Robert Jordan died, long before he had finished the book. That changed things. That is what death does, changes things.

 

When RJ talked about AMOL as a single book, he was a healthy man, and he saw himself writing in the same way as he always had. That would have seen him getting the book finished long before the dates we are talking about now. Chances are it would already be published.

 

If TOR were the greedy monsters some of you want them to be, be glad they did not decide to release one chapter/month as an ebook, which would have earned them a truckload of cash without any annoying costs for printing etc.

[Luzburg]

After reading the previous posts  come to this conclusion.

 

Yes.

 

Jordan said HE intended to write the final book as one volume. Not Brandon Sanderson. So there you go there is no way that wish can be granted, unless someone has mastery over the grave around here.

 

The most powerful argument for Yes, is the size of such a tome. How could you bloody well read it??? Seriously, common sense is not quite so common as it should be.

 

Also, it means I don't have to wait two years for more.. IF the release dates are accurate.

[Jethro]

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A promise? What promise? Their decision to publish the book in November 2009 is not a promise. It's just a tentative publication date based on their premature and erroneous assumption of how long the book will be and how long it will take Brandon to write it. Such dates get delayed all the time (*cough* George Martin *cough). If the book is not written you can't possibly publish it. Period. Werthead is right, they should have waited until the book is finished and then make their decisions.

 

Ludmian, before you rant and rave and complain anymore about it you should read this.

 

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL

[Ludmian]

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Ludmian, before you rant and rave and complain anymore about it you should read this.

 

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL

 

::)

 

Of course I have read Brandon's blog. I believe, everybody here has, so will people, please, stop posting the link? The problem is that many people here, including myself, find Tor's decisions questionable and their explanations rather unconvincing, to put it mildly. Again, to publish the book in November 2009 was not a promise. Tor simply can't make promises to publish a book that is not written yet. They publish books, not write them. The only person who could make promises like this is Brandon, and while up to a certain point he did hope to finish the book in time for the deadline imposed by Tor, he knew better than to actually promise that (at least, I can't remember him doing this). I believe Tor has to plan their releases in advance, but such tentative dates can change, do change and simply have to change if the author can't finish the book in time for the projected release date. Any talk about Tor's promise in this particular case is simply laughable.

[RobertAlexWillis]

The rest has jest been recycling, so I won't repeat my arguments, but I did want to address this:

 

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Not "just two more books". "At least two more books". Or rather it was "At least three more books" until CoT was published. And with AMoL it was "Just one more book". Do you see the difference?

 

He has given a limitation estimate the number of books before.  It was, at various points, "just" six books, and "just" one or two more.  So, the "difference" you're pointing out is a construct of your own point of view.  Jordan did create artificial limits in the past, and then break them, more than once.  This time is no different.

 

 

[RobertAlexWillis]

Oh, and regarding Werhead's concern about the limited re-structuring:

 

Another thing that Jordan was always consistent on is that he wanted each volume to be a self-contained book.  If Jordan had made the decision to split (and if he had lives, he probably would have had to), he would likely have treated it the same way that Brandon has.

 

In fact, thats pretty much what he did with books 9 through 11. 

 

Jeez, I'm double-posting a lot lately ...

[Werthead]

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unlike other accounts, he said at this point, it is not possible for him to write two more coherent books. He said he might get one coherent book, and one incoherent, or two semi-coherent, so tWoT would be finished by book 12.

 

This is an important point. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King are, individually, not 'coherent' books. Combined, they are. The talk of splitting A Memory of Light in two volumes always seemed to revolve around this notion of splitting it LotR-style, with a 'natural' break-point halfway through (like the end of Fellowship and the end of Towers are natural break-points), but not turning them into somewhat self-contained novels (as much as any WoT book is self-contained). Thus, this gives us a solution that respects Jordan's wishes as much as is possible whilst still acknowledging the practical side of things (that the book is too big to publish in one volume, regardless of what RJ said). If it has to be three volumes under that scheme as well, than so be it.

 

The difference is that Tolkien completed LotR five years before it was published (a rival publisher tried to snatch the book but messed Tolkien around until he got bored and went back to his original publishers, but that's a whole other story), meaning the book as a whole could be assessed, revised and then split in three where it made the most sense (Tolkien's six-act structure helped here). More importantly, the volumes could be published at shorter intervals, although that didn't entirely work out in the end (Book 2 came out five months after Book 1, but Book 3 was delayed by a full year whilst Tolkien worked on the appendices).

 

With AMoL the situation is different. AMoL has been split into three smaller novels which have been made as self-contained as possible. As a result, as someone else said, A Memory of Light as one novel (published in however many parts) no longer exists. This is strongly contrary to RJ's wishes. If RJ was working on the book then maybe he would have indeed acted the same way, but he's not and we can't second-guess him.

 

I reiterate, the best way to acknowledge both RJ's wishes (one more novel) and also practical reality (the novel is too big to fit in one volume) would be to complete the whole story, divide it as needed and publish it in multiple volumes close together with no need to make each book stand-alone. That would give us a work that is as close as possible under the circumstances to Robert Jordan's vision. Brandon Sanderson has said on his blog many times that this is the way he wanted to work on the book, but the questionable need to publish a Wheel of Time book regardless of circumstances in November 2009 has made that impossible.

 

As a result, I suspect there will be some considerable arguments over the three new books' canonical status once they come out (the RJ-written sections excepted, obviously), especially if Tor and Harriet decide not to publish RJ's notes for the final book for some time.

[RobertAlexWillis]

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unlike other accounts, he said at this point, it is not possible for him to write two more coherent books. He said he might get one coherent book, and one incoherent, or two semi-coherent, so tWoT would be finished by book 12.

 

I admit I had forgotten that quote.

 

Of course, that was Jordan's assessment before he had gotten well into the process of writing that final book.  Again, if that statement is taken outside the context of everything else it does seem quite damning ... but I find it unbelievable that Harriet, as both his wife and publisher is unaware of these issues.

 

What I find eminently believable is that we, as his reading public, are unaware of all that may have passed between them off the record.  Jordan never confronted the problems specific to this volume/volumes in full, at least in public.  As much as it sucks, he died, and was very sick for some time before dying.  He had other, more important things on his mind than confronting the difficult publication decisions that Harriet and Brandon now do have to confront.

 

My reaction the very first time I saw his "one and only one more book" promise was a very affectionate "yeah right".  This was before we knew he was dying.  And I genuinely believe that, had he lived, he would have been incapable of finishing this in one volume.  That being the case, he would have had to revisit the assessment Werthead quoted.  And what he would have decided, we can never know for sure.  But we can be sure that he would have consulted closely with his wife and editor, who was involved in the decision we now have.

 

All of those making arguments against "changing Jordan's vision" assume that his "vision" is 1) entirely encapsulated in the quotes they select, and 2) never going to be subject to change, whether he lived or died.  I simply don't believe that.  None of us are as qualified to know what he would have wanted as Harriet is, and as passionate as some of us are, I don't think that any of us care more about his legacy than she does.  This has been her work for decades, as well.

[Roxinos]

You're forgetting the key point, RAW. My assessment of that camp's belief was right. :-p

[RobertAlexWillis]

Oh, and Jonn:

 

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RobertAlexWillis, I find it pretty appalling that you're basing your argument on the suggestion that generally speaking, Robert Jordan was a habitual liar.

 

You've managed to thoroughly misinterpret my position.

 

Which is, frankly, unsurprising.

 

Jordan hasn't been lying.  He's been frequently mistaken.  Every time he made a claim about "x number of books more", I have no doubt that he meant it sincerely.  But, once he got into the process, he found that he needed more space.

 

I have no doubt that he meant it when he said that AMoL would be the last one.  But, I also have no doubt that, had he gotten as far into the process as Brandon and Harriet have, he would have looked at the mass of writing produced, and said something to this effect:

 

"Blood and ashes ... I really wanted to get this into one book!

 

Oh well ... I guess we really do have to split it."

 

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You can reason your way out of heaven if you give your brain the chance.

 

And so, you can come up with all the reasons in the world why you think he would change his mind, but the key point is this:

 

He didn't.

 

That's a fact that won't ever change. Everything else is pure speculation.

 

You do realize that logic can be used to negate your argument too, right?  To respond:

 

And so, you can come up with all the reasons in the world why you think he would never change his mind, but the key point is this:

 

He did.  More than once.

 

That's a fact that won't ever change. Everything else is pure speculation.

 

In truth ... the fact that he did change his mind on the length of the series in the past is recorded fact.  The idea that he would not have changed his mind this time can only be speculation, because he didn't live that long.

 

As usual, you've made your speculation fact in your mind, while ignoring the reality of what actually happened.

[safwd]

We have to break this down to facts and not facts.

 

RJ said that he wanted to finish WoT with one more book. That is a fact.

RJ would have finished WoT with one more book. That is not a fact.

Who is to say that when RJ sat down to formally write the book he would not have come to the same conclusion that Brandon did, it cant be done in one book. We dont know for sure what RJ would have done, the story could have ended with AMoL or it could have been 2, 3 or even 4 more books, we dont know. And that would not have made RJ a liar, it would have made him change his mind.

We also know as a fact that Brandon wanted to finish it in one book even if the book was far to large to actually be one book, which 800K is.

So Tor decided to break the book up. Yes it probably could have been 2 books but making it three actually leave a bit of wiggle room in there for Brandon. He still really doesnt know for sure how long it will be.

Fact- Brandon did not just make up 25K of words to throw into the story, he reorganized 25K of words to make the book have a climatic finish. Which is pretty much how all but one of the other books end. I cant think that many would have been happy if the book just stopped without anything being finished, most werent happy the last time that happened.

 

And again, Yes, there is a excellent chance that money was a factor in Tors decission. But again, i cant really blame them. RJ was there most read author, he was the cash cow. AMoL was going to be the last WoT novel but it wasnt supposed to be RJs last novel. They just lost thier top writter an Harriet just last her husband. If they decide to try to get a bit more money out of his last work im not going to begrudge them much.

 

And it really only matters if it matters enough for you not to buy the remaining volumes. If you plan on buying them (which of course i do) then you are really just complaining to complain.

I love WoT and im really in no huge hurry for it to end. If they could keep giving me good stories for 10 more volumes i would keep buying them.

[Vambram]

If all the complainers have the courage of their convictions to stand by their complaints and their belief that Robert Jordan would have been able to write A Memory of Light as only just one massive 1500 page book no matter what; then all of these complainers, who believe that they are the only ones true to RJ's vision when RJ's own WIFE is not, should be able to wait until sometime in 2011 for the Omnibus edition of these final three books to be published before reading these final stories.

Somehow, I truly doubt most of the complainers will be able to wait until 2011 to read books 12, 13, and 14.

[Majsju]

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their belief that Robert Jordan would have been able to write A Memory of Light as only just one massive 1500 page book no matter what

 

Of course, AMOL will already be more then 1500 pages in total. Take TSR, double the pagecount, and then add some.

[Vambram]

Well, I was using the page count that is found in the Hardcover books. :)

[Voss]

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If all the complainers have the courage of their convictions to stand by their complaints and their belief that Robert Jordan would have been able to write A Memory of Light as only just one massive 1500 page book no matter what; then all of these complainers, who believe that they are the only ones true to RJ's vision when RJ's own WIFE is not, should be able to wait until sometime in 2011 for the Omnibus edition of these final three books to be published before reading these final stories.

Somehow, I truly doubt most of the complainers will be able to wait until 2011 to read books 12, 13, and 14.

 

Why would I look forward to the omnibus? Are they going to rewrite it the way Jordan wanted?

 

The issue for this purist has nothing to do with the size or number of physical units the rest of the story comes in. The fact is that there is a finite amount of WoT material left on this planet. After this material is gone I don't care if they announce AMoL VOL XIV Mat Vs The Mecha Godzilla! http://www.kicksonfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mechagodzilla.jpg

 

It's simple, formating for 3 books has to change the material Jordan left to some extent. The reasons we have for the split boil down to book stores don't like thick books and they are expensive to produce. That is not only unacceptable it's disrespectful to RJ as well as fans. With the economy the way it is tor just could not pass this up. A guaranteed best seller. And it could come out just in time for the holdays. I'm sure this version of AMoL will do wonders for their forth quarter earnings but not a cent of it will be from me. It's nothing but a shameful money grab.

[Vambram]

Voss, you are wrong, and you are (metaphorically speaking) spitting in the face of Harriet who is RJ's wife. There is absolutely zero chance in Hades that you know better than Harriet what is the right decision to do about AMOL and Robert Jordan's legacy.

[water_seeker]

I know most people have read Brandon's blog about the split, but it seems like alot of people still aren't getting it.  The following is the important parts of Brandons blog.

 

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Before we start, however, let me explain that I only saw one piece of what was going on. As I've stated before, Harriet and Tom are the ones making decisions when it comes to publication issues.

 

The decision to split the book was up to the editor and the publisher.  Brandon put his trust in them to make the best decision for the book.  Had RJ lived to see the completion of his story, he would have also been subject to the desires of his publisher...and his editor as well, which means he probably would have split the book as well.

 

And this is why...

 

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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.

 

You would think that this is because of the size of the book and the difficutly involved in binding/handling such a book, but actually the reason for this is...

 

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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.

 

Brandon himself had problems from the bookstores for the very same reason...

 

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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.

 

Which means that it's really not even the publishers choice in the matter.  Sure, they could make a book that large, but the big stores would be less likely to hold them, and that would suck for us.  But on top of the bookstore wishes there was thought of us loyal fans...

 

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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.

 

And yes, I know we've been patient.  TBH, alot of us weren't sure there was going to be a finish to the book (cause there was talk of the story going with RJ to the grave), so we're just happy to have SOMETHING.  TOR knows though that the 2 year time span was hard on the fans though (and if you were on the forums then you may recall lots of people complaining about having to wait), so this 4 year span must be torture.

 

Thus the decision to split the book, but was it possible...

 

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I wasn't certain that we could simply print the 400k that I had written. There were scenes all over the place, and if we printed that portion as-is, it would cut off right in the middle of several plot arcs. The book just wouldn't be any fun to read. Beyond that, editing 400k would take too much time to have it done by April.

 

So this is what he did...

 

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I spent a few days in January looking over the material, and came to Tom and Harriet with a proposal. I had what I felt would make the best book possible, divided in a certain way, which came out to be around 275,000 words. It had several strong character arcs, it told a very good story, and it closed several important plot threads. I felt it would be an excellent book.

 

Now, I know a few of you think he fleshed this out with some extra unecessary story, but this really isn't true.  He fleshed it out with story that belonged,

 

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In fact, I later took that 275,000 word book and I added an extra 25k in scenes (one's I'd been planning to write anyway, but decided would work better here in this chunk) in order to fill it out and make of it the most solid novel possible.

 

And for those of you who think RJ wouldn't have made the same choice...

 

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But you are also splitting a book that Robert Jordan intended to be one book. (Tom and Harriet both have said they don't think he could have done it, or would have done it, given the chance.)

 

...tell that to his wife.