A Memory of Light

[bscuga]

Brandon released a blog entry this evening with a tentative release date for A Memory of Light. The release date is now tentatively March 2012 due to another re-read of the series. Please see link/blog post below.

 

Brandon's Blog Post

 

All,

 

Let's do a quick (okay, it's me, so it won't be quick) update to let everyone know what's going on here at Dragonsteel Entertainment HQ. (Also known as me sitting on a chair in my bedroom while my eight-month-old son throws half-eaten graham crackers at me.)

 

Warning, this is another of my trademarked long and rambling blog posts. So, I've put in some arbitrary headings to help break things up and keep it focused. At the bottom, there's a quick timeline of books I'm working on or plan to work on soon.

 

PART ONE: WHEEL OF TIME BOOKS PUBLICATION TIMELINE

 

I posted earlier that Towers of Midnight is done, turned in, and ready for a November second release. I'm feeling pretty good (though a little frazzled) at managing to get it in on deadline, by the promised date I gave you all in the blog post I made regarding splitting the novels. I stand by what I said there. I'm not expanding the outline left to me; I'm telling the same story I would have, even if the book hadn't been split. The order of chapters will be different in some cases, but nothing will be deleted or added.

 

Current projections are for the final book, A Memory of Light, to be about the length of the other two. (Around three hundred thousand words, or eight hundred pages in hardcover.) There are some who are hoping for it to be huge, the biggest in the series, but I will write it at the length it needs to be. I've finished two books, and have done two-thirds of the outline. So that gives a good indication that the final chunk will be the same length as the other two.

 

However, I do have to acknowledge that this is going to be the hardest chunk, for several reasons. The number of plots to be dealt with, the number of characters that need to be balanced, the sheer tactics and logistics of the Last Battle . . . there is a lot going on in this book, and it will be orders of magnitude more difficult than the previous two novels.

 

PART TWO: BUFFERS AND MY WRITING SPEED

 

Because of this, and because of my writing style, I need a little bit of a break before I tackle it. I pushed myself very hard to get both Towers of Midnight and The Way of Kings ready for publication this year. Even then, it was only possible because I had written a sizable chunk of Towers of Midnight while working on The Gathering Storm AND because I'd already finished an early version of The Way of Kings.

 

People have mentioned before that I am somewhat prolific. Some of this is an illusion. For a while now, I've been warning people that we've been chewing through my buffer at a frightening rate. Once upon a time, I would turn in a book three years before it was scheduled to come out. This gave me a lot of wiggle room. If a book wasn't working, I could shelve it and think about it, then get back to it. Working that far ahead prevents most big crunches.

 

However, the books I've been working on lately were a little more high profile than previous ones—and high-profile books get released when they get turned in, not three years later. So, though I took eighteen months finishing The Gathering Storm, it looked like I finished it very quickly. (I turned it in during the summer of 2009, and it came out in the fall of 2009. Warbreaker came out that same year, though I'd turned it in back in 2006.) The very long write of that book was invisible to a lot of readers because books I'd written years before continued to come out while I was working on it.

 

The buffer is gone now. I'll talk more about that later. However, I want to mention something else that helps me be productive—and that's allowing myself deviations to keep myself interested. I've told people before that I wrote the Alcatraz books to give me a break between Mistborn novels. If I'm able to refresh myself on other projects, I don't get burned out on the big epics. (Which are my true love, but can be very demanding on me mentally.)

 

PART THREE: WARNINGS

 

And so, we're entering the "refresh and work on side projects" stage of the writing process. I did this after The Gathering Storm, and I really need it now. I am therefore taking time off between now and January first. I get to write anything I want. It will probably be bizarre and unexpected; things that keep me fresh, things I haven't tried before.

 

I ask your forbearance. I do believe that as a writer who has begun series, it is my responsibility to see that the other pieces of the story are written in a timely manner. However—and it may seem odd—I need to work on these other things to keep my next Wheel of Time and Stormlight installments good. It's how my process works.

 

So, that's the first warning. I'm taking a break for three months. The second warning is that I can't promise I'll hit the final deadline on the Wheel of Time series. (The last one was supposed to be out in November 2011.) The problem is this: starting January, it will have been three years since I read the Wheel of Time series start to finish. That's too long. I'm starting to forget things. I won't feel comfortable starting the final book until I've done another re-read, and this is going to slow me down by three or four months. It's an unexpected delay I didn't fit into my original projections of how long it would take me to write the books.

 

If I miss the deadline (which is more likely than not) it won't be by much. A few months, likely the same amount of time it takes me to do the re-read. But it is what must be done. So, I'd suggest that we set MARCH 2012 as the expected date of A Memory of Light. I suspect there will be some grumbling about this, but I feel I should let you know now, rather than later. It won't be an enormous delay, however. If my previous track record earns me anything, I hope it is the benefit of the doubt when it comes to me promising the release dates of books. I won't leave you hanging too long.

 

PART FOUR: STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

 

Now on to Stormlight Two. (The title was originally Highprince of War, but I'm feeling in my outlining that this book needs to be weighted more toward Shallan, so a different title is likely). I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here on this one. Writing a Stormlight book, like writing a Wheel of Time book, is a huge undertaking. Getting one of each out in the same year required fourteen-hour days, six days a week, for a good year and a half. I can't ask my family to go through that again. Beyond that, the buffer is gone. (I still had a little bit of it when working on Towers of Midnight—not to mention the first version of The Way of Kings that I'd written in 2002. I threw it away and started over, but having written it once before sped the process a great deal.)

 

So . . . what do I do? I'm feeling right now that I will go straight into Stormlight Two after A Memory of Light. But that means (at very best) it won't be out until the fall of 2012. I don't really have a choice, however. The Wheel of Time fans have waited too long for their ending already. I need to do AMoL, and I need to do it right, no matter how long it takes. So I can't make any promises about Stormlight Two except that I won't take a break after AMoL, but will go right into it and try to have it done in time for the fall 2012 season.

 

That means, by a quirk of the publishing business, that I have two epics this year, none next year, and two the following year. (If I meet my Stormlight deadline, which may or may not happen.) Still, this is what I'm planning to do. Barring something unexpected, this is what you should anticipate. I don't think there will be a book at all from me next year, which punches me in the gut. But that's what we get for pushing to have two books out last year and two books this year.

 

So, here's my official future status, as I sometimes post.

 

BOOKS YOU WILL SEE SOON

 

* Towers of Midnight (November 2.)

* Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (December 2010.)

—A note on Alcatraz. This is the fourth and final of the Alcatraz books in my contract. I do plan there to be more in this series, but I don't have time for them right now. And so, for now, this is going to stand as the ending of the series. I'll do Alcatraz Five eventually, I promise.

* Scribbler (Early 2012)

—A note on Scribbler. This is a shorter steampunk book I wrote in 2007, just before I got the call about The Wheel of Time. It's quite good, and Tor has decided to purchase it. It involves chalk-based magic and a boy who is the son of the cleaning lady at a school for people who learn the chalk magic. I haven't had time to give it a revision, but will likely use some of the time in my free months between now and January to do a draft of it. If I turn it in January or February, you won't see it until a year after that, due to scheduling.

 

BOOKS YOU WILL SEE SOMEWHAT SOON

 

* A Memory of Light (March 2012.)

* Stormlight Archive Book Two (Late 2012 or early 2013.)

* Stormlight Archive Book Three (One year after Book Two.)

 

ANTICIPATED SEQUELS

 

* Alcatraz Five (Indefinite hiatus.)

* Elantris Two (Planned to be written after Stormlight Three.)

* Second Mistborn trilogy (It's coming someday, I promise.)

* Nightblood: Book two of Warbreaker (Coming someday.)

—Some notes here. Elantris has three books in the series, but they are loose sequels of each other. This means that side characters in one become main characters in the next. So while you'll see Raoden and Sarene in the second book, they won't be main characters. (Kiin's children will be.) Warbreaker is two books. Mistborn is a trilogy of trilogies, with the second trilogy in an urban (20th-century-level technology) setting. For Stormlight, I'm planning a pattern of two every three years, with a different epic—a standalone, or one of the sequels mentioned above—in between. Thus the Elantris sequel is next in line after Stormlight Three, which would be followed by Stormlight Four and Five.

 

MAYBE COMING SOMEDAY BUT ONLY PARTIALLY WRITTEN

 

* Dark One (YA dark fantasy.)

* Steelheart (Superhero apocalypse.)

* The King's Necromancer

* The Silence Divine (Shardworld novel, standalone.)

* White Sand (Shardworld trilogy.)

* The Liar of Partinel (Shardworld novel, one of two.)

* Dragonsteel (Major Shardworld epic. Won't be written until Stormlight is done.)

 

POSSIBLE PROJECTS FOR MY TIME OFF

 

* Mistborn short story (Looking likely.)

* Unnamed urban fantasy (This is what I'm working on right now. Watch Twitter/Facebook for updates on this story. It involves a necromancer pizza deliveryman as a protagonist.)

* Scribbler revisions (Will almost certainly be done.)

* Finishing one of the unfinished novels mentioned above (Not likely, but you never know.)

 

Who knows when/if anything written during my side-project time will get published. Sometimes, these stories are too unformed (as I like to be very free and loose when I write them) to make it. On other occasions, there isn't time to do revisions on them. (I write initial books very quickly, but spend many months in revision.) For instance, Alcatraz books were my deviations for 2005 and 2006, and the first of those came out very quickly. Scribbler was the one for 2007, and it won't be published for a year or so yet. I didn't have time for much in the way of deviations in 2008 or 2009, just the unfinished projects I mentioned above.

 

We shall see. As always, thank you for reading and supporting me in this compulsive writing addiction of mine.

[Sid]

Bah, I had a big thing typed up and it went away.

 

The gist of it: Go Brandon, re-read, re-remember, do it methodically, do it right, get the best quality finish to this awesome series you can. I never thought AMoL would feasibly be done by Nov 2011 anyway. 3 books in 4 years is fantastic for WoT since I started reading it anyway.

[Elend]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

[graendalzooescapee]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

 

 

BIG BUMMER!!!!! But, all that really matters is that the book is right. It has to rank with all our favorite volumes to have a chance of seeing the series off gracefully. Godspeed, BWS!

[Elend]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

 

 

BIG BUMMER!!!!! But, all that really matters is that the book is right. It has to rank with all our favorite volumes to have a chance of seeing the series off gracefully. Godspeed, BWS!

 

What's a bummer? I'm actually pretty excited at the prospect of visiting the world of Mistborn again. :D

[cortezthekiller]

Take your time Brandon. Do it right.

 

This is SRS BUSINESS here.

 

[Ashaman Kovan]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

 

 

BIG BUMMER!!!!! But, all that really matters is that the book is right. It has to rank with all our favorite volumes to have a chance of seeing the series off gracefully. Godspeed, BWS!

 

What's a bummer? I'm actually pretty excited at the prospect of visiting the world of Mistborn again. :D

 

Yeah. I'm not seeing a "bummer" in another Mistborn trilogy at all. Maybe he just means the wait till 2012 for AMoL...We may not be around anymore.

[Baletickle_to_da_face!]

After the work Brandon has put in, anyone "grumbling" that the last book is a few months late deserves to be smacked.

[The Fisher King]

Fish speaks:

 

Well, I just cannot believe this guy!

 

How DARE he decide to actually give his newborn child and wife a little more of himself than working six days a week at 14 hours per???!!!

 

Does he think that just because he will end up giving us over 1,500 pages of excellent new WOT material to read between October 26, 2009 and November 2, 2010 it gives him ANY excuse to take a breather???

 

Doesn't he understand that we the fans have every right to expect him to chain himself to his desk until he gets all these books out for us???

 

I mean, if he has to basically say ''F OFF!!!'' to his child and family in order to satisfy US...well, is that really so bad?

 

Does he really think we care that instead of choosing to rush AMOL out in some shoddy, hurried fashion so that he can just be done with his WOT Commitment and get back to his Stormlight and Mistborn books he is actually going to treat the final book of WOT with time, precision and respect that we will just automatically forgive him for this treachery???

 

What a Lazy Bum.

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

Seriosuly...I expected this. The man shows all the symptoms of being on the verge of a very understable case of burnout. I also had a strong suspicion that he had had some serious ''Buffers'' the past few years...''Buffers'' are common knowledge inside the publishing business, but, no matter HOW many Buffers the man has been graced with the past few years, he IS a very prolific writer, despite his modesty. The man is talented.

 

Mr Sanderson, if you see this, I want you to know that, while not perfect, the work you have done on WOT so far has overall been magnificent in this longtime WOT Fan's opinion and IS deeply appreciated by WOT Fans across th world.

 

Sir, take a breather, take care of your child and wife, rest, recharge and know that I have every faith that you will deliver AMOL when it is right and ready and respectful to Jim Rigney/Robert Jordan's legacy and it will be greatly appreciated even if it takes some extra time.

 

As a person who once had the honor of shaking Mr Rigney's hand, I for one am actually quite excited by the fact that you, Brandon, will conduct another reread before finalizing AMOL.

 

Fitting and proper.

 

The Wheel turns, Mr Sanderson; may it bring you and yours nothing but wonderful Beginnings...

 

 

 

- Fish

[Lisa Campbell]

Here here Fish!

 

After having waited about 5 years for TGS 15 months isn't bad at all and I would much rather BS have a break and a re-read to get AMOL perfect. I still can't wait though, TOM isn't even out yet and I'm thinking about the next one... it's going to be a ripper!

[ajfurst]

After waiting around twenty years from starting The Eye of the World to when AMOL is out, I'd rather an extra 3-4, 6 or 12 months be taken and it be the fitting ending to the greatest fantasy epic written. It can only be late once, but rushed, it can be crap forever.

 

Besides when it finishes I'd imagine it'd be like when your kids leave home. Sure you can talk about what they did and they can visit (re-read), but it's not going to be same. I can wait a bit longer before the Wheel of Time turns to the next age and becomes legend.

[bscuga]

I agree with everyone above. I would rather wait a few extra months to ensure that the book is written in the manner that we the fans expect versus a sub-par book being released to meet a November 2011 deadline. The other thing we have to remember is that Brandon is not Robert Jordan, meaning he does not know every small detail or plotline that needs to be resolved off the top of his head since this is not his series. The re-read is a good thing because it will allow Brandon to refresh his memory regarding certain things. I know he has Team Jordan available to help with the continuity of the series, but sometimes, Brandon needs to know which questions to ask, and the re-read will allow him to forumlate those questions. Although the book probably won't come out until March 2012, Team Jordan might release some new material (a chapter(s) or prologue) in November so that we, the WOT fans, receive our drug fix of new WOT material within a year of the last new material.

[A2597]

Ditto....Do it once, do it right. It may take more time initially, but it will last much longer after.

 

Take the time, re-read the series, make a lot of notes, and if AMoL turns into 2 700 page books, I won't mind. LOL

[JenniferL]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

 

 

BIG BUMMER!!!!! But, all that really matters is that the book is right. It has to rank with all our favorite volumes to have a chance of seeing the series off gracefully. Godspeed, BWS!

 

What's a bummer? I'm actually pretty excited at the prospect of visiting the world of Mistborn again. :D

 

Yeah. I'm not seeing a "bummer" in another Mistborn trilogy at all. Maybe he just means the wait till 2012 for AMoL...We may not be around anymore.

 

The world is supposed to end in DECEMBER of 2012. So a March release still gives us plenty of time to enjoy the last WoT book.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Another Mistborn trilogy, set in the future? Wonderful.

 

Hope Brandon doesn't burn out.

 

 

BIG BUMMER!!!!! But, all that really matters is that the book is right. It has to rank with all our favorite volumes to have a chance of seeing the series off gracefully. Godspeed, BWS!

 

What's a bummer? I'm actually pretty excited at the prospect of visiting the world of Mistborn again. :D

 

Yeah. I'm not seeing a "bummer" in another Mistborn trilogy at all. Maybe he just means the wait till 2012 for AMoL...We may not be around anymore.

 

The world is supposed to end in DECEMBER of 2012. So a March release still gives us plenty of time to enjoy the last WoT book.

 

Oh yeah. Duh. I was completely aware of that...

[TheBeerPatriot]

After the work Brandon has put in, anyone "grumbling" that the last book is a few months late deserves to be smacked.

Exactly. Based on the posts here thus far, it seems that everyone understand the need for it to be pushed back to at least March 2012. And if for some reason it's pushed back a few months later as well, he should take the time he needs to deliver AMOL and a great ending to this series.

[The Fisher King]

Ditto....Do it once, do it right. It may take more time initially, but it will last much longer after.

 

Take the time, re-read the series, make a lot of notes, and if AMoL turns into 2 700 page books, I won't mind. LOL

 

My only concern is this: It appears that AMOL is looking to Brandon as much more massive of a progect than he originally anticipated and that fact (in addition to his much-deserved need for a breather) is part of his reason for pushing it back, so, what if, because of the massivness of the final book, once he is really into it, he and/or TOR/Harriet feel that a ''Split'' may be necessary to best serve the book?

 

 

 

Fish

[Sid]

My only concern is this: It appears that AMOL is looking to Brandon as much more massive of a progect than he originally anticipated and that fact (in addition to his much-deserved need for a breather) is part of his reason for pushing it back, so, what if, because of the massivness of the final book, once he is really into it, he and/or TOR/Harriet feel that a ''Split'' may be necessary to best serve the book?

 

Fish

Well, according to the blog post he doesn't anticipate it being longer than the other ones.

Current projections are for the final book, A Memory of Light, to be about the length of the other two. (Around three hundred thousand words, or eight hundred pages in hardcover.) There are some who are hoping for it to be huge, the biggest in the series, but I will write it at the length it needs to be. I've finished two books, and have done two-thirds of the outline. So that gives a good indication that the final chunk will be the same length as the other two.

The complexity of it might make it a bit longer, but I don't think it would be to the extent of splitting it.

[Crael123]

I honestly can not believe that Brandon feels the need to explain himself to us. He has already given us the greatest gift he could give. He has finished our epic. HE is the reason we werent left off with "Oh shit rand lost his hand and captured a forsaken" and "Mat married Tuon!!" and "Perrin FINALLY got his wife back!"

 

Could you imagine? NEVER having a resolution to this???

 

It is because of this guy we saw the Long Fabled Seanchan Attack Of the White Tower. This man showed us the beauty of Rand's Epiphany... The horror of Rand's Descent into terminal insanity... The Atrocity of Semirhage... and soon in about 2 weeks... He will show us Moraine. After 15 years he will give us that resolution. we should be on our knees thanking this man. He has no need to explain himself. He has given us something precious.

 

So Mr. Sanderson... we are already in your debt. take your time. Make A Memory of Light a Memory that shall never die.

[Aiyen kin Leary]

@ Crael

 

Couldn't have said it any better. Bravo Brandon, and take all the time you need.

[TheBeerPatriot]

I honestly can not believe that Brandon feels the need to explain himself to us. He has already given us the greatest gift he could give. He has finished our epic. HE is the reason we werent left off with "Oh shit rand lost his hand and captured a forsaken" and "Mat married Tuon!!" and "Perrin FINALLY got his wife back!"

 

Could you imagine? NEVER having a resolution to this???

 

It is because of this guy we saw the Long Fabled Seanchan Attack Of the White Tower. This man showed us the beauty of Rand's Epiphany... The horror of Rand's Descent into terminal insanity... The Atrocity of Semirhage... and soon in about 2 weeks... He will show us Moraine. After 15 years he will give us that resolution. we should be on our knees thanking this man. He has no need to explain himself. He has given us something precious.

 

So Mr. Sanderson... we are already in your debt. take your time. Make A Memory of Light a Memory that shall never die.

Amen. Yeah, it always grates on me when people complain about publishing delays, or when AMOL was split. Can you imagine if were were left with KOD as the final book of WOT? We're definitely blessed to have Brandon at the helm and I look forward to reading AMOL whenever it comes out.

[graendalzooescapee]

@ Crael

 

Couldn't have said it any better. Bravo Brandon, and take all the time you need.

 

Quoting went wrong. Mistborn trilogy not a bummer. Longer wait, kind of.

[A Trite Pun]

Anyone else completely bummed that WOT is ending?

[TheBeerPatriot]

Anyone else completely bummed that WOT is ending?

Well, not completely. Yes it will be sad when WOT ends. But there are a lot of great fantasy authors out there right now, and it's easy for us to forget that fact. Regardless, we have 16 books (including New Spring and the BWB) to keep revisiting when the series is done.

[KefkaPalazzo]

A Memory of Light: the book the Mayans saw coming.

 

Also: *builds monument of WIN to Crael* Couldn't have said it better. The guy has a wife, a three-year-old, and an 8-month-old. He's given us quite a bit beyond WOT. I don't know about the rest of you, but I never would have read Mistborn or Warbreaker if he hadn't taken up the WoT. He's given us new stuff to read, including a new series right on the tail of WoT.