Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

There is an ongoing moment in the literary world (see “Cat Person” and “Bad Art Friend”) where fiction is seen as a puzzle-box for readers to decipher truths about the authors and the lit scene. The events in these stories are fictional, but if you sleuth enough, you’ll find the scandalous truths about the author and their acquaintances, showing that it’s all just veiled biography.

When I read Jason Kehe’s attempted exposé of author Brandon Sanderson in Wired Magazine, “Brandon Sanderson Is Your God,” the best (and maybe most charitable) reason I could infer for the article’s existence was that Kehe wanted to reveal the hidden-and-problematic truth of Sanderson’s popularity. Then he got mad that he couldn’t.

Kehe enters Sanderson’s world like a Royal Academy ethnographer coming to study a primitive culture, or maybe a New York columnist who has a layover in the midwest and decides to write about it. He sneers at the prose (“At the sentence level, he is no great gift to English prose”), Sanderson’s writing process (“Sanderson has said: “I detest rewriting,” “I write for endings,” and “I write to relax.” It shows. He writes, by one metric, at a sixth-grade reading level”), Utah restaurants (“at that first dinner, over flopsy Utah Chinese”), his friends and family (“Sanderson’s assistant is his wife’s sister. As I orient myself within the Cosmere House, I keep running into his nearest and dearest. His doppelgänger brother. Multiple siblings-in-law. Neighbors. People’s children”), their topics of conversation (“Sanderson gives feedback with half his brain, the other half occupied with autographing books. It’s only afterward that the real talk happens, such as Star Wars debates”), his fans (“As is typically the case at these things, there’s a general air—warmish, body-odored—of unselfconsciousness. By my rough count, some three-quarters of the attendees are men, boys, menboys, blurring together in a mass of pale, fleshy nerdery in Sanderson-appropriate graphic tees”), his religion (“it’s no secret: Mormonism is the fantasy of religion. ‘The science-fiction edition of Christianity,’ I’ve heard it called, with its angels and alternative histories, embodied gods, visions and plates made of gold”), and even actor Hugh Jackman (“When Hugh, lame Hugh, opens his mouth to sing, I can’t help it. I burst into tears”).

But these jabs aren’t the point of the article. Kehe is searching for something. A thesis. Yes, it seems to offend him that Sanderson rakes in money, has legions of fans, but isn’t a public discussion topic in the way George R. R. Martin or J.K. Rowling are. But Kehe seems to be looking for a way to tie who Brandon Sanderson is with the books he cranks out, and reveal that his fans are embracing something that’s at best misguided, and at worse, wrong by the standards of Wired’s sophistication.

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“Sanderson, when I eventually meet him in person, makes versions of these excuses, plus others, for his writerly obscurity. It’s kind of fun to talk about, until it isn’t, and that’s when I realize, in a panic, that I now have a problem. Sanderson is excited to talk about his reputation. He’s excited, really, to talk about anything. But none of his self-analysis is, for my purposes, exciting.”

-- "Brandon Sanderson Is Your God," Wired Magazine

The angle Kehe choses is Mormonism. There are legitimate criticisms arising from Mormon beliefs. Both Sanderson and science fiction author Orson Scott Card (the other “weirdo Mormon” Kehe mentions) have gone on record condemning homosexuality as sinful, as their religion instructs, and the “love the sinner, hate the sin” stance they take is no less problematic. But Kehe doesn’t even mention that. He traces the well-worn fantasy tropes of invented gods, rule-based magic, and heroic apotheosis to Mormonism, and Brandon agrees. Kehe thinks Sanderson walked into the trap with his eyes open, and concludes, “The surprise is that it was Sanderson’s ending all along, the ending of his best books. A character becomes a god, and the god beholds his planet below. If Sanderson is a writer, that is all he is doing. He is living his fantasy of godhead on Earth.”

Is that all? Even Tolkien, whom Kehe (justifiably) venerates and thinks that some Sanderson fans will eventually “graduate” to reading, wrote stories in a Christian moral frame with Biblical themes, if not so blatantly as his friend C.S. Lewis. But this is where Jason Kehe wraps up his own Hero’s Journey. It’s in the article’s title, subtitle, and concluding paragraphs. Brandon Sanderson is a Mormon, his stories share ideas with Mormonism, and he builds worlds like a self-styled God.

Big deal. 

As if world-building was a “Mormon” thing and not a “fiction” thing.

Sanderson wrote a response to the Wired article on Reddit. It was classy, perhaps over-charitable, and it upsets the apple cart on Kehe’s starting premise. Sometimes, the author isn’t the story. Sometimes, like in this case, the author is just someone doing what he loves and found a substantial audience who loves the result, even if it’s simply low entertainment and not High Art. And that’s okay.

Oathbringer, the third novel in Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, is now available!

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Dalinar Kholin’s Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together―and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past―even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.

Check out Brandon's website to see the locations of the book tour.  Hopefully there's one by you.  If not, you can purchase Oathbringer from Dragonmount’s DRM-free eBook store!

The evening began with the amusing sight of Brandon Sanderson piling various items of furniture on top of one another to create a home-made lectern for his laptop. Following a brief aside on the difference between a lectern and a podium (and how this plays into the editorial process), Brandon read from a novella he’s recently written. Apparently, he started it on the flight back to the US the last time he came to the UK. He couldn’t work on the Wheel of Time since he was awaiting the outcome of some research on the notes. He went on to explain that Robert Jordan left a pile of notes roughly half Brandon’s height that his two researchers dip into when Brandon needs an answer to one of his questions. This is normally quick, but it can take several months to come up with a fully researched answer. The reading lasted about eight minutes and seemed to be from the beginning of the novella. I won’t spoil the concept, but it’s clever and deeply silly.

The evening then moved to a Q&A. Questions and answers are paraphrased from my notes and memory, so they won’t be absolutely word-for-word, but they shouldn’t be much different from the original conversation. I’ve included all the questions, not just the Wheel-related ones.

Q: Can you give any advice to fantasy writers on creating magic systems?

A: The most important thing about a magic system is what it can’t do, not what it can. The limitations of a magic system are commonly what drives the plot in a fantasy novel. One novel I’m working on involves a magic system where individually, people don’t have enough magic to do anything major. However, you can give your magic to someone else, and if you can get around 50 people’s magic, then you can do something interesting. But giving away your magic makes your world that bit darker. In such a world, it doesn’t actually matter then what the magic does; it’s more about whether you choose to sell yours or try and get someone else’s.

The second point is to consider how the magic system interacts with the setting. How does it affect the economics, social structures, and religious make-up of the world? For example, in the Wheel of Time, the clear gender difference in the magic--men go mad and women don’t--has affected the whole pattern of gender relations in the world in ways that can seem very bizarre to us. It’s also important to give magic a visual or sensory component. It’s tempting to have all the magic played out in the minds of the mages, but this can be boring to read.

Q: How does compounding work in Mistborn?

A: I can explain this better in person because I know things that the characters in the book don’t. So, they haven’t worked a lot of this out. All the magic systems in my work are linked because the books all take place in the same universe. In Elantris, magic works by drawing symbols in the air. What actually happens is that when they draw a symbol, energy passes through it from another place (which is my get-out for the laws of thermodynamics) and the effect of that energy is moderated by the symbol. In one case it may become light, in another it may become fire. In Mistborn, the metals have a similar effect. The magic is not coming from the metal (even if some characters think it is). It is being drawn from the same place and moderated by the metal.

In the case of Feruchemy, no energy is being drawn from this other place. So, you spend a week sick and store up the ability to heal. It’s a balanced system, basically obeying the laws of thermodynamics. So, while it’s not real, it’s still rational.

In compounding, when you have the power of both Allomancy and Feruchemy, you draw power from the other place through the metal and it recognizes the power that is already stored--"Oh, this is healing, I know how to do that”--and so you get the power of Feruchemy but boosted by energy from the other place. This is how the Lord Ruler achieved immortality.

Q (my question): In Towers of Midnight in Egwene’s confrontation with Mesaana, how was Egwene able to override the a’dam when Moghedien had so spectacularly failed to do so earlier?

A: Brandon accused me of being a Theorylander then thought for a bit. He explained that, while the answer might not give anything away, he was loath to go into detail in case it could be used to work out other things yet to come. So, regretfully, he gave it a RAFO.

Q: Having worked on Robert Jordan’s world, is there any other world you would like to write for?

A: When I was 18, I would have said David Eddings, but that’s not true now. He’s wonderful at the right age, but I no longer want to write in his world. I would have said Star Wars but the prequels left a bit of a sour taste. If George Lucas said to me, "Do you want to re-write those prequels for me?" I’d definitely say yes, but that’s not going to happen!

Q: Is there anything earlier in the Wheel of Time that you would want to change?

A: No. There are things I would have done differently if it were mine, but that’s not the same thing. I don’t approach the Wheel of Time as wanting to fix it. Instead, I think about how I can do it justice. There are clear differences in some areas and I have to deal with that. For example, Robert Jordan's and my action sequences are very different. That’s because he had been in Vietnam and had actually been shot at, whereas all my experience comes from action movies. Also, I treat magic a little differently, so sometimes that carries over into the text.

Q: Your writing style in the Wheel of Time is very close to Robert Jordan's but is much less so in your other books. Are you frustrated by having to write in Jordan's style?

A: Not at all. But I have to change some things as I go to make it work my way. I have complete creative freedom, so I don’t find it constraining. I write what I need and then Harriet checks it. If I can get it past her then I know it’s right. Besides, constraint can be really useful for a writer as it fuels creativity. If you have a dry patch (as all writers do) then a really odd writing task, like having to write about sentient vegetables taking over the world, can push you in new directions. So, I have been creative in the Wheel of Time and I have put some audacious things in there. But Robert Jordan was already an audacious author. For example, cleansing the Taint before the end of the series was an audacious piece of writing. So, I have freedom, but if something is in the notes, we always try to include it. The only time we don’t is if he wrote about something that happens to a character in one part of the notes, then contradicted it elsewhere. In that case, we have to make a decision. Also, sometimes the notes say a character will do something, but I can find no way to get them where they are supposed to be to do it. In that case, we sometimes have another character do it instead, but I can talk more about then when A Memory of Light is out.

Q: A lot of your work deals with stereotypes. Can you tell us more about that?

A: It’s true, but I always make sure that it isn’t just about the stereotype. It’s a fun thing to challenge some of the classic fantasy models, but that shouldn’t take over the writing as that can really undermine a writer. Piers Anthony was an example where the puns were fun but eventually came to undermine the series. I like having non-stereotypical professions and I enjoyed challenging age perceptions in Way of Kings. Having a romance between a man in his 50s and a woman in her late 40s is unusual in fantasy, where it’s all about the young man falling in love.

Q: Does the Oath Rod limit Aes Sedai age by using their life force to power the Oaths?

A: I’m 85% sure on this and you’ll have to ask Maria for confirmation, but no, the effect is not caused by draining the Aes Sedai’s life force. I’m not going to tell you what is causing the effect.

Q: Were Ruin and Preservation two shards or one?

A: They were two shards. Harmony is considered a shard, although it’s really two, in the same way that a king of two countries would still be considered a king.

Q: Do you miss characters when you “write them out”?

A: Nice euphemism. I miss writing for them but it doesn’t shock me because I generally planned it that way, so I have time to prepare. I don’t see myself as killing them. Instead, I allow them to take risks and pay the price for those risks. Mostly, I know well in advance what will happen to a character. Just occasionally, though, the plot will suddenly take me to the point when something has to happen, then I have to go back and re-write the outline. I don’t sit there and think, “Now who won’t they expect me to kill," although I suspect some other authors might do that. (General laughter ensued at that point.)

That was the end of the Q&A. It was followed by a signing in which people got to ask their own questions. Obviously, I didn’t hear all the answers, so I only have the two I asked.

Q: You’ve said previously that when you were a young man you identified with Rand over the other boys, but now you’re older, you identify more with the older characters. Do you think when you are 80 you will identify with Cadsuane?

A: Maybe with Thom Merrilin. I think I would need to be the full 300 to completely identify with Cadsuane.

Q: Why did Grady and Neald stop tying off gateways?

A: They found that it didn’t work as well as they originally thought. Tied-off gateways behaved in strange ways; they were inefficient, ineffective, and unpredictable. There was also a considerable continuing cost to maintaining even a tied-off gateway. I can’t remember exactly when the change happened, but I think it was Jordan who made it. You can armchair this and see that he had to create a reason why they didn’t just tie off gateways all the time. If they could do that, then they would just have gateways everywhere and that would be that. So, he had to have an in-book reason to explain an out-of-book issue.

What started as a book to clear his mind has become a greatly anticipated novel. As the continuation of Brandon Sanderson's widely popular Mistborn trilogy, his The Alloy of Law will hopefully prove to be just as good a read. For those of you who have awaited the 8th of November as the release date for The Alloy of Law, this is the moment when you can let out a squeal of joy and excitement, because the day has finally arrived.

Before you start reading, you may want to check out this awesome trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbG-EJdxZW4

Those of you who might be skeptical about the book or don't know much about it have come to the right place to get information. The first place you should look for information is Tor.com. Watch this space on Tor in the next week or two for a forthcoming review of the book and for buzz from fans. You can also read sample chapters of the book on Tor. Another reputable review of the book can be found here, and we will be adding more review links throughout the next couple of weeks as they are posted elsewhere.

If you have the book and would love to get it signed by the author himself, you can go check out Brandon Sanderson's book signing tour schedule. And if you're a fan looking for fellow enthusiasts, I suggest you have a look at 17th Shard and Stormblessed. They are both jam-packed with great people and fun happenings. Last, but definitely not least, Dragonmount has worked out a deal with Macmillan Audio, and we are going to provide three copies of this audiobook for give-away prizes. What do you need to do to win one of these, you may ask? Well, just post a comment to this article between November 8th and November 22nd, and you will have been entered into the random drawing! Sadly, it's US addresses only.

Happy Reading!

Brandon Sanderson recently published his schedule for the upcoming San Diego Comic Con. SDCC is one of the largest pop culture conventions in the world, with panels about the latest in movies, TV shows, games, books and yes, even comic books. If you are attending, here's where you can find Brandon.

WEDNESDAY, July 20th, Preview Night:

Brandon may stop by the Tor booth, #2707, sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

THURSDAY, July 21st:

12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Room 6A

"Putting the 'Epic' in Epic Fantasy: Writing to Excite!" Panel

Panelists: George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Christopher Paolini, Peter Orullian, K.J. Taylor, & Kevin J. Anderson. Moderated by Michael Spradlin.

1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., official autographing area

Post-panel signing hosted by Mysterious Galaxy.

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tor booth #2707

Brandon Sanderson signing. Tor will be giving away 48 copies of the MISTBORN paperback and five ARCs of the new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW.

Remember, Brandon Sanderson will also be attending WorldCon next month in Reno, Nevada. So if you miss him at SDCC, you can still see him there.

While we normally focus on Wheel of Time news, we did want to bring to everyone's attention a few items of interest concerning Brandon Sanderson's other books, as well as other fun things happening.

First up, Brandon Sanderson recently won a Gemmel award for his novel The Way of Kings, which was published last year. Towers of Midnight was also nominated. Brandon talks about it on his blog. Incidentally, instead of a trophy, he will be receiving an engraved battle axe. Pics or it didn't happen.

Speaking of awards, Writing Excuses, the podcast Brandon does with several other fantastic writers was recently nominated for a Hugo award. This is the second time a podcast has been nominated for this prestigious award. The Hugos will be awarded at this year's WorldCon, nicknamed "Renovation", which will be held in Reno, Nevada. For information about attending WorldCon or how you can vote on the Hugos, please see their website.

WorldCon will also have at least one Wheel of Time panel this year. Blogger Linda Taglieri and Jennifer Liang (That's me!) are confirmed Program Participants, along with Brandon and other writers, artists and fans. If you are planning to attend, make sure to stop by our forums and let us know.

In other Sanderson news, his new release Mistborn:" rel="external nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Alloy-Law-Mistborn-Novel/dp/0765330423?ie=UTF8&tag=norths0b-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Mistborn: The Alloy of Lawhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=dragonmount&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765330423" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /> is due this fall. If you've been following Brandon on Twitter, you know this book was originally a short story he was toying with while taking a break between Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light. The story grew a bit bigger than he expected and is now being released as a short novel. The book is set about 300 years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy and follows new characters. Tor is releasing sample chapters on Tor.com so if you're curious, you can check it out.

Speaking of conventions, Dragon*Con is coming up! This is the eleventh year of Wheel of Time programming at this very large, annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia the first weekend of September. Maria Simons from Team Jordan is attending, as well as blogger Linda Taglieri and a host of other fan panelists. You can find out more about Wheel of Time programming at Dragon*Con here. If you are planning to attend, make sure you post about it in our forums.

Finally, NPR is doing a poll to determine what the best science fiction or fantasy novels are. You can nominate up to five books or series. It's all just for fun, but clearly if you are at Dragonmount, you probably think the Wheel of Time is pretty good. So do us a favor and take a moment to register and nominate your favorite series.

Over the weekend, the 2011 Hugo nominations were announced. The Hugos are considered the highest honor in fantasy and science fiction writing and fandom. While Towers of Midnight wasn't nominated in the "Best Novel" category this year, there is a nomination of interest to Wheel of Time fans.

Brandon Sanderson's podcast, Writing Excuses, (with writers Dan Wells and Howard Tayler also hosting) was nominated for a Hugo in the "Best Related Work" category. This is the first time a podcast has been nominated in this category, and the second podcast to be recognized by the World Science Fiction Society in any category. Also of interest, Moshe Feder, Sanderson's editor for his solo novels, was nominated this year for "Best Editor-Long Form"

If you're interested in voting on the Hugos this year, you will need to be a registered member of this year's WorldCon held in Reno, Nevada Aug. 17-21. If you are unable to attend, WorldCon offers Supporting Memberships that allow you to vote without attending the convention. Wheel of Time fans Linda Taglieri and Jennifer Liang are confirmed Program Participants for the convention. Brandon Sanderson will also be attending, along with hundreds of other authors, editors and fans.

Hey guys, Luckers here. With the assistance of the amazing Peter Ahlstrom, I was able to conduct an interview with Brandon Sanderson. Thanks go also to Maria, who put me in touch with them. Enjoy!

James - When you first started work on the Wheel of Time what was the first thing you looked up in the notes/material?

Brandon - Asmodean’s killer. After that, I read the ending.

James - Did the notes squash/support any of your theories/ideas of where the books were going? Are you able to tell us what or how?

Brandon - Yes. It did both. Some things were supported, some things were squashed, and some things I just didn’t have any personal theories on. I can’t speak of many of them. I’m trying to remember which ones were in THE GATHERING STORM that I can talk about. I did think that there was a good chance--or at least I hoped and theorized--that Elaida would end up as a damane. And I was very happy to see that. I was taken completely by surprise by the Verin revelation. Most of the things that were squashed happen in the next two books, so I can’t really talk about them. And it’s very hard to look back and say, “What were my theories, and what did I think about things?” because it’s been three years now since I first looked at the notes and I already have all of that in my head.

Oh, I can tell you one thing that was squashed. To be perfectly honest, I’d always secretly suspected that Asmodean was still around, and that was totally squashed. So there you go. Part of me always thought, “Oh, Robert Jordan isn’t telling us because Asmodean is around; he’s doing something,” but no, he’s just dead. He’s totally dead. But you know, I think Robert Jordan had even confirmed that and I hadn’t seen the interviews until after I started working on the series. I’m pretty sure that somewhere out there is a Robert Jordan confirmation, a “He’s toast” comment.

James - With the Way of Kings out, I think it’s safe to say your other works are more than holding their own, but were you concerned in the early days about the Wheel overshadowing your other stories? Are you happy with the Wheel Fandom’s response to your other writing?

Brandon - Yes, to the last question. I am happy with the response. Though I do want to make the caveat that in my mind, the Wheel of Time fandom is not my fandom. I don’t mean that pejoratively. I mean that I don’t have any assumption that people who read the Wheel of Time books are going to like or even read my own work. I’m flattered when they give my books a chance, but people have asked me this question a lot and I do think that over the long haul there’s a pretty good chance that I’m going to stay overshadowed by the Wheel of Time. And that’s not a bad thing. In the case of something like this series--which has been a monumental influence, has sold so many copies, and is just such a dominant factor in the genre--I don’t think you can help but be overshadowed by it a bit. But I knew that when I took the project on in the first place. Being a footnote to the Wheel of Time is still a position of great honor. It’s been an honor to be involved.

I write my own books. I enjoy writing them. It’s what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, and I’m flattered that they’ve had the success that they have, and that people enjoy them. I don’t sit up nights thinking, “Am I only going to be known as the guy who finished the Wheel of Time?” People are reading my stories, and beyond that I get to be a writer for a living. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do. In all of those regards I’m insanely lucky. You’ve got to remember that I spent years and years and years writing books without anyone reading them other than my close friends. I wrote thirteen novels that way, and was completely satisfied. Sure, I wanted to get published, but it was telling the stories that was the most satisfying part. And if I had continued to do only that, then I still would have been completely satisfied. So anything beyond that is icing on the cake.

James - How difficult has weaving Towers of Midnight around the Gathering Storm been? Is there a large amount of interconnectivity? Do we cross back on any events in tGS?

Brandon - Yes, we do cross back on events in THE GATHERING STORM. The trickiest part was timeline. Robert Jordan had this innate ability to juggle timelines. This is not something he relied on Maria, Alan, or Harriet for; it was something he did on his own, just part of the genius of his brain. All of us are pretty new at this. I mean, I wrote MISTBORN chronologically. There wasn’t any time juggling. There was time juggling to do in ELANTRIS, but it was across the course of a single novel. It didn’t get as extensive. For the Wheel of Time, timeline things that Robert Jordan kept in his head are quite incredible, and I have to admit that I’m not as good at it as he was. Perhaps someday I will be able to get to that level, but for now I’m simply not. So working with the timeline has taken a lot of effort. I think we’ve got it so it all worked out. It took a lot of help. Maria, Alan, and others all worked together with me to get things arranged--some of our beta readers were extremely helpful in this--but there is a lot of juggling back and forth. You will see some events from different perspectives. It is not a complete jump back like book ten was. I would say that the book is mostly new material with a few glances at other things that are happening, but we’re moving forward; I’d say 60% of the book is taking place past what happened in THE GATHERING STORM. And then there’s one timeline in particular where we jump back and catch up--that’s Perrin’s timeline. But it was really challenging.

James - You spoke during the signing tour of perhaps having some material of Pevara being awesome on your website—is that still on the table? If it is, would it be pre- or post-Towers of Midnight?

Brandon - That suggestion came about because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fit it in. In the end I decided to get three or four chapters of it into TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. So it is there. I haven’t yet decided whether the rest of that story will happen on screen in A MEMORY OF LIGHT or whether it will have to happen off screen. The outline is all there, but I’m still not sure what I’ll have time for and what will work with the pacing.

Posting something on my website is not something that I could just do offhandedly. If I were going to do it it would take a lot of talking to Harriet and Tor and getting permission. So that was really only a longshot contingency plan. Will it happen? I don’t know. We’ll have to see what gets into A MEMORY OF LIGHT. I’m pleased with the parts I was able to fit into TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, which means there’s a good chance I’ll be able to fit the rest into A MEMORY OF LIGHT.

James - I found Veins of Gold and Fount of Power to be two of the most epic and intense climaxes in the series. In your opinion are the two climaxes of Towers of Midnight similarly epic?

Brandon - The climaxes in the book are epic. One thing you have to remember in TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT is that there is not as narrow a focus as there was in THE GATHERING STORM. So we’re dealing with more characters in many different places, which means that instead of as in the previous book where we could dedicate a good third of the pages directly to Rand--maybe even more--and build to one majestic, powerful climax, I’m not doing that as much in this book. Instead of twenty chapters from one character, you’ll get ten, and building to each climax will narratively depend on your love for the characters and your experience from the previous books. I think there are some wonderful climaxes that are a long time in coming. Are they on the level of THE GATHERING STORM? I’m really going to have to let people decide that for themselves.

Defining what makes something epic is so hard even for an epic fantasy writer. One definition of epic can be what we just talked about--a big, massive build across a huge number of chapters to something enormously earth-shattering. But you can also look at epic as a dozen different characters seen across a dozen different plots building toward one event--each of their pieces is smaller, yet builds to something larger. Those are both good definitions. TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT is more like the latter definition. THE GATHERING STORM is more like the former definition.

James - I thought Rand’s arc in tGS was brilliant—starting to get better then—bang! Cuendillar Rand, and finally Veins of Gold. Was it difficult to write? Can you give us some insight into how you stayed in the mind of a madman?

Brandon - It was difficult to write. I’ve said before that I view a lot of these characters as my high school friends, people I grew up with. Facilitating Rand going through these extremely painful and sometimes revelatory moments was not easy emotionally, and yet there’s an excitement and a power to writing emotional scenes where things are coming together. So I would say it’s actually more difficult to write a character like Gawyn, who’s frustrated and struggling with not knowing what he’s doing, than someone like Rand who always has a direction--even if that direction is straight down, as it was in places. He’s always moving. So because of that, Rand was in many ways easier to write than other characters were. Yet at the same time it was painful to write. That doesn’t really answer your question, but maybe it does give some insight, as you asked.

James - Also, did Agelmar give Hurin a hug when he got back from meeting Rand?

Brandon - Um, I don’t know if Shienarans are really hugging types. But Hurin seems like he might be the hugging type, so maybe.

[Luckers comment: I can’t actually believe he answered this :D]

James - Following that is probably a good time to ask: Were you scared by the rabid nature of the fans? We do be crazy.

Brandon - I was very scared. Heh heh. For one thing, I was really scared that I would pronounce things wrong and get raked over the coals for that. I also knew how passionate people are about this--and they have a right to be--so I feared I would be vilified for my faults. Because I do have faults. I’ve been very up-front with people that I don’t consider myself as good a writer as Robert Jordan, particularly at the height of his writing abilities working on these books. And so that was a real concern for me. I talked about that last year on tour quite a bit, which anyone who saw my presentation about the books would remember. Screwing this up would mean hatred on huge levels from a large number of people. So I just took that as extra motivation to not screw it up. Or at least to screw it up less than any other person could have, since Robert Jordan was no longer here to do it right.

James - What’s the funniest/oddest thing a fan has ever suggested to you, or asked you about the series?

Brandon - There was a fan who came up to me completely seriously and said, “I know the secret. Don’t worry. I know it’s going to happen. I won’t tell people. I just want you to know that I know. I know that Mat is actually the Dragon Reborn and not Rand. I know this is going to come out in one of the next books, and everyone else will be surprised, but it’s all laid out right there, and here are the facts of why Mat is the Dragon Reborn.” And I blinked and said, “Oh, well, that’s an interesting hypothesis,” and then thought, I hope you’re not terribly disappointed when you find out you’ve been wrong all these years.

James - Cadsuane seems more than any other to be a character people either love or hate to great degrees, and I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on her as a character, and her role in the story?

Brandon - The fact that people are so passionate about her means that Robert Jordan wrote her the right way.

James - Will Verin face punishment from the Dark One for what she did? (Also, wow for that scene. Just plain flat out wow!)

Brandon - Well, I can’t claim very much credit for that scene.

Will Verin face punishment from the Dark One? It will all depend on whether he can get his mitts on her or not.

James - What is your favourite aspect of the series?

Brandon - As I’ve read each book at different times in my life, my answer to this has changed significantly. So I guess that as I think about it now, my favorite aspect would be how the books change and grow with you as you age. I’ve said before that many of the other books I started reading as a teenager just didn’t age as well. And that’s okay. They were brilliant for the time when I read them, and they were written for who I was when I read them. The fact that they have a much narrower focus does not mean that they are bad books. But as I grew up and became more proficient at understanding stories, and my tastes in stories changed, the Wheel of Time changed with me. The fact that the Wheel of Time has such a breadth and depth to it, that it can work for so many different people in so many different walks of life, is a great monument to Robert Jordan’s ability to write.

James - What is your favourite plot-line, and why?

Brandon - It’s hard to define what a plotline is. I’ve said before that my favorite little chunk in the series is when Rand went into Rhuidean, because I love the nonlinear storytelling, the weaving of past and present, the ability to tell us who current people are by showing their ancestors. I think it’s just a beautiful, wonderful sequence. But I don’t know if that counts as a plotline.

Maybe Perrin’s defense of the Two Rivers would be my favorite plotline in the series, because it has really great underdog story to it. At that point in the series, Rand is moving mountains, so to speak, and changing the world, yet this plotline focuses narrowly on real people--everyday people--and their struggles and how they’re fighting and changing. So I really enjoy that one.

James - Got any fun anecdotes from behind the scenes of Team Jordan for us?

Brandon - Other than Butt Trollocs? <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BrandonSandrson/status/21040716125">http://twitter.com/BrandonSandrson/status/21040716125</a>

I don’t know. They’re fun people. Alan makes really really bad puns a lot of the time, which is quite amusing. Watching their commentary on the drafts as we’re passing them back and forth (and they’re writing out their thoughts and responding to each other’s thoughts) can be a hoot and can be frustrating at the same time.

James - Now. Asmodean. I require you answer this question fully and truthfully without any Aes Sedai skittering about. Did Vin kill him?

Brandon - Ha ha ha ha! No, it was not Vin. Now Hoid on the other hand... (No, I’m just joking.)

Thanks Brandon for doing this, and Peter and Maria for helping it to happen. Much appreciated!