Instead, I'll just drop in some material I cut from my Brandon Sanderson piece for City Pages. I asked a lot of questions, got a lot of answers and it ended up being more than I really could squeeze into one post. I snipped out some questions on the writing process, figuring that was something I asked more out of my own interest than general Wheel of time stuff. Anyway, here is the missing material:
CP: As a writer, you have a style that is distinct from Robert Jordan's. How do you balance your voice with the voice readers expect to hear in their head?
BS: From the beginning of the process, I felt that to attempt an exact copy of Robert Jordan's style would be the wrong move. If I did it poorly, it would feel like an awkward parody. Yet at the same time, there are some very important reasons people love these books. Depth of setting, detailed descriptions, and complex and lengthy characterizations are all hallmarks of Mr. Jordan's style. So I set out to strike a balance; to adapt my style to the Wheel of Time without trying to write just like Robert Jordan. I needed to be more detailed in my descriptions and linger a bit longer on side characters than I did in my own work. My goal was to stay true to the themes, characters, concepts, and general stylistic choices that made these books so successful without trying to mimic the smaller details of his style. And judging by the comments I've received from readers, I believe I met my goal.
CP: On the other side, have you found that Jordan's style wants to creep into your own books?
BS: Since the Wheel of Time was an important series in my formative years, you'll find that my style already reflected his in many areas. But writing these three books and working on those issues I mentioned above has definitely had an effect on the style of my own books—for the better, I feel. If you pick up my first post-Wheel of Time novel, The Way of Kings, and compare it to my earlier novels like Mistborn, I think you'll find subtle differences, such as the detail of descriptions. These books are now a part of my writing history, so they will continue to affect my writing going forward.
CP: Were their moments where you felt lost in the writing? If so, how did you find your way out?
BS: There are moments in every book where you find yourself lost in the writing. I'm not sure what you mean by lost—if you mean that I was completely enthralled in it and lost in the world, which happens every time I write. That's basically how it goes—you dive in and come up for air three hours later and realize how much time has passed. Or if you're asking whether I was lost in what to do, that also happens in every book I've worked on. Another way to talk about that would be to call it writer's block. My experience with that is that I just write anyway. I write something that I often know will not end up in the final book, but I write my way through a tough part and sometimes it's like hacking at weeds, trying to clear them away so you can see the path that you want to travel. Then I throw those chapters away and write them again, or I write a different chapter. It's the act of doing it, the act of creating it poorly, that teaches me how to do it the right way.
CP: Now that this is out of the way, what's next for your own various worlds?
BS; My big project right now is the next Stormlight Archive book, the sequel to The Way of Kings. My goal is to finish the first draft in April, and if I hit that goal that means we can get the book ready for publication in November 2013 or so. I also have two young adult novels coming out this year—The Rithmatist in May andSteelheart in September. The Rithmatist is about the son of a cleaning lady at a magical school, who can't actually use the magic himself. When students start disappearing under mysterious circumstances, he gets involved in trying to solve the mystery. Steelheart is a post-apocalypic novel about what happens when people start developing super powers—but all the people who get powers turn out to be evil. The main character is the only person who has seen the weakness of the superpowered Epic who rules Chicago, so he seeks out a group of vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to discover the weaknesses of Epics, hunt them down, and assassinate them.
CP: As a writer, you have a style that is distinct from Robert Jordan's. How do you balance your voice with the voice readers expect to hear in their head?
BS: From the beginning of the process, I felt that to attempt an exact copy of Robert Jordan's style would be the wrong move. If I did it poorly, it would feel like an awkward parody. Yet at the same time, there are some very important reasons people love these books. Depth of setting, detailed descriptions, and complex and lengthy characterizations are all hallmarks of Mr. Jordan's style. So I set out to strike a balance; to adapt my style to the Wheel of Time without trying to write just like Robert Jordan. I needed to be more detailed in my descriptions and linger a bit longer on side characters than I did in my own work. My goal was to stay true to the themes, characters, concepts, and general stylistic choices that made these books so successful without trying to mimic the smaller details of his style. And judging by the comments I've received from readers, I believe I met my goal.
CP: On the other side, have you found that Jordan's style wants to creep into your own books?
BS: Since the Wheel of Time was an important series in my formative years, you'll find that my style already reflected his in many areas. But writing these three books and working on those issues I mentioned above has definitely had an effect on the style of my own books—for the better, I feel. If you pick up my first post-Wheel of Time novel, The Way of Kings, and compare it to my earlier novels like Mistborn, I think you'll find subtle differences, such as the detail of descriptions. These books are now a part of my writing history, so they will continue to affect my writing going forward.
CP: Were their moments where you felt lost in the writing? If so, how did you find your way out?
BS: There are moments in every book where you find yourself lost in the writing. I'm not sure what you mean by lost—if you mean that I was completely enthralled in it and lost in the world, which happens every time I write. That's basically how it goes—you dive in and come up for air three hours later and realize how much time has passed. Or if you're asking whether I was lost in what to do, that also happens in every book I've worked on. Another way to talk about that would be to call it writer's block. My experience with that is that I just write anyway. I write something that I often know will not end up in the final book, but I write my way through a tough part and sometimes it's like hacking at weeds, trying to clear them away so you can see the path that you want to travel. Then I throw those chapters away and write them again, or I write a different chapter. It's the act of doing it, the act of creating it poorly, that teaches me how to do it the right way.
CP: Now that this is out of the way, what's next for your own various worlds?
BS; My big project right now is the next Stormlight Archive book, the sequel to The Way of Kings. My goal is to finish the first draft in April, and if I hit that goal that means we can get the book ready for publication in November 2013 or so. I also have two young adult novels coming out this year—The Rithmatist in May andSteelheart in September. The Rithmatist is about the son of a cleaning lady at a magical school, who can't actually use the magic himself. When students start disappearing under mysterious circumstances, he gets involved in trying to solve the mystery. Steelheart is a post-apocalypic novel about what happens when people start developing super powers—but all the people who get powers turn out to be evil. The main character is the only person who has seen the weakness of the superpowered Epic who rules Chicago, so he seeks out a group of vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to discover the weaknesses of Epics, hunt them down, and assassinate them.
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