New Brandon Sanderson WoT interview

[pat5150]

Hey guys,

Just posted the long-awaited WoT interview on the Hotlist, courtesy of Larry, Ken, Adam, and Yours Truly. :)

Brandon is very candid when he talks about expectations, reactions, The Way of Kings, and Mat.

Simply follow this link. . . ;)

Patrick

[Ran]

Cool. I take his answer to the blademaster question I posed to mean that, yes, it's in RJ notes that they're blademasters...

Which is baffling to me, that it's not until Sanderson's book that anyone ever thought to mention that little detail.

[Renasko]

Being a fan of the genre, and in particular, with the awful interviewee Raymond E. Feist, it really annoyed me to read this:

Of those 1500, only a handful mention Mat. However, he IS the one brought up the most often. Oddly, it's almost exactly divided between people saying, "I love how you did Mat, he's my favorite part of the book," and people saying, "I loved everything about the book, except Mat didn't feel right."

How many times have I heard that one before? Oh well. Perhaps it's true.

[henderson]

Very illuminating interview! Great thought provoking questions. Congratulations to all the interviewers! Job well done. Looking forward to reading TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT.

[Liadin]

It's interesting that he didn't think fans' issues with Mat were that big a deal. Although I didn't think it was bad, I've seen people bring that up a lot. But it sounds like people are telling Sanderson what they liked for the most part (1500 people emailed him about the book, and only one didn't like it!). Always good to be polite I guess.

[The Evil Hat]

Well, I know that at least some people have told him they disliked it. I was at the signing in NYC for The Gathering Storm, and the woman in front of me was there to apologize for going to another of his signings a bit prior and saying that she really disliked everything he'd done. Now she'd read more, and thought he was quite good. But really, there seems something really rude about emailing someone (or turning up at their signing) for the express purpose of telling them that their work failed. I'm fine with posting that opinion in a review/message board, but bringing it to their attention so explicitly feels confrontational and attention seeking.

[Lightning Lord]

I liked Sanderson's respectful answer to the question about how well he can stack up against RJ for these books. Not that anyone would be likely to crow "No, I'm definitely doing a better job with this material," but still nice.

Especially since, and I don't think I'm alone on this, I think Sanderson is doing a bit better, keeping the story tighter, than RJ had.

WRT the blademasters, it seems fairly unimportant to me, knowing that there are two more blademasters in Randland. I guess Lan maybe might have mentioned it at some point, of screen?

[jurble]

Man, I'm always impressed with people mentioning details like who captained what during the Aiel War, when I read TGS I didn't even remember any of the characters except Rand and Moridin.

[Renasko]

You couldn't remember Egwene, Mat, Perrin, etc? :shocked:

[Liadin]

Well, I know that at least some people have told him they disliked it. I was at the signing in NYC for The Gathering Storm, and the woman in front of me was there to apologize for going to another of his signings a bit prior and saying that she really disliked everything he'd done. Now she'd read more, and thought he was quite good. But really, there seems something really rude about emailing someone (or turning up at their signing) for the express purpose of telling them that their work failed. I'm fine with posting that opinion in a review/message board, but bringing it to their attention so explicitly feels confrontational and attention seeking.

I agree with this. I can't imagine contacting an author to tell him his work sucked unless I found it deeply offensive in some way (even then, I've never actually contacted an author about a work that was sexist, racist, etc.). But the way authors talk in their blogs, it sounds as many people will contact them to complain about specific things they didn't like in a book, and of course the Mat thing has been discussed all over the Internet for months. I'm just surprised that Sanderson sees it as a reaction only a small minority of readers have had.

[jurble]

You couldn't remember Egwene, Mat, Perrin, etc? :shocked:

I exaggerate a bit.

[Larry.]

I agree with this. I can't imagine contacting an author to tell him his work sucked unless I found it deeply offensive in some way (even then, I've never actually contacted an author about a work that was sexist, racist, etc.). But the way authors talk in their blogs, it sounds as many people will contact them to complain about specific things they didn't like in a book, and of course the Mat thing has been discussed all over the Internet for months. I'm just surprised that Sanderson sees it as a reaction only a small minority of readers have had.

I'm not. Internet fandom does not correlate well with general fandom, I've noticed and this applies to a whole host of areas, not just SF literature.

[Brandon Sanderson]

I'm not. Internet fandom does not correlate well with general fandom, I've noticed and this applies to a whole host of areas, not just SF literature.

I suppose I can spare a moment to respond here (though it took me WAY too long to remember my Westeros password.)

I think Larry has it right in his post above. It's something curious that, I think, and author needs to be aware of. There's a certain...momentum to internet fandom. People make certain their voices are heard, and certain issues take on a life of their own. Asmodean is a great example of this. I was part of a great community of fans of the books growing up, and not a single one of us ever raised this question. But when I started hanging out on the internet, I suddenly found it to be the be-all and end-all of WoT questions. By the time I’d hung out for a little while on boards and the like, I found myself thinking about the question just like everyone else. It still surprises me that I did, because I originally didn’t think it was a big deal at all.

Mat does not seem to be a concern to most general WoT readers. However, if they DO have a concern, it is more often this one than anything else. That means it’s something I should pay attention to. I am digging deeper into Mat during my work on Towers of Midnight, paying special attention. To be honest, when I was working on Mat, he wasn’t one of the characters that I was worried I’d get wrong. (Egwene and Avi were my big worries.) That might be part of the issue here.

The 1500 thing wasn’t pulled out of nowhere, by the way. I’ve got an assistant who is perhaps a little too diligent in this area. I mentioned Mat, and so he took it upon himself to sift through all of the emails during some free moments and make a checklist. 1500 or so emails. One bad one. 32 specifically mentioned they liked Mat more in TGS. 34 specifically mentioned that they found Mat the one thing that didn’t work for them in TGS.

(Though, I will note that the poster above is right. This isn’t proof that other things didn’t bother people. Indeed, I’m certain that everyone who reads the book is bothered by certain issues. This is the only one, however, that has gotten repeated mentions of this nature. That’s what I was trying to say in the interview--that the lack of predominant mention of anyone else seemed an indication to me that they were working for people, in general.)

To be honest, both the “I liked Mat more” emails and the “I didn’t like Mat” emails do concern me. In either case, Mat isn’t acting like Mat. I did bring this up to Harriet, however, as I mentioned in the interview. (She didn’t think it was an issue. That doesn’t mean I’m not still thinking about it, though.)

So, what do I do? Keep going forward. Writing on the WoT is a very odd experience for me. It can be difficult to juggle my fan perceptions of the characters with my writer perception of the characters. I will do my best. You will have my heart in it. That might not be enough, but let this console you: at least they didn’t get Goodkind to write the books. ;)

(Also, forgive me if I don't have time to come back for another swing of responses. I wish I had more time for forums. Life's kind of a little busy right now...)

[Larry.]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Brandon. When I recently re-read the series (minus TGS, since my review copy was sent overseas to a female friend so she could read it in English), I found myself reacting negatively to several things that didn't bother me as much before when I was just a "general reader" and not someone who participated on forums like this (or wotmania in its prime) or my current blog. But I also tried to keep in mind what drew others to read the series and while for me, I had changed greatly from the reader that took a great amount of enjoyment from the series, I could see as well where it would appeal strongly to several other types of readers.

And as for the issue of "getting the characters right," I kept referring back in my re-read commentaries of books 8-11 how the Rand chapters seemed to be a highlight - that perhaps was strongly influenced by the events in TGS and if I were to judge the characterizations based on the main one's portrayal, I'd have to say that it not only felt "right," but it added to my perspective of the previous novels. I suspect I'm not alone and maybe that could be a reason why several others, many of them not vocal on forums like this, enjoyed Mat's scenes as well?

Who knows? But the speculation sure is fun. And yes, it is good to know that you're trying to do your best, Brandon. Now if you would only grow out your hair a bit, put it in a ponytail, perhaps grow a beard, and practice having a "raptor gaze," you might have it made after all ;)

[Lightning Lord]

I will do my best. You will have my heart in it. That might not be enough, but let this console you: at least they didn’t get Goodkind to write the books. ;)

This is a chilling thought. :o

Thank you for responding to a response to an interview you gave. Fans getting direct communication with an author is tremendous, especially when attending signings or meet-ups is impossible.

Your assessment of internet fandom/criticism is spot on. This forum engaged me to look more critically at series I had read in the past and, for some, galvanized already-present dislike. Goodkind is a good example here: Though I'd already disliked the books, the plots, the characters, the author's philosophy, that dislike became stronger and more focused here.

Anyway, thanks again Brandon. Your best has thus far been excellent and I look forward to the next installment.

[elmis]

I found Mat to be different, but not to the extent that I'd be complaining about it - in TGS (a digression, but whenever I see that acronym I keep thinking about 30 Rock and wondering how Tracy Morgan would fit in the series) he is a minor character.

What I enjoy about Sanderson is that he takes time, not only to answer blog questions, but also to post something like this. Not many do, thanks for that.

Looking forward to the next book for sure. :)

[Renasko]

So, what do I do? Keep going forward.

We're behind you, Brandon. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule.

[pat5150]

So, what do I do? Keep going forward. Writing on the WoT is a very odd experience for me. It can be difficult to juggle my fan perceptions of the characters with my writer perception of the characters. I will do my best. You will have my heart in it. That might not be enough, but let this console you: at least they didn’t get Goodkind to write the books. ;)

Brandon,

Thanks for taking the time to drop by. :D

As for Goodkind, you should know by now that the man doesn't write fantasy. He writes about the triumph of the human spirit and important themes like that. Only hacks like you, GRRM, Erikson, Gaiman, and the rest write fantasy. . . :smoking:

Patrick

[Ran]

WRT the blademasters, it seems fairly unimportant to me, knowing that there are two more blademasters in Randland. I guess Lan maybe might have mentioned it at some point, of screen?

In a sense it's unimportant, but it's odd. The way people reacted when they thought Rand was a blademaster in EotW, for example (Bryne included), and the fact that RJ once supposed there might be no more than a 100 blademasters (not sure if he meant in the world -- including Seanchan -- or just Randland), and the way every other obvious (and some not so obvious) blademasters seem to have been mentioned, it's weird... Not so much so for Itrualde, who we've barely seen, but Bryne has appeared in, I think, at least half the novels so far, and his heron mark sword is just something no one ever bothers to remark on.

I suppose it was an oversight on RJ's part.

[Renasko]

As for Goodkind, you should know by now that the man doesn't write fantasy. He writes about the triumph of the human spirit and important themes like that. Only hacks like you, GRRM, Erikson, Gaiman, and the rest write fantasy. . . :smoking:

Hehe, in fairness Goodkind styled his own writing on RJ's so much so that he probably could've done a job of it. :P Would love to have heard what his reaction would be, if someone suggested it to him.