M.J. Whitehead

I’ve just finished reading The Gathering Storm. (Book 12 of The Wheel of Time, for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of getting hooked on the series) I’m now going to rant about how I feel about how the book was written, having finished reading.

Firstly: Oh my god, what a great read. Without getting into spoilers, the plotline for Rand, and Egwene’s struggle, and finding out exactly what was going on with Verin Sedai are simply full of win. The plotting here is so spot-on that more and more I can’t understand the perspective of fans who were, presented with preview chapters, trying to nitpick what was written by Sanderson and what by Jordan. It might help that I was familiar with and liked both authors before coming to this book, but there is simply too much right here to justify anyone doubting that Brandon can get this project over the finish line. Hopefully everyone who liked the series has given him a chance to prove that.

Secondly: Brandon stayed true to and made good on his promise to make this a Wheel of Time book, but not try to pretend to be Jordan. There were short chapters here that Jordan would never have published- he favoured long threadlike chapters that he wove together slowly. There are names that don’t quite sound the same as others in the Wheel of Time universe. But nothing that doesn’t work. There is nothing that makes this a bad story. Every time I felt I was going to be thrown out of the story because events had twisted away from my expectations, Brandon recovered me by showing me that it was just good tension and plotting that left me guessing. I was feeling as if I was about to be thrown out of the story because the events were fulfilling promises in unexpected ways, which is exactly what any author worth their salt would do- it’s just that the twists are getting much bigger now that the series is wrapping up, so the tension was good enough that it had me questioning if what I was guessing would even happen. And of course, in those cases, it didn’t.

The rules that Wheel of Time characters follow- that revelations are dramatic, that secrets are important, that the genders feel mutually incomprehensible to each other, that earning trust is hard- it’s all still there. Nobody acts wrong. All the characters have their same motivations, and the new ones we discover make perfect sense. There were even things that had eluded me in previous novels that I picked up in this book, because Sanderson got into the character’s heads a bit more, rather than telegraphing their feelings with body language or reactionary thoughts, and leaving the motivations behind them undescribed. The advantage of being near the end of the series! It all builds properly on everything that came before it, and it fits so deliciously in. There is no “McDune” problem here, not that I had expected to find one, but I was surprised to find that I didn’t have time to worry once I had a chance to sit down with the book. I was too busy wanting to get back at the next chapter when I needed to break from reading.

There are a few parts where you can tell we’re going at what for Jordan would have been breakneck pace. A lot more seems to happen “off-camera” than generally happened in the middle of the series, (There was certainly a lot of off-camera action at the beginning, however. This is still within the bounds of how The Wheel Of Time was written) and, as earlier, the chapter structure seems a little bit different from other Wheel of Time books. That’s as much as I really want to say that skirts comparing Jordan and Sanderson; I’m not going to spoil the experience of the rest of this series by trying to figure out in much detail what’s changed since Knife of Dreams, and the things I’ve mentioned are small changes of focus that any author could choose to make during their own series. The awesome lingering reminders of the Mat/Tuon relationship and the fast pacing are both still there from Knife of Dreams, which frankly, would have been enough for me on its own.

The Aes Sedai acted like Aes Sedai. Perrin was appropriately torn. Mat was a rascal with a heart of gold. And that’s all you’re getting without spoilers. There was, however, a small amount of Brandon’s tendency to do a lot in his endings, but this wasn’t the usual traffic jam that he wields at the end of a book, tying everything up neatly in parallel. There was still the usual serene close of Wheel of Time books, with the usual relaxed room to ponder just exactly what is coming next.

The novel excited me. I didn’t want to put it down. (I managed, however, when I had to get off the bus. Somehow.) If you were still on the fence, I simply want to say this: The pattern is in good hands. Brandon’s earned the trust that Harriet put in him, and then some.

Just a quick post to say that I’ve gone through and done the short outline for all of the major plot points in Dreamspace. The story structure is sorted out, as are the basic scenes. I may need to outline a side-story or an extra scene or two for character development and setting, but the plot is all in there in something like 15 chapters. (Many of these chapters are composed of three or four separate scenes, as scene breaks are just too frequent to translate into chapter breaks for me)

I’m also about 10% through my first “skeleton” draft where I put all the basics in place. I do this while outlining because it helps me discover where the plot needs to go. Once I’m through the skeleton draft I’ll be working on the first version I post online- so we’re 10% there already. In an earlier post I mentioned I’d start posting drafts after I outlined- this skeleton draft I’m talking about is what I was referring to as the outline, and you wouldn’t really want to read it, as it’s more designed to get things out of my head and on to paper than it is to entertain. I should probably have been more specific, but as people say in German: “so ist das Leben”. (I’m too lazy to type the french)

Just a note to people reading the blog or following me on twitter-

I’m writing enough that I’m now starting to get heavily opinionated on writing¹, and I’m starting to take this out on the comments threads for Writing Excuses. (If you don’t listen to Writing Excuses yet and you write or script anything, you need to start. Not only do I think it’s awesome, I’ve followed it since before it had seasons, and it also won a parsec award for being a sock-rocking podcast.)

If you’re interested in hearing my opinions on how I write or how other people should write, check out the comment threads with me. The latest is on writing emotions and managing your emotions as a writer.

¹That is, I’m writing enough that I’d actually like to get published some day. I’m still not writing as much as I’d need to to make a living from my writing, which is something I’m working on.

Just a note: Once I’ve finished outlining my current project, Dreamspace, I’m going to start posting drafts online as I finish the first draft for each chapter. (That is, you’ll get the drafts in chronological order, even if I don’t write them that way)

As per earlier posts, I’m promising to retain the e-book rights to Dreamspace so I can continue to make it available for free online.

I’m currently something like 33-50% through the outline, and have passed the 10,000 word mark. I’m expecting this book to have many drafts before I consider it finished, so it’s initial release to the web will be in a decidedly “alpha” format.

Oh, and as a final thought for those interested in the setting: Dreamspace is set in a roughly Victorian society in terms of social progress and technology, features feudalistic politics, “school of magic” themes, introduces three magic systems, and features gunpowder in the form of slow-loading rifles and cannons. Those of you who like swords and sorcery only and dislike gunpowder have been appropriately warned!