My Interview With Harriet

[Luckers]

Hey guys, Harriet was kind enough to do an interview with me recently. Which was, you know, brilliant. Also thanks heaps to Maria Simons whose facilitated it, and has been so patient with me.

Hope you guys enjoy.


James: Ok, I suppose I’ll start on the job. How did you come to edit for Jim? Did it just fall into place due to your respective jobs, or was it something you had to discuss first?

Harriet: It fell into place as follows: When we met I was editing my own imprint, and I gave him his first publishing contract. It was for the Fallon historical novels: The Fallon Blood, The Fallon Pride, and The Fallon Legacy. We worked on the Fallon Blood all the way through publication before we ever went on a date – so the editor/writer relationship is the older one. We simply found that we worked very well together.


James: Could you explain for the fans the sort of things you did for the books in your role as editor? How much has that changed or expanded since Jim’s passing?

Harriet: By the last of the Wheel of Time books, my role was primarily that of wife: keeping him fed and cared for – because after 20 plus years I had taught him everything I knew about storytelling and prose, and he had really become the wonderful writer that he was.

Working with Brandon is wonderful, because he is a grand human being as well as a very good writer. My role has expanded a lot – Brandon was amused that I made a cut in The Eye of the World that was exactly the kind of cut I made in The Gathering Storm – and I know these characters very well. They are, after all, a lot like my grandchildren.

Maria Simons, who has worked with Jim and me for fifteen years, is absolutely indispensable in the creation of these last books. Her memory is much better than mine – and she can often say what chapter of what book includes a particular scene. I cannot. She also has a tremendous memory for the minutiae of how the Power works, and lots of other stuff. And with Maria, Alan Romanczuk is also indispensable. He is a military veteran, which helps a lot with military stuff Brandon is not as familiar with as Jim was, and in general with all the other stuff.

I am now a member of team Jordan, as far as the editing goes.


James: Could you give us an insight into Jim’s writing process? He was clearly quite methodical in his development, but how did he go about it? Were you involved much outside of your role as editor?

Harriet: I remember that when he was beginning THE GREAT HUNT, we spent a lunchtime discussing how the child of a Maiden of the Spear would be raised. Consider how far ahead that meant he was thinking! Beyond that, he had a magpie approach to the daily news – I was reading one of his Conans the other day, and was struck by how much it reflects the events in Afghanistan of that time


James: When Jim began working on the Eye of the World did you know it was going to become such a corner stone in modern fantasy? Did Jim?

Harriet: I can’t speak for him; I do know I thought it was absolutely wonderful.


James: Do you ever read the series for fun?

Harriet: Not at the moment. I did read three of his Conans this summer.


James: On to the books themselves, I was wondering... knowing Jim as well as you did, were there any plot points or developments in the series in which he truly surprised you? If so could you elaborate on one?

Harriet: Well, in editing EYE OF THE WORLD, I asked him something about what would happen once they got to Tar Valon, and he said, “They don’t get there in this book, Harriet.” He surprised (and delighted) me all the time.


James: And were there such surprises (to you) in the layout of the next two books?

Harriet: Yes there were. RAFO.


James: What is your favourite aspect of the series?

Harriet: The people. And the writing.


James: What is your favourite character, and why?

Harriet: Perrin reminds me of Jim, for as you probably know he was a big man, with 54 inch shoulders. Mat reminds me of Jim, because he is such a delightful rascal. Rand reminds me of Jim because he is a world changer.

I love them all. I also love Hurin, because he reminds me of Jim’s father; Basel Gill, because he keeps a good inn, Thom Merrilin because he is a wonderful storyteller-- well, you get the idea. There are about 2,000 named characters, and I love them all. Even Mordeth.


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

Harriet: That’s like asking which child is my favorite!


James:  Are there any characters you really dislike?

Harriet: Well, the villains of darkest dye, of course, but actually (see above) I love them too.


James: I think one of Jim’s strongest talents was the writing of strong women, and arguably the strongest is Cadsuane—and she is also the character that fans seem to either love or hate to great degrees. I’m curious as to your thoughts about her, and her role in the story.

Harriet: Cadsuane has an important role, for sure; see answer to #10. [Luckers edit: question #10 is the one directly above]

James: Ok, now the obvious question raises itself. Asmodean. What led to him severing his mother? (Sorry, I was obliged to mention Asmodean, but refuse to pester you with the Asmotastrophy).

Harriet: Thank you.


James:  Can you give us any indications about the contents of the Encyclopaedia? I’m speaking in terms of the topics it will cover, not the specifics.

Harriet: Would it be too flippant to say, It will be encyclopedic?


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

Harriet: It is fun – occasionally exhausting – I guess I don’t, not really.


James: What’s the weirdest thing a fan has asked (or suggested to) you about the series?

Harriet: A question this summer: Where did Jim get his hat? The one with the snakeskin band, I assume he meant – and you will love the answer. We were in Billings Montana, and there was a custom hatter named Rand’s Custom Hatters. I kid you not.


James:  I have this weird thing about random historical tidbits from the series (like the poisonous peaches, or the six-toed Two Rivers cats) so I was wondering if you have encountered anything like that which you could tell us? Or could you tell us why Peaches are now so poisonous?

Harriet: Peach PITS are poisonous here and now. They’re full of – strychnine? Arsenic? I’ve forgotten which, but they really are bad. The flesh is not. You could look it up. But after one encounter with peach pits, a person would decide the whole thing was poison. This is on a par with the eighteenth century belief that tomatoes were poisonous – some people have an allergic reaction to them.

And in some locations 6-toed cats are common.


Thanks again Harriet!

[Kathana Trevalaer]

This is excellent! I always love hearing from Harriet.

[Luckers]

She's a classy lady, hey.

Although once again the powers that be crush my theories. And I was so sure Peaches could secretly channel saidin and be the ones to save the world from the Dark One. *Sigh*.

(Psst. Kath. I didn't Tweet that theory at you. Aren't you proud?)

[Kathana Trevalaer]

"Drive Jennifer crazy on Twitter with your half baked theory nonsense" was last week. You missed it.

[bobothebarbarian]

wow I just finished reading The Further Chronicles of Conan myself. I wonder if Harriet had read the same ones? It's funny the first book that I actually wanted to read as a kid was a Conan book, then in 1990 I found wheel and have loved it ever since. it wasn't until about a year ago that i realized that first ever book the one that made me love reading was written by the great Mr. Jordan. so when my oldest son had trouble making his AR goal in 5th grade i gave him a copy of eye of the world and told him the first few chapters are kind of slow but you will love it. so it took him about a month to read the first 5 or 6 chapters and about a week to read the rest by the end of 6th grade he had earned over 500 AR points that year. He was the forth kid to reach 500 points in the schools 50 year history and now has his name up in the library forever. So I just want to thank you Harriet and let you know how much your Husband changed lives and how much he will always mean to me and my son!  

P.S. this is to Brandon my youngest son is nine and he just finished Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians and he loved it and wants to read more for the first time. So you are certainly   Following in Mr. Jordan's foot steps and thanks for all your hard work finishing my beloved wheel    

[Duskfire]

Yeah she seems awesome, as did her husband. being in Australia I never got to meet any of them so I never got the chance to see for myself what everyone raves on about. Hopefully Sanderson finds his way out here sometime

[Luckers]

I'm an Aussie too Duskfire. Oceans suck.

[ROB_88]

question: do you do this in person face to face or via email?

[Luckers]

question: do you do this in person face to face or via email?

Answer:

I'm an Aussie. Oceans suck.

Email.

[Barid Bel Medar]

whoo aussie, however i agree oceans do indeed suck

[FallingBullets]

tahts a fantastic interview, thanks Luckers

[DocBean]

Has anyone ever asked Harriet or BS what the last chapter RJ wrote was?

I'm curious if any of the Chapters in TGS were completely written by RJ, and only edited by Harriet and Brandon.
I noticed Mat in particular reads really differently early on in the book, like Brandon wrote him, but later on some of his chapters seem like the same old Mat.
or possibly I just got used to the new style as I read.

Avienda seemed a lot different to me too.

I don't assume he wrote any chapters in the upcoming books, but it would be nice to hear that some were finished by Jordan.