With this project, it’s less that I was trying to find Mr. Jordan’s voice, and more that I’m trying to find the Wheel of Time voice. There’s a distinction there for me.
I’m not going to try to imitate Mr. Jordan’s writing. I don’t think that would come off right, and I worry that it would just stray into parody. Instead, I’m going to adapt my style to fit the Wheel of Time. I want what I write to FEEL like it belongs in the Wheel of Time world, but not necessarily sound exactly like Mr. Jordan.
I think the biggest and most important things are 1) making certain I have a level of detail and description appropriate to these books. 2) Making certain each of the characters sounds like themselves. If I got those two things down, I think the book will come off right.
I’ve made it my first priority to stay true to his wishes and notes, and not deviate unless there is a very, very good reason. The only times I deviated was in to offer more explanation or depth to a scene. I haven’t cut anything he wanted to be in the book, save for a few places where he contradicted himself. I.E. There were some scenes where he said “I’m thinking of doing this or this” or “I’m thinking of doing this, but I don’t know.” In those places, I made the final call.
I am leaving the scenes he wrote as intact as possible. In some places, a paragraph at the beginning or end of a section has to be changed to streamline it into the rest of the narrative. In others, line edits have to be done (mostly by Harriet) to fix the language. (Nothing we have from him is in more than a rough draft form.)
But where I can, I’m not changing anything. Because of this, readers who look very closely might be able to tell where I wrote and where he wrote. But I don’t think it is noticeable without detailed scrutiny.
I suggest to readers that they read the book straight through the first time without trying to pick out which piece was written by which author. I’m hoping to get permission to speak more specifically about how it was all divided once the three books are all out. Then, you can know for certain. But for now, I would prefer (and I’m certain Mr. Jordan would prefer) that you see through the prose and enjoy the story.