A: What? Do they have souls you mean? The threads work in the way, in the same way that the thread of any living thing works. It is part of the Pattern. They are not outside of the Pattern. Neither are the Forsaken. But the Pattern in a thing that is open, that's change. It is not a matter of the lives being forced necessarily. It's wide, you have the Pattern, the Heroes that are bound to the Wheel, they're not always heroes in the way of someone who rides in galloping with a sword, or carries out daring rescues. The people, the Heroes who are bound to the Wheel, are the corrective mechanisms. Human behaviour is throwing the Pattern out. It's throwing the balance off. And the Wheel spins out the proper correctives. Put everything back in the balace. So not even the Forsaken are apart from that, they're not outside. The only things that are outside are the Creator and the Dark One. Neither affected by the Pattern.

A: I many ways I think of these books, I spy myself in any of these books as being a sort of Jane Austin, but I've added everything, all that stuff about battles and politics and what not more and the Dark One, and what's really fascinating me, what's really interesting is the people. Working on one another, and reacting to one another.

A: Jordan said that that was because the Traveling was done by using the True Power. We'd seen the same since, when Moridin Travels somewhere that "The Pattern screamed."

A: Read And Find Out.

A: Of course she was about [after a weighing look deciding not to answer: Read And Find Out.

A: She was pushy even as a kid

A: Ah, burned out? No. The difference between being burned out and being stilled. We use the term as if it is interchangable, but they aren't. Technically 'stilled' means something that is being done to you deliberately. 'Burned out' is an injury that you received accidentally.

A: Yes, and if you're burned out, you cannot sense the Source.

A: Van Morrison [laughter] No ? oh, okay. I thought that would be a good answer to the Asmodean question. Jimi Hendrix? Or perhaps the Actually: Mick Jagger for How else do you explain 'Sympathy for the Devil?' Aha. Ha!A: Yes I particularly like, actually, Mick Jagger as answer to that.I think so. It seemed to me so. It seemed to me that there was no need to go into any more detail. I thought that if I went into any more detail, I was being blatandly obvious, and you know what do I need to do? Caper around with a sign saying 'Here! Here! There he is, see?' I mean , I assumed that the people who read my books are intelligent to a certain degree, have a reasonable level of intelligence, and are able to deduce things that you know I mean, I don't have to tell them water is wet. They know that. I don't have to tell them that if they fall of the roof, it's gonna hurt when they hit, you know, they know that. So I no, I At this point, I must tell you: alhough I will continue to put clues into the books. Again. A bit here and there. If I see a spot where I can put a clue, for those who are slow of wits to catch up I will not tell you. For the simple reason I am enjoying watching you all try far too much to deprive myself of the pleasure of that.

A: No am, no. Not in the books.

A: No. No, I refuse to Well, I'll tell you this. It wasn't Rand. But I have my suspicions about Nynaeve. And I've always thought that Elayne might have been covering up something that was going on at the site.

A: Yeah, he does.

A: Yes, they've heard of him. Slayer is not old in the way they are. Slayer does not come the Age of Legends, Slayer is something much newer. Slayer is also known by all Forsaken.

A: No. It's sung uhm, it's just a work song. As it is now. It used to be something more. But now it's just a work song.Ah, you'll Read And Find Out.

A: Sammael? [pronounce something like Sammy-el Sammael is dead. He's dead. He could be reborn. In another life. Without knowing anything of Sammael. He's not going to be reincarnated, he's not going to show up again.

A: Well, sometimes, not often. They're a good distance apart. John M. Ford I see fantasy writers sometimes at conventions. And no, we don't sit around talking about fantasy. We sit around drinking beer, talking about contracts, mainly. And John M. Ford comes to visit me almost every Christmas, he's a close friend of mine, uhm, almost as long as I've been married. [I think that was what he said And no, we don't talk about fantasy either. We talk about other writers, and contracts. When has his book finished, that sort of thing.

A: No. I'm the writer. I'm supposed to be a professional at this. I am not tap-dancing around blind. I'm not like one of those tap-dancing chickens, you know. You know, I am doing something that, supposedly, I am knowing how to do. And if I surprise myself in any but the most minor fashion, then I must have been asleep for the last few days. And writing as a somnambulant.

A: When I started writing I did not think of anybody as being an influence or an inspiration, in any way. There were simply stories I wanted to tell. Long before the Wheel of Time. I now believe I can see writers among my favorite writers, having certain influences on me, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, John D. McDonnald, Lewis Lemore. They certainly influenced me, but again not inspiration.

A: It's hard really for a figure that I've been researching for the Wheel of Time. I see things, I notice things. I realize 'I can use this.' An example I've used to you before, but it's a good one, is that [after leaving Tanchico, Nynaeve and Elayne needed] traveling companions. I wanted them to travel with some people, rather than by themselves. I wasn't too sure exactly what sort of group I was going to use. And I happened to go to the circus. And the circus happened to have a lot of acts that from Asia. I don't know why they seemed to have such a disproportionate number of acts from Asia. They were much different than most European circus acts and American circus acts, which are very similar to European circus acts. And when I went to my desk the next morning, I realized I knew exactly how Elayne and Nynaeve were going to travel. With Valan Luca's show. I have read for close on to fifty years, everything I could get my hands on. Various bits and pieces have been stuck in my head. And I use them. And sometimes and if I see anything that's interesting, and a lot of things interest me, cultural anthropology, development of cities, how a windmill works, how does a waterwheel work? these things interest me, as much as how a modern day skyscraper is built, or how do you go about building a base on the moon, or how do you go about building an industrial facility in an L5-point. Sometimes I do research and then well, I know nothing about blacksmithing really. No matter what you know, if you're an expert blacksmith, I want you to read right past that blacksmith scene, and believe it. And of course very few people will be expert blacksmiths, but that's fine. Because no matter what the scene is, I want you to believe it. No matter what your own knowledge is.

A: Muses are more fickle than the average woman. They tease and run away. What you have to do is say 'I'm not going to chase after her, and I'm not going to wait for her to come back. I'm going to sit down here and do some bloody work, until she gets back.' and if she doesn't get back, you know 'damn, I've done a lot of pages, haven't I?' While waiting for her, you work. Writing is work, more than anything else. If you have the ability, you can do it well. It is a craft. It's like building cabinets, or building furniture.