Thread:Matt Hadick/@comment-44043-20131103054555

1. Well, I'm happily married and a father of two wonderful kids. We all live in Utah. I'm one of the bureaucrats at The Wheel of Time wiki. As such, I do a lot of the maintenance around the site. When I started at the wiki, all I did was update an analysis of the series. As time went on, I became more involved in editing and creating articles and eventually got into some of the background stuff. Templates and categories and the like. For the last couple of years, I've helped maintain the site and have seen it through the last three book releases.

2. I didn't really read a whole lot of fantasy when I was a kid. While I did read the Narnia books, I never really got into anything else at the time. I actually started with sci-fi, and grew up watching Star Trek. It wasn't until late in 2003 when I got more into fantasy literature. I actually started out with Harry Potter. Someone saw me reading one of the books a few years later and recommended that I read The Wheel of Time series. I have to say that at first, it really didn't pull me in, but about half way through the book, I knew I was hooked. I've been a fan ever since. Since becoming a fan of WoT, I've also read a lot of Brandon Sanderson's books, as well as The Lord of the Rings.

3 (and some of 5). Epic fantasy usually involves a series of books, a long time span, and a large back-story. The Lord of the Rings is the quintessential example. People who have only watched the movies won't know that decades passed between Bilbo's and Frodo's departure of the Shire. One of the great things about epic fantasy is the world building and the details that the author uses to weave the story. I would recommend starting small. Find a trilogy whose covers spark your interest. Brandon Sanderson has a great series out called the Mistborn series. At first, it started with a trilogy; The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. These three books show the lives of the characters over a couple of years. Mr. Sanderson has since expanded the series with The Alloy of Law, which takes place about three hundred years after the trilogy. Mistborn has a great magic system, and I think it's a wonderful story and a good way to get into epic fantasy.

4. There really isn't a particular series or author I wouldn't recommend. There are a lot of series out there that appeal to different people. Find something that looks interesting and give it a go. And if you end up not liking the first book, donate it to a local library.

5. Be prepared for the long haul. The Wheel of Time series is fourteen books long, plus a prequel. It started in 1990 and was finished in 2013. There are people out there that have grown up with this series. I've only been reading the series for the last five years and I will have to admit, it has changed my mindset on how I read fiction. Recently I re-read a stand-alone novel that I really enjoyed when I first read it and I found myself wanting more. I found myself wanting to know what happens next, to know how thing play out in the long run. In short (insert scoff here), get ready to dive in head first and take in all the details.

6. As a wiki, we are trying to chronicle the series and bring together all of the references of everything in the series into their own articles. If you're just beginning the series, stay away! There is nothing worse that a spoiler, especially when you're just starting out. Even the disambiguation notice on the article about the first book might be considered a spoiler. However, fans of the series are always welcome at the wiki. We have a lot of articles that still need writing and we also have an active blog where there are posts about characters' fates and thoughts on the series.

Let me know if you need anything more! 