So the power was out in my neighborhood today. This doomed me to an afternoon of stewing in my own juice. The weather in Wisconsin right now has been roughly equivalent to living inside a dog’s mouth. It was not a good day to be without air conditioning.
Also, the power outage threw a wrench into my plan to fine-tune and post another blog about Europe. So, instead, I decided to pass along some news and answer a piece of fanmail I got yesterday instead.
First the news: I’ve just finished updating the tour page.
The busy part of convention season is fast approaching, and I’ve got a lot of events scheduled over the next couple months. From relatively small conventions and signings here in Wisconsin (I’m in Wausau this Saturday, btw) to big conventions in Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Montreal, and San Diego.
At some of these conventions, I even get to be Guest of Honor. I’m not sure, but I think this means someone will be contractually obliged to fan me with a large palm leaf. I also expect to be given a shiny medal of some sort or at least a rather dapper-looking hat.
So head on over to the page and take a look at where I’m going to be. I go to these to meet readers and hang out, so the more the merrier.
Now the piece of e-mail:
Pat,
I have a quick question I hope you don’t mind answering. I saw you do that sometimes in your blogs.
After finishing The Name of the Wind, I called my local bookstore to see when the next book was coming out. They didn’t know. So I called my local Library. They didn’t know. So eventually, I gritted my teeth and borrowed a friend’s internet and found your blog.
Over the next week I read all of it. Including most of the comments. I was a little addicted. I’m guessing it took me fifty hours.
I don’t have a question about book two. Take your time. But as someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time online, I am curious about this whole blog thing. Specifically about the comments you receive on your blog. After reading these, I feel like I know a lot of the posters.
Many of them are funny, and some of them are really clever… But some of them seem downright insensitive or rude.
What is up with that? Am I just oversensitive, or are a lot of the people commenting on your blog actually rather rude?
I’m tempted to say it’s the former. I’m not really a blog reader. And I’ve always assumed that people smart enough to read your book would also be courteous and polite.
Sincerely,
Jen J.
Jen,
I’ve always assumed that people who read my book are not only intelligent and polite, but more attractive and better in bed than your average person. They also smell like fresh pie.
Unfortunately, the internet is like a great machine designed to make humanity look stupid. Oh sure, there are good things the internet does for us. Smart things. Noble things. But for every one person using distributed computing to cure cancer, there are ten people forwarding me a letter that threatens impotence and the death of a fluffy kitten if I dare to break the chain.
The problem is this. The internet is allows people to do things very quickly.
Now don’t get me wrong, some things are better done quickly. Getting someone to the hospital. Mowing the lawn. Making my 7-layer burrito.
But many things are not improved by speed. Most things, actually: Backrubs. Baths. Getting a haircut. Writing a novel. Cuddling. Kissing.
And blog commenting. Contrary to what people believe, fast is not always better in terms of communication.
The problem is, language is a slippery thing. People have a hard enough time getting their point across when they’re face-to-face. Over the phone is harder because you can’t see body language or facial expression.
But pure text is the hardest. That’s why e-mail misunderstandings abound, because you don’t even have timing or vocal inflection to help get your point across.
This means when a person types a comment without thinking things through, it’s much more likely that their intended message will get lost and they’ll seem rude when they really didn’t mean to be.
Take my announcement today for example. I know what’s going to happen as soon as I post about my upcoming convention appearances.
I’m going to get people posting comments that say things like: “Screw Indianapolis! Come to Mucwanigo!!! We have a bookstore!!!1!!”
Now this person probably wants to say three things:
1. They have a lot of enthusiasm for me and my work.
2. They won’t be able to make it to Indianapolis and this ensaddens them.
3. They’d appreciate it if I came to Mucwanigo.
But despite the egregious overuse of exclamation points, this is not what this comment actually communicates. To a lot of readers, this comment seems rude. Here’s why.
Signings and conventions require a great deal of effort on the author’s part. Doing a even a handful of events like this means an author will spend dozens of hours on planes breathing recycled farts, hours scheduling panels and e-mailing plans, then days at the event itself.
It’s also expensive, thousands of dollars on plane tickets, taxis, hotel rooms, and overpriced airport burritos.
Knowing all of this, a courteous internet user can understand why a comment of, “Why don’t you ever come to St. Augustine?” seems a little insensitive.
At the same time, rude is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, too. That’s why I try my best to read comments in the spirit they were written. That means looking at them with a generous eye sometimes, trying to cherish the enthusiasm and ignore the fact that the poster didn’t take the time to think things through.
Still, when someone writes, “Minneapolis is a whole 30 miles away! Come to Wanamingo!” it’s bound make me feel like a cat that’s been rubbed backwards.
Not only is it issued as a command (which is never endearing) but it implies that even though the author is traveling several hundred miles, leaving his pregnant girlfriend home alone for the weekend, and effectively skipping his own birthday, he still isn’t doing enough to please you.
So that’s what I think is going on in the comments, Jen. Sure there are a few mean-spirited or genuinely snarky people out there making posts. But the vast majority of the people that come across as rude are probably just guilty of posting without thinking things through.
Of course my readers. My clever readers. My clever, polite, sexy, apple-pie readers are a class of person quite above the normal internet rabble. They think twice before they post. Some of them even think three times. Right?
Right?
Later space cowboys,
pat
142 Comments
Please come to DragonCon again. I have chicken bites wrapped in bacon and will laugh appreciatitvely at every joke you make!
If you aren’t 100% sure could you give some kind of indication since I am currently unsure if I am going to purchase tickets or not.
Are you the nicest person or what?
It seems like too many folks fail to even attempt to understand what folks are trying to say in emails. And, let’s face it, written communication is not many people’s greatest strength. I always try to give folks the benefit of the doubt and figure out what they meant to say.
The problem I see with the internet as a writer is the temptation to go off wandering when I ought to be writing. The internet is just a mouse click away when using the word processing software on the computer… Do you find this to be a problem, too?
I loved your book—I read A LOT of fantasy fiction (sometimes a 600 to 700 page book a week- I know, and I still have a life too!) and I know what I am saying when I tell you that your book was excellent. Look forward to the next one.
And for those folks who “cannot wait” until the second book, there are so many great authors writing today. Give them a try. You might even be surprised when the second Rothfuss book comes out that it took so long since the time seemed to fly by.
gloogle burb
(sorry, the irony of a quick and dumb post was too potent to resist. I will restrain myself in the future.)
Pat!
I’ve been an avid follower of your blog for quite some time, being as I have loved your book.
That said… I have never actually taken the time to leave a comment. Usually because I feel anything I would say would either be:
a) Already voiced by someone else
b) Not worthy of being read
or c) I would probably phrase it wrong and come across rude!
That said…. I felt it was time to leave a comment, inspired by your farewell!
I’m curious, what other anime are you a fan of? And which one/s would you deem your favorite?
Speaking of comments, I’ve noticed that the number of comments per blog post has increased greatly since last year.
YOU’RE LIKE PEREZ HILTON!!
Pat, Thank you for your blog. I enjoy your posts immensely. It’s very cool to see an author communicate in this way to their fans. It’s certainly lessened the anxiety over waiting for book 2. You are one of my 3 favorite authors, 2 of which keep blogs (yourself and Joe Abercrombie. Jim Butcher’s blog hasn’t been updated since 1983. Yours is the one I read the most. I’m also glad to see you are coming to Indy. Oh and about the pie smells, how do I get it off me? It was fine for awhile…but it’s starting to draw weird looks from my coworkers.
need…more…blog…posts…
please?
:)
Hi Pat!
I’m looking forward to seeing you at GenCon (the convention where you will be a Guest of Honor in Indianapolis in August – thought I should mention the details in case all of those scheduled convention appearances are starting to fuse in your mind). Everyone should come to GenCon if they are close enough to Indianapolis to get there for a day or two! It’s primarily a convention for RPG’s, board games, miniature games, collectible card games like Magic the Gathering, as well as Anime programs, fantasy writing and the like.
On the topic of Internet Etiquette: I don’t understand the lack of simple courtesy that some people seems to display in their online writing. Perhaps, as some have suggested, it is the feeling anonymity that frees them to do it. Or maybe it is because when they write they are alone at their computers. It gives a sense of isolation – sort of like being alone in your car. People do things that they would not do in public while in their cars – like picking their nose: even though everyone around them can clearly see what they are doing, the people who do it seem to think that they are invisible.
End of August, thats the date that my local Borders has as the release for book two! Is there any truth to this Pat…
Pat,
There do seem to be a lot of selfish and stupid people around and none of them care enough about you and the impact their selfish needs have on you. However, I have solved this and you will be delighted with my solution.
Please send me a signed copy of your book. Then ring me up at home and chat to me about it until I get bored or have to go out shopping or something.
See no travel and utterly painless.
Why are some people so selfish?
Nick (UK)
I adore the fact that you are wearing a Serenity tee-shirt!
Pat,
Your blog satisfies every craving I have for sanity during my 8-5 work day. Yes, sanity. You truly are a needle in a haystack. I have found that most of society is filled with irate, insincere, hypocrits. But you sir are one of the most down to earth individuals I have ever come across. I loved this blog and, thus decided it was time to leave my first comment. In lieu of this blog I knew it had to be perfect, so here’s what I really have to say:
Comment.
~ Chandler
I hold to the fact that no-one, not even the Great Pat, posesses the power to “skip” a B-day. No matter where you are, your B-day will find you. Aging is a tenacious biatch(can i say that, is that rude..lol) And Sarah I think you should tell Pat he has to stay home with you whilst you are pregnant..Think of what nine months could have done for Kingkiller chronicles…(Once again, complete sarcasm). On a serious note though. Snarky is a very cool word.
Also im very sorry, i did not think this through, not even once. It bogs me down. Thats probably why im not an internationally acclaimed author. HeHe
Serenity FTW!!
This biggest issue with any career, especially one that requires you to have things as obsessive and scary as fans, is pleasing people. I hope you have a nice tour and never feel like your stretched to thin.
hmmm I tried thinking twice, and rewrote a little of my comment to make sure it didn’t sound in-sensitive, but now I feel it sounds like kiss-assery. Oh well, I’ve never been too good with words.
Internet anonymity is just such a scary thing. Being able to hide behind a moniker is a sure-fire way of making someone who otherwise would be a relatively sociable person turn into an utter filth-spewing Net Terrorist.
I’m always amazed at people comparing the Internet to an ‘Information Superhighway’. That’s such a bad metaphor. Let’s suppose for a moment that Highways were like the Internet:
* A highway hundreds of lanes wide… Most with potholes
* Privately operated bridges and overpasses
* No highway patrol
* A couple of rent-a-cops on bicycles with broken whistles (poor forum moderators… I feel for ya)
* 500 member vigilante posses with nuclear weapons. (I’m looking at you, 4chan)
* 237 on-ramps at every intersection
* No signs. Want to get New York? Holler out the window at a passing truck to ask directions. Try that in the Arizona, and see if you survive
* Ad-hoc traffic laws
* Some lanes would vote to make use by a single-occupant vehicle a capital offense on Monday through Friday between 7:00 and 9:00. Other lanes would just shoot you without a trial for talking on your cellphone
* People throwing roadkill and rotten cabbage at the other cars, most of which have been assembled at home from kits
* Some cars are 2.5 horsepower lawnmower engines with a top speed of 30 Kilometres an hour. Others burn nitroglycerin and idle at 120
* No license tags. World War II bomber nose art instead
* Terrifying paintings of huge teeth or vampire eagles
* Bumper-mounted machine guns. Flip somebody the finger on this highway and get a white phosphorus grenade up your tailpipe
* Flatbed trucks with anti-aircraft missile batteries to shoot down the traffic watch helicopter
* There’d be little kids on tricycles with squirtguns filled with hydrochloric acid
Ain’t the internet just great?
We love your work Pat. And good things are always worth the wait.
Lon
Hello Patrick,
I think your book is excellent. Beautifully written. I await the next with trouser-wetting eagerness.
I’ve been exploring your website these past few days and I find it most entertaining. The recommendations have been very helpful as I currently have a bad case of (non-swiney) flu and little else to amuse me.
This last post of yours interested me because “internet etiquette” is partly the reason I hadn’t commented earlier. I’m always paranoid about writing anything that may be interpreted as something totally different to it’s intended meaning and, thereby, causing offense. I’ve had some problems with this before and it has caused me to develop a phobia of typing, computer screens, toffee, coat hangers and to have maybe a few psychotic episodes…
But, I think that’s all over for now.
The other reason is that whenever I attempt to write anything, anywhere I self edit to the point where I have erased everything and given up.
And, on that happy note, I take my leave of you.
Respectfully yours,
Sof.
GAH!! Don’t these people ever get sick of lying. I know this is off topic but it’s just annoying to run across more false release dates.
http://chaos.com/product/wise_mans_fear_3264777_474321.html
- peace
Coincidentally, I was just mulling over a very similar question to Jen’s. And I found your insight very interesting and informative.
Thank you.
The cowboy bebop allusion made me smile after a shitty, shitty day. Thank you.
My first post. I will keep it simple.
Your blog just took me away from God of War.
That doesn’t happen.
Ever.
This is the sixth time I’ve tried to write a post. I’ve decided that something terribly witty and clever just won’t come to me tonight. As such:
“Recycled farts”. Hehe.
i know how u feel about having your power out. im in the middle of texas and have had mine on and off for the past 2 days. tuesday it went off for 5 hours in the middle of the day, (100+ temp) and today the water’s out for the entire area from 9am. it is now 1am and i dont smell like any kind of pie =}.
P.S. dont come to texas…
stay away from texas…
u do not want to come to texas…
please please please!!!
I agree with gapyeargirl123. I often have trouble with sarcasm… generally it’s alright if I know the person because then they know when to take me seriously or not but otherwise my natural patterns of discourse can lead to… complications.
Just out of interest have you read David Brin’s Earth? Some of the things you said about the fact commenting is such a fast process reminded me of something he discussed in his novel (quite old now only really to be found in 2nd hand shops but along with your own work one of my favorites).
Two things have come across to me in reading this blog.
One: It is more obvious than #2, but you are a Firefly/Serenity ‘flan’. This makes me happy. I may have already known it (though sometimes I forget I know things I know…), but the photographic proof is here and is undeniable. Go you.
Two: Unless I have totally missed the boat on some other source of ‘see you later space cowboy’, you are also a fan (or at least saw?) Cowboy Bebop. This makes me even happier, and cements my determination that you are in at least the Top 5 Coolest Authors Ever. Spaces are awarded not just for quality of writing, but awesomeness outside the work also factors in.
So, my good man, I have but one thing to say to you.
‘Cheers.’
Patrick, please do not think less of me, but I just finished reading most of your blog archives. It was several hours well spent. I am going to claim the understatement of the year award by saying you are funny. I sometimes listen to comedy radio whenever I get the chance. What can I say? I enjoy laughing. I am fairly certain that I do not laugh as hard listening to the radio as I did reading your blog. It brightened my day. Thanks.
Mmmm. Apple pie!
When I found out that you are going to be at Comic-Con, I ran around the house *squee*-ing then promptly gloated about to all my friends that aren’t going to be there but wish that they were. You just made Comic-Con that much better. *high-five/chest-bump*
I don’t think. I drool onto my keyboard. The result is just my raw essence, my natural politeness and sexual prowess. Unfiltered, and harnessed by modern electronics.
Now that I think about it though, this comment could make me seem a little full of something…
;-)
I don’t really like pie. :(
However I do like cakes, cookies, and most importantly, cinnamon buns.
And I don’t like burritos very much.
I love chalupas and churros though.
I like many things that start with the letter C.
–Andrew Carpenter
hi pat,
this is my first foray into blogging to be honest so im not too sure of the comment etiquete (although your post does help) i just thought i’d say hi, i really love the book. congratulations to you and your girlfriend for the pregnancy. i was wondering of you have played ‘Fable 2′ at all? i was doing so today for the first time and it reminded me a little of the ‘Name of the wind’ if you have what did you think? if not then i would suggest looking at it.
thanks,
Rich S
I made a homemade cherry pie for the fourth. It also convinced my that my little cherry pitter is worth its weight in gold. That pie was delicious, fragrant and a beauteous golden color that would have made Martha weep. It also smelled much better than my husband, but I think that’s because he didn’t like your book. So you have hard evidence that your smart readers smell like pie!
I think I love Jen.
I would beg of you to come to Australia. There are benefits for you in this too:
- we speak English here!
- you can say ‘hookers’ without having to learn a new word!
- We’re exotic without being dangerous.
Well, Pat, you _are_ sporting a retro (and I mean ancient Greece retro) beard and look quite Messianic in a geeky kind of way. After posts like this I assume that tens of years from now when they unearth the Blogician Codex, the Holy Tome of Online Communication, the ‘Gospel of Rothfuss to Teh Interwebs’ will be a major part of the Canon. It will offer the reader anecdotes describing Pat healing the grammatically challenged and his sermons teaching bloggers to turn the other cheek to snarky comments. I would start hunting for Apostles now, preferably those who’s idea of a Last Supper isn’t going dutch to Rally’s.
I wanna try those burritos you keep talking about ;-D
I am definitely going to have to start reading this blog. I gave Name of the Wind to my mom, a teacher who is on summer break. I, however, am working on a pretty intense grant, but was only mildly annoyed when she called to yell at me whenever Kvothe’s misfortunes overwhelmed her, demanding answers I wasn’t about to give. Now she is excitedly anticipating the next book, though she is a bit upset with me for starting her on a series she can’t immediately finish. I have only read a couple posts and haven’t found the answer to my question (the obvious question that most people who come to this site probably come for), but I gather that you are doing what you need to do to get a quality sequel out, and more power to you! I’d much rather have you take your time and give something that lives up to the hype than for an author to get excited about their growing success and then plop out some quick crap to make a buck. I could have easily become one of those posters who made an annoying comment demanding you give me my sequel NOW, but this post is great, and reminds us fans that authors are people too! I will definitely continue reading your blog to appease myself in the meantime.
I hope your wife’s pregnancy goes smoothly. My husband and I are currenlty trying to have kids, and it’s much easier said than done, I am slowly learning. Best of luck to you!
Hey Pat,
i just found your blog today and at i don’t think i really get it. i don’t do anything all day everyday and still find that there are about a thousand things i didn’t finish before i finally decide to go to bed at around 3:30 am. if you actually have things to do and fan letters and all that stuff do you even get time to read this or is it just a place where people who absolutely admire you blab out their own, unimportant thoughts?
P.S: I don’t want to be rude, i was just wondering
Thought you might enjoy this piece called The joy of exclamation marks. I have to say, it made my day.
Do all your loyal readers smell like apple pie, or is there a variety?
Why do I always miss your book signing? I missed the one in Miami and now the one in Wausau. FYI – my sister lives in Wausau and my parents live in Stevens Point.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but never left a comment. Now is the time. Are you ready? Here it comes . . .
This is the best blog entry ever. Not just because I’ve gotten in my share of trouble over bad text. Not just because it’s nice when a complete stranger compliments my assumed sexual prowess. Not just because it’s hard to imagine I smell as nice as apple pie during the heat of a Texas summer. Also, you write it with a generous spirit that most of us could not pull off if we were on your end.
Pat this is my first post on your blog. I also just watched that interview from when you were in London. You are absolutely hilarious and I completely love you. The “breathing recycled farts” .. gosh I about died! I’ve never heard anything so funny!
Anyway please accept all the praise in the world from some dude in Utah. Keep on rockin bud.
-Garit
see ya space cowboy
http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com