Here’s the truth. Sometimes I hate writing this fucking book.
I know this isn’t something most of you want to hear. You want to hear that it’s going well. (Which is it.) You also want to hear that I love every moment of writing it. It’s my baby, right? You have to love your baby…
Well, yes. But technically I’ve been working on this trilogy since 1994. The book is more like a teenager in some ways. You love a teenager too, but you can also be angry with a teenager. And sick of its endless shit.
The problem is this. People want to believe that being a published writer is a beautiful, happily-ever-after, candy mountain place where all your dreams come true.
Unfortunately, that’s bullshit.
This is a part of something I’ve come to think of as The Myth of the Author. I’m not going to get into the details right now. That’s a blog for a whole different day. But the gist of my theory is that, in general, people think of writers as a different sort of person. And by extension, writing is a different sort of work. It’s strange and wonderful. It’s a mystic process. It can’t be quantified. It’s not chemistry, it’s alchemy.
While some of that is true, this belief makes it really difficult for me to bitch about my job.
For example, if a doctor wrote a blog saying. “Fuck! sometimes I hate being a doctor…” People would read it and say, “Yeah man. I can see where you’re coming from. Long hours. Tons of responsibility. People expect a lot out of you. That’s a rough gig.”
On the other hand, if I come on here and bitch about my job. People will be disappointed. Irritated even.
Why would people be irritated? For several reasons.
Reason #1: It’s irritating when people complain about having a simple job.
Of course, writing a novel isn’t simple. Anyone that’s ever tried writing one knows this. The problem is, a lot of people haven’t tried. They assume writing is easy because, technically, anyone can do it.
To illustrate my point: Just as I was getting published, I met one of the big, A-list fantasy authors. (Who will remain nameless here.)
He told me the story of the time he’d met a doctor at a party. When the author mentioned that he wrote for a living, the doctor said: “Yeah, I was going to write a novel. But I just don’t seem to have the time.”
The author got a irritated just telling me this story. “When you say something like that,” he said. “It’s like saying being a writer doesn’t take any skill. It’s something anyone can do. But only a very slim percentage of the population can write well enough to make a living at it. It’s like going up to a doctor and saying, ‘yeah. My appendix was inflamed. I was going to take it out myself, but I didn’t really have the time.’”
Newbie writer that I was, I simply enjoyed the story, privately thinking that surely *my* readers would never be so foolish to assume that. And even if they did, I wouldn’t mind that much…
Fast forward to earlier this year, when I got the following e-mail:
Hi Patrick,
I’m a librarian, former teacher. I just read your book, very good. But, boy do you have a problem. Finishing tasks?? Why isn’t your editor doing a better job of guiding you? Here’s my quick recommendation: stop going to conventions. Your first book is a great hit, you don’t need any more marketing there. Sit down and decide where to END the second part. You don’t need to write any more. If book two is anything like book one, it is basically chronological. You’re done with book two!! Stop in a logical place, smooth out the transitions, and begin obsessing about book three. Good luck.
For those of you who have been reading the blog for a while, this is the letter I was thinking about mocking Waaaay back in May.
Re-reading it now, most of my irritation has faded. But my profound sensation of *What the Fuck* is still as strong as ever.
Let’s not even deal with the first half of the letter. Let’s ignore the fact that this woman isn’t a publicist, an editor, or my personal life-coach. Let’s jump straight to how she explains how I should write my book:
Oh. I need to sit down. I see. I need to know where to END it. I hadn’t thought of that.
And chronological order? Brilliant! Up until this point I’d been arranging all the chapters by length.
I mean seriously. You people do know that I have to make the entire book up, right? I’m not just cribbing it out of Kvothe’s biography, right?
Right?
And I lack the words to express my stupification at the offhand advice that I should just “smooth out the transitions.”
That’s not true. I do have the words. They go like this: “If this is the sort of advice you used to give your students when you were a teacher, thank you for not being a teacher any more.”
I counted yesterday. Do you know book two has eighteen fucking plotlines? Six entirely distinct settings, each with their own casts of characters? How exactly to I smooth that out? Do you think I just go down to the writing store, buy some fucking transition putty, and slather it on?
Okay. I lied. I guess I’m still irritated.
Truth is, I know that this letter comes from a place of love. This person is genuinely trying to help me. Deep in her heart of hearts, this woman believes she knows how to write a novel. The answers are so obvious. It seems simple to her…
This is why some folks will get irritated if I complain about my job. Because they think writing is simple.
But it isn’t. Nobody’s job is as simple as it looks from the outside.
Reason #2: It’s not cool to complain about your dream job.
I’m well aware of the fact that, I’m living the dream. A lot of people want to be published. They want it so bad they can taste it. They’d give anything…
I know this because that’s how I used to feel.
I’m lucky: I got published. What’s more, I’m one of the few writers that gets to write full time. Even better, I’ve gone international, and people all over the world are waiting for the next book.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t hate my job sometimes.
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Ron Jeremy probably calls in sick some days because he just can’t stand the thought of getting another blowjob. I don’t doubt that Mike and Jerry over at Penny Arcade occasionally wake up in the morning and think, “Fuck, I’ve got to play more fucking video games today.”
That’s just the way of the world. Everyone hates their own job sometimes. It’s an inalienable right, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of property.
Reason #3: The Myth of the Author.
People want to believe that the act of creation is a magical thing. When I write, I am like some beardy old-word god, hewing the book from some raw piece of literary firmament. When I write, the muse is like a lithe, naked woman, sitting on my lap with her tongue in my ear.
And you want to know the truth? Sometimes it’s exactly like that. Sometimes when I write, I’m so full of adrenaline that I could lift up a truck. I can feel my my tripartite soul burning in my chest like molten gold.
But sometimes it sucks. Just like any job. I get bored revising the same chapters over and over. My back hurts from hunching over the keyboard. I am so tired of fucking spellcheck. Do you know how long it takes to run spellcheck on 350,000 words?
I’m tired of trying to juggle everything: the plotlines, the character arcs, the realistic depiction of a fantastic world, the pacing, the word choice, the tension, the tone, the stories-within-stories. Half of it would be easy, but getting everything right at once? It’s like trying to play cat’s cradle in n-dimensional space.
The truth is, sometimes I’m so sick of sitting in front of this computer I could shit bile.
There. That’s all. I’m not quitting. I’m not even taking the night off. I just needed to vent.
Thanks for being here. Remember to tip your waitress. I’ll be here all week.
pat
282 Comments
You have to have crappy days in order to have great days- take your time and write what you wnat to write at your pace – we’ll still be here
Wow, I can understand your irritation!
Firstly, I’m studying as an illustrator and I know how a great, creative career that you love can still grind you down because there’s such a gap between concept (once you can even coalesce together a fabulous concept) and articulating that idea so it’s everything you dreamed it could ever be and more (because I find initial plans, while the final may reflect them, will also generally have been expanded in previously unexpected ways upon). I also get the annoyance at being told to wrap something up when it’s not where you need it to be yet.
Moving on from that though — kind of get something the slightly similar but different in illustration. In my experience, our culture has a love-affair with artistic talent and kind of (I sometimes feel) disproportionately idealises it over other skills. When impressed with my work, I’ve had many people tell me that they ‘just weren’t born with talent to draw’. I’m sure you can suspect why this might irritate me.
Most people could create nice art or drawings if they spent as much time as I have invested in developing skills. Sure, there are some innate things that will help, I do happen to have above-average special reasoning skills which can give me a slight advantage in planning out scenes so characters aren’t standing inside of each-other, and perhaps a slightly better chance at learning perspective — this is not a necessary skill in all artistic styles of course, but it’s an advantage in realism. I also have perfect vision which makes observing details easier, and I’m ambidextrous which albeit generally only comes in handy in situations like the two weekends I’ve spent snowboarding (natural or goofy? Both!) or in the challenge rounds of Pictionary. Those are probably things which help me out. Natural inclination towards art goes far further of course, and it’s not like I don’t have handicaps, I have utterly terrible hand-writing and I’m sure that must link in to some difficulties I have making art because it can’t be totally isolated for me to just be terrible at shaping forms in one area.
So I think most people (bar my father who cannot draw a stick-figure native American) have the potential to learn to draw. Most people seem to have comparable skill as young children and while that may not carry through into a skill in all styles of art, it is those who just happen to stick with drawing because they enjoy it that become artists and designers.
/end rant on why my vocation does in fact take more than just natural skill.
Even more off-topic than that rant: I kind of think the greatest underlying skill in becoming good at anything is a reasonable ability towards self-reflection. Of course, those without one will nonetheless think they’re awesome at what they do, but if they happen to develop great skill it’s more likely to be from stumbling onto it rather than studiously practicing towards it.
Patrick Rothfuss I have no idea if you read these comments, but me and my girlfriend have been obsessed with your work since we first read Name of the Wind. We may only be freshmen in college but I have to say, in my limited experience, you are one of the most incredible writers I have ever come upon. Not only in Name of the Wind, but in fantastic blog entries like this. My grilfriend actually someday wants to be a novelist, I’m glad she has someone like you to emulate.
And by the way, we all have at least one bad teacher in our lives. (referring to the letter)
Nice try Pat!
I still want to do what you do. So many authors try to put people off of writing. I guess they figure only those who are truly dedicated will stick to it, and those who carry misty delusions of awsomnitude and harbor dreams of patch-elbowed tweed coats and pipes and The Henry James Review will give it up and quit being huge poserbags.
I like to think I don’t underestimate the work and effort and difficulty of it. Which might be why I procrastinate way too much.
Word verification: Sesti – When spicy food has tryptophan in it.
That’s the internet. What would otherwise be a passing thought, or a tentative remark, gets all the appearance of eternity, of everlasting antagonism, and everyone jumps at each other’s throats for being so insensitive and ignorant.
I’m an aspiring author – not even published yet – and I still hear crap like that from people. Very frustrating.
Your rants are insightful and priceless, Pat.
I’m a videographer working as a local commercial producer. Love it, but I bitch daily about it. Completely natural. I think everyone has a right to bitch about their job, the way they have a right to bitch about their family, especially when the bitching is as entertaining and really quite meaningful as a Pat Rothfuss rant.
We’re with you man! I’m preordering Wise Man’s and taking the release date off work, no matter how long it takes you to “smooth the transitions.”
silly writers, they just make it up as they go along…
kidding! I’m sharing this blog with my dissertation writing group. Not the same breed, but similar animal. I can’t count how many people have said, “just finish it.” Oh, I never thought of that.
What amazes me most about any job in the entertainment industry is that there are some fans that think
1) You owe it to them to produce
2) That whatever it is that they want, as a complete stranger, should matter more to you than anything else in your life.
3) Because they are a “fan” and “love” you, they entitled to what they want from you on a moment’s notice
4) They own some part of you and you are obliged to cater to them.
5) They can behave (touching, making comments, etc) in a manner that is normally reserved for close friends or, in bad cases, significant others.
Just had my first taste of small-pond fame and am not loving the asshole fan aspect of it. Also, I am female so on top of the obnoxious ones I also get those that think they can put their hands, lips, tongues, pelvis, whatever they want, wherever they want. Disgusting.
Anyway, I am Right. Here. With. Ya.
Seriously, you are not obligated to finish this book (NOT that I am encouraging that line of thinking =)!) but, yeah, you don’t owe anybody anything. You are not an object. You are a person. You can do whatever the hell you want with this book, and be perfectly within your rights to do as such.
And to the people that say “well, then, I’m just not reading it!” I say, “Good. You don’t base your tastes on quality. Your thoughts and opinions won’t be needed.”
….I may be a little touchy about this, too.
Anyway, congratulations on little Oot. Spend time with Oot and Sara and enjoy life for a little while (another tough part about authorship is that, unless you are careful, you end up working 7 days a week for a very long time). The stuff that went on while writing Book 2 was awful. At least let the editing/revising have some happy memories so you can look back on WMF 10 years from now without revulsion.
Some people will always try to tell you how to do your own job better, even if they have no damn clue at all. It happens to all of of, believe me. ^.^
I know writing is hard work. But you’re doing an awesome job.
And you’ve got lots of people to reassure you of that, because you’ve inspired them all. :)
Keep writing and ranting and blogging, we love you for all of it!
If anybody sometime had written, he will understand you.
You are an artist, not an industrial manufacturer!
Dream job? Dream life! A loyal woman, a newborn baby, and a job that may occasionally suck (or even most of the time suck) but also has the perk of being your passion. A lot of people can’t say that. Lifes hard, annoying, and hurts. It’s part of being alive. keep your head up there, you got talent and passion on your side. the worlds full of idiots, and i can admit i happen to be one of them :)
I thought I was the only one who sometimes hates what “I love to do”! Well no, many of my friends and family talk about it too. But it’s nice to hear someone else say it outloud, or in print.
Whatever.
It’s like in the fairytales when they live happily ever after. It doesn’t really let you know the truth of living the dream, that Prince Charming’s feet smell, and the princess snores and they fight because it’s hard to live with people, and you don’t agree on everything.
It’s still wonderful, it’s the dream, but it’s reality too. That doesn’t go away when you live the dream.
Your blog makes the wait for the next book easier. I look forward to it whenever it’s ready.
Ha. Like many others have pointed out. I’m sure that would be dozens if not hundreds of applicants for a position to spellcheck your manuscript, for free. I would most definitely be among them as well. Also your rant is very well received. Made my day.
Well I realized something today. I was walking along to my class, and I just decided to screw engineering. I just don’t care that much “real” job after college, I would much rather do something a lot more fun and interesting. That’s when I decided that I’m going to do a English major in creative writing. I stopped, thought for a second, “huh did Pat Rothfuss go from an engineering major and ended up as an English major too?” I looked on your page and sure enough…. Well if you ever need a college student to do your spellchecking, you know where to look ;)
I’m lucky. I write code. Nobody ever reads it after you write it. NOBODY.
It can be full of spelling mistakes. it can be totally shite and nobody will ever know – so long as it works.
I can definitely see where you’re coming from. I really can’t imagine what it would be like being in your position; not just having to do a job well and having a boss tell you to hurry up, but a whole nation of fans. I say this with the deepest empathy. Just remember the grand majority of us are still rooting for you no matter what. Here’s hoping your writing is going easier in more recent sessions. Good luck!
Maybe you should make us wait even longer while you finish book 3 as well then you won’t go thru this whole thing again in a couple years…or not:)
Sir,
That was the funniest thing I have read in a very long time. I shit you not. Just what I needed to get back to “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.”
Forever your literary minion,
Warren
Unprecedented amount of comments on this one. Great entry. Definitely something I can understand. Its my dream, like many, to be a published writer. I’m so bad about just sitting down and making myself do it. I write sporadically. I sometimes wonder if having deadlines introduced to my writing would kill me. This blog has given us all great insight into your mind, O Pat. I feel more like you’re a buddy of mine than some nameless author. It’s nice to see how normal you are. Not some beardy old god but a man with a gift and heart in equal measure. I can’t wait for book 2, but I’ve got enough of a life such that the delays don’t bug me too much. As if you owe me anything. Also that librarian made me sad and gives librarians a bad name.
Now I feel guilty… I’ve been complaining about doing research and writing an 8-10 page paper on politics.
But I know how you feel. I tried to write a novel and after the 6th revision I was gouging my eyes out with a staple-remover-thing. I have no idea how frustrating it could be to do that for over 15 years.
Anywhoodles! Keep slugging along. I recommend a cute plushie of some kind to punch repeatedly when you’re feeling angry. It releases energy and it’s kind of funny. And you can talk to it if its nearby. :D
Hells to the yeah. I’m lucky enough not to have to deal with clueless emails (A LIBRARIAN?!? How could a LIBRARIAN be so clueless?), but I can massively sympathize. I have far fewer plotlines, and my novel’s shorter, and it’s STILL a bitch and a half. It is a SLOG. Stupid frakking book.
And this is still one of the better projects. When I was in grad school, I used to say to my therapist, “there are days I wake up wishing I wanted to be a lawyer.”
Transitions! God, smooth out the transitions! Why didn’t I think of that! Wow! It’s totally clear what I need to do with my book now! Thanks, anonymous librarian!
Yeah, but hang in there, Pat. You’re a damn fine writer and a class act.
Dude – that’s some pretty dark shit you just wrote. Loved it to bits though.
It’s always inevitable, no matter what we do, that there will be occasions where all we want to do is firebomb the dead cities of the night and watch the flesh crisp and burn.
i love it when you rant too. you seem like such a nice guy! i was also outraged on your behalf by the presumption in that e-mail, i just write essays and that feels like i have to drag the slips of inspiration across broken glass on my knees. which is why i will never attempt to make my living by writing. i for one never imagine your job to be easy.
but bless you for doing it i loved spending time in the world you created and am really looking forward to doing it egain with fresh scenery.
and well done for having ups as well as downs. quite frankly.
p.s. i now work with wood…less slippery than words, and you really can used putty if the going gets really tough.
Well, I completely understand your rant, and more importantly, your need to rant. I can only imagine having millions of fans yammering for you to hurry up and finish your novel is much like having millions of children asking “Are we there yet?” So, if it eases your burden at all, just know that at least one person understands that you are under as much pressure as some leaders of small countries.
The main reason why I am commenting, is because as an anal law student (BOO! HISS! DIE!, I know), you wrote it as the “pursuit of property”, not the “pursuit of happiness” as so many are apt to do. So, on this tangential note, HUZZAH!.
Thank you
Totally understand that. I think every job has it’s downsides. Most jobs have upsides (Even if it’s just getting a paycheck) but the best jobs are not always peachy.
I have my dream job. I love it. Right now I’m dreading it. I love most of what I do… it’s the behind the scenes BS I have to deal with that I hate (and this week there is a lot lol). Plus all the time it takes up (and away from my family) that I hate. Yet it’s still my dream job… and that’s okay!
*end rant*
Thanks for saying what I’m feeling… even if it’s a totally different job!
“(A LIBRARIAN?!? How could a LIBRARIAN be so clueless?)”
That very thought probably moved her to write such a self-confident suggestion.
That’s why I wouldn’t be so strict and dogged about it.
That sucks Pat. I am sorry that people can’t conceive the fact that you’re job is as hard as any other out there, potentially harder. Not only do you have to do all of the work, but you have thousands of people hanging on every word you type. I think you are doing a spectacular job, and honestly, fuck that woman. People love what you are doing. They love that they can see you at conventions, get their books signed, and just be able to see your great bearded face in person. Great job, keep doing exactly what you are doing.
just finish the book
Wow, now you’re bitching about having to do your job… thats awesome.
My Hero.
Write the fucking book, quit bitching about people bitching at you to finish it.
Spend less time on your blog and whatever other social networking BS you do and just write the book.
Now all you lame ass kissers can respond to this and tell him to take forever (and bash me) because it will be better, but would you rather read these lame blog posts or the actual book?
…You do realize that he has to take breaks from writing, right? That he doesn’t spend every waking hour writing the book? That like other people with office jobs, he has free time? It kills me when I see people complaining that writers should quit blogging and start writing the book. Once the rest of us are home from work, we don’t have people telling us to quit f-ing around on the internet (or whatever) and go back to doing our day jobs. We’re off the clock. How about extending writers the same privilege?
Just a thought. I mean, I’d hate for someone to ask why the hell I wasn’t signing paperwork after putting in a 15 hour day already.
How much should I tip my waitress? I was thinking 20%, but considering how much she probably hates her job, I would really like to let her know that she is appreciated. Also, I do not want her to spit in my soup when I am not looking.
For the record, I am working one of my dream jobs. It is everything that I hoped it would be. And yet, there are times when I just do not want to spend any more time on it. I am glad to know that I am not the only one who feels such contradictory impulses.
“we don’t have people telling us to quit f-ing around on the internet”
This sentence is stupid, you dont have a boss? You wouldnt get in shit for being on facebook or writing a pointless blog all day? You should be.
I love how 90% of the people commenting are formula. “I DO work at my dream job, but …”. *Fill in some brown nosing weak story as to why you also dont do your job*
Pat, it’s all been said before. The comments show that for every asshole there’s a hundred people who wait patiently for you to do your thing.
Hang in there. Hold that baby. :)
Dear Pat,
The Name of the Wind reminded me of why I love reading so much. If The Wise Man’s Fear turns out as awesome as The Name of the Wind, then I’d happily wait as long as it takes for you to complete the book.
Sincerely,
Iris
Actually, here’s a perfectly good example of something similar to what I would have written::
And Exposee on Meaghan Molina::
You just proved me right, you arrogant, ugly b*tch in denial. Know a couple things:
1) I’m already engaged. have been for a while now. 3 years or so. I don’t think this really requires more explanation, but just to be safe I’ll bring it down to your level : I. HAVE. A. GIRLFRIEND. THAT. LOVES. ME. Unlike you, apparently.
2) I am negative. I won’t lie. But, hell, I’m pretty sure more people want to talk to me than to you. Because, unlike you, I know and accept things. I’ve gotten used to the fact that there are some things that I’ll never be able to do for the life of me. But I make up for it by doing even better in things I can. You just seem to sit there, forever immobile, trying persistantly to smash your way to success, unable to accept that it’s not going to happen. Denial is for the weak and the unintelligent.
3) Before you try to counteract this, attempt to bring your reasonning skills up a notch. Essentially all you did was bring up ‘ifs’ and ‘possibilities’ that have about a .2% chance of comeing true. But, if you would like to base your entire arguement on the falsehoods of an unrealistic, childish mind, you better be prepared to get smote down. Because in a fight between you and the world, I’d bet on the world everytime. Regardless of the fact that you’re physically bigger….
I’m not even going to try to call you jealous. You’re obviously to caught up in your fabricated little cage that you can neither see nor accept anything around you. To you, you will always be the best, because your life (along with myriad small objects caught in your grav field) revolves around you and only you.
I’m sorry if I popped your safety bubble. No, wait, I’m not. Because as you are, you are one of the kinds of people that I hate the most. You’re a leach on society and a plague on the planet. You are such an ignorant, unintelligent pusbucket that we would all be better off if you were to go into a corner and leave the world alone while you play in your unelightened world. And I doubt you will ever change. But, until you do, know that I believe that you are a waste as a person, you have no-count it, NONE- redeeming qualities, and you have no right to even BEGIN to try to insult me.
First of all, I would like to say that I savoured the last few chapters of The Name of the Wind. Like, I literally rationed my pages because I didn’t want to finish.
Secondly, you are amazing. I once thought that I would never find an author to rival my favourite, but you sure are giving him a run for his money. I cannot wait for your mext book, but as some others have said, it will be so much better if you take your time and aren’t rushed by people and their stupidity.
Finally, I have one piece of advice. “Never argue with an idiot. They’ll drag you down to their level and then beat you with years of experience.”
Don’t stop being awesome. :)
Pat,
I had an easy job once. I put together missile components for a defense contractor. We had a daily quota to meet, and I would get mine done before lunch. I would then smoke a lot of pot for lunch, then spend the rest of the afternoon staring blankly off into space, and occasionally put together a few extra circuit boards that I would stash away and save for the days when I would smoke a lot of pot for breakfast.
Serioulsy though, I am not going to give you some hokey advice about writing, I could never equal your talent, but I will offer this: Get an assistant! There is no reason that you should be the one running spell check. Delegate all non-creative work to some lackey. Also if you don’t have a ginormous dry erase board in your writing lair, get one. That way you can visualize all the loose threads with multi-colored dry erase markers.
Well Mr. Rothfuss, sadly I now have to add you to the list of authors whose books I will buy when they eventually come out but whose work will not be read until the work is completed.
You may and probably don’t care, I mean I’m still going to buy the book(s), right? But, I have introduced any number of people to NotW because I truly enjoyed it and felt they might also. That won’t happen for your next book.
If you DO care, the next two items are meant in the nicest way:
First, YOU raised the expectation that this would not be yet another series that people would be waiting on forever: “Two months before he graduated, Pat finally finished the project he had been working on for over seven years, a mammoth story centering around the life of a man named Kvothe.” Words on your website.
See, I had already started limiting my reading to completed series when I bought NotW. I had no intention of reading it once I saw it was the first in a series. But then one day I wandered to your site and saw that, in fact the story was completed. That was your mistake: telling anyone that the story was complete. You have only yourself to blame for expectations about the rest of Kvothe’s story.
Second, this blog and interacting with fans (a word I absolutely loathe as it implies unhealthy fanaticism) may be yet another mistake. Only you know whether the pressure of wanting the next book to be loved by the people you interact with here & at readings etc. has created a fear of failure leading to paralysis or overanalysis. I suspect that to a certain degree it has.
This rant of your is vitriolic and mean. I don’t know who this librarian is and I agree that anyone who isn’t a writer should not be engaging in directing the efforts of a writer. Some on this blog think that the mail caused you to ‘sink to her level’. I think they are wrong, you have sunk far below her level in a personal attack that is only intended to be hurtful and self-congratulatory while her misguided letter was clearly intended to help and advise.
Good job, Mr. Rothfuss. You have exposed the writer as full of poor assumptions and rather pompously convinced of her own knowledge. But, in doing so you have also exposed yourself as petty & mean-spirited.
Honestly, I just wanted to say that I understand where you’re coming from.
I also wanted to say that you, sir, are amazing. And that I am reading through Name of the Wind again (after having to buy a new copy since the person I lent it to loves it and won’t give it back) and crying at different places this time.
Here I am, late to the party!
I’ve been reading NOTW again, remembering so many details that I had forgotten.
No amount of transition-smoothing putty could produce the gem of utter genius that is Kvothe’s response to the University Chancellor’s decree that he post a public apology to Ambrose for making up the song that dissed him. It’s only 4 paragraphs long, but delightfully satisfying reading. (See the end of chapter 61, p 417 hardcover ed.)
And publishing such a letter as that one from the ex-schoolteacher in the OP, here, for our amusement and mob-frenzied shredding, is a particular genius as well.
Fun was had by all!
“we don’t have people telling us to quit f-ing around on the internet”
This sentence is stupid, you dont have a boss? You wouldnt get in shit for being on facebook or writing a pointless blog all day? You should be.
So, your boss calls/emails you at home and tells you what to do with your free time? I would advise you to look for a new job so that you can work for someone a little less tyrannical.
Had you read the rest of the sentence instead of quoting half of it, you might have noticed that it referred to what happens when we’re off the clock. Writers get to be off the clock, too, just like the rest of us.
Sorry Pat
I’m just the end consumer of your thoroughly entertaining work. I too hate my job, so just want some entertainment – I’ve waited with the masses for Robert Jordan to wind up that tale- I’ll look back in, in 20 years and see how you went I think.
All the best
Inane jobs do get the best of us at times… But hey, if I didn’t have a boring job then I would not have walked by chapters one day and said “Wow, a huge new novel. This will entertain me at work!”. The next week, little did I know, I was scouring the internet like some crack fiend trying to find out when the next book would be published. May the Gods of Literature smile upon you and speed you to the completion of Book Two, my hero of well-spun verse!
Pat, I’m trying to write a short story (I always loved to write as a kid and teen, and assumed I would be a writer when I grew up) and I am SUCKING at it! All my ideas that seem so funny and brilliant in my head don’t seem to translate to the written word. And I am taking FOREVER to get anywhere with it. So, I am at least one layperson who sympathizes with authorship (albeit there is a vast gulf in talent, etc. between me and you)
I am a writer, though I don’t write anything as exciting and romantic as what you write. But, I think writing is fun when you do it for fun, and writing is work when you do it for work.
When you first wrote The Name of the Wind, you wrote it in your spare time, while working at something else for money, right? Now you’re under pressure, people are waiting for the second book, and expecting it yesterday. All of these things make it not nearly as much fun, somehow.
Okay I will betray my ignorance here and tell you I must be the last person on the planet to know who you are, but now that I’ve read this blog, I am going to go find your books because clearly you are a kick-ass writer with a perfectly smart-ass sensibility and that is so up my alley.
All fellow authors thank you for this lovely post.
I made the mistake of “complaining” once about editing and about 5 of my friends were like “OOOO, send it to me. I love to find typos!” Seriously? Because that’s all editing is…will you rewrite and add material as needed too? A-holes!
GO PAT! < just wanted to say that, cause your book was, no… IS! the only one, that gripped me from the first page on and… well, it lasted to the final…dunno how to say it. englisch sucks XDXD
Pat-
Thanks for letting us know how the book is coming.
It’s going to be great.
F’n A dude.
I dig your honesty.
PEACE!
I understand your pain Pat, but I have to say I think you are wrong about Ron jeremy, no man says no to a blow job….ever.:)
I love your writing. It’s just that so much was left unsaid and hanging when book 1 closed that everyone is so eager to read the sequel. But I do empathize, everybody gets angry at their job sometimes, writers included.
Besides, in my opinion, in any kind of creative pursuit it’s not good to restrict yourself too much. Just take the time you need. And don’t give yourself so much pressure. Just f*ck the people who complain. You have your own right to demand enough time for you to create a masterpiece.
To be honest when I was reading book 1 I never thought I was reading fantasy. It was all so indescribably real…
I hope you find what it is that will make book 2 perfect, not only for you but for every reader too. Besides, I’m sure you would not want to look back on this period and regret that you’ve succumbed to pressure and didn’t make book 2 a masterpiece.
Though that is all moot if you’ve already made abovementioned masterpiece. All the best. =)
I hear ya! I change jobs every 2 years because I start hating it. I figure that nothing is fun when you have to do it 8+ hours a day, 5-7 days a week. And thats why I don’t believe in dream jobs! Venting helps tho :)
Hahah.. nice rant, everyone gets sick of life and all the shit that comes with it.
Keep at it sir, and when you feel glum.. go look at your kid.
I’ll bet a lot of that shitting bile feeling kinda drifts away.
Just a thought, and best of luck.
That post was whiny, pathetic, and more than a little weird.
I think it’s true that any time you love something, it has more power to make you crazy. I don’t envy you for your easy job of writing, I envy you for having found something that makes you passionate, and that you sometimes love to do – it seems rational that some days you’ll hate it (the opposite of love being indifference, blah blah blah).
Please, keep doing it, and doing it your way, and at your needed pace. I assume that’s how you created The Name of The Wind, and something like that makes it worth it – the way that book takes you out of yourself – is, actually, probably why you’re getting so much shit about finishing the second book (again, the opposite of love being indifference, not nagging?).
So. Thank you for your work to date. Well done. I’m very looking forward to the day it comes out – I’ll stay up all night again. The anticipation is delicious too….
Bravo, anonymous comment from Nov. 1st, bravo!
Why does everyone preface there comment with that they do? They was half the problem with the original comment made by the author Pat was taking issue with anyway.
Its your book and your life, you know who long it will take to reach a certain quality and your publishers would have told you the timing required to make the most money out of the book. Weigh it up decide in your mind what you want out of the book and go with that. If that means finishing it in 2020 so be it.
Isn’t it hilarious when people who have written some stuff and are “trying to find a publisher” compare themselves to a published author as a “fellow author”? I doodle on my napkin when waiting for dinner. Some waitresses thinks I should be in a gallery. I’m in the same league as say Van Gogh. I should write sympathetic letters to his estate as a “fellow artist” about his ear? ROFLMAO… yeah, i also hate that.
We met very briefly at Worldcon in Montreal. I was the short blond guy who invited you to sit down with the GRRM fangroup around lunch on Monday.
I just wanted to say that I read TNOTW and loved it. I’m looking forward to The Wise Man’s Fear.
I’ve attempted to write fiction a few times. I can appreciate your frustration. This is a labor of love for you and you want to get it right. That’s not an easy burden to carry.
You are a gifted wordsmith. That doesn’t mean novels flow magically from the tip of your pen but that you are able seperate good you create from the bad. It is labor and anyone who says differently doesn’t understand.
I wish you the best and hope your re-writes go smoothly.
Sincerely,
Ser Scot
It is time to stop finding reasons not to write.
Well hell’s bells, Pat, if you’ve got a lithe, naked woman sitting on your lap with her tongue in your ear, no wonder you’re having trouble getting things done.
And I thought a cat was problematic!
I think this just made my day, even though it is 9:16 am on a Sunday… but that’s probably because I have more than a boatload of work to do by tomorrow that isn’t going to all get finished… oh well, my professors can wait a day or two. I love ranting and writing: ranting allows me to complain about life, and writing let’s me say “Fuck you people who hate me!”. Not that I’m planning on majoring in English or writing or anything close to that. I’m more of an international relations/foreign language/music dork. However, I still love to write. It allows me to go into a fantasy world and become someone I wish I could be… maybe in my next life I’ll become my main character.
…. That makes me very jealous of my cat… awww… I miss my furry, purry, orange, fuzzy, “I’m going to control your life by sitting on your homework so you pet me instead of doing your work” kitty. Lucky nine lives. I also miss his face being in mine when he sits on my lap. I don’t miss him catching mice though.
Keep ranting!!!!!!!!!!!! It makes me happy to see a whole bunch of hilarious rant!!!!!!
*sigh* yeah. I’m an illustrator. Hey, who wouldn’t want to hang out at home all day, making nice little drawings, huh? I’m practically being a four year-old aaaall day.
*snark*
I have a small suggestion. You could try pie. Just keep a stack of Sara Lee in the freezer. Pop it in the oven or thaw a slice and voila! Instant better view of life, if only for a while. If you try this make sure you have a dog that needs plenty of exercise. Walking a dog is non-avoidable, so you get plenty of fresh air and won’t get too fat. Take care and thanks for the first book.
Dear Pat,
Love your first book, hate that librarian, and bravo Kris! (from the Nov. 5 comment)
Geez, man. For all the time you spent on this blog entry, you could have written or revised two or three chapters! Why not take some of the time and energy you spend explaining why you haven’t written the book, and put that time and energy into writing the goddamn book? Seriously, over the last year or two I’ve seen a helluva a lot of energy going into explanations and excuses – would be nice to have that time and energy back, wouldn’t it?
Just quit whining and get to work!
Oh, by the way – Happy Thanksgiving and the best to your family.
I can totally relate to having people think they can do your job easily. If I had a nickel for every “photographer” that came up to me when I’m working, I wouldn’t have to work. And as I’m doing the job I love, I can also understand how it can still be hard work and crappy sometimes.
Anyways, found your site because I just finished your book. It was great. Definitely among my favorites. As for book two… Take your time, get it right. Speaking for myself, I look forward to reading it whenever it’s ready.
I am going to write simple comments. They may not make sense. They may even irretate you. I apologize for that. That’s the way I choose to comment on this blog posting.
You have great words-manship (man, if that is a valid word, I’ll cry), therefore after just reading this post, I instantly became a fan.
That woman whom used to be a teacher is exactly like the rest of them. Give you very little concrete advice and just expect you to present amazing results. No wonder she is surprised when a pupil of hers excel.
Writing is not simple.
Remember this: If you think the problem is simple, you clearly have no clue what the problem is. I am just paraphrasing from Bjarne Stroutsrup.
With that, I’d like you to correct the part where you say (Which is it) to (Which it is.)
Sincerely,
Mossa “Nova” Merhi
Hello dear Friend and fellow writer. I feel your irritation.
I tried to promote my book once on amazon. Just follow the link bellow and see how I was suddenly a student to readers.
I just try my best not to get irritated.
I am Book Raker in the discussion.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/science%20fiction/forum/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxWK0QNW07Z4M7&cdThread=TxZZ53C8MU8XAZ&displayType=tagsDetail
And a review from Pat or any other person here would be awesome.
Excellent rant, and I am entirely sympathetic and in awe of your talents.
I can’t help remembering, though, that the publicity two and a half years ago was that all three books were already written: “After completing an extremely long fantasy novel called The Song of Flame and Thunder, Rothfuss submitted it to several publishing companies, but it was rejected. Finally, DAW Books bought it and split it into a three-volume series entitled The Kingkiller Chronicle, the first installment of which, The Name of the Wind, was published in March 2007.”
The librarian’s suggestion of just choosing a place to end it doesn’t sound quite so arrogant if you look at it in that context–just encouragement to stop massaging what’s already sure to be really wonderful and say “Done.”
I’m an actor. It’s my dream job. But, honestly, today I woke up and thought *Fuck! I have to put up with my director’s bullshit attitude and shotty camerawork all fucking day today, just to look like a full blown horse’s ass when the show airs*
You’ve just made me realize my job (which I usually am apathetic towards but many days actively dislike or even hate) is actually relatively easy. This doesn’t make me like it more, but it makes it slightly less unpleasant, I suppose. ;)
It’s your book, and however you do it is the “right” way to do it, because it is yours, and you are the one writing it. (Well, I suppose your editor does get SOME say…)
And it will be awesome. I am looking forward to it, and will appreciate it when it is ready.
dude, you’re fucking awesome. your dripping sarcasm to me is like a melody is to mozart. i love it. its so clever, so eloquent, and so subtle. i wonder how many people actually realized you said pursuit of property, the way it was intended, instead of what the declaration actually says. maybe there was a deeper meaning to that, maybe i’m imagining things. regardless, you make me laugh and i had to say thanks.
I would be a writer, if I weren’t such a lazy bastard….
“Up until this point I’d been arranging all the chapters by length.”
(Laughs and laughs)
That is a brilliant idea! Next book you put out, I’m ripping apart and gluing back together by order of chapter page-length.
Just because you love doing it doesn’t mean you can’t get tired of doing it sometimes.
Be it writing, composing music, playing videogames or having some blowjobs.
Even sleeping can be tiring if you sleep too much.
Really good text. =)
i work in customer services and an old person shat themselves not ten feet awayfrom me the other week. top that lol.
i work in customer services and an old person shat themselves not ten feet awayfrom me the other week. top that lol.
Well I found your blog just now (cause I’m addicted to ebay and found the golden ticket auction) and I’d been waiting impatiently for the 2nd book. (I’ll try to be patient ….it won’t work but I’ll try) But regarding this person I’d say..I have relatives who are teachers. They are still “teaching” me even though I am older and smarter than they are. You don’t really have to argue with teachers. Just say “OH OK” and walk away. It’s been working with mine… try it…(and delete thoss comments when they piss you off…it’s called “editing” which SHE Told you to do. LOL *the best revenge is to use their own recommendations against them.
Ok, going back to eBay while waiting. BTW – GOOD LUCK with that auction. What an awesome thing you’ve done!
Beth
http://www.depressionglasswarehouse.com
Late to the party, but thanks for writing this. I’m down to revising the last 10 chapters of my first book, and I hate the story, the characters, everything. Reading about your hate made me smile and roll up my sleeves for another go.
Thanks, Pat.
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Maybe 200 of the 287 comments said this already, but I am lazy, so I am not going to read them.
Another reason you (authors) can’t bitch about your job, is we readers are the clients. If I met a doctor at a party and he bitched about his job, I would empathize. If my doctor started bitching to me about how she hates her job, I would look for a different doc.
Much later to the party than the last couple comments — as you probably guessed, I read this post because of the link to it in your newest post. I finally read NotW recently — I’d actually heard and blogged about it on March 15, 2007 (http://quettandil.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-fantasy-author.html), so several of my family members heard about it from me, read it and told me how awesome it was, but somehow life got in the way of me reading it or something. Plus I’m a little ADD about which books are interesting me at the moment — I may say “ooh, shiny!” quite often about books (I especially did when I was working at a bookstore), and if I say “ooh, shiny!” a second time before I actually pick up a book, the second shiny book will win out over the first shiny book… but anyway. I finally read it, and it’s awesome, as my brothers and sisters said and everyone’s told you.
But I digress. As I do. I actually logged on to comment on this: “Okay. I lied. I guess I’m still irritated.” I know I would be! I was waaaay irritated for you, reading that. It’s worse, but it reminds me of customers at the so-close-to-going-out-of-business bookstore I worked at who always thought they had the best advice for us. “You know what you should do? You should put in a coffee shop.” Sure, thanks, want to give us the thousands of dollars we’d need to do that? Hey, maybe while you’re at it, you can pay off our debts, too! That’d be awesome! Ooh, and then there was the guy who called us “overpriced” because some of our books were more expensive than Wal-Mart. Right, Wal-Mart, of all places. Because everyone who has inventory more expensive than *Wal-Mart* is overpriced. Not to mention Wal-Mart’s not making any profit on their books…
And I agree about the general concept of the post, applied to one of my favorite jobs thus far: yes, working at a bookstore is a cool job, if not half as cool as being an author. No, we don’t just get to read books all day. Yes, it’s still retail, with all the perks of crazy people, rude people (all the way up to the outlier who stole my nice homemade lunch out of the fridge in our break room, ate all except some of the rice, and then hid the tupperware container in the tank part of one of the toilets in the men’s room, before checking out and apparently being the one to yell at my coworker and I for being upset that my lunch was stolen, because we should have locked the break room door somehow, so it’s obviously our own fault and we can’t complain, despite the door not having a lock), Deeply Stupid people, and so on and so forth. (I thought about blogging a typology of customers once, but never did get around to it.) You’d think they’d all be wonderful bibliophiles, but no, not so much.
So I was glad you mocked the letter a bit. You mocked well.
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