Friend and fellow fantasy author Drew Bowling just sent me the following story. It amused me, so I thought I’d share….
I keep running into random people who have read The Name of the Wind. Most of these incidents are pretty damn funny, but I usually forget to send them your way. Here’s the most recent:
New Years Eve, I’m partying in Bethesda (city on the edge of Washington D.C.). The ball drops, and a girl starts kissing one of my buddies. When that’s all over and done with, I decide to say hi to her, in order to make sure she isn’t a succubus (sober, I was not).
We trade pleasantries, and I tell her I’m a writer. She thinks this is cool, especially since I write fantasy, because she loves fantasy.
“What’s your favorite book?” I ask. Well, it turns out to be your book, Pat. So I tell her I’ve meet you, that you’re a cool guy, and that no, I doubted you actually knew a name for the wind – other than wind – which would make it do magical things (yes, she really asked me this, and yes, she also had been drinking).
At that point, I suddenly become very cool, or at least much cooler that I was before (which, in hindsight, wasn’t cool at all, but rather something of a sweaty mess). So my friend wanders over, and I, being a pillar of loyalty, wander away – but not before I hear the girl say: “I wish Pat had been here at midnight.”
I love a story with a happy ending.
If only I *had* been there. I can picture it clearly in my mind. The party is dimly lit, she sees me across the room, her eyes widen in surprise. Then I hear the three words every man longs for…
“It’s a bear!” she screams drunkenly. Then, mad with terror, jumps through a plate glass window and falls three stories to her death. Probably landing on my car.
Seriously though. How come I never end up at parties with hot qua-succubi who want to get all makey-outy with a fantasy author? We need kissings too, you know. For research. Into…. verisimilitude. Kvothe does eventually engage in the wicked co-mutual pressing of lips, you see. And I worry if I don’t gather enough data before finishing those scenes I won’t be able to make it really *real* for the reader.
Yeah. That’s it.
pat
