The Sword and Laser discussion

Look, we don't expect Patrick Rothfuss to reveal the unknown secrets of Kvothe. But give it your best shot!

Post your questions for Patrick Rothfuss in this thread.

What book made him fall in love with reading? With reading the genre?

Does he find that any of his characters have gotten away from him or otherwise done things that he didn't expect?

Is Manet you?

How much time do you get to spend reading for pleasure?

What is your favorite series outside of the fantasy genre?

Love your books! I finally got my wife (a non-fantasy lover) to listen to the audio books while we cook dinner together, and now she is hooked!

Does he like the Lord of the Rings movies?
&
For gods sakes when does The Doors of Stone come out?

joking. that last one doesn't need to be asked.

How long have you been growing your beard? Do you trim it or just let it go? Did you start growing it so your "friends" don't think you reek of iron (what was the inspiration)?

Did you listen to music while writing the instrument playing scenes? Is there a "playlist" for the different ones?

Are you going to write more stories about The Princess and Mr. Whiffle?

Tom wrote: "How long have you been growing your beard? Do you trim it or just let it go? Did you start growing it so your "friends" don't think you reek of iron (what was the inspiration)?"

I was gonna ask a question along those lines so thank you, sir!

Which books gave you the inspiration to write and which books inspired the Name of the Wind and Wise Mans Fear.

Bob wrote: "Did you listen to music while writing the instrument playing scenes? Is there a "playlist" for the different ones?"

Excellent question! I wondered the same and have found myself listening to lute music every time I read these books :-)

Your concepts of sympathy seem very similar to the concepts of enthalpy and entropy. Did you research into engineering before you came up with your concept of magic in Name of the Wind?

I cannot but ask. When is book three going to come out? I must know why Kvothe is call the kingkiller.

Have you planned any books after the Doors of Stone? If so will it be in the same world or a new setting? I just can't see how you can end this epic tale in one book without there being any lose ends.

Has it always been easy for you to write? when did you start writing? you have a beatiful flow to your wrting not many author's can write like that.

What do you still feel like you have to learn about writing/storytelling? What are the areas you struggle with the most and what are your methods of overcoming them (if overcome them you have)?

Is there anything you can tell us about the new "fantasy trilogy" you sold to DAW books?

A question for one of the true Whedonites:

Where do you rank The Avengers on Joss Whedon's list of accomplishments? (Above/Below?) :D

Kvothe is an extremely talented protagonist. Has this ever made it difficult to create believable conflict?

Sympathy and Naming appear to be very different types of magic, but do they share some kind of connection?

The extremely short ship journeys in Wise Man's Fear: were they an intentional gibe at the traditional fantasy story element of the long journey?

The philosophy of the Adem, in particular the idea of "man-mothers", has triggered much discussion among fans. What significance does this story element have to you, the author? Do you consider it merely an interesting culture to include in your world, or is there perhaps something in there which you think has real-world applicability? (E.g. an analysis of the notion of parenthood as distinct from the biological, or, on the opposite side, a point about how a culture enlightened in many ways can still be startlingly wrong).

Feel free to adjust the phrasing of these questions. Some of them are a bit long-winded!

Is there a real life person you based the character of Kvothe on?

Are you deliberately attempting some kind of record for longest foreplay/unconsummated flirtation in a work of fiction? - well done for making it last over the course of 2 whole books so far.....

Will the Doors to Stone be longer than the previous books?

When will Doors of Stone be released?

Are you sure this is a trilogy? Seems like way too much is going on that it can't all possibly be concluded in one more book.

I know that The Last Unicorn is one of your favorite books and you have a special place in your heart for the The Chronicles of Narnia.
Neither features discernible rules for magic, while in your own writing you come very firmly down on the "sciency" side of magic.
Do you prefer one over the other (rules/no rules) in your reading and wich one do you feel is more difficult to write?

PS: Insert obligatory whining for next book here ->__________

How does it feel to be more known for being slower than George "The Great White Glacier" Martin than for anything else?

You have an amazing commitment to sharing your knowledge of writing (such as in Geek and Sundry's awesome show "The Story Board"), what motivates help want to be authors like this?

When writing how do you tame the self-editor inside of you, the one who keeps nagging away that the words are garbage and the story sucks, and just keep going?

It's something I particularly struggle with when writing myself.

Also I love the Story Board, hope you keep doing them for a long time! Please get Abercrombie and Lynch on if you can :D

One of my favorite ways of handling sex scenes is what you do in your second book, where very often Kvothe just names a bunch of Kama-Sutra-esque moves without describing them, letting the reader fill in the gaps. Did you intend to do that from the start, or did it just follow naturally from the Ferulian story? What was your inspiration there?

Are you related to the Most interesting man in the World? I don't think I could argue with you for long before agreeing with you.

First I just want to say that Name of the Wind & The Wise Man's Fear are probably among the best books I've ever read. My question would be: How did he come up with the magic system in the books?

Is it a massive coincidence that the co-owner of the Eolian, Deoch, shares a name with the Irish word for 'drink'?

For completeness, 'deoch' is pronounced 'juck' in Irish.

Are you enjoying the Legend of Korra as much as I am?

This is copied directly from my review of The Wise Man's Fear:

I am left wondering - is Kvothe cocky? I think we're supposed to like him, but the things mentioned in passing about how everyone talks about him, how he pursues women now, how he sits in bars hoping to hear stories about himself... I wonder if the version we're getting of him isn't a bit flattering.

How is it coming to buy back the rights of Firefly?

The books have a little for everyone and engage a wide variety of fans. How do you maintain a balance between the slice-of-life, the adventure, the fantasy, the comedy and the romance stories within the plot of the books; to ensure that you keep appealing to everyone's taste?

You seem pretty keen on comics and graphic novels. Any chances of you writing one or two?

I've heard you talk briefly about possibly adapting Name of the Wind to a comic. How is that progressing currently? Have you found a publisher and or an artist for it?

Between stories within stories and the lush history in the Kingkiller Chronicle do you have any plans in developing any spinoffs without Kvothe from that world?

* I'd like to know if Pat sees himself teaching creative writing in the future? And if so, how can I sign up for a class or two.

* All things being equal, do you like stories with tragic or happy endings? I ask because I like tragic but most people seem to enjoy the happy.

* I would also like to better understand why Pat feels that people who enjoy raisins in oatmeal cookies hate themselves?

Oh and Pat, thanks for being awesome and authentic. In short, thanks for being Awsentic!

Casey wrote: "* * I would also like to better understand why Pat feels that people who enjoy raisins in oatmeal cookies hate themselves? "

good one!

I love me some oatmeal raisin cookies, but they got to be the chewy kind.