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Wise Man's Fear XI


Michael Seswatha Jordan

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1 hour ago, Ninefingers said:

Doesn't really matter for either of them though, because they've got so many that even if a bunch get pissed and vote with their feet there are plenty more where that came from.

If that's the case though it suggests it's a minority of fans being driven away? Not that it's a good idea to drive fans away but it's worth keeping things in perspective.

I think Darth's point is a valid one though - if Rothfuss has a publicist (I guess an Agent would suffice) they should maybe have a word in his ear.

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1 hour ago, kuenjato said:

It's funny... I just finished my re-read of WMF last night. "Re-read" is somewhat suspect, as I ended up skimming a great deal of the Fae and Adem sections. Rothfuss is comfortable in the University environment and the best part of the book is the 400-page opener. Once Kvothe leaves, the book starts to immediately decline in quality and becomes a serious slog by the time it gets to the Adem. I'm a bit surprised how he maintained popularity after such a poor, unevenly paced sequel, but I guess once they're on the hook, it's hard to wriggle off...

I think it's fair to say that a large amount of the following and continued online chatter is due to the mystery presented and the clues embedded in the story. It's a story that rewards careful rereading, and as long as the mystery is out there I think you'll see a lot of people remain "on the hook"

I do think that once book 3 comes out, after the initial rush we'll see online discussion drop off significantly form today's levels.

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1 hour ago, Darth Richard II said:

I get the feeling most fans are unaware of any of this at all. 

I have read and enjoyed both books, and I frequent this forum......and somehow I only discovered all this recently. I used to drop in to these threads every now and then but it was always theory discussion that involved deeper familiarity with the book than I have so I stopped bothering. Then suddenly it seems to be all about Rothfuss attitude. So yea, I imagine there's a lot of people who'd love to read Book 3 but don't bother following the progress (or following the discussions that would mention if there ever were any progress, anyway), figuring they're bound to stumble across the news when it is finished.

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45 minutes ago, Ninefingers said:

I think it's fair to say that a large amount of the following and continued online chatter is due to the mystery presented and the clues embedded in the story. It's a story that rewards careful rereading, and as long as the mystery is out there I think you'll see a lot of people remain "on the hook"

I do think that once book 3 comes out, after the initial rush we'll see online discussion drop off significantly form today's levels.

Witness the Bakker thread.  Theorycraft on that one had gone pretty far up it's own ass.  Pendulously.

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34 minutes ago, DaveSumm said:

I have read and enjoyed both books, and I frequent this forum......and somehow I only discovered all this recently. I used to drop in to these threads every now and then but it was always theory discussion that involved deeper familiarity with the book than I have so I stopped bothering. Then suddenly it seems to be all about Rothfuss attitude. So yea, I imagine there's a lot of people who'd love to read Book 3 but don't bother following the progress (or following the discussions that would mention if there ever were any progress, anyway), figuring they're bound to stumble across the news when it is finished.

Probably because theory has been tapped out in the last 5+ years, which is part of the problem when your series hinges on unresolved mysteries and you give consumers a huge amount of time to collaborate and determine (or detail above and beyond) the intricacies of the story. Bakker has experienced the same problem, wherein some of the theories proposed for the underlying aspects of his series eclipse what the audience is eventually given.

There's a certain obtuseness and arrogance to Ruthfuss which is sort of fascinating.  

Edit: scortius and I were thinking the same thing at the same time :)

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Indeed sir.  I think this is one of the things Malazan manages quite well (apart from any quality issues).  Each volume has a mostly self contained narrative that is part of the larger narrative, but isn't completely serialized.  It manages to not leave so many threads hanging out there to fuel rampant ridiculous speculation.  

 

OTOH this is a story being told by one guy, with stories within stories within the framing story.  I would have more issues with the narrative if his writing wasn't so engaging.  It does occasionally try to be too clever for it's own good, and at those points you can see the seams, as it were.

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Just saw this... can anyone substantiate?

A couple of months ago, Rothfuss came up with a really ACE idea: you may donate money for his charity, and choose whether he should be spending more time writing or playing Fallout 4. 

When he first launched the poll, a bunch of fanboys voted for Fallout 4, then everything sort of changed and, go figure, the majority of the votes pointed in the opposite direction (finishing Doors of Stone, that is). 

Now, this is the really fucking funny as fuck bit: upon seeing what was going down, Rothfuss changed the poll itself, so the voters were "now" asked to choose between "Fallout 4" and "Everything else".

Stumbled on this, as well:

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/wired-book-club-patrick-rothfuss-interview/#article-comments

Interview is from a little over a month ago. It contains this gem:

 So I spent a lot of time on the prologue, even after I’d written that draft, typing it up and making it work and doing the variations that bookend each book. As much as half an hour per word.

 

If legit, that means the prologue / epilogue alone might have taken up to a 100 hours to write. That's some serious OC going on.

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31 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Kuenjato,

Good interview.  What is "OC"?

obsessive compulsive, which may be one of the reasons behind the lengthy delays / editing process.

One would think a pro author would have lots of input from the publisher &, given how successful this series is, a couple editors at least to shape it into something epic. But, as we know, the more successful you are, the less likely you are to listen to outside feedback.

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The funniest bit of that interview is where Rothfuss and Paolini discuss why modern genre books are so much longer than older ones. Paolini thinks it's because modern authors "show rather than tell", which means you can devote multiple pages to turning a doorknob.

(The actual reason is that publishing costs have been dropping steadily for a long time. An author has much more scope to be indulgent in 2016 than 1976). 

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14 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

I still disagree that it's going to reward all this re reading and clue seeking, but I AM bitter and pessimistic.

There is no way this single book will resolve/clarify all of the various threads. The fun will be in seeing which threads are resolved and how artfully.  Even the big pieces remaining will take some doing: killing a king, new insight into the Chandrian, and whatever happened to mess up the world and cause the transition from Kvothe to Kote.  That could be the entire book by itself. 

If readers feel these major pieces have been resolved well, and even a handful of the smaller parts are pulled in along the way, I imagine it'll be a smashing success. 

If these are not clearly resolved or are treated clumsily, then the disappointment will be intense...at least from a small community of critical readers.  I imagine that overall it'll receive high praise regardless of those details.

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