Rothfuss XII: The Doors of Twitch

[Darth Richard II]

7 minutes ago, Triskan said:

I find the motivation to lie about having the series completely finished from that early stage perplexing. What is the purpose of the lie?  I have a hard time believing that there are that many people out there that won't start a series because of fear of it not being finished jokes about GRRM aside.  Is there some logic to the lie that I'm no seeing?

I've never understood it either. I speculate, but I think it just might have been because Rothfuss is a jerk who's full of himself.

[Brendan Moody]

I don't think there was an intent to lie; I think he was telling the truth when he said afterward that he hadn't looked at his manuscripts for the later books in a long time and had forgotten how rough they were. But it was so stupid to go around shouting "It's done! It's done! One a year! One a year!" without, um, checking those manuscripts first. To say nothing of the stupidity of assuming that even a genuinely complete manuscript wouldn't need alterations that would throw off the schedule.

[The Marquis de Leech]

4 hours ago, Triskan said:

I find the motivation to lie about having the series completely finished from that early stage perplexing. What is the purpose of the lie?  I have a hard time believing that there are that many people out there that won't start a series because of fear of it not being finished jokes about GRRM aside.  Is there some logic to the lie that I'm not seeing?

I honestly don't think Rothfuss deliberately lied (he's many things, but he doesn't strike me as someone who'd do that). I think he thought that he had enough of a framework in place that a bit of work on the later parts would take things to completion - when in reality the work required was much more substantial. Plus he's clearly much more in love with being an author than actually writing these days.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Maybe book 2's special edition will come with an amended epilogie where a meteorite lands on the inn before Day 3?

[Crowjack]

On 2/23/2017 at 5:37 PM, Darth Richard II said:

Mark already has his entire next trilogy written, too. And he's not lying about it.

 

Edit: Also, what personal problems does Rothfuss have? Being rich and successful?

If this question is to me, I wasn't referring to any perceived or actual Rothfussian personal issues. I've pretty much given up on following Pat i social media and don't listen to his podcast (even tough the last one was in December).

I was alluding to Mark having a profoundly disabled daughter and his being the primary caregiver (I believe his wife may also be handicapped). He doesn't whine about it; he doesn't wring his hands. He takes care of his personal business AND turns out masterpieces on a yearly basis.

[Kyll.Ing.]

Gee, this thread is somehow even more depressing than the TWoW threads. In there, at least people make rough estimates of progress and when the next book will be out. Dates are being thrown around, deadlines discussed, and generally people seem to assume that work is going slow, but progressing.

Here... well, maybe it's because I just picked up the books and read them both in a week, but the feeling I've got from this thread seems less lively than the Waystone Inn in the books' first and last chapters. "Are the books being written at all? Who the heck knows!". The ASoIaF threads are like discussing progress in fusion power. It's being worked on, and while a final breakthrough seems far-away, there is a general agreement that it will happen one day. Work is evidently in process. But this... this is like discussing time travel. Yeah, it would be neat, but isn't happening any time soon.

TWoW is a matter of When. ADoS is too, just a few years down the line. The Doors of Stone seems to be a matter of If. The thread seems, for the lack of a better term, completely deprived of hope. Please tell me I've just got it wrong.

[unJon]

Well you have XI threads on this board to look forward to, at least. The first VI or so have really great insight and analysis of the books. 

[Darth Richard II]

Nah, there's no hope.

[Larry of the Lawn]

4 hours ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

Gee, this thread is somehow even more depressing than the TWoW threads. In there, at least people make rough estimates of progress and when the next book will be out. Dates are being thrown around, deadlines discussed, and generally people seem to assume that work is going slow, but progressing.

Here... well, maybe it's because I just picked up the books and read them both in a week, but the feeling I've got from this thread seems less lively than the Waystone Inn in the books' first and last chapters. "Are the books being written at all? Who the heck knows!". The ASoIaF threads are like discussing progress in fusion power. It's being worked on, and while a final breakthrough seems far-away, there is a general agreement that it will happen one day. Work is evidently in process. But this... this is like discussing time travel. Yeah, it would be neat, but isn't happening any time soon.

TWoW is a matter of When. ADoS is too, just a few years down the line. The Doors of Stone seems to be a matter of If. The thread seems, for the lack of a better term, completely deprived of hope. Please tell me I've just got it wrong.

Well if this is like discussing time travel then it probably won't ever come out because if it does we'd already have the book from the future.  But we don't so it won't.  

 

PS

That made a lot more sense in my head before I wrote it down.  Thems the breaks!

[Astromech]

Hmm, so when Doors of Stone does come out, we will know that at that time somewhere in the future time travel will have been realized. Mind = blown! Now I want Doors of Stone for the knowledge we will be masters of time at some point.

Thanks, Larry! Very prophetic of you

[DaveSumm]

Is there any possibility that he gets frustrated with the questions about the book and so actively trolls fans about it, but is actually working on it? Has he ever actually said he's not working on it with no trace of irony, like an actual serious statement? That was my best hope.

[baxus]

16 hours ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

Gee, this thread is somehow even more depressing than the TWoW threads. In there, at least people make rough estimates of progress and when the next book will be out. Dates are being thrown around, deadlines discussed, and generally people seem to assume that work is going slow, but progressing.

Here... well, maybe it's because I just picked up the books and read them both in a week, but the feeling I've got from this thread seems less lively than the Waystone Inn in the books' first and last chapters. "Are the books being written at all? Who the heck knows!". The ASoIaF threads are like discussing progress in fusion power. It's being worked on, and while a final breakthrough seems far-away, there is a general agreement that it will happen one day. Work is evidently in process. But this... this is like discussing time travel. Yeah, it would be neat, but isn't happening any time soon.

TWoW is a matter of When. ADoS is too, just a few years down the line. The Doors of Stone seems to be a matter of If. The thread seems, for the lack of a better term, completely deprived of hope. Please tell me I've just got it wrong.

Though I'm fully in "<insert author's name> is not your bitch" camp, it's unreasonable to expect fans to feel optimistic about book's release when the author himself is cracking jokes about not working on it at all.

Bearing that in mind, I can't find anything wrong with "yeah, it would be neat, but it's not happening any time soon" attitude expressed by quite a few people in this thread.

[Darth Richard II]

4 hours ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

To be fair, Mark Lawrence doesn't write fantasy anywhere near as complex or expansive as Rothfuss. I really doubt that Lawrence would be able to produce a book every year if he were writing as multi-layered a story as Rothfuss.

I strongly disagree. 

[Crowjack]

5 hours ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

To be fair, Mark Lawrence doesn't write fantasy anywhere near as complex or expansive as Rothfuss. I really doubt that Lawrence would be able to produce a book every year if he were writing as multi-layered a story as Rothfuss.

And you are entitled to you woefully incorrect opinion.

 

[Darth Richard II]

I've gone back and forth with people here before, but I don't think Rothfuss's writing actually has all the subtle stuff going on that some people think it does. I think people are seeing things they want to see. Also, 300 pages of ninja sex and paying the bills.

[KiDisaster]

I've tried to read Prince of Thorns about three separate times and never end up getting past the first few chapters. Too much edgelording for me. 

[KiDisaster]

5 minutes ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Prince of Thorns is probably Lawrence's weakest book. I had the same issue with it, but it gets better the farther along you read, and the next few books are really fantastic. The Red Queen's War trilogy is awesome right from the first page. That's what I really love about Lawrence's work, it just seems to get better and better the more he writes.

I've heard this before, but when the opening scene is a bunch of guys bragging and laughing about how they're going to rape the daughters of the villagers they just butchered and then lock them in their houses and burn them alive I lose interest real fucking quick. I like grimdark but that's a whole other level. 

One of these days I'll push through the beginning and see what happens. Need something new to read anyway. 

[Darth Richard II]

That's funny, I don't even consider prince of thorns that dark, but I read Bakker, so.

[unJon]

King of Thorns is a very satisfying and complex narrative. Think that book stacks up against anything Rothfuss has done for layers and complexity. 

[Darth Richard II]

Eh, I remember that as

Spoiler

His dad made him torture his own dog.

But yeah those books are dark, I just have read some really really fucked up shit lately.