Pat Rothfuss XVII: Games, Bets, and Minecraft

[Ninefingers]

On 12/6/2021 at 1:55 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

The difference with Rothfuss is that he claimed the trilogy was finished before book 1 came out, and that books 2-3 just needed some editing.

He claimed that unlike other series, his readers would only have a year or so in between books.

Turns out that was at best a case of overoptimism.

Sorry for being late to the party (I've been away), but a point of clarification:

The above is not quite correct. When he made the original claim, it was an unambiguous claim that books 2 & 3 were "good to go". Not needs light editing, not almost done, "good to go", don't have to write anymore. LINK

Years later when called onto the carpet he attempted to retcon that earlier statement into it needed editing and i was over optimistic. But that's just not true. 

 

[Ninefingers]

On 12/9/2021 at 7:11 AM, Ran said:

Here is an article on her remarks. Someone speculated that Rothfuss hasn’t worked at all on the book, and Wolheim agreed that it was possible and that she believed he hadn’t written anything on the book in the past six years.

Is she right? No idea. But she definitely said what she believed, and also what she knew to be a fact — that she had yet to see a single word of the third book.

She's since taken down the comments from her facebook page but before she did I screenshotted them and transcribed them HERE. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 minutes ago, Ninefingers said:

She's since taken down the comments from her facebook page but before she did I screenshotted them and transcribed them HERE. 

I traded IM’s with her.  She simply didn’t know.

[Ninefingers]

On 12/9/2021 at 6:29 AM, unJon said:

You don’t view his publisher as a reliable source?

I think it's worth noting that Rothfuss has admitted to lying to her in the past. LINK

I don’t tell Betsy about any of this, of course. Because I’m a newbie and I’m scared to death that I’m going to ruin my big chance with my for-real publisher. So I keep telling her everything is fine, and she keeps asking to see the draft of book two.

And really I don't think its a very big leap to imagine that if he's lying to her about what's going on that he's be perfectly willing to lie to the faceless fanbase. So basically, we take him at his word at our peril. 

[Ninefingers]

4 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I traded IM’s with her.  She simply didn’t know.

Sounds very reasonable to me. I'd be surprised to learn he hadn't worked on it at all. 

I'd also be surprised to learn that he's worked on it regularly and hasn't taken large breaks. And as I said elsewhere, I don't trust his word at all. He's lied multiple times, and I have no doubts he'd be willing to lie again.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

7 minutes ago, Ninefingers said:

Sounds very reasonable to me. I'd be surprised to learn he hadn't worked on it at all. 

I'd also be surprised to learn that he's worked on it regularly and hasn't taken large breaks. And as I said elsewhere, I don't trust his word at all. He's lied multiple times, and I have no doubts he'd be willing to lie again.

Not an unreasonable position.  I’m still going to buy and read the book when and if it is published.

[Ninefingers]

37 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

 I’m still going to buy and read the book when and if it is published.

Me too! And despite the negative tone* of my posts above, I'm very confident that it will get published. I'd put the odds at 75% within 5 years and 95% within 10.

 

*I have a fairly low opinion of Pat Rothfuss the person, in stark contrast to my opinion of Pat Rothfuss the author. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

6 minutes ago, Ninefingers said:

Me too! And despite the negative tone* of my posts above, I'm very confident that it will get published. I'd put the odds at 75% within 5 years and 95% within 10.

 

*I have a fairly low opinion of Pat Rothfuss the person, in stark contrast to my opinion of Pat Rothfuss the author. 

That’s fair.  I’ve met Rothfuss he seemed nice at the time but he has turned out to be rather… prickly… with fans.

[Myshkin]

On 12/21/2021 at 11:25 AM, Ninefingers said:

Sorry for being late to the party (I've been away), but a point of clarification:

The above is not quite correct. When he made the original claim, it was an unambiguous claim that books 2 & 3 were "good to go". Not needs light editing, not almost done, "good to go", don't have to write anymore. LINK

Years later when called onto the carpet he attempted to retcon that earlier statement into it needed editing and i was over optimistic. But that's just not true. 

 

I know the whole books 2 and 3 are already done thing is what everyone remembers from this interview, but rereading it I also came across this gem:

- What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?

Brevity.

- Brevity? In a 600+ page novel?

Heh. Yeah. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. There's a reason everyone comments on the book being such a quick read. It's long, but it's tight. There isn't a lot of wasted space.

This from the same guy who included a 70+ page pointless sex romp directly followed by like 200 pages of our hero learning karate (and having some more sex) in book 2.

[Rorshach]

Well, but that was * book 2 *.

Brevity was his strength in * book 1 *

 

 

Veeeery obvious.

[Jaxom 1974]

4 hours ago, Myshkin said:

 

This from the same guy who included a 70+ page pointless sex romp directly followed by like 200 pages of our hero learning karate (and having some more sex) in book 2.

Do you think you could have done it in less than 70 pages?  With the wood nymph, or whatever she was...?  And karate in under 200 pages?  When you're having all that sexy time too?  I mean, like you said, no wasted space...

[Myshkin]

36 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Do you think you could have done it in less than 70 pages?  With the wood nymph, or whatever she was...?  And karate in under 200 pages?  When you're having all that sexy time too?  I mean, like you said, no wasted space...

I’ll have you know that every single pointless sex romp I’ve ever written has clocked in at under 15,000 words! Anything more than that is just gratuitous. I will however admit that my karate learning montages tend to fall into the 70-80 thousand word range.

[john]

I mean, the sex and the karate are written using the same technique, that just proves Rothfus’ point about brevity. Windmill rushes over rainbow. Is that a sex move or a karate move? You don’t know. See? Brevity.

[Proudfeet]

1 hour ago, Myshkin said:

I’ll have you know that every single pointless sex romp I’ve ever written has clocked in at under 15,000 words! Anything more than that is just gratuitous. I will however admit that my karate learning montages tend to fall into the 70-80 thousand word range.

Amazon says your second book clocks in at 71 pages though. 

[Myshkin]

34 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Amazon says your second book clocks in at 71 pages though. 

Did you miss the part where I said pointless? Moist in the Moonlight has a very important point: the deep exploration of having sex with Scottish werewolves.

[Jaxom 1974]

49 minutes ago, Myshkin said:

Did you miss the part where I said pointless? Moist in the Moonlight has a very important point: the deep exploration of having sex with Scottish werewolves.

I understood that reference...

[Kyll.Ing.]

On 12/21/2021 at 3:34 PM, sologdin said:

this thread is descending into familiar ground.

Descending? We've been at this level for a while. I've seen many Rothfuss threads come and go over the years, and I can't really recall a single instance of us actually discussing the books. We usually manage to fill twenty pages of talk about how the next book is never coming. The conclusion tends to be that it's all Rothfuss's fault.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Kyll.Ing.

[Proudfeet]

4 hours ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

Descending? We've been at this level for a while. I've seen many Rothfuss threads come and go over the years, and I can't really recall a single instance of us actually discussing the books. We usually manage to fill twenty pages of talk about how the next book is never coming. The conclusion tends to be that it's all Rothfuss's fault.

Can't say I share that sentiment. Obviously we've discussed the books when the books came out, but that's probably not been for "a while". Does Slow Regard count? Thistlepong even made a website for it. We've also revisited the books when a user starts the series, infrequent as that may be. 

Also, we don't fill twenty pages of how the next book is never coming. We fill it with discussion of Rothfuss' latest gaffes, which are not necessarily related to the books either.

Not sure what concluding that it's Rothfuss' fault mean either. The author is responsible for submitting the book after all, do you mean that we should put the blame on DAW for not publishing? Or is that we're bemoaning that the book is not out? I think you'll find that most of us are actually quite happy to move on and revisit the books when they are released. We don't paw at Rothfuss for the book.

[sologdin]

am hoping it's revealed that he's been helping PTA draft his new film, also concerning a parentless but precocious ginger kid dating inexplicably way out of his league.

 

[Ninefingers]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:00 PM, Myshkin said:

I know the whole books 2 and 3 are already done thing is what everyone remembers from this interview, but rereading it I also came across this gem:

- What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?

Brevity.

- Brevity? In a 600+ page novel?

Heh. Yeah. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. There's a reason everyone comments on the book being such a quick read. It's long, but it's tight. There isn't a lot of wasted space.

This from the same guy who included a 70+ page pointless sex romp directly followed by like 200 pages of our hero learning karate (and having some more sex) in book 2.

One of the biggest Rothfuss knee-slappers of all time came in a recent blog where he's describing himself(emphasis mine):

Quote

 

Once years and miles away, there was a man who loved books, and games , and stories. He did not consider himself wise, but was still wise enough to know he was happiest when he was being a bit of a fool. He was an odd sort, beset by melancholy, and often felt as if he didn’t fit into the world. He was uncommonly lucky, and uncomfortably honest, and he always kept his word.

All of this taken together led some folk to wonder if his mother had been visited by the sort of odd folk who always seem to be showing up in the dark hours just as children are being born. The sort of people that leave no footprints, and speak oddly, so it’s hard to tell if they’re good oracles, bad poets, or merely self-important busybodies who lack proper jobs and have too much time on their hands.

Other people suspected it had nothing to do with events surrounding his birth. Instead they thought perhaps he had a demon riding in his shadow, or a single drop of faerie blood, or that one of his long-forgotten ancestors had lay down among the Gorse…

His name was Patrick Rothfuss. Those who knew him, knew he enjoyed a good wager. But those who knew him better knew the truth, and that was that he *loved* a wager, especially if it was reckless and unwise….

 

I rarely actually laugh out loud when reading on the internet, but this one got me. I struggle to imagine having the chutzpah to describe myself as always keeping my word when I'm famous for one of the largest authorial broken promises in memory.