I was heavily influenced by my first attempt at a novel. I started a fantasy novel back in high school, and... well... it really sucked. It was a plotless, clichéd mess. Patrick Rothfuss More Quotes by Patrick Rothfuss More Quotes From Patrick Rothfuss Humor is important. If you're going to tell any sort of realistic story, you're going to have to have humor in it, because people are funny. Clever people especially. Patrick Rothfuss important clever people Whenever you write a character, you want to make them themselves, you want to make them unique. You don't want fifty characters in your book and they all pretty much act and think the same except they have different colored hair. Patrick Rothfuss writing character book After two years of sending out query letters and failing to get an agent, I made friends with an author, who was nice enough to introduce me to his agent. That got my foot in the door. Patrick Rothfuss nice feet two Writing a good query letter has very little to do with writing a good novel. But if you can't write the one, it makes it really hard to get the other published. Patrick Rothfuss letters writing littles Performance and music are inexorably tied together. And hell, I'll watch Brittany's Toxic music video all day. But there's a difference between that and listening to Leo Kottke play guitar. One is entertainment. The other is Music. Patrick Rothfuss guitar differences play That's all that really matters in the end. Stories. Patrick Rothfuss ends matter stories If you open the door and realize things like the fact that Batman is occupying the same narrative space that Robin Hood used to fill 400 years ago, then you have the freedom to ignore the pointless "what is literature" discussion and just talk about stories. Patrick Rothfuss realize-things doors years I'm not a role model. I'm an aberation. A statistical anomoly. Following in my footsteps is about the dumbest thing you could ever do. Patrick Rothfuss role-models following roles In my opinion there are two basic questions that any writer tries to answer. "What is?" is the question non-fiction asks. "What if?" is the question fiction asks. That's the question I'm more interested in. Patrick Rothfuss what-if trying two Speculative fiction is where my heart lies. It's what I read growing up, and it's what I read as an adult. Patrick Rothfuss growing-up heart lying Sometimes when I get up after writing, I'm surprised at how my body feels. Suddenly I'm not a lanky, hungry young boy any more. It's no fun putting on ten years and fifty pounds all of a sudden. Other times, I get up and I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm not a weary innkeeper, hopeless, with bones that feel like they're made of lead. I really sink into the characters that I write. Patrick Rothfuss writing fun character Language is inexorably tied to power and understanding. And power and understanding are the roots of magic. Just the act of writing something down is a magical act. Patrick Rothfuss understanding roots writing I believe a writer's most important skill lies in being able to see things from different perspectives. Patrick Rothfuss skills believe lying I want to learn how to pick locks, swordfight, throw pottery - it's all research. It's like the curious person's version of James Bond's license to kill. I've got a license to learn. Patrick Rothfuss pottery locks research I think the best part of being an author is that I get to learn about anything I want and explain it away as research. Patrick Rothfuss research want thinking I loved college. I wish I was still taking classes instead of teaching them. Patrick Rothfuss college teaching class For me, language is something that I've always loved. When I read, that's what I look for. When I write, that's what I strive for. Patrick Rothfuss language writing looks Don't get me wrong, hard and soft fantasy stories can both be good. But you need to know which camp you're in. I'm into realism. I'm a hard fantasy guy. Patrick Rothfuss fantasy-stories guy needs It's hard for a newbie author to get noticed. Patrick Rothfuss hard When someone writes something dazzlingly brilliant, people want to imitate it. The result is a lot of less-than-brilliant knock-offs. Elves, Dwarves, Goblin army, cursed ring, evil sorcerer. Tolkien did it. It rocked. Let's move on. Let's do something new. Patrick Rothfuss army writing moving
