See, Rothfuss made a Mary Sue. Since the story is being told by the guy the story is about, after the fact, to someone who the narrator has no respect for, Rothfuss has an out: He can let Kvothe keep telling his story and then out it all as complete bullshit, or he can let it be just an embellished truth and then let us learn exactly why Kvothe is essentially in hiding after living such a fantastical life - either way Kvothe gets his punishment / redemption and we learn about what real tragedies have befallen him. This story is deep and good.
What he cannot do is pretend that all that ACTUALLY happened, and that Kvothe went on to kill a king and retired to an easy life as an in keeper. That story would suck hard ass and make everyone’s eyes roll out of their heads.
I’m convinced he wrote #2 and is basically waffling over how to turn it into #1, or arguing with his publisher over it, because he knows it’s inherently bad.
His latest book, The Narrow Road Between Desires, isn’t written from Kvothe’s perspective though, but has him as a side character and confirms that Kvothe is at least somewhat of a bad ass.
It’s told from the perspective of Bast (Kvothe’s fae apprentice/student, for those of you who haven’t read a Patrick Rothfuss book in the last 13 years). The book basically implies that while Bast has strange magic powers, Kvothe is still the true master. So that basically rules out the idea that Kvothe is telling a complete bullshit story.
Neat, I didn’t even know what was a thing! I’m glad he figured out where to take the story, and it sounds like he’s leaning into making what Kvothe says as being more truth than fiction, but the next part is still hard: how do you make the end more interesting than “And then the main character kicked everyones ass, the end”? Especially since we know he lives and is, presumed fine? That’s the part that is likely taking forever, and this novella sounds like it’s a chunk of story he couldn’t fit in the book.
For the record I like Rothfuss and all his writing. I’ve met him! We talked about life stuff and he’s a cool guy! I think people expect more than The Dresden Files from him and that pressure sucks. I maintain that he likely wrote the final book, realized he hated it, and has spent this time trying to salvage it while maintaining that the next book will be the end of the story.
See, Rothfuss made a Mary Sue. Since the story is being told by the guy the story is about, after the fact, to someone who the narrator has no respect for, Rothfuss has an out: He can let Kvothe keep telling his story and then out it all as complete bullshit, or he can let it be just an embellished truth and then let us learn exactly why Kvothe is essentially in hiding after living such a fantastical life - either way Kvothe gets his punishment / redemption and we learn about what real tragedies have befallen him. This story is deep and good.
What he cannot do is pretend that all that ACTUALLY happened, and that Kvothe went on to kill a king and retired to an easy life as an in keeper. That story would suck hard ass and make everyone’s eyes roll out of their heads.
I’m convinced he wrote #2 and is basically waffling over how to turn it into #1, or arguing with his publisher over it, because he knows it’s inherently bad.
His latest book, The Narrow Road Between Desires, isn’t written from Kvothe’s perspective though, but has him as a side character and confirms that Kvothe is at least somewhat of a bad ass.
It’s told from the perspective of Bast (Kvothe’s fae apprentice/student, for those of you who haven’t read a Patrick Rothfuss book in the last 13 years). The book basically implies that while Bast has strange magic powers, Kvothe is still the true master. So that basically rules out the idea that Kvothe is telling a complete bullshit story.
Neat, I didn’t even know what was a thing! I’m glad he figured out where to take the story, and it sounds like he’s leaning into making what Kvothe says as being more truth than fiction, but the next part is still hard: how do you make the end more interesting than “And then the main character kicked everyones ass, the end”? Especially since we know he lives and is, presumed fine? That’s the part that is likely taking forever, and this novella sounds like it’s a chunk of story he couldn’t fit in the book.
For the record I like Rothfuss and all his writing. I’ve met him! We talked about life stuff and he’s a cool guy! I think people expect more than The Dresden Files from him and that pressure sucks. I maintain that he likely wrote the final book, realized he hated it, and has spent this time trying to salvage it while maintaining that the next book will be the end of the story.