Quote

If you're going to have a book full of clever people and nobody ever jokes, it's just not going to ring true to the reader. That said, humor writing is the hardest kind of writing there is.

Patrick Rothfuss

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Patrick Rothfuss
Age: 51
Born: 1973
Born: June 6
Novelist
Teacher
Writer
Madison
Wisconsin
Patrick James Rothfuss
Going
Reader
Kind
Nobody
People
Humor
Full
Ring
True
Rings
Ever
Clever
Book
Hardest
Writing
Jokes

More quotes by Patrick Rothfuss

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I'm not a speed writer. I write slowly and revise obsessively. The end result tends to be good. That's where my strength is.
Patrick Rothfuss
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I want a magical horse that fits in my pocket, Wil said. And a ring of red amber that gives me power over demons. And an endless supply of cake.
Patrick Rothfuss
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You can't write good characters if you can't imagine what it's like being in another person's skin. And if you can imagine that, you naturally want other people's lives to be better. You want to make that happen.
Patrick Rothfuss
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You know, I could have carried you.
Patrick Rothfuss
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I decided to dub the room with the good chairs my lutery. Or perhaps my performatory. I would need a while to come up with something suitably pretentious.
Patrick Rothfuss
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What were you thinking? Bast said with an odd mixture of confusion and concern. Coat was a long while in answering. I tend to think too much Bast. My greatest successes tended to come when I stopped thinking and simply did what felt right, even if there was no explantion for what I did.
Patrick Rothfuss
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She looked at me. What? Is there something wrong with my idea? It's not very heroic, I said dismissively. I was expecting something with a little more flair. Well, I left my armor and warhorse at home, she said. You're just upset because your big University brain couldn't think of a way, and my plan is brilliant.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Just handle the books gently and you’ll get along fine.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Is there a connection between language and magic? Yes. Ten times yes. So much yes that it almost doesn't bear talking about. It's as pointless that arguing that the sun is hot.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Just pity him, my boy. Tomorrow we'll be on our way, but he'll have to keep his own disagreeable company until the day he dies.
Patrick Rothfuss
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I grew up reading Tolkien, and I love him. But I love him in the way that you love that rambly old grandfather. You have to sit through some pretty off-topic stuff before he starts telling his cool old war stories.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Stories only happen to people who can tell them.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Reading is professionally important for me to keep tuned in to what's being written in my genre, let's not lie. But that's not the reason I read. I read for my own emotional and mental health. If I stopped reading, I'd probably just die.
Patrick Rothfuss
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That was another lesson I had learned perhaps too well: people meant pain.
Patrick Rothfuss
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And if Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that cool props and special effects are not enough. Story comes first. Everything depends on story.
Patrick Rothfuss
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I know there's a lot of talk about self-publishing right now. Everyone's giddy with the possibilities. And I'll admit that it looks good on paper: sell your books directly and keep a bigger chunk of the profit for yourself. No rejection letters. No hassle with agents. Sounds good, right?
Patrick Rothfuss
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One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that's lacking in our regular lives.
Patrick Rothfuss
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Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?
Patrick Rothfuss
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What has made me most proud - the things that I've done that I feel the most pride about - is helping people care about making the world better.
Patrick Rothfuss
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There is nothing I can't do writing in Fantasy. I can have romance, I can have mystery, I can have drama, I can have good characters - I can have everything you can do in any other genre... plus a dragon.
Patrick Rothfuss