Patrick Rothfuss on interacting with fans asking about The Doors of Stone

Patrick Rothfuss has been working on The Doors of Stone, the third and (presumably) final book in his beloved Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy, for nearly a decade. The last book in the series, The Wise Man’s Fear, came out in 2011, and fans have been eager to read the continuing adventures of Kvothe ever since. Will he finally confront the Chandrian, the shadowy figures who murdered his parents? How did he end up as a sad sack innkeeper? And just what’s behind those stone doors in the University library? It’s in the title so you know it’s important.

For fantasy fans, the long wait for The Doors of Stone mirrors the long wait for George R.R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. That, too, has been on the way for nearly a decade, with no clear indication of when it’s coming out. Over the years, we’ve watched Martin, who got a huge boost in popularity thanks to HBO Game of Thrones, grapple with fans asking when Winds was going to come out, sometimes nicely, sometimes not. You can tell he’s seen it all just based on the way he writes his blog posts now:

"And before anyone starts to panic, “oh my god he is making videos in place of writing,” OF COURSE I am still working on WINDS OF WINTER as well. That really should go without saying, yet somehow I need to say it, or someone might make stupid assumptions."

Honestly, kudos to Martin for finding a way to deal with the constant requests (sometimes demands) for info with humor, although we definitely sense some frustration in there. But it hasn’t always been easy; getting asked the same thing over and over and over and never having a new answer can’t be fun, and according to Rothfuss, it can have him getting down on himself.

Talking on a recent stream, Rothfuss described how his brain interpreted even innocuous requests from fans to know about the status of The Doors of Stone:

"What you try to say is, ‘I hope that you write a book before you die.’ And I’m like, what you’re trying to say is, ‘I really like your work,’ but what you actually said is, ‘your life is meaningless to me other than if I produce something that you desire.’"

I dunno, I think “I hope that you write a book before you die” is kind of a weird thing to say on its face. “Or you say, ‘God, I’ve been waiting for book 3,’” Rothfuss continued. “Again what you’re saying is, ‘Oh, I’m so excited about that because I really love your work.’ But for me, yeah, I’ve been waiting a long time for book 3 too. I feel really bad about the fact that it isn’t done yet.”

Now, when talking about making demands of authors, there are a couple schools of thought. One is embodied by an immortal line from author Neil Gaiman, who in 2009 wrote about entitled fans, “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.” Basically, the book will be done when it’s done, and haranguing the authors about it isn’t going to help, so you might as well just go about your life.

And I think that’s true — authors write at different rates, you can’t rush inspiration, and trying might actually delay it. But I also can’t say that people who have grown weary of waiting to read the next installment in an ongoing series over the course of nine years don’t have reason to be frustrated.

Basically, be respectful, be considerate, be understanding, and if you feel a demand coming on, maybe take the dog for a walk or scream into a pillow. Authors’ frustrations are valid, but so are readers’.

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h/t LRM Online