I was more responding to the fact that he said there was more amazing world building than there was plot. The fact that he does the micro approach to world building is actually my entire point, he gives us enough information and tidbits to get immersed in it, but he still doesnt do any big 'world building', and claiming he does that over plot is just retarded.

 

I think he just meant to say that Rothfuss gave little to expound upon in this book from which to derive some fanfiction. His cultural approach to world building is fantastic, and I'd argue that it's as much a part of the plot as anything else, as well as being "big" world building. Sure, it came in bits an pieces, but it sure made it feel more realistic that giant walls of history text.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant. You could take the world and characters and write a story with them, but it wouldn't be based on anything that happened in the book because very little has actually happened..

 

No, it's not that very little has happened, it's that there's very little of the world to work with. This is because world building was not a focus of the first book. You can't do much more than write oneshots of random events.

TL;DR - Don't confuse world building with plot.

 

I'm going to disagree with you - he built up several cultures with enough shape to work with, he created a fairly comprehensive, if simple, system of magic, he has working monetary systems, working religion, working bestiary, and working geography. I'm not sure what else you'd want.

 

That's not impressive world-building, it's bare-bones world-building. I've seen more detail in 32-page RPG supplements from the 80s.

This is not a criticism of Rothfuss: his writing is great precisely because he takes a generic, bare-bones medieval fantasy setting and uses it to tell an epic story. But if you think "world-building" is what made The Name of the Wind great, I don't think you are using the term the way it's usually used.

 

Okay here's my view on the world building. He is taking the tolkien approach. Reading the Hobbit and LotR we knew jack Shit about the world unless it was something we needed to know. Tolkien filled in his world making huge with hundreds of characters and tons of places in later books. Considering this only the first book in the trilogy there isn't a single thing wrong with his world building. We learn as Kvothe does. The entire story is based on Kvothes life.

 

I don't understand how you are failing to miss the point; Calling it world building is idiotic because there hasn't been much of it BECAUSE it is the first book. I'll be glad to gobble up whatever Rothfuss farts next just like the rest of you, but the fact is there just has not been any significant world building in book one.

This all started from you guys saying that there wasn't enough plot to work with to write FF, when in fact it's the lack of world building that cockblocks any FF. If we had a massive world that inspired ideas, different people that we could see integrated into Kvothes way, FF would be running rampant. It's the same reason theres so many FF of HP, the incredible sandbox we have and possibilities to change things from canon, coupled with some terrible plot points and easy divergence points. We have none of the above for The Name of the Wind and claiming otherwise is stoooooooopid.

 

Yes, there is no room for ff writers to build on. 99% of the 800 hundred page book is Kvothe telling his story from his point of view. The way he discovered new things. So no this is nothing like Harry Potter where the story isn't told from a certain characters point of view. Also, HP had dozens of characters with little besides a name and a house, which gave a starting point for their personality. Basically everyone named in the name of the wind has a certain part to play in Kvothes world or are mentioned in passing once or twice.

 

I think the problem with writing ff for the Name of the Wind is that there aren't any significant problems with the story. . I don't know about you guys, but I left utterly satisfied with how the story was handled. I think that frustration is a pretty big prerequisite for fanfiction--the question of what you would do differently.

 

Tor, his publisher, posted an excerpt from The Wise Man's Fear today:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/02/excerpt-the-wise-mans-fear-by-patrick-rothfuss

It's a short scene set in the University

 

I really hope Elodin gets more screen time in this book.

 

Dat excerpt.

Dayum. So, another 10 days. Its gonna be along wait.

lol at Joe for three years.

 

DILEMMA: should I buy WMF for ~$16 on Amazon or go to the book signing on March 1st and get an autographed copy for $30? Can't decide. -_-

 

Lol, reading the excerpt I get the feeling that, out of all his characters, Elodin is most like Rothfuss. His voice is a bit like Rothfuss' blog.

 

Depends on how much you value stuff like autographs. I would personally pay the extra $14-$15 for an autographed copy, but that's just me.

 

I firmly believe that one day an autograph from Rothfuss will be worth what an autograph from Tolkien is worth today.

He is that good.

If you disagree with me, you're wrong.

Rothfuss, if he wants it, can be this generations Tolkien. His prose is simply eloquent, his story transcends your run-of-the-mill cliche, and for that alone he is a heavyweight.

Come at me, bitches.

 

I lol'd at the excerpt.

That was a pretty interesting math concept that he talked about though.

 

Fuck, you've convinced me.

The idea that the pieces aren't infinitesimally small is fallacious, though, which is what leads to the false conclusion.

 

Ah. I knew there was a reason why I'm not a math major.