What's Creative? The Fantastical yet Grounded world of Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss is the author of the Kingkiller Chronicles, one of the most popular and successful series of fantasy novels in the past few decades. Time and again, year after year, his books are read and reread by fans across the globe, their only complaint being that there isn't more to read. His first book, The Name of the Wind, won the Quill Award for science-fiction/fantasy, and its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, soared to the top of the New York Time's bestseller list. 

To those who have read his work, it should come as no surprise that ever since he was a child, Rothfuss had a wild and active imagination. In high school, he would frequently play the role of class clown, creating wild and goofy characters to cause mischief. He attended college at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, where he was a significant contributor to the local paper, and participated in the widely circulated email parody of the Goodtimes virus, a warning about an imaginary virus to prank the gullible people of the internet. After graduating, he attended graduate school at Washington State University, where he received a masters degree in arts and English, and it was during this time that he began to create what would become the Name of the Wind. 

Following the success of his first, book the widespread release of his second book, Rothfuss gained a fair amount of notoriety, and many sought to understand how he was able to draw out such vivid and vibrant worlds and characters. In a 2016 interview, Rothfuss described his creative process, placing incredible emphasis upon his need for zero distractions, and the necessity of a separate, dedicated writing space. He stressed that nobody, not his family, and especially not the camera crew, was allowed to enter that writing space, which created in him the necessary and absolutely focused mindset. He also described the importance of the physical portion of his writing, specifically how he needed a particular type of mechanical keyboard, whose tactile familiarity and weight behind the keys allowed him to truly enter a state of literary flow. 

Despite the strict rigidity of his creative process, Rothfuss brings an incredible amount of levity and humor to all of his other activities, in particular, his blog, which serves to keep fans updated on varius statuses, his streaming on twitch, particularly of tabletop RPGs such as DND and Pathfinder, and in his charity, worldbuilders, which, in his own words, seek to "unite the geek community into a massive force to fund education, opportunity, and sustainable self-sufficiency for families worldwide." In each of these endeavors, demonstrates his intense passion for both helping others and being a huge nerd. He had always been obsessed with fantasy, and after the success of the Name of the Wind, he was able to translate that nerdiness into powerful philanthropy. 

One of his stated goals with writing these novels is that he wants to create a story that all people will love, but one that especially resonates with the "geeks" like himself. He has always tried to let his nerd flag fly high, and through his writing, he wants to allow others to do the same. He has also been very open about mental health struggles, and his struggles with both his perfectionism and the intense pressure put on him by both his fans and himself to produce another masterpiece, seeking to bring some level of normalization to those issues. These elements give him a strong external motivation for his work, but it also shows that he has significant internal motivations driving him to create an amazing story. 

In Conclusion, if you haven't already read any of his works, I strongly advise you to do so as soon as possible! I, and countless other fans await his 3rd book, the Doors of Stone with bated breath, and I can't wait to see where he takes some of my favorite characters next.