Let me tell you about all the ways that Patrick Rothfuss is a god among men.

Firstly, he’s a nice guy. Really nice. Secondly, he has an awesome beard. Really awesome. It’s long and full and has two grey streaks in it. Thirdly, he fences, like me, and fences epee, like me.

Fourthly, he wrote the best book I’ve ever read, The Name of the Wind. It’s his first novel. It’s something like 250,000 words of heaven. And for all that length, not a single word is wasted, every one is essential. It’s brilliant.

Fifthly, Patrick Rothfuss signed a copy of this book for me last night when he gave a talk at the Deansgate Waterstones in Manchester. He laughed at my quote request (despite someone ahead of me in the line stealing it) and chatted to my wife.

All of these things make Pat awesome. Awesome to the max.

I first got wind of The Name of the Wind around April 2007, when Pat was interviewed on my favourite book-related podcast, DragonPage Cover to Cover. That interview more than two years ago was fascinating, as he described all the things he did wrong when it comes to writing a fantasy novel, and how, despite breaking every publishing rule in the book (a 250,000-word first novel with no bad guy?), he produced one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written. Well, that’s not quite how he described his own book, that’s how I’m describing it.

I picked it up in December 2007, having been given a bookstore gift card. I read the book in December 2008, mostly in my car in a parking lot near my old workplace each freezing winter morning. When I was done, I wondered why on Earth it had taken me more than a year and half to read this work of art.

I forgot my camera last night, but it was a terrific couple of hours. He read from book two in the Kingkiller Chronicles, and talked about how the version of The Name of the Wind that was published was actually the 400th draft. This was particularly interesting, because, as he pointed out, that meant there were 399 versions of the novel before the published version that were not as good. It was all, he said, down to perseverance. Although I didn’t get a chance to ask him about his writing habits, he hit the money with that point. Perserverence.

As a writer, you have to keep going, and going, and going, and going, and going, and going, and going. Write one book, then a second, then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth. Even though The Name of the Wind is Pat’s first book, he actually wrote it 400 times, so he had a lot of practice and a lot of sticking power.

So, any lessons learnt from last night? Yep. Write and keep writing, and then when you’re done, write some more.

On the way out, my wife said I could grow a beard like Pat’s when I get my book deal. I think I can probably beat Pat in that department, as I’ve got goddamn white in my beard (none of this half-assed grey business). So I’m really looking forward to the day when we meet up as fellow authors at a con somewhere, and can argue about fantasy and beards and the best episode of Firefly long into the night.