Fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss began studying chemical engineering in college, which “led to a revelation that chemical engineering is boring.” He then spent nine years bouncing between majors “before being kindly asked to graduate already.” After that, according to his official bio, “Patrick went to grad school. He’d rather not talk about it.” Meanwhile, he was slowly working on a novel. That novel, The Name of the Wind (in which chemistry appears repeatedly), sold millions of copies worldwide and is source material for a potential TV successor to Game of Thrones.
