The Lightning Tree

Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin to awesome parents who encouraged him to read and create through reading to him, gentle boosts of self-esteem, and deprivation of cable television.  During his formative years, he read extensively and wrote terrible short stories and poetry to teach himself what not to do.
Patrick matriculated at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, initially studying chemical engineering which led to a revelation that chemical engineering is boring.  He then spent the next nine years jumping from major to major, taking semesters off, enjoying semesters at part-time, and generally rocking the college student experience before being kindly asked to graduate already.  Surprisingly enough, he had enough credits to graduate with an English major, and he did so grudgingly.