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antishurtugal_reborn2021-01-05 10:54 pm
Chris P Writing Tips, Number 5.
Once more into the breach, my friends. Happy New Year! I’ve decided it’s time to dip my toes back into Paolini’s Youtube series, “Chris P Writing Tips”.
Original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW2xlUVrNR8
I’m going to skip right past the video about his gym equipment and workout routines, because it is irrelevant to the art and craft of writing, and I honestly don't care.
Which means we’re heading straight into… oh. Oh, NO.
ChrisP Writing Tip #5: A Chance For Romance?!
Having seen in the Inheritance Cycle and now in To Sleep how Paolini approaches romance in his writing, I’m really not looking forward to this. Unless he just shamelessly parrots a list of generic seemingly-helpful-but-not-really platitudes from a Writers Digest blog post…
“Today’s writing tip is on how to write romance. And to answer the question, How do I write romance? Hell if I know!”
I’m glad he’s being honest for a change
If you haven’t yet watched or refuse to watch the video, you need to see the close-up that followed this statement. I’ll pop up a screen grab here:
GAH!
Imagine turning a corner and running into that when you’re least expecting it.
Back in the first or second Chris P Writing Tip, Paolini gave us a similarly creepy close-up of his vacant smile. (I’d call it a customer service expression, but as far as we know Paolini has never worked in a customer-facing service role, except maybe meeting people as they file past him in the autograph line. And also I’ve never seen a customer service smile that’s even half as creepy as this). I was playing around with a new image-manipulation app on my phone, so I proceeded to torture Epistler and Snarkbotanya with his zoomed-in face.*evil grin*
I present to you the Paolini Trinity, or the Paolinity, formed by mirroring each side of his face onto itself:
Forehead Pao:
And my personal favourite, the Paolini Beholder, or the Eye of the Paoholder:
Heheheh.
This is of course just a bit of fun, and not meant to be a serious criticism of his appearance (except to extend my personal opinion that the ultra close-up of his face is really creepy and unnecessary. Anyone would look creepy in that ultra-closeup framing, with a fake Stepford smile that doesn’t reach their eyes.)
Anyway, enough of this, er, “fun”, and let’s concentrate on the serious content of the video.
“But seriously, how do you work with romances and relationships in a story? Whether you’re writing sci fi, fantasy, or some other type of story”
Some other type of story? Like, I don’t know, maybe a romance?
“I have to be really honest here, I am not the greatest person at writing romance”
Full credit for being honest and truthful. I’m being completely sincere, it is refreshing to hear Paolini own up to one of his weaknesses as a writer. 2010 Paolini wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“As anyone who is a fan of the Inheritance Cycle might say; I’ve certainly heard from more than a few disappointed fans who really wanted Eragon and Arya to end up together by the end of the series. Of course the reason they didn’t is because I felt it wouldn’t be right for the characters.”
Oh. So, you’re not really admitting that you aren’t good at writing romance, you’re just suggesting that your “disappointed fans” don’t appreciate the way you write romance? That’s... decidedly less noble.
“And that would be my first tip here: do what feels right for the characters”
A fine and useful tip, IF you also set up emotionally realistic characters that react to things in a realistic way and not just As The Plot Directs. For example, Arya should have kicked Eragon in the balls at least 10 times through the course of the Inheritance Cycle for being a creepy obsessive stalker who thought that “no” actually meant “not yet”.
I completely agree with Christopher that it would not have been right for Eragon and Arya to end up together, but for different reasons than Chris has previously stated.
“not what the story demands, not what you think should happen, but what feels right for the characters, what they need, what they want”
Epistler: Well, he certainly knows how to cater to the selfish demands of his selfish characters.
“what will help them grow and mature, and will ultimately serve the story, but in this case serving the story is going to happen by being truthful to who the characters are”
Okay, this is pretty big. Basically a complete reversal of his attitude towards characters prior to To Sleep. If you hadn’t heard it, back in the days before and then slightly after Inheritance came out, whenever Paolini talked about characters he’d talk about putting his “meat puppets” in the positions they need to be in for the story, and having them do and say the things required of them by the plot, and how characters’ actions are ultimately derived from the plot, the preordained direction the story needs to go in.
For Paolini to do a complete 180 on all of that, on 10 years of the writing advice he was giving out to his IC fans back in the day, that’s… that’s a big change. If this is his new sincerely-held philosophy about writing characters, it’s only developed in the last few years or so, and certainly isn’t reflected in any of his works so far.
“One big pitfall that I personally have experienced […] when writing about romance and relationships is, it’s very easy to empathise strongly with the main character and what they want and what they’re trying to accomplish, that you can end up making all the other characters sort of puppets around that”
It is painfully true that Paolini has very often fallen into the pitfall of empathising too much about his main character and reducing everyone else to puppets to serve the main character’s interests. That is his entire writing method in summary up. And, as I mentioned above, he used to be PROUD of the control he had over his ‘meat puppets’.
It is also much easier to fall into that particular trap if your main character is literally a wish-fulfilment self-insert of yourself, and the other character in your ‘relationship’ is a wish-fulfilment object of desire whose only purpose in the story is to act as a trophy for the main character to win.
“If the other person in the relationship is behaving the way they are just to satisfy the main character’s desires or to make that romance happen, you might want to step back and, at least at some point in your creative process, imagine the relationship through the eyes of the other character.”
Yes, Christopher. Yes, you might want to do that.
“As if they were the main character of the story. I find that incredibly helpful, and I always learn something about that character and the relationship when I do that”
He speaks as if he’s done this loads of times, and written dozens of characters in relationships. Let’s count them, shell we?
1. Eragon and Arya.
2. Roran and Katrina.
3. Kira and Alan.
At a stretch you might be able to say that he did that with Arya in Inheritance, but certainly not in the first three books. He never did that at all with Katrina, because she doesn’t have a personality outside of ‘Roran’s designated love interest’. Alan dies almost as soon as he’s introduced, with barely a handful of lines of dialogue to develop his character.
So, when did Paolini “do that”, exactly?
“I think the reason I fall into this trap if you will is that–”
-Your main character is a wish-fulfilment self-insert and the designated love interest is a wish-fulfilment trophy?
“– it is because I empathise so much with that main character, and I want things to work out for them, and I want the things they want”
Because they ARE you, inserted into your story with a different name.
“but that doesn’t make for good storytelling.”
And you’re only learning this now?
“Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that relationships are incredibly subjective. Whatever you’ve experienced in your life, other people may not have”
Congratulations, he’s experienced sonder.
“What feels true to you will not necessarily feel true to someone else”
Which is a large part of why Paolini’s descriptions and action scenes fall so flat.
“It can be very frustrating. I’ve certainly this where I’ve written something that has been based off my own experience or what I’ve seen of human behaviour, friends, family, or what have you, and then someone reads it and says “that’s just ridiculous, no one behaves like that, no one talks like that, no one feels like that”
Prithee, insinuate-eth thou that nonce talketh as thus? Alas, that I and thy shalt be misforgotten so verily!
The reason people say that nobody behaves or talks like your character,s, Paolini, is because nobody does. Your characters don’t behave or react the way an emotionally healthy human would, because for all your talk about empathising with your main character so much, you still let the plot dictate their actions and behaviours as the story requires, and you don’t follow through on the implications of those actions, reactions, or feelings.
And you have no idea how to write dialogue, because you’re too concerned about how it looks on the page, than whether it sounds natural or appropriate for the character. Which is why you have illiterate farmers giving lofty court speeches like nobles in a play.
“It may be a failure on my part to adequately convey what I’m trying to convey, but it is still very frustrating. And you have to accept the subjective nature of relationships”
or learn how to write better, so you can convey your thoughts and feelings more adequately.
“and because such strong emotions are bound up in these sorts of situations, people will respond very strongly positively or negatively to whatever type of relationship you’re writing”
only if you write it convincingly enough that the reader can empathise and become invested in the relationship. If you don’t, they’ll just not care.
“That said, it’s really important that you don’t lock up. Just because people may not react the way you want, you don’t want to lock up, you don’t want to armour yourself.”
Says the person whose fan forum was moderated by his father, who ruthlessly squashed all hint of criticism constructive or otherwise. Says the person who continues to brush off, ignore, or actively delete (where you can) any criticism of your work.
Here’s the hypocrisy I’ve grown used to. In spades. I mean, it was present earlier in the video, but not quite so blatantly.
“Writing is an art, it is an act of exposing ourselves”
BAD THOUGHT! BAD THOUGHT! Someone call the Men In Black to zappy-thing me!
“of being honest with our audience”
Honest, like when you lied to all of your readers in those interviews and Q&As and AMAs where you stated categorically that there were no eldunari in the vault of souls? Honest, like the other million promises you made about Book 4 (Inheritance) that didn’t happen? Honest like when you keep telling your fans that you plan to get right on to Book Five just as soon as “the next project” is done?
Honest like how you claimed the confrontation with Galbatorix was entirely your own ideas that arose from a natural consequence of the plot with “no outside inspiration”, when actually it is ripped off almost word for word from David Eddings?
Is that what you mean about being honest with your audience, Paolini?
I have a deep desire to slap something. Hard.
I am now 3:35 into a 5:42 video. I’m not sure if my laptop could survive the next two minutes unscathed.
“So you have to be willing to share things with your readers, with your audience – you know, emotions, situations that you would never share with anyone aside from a significant other, or close friends, or family members maybe, those sorts of emotions are usually kept very private”
There’s also knowing which details to share. I don’t think anybody, no matter how invested in the series, needed to know about Eragon’s fascination with Oromis’s hairless groin. That’s a detail to keep very private and not reveal to anyone at all.
I have also not seen any evidence of strong emotions anywhere in Paolini’s works, aside from anger possessiveness and bloodlust, of course.
“But when it comes to writing, you have to be willing to share that with your audience”
It helps if you are able to portray it in your own unique voice and perspective, instead of parroting cliches and platitudes from other writers.
“There is a great virtue, I think, a great benefit to being earnest with your storytelling. Not always, but at least when it comes to these sorts of things. And the risk of being earnest, of being sincere, is that people may make fun of that.”
It’s not your sincerity we make fun of, Chris, it’s your INsincerity.
“And you know what, that’s okay”
Especially if you pretend they don’t exist, and only listen to your financially-vested yes-men and most adoring of fans.
“And again, what you think makes sense for a romance, other people may not”
For example, physical and emotional abuse, codependency, obsessive stalking, possessiveness, jealousy, threats, and ignoring their inconvenient withholding of consent. Some people may not think they make sense for a romantic relationship, but Paolini thought they were perfectly fine for Eragon and Roran’s relationships with Arya and Katrina.
“If you’re writing a story where there’s supposed to be a lot of tension between the characters, pay attention to the things you can do to add that tension to the story, usually through desires that are unfulfilled”
For example: Eragon obsessively stalks Arya. Arya desires for Eragon to leave her the fuck alone. Huzzah, instant tension!
“Whatever you do, certainly don’t write a four-book fantasy series with two main characters who have the potential for a relationship and who never actually have one, because I can guarantee you you will annoy a large number of your readers”
Wow, the bitterness in his voice here. That fan reaction apparently really got to him. I mean, I think he focused on the wrong part of the fan exodus, but it still shows that he has actually had to face up to some of the criticism of the IC, if too little and too late.
“But if you do do that, and you think it’s right for your characters, stick to your guns and know you did the correct thing, and... try something new with a new story”
You said ‘new’, not ‘the same thing but with a female main character and in space’.
And that’s the end of the video. This was honestly difficult to get through, even though it's only a 5-minute video it took me several hours of taking it a sentence at a time.
no subject
Jeez, I don't know how you manage it. I was able to watch the entire video in one sitting, but I had the sound muted and the subtitles on.
“what will help them grow and mature, and will ultimately serve the story, but in this case serving the story is going to happen by being truthful to who the characters are”
Unfortunately, none of the romances help the characters grow or mature. They seem more like prizes.
There’s also knowing which details to share. I don’t think anybody, no matter how invested in the series, needed to know about Eragon’s fascination with Oromis’s hairless groin. That’s a detail to keep very private and not reveal to anyone at all.
Snicker.
“It can be very frustrating. I’ve certainly this where I’ve written something that has been based off my own experience or what I’ve seen of human behaviour, friends, family, or what have you, and then someone reads it and says “that’s just ridiculous, no one behaves like that, no one talks like that, no one feels like that” “It may be a failure on my part to adequately convey what I’m trying to convey, but it is still very frustrating. And you have to accept the subjective nature of relationships”
This is very very telling. It seems that Chris's beta readers do give him criticism after all. The problem is, he seems to rationalize it away, like he's doing here. So we can't really fault the editor. Can you imagine having to fight Chris for every single scene removed? It must be awful to read each brick before it is edited.
no subject
I know what you mean. There's just something about his voice which REALLY grates on my nerves. He has that in common with Trump, whose voice I equally can't stand.
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I know what you mean. There's just something about his voice which REALLY grates on my nerves.
If it were anyone else it would be more bearable, but the hypocrisy and stuff makes it more annoying.
He has that in common with Trump, whose voice I equally can't stand.
Thank god he's been voted out.
(frozen comment) no subject
Yeah, with both of them it's definitely a combination of the two.
Amen to that. January 20th can't come soon enough.
(frozen comment) no subject
Yeah, with both of them it's definitely a combination of the two.
And the blatant lies coming out of both their mouths.
Amen to that. January 20th can't come soon enough.
This whole episode was super embarrassing to our country. Now we'll always have the time we elected the reality tv star as president.
(frozen comment) no subject
Was prepared to disagree about that this morning. Then he started a riot in the capitol.
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(frozen comment) no subject
But NOTHING excuses starting a goddamned RIOT in our capitol. Trump has lost absolutely ALL of what respect I had left for him. I hear they're going to impeach him, I say this time he bloody well deserves it and for high treason at that, along with every damned one of those rioters who have just made a fool of our nation. One of them was shot and killed. I say they should've ALL been shot.
I'm so upset and furious right now that I'm just...numb. All I can do is sit here and get steadily more and more bug eyed with fury while complaining about it online. I'm starting to think this must be how the Romans felt when Rome was burning.
I'm like, just...WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?! WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS! WHY ARE THESE SHIT STAINS NOT BEING MOWED THE FUCK DOWN FOR TRYING TO OVERTURN OUR COUNTRY WITH VIOLENCE?!
We expect politicians to be sore losers, we EXPECTED Trump to be a sore loser, THIS is unprecedented, unacceptable and unforgivable! THIS IS THIRD WORLD BULLSHIT AND IT'S SOMEHOW NOT ONLY HAPPENING IN MY COUNTRY, WHICH NO MATTER HOW FLAWED IT IS I'M STILL PROUD TO CALL MY HOME AND THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, IT'S BEING PERPETRATED BY PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO SUPPORT MY SIDE!
I'm just...(shakes head) This... I just... What the hell even is this crap?
The ugliest most boorish and idiotic side of America has reared its head today and done what they do best: show their asses and make fools of themselves and everyone associated with them.
...
I apologize for my rant, but I'm a patriot at heart, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is going to go down as one of the darkest days in my nation's history.
Today would've been a fantastic day for a meteor strike.
(frozen comment) no subject