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antishurtugal_reborn2025-03-04 08:23 pm
Morontagh Interview Spork Part Four
I: Was the theme of inheritance in Murtagh intentional? Like with the relationships with the children and, like, imparting either a gift of a fork, or wisdom onto… or even like a sense of caring onto, like, a younger generation - was that intentional to bring over from the Inheritance Cycle? Or was that found kinda naturally?
We are of course ignoring the fact that Morontagh a) Dragged a little girl into the middle of a violent confrontation for no reason, b) Gave her a weapon and encouraged her to go commit violence with it c) Magically modified her body by force, without permission or even saying what he was going to do, and d) subsequently mind-raped her parents. As if he somehow had the right to do all of this, trampling their autonomy and human dignity underfoot like they don’t even count as people. And of course later on he beats up those kids’ father in front of them before stealing all his money even though they're clearly poor. Don’t even get me started on that bit with Silna. The hero gets kissed by a naked little girl, with lots of descriptions of her body thrown in? SHUDDER.
P: [stammering] It was just what this particular story did.
Oh that is fucking weak.
P: You know, Murtagh is already grown up
…no he isn’t.
P: He’s not an adolescent - he’s a grown man.
Wouldn’t he be 19 by this point? Where you come from that’s not even old enough to drink. Also it’s been shown (by SCIENCE!) that the brain doesn’t finish maturing until you hit 25.
Or in some cases, ever.
P: This particular transformation that he needs to go through is not complete, um, and all the stuff with the children and the young people in the story was-
Murtagh IS a young people! You’re acting like he’s 35!
P: Um, I mean it’s a nice tie-in but the theme of inheritance, I wasn’t aiming for that.
I’m losing count of the number of questions he has completely flamed out on. Once again he also failed to make a coherent point. What transformation exactly is Morontagh going through and what about “the stuff with the kids and the young people”? He just kind of brought it up and then dropped it. Which fits with the way he writes, of course.
I: So one of the things we get a lot of in this book that was… really, uh, wonderful after reading Inheritance was Thorn’s… we don’t really get his POV but some POV through Murtagh of him-
P: [interrupting, AGAIN] I think he only has one line in the entire Inheritance Cycle.
Which he uses to kiss Eragon’s ass, because you completely wasted the character. And are still doing so.
I: And we get a lot of him here and we get a very different Rider-dragon relationship between him and Murtagh versus Saphira and Eragon
Please do explain this “difference”. I want examples. (UPDATE: I did not get any examples. No surprises there)
I: What was the process of crafting that relationship to be similar in its, like, magical qualities but also different in that they had a very trying kind of hatching?
P: Well that was the key right there. And I wanted it to feel different while still maintaining the sense that they’ll back each other up no matter what
That must be why Morontagh dragged Thorn to the cult village against all his advice, stayed against all his advice, and consequently did not have his “best friend’s” back while the two of them were being TORTURED. All of which Thorn just blithely forgets. Sorry, but doing something like that is grounds for ending a friendship permanently.
P: Which they have in the past
Just not any more, because please do name one example of Morontagh coming to rescue Thorn instead of it being an entirely one-sided “Thorn rescues Morontagh’s dumb ass over and over again” type affair
P: That’s an important part of that, but Murtagh is kind of a difficult personality himself, Thorn’s… y’know, as we see in the book of course, had a very very difficult upbringing under Galbatorix and then later on… and that leaves scars, that leaves marks. Trying to find a way to reflect that in the relationship without also having them being at each others’ throats because they’re not - they’re being supportive, but at the same time… it’s perhaps an overused word these days, but they have trauma
…how DARE you?
I [female]: There’s a big theme of this!
I [male, taking over yet again]: It really is at the centre - [laughing] physical and emotional traumas at the centre of the series
WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?
I [female]: I definitely got, like, choked up with just Thorn and his claustrophobia and how it was written, how it was handled, like everything surrounding it, we don’t need to get into exact spoilers but like - out of pure curiosity, do you or someone you know have that claustrophobia that you were able to speak to about?
P: No [laughing] no
So in short, we’ve seen both men in the room laughingly trivialise trauma to the point of calling it an overused word, and now for the second time Paolini reveals that he did not do any research or consult anyone to make sure he’d handled a real phobia correctly. While laughing like this is the silliest question he’s ever heard.
He really just does not fucking care.
P: The most important part of writing is the act of imagination, just like with acting, you know, but even though there’s no-one in my life who suffers from that, when I’m writing Thorn or anyone who might feel that I do my best to feel what they’re feeling
LOL, he “empathises” with his characters and doesn’t bother to do any research into stuff that should be written to match real psychology as closely as possible because you just do not half-ass it on stuff like this.
P: Which is why when writing scenes or a large chunk of a book where perhaps things are difficult for the characters, I have a bad time!
Because then you have to figure out ways to deal with their difficulties that isn’t just another deus ex machina, oh no
I: I hope you take breaks!
P: Yeah, that’s when it’s good to go play with the kids and take a load off one’s mind. It’s very, like - some of the battle scenes in Inheritance really got to me at times because… I’m thinking especially in Inheritance but also in Brisingr… there were some large, large set-pieces, you know
Because he’s all about the big set-pieces and not so much about the overarching story.
P: -and battles, and it takes a couple of weeks to write sometimes because that’s a long time to have your head in blood and guts
You didn’t HAVE to go full-tilt on the blood and guts, you know.
I [female]: Yeah… like the one moment in Inheritance strangely enough, because there’s so many big moments, but I think in the tunnels in Dras-Leona…
The face of a man hearing and talking about gruesome torture and bloody violence.
P [still grinning]: When Arya pulled her hand out of the iron cuff…
I [also laughing for some reason]: My heart just… and I get sweaty… yeah, there’s some powerful moments.
Good powerful moments don’t rely on gratuitous gore and torture but on powerful emotions with and between the characters. “Oh no the heroine just ripped all the skin off her hand” isn’t emotional unless you count the cheap shock value, which I don’t.
I: There is an extended period of this book-
Oh god, here we go.
I: -that is very traumatic [he might have said ‘dramatic’] that I would say is probably the most adult… it’s not even about being an adult, it’s the darkest that the series gets
Correct. Torture porn is not “adult”. Hell, the Deptford Mice series had nastier and more shocking gore and torture, and that series was for children! Except that - and I can’t believe I’m actually making this comparison - in Deptford it made the villains actually seem way more scary, and raised the stakes to incredible heights because when Robin Jarvis harms a character, he makes it stick. Most of his torture victims don’t survive, and anybody can die, even when both they and you thought they were safe. Or to put it another way, in his stories it’s constantly acknowledged that these situations are completely unfair. Brave, heroic gestures end in futile deaths. The nicest character in the book isn’t spared even though they “deserved” a happy ending. Characters make incredible sacrifices that turn out to have been all for nothing because the villains win anyway. Characters are traumatised by the loss of those they loved and never recover. And so on.
This is why this largely forgotten series about “cute” talking mice has ten times the staying power of Paolini’s Big Important Serious Books For Serious People.
I: Where did you find the line - were there any drafts where you felt like you went too far with that section, or you had to pull it back?
P: Uh, yeeees…
[laughter]
I really hate how this lot keep laughing and smiling while talking about fucking torture. Among other things nobody should be laughing at.
P: Not a huge amount though. First of all I throw everything into my first drafts - kitchen sink, because you can always dial it back later. So whatever it is, even if it’s a funny scene, I push it as far as I can and see how it hits the audience.
Who exactly is this “audience”? Your sister? Daddy Dearest? I mean we’re not exactly doing test screenings for the general public here.
P: So in the sequence you’re talking about there was one thing in particular I did that I actually don’t want to talk about - I cut out during editing.
Well great, now my imagination is going to all sorts of places I’d rather it didn’t.
P: -At my editor’s very wise advice.
Oh spare me.
P: And I’m really glad I did. But that was a thing because I was like “how far can I take this?” and that was too far.
Considering what he thinks is not taking it too far, I really don’t like to think of what he held back. I mean fucking hell.
I: An element that’s always been a part of these books - I mean going back to Arya in… it’s been talked around and mentioned I think up until the Burrow Grubs in Inheritance-
P: *hisses* [no, really]
I: We got some comments when we announced we were going to do this -some people were like “I’m just gonna read them all now so I’ll be ready for it” and in our discord there were some people who were like “so I got to Inheritance and these Burrow Grubs…”
I’m really not sure what the question is even supposed to be here.
P: They're bad!
Correct; your books are bad and those grubs were fucking lame.
P: I won’t lie; they came from a nightmare
But surely your real recurring nightmare involves an editor with a giant red pen.
P: Literally came from a nightmare. So I shared it with the world!
Gee, thanks, it really added a lot.
P: So that it’s out of my head and into yours.
Oh fuck you, you colossal dickbag.
P: But when I write about something I stop thinking about it. After that it’s gone, it’s purged from my brain.
…that certainly explains a lot.
I [female]: [Not going to bother transcribing it but she actually says something intelligent here about transforming thoughts into writing which is the most insightful thing said in this interview so far. In fact she’s by far the only one in the room who actually comes off as an interesting person who has something to say for herself. Too bad she’s stuck with two men who are barely letting her get a word in edgeways]
True story, I was once on an author panel with two male authors who were very well mannered and did not monopolise the conversation. Afterwards, someone commented on the video of it to complain that I “talked too much”.
Take a moment and let that sink in.
I [man]: I think by this point it’s fair to say, after twenty years that you’re a very successful genre writer-
[cut to Paolini looking smugger than ever. I want to punch him in the stomach right now]
I: You’ve found success with a fantasy that’s meant a great deal to us, and also in sci fi now with your Fractalverse series. What advice would you give to young writers who are interested in the genre space in creating something new for this space?
Dude, just stop. The only thing Paolini has in his corner is privilege, and he doesn’t have the first clue how to publish or sell books by any other means. He hasn’t even had to master the basics, or come up with any original ideas, or created “something new”. You might as well be asking a badger how to become an Olympic cycling champion. (Sadly, badgers cannot ride bicycles because their legs are too short to reach the pedals).
P: I mean, we could be here for another hour-
While you pontificate about how amazing you are in between regurgitating the same “writing advice” you always trot out, which is neither yours nor observed by you in anything you’ve written. I’m seriously tempted to just skip this entire question because I’ve had to watch/listen to him do this more times than I can count.
I: One of us would fall asleep.
Ha! Burn. Albeit an accidental one.
P: That’s a difficult question [because he has no idea how to create anything new] I think [after much hesitation] reading a lot in the genre [to find things to ineptly try to copy] is a good first step - is a necessary step. You need to know what’s being written about before you can do anything with it. The idea that you’re going to come up with something 100% original all on your own without reading anything that’s going on is probably unrealistic
And you’d know?
P: A lot of culture is commentary or reaction to what already exists
In your case, you showing us all how you’re “doing it right this time” to extremely embarrassing effect.
P: Not all of it, but a lot. So that would be one. Uh, and another thing would be to pay attention to what you don’t like, so you read a book with dragons and you don’t like the fact that the writer gives them a certain feature or behaviours or something. So then you do your version in your story. And that can be a good way to find niches or underexploited or new areas. Also having some experience with where the genre’s come from - you know fantasy has roots going back into all the old myths and legends, science fiction often does as well. But there’s also a large history of sci fi going back to the 30s and 40s and earlier, so having a sense of history is also really helpful, because I’ve actually seen a couple of manuscripts from aspiring writers - science fiction, actually - where I was like “this is a cool idea, have you seen what Heinlein did with this?” and they’ve never read what I’m referencing, but it’s a similar thing that they’re kind of replicating, so it’s helpful to know what’s been done.
The irony is just sickening.
P: You can’t read everything; there’s a limit to all of that, but those things seem to be generally helpful. And a lot of the basic skills for storytelling apply to everything, whether you’re writing literary fiction or romance or genre of any type-
Will you PLEASE just finish up already? I have other things to do!
P: So familiarise yourself with the basic tools and structures of storytelling.
And he’s done. Thank god.
Something I’ve noticed, and not for the first time, is that when he gives advice of this sort he always leaves out an extremely crucial part, and one which goes to the heart of what storytelling is all about. And that’s actually having something to say. Something you want to explore that isn’t just genre tropes. Things you’ve learned about life and want to share with others. In other words, making sure your story has a point.
Which is not surprising because none of his books really have much of a point. He isn’t interested in making any real social commentary or exploring themes beyond the extremely superficial stuff which is awkwardly jammed in and not carried through on for the rest of the book. You aren’t left feeling like you’ve learned anything or been encouraged to rethink anything (other than maybe your taste in novels).
Using myself as example for the most part because it’s easier, I have set out to write various novels (I’m not counting my spitefics; those are just pure “written for the fun of it” stuff) with thoughts such as “I want to explore what I think would be the real consequences of a group of people being given X ability”. Or in another case “I’m going to tell this story which examines the things I’ve learned thanks to what I've lived through”.
I certainly have never once set out to write a novel thinking “I’m gonna put myself in the Babylon 5 universe and then I get the Venom suit and lots of cool powers!!”. I never have done, even when I was a teenager. Right from the beginning I wanted to tell stories that were about people, not action figures, and was attempting to tap into myself, if in an extremely clumsy fashion because I was fourteen.
That this never seems to cross Paolini’s mind is, I feel very justified in saying, very telling.
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Funnily enough he did inspire some of my writing because I hate how under-utilised the bond between humans and dragons is. It's not quite spite fic, but I always thought that having someone in your head all the time could kinda suck and have explored that in my own writing.
The bond between the Riders and dragons just always felt shallow. He tries to present it as more than it is in interviews, but what's on the pages is just... nothing. What's the difference between Eragon and Saphira's bond as opposed to him just being able to mentally communicate with her, aside from being able to use her as a giant magical battery and them feeling a bit of each other's pain?
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It's so goddamn arrogant, not to mention insulting that he thinks he's above all that.
I've actually done something of that myself! The short version: it causes extreme mental instability. As you would expect.
And later on they're suddenly obliged to NOT be in mental contact because oh that would be too dangerous? Come the fuck on! No pair who are "more one mind than two" (LOL, when was THAT ever demonstrated on the page?) would EVER be having this issue unless it be with the mental health effects it causes the pair of them and not random "enemy spellcasters".
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That's the exact same conclusion as I came to, in varying degrees. It was an interesting scenario to explore, and I liked the experience of writing as though I were writing from two points of view simultaneously when the bonds were particularly deep.
Yeah it was lazy and probably just an excuse to be able to ignore Saphira some more. No wonder she was so grumpy.
no subject
It's like he hadn't the first clue what to do with the whole Eragon having a dragon thing after a certain point in book one. 99% of what Eragon does, does not require having a telepathic link with a dragon. She doesn't help him kill Galby, she isn't a part of any planning meetings, she makes no important or even relevant decisions. All she really does is carry Eragon around and take naps, and occasionally fight.
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