Dan Abnett is great at writing characters. I think one of the most hilarious things he did with Eisenhorn was end one of his books having Eisenhorn talking about how pious and pure he remains, and how he's been tried and found to be a good boy. Then in the epilogue does the pettiest and most heretical thing he could possible do in the situation.
If a writer like Dan Abnett (Legit great writer, btw) can pull one off in a sci-fi setting as dark as Warhammer 40k, then is possible to write jokes in a prose form.
One of my favorite lines in Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny comes after a character was being a complete jerk to a man running a hotel desk. In a book where the nature of godhood, freewill and spirituality are tackled in poetic prose, the line, "he made an ancient and venerable gesture behind his back" will never not be funny to me.
Long time ago, I tried really hard, during my youth, to come up with funny characters but instead turned out to be the cringiest characters I ever created. It's been decades, and I still feel the shame and embarrassment ... and every time I think about this, I start drinking.
Humor's one of those things people have to practice, like all writing. The hardest part is figuring out how to silence the ego long enough to take criticism, reflect and make it your best work. On that front Paolini is royally screwed.
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If a writer like Dan Abnett (Legit great writer, btw) can pull one off in a sci-fi setting as dark as Warhammer 40k, then is possible to write jokes in a prose form.
One of my favorite lines in Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny comes after a character was being a complete jerk to a man running a hotel desk. In a book where the nature of godhood, freewill and spirituality are tackled in poetic prose, the line, "he made an ancient and venerable gesture behind his back" will never not be funny to me.
Long time ago, I tried really hard, during my youth, to come up with funny characters but instead turned out to be the cringiest characters I ever created. It's been decades, and I still feel the shame and embarrassment ... and every time I think about this, I start drinking.
Humor's one of those things people have to practice, like all writing. The hardest part is figuring out how to silence the ego long enough to take criticism, reflect and make it your best work. On that front Paolini is royally screwed.