LETS DEBATE: Character Development🧝 Chosen Ones Are Good👼
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- You drop spicey takes on the fantasy genre, I SMACK them down with the force of like 1 or two suns.
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Honestly any trope is good if the writer is good
I'm not sure I agree, but that the was the theory Jim Butcher used when he wrote the Codex Alera. Lost Roman Legion meets Pokemon. Written on a dare. 🤷♂️
I think any trope isn't a trope with a good writer. It's a plot point with a purpose.
It is a writer skill thing
i think you dont know the exact definition of tropes because sometimes tropes are just (bad) and cant be well done or well written .
Some tropes hold to them very bad implications and can't be pulled out right.
I prefer chosen ones where it’s more “I’m the only one in a position to do something” rather than “it is my literal fate and destiny to do this”
I agree. Very good point.
That's not really a chosen one then.
@Master Oogway : Great name under which to spout corny pseudo-wisdom. 😄
@Master Oogway No the Trope deals with somebody chosen by a higher power like a god, fate or destiny. Being chosen to do the dishes does not make you "The Chosen One" in literature.
A chosen one is by definition predestined, and not the result of accidents of circumstance.
Fun fact, horses will actually poop as they walk. So a horse pooping wont have any negligent effect on the story. They do not, however, pee as they walk as they tend to kinda...shift their back legs to do so. Peeing would be more detrimental to pacing than pooping. In case anyone as curious. *Now you know*
Thank you, Kayla. Very cool.
And I was taught to always stand in the saddle while they pee if you are riding because it helps relieve pressure on their back. So that’s another way it would possibly effect a story.
True. I have rode horses before and also saw horse drawn carriages in action. Horses do indeed poop on the walk.
Well they poop while walking,but usually not at a faster pace. And if you want to cover some distance on a horse (or multiple horses) you'd probably trot or gallop a lot (if the terrain allows it). So pooping would literally change the pace of your horse...
But that's just nit-picking the nit-picking 😅🙈
@@asmergoli249 I mean, if we are going into the super nitpicking lol, you would want to keep to walking as much as possible if you are planning a long journey. If you gallop the horse too long they could literally drop dead, and while trotting is a faster pace it uh... isn't exactly comfortable for the thys of behind.
Nothing sparks anxiety like Daniel holding a sharp object
@@adamestep wot
Nice Pinterest picture fam
Why is he using a knife as a microphone??
Brianna Johnson Daniels a strange boy
that part when he held it veery close to his eye, that made me stop to write this comment lol
Tolkien: *has literal god, satan, and Jesus characters in his books*
Everyone: amazing! The themes of the book being tied into his religion and faith make this series so deep and interesting!!
Sanderson: *is a Latter-Day Saint who wrote some books*
Everyone: Preaching!!! Evil Mormon is trying to preach to me!!!!
Probably has to do with the times. The world wasn't as secular as it was nearly 70 years ago.
@@Cklert but people read Tolkien to this day so you would expect the more anti religious people would come out against Tolkien too.
I don't remember seeing anything religious in Sanderson's writings. And as a Southern Baptist you would think I was prepared to hunt out mormon heresy.I don't think this criticism is wide spread.
There seem to be a disproportionate number of Mormon authors (compared to population size). But I agree with most that Sanderson does not preach religion in his books. If you want more Mormon preaching in your books, try the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card (but I personally wouldn't recommend it even though it did win Locus awards and be nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards).
As everyone knows Tolkien also explicitly said that despite LOTR being a thematically Catholic work, **none of those are direct allegories.** Tolkien says in his foreward that the reader can interpret things however they want. But I haven’t seen many people criticizing Sanderson either. He handles atheistic characters very well.
The knife is back out, he's singing the Lion King - and that's only the first 20 seconds. This is gonna be good
Its not The Lion King
@@martinjakab That one hit me especially hard because my dad is James Earl Jones.
@@TheMoFauxs I can relate. My aunt is Elton John.
@Martin Jakab
It's called " The Lion Sleeps tonight", and it is IN The Lion King sung by Timon and Pumba, yu dumb fuck. That's why he said he was singing the lion kong, yu dumbass.
“There isn’t enough maiming in stories.” This is why I love the community around this channel -we say things totally innocently that would horrify most people without context
It was the way it was worded that got me. They said it as if they really, _really_ wanted to see people getting maimed.
Check out the Crusader kings (a videogame) community and you'll find far worse, a horse being a named Baselius of the Byzantine empire.
TheDOPDeity lol they kinda do
@@zondfinn2100 CK2 community is absolutely amazing. They are absolute madlads.
One of the reasons I love Joe Abercrombie. His gruesome maiming of some characters in the first law trilogy was awesome.
Idk, I always feel Sanderson's preachingness comes down to let's just be cool to other people
Can't really go wrong with the "be excellent to each other" philosophy.
@@calebmauer1751 What about being excellent to Hitler?
Henrik Fitch If people hadn't made fun of Hitler's art, maybe he wouldn't of started the Holocaust. Jk. Hitler's an exception, I'm sure you'd agree.
@@Zac_Craig-Claveau yeah I was just making a joke
@@calebmauer1751 WYLD STALLYNS!!
There should be more depictions of familial love in fantasy. It would be nice if authors depicted a sibling-sibling relationship or parent-child relationship than just forcing another romance on us.
More parents/siblings/cousins should be the main characters' lancers/mentors because while authors usually can't pull off a good romance, I believe a sibling relationship would be easier.
Ha, you haven't been reading much middle-grade recently. Everyone. Has. A. Godamn. Twin. Everyone. Or at least a brother/sister one year apart.
Zac Craig-Claveau lmao who has been reading a ton of middle grade tho? Besides middle schoolers.
Sanderson ha plenty
Game of Thrones has some great sibling-sibling relationships
@@Zac_Craig-Claveau everyone has siblings but their relationships are not as developed as they could sometimes
Sanderson doesn't preach or puts his religion on his books: he's written about worlds where there is more than one god, where gods are people themselves with some powers, and EVEN worlds where gods die. Saying that Sanderson pours HIS religion on his books is like saying that Sanderson believes in... Greco-Latin gods? You get the point.
I think he simply loves religion -in all its forms: he likes to talk, write and debate around it, and by giving each one of his Worlds his own religions and deities he just takes worldbuilding to the next level.
agree
Seems like his take in religion is Sazeds in Mistborn lol
Random Dude so something like agnostic? I will say that he seems to lean towards the concept of believing in something simply by faith is the wrong thought process, so this comparison makes sense to me.
Amen.
@@blackice1796
He's definitely not anything close to agnostic. He's a mormon, and based on certain things he's said he seems to be a pretty devout one.
Who doesn't secretly want to be a Chosen One? If a book let's you live that through a character then that's pretty cool. As long as it's done right.
Seeing the stuff all these chosen ones go through in the books I think I'm fine with my normal life. Be Harry potter or be the kid of the neighbor of the Dursleys just watching TV while Harry is suffering in the forest somewhere running away from Voldemort?
I can very much enjoy well done chosen one stories. Any story where you want to be the chosen one is not a well done story. Being the chosen one is and should be hell. Give me the every joe who gets thrust into big happenings and accidentally saves the world.
@@alananimus9145 and then three books in it turns out your every day joe was actually a chosen one all along. His everydayness was prophesied.
I''m happy reading chosen one stories , but their lives tend to suck (looking at Rand there). I'm fine with just reading about them, haha.
Bill and Ted are the only Acceptable Chosen ones-although they kinda dropped the ball on the third film although it is an okay sequel.
“Poke your eyyyyyyeeee out...poke your eyyyye out.”
-Daniel Greene 2020
Modern fantasy plays out the same fantasy race tropes.
Hello Future Me: “There’s so many dam elves!”
I'm so glad you used my Elf comment. Your reaction was exactly what I needed today. Elf is the hill I want to die on!
I bust out laughing at Daniel's reaction
Elf is hilarious!!
That is my moms favorite movie of all time. Both me and my sister H A T E it because it is playing 24/7 the moment it is 2 months till Christmas. Honestly, everyone getting together and the you know what are worth it! It's a good movie anyhow. :3
Great comment, Loved his reaction so thanks.
Tolkien does a good job at treating horses like horses. I remember actually worrying about the ponies whenever they got into danger.
Same. I cried for some of these peonies, some were as important as actual characters to me.
The limitation of horses can make certain scenes more interesting. I remember reading a scene from a novel (not English) where two girls are fleeing from a group of men(because of some kind of tribal conflicts, I believe). The girls' horses are faster in the short term, but can't maintain that speed for long. While the men chasing them are riding a different breed with more stamina. It was a slowly strangling situation for the girls as their horses getting more and more tired. They can't really take a break, and they can't push the animals either because they'd be dead without them anyway(and they love them). It was an interesting scene to read.
Edit: I can also think of many uses in a journey where the heroes have to stop to meet their horses' need. The waterhole could be the only one in miles and their enemies would know that, and they could arrange an ambush or something. The heroes aren't stupid. They know it'd be dangerous around the waterhole, but they have no choice. That could be a nice conflict peppered with surprises and a nice break to the generic point A to point B hero's journey. It depends on stories, of course. Some stories would be better without this kind of distractions.
from which language is this novel?
@@jersy6406 Chinese
Exactly. Daniel is only right if you try to shoehorn in the fact that horses aren't cars after the story is already basically done.
Another example is the classic Western The Searchers, where walking the horses is used to show the wisdom of the veteran and the patience that will be needed to find the stolen child.
Yeah thats actually a good point. Then you start talking about pedigree. From my understanding, with thoroughbred horses, they are bred in two types: speed, and stamina.
Then you ocasuonally find a jewel of a horse, who is bred from a mother speed and father stamina, that exhibit qualities of both.
Like these are awesome details that can he added to the story, and like you said, legit can add real, satisfying conflict inside because we dont expect it. I always say, details provide conflict. If youre putting something in your book that doesn't inherently lead to some type of conflict, is it really worth even putting in there?
"Humans are flawed monkies that learned to wield electricity" favorite description
I think the translation thing was more meant as in translating from an original language to English and not the other way around 😅
Yeah, i was reading it like that too.
His points still stand. I read a number of Russian to English series. There are a ton of them in the Litrpg sub genre but they are completely unknown outside that community.
Eh, his point still stands though.
@@cussundriakneal9904 (I put this in a separate comment, but I'll put it here as well because I find the topic very interesting): Actually (talking as a translation student who has read quite a bit of bibliography on the topic), books DO get translated from other languages into English WAY less often than from English into other languages. I, someone from Latin America, have probably read more translations than books originally in Spanish. In the US, for example, translations represent 3% (though I've also read 8%) of the totality of works published. That number in Spain is of around 21% and I wouldn't be surprised if the number were higher in countries with less widely spoken languages.
@@robertblume2951 True for Russian, but Russia has 140 million people, which is a huge market, therefore Russian bestsellers sell in hundreds of thousands of copies, which sounds much better to American publisher than, lets say 4000 copies of a book written in Croatian language sold in Croatia, which is actually equivalent of 300 000 copies sold in USA, cause Croatia has only 4 million people.
19:13 i think you missed the point, Daniel!
You're talking about english to foreign languages while the comment was specifically about NON-ENGLISH books tranlated TO ENGLISH. Like, its hard to get INTO the english market in the first place bc its already full and to get a translation you have to make it in your own language first before you even get a CHANCE to get translated.
Like, this is an interessting take that i myself had for years and yea, its bad.
Youre comment of "every author i know that has success can get translated" i think this only applies to english books.
As a non-native english speaker, i can tell you from experiance that it takes more than a few years, or even decades until successfull books over here get translates into english and get recognized internationally.
Whenever i see a book thats originally in my language translated in english i am very happy for their success but most of the time its just raw translations and/or the most common, uninteressting stories that like get successfull with big crowds bc the protagonist is a blank slate or something...
Yes, totally. I'm from Germany and one of the best known Fantasy authors here is Walter Moers. His books are absolutely fantastic and very well loved here, but not at all talked about by international booklovers. I think that is partially because of the marketing, but also because a lot of things just can't get translated perfectly. In the case of Walter Moers for example, his books are very very word heavy. In fact his writing style uses words, like the words themselves as tools of expression and there will probably be many instances where there will be no equivalent to the german word used. But apart from that, even if one can translate the language, the culture can't be. For example some things might be written in a way that totally makes sense for f.ex. Finnish people but seems weird for maybe Hungarians. So I think one often misses out on really good books because of those things.
There are great non-english books that do not get a chance to be translated and reach a bigger audience because the English market is much harder to enter by an outsider than the other way around.
Daniel: No, look at how this English authors just get translations without even knowing about them.
Ok, point proven then. For real, I'm Spanish and English fantasy authors are more popular here than our own authors (I'm part of the problem too). And that taking into account how big the Spanish market is, just imagine other smaller languages.
Yeah ... Thats a hurtful truth
yeah. he kinda missed that one. i'm german and i totally understand what you mean, there's great german si-fi and fantasy that just no one outside of germany knows about
@@johannaisolde same in brazil
Same goes for France, and we do have some pretty amazing Fantasy/SF writers.
Very few of them get translated.
The American/English writers of the same genre are way more famous, even here.
Very true. I'm Italian and English speaking authors are still much more popular than Italian ones, in Italy. As a consequence, people start thinking that Italian authors are not as good as the Anglophone ones and so Italian books get pushed/marketed less and less....
Hot take? I wish more plots took the time for the characters to just go have fun and be normal people. I have a whole chapter in my story that's the main character and his girlfriend at the market on their day off.
I personally don't feel like stories need plot pacing like a bullet train from the word go. I like a story that meanders because you get to see more of the world and characters. Literally think of plot ad a river, and a perfectly straight river would be super fast and no one would read because it's too direct, one that has more bends where you go off that main point had more interesting things happen. I just happen to like a lot of side content in a sense.
I even have anthology chapters with mini stories from the characters in the past because even though the story is set when the mc is 24 I wanted to show what his first day in the ranger corps was like back when he was 9.
This is what makes the Avatar episode “The Beach” so fantastic and why down time is needed. You showing the growth of characters through interaction in downtime between the action is so important and can be made more poignant when focused in a more controlled environment, away from their biggest problems for a moment.
I couldn't agree with you more. Books need to have more scenes revolving around putting characters in normal situations, with normal interactions. It makes the protagonists feel more relatable and more human. However, it needs to be done in a way that adds on to the story, otherwise the book would really suffer from slow pacing.
For example, a character could go to the market with a friend, and perhaps reveal their preferences for one thing or another, and perhaps those preferences could be referenced later on by said friend, or become an important factor in a future decision. Or maybe a character could just take some time to discuss their feelings about future and past events with their companions around a fire, and provide more information about their motivations in the process. I think maybe a chapter or two of this in books would suffice, and improve the over all immersion and character development.
I'm reading the first Witcher book (the last wish) right now and I love the pacing of it for this exact reason! It's a bunch of scattered adventure stories with downtime chapters in between where the characters just talk. It makes it really easy to just put down and pick up the book whenever.
@@thecreetree3434 I agree! It has to add to the story in an interesting way, that way we're actually engaged in these slow scenes. I like slowing down but too often writers just don't make it interesting and it becomes a slog. I love Elliot Brooks but her book Peace and Turmoil just didn't do it for me because nothing happens for the first half. We're supposed to be getting to know the characters but they're just existing and we don't really care yet.
@@thecreetree3434 Absolutely. A more mellow, relaxed time is the perfect time to set things up like that. So with my story, it's chapter 6 (my chapters average 5-6k, its about 30k words up to that point). The basic concept of the story is small group of humans stays on earth while all others leave for distant planets, 200~ years later main characters are living in that society dealing with problems as part of the Ranger corps. Jaklo protagonist, Alice deuteragonist girlfriend of Jaklo.
So chapter 1 sets up a mostly normal workday, little more interesting than most, but its got action and world set up and introduces the main players. chapters 2 and 3 are an unusual workday with a specialized mission and some struggles that really push the characters. 4 is aftermath cooldown from 2 and 3 and starts introducing more of the personal history of characters. 5 is the upswing after all that difficulty, the improvement that comes after adversity. 6 is the break from that work.
chapter 6's goals were: to show how people relax and enjoy their lives in this setting because all doom and danger makes it hard to find it worth it. to introduce more of the dynamics between the main character and his peers, so you see why he's invested in helping his town. And it sets up the larger world by introducing characters from the wider setting.
The chapter also introduces or reinforces things like: Jaklo's talent for climbing and woodworking, more connections between characters like Alice's dad being Jaklo's teacher when he joined the rangers, and probably most of all its the chapter where I set up the market caravans which are the main way to travel between settlements and how the story is going to completely change in the 2nd arc which has Jaklo, Alice, and a number of other major characters following the caravans to go deal with the greater plot.
It think that slow reading is actually much more common than you think with general audiences, especially in adult fiction. Many adults either read when they're going to bed or listen to audio books on their commute, so their total read time is less than two hours a day, and they often skip a day or two. I think it's a lot more common for Y.A readers, who are commonly students with more free time than older readers. Book reviewers actually have an easier time justifying time spent reading vs other responsibilities. For this type of general audience, using repetitive descriptions are really good for maintaining a clear picture over several reading sessions, as well as making the bespoke descriptions stand out.
I LOVE the way Sanderson incorporates religion into his books, because he's not preaching at all. He carefully examines a question related to religion or philosophy or history, but looks at it from all the perspectives. He asks interesting questions and raises difficult issues in a way that's so balanced and nuanced and I love it.
I find the issue of translation to be really tricky. When I studied creative writing at uni we had a whole section of a 'Politics of Writing' class devoted to the issues around translation. Translating works to another language is so much more than just changing the words. Anyone who has taken a language class in high school and has tried to use Google Translate on assignments knows that there is really no such thing as a 'direct translation'. When translating a book, the translator is basically having to transform the plot from the original text and create a new work that not only says the correct words but also transfers the intended voice, tone, etc. of the original text. Saying 'It is easy to get people to translate books. There are a ton of people online who can do it' really takes away from the intricacies that translating entails. I believe that is why there are not enough books translated from other languages - it is simply way harder than it seems!
You can both be right. There can be a ton of services that offer to Translate books and getting a good translation can be hard. It's probably impossible to tell from the original language side if you got a good one or not.
So the video finally started at 4:40 and in that short intro Daniele managed to get two “everything is hopeless, meaningless” panic attacks.
I STAN the horse comment so much, it really brings me out of the story when the horse behaves like a car or cart that SOMETIMES makes a sound or interact with the main. I think it would be much more interesting to see the horse behave accordingly, I get why you say "too much realism" but... the POTENTIAL of the human/animal bonding? how much character building one could do on that? how interesting it would be to see the character also have to face the frustration of a certain lack in technology, if we want? (Anyway the "I will stop because the horse needs to poop" made me go "oh honey... you don't know" X'D)
anyway HORSE COMMENTER ILU
You would think that anyone who had been to a parade would know you don't stop for the horse to poop.
If you don't know one damn thing about horses, you should never write about them. A horse reflects the character and capabilities of the owner. Watch how the horse carries himself. Does the horse respect his owner and would go "above and beyond the call of equine duty" for him?
Yes, thank you!
You'll have to read historical romance for that, most of the time horses affect their plot and had address these better than most historical fantasies.
Maybe the horse isn't important and you don't have time for that.
Someone needs to make 14:06 a GIF or meme STAT.
Antoine Bandele I knew I recognized you...
me: hehe, no one's gonna see this coming. *writes a main character losing an eye in the very first fight*
5 minutes later
daniel: *talks about a main character losing an eye in the beginning*
me: 👁👄👁
guess someone's losing two eyes now
👁👄-
Hm, who'd have thought inventing fictional religions and discussing these fictional religions in your story can somehow equate to pushing Mormonism. Amazing.
Connor Holt good point lol
And let’s say it was don’t read it lol this generations full of entitled basterds
At this point, if Daniel stops using a knife as his mic handle, I will revolt.
When I am asked what my favorite fantasy is, I always truthfully answer Lord of the Rings. That’s not because I feel pressured to, it’s because it is.
I think GRRM did so well with Jaimie‘s hand getting cut off. Such a great character development.
@MSS Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
@MSS damn lol
Let's not forget Theons cock
I like the trope. I think it can still be explored in a ton of different ways we've yet to see. Sure your bog-standard chosen one narrative has kind of had its day, but there's so much you could do with it.
Concerning horses, I would recommend cold iron from the masters & mages trilogy by Miles Cameron. I believe you got one of his books (the red knight) in one of your not a bomb series.
In the book the main character acquired two horses as loot near the beginning of the book and has to now deal with their upkeep in a big city. Taking care of a horse is costly in the best of times, but a in a big city it is ruinously expensive and something only the wealthy could afford. He has to sign up in the militia cavalry regiment to feed one and struggle to upkeep the second, contemplating selling it.
I think there's a way to add authenticity without affecting the pacing too much. Miles/Christian Cameron puts a lot of time into research from sword fighting, life in court, medieval battle tactics to just aspects of daily medieval life and that adds a lot of authenticity to his work.
You said that you're sick of the medieval setting, but I think you'd be surprised how much authenticity and research into medieval queens, knights and castles can add, rather than just using them as window dressing. And you're probably sick of people pitching books to you so imma shut up now.
Supercut of Daniel being random is something I NEED. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
He definitely gas started to cement his qutity style of humour lately, I love it too.
Hey, just wanted to add my 2 cents about the Male Gaze in the Dresden Files. I largely agree with you but I wanted to point out something interesting about it in the series that I learned from the TV Tropes Fridge section on the Dresden Files.
Namely, pay attention to which specific books Harry is making the overly-detailed descriptions of women. Note that he doesn't seem to do it as much during the first three novels, and he doesn't do it during the course of _Turn Coat_ either, not even when confronted by several stunning women (Evelyn and Madeline get at best cursory descriptions, the latter of which is more focused on presence and impact instead of her actual appearance). The common thread between these books? He's _regularly getting some_ from either Susan (at the start) or Luccio (around the time of _Turn Coat_ ). In addition, pay attention to the books where he is overly descriptive: _Summer Knight_ , with its lengthy description of Mab, is immediately after he lost Susan. _Blood Rites_ has a detailed effort at trying to describe Lara's beauty, after he had a single evening with Susan again in _Death Masks_ (and spent some time in the presence of lovely adult film stars). _Proven Guilty_ 's lengthy description of Molly occurs after _Dead Beat_ , where Harry's discovered the lovely woman he's become attracted to is a demon infecting his mind and she's constantly pestering him with her girl-next-door good looks. _Small Favor_ , which again has a lengthy description of Mab, is after Lasciel sacrifices herself and Harry was slapped with that painfully teasing kiss from Lara. In other words, Harry's overly-detailed descriptions are happening during the points in the series where he's _most sexually frustrated_ . I'm not sure if this is deliberate, but if it is, Jim Butcher is a goddamned _genius_ .
Hope this interested anyone.
He is.
I feel like I have had a vague sense of this while reading, but have never stopped to analyse it. For the most part, Dresden's male gaze doesn't bother me unless it is using repeated adjectives, it is more annoying early because Butcher so this more often early on.
@@signspace13
Eh, I think the reason why it was done quite a bit early on was tp establish Dresden's raging libido as a consistent character trait. One also has to keep in mind that Harry Dresden is an unreliable narrator. For example, while Harry generally assume that Hendrickson (Marcone's chief bodyguard/enforcer) is Dumb Muscle (and he plays the part). However, Hendrickson actually has a degree in philosophy and is working on his thesis, and Marcone inwardly observes in _Even Hand_ that if he objected to a plan of Marcone's, it would be in the form of a quote. In _Small Favor_ , he helps deciphers Nicodemus' plans and is the first, after Harry, to point out that the Denarians are out of coins and will need to trade for more or sacrifice one of their number. The other people in the room are Knights who have faced Nicodemus and the Denarians before and a centuries old Valkyrie (Sigrun). Hendrickson is also a former college football plater and former USMC commisioned officer.
Just something to consider and keep in mind.
I'm usually a just entertain me guy, so real in depth analysis is not something I do but I REALLY appreciate the comment as it snapped that part of Harry together in my head. Thanks! oh and yes Jim Butcher is a genius.
@@mikesionu
You're welcome. I'm glad my analysis (via TV Tropes) helped enhance your experience with the Dresden Files.
You can see Sanderson's religion if you know what you're looking for. That being said you can also see his influences if you know what you are looking for. *shrugs* people cant and don't write in a vacuum.
yo, ngl, I can see a focus on a character and their horse as a cool thing, like if it was central to the plot itself, not just an extraneous thing. Like how Spice and Wolf made commerce a focus, or how Way of Kings made bridgeruns a focus (And surgery/medicine a secondary focus)
I think it was Brandon Sanderson that said: A good author can take bad ideas and still make a good book.
Pet Sematary. You nailed it. I think when people describe it as King's scariest book, they're not referring to the ghosts and monsters, but the visceral fear of losing a loved one. His scariest work in a more traditional sense is probably The Shining or Salem's Lot.
The male gaze in Dresden Files legit creeps me out and Matt's in the Wheel of Time makes me laugh. Hmmm.
I dropped dresden within the first chapter because it felt like the narrator was masturbating under the table. Most bad porn I read is less serial-killery.
Is male gaze just men looking at women, only insane people gave it a creepy name? :))
Maybe it’s because WoT has less explicit with it’s language in comparison to Dresden Files.
Naw, its about treating people like pieces of meat instead of people.
Sexualised descriptions are fine, it's when it's coupled with treating people like objects (which is a reminder of the fucked up IRL consequences of that).
How you handle that as an author really speaks to how your audience will feel.
@@MrThorSir IT'S ROUGH.
The thought of stopping after only reading 1 or 2 chapters in a day when I’m in a book gives me The Twitchies.
On the flipside, I'm such a slow reader that's about all I CAN read in a day 😭
With Sanderson, a lot of people like to accuse him of inserting religion because of his Mormon background. It's an unjust criticism even if it were true, that someone can't paint their setting with concepts they love or are familiar with? They can get bent, every author incorporates elements of their own perspectives into the worlds they write whether they know it or not.
The Sanderson comment: I didn't know about Brandi Sandi being an LDS member until just now, and did some research. It's actually quite interesting! But when I read that comment before knowing that, I thought the commenter meant something totally different that I've been feeling since I'm almost through the Mistborn trilogy. I have a problem with protagonists who get really really into their heads near the end of a series and start overanalyzing their actions and the effect they have on the world around them as the stakes get higher, mostly because it doesn't usually conclude with them making major choices with great deliberation and forethought, it just turns them into an indecisive hero. If that's what the commenter was talking about, then I agree, and I'm speaking of this narrative trend in general and not just toward Sanderson (haven't gotten into Stormlight Archives so I can't be sure if it's his style). Characters becoming more self-aware and more morally complex (meaning they see nuances in situations instead of black and white, not just "I can do what I want because morals are made up"), is great for character development, but not at the cost of plot progression.
Cases en point: in the Kingdom Hearts series, the main hero Sora realizes at some point that every time he kills one of the demons with his magical weapon that frees the souls they eat, the main villains are then capturing those freed souls; he becomes paralyzed with indecision because continuing to fight is actually helping his enemies. I think that's a good example of hyperawareness in a hero, especially since it strengthens his resolve to pursue his enemies more aggressively to stop them from stealing souls.
And in the Avatar graphic novels, at some point Zuko and Aang work together to return land and territories seized by the Fire Nation during the war to their former inhabitants: except one area they reach has, since the war's start a century prior, developed into a completely new culture of people of mixed-race who don't see themselves as belonging to the Fire Nation OR the Earth Kingdom. Zuko is determined to see the wrongs of the Fire Nation righted by basically uprooting these people and returning the territory to the Earth Kingdom, while Aang believes they should be given autonomy as an independent nation. This turns into a Zuko vs. Aang conflict because Zuko finally has it all figured out and where to place things on his moral compass, only to run smack into a new problem that can't be so easily solved. That's a great example of characters becoming more morally and spiritually questioning without hitting the brakes on the plot and the action-instead, it creates more action.
Bad examples I won't actually name but you can guess: "I've spent 3 seasons/2 books/4 movies slaughtering every man woman and child who stands in my way and now, right here at the end, with the Source of All Evil and All My Problems standing before me, and I'm wondering... killing? is maybe bad?" FIGURE THAT OUT TOMORROW, KILL THAT B@#$H TODAY.
Hot take: There needs to be a much deeper focus on food in stories. Like when has a character ever eaten too much spicy food one night and has the shits really bad the next day maybe during a fight or ambush? That would be fun to read. But no, every character has wonderful diets and are always either satisfied or starving.
In the witcher tv show a dude gets his throat slit while taking a shit because he eat the wrong thing. Don't know if that is book accurate or not
@@robertblume2951 I don't remember that but I haven't watched it in a while. I mean like the main character and having it be like an important story beat lol
@@ThatsMySideProject I don't think it could ever be an important story beat in anything not a comedy. And doubly so main character death. You would have to have a great supporting cast just to get over main character death. And ignoble and insulting death? Don't know if people would ever really get over that.
@@robertblume2951 Well one of the great emperors of rome died from disease, so you know, death happens in disappointing ways sometimes. I didn't mean to imply that the issue would take over the entire plot of the story, I meant more so that it takes over the page. For example, there's a story I've been writing and at one point the main character eats the wrong type of mushroom while lost in the woods and starts tripping hard and it kinda complicates things further. I think you certainly could pull off a food-related main character death if you execute it well.
@@ThatsMySideProject and why would they read book 2? Or even finish that book? Sure an Emperor can die by disease but that isn't really the same as being murder while you have diarrhea. One is a common occurrence and the other is disgusting. So one you have to get past the reader losing the reason they read the story and 2 the death itself will leave a bad taste in their mouth. I never finished Michael Stackpoles Dragon Crown War series because of the death of the main character.
First time doing a “hot take”, so here we go: I have seen a trend in modern fantasy and science fiction to downgrade the morality of advanced races/civilizations. The elves in Lord of the Rings and the Federation in the original Star Trek were cultures that were wiser, smarter, and overall better than many of the others cultures around them. They weren’t perfect, of course, but they were certainly a shining example to aspire to.
These days such advanced societies have been portrayed rather frequently as somehow fundamentally flawed, that attaining a life of peace and harmony comes at the cost of either being entirely delusional or having lost their ‘humanity’, for lack of a better term. What’s wrong with having a superior being actually being superior? Why not make them kind, caring and helpful instead of overbearing, insensitive and disconnected to reality? Mankind in real life is pretty messed up, but so often I see us portrayed in fiction (or at least the principal applied) that our short, miserable, conflict filled lives makes us special and/or better than those who don’t experience such things. Over the years this trope has gotten irritating for me.
That's because it's total bullshit. Certain religions always romanticize suffering, but there is nothing inherently valuable in it. It is not ennobling. It is also a good way to help us justify the fact that most human beings have to endure a below average standard of living when they actually don't. Certainly some level of conflict can help us learn and grow, but def not a 100% of the time. Suffering in and of itself is not inherently valuable. A lot of the time it is completely unnecessary and senseless. Having a hard life does not make you a better person. Many people can have very similar trajectories in life and respond completely differently to those events. This narrative makes it seem like a total utopia (which is very possible for us with the resources we have) would be in some way problematic for humanity. I also feel like the people trying to make this case are typically doing a lot better than most and falsely assume that because their life is not completely devoid of grief, that makes them an appropriate authority on the matter. Sorry, this was very ranty but just reading this comment highlighted a point I've been frustrated with for a while. Certain types of media think they are making this grand philosophical statement but we have all heard it before and frankly, i'm over it. If this type of perspective genuinely helps someone get by, then who am i to say that it's wrong? But I also don't think it's wrong to say that there might be something flawed about the idea that we HAVE to suffer in order to evolve or make our lives meaningful. It just seems like an excuse to not be better and help each other live better lives. It also engenders a kind of passivity that doesn't sit very well with me. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, please forgive and don't hurl too many tomatoes :)
Eh, I think this could fall into some icky tropes about certain races/species being inherently better somehow -- hopefully I don't need to explain why that's a harmful idea to perpetuate. Obviously, fiction is not 1-1 with the real world, but awareness/sensitivity to real-world ideas abt the supremacy of certain races and cultures could be why authors are staying away from portraying one fantasy species or another as more advanced/better than any other.
@@kato6196 Sorry i should have specified that I didn't necessarily agree with the first half regarding superior races, but more the latter argument. I know that was the main point being made but I was more focused on the trope of 'suffering and conflict is mankind's greatest aspect.' I do agree that making the claim that certain races are objectively superior in any work of fiction can be problematic for sure unless it's like aliens with vastly superior technology or something along those lines. I will say that i'm not one who's overly intrigued by the theme of making sci-fi/fantasy races homogeneous because that seems overly generic/boring and unrealistic so there's that to think about.
@@kato6196 Perhaps though if the emphasis were to be put on WHY that particular race has achieved "superiority"... Perhaps a clear line between their choices and priorities vs their inherent abilities as a species/race, you know? Emphasizing how care for one another leads to greater harmony vs the species' ability to be caring, as an example. Putting the value in admirable actions and choices rather than something a race is "born with", things that actively have to be though of and chosen rather than innate talents. In Star Trek, they talk about how humanity achieved what it has because they put aside the pursuit of wealth and made knowledge, exploration and caring for each other a priority.
I get what you're saying though, one should be careful of portraying certain beings as "inherently better". Unless it's for the purpose of the story (ie, creating conflict and whatnot), you can easily stray into some problematic areas.
@@jesstolley7193 I definitely agree that framing it in terms of values is a good way to go!
Hi Daniel, just wanted to say, I’m quite new to the channel, few months or so, and I really enjoy how much you try to engage with the your audience. I’ve been going through a fair amount of anxiety recently and being able to engage in these let’s debate has really helped cheer me up and forget about the fact we’re all going to die. Thanks for including my comment and I completely get what you mean. If you couldn’t tell by my pic, I’m a big elf fan so perhaps I’m a bit biased. Love that you open everything up and let everyone have a say. Wish more TH-camrs were like this. Right anyway gonna stop now, keep up the good work and I hope everyone’s doing alright.
Watch Bright on Netflix
Which shark is the best shark? 🦈
I'm really early and don't know the context of this. So, I'm gonna shoot my shot and say Hammerhead.
Bruce.
Green(e) shark 😏
Great Lebron Shark
Whale Shark. Objectively
For the record, it’s Joseph Smith, not John Smith
Maybe he meant the guy who married Pocahontas.
Or
Maybe he meant John Snow?
;)
BRAIN FART
yeah I was about to say the same thing :)
I'll do you one better: It's Joseph Smith Jr.
@@DanielGreeneReviews No worries, my guy!
I’m talking as an non-English europium reader. The English market of books is extremely prominent in Europe, so much that successful English authors are way more marketed and known than the authors of the country itself. The English market is so patronizing that practically ALL the translations we got (especially of YA and Adult fantasy) comes from either a US or a UK pub house. If for you, English reader, is difficult to find good non-English fantasy books, well, I ensure you that it’s even harder for people from other country, because of how patronizing your market is.
English pub houses need to pick up & traslate more foreign books not only because there are literally tons of good fantasy out there, but also because too many non-English fantasy authors would get a lot more recognition in their own countries.
Virginia this kinda reads like a somewhat slighted attack on people complaining they can’t find good non-english fantasy books, as opposed to just airing the general grievances you have with english pub houses. Just something to chew on
The good thing about the internet is most e-book apps have various foreign authors that writes in their own language and translated to english. Not only they market it to their locales but as well as internationally. Unfortunately, example for amazon the books are not poorly-edited.
I feel like rangers apprentice does the whole horse thing really well, they have details like how the horses get tired and add ways to work around it without breaking immersion and enhances the story
Hot take, a ton of fight scenes can be a really good plot element that leads to good plot sand character development, as well as a good way to flesh out world building.
In real life there wasn't a ton of maiming during medieval ages (when most fantasy is loosely based on), because an injury that could maim would usually also kill within a few weeks due to poor medical practices, though your point is very true in something like Dresden Files (which is modern) or Stormlight Archives (which has both good medicine and healing magic).
Gaahhhh we're back to "prose are" - every time I hear it I want to do an extremely realistic steel inquisitor cosplay.
He has Merphy Napier saying it too!
It's a ridiculous take. Just shows he doesn't get the concept.
It doesn't mean "words" or "sentences"🤦🏼♀️
Actually (talking as a translation student who has read quite a bit of bibliography on the topic), books DO get translated from other languages into English WAY less often than from English into other languages. I, someone from Latin America, have probably read more translations than books originally in Spanish. Meanwhile, in the US, for example, translations represent 3% (though I've also read 8%) of the totality of works published. (That number in Spain is of around 21% and I wouldn't be surprised if the number were higher in countries with less widely spoken languages)
Loving the channel! :)
Happy to see another video but was really hoping this was the Dark review. Anyways, thanks for THIS video.
Watching Daniel is like finally finding thst one friend whos as chaotic as you.
The dearth of maiming is one of the reasons I loved the character of Glokta so much! I think PTSD is becoming more commonly written, but physical maiming is still rare to see.
i think its kinda hard to do well and depends on your setting. if your story has a heavy focus on fights and physical activity you cant have your character be too maimed, otherwise they feel like they cant do anything rather than simply feeling vulnerable (looking at you Paolini) The Witcher books are a good example of how to do it well.
As a person with chronical pain, reading Glokta was really hard for me, it hit me in the guts real hard.
I was crying so hard I couldn't read the words on the pages anymore.
It does feel like Abercrombie has intimately known physical pain at some point, and understands the toll it takes on people whole existence.
I really should’ve expected the opening rant/theological discussion after being a fan of this channel for so long but here I am surprised yet again
I'd argue that Sanderson has spent more time being critical or analytical of religion than he has preaching it. (Or at least in Mistborn Era 1 and Stormlight).
My hot take: Talking about objectivity and subjectivity like it's a light switch is counterproductive. It's a spectrum, a Bell curve.
Editors and writers spend a lot of time and effort pushing TOWARD objective knowledge/skill. They can never reach the absolute end, because as the pinned comment said, you can't measure intangible things scientifically. However, discussing it as "It's not wholly objective, therefore it's subjective" minimizes the value of expertise.
Nathan Hall Very well put, thank you!
Exactly. And when it comes to reviews you can write "here is my gut instinct" or have a little more distance than that.
with the first point. that’s one aspect of the Hunger Games that I really loved for a YA. PTSD & Body Injuries stick and they are an actual obstacle for these characters and the story
On the use of horses in fantasy, there is a chapter in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time where Matt is riding with his cavalry and to make distance they do a walk-canter-trot rotation. He states that this is the only way to make distance with horses.
Talk about well-handled betrayals?
The Way of Kings, man. The Way of Kings.
Not a "surprise surprise!" type of betrayal, but maybe that's what makes it feel even more real.
Is this where I drop the obligatory "Fuck Moash"? Another well-handled betrayal, I feel.
@@Voxil42 fuck, I shouldn't have written a comment without being done with stormlight 2, you just spoiled for me 😅
@@vinzdorier I mean... the entirety of book 2 sets it up. It's one reason I made the comment. But I'm sorry I spoiled it, that sucks.
Concerning Pet Sematary: yes to that emotional fear! You know what happens with the kid, right? Now, being me, that fear was very, very real to me.
I'm an older sister. My brother is nearly 9 years younger than me. You know how a grandmother can be your second mother? My grandmother was my second mother, but by the time my brother was born, she was not so active anymore, so that little guy's second mother is me. Do you have idea of how scared I was of day-to-day occurrences like crossing the damn road by the time I was eleven? My brother lacked any sense of self-preservation, he would just took off. Being outside with him was overwhelming for me, even when my parents were with us.
I didn't read the book until this year (I'm 28 now) - and I picked it up because of Daniel's video - and goddamn it hit me. I felt like I was eleven again, just seeing that little boy run away from me for fun, completely oblivious to the risk. Plus, he was in a car accident about a year and a half ago, so the fear of losing him is very real, and that book hooked into that part of me, pulled it out and shredded it. I wasn't scared, I was devastated. I was a mess in fear of "what could have been" and grief for something I hadn't been through. I'm tremendously protective of my brother and that book... that book knows how to mess with your mind and it has nothing to do with horror.
So, yes, the whole "this book is scary" was probably a publicity stunt to get the book sold. It's not conventional horror, but it definitely packs a punch.
The things we usually don't see with horses are the same things we usually don't see with intelligent characters: it's assumed that they eat, drink, sleep, and use the bathroom. But rarely is it important that this be on screen.
All the intensity and excitement in one man. One idea. One legend. Greene Daniel!👌💯 But here we have the regular one🤷🏻♂️
You really appreciate character maiming - has me yet again thinking of the Vorkosigan saga, hah.
this may be a very unpopular opinion, but i am personally tired of main character hero's being either 'bad boys' (can be girls) or being 'misunderstood' where they are actually assholes and/or otherwise dark or evil characters, but everyone treats them like they are some heroic figure. i want my heroes to be genuinely nice and god people, who are conflicted. i don't want my hero to walk through a slave market and not bat an eyelash, i want them to be wondering how they can free the slaves, and be conflicted about the fact that they can't change society to resolve it.
edit: also, i'm tired of main characters who discover a power/magic and then spend the rest of the series complaining about it and wanting to be normal. i much prefer when the main character is curious and wants to explore this new ability.
How do you feel about Daenerys? If you've read/watched GOT of course.
@@David-un4cs i've read/watched very little game of thrones but i've read some summaries about it. from what little i know, the entire world is basically a good example of everyone just being different shades of awful and selfish, and daenerys being included. most 'central characters' like this tens to be very narcissistic and focused on themselves and whatever their goal is, with little to no empathy for other people except for occasions, but it always seems to me that their true personality is the indifference to others we see int eh quiet moments, and their occasional 'good guy' behavior in big moments is their attempts to mask themselves or appear to be a good guy not their true character.
this really wasn't about daenerys, just more of a further explanation of my opinions
I know this is a pretty common take but I love when chosen one/person from the prophecy isn't the main character
Hard agree!!
What are some good examples?
Yesss
@@nsolomons8361 The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce or The Camp of The Saints by Jean Raspail
Ooohhh can you remember those book series written by multiple authors? Like one for the 1st book and a different one from the 2nd? Can you imagine a small book series written by the “fantasy greats”?? Like a Sanderson takes one book, GRR Martin takes another, Jim Butcher takes another, etc etc.
Like the spirit animals series?
Love the "let's debate" videos...big fun
I don't think Sanderson tries to weave his religion into his books, but I do think it holds him back from addressing certain subjects. I don't need sex scenes or even romance in every book, but he sometimes skirts around the subject of sex so hard it makes some of the relationships unrealistic and kind of weird.
I doesn't bother me, but yeah its pretty noticeable sometimes. Which is weird, because that wasn't an issue in Warbreaker, so why in other books?
@@jersy6406 you're right. It is an important issue in Warbreaker, and I think he handled it okay in that one. Although, even then he addresses it in a way where nobody actually has sex.
If I recall correctly, Wayne and MeLaan are the closest anyone ever actually gets in a Sanderson book or did Breeze hook up with Alrianne before they got married? That was why he was fleeing Cett's army, right? It's been a while since I reread that one.
@@dustinswafford9232 Haven't read all of his books yet, but if I remember correctly they had sex in Warbreaker at least once
@@dustinswafford9232 Susebron and Siri had sex too many times in the book but he never detailed the actual sex since it's not important in the general plot (saving the god king and breaking up the impending war) as much as we only had to know that they'd done it.
@@princecarlos5597 yeah. I had forgotten as it's been a while since I read. Initially she did "fake it" though and that's what I was thinking of.
I love the knife-mic. Adds an air of danger to the conversation. Also implies that you can stab people who disagree with you, which I think is a good thing.
I do not believe objective reviewing doesn't exist, but objective qualitative exist. By that, I mean how much work has been put into it. It's about craftmanship (like words, grammar, punctuation etc.). Like you can say that a lot of art are made with extreme craftmanship, but does that mean they are good? Objectively yes but subjectively? That is the point that will determine what a person will chose. As an example, a music artist which I don't like the music at all I have the utmost respect for because that dude work on his music, like a lot.
Truuu
I think that one guy made a great point about people reading more slowly than BookTubers think people do. Until I started watching Booktube, I NEVER encountered anyone who read a book a day (or even a book in 2 or 3 days). I read about 100 pages a day (when not in a slump), and I've been told by many that that's a lot. I think what many in the BookTube community forget is that people have jobs, spouses, kids, TV shows, social events, travel, school, church, clubs, errands, etc... If you are a full-time BookTuber, then it makes sense that you could read a book in a couple of days. But if the average person is working 8 to 10 hours a day, needs to spend time with their spouse and kid, and be involved in the community.... well, it can be very hard to find the time read more than 1 or 2 hours a day.
Nothing against BookTube. I'm glad you all read so much so fast, it helps us have more content about books!!! But I think that sometimes BookTube has an unrealistic idea of how much the average person reads. Just my 2 cents.
Clarification: JOSEPH Smith - Mormon; JOHN Smith - Pocahontas
"nothing is true; everything is permitted" - assassin's creed
That did not originate in Assassin's Creed, it's ancient.
At 5:35 when you're talking about character injury, I love how there's also long lasting damage!! Samantha Shannon's 'Bone Season' series is doing that, I just finished her novella (book 3.5 in her series) and it shows physical long-lasting damage and trauma that Paige is experiencing. It's also a reason I really love the Dresden Files, he is CONSTANTLY injured and it adds layers to his capability. I don't see much in the way of follow-through with his injuries though, like a throbbing wrist that was broken in a previous book for example. But I'm very early into the series so that may change. :)
I’m really glad I had my headphones off for this one video in particular since I immediately blasted my surroundings with the lion king soundtrack
7:37 You can take a horse to water, but you can't write A WHOLE GODDAMN CHAPTER about it.
Hot take!
We need more fantasy series where it takes place in our modern world, but everyone knows about it and it's part of the modern setting, rather than a secret society type of thing (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson). I've begun writing one like this not too long ago, and would like to see more aothors lean into that area.
lol! I love that Elf quote and his response! Except, they probably meant best Christmas movie and then I would totally agree. I watch it every Christmas season. :-)
Thanks Daniel. This week I have been listening to Wicked the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory McGuire and the Audio book Traitors Blade by Sebastien De Castell. Both of these books are the first of a 4 book series which I never got around to finishing due to getting distracted. I am also still working on the Shadow Rising too.
RE: Dresden being a chauvinist. This is something that is specifically called out as a character flaw by not only Dresden himself but those around him. Him growing past that is a huge part of his development as a character. That being said, I can understand why it's pervasiveness in the earlier books is something that rubs people the wrong way.
I would pay to have Daniel never open with singing the Lion Sleeps Tonight
Daniel really likes that dagger as a mic-holder.
He also likes to hold it with a finger over the (probably not sharp) blade.
I would be interested to see more fantasy that has characters that do not change and remain in their ways. It would be cool that after going through all this chaotic event choose to stick to their beliefs. You can have so much room to do something new or different. Showing a character is wrong and they realize it but choose what is comfortable or are too afraid to change.
My hot take....there needs to be more Elves, Fairies, and Dwarves! I am not joking either. I know, I know, a lot of people are tired of classical Fantasy, and I totally understand that, but for me, a guy who wuvs it, it would be cool to see a few authors reusing these Races again. That's why I enjoy Michael J. Sullivan's work so much. He takes classic Fantasy, stays true to it, but also adds his own flavour.
Also, there needs to be more cat humanoids. The Elder Scrolls Khajiit are awesome! I'd love to see more authors tackle that concept. And my last one, I would like to see more writers take inspiration from Southeast Asian mythology and religion. I know R.F. Kuang has with her work, but it would be cool to see more writers take inspiration from Japanese, Chinese, Filipino folklore etc. I mean, when was the last time you saw a four tailed Kitsune in a Fantasy novel? I wanna see em.
Edit; Crap, somebody already beat me to it with the classical Races lol.
Daniel holding the mic with a knife just proves he is basically the Gus Johnson of the literary side of TH-cam
As an editor, I'm so glad you understand that usage and punctuation are actually subjective. Yes, there are rules, but these rules change depending on what style guide you use. And, of course, the author always has their say about style. Personally, I find even the subtle decisions of when you choose to use or not use a comma can add nuance to sentences in an artistic way.
Also, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (like Brandon Sanderson), I appreciate what you said here. Yes, he includes some philosophical and religious ideas, but I'm pretty sure I would recognize them if they were stemming from my own religion. Honestly, I think Brandon does a good job of trying to include a variety of ideas and perspectives, some of which I know aren't exactly in line with what he (or I) believes. I think it adds great depth to his characters and world building, and I enjoy getting to learn about other people's perspectives.
You are the best Book TH-camr..
I am trying to write my 1st fantasy book and your videos are the most helpful.. I guess i will be the first author to credit a TH-camr (if infact i do complete the book) .. :)
*LoTR Theme plays in background*
Daniel about Sanderson: "Maybe you're picking up on things I mist" 😏
Boy, last time I was this early, a new ASOIAF book had just been published...
Wow you’re just trying to start a debate here
OMG that first topic about maiming characters, all I could think about was How to Train Your Dragon!
I like Chosen One trope, but I've seen so many anime series that do it so impossibly bad that it's grating, and, as you say, I just need to fill my plate with something else. Also, chosen one is a form of wish fulfillment, so (again, as you say) it plays really well for main stream audiences (think of sports being predicated on the same mythos as hero tales).
So glad to hear what you said about criticism being subjective. I hear so many critics chant on about something being, "objectively bad" that it makes my head hurt. I realize that most people really, really, really want their opinion to be validated, and have others rally to their cause, but for something to be objective it would have to exist independently of personal opinions or feelings, and be universal and consistent. Most of us don't like being told that what we are feeling/experiencing is JUST OUR opinion, as if that invalidates or discredits us as a person.
I just realised that I don't think you have read Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe. You should do that. Its good stuff
Hot Take: repeating descriptions is good and Nynaeve needs to tug her braid even more!
Here's an entirely unnecessary paragraph on the whole objective review thing: I 100% agree there is no such thing as an objective review. In fact, I think it would be silly to ask for one when we're talking about art (though maybe slightly less so when we're talking about, say, a tool). That being said, I do think that it is possible to get to objective standards that can be applied to a review, or piece of art. So, for example, I like epic battles. I tend to prefer books that have them over books that don't, and I can objectively determine whether a story has one or not. That's an objective standard to which i can measure up my subjective taste. But my subjective taste is useless to anyone but me when I'm browsing my local library, so here's where it gets funky. You can create similar objective standards to determine subjective taste across an entire audience. In fact, I'm sure "people who prefer books with epic battles" is an audience in and of itself, though not a very broad one. So, while a reviewer can't create an objective review, he can create an set of objective standards to determine if a book would appeal to certain audiences, and inform his subjective review with that. Same goes for any piece of art. Obviously, this is a very simplified example, and most large audiences are found at the intersection of multiple objective standards, and a bunch of subjective standards that inevitably come attached. However, I do think it is very useful for reviewers to employ such objective standards, mostly because they will allow their audience to better determine if they want to purchase the reviewed product or not, which is kind of the entire point of a review. Similarly, writers and other artists can use these sorts of objective standards to get a better grasp on the audience they are trying to target with any particular piece, because having people who will buy your stuff so you can not starve to death is nice. But yeah, objective reviews are silly. (I did warn you the paragraph was entirely unnecessary).