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Now his daughter is a deadpan comedian delivering zingers all day. Seriously dude, give it up, it was a bad play at fictionalising an event to present yourself as Daddy Yoda and it backfired. Speaking as a writer, know when to kill your darlings and move on. https://twitter.com/johnroderick/status/1345677387611009025
At this point I'm starting to become annoyed at how much these follow-ups insult the intelligence of the reader. This is bad writing. Stop writing badly.
I'm honestly temped to use this thread next time I teach a sesh about how to properly manage ad-libbing when writing fiction.
Ah screw it, let's just do it now and here. We'll start with one assumption- that this guy is in fact not a psychopath and didnt actually starve a child for 6 hours but instead hyperbolised a perhaps 5-10 min incident. Fingers crossed. Now, where did he go wrong and why?
First mistake- understand the concept of a sympathetic character. By extension understand power dynamics. An adult teaching a basic skill can't be the hero because he didnt do shit. The child who learnt the skill is the real hero. Presenting the mundane as heroic is a self-goal
Next, having chosen the wrong hero, he then gave him the wrong traits. Because the task is mundane, sneering at the child finding it hard didn't make him Yoda, it made him Palpatine. Nobody likes a sneerer, seriously, there's research to show its one of the least liked qualities
Thirdly, to be a bit more specific here, ever wondered why stories do training montages? Its because training IS REALLY FUCKING BORING. Training is the process of not training correctly tens of thousands of times. Its bad enough for characters, don't force your reader to live it
Remember, the Master is the primary protag here. It isn't even the learner. So what we have is an interminable process of not training correctly, which the Master is revelling in continue even though he could just correct the technique and move on. A smug Yoda fails always
And the eventual payoff for all this, the reward, isnt actually the ability to perform this amazing technique or skill that sets the sufferer apart- its a meal.
In short, if your payoff is that basic, its a) not a reward and b) You undermine the character who makes it one
In short, if your payoff is that basic, its a) not a reward and b) You undermine the character who makes it one
To sum up, what we have here is in fact an excellent example of the process of crafting not a teaching section, nor growth or heroic achievement -but the establishment of a villain. If that was the objective, it's been done well.
But if not?
But if not?
tl;dr: And this is why you kill your darlings- because if you don't, they might live long enough for you to see yourself become the villain.
Thank you for attending this lecture, have a wonderful Sunday.
Thank you for attending this lecture, have a wonderful Sunday.
