Wow. I am, uh, embarrassed to say that I somehow managed to get caught up in the replies to this comment without ever actually seeing the quote itself until now. (In my defense, I did get here through the Recent Comments sidebar, but still… yeah, not one of my prouder moments.) So, now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading the quote, uh...
...Maybe I’m dense, but I’m not quite understanding this one. I mean, I understand that it’s an explanation of Martin’s philosophy of writing, but I’m not really seeing the rationality tie-in. I could probably shoehorn in an explanation for why and how it relates, but the problem with such an explanation is that it would be exactly that: shoehorned in. I feel as though advice of this sort would be much better suited to a writing thread than to a rationality quotes thread. Could someone explain this one to me? Thanks in advance.
Fair point. To be honest, I just got this quote from Martin’s Wikiquote page after I decided to save the original and needed something to replace it. (I suppose I could’ve done something like change the whole post to “[DELETED]” and then retract it, but this seemed good enough at the time.)
I can’t really make a rigorous case for this quote’s appropriateness here, what actually drove my decision to use this was basically a hunch. My after-the-fact rationalization is that maybe this quote sort of touched on the Beyond the Reach of God sense that death is allowed to happen to anyone, at any time, and especially in dangerous situations, as opposed to most fiction which would only allow the hero to die in some big heroic sacrifice?
For an after-the-fact rationalization, that’s actually not bad. On the other hand, I think Martin might actually push it a little too far; reality isn’t as pretty as most fiction writers make it out to be, true, but it isn’t actively out to get you, either. The universe is just neutral. While it doesn’t prevent people from suffering or dying, neither does it go out of its way to make sure they do. In ASoIaF, on the other hand, it’s as though events are conspiring to screw everyone over, almost as if Martin is trying to show that he isn’t like those other writers who are too “soft” on their characters. In doing so, however, I feel he fell into the opposite trap: that of making his world too hostile. Everything went wrong for the characters, which broke my suspension of disbelief every bit as badly as it would have if everything had gone right.
For me, it’s not just a problem of suspension of disbelief, it’s a problem of destroying involvement in the story. If too much bad happens to the characters, I’m less likely to be emotionally invested in them. Martin’s “The Princess and the Queen” (a prequel to ASoIaF) in Dangerous Women is especially awful that way, through the characters aren’t developed very much, either. I’m hoping he does a better job in the main series.
His reputation as a “bloody minded bastard” aside, Martin has creznaragyl xvyyrq bss n tenaq gbgny bs bar CBI punenpgre va gur ebhtuyl svir gubhfnaq phzhyngvir cntrf bs gur NFbVnS frevrf fb sne (abg pbhagvat cebybthr/rcvybthr punenpgref, jubz ab bar rkcrpgf gb fheivir sbe zber guna bar puncgre). Gur raqvat bs gur zbfg erprag obbx yrnirf bar CBI punenpgre’f sngr hapyrne, ohg gur infg znwbevgl bs gur snaqbz rkcrpgf uvz gb or onpx va fbzr sbez be nabgure. (Aba-CBI graq gb qebc yvxr syvrf, ohg gur nhqvrapr vf yrff nggnpurq gb gurz.)
Wow. I am, uh, embarrassed to say that I somehow managed to get caught up in the replies to this comment without ever actually seeing the quote itself until now. (In my defense, I did get here through the Recent Comments sidebar, but still… yeah, not one of my prouder moments.) So, now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading the quote, uh...
...Maybe I’m dense, but I’m not quite understanding this one. I mean, I understand that it’s an explanation of Martin’s philosophy of writing, but I’m not really seeing the rationality tie-in. I could probably shoehorn in an explanation for why and how it relates, but the problem with such an explanation is that it would be exactly that: shoehorned in. I feel as though advice of this sort would be much better suited to a writing thread than to a rationality quotes thread. Could someone explain this one to me? Thanks in advance.
Fair point. To be honest, I just got this quote from Martin’s Wikiquote page after I decided to save the original and needed something to replace it. (I suppose I could’ve done something like change the whole post to “[DELETED]” and then retract it, but this seemed good enough at the time.)
I can’t really make a rigorous case for this quote’s appropriateness here, what actually drove my decision to use this was basically a hunch. My after-the-fact rationalization is that maybe this quote sort of touched on the Beyond the Reach of God sense that death is allowed to happen to anyone, at any time, and especially in dangerous situations, as opposed to most fiction which would only allow the hero to die in some big heroic sacrifice?
For an after-the-fact rationalization, that’s actually not bad. On the other hand, I think Martin might actually push it a little too far; reality isn’t as pretty as most fiction writers make it out to be, true, but it isn’t actively out to get you, either. The universe is just neutral. While it doesn’t prevent people from suffering or dying, neither does it go out of its way to make sure they do. In ASoIaF, on the other hand, it’s as though events are conspiring to screw everyone over, almost as if Martin is trying to show that he isn’t like those other writers who are too “soft” on their characters. In doing so, however, I feel he fell into the opposite trap: that of making his world too hostile. Everything went wrong for the characters, which broke my suspension of disbelief every bit as badly as it would have if everything had gone right.
For me, it’s not just a problem of suspension of disbelief, it’s a problem of destroying involvement in the story. If too much bad happens to the characters, I’m less likely to be emotionally invested in them. Martin’s “The Princess and the Queen” (a prequel to ASoIaF) in Dangerous Women is especially awful that way, through the characters aren’t developed very much, either. I’m hoping he does a better job in the main series.
His reputation as a “bloody minded bastard” aside, Martin has creznaragyl xvyyrq bss n tenaq gbgny bs bar CBI punenpgre va gur ebhtuyl svir gubhfnaq phzhyngvir cntrf bs gur NFbVnS frevrf fb sne (abg pbhagvat cebybthr/rcvybthr punenpgref, jubz ab bar rkcrpgf gb fheivir sbe zber guna bar puncgre). Gur raqvat bs gur zbfg erprag obbx yrnirf bar CBI punenpgre’f sngr hapyrne, ohg gur infg znwbevgl bs gur snaqbz rkcrpgf uvz gb or onpx va fbzr sbez be nabgure. (Aba-CBI graq gb qebc yvxr syvrf, ohg gur nhqvrapr vf yrff nggnpurq gb gurz.)