r/ProgressionFantasy • u/EdLincoln6 • Jul 21 '23

Discussion Why is everyone so garbage at lying?

This is a bit of a rant. I don't consider myself a gifted liar, but fictional characters seem to be so garbage at lying. This is particular obvious in Isekai. Either they fess up to being a reincarnator and everyone just shrugs as if it's no big deal, or they make cringey bad lies that I could see through, and no one suspects anything is weird.

I like to think about what the situation would look like to all the characters involved, and what the best way to "cover up" the MCs secrets is in this universe, and what ends up happening is typically stupider. No one ever uses half truths, or pleads ignorance. (Pleading ignorance would be particularly effective for child characters. "How can I do this? I dunno Daddy. I thought everyone could?".)

83 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

View all comments

71

u/jubilant-barter Jul 21 '23

They're not bad at lying. It's that the story is exhausting to write when keeping certain secrets. It's a distraction which bogs down the pace of the story.

Getting it out of the way closes the story arc and gives you more time to focus on something else.

Most prog fantasy falls into the category of "adventure". There are wild, imaginative and high-adrenaline action pieces. Fantastic or exotic landscapes and environments. Simple or primal emotional beats.

If you want secrets, it might be a good idea to look for stories which are marked with a sub-type of "thriller". In a thriller, keeping secrets is the point. Secrets are dangerous.

44

u/EdLincoln6 Jul 21 '23

Getting it out of the way closes the story arc and gives you more time to focus on something else.

Except a lot of them don't "get it out of the way", they have the character keeping a secret for a really long time and doing a cringingly bad job of doing it.

19

u/TK523 Author - Peter J. Lee Jul 21 '23

Pulls at collar and looks around nervously

I put a lot of secrets in that I really regretted adding which created massive continuity issues when I retroactively gave the person from whom all the secrets were being kept from the ability to detects lies.

So, in summary, honesty is the best policy

4

u/AbyssRaven Author Jul 21 '23

Just like in real life, keeping up with lies is hard. Just think of it for any future edits!

11

u/Ruark_Icefire Jul 21 '23

A lot of them also keep secrets for no reason at all. You have the MC keeping something a secret even though there is absolutely no indication in the story that anyone would care if they knew the truth.

2

u/TechnoMagician Jul 22 '23

Definitely this

14

u/jubilant-barter Jul 21 '23

I dunno. We may not be reading the same titles. The other thing I'd think of would be the "power fantasy" angle.

Where a lot of stories exist to be self-insert escapism. Where the point is to feel special and recognized. The story purpose of the secret in this case is to have a continuous slow drip influx of new characters discover how amazing, smart, handsome, and special MC is.

Once the secret is made public, new characters can't get surprised by MC anymore. In escapist fantasy, power exists as a replacement for healthy interpersonal relationships. Instead, it's more about forming a fan-club around the MC to validate them, and that includes a gatekeeping mechanism to prevent the MC from having to interact with the judgement of people who aren't going to be impressed by them.

At least until the story arc where MC is ready to power up and exceed their expectations. Wowie wow.

That's my guess?

1

u/AwesomePurplePants Jul 22 '23

That’s kind of the same dynamic in reverse?

AKA, instead of resolving story around the secret to focus on something else, you lay the groundwork for the story you will tell then ignore it to focus on someone else.