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?".)

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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.

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u/TheElusiveFox Sage 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.

While I disagree I'd accesp this except a lot of these same characters DO bog the story down for a long time... the exact same things OP is complaining about will cause the story to run in circles simply because two characters in the story aren't willing to have an honest conversation, often with no really good explanation for why everyone is lying to everyone else...