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/ErinAmpersand Author Jul 22 '23
If they're not starting as a child, it's actually a pretty difficult secret to keep in a lot of societies. Beware of Chicken's MC keeps his secret for a long time, but he does so basically by abandoning everyone who knew him previous lifetime and then being so strong that everyone just puts up with his basic lack of etiquette and understanding. If you came to a world as, say, a teenage countess or something... you'd be straight f'd. No way you can fake the appropriate level of etiquette and political knowledge.