So about Actions Sequences
I have three general ground rules when it comes to action sequences. First, the action sequence must be as short as possible while giving the reader a clear picture of what is going on. Second, the action sequence must serve a purpose and drive the story forward. Third, there must be tension as to the outcome.
The Inheritance Cycle fails in all regards for the most part. The action sequences which take place last page after page, and rarely accomplish anything. Whole chapters are set aside for battles which serve no purpose save to retread territory we've already been over. Descriptions are made which are wildly anachronistic within the context of a fantasy world, belonging more in the matrix or other action movies.
There is never any tension, and I don't just mean thinking a character might die. You can have suspense without expecting a character to die. You can expect them to fail their objective, for instance. Maybe a bad guy is getting away and if the heroes don't get past his guards he'll escape. Fear of failure can add tension to a scene as much as fear of death.
Paolini never adds any tension to his stories. His battles are almost universally predictable, the only exception being the ones where Murtagh is involved. When Murtagh is involved there is some tension, since he occasionally manages to win against Eragon. But not much.
And finally, we have purpose. I will admit, sometimes Paolini's battles serve a purpose. Rarely though. There are a huge host of action sequences which have no relevance to the story that was seemingly added in solely to spice up a very boring narrative. Hell, Roran's entire point as a character is to be involved in action sequences to keep the audience reading while Eragon does nothing of any import.
But that is a very bad purpose. If your story is sufficiently boring that you have to add all kinds of battles with no relevance to the core narrative in order to make it even tolerable, then you should be writing a different story!
But what really gets to me is the lack of effort he puts in. You can tell when reading his story that he just looks at action sequences from movies and writes them in with his characters in the role of the heroes in those movies. There is no one style which he sticks to, and the whole thing feels really lazy.</ljspoiler>
I have three general ground rules when it comes to action sequences. First, the action sequence must be as short as possible while giving the reader a clear picture of what is going on. Second, the action sequence must serve a purpose and drive the story forward. Third, there must be tension as to the outcome.
The Inheritance Cycle fails in all regards for the most part. The action sequences which take place last page after page, and rarely accomplish anything. Whole chapters are set aside for battles which serve no purpose save to retread territory we've already been over. Descriptions are made which are wildly anachronistic within the context of a fantasy world, belonging more in the matrix or other action movies.
There is never any tension, and I don't just mean thinking a character might die. You can have suspense without expecting a character to die. You can expect them to fail their objective, for instance. Maybe a bad guy is getting away and if the heroes don't get past his guards he'll escape. Fear of failure can add tension to a scene as much as fear of death.
Paolini never adds any tension to his stories. His battles are almost universally predictable, the only exception being the ones where Murtagh is involved. When Murtagh is involved there is some tension, since he occasionally manages to win against Eragon. But not much.
And finally, we have purpose. I will admit, sometimes Paolini's battles serve a purpose. Rarely though. There are a huge host of action sequences which have no relevance to the story that was seemingly added in solely to spice up a very boring narrative. Hell, Roran's entire point as a character is to be involved in action sequences to keep the audience reading while Eragon does nothing of any import.
But that is a very bad purpose. If your story is sufficiently boring that you have to add all kinds of battles with no relevance to the core narrative in order to make it even tolerable, then you should be writing a different story!
But what really gets to me is the lack of effort he puts in. You can tell when reading his story that he just looks at action sequences from movies and writes them in with his characters in the role of the heroes in those movies. There is no one style which he sticks to, and the whole thing feels really lazy.</ljspoiler>