CONSPIRACY GUY: This episode of Terrible Writing
Advice is brought to you by Raycon. Every author experiences the call to adventure,
yet writing can be a perilous journey for writer and characters alike. In the long quest every protagonist could
use a mentor to help guide them through the many dangers before them. But how to write a good mentor? Let Terrible Writing Advice guide the aspiring
writer on their own journey to write a mentor character. Now when it comes to writing mentors the best
bet is not get too attached. We all know that the mentor is killed off
to advance the protagonist’s… wait. If I’m mentoring you then… Oh crap. Um. You know, let’s just save that one for later. Crap crap crap. Okay, JP. Don’t panic. We just got to pad out this video to avoid
being killed off to advance the viewer’s writing quest while also establishing narrative
stakes. Okay. Let’s see? What non-death tropes can we cover about a
mentor? Well why does the story have a mentor in the
first place? Why the mentor’s main function, which is
most definitely not dying off in order to advance the protagonist’s character development,
is actually to dispense exposition to the protagonist and thus to the audience by proxy. Just have the mentor sit the protagonist down
and ramble on and on about world history, the magic system, the current geo-political
situation, the dark lord’s back story, the prophecy, how I’m not padding this video
out to avoid my own mentor death, and local celebrity gossip. So far, the mentor’s only defining characterization
is a chapter long info dump. Perfect! Might as well get all of that pesky exposition
out of the way in one boring clump. Man, I am so smart. Is any of this exposition filtered through
the mentor’s perspective in order to establish the their character? Of course! My mentor is a boring dry academic so naturally
his teachings sound like a humanities lecture drowning in anti-depressants and tenure induced
apathy. Yes I could use even this as characterization
by having the other characters zone out during the info dumps or have another character interrupt
the mentor with a far faster summary thus adding character conflict, but then I would
have to give my characters some actual traits and it might distract the audience from my
very important world building backstory. Besides, I’m not going to bother giving
my mentor any characterization, he’s just going to di… oh man. I almost forgot. We need to establish what our mentor looks
like, and by that I mean pick a stock mentor off the shelf. If the story is a fantasy setting then the
mentor has very high odds of being the party’s wizard. Regardless of genre the mentor is usually
old and wise, in spite of dispensing zero actual wisdom throughout the story. Well almost, the mentor makes a great mouthpiece
for the author’s personal philosophy and VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS! Regardless, our old mentor will be grouchy
too because old people only have one emotion. Sometimes our mentor is an old grizzled veteran
that could tell you some stories, they could, but won’t because we have to save those
for the expanded universe prequels. The mentor has a long a storied past, you
know because other characters refer to it constantly in the most vague so I don’t
have to flesh a backstory out way possible. In spite of overwhelming emotional baggage
and a lifetime of adventure to leave a mark on the world, the number of times the characters
actually encounter an element of the mentor’s past is exactly zero. I’m not going to waste time on the mentor
when I have a protagonist to develop. Just like the mentor’s mysterious connection
to the villain which will be explored never. I mean why would we when the mentor has the
grim specter of… um… The love triangle hanging over them. Yes. The good old love triangle. I am most definitely not using that running
gag in order to pad out the video to avoid my own mentor death. Yes. Put the mentor into a love triangle. Why not? Have the mentor be happily married and have
the pair both participate in the training? Ugh. A healthy relationship? No. We want all of our mentor’s past relationships
to be tragic mistakes. Our protagonist needs a positive role model
after all. In fact, come to think of it, why does our
mentor even want to train the protagonist when his last pupil turned evil? Does our protagonist do anything noteworthy
to convince the mentor that they are worthy of mentoring? Ha! Who needs a resume when you have a prophecy. The mentor has to train the protagonist no
matter how much of a snot he is because the prophecy says so. The protagonist can’t be bothered to overcome
the mentor’s emotional baggage because that might force to me actually develop the mentor’s
character past the extremely broad archetype I slapped into the story with zero modification
or thought. Treat the mentor like a real character and
actually have the mentor interact with the rest of the cast and form relationships outside
of the protagonist? Even worse, have the mentor teach someone
else on the side? Don’t be so selfish there, mentor. The mentor’s only function is to teach the
protagonist how awesome they are not have actual goals and aspirations of their own. I can’t give the mentor a spot in the story
to shine because it might take away from the protagonist’s thunder. All other characters exist solely to prop
up how awesome and always right the protagonist is. Having the mentor be awesome, especially in
the early story to serve as a preview of the protagonist’s potential as well as show
off the array of powers of skills the protagonist can inherit, would simply add the unreasonable
expectation that the protagonist has to actually earn their amazing powers rather than the
author just handing everything to them on silver platter complete with a complimentary
love interest. Magic that can level a city block? I can’t see how that would require extensive
training and mastery to use with care. I’m sure the mentor will just be a-okay
with a teen wielding god-like powers of destruction with only limited instruction. And by instruction I mean cheer-leading. I’m not having the mentor actually teach
a practical skill when I can have them spout vague platitudes and dry exposition. Developing an actual training arc would be
like way too hard! Training in real world martial art forms is
as detailed as it is full of story opportunities and adapting that to a fictional setting requires
way too much creativity. Use a brief glimpse into the protagonist’s
training routine to establish world building details, expand on characterization, and allow
the audience to grow familiar with the rules of the setting’s power systems or technologies? I have a far better idea. Let’s just skip all of that and get straight
to the power fantasy. See. Now we don’t even need the mentor any more
so now the story can kill him off and... um. Oh come on, there is got to be more? Crap. I’m out of script! I’ll just have to improvise. Um. Mentors. Yeah. Just make sure your mentor gives the protagonist
like... bad advice or something? God forbid a mentor have a freaking coherent,
thought-out world view. Did I mention the vague platitudes yet? I think I did. Okay. Um... Surely there is more cliches I’m missing. Look, plot, you can’t kill me. I still haven’t finished teaching the audience
every cliché about the mentor yet! DARK LORD: You are too late, JP. I have arrived to stop the prophecy, but I
must kill you first before the prophesied audience watcher can put a stop to my coming
dark reign. Oh no! Avenge me, random internet person watching
this video. Also when I die don’t forget to yell NNNOOOO!!!! Hugh! Oh right. I forgot. If the mentor dies before passing everything
on to the protagonist then just bring them back as a ghost. Because not even death can stop the mentor
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