Dear Authors... Falling Action

Dear Authors playlist: • Playlist
Links to books I talked about in this video
(These are affiliate links. If you buy through these links, I get a small percentage of the sale):
0:00-Intro
1:03-Characters
13:16-World Stuff
19:21-Recommendations: The Lord of The Rings- amzn.to/2OD9kwL
The Sword of Kaigen- amzn.to/3enpntz
Hero of Ages- amzn.to/38scpXE
Pet Semetary- amzn.to/3vc7RhJ
My Dark Vanessa- amzn.to/2OazOGf
24:25-Outro
WHERE TO FIND ME:
► My Patreon: / merphynapier
► Reading Spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
► Instagram: / merphynapier
► E-mail: [e-mail]

[@leonardocucchiara4782]

Call me a fanboy but every episode of DEAR AUTHOR makes me appreciate Tolkien more and more by realising what a brilliant author he was!

[@realyoriginalchanel3218]

For me it is kind of the opposite, but also I suppose I have a predisposed dislike of the LOTR so it is probably biased

[@annathiessen5162]

@@realyoriginalchanel3218 my I ask why you dislike Tolkien so much??? I find him to be an incredible author. I am genuinely curious as I haven't talked to someone who dislikes his work

[@realyoriginalchanel3218]

@@annathiessen5162 I don't dislike him as a person but I always found his work to be badly paced and didn't like their contrivances, there are people who actually have good reasons to not like him but for me it is just bad experience

[@dhenderson319]

@@realyoriginalchanel3218 what was bad about the pacing? Did u enjoy the time spent on the falling action?

[@realyoriginalchanel3218]

@@dhenderson319 it has too long things that I didn't really feel were that important and some things had kind of rushed, misplaced conclusion like sarumons death, also it had lot of characters that contributed almost nothing and stole focus off of the books core plot lines and arcs

[@megravitt33]

Unpopular opinion : sometimes I like neat clean endings

[@tabbywarrior]

I love those endings!

[@MT-od7mc]

Sometimes they fit, sometime not. Depends on the book and a bit on my mood to be honest :-D

[@gurentgc3546]

Is that really unpopular? Sound just like a standard opinion.

[@fishraposo7192]

A clean ending is fine, undoing the story isn't.

[@thewritingreference2629]

Depends on the type of book. If the entire book was extremely dark and messy, it could feel completely out of place. If the book's tone is lighter, or if it's geared towards children, or if it's stylized, it might work.

[@zacharydechant1303]

“Battles leave scars, some you can’t see.” - Kanan Jarrus, Star Wars Rebels

[@hcstubbs3290]

Such a great show. Such a great character. Kanan is the best jedi.

[@tabbywarrior]

Best star wars show, just barely better than clone wars

[@tabbywarrior]

@@hcstubbs3290 agreed!

[@gurentgc3546]

@@tabbywarrior idk about that chief.

[@Shelf0808]

That show was so bad but some of the quotes were pretty cool.

[@allisonpalovchik4479]

"Not everything has to be grimdark or bittersweet." I 100% agree with this and I wish more authors did this... without using the resurrection trope

[@maedre9330]

i mean, having a happy ending after a godamn war that cause mothewrfcuking deaths doenst make sense. If u have somethingf of such great scale, the ending has to have atleast some bad effect. it cant be all happy

[@patrikstinner3967]

Breaking down at the WRONG time: I'd like to see bottled up feelings surface at the wrong time. I'm NOT talking about the "we're in the middle of a bloodshed but I'm going to stop to mourn and get slaughtered while doing so" trope. But later on in the story once the fighting is over, but things still need to be done. Let some (not all) of your characters break down when you really need them to have it all together (not just in quite, peaceful moments, although that's necessary too). It's just a more pluralistic representation of how different people process things!

[@jackwriter1908]

So... Is the next Dear Authors a Special called: Dear Daniel.

[@ransherman1611]

**grins**

[@stephenkicinski6776]

@@ransherman1611* with a silverware smile*

[@IvoryTowerPodcast]

LOL!

[@kathrynehiersche1817]

@@stephenkicinski6776 😂😂

[@jaspommoja9761]

I personally believe that how the falling action plays out mostly depends on how dark the genre is. More light hearted books give the character time to process it but darker books don't give them the time until much later and might even punish them for directly getting affected by it and forgetting the fight e.g. killing a character who decides to grieve on a battlefield

[@maem7462]

That is true. Also you’re like are at 69 nice

[@elizabethgrosvenor153]

More lighthearted is also more likely to do the clean ending without dwelling too much on the gritty consequences either, right?

[@starandeath4735]

You should read one piece then. Its childish but the falling action is not light hearted its worldbuilding.

[@VoidLantadd]

First point of the video about having to move on despite trauma-Kaladin in Stormlight Archive is a perfect example of doing this well.

[@heatherly893]

My pet peeve: lack of changed character relationships in falling action. If one or more characters underwent severe character development (or regression), how does this affect the group dynamic? If the group separated, what was the reaction of one party to hearing of the other's adventures/trials? Are they supportive? Jealous? If one party returns with new members, what do the others think of them? How do they treat the character who they distrusted for the whole novel but now turns out to have been on their side all along? Or if one character turned out to be a traitor, how does the group dynamic suffer now that the traitor is gone? Basically, climaxes tend to include many convenient reunions, critical decisions, and character reveals, etc. and I want to see, onscreen, how that affects the group character dynamic.

[@imkuelllgremlin]

same issue goes for tv shows as well, a character will be "OH NO MY BELOVID DIED!" then the next fucking episode they're fine, parting and dating new people and showing no emotion about their loss ever again for the rest of the show, then at the very end its like, "oh i miss them" ARE YOU SURE?!? BECAUSE IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE IT

[@DY2727]

**Cough cough** sword art online ep 24/25 **cough cough** Asuna getting r worded **cough cough** My girl Look how they massacred my girl *snif*

[@Kmmlc]

@@DY2727 Funny since its been clear all along that she was sexually harassed and threatened but not "r worded". In every instance where there is an attempt in that series it is in some way stopped. While some non-cannon series claim its happened, again, not cannon.

[@DY2727]

@@Kmmlc oh I thought it was cannon but I do remember something like that happening in ep 24 though

[@taylor_green_9]

I love the falling action in Mockingjay. Collins takes her time to show Katniss's grief and trauma and the consequences of her experiences. She sort of glosses over the restructuring of the country, but she shows enough of it and it makes sense because it's a first-person narrative and the MC has very little interest in the proceedings

[@kadijahamad9862]

i love Hunger Games because of how well it holds up. Katniss and Peeta’s trauma feels so real

[@spuddlingbob8724]

In war and conflict zones many soldiers find that having new tasks and missions, aswell as likeminded people around them make it so that they often don't process what has happened until after they've left the warzone or military, it's often not unitll they have had time to properly sit down and reflect that the events that have transpired catch up with them. So a book where the plot keeps moving on and the characters don't really get to reflect, mourn or process stuff is not that unrealistic in my mind.

[@chamieranawakaarachchi4420]

I was waiting for the '19 years later' when the comment about the 'ending just after climax' was read. I mean seriously...

[@havewissmart9602]

Can you please say why the epilogue is trashed on. Is it a preference thing or a legitimate criticism. I personally loved it.

[@chamieranawakaarachchi4420]

@@havewissmart9602 I know people who love the ending of Harry Potter. I think the reason some people didn't like it is because the war happened and there wasn't much information provided on how their lives progressed. Like the next time we saw them was 19 years later in an epilogue where most of them are married with kids and having respectable jobs. We didn't get to see them dealing with the aftermath of the war or how they fell back into their daily lives. (Harry literally came back from the dead and in my opinion it's bound to leave some kind of trauma) Whole of Hogwarts was destroyed. There were a lot of deaths. We didn't see them coping with the deaths and see them at least hope of moving on from them. And what little we could gather about their lives was from the epilogue, and it wasn't enough. It seemed like this perfect life and it wasn't necessarily satisfying. I don't think that it's legitimate criticism... It's more about the readers' preference. I am personally indifferent about it to a certain extent and my huge rant above was how I agree to it not being a very wholesome ending. But at the same time, when I first finished reading HP, I loved that ending. So it is the reader's choice on if you liked that ending or not.

[@skycolinregan]

I'm currently writing a novel and these Dear Author videos are so helpful Merphy! Thanks a million for improving my writing by making me mindful of all of these different topics!

[@diegomorett142]

The First Law by Joe Abercrombie has around 60 pages after the big battle and it's great because the characters have been what drives the story.

[@lostschedule51]

I love the part explaining how the falling action period should match the story. A great example is Lord of the rings.

[@liana3886]

I know it’s not a book, but I recently watched all episodes of Violet Evergarden and honestly it made me cry so much - it’s about dealing with loss, finding yourself after a traumatic experience and we are shown many different perspectives on the aftermath of war. Plus the animation is beautiful.

[@taylor_green_9]

That's my favourite anime. It doesn't hurt that Violet is insanely gorgeous 🙂

[@aaronbeverly4711]

Yes! Violet Evergarden did an amazing job at dealing with emotional trauma caused by personal choices, war, and loss. Her story was wonderfully told and I couldn't help but cry!

[@liana3886]

@@aaronbeverly4711 Exactly! And although it’s an adaptation from a novel, the story is done differently in the animation than in the written version: in the novel we already meet Violet who’s very good at her job and the beginnings of how she slowly build herself up are shown us as flashback episodes starting from chapter 8 (there are 13 chapters in the 1st novel). On the other hand in the anime we really can see her grow as a character and we understand her from the very beginning. Of course the novel is amazing, but the way that Kyoto Animation adapted it is just brilliant.

[@travisminger9529]

@@liana3886 is the novel available in english?

[@pika4668]

around 8:00 I gotta say Szeth is an amazing example of this (Stormlight Archive spoilers) Szeth kills, like, so many people. He assassinates his way across Roshar because of his Oathstone, and falls deeper and deeper into madness as a result. Even when he realizes the Oathstone was just a rock, he still struggles with what he's done, even to a greater degree. Szeth in book 4 is still struggling with this, which is some serious longevity for this type of thing that I appreciate in books. anyways book 5 hype in three years haha

[@noraeld5020]

You're right about Roran in the Inheritance cycle. I loved how he had a quirk to keep count of how many he killed - it was pretty impactul.

[@DL-idk]

I still remember the confusion I felt while watching Star wars when everyone is happy and all joyful at the end. I was like hey wait I couldn't be the one person who hadn't forgotten the fact that the ENTIRE PLANET of the princess had been destroyed, right? Turns out that I am one person.

[@UdyKumra]

With Sword of Kaigen, I would say that the actual climax is in what most people will consider the falling action. The story isn't structured the way most Western fiction is structured, and our actual main conflict-the inner conflict of the main character-is resolved 200 pages after we've passed the battles. The battles are not the main conflict, they are an external conflict that is resolved pretty quickly that deepens the internal conflict of the family and the MC. So I would say that the "falling action" of that book is still just a few chapters, although a few chapters more than in a lot of other fiction.

[@archlectoryarvi2873]

This! I've heard people say that the story wasn't structured "properly" and that the pacing was off when actually it's just done in a way they aren't used to.

[@Beefcakes1288]

Udy, good observation! I agree with you. I would consider the MC’s confrontation with an important side character to be the climax though the battles were pretty horrendous. I’ve heard the book described as having two main climaxes regarding both encounters. It’s a very special book to be sure. Definitely used some tissues! :) thanks for sharing

[@andrewtwardowski6421]

I think one of the reasons Tolkein does so well with falling action, is his experience. LotR was partly his way of exploring his own trauma after serving in World War I. For anyone wanting to understand the effects of war on an individual, I recommend the book On Killing by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman. It is well researched and covers some of the immediate and long term effects.

[@amedeocostalunga7814]

“Your dragon burned down a city” 👀👀👀

[@jackson5802]

Tbh this made me feel better about the book I'm writing, where trauma and how characters respond is literally most of the plot. Only two characters don't end up murdering someone, for reference. And 15/16 of the relevant characters end up dead.

[@everestcanyon5647]

I don't think a character always has to come away from the Great Battle carrying PTSD. Now that doesn't mean they weren't emotionally affected by the battle, and maybe they lost some loved ones along the way. If their journey has been long, there's a chance they learned to cope with major loss along their journey already. This may be the most emotional battle of their life, and maybe they do fall back into the pit of despair, but throughout their journey, they've already learned the skills needed to climb out of the pit and move on. I feel building the tools to climb out of the pit mid journey are much more interesting than seeing how deep you can keep throwing them into the pit with no way out.

[@korgaupisc129]

😂😂 I'm basically sitting here, watching and nodding along. Dear authors is just the best

[@Fromlindawithlove]

This isn’t fantasy specific but sometimes characters will make lil promises (sometimes in the middle of a battle as a joke) like “when this is all over, remind me to do this” or “we should go do that” and I feel like adding a scene of the characters doing that very unimportant promise just adds a nice lil bit of happiness to the book and is a perfect scene to place in the falling action. It also just makes me happy cause I often find myself waiting for those scenes that never happen

[@Gruzbee]

There are so many ways to write about post war/death trauma. It always depends on the character, the setting, and the type of story being written.

[@hcstubbs3290]

Man, Roran really disturbed me as a kid. He grew up to be quite a brutal bean while Eragon was away. Great character though.

[@lowercase_ash]

I thought it was really cool how he stepped up for his darling (forgot her name, been a while)

[@hcstubbs3290]

I think her name was Katrina?

[@lowercase_ash]

@@hcstubbs3290 Yeah! Tysm Edit: Anyways I just really liked the way the two arcs of Eragon and Roran mimicked each other in their having to step up and take responsibility except Eragon's was all magical and Roran's was very much not so

[@sock9766]

The SoC duology does this really well

[@Lynn-CA]

I highly recommend My Dark Vanessa too (even though it's not the easiest book to read), so well written.

[@zhoradaiyu5184]

Falling action can be happily ever after, but not without consequences and not 19 years later

[@keshawnrobinson1011]

Please never 19 years later

[@eveljin6805]

@@keshawnrobinson1011 it's always 19 years later, never seen an 18 years later. But both are bad

[@RosLanta]

One thing I like is when you see that a traumatic event is still affecting a character years or even decades later. It's possible to show this even without in depth examinations of emotions etc. One unusual example springs to mind - there's a Star Wars book (I can't remember which one - SPOILERS if you haven't seen the movies!) where Leia and Han are being threatened with torture, and they both say something like "I've been tortured by Vader, you can't compare". Yes, it's a joke of sorts. Yes it's the characters being brave and standing up to the other person. But it's also a subtle but strong indication that THEY HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN what it was like to go through that, and it's still affecting them both.

[@rustydaboyrobot]

Falling action is to grieve, breathe, and reflect...and to answer most, if not all, questions that occurred during rising action. i think authors trip up if they feel that falling action is boring, anticlimactic, or filler. Or maybe they rush to conclude. Satisfactory endings are just as important as any other part of the story...and depending on the scope of the story, even more so. Tolkien did this very well, and im sure other readers would use him as an example. However, is there any difference between falling action in book....or in a series of books that conclude an epic tale? I think not, though a broader scope of what's needed to BE satisfactory certainly exists. Your thoughts?

[@KrystalGamer]

There can never be enough "Dear Author" videos. This my second or third viewing of this one, and it's not the only one I've watched more than once. Thank you, Merph!

[@khadhija7]

I started reading the Lies of Locke Lamora and when you said in the second book how a certain character is grieving, the emotions came back up again. I stopped reading at that part.. I really cant deal with it right now but maybe sometime in the future I would resume that book. Cuz I mean.. its pretty awesome 😁 (tho the gore is a bit too much at times so I tend to glance over those and move on)

[@DigiPuddle13]

Sometimes it's good to bring it up but some people can repress those thoughts to the point where within a day it doesn't affect them. Especially if you are focused on another task.

[@8Makes1]

It's also interesting because I know someone where grief doesn't really bother them. They're sad for about a day and then they're fine. They don't dwell on it very much and I've asked then if they're okay, and they're just like yeah, I just don't really get sad about death. People take things way differently than you and from what you may expect.

[@DigiPuddle13]

@@8Makes1 exactly!

[@DREWSBOOKREVIEWS]

Rand from wheel of time is a great example of a character becoming hardened and de sensitized to what he must do and it affecting his relationships

[@UdyKumra]

You say everything was green at the end of The Lion King but then we got The Lion King 2.

[@gurentgc3546]

Money money money. The hunger for money can make sequels from anything.

[@8Makes1]

@@gurentgc3546 But at the same time, it was interesting to see Scar's influence on the other lions and how that affected their mental states and beliefs. And how Simba was so tight with Kiara and the things he would allow her to do because he remembered what he'd done and what he was basically manipulated into as a cub. That, and he didn't want her making the same mistakes he did by blindly trusting Scar. Lion King 2 actually grows Simba's character really nicely. Not to mention shoes the fallout and consequences of the war between Scar and the other lions. I do think they could have added an extra part with the Heynas as a follow up though. Some sequels are made to be money grabbers (Swan Princess 2 and 3) but sometimes there are more of a story to tell.

[@varpureiniaho9330]

As a general request/suggestion for all of the dear author series: spend a little more time explaining the terminology or giving a clear definition of what your topic is about. In this one in particular, the big mood was that everyone just *knows* what falling action is, and the explanation was glossed over in a side sentence. Love the series and I just want to see it continuing to get better

[@chinuaalibatya7345]

Yeah I don't know the definition

[@ashe1317]

The falling action (or "denouement" as it can technically be called) is the part of the plot that occurs after the climax; the downslope of the mountain, as it were, or coming down from the high. Generally, this is where any remaining/loose narrative and thematic threads are tied off, character arcs settle into their ultimate form, and the story is allowed to *breathe* one last time before concluding. This vid also incorporates mini-denouements for mini-climaxes, or the fallout of important plot points/character beats on the way to the actual story climax. I wouldn't generally characterize those as "falling action", as the overall thrust of the story is still upwards to the climax at that point. It's more just the ebb and flow of a narrative, not any true aftermath. Denouements exist in practically every story, too, not just traumatic ones. Stories that lack them are notable for making their audiences feel "robbed" out of any satisfaction or catharsis, and at that point it would likely have been a deliberate choice by the author to emphasize whatever point they wrote the story to make. Hope this helps!

[@varpureiniaho9330]

@@ashe1317 Yes, thank you but I know what falling action is. Your explanation was lovely, though! The point is, I wasn't asking for a definition but giving feedback for the content!

[@ashe1317]

@varpu riniaho hahaha whoops 😅 well, I'm glad it at least sounded good

[@varpureiniaho9330]

@@ashe1317 If anyone not familiar with the term comes for the comments to look it up, yours is a perfect explanation!

[@PaintingwithAvipsa]

I miss this series ... Soooooooo much .. I remember I even used to make notes from all the videos 😭

[@Neverrgreen]

My favourite series has a war in it and the main character becomes the commander of a refugee camp and has to deal with the logistics of that. The falling action of that series isnt maybe long enough but makes it clear these problems still exist and the war isnt over even though the big bad was defeated.

[@alexinator-hh5fe]

I very much dislike when authors make it so characters get over this big climatic problem in a chapter or two. Or even the next few pages if the author really is rushing things. By doing this it basically trivializes the event, the characters, and ruins any potential emotion that situation was supposed to bring. Please take time to showcase proper character response to big events. Especially if it's a major death scene or a huge battle.

[@CancelledPhilosopher]

Showing how the world and characters have changed after an epic struggle is done phenomenally well at the 3nd of Lord of the Rings.

[@bogih21]

When you started talking about how people deal with grief in different ways, I immediately thought of Red seas under red skies, and I knew you are going to mention it too. I just finished the Gentlemen Bastard series a few weeks ago, and I wanted to thank you for talking about these books so often, because I haven't heard of the series before I started watching you, and you convinced me to read these books. I'm so, so glad I did. :] I love your channel!

[@g.e.causey]

I've always found it very strange that a writer would put their character through a traumatic event and then have them act like it never happened. Traumizing my characters and making them change is thr main reason I write traumatic events in the first place, not using that would be a complete waste. I have a trilogy where in the second book, one of the main characters (there are two) is still dealing with the trauma of everything that happened and everything that he did in the first book, four years later. He and two of his friends/colleagues all went through most of the same stuff together, and they all start the second book in very different places, from being able to make peace with himself and move on, to still being a horrible, barely functioning mess. Half of the second book is spent on the continued growth and change of those three, as a consequence of both what happened in the previous book, and new things that happen. I often joke that this particular MC isn't allowed to be happy, because just about everytime he picks himself up, I knock him down again. He will never be the same person that he was at the very beginning, for better or worse.

[@smarthydra061]

I have been rewatching all your previous Dear Authors videos waiting for a new one! I'm so excited! 😁💖 Also, I love your shirt! ❤❤

[@katruth]

I swear I've watched the Dear Authors series like 20 times. So good.

[@Dashaway22]

When I read the title of this video my immediate thought was "Sword of Kaigen did falling action so damn well", glad to see it seems we're on the same page. I agree that its almost the point of the book, and I love it for it.

[@r.s.4085]

It's a great feeling when you binge a Merphy playlist and realize you've been doing it *right* 😎

[@lightningtiger3913]

Thanks for your work on this video.

[@mikem1585]

Some of these are done really well in Wheel of Time...maybe not overall falling action, but certainly with the impact of events on characters.

[@bjorneriksson2404]

I know that you aren't a big fan of The throne of glass series, but this is something that I feel is handled well. The pain and memories of those fallen stay with the main characters through the whole series, even the ones fallen before the books even begin. Also, the grief process follows its due course as the main characters mature and get older, so it's not the same emotions and stuff repeated over and over again. They also don't all react the same to loss, while someone might change deep in their core due to a loss, someone else is affected in other ways.

[@8Makes1]

I agree. I feel grief was handled pretty well throughout the whole series. SPOILERS What Asterin went through with her child and lover and then just the thirteen in general. And then Gavriel with Aedion.... It was so well done and so hard to watch. The losses were hard but also the grief with change like what the main three used to be like, Rowan losing Aelin to Maeve and then Chaol having to learn to move on and try to heal when he lost his legs. There's a lot of really great emotion in these books, especially the last two or three, that you don't get if you don't finish them. .....wow I want to do a reread now. 😂

[@harshtalks6989]

I am writing a book and your videos help me to a lot..

[@amelias7559]

I needed this so bad thank you

[@artshininglight]

Hey I have to thank you. I’m an aspiring author. I just found your channel two days ago, but I’ve totally just been eating up your dear authors series. I’m not a big reader, but listening to audio books and learning about story telling. Thanks for having an honest conversation about something you are passionate about that also happens to be helping people like me while writing stories.

[@artshininglight]

Well I guess in a way I love books, but I prefer to listen to someone else tell them. I find I don’t like my voice or thoughts being how I intake the story.

[@kendallh.18]

As someone who enjoys reading and writing I love this channel, especially the dear authors series!

[@artshininglight]

@@kendallh.18 its such a good series and so helpful. I think what's really nice about it is that even though she really does have a lot of knowledge about characters, she has all of her community giving input on it as well.

[@artshininglight]

@Julia Lerner thanks so much. You too

[@TheBluenyt09]

What I love about the falling action are the new beginnings or hints of a sequel due to a villain still carrying on or a new villain is coming to the horizon. 😎👍

[@hgman3920]

I just finished The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and it is an amazing example of drawn out falling action. The first 300 pages detail a year in the life of a family and ends with a climactic, life changing event. The remaining 200 pages follow the characters through the subsequent 30 years and detail how that even affected the remainder of their lives. In a way, the falling action becomes a part of the whole story (as it should be)

[@erindahlvig]

I know I'm going to hate an ending when my kindle says 85-90% and I have the thought "how is this going to wrap up?" Because I know it's going to be one of those that ends after the climax and runs off the page.

[@irenesantinelli2798]

Thank you for the amazing video!

[@lucasbertsche3710]

Just finished The Last Argument of Kings and the falling action is incredible! So many twists and turns after the big battle is over. Very dark ending

[@8Makes1]

Kerri Maniscalo's Jack the Ripper series does falling action so well!! The first two books felt like one extended story. (MINOR SPOILERS) The trauma that the mc, Audrey Rose, goes through in the first book really, really impacts her and her medical performance in the second book. It deals with grief and PTSD along with the horror of what she witnessed coming back to haunt her. The last two books don't feel *as* connected as the first two, but something happens near the middle of the third one that brings the trauma she's dealing with back to the surface and the last one helps her face all of these emotions and things before finally allowing it to wash over her and let it float away. The memories will always be with her but that doesn't mean she has to let it affect her.

[@Redbeardflynn]

Very well put.

[@raist315]

Please don't hold the first comment against me, but you could rival any supermodel! Now, I started with a few Stormlight Archive videos, and really got hooked on your channel. I'm amazed at how well you explain exactly what you see and how you feel about the books. I don't always agree, but that's fine, makes things more interesting. Great channel! And I've already told my brother and sister to check it out too.

[@stews9]

Hey Merphy, have you read Hench yet? If not, I bet you'll love it. It addresses all kinds of issues that arise from falling action, superheroes, and aftermath, along with a demonstration of good and evil that flips our usual unexamined attitudes.

[@joyahawkrose3984]

I would love to see characters have more trauma by the end for anything and everything that would cause a normal person trauma (murder, death/loss, near death experience, attempted/successful rape, etc)

[@NerdyGuyRanting]

Any chance you could do a Dear Authors on writing action scenes? It's something I've struggled with writing myself. It's hard to write compelling fight scenes that don't just devolve in to "He punched the other guy and the other guy punched back."

[@zhoradaiyu5184]

I love this series

[@RecklessFables]

That sweater could almost be described as Neapolitan.

[@MT-od7mc]

Gotta get me some neapolitan ice cream 😋

[@RecklessFables]

Between the onset spring and my low-carb diet, I'm really craving ice cream and pretty much anything bad for me, heh. Oh, and it is Shamrock Shake season too, dammit.

[@Akirathechampion]

Is there a way to do the resurrection part good? XD

[@rachelrich4772]

Hey you... Merphy napier... You are really good at what you do😊😇

[@patiokid27]

As an aspiring author I absolutely love this series. It's so helpful ☺

[@luuuuux_]

Same

[@sarahhulse9979]

I LOVE your shirt!!!!

[@dominickg8326]

Have you read the Grisha verse books? What new books or even past books that you like, would you recommend currently? I'm dying for new reads lol.

[@Torsin2000]

There's a trilogy that does some of these things well, and some not so well. For example in the first book there's a lot of action and only touches on the consequences a bit, but in the second book those consequences seem more front and center. Also, things that happen in the 1st and 2nd book change the realities that come about in the 3rd book. I hope Merphy gets to it eventually, it's in her TBR pile, but I'm patient.

[@henrywayne5724]

What trilogy is that? I'm interested

[@Torsin2000]

@@henrywayne5724 For this I was referencing the Deed of Paksenarrion, a trilogy by Elizabeth Moon. You can find it in an Omnibus edition or the first book is Sheep Farmer's Daughter.

[@JennaGetsCreative]

I'm a sucker for falling action and it's the reason I hate the way Collins wrapped up Mockingjay. An epilogue to wrap up every named character that survived? No! I need more than 1 or 2 sentences for these people who aren't Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch!

[@cormachayden1614]

Marko Kloos does a great job of this in his Frontlines series as we get to see the main character's PTSD build and gradually affect him more and more. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is terrible for this...a happy ending at the end. Without addressing the more obvious consequences that would result from the changes the world had barely survived.

[@elizabethgrosvenor153]

I think a lot of reasons why this aspect of the story is very often not fleshed out is as simple as... authors have deadlines, lol. They get so caught up in writing the rising action and want to stretch and twist it any way they can, and then they have no time to think through and expand the aftereffects, so they do a rush job. Also, it can be the case that authors just don't want to actually end their books and so they keep staying with them until it basically turns into another book (Twilight, lol). Don't do that either.

[@LuskaTheWusky]

Thank you so much for doing this series! I really love going through these videos to help my writing. It warms my heart that so many people have the same opinions as me and my fiancé for what we like and don’t like in books. Really gives me confidence that I can actually finish my book. Keep up the amazing and inspiring work! 💜

[@devpriyagoel]

I am really surprised to see how much I have grown as a reader. There was a time when I used to hate a book for not wrapping up things nicely. Now I actively try to avoid such books. I owe this to Merphy's excellent recommendations! I love dear authors series

[@jonathanwolff7868]

I love all the dear authors episodes but this one in particular had an enormous impact on the ending I am writing right now. Thank you so much for doing this, you rock!

[@ivysudweeks1550]

Maybe this is why you like Well of Ascension so much? That whole book is pretty much the falling action* of the first book, written as a second book. *aka: the first plunge on a roller coaster.

[@jonasluond4740]

8:15 Yes, his name is Roran. But he's not Eragon's brother, he's Eragon's cousin. Good example👍🏻 *Spoiler* : Eragon has no brother, only a half-brother, Murthag

[@mountainjune]

"Take the next right step"

[@jonahwhite6737]

I love your Dear Author vids!

[@CharlieThunder24]

perhaps one of the reasons why authors put falling actions in the back seat is because publishers are chasing flashy moments and action and not a lot of money in the idea of a psychological examination of the effects of action.

[@strikersquirrel7365]

hi, i'm watching this now because I really liked the Avatar tier list you made awhile ago. I want to continue watching the video in order to support your channel, but your idea at 3:00 was very moving to me, and I really want to write something like that now, or at least take a crack at it.

[@eveljin6805]

Go ahead, I would love to read that.

[@rhyleygrant5660]

The poppy war series is really good at falling action brutal war scenes and dealing with genoside

[@NotABot-px7ky]

Merph, have you ever read the Arc Of A Scythe series by Neal Shusterman? Idk how much you'd like it, but i definitely think its at least worth a read

[@kendallm8331]

💜💜💜

[@robgau2501]

Great shirt

[@thecornerkid402]

I can’t remember what it was, but there was one book I read where there was an abrupt after the climax ending and it was actually perfectly satisfying. Can’t remember what it was.

[@sofiesbookishadventures1865]

Mild spoilers for My Dark Vanessa: I really liked how Vanessa was just starting to heal at the end of the book. It showed how long the effects of trauma can last and how it is a whole journey but still left us with a shimmer of hope that it will get better eventually. A perfect happy ending just would not have made sense for that book.

[@august3777]

You forgot to link the playlist. Its not in the description or in the little thing at the top-corner of the video.

[@rhydes_]

It's in the description now

[@hazelbooth5262]

Would you ever do a spoiler chat for all the gentleman bastards books out so far?

[@reading_faerie]

Minor minor spoilers for the poppy war but in book 2 we see an influx of refugees that don’t like the main character because her actions in book 1 left a lot of people dead and homeless- it made the story feel so much more real and immersive because we see the consequences of war / her actions

[@lunatichaven7240]

Miles Cameron does War really well: it’s aftermath, it’s ugly necessities, how you don’t get to choose which other soldiers you are fighting with, sometimes one can be fighting on the side of good, but still be an a**hat. The Cold Iron Trilogy gets my strongest recommendation, it’s sword and sorcery fantasy, the Red Knight series is better on the technical aspects of medieval warfare, but the writing isn’t as nicely woven.

[@Legdorgroovypants]

I hope people see this, I wanted to add my Faith in my books but not so much that it's crammed down the readers throats. I wanted to show the character practicing his Faith throughout the story

[@AJShiningThreads]

Love this series!

[@natbatlightwood5288]

Not a book but Xena Warrior Princess handled guilt after the first kill with Gabrielle pretty well... ... ... ... Bit of a Spoiler alert... ... ... ... In Season 3 Gabrielle is basically manipulated by this Cult (who she initially thought were like minded-people she thought they were good but they weren't) to stab one of them and lose her blood innocence as part of plan to bring their god into the world, she has never killed before that she only fought back with her staff, the act of killing causes her to be impregnated with the daughter of their god and the child is basically evil incarnate. And the way she handles the fallout of her first kill is really well done, it becomes a theme throughout the show as well with Gabrielle becoming gradually more desensitised to killing the enemy as the series goes on, in Seasons 4 and 5 address it the best imo. I can't put it into words but it was one of those those things you noticed but you also didn't and they had episodes centres around her desensitisation...pretty sure i mispelt that word...also i don't think i explained this very well i have done it no justice. There's also an episode where Joxer (a recurring but obvious comic relief character but i loved him) comits his first kill, now throughout the show he used to declare how much of a badass warrior he was (he wasn't but he meant well) and how blood thirsty he is. When he commits his first kill its an accident, and i destroys him, even though the man he killed was a Warlord it destroys him. He feels so guilty he goes to find the guys son despite Xena trying to convince him otherwise. It turns out the Warlords son was told his dad was a great hero so when he finds out someone killed him he wants to leave his studies and find the man that killed him. Eventually he finds out it was Joxer but he also finds out his dad wasn't a good man. It's a one episode and done struggle but it's so well done.