A Joking Aside | Terry Goodkind is still an Asshole
Asides Print This Post December 1st, 2009
I generally stay away from taking jabs at people in ill-faith (okay, that’s a bit of a white lie, but still…), but this quote, from an old USA Today interview (via Ansible) with Terry Goodkind, author of such bastions of literature as Wizard’s First Rule, Naked Empire and Chainfire, just screamed for some attention. One can only assume that the dude’s still an asshole.
‘First of all, I don’t write fantasy. I write stories that have important human themes. They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It’s either about magic or a world-building. I don’t do either.’
No. No he does not. But, hey, at least he’s aware of his shortcomings!
I suppose the real problem, though, is that we’re all too ignorant to see past the Dragons, roiling balls of liquid fire, sword fights, Wizards, alternate realities, prophecies, Evil Dark Lords, princesses, and massive army battles to understand that he writes not Fantasy, but philosophical explorations of what it means to be a socialist human being.
Another gem includes:
Weymouth, MA: In your opinion who is the most must-read, cutting edge writer publishing today?
Terry Goodkind: Ayn Rand.
Who wants to be the one to break news of Ayn Rand’s death to Goodkind?
Related posts
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- An Aside | Terry Goodkind’s next novel is ‘The Omen Machine’, he designed the cover
- An Aside | Terry Goodkind’s ‘Legend of the Seeker’
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The sad thing is that he’s worse than Margaret Atwood, because at least Atwood is known for doing non-genre work. Goodkind is ONLY known as a fantasy author. Nobody pays any attention to his other work.
But he’s not an asshole, just really really really stupid. It shouldn’t be a surprise though, especially in this country.
Quite frankly I wouldn’t trust a man with that shirt/ponytail/beard combo to write a birthday card, let alone a novel
I thought his philosophy was the opposite of socialism – a bizarre libertarian-objectivist nightmare?
But yeah, still, what you said.
Sorry dude but the books are fantasy. I guess he wants to sound special but the books are fantasy unless everyone else is wrong.
It’s sad that someone so successful has so little respect for the genre he obviously writes, let alone all those who paved the way for his success. Every good piece of fantasy and sci-fi clearly hits on the human condition. What makes his writing so special?
SMD – In an answer to another of the question in that interview, he says that if you see any similarities between his work and Robert Jordan’s, you’re too young to be reading A Sword of Truth.
Mark – You’re right. I just can’t keep up with Goodkind’s philosophy, other than that he hates commies and thinks it’s okay to shatter the jaws of little children as long as it improves your situation in life.
“But he’s not an asshole, just really really really stupid. It shouldn’t be a surprise though, especially in this country.”
I disagree, I think he’s a total asshole. Some of the stuff he’s said about people who gave up on his books…he shows a total lack of respect to the genre, and fans of the genre – the same people that made him successful by buying his books in the first place.
The amusing thing about all this, is that he’s such a poor writer. If he wrote brilliant novels, he could get away with being a prick. But his novels are nothing special at all. In fact, they’re dogshit.
Aidan: This is why I keep a list of authors I won’t get books from except for 10 cents at a garage sale. If they’re going to be stupid on a level that defies logic (or homophobic bastards like certain authors), then they don’t deserve to earn royalties off me. Goodkind is just another on that list…
And to absolutely no one’s surprise, even when he tries to write a thriller, viz The Law of Nines, the end result is a re-make of Wizard’s First Rule, which is to say, Goodkind trying to write Thomas the Unbeliever novel in all but name.
James, there you go insulting dogshit. Dogshit, after a very long time, can at least maybe fertilize grass. Much more useful than NoGoodkind.
Socialist? I thought he was a fascist.
In an answer to another of the question in that interview, he says that if you see any similarities between his work and Robert Jordan’s, you’re too young to be reading A Sword of Truth.
I vote idiot and asshole. I mean really. His books are such a rip off of Robert Jordan. He didn’t even try not to be obvious about it.
Somebody doesn’t realize that good fantasy’s about magic and the human condition, with as much worldbuilding as necessary thrown in. Like hearing people say The Road isn’t science fiction because it deals with serious themes wasn’t a big enough dose of this elitism to last me until the new year.
And where’s Mystar? I keep expecting Goodkind’s personal defender to show up and spew forth a kilometer’s worth of bile and hatred at any Goodkind naysayers.
Goodkind just makes it too easy to make fun of him. How he can expect to be taken seriously with remarks such as the ones you posted is beyond me.
This guy has got a real cheek saying this as I remember starting to read Wizards first rule and i thought the books were great ( first 3 anyway) but then when he started to get established the books started getting boring..they were like 1 chapter spread out throughout the book..Labourous and watch checking books.Its a real shame because the books were a fun adventurous read. Sorry but they are not deep and to say as such is pretty delusional.I wonder what genre he would class his books then?But thats not the important point ( most creative people have huge egos otherwise they wouldnt be comfortable with there own thoughts and able to write them down.His books are pulp fantasy nothing more or less.He is no Robert E Howard and you could argue that there are more stories of humun endevour and spirit in Howards books which are full out rocking adventures than Goodkinds.
Lets not talk about capitalism though people.You need it to promote yourselves as Authors.No one is whiter than white.We all are living a contradiction everyday of our lives. Free speak is for everyone and to limit someones is to stifle debate.Example BNP.You stifle them then you prolong the myth that they have anything to offer. Hear them and then the myth dies with them.
Who wants to be the one to break news of Ayn Rand’s death to Goodkind?
But can a robot truly “die”?
I really loved the first few novels in the SoT series, and Kahlan still stands as one of my favorite characters, but the man’s work just started getting obnoxious. The Law of Nines was a total joke.
He seems to fluctuate between embodying the philosophies of Nietzsche and Captain America… both a Darwinistic fascination with survival of the most impressive, and a Capitalist betterment for the people who had the opportunity to be a fit male with capacities to lead an entire nation/country/(world?) while desiring nothing more than being a hermit in the mountains. I agree with him saying that what he lacks in typical “Fantasy Stories” he makes up with his personal philosophy, and it was not until the last three books that he started devoting entire pages to stating and then restating his personal views on… freedom/ability/christian church. He seemed to rail against the Christian church the same way Nietzsche did in his “Antichrist”. I understand this is all a huge slam against Terry Goodkind, and I wish I understood why the ideas seem so drawn from Robert Jordan (maybe they are estranged brothers with a grudge), but I still enjoyed the series, and Faith of the Fallen was my favorite, even though it made me want to go be a buff, underfed, laborer, entrepreneur, wizard, warrior, sculptor, and revolutionary who is surrounded by beautiful women who I had the integrity and virtue to resist.
Is this the Terry Goodkind hate blog? lol
I do not care what little boxes people (or the author) want to categorize the story into. It is all fiction, with strong emphasis on relationships, philosophies and adventure.
There may be typical fantasy elements in the books, and I believe Terry is distancing the emphasis of the books from the Fantasy collar, because the story is so much deeper that that Fantasy elements. (most dimly lite people may not see that)
Would you like the books any more if Terry said they where fantasy fiction books. Does it really matter.
The SOT books are deeply emotional and filled with all shades of entertainment. I really enjoy how the heroes struggle to accept their situation, way they are challenged and the metamorphosis they are going through. Like a butterfly struggling to exit a cocoon.
WRT copying other writers:
It would be impossible to say that one writer has copied the style of another. It would be like telling one guitarist not to play the on the same 6 strings as another.
We are all human, all share the same DNA, feelings and emotions on one level or another. It would be difficult for a writer to not feel and write about the same set of emotions as another.
You lot complaining about the comments the writer made of his own work, in your own colourful way is indeed Dribble of ink.
I agree with u. I enjoy his books and appriciate his emotional, and philasophical elements he’s worked in (BTW: his philosophy is Objectivism, founded by and get this…… Ayn Rand, whose books are also awesome)
First of all, he’s not an asshole, he’s just a little too frank for those of us that are used to being coddled all our lives. Secondly, maybe you misunderstood him or maybe you have never heard him give a speech. He is very much concerned with the way people treat life nowadays (in case you haven’t picked up on that, as most of his characters give a speech in every book about it). He wants us to stop whining about what is fair and what is equal (communism much?) and do what is right.
It doesn’t sound like you have either read many of Goodkind’s books, nor Jordan’s. They had two completely different writing styles and concepts. Jordan always wrote more about nature and elemental powers. Goodkind wrote about the power within each and every person.
Besides, when you are making good money like Goodkind, you can classify your books however the f*** you want.
Some don’t like his work, but some of us do. Law of Nines was definitely my least favorite so far, though…
@Pollmak
“It would be like telling one guitarist not to play the on the same 6 strings as another.”
Incorrect. It’s not playing on the same 6 strings, it’s lifting the opening riffs from Stairway to Heaven.
This is amazing to me how many people who don’t and can’t write come out with opinions on somebody who is a writer and gather they have a write to judge him. That makes all these people more of assholes than he would ever manage to be. He is a popular writer and his personal opinions and deeds don’t matter in how and what he is writing. It doesn’t matter if he loves or hates politicians, dogs, commies, donkeys, bankers, miniature pigs or whatnot. He can write a story and keep you interested in it. He is a writer. I don’t even think it is worth to mention if I like his books or not. It doesn’t matter. He has enough sold to count for a good writer. So what if I think that, say, Robert Jordan was horrible? Some people like this kind of writing and I just wouldn’t go around screaming about it.
Guys… sit down and write a series of books. Then be assholes and wait for criticism and other people throwing shit at you. Writing a series of books is never easy EXACTLY because you have to know what the market wants, what publishers will like and most of all trying to keep a balance between typical things everyone likes (like fantasy-related themes) and likable characters. I agree sometimes Richard acted like a dolt.. well OK very often even but it didn’t make me throw away his books and say “This sucks!”. In the end he is a decent storyteller that at least tries his best and uses multiple characters. Yes there may be loose ends in his books but the more you write the harder it gets to tie them up. Writing is never easy on a scale like this. Sure you can give me examples with plenty of other authors and I won’t mind. Every one of them has a different approach on writing, some more boring with too much world-building and less memorable characters, some honed to perfection. After all writing is a form of art. If you don’t like Goodkind don’t read his works and read something you like instead. Or hell write a book yourselves and publish it and turn it into a successful series that will give you enough money to be able to live a peaceful life. Also do keep in mind that people rarely bend when they reach an age at what Goodkind is. Its like someone asking Terry Pratchett to suddenly sit down and start writing about space marines in a purely sci-fi setting with no humor at all. Not likely.
Thing is, while I sort of agree with the original post, Goodkind has sold 25 million books, and is estimated to have 10 million in print. So while he might be a bad writer, he’s clearly appealing to some demographic!
No story is ever original. None of them. The only thing an author can hope to do is take what is, make it better and put their own twist on it. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try to write something original. I’d be willing to bet I could find something to compare it to. Take it from someone who has started many books but has never once finished one or had them published because it sounded too much like Tolkien, too much like Ann Rice, etc. One day though, I will
Oh, and as far as him being an asshole, I tend to judge people by what they do, not what they say.
Wizard’s Fifth Rule: “Mind what people do not what they say, for there deeds will betray a lie.” -Terry Goodkind, Soul of the Fire
Sure is supportirrelevanthackwriter in here. You won’t change people’s opinions, apologists, so stop wasting your time.