History Creator / JimButcher

* CreatorBacklash: Heavily downplayed; while he's still proud of having written them, as noted below under OldShame, Butcher doesn't usually like to talk about the first two books in ''The Dresden Files'' - ''Literature/StormFront'' and ''Literature/FoolMoon'' - as he finds them somewhat embarrassing indicators of how mediocre he used to be as a writer. And the less said about "A Restoration of Faith" (a short story set in the Dresdenverse which Butcher openly considers to be an embarrassing first draft) the better.
* DarkActionGirl: He's had plenty of these show up. Lara Raith of the White Court of Vampires is probably the best example.

** The {{Male Gaze}}-y descriptions of female characters (most of whom are {{Femme Fatale}}s of some shade or another), popularity of [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] as the firearm of choice, heavy focus on organized crime (with the associated [[TheDon crime bosses]] and [[{{Mooks}} hired goons]] that you'd expect), taking place in a WretchedHive, and Harry Dresden's PrivateEyeMonologue (among other aspects of the series) are all indicators of ''The Dresden Files'' intentionally harkening back to the pulpy detective noir novels of the 1930s and 1940s. The effect is aided in how wizards are all {{Walking Techbane}}s who can't use virtually any technology created after World War II without setting it on the fritz, further adding to the series' subtly retro aesthetic and themes. Admittedly, it's worth noting that most of these traits [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness are more predominant in the earlier novels than in the later entries]] as the series grows its own identity, but even by ''Battle Ground'' the majority of these elements are still here moreso than not.

* MaleGaze: Apparent in every one of his novels, which has also gotten him accused of objectifying women (mostly in regards in ''The Dresden Files''). To Butcher's credit, though, this issue has become increasingly better handled as he has improved and matured as a writer, and in ''The Dresden Files'' in particular, it's often used as an indicator of the protagonist Harry Dresden both being an UnreliableNarrator and having an incredibly dysfunctional childhood causing him to be saddled with lots of hang-ups regarding the fairer sex along with the series partially being a GenreThrowback to the pulpy detective novels of TheThirties and TheForties. Notably, short stories in the Dresdenverse where other characters are the narrator - i.e., John Marcone or [[spoiler:Waldo Butters]] - describe female characters without any lavish descriptions in regards to their physical attractiveness. Amusingly enough, the narration of his female characters in ''Codex Alera'' more often than not showcases the ''FemaleGaze'' in regards to their male love interests.

* PurpleProse: His works are often heavily laden in lavish descriptions and detail. Just as an example, the descriptions given to Arctis Tor in both ''Proven Guilty'' and ''Cold Days'' are basically the literary equivalent of SceneryPorn.

** Spirearch Addison Albion of ''The Cinder Spires'' puts on a front of absent-mindedness, but the events of the first novel make it clear this is a façade and he in fact has a great deal of influence.

* WarIsHell: While the combat in his novels provides many opportunities for the protagonists to do no end of ridiculously awesome things, neither do the books shy away from showing how much mental and physical damage conflict does both to the combatants and the civilians. While various candidates for BigBad may use war for their own ambition, they never believe WarIsGlorious (and anyone who ''does'' espouse that mindset is either seen as an idiot or is deliberately using it to manipulate others) and however cool the battles may be, the books do not for a moment suggest that the awesomeness outweighs the suffering and brutality.

** In regards to ''The Dresden Files'', Butcher absolutely loves to add references to ''Franchise/MarvelComics'', helped by Butcher being a huge Marvel fan in real life. Just as an example, Harry Dresden at one point claims to follow "the Tao of [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]," and Butcher himself has freely admitted that Harry Dresden's character was originally conceived as "What if Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive wizard instead of a radioactive spider?"

** The {{Male Gaze}}-y descriptions of female characters (most of whom are {{Femme Fatale}}s of some shade or another), popularity of [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] as the firearm of choice, heavy focus on organized crime (with the associated [[TheDon crime bosses]] and [[{{Mooks}} hired goons]] that you'd expect), taking place in a WretchedHive, and Harry Dresden's PrivateEyeMonologue (among other aspects of the series) are all indicators of ''The Dresden Files'' intentionally harkenubg back to the pulpy detective noir novels of the 1930s and 1940s. The effect is aided in how wizards are all {{Walking Techbane}}s who can't use virtually any technology created after World War II without setting it on the fritz, further adding to the series' subtly retro aesthetic and themes. Admittedly, it's worth noting that most of these traits [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness are more predominant in the earlier novels than in the later entries]] as the series grows its own identity, but even by ''Battle Ground'' the majority of these elements are still here moreso than not.

*** Bridget worked for most of her life moving heavy slabs of meat in her family's vattery. She is probably north of six feet tall and can move those slabs with ease now. She's adept at close combat.

** Royalty - particularly cases of RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething - medieval-style fighting, and martial arts. Butcher is a huge fan of martial arts in real life, and likes to [[ShownTheirWork Show Their Work]] in his novels through making most of the fights between different characters as realistic as possible.
** In all three of his series, supernatural predators are frequently equated with actual predators in nature (i.e., wolves and lions), and details is given to how human characters must project an arrogant air of stoicism so as to not accidentally provoke a violent response born from pure instinct.

* CreatorBacklash: Heavily downplayed; while he's still proud of having written them, as noted below under OldShame, Butcher doesn't usually like to talk about the first two books in ''The Dresden Files'' - ''Literature/StormFront'' and ''Literature/FoolMoon'' - as he finds them somewhat embarrassing indicators of how mediocre he used to be as a writer.

** Similarly, ''Codex Alera'' seems to be largely written as a homage to the HighFantasy literature of the 1980s, with the novel's blurbs even describing the series as a love-letter to the swords-and-horses fantasy tales he loved to read when growing up.

* MaleGaze: Apparent in every one of his novels, which has also gotten him accused of objectifying women (mostly in regards in ''The Dresden Files''). To Butcher's credit, though, this issue has become increasingly better handled as he has improved and matured as a writer, and in ''The Dresden Files'' in particular, it's often used as an indicator of the protagonist Harry Dresden both being an UnreliableNarrator and having an incredibly dysfunctional childhood causing him to be saddled with lots of hang-ups regarding the fairer sex along with the series partially being a GenreThrowback to the pulpy detective novels of TheThirties and TheForties. Notably, short stories in the Dresdenverse where other characters are the narrator - i.e., John Marcone or [[spoiler:Waldo Butters]] - describe female characters without any lavish descriptions in regards to their physical attractiveness. Amusingly enough, the narration of his female characters in ''Codex Alera'' more often than not showcases the ''Female Gaze''.

* PyrrhicVictory: The "loser" in such a confrontation in the late 90s. When on a chat room, he took a challenge that one could take two "bad" ideas and make them into a compelling story. The challenger gave him ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' and LostRomanLegion. After some research and playing with the concepts, he had a good basis for a story and was unsure how posting the idea to the internet in those days would affect his publishing rights and ownership of the idea. So, he explained this to the other guy, who believed he was right because Butcher had nothing. Butcher decided to let the matter drop. The man might've won the argument, but Butcher ultimately got a six-book deal out of it.

* SelfDeprecation: The blurbs on the back of Butcher's own novels describe himself as "a martial arts enthusiast whose resume includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least two hundred years ago", and also claims that he "turned to writing as a career because anything else probably would have driven him insane." The blurbs also mockingly describes his writing process as him "trying to record his conversations with his imaginary friends".

* SpringtimeForHitler: As noted above, Butcher wrote the best-selling first novel in ''The Dresden Files'' during college all while he was intentionally trying to write it poorly out of ([[SelfDeprecation in his own words]]) "childish annoyance" at his teacher's good advice.
%%* WarIsHell:

** Royalty - particularly cases of RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething - medieval-style fighting, and martial arts. Butcher is a huge fan of martial arts in real life, and likes to ShowTheirWork in his novels through making most of the fights between different characters as realistic as possible.

* SpringtimeForHitler: As noted above, Butcher wrote the best-selling first novel in ''The Dresden Files'' all while he was intentionally trying to write it poorly out of ([[SelfDeprecation in his own words]]) "childish annoyance" at her good advice.

Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is a fantasy author, best known for writing ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera''. His books are notable for their high levels of [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], RuleOfCool, and {{shout out}}s. He attended a writing course taught by Creator/DeborahChester, and, in the attempt to prove her wrong, followed her instructions to the letter, which resulted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

** Kitai from ''Codex Alera''. Daugter of a "barbarian" chief, she is is a dangerous fighter. She once bit a man's nose off because that was all she could reach when he was detaining her. She joins the hero Tavi in battle many times in the series.

** The name "Margaret". The Dresden Files has three Margarets, The Cinder Spires has one (Gwen's second name is Margaret).
** Similarly, Gwendolyn. (Gwen Lancaster in The Cinder Spires, Margaret Gwendolyn [=LeFay=] in The Dresden Files).
** {{Action Girl}}s, in particular those who are either very petite or amazonian. Try finding a woman between five and six feet in height anywhere in a Jim Butcher novel. Go ahead. We'll wait.
* AwesomeDearBoy: He admits that he took a sizable pay cut to write ''Literature/SpiderManTheDarkestHours'' for Marvel just because he really wanted to write Spider-Man.
* CatchPhrase: In a slightly nasally tone "I'm not gonna tell you." His answer to questions he doesn't want to answer. It has started getting applause at his Q&A Sessions.
* DarkActionGirl: He's had plenty of these show up. Lara Raith of the White Court vampires is probably the best example.

** The defining trademark that each of his main characters posses.
** The man himself is no slouch either.
* ExactWords: When he was in his early 20s in his writing class where he developed the basic idea of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' he presented his first two chapters to his professor. She gave it praise and asked for how the rest of the story goes. She meant just this first book. Jim came back excitedly the next week with outlines for a twenty book series capped off by a big apocalyptic trio to present to her.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Quite fond of these. Consider that his two main book series are about, respectively, a vampire-hunting wizard FilmNoir OccultDetective and prehistoric monster-riding Roman Legionaries who can control more elemental forms of {{Franchise/Pokemon}}.
* PyrrhicVictory: The "loser" in such a confrontation in the late 90s. When on a chat room, he took a challenge that one could take two "bad" ideas and make them into a compelling story. The challenger gave him ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' and LostRomanLegion. After some research and playing with the concepts, he had a good basis for a story and was unsure how posting the idea to the internet in those days would affect his publishing rights and ownership of the idea. So, he explained this to the other guy, who believed he was right because Jim had nothing. Jim decided to let the matter drop. That man won the argument and Jim got a six-book deal out of it.

** In ''Codex Alera'' being an almighty badass is pretty much a job requirement for any High Lord or Lady.
** ''The Dresden Files''
*** Has the fairy Queens, one of whom saved Harry's life.
*** It also gives us a meta-example with the Knights of the Cross, wielders of divinely powered swords who are apparently always descended from royalty.
*** During the Vampire War, the Red King is frequently on the front line or close to it.
** Spirearch Addison Albion of ''The Cinder Spires'' puts on a front of absent-mindedness, but the events of the first novel make it clear this is a facade he in fact has a great deal of influence.

Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is a fantasy author, best known for writing ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera''. His books are notable for their high levels of [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], CoolVersusAwesome, and {{shout out}}s. He attended a writing course taught by Creator/DeborahChester, and, in the attempt to prove her wrong, followed her instructions to the letter, which resulted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

He is now a big enough name that recommendations from him show up on the covers of other writers' novels, and other writers do [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to him.

You should read his stuff. Yes, that means [[BreakingTheFourthWall you]].

* WordOfGod: He pops into fan forums (including on this very site) every once in a while to confirm or [[{{Jossed}} joss]] plot points.

Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is a fantasy author, best known for writing ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera''. His books are notable for their high levels of [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], {{Crazy Awesome}}ness, and {{shout out}}s. He attended a writing course taught by Creator/DeborahChester, and, in the attempt to prove her wrong, followed her instructions to the letter, which resulted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

** Spirearch Addison Albion of ''The Cinder Spires'' puts on a front of absent-mindedness, but the events of the first novel make it clear he still has a lot of influence.

* PyrrichVictory: The "loser" in such a confrontation in the late 90s. When on a chat room, he took a challenge that one could take two "bad" ideas and make them into a compelling story. The challenger gave him ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' and LostRomanLegion. After some research and playing with the concepts, he had a good basis for a story and was unsure how posting the idea to the internet in those days would affect his publishing rights and ownership of the idea. So, he explained this to the other guy, who believed he was right because Jim had nothing. Jim decided to let the matter drop. That man won the argument and Jim got a six-book deal out of it.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Quite fond of these. Consider that his two main book series are about, respectively, a vampire-hunting wizard FilmNoir OccultDetective and prehistoric monster-riding Roman Legionaries who can control the elements.

*** Bridget worked for most of her life moving heavy slabs of meat in her family's vattery. She's adept at close combat.
* AuthorAppeal: The name "Margaret". The Dresden Files has three Margarets, The Cinder Spires has one (Gwen's second name is Margaret).

* CatchPhrase: "I'm not gonna tell you." His answer to questions he doesn't want to answer. It has started getting applause at his Q&A Sessions.

* DeadpanSnarker: The defining trademark that each of his main characters posses.

*** Bridget worked for most of her life moving heavy slabs of meat in her family's vattery. She is adapt at close combat.

Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is a fantasy author, best known for writing ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera''. His books are notable for their high levels of [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], {{Crazy Awesome}}ness, and {{shout out}}s, as well as the frequency of Crowning Moments of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Awesome]], [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Funny]], and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming]]. He attended a writing course taught by Creator/DeborahChester, and, in the attempt to prove her wrong, followed her instructions to the letter, which resulted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

* OneOfUs:
** As said above, he wrote Spider-Man because he really wanted to.
** He also enjoys WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic and requested that he review the [[Series/TheDresdenFiles TV version]] of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. [[http://channelawesome.com/the-dresden-files-here-there-be-dragons/ He got his wish.]]
** It shouldn't be surprising, but not only was he directly inspired by Star Wars novels as a kid to become a writer, he's also an avid gamer.
** He plays League of Legends most nights and his summoner name for playing with fans is jimbutcherauthor. Feel free to add him.
** He also has a Wiki/TVTropes account. Yes, he is a troper.

* RuleOfCool: Runs ''heavily'' on this.

* DeadpanSnarker: The defining trademark that each of his main characters posses.
** The man himself is no slouch either.

Jim Butcher is a fantasy author, best known for writing ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera''. His books are notable for their high levels of [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], {{Crazy Awesome}}ness, and {{shout out}}s, as well as the frequency of Crowning Moments of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Awesome]], [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Funny]], and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming]]. He attended a writing course taught by Creator/DeborahChester, and, in the attempt to prove her wrong, followed her instructions to the letter, which resulted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

* ActionGirl: Extremely prevalent throughout his work, it'd probably be easier to list the ''non''-action girls. Fine examples include:

** Kitai from ''Codex Alera''.
** ''The Cinder Spires'' gives us Gwendolyn Lancaster and Bridget Tagwynn.

** ''The Dresden Files'' has the fairy Queens, one of whom saved Harry's life.

* {{Badass}}: Pick a character. ''Any'' character. If they don't seem like a badass, it's only because they haven't had a chance to show-off yet.

** From ''Codex Alera'' there are the Aquitaines, as well as First Lord Gaius Sextus, his son Gaius Septimus and [[spoiler: his son, Gaius Octavian AKA Tavi.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: The defining trademark that each of his main characters posses.

** Spirearch Addison Albion of ''The Cinder Spires'' puts on a front of absent-mindedness, but the events of the first novel make it clear he still has a lot of pull.

** Spirearch Addison Albion of ''The Cinder Spires'' puts on a front of absent-mindedness, but the events of the first novel make it clear he still has a lot of pull.