Line #18 Creator/TerryPratchett


1	[[quoteright:360:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/terry-pratchett.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:360: ''[[Literature/GoingPostal A man's not dead while his name is still spoken.]]'']]
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4	->''"If it wasn't for the fun and money, I really don't know why I'd bother."''
5	-->-- '''Terry Pratchett''', [[UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}} alt.fan.pratchett]]
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7	Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 -- 12 March 2015) was a British {{fantasy}} author and [[{{Troperiffic}} Archmage of Tropeomancy]].[[superscript:1]] A [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Knight Bachelor]] (i.e. Sir Terry Pratchett OBE), he was described as the most shoplifted author in Britain, and is likely best known for his ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series.
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9	Pratchett's trademark was his sense of humour -- relying on wordplay, spoofing mythology and popular culture (though he usually didn't include current events in his work lest the books become dated), and publishing in genres ranging from fantasy to detective fiction to political thriller (often combining ''all three''), rarely has there been found a phrase that he could not turn, and there are few subjects that Pterry (as his fans have [[FanNickname affectionately dubbed him]]) wouldn't make at least a ''passing'' attempt to skewer on the end of a sharp metaphor.
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11	Outside of fiction, Pratchett was well-known for his sharp wit and keen awareness of human nature (and the innumerable failings thereof); one of his more popular quotes claims that the fundamental problem of the human race is that we're trying to achieve world peace and understand the very structure of the universe "using a language which was designed to tell one another where the best fruit was."
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13	Pratchett was also known to have been JustForFun/OneOfUs. [[Literature/{{Discworld}} The Luggage]], for example, was originally created for a game of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' he played; he further enjoyed a few computer games like ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and fan missions of ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}''. His daughter Creator/{{Rhianna\|Pratchett}} is a writer for video games, notably the ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' series, ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', ''VideoGame/HeavenlySword'' and the reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Tomb Raider\|2013}}''. He has stated that he is happy for her to take over running ''Discworld'', although she won't be writing new books. She once stated, "They’re sacred, they’re Dad’s legacy and I’m the protector of Discworld and that means protecting it from myself as well."
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15	Pratchett once said that the ''Discworld'' series would probably never end; what ''will'' end ''Discworld'', he said, is sheer overcrowding -- the City Watch books were already problematic in that regard, as it's hard to write a story set in Ankh-Morpork that doesn't somehow involve the Watch (at which point it ''becomes'' a Watch book, [[SpotlightStealingSquad regardless of his original plot outline]]), which presumably explains the creation of protagonist Moist Von Lipwig, who by virtue of his past profession was able to become a powerful and influential city figure while wishing to have nothing to do with the Watch.
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17	He was also a trustee of the [[http://www.orangutan.org.uk Orangutan Foundation]], by virtue of a liking for the animal and featuring it in the ''Discworld'' series as the Librarian.
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19	In 2007, Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, which he typically referred to as an "embuggerance". He didn't let it get him down, though his condition advanced to the point where he couldn't write or type. [[{{Determinator}} (Not that that stopped him releasing a book or two a year through dictation.)]] Also in typical fashion, he said that while he appreciated the sentiment, he asked that only those fans of his with a background in the study of brain chemistry ask him questions like, "Is there anything I can do?"
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21	After being included in the 2008 Christmas Honours list, Pratchett became Sir Terry, and was reportedly "flabbergasted". In celebration, he [[http://www.news.com.au/technology/terry-pratchett-creates-a-sword-with-meteorites/story-e6frfro0-1225926584339 had a sword forged]] from ThunderboltIron. In 2010, he received his [[http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news-grants/newsletter/item/27-september-2010 coat of arms]]. That same year, he became [[http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/pressreleases/pressRelease.php?headerID=1604&pressReleaseArchive=2011 Professor at Trinity College, Dublin]]. In 2012, he ran Narrativia Productions, which is in charge of all future adaptations of his work, including [[Series/GoodOmens2019 the]] ''[[Series/GoodOmens2019 Good Omens]]'' [[Series/GoodOmens2019 TV series]] and ''Terry Pratchett's The Watch''. (Narrativia is the Goddess of Narrative, who manifests whenever aspects of a story neatly fit together in a way the writer hadn't expected.)
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23	The events leading up to Pratchett's passing would honestly not look out of place in one of his own books. At a con in 2009, he announced, "I will not die of Alzheimer's. I shall make other arrangements; [[GallowsHumor I'm going]] [[TakingYouWithMe to take the disease with me.]]" Sure enough, in 2011, he began the process that would lead to his eventual assisted [[InsistentTerminology death]].
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25	In 2010, Pratchett became the first-ever novelist (with the assistance of his good friend Creator/TonyRobinson) to give a Richard Dimbleby Lecture on this subject titled ''Shaking Hands With Death''. It can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90b1MBwnEHM here]]. In 2014, he withdrew from public appearances due to the development of his Alzheimer's, and ultimately succumbed to the disease on March 12, 2015. Though he had made all preparations for his death and had full intentions of carrying through with his earlier promise, Pratchett ultimately died of natural causes, passing away peacefully in his sleep while surrounded by his family and cat.
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27	Shortly afterwards, Pratchett's assistant Rob Wilkins posted [[https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/mcs/media/images/81606000/png/_81606842_tpall.png a series]] of [[Website/{{Twitter}} tweets]] that went on to become one of the most remembered (and [[TearJerker tear-jerking]]) aspects of the mass grieving that followed the news.
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29	The BBC broadcast a docudrama about his life, ''Back in Black'', in 2017. Also in that year, his computer hard drive with all his unfinished work was destroyed by a steamroller per his request.
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31
32	!! Terry Pratchett's body of work includes:
33	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', his most iconic work, a satiric fantasy/comedy LongRunner offering biting between-the-lines commentary on contemporary social amd political issues.
34	* ''Literature/TheCarpetPeople'' (his first novel) and the ''Literature/NomesTrilogy'' (aka ''The Bromeliad''), three further books on a similar theme, aimed at children.
35	* ''Literature/TheDarkSideOfTheSun'' and ''Literature/{{Strata}}'', his first two adult novels.
36	* The ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'' for children. ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' has been adapted for radio, the other two for TV.
37	* ''Literature/GoodOmens'', a collaboration with Creator/NeilGaiman. A mini-series was released on May 31, 2019.
38	* ''Literature/{{Nation}}'' - a non-''Discworld'' fantasy children's novel, released 11 September 2008.
39	* ''Literature/TheLongEarth'' - A science fiction series co-written with Creator/StephenBaxter. The first book was released 19 June 2012.
40	* ''Literature/{{Dodger}}'', a Dickensian story featuring Creator/CharlesDickens himself, released 13 September 2012.
41	* ''Literature/TheUnadulteratedCat'': An allegedly nonfiction book about the wonders of Real Cats (1989)
42	* ''A Stroke Of The Pen:'' A collection of Sir Terry's short stories published under pseudonyms from the 1970s and 1980s, re-discovered and collected by several fans and the Pratchett estate after his death, published 5 October 2023.
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44
45	!! Tropes associated with Pratchett's work include:
46	* ContestWinnerCameo: Pratchett sometimes auctioned off naming rights to minor characters for charity.
47	* CreatorCameo:
48	** Has a cameo in each of the Discworld TV movies, and played a cop in one scene of the ''Literature/GoodOmens'' radio show.
49	** Since Pratchett's death, Paul Kaye who portrayed him in ''Back in Black'' also does his cameos: Kaye is the nuclear power plant PR man in ''Series/GoodOmens2019''.
50	** Also in ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', Pratchett's iconic hat and scarf can be seen hanging on a hat rack in Aziraphale's bookshop.
51	* DeconstructiveParody: His trademark was his sense of humor and for playing with various narrative and genre conventions. His stories were often mixed with other genres and commentary.
52	* DiedDuringProduction: Pratchett passed away on March 12, 2015. The last book he wrote (''The Shepherd's Crown'', the fifth Tiffany Aching book in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series) was published posthumously, and since his daughter Rhianna has stated that she will be the "caretaker" of ''Discworld'' but not write any books for it herself, this book marks the end of the series. Per his wishes, his in-progress works were all destroyed. [[RuleOfCool With a steamroller.]]
53	* FaceDeathWithDignity: After his Alzheimer's diagnosis, he continued writing and appearing at conventions through the last few years of his life and became an outspoken advocate of "Death With Dignity," hosting the controversial documentary "Choosing to Die." (He had made plans to end his own life this way, but died of natural causes before this could take place.)
54	* FourthWallShutInStory: The short story "Final Reward" has a BarbarianHero, following his death, [[RefugeeFromTVLand arriving in the hall of his "creator"]]; that is, the fantasy writer who invented him. The writer has increasing trouble dealing with his houseguest, especially when the barbarian quickly adjusts to the real world, and is soon more successful and popular than the writer. At the end of the story, the writer escapes by creating a new series set on the same world and writing himself in as the central character. The barbarian discovers the author gone, and on finding the unfinished manuscript realises what has happened. He decides to continue the series and write a good life for his creator.
55	* HeAlsoDid: He helped write dialogue for a ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' [[https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/28977 mod]].
56	* HistoricalReCreation: In "And Mind The Monoliths", the HTV network has a {{show\|WithinAShow}} called ''Paleolithic Village'' in which folks try to recreate how people lived during the Bronze Age. The LemonyNarrator mocks the misguided contestants trying to reconstruct Stonehenge.
57	-->"You can't miss us, down here at the HTV Paleolithic Village. Well, you can, if you're not careful. What you do is, you come up past the Yorkshire Television hill fort, turn left at the LWT Bronze Age encampment, go straight on past Southern TV's Beaker Folk village, and we're next door to the field where some poor bleeders are trying to reconstruct Stonehenge."
58	* IronicallyDisabledArtist: Cruelly, the form of Alzheimer's that Pratchett suffered attacked his mental ability to process written and typed words. He still managed to complete seven entire books via dictation.
59	* LineToGod: He was active on the UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}} group alt.fan.pratchett for a while in TheNineties.
60	* NiceGuy: Pratchett was known as an incredibly nice man who was very generous to others, especially his friends and the fans he met at conventions.
61	* RapidFireComedy: It's hard to find a page in one of his novels that ''doesn't'' have a funny joke written on it.
62	* RefugeeFromTVLand: The short story "Final Reward" has a BarbarianHero, following his death, arriving in the hall of his "creator"; that is, the fantasy writer who invented him.
63	* RousseauWasRight: Where his books lie.
64	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: In his books, this trope was often played with but the overall outlook actually leaned pretty strongly on the optimistic side. Terry was quite in awe of the universe we live in and the general experience of life and his books reflect that. The ''Discworld'' series reflected peoples cynicism for everyday life even though they did live in a world that reflected his optimism.
65	** What makes it particularly intriguing is that in Pratchett's books there will often be a cynic and an idealist paired together. Who is actually right about the situation also varies: in the first two books, cynic Rincewind is almost always right and idealist Twoflower is almost always wrong. In the City Watch books, Carrot is an idealist while Vimes is a cynic, but Carrot tends to make the world around him (a deeply cynical one) essentially become more idealistic, because people don't want to disappoint him. It also bears noting that Carrot has been getting considerably less idealistic while still not being cynical, whereas Vimes has been growing slightly more hopeful in human nature (although he still thinks everyone's a selfish greedy bastard). In both books he's featured in, Moist von Lipwig is a cynic who is amazed and disturbed at how idealistic those around him can get. Death and Vetinari are both functionally cynics (they do what they do because they have to do it) with highly idealistic beliefs about human nature. In general, the Discworld appears to be an idealistic world populated by cynics.
66	* {{Tuckerization}}: Some characters (particularly Hodgesaargh, the falconer of Lancre) are based on particularly memorable fans.
67	* UnnecessaryTimePrecision:
68	** ''Literature/InterestingTimes'': Rincewind asks Cohen the Barbarian how old he is. What century is it? Ninety to 95 years.
69	** ''Literature/{{Night Watch\|Discworld}}'': Vimes asks when Dibbler Enterprises, Est. was established. What year is it? Tuesday.
70	** ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'': While Rincewind is an IneptMage, he's had his fair share of adventures. When he meets Nijel, a rather unimpressive BarbarianHero, he thinks he's found kinship with him. Spending too long away from civilization is bad for one's notion of time, after all. Nijel has only been three days on the road, making his earlier question of what year it is unneeded.
71	--->'''Rincewind:''' Exactly how long have you been a barbarian hero?\
72	'''Nijel the Destroyer:''' Er. What year is this?\
73	'''Rincewind:''' Out on the road, then? Lost track of time? I know how it is. This is the year of the Hyena.\
74	'''Nijel:''' Oh, in that case about... about three days.
75	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
76	** [[http://www.bsfa.co.uk/www.vectormagazine.co.uk/article.asp%3FarticleID=42.html We almost had]] a ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' novel written by him.
77	** After his death, it was revealed that he had ten books that were left unfinished. Instead of [[PosthumousCollaboration being finished by others]] (his daughter ruled herself out of continuing his ''Discworld'' series), [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-41093066 the hard drive containing said works was crushed by a steamroller in August 2017 as according to his will, he didn't want anyone to either finish or publish them]].
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81	->''[[AC:At last, Sir Terry, we must walk together.]]''\
82	''Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.''\
83	''The End.'' - [[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036599047258112 three of]] [[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036726046646272 the last Twitter messages]] [[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036888190038016 on Pratchett's account.]]
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85	[-1. and [[FootnoteFever footnotes]]-]\
86	\
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Context Creator / TerryPratchett