History Creator / ChuckPalahniuk

* StraightGay: A few of his characters, as well as Palahniuk himself, qualify as this.

Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist of French and Ukrainian descent. He is known most for writing the novel ''Literature/FightClub'', which the movie was based on, and has since then garnered a respectable following.

* ContraceptionDeception / BabyTrap: In ''Diary'', Peter intentionally sabotages all of Misty's contraceptive efforts. Getting her pregnant so she'll marry him and go to Waytansea Island with him is part of the island-wide plan to fulfill the legend of the artist who will save their way of life.

* StrawNihilist: Many themes of his work has drawn criticism for being overly nihilistic and cynical. Like Nietzsche, while his dark prose does come across as such, he really isn't (or so he claims). See the main entry above.

* ''Literature/{{Survivor}}''

** Palahniuk's own interpretation of ''Survivor'''s ending is fairly positive: [[spoiler: The end of Survivor isn't nearly so complicated. It's noted on page 7(8?) that a pile of valuable offerings has been left in the front of the passenger cabin. This pile includes a cassette recorder. Even before our hero starts to dictate his story -- during the few minutes he's supposed to be taking a piss -- he's actually in the bathroom dictating the last chapter into the cassette recorder. It's just ranting, nothing important plot-wise, and it can be interrupted at any point by the destruction of the plane. The minute the fourth engine flames out, he starts the cassette talking, then bails out, into Fertility's waiting arms (she's omniscient, you know). The rest of the book is just one machine whining and bitching to another machine. The crash will destroy the smaller recorder, but the surviving black box will make it appear that Tender is dead.]]

** Same collection also contains an angry "Intercourse a pony!" directed to [[ImmodestOrgasm noisy neighbors]].

Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist. He is known most for writing the novel ''Literature/FightClub'', which the movie was based on, and has since then garnered a respectable following.

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Chuck Palahniuk is an American author born on February 21, 1962. He is known most for writing the novel ''Literature/FightClub'', which the movie was based on, and has since then garnered a respectable following.

Chuck Palahniuk is an American author born on February 21, 1962. He is known most for writing the novel ''Literature/FightClub'', which the movie was based on, and has since then garnered a respectable following. He has a minimalist writing style that utilizes a limited vocabulary, short sentences, and is meant to mimic the way an average person would talk when relaying a story to someone else. His stories typically start [[HowWeGotHere close to the end, with the protagonist recounting how he got there]], the events of which might also be told [[AnachronicOrder out of chronological order]] as well.

His earlier works fall under the label [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgressive_fiction Transgressive Fiction]], while his later works contain more horror elements. Many people feel that his works are overly nihilistic and [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]], and have labeled him a shock writer. Palahniuk does not believe that his work is in any way cynical or nihilistic, and has gone on record referring to himself as a Romantic—presumably the old ChivalricRomance.

* StrictlyFormula: To some, Palahniuk constantly writing snarky protagonists can get fairly grating. Case in point, ''Haunted'', in which every character has the same tone of voice.

* RunningGag: Makes a number of cracks about ''Fight Club'''s AdaptionDisplacement, ranging from his afterward in later editions, ''Fight Club 2'' and even other works like ''Adjustment Day'' featuring a character (or Chuck himself) mentioning ''Fight Club'' was a book before it was a movie, to the confusion of anyone overhearing him.

[[index]]

** The Invention of Sound (2020)

* ''Literature/{{Haunted}}''

* AuthorFilibuster

* BlackHumor

* {{Antihero}}: Practically all of the protagonists.

* StraightGay: A few of his characters as well as Palahniuk himself qualify as this.

* StrictlyFormula: To some, Palahniuk constantly writing snarky protagonists can get fairly grating, case in point Haunted, in which every character has the same tone of voice.

** '"Adjustment Day'' (2018)

His earlier works fall under the label Transgressive Fiction[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgressive_fiction]], while his later works contain more horror elements. Many people feel that his works are overly nihilistic and [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]], and have labeled him a shock writer. Palahniuk does not believe that his work is in any way cynical or nihilistic, and has gone on record referring to himself as a Romantic—presumably the old ChivalricRomance.

!!Tropes found in Creator/ChuckPalahniuk's work include:

* AnachronicOrder: Common in many of his novels, but probably most prominent in ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters''.

* BittersweetEnding: ''Literature/{{Choke}}'' and ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters''.
** Really, ''Snuff'' might count too. It just might.

* BodyHorror: "One stupid mistake, and now he'll never be a lawyer."
** The main character in ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters'''s jaw injury.
* BrownNote: He ''wrote a real one'' (''Guts''). See the BrownNote page.

* CatchPhrase: Frequent. Often overlaps with VerbalTic and ArcWords, and key examples include:
** "I am Jack's X" from ''Literature/FightClub''
** "X isn't the right word, but it's the first that comes to mind" and "What would Jesus NOT do?" from ''Literature/{{Choke}}''
** Several from ''Literature/{{Haunted}}'' (due to multiple narrators), such as "Don't laugh, but..." occurring frequently in Mother Nature's story.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Occasional, though the most prevalent example is undoubtedly the first two rules of fight club.
-->''God asks me, "Why?"\\
Why did I cause so much pain?\\
Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness?''
* DownerEnding: Virtually any book that doesn't have a bittersweet end. ''Literature/{{Haunted}}'' is probably the most triumphant example.

* FightClubbing: He wrote the book on it.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Every Palahniuk narrator is this.
** Especially Victor Mancini in ''Literature/{{Choke}}''.
** But not ''{{Literature/Pygmy}}''.
* HowWeGotHere: In ''Literature/FightClub'', ''Survivor'', ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters'' and ''Literature/{{Lullaby}}''. In an InMediasRes form, where the protagonist starts the narrative at the books climax, and recounts how they got there, and follows up with the resolution.

* MoneyDearBoy: Palahniuk's explanation for the execrable ''Literature/FightClub'' video game. To quote: "They can do whatever they want with my book as long as the fucking check clears."
* NightmareFace: The protagonist of ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters''. One look at this [[http://chuckpalahniuk.net/files/images/news/invisible-monsters-xander-lg.jpg fan-made image]] (NSFW and very disturbing) should tell you why people are so damn afraid of her.
* NoNameGiven: The narrator of ''Literature/FightClub''.
** Many of his protagonists go unnamed until later in the book, often with a last named being dropped sometime before the full name.
*** The protagonist of ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters'' is unnamed until the very end of the book. The protagonaist from ''Lullaby'' is named about two-thirds the way through the book. The three protagnoists in ''Snuff'' are named at different points theoughout the book, with one of them having been named as by his television persona before his real name is given.

* RealitySubtext: He wrote ''Literature/{{Lullaby}}'' to cope with his decision of whether his father's murderer should get the death sentence. ''Lullaby'''s probably one of his saddest works.
** His upcoming novel ''Damned'' was written to deal with his mother's death, too.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: He's quite fond of basing parts of his novels on anecdotes he's heard or read about. Even "Guts", probably his single most disturbing piece of writing, was based on three true stories.

* ShoutOut: A young repressed gay character named Trevor is killed by the titular Pygmy in Palahniuk's 2009 novel. This is a shout out to ''Survivor'', where a young gay character named Trevor kills himself after being encouraged to do so by Tender Branson.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Many of Tyler Durden's actions and lines of dialogue are based on things Palahniuk's friends have said and done. Similarly, Marla Singer is named after a girl who used to beat up his sister in school and Palahniuk decided it was the most hateful name he could think of.

* ''Literature/{{Choke}}''

'''His body of work includes:'''

** ''Literature/FightClub'' (1996)
** ''Literature/{{Survivor}}'' (1999)
** ''Literature/InvisibleMonsters'' (1999)
** ''Literature/{{Choke}}'' (2001)
** ''Literature/{{Lullaby}}'' (2002)
** ''Literature/{{Diary}}'' (2003)
** ''Literature/{{Haunted}}'' (a book of short stories, 2005)
** ''Literature/{{Rant}}'' (2007)
** ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' (2008)
** ''Literature/{{Pygmy}}'' (2009)
** ''[[Literature/{{TellAll}} Tell-All]]'' (2010)
** ''Literature/{{Damned}}'' (2011)
** ''Literature/{{Doomed}}'' (sequel to ''Damned'', 2013)
** ''Literature/BeautifulYou'' (2014)

** ''ComicBook/FightClub2'' (graphic novel sequel to ''Fight Club'', 2015)
** ''Literature/{{Bait}}'' (half short story collection, half coloring book, 2016)

** ''Literature/FightClub'' (1999)

His earlier works fall under the label Transgressional Fiction, while his later works contain more horror elements. Many people feel that his works are overly nihilistic and [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]], and have labeled him a shock writer. Palahniuk does not believe that his work is in any way cynical or nihilistic, and has gone on record referring to himself as a Romantic—presumably the old ChivalricRomance.