I never write fantasy because I don't like it. I love sci-fi but I'm not clever enough to write it. Historical fiction, that's my genre.
With regards to the three ideas in the OP, well, Sturgeon's Law is a thing. It states that ninety percent of everything is crap. I've seen similarly cliche/bad ideas in many other genres.
I don't generally write Fantasy. My field is horror. But, I have read fantasy, however. I liked The Game of Thrones series when it started, but it's length and increasing complication put me off. I think I got to the third book. After that I lost interest. I like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but what bores me to death are the countless Tolkein clones who saturate the genre. I abhore the way some fantasy writes are lazy and use Orcs and Goblins and whatnot and unusual names and throw them in some quest adventure like they're playing a game of D&D and call it fiction. Fantasy can be so much more than that. But that kind of Fantasy doesn't sell. Give me a Clive Barker or a Robert E. Howard anyday. Why does nobody emulate them? Sorry... that rant got away from.
I am not writing fantasy . I am working On a novel about a slave girl in a third world country . I believe it is called literary fiction
I have no interest in fantasy (or western fantasy to be precise). I am working on a science fiction story however. It doesn't involve superheros or genetically engineered werewolves though. That's junk sci-fi.
I am honestly not sure if what I am writing right now is fantasy, magic realism, or just general fiction with some magical elements. I probably would not call it fantasy. I did not start with the goal of writing a fantasy novel. I started with the goal of implementing an abstract, overarching plot idea I had in mind, and then I used some magical elements to make it happen and I invented a setting for it.
I typically stick with general fiction, though my last project and my current project are more along the lines of speculative fiction. I have entertained the possibility of a fantasy-esque novel or series, though I don't know how seriously. It's on the backburner with a lot of other stuff. But in answer to the thread, I'd say no, I'm not writing fantasy.
Wow - that is quite the accident. The most I manage is stepping in a puddle, or very occasionally put too much milk in my tea. What can I say... sometimes you get a standing wave inside the milk carton and it chugs out more than you're expecting. A sort of dairy tsunami. Those overviews don't mean very much on their own I guess. Suppose it depends what the writer does with them that counts. I like Hunter S. Thompson. He'll write about something like gambling, which is a subject as boring as can be to me, yet he'll manage to make it compelling.
The first draft of my novel is complete and its such a great feeling. Now I am going to start the editing
Yes I am writing A fantasy, but I am also writing a lterary novel and a different kind of mystery to the norm. My fantasy does not have magic, elves, dwarves, etc and I call it 'realistic'. My setting is in what some may call 'medieval' although I didn't choose that setting because it was 'easier' or because I lacked the imagination to come up with something different. I did it because I think war was a very different thing before you could pull a trigger and kill someone without really having to see his face up close. I want to explore that. I have one new race of people I invented, with a culture and history as logically worked out as I'm capable of. They are not like anything I have read, although I havn't read everything out there. There are plenty of rubbish cliche=filled books in every genre. If you read a brief plot summation of many books they sound pretty boring, it is how they are written that matters. Most of us are guilty of [some] awefulness when we first started writing, whether we were writing a fantasy or any other genre. [Or is it just me?]
I mostly write fantasy-light. Like, sure it has fantastical elements, but I focus much more on the characters and their environments rather than plan epic wars, have a dozen or so conflicting races, and fireball throwing wizards. So, I don't like saying I write fantasy (Because it's not the right image that summoned to peoples heads) but I don't have a better term for it. Literary fantasy? lol
I'm writing a novel (maybe a series) called The Trouble With Tony. There's nothing fantasy about it except that the main character (Tony) has an imaginary friend named Sofia who he insists exists and Sofia is actually the one telling the story.
I don't think it's fantasy as a whole. I think it's just people using a narrow tunnel of ideas, which are already part of fantasy, but stem off their experiences from reading/watching movies. You can have this idea for any genre, it's why I can't stand watching cinematic horror anymore, since the same techniques for building tension and creating a monster etc are overused and you just see it coming a mile away. (I'll admit I haven't READ much horror, but you see what I mean when it comes to horror movies right?) I think if someone was to come up with a completely original and fresh idea for fantasy and manage to write a novel on it (without too many mistakes) it could succeed.
Perhaps nowadays, someone writing fantasy would need to blend it with elements of another or several other genres for it to become a little more unique.
Dude I lol'd so hard at this post that coffee went up my nose. Yes I see it's an old thread before anyone points that out.
Fantasy is just a coat of paint. I love works on criminals and their activity, but I don't have first-hand experience to make them believable.
Research, my friend! Elmore Leonard made a career of it. You should read up on how JJ Connolly went about learning the criminal world while he was writing Layer Cake. <there'snoraisedbeermugemojisoImdoingthisinstead> EDIT--plus most of the western writers never even sat on a horse. I think it's a mistake to follow too closely that 'write what you know' thing. Just my two cents.
I wonder if it's a generational thing, such as younger readers/writers prefer fantasy over traditional genres such as crime, thriller, detective stories, espionage novels. It *seems* this way to me, that younger people are more 'down' with fantasy now. (after the vampire trend finally faded. wait, did it fade yet?) I also wonder if Harry Potter had anything to do with an increase in the appeal of fantasy for this generation. And of course video games. If you think about it people who grew up in the late 90s till now were exposed to a lot more video game stuff, where alternate realities were a huge part of the market. But then I immediately contradict myself when I think of the great scifi of the 60s & 70s ( alien, philip k dick, star trek / star wars, '2000' etc) Oh well so much for my theories lol I just like crime, thriller, espionage. That's my ticket I believe.
A rubbish book is still garbage regardless of it's genre. So why waste the time fantasy-bashing? Ya don't like it, don't read it folks. Yes, it seems that fantasy is the favorite realm of the young. What's wrong with that? The possibilties are broader, the 'rules' seem less scary. They practice their craft, and when they get good, [or at least better!], they may go onto more real-world story building, [once they have the confidence and skill]. All of us start off writing badly. Lets not bash the young who are bold enough to show their stuff before they should. And let's not let our own heads get too big, it won't improve our craft, and it does our calling no credit for us to laugh at some because we can. Would our earliest ideas stand up to adult scrutiny? Come on guys. Skill at story-telling, and skill at sentence-by-sentence word craft are very different things, and when we find them combined we rejoice, but all of us have been disapointed with published books that span all the genres. We all hope to improve our craft, and help each other improve. Otherwise why are we on these sorts of forums? Respect for others and a healthy does of humility are as important to cultivate in ourselves as in our [heroic] characters. Ok, I'll shut up now.
Indeed. People use HP as a benchmark, but they forget HP started as a children's book. Not even YA, but children.
