What is it with new writers and fantasy?

Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by EdFromNY, Jun 25, 2013.

  1. Hwaigon

    Hwaigon Senior Member

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    Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't think it's both sustainable and necessary to base a fantasy world and peoples on a conlang. It can be done, sure, in varying degrees of quality, but unless you delve into some serious linguistics-philosophy-Eco-style mindblast (and that's super difficult to pull-off)...it doesn't deliver. At least for me. Which is the reason why I tend to read scholars dabling in Fantasy. Their work comes across as more...believable.
     
  2. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    Especially once you realize that most people who prey on children are their relatives.
     
  3. Mr. Raleigh D

    Mr. Raleigh D Member

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    Hey don't insult flying shit! They are hard working citizens of the human body! Now our current president? Yuck, just flush that down the ol' mighty bowl. lol
     
  4. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    I didn't base it off my conlangs, the conlangs just provided a reason to do it.
     
  5. NiallRoach

    NiallRoach Contributor Contributor

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    God bless you for continuing the actual topic
     
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  6. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Don't even go there :superfrown:
     
  7. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Thanks, but I think I'm kinda done with this thread.
     
  8. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Not that there's anything wrong with it, it just makes me feel depressed
     
  9. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I've been reading through the last half of this thread (I participated in it when it got started, then kinda dropped off.) I've been thinking about fantasy. How I was raised on a lot of it and loved it. What are 'fairy tales' if not fantasy? What are stories like Peter Pan, The Borrowers, etc, if not fantasy? I read these kinds of stories voraciously, and some of them many times over. I used to make up fantasy stories to verbally tell my sister, and it was one of the things we did together that gave us both a lot of fun. She would come and wake me up in the middle of the night to demand the next installment of 'the princess story,' or 'the bear story,' or the 'tree house story,' or whatever one was on the go at the time. My stories didn't contain a lot of magic, but they were set in strange places and the characters were whoever I wanted them to be. (Including bears.)

    So why, with very few exceptions, do I nearly always cringe at the thought of reading 'fantasy' today? I'm not sure. Am I getting too old for it? Or has something changed? I loved LOTR when I read it for the first time, back in the mid-60s—and have read it many times since. I thought Ghormenghast was an amazing bit of writing, but I can't say I have ever been inclined to re-read it. I loved His Dark Materials. I read a couple of Harry Potter books, and thought they were fine, but not really my thing. I read the first four books of Song of Ice and Fire, and got fed up with the neverending nature of the thing. I LOVED Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy (and just about all of this other books as well.) I read Books one and two of the Kingkiller Chronicles (upon the recommendation of a friend) and got fed up with them. I loved Mary Stewart's trilogy about Merlin, and everything Kage Baker ever wrote.

    These later fantasies—the ones I loved—all struck me with delight. Some of them drew upon already existing legends, while others started from scratch and created their own worlds without reference to ours. Some referenced real places and people. Others were completely original and bore no resemblance to the real world. But they all contained a spark that's difficult for me to define. I felt the same kind of delight reading them as I did when I read fairy tales and childhood fantasies when I was young.

    It's just that I so seldom encounter fantasy these days that strikes me that way.

    I am one of those people who really wants to love every book I read. But maybe I'm getting too old for fantasy?
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2017
  10. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    I've also been a little lost as of late with fantasy books. I've read bits and pieces from this and that book, but nothing has really stuck. I just downloaded an audio version of Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind upon a friend's recommendation and I have high hopes for that one. I was surprised I didn't like the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks' The Night Angel trilogy, both of which should've been right up my alley. Perhaps you could give them a gander? They're somewhat similar to Abercrombie and Martin, I think.
     
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  11. 123456789

    123456789 Contributor Contributor

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    I say, let's sticky this post and watch the fantasy writers burn ',..,'
     
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  12. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Thanks ...but I'm not sure I want to read books you already didn't like much! :)

    I'll be interested to hear what you think of the Rothfuss book. It started well, but by the end I was getting VERY irritated with the main character. And it really went off the deep end in the second book, in my opinion.
     
  13. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Honestly, I can't quite pinpoint why I didn't like them. Both are written in the kind of style I enjoy, and had characters I usually like, and especially Mistborn had a really interesting magic system. Maybe the time just wasn't right, and when I return to them, I'll actually get hooked. :)

    Have you read Witcher books? They're wry, humorous, and draw from Slavic fairytales, so it's kind of hard not to enjoy them. :D I also began reading Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, which so far seems like a fairly traditional fantasy offering, but it's pretty gripping! And I loved Mercedes Lackey's Magic's Pawn series, and the Chronicles of Prydain, of course, a classic.

    I'm glad writers still keep returning to these "medieval hack'n slash' roots, to be honest. It's a world so many readers love. While I welcome other fantastical stories and settings, what LOTR kindled is hard to extinguish. I return to those worlds even in video games, hence my undying love for the Dark Souls games... :p
     
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  14. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I feel like my taste in fantasy may be lined up pretty well with yours, @KaTrian and @jannert...

    Have you guys read the Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan? I really enjoyed it, and I didn't see it mentioned on either of your lists...
     
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  15. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    I've just bought the first in that series and read twith chapters...really interesting, and looking forward to see where it's going.

    Found I love black powder fantasy ^^
     
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  16. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    It was recommended to me a while back so it's on my TBR, but I had actually forgotten about it. The trilogy is about 20 bucks on Amazon (Kindle edition), so I think I'll grab it now!
     
  17. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I think I read a Witcher book once ...he's the guy with the white hair? I can't remember if I liked it or not. :eek:

    There are a couple of beta-reads I still need to do, but afterwards, I might dive into an old-fashioned fantasy. I'll check out Blood Song for starters. Thanks for the recommendations!
    I'll check it out.
     
  18. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    The only book I truly enjoyed that was by Sanderson was Elantris, his debut. None of the other books I've read that's by him have come close to that one :( His writing is highly formulaic I feel - he keeps all descriptions and emotions to the bare minimum in order to get on with the action, which keeps the story's depth pretty superficial most of the time. He's quite firmly a YA writer, I think - not the sort of YA that surpasses age brackets like Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but truly, YA like the sort you'd find in a school library but not many other places. I realise he's successful and I can see whatever he's doing clearly works, but his works have usually disappointed me. I'm left wishing there was more - not because what I've read was brilliant and so I want more, but rather because what I read was insufficient. His premises and magical systems are usually pretty original though, and he has a knack for explaining the systems without being boring and also being very clear.

    I just find his works lack a certain sense of wonder... Mistborn with all its metals sound more like a scientific experiment than magic.

    The magic in Rithmatist was pretty cool though - but the twist was just... flat. I didn't buy it. I wasn't convinced.

    It's really weird because I so badly wish I liked his stuff more... His ideas are pretty cool.
     
  19. Stormburn

    Stormburn Contributor Contributor

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    I read Elantris and came away with the same impression. On the other side, I've just finished Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter and loved it.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2017
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  20. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Okay, I just bought the audio version of Elantris. I wasn't crazy about Mistborn, so I'm putting a lot of faith in you guys.... (no pressure...)
     
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  21. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Really? I just downloaded that book about a week ago, and I've pecked at it off and on since then, but it failed to grip me. I'm curious what exactly you liked so much about it.
     
  22. Micheal

    Micheal New Member

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    The hunger games, Twilight saga, Harry Potter, The host, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The time Travellers wife, Jurassic park, Divergent, Enders game, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Time Machine, I am legend, The war of the Worlds, Percy Jackson Series, Alice in Wonderland, Gulivers Travel, The running man,The Mortal instruments : city of bones, The Maze Runner.
    You look at that list, what is it a list of ... some will see a list of fantasy novels, some will say a list of fantasy films... you will all be right..

    Its the Same for TV, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Haven, The 100, Sleepy Hollow, Under the Dome, the list can go on..

    I think this is why, more people, are turning to fantasy, okay general literature .. is popular with Hollywood, and tv networks, as well..

    But its a way of expressing ones mind, escapism, with younger writers they see the world differently from older generation..its a way they get there ideas across. in writing..
    With falling standards in places in schools.. its good to see new young writers coming through, they need to be encouraged. and i think the we have a real incentive.. now for more people to turn to writing.

    If you can get your work published, that is great, once your work is out there on the book shelf, its an achievement in it own.. some thing to be proud off.
    If your lucky, the book is picked up by a production company, or Film Studio.. Film rights.. etc.. even better....which i think is why more writers are turning to Fantasy..
    Its the genre that is most popular, in the hollywood system.. at this moment ... and in this world today.. more people want an escapism...

    But it should not the be main reason to write, do it for your own enjoyment, and your own creativity.
    Fantasy, like sci fi, can be harder to write, for you need to create the setting, the world around you. its virtually starting from scratch...

    Good Literature takes time to write and take commitment....





     
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  23. 123456789

    123456789 Contributor Contributor

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    Only if you're a scientist/engineer making an actual new world. Most fantasy worlds are simply reduced versions of our own.
     
  24. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Too many chain mail bikinis and rape plots?
     
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  25. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    Could also be a factor.
     

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