# Your Subgenre



## Zero Angel (Mar 25, 2013)

Hi guys,

Pretty much exactly as the title says. We all ostensibly write (or read) fantasy, and probably other genres within the speculative fiction verse (i.e. sci-fi, horror, etc), but what is your specific subgenre that calls to you before all other subgenres? What kind of fantasy do you identify with the most?

Note: there are so many different subgenres out there that it would be difficult to list them all, but chances are there's one (or a few) that fit your writing tastes more than any other.


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## Zero Angel (Mar 25, 2013)

I like everything, but I would say I am predominantly an epic, action-adventure, superhero fantasy writer. I write and read a lot of other stuff, but my stories are usually epic in scope with over-the-top action from superpowered characters (in one way or another).


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## Caged Maiden (Mar 25, 2013)

I love romantic fantasy.  It's what I write, first and foremost.  Now, that being said, some of the stories are full-blown love stories, some love triangles, another is an elaborate spy game and a few have love stories that never go beyond holding hands or sneaking a kiss.  

I love characters and I write troubled, flawed characters who above all else, are human and suffer and love as humans do.  I don't expect many typical romance readers will find much familiar with my novels, but then, I write for people like me, who like a little realism with their fiction.


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## Nihal (Mar 25, 2013)

I like journeys tales the most. I don't mean only traveling, but character development. You know, those stories where the MC work his/her weaknesses, overcome obstacles - often through cunning - and grow.

I also have a thing for anti-heroes and flawed characters. What can I say? Not everyone is a good person.


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## MadMadys (Mar 25, 2013)

Humor of any kind is hard to remove from anything I read or write myself.  Hard as I try to write seriously, it sneaks into everything one way or another.  Rather than run away from it I try and embrace it.  The kind of humor I'm talking about isn't the simple setup then punchline stuff but the crazy situations and how people try and deal with them.

There are more than enough serious, straight-laced stories out there that the other side of the spectrum deserves some love.


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## glutton (Mar 25, 2013)

'Beastly nonmagical (usually) warrior fiction.' There's magic in the worlds and the warriors might _cast spells,_ but even then they'll probably have mighty physical attributes that aren't magic-based.


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## PlotHolio (Mar 25, 2013)

Dark fantasy!

Where monsters roam the countryside and demons rule the night.
Where the optimistic characters are the first to die.
Where evil is met with evil and the good path leads to despair.
Where the world itself is falling apart and no one dares to save it.


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## Philip Overby (Mar 25, 2013)

I'm similar to MadMadys, I write stuff with a humorous slant usually.  Not parody so much really.  I also like a good quest story, monster hunters, sword and sorcery tales, and anything that's got people doing things.


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## Ophiucha (Mar 25, 2013)

Hmm, I think a lot of my stuff has *punk elements. Not usually steampunk or cyberpunk, oddly, but the aesthetic and themes of those genres always seems to appear. The work I'm on right now is kind of high fantasy/atompunk. And in terms of the story, doomed romances are in nearly everything I write, and revolutions are in like 65% of the things I write. The ones that aren't revolutions are still usually about some sort of personal vendetta against an authority figure. That probably relates to the 'punk' half of all the *punk subgenres, now that I think about it...


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## Darkblade (Mar 25, 2013)

Urban fantasy sometimes with light cyberpunk elements that make it almost superhero-ish. I just love the idea that the fantastic could exist alongside the mundane or even learning from it. That the government is comissioning killer robots to fight Angels and Demons come the end of days, that King Arthur has returned and is a multinational CEO, that computer virus you got from that file sharing site is microscopic demons messing with electrons in your hard drive, etc.

Sometimes I'll delve into historical fantasy and sci-fi but that is pretty much just urban fantasy in the idea that the strange and magical is there and always has been you just need to look hard enough.


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## Sheilawisz (Mar 26, 2013)

My style of Fantasy is the opposite to the Fantasy that most people write and read!!

I go for impossible worlds with surreal characteristics, not for the carefully realistic...

I have truly supernatural Magic instead of the nearly scientific systems that others use, and I even write about worlds where the Homo Sapiens species does not exist and everything is dominated by a dream-like species called Aylars =)

My Magic is the kind of Magic that creates a crystal castle out of nowhere and transforms an endless sea into a garden, so that gives you a clue of what style of Fantasy I write and love.


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## The Unseemly (Mar 26, 2013)

I'm very much Terry Pratchet style, in a sense. I just like making fun of society. I get all the things that _just don't make sense_, apply my own little devices, and hey presto, the next time when I look at the clock, it's 2 am...


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Mar 26, 2013)

"Ordinary" fantasy, somewhat post-medieval (slightly more advanced technology), but with unusual social structures.

I also like writing SF (well, space opera) but haven't been focusing on it lately.


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## peteks (Mar 28, 2013)

I guess that my most favourite subgenre is gaslight fantasy. Though it's been quite some time since I wrote a story clearly under that genre. It's still the one that I just love writing.


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## S.T. Ockenner (Feb 28, 2021)

MadMadys said:


> Humor of any kind is hard to remove from anything I  write myself.


I also have that experience


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## S.T. Ockenner (Feb 28, 2021)

Sheilawisz said:


> My style of Fantasy is the opposite to the Fantasy that most people write and read!!
> 
> I go for impossible worlds with surreal characteristics, not for the carefully realistic...
> 
> ...


That sounds awesome! I would probably enjoy your books.


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## skip.knox (Feb 28, 2021)

I write alternate history fantasy.

As a reader I especially enjoy that tiniest and rarest of sub-genres: the well-written.


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