# Limyaael's Fantasy Rants



## Ireth (Aug 21, 2013)

A collection of rants by LiveJournal user Limyaael, on various fantasy subjects. They're rather peppered with crude language, but if you can get past that, they're an invaluable resource on what to do and what to avoid when writing fantasy.

Limyaael's Rants: Master List (All Rants)

Note: Some have hyperlinks that will direct you to the rant on the main site, while others don't. They all have links to LiveJournal, though, so don't be fooled when you see that not every rant name is a link! Just click on the little pencil icon beside each one.


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## Graylorne (Aug 21, 2013)

I agree with you. I've used them for years and I think they should be compulsory reading for every aspiring fantasy reader


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## Ireth (Aug 21, 2013)

I'd give you rep points, Graylorne, but I've reached my quota for the day. ^^


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## Graylorne (Aug 21, 2013)

No matter, Ireth. The intention is beautiful enough


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## Feo Takahari (Aug 21, 2013)

Whatever happened to Limyaael, anyway? She dropped off the map years ago, and I haven't heard about her since.


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## Ireth (Aug 21, 2013)

No idea. I haven't been on LJ in years, myself. I never knew her personally, I just found her rants one day and fell in love with them.


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## Amanita (Aug 21, 2013)

I think the rants are very interesting and thought-provoking even though I don't think everything she recommends can and should be done. Some of the rants are really useful though, the one with handling a large cast of POV-characters comes to my mind at the moment.


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## Philip Overby (Aug 22, 2013)

I really like these. Seems like I heard of them before, but just never got around to checking them out. I've been considering starting a new blog that focuses on fantasy of all kinds (fiction, video games, movies, etc.) and I tend to rant on my own blogs. My personal blog has been kind of stagnant, so I want to sort of start over and focus more on fantasy if possible.

Anyway, this was good inspiration to maybe start something up. Thanks!

Edit: My new blog I created is linked in my signature. All fantasy, all the time!


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## Scales (Aug 23, 2013)

They are really useful.


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## Guy (Aug 23, 2013)

What books has this person been reading? Honestly, I haven't encountered nearly so many problems. Of course, I'm very, very picky about the fantasy I read. If it doesn't hold my interest or irritates me, I just stop reading it. I don't keep reading an author out of a sense of loyalty. If his writing goes in a direction I don't like, I stop reading him. I stopped reading R.A. Salvatore for this reason. As my professor in ancient history once told me, life's too short to read boring books. Also, I try to take into account the sub-genre. I really love the original Conan stories, but I don't take them seriously. They're just pure escapist fun, and when you read them you have to go into it with that attitude. 

Of course, I have my own pet peeves and could go on my own rants, so what the hell.


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## SmokeScribe98 (Aug 24, 2013)

I've kind of felt the same about a lot of books I read, it's kind of what made me want to write. I thought "I wouldn't have my character do that" or "that could have been better", it's why I prefer writing to reading.


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## Jess A (Aug 24, 2013)

Very entertaining and thought-provoking. I don't agree with everything, and I don't think I've come across as many dismal books as she has, but there are some decent points here.


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## Graylorne (Aug 25, 2013)

Jess A said:


> Very entertaining and thought-provoking. I don't agree with everything, and I don't think I've come across as many dismal books as she has, but there are some decent points here.



You probably wouldn't. Those rants were originally intended for fanfic writers. But most of it is applicable for regular genre writers as well.


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## Tirjasdyn (Aug 28, 2013)

Graylorne said:


> You probably wouldn't. Those rants were originally intended for fanfic writers. But most of it is applicable for regular genre writers as well.



Consider how much fanfic is getting published with a few name changes....


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## Guy (Aug 28, 2013)

SmokeScribe98 said:


> I've kind of felt the same about a lot of books I read, it's kind of what made me want to write. I thought "I wouldn't have my character do that" or "that could have been better", it's why I prefer writing to reading.


LOL! Yeah, I'm the same way. I'm editing and revising novels as I read them! Makes it more difficult to enjoy them, but I can't help it.


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## Ophiucha (Aug 29, 2013)

I do appreciate the diversity of topics she touches on - she's got _so_ many rants. Some of them are pretty niche or were clearly inspired by a specific story she'd been reading, but she has rants about things that are pretty widespread yet nobody really talks about. Nomadic people/g*psies, disabled characters, the realities of royal life, of peasant life, religion, revolution. Things that come up all the time and aren't often written right, but it's hard to find a consensus on why and a discussion on how to fix it. I don't always agree with her, but at least she brings up interesting points and counter-arguments and ideas and - most importantly - often cites a book or two that does it well.


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## CupofJoe (Aug 30, 2013)

While wandering... I found this compilation of her rants...
Limyaael/Lightning on the Wave/Arin i Asolde literary rants
It states that is "a centralized repository of her work, for posterity and as a sign of respect and appreciation."


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## Bruce McKnight (Sep 2, 2013)

Absolutely love her! I wish she would come back.

I think this link has even more of her posts:
Limyaael's Rants - Curiosity Quills Press


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## Jess A (Sep 4, 2013)

Limyaael's Rant No.3: Female Protagonists Who Do Not Suck - Curiosity Quills Press

Yes.


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## MG Silverstein (Sep 6, 2013)

Limyaael's Rants: Avoiding Medieval Fantasy, Part 1 I love this rant! Definitely posting about this at my fantasy blog. 

Thanks for the link! I found this LJ site a year ago, but lost it somehow. This will be a fun read.


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## Tryns (Oct 3, 2013)

After reading a lot of her rants, I think my story is going to have to evolve.  Isn't it funny how you think you're being clever and original yet in reality it's mundane?


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## Bruce McKnight (Oct 3, 2013)

Tryns said:


> After reading a lot of her rants, I think my story is going to have to evolve.  Isn't it funny how you think you're being clever and original yet in reality it's mundane?



The old saying says that every story has already been told and it's more a matter of how you tell it...  but maybe how many times it's been told also comes into play.


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## Guy (Oct 4, 2013)

Just read "Female Characters Who Don't Suck." Honestly, did most of this stuff have to be said? Give your character real problems? Let them lose a few times? Make them relatable? This advice seems about on par with make sure you use correct spelling. Are there people out there writing characters like this? More to the point, is anybody actually publishing them? Someone said earlier she's mostly addressing fan fiction, which I've never read. Is this problem particularly endemic to fanfic?

On a side note, I don't get the whole anti-description thing. Long hair is a better descriptor than long dark hair? How? Why is telling the reader something as simple as hair length and color going into too much detail? Why is using synonyms for color forbidden? There are different shades of color, and I like to know little details like that. As a reader, I want to know what the characters look like.


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## Feo Takahari (Oct 5, 2013)

Guy said:


> Someone said earlier she's mostly addressing fan fiction, which I've never read. Is this problem particularly endemic to fanfic?



Oh, you have NO idea. With that said, though, some of her specific targets are published writers, the most high-profile of them being Sara Douglass. (Limyaael was the first critic I ever encountered who hated _The Wayfarer Redemption_ as much as I did.)

Edit: I should add that in many cases (though notably NOT in Douglass's case), the published authors I've read to whom Limyaael's criticisms have applied best have been tremendously egotistical. Some greatly exaggerated or outright lied about their accomplishments (I vaguely remember one who falsely claimed to have been an Olympic-level fencer), while others were openly hostile to anyone who criticized their work. I'm not sure to what degree authors who'd be willing to listen to Limyaael need her advice. (Or maybe it's just that the authors who'd be willing to listen usually improve their writing and get rid of those flaws.)


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## servenvolley212 (Oct 16, 2013)

Just found her rants today, actually. I didn't know going in that they were aimed at FanFic, though, but it was pretty easy to discern after I read the first few.

I didn't even realize FanFic was big enough to have someone dedicate that many rants!


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## STBURNS (Feb 5, 2014)

Sorry to necro-bump,
But I read her rants before I wrote my fantasy novel. It helped me stay away from silly mistakes or easy ways out.
Not everything she says is correct, but she makes fantastic points.


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## D. Gray Warrior (Jun 13, 2014)

I love her rants! I wish she would make more.

Sometimes I go there to rid my boredom rather than looking for advice.


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## JamieMaltman (Jun 20, 2014)

First time I've come across her rants, but there's definitely some things to keep in mind.


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## Gurkhal (Jun 29, 2014)

Read a couple of them and they were pretty funny. Thanks for sharing.


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## JaybieJarrett (Jul 16, 2014)

I think when it comes to descriptions, it's not always how  much description you have, it's also  how you describe.  It's the tone you use.  For example  

"_“Feeareena Isilandria sighed as she looked into the mirror. She sometimes wished she hadn’t been born with blue eyes that looked like the sky after a storm, or long silky golden hair that gleamed as it fell in soft waves to her shoulders. She supposed that her sapphire dress that hugged her in all the right places complemented her beauty, but it made all the men pursue her, and that depressed her.”_"

A big problem with this example she gave is not just the excessive description all at once, it's also the whole "oh my amazing beauty is such a curse" . It's humble bragging.  It's when you TELL that the character is down on themselves for their appearance but still using poetic language to SHOW a character that actually amazingly pretty.  

It's sort of like someone complaining that their fancy expensive new car - that they've namedropped like hell, is SUCH a problem because they feel like they HAVE to wash it themselves everyday to make sure it won't get a scratch and that's such a pain. You don't feel to sympathetic because they're sitting there complaining about something that would be awesome to most people.  

It's a similar problem in Twilight where we are told that Bella is supposed to have low self esteem, but we still get those poetic words squeezed in. Because regardless of what the character thinks , the author still wants US to think she looks really pretty. It's a matter of _telling _something and_ showing_ something _completely _ different.   

Compare this description.  

"Often when I brushed my teeth or brushed my hair, I would try to avoid looking in the mirror.  When I did it just sort of dampened my mood.  I mean, look at me , most of the time my bangs were greasy and grungy dark brown and sticking together. There's a difference between hair that is dark and natural and hair that is dark because it hasn't been washed in awhile (actually it was washed this morning but that's how my hair is, it just gets sweaty from doing practically nothing in like, three hours) and is coated with sweat.  Also it tended to show my eyebrows , which were bushy and thick , with a few hairs in between  like a developing unibrow. Sure a few people told me that thick eyebrows were nice, but I couldn't for the life of me see why.  They look obnoxious and they're a lot of pain to keep even moderately tolerable, and you have to wait until you're forty til they grow the way you want them to.  Also depending on what I was wearing I either looked average or kind of pudgy with a bit of stomach poking out.  Ew"  

The writing tells us that the narrator is not happy with her appearance, and the words chosen say the same thing.  There's no five word description of  the exact color, but a difference is still shown between 'naturally dark hair, and hair that's dark because of being dirty'.  You can describe something in detail and not have it come off like the author is trying to say "well she doesn't THINK she's pretty because that would be conceited but she totally is" or "Oh look at her she's gorgeous but she's sad because being this pretty is really hard".  

Contrary to what some people may say, it's okay to have a pretty character.  But try to be honest about it and do it within reason.  Don't try to justify an 'exceptionally gorgeous character' by having her be moping about the hard parts of being so pretty.  Also sometimes a character can be vain, sometimes a character can think they look nice.  It won't make them unlikeable so long as there's more to the character than their looks or they have bigger positive sides that weigh out the negatives. Also ...try not to keep REMINDING us how pretty they are and have everyone talk up how pretty they are.  If it would be IC for someone to comment on it that's one thing, but if you're forcing people to notice it, it just comes off like shoving it in people's faces.


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## Eve79 (Jul 16, 2014)

Thanks for posting this! (I know it was posted last year, but I'm new)


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## Ermol (Jul 25, 2014)

Eve79 said:


> Thanks for posting this! (I know it was posted last year, but I'm new)



Ditto. Lots of useful stuff!


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## Starscream (Aug 8, 2014)

Can anyone recommend a good fantasy saga i can get lost into for inspiration for my trilogy ?


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