Alex97
Troubadour
Let's say you pick up a book off of the fantasy shelf. It's set in a different world with it's own unique civilizations, cultures, customs... However, aside from that it lacks many of the fantasy elements that you commonly see like dragons or elves - it just has humans in an alternate world. My question is, would you read it?
I'm quite aware that there's a specific sub genre for this (possibly a form of low fantasy) although these seem a little ambiguous. It seems fantasy like this has become a little more popular but there's usually some magic or something similar somewhere.
I'm asking this mainly because my current WIP lacks any mystical beasts, magic, actively participating gods or mystical wombats... I feel that the plot works fine without them, although it lacks the scale that these things can bring and I'm wondering whether it has a place in fantasy at all. The story focuses on a war between a broken alliance of crumbling city states and the ever increasing threats from foreign empires. Yet it lacks any greater threat like the Others from ASoIaF for example.
In world building I have a few beasts and some magic inspired by Greek, Norse and Celtic mythology. In my original plot there were also very important artifacts that said city states were fighting a covert war over, but I scrapped that. Despite all this, none of them fit within the current plot.
Opinions?
I'm quite aware that there's a specific sub genre for this (possibly a form of low fantasy) although these seem a little ambiguous. It seems fantasy like this has become a little more popular but there's usually some magic or something similar somewhere.
I'm asking this mainly because my current WIP lacks any mystical beasts, magic, actively participating gods or mystical wombats... I feel that the plot works fine without them, although it lacks the scale that these things can bring and I'm wondering whether it has a place in fantasy at all. The story focuses on a war between a broken alliance of crumbling city states and the ever increasing threats from foreign empires. Yet it lacks any greater threat like the Others from ASoIaF for example.
In world building I have a few beasts and some magic inspired by Greek, Norse and Celtic mythology. In my original plot there were also very important artifacts that said city states were fighting a covert war over, but I scrapped that. Despite all this, none of them fit within the current plot.
Opinions?