What would you like to see more in Fantasy novels?

[markhamil94]

Personally, I would like to see more races with different cultures. I feel like I haven't read any books with unique races and cultures. This may be me being annoying, but I feel like the majority of fantasy books are whitewashed as hell with one POC. I'm hoping this may improve over time since books are frequently being published. I'm working on incorporating different races and cultures in my own fantasy universe. What are your thoughts?

 

[Hir i-Chorvath]

Sorry, this probably sounds more like a rant so if you don't want to read through it I summarized it in the list

• Legitimate different races, not humans with special features
• Unique cultures
• Non-human MC's
• Different speech styles
• Older MC's handling things with experience and not some grand new power they just discovered and magically know how to use
• In-world swears/curses
• More worldbuilding

I would like to see more races that don't feel like they're humans with some added features tacked on. Some versions of elves I feel like they are just long-lived, good-looking, pointy-eared humans. Boring. I want to see people take more of thier own spin on things. (And maybe I'm just not reading the right books but it could also just be me being picky *shrug*)

I would love to see some more unique cultures as well. If it's a different race then why would they have the same culture as humans? Wouldn't it be at least a little bit different? Also, it's just more interesting that way.

Also, non-human MC's are really interesting. I understand why it makes more sense to write from a human's PoV since they are more relatable and they are so much easier to write but I love non-human MC's. I would like some more of them. A lot more of them.

And this goes for almost any story but I would love to see some older MC's where they take out the competition because they have experience and know what they are doing instead of younger characters just magically getting powers and walking into it by accident. (Bit of a pet peeve there)

Also speech, I want the characters to talk differently. Using modern slang and swear words in a fantasy setting? I have some problems with that depending on the kind of fantasy, which is part of the reason I love Sanderson's work. He has cursing and swears individual to the world. It makes the world seem so much more authentic.

And then worldbuilding. I want to see the world developed because I want to feel like I'm in a different world and not just earth with a fantasy screen over it.

 

[Chasejxyz]

I, too, am really sick of "humans but X." I remembered the (Netflix) Godzilla anime movies the other day and made myself mad because there were several alien species in it...and they all looked like regular humans. Mass Effect was really cool in that there were so many different species that had different anatomies and ways of communicating, like how the Elcor have to state the emotions they're feeling for the sake of others who might be listening. Speculative biology, as a whole, is really damn cool and the number of people who go all-out with it is really, really small, give me more!

I'd like to see more magic systems that actually take into account gender variance. How would it work for a trans person? Someone who's intersex? A eunuch, a menopausal woman, someone with a hormonal disorder? In a lot of real-world cultures, people outside of the gender binary were held in reverence (the cassowary bird, for example, has what seems to be both male and female genitalia, so they were considered especially powerful beings, outside of the whole being a dinosaur part) so someone who has access to "both" kinds of magic or a different type of magic entirely would hold a unique position in such a world.

Also using magic for transitioning outside of glamour or body swaps or something obvious. Otzi had both tattoos and stretched ear lobes ("gauges," as they're {incorrectly} called sometimes) so modifying our bodies has been a thing we've always done. Trans people were getting full SRS before the invention of antibiotics...so someone is going to figure out how to use magic to permanently change their body. And of course, cis people would do the same thing, for the same reasons they already do (cosmetic, reconstructive, augmentation etc), so everyone looking exactly the same as they did in Medieval Europe in a world full of magic feels really dull and uninspired.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

More characters with facial hair, more queer and transgender characters, more old wizards in classic vein (pointy hat, beard, robe, moon and star patterns), more vivid descriptions of characters.
All the things the three of you said sounds good too.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

A eunuch

Song Of Ice And Fire has a character who is a eunuch, but he doesn't use magic to my knowledge.

 

[markhamil94]

Personally, I would like to see more races with different cultures. I feel like I haven't read any books with unique races and cultures. This may be me being annoying, but I feel like the majority of fantasy books are whitewashed as hell with one POC. I'm hoping this may improve over time since books are frequently being published. I'm working on incorporating different races and cultures in my own fantasy universe. What are your thoughts?

issue got solved!!

 

[ladyander]

What I would like to see is less epic fantasy. I want to see more stories that are smaller in scale. Saving a single town from nonsense that doesn't go beyond the gates of that town is fun. And if it is a series, it doesn't lose sight of itself by unnecessarily scaling up to the point the adventures affect entire kingdoms. Mostly, I just want a lot of fun and meaningful character interaction.

I would also like to see more non-human main characters or fantasy stories with no human present. I'm a sucker for non-human characters and I love it when I can find a series with no humans. I always appreciated.

If I could have a non-human small scale fantasy story, that would be awesome.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

What I would like to see is less epic fantasy. I want to see more stories that are smaller in scale. Saving a single town from nonsense that doesn't go beyond the gates of that town is fun. And if it is a series, it doesn't lose sight of itself by unnecessarily scaling up to the point the adventures affect entire kingdoms. Mostly, I just want a lot of fun and meaningful character interaction.

I would also like to see more non-human main characters or fantasy stories with no human present. I'm a sucker for non-human characters and I love it when I can find a series with no humans. I always appreciated.

If I could have a non-human small scale fantasy story, that would be awesome.

I personally love epic fantasy, the more epic the better, but small-scale fantasy stories can be fun too. I'm actually writing a story like that right now. It's also set in a world with no humans.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I'd like to see more science vs magic, more aliens, and more mixing of subgenres.

 

[skip.knox]

I'd like to see more good writing. Just that. More good stories.

 

[Jenn]

A lot of people specifying genres, and I can relate to that. Personally, though, it's worldbuilding implementation.
I know a lot of people put a lot of time into worldbuilding(myself included), but I've always been sort of curious as to how it fits into the actual writing itself. What's the best way to put that into a story without a, the reader getting bored/confused, and b, make it neither overpowering nor lacking? What's the best way to describe your world on pages?
It would be interesting to see more worldbuilding heavy stories that balance world development as an equal to plot.

 

[Mad Swede]

I'd like to see a lot more good writing, and that means good characterisation, good plotting and a balanced pace. A good setting helps, but it's nothing without good characterisation.

 

[Puck]

I think fantasy could benefit from a broader variety of stories. Epic action adventure with swords/sorcery elements is still fairly dominant & that's fine but fantasy is (for me) as much about setting as it is a genre in itself. Fantasy provides the setting for a story. So why not have more thrillers, horror, comedy, romance, whodunnits etc?

I personally love epic fantasy, the more epic the better, but small-scale fantasy stories can be fun too.

I agree with that. I would like to see more fantasy stories of that kind. Don't get me wrong - not at the expense of epic fantasy but in addition to it.

Wider choice and variety would do the genre as a whole good.

 

[Mothyards]

Saw a few people mention this already but I definitely agree with both more “unique” races. Or at least more uncommonly used races, as well as more of a mix of science and fantasy. It doesn’t necessarily need to be sci-fi and traditional fantasy, although that is a mix I personally enjoy. I am a biologist at heart, often when I begin to create a world I try to understand that worlds rules and build up the races, the animas, the magic and whatever else around that world because I know I’m our own world everything began with the laws of the universe.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Saw a few people mention this already but I definitely agree with both more “unique” races. Or at least more uncommonly used races, as well as more of a mix of science and fantasy. It doesn’t necessarily need to be sci-fi and traditional fantasy, although that is a mix I personally enjoy. I am a biologist at heart, often when I begin to create a world I try to understand that worlds rules and build up the races, the animas, the magic and whatever else around that world because I know I’m our own world everything began with the laws of the universe.

Your avatar made me think of a new race I'm working on in a sci-fi novelette—an intelligent and psychic moth-like species. Lots of interesting moths in and around my house have given me inspiration.

 

[Miles Lacey]

For me, money plays a major role as to what I read. While I'm sure that most people here can afford to buy fantasy epics that span twelve 1500-page books I am not one of them. So I would prefer a lot more single volume stand alone novels.

Another thing I would like to see more of are fantasies which all have the same settings but different characters. To me, the setting of a fantasy novel is as much of a character as the flesh and blood beings that populate them.

I'd like to see a wider diversity of fantasy writers. Too many fantasy writers are white, middle class people from North America and Northern Europe whose portrayals of non-whites and the poor often reflect their real world prejudices and stereotypes about them.

It's bad enough putting up with that crap in the real world without seeing it in fiction as well. I write this as one who is part-Polynesian, living in a caravan (not by choice) and long-term unemployed.

 

[Forstationve]

I'd love to see some more believable characters in fantasy fiction. Realistic characters are much easier to relate to and understand, making the world seem more real and less fantastical.

 

[pmmg]

I can think of some things I would like to see less of, but for more of....Just make it good

I think there is definite lull currently in the entertainment industry. Seems it is ripe for something to really hit well and catch fire.

I would be very happy if it was my stuff

I suppose what I find myself wanting most is just stuff that has something to say that is beyond the first layer of understanding and does not make me say bullsh*t to most of it.

 

[Luís Santana]

The unknowable.