Sure it does. So, are you enjoying some of those other works more than the fantasy stuff? Or is it all dust and ashes?
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I Don't Like Anything. Why? How?
- Thread starter DragonOfTheAerie
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Sure it does. So, are you enjoying some of those other works more than the fantasy stuff? Or is it all dust and ashes?
- Thread starter
- #62
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
I like it a lot, but it's not the stuff that gets me fired up. I just don't feel the passion with, say, historical fiction, that I do for the fantasy genre.
I hear you. Most of the best books I've read in, say, the last ten years have been outside the fantasy genre, but that does not make me want to write literary fiction or detective fiction. All my writing is firmly set in Altearth, because fantasy just feels more interesting to me as a writer.
As a reader, I'm perpetually disappointed in fantasy. When it's good, it is its own sort of magic. When it's pedestrian, it's merely forgettable. When it's bad, it's downright embarrassing. My reading has been two or three to one, outside versus inside the genre. Sturgeon's Law most definitely applies.
As a reader, I'm perpetually disappointed in fantasy. When it's good, it is its own sort of magic. When it's pedestrian, it's merely forgettable. When it's bad, it's downright embarrassing. My reading has been two or three to one, outside versus inside the genre. Sturgeon's Law most definitely applies.
- Thread starter
- #64
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
It's like i wish the qualities of some of the books I read outside fantasy were in fantasy so I could enjoy the genre the way I feel I should.
Also I generally wish people wrote things that were more different and more creative.
I've been musing on this whole thread in general for a bit, and how I relate to it.
There's this feeling I have that a lot of fantasy is trying a little too hard to impress me. It wants to be too awesome, and too epic, and too cool - and it kind of puts me off a from picking up something new.
There's this feeling I have that a lot of fantasy is trying a little too hard to impress me. It wants to be too awesome, and too epic, and too cool - and it kind of puts me off a from picking up something new.
Well said. What saddens me is that many of us seem to share this same issue--but we're hanging out on a fantasy writing forum.
When it's well done, fantasy is brilliant. I suppose anything is but fantasy is literally magic. I share your sentiments not only in fantasy but also historical romance, which is why I've been reading old school lately (& currently enjoying an M.C. Beaton mystery). Newer books don't interest me anymore. Is it serious writer voice or a prevailing lack of creativity? I wonder how this affects us as authors.
TheCrystallineEntity
Istar
Serious writer voice is definitely a problem.
>too awesome, and too epic, and too cool
Only the last one, imo. The fantasy stories that have worked for me have not shied away from awesome and epic. Where they too often fail is where they try to be too cool. I'm too old for cool; it does not impress me. Go for broke, sez I.
I'm thinking of the stories I've read in, oh say the last five years. They've been wildly different in style and intent, but I think I see one thing they all shared: the author cared about the characters.
Maybe I'm kidding myself, or seeing only what I wish to see, but I believe I can tell the difference. In too many fantasy stories, the author cared more about the world or the plot concept, less about the character. That was true in much science fiction, too, especially in the golden age stuff. In mysteries, it's the countless novels centered on the mystery itself rather than on the detective.
IMO, a great number of people get involved writing fantasy precisely because they care about the concept or the world first. That's only natural; I'm not criticizing. Good books can be written from that starting point. But dull books come from there, too, and self-publishing has put many of these on the table before us, whereas in the past they would (likely) never have seen the light of day. As readers, we are left with the sensation of being overwhelmed with mediocrity. This is no cause for despair--mediocrity is in fact the mean. And the median and the mode.
Or, to quote the poet: don't let it bring you down, it's only castles burning
Only the last one, imo. The fantasy stories that have worked for me have not shied away from awesome and epic. Where they too often fail is where they try to be too cool. I'm too old for cool; it does not impress me. Go for broke, sez I.
I'm thinking of the stories I've read in, oh say the last five years. They've been wildly different in style and intent, but I think I see one thing they all shared: the author cared about the characters.
Maybe I'm kidding myself, or seeing only what I wish to see, but I believe I can tell the difference. In too many fantasy stories, the author cared more about the world or the plot concept, less about the character. That was true in much science fiction, too, especially in the golden age stuff. In mysteries, it's the countless novels centered on the mystery itself rather than on the detective.
IMO, a great number of people get involved writing fantasy precisely because they care about the concept or the world first. That's only natural; I'm not criticizing. Good books can be written from that starting point. But dull books come from there, too, and self-publishing has put many of these on the table before us, whereas in the past they would (likely) never have seen the light of day. As readers, we are left with the sensation of being overwhelmed with mediocrity. This is no cause for despair--mediocrity is in fact the mean. And the median and the mode.
Or, to quote the poet: don't let it bring you down, it's only castles burning
- Thread starter
- #69
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
We pound it into writers since they are wee baby writers to N O T W R I T E F L O W E R Y P U R P L E P R O S E I T I S S A T A N and now everyone is so afraid of using an adjective that everyone sounds droll and identical.
There's this one writer I love who had the loveliest writing style. If was flowery as hell, but i swear her metaphors lit up your whole brain like christmas lights being plugged in. Her most recent book was just...bled of that uniqueness. I didn't enjoy it much.
I'm coming to this discussion late, but I'm in the same boat for a different reason. I have read what I consider to be the pinnacle of fantasy writing and can't seem to find anything else that take my attention by the throat and squeezes until I'm exhausted. Many authors have fallen into the trap of clean, simple writing with the same popular concepts used over and over again. I like dense prose. I like uncomfortable human interactions and complex motivations. Only a few have dared to write this way, and only they have pulled on my heartstrings like a skilled harpist.
Fantasy isn't dead. Fantasy is stagnant, but there is some out there to still leave you in wonder. Expand out of our comfort zone and try them out. My list would include:
Fantasy isn't dead. Fantasy is stagnant, but there is some out there to still leave you in wonder. Expand out of our comfort zone and try them out. My list would include:
- Steven Erickson The Malazan Book of the Fallen
- Jacqueline Carey Kushiel Legacy and Namaah Triology
- R Scott Bakker The Second Apocalypse series
- Glen Cook The Black Company
- Thread starter
- #71
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
I'm looking them up on goodreads. Holy crap is the fandom for the r. scott bakker book toxic. i mean the comments on any negative review are all like "I guess you're not intellectual enough to enjoy it, sorry if everything isn't spoon fed to your widdle bwain like in a YA novel"
Irrelevant, I know, but it's a massive turn off.
Ha! I try to avoid any fandom comments. People are uncompromising in their beliefs. Any dissenting opinion is viewed as a personal attack. Better to read the overview of the books and the first few pages to see if you like the writing style.
I can attest to Malazan being awesome. Highly recommend.
I kind of lost track of what was really going on towards book ten or twelve or so, but even then I still enjoyed the reading experience.
- Thread starter
- #75
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
That's a lot of books.
You really only need to read the first one to decide if it's for you or not though. If you don't like it, there's not point going for the rest of them.
- Thread starter
- #77
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
today i scrolled through a list of about every dragon book on goodreads
There are more dragon shifter romances than i thought possible. There exists a book called Ty the Sexy Dragon.
Is it me, or is Ty about the least sexy name conceivable
There were a lot of books on the list that don't contain dragons at all. ??? I know because i've read them. Exactly no dragons.
There are more dragon shifter romances than i thought possible. There exists a book called Ty the Sexy Dragon.
Is it me, or is Ty about the least sexy name conceivable
There were a lot of books on the list that don't contain dragons at all. ??? I know because i've read them. Exactly no dragons.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Hey, Ty is the name of my dragon?!?
- Thread starter
- #79
DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
In this case I have grave news about his sexiness.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Bummer.
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