I think I found my niche...

[LuminaryGhost]

One of the most persistent pieces of advice I have heard is to read the kind of story you want to write, so as to, among other things, gauge what your target audience is looking for.

My preferred writing genre is fantasy, specifically quest fantasy, where the focus on on the characters and how they are affected by the journey, and how they come together. Also, while the tone is generally fun and humerous, it does have plunges into dark subject matters which matter all the more because the reader has grown to like the characters due to the aforementioned humorous antics making them fun to be around.

A while ago, I read Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. It was one of the first fantasy stories I have read in a while that fits the bill to a tee. The closest I had found up to that point was some of the Discworld books, but they might not be representative of what the market for this type of fiction is currently looking for, as well as Lord of the Rings, which has the same problem.

Today, I started reading The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst. Now, I am less than a quarter of the way into the book, but, from what I have read thus far, this also seems to fit the bill.

What I am asking here is twofold:
1. Can anyone here give me any modern recommendations for further assessing this niche?
2. Do you think that this niche is, well, too niche?

 

[CupofJoe]

A bit dated now but have a look for David [& Leigh] Eddings work.
Some humour, not too dark [okay not very dark at all] and a cast of characters to root for.

 

[Finchbearer]

Quest fantasy is probably the opposite of niche, so I don’t think you would struggle to find a market if that what you’re thinking.

It also depends on what you mean by quest, like literally travelling from one destination to another on a hero’s journey? I’d go as far as to say most fantasy does this but in different forms, and this includes anti-hero’s. You can’t really beat Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit for the archetypal example of this trope.

Personally I love Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy where Vasya, a young woman, gets pulled into a quest to bring pre-Christian Russian beliefs and Christian Russian beliefs together to fight a greater evil.

 

[LuminaryGhost]

Quest fantasy is probably the opposite of niche, so I don’t think you would struggle to find a market if that what you’re thinking.

It also depends on what you mean by quest, like literally travelling from one destination to another on a hero’s journey? I’d go as far as to say most fantasy does this but in different forms, and this includes anti-hero’s. You can’t really beat Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit for the archetypal example of this trope.

Personally I love Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy where Vasya, a young woman, gets pulled into a quest to bring pre-Christian Russian beliefs and Christian Russian beliefs together to fight a greater evil.

That is now on my reading list! Thanks

 

[LuminaryGhost]

A bit dated now but have a look for David [& Leigh] Eddings work.
Some humour, not too dark [okay not very dark at all] and a cast of characters to root for.

Pawn of Prophecy is now on the reading list! Thank you!

 

[LuminaryGhost]

Also, can I ask, what exactly do you guys look for in a quest?

 

[Finchbearer]

I don’t actively seek fantasy where the main proponent of the story is the quest, but The Hobbit is one of my favourite fantasy stories, and that is really because I like the prose style and it’s a fun classic fantasy.

So I will go on to say that for me it just has to written well, and the overall story needs to be compelling. I think you can work with something that is cliche, but you’d need to offer the reader something a little different to make a quest trope work well in this climate.

To be fair, most of the fantasy I’ve read has some sort of quest, but they would probably be classified as ‘side quests’.

 

[Mad Swede]

If you can find it try Michael Scott Rohan's The Winter of World series, or maybe his Spiral series. He and Allan J Scott also wrote A Spell of Empire, which is quite funny.

 

[Incanus]

I'm very fond of the Tad Williams series known as 'Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn' starting with the first book 'The Dragonbone Chair'.

It takes a little while for the quest part of the story to emerge, and I think it may start too slow for some readers, but it is one of the most immersive fantasy stories I know of. It is epic, with four large books. And currently, there is a sequel series, with the final book due out just a few months from now.

 

[pmmg]

Eddings was first to come to my mind.

All the HP books are this way too, I think.

Feist is another with his magician series.

It may not be front and center anymore, but Elf Quest (TPB) might be something you like.