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What Are Your Thoughts on the Future of Fantasy Writing?

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I've often thought about this, but what do you think the future of fantasy writing will be?

Do you think it will follow the direction of the New Weird bunch (a re-birth of pulpish fiction), more "traditional" fantasy such as Tolkien, more of the gritty, realistic style of Martin, Erikson, and Abercrombie, or an influx of more urban fantasy which seems to be on the climb. Maybe a new style?

So what do you think? Where do you see fantasy trends going in the next couple of years? Which authors writing now do you think will be the future Tolkiens, Martins, Howards, Jordans, and such?
 
I think that there will be an increase in the number of novellas and shorter works that start to break out of the more rigid genre and sub-genre structure. A political espionage story involving homosexual and flamboyant Orcs...

Without the gatekeepers of traditional publishing, even stranger settings will show up, and I think we will be spoilt for choice. It probably won't be edited very well though...

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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I also think that shorter works will become the norm. The growth of self-publishing may lead to more indie publishers who can provide editing duties so maybe they can take care of those issues. I like the occasional door-stopper myself, but I think epics may be less in the future. Kindle has made it easier to access anything, so maybe more and more progressive fiction can be born out of that.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
It's a double-edged sword. More writers means more otherwise-undiscovered talent, but more not-so-talented writers too. My overall feeling is positive, however.

I can e-publish short stories to test the waters in the hopes that, someday, a traditionally published novel may become a possibility for me. Or, if I'm really lucky, I'll have a small circle of readers (hundreds) like my brother does with his indie comic book and won't mind if that's as far as I ever go.
 
I guess it's about definitions.

Fantasy as we know it came from Romances, like King Arthur, which grew out of myths and fairytales. One could argue that fantasy is the oldest genre there is! I think that the genre, like science fiction, adapts itself to the times it's being used in. Today, more post-apocalyptic type stuff, as that's where the world is at. In Tolkien's time, huge epic stuff because of WWII.

Fantasy will live on and change with the imaginations of people!
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
I will make no attempt to predict genre, but as mentioned above the structure and acceptable length of stories will change, trending down. If GRRM had written Ice and Fire in ten years, he might have written in smaller chunks, releasing much smaller books. I think long series will start to be released this way, in normal sized novels instead of the bone-breakers (with later-published editions collecting the chunks back into giant tomes, again).

Furthermore, things like novellas - which had no real place in print publishing unless you were already a famous author - will explode. With eBooks length is not an issue. Write the story in the length it needs to be told in. HOWEVER there will need to be some sort of backlash, eventually. The loosening up of length caused by eBooks are going to result in a lot of bloated stories. Writers will need to learn to write succinctly even better than we have before.

Hm, that turned into a prediction of publishing in general...
 
Any predictions will need to include the impact of ereaders. I think that maybe with the novella length story we will also see epics, longer than we have seen before. It may not be a good thing.

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I read a good point someone made the other day: that most people in the world will never own an e-reader. Issues with lithium for the batteries they require, and the metals they use, along with the green movement will show that traditionally-produced books are more ecologically responsible than e-readers. They use trees, true, but trees are renewable. Precious metals are not.

There is also something very intimate about holding a book that will never be replaced. The little notes people add to the margins over the years, the memory of the little corner in the story that you found it in, the way it bends any way you want to lay, the heft and feel of it. The cover art, the back cover. Humans like collections, it's sort of what we do to pass our time, and the physical artifact of a loved story, even one discovered on an ereader, will be one people want for a long, long time.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Most people in the world probably also aren't consistent consumers of fiction, either.

The question is, out of people who buy a lot of fiction, how many will have ereaders? I suspect the answer to that in coming years is going to be 'a lot.'
 

Chilari

Staff
Moderator
Building on what Sasha said about length changes due to e-readers, I wouldn't be surprised to see a resurgence in episodic written fiction, like how writers published bits of stories in newspapers month by month of whatever - Charles Dickens being one such example. Though I think in the modern age rather than publishing in a magazine, people will instead publish chapters at a time, a month or so apart, for very small amounts with small profit margins, or even for free, in order to build their repuation in preparation for future works.

Though admittedly that's really about the future of publsihing, not the future of fantasy.

It is my hope that we'll see a growth in enjoyment of low fantasy - that is, stories set in different world with their own societies and histories and geographies, but with no or minimal magic. That's what I write, hence that being my hope; but I feel it is a means by which I can explore human nature without being bound by historical fact, or restricted by technology, and with the benefit of freedom of situation and the occasional inclusion of background or incidental magic.

I find it more likely, however, that the most popular fantasy will be the most alien. Fantasy, in part, is about escapism, about experiencing something so very different to real, daily life; it is about wonder and excitement and characters doing things that no modern human ever has the chance to do or experience. As such, I suspect, people will not want to read explorations of the darker sides of human nature set in a different world, but rather about exciting heroes who are cool and witty and do the right thing and stand up to the big man.

Meanwhile I'll keep writing what I want to write and be pleased for those who gain greater success writing what they want to write.
 
I read a good point someone made the other day: that most people in the world will never own an e-reader. Issues with lithium for the batteries they require, and the metals they use, along with the green movement will show that traditionally-produced books are more ecologically responsible than e-readers. They use trees, true, but trees are renewable. Precious metals are not.

Fifteen years ago, you could reasonably have said the exact same thing about mobile phones, but there are now more than 5 billion mobile phones currently in use in the world. There might be other reasons why e-readers won't become as prevalent as mobile phones, but resource usage isn't plausibly one of them.
 
Chilari said:
Building on what Sasha said about length changes due to e-readers, I wouldn't be surprised to see a resurgence in episodic written fiction, like how writers published bits of stories in newspapers month by month of whatever - Charles Dickens being one such example. Though I think in the modern age rather than publishing in a magazine, people will instead publish chapters at a time, a month or so apart, for very small amounts with small profit margins, or even for free, in order to build their repuation in preparation for future works.

Though admittedly that's really about the future of publsihing, not the future of fantasy.

That's is exactly what I am doing with my science fiction serial. I need to put mention of it on my blog. Sold one copy on Amazon already. Woohoo!

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Aegrus

Scribe
If I had to guess, I'd say E-readers will make book releases more episodic, as mentioned above, but I also think that a lot poor writing is going to flood the market from inexperienced writers seeking to publish electronically. Think: Soap Operas of the litarary world, with stilted plots, stereotyped characters, and outlandish episodes released constantly every few weeks. Deaths and nonsensical resurrections will be common.

Eventually, the bad writers will become so prolific that all readers of fantasy will be branded as outcasts and nerds again, and the genre will revert back to equal standing with sci fi.

I hope that doesn't happen, but it's seeming more and more like it will, what with so many people already publishing angsty short stories on E-Readers and almost blatantly ripping off Tolkein.
 
Chilari said:
My prediction is already coming true! I am totally awesome.

Yeah, I would be pushing it harder, but I want at least three episodes up or at least ready to go. I don't know if my fantasy will split into nice episodic bits yet, but if it does, then I'll be pushing it.

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Aegrus said:
If I had to guess, I'd say E-readers will make book releases more episodic, as mentioned above, but I also think that a lot poor writing is going to flood the market from inexperienced writers seeking to publish electronically. Think: Soap Operas of the litarary world, with stilted plots, stereotyped characters, and outlandish episodes released constantly every few weeks. Deaths and nonsensical resurrections will be common.

Eventually, the bad writers will become so prolific that all readers of fantasy will be branded as outcasts and nerds again, and the genre will revert back to equal standing with sci fi.

I hope that doesn't happen, but it's seeming more and more like it will, what with so many people already publishing angsty short stories on E-Readers and almost blatantly ripping off Tolkein.

That's why I never buy an ebook unless it has been reviewed and has at least three stars. I wish whoever bought episode 1 of Rosy would review it or at least rate it. I'm sure it's one of you people.

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Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I think that as the quantity of the available material goes up, the traditional gatekeepers will become more important, not less, in filtering quality stories from the rest. I think we're going to find that, within about a decade, they'll be putting more work into developing individual stories to help them stand out, and we'll be seeing co-authors and writing teams becoming more mainstream.

As for fantasy, I would expect that if we knew the direction it was going next, we'd be writing those stories instead of wondering about them. I'd like to see a more robust connection between the world and the story being told, but that could just be the way I like to write.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I guess when I asked this question, I was more or less thinking about the direction of fantasy or what trends you think may pick up again. It's interesting that so many people have directly linked technology to the rise of different types of fantasy. It's hard to ignore that, of course, but maybe the better question would have been, "Where Do You Want to See Fantasy Go?" I know that if we could predict what would be popular in the future, then we would be writing that (at least I think?).

I think traditional publishing should always exist in some form. I think it exists for a reason. But I'm interested that if new technology may give rise to new and exciting fantasy that traditional publishers just don't want to touch for various reasons (content, length, etc.)
 

Amanita

Maester
An interesting subject.
I'm not sure about the future popularity of E-readers. At the moment, I hardly see any of them while many people on the train for example still read paper books. I'm not owning one yet either, but it might change because I'd like to be able to read the "independend" e-published books discussed above. ;) At the moment, many readers still like to have books with pretty covers rather than electronic files but that might change, as it did with music, I don't know.

Concerning fantasy trends I believe that stories primarly written for teenagers with strong ties to the real world combined with fantastical elements will stay popular. Teenagers are still the people most likely to have time to read and it's still seen as more acceptable for them to spent plenty of time dreaming of strange worlds or magic than for adults. We might not like that, but I believe it's how many people feel.
Harry Potter probably is the best proof for the fact that people are still prepared to read very long books if those books are appealing enough. And the series has been loved by people generally interested in fantasy as well as by those who are not, by children, teenagers adults alike.
Books like A Song of Fire and Ice probably will always have their loyal following but never become mainstream, because most people simply don't want to spent hours reading about the nasty sides of medieval life and about human cruelty. If someone wants to deal with the latter, books set in the real world dealing with historical issues are more interesting and enjoy greater social acceptance.
Classical low-tech fantasy world coming of age and fighting villains stories will probably keep appealing to a larger audience, but they probably won't become mainstream either. The time of low technology "where wars were still noble" is much farther away from us than it was for example for Tolkien and most people don't really believe in good and noble wars anymore, at least not in Europe.
For comical fantasy and weirder settings it will probably be similar.

That's what I believe even though I don't claim that it's true. Maybe it's just mirroring my personal preferrences but the best seller-lists seem to confirm it at the moment. (With the exception of Eragon, the success of which I absolutely cannot explain. It's an example of people still reading thick books however.)
As no one know that the future brings, completely new concepts might emerge as well, with the rise of other countries such as China and India fantasy inspired by their mythology might become more common as well.
 
I don't know where fantasy is going TBH, but I'm hoping that the rise of e-publishing will encourage more experimental fantasy writing, that breaks the moulds as it were. And hopefully if the publishers see that sort of fantasy gaining popularity in the indie market, then they will start to pick it up mainstream. This does happen, I don't know why this example comes to mind (apart from my kids loving it) but Teenage mutant turtles started out as an indie comic, that grew to become a huge if annoying market success. With e-publishing the ease of making indie material is improved considerably, so hopefully the ability to influence the market will increase.

But yeah, I forsee more inventive fantasy coming out, which evolves beyond the traditional medieval European framework.
 
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