What kind of fantasy do YOU write?

I write a bit of a mix. One of my main projects is a portal fantasy with modern-day humans being dumped into Faerie; one is a historical fantasy with vampires in 14th-century Scotland; one is an epic fantasy with elements of Celtic and Norse mythology. I like heroes who can talk and think their way out of sticky situations rather than relying solely on fighting (though often they can and will fight when necessary). Villains/anti-heroes seeking redemption are also lots of fun.

 

Most of my stories would fall into one of two categories: prehistoric fantasy with dinosaurs and tribal cultures, or Bronze Age "alternate history" with civilizations based loosely on historical ones. Whichever genre I write, non-European characters, especially African ones, feature quite prominently. I'm also fond of strong butt-kicking heroines.

 

I write kind of Tolkienesque fantasy, with a little bit of Dungeons and Dragons and Game of Thrones throne in. Basically your typical swords and sorcery type fantasy.

 

Hi,

Everything except vampires. I have several traditional, epic fantasies out with elves etc. There's some urban fantasy as well which has included everything from ancient gods walking the world to angels and demons. I've got some modern day wizardsas well. But I'm also a sci fi writer with mainly space opera books out.

Cheers, Greg.

 

My current WIP is Dark Sci-Fantasy with a dash of tribal lore; some racial segregation/racism has made for an unbalanced and negative society. The MC is more an anti-hero than anything, with a bevy of personality flaws and a distinct lack of care for anyone but his immediate family and friends.

My back burner project is a contemporary fantasy that incorporates a kind of soul magic and utilizes history and mythology to create an almost alternate version of our world. With historical figures and entire pantheons of gods from across the globe involved in the back story, it also uses ancient and current belief systems to divide factions of good, evil and ambiguous groups with their own agendas and in the midst of it all, there's a boy trying to get to know his long lost father while desperately trying to stay alive.

 

MOTH AND SPARK is pretty traditional fantasy with magic, politics, romance, dragons and a strong, smart, female lead. My WIP, which is a sequel, is heavier on the politics, lighter on the romance, and uses magic based on shamanism but is still fairly traditional. Next couple projects may not be fantasy, but when I get back to it I plan on a western fantasy and probably some sort of alternate history or magical historical novel after that.

 

I write fairytale inspired fantasy with some dark twists and turns. Not remakes of existing fairytales, but my own ideas with these elements mixed in. And all my stories have either poisons, potions, or healing tonics in there somewhere. My world is mostly human with Faeries and other creatures from Russian & Native American folklore. Plant based & Shamanistic magic set in a mountainous world similar to my home state. I also like to write from a (mostly) female perspective.

 

The type of fantasy I write is usually secondary world fantasy heavy on the dark and fantastical, with world folklore being a strong influence, but dark primarily in the horror sense, and typically includes themes of loss, bodily transformation, revolution, redemption and the occasionally-dysfunctional bonds of family, particularly the mother-child bond. I prefer to focus on the personal stories of my characters rather than entangle them in a wider, world-altering situation, but occasionally I like big bad threats. When I write fiction set in our own world, whether contemporary or historical (such as my western), it usually has touches of fantasy or horror, but more likely will take a magical realism approach.

 

Depending on how fancy I'm feeling, I either call my writing punk or romantic grotesque. I think the two have a lot in common--they both try to redeem and justify the "ugly" outsider, they're both very skeptical of what lies at the heart of the establishment, and neither shies away from shocking the reader.

 

This is my first big story. It's a portal fantasy with a science base. It currently has a bit of a World of Wonder feel to it, that may not make it through revision. There are several MC's, mostly kids drawn into Faery in different ways. In the first couple of books there are some rescues that don't go as planned and the last books get more political. There's lots of family drama along the way. I'm keeping it upbeat even though it's chock full of deep issues.

 

The better question would be what *don't* I write.

Most of my stuff has a magical realism feel to it, with an Eastern European slant to it (at least in the folkloric elements). I do a lot with transformative elements whether it's becoming a demi-god (Hrothgar series) or discovering a bloodline that comes from the gods (metal band roadie + Odin), or the Queens of the Dragons (last or otherwise) letting a bit of their glamour slip so the scales and teeth show. (There is also the story with a talking tree, who used to be the last prince of the realm and I'm still trying to figure out why he was turned into a tree.)

I tend to go with ordinary, everyday folk. I'm not one to put an ordinary farmboy into armor and call him a hero. I think my take on St George and the Dragon kinda encapsulates a lot of what I try to do with ordinary people...wherein a guy with a peg leg is told again and again that he can't become a knight, can't fight the dragons/griffins/etc, but when the dragon comes knocking on the castle gate, George is the only one who knows how to slay a dragon quickly--because while he was laid up he read a ton of books and found out the dragon's weakness.

I also tend to go for the familial, for the small scale, rather than grand epicosity. I would rather dive into the "hidden" aspects of relationships, and write about how love can go horribly wrong rather than write romance. I would rather dive into familial relationships that are dysfunctional, than a happy family, because everyone can relate to having a screwed up alcoholic aunt or an absent father or whatever--and I don't do sappy. I would rather write about a village than a city, because in the city no one cares and in a village, everyone cares far too much.

 

20 minutes in the future setting, where magic and science have struck an uneasy balance, with touches of noir, pulp Sci-Fi, and turn of the century fantasy. For example: My MC is a freelance troubleshooter who is trying to track down the person pirating spellbooks through a torrent site because errors in the files are causing nasty things to slip through The Hedge and into the world of Sonder

 

I'm working on a portal fantasy series that does for swords and mail what Tom Clancy did for the nuclear submarine.

 

I write what you might call "high fantasy" in the sense that I have it set in a medieval-type era. One of my tales centers around a recently crowned king, bringing it even closer to the "high fantasy" category, but he was adopted by the previous king (who had no heirs) when he was ten. I bring it down a little from the "high fantasy" by making this adopted prince the bastard son of a whore (who does not know his father) sold into slavery. I then explore modern psychological issues such as attachment disorders (common among adopted children) in juxtaposition with feudal rules of bloodlines, divine right to rule, etc.

Another does not center around royalty in any way, but it has dragons and tyranny and all that good stuff.

So I don't know if you'd call that high fantasy or what, or just the whole "doin' it my way" fantasy.

 

I write dark fantasy. Vampires, evil sorcerers, blood thirsty mermaids, dark worlds, demons, lots of blood and guts; I like to think of a lot mine as dark fairytales. I try to keep mythical creatures true to their original roots (it's amazing how many of our fairytale friends have gotten "soft" over the years). I also happen to be a huge fan of Brother's Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson and their original telling of stories, and I love games like Castlevania where it's borderline horror. I also like to write a lot of horror, slasher, and gothic fiction, so I guess it would only make sense

 

Secondary world dieselpunk. Magic exists in the landscape and technology is developed to take advantage of it. In the same way the the Wright Brothers understood flight based on a bird's wing, this society learns from the oddity of their world. Although in practice it is pretty heavily leaning into a 1920's-1930's technology profile.

Villains step right out anime flicks. Character driven stories with motives and fears, but the stories lean toward the adventure style.