Why I don't think I would be a good author

Depends who you listen to. The Business Rusch: Storytelling

 

The Princess Bride comes to mind. Mercedes Lackey does gentle non-sexy stories that generally end happy. Terry Pratchett has lots of characters that are nice, my favorites being Carrot and Cheery. Oh, and Mickey Zucker Reichert's "Beasts of Barakhai" duology is fairly pleasant.

Right now, though, the trend in fantasy (and elsewhere) is gritty, violent, dark desires. I'm with you on being about done with gritty fantasy and I'd love to see a resurgence of light, escapist reading.

 

I think my first fantasy novel was Piers Anthony's On a Pale Horse. I moved on from Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality to David Eddings' Belgariad, starting with Pawn of Prophecy. The '80's were different, but the fantasy was, perhaps, considerably lighter.

In the world of The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, it may not make you the belle of the ball to write about hopeful fantasy, but it's there. It's doable. I attest to doing it myself.

As A.E. Lowan mentions, I wrote what I wanted to read - not necessarily what the market wanted me to write. Does that make my book less valid? No. Less profitable? Maybe. But you know what? It's my book. It's out there and dashing across the digital lanes of nations!

Write what you love.

 

If you have the time and money seeing a really good performance of Shakespeare is worth it.
I've seen Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew and didn't get them until I saw and heard them.
The comedies are usually easier to pallet than the tragedies [but that might just be me].
I love the films 10 things I hate about you and Kiss me Kate and they are both [loose adaptations of] Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew [and that has one of the best songs ever written Brush up your Shakespeare].
In case you think I just like moves about dating... The BBC series The Hollow Crown [Richard II, Henry IV Pt1, Henry IV Pt2 and Henry V] was stunning.

No-one knows about human nature - that's why we keep writing - one of us is bound to find the secret eventually!!!

I agree I think there is too much doom and gloom in modern culture... so if you want to, bring back the light and hope. I will cheer you on!

Not exactly canon but I found this while looking around for the BuyS
Monty Python - Hamlet

 

Then here you go. I hate it too. The plot was good, but the ending was awful. The ending ruined the entire book for me.

My story started out fairly lighthearted, but it has darkened as I go. This is mainly because of how much I've matured as a person as I went on and the different things I'm addressing. I feel like if I hadn't darkened mine, I wouldn't have taken it seriously, but feel-good fantasy exists, and I love reading those. I just knew that the light version of my story wouldn't be good at all. But it isn't that dark, either. How light is your story?

 

This reminded me of an issue I struggle with in my own writing, namely characterization. Reviewers have told me multiple times than my characters tend to be one-dimensional and that I don't put much thought into their inner psychology (or "get into their heads"). I wonder if this has something to do with my Asperger's Syndrome, which impairs my intuitive understanding of other people. If I can't read and understand other individuals in the real world, how can I create realistic people in my own writing?

 

That's okay. Agents and editors (probably) won't kick you out if you don't catch a Shakespeare reference, and Amazon doesn't quiz you on Othello before you can upload your book. I agree with CupofJoe that there are enjoyable retellings of Shakespeare that make me think there's a lot more to that guy than I can get from reading the texts. But I wouldn't worry about him. As long as you're reading fiction at all, you're miles ahead of people who attempt to become writers without being readers first.

I feel like the whole point of literature is understand human nature. It's a pretty broad topic. Millions of books later, we still haven't solved it.

I try to understand human nature by understanding myself. In the beginning, my assumptions based on how I'd act fell flat, so I learned to incorporate others' reactions into my framework of "how humans act and think." It seems like my fiction and poetry is an exercise in understanding why people do the things they do. It's a fun way of working out problems because the narrative is like a simulation where I control the external factors. Of course, this is probably a quirk in my personality. Most people probably don't look at writing like that.

Often, but not always. Literature also portrays humanity at its best with characters who suffer misfortune and then overcome their situation, their adversaries, and even themselves. It speaks to empowerment and allows readers to imagine themselves overcoming obstacles, too.

I think in fantasy there has been a big trend toward gritty, dark stuff, but trends wax and wane. What was popular before will become popular again. I wouldn't sweat it. There will always be readers who prefer darker stories and those who prefer lighter ones. There are readers who can't stand romance and those who can't enjoy a book without it. And so on. Write what you want to read, write it as well as you can, and then find the people who've been looking for a story like yours. It's easier said than done, but it's not impossible.

I think if you are reasoning yourself out of writing and it's working, you should stop. If it's just pangs of doubt and you can't honestly see yourself not writing, then this too shall pass. The only person who can convince that you have nothing to offer is you.

And lots of people hate Lord of the Flies. (Tried to google "I hate Lord of the Flies" and the first auto-complete selection was "I hate Lord of the Rings." Interesting.)

 

Not understanding Shakespeare is fine. The stories may be timeless, but the language is not, and it's perfectly understandable that it's harder to understand in the XXI century. Language has evolved (i'm not saying language now is "better" than language then, that would be silly, it's just different). Besides, the only thing you need to be a good writer is a love of both consuming and producing stories, loving or emulating X or Y famous author is secondary. Also, if there is one thing art has taught me (even if i still suck at it), it's that the only one you should compete against is yourself.

I think human nature isn't meant to be understood, at least not as a concept. I also doubt it's a static thing that we can eventually figure out and resolve, because...well, what would happen to the human experience if we found out a definitive formula for human nature? Everything would be tasteless and flat. I think it is meant to be experienced and lived, and what are stories if not one of many ways to experience human nature? I guess my point is, relax on this one, no author has ever completely revealed the secrets of human nature. If they had, we wouldn't have books, we'd have The Book.

And for all we don't know about human nature, one thing is certain: It's both light and dark. Pick the side you feel more compelled to explore through writing, and explore on my friend! Sometimes it's heañthy to simply ignore the trends in the market and the whole comercial aspect of books, and simply write what you love because you love it.