Hello everyone
When I first came to Mythic Scribes I already knew that my Fantasy stories were a little different to traditional fantasy... but when I started to read posts and I got a glimpse of the way that most of you create and write your fantasy stories, I was shocked to discover that my stories are VERY different to yours!!
I have sometimes described my magic, characters and worlds as "surreal fantasy" because that's my style, like stuff taken from surreal paintings or even dreams- a friend of mine (who lives in Madrid and a few years ago read a now outdated version of my first fantasy novel) has described my works as unreality, he says that it's not fantasy and I wanted to ask your opinion here in Mythic Scribes
1- Good vs Evil: The tradition in Fantasy is that there is a central plot dealing with the Good vs Evil struggles, you know, the group of heroes that must help the main hero to defeat the forces of evil trying to destroy or conquer the world... In my fantasy, this does not exist: My mages are actually evil, despite that some of them try to act as good (what they call "the lies") and even though they do not seek to conquer worlds, they usually abuse and kill common people and have sometimes annihilated entire cities just for fun
There are different cultures of mages that fight each other, so actually it's like Evil vs Evil
2- Hero: The central Hero that usually comes from a low and common life and rises to destiny and legend to vanquish evil is another classic part of Fantasy, but in my stories my "heroine" is a Mage Princess from the very start, later becoming a Queen... Things happen to her in twisted and often unexpected ways (most of the times it's the fault of someone else!!) and she is not particularly skilled or powerful, at least not more than other mages of her own culture and kind
She seems sweet most of the time, but she's actually a sadist and a murderess of innocent people... so this is another twist from traditional fantasy style =P
3- Dark Lord: In my stories there is indeed a character that could be considered a dark lord, but the difference is that she's like a dark legend and a background problem that nobody seems to really worry about- She is powerful enough to reality warp an entire endless universe, destroy it into nothingness or create universes from nowhere, so she does not care about conquering worlds or enslaving people
The only time that she conquered a world in the story was to simply take something that the mages had abandoned there and then fill the place with her monster pets so they would have fun!! She appears personally only in the end of the story, and even though the mages fight her in a great battle, they never defeat her and it's evil vs evil all over again...
4- Quest: There is no clear quest in my stories, it's more like unexpected things that happen to the mages and all the crazy things and battles that they have =)
5- Medieval Setting: Most Fantasy stories out there take place in medieval-like worlds, but in my stories they take place in worlds with curious and rare technology.. also, my main universe is a sea that never ends (the worlds are continental-size islands) and other universes that the mages travel to are like endless forests, endless gardens or endless darkness with snow that comes out of nowhere and is taken eternally by powerful winds
6- Races: There are no elves, dwarves, orcs, giants, trolls or anything like that in my stories- actually there are no humans at all
7- Magic: My mages are awfully powerful and they are more like mystical creatures instead of magic users, capable of flying at hypersonic speeds, annihilate cities left and right effortlessly, destroy entire worlds and cause reality warping to a massive scale- In fact I am pretty obsessed with super mages, great battles and magical weapons of mass destruction in the same way that some sci fi fans get obsessed with mile-long starships, huge space armadas and planet-busting weaponry
Please tell me, after reading all of this... can my stories really be called Fantasy, or am I writing something else??
Sheila
When I first came to Mythic Scribes I already knew that my Fantasy stories were a little different to traditional fantasy... but when I started to read posts and I got a glimpse of the way that most of you create and write your fantasy stories, I was shocked to discover that my stories are VERY different to yours!!
I have sometimes described my magic, characters and worlds as "surreal fantasy" because that's my style, like stuff taken from surreal paintings or even dreams- a friend of mine (who lives in Madrid and a few years ago read a now outdated version of my first fantasy novel) has described my works as unreality, he says that it's not fantasy and I wanted to ask your opinion here in Mythic Scribes
1- Good vs Evil: The tradition in Fantasy is that there is a central plot dealing with the Good vs Evil struggles, you know, the group of heroes that must help the main hero to defeat the forces of evil trying to destroy or conquer the world... In my fantasy, this does not exist: My mages are actually evil, despite that some of them try to act as good (what they call "the lies") and even though they do not seek to conquer worlds, they usually abuse and kill common people and have sometimes annihilated entire cities just for fun
There are different cultures of mages that fight each other, so actually it's like Evil vs Evil
2- Hero: The central Hero that usually comes from a low and common life and rises to destiny and legend to vanquish evil is another classic part of Fantasy, but in my stories my "heroine" is a Mage Princess from the very start, later becoming a Queen... Things happen to her in twisted and often unexpected ways (most of the times it's the fault of someone else!!) and she is not particularly skilled or powerful, at least not more than other mages of her own culture and kind
She seems sweet most of the time, but she's actually a sadist and a murderess of innocent people... so this is another twist from traditional fantasy style =P
3- Dark Lord: In my stories there is indeed a character that could be considered a dark lord, but the difference is that she's like a dark legend and a background problem that nobody seems to really worry about- She is powerful enough to reality warp an entire endless universe, destroy it into nothingness or create universes from nowhere, so she does not care about conquering worlds or enslaving people
The only time that she conquered a world in the story was to simply take something that the mages had abandoned there and then fill the place with her monster pets so they would have fun!! She appears personally only in the end of the story, and even though the mages fight her in a great battle, they never defeat her and it's evil vs evil all over again...
4- Quest: There is no clear quest in my stories, it's more like unexpected things that happen to the mages and all the crazy things and battles that they have =)
5- Medieval Setting: Most Fantasy stories out there take place in medieval-like worlds, but in my stories they take place in worlds with curious and rare technology.. also, my main universe is a sea that never ends (the worlds are continental-size islands) and other universes that the mages travel to are like endless forests, endless gardens or endless darkness with snow that comes out of nowhere and is taken eternally by powerful winds
6- Races: There are no elves, dwarves, orcs, giants, trolls or anything like that in my stories- actually there are no humans at all
7- Magic: My mages are awfully powerful and they are more like mystical creatures instead of magic users, capable of flying at hypersonic speeds, annihilate cities left and right effortlessly, destroy entire worlds and cause reality warping to a massive scale- In fact I am pretty obsessed with super mages, great battles and magical weapons of mass destruction in the same way that some sci fi fans get obsessed with mile-long starships, huge space armadas and planet-busting weaponry
Please tell me, after reading all of this... can my stories really be called Fantasy, or am I writing something else??
Sheila
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Auror
Inkling
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Minstrel
