What Won't You Write?

[Trish]

What genre is that not true of though? The human condition (and by extension fantasy/sci-fi beings) only have so much range.

The fun is in the challenge of trying to do it better, more interesting, etc.

That's how I look at it anyway.
(No ruffled feathers here)

 

[Rath Darkblade]

No worries, Aaron. I also grew up with D&D 2nd Ed (and Fighting Fantasy, by the way ... and the Hobbit) ... and later LOTR, and Tom Holt, and Sir Terry Pratchett, and Douglas Adams etc. et al.

But you're right. The fantasy genre is full of would-be authors, all seeking to jump on the bandwagon ... and not all of them can write well. (We won't even go into writers who use AI to write their books for them, and then publish what AI wrote "as is", with no attempt to filter or develop it into something even barely coherent and less sucky).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

The problem with ratings systems and trigger warnings is that they are subjective.

If a person is so sensitive to a topic that he or she cannot bear to be faced with it even in a novel, then perhaps that person needs to read reviews or ask friends for reviews of books before reading them. In a lifetime of reading, I've come across scenes that made me wish I'd never picked the book up; dealing with my reaction is my problem. That being said, encountering a disturbing scene on the written page is much different for me than being faced with the same scene depicted in lurid detail and full color on a screen. I do read reviews and ask people about movies I'm considering watching. It isn't a huge inconvenience.

 

[ProductionBlues]

In fantasy, there's nothing new. Everything is pretty much the retelling of some weekend basement gaming session or regurgitated LOTR or GOT.

Shots fired shots fired

 

[Naomasa298]

In fantasy, there's nothing new. Everything is pretty much the retelling of some weekend basement gaming session or regurgitated LOTR or GOT. Yawn.

It kind of depends what you mean by fantasy though. Thanks to Hollywood, the kind of fantasy that's popular now is mostly swords and sorcery, and maybe some boy wizards, but it's not all like that. Everyone wants to be the next GRR or Jordan (although WHY the latter escapes me).

I just posted a story in the workshop that I stuck the fantasy tag to, just because it has fantastical elements, but it's certainly not a D&D pastiche (and yeah, I grew up with AD&D as well, and I've written swords and sorcery).

I went through that whole "here's a 5000 word prologue showing you this amazing world I created, and oh, btw, this story doesn't take place in most of it" phase a long time ago.

 

[Naomasa298]

One thing I don't write is wish-fulfilment fantasies or stories, whether that's yours, mine or someone else's. I don't write fanfiction where Leia falls in love with Chewie, I don't write ones where someone gets their revenge on their horrible boss, or ones where the plucky, good-hearted but overlooked underdog gets the girl/guy/horse.

Someone once told me in a workshop that one of my characters resonated with them, so they thought I should change the story's ending so that guy won. So like... no.