Just replying to comments got me thinking about stuff I love and stuff I hate in fantasy.
Nothing massively original here but I’d love to hear what you think.
Love:
A good monster. Black riders, the Fetch from Wizard of Earthsea, even Mrs Coulter from His Dark Materials (a sort of monster). Grendel from Beowulf’s pretty good, I think too.
A good hero. Does Tyrion Lannister count as a hero? In my book he does. Elric, Corum, Jerry Cornelius, Dorian Hawkmoon, Jonathan Strange, Dorian Grey, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Morgan Le Fay from Mists of Avalon. I seem to like heroes who are either posessed or cursed quite a lot too. As a kid, I think this is why Frodo (the ring) and Elric appealed to me so much and why my werewolf in my own fantasy novel Wolfsangel does now. It’s the loss of control thing, which is why I’ll always be a werewolf rather than a vampire man. Vampires are vulnerable (during the day anyway) but they are all about control, of others and themselves. Werewolves lose it.
A cracking story that hits you in the guts. Lord of the Rings up until the mountain (one of those hobbits should have died for full emotional impact, I think), Ged being tracked by the dark side of himself, Stormbringer gobbling up friends and foe alike, dark and ancient forces materialising in the bodies of children (Owl Service), a last stand seige – (Legend), the king seduced by his half sister and fathering the boy who will one day kill him (The Queen of Air and Darkness).
Hate:
Flowery language, unless to a purpose. Court officials would talk to a king like a ‘meet and greet’ person at Las Vegas Excalibur. I prefer everyone else to talk normally.
A lot of the art work. I just don’t like the huge-muscled hero and girl with 2 tons of cleavage sort of thing, nor a lot of the new D&D art work. The stuff I loved was the early edition Lord of the Rings stuff. I guess I like understatement in art work – part of the reason I also loved the raven on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel.
Stereotypical characters. The farm boy who doesn’t know his great destiny had its time and place but now has been done. One of the reasons George RR Martin’s so good is that his characters show that he’s actually studied and understood human beings. The rebellious party member who comes good in the end bores me to death too. Buddy bonding of any sort usually leaves me banging my head up the wall. Legolas and Gimli’s love in got on my nerves. Female characters have been awful in a lot of fantasy and it’s unusual to come across convincing women who aren’t either just there to be rescued or, conversely, have to show how feisty they are every ten seconds. No wonder that Mists of Avalon does them best, as the book was written by a woman.
The great race of evil, Dark Lords etc. Again, been done. Let’s understand the bad guy’s motivation a la Rift War and Game of Thrones.
I’ve tried to be original in my latest book, up to a point. I’ve tried to get great monsters, different sorts of heroes and a cracking plot (nothing original there), while trying to throw in a few twists. I hope I’ve been successful. The clichés are always there in the background ready to grab you if you’re not careful and it’s possible I’ve been mugged by a few and not noticed it. That said, you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and plenty that is quite unoriginal (Belgariad, Brisingr) is very popular and, even if it’s not for me, it obviously works for a lot of people. Originality in execution is more important than originality of set up. After all, boy meets girl is a story that’s still being told today but it doesn’t stop it being fresh and exciting. Sometimes.
Honestly, I can only point to the things I hate, because once I get one of these things, I’m completely out of the story and any good that is there is lost…what I hate are:
–Really poor characterization.
–Convenient plot points.
–Unrealistic unrealistic fantasy (notice the double; there’s already a lot of suspending of disbelief going on when reading fantasy, but when some authors just overdo it to the point of clear absurdity, I can’t stand it…some authors do this so they can have something really cool, but when you actually take a second to think about it, the cool thing ceases to make any sense).
–Bad dialogue.
Then again, only one of those actually applies to fantasy as a whole, so…
Yeah! Cool post. Thanks
Can’t believe I forgot to mention Gollum as a favourite monster. Meets all my criteria for a truly great character.
Bad dialogue is certainly something that will drop you out of a story.
I wouldn’t say I always get kicked out by one bad thing. Lord of the Rings has a few bad points but the good side of the book so overwhelms them that it keeps you reading right to the end.
You really empathise with the characters. What I said about leaving one of the hobbits dead on the mountain may have been overdoing it. I would have done that, had I been writing the book but, if Sam or Frodo had died, I think it may have caused mass psychosis among readers.
I don’t know ig it would have caused the mass psychosis. I consider Diarmuid in G.G.Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry. While it most certainly put me off when reading it, the end product was better because of it. I was fully expecting the typical hero-escape, and I am glad Kay didn’t take the easy road.