Fantasy Plots

[NiceyJane123]

I have an idea for a fantasy plot-line that's been in my head for years. I wonder if you could give me an idea of whether or not it would be well-received. What fantasy (magic, dragons, knights and evil queens) stories are well-received and which ones are not?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sunandshadow]

There seems to be a difference between the ones written by and for men and the ones written by and for women. The male ones tend to involve either harems/slaves or fertility cults/holidays or bodily modification magic. The female ones tend to involve an arranged marriage or captor/captive romance or semi-human males who are more awesome in some way than human males.

 

[Lost_Yonder]

I have an idea for a fantasy plot-line that's been in my head for years. I wonder if you could give me an idea of whether or not it would be well-received. What fantasy (magic, dragons, knights and evil queens) stories are well-received and which ones are not?

Thanks in advance!

Admittedly, I am not much into the fantasy genre and thus haven't read many stories, so can't tell how well different types are received. Speaking personally however, evil queens sounds most delectable! How they can poison, seduce, entrap, innocent others... mmmmm so many possibilities!

 

[Darkniciad]

The Sci-Fi&Fantasy and NonHuman ( if your story would fit better there, having a primary character is nonhuman, such as a werewolf, nymph, etc. ) readers are generally quite accepting of a broad range of storylines.

There's a readership there for everything from "An ogre ravished me and I loved it!" to high fantasy with barely any sex at all.

It's all a matter of degrees. The pop-culture trend of Vampires and Werewolves is hot right now. You'll get a lot of reads and votes, but you'll also have a lot of competition.

High fantasy doesn't get as many votes, but you don't have as much competition, and those readers are a bit starved with the popularity of the weres sucking in authors to ride the bandwagon.

All in all, you'll find a readership for any type of fantasy story here at Lit.

 

[NiceyJane123]

Thanks for the input everyone. The story that I have in mind is a bit of a departure from my norm, but so was The Eyes of the Dragon for Stephen King. I will check those authors out for sure, especially since I need inspiration for writing a fantasy series (I think this would fit my idea well). I just really want to get this idea out. It's been bugging me since I started writing [really crappy] stories as soon as I had access to a computer at 10!

 

[CWatson]

I have an idea for a fantasy plot-line that's been in my head for years. I wonder if you could give me an idea of whether or not it would be well-received. What fantasy (magic, dragons, knights and evil queens) stories are well-received and which ones are not?

Honestly? What it has most to do with is how well-written it is.

I'm biased, and I've said so every time I give this advice, but as I see it, there are only two ingredients to any story. One is the characters. The other is what TVTropes calls "Necessary Weasels"--the particular conventions of the genre. In science-fiction, it's lasers or robots or spaceships; in romance, it's love triangles or ripped bodices or rich, snobby dukes; in fantasy it's magic, dragons, knights and evil queens. But the whole point is that all of those things are props, are disguises, are costuming; strip them away, and the characters themselves are left naked and exposed. And either they're interesting, or they aren't. And it's that moment--not the lasers, not the explosions, not the magic rings--that wins or loses you the audience.

If they're interesting, it doesn't matter what you clothe them in. Once upon a time an orphan farmboy discovered that his father, once a great knight, had succumbed to evil and now helped a corrupt king rule all of creation. Taking up his father's sword, the boy began training to be a knight himself, hoping not to defeat his father, but to show him love and redeem him. Does this sound like a compelling story? It could be pretty good, and George Lucas did a decent job with it. He called it "Star Wars."

And if they're not interesting, it doesn't matter what you clothe them in. Once upon a time, robots fought each other, but no human being were involved and nobody's lives changed. Do you care? Neither do I. The movie was called "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

So your question, as to which of them are well-received, is best answered this way: the ones that are well-received are the ones with interesting characters. If you create characters that The Reader wants to read about, to learn about, to follow in their adventures, you have won the battle, and you can now throw just about anything at them and they will lap it up and ask for more. If you don't create such characters, nothing can save you.

 

[Never]

I'm biased, and I've said so every time I give this advice, but as I see it, there are only two ingredients to any story. One is the characters. The other is what TVTropes calls "Necessary Weasels"--the particular conventions of the genre. In science-fiction, it's lasers or robots or spaceships; in romance, it's love triangles or ripped bodices or rich, snobby dukes; in fantasy it's magic, dragons, knights and evil queens.

Except you don't need those particular conventions. There's lots of good science fiction with no lasers, robots, or spaceships. There's lots of good fantasy with no dragons, knights, or evil queens. Magic is possibly the only thing that could be considered a Necessary Weasel for fantasy, and it all depends on how you define the term.

 

[NiceyJane123]

Honestly? What it has most to do with is how well-written it is.

I'm biased, and I've said so every time I give this advice, but as I see it, there are only two ingredients to any story. One is the characters. The other is what TVTropes calls "Necessary Weasels"--the particular conventions of the genre. In science-fiction, it's lasers or robots or spaceships; in romance, it's love triangles or ripped bodices or rich, snobby dukes; in fantasy it's magic, dragons, knights and evil queens. But the whole point is that all of those things are props, are disguises, are costuming; strip them away, and the characters themselves are left naked and exposed. And either they're interesting, or they aren't. And it's that moment--not the lasers, not the explosions, not the magic rings--that wins or loses you the audience.

If they're interesting, it doesn't matter what you clothe them in. Once upon a time an orphan farmboy discovered that his father, once a great knight, had succumbed to evil and now helped a corrupt king rule all of creation. Taking up his father's sword, the boy began training to be a knight himself, hoping not to defeat his father, but to show him love and redeem him. Does this sound like a compelling story? It could be pretty good, and George Lucas did a decent job with it. He called it "Star Wars."

And if they're not interesting, it doesn't matter what you clothe them in. Once upon a time, robots fought each other, but no human being were involved and nobody's lives changed. Do you care? Neither do I. The movie was called "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

So your question, as to which of them are well-received, is best answered this way: the ones that are well-received are the ones with interesting characters. If you create characters that The Reader wants to read about, to learn about, to follow in their adventures, you have won the battle, and you can now throw just about anything at them and they will lap it up and ask for more. If you don't create such characters, nothing can save you.

Very good points! For something this long and drawn out, I always do character outlines. I've written several long stories that I kept to myself and ripped up when I was done, but my problem was always finding enough things for them to do.

 

[CWatson]

Except you don't need those particular conventions. There's lots of good science fiction with no lasers, robots, or spaceships. There's lots of good fantasy with no dragons, knights, or evil queens. Magic is possibly the only thing that could be considered a Necessary Weasel for fantasy, and it all depends on how you define the term.

You are exactly right... But that's deconstruction and/or minimalism, and a bit advanced for NiceyJane's purposes.

And (while I am, as mentioned, biased) even so, I'd argue that it just proves my original point: genre conventions are unimportant. If you have solid characters and a solid story underneath, then it doesn't matter what genre conventions you dress them up as, or if you even bother to at all. Is it possible to write fantasy with little magic, few dragons, knights who are far from shining, and only one evil queen? Ask George R. R. Martin.

Nicey, another bit of technique to suggest to you, tying into a discussion on The Importance of Plausibility going on elsewhere on the boards: Human nature is human nature, whether it's surrounded by dragons, laser guns or werewolves. That's why genre conventions are unimportant: people are still people. (Unless they aren't, but then your problem isn't that you're in or not in a particular genre, your problem is that you're a bad writer. I hope that's not the problem you personally are facing. )