What kind of fantasy?

[Lessien]

Just curious....since quite a few people here say they like to write fantasy, I was just wondering which kind is the most popular?

I write several kinds of fantasy; it all depends on the mood I'm in, I guess.

 

[NeoScribe]

I'm mostly into High Fantasy, though not necessarily LOTR type. I've also done some AU when it was called for.

 

[BoxBunny]

Its an odd thing. I like to write fantasy, but I really hate reading it.

 

[sunstruckdream]

I like "realistic fantasy," if that makes any sense. Whether my characters are totally human or a dash of something else, I always feel that they're just like real people with real emotions and real reactions. So even if the plotline is fantastical, the thought processes and dialogues and stuff like that always sounds a lot more like realism.
I dunno. It's just what I like.

 

[MzSnowleopard]

I like reading the fantasy romances where the lovers have crossed time / space / or even reality to be together.

In writing- I work with the 6 degrees factor- everyone knows or is related to everyone else by , at most, 6 other people.

 

[METAL]

Mystery/Detective.

​

 

[Solomon Kane]

I had to vote "other".
My personal favorite form of fantasy is known as "Sword & Sorcery".

Made famous by the writings of Robert E. Howard, Karl Wagner, Michael Moorcock, and others, it's style focused more on the brutal aspects of the setting and the negative aspects of humanity.
The characters derive their actions more from their own personal self interests then from a sense of right or wrong. This, usually, puts them into the catagory of anti-heros. Another aspect is that such characters tend to loners rather then part of a group or member of a quest. Either because their own nature keeps them from feeling comfortable working with the group or because they do not agree with the morals, goals, methods used by the group.

Usually such stories tend to be either short stories or connected short stories. the primary focus is on the action and its effects on the characters. Rarely does the main character come of the adventure completely on top.

 

[DarkLegend28]

lolz, all of them

 

[Airy]

I like a good mix of humor (gotta have humor!) and either high fantasy or urban fantasy...

 

[stonetoflesh]

I had to vote "other".
My personal favorite form of fantasy is known as "Sword & Sorcery".

S&S is definitely at the top of my list along with its science-fantasy equivalent: "Sword & Planet" aka "Planetary Romance", wherein the protagonist (usually human) has adventures on an unfamiliar planet. This subgenre shares many of the conventions of S&S-- ancient, decaying (and often decadent) civilizations, strong melee-based warrior culture, weird monsters, fast-paced action and plotting, etc.-- but also borrows elements from science fiction. These are usually found in the form of psionics (in lieu of magic), aliens, fantastic technology (flying ships, ray guns, teleportation devices, etc.) often powered by pseudo-science like "the Eighth Barsoomian Ray", and so on.

Several prime examples would be Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure, and Leigh Brackett's Book of Skaith...

 

[Paladin Dave]

Mostly "high", but I also enjoy some realism in certain aspects. I try to limit magic and supernatural stuff, but only for the sake of balance. In the fantasy books/roleplays where everything can kill people in droves, it always leaves me wondering "how the heck does the normal man get by?". I like to have exceptional heroes be rare, and exceptional monsters/villains just as rare, but still noticable. Its not fantasy without fantastical things, but its not believable when every other person can level a town with their thoughts and every other 14 year old girl is a master of the blade.

I think the best example is a story my girlfriend and I are writing together. The main characters are 18 and 20, and their most common enemy are human soldiers that are occupying their homelands. The character modeled after me(I know, its SO uncool to model characters after yourself, but we don't care.) is a 20-year old farmer in a land occupied by human soldiers, from a nation that rules much of the known world. The other is an 18 year old female half-elf from a neighboring country, and a runaway from a magistrate who enslaved or killed most of her kind in the area. It'll have plenty of different races in it, and we're toying with the idea of a super-powered race of dragon-descended monsterous humanoids being the occupying force's main rival, but that's as powerful as they get. We're trying to hash out magic boundaries right now, and most other races will be human, save for a few striking qualities(IE, nocturnal humanoids with bat-like wings and incredible senses, living in the trees, or aquatic/fish-like humanoids, to be terribly undescriptive. Nothing too special, but not overdone. I don't think we'll have orcs or an equivalent.)

 

[Lessien]

Mostly "high", but I also enjoy some realism in certain aspects. I try to limit magic and supernatural stuff, but only for the sake of balance. In the fantasy books/roleplays where everything can kill people in droves, it always leaves me wondering "how the heck does the normal man get by?". I like to have exceptional heroes be rare, and exceptional monsters/villains just as rare, but still noticable. Its not fantasy without fantastical things, but its not believable when every other person can level a town with their thoughts and every other 14 year old girl is a master of the blade.

I think the best example is a story my girlfriend and I are writing together. The main characters are 18 and 20, and their most common enemy are human soldiers that are occupying their homelands. The character modeled after me(I know, its SO uncool to model characters after yourself, but we don't care.) is a 20-year old farmer in a land occupied by human soldiers, from a nation that rules much of the known world. The other is an 18 year old female half-elf from a neighboring country, and a runaway from a magistrate who enslaved or killed most of her kind in the area. It'll have plenty of different races in it, and we're toying with the idea of a super-powered race of dragon-descended monsterous humanoids being the occupying force's main rival, but that's as powerful as they get. We're trying to hash out magic boundaries right now, and most other races will be human, save for a few striking qualities(IE, nocturnal humanoids with bat-like wings and incredible senses, living in the trees, or aquatic/fish-like humanoids, to be terribly undescriptive. Nothing too special, but not overdone. I don't think we'll have orcs or an equivalent.)

Thank goodness. Too many fantasy authors can't bear to let their characters kill other human beings so they create races of Bad Expendables. (Tolkien was able to get away with it because he was one of the first and he thoroughly explained why and how Orcs got into Middle Earth. )

 

[Paladin Dave]

I always loved that about Tolkien's orcs. They were proof that Elves had the same capacity for evil that they looked down on humans for. Oh, and that they're cowards, good or evil.

 

[stormydawn]

My fantasy is more of a "high fantasy" but not exactly....it's hard to describe. It's more of a mix of the high fantasy and alternate universe.

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

When I write fantasy, it usually occurs on the borderlands -- the edge between life and death, between dreams and waking, or between realities.

 

[Soldier_For_Christ]

I'm currently writing a book that has been classified as "High Fantasy". It is coming along pretty well too, currently at 94,000 words. However, there is still a great deal of story to tell in it and I'm afraid that my Senior year in school will not allot me enough time to complete the story before I graduate.

 

[Becky153]

I like to write High Fantasy, but not read it...a little odd, I know, but so far I'm working with three books and all of them are High Fantasy. I myself don't know why I like to write it but not read it

 

[MzSnowleopard]

Interesting- Found this on Wikipedia-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy

in other words-

High Fantasy is to fantasy

as

hard science fiction is to science fiction.


I'm more into the Soft and Social Sciences of the subgenres of science fiction


Good stuff

 

[PinkLime]

I said high because mine rather is.All my characters have cool powers or are under spells,and they all live in places like Harondy,World of Water,Tylargrenna,etc..

 

[NavyGuy7]

'Tis not a difficult choice for me, as I am well-versed in the imaginings of my intellect, dreaming of days spent in alternate universes and heroes, and villians, and setting all to right again.

How's that for "High" Fantasy?!? LOL. Yah, I'm more a writer of the mind than reality. It's a free for all when it comes to my imagination.