"Why, if I had all the cheese in the world I would make pizza!"

[grifstar]

Hmm, yep, I think that I officially dislike reading.. Given to what you consider "reading" anyway.

Had to find a new book today at Barns n' Nobles. You would think that out of over 200 fantasy books I could simply find a novel that I would enjoy. Sadly, I could not. Simply because I've realised that 90% of all fantasy books seem overrated and too predictible to waste reading 400 or more pages of. Plots mostly revoling around the genre of "So-and-so becomes the ruler or is of some royality to *insert country/kingdom/land/world/regnew*, in which can also use magic. Appearently some type of evil thing returns or whatnot and that country/kingdom/land/world/regnew is in trouble, most likely resulting some huge war at the end of the book, also making the ruler person the main character and hero. This book may also revolve heavly on dragons and elves. Dragons most likely evil, and if good they are riden on. Male elves are the snobbish prissy-boy types, while the female elf is also a caster and the hero's main love interest." Without going into much detail of the actual plot, I've probably already explained about 80% of all fantasy books. Which makes me quite disapointed, to the point where I hate to consider some many of those actually "fantasy" books. Since the main purpose of fantasy is creativity. While I do love some of the aspects of fantasy, such as dragons, fairies, elves, etc. Having them constantly used in the same senarios really digusts me. However even with the most commonly used stereotypes can you still make a good plot, yet it depends on how it's done, as the same going to anything. But I think it takes a skilled writer to do that. But I also think everyone can be a skilled writer if they truly try hard enough.

That might be another reason why I like Japanese stuff more (rpgs, anime, manga, etc.). While they also have alot of very common overrated things in most of it(not all though), there are more creative with characters and plots compared to "Western Fantasy".


Also appearently I can submit computer art to my art class for credit =P. Which is good since so far I really hate the class work, so hopefully I can equal it out for "extra work"

Comments

[liesk.livejournal.com]

You might want to consider familiarizing yourself with good publishers. Chances are, if it's a smaller publisher, they'll be more willing to accept something less-than-great and more cliche (at least it's business.) Larger companies, on the other hand, tend to be quite tired of dragons and elves.

You could try looking at some of the books Tor has published, but they can be a bit commercial, and tend to suffer from trilogy-syndrome.

If all else fails, look beyond the blurb to the first few pages of an "okay" looking book - is the writing good? Is the hook interesting, and if it is, does it simply betray you afterwards*?







*The hook, the opening sentence or passage, should captivate the reader - but it also makes a promise, and if the hook has nothing to do with the story or what's going on, it betrays the trust. For example, a mainstream novel that starts the story with an alien invasion in the first paragraph and then says "...but it was all just a dream" and then goes on to tell a story completely irrelevant, making it feel like a marketing ploy.

Likewise, if the story actually [i]is[/i] about a bank robber, it's fine for the writer to say for the first sentence, "He grabbed the money and ran.", but the writer cannot just change the focus to the backstory for eight pages before getting back to the robbery.



Hrm, I read too many books on writing.

[zrana.livejournal.com]

Ah... You need to stop looking at self-important high fantasy. I rarely read that stuff any more.

I'm more fond of Mercedes Lackey and Tanya Huff anymore. And David Eddings, but his latest series seems more like revisiting the character types of his past, even if the story IS different than his other ones--I keep finding characters that make me think of his past characters. But then there are only so many different personalities in the world and he has ALOT of characters, so of course some similarities of types will occur.

I go for the amusing fantasies. Ones that amused me without being PURE comedy are "Summon the Keeper", "Minerva Wakes", and anything Lackey with Diane Tregarde or the SERRAted Edge or Bedlam's Bard series. Modern fantasy. And there was this one by Elizabeth Edgehill that was a multi-book series with an Elf that got stuck in our world that I liked. First chapter was "Never trust anyone over 30."

Even if Lackey is lately full of Mary-Sue-dom with her Valdemar books, yeah, she likes adding elements of Romance into her books, but at least she makes plots outside of that element. She amuses me and makes fun of herself. I like people that can make fun of themselves...

[acetylenearson.livejournal.com]

Ever consider trying out books not within the fantasy genre? I gave up that genre - save for a few series which basically started it all - quite some time ago.

As horrible as it may sound to anything who dreads college English classes; classics can prove quite good if you read the right novels. [Then again, I enjoy English class] I'm not referring to people relevant to Charles Dickens either, as I've only read one of his novels and it wasn't near as entertaining nor thought-provoking as many other books.

There are many which if they were movies [many are, but movies based off books = terrible] would be labeled as 'action'; which is why I hold Alexendre Dumas as my favorite author. His novels tend to be exciting, well-planned, without cliché, and several of them raise questions revolving around human nature and desires. So what if one of his characters is just a guy plotting a emotionally destructive revenge and who escaped from prison which he was in for years due to his best friends betraying him as opposed to a warrior or prince who was born with magic?

Or, take the last interesting author I've been reading the books of; Mikhail Bulgakov. His books are considered classics yet they tend to be quite short, utterly satirical, and incredibly inventive; quite different from Shakesphere or Dickens. [That could also apply to Orwell but I currently hold Bulgakov higher due to his innovation.]

Or, if you honestly want fantasy; go with T.H. White and J.R.R. Tolkien? Er...

There is also the sci-fi section of fantasy, in which I would suggest H.G. Wells; he once created mass fear due to people actually believing alien-ant-type creatures were attacking.

Indeed, I'm stuck in the past it seems...

[grifstar.livejournal.com]

My, my, lots of lengthy coments.. I guess I'll roll my reply all into one.

Granted, not all are like that, I have found several good fantasies in the past. But sometimes finding some books the differ from it is like finding a needle in a haystack. Sometimes, not always though. In the case I was in, so it would seem.

I've thought about looking under different genres, yet I also blame the horrible ways of catagoring genres. Since usually it's non-fiction, and then fiction is cut in only a few groups: Mystery/Horror, Fantasy/Sci-fi (which is what I spent a good 20 minutes in), Romance, and "other". Mystery and Horror gets old fast, Romance.. well.. I'm not even going to get started with that >_>. And "other" has everything under the sun. Most of it being historical fiction in some way.

Simply, fantasy has always been a favorite, but I still wish some authors would be atleast more creative with them. Of course, stereotypes isn't my only "turn-off", I have plently others. But I would diffinitely say it's my most.


Blah, I just hate novel reading in general now, whoever made it be a required thing in English classes should been shot several times then runned over with a steamboat >_<.