What do you look for in a Fantasy genre?

[purrlpankras]

Well everyone must look for different things

[zelkats]

Suspension of disbelief. Don't go batshit crazy with all the magic.

[AnnaLandin]

Yeah.... It varies, depending on what mood I'm in.

I'm less likely to be looking for:

1.) The classic Tolkienite type of fantasy, with stereotypical elves, dwarves and orchs, and with the conflict clearly defined into black and white, good vs evil. Not because good vs evil can't be interesting, but because it's difficult to make interesting, and a lot of people fail. Also, I've read a metric ton of it, and want to see something new.

2.) The whole prophesied hero/orphan farmboy is really a king trope. It's also been done, and there's very little tension or interest in it these days, because there's only really two ways for it to end - either the prophesied hero/orphan farmboy does really well in their new role, or they don't.

3.) Deus ex magica. If the central conflict, or whatever pinch your characters is in, can be solved by hand waving and a bit of magic, that's a bit boring.

I'm more likely to be looking for:

1.) Inventive use of magic. Don't just give me white-bearded wizards with robes and staffs (with all due respect to Gandalf); give me something new and interesting! Is your magic dependent on language, and new spells crafted with new words, or combinations of words? Is it tied to the landscape in which it is cast - with magic dust-storms in deserts, or magic tsunamis along shorelines? Is it dependent on the caster's life-energy, or do they have to go through some elaborate spiritual ritual to become mages? Tinker with this, and try to make something new and inventive and well thought out.

2.) Imaginative world-building. If your fantasy world is just "medieval Europe but with elves and dragons", I'm probably going to be sceptical. You've got all the freedom you want to do absolutely anthing. Give me some islands floating in the air, or mountains made of crystals, or giant titanic beasts chained under the ground and guarded by immortal watchers - give me archipelagos that move, or deserts made of blue sand, or whatever. You've got the power - use it.

3.) A sense of adventure and wonder. This is a brand new world you've playing with, yes - but the story is not a travelogue. Give me characters who are going somewhere, with good reasons for going. Give me exploration, discovery, tension and high stakes. Or, if your story is set in one place, and is more of a fantasy-themed slice-of-life, get me invested in the characters and the world around them, and make me care. So your character is a magical cobbler, and not a magical adventurer - why is that cool and interesting?

[Cagattzo]

Personally I look for a fantasy with elements of reality. Part of the fantasy is to create a world, a universe that surrounds your story, but that universe has to be supported by factual basis, be "possible" to imagine, locate and understand as reality ...

Tolkien, for example, built a whole fantasy world which, in turn, had its historical foundations, its origins, languages, geography, etc ... Everything was tangible, as if it were the basis of a culture that really existed. ..

In college, before dedicating to study to become a filmmaker, I studied to become a degree in history and I began to specialize in mythology ... and one of the beautiful things I discovered that fantasy is much stronger when it has foundations in reality. Mythology makes sense when understood from a real world view and not as mere stories to entertain.

My webcomic "emissary of the sun" has the ambition to build a magical world from real elements and ambition is very difficult to get, (and I believe is that we all have when writing fantasy), but I try not to lose the real view, that gives you a much better basis to study and understand the historical processes which in turn are part of that fantasy ... A fantasy from the self and identity, from the roots of your own country.

Greetings and successes from CHILE.

(Sorry for my bad English)

My webcomic "Emissary of the Sun" http://tapastic.com/series/Emisario-del-Sol

[Damatris]

Fantasy is (even after all these years) my favourite genre even if I have become a bit pickier about it.

Some things that I really enjoy are:

Internal consistency: You can go as over the top as you like as long as things are logical and don't break the suspension of disbelief. Don't spring "just because" reasoning. Have your magic follow some rules.

Grey morality: It's just a lot more interesting than clear cut black&white one, where bad guys are simply bad and good guys can't do anything wrong.

Interesting, well developed world: I'm a huge nerd for imaginary lands, cultures, etc. Gimme a world with rich history (which doesn't have to be actually even told, just alluded) and I'm much more likely to stick around.

I think those are the biggest things tied to the fantasy part of the story. Rest (like interesting, multidimensional characters) would be applicable for any story at all regardless of the genre.

[mg78]

as always: something new.
it s veeeeeeeeeery rare.

[infectedbloodcomics]

Adventure, love, epic battles, big lore, deep, mature content, but also believable weapons and situations: in other word, suspension of disbelief must work all around. I also tend to cringe at elves, oversized weapons and anything trying to reproduce European Dark Ages without knowing any correct/decent sense of what it was like, which pretty much cuts off most fantasy manga. But then again, I don't like manga, so...

EDIT: I forgot to mention the gray morality. Can't have enough of that.

[elixiadragmire]

I like grey morality sometimes and good v evil other times. I think both have their pitfalls. For the GvE vien personnaly I think you need a STRONG badguy, a 'force of nature' villian

like Belltrix LeStrange, the Joker just to name a few. These are in-human and are hard to relate to and that it was makes them interesting to watch.

My magic HAS TO HAVE A REASON it cant just simply be, I need lore.

[JigokuNeko]

I used to love fantasy above all genres and I still like it a lot but it's getting hard to find content that does not seem Tolkien copypasta (or rather using Tolkien iconography without understanding what the master was going for). What I like boils down to this:

1) A human-scale story. There is a recent trend where fantasy is all about saving the world, the universe, the multiverse, the entirety of the multiverse dimensional time-space. That sort of scale is really tiresome to me and often ends up meaningless. I would more likely be interested in someone trying to uncover a local mystery or going on a journey through the country and in the meantime interacting with interesting characters.

2) A society where women are equals. I avoid works where women are property or constantly abused because...history? Snort. It's sexist as hell to say "look, I got dragons and magic in my story but making women equals will totally ruin the suspension of disbelief". It also shows very limited writing abilities when the author can't think of interesting events without dangling a damsel in distress in front of the dudebro hero. No, just no. Grumpy-cat, no.

3) ...which brings me to my third point. Euro-centric fauxmedieval stuff. I have a soft spot for it because it feels familiar and dozens of my favorite books are set up in that type of world but...it is so overdone. There is so much wealth of folklore in the world and so much breathtaking imagery to be married with magic that it is a shame to just regurgitate the same old ahistoric medieval fantasy.

4) a working economy. Okay, this is a personal pet peeve of mine but I find it jarring as hell when no thought at all is given to how food and stuff are brought to a certain part of the world. I see people eating exotic fruits, dressing in sumptuous silks and bearing fancy weapons in a place that does not have the infrastructure for it and I'm all "did you buy it on Amazon?" It is a vital part of proper world-building to understand how a world without instant information, constant goods transport and limited production means would operate.

[AnnaLandin]

2) A society where women are equals. I avoid works where women are property or constantly abused because...history? Snort. It's sexist as hell to say "look, I got dragons and magic in my story but making women equals will totally ruin the suspension of disbelief". It also shows very limited writing abilities when the author can't think of interesting events without dangling a damsel in distress in front of the dudebro hero. No, just no. Grumpy-cat, no.

All my yes to this! When writing secondary-world fantasy (i.e: setting your story in a world entirely of your own creation), you don't have to import sexist stereotypes. The underlying framework that causes sexism is only there if you put it there.

4) a working economy. Okay, this is a personal pet peeve of mine but I find it jarring as hell when no thought at all is given to how food and stuff are brought to a certain part of the world. I see people eating exotic fruits, dressing in sumptuous silks and bearing fancy weapons in a place that does not have the infrastructure for it and I'm all "did you buy it on Amazon?" It is a vital part of proper world-building to understand how a world without instant information, constant goods transport and limited production means would operate.

Ooooh, I like this point! I'm a big ol' history nerd, and a lot of what I nerd out about is stuff like this. Kings and dates and wars are all cool and interesting too, but I really like getting into stuff like how and why states functioned the way they did, how taxes were paid, what the trade-routes were, etc., etc. Like, learning about Diocletian's restructuring of the Roman Empire's economic structure, and how those changes eventually resulted in medieval European feudal princedoms is right up my alley. <3

I have a story-universe that I tinker with on and off (don't have any comics set in it yet, but maybe some day; I need to build some more) in which one of the central cities is rich and teeming with fancy foods and cool weaponry and all that stuff - and they can have that stuff because a.) they are sitting on a nexus of major trade routes, both land-based and sea- and river-based (the city is built at the mouth of a major river where it runs into a safe and sheltered bay - perfect for trading!), and b.) one of their major industries and exports is salt. Salt is super-valuable and important, so they're in control of a valuable resource, they're rich from trading it, they're centrally placed, and they have enough money to do whatever the heck they want. Fancy food for everyone!

[JigokuNeko]

All my yes to this! When writing secondary-world fantasy (i.e: setting your story in a world entirely of your own creation), you don't have to import sexist stereotypes. The underlying framework that causes sexism is only there if you put it there.

Preach it! (same thing with racism btw)
I am amazed at how many people think it is "fun" for women to read about female characters in totally misogynist societies. Uhh, no. We deal with that shit everyday, why would I find it fun to read about it, too? I don't want a "strong female character" that got that way after suffering horrible abuse, I want one that got "strong" on her own, through personal development, through family and friends being there for her.
This is why I love webcomics, though, people can create content that does not have to adhere to mainstream bonds and readers can find almost everything, which in an earlier print-only era was impossible.

Ooooh, I like this point! I'm a big ol' history nerd, and a lot of what I nerd out about is stuff like this. Kings and dates and wars are all cool and interesting too, but I really like getting into stuff like how and why states functioned the way they did, how taxes were paid, what the trade-routes were, etc., etc. Like, learning about Diocletian's restructuring of the Roman Empire's economic structure, and how those changes eventually resulted in medieval European feudal princedoms is right up my alley. <3

Social history is the best! High-five! Have you read "The time traveller's guide..." books by Ian Mortimer? It's a fun history book set up as a tourist guide for medieval and elizabethan times and answers all those writer questions about what life was about back then for the common people. I highly recommend it to everyone dabbling in medieval stories.

[futureboundentertain]

I despise traditional fantasy races, elves, dwarves, centaurs, gnomes, trolls, orcs, ogres, anything of that ilk.

Its is absolutely lazy and boring. And dont tell me its too much work to come up with orignal races or something, every scifi story ever has come up with its own original races.

[noxfox]

Not gonna quote everybody but I very much agree with most of the above. Something I look forward to fantasy is a utopia. Not in the "perfect utopia" aspect of it, but I want to see a world dreamed by the author as if it could exist, a world that doesn't reinforce frameworks of our own but challenges them.

Yes to a world in which gender equality is a thing, in which racism was eradicated, in which nobody's getting shamed nor killed for their sexual preferences, in which people aren't bound to the social classes they were born in... I don't want to see struggle, I want to see the aftermath! (Just like Hollywood put all those black US presidents in the movies: and it finally happened!)

It doesn't have to have all of it at the same time, there can still be issues and struggles (maybe to maintain equality?), but I do appreciate a world showing us how it can be normal to just respect each other and accept our differences. I want a message, be it social or philosophical, I want fantasy to criticize our reality, I want depth and I want to feel like this world exist somewhere. I want the story to provoke thoughts, and if it can hold a daring position on sensitive topics, that can all become very sexy for the brain!

I also very much appreciate novative approaches of fantasy, or whent it gets blended with other genres. Also I VERY MUCH appreciate if all the problems in the world aren't solved by killing people. Stories that have a democratic approach of a conflict (rather than a handful of Chosen Ones solving everything no matter people like it or not) do have my attention... except they are the rarest thing to find.

I do feel like there's not enough of such things so that's why I try to do it in my series (I know my cast is mostly masculine at this moment, but the women should step more into the spotlight soon and I'm so eager about it adeoindfeisefs!!!)

I despise traditional fantasy races, elves, dwarves, centaurs, gnomes, trolls, orcs, ogres, anything of that ilk.

Its is absolutely lazy and boring. And dont tell me its too much work to come up with orignal races or something, every scifi story ever has come up with its own original races.

Here I have to disagree though. I think that they can be extremely interesting if the author took the time to take a special take on them, make them into something similar yet new. I personally went for a slightly parodic take on elves in that they have naturally aesthetically dramatic hair, but beyond this, they're nothing like Tolkien elves. They program computers with magic, have a corporate society, sometimes burn down forests, and have a very strange way of aging that can fluctuate a lot from a person to the other. And not all of them are white, there are elves of color just like we have Asians or African types. They don't get perks for the color of their skin >__>

[infectedbloodcomics]

I agree with @futureboundentertain. I am so tired of elves and the like, as I'm tired of werewolves and vampires. Honestly, folks, please, enough with trying to find a different angle on these, let's be a bit more creative than that

[nobody]

2) A society where women are equals. I avoid works where women are property or constantly abused because...history? Snort. It's sexist as hell to say "look, I got dragons and magic in my story but making women equals will totally ruin the suspension of disbelief". It also shows very limited writing abilities when the author can't think of interesting events without dangling a damsel in distress in front of the dudebro hero. No, just no. Grumpy-cat, no.

YES. Even if the damsel in distress saves herself from the sexism (often living under the threat of being raped - omfg I'm so sick of that), it's still really boring to read about. These are very gendered challenges, because male characters are very rarely faced with the threat of rape or sexual harassment/abuse. They get all other kinds of interesting things to overcome. I want to read about women who get as diverse and complex challenges as the male characters, not the default "I have to prove to the men that I am just as good as them despite being a woman".

If a writer wants to add sexism into his/her world building, that's their choice, and that's fine. I can like stories where sexism is a thing! But when they excuse the existence of sexism in their fantasy world with "historical accuracy", I honestly feel like they are insulting my intelligence, and I feel like they don't even fully understand the genre they're writing. I mean, men too have been victims of rape throughout history, and yet that is very often left out of fantasy stories. Why leave out that historically accurate fact?

The underlying framework that causes sexism is only there if you put it there.

Exactly. As a writer, you get to pick what facts you want to put in your story and what facts to leave out. Then your job is to make your story believable. If the only way you can achieve suspense of disbelief is to have women be treated as secondary citizens, then I think your imagination is bizarrely limited for someone writing fantasy. At the very least be honest and say that you just simply want sexism to be part of your world building. Sometimes sexism can be very cleverly addressed in interesting stories with a fantasy setting. But don't excuse it with "historical accuracy" when you leave out so many equally accurate facts.

Also, it's a little disturbing that people don't find a fantasy story believable unless sexism is part of the world building. If we can't even imagine a FANTASY world where men and women have equal rights, then I don't understand how we're supposed to achieve equal rights in the REAL world :/

(And just to be clear, it IS important that stories about sexism and rape are told, but these themes don't have to be a part of every story with a female character. And same goes for racism and homophobia. Tell stories about it, by all means - but especially the fantasy genre is a golden opportunity to experiment with stories and worlds where these things don't exist, and you can give your characters new and interesting challenges.)

[DynamoToon]

Well, I guess in any fantasy comic you're expecting weird and interesting monsters. Giant beasts that the hero must do battle with. Some big, some small, all awesome looking.

[Kura]

As long as there is no bikini armour I'm not picky and will go with pretty much anything.

I enjoy both fantasy that follows the usual roles as well as new stuff with it's own thing going, like other genre's it depends on how the author works with the story.

[jvntolentino]

I confess that I indulge in bikini armor at times, so long as there are male characters similarly attired. Red Sonja and Conan the Barbarian should be wearing roughly the same amount of clothes at any given time.

Primarily I'm looking for genre fiction unplagued by Eurocentrism. I'm not interested in Tolkien reproductions at all. I'm wild about Earthsea and always looking for more in similar vein.

[AnnaLandin]

Social history is the best! High-five! Have you read "The time traveller's guide..." books by Ian Mortimer? It's a fun history book set up as a tourist guide for medieval and elizabethan times and answers all those writer questions about what life was about back then for the common people. I highly recommend it to everyone dabbling in medieval stories.

I haven't, actually! But now I might have to check it out. I'm a podcast-addict, and have plowed through The History of Rome, The British History Podcast and The History of Byzantium several times each, and have started to branch out into stuff like the Bulgarian History Podcast and such, so I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on early/middle/late antiquity, and have now started dipping my toes into early medieval history (Charlemange! The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy! The crumbling of the Byzantine Empire!), but more stuff is always interesting.

[noxfox]

more stuff is always interesting

Even when not aiming to make a "historically accurate" story, it's always great to look at history and other cultures for inspiration. That's also when you realize that some civlisations (bygone or surviving) could be much more gender equal and, somehow, socially progressive and accepting of diversity than we are in a number of aspects.

But when they excuse the existence of sexism in their fantasy world with "historical accuracy", I honestly feel like they are insulting my intelligence, and I feel like they don't even fully understand the genre they're writing.

Same feeling here... They often roll with the idea that sexism existed and imagine what it must have been like, not even trying to document themselves on how it actually was like ...or not! Most of them don't know that their farmboy probably would have been wearing the same sort of dress as his mother and sisters because those clothes were easier to tailor and more practical than pants. For most of the population, it seems Middle Age was quite genderblind on the apparel...

I am so tired of elves and the like, as I'm tired of werewolves and vampires. Honestly, folks, please, enough with trying to find a different angle on these, let's be a bit more creative than that

What annoys me is when I feel like those are copy pasted from another story. However I like it when people make their vampires or werewolves into something more, something new, something personal, with their own lore around it, and set their own rules as to how those creatures function. AND make good use of this, storywise, making for good character development, etc of course.
You also need to keep in mind that most people are scared of what they don't know, it requires more effort to learn than to roll with what's familiar. That's why using exitsting creatures/races and twisting them into something alien is smart.
It usually makes readers pleasantly surprise because:
1. they aren't afraid of "ew something new"
2. they get pleased with "yeah, something new!"

That's how it works. You don't have to use preset creatures to lure them in --humans work just fine-- but first, it must look familar and then different. If it gets different from the start, most will run away. It's all about managing the learning curve when you want to introduce new concepts.