Fantasy stories can be pretty hard to master so we’ve been talking and we asked:
- Of the stories that you’ve read, how heavy is the worldbuilding from a scale of 1-5? Additionally, how do you personally define “heavy worldbuilding”?
- What are your general expectations of a fantasy story?
- What are some things that the fantasy genre is notorious for? (Objective)
- Conversely, what are some things that you don’t like about the fantasy genre/fantasy writers? (Subjective)
- Have you read eastern fantasy? If not, please move directly to 5b. Otherwise, please talk about your experiences in delving into that subgenre and how you fell in/fell out of love with it. 5b. When reading stories with a total culture change/totally distorted perspective, what immerses you the most? What alienates you the most?
- What are your thoughts on using ethnic lore/culture as inspiration for fantasy stories? For example, Polynesian mythology/witchdoctor-ing or Irish folklore.
- Right now, in this moment, what do you feel like reading? Light fantasy? Snarky tweets? Your own unfinished story, perhaps? (I do want a genuine answer, but you could also just shamelessly promote your work if you wish lol)
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Thoughts by the writer ‘Ameron’. Be sure to follow them on their social and hear more of their creative writing tips and tricks or thoughts.
1. A lot of excellent fantasy isekai that I’ve been watching have such great worldbuilding with ratings of 5. Of course, I’m talking about shows like Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei, those two have such a vast and beautiful world. I personally define heavy worldbuilding as when it goes in-depth into the history of the fantasy world, when this delves into its own lore, maintains its consistency, and provides interesting settings and characters.
2. My general expectations of a fantasy story are literally magic, op protagonist, elves, orcs, goblins, demon lords, etc.
3. Some things that fantasy is notorious for is harem… look I like harem but many of recent just put girls who align with many stereotypes and do it like any other or worse (oh, oops this is isekai but most isekai that I’ve seen are still fantasy). Some that its notorious for is also the very thing that defines it, magic. Magic is overused to the point that most writers do not feel the need to create an original power system and go with the basics, the elements, chanting, etc. without ever going too deep into them because they too know that we know and they expect us to have that bare minimum of knowledge. Some that it is notorious for is the op protagonist, because a protagonist of this accord most likely has no more room for development and this is where most writers suffer when writing a protagonist with this trope.
4. I don’t like that fantasy just has to be medieval. It can also be futuristic to some extent while still sharing some of the medieval qualities that everyone loves.
5. Definitely. I mean I think most of what I’m talking about is literally anime fantasy. I know western fantasy but im not quite as interested in them as before. I pretty much fell in love because probably of the sense of escapism. 5b. With a totally distorted perspective, it immerses me when it shows that a side can be good or perhaps showing us how evil does its work. Dunno.
6. Hm, seems cool, if used correctly.
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7. Light fantasy or a rom-com lol