The Tolkien Template - Carrying on the torch of mythology and folklore - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

doug*platypus · 12-28-2002, 06:56 AM

I think that Fantasy as a genre has bred a lot of terrible writers. It seems that in order to write Fantasy you don't need to be able to write at all, just have an imagination. For anyone who has read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, the situation seems like it was in the Orwellian future, where books are churned out of a machine, all vastly similar but with just a couple of minor differences between each one. A lot of Fantasy (and Science Fiction) is almost Mills and Boon level. I'd tend to agree that this flooding of the market with garbage is supported by publishing houses with low standards. Also by readers of Fantasy themselves. They are usually great readers, and always on the lookout for good new books and stories. Placing quantity before quality is apparently the world of Fantasy books does business. It's all about the bottom line.

12-28-2002, 06:56 AM	#37
doug*platypus Delver in the Deep Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Aotearoa Posts: 960	I think that Fantasy as a genre has bred a lot of terrible writers. It seems that in order to write Fantasy you don't need to be able to write at all, just have an imagination. For anyone who has read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, the situation seems like it was in the Orwellian future, where books are churned out of a machine, all vastly similar but with just a couple of minor differences between each one. A lot of Fantasy (and Science Fiction) is almost Mills and Boon level. I'd tend to agree that this flooding of the market with garbage is supported by publishing houses with low standards. Also by readers of Fantasy themselves. They are usually great readers, and always on the lookout for good new books and stories. Placing quantity before quality is apparently the world of Fantasy books does business. It's all about the bottom line. __________________ But Gwindor answered: 'The doom lies in yourself, not in your name'.