How to Write a Best Selling Fantasy Novel

[Duncariel]

~It has a picture of the Motley Bunch on the front, the women wearing a ridiculous amount of clothing and the young men (or elves) looking more ripped than justifyingly possible.

Oh, wow. That is about as true about Fantasy novels (the really, odd, bad ones, at least), as you can get.

It is truly sad when you can read through this and go, "Oh my gosh, I just read a book exactly like that!", and it said New York Times Best Seller on the front. Do they write books like this just for the people out there who have trouble with reality? Or do they really think that they can write? Thank God for people like Tad Williams. If you haven't read any of his books, then you should. Second only to Tolkien..... truly. Although, it does say "A must read for Tolkien fans"...... Hmmmmmmmm...

[Diamond18]

I don't write epic fantasy (I classify my genre as "weird stuff") but I have to admit to a few of those --

Roughly square shaped worlds. Oh, shut up....

I do tend to kill almost everyone.

I don't like writing Hard Stuff, like battles, or making it really hard to get into "enemy strongholds" and the like.

And the Loser/Hero. All my characters are technically "losers", because I have always tried to let them be as human as possible. So I actually take issue with that "recommendation", since I believe the more messed up they are the better. Ah well. At least my "villains" are really more like tragic heroes to me, so I never fall into the nameless faceless motiveless Dark Lord pit.

Now Eomer, admit it, you think that "breaking rules" is a good thing in general.....

[Araréiel]

My stories always end up with a bunch of mushy stuff and the female trying to get into the pants of the male who, out of respect for his love for her (and fearing the wrath of her father because he mom's dead) restrains himself and turns her down like an idiot! Okay, so only my current story (already 156 printed pages on 8.5x11" paper, single-spaced in font 10 Times New Roman) has that mush.

This could be a challenge. Write a parody of fantasy novels. A novel idea! Okay, pardon my dumb pun.....

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Ah yes, the subject of romance is dramatically sliced up in a lot of the 'new-wave' fantasy books (probably due to the latest generation of writers having different associations of the word 'fantasy')

But trying desperately to keep it clean, wasn't Tolkien's romances (Gorn/Arwen, Faramir/Eowyn) amazingly beautiful and, well, romantic? There has been a quite remarkable criticism of Tolkien's male/female relationships over the years, and I think it is horribly unjustified. If you're begging for - what you call - 'realism', then please go away and read Bridget Jones or some other new-age garbage and you'll realise how utterly horrible it is. Then, when you're crawling back along the harsh, dusty road trying in vain to apologise to Tolkien's legacy, I'll be standing watching you, chuckling manicly and saying "I told you so!"

Diamond, a world without rules would be a terrible place, but some rules are mere wannabes, and don't deserve recognition.

[Araréiel]

I try to keep the romance stuff in mine fantasy. Bridget Jones and crud like that is just so dumb. I like the good stuff where they respect each other. Tolkien had Arwen and Aragorn stay faithful to each other, despite long seperations and possible temptations. Modern "romance" stories have cheating and are overly sexual to the point of trash and mental porn. What ever happened to the sweetest thing being a tender kiss instead of x-rated content?

Yes, I hear a lot of bashing on Tolkien's romances, like how Eowyn and Aragon should have ended up together. They way he did pair them is beautiful. Arwen brings out the softer side of Aragorn, and Eowyn and Faramir both stike me as the types to be more, um, playful, for lack of better word. Eowyn breaks the rules, Faramir abided by them, hoping for affection. Each pairing is done in such a way that they compliment each other, rather than match the strong Eowyn with the kingly Aragorn. Opposites attract.

That's where the romance in my current fic is going wrong-the main two chacters in love are too similar. There are others though, like a set of half-Elven siblings, she in love with an Elf, he in love with a mortal. btw, someone else started out writing with me and got way more into romance, but it works.

That should be another fantasy-writing rule: Always keep relationships free from sex and anything you'd expect to see in a grocery store novel.

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Araréiel

That should be another fantasy-writing rule: Always keep relationships free from sex and anything you'd expect to see in a grocery store novel.

Oh but it already is:

Losers are scared of sexuality or dependency in women, so women in fantasy novels are so powerful and pure they make Joan of Arc look like Pamela Anderson. They are strong, noble, loyal, brave, high-bred and usually die in the end – well what else are we going to with them? They’re too scary to marry, and no one in Epic Fantasy Novels ever has sex.

That was one of my favorite parts......

And Eomer, there is plenty of middle ground between Tolkien and Bridget Jones! Fr'heavens sakes. I like to think I write in that middle ground, anyway. While there are sexual relations, it most usually fades to black before anything graphic happens, and much more often than not it's between characters I have pegged as soul mates. I am sort of idealistic that way. Of course, then there are my tragic relationships between people who make a lot mistakes, but then again, as I said I really like having flawed characters.

And anyway. There's always Beren and Luthien.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

There is absolutely a middle-ground betwixt Tolkien and Bridget Jones. It's just that that middle-ground is rarely trodden. I think a lot of this stuff would be more at home in mark12_30's 'culture' thread.