I want to see more...

[Varamyrr]

I'd like to see more 'mortal' heroes who die a horrible death and bad guys that aren't that bad, once you get to know them.

 

[Butterfly]

Some great things coming to the fore.

Keep them coming!!!

Any more, any more?

 

[SeverinR]

There's got to be something we would all like to see more use of in fantasy literature.

Me? I want to see more Firemares!

Krull - Ride Of The Firemares - YouTube

What about you?

What about Firestallions? And mating season would have to be in the rainy season or it would destroy their home.

From a reality point of view, having a horse with flaming hooves would be very limiting, if they didn't stay on the maintained road, a very large brush fire would erupt.


Alright from watching cheesy Fantasy movies on tv. How about:
I'd like to see more MC's not doing something just because its in the script.

Pegasis and Chimera- The man knocks the Chimera down(long enough to grab the girl and fly away) The girl knocks the villian down long enough to be pulled onto the pegasus and fly away without being attacked. When you have the advantage you don't suddenly retreat. I could see the evil beast not being able to be killed by normal weapons, but the villian was human, and would have taken one hit to kill. But they fly away leaving both to regroup.

Even better, I would like to see more good fantasy writing used to make movies.

 

[Shockley]

Hippocampi. Hippocampi are just way too cool to not put into my story.

If you have to Google "hippocampi", that's a shame and that's why we need more of them.

You are well on the right track.

I'm going to second this as what we need more of.

 

[Legal Rose]

I was playing the first Risen game a little bit ago, and thinking that I'd like to see more tropical fantasy. Everything's always so bleak and grey, it'd be nice to liven things up a little.

 

[ncpendergast]

4. More China Mieville "genre-busting" style writing

5. Unique monsters that actually scare me

Absolutely! China Miéville is awesome, as is Jeff VanderMeer. And yes, scary monsters. We definitely need those.

Also, orcs.

 

[Mindfire]

Absolutely! China Miéville is awesome, as is Jeff VanderMeer. And yes, scary monsters. We definitely need those.

Also, orcs.

Who is this China person I keep hearing about? All I really know about him is that he exists and he hates Tolkien.

 

[JCFarnham]

Read his writing and see. I started with Perdido Street Station. I can't recommend him enough. It's the same for others I see haha.

 

[shangrila]

Yeah, I second Mieville. He really needs to be read.

 

[Akahige]

I'd like to see more low fantasy. I'm not actually sure if that's what it'd be called, but something where there exists a created world with unique cultures, but less emphasis on magic and such.

 

[SeverinR]

I was playing the first Risen game a little bit ago, and thinking that I'd like to see more tropical fantasy. Everything's always so bleak and grey, it'd be nice to liven things up a little.

Thinking of it, only pirate movies deal with the tropics, can't think of one fantasy that is set in tropics. Either European weather or Oriental weather not commonly tropical Oriental locations either.

Of course, in our world wasn't all the tropics areas more primative, until colonized by Europeans? So they went from tribal to medievil(or more modern) at warp speed? Would be a very nice area to colonize for fantasy. Also use island magic rather then traditional european magic.
"Grass skirts and Breast plates."
examples:

Hawaii, central america, Central american islands, Australia, are areas I am thinking of, all of which were primitive prior to a European infestation.

 

[sugarpixie]

more epics or series based...i like the stories long...

 

[Mindfire]

Thinking of it, only pirate movies deal with the tropics, can't think of one fantasy that is set in tropics. Either European weather or Oriental weather not commonly tropical Oriental locations either.

Of course, in our world wasn't all the tropics areas more primative, until colonized by Europeans? So they went from tribal to medievil(or more modern) at warp speed? Would be a very nice area to colonize for fantasy. Also use island magic rather then traditional european magic.
"Grass skirts and Breast plates."
examples:

Hawaii, central america, Central american islands, Australia, are areas I am thinking of, all of which were primitive prior to a European infestation.

Only someone with a Eurocentric bias would call tropical cultures "primitive." There were already powerful empires and complex cultures in the Americas and Africa before Europeans ever set foot on that soil, bringing with them their colonialism and diseases.

That's something else we need more of in fantasy. Smug colonialist villains who look down their nose at "primitive" cultures. Bonus points for being white and/or elves. Double bonus points for being a British analogue.

 

[Jabrosky]

In my WIP A New Home, there is one white culture and one black culture, but while both look "primitive" by modern standards, the black culture has a larger population, a more agricultural economy, and more "advanced" architecture (especially walls) than the white culture. Hey, why can't the white people be the "primitive barbarians" for once?

 

[Legal Rose]

Thinking of it, only pirate movies deal with the tropics, can't think of one fantasy that is set in tropics.

Yeah, I agree. The setting I'm trying to set up in this thread will probably end up being on the Caribbean. Specifically the French colony of Saint-Domingue (modern day Haiti). My thought was that the type of society I was imagining would end up with a tiny group of elite nobles controlling a massive population of peasants / slaves. And what drew me to the colonial Caribbean setting was that the slaves in that colony literally outnumbered the free people over 100 to 1, and there was just horrific brutality on such a level that the death rate among slaves actually outnumbered the birth rate. So hopefully it'll be interesting.

Only someone with a Eurocentric bias would call tropical cultures "primitive." There were already powerful empires and complex cultures in the Americas and Africa before Europeans ever set foot on that soil, bringing with them their colonialism and diseases.

Yeah, in cases like this it's tough to use terminology that isn't loaded with some sort of offensive meaning. I guess you could say 'pre-industrial', but that's not quite specific enough. Primitive might be offensive, but most people can instantly imagine what it means - a society with stone-age technology, no writing system, few domesticated animals, a hunter-gatherer or limited agrarian society. Obviously that description wouldn't make sense for multiple pre-Columbian societies, but for many other places mentioned previously it would. So long story short, I know it's offensive to some people, but until a better term comes along I think it has it's uses.

 

[SeverinR]

Only someone with a Eurocentric bias would call tropical cultures "primitive." There were already powerful empires and complex cultures in the Americas and Africa before Europeans ever set foot on that soil, bringing with them their colonialism and diseases.

That's something else we need more of in fantasy. Smug colonialist villains who look down their nose at "primitive" cultures. Bonus points for being white and/or elves. Double bonus points for being a British analogue.

Interesting, will start a tropics question(Don't want to derail this thread.)