Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What do Readers Expect from a Fantasy Novel

+1
−0

Here and there I've been hearing about what readers 'expect' from certain genres. Romance readers expect the hero and heroine to wind up together. Fantasy readers expect epic fantasy full of battles and otherworldly creatures. Mystery/detective readers expect an element of, well, mystery, and a satisfying ending in which the mystery is solved.

Despite the fact that I just rattled off that list, it has occurred to me that I don't really know the full scope of what readers expect from standard genre fiction. I'd like to know this, otherwise I might fail to deliver what was expected, resulting in an unsatisfied reader.

What do readers expect from a fantasy novel?

Note: I plan on splitting this question up into several, one for sci-fi, one for mystery, etc. If you think I should just ask about all genres in one question, let me know and I'll edit this one.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

2 answers

+1
−0

Oooh, i liked this question.

Basically, for fantasy novels, i believe that readers expects epic battles between huge armies, they expect a deep lore, fantastic new creatures, fantastic new places. I guess that is the best definition i can give for what people expect in a fantasy novel. They expect Fantastic things.

But let's get a bit broad here, now that i answered the main question. What do readers expect from All genres?

Basically, what everyone expects from a book, or anything for that matter, is it being good. It needs interesting characters, and an engaging plot. If you have that, i't doesn't really matter what is the defining characteristic for that specific genre.

In fact, it is quite common to see books trying out twists in common genres (Teenagers solving crimes, instead of cops, it is actually even more common than regular detective novels nowadays, but it started as a twist) , mixing together genres you don't normally see together (Like a romance in medieval times, or horror books with more erotic themes) or even switching genres in the middle of the book (Like teenager books that just keep getting darker and darker until you wonder if it's a suspense book).

TL;DR

The main focus of fantasy books is to make everything feel new and fantastic, big castles, cool spaceships, giant ruins, horrendous monsters, etc.

But don't try to hard to stick with only what your genre offers you, and do your best to make it all feel fresh. After all, what makes a good book is the story, not the genre.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23789. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+0
−0

It is not difficult to think of fantasy novels that don't have big battles (Voyage of the Dawn Treader). The battles, the strange creatures, etc, are set dressing. Sci Fi and Fantasy are often lumped together, and often appeal to the same readers, because they essentially do the same thing. They examine life through the lens of a different set of rules. The set dressing is used to establish that the rules of are different. Typical items of set dressing turn up frequently, but they are not essential to the appeal.

What if the rules of life were different? How would people behave? Fantasy is a means to examine what it means to be human. What would still be recognizably human about us if we lived in a world with different rules? You don't have to use fantasy to do this. You can use foreign countries or past times or constrained situations (a ship at sea). But fantasy and sci fi give you the greatest scope to change the rules so as to force some aspect of human nature to the fore.

Fantasy can also allow us to address issues that are too sensitive to write about directly. You can write about a conflict between green people and blue people without fear of being pilloried for an incorrect portrayal of green people culture or of secret biases against blue people.

Less nobly, fantasy and science fiction are also vehicles for wish fulfillment. The powerless and the put-upon imagine a life in which they have a power they do not currently possess. This flatters our wish to be "special". (Why is it that Harry Potter constantly breaks the rules at Hogwarts and is invariably praised and rewarded for it? Because he is "special".) Thus the popularity of both genres among teenagers.

In short, the reader expects the frog to turn into the prince, because they are a frog and they would like to be a prince.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »