/lit/ - Literature

Don't hate genre fiction. I hate derivative, cliche fiction written only for wish fulfillment, character insert and coddling worldview narratives.

It just so happens that all genre fiction falls into that category.

>>6857377
Haha I see. What do you mean by coddling worldview narratives and wish fulfillment?

>>6857372
>I like my stories to have messages in them

>not reading purely for aesthetic pleasure

>>6857395
I do sometimes.

>>6857372

I love reading genre fiction, especially speculative fiction, but there is good genre fiction and bad genre fiction.

I just finished the 'The wise man's fear' by Patrick Rothfuss and loved it. While at the bookstore I did some impulse buys including 'Throne of Glass' by Sarah J. Maas and 'Graceling' by Kristen Cashore, and I'm having a lot of trouble getting into either of those two books.

Their characters just seem superficial and poorly constructed, and the plot isn't well developed or has that smooth transition from one chapter to the next. That aside both works strain my suspension of disbelief when petite beautiful teenage girls start killing hundreds of well trained well armed men in armour.

Yeah...impulse buys... hit and miss.

>>6857382

Wish fulfillment is fairly easy. Essentially main characters who live out desires of the reader.
>loser who gets saved from boring life
>gains powers
>become hero
>save world
>fuck lots of women
any combo of all the above and many many more themes.


Coddling world views is what i would call simplistic, easy to understand and never changing or challenging the reader to think, or risking their discomfort.
Something like ASoIaF is a prime example. People think things are "happening" because people die, but the world always stays simple to understand. Its power and sex, and essentially a soap opera, which is a meme but also true because soap operas function on the same function of comfort. Characters give the illusion of drama, but the viewer is never challenged, the characters are interchangeable, the events don't matter and they always follow a simple pattern; as in everyone is motivated by sex/money/X/Y/Z simple to understand forces.

Another example is comic books. Batman for example has supposedly "matured" because people die not instead of getting knocked out. But in the end good guys win, bad guys lose. Or at the very least its shown that someone good can win even if batman is "troubled" etc etc.

The coddling comes from fake drama and escalation that never challenges or changes the dynamic of the world.

>>6857395
>>6857372
>As a reader I like my stories to have messages in them
Protip: absolutely _all_ stories have a message in them.

When you say that you "read purely for aesthetic pleasure", what you really mean is "I'm a boring as fuck person who's afraid to face the big questions of life".

>>6857445

What a fucking cringe post.

>>6857445

What kind of shit are you reading?

I'm actually writing a Fantasy book, inspired by stuff like greek mythology, ASOIAF, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Lolita, World of Warcraft and Dark Souls. Here's a fragment:
"This is going to take all day", said Ser Jared from Blackgate, clad in his black armor with skull indentations in the shoulders, carrying a two-handed sword in his back, made of Dragonian Steel, the words echoed through his helmet, a traditionalist design from the realms of Veloris, on the edge of the Argosian continent, the same continent that waged war against the 7 philosophers and their armies of corruption in the third age of annihilation.

"If you're tired you can go back to the inn, and we'll tell the Black Commander about how you didn't participate in the mission", said Trekk, an orc with a skin as green as the leaves found on the Oak trees in the swamps of Cambodia, the swamps where his village was burnt by Lord Tycho Anahoris before him and his family died from the infamous brown plague. He sported a greyish armor made in the sacred forges of the Torrus Citadel, and a mace, inherited across the more than 200 generations of his clan.

"I think the black commander has more important matters to worry about than a beginner being a useless shit", said Gared from Newtown, a mage that has served the Helios legion for more than 15 years, the bottom of his robes being lightly brown from the dirty of Harren's Ascension, the only path that crossed Mount Dross, one of the several mountains in the valley of the eagle, one of the three sacred valleys in the peninsula of Yee, home to the sword of the earth, the sword the legendary warrior Akatosch used to slay the dark god of the mountains Cartos by stabbing his volcanic heart.

The three formed part of the Diamon squad, one of the 12 coalitions led by the Black Commander, a title given to the most cunning strategist, and the second in power in the Helios Legion, the first being the Supreme Commander. The current black commander is known as Diego, from the desert lands of Duranton, located in the western continent of Aglos.

The current supreme commander is known as Benjis, who at his age of 50 has won several battles against the republic of the seventh sin and the white invasion, both led by the now deceased Dark Power of Ultramar, a being as mysterious as the army he leads.

Both the black and the supreme commander have mistresses known as "Lilis", strange creatures with the body of a child, and older than many of the warriors in the Helios Legion, the black commander has been victim of rumors stating how he often sleeps with several of them, but they're all false shamings made in order to try and put shit on his name...Or so he says.

Suddenly, as the three legionares walked up the mountain, rain started falling, "Oh shit, why now" said Gared, "I just had these clothes washed". "Don't be a fucking pussy" said Trekk, "We're getting close on the camp we were told to investigate".
So what do you think.

>>6857372
I don't hate genre fiction, I just wish it wasn't posted on this board.
Maybe one or two containment generals (like the science fiction and fantasy one) are okay, but anything besides that is too much.

>>6857459
Quality bait.

>>6857459

Glorious. The next GRRM.

>>6857459
This is actually the best bait I've seen on this board.

>>6857421
I think I get it, thanks for taking your time to explain it to me.

A story I'm writing has a mc that's basically dying but gets a power up. He doesn't fuck women and he won't really be remembered as THE PRIME HERO WHO SAVED EARTH AND LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. He just gets done what needs to be done. He technically does save the world too, but I kinda need him to in order for my reader to experience the point of the book. Does that count as wish fulfillment?

>>6857459
Holy fuck mfw

>>6857445
Literally what? I never said I don't like the questions of life fucking kek. In fact, I've learned so much about those questions that I'm almost sick of it.

Nice bait 10/10

>>6857459
Kek, would buy/10, I hope you finish this book, anon.

>>6857459
If this is original then you probably just made /lit/ history.

>>6857459
better than ASOIAF tbh