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/lit/ - Literature

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1652199 No.1652199 [Reply] [Original]

It's sad that so many of you are being hostile to the idea of fantasy fiction and those who choose to write it. Some of the best books ever written have been fantasy, such as The Odyssey, Lord of the Rings, and more recently the Harry Potter series. These books have gotten so successful because they speak to something in all of us, which is why fantasy fiction is so powerful. I've read stuff by Hemingway and Steinback, but they fail to hold up because they don't have the limitless horizons that a good fantasy writer has. Good fantasy can also be found outside of actual books, such as videogames (the Legend of Zelda), but since this thread is about WRITING then I'll keep it on topic.

Writing fantasy is tricky, since you have to have a good grasp of metaphor and symbolism. In the story I'm writing, the main character is a Warrior-Wizard who is trying to lead a resistance against the enemy forces. I've just got finished writing a chapter where he is practicing fire magic, but the fire keeps getting out of control. If he can't control the fire, he'll have no chance against the enemies. This symbolizes his anger and fiery passion, which is always seething beneath the surface, and while it can be an excellent tool it can also burn the ones he loves most. This an example of symbolism which I'm sure posters like The Agent know all about. It's an extremely good tool to convey the themes that you have in mind for your story.

A lot of people don't like fantasy because there are a lot of bad writers out there who write it, but bad writers are to blame, not the genre. It takes practice to become really good at writing and using all the important literary devices without screwing up, but when a good writer takes a crack at fantasy we are treated to some of the best stuff around.

>> No.1652211
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1652211

>> No.1652214

Nope.

>> No.1652229

Realized it was a troll when

>Steinback

5/10

>> No.1652353

>>1652229

Troll? What crawled up your rear end?

Fantasy fiction is probably the best kind of fiction out there, and probably the best kind of writing period. I say this because fantasy is the most versatile of all subjects to write about. You can put anything into a fantasy story and it can still serve your purposes as a writer, whether it's to tell a good tale or to expound upon some deep issue that SaviourX would prefer you do. See, the thing about other forms of fiction is they just aren't as flexible. If the protagonist is facing some kind of moral dilemma that he is struggling with, in fantasy fiction you can have him fight a Shadow Dragon to give him an extra challenge to overcome. But in "normal" fiction he can only deal with the dilemma in a "normal" way. Fantasy characters can also be "larger than life" since you can give them cool powers to overcome their challenges, another advantage over humdrum fiction.

Myself, I'm currently writing a fantasy epic inspired by the likes of Lord of the Rings, mixed with the Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy videogame series. I'm using it as a vehicle to not only spin an exciting story but also to delve into some of the things that interest me. Is love real? What is the nature of the human spirit? Are we destined to fulfill certain roles or is it all just the luck of the draw? It's important that a good story be about something, not just a series of events. And fantasy fiction allows you to use metaphors in your story.

>> No.1652362

>The Odyssey
>Fantasy

lrn2genre son.

>> No.1652369
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1652369

>>1652211

>> No.1652377
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1652377

>Some of the best books ever written
>the Harry Potter series.

Your trolling is still too weak, anon. Work on subtlety.

>> No.1652382

>>1652377
Who would put this much effort into marginally offensive trolling when you could just copy and paste a couple of the latest buzzwords and receive 10/10s and be deemed a master troll?

>> No.1652384

>>1652362
>thinks the odyssey and the ilaid aren't epic fantasy poems

>> No.1652395
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1652395

>>1652382
OP, clearly.

>> No.1652406

>>1652384

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad

ctrl+f "fantasy"