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Trends in epic fantasy?

12K views 189 replies 44 participants last post by  Vale 
#1 ·
Are there any trends in epic fantasy lately? Something new or noticable?
 
#178 ·
M R Mortimer said:
Interesting observations, Jack. My fantasy trilogy has no dragons. But then, it also has no elves, no orcs, no werewolves, no vampires, and no zombies. I always adored dragons when I was younger, but deliberately chose not to place any in my series. Perhaps I will have to ride it out until they fade away a bit again? I mean, no way would I shoe horn them into it. That kind of thing is worse than no dragon at all (or no vampire or werewolf or wizard or whatever the current popular trope is)

I think if you write what your story demands, and write it well, the fads will come and go, and at some point, your story may be the fad. So enjoy it!
Agreed. For instance, I could easily enough put dragons in my stories - but they would be tacked on rather than central to the story. Worse, I could do that and mention them in the blurb and put them on the cover. This wouldn't wash with the dragon fans though...A bad move indeed.

But it's nice to know what's hot and what's not. From a business point of view, I'm quite willing to nudge my muse in a certain direction if it will pay off and also be something that I'd enjoy writing.
 
#181 ·
I think there are less of the old-school quest scenario type books than there used to be, but there's still a strong market for it - especially for readers who like indie books.

Epic fantasy/sword and sorcery cover a lot more territory now than they used to. The market is very fragmented, but each individual niche is still pretty strong. Honestly, I think with good marketing, good writing and a touch of luck any of the sub-genres can climb very high in the ranks. It just comes down to what an author likes to write and the skill-set to optimize visibility for what they've produced. 

I also think that if you happen to release to trend your sales can skyrocket. But the trends come and go and it's probably detrimental to building a career/fan base to hop all over the place trying to follow what's hot. 
 
#182 ·
Just looking at the various fantasy books I'm looking forward to, I can tell you that there is a demand for a variety of different, well-written books. I'm constantly searching for updates on GRRM's next book (grimdark), Rothfuss' next book (Which follows a singular character and is mostly in first person), Sanderson's Wax & Wayne book (Magical Western with a very hard rule magic system) and Brent Week's Prism Series Finale (Which is more in line which the epic fantasy, heroes win, multiple viewpoints variety).

None of these books are similar, yet they all fall under the epic Fantasy umbrella and are highly anticipated. The common thread is that they all have amazing character progression.

 
#184 ·
This thread is interesting. I'm also writing an epic fantasy book (first person perspective) and the MC is 300 human years old. Talk about quite the challenge. So I had to figure out a way for him to learn more about himself in the most clever way I could think of. I hope it works. But most importantly, his antagonist, and his goals, are all entwined. So far I'm loving it, but I would be biased on the matter.
 
#185 ·
jckang said:
Over the last couple of months, I've read some popular indie epic fantasy, including SPFBO2 winner Grey [illegitimate persons] by Jonathan French; and Kboards authors Phil Tucker's Path of Flames and Alec Hutson's Crimson Queen. All have won plenty of high profile awards among them, and sold very well.

All three stories are very different in theme, different in age of main characters, different in moral grey [illegitimate person]ness; but I find one common thread among them: spectacularly unique world building, exquisite wordsmithing, and compelling characters.

In that, they share the same elements of all popular literature across genres, past and present :)
Well, now I think I need to read those three. Are they all 3rd person POV?
 
#190 ·
Jack Krenneck said:
The coming of age story where the MC becomes both a warrior and a magic user seems to be in decline. I think.
I'm a little relieved at this. A lot of my favorite stories are coming of age, but I've been a little burned out on them. I've found myself subconsciously seeking out books that doesn't show signs of being a coming of age story. Some slip through and they're good =] But I guess I'm ready to spend some time away from that trope.

Or maybe there's a distinction there. Sometimes you see a character who isn't "growing up" but is coming into their own. Or embracing their passions or skills. Often that goes hand-in-glove with coming of age, but when it isn't a character who is also growing up it doesn't raise the same fatigue flags for me.

It's good to see so many dragon and creature fantasies rising in popularity. I'm the kind of person who reads Lord of the Rings and wishes they'd cut out the humans and stick to the wizards, elves, dragons, and monsters. I don't have that same reaction to other genres, but when it comes to fantasy... please no more human protagonists or human kingdoms. I'd rather see what a day in the life of a dragon is like than a day in the life of a stable boy who wants to be a knight and might find a sword to make him king. I've been reading through the Song of the Summer King chronicles by Jess Owen and it's a relief that human isn't the default.

Oddly enough, I don't feel the same way about sci-fi or horror, even though they could use aliens or other non-human protagonists. It's only fantasy.
 
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