In my opinion, and based on my experience in the last 13 months, and being 10 years older (and a few random extra years) than you... I think your instincts are totally and completely spot on. There are a crapton of people 35 to 60 who played D&D when it came out, who kept playing past the retarded "OMG this ONE GUY out of 7,000,000 D&D players jumped off a building; it's all evil!!!!" that poisoned it for so long.... until Willow gave it a glimpse, and then the Lord of the Rings proved it... that there's a massive audience out there wanting old school, Gandalf style, Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore, Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffery kinda stories. They were so popular in the late 70s, 80's and early 90's then... POOF, gone. The movies came out, but most of them had stupid comedy relief characters that destroyed them. But a few directors took it serious. So, Lord of the Rings made zillions. Avatar made zilllions. The Hobbit is making zillions. The audience for what you are talking about is alive, working, has disposable income, is techno-savvy enough to have a Kindle/Nook and they freaking want something that respects their old school aesthetic... Zelazany, Phillip Jose Farmer, Stephen R. Donadson, Eddings... the great stuff. The stuff that R. A. Salvatore and Robert Jordan sort of killed because their books were so amazing, ironically, that it seemed like nothing could ever be that good again... it started a lull. And, apparently, for a decade or so, it was reality. But now, people have read all that old, great stuff over and over and over again, and they want new stories.
Trust your vision, man. I realize this is one post you made, but to me it sounds like you see exactly see what I see, and, well, I'm having some luck selling epic fantasy. Not only did I have luck selling ONE epic fantasy thing, I'm having luck selling the next part... a whole year after the first, which, if you read these forums much, you will learn is suicide. And yet, well, it's like readers are so hungry for the kind of story you are talking about, they'll remember.
Write your story. Spew your passion into it. Get it revised to the absolute most perfect you can. Get it edited. Get it proofread. Then believe in your vision, dude. I'm telling you, from my experience, there is a massive audience out there for what you are talking about. Yes, you still have to pull it off, but, you are wanting validation for your idea. So, I'm telling you, dude, just f-ing go. It's awesome. There are tons of us out there.
Trust your vision, man. I realize this is one post you made, but to me it sounds like you see exactly see what I see, and, well, I'm having some luck selling epic fantasy. Not only did I have luck selling ONE epic fantasy thing, I'm having luck selling the next part... a whole year after the first, which, if you read these forums much, you will learn is suicide. And yet, well, it's like readers are so hungry for the kind of story you are talking about, they'll remember.
Write your story. Spew your passion into it. Get it revised to the absolute most perfect you can. Get it edited. Get it proofread. Then believe in your vision, dude. I'm telling you, from my experience, there is a massive audience out there for what you are talking about. Yes, you still have to pull it off, but, you are wanting validation for your idea. So, I'm telling you, dude, just f-ing go. It's awesome. There are tons of us out there.
