I shared this on Twitter a few days ago and thought people here would get a kick out of it.
When I was 15, coming off of a complete readthrough of the Dragonlance Saga (and I do mean ALL of it,) along with The Legend of Drizzt, I hand-wrote a letter to R.A. Salvatore asking him for some writing advice.
He responded, gave me some needed encouragement, and even snuck a little gem of wisdom in there to course correct me when I suggested we might be “competing authors” someday.
16 years later, I’ve got my own series in publication, and actively root for the success of virtually every SFF book and series I see out there. Rising tide, and all that.
Anyway … all of this is to say, you never know who your words might affect. Thanks to Mr. Salvatore for being one of the real ones.
As a woman, I have very little problem with reading stories that center around men and male experiences, and even love nuanced stories that center around the nature of masculinity. But I often find it strange, or like something is missing, when there is very little mention of the female experience in complex fantasy worlds. How do women fit in? What are their roles? I disconnect just a little bit when there is almost no mention of women with agency or their own stories.
What about men? Do you feel the same way about stories that center around women?
Hello good people of r/fantasy.
I am an indie author with one novella and three novels—all stand-alone titles—to my name. Like a lot of writers in my sphere, I am not a natural marketer. As such, everything I have learned about marketing (eugh, I still kinda hate the word) has been from bitter experience, from observing others, and from consuming all the podcasts and books and youtube videos I can on the subject.
There are a few questions that pop up in this sub, usually in the comments of niche requests, that I think I can provide a perspective on. Questions that go like this:
Why don’t we see more of X in fantasy?
[Where X is a specific set of tropes, or genre blends, or a niche sub-genre]
The short answer is that profitability drives almost everything in publishing decisions. This goes equally, in different ways, for the smallest indie author and the largest traditional publisher.
We’re all artists, and most of us would rather it wasn’t the case. But …
Two of the most famous and successful writers of this century and both have seemingly stopped writing.
Rothfuss is supposedly finishing his trilogy but his last book was released over a decade ago (2011).
Martin has written 5 books in his 7 part series. His last release was also 2011.
What do you think happened to these men? Too much pressure? Lost the spark and passion?
I’m actually surprised the publishing houses havent sued for breach of contract or hired ghost writers to help.
I’m not one of those fans who insist they should write. I actually think its fine if they retire (although I will be sad) but the silence is very unusual.
What do you guys make of it?
I was going through an article just now and guess what I found out? The sex scene of Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore was nominated for 26th Bad Sex in Fiction Award! Since the year 1993, this award is given to a “year’s most outstandingly awful scene of sexual description in an otherwise good novel.”
This is how the scene went: “I slipped my erect penis inside. Or, from another angle, that part of her actively swallowed my penis, immersing it in what felt like warm butter”
Ewww butter? Ugh.
Edit: I am so glad that I am not alone who finds his sex scenes obnoxious! Also, you guys are brilliant, and hilarious! xoxo
PS: Thanks for the awards guys!
When I was in school I was forced to read Go ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks for english class. It was introduced as a real diary and true story, exactly the way it was marketed. When I started reading I noticed the scenarios were unrealistic so a quick google search led me to figuring out it was literary fraud and not even slightly real. I also figured out that many schools still assign this as reading material.
It is not only fraud but also very poorly written and poorly researched. The story is full of cliches and many of the main characters experiences with drugs are not even close to reality. It angers me that people still assign this book as reading material, because it was obviously solely written to make money off off people who believed it was real and wanted their kids to stay away from drugs.
There are enough drug-related horror stories. Why read this garbage?
EDIT: please, I get it. You didn’t get this book assigned in school or don’t know it. Not every school …
When ‘American Gods’ was first recommended to me, I was told it was a cultural war. The sides waging war being the idols we used to worship vs the idols we actually worship now. Maybe in an effort to save me from spoilers they never mentioned that the gods in question would be lesser known Gods. In my mind I thought that Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Chebbeniathan, and other prominent modern Gods would be the main characters warring against internet, and media.
I was taken aback by the inclusion of much older lesser known Gods. I loved the native American and ancient tribal God segments. I never imagined Odin would play such a focal point in a story like this. I was blown away by my inability to see that the United States that I know is only a few hundred years old. Being that most of it’s current citizens have relatively recent immigrated from somewhere else, the gods are foreign and far beyond my scope. So characters like Czernobog and Mr. Nancy were awesome. Midway …
Without needing to go into detail (unless you want to) how quickly can an author alienate you? And I’m not talking about content, I mean in terms of the actual craft of writing. In the last two weeks I’ve been done with two different books within three pages because of the writing ability of the authors. Does anybody else get annoyed that fast at what you feel is bad writing?
Looking for some recs for books that truly go big. I’m talking in terms of maximal sense of wonder, mind-bending, epic, cosmic-level shit. Think of something like the Xeelee sequence by Stephen Baxter, House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds, Diaspora by Greg Egan. The scale and scope are about as huge as it can be, and the ideas are clever, and ingenious.
Any suggestions? (Please don’t recommend Blindsight)
I’m looking for recommendations for books on colonizing planets, similar to the Coyote series by Allen Steele or the Mars Trilogy. I want science, farming challenges, building techniques, the nitty gritty of creating a new livable world…
The one thing I hate the most about some sci fi stories is how other alien species all act the same and have the same personalities. Are there any books that have it where aliens are often different from one another and separate personalities?
Edit: I mean a single species thats not just one note, not the variety of species. Books which show aliens not being monocultural.
I know I miss those experiences. I loved how on some days I didn’t even know movie I was going to pick up, and would spend half an hour just walking down the aisles looking at movie selections.
If a video was a recent movie title the store would have a ton of them available, and posters and cutouts of the movie too. You’d pick up a video and a stranger would tell you “Hey, that’s a good movie”.
Oddly enough, I watched more movies when you had to go a video store to rent them, than I do with countless streaming options. Ahhh, I guess I’m just getting old. In any case, please be kind and unwind.
Very briefly, for those who might not be aware, Kurt Russell was a successful child actor in the 60s, where he appeared in multiple TV shows and movies, even starring in his own television series for a time. In the 70s, he was Disney’s biggest star in both TV and film. By the 80s, he hooked up with John Carpenter to create some of the most iconic characters in cinema - Snake Plissken, Jack Burton and RJ MacReady. And he just kept rolling from there, moving easily between action, comedy and drama, picking up accolades and awards, until today, when he is unquestionably a major star.
Oh, and he played pro baseball in the minors for a bit.
We often hear stories of those child actors who crash and burn, failing to make the transition to adulthood, but there are a handful who do make it and make it successfully. But I’m hard pressed to think of another who has been equally - or more - successful than Kurt. (Actually, as I write, Jodi Foster comes to mind. But that’s …