Author Topic: Fantastic goals?  (Read 5645 times)

abd1el

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on: April 28, 2008, 10:42:01 AM
All right.  Confession time, people.

Podcastle is going to be my first real introduction to a regular zine dealing with fantasy short fiction.  Granted it hasn't gotten out of its initial stages of editorial definition, but after listening to the selection already posted to the site, I began to pinpoint a certain trend streaming its way through all the tales, and I began to wonder if fantasy shorts always took themselves so seriously and presented themselves on a socio-political kind of sounding board (save for the first episode, which was rockin')?

Obviously, the tastes of the editors will make themselves known fully in time, but what I was really after in this post is the reaction of fantasy readers, since I figure the majority of the board readers here will be of that kind.

What makes good fantasy?  Are the rules bendable when dealing with certain creatures of this genre, or is painstaking study required?  Does speculative fiction play a part in fantasy or is it its own creature all together, and should I expect my spec to continue at EscapePod, having no place at Podcastle?  Must each story be some fiction that has deeply moved its reader at the core, or can it just be fun, strange, disturbing, merely engaging?

I know many of the statements here could be considered overly stringent and arguable, but please just see that they've been put forth just to start objective conversation. 

Let's see where this goes.

So this is the end.  Great; just what I needed:  Another ending.


Heradel

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Reply #1 on: April 28, 2008, 06:53:45 PM
Everything's forgivable so long as the story is good. When the story's bad, everything forgivable in a good story is faulted. Creatures of unimpeachable light in the canon can be used as the foulest instruments of dark, and it's ok so long as the story's good.

Trying to say a Fantasy story is made up of X archetype with Z creatures in W land and Y magic limits it too much, and formulas don't make good stories (usually).


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birdless

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Reply #2 on: May 05, 2008, 07:28:55 PM
I'm here for the fun, strange, and engaging (and sometimes disturbing). Anything more is bonus points.

Let me rephrase... I listen to EP and PC for the fun, strange, engaging and sometimes disturbing. I'm here at the forums for all that and to broaden my horizons, as it were.

Generally speaking, I'm not reading fiction for reasons of a socio-political sounding board, and when it gets overstated, I get annoyed, regardless of whether I agree with the statement or not. I'm not listening/reading to be preached at; I'm in it for an immersive story with compelling characters and creative plot developments. Now, I love those stories that are so good they inspire you in thought, word and/or deed. But if the author has to interrupt the flow of the story to make sure their point is driven in, then, for me, write an essay.

I hope I'm not missing your point...



abd1el

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Reply #3 on: May 19, 2008, 05:06:25 PM
No.  Not missing the point.  That's actually hitting right where I thought it would for most people, but I don't know that's quite so true with the writers I've heard from recently.  Maybe this is one of those things that differs depending on where you stand in the story process, writer or reader. 

So this is the end.  Great; just what I needed:  Another ending.


stePH

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Reply #4 on: May 19, 2008, 05:53:55 PM
Trying to say a Fantasy story is made up of X archetype with Z creatures in W land and Y magic limits it too much, and formulas don't make good stories (usually).


(You listening, Paolini?  ;))

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