Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

I was wondering (if it hasn't been discussed before) what you all think makes good/bad fantasy.

For example, for me, I hate when authors use really odd names that I can't pronounce. It really takes me out of the story.

Thoughts?

I really dislike stories where both sides are so grimdark that I wish that both of them could lose.

the weird names don't bother me much, unless they're really out there. I personally tend to use names that can be pronounced in a straightforward way. I do want a character I can root for, even if they are something of an anti-hero. The thing that takes me out of a story quickest is what I call "God-modding," when the hero is so powerful in either war skills or sorcery that no one can match him or her.

This good. Keep it coming!

I like having a map(s). Especially if your characters are going to travel around like nomads.

Simple names work best; unless they are Elven then I'm going to call them Todd or Sally for the rest of the book. Forget about pronouncing it, lol.

I've grown tired of the 'chosen one' schtick. I'm currently reading The Witcher series and it's the main plot point.

Some fantasies the good guys are really, really good and noble, this gets old too. People tend to suck. Especially without some sort of external check or balance. Shades of gray work best, but then you start down the grimdark path...

Maps are really difficult to do. Whenever I try my hand at it, it seems like a bunch of random geographic crap. I wonder if you can hire people online to create them.

I like consistent worlds and enemies...thematic design. Conversely, I frown upon conflicts that are disconnected.... throwing lots of enemies/creatures at the protagonist doesn’t do much for me without context.

Ie some litRPG, and even Clonans. have a queue of battles of random creatures appear only to keep tension superficially alive.

The Chosen One really is tiresome. Especially when the Chooser of the One is not a character with motives and stuff. If the Grand Pooh-bah actually shows up and says: You, you're the one -- it can work. But usually it's just an evasion of making the character actually special.

S.E. wrote: "I like consistent worlds and enemies...thematic design. Conversely, I frown upon conflicts that are disconnected.... throwing lots of enemies/creatures at the protagonist doesn’t do much for me wit..."

All you need for the random is to have a background for that! You're in, oh, the ruined Temple of Mercuritus, the Trickster God! You expected predicable?

I don't mind weird names so much as bad names. Which I admit is a bit subjective … Some authors (Clark Ashton Smith or Jack Vance, for example) have the ability to coin really, really good-sounding fake names -- Zothique, Avoosl Wuthoqquan, Ghyl Tarvok, Araminta, etc.

Other authors (M.A.R. Barker is my go-to example) have names that are weird but are linguistically appropriate to their settings, so I'm willing to deal with them.

Others (and unfortunately Robert E. Howard very much falls into this camp) just … aren't very good at it. Most of Howard's more acceptable names are lifted wholesale from historical settings, or are possibly slightly mangled. When he made up his own names, well … there were entirely too many that were Thog, Thaug, Thrak, Thurg, etc., etc.

(Which isn't, of course, to say that the rest of the fiction wasn't good enough to warrant pushing past the names.)

When a story starts with overly unfamiliar, and fantastic world building, and keeps it coming at a steady pace, i lose interest, because for me, the learning curve is too high. A story in shallow waters ought to have more grit.

Yeah, the chosen one is definitely overdone, especially when it happens to be the main character. Anyone ever think to make the secondary character the chosen one? And chosen for what, to do the one thing that needs done, no one else can do !!! That's about as predictable, as a belly full of beans.

The odd names, difficult to pronounce. Hard to get into a story when even the description is unfamiliar. Tangential story telling, pages, chapters even, that are completely unnecessary to the story's through line. The most famous writers seem to be the most guilty of ramblin'.

I want the story to be a terrific journey of discovery. Not a sojourn in hostile territory. It's too much like arithmetic. I want to sail along on the back of a wholly mammoth, warm, free from discomfort, and with a bird's eye view.

@ C.A.

The Chosen One is certainly played out. A couple of years ago I read Banners of the Sa'Yen. This particular book is S&P, but the story is told from the perspective of someone close to the chosen one. The chosen one falls from the heavens, but it is narrated by one of the natives. One of my favs now.