Your favorite elements in fantasy?

KosseMix · Jan 7, 2009

I read through the pet peeve thread, and found myself wondering what are some elements you guys enjoy in fantasy. I suppose that splits into two thoughts: "what are elements in fantasy you love that haven't gotten old?" and "has a fantasy author done something so neat it wowed you?"

Pthom · Jan 7, 2009

I liked Greg Bear's treatment of music as a fantastical element in his "Songs of Earth and Power."

dclary · Jan 8, 2009

Hobbitses.

2old2pb · Jan 8, 2009

Travel from the mundane to the magical world i.e. through the looking glass, down the rabit hole, through the mists etc.

sunandshadow · Jan 8, 2009

Can't beat Dragons for never getting old.

I like magical tests of character, spells gone wrong, humorous magic duels, psychic/empathic bonds either between lovers or a person and pet/mount, and various uses of animals from totems to humorous myths to exotic humanoid races to a person getting temporarily trapped in an animal body.

Oddsocks · Jan 8, 2009

Intricate systems of magic.

Fantasy maps.

Fantastic creatures and settings.

And, while it may be 'done to death', I really like epic scope. Not cliched epic scope, perhaps, but I certainly don't mind if the fate of the world is ultimately on the line. It all depends on how it's done, though.

As for something I like that a specific author has done - at the moment, I'd have to say Scott Lynch's merging of crime/heist type stuff with fantasy.

Doodlebug · Jan 8, 2009

The diversity of sentient species: goblins, elves, hobbits, what have you.

Mr Flibble · Jan 8, 2009

Ok, it's obvious but...the fantastical. I love 'ooh wow kewl!' feeling when something really, literally, out of this world comes onto the page.

ChaosTitan · Jan 8, 2009

Doodlebug said:
The diversity of sentient species: goblins, elves, hobbits, what have you.

Ditto. Expanding on that, I love the variety of legends and myths surrounding these creatures. It lays the groundwork for so many unique interpretations, so my goblins don't have to be the same as the goblins in Tolkien. My vampires don't have to have the same history/abilities as in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Higgins · Jan 8, 2009

2old2pb said:
Travel from the mundane to the magical world i.e. through the looking glass, down the rabit hole, through the mists etc.

That's often pretty good. I like the variations on this theme.

DeleyanLee · Jan 8, 2009

When the author can take something mundane, stereotypical or commonplace (including Fantasy standards) and make it fantastic and mondo cool.

Wish I found such things more often.

tehuti88 · Jan 8, 2009

I too like 2old2pb's comment on travel from the mundane to the fantasy world. Some people seem to think this is cliched but who wouldn't love to fall into a fantasy place sometime? My own fantasy serial is based on this concept and I never tire of the sense of wonder, discovery, and culture clash. I love the feeling of being an explorer in a newly discovered land.

Liosse de Velishaf · Jan 8, 2009

tehuti88 said:
I too like 2old2pb's comment on travel from the mundane to the fantasy world. Some people seem to think this is cliched but who wouldn't love to fall into a fantasy place sometime? My own fantasy serial is based on this concept and I never tire of the sense of wonder, discovery, and culture clash. I love the feeling of being an explorer in a newly discovered land.

I think that to an extent it is cliched, but that hasn't stopped me from using it in one of my stories, albeit with a twist.

Kitty Pryde · Jan 8, 2009

The Discworld: A big flat planet drifting through space on top of four elephants on the back of a turtle.

China Mieville has some cool warrior folks in one of his books. Before battle, they cut themselves all over their bodies-when their blood comes out it congeals into super hard armor and makes them wicked hard to kill.

But my very favoritest thing in fantasy is reading something that feels surreal like a dream.

Gynn · Jan 8, 2009

2old2pb said:
Travel from the mundane to the magical world i.e. through the looking glass, down the rabit hole, through the mists etc.

Yes! My WIP goes from the mundane to the "it looks mundane at first glance". I'm trying to balance my MC's awe factor and the magic factor.

But the idea of hidden gateways to other worlds has always fascinated me.

maxmordon · Jan 8, 2009

Fantasy cultures, their differences and comparisions to our own and seeing how imaginative was the writer with 'em; going from Calormene Desert to plains of Gondor or living in Ankh-Morpork wishing to be in a place like Utopia

Doodlebug · Jan 9, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
China Mieville has some cool warrior folks in one of his books. Before battle, they cut themselves all over their bodies-when their blood comes out it congeals into super hard armor and makes them wicked hard to kill.

Scabmettlers...very cool. I also liked the mosquito men and the cactus people.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 9, 2009

I don't know much about fantasy elements. I have trouble enough with a real periodic table without having to learn all sorts of new...

What?

sunandshadow · Jan 9, 2009

Ooh, being transported from the real world to the fantasy world. I like that too. Especially if it takes the MC totally by surprise and/or there's no way back. Never really liked those 'everything is back to normal at the end' stories though.

KosseMix · Jan 9, 2009

I love the idea of gateways to other worlds, too. I heard someone mention once before (I think it was in an agent's blog?) that 21st century earth citizens going to a fantasy world is done so many times they dislike it.

That's a shame, I still buy those books by the armfulls!

Pthom · Jan 9, 2009

Isn't what's old, that the 21st century characters go to a fantasy world that is more than 10 centuries in the past?

Might be interesting to see a fantasy story where modern people are transported into a fantasy world that is obviously leaps and bounds ahead of ours--yet has no elements of SF.

Liosse de Velishaf · Jan 9, 2009

Shadow_Ferret said:
I don't know much about fantasy elements. I have trouble enough with a real periodic table without having to learn all sorts of new...

What?

No such problem here. Totally dig orichalcum and mythril. Also "adamant". In most fantasy I've come across, these are treated as elemental to some extent. Also, stargate elemnts are cool too, though arguably "fantasy" elements.

Fenika · Jan 9, 2009

I like the escapism. I don't care what exactly, but if you can suck me into your world and drag me on a wild ride, I won't put your book down.

Based on the reaction to Harry Potter and other escapist themed books, I'm not alone

But mind you, the MC doesn't have to escape from their reality for me to escape from my reality.

Sneaky Devil · Jan 9, 2009

i like the different worlds like the Shadowmarch series
everything is new and you learn about the world these people come from as you go along reading the books

Sneaky Devil · Jan 9, 2009

i agree with this one too

dclary said:
Hobbitses.

Your favorite elements in fantasy?

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