Found this forum by accident while researching different story bibles. Stumbled upon this thread and just had to make an account, I really enjoyed the conversation and just had to jump in.
Dislikes
- Fantasy/Tolkien-esque Races: Ugh, I'm just so tired of them. "This is where the land of the elves are, this is land of the orcs. they dont like the elves. this is the human lands, home of the most ingenuity!" I'd rather explore various cultures of humans and how they differ from eachother. I feel like a lot of authors include them because it's become synonomous with fantasy or something. Like in the symphony of the ages series, the author invented all completely new races to inhabit her world, which sounds fascinating at first until you realize she just took, elves, orcs, giants, etc and changed the names.
- Chosen One: Booooring. Espeically when it's obvious from the beginning that the protagonist or one of the main characters is this chosen. It all becomes a bore. That said Suberting this trope and having the chosen one be a red herring or the cause of some larger crisis is always a good time. As others are saying I agree that any trope can be interesting if done well or turned on its head.
- Dragons: Okay here me out. Dragons are cool but they're everywhere! Which I guess is mostly because they are cool as all heck, and so I wouldn't even say I dislike them. It's more that I refuse to utilize them in my own stories because everyone else does.
- Over sexed / Queer Coded Villain: I saw a few mentions of the over sexed evil character, but not much on the queer coding front. You all know the one; The effeminate but devious master mind, or the Evil queen who forces a kiss on the heroine/damsel just to show how wicked she is. I hate these tropes with a passion because they're so icky when you get down to the gritty details of it all, and yet at the same time, these were the kinds of characters I related to being a lesbian growing up who absorbed anything sci fi or fantasy. So it's one of the tropes I strive to subvert the most, with most of my MC's being queer in some way, and some of of the more morally sound characters are also the most sex positive, one of the heroines being a brothel escort.
- Undefined magic: I much prefer a system grounded heavily in a set of rules. It doesn't have to be science based, just something fixed. It doesn't have to be explained right away it can even seem wildly rediculous and powerful at first but slowly over time you learn there are limits. I can't even properly explain how much I hate dues ex machina magic. Magic that is slightly explained and may even appear on the surface rules and yet always gets the MC's out of impossible situations in new ways, is baffling and boring.
- The Reluctant/Under privileged who becomes king: This sort of covers a wide set of examples. Like the bastard who becomes king, or the heir who lives a commonors life and yet is thrust back into the role of a leader, the banished who rises again, the peasant who rises up despite all odds, etc. It's such a common trope, that even though I hate it, i'm guilty of it. It's way easier to relate to someone who is larger to life if they've struggled like a commoner, so this is definitely one of those ones that I hate mainly because it is so over done, and when it is done well, or subverted or reduced to a side plot it can work better.
- Mans world: The typical heroic knights saving the helpless damsels, misogyny abound. Men do the fighting / Women make babies! Again if done well, and written more to reflect our society while questioning everything, I'm more or less okay with it. I remember when I was first doing the world building for my current project I wanted to sculpt a world completely unlike our own, where women were never considered un equal or less than, but ultimately settled on only some cultures where this was the case so I could deliver a stronger message. Stories that have men as knights and women married off like property just because "that's how it was back then" bug me to no end.
- Quests: You must do the thing! Do the thing, the entire fate of fantasy land depends on it! Embark on this treacherous long journey, find/protect the sacred macguffin and do the thing! I believe in you! Boring
Favs
- Vampires and Hunters: Oh god I hate vampires, especially the over saturation of them in popular culture. So why is it in my favorites? Because I hate the modern vampire. Vampires in a dark medieval fantasy setting feel way more at home and way less stuffy or angsty. I really enjoyed seeing them explored in skyrim. I like the idea of vampires blending in with the common man in a farm village or a city, and the adventure of a monste rhunter guild setting out to protect the people with crossbows and silver blades. This leads me to my next one.
- Mythical Monsters: Human hybrids like nagas, satyr, harpies, spider people, minotaurs, Mermaids/merman, vampires, were creatures, . I'd much rather see a deeper exploration of these kinds of creatures that all have human roots, rather than dwarves, elves and orcs that are just humanoid. It definitely seems to be a mixed bag of opinions when it comes to this sort of thing, but I just find it more infinitely interesting, and find there to be far greater directions to take.
- Evil Empire/Evil Church: Ugh I love it so much and I know I shouldn't. I grew up on stories like these and they greatly reflect my own personal opinions. I saw a lot of people voice their dislike for this one and honestly, that's fair. It's so over done, and I think an Evil Empire with no face certainly can be boring, but a character that drives that empire/church, stirring the masses into a frenzy, they become the force you focus on. You know the threat is this one person but their charisma/deception has swayed an entire nation and that's scary/fun to read.
- treacherous/character building travels: Okay so this is basically like the Quests trope that I mentioned above in my dislikes, but let me explain. I really enjoy fantasy stories focused on one place. It can still be full of wonder and intrigue, but I tend to like that more than reading an entire novel about trekking through one place after another, detailing all the cool and magical places along with their many dangers. I'm less likely to read a story all about a journey to do a thing but if these travels are shorter, more story driven. Like in political fantasy. These characters need to go from A - B to meet this person to secure this alliance, to fight this war, to stop this person, yadda yadda. But something may happen along the way that makes the travel longer then expected which adds suspense and makes the journey feel more critical.
I really love this topic and I have many more, and I love this discussion but i'll leave it at that as I'm already spent too much time typing as it is and I have work to do!
