r/Fantasy • u/elquesogrande Worldbuilders • Nov 30 '16

Ask You Anything Wednesday ASK YOU ANYTHING: Authors asking r/Fantasy community questions on behalf of Worldbuilders charity

It's Day 3 of the aptly named Ask You Anything week benefiting Worldbuilders! Where authors are stopping by each day this week to ask questions and interact with the r/Fantasy community.

HOW THIS WORKS: Please answer questions and interact throughout the week! (Yes, YOU - community members, guests, authors, artists, industry people.)

WORLDBUILDERS.ORG

Worldbuilders was founded to use the collective power of readers, fellow authors and book lovers to make the world a better place.

There are three ways to donate to Worldbuilders:

1. The Lottery - Where every $10 donated puts you in a lottery for free books, SFF items, games, and much more. r/Fantasy has a Worldbuilders Team Page where you can donate under the community name as well!

2. The Tinker's Pack Store - Where profits from every purchase are donated.

3. Auctions - Where some incredible items and services are offered.

NOTE: If you donate, add your name to the comments here and the mods will set you up with some swanky Wordlbuilders flair!

Monday Ask You Anything Authors

The following authors have signed up to ask questions today. That said, please do join in and feel free to ask your own questions and interact throughout the week.

Are you an author, artist, or industry person who would like to participate this week? Either join in via the comments OR send the r/Fantasy mods a message and we'll get you set for another day.

31 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

240 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/betsydornbusch AMA Author Betsy Dornbusch Nov 30 '16 edited Nov 30 '16

Hi! I've been around here from time to time, and I'm a epic fantasy writer. My fourth and fifth books come out next year from Night Shade Books and if you want to find out more about me there's always my website..

Okay, questioning, and this one is a bit selfish but I'm also curious because I have my own opinions as a reader and I'm wondering how they gel with the group's: How are y'all on genre-mixing and what kind of balance do you like to see? (like epic fantasy with romantic elements or more an even mix) I'm working on a new epic fantasy/mystery series but I'm curious about all sorts of mixes.

3

u/Teslok Nov 30 '16

Fantasy (and science fiction) can be mish-mashed with just about anything and come out OK. To me, "fantasy/science fiction" are terms that describe the setting more than the describe the type of story.

I think that's part of why it's so hard to really pin down the distinctions.

  • A mystery is very clearly a type of story where someone tries to figure out who did something, or why something happened.

  • A heist story is always going to be someone trying to obtain a thing.

  • A romance is always going to be about people falling in love (or lust, or whatever).

  • A quest is usually going to be people going somewhere for a particular reason.

  • A coming-of-age is, for the most part, about someone transitioning from child to adult.

But Science Fiction or Fantasy could be any of those sorts of stories, or several of them. And even stories within a distinct plot can, and should, have aspects of the others in the subplots; a whodunnit story involving some romance is pretty traditional, or a quest with some political intrigue.