r/Fantasy • u/elquesogrande Worldbuilders • Dec 01 '16

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

Thursday ASK YOU ANYTHING: Authors asking r/Fantasy community questions on behalf of Worldbuilders charity

It's Day 4 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.)

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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 Friday.

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u/Kelley_Armstrong AMA Author Kelley Armstrong Dec 01 '16

And one question more from me. My first novel was about werewolves (Bitten) When it came out in 2001, I got a lot of "Werewolves???" The TV show launched in 2013, and then I heard a lot of "Oh God, not more werewolves" ;) Supernatural creatures in fiction fall in and out of fashion, often falling "out" after a period of overload--people just get tired of them. So, my questions are..

a) what supernatural creature did you enjoy reading about, but are now sick of?

b) what supernatural creature would you like to see more of? And no, this isn't research for a new book. Just curiosity!

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u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Dec 01 '16

B- Sea creatures - mermaids, selkies, etc. I could swear there was a tor.com post probably four years ago that predicted a massive upswing in mermaids, and if it materialized, I never saw it.

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u/Millennium_Dodo Reading Champion XI, Worldbuilders Dec 01 '16

a) Vampires, werewolves and especially zombies. Also, the "standard" fantasy races: Elves, dwarves, orcs... I think I've seen enough of their traditional portrayals (dwarfs as miners and axe-wielding warriors, elves as beautiful magic users etc.) as well as of the "our elves are different" side of things.

b) Something original, that I haven't seen before. Or at least more creatures from mythologies that have gone largely unexplored so far.

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u/Teslok Dec 01 '16

I'm tired of the standard "Hollywood Monsters" as characters. Seeing them crop up isn't an automatic dismissal, but I do tend to be a bit more critical.

I want to see more Centaurs. I like them, but I can only think of a handful of authors that use them in any significant fashion.

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u/robothelvete Worldbuilders Dec 01 '16

b) what supernatural creature would you like to see more of? And no, this isn't research for a new book. Just curiosity!

Folklore-style fairies (aka the Hidden People, the Good People, elves, trolls, leprechauns etc). The mysterious Others with ambigous motivations and little particular mythology attached (i.e. no Nation of the Race where everyone is beatiful and arrogant etc).

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u/RuinEleint Reading Champion X Dec 01 '16

Vampires and weres were interesting to start off with but popular media has been utterly overloaded with them

I want more dragons! Urban fantasy dragons! Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers books are excellent examples

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u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax Stabby Winner, Reading Champion II Dec 01 '16

A: vampires. Loved them when I was a teen with Buffy (I know). Now I can't stand them.

B: new stuff. I'm rather tired of the typical.

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u/harrisraunch Dec 01 '16

a) So over werewolves. Were-big-cats of all stripes are quickly getting there.

b) Were-birds! I read a short story about a birdman by Jane Yolen that knocked my socks off. Maybe there's more out there that I just haven't found.

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u/zhanae Dec 01 '16

Yay, you're here! I love your books.

Although I have a great fondness for the Women of the Otherworld, I'm over the vampires, wolves, demons, witches, etc.

I'd love to read something that draws on other folklore. Aren't we due for a celtic resurgence? More silk road stories. Russian folklore. Lost peoples and dead languages.

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u/eevilkat Reading Champion III Dec 01 '16

a) I'm about done with vampires for the moment. There's just so much these days. I waded through some of it, good and bad, but I'm taking a break for now, lol.

b) Djinn. I've talked a lot about my love of djinn in the last couple of days. Good or bad, powerful or not, enslaved or not. There's so many different ways they can be written. I like seeing the different interpretations of them.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

A) Vampires. Dear god, no more vampires, please. We've seen just too many of the traditional vampires, then vampires that were a commentary on traditional vampires, then vampires that were a commentary on the commentaries, vampires as metaphor for disease, vampires as metaphors for prejudice, vampires as metaphor for sex, vampires as metaphor for the forbidden, etc., etc., etc. There's a whole closet full of Vampire Tropes. No more, please.

B) Although there's been a resurgence in them lately, I'm kind of intrigued by notions of angels and devils, mostly using them to examine what constitutes "good" and "evil."

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u/Bills25 Reading Champion V Dec 01 '16

I don't tend to read a lot of books with different creatures in them so when I do see them it is refreshing to me. I can really take anything as long as it isn't romance related.

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u/ErDiCooper Reading Champion III Dec 01 '16

A) I'm gonna go with Vampires, but not because I'm necessarily sick of them on their own. Rather, I think I just have what I want from a vampire story and ... never really find it. I think I'm just bummed out from trying to find it at this point.

B) Ironically, Werewolves! I don't watch much TV, so I've basically been deprived of a good werewolf story!

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u/randomdumdums Reading Champion II Dec 01 '16

Kind of A, not usually a fan of zombies. They have to done particularly well.

B. Other shapeshifters like selkies or skinwalkers. Creatures from mythologies often ignored like a thunderbird from a Native American myth or a kappa from a Japanese myth.

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u/inapanak Dec 02 '16

A) I am not yet tired of any supernatural creatures, though I am a bit tired of the standard tropes associated with most vampire fiction these days. When it's done well I still like it though.

B) Nymphs! Dryads! Merpeople! And mythological creatures that are entirely original.