tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post4859255346703964605..comments2024-03-26T16:31:13.865-07:00Comments on Mark Lawrence: Fantasy: What's new?Mark Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877925828353073272noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-13662545905942327202015-09-29T08:21:39.280-07:002015-09-29T08:21:39.280-07:00I agree, people want their fantasy novels still gr...I agree, people want their fantasy novels still grounded in reality, the day of pure heroes who never waver in their goodness is dying.<br /><br />The setting of a story and the plot can be as crazy as the authors imagination will allow but the characters must be realistic. Without this it is hard for the reader to identify with them or even care. Plus characters that have the single motive of good or evil are simplistic, predictable and therefore boring. There will be no suspense created when the hero always does the right thing without compromise. <br /><br />All characters have both evil and good within them, the balance between the two is what's key and determines their actions. Besides, "conflict" is the key to interesting stories and what better than inner conflict!Andrew Kreyhttp://www.twitter.com/arkkreationsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-37496702730243898162015-09-28T05:25:58.617-07:002015-09-28T05:25:58.617-07:00Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Ma...Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Mark Lawrence knows...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-20879233847091579332015-09-27T17:34:47.360-07:002015-09-27T17:34:47.360-07:00Yes, this is spot on. I can see several interrela...Yes, this is spot on. I can see several interrelated reasons for this -- no doubt there are more, but a few seem particularly relevant to me.<br /><br />On one level, fantasy has always had the capacity to externalise the internal, literalise the figurative, concretise the abstract. But people these days are increasingly aware of how often society wrongly projects evil onto "others", which (at least for some readers) makes fantasy in this style rather more difficult to relate to. Increasingly, I think, externalised evil fails to ring true to the modern reader, whereas inner moral conflict provides the kind of grounding that can anchor other, more fantastical elements.<br /><br />On another level, there seems to be a clear move away from the often simplistic morality of traditional fantasy to a more complex (and, I would say, more realistic) approach to morality. In this regard, fantasy is probably just catching up to where a lot of other literature has been for some time.<br /><br />On yet another level, there's the rise of grimdark, which is clearly related to all this. There's plenty one could say on this point (and I tried to say some of it a while ago in a post about <a href="http://www.mattkarlov.com/2014/11/existential-fantasy/" rel="nofollow">existential fantasy</a>), but in short I think this is fantasy grappling with the loss of meaning that seems to pervade the modern world.<br /><br />And from yet another perspective, all of these levels are really just different angles on the same thing -- a bit like the blind men doing their best to puzzle out the elephant.<br />Matt Karlovhttp://www.mattkarlov.com/noreply@blogger.com