Prodigy of Rainbow Tower question

I don't know, perhaps they are allowing computer game thinking to come in to it, or perhaps it goes much deeper, sorry not much help here I think!

this is an interesting question... I would imagine it would happen in all genres but (sci fi)fantasy seems to be a bigger target. most of this I would say is because it is the genre with the most super fans but could also be due to general perceptions on the genres themselves for example Romance is generally perceived to be cliché and to some degree it is because there is only so much an author can do with a boy meets girl storyline... fantasy however is seen as having no boundaries so it should be cliché free... but this isn't true if the author wants the reader to feel like their is reality to the fantasy world created some clichés must exist... as for who would beat who my bet is on Anna Karenina moping the floor with Juliette... I would even pay to see that one...

Maybe I'm different from most readers, but whenever I read any kind of fiction, I draw comparisons to what I know...to my reality. Why? I think it makes the fiction more real and therefore deepens the enjoyment. As a side note, I'm always trying to guess the motivation of a friend or relative when they do something that seems odd to me, so when what might be a similar motivation of a fictional character is explained--if it rings true--it's an opinion I'm happy to have.--niki

As a newbie to Fantasy I can only imagine that some readers become very personalized with characters that they like. It would be natural then to ask the question "how does this character behave in a situation that I know how my favorite character acts." I think Fantasy readers become more emotionally involved with the stories and as a result with the characters.

There seems to be an industry standard set in literary work the same way people set them for products. "These are not Tolkien-like elves," or, "This is not a Smaug-like dragon." Like Coke, "It's the real thing!" I think that's a shame. This is precisely the reason I seek out quality Indie authors, to break away from the industry standards and allow my imagination to go places it might otherwise have never gone.

I think it might have to do with gaming, since so many fantasy lovers are also gamers. And BTW, I think Mr. Darcy could beat the socks off Rhett Butler any day. LOL

Why must we compare in fantasy? I’ll give my simple answer because we don’t live in a vacuum. We compare things all the time from different flavors of ice cream to people. It’s a part of being human.

Now here is my long answer. It’s a personal experience that happened to me not that long ago. My girlfriend Ana compared me to several other different men, she is quite popular and she noticed my behavior wasn’t like theirs and she was pointing this out to me. She felt that because I wasn’t expressing myself like they were, that I didn’t love her. Nothing could be further from the truth, I love her very dearly but expressing myself has always been hard for me. I have a lot to overcome in this department, I’m shy, I tend to hide my true desires and truth be told I just don’t have the experience like these other men do.

Now it might seem incredibly offensive to have your significant other compare you to the competition but it really wasn’t. What she was really saying to me (I’m guessing, she’ll probably bitch slap me if I’m wrong) is that she felt that my demonstrations of love were rather juvenile and for her to really feel that I loved her I had to communicate on her level, a more adult level. Which is quite a brand new way of thinking for me.

I love her and I am willing to do what it takes to communicate that to her. I have already started with her on practicing a more adult relationship but where I am so behind the curve, it will take me time. Here is the important thing, I don’t consider this me changing to suit her needs; I feel like I am developing a communication skill to demonstrate my love for her in a way so that she feels love. In short I have to man up.

Comparisons really aren’t bad. Often times it is people trying to share with us a criticism of how they felt and their feelings aren’t wrong. Feelings are feelings. We need to try and dig deep and see what they are really saying and maybe there is something we can work on to just be better in general.

I think it may be that readers of fantasy become so enmeshed in the world that has been created. It can be difficult to extract yourself from that world. Once you do - and then go on to immerse yourself in another world - comparisons are likely. And if either world doesn't match up to what you've come to expect, or isn't as good as the other, negative comparisons and fan-boy/girl reactions are also likely. Sometimes a story just feels 'right' to our way of thinking, and it's hard to be objective towards anything that takes a similar subject matter and doesn't do what we think it should. I try not to do it, but I read Mists of Avalon when I was really young and I have a hard time reading other stories about King Arthur without making disparaging remarks. It isn't fair, and maybe I'm over it now, but it does happen.

Let me see if I can make sense of my thoughts here and throw my two cents in.

I think that comparisons that happen a lot in fantasy and science-fiction stems from the fandom type and the action/powers inherent in the stories. Even the political fantasy stories have swordfights and warriors. For example, fans of Game of Thrones will compare other swordsmen to those from their favorite.

And that's what most of the discussions are. People playing favorites and wanting to see what they loved about another series or character. They also want to prove their favorite's superiority, which is where your Versus debates come in. A common one is Goku of Dragonball Versus Superman. The 'winning' side of this debate is determined solely by whose message board you're on.

Fantasy and Science fiction writing is different from all other Genres. The one constant throughout, are its character types. The sky is the limit in terms of plot, narrative, location, time period etc. Usually, our only tether to our own known reality are its protagonist and antagonists. It is really the writer's only hard and fast rule, that their heroes and villains must be cast from the recognizable types. So, since they are usually the only linkable source from one fantasy fiction to the next, they automatically become the focal point of comparisons. In most other genres, there are 1001 other recognizable and relatable things to focus on besides character.