How do you like your fantasy?
This Friday, on the main stage of the SFX Weekender, I'll be taking part in a panel called Elf Preservation (3pm, if you're going to be around). Rather than just waffle on as I usually do at this sort of thing, I thought I would try a couple of polls to judge the opinion of folks. I would also be very grateful for additional explanation and experiences passed on in the comments – good examples, bad examples, that sort of thing. It'll be clearer once you've seen the questions.
The theme of the panel is whether it is really fantasy if it doesn't have monsters in it? The quick answer is, "Well, duh, of course it can be!" but I suspect I might need to go into a little bit more detail.
With that in mind, here is the first question. This is quite a broad topic, and what some people think of a traditional fantasy tropes will differ from others. Bearing in mind this sort of individuality, I don't want to restrict 'traditional' to Tolkeinesque, but that's a good start. Most of us have read quite a bit of fantasy, played fantasy games, and we know what the staples are : dragons, castles, elves, goblins and so on. For the purposes of this question, a novel contains these elements if it uses those names, even if the author's iteration is different from the norm; if it uses the tried-and-tested portrayals of those elements even if the author has changed the names (for instance, a brutish, bad, warlike race of humanoid monsters called borcs, or sylph-like forest dwellers known as the Fey, or Nomes, or whatever). These are as much about medieval tradition and old folklore as they are modern-day fantasy.
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Okay, now for something a little tougher, but requiring less qualifying, I hope. Note there is no 'It depends' or 'I like both' answers; choose which you prefer in principle. You can explain yourself in the comments.
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And just how much do you love the beardies, pointy-ears and greenskins? By character I mean either a viewpoint characters, or non-viewpoint characters that are significant to the plot.
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And one last question. Think about this carefully, and try to answer truthfully.
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I lied, I have one last question. I will try my best to keep notes/ record the panel so I can pass on my thoughts after the event…
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