Flights of Fantasy discussion
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Questions and input on shapeshifter books
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Koda, only one thread is needed for this topic. We don't need one in every folder. I'm deleting the other since it's more relevant in the "Fantasy" folder.
Koda wrote: "Hello all, I hope everyone is having a great week and some good reads! :) I was looking for some people's opinions on some questions, I do apologize if you are seeing this on more than one group yo..."It really depends. On everything.
Who is your target audience? How widely have you read? In Fantasy, I've read mostly tame-ish shifters - the usual suspects. But you do run into different ones: FoF's April Fantasy BotM is Quag Keep which has a boar shifter.
From my reading, I've noticed that most shifters are predators - especially in SSF.
Romance has a wider variety of shifters: I've run across bee-shifters before.
So, it varies.
Re: additional paranormal creatures.
It also depends but THIS depends on YOU. What kind of world are you building? The universe will determine your characters.
Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series has a variety of were/shifters, if I remember correctly. Though, that could just be because she forgot what she'd previously called them and just made up a new one. (I don't really recommend her books. They are full of inaccuracies and errors - she can't even remember her characters' names from appearance to appearance, let alone book to book.)
@MrsJoseph I am aware that everything I asked boils down to everyone's personal opinions. I enjoy reading what others enjoy, sometimes it brings up good books that aren't even related to the topic just through good conversation. I also am not asking these questions to create a book as the things in my mind have been brooding there since I was a lot younger. I've always been in love with animals. When I was little I didn't want to play house, I wanted to be an animal. I've always hard an active imagination and since I was younger all of my teachers told me that writing was my talent. As I said, I just enjoy everyone's very different opinions on the matter.Yes, most shapeshifters tend to be apex predators and on top of that are typically focused on the alpha itself. Someone on another thread said it pretty spot on, people want to feel protected.
I've never gotten into the romance side of it all. I'm not knocking anyone that does. I just enjoy more of the story and adventure of it all over the actual detailed romance scenes. But again, all personal opinion! :)
@Becky I apologize, I'm new to Good Reads and put it in a different folder then realized this one was probably much more relevant. In my haste to try to get the post onto other groups, I completely forgot about removing the other post. I apologize, I was not trying to spam.
Yes, I am aware of the Charlaine Harris series including the TV adaptation. The books obviously have more shapeshifters than the TV series does. I usually prefer the books over TV and movie adaptations. I have never read the books though because I heard complaints about them and have only seen the TV series because my mother wanted to watch them together when I was younger. I'm rather shocked that it got to where it did with so many seemingly careless errors in the books.
Thank you both for taking the time to respond!
Well I know several years ago I read a Fantasy where there was world populated with animal shape shifters- If I remember correctly there were people who shifted at night, others who shifted at day. I distinctly remember a horse, hummingbird and rabbit shifter. And there were like stereotypes for different types of shifters. I don't think there were any other types of magical creaturesI don't remember the title, and I can't find it now, but a normal dude gets dropped into this magical world and *shudder* cooks and eats a "rabbit". Yeah I almost didn't read the rest but I remember I did enjoy it
From what I have seen, most books that are about or even vaguely consisting of shapeshifters seem like there is only one or two types at a time. On top of that, they seem to typically consist of wolves, bears, lions, dragons, maybe the occasional tiger... Are there any books with all types of animal shifters or do they mainly focus on one type?
Is there any interest in an actual world of animal shapeshifters? Or do readers want more magical beings as well such as vampires, witches, and other mythical type beings and beasts?
Do you tend to prefer a longer book or a series of shorter installments? I suppose the better question to ask would be Do you feel more comfortable purchasing a book from a first time author if it is offered in shorter installments (therefore giving a cheaper price to "try" them out)? Or do you prefer to just buy one larger book?
Thank you for your time and input. Any opinions you share are most appreciated!