Wondering about the future of Fantasy

[Frustration]

I Hope this is the right place to put it, sorry mods if it isn't. But as an aspiring writer I thought it would be good to know reader opinion on a topic that I have some discomfort with. I personally feel that without swords Fantasy losses something Wax and Wayne honestly surprised me with how good it was, I thought I would have to pull myself through it, I mean wizards with guns sounds weird, (admitandly not as weird as eating metal, but no-fantasy at least). I took a poll not too long ago on how people felt about the Cosmeres advancing technology and mostly got a result of: 'yes I want this.' So as I want to write a massive multi-realm style fantasy not unlike the cosmere is this be something I should be doing?

To clarify I have plans to handle the advancing tech but is fusing magic and tech something I have to do?

Edited April 30, 2020 by Frustration

[Use the Falchion]

Multi-realm stuff like the Cosmere has been around for a bit; maybe not the vast scale of planets, but certainly shared characters, countries, and continents. The hidden epic aspect is new though!

In terms of technology, I actually really like it! I'm a fan of Flintlock Fantasy, and I think it's a natural progression of Fantasy as we become more technologically savvy in the real world. Technology in fantasy allows us to explore more themes and visions than ever before - we don't have to explore just the brutality of war anymore; we can explore how easy one can become an efficient killer with an easy-to-access weapon. The battle for resources now has an entirely different meaning, and soon it won't just be numbers that determine the winners of a war (as if it ever was JUST numbers, but you get my point). 

But that's mostly about series that start with guns in them. If you're talking about series where in the first trilogy or set, it's "swords and sorcery" and then it evolves into Steampunk or Flintlock Fantasy...I love that even more. But I've only seen it done twice (Mistborn Era 2 and The Legend of Korra), so I can't promise it'll always be done well. To me, this evolution is an outset of digging deeper into the world and worldbuilding, not just wider. We explore how civilizations have changed, how societal norms have progressed, how technology and techniques become available for all. It's FASCINATING. 

To bring it back to you @Frustration, this all depends on you. Do you have the stories to tell in these worlds as they go forward in time? If so, then go for it! If not but you're curious about how it feels, maybe try writing a novella about that first? We can't tell you if this is something you should do, we can only tell you how we feel about it. 

[Frustration]

55 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

To bring it back to you @Frustration, this all depends on you. Do you have the stories to tell in these worlds as they go forward in time? 

My current plan was to shift towards urban Fantasy, show how and why the magical world decided to hide, I was mainly seeing how the reader base felt about technological advancement.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Frustration

[Use the Falchion]

50 minutes ago, Frustration said:

My current plan was to shift towards urban Fantasy, show how and why the magical world decided to hide, I was mainly seeing how the reader base felt about technological advancement.

Ah, gotcha! 

[Frustration]

1 minute ago, Use the Falchion said:

Ah, gotcha! 

Specifically with how magic users incorporate it as Brandon does not in general.

[18th Shard]

The Shannara series also has some of this going on in it, but a lot of the technology is framed as magical to most characters. I would look at the Jerle Shannara series in particular.

[Elegy]

There was a bit of a technological evolution from Avatar to Legend of Korra, which was nice to see. Further back, the Edge Chronicles showed a bizarre alien biology world develop into a steampunk setting, which is pretty interesting. Both of these are young adult oriented, so they don't go deep into social developments etc. There's definitely a lot of potential there. I'd love to see more of this, mainly because the "timeless world" premise has been done to death for 70 years now. I'm very confident that the fantasy genre will continue the way of the last decade - trying to find more things that writers can do with it. For example, there's been more non-European fantasy worlds lately. I think the genre is finally opening up to its endless possibilities.

An issue with the poll though, you can't really answer an "either/or" question with yes or no. 

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, Elegy said:

An issue with the poll though, you can't really answer an "either/or" question with yes or no. 

Ah, one of the problems of being a shard I forget what limited minds are capable of .

[Draginon]

I think it’s far more interesting for a fantasy world to evolve instead of being stagnant for a millennia, though if it’s traditional fantasy style I think keeping it away from urban fantasy is best. I don’t mean don’t have computers and phones, just don’t have it be a gritty world that just happens to have fantasy creatures living there.

[king of nowhere]

7 hours ago, Frustration said:

 So as I want to write a massive multi-realm style fantasy not unlike the cosmere is this be something I should be doing?

 

the answer to this is always no. you should never have to do something, especially not to follow the fashion

While i think fantasy will move in that direction, and I welcome that, and I think the concept of fantasy as limited to swords is, well, limiting. many authors will want to explore in that direction.

but you don't have to be one of them. and classic fantasy will always have fans anyway.

Edited April 30, 2020 by king of nowhere

[Snakenaps]

From one aspiring writer to another, let me pass on what has been said so many times on Writing Excuses, a podcast Brandon Sanderson is a part of: don't write to a market, write for yourself. 

Look at it this way: if you want to write a story with swords and shields, but force yourself to write about guns, the lack of passion is going to come through. If you want to write a fantasy with guns and cell phones, and force yourself to write about medieval England, the same thing is going to happen.

No matter the market, readers always love one thing: well-written books. 

Are there more fantasy books coming out with higher levels of technology coming out? Sure, absolutely. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik is all about shooting guns on the backs of dragons. The urban fantasy Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo has been massively popular. Then there is the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon.

At the same time, lower technology in fantasy is still going strong. Take, for instance, the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, which takes place in Russia hundreds of years ago. Dungeons and Dragons produced a new book, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, which surged to Amazon's #1 Bestselling book...before it was even released due to the amount of pre-orders. Tolkien is still going strong. And let's not forget the resurgence of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Ask yourself this: what do you want to write? What are you passionate about? If you want to write about swords, write about swords. If you want to explore early rifles and muskets, do so. If you want to jump into urban fantasy, do it. 

Don't try to write to the market, especially while it is in this current upheaval (getting Publishers Weekly's newsletters is very interesting write now). Write what you are passionate about, and the rest will follow. 

That's my take, anyway. 

[Frustration]

7 minutes ago, Snakenaps said:

From one aspiring writer to another, let me pass on what has been said so many times on Writing Excuses, a podcast Brandon Sanderson is a part of: don't write to a market, write for yourself. 

Look at it this way: if you want to write a story with swords and shields, but force yourself to write about guns, the lack of passion is going to come through. If you want to write a fantasy with guns and cell phones, and force yourself to write about medieval England, the same thing is going to happen.

No matter the market, readers always love one thing: well-written books. 

Are there more fantasy books coming out with higher levels of technology coming out? Sure, absolutely. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik is all about shooting guns on the backs of dragons. The urban fantasy Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo has been massively popular. Then there is the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon.

At the same time, lower technology in fantasy is still going strong. Take, for instance, the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, which takes place in Russia hundreds of years ago. Dungeons and Dragons produced a new book, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, which surged to Amazon's #1 Bestselling book...before it was even released due to the amount of pre-orders. Tolkien is still going strong. And let's not forget the resurgence of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Ask yourself this: what do you want to write? What are you passionate about? If you want to write about swords, write about swords. If you want to explore early rifles and muskets, do so. If you want to jump into urban fantasy, do it. 

Don't try to write to the market, especially while it is in this current upheaval (getting Publishers Weekly's newsletters is very interesting write now). Write what you are passionate about, and the rest will follow. 

That's my take, anyway. 

Thank, just, thanks. (we don't have a happy tears emoji)

[Snakenaps]

1 minute ago, Frustration said:

Thank, just, thanks. (we don't have a happy tears emoji)

Hey, that's what I'm here for.

If you ever want to talk writing, my door is always open. I can always been found over in Reading Excuses. I've spent a rather ungodly time learning how to write, about the industry, and everything, so I'm great for resources. If I don't have the answers, I generally know where to look for them. 

[+ILuvHats]

The way the question was phrased, I had to answer no. I don’t think we’re going to see more and more technological progress in fantasy series themselves because it’s hard to pull off. Most universes that show progression include multiple series to make the necessary time jumps more palatable. That’s the case for Mistborn, Legends of Korra, and since nobody’s mentioned it yet, Abercrombie’s First Law universe. I think such in-world progression will remain relatively rare because of the commitment the author has to make to that single world. 

Rereading your question, I think you were just asking if we’d see more fantasy worlds with more advanced tech than the traditional medieval setting. And the answer to that is definitely. However, I think the term diversity is more appropriate than progression. Fantasy used to be very cut and dry as in there was medieval, Tolkienesque fantasy, urban fantasy, and very little else. In recent years, we’ve been seeing a lot more variety in the fantasy genre. This includes a rise in flintlock fantasy as well as non-European settings, notable The Poppy Wars or the Rage of Dragons. It’s less a matter of progressing though and more so diversifying.