Have fantasy novels gotten "better" since D&D?

[Emirikol]

Our group started in on this topic last night. It seems that fantasy novels have gotten a lot better since 1974. Is it because of D&D or just sheer luck for the rest of us?

jh

 

[Ulric]

I'd say yes, and I think that D&D has had a real and positive influence, although it hasn't been the only influence. I think "critical mass" has a lot to do with it. The more "fantasy" books/games/products the public is exposed to, the more people use the ideas contained therein to try and create new things. The bigger the original idea pool, the more varied the possibilities of further mental exploration for future fantasists (<--madeup word...feel free to use it too).

 

[delericho]

I suspect on average, the answer is "no". However, because there are so many more fantasy novels out there now, the gems are more numerous (and, arguably, the pinnacle of achievement is now higher).

How much D&D has influenced this, I don't know. However, several of the fantasy authors out there are, or have at some point been, gamers, so I suspect it has had some influence, at least indirectly.

 

[el-remmen]

Define "better".

There is also a lot of game-oriented schlock that never existed before D&D to go along with all the schlock that was always being printed.

 

[Storm Raven]

I'd say that the typical fantasy novel today is not better than the ones from before 1974. They are certainly longer on average now - boringly verbose in many cases - but longer most definitely does not mean better.

 

[WayneLigon]

Our group started in on this topic last night. It seems that fantasy novels have gotten a lot better since 1974. Is it because of D&D or just sheer luck for the rest of us?

Just luck. Most fantasy authors I've seen, when asked if they did any tabletop gaming, denied it. Some are in the business because of gaming (Stackpole, Brust, Kerr, Moon and a handful of others) but most others... not at all.

 

[drothgery]

Just luck. Most fantasy authors I've seen, when asked if they did any tabletop gaming, denied it. Some are in the business because of gaming (Stackpole, Brust, Kerr, Moon and a handful of others) but most others... not at all.

There are indirect effects, too. D&D was one of many factors that helped enlarge the market for fantasy novels (which means that more are written and more are published). And I'd bet that video games that owe their legacy to D&D will have a big impact on the next generation of fantasy authors, if they haven't on the current one. Wargaming, which D&D grew out of, certainly has a big impact on military-esque fiction, no matter the genre (historical, fantasy, present-day, or sci-fi).

 

[Meloncov]

I doubt that the average has increased, but the larger number of fantasy novels makes it more likely that a few gems will be released each year.

 

[Tarek]

I think what happened is that, thanks to the efforts of a few specific writers and (more importantly) editors, Fantasy novels grew up out of the disreputable realms of pulp fiction into a 'respectable' genre.

Up and coming writers were encouraged to write well, thanks to people like Marion Zimmer Bradley, and there was a "sea change" at certain publishers, who no longer published shlock just because they needed to publish a book, but actually started to look for quality writers and quality stories.

Most of the stuff that is written today may not be memorable, but it's not horribly bad (or highly offensive) the way much of the fantasy written in the 1960's was.

 

[Thurbane]

Absolutely not.

For starters, I do not neccessarily agree that fantasy novels have gotten better since 74 en masse - it would be something I would judge on a case by case basis. There were a lot of bad novels pre-74, and there are a lot of bad novels now.

Secondly, if the average standard of fantasy novels has improved, I would not accredit that to D&D, but rather to an evolution of the style itself, not to mention that a lot of novels today are extremely derivative of earlier sources. I couldn't tell you how many novels I've read that are bascially LotR knockoffs...