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

[hong]

hackneyd

"Hackneyed"

 

[WayneLigon]

I couldn't tell you how many novels I've read that are bascially LotR knockoffs...

After reading this line over and over from other people in other threads over time... list them. Come back tomorrow and list the novels or series you think are LOTR ripoffs.

 

[WayneLigon]

We're inundated with Fanthorpesque litanies

What kind of litanies? The guy that wrote tons of 'ancient astronaut'/Bible prophecy/Mysterious X books?

 

[JoeGKushner]

After reading this line over and over from other people in other threads over time... list them. Come back tomorrow and list the novels or series you think are LOTR ripoffs.

Anything by Denise Mcwhat's he face. Those stores are Middle Earth in a thin disguise. Not too bad or anything mind you but Mithgar (I think that's the setting's name) isn't a wholly original world by a long stretch.

Forgotten Realms originally had a lot of Tolkien's influence with it's tall elves ancient powerful magic users, elves retreating, dwarves fading, halflings eetc...

 

[Umbran]

SILENCE!

No. Your imperative statements have no power here.

I think that every genre of literature still follows Sturgeon's Revelation - 90% of everything is crud. So it can be difficult to determine how good the writing is in the genre overall.

That being said, I personally feel that the quality of that which I am reading has been improving. This may, in part, be due to my ability to be more discerning in my choices. Or, it could be that as time goes on, even if 90% is crud, the number of good books to read still grows, so I am more likely to be able to find something good now than I was 20 or 30 years ago. Or, maybe newer authors do tend to learn from the mistakes of their forebears, improving the writing overall.

Whatever the case, I don't suspect that this has anything to do with D&D directly. Perhaps D&D has drawn (or kept) some more folks reading books in the genre. This would make the business worth somewhat more, thus applying some darwinian-style pressure for better books.

 

[Wombat]

Nope.

There are still, as before, a few good writers. I think there are more fantasy writers nowadays, but I think no greater percentage are any good. A few stand out in my mind, but most fantasy writers are like most romance writers -- workmanlike, pleasantish popcorn reads, and ultimately forgettable.

 

[Matchstick]

After reading this line over and over from other people in other threads over time... list them. Come back tomorrow and list the novels or series you think are LOTR ripoffs.

As referred to above, Dennis McKiernan has some very direct LotR ripoffs. And of course the most infamous is Sword of Shannara. Feel free to read either, they are almost unbelievably blatant.

In fact in an interview Charles N Brown of Locus stated:

“By the late ’60s, The Lord of the Rings was popular. So-called high fantasy didn’t start until the ’70s, and that was commercial fantasy, started by Lester del Rey. He said: We’ve got this very strange Tolkien rip-off manuscript, I can make this a bestseller — and he did. That was Terry Brooks; he was the first. Del Rey promoted him as a Tolkien clone, and did a big Tolkien-type promotion on it. It sold a lot of copies, and this was the start of the commercial fantasy field.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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.

Here's one case where I agree with Storm Raven. I think that many of the best modern fantasy novels are not even marketted as fantasy....and few (if any) of the really good ones have anything to do with D&D (although you can always adapt source material).

RC

 

[hong]

Nope.

There are still, as before, a few good writers. I think there are more fantasy writers nowadays, but I think no greater percentage are any good. A few stand out in my mind, but most fantasy writers are like most romance writers -- workmanlike, pleasantish popcorn reads, and ultimately forgettable.

I forgot what was in this post. The author clearly needs to improve characterisation, pacing and conflict if it is to stand out in the crowded marketplace of today's web forae.

 

[DaveyJones]

LotR (1974) is the one true fantasy novel. All other novels are just poor imitations of the real thing.

hey, don't forget H.G. Wells, mang.

his work was da Bomb for miniatures warfare.