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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Insight" data-source="post: 4562615" data-attributes="member: 11437">One of the issues you're dealing with in genre fiction (which is a big umbrella, but includes basically anything that has a 'genre' - horror, fantasy, and sci-fi among them) is that you have a built-in audience, the most likely folks to buy your novel.  This audience expects certain things from fantasy: elves, magic, a medieval setting, and so forth.  These tropes come to identify the work as a genre story, and act as a sort of shorthand to enable the reader to grasp where your story is set.The problem with fantasy tropes is a complex one.  On the one hand, tropes, as I said, are an easy shorthand for fantasy readers to quickly identify things in your story, things they expect, like the aforementioned elves.  A fantasy reader knows what an elf is, and has a built-in understanding (and expectation) of dwarves, dragons, magic, sorcerers, etc.  On the other hand, tropes handcuff you as a writer.  If all you do is go with established fantasy icons, your storytelling pallette is a rather limited one.Going 'off the reservation', in terms of changing, adding, or removing some fantasy tropes, is a welcome change for any prospective fantasy author (and I'm sure the editor who has to read this stuff), but the path is fraught with danger.  Going strongly against the genre may result in you being unable to sell your work or find an audience.Should you make the work your own, by changing elves, creating dwarves with no beards, dragons that don't fly, magic that works in an unusual way, and so forth?  Sure.  If you're a novelist, and you want people to identify your work as something different, you are wise to come up with your own unique take on the genre.  Being too different has its own perils, but if done right, can be a refreshing change from the usual fare.</blockquote>

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