I love speculative fiction, including secondary world fantasy. However, the more fantasy I read, the more eager I am for variety. More often than not, I run into a medival Euorpean flavored world. There's royalty, knights, castles, etc. I have read tales where there is no magic. Because they still had castles and nobles, they were labled "fantasy."
More elaborated versions will have swords and sorcery. Perhaps there will be fantastical creatures like unicorns and dragons, and other sentient races like elves and dwarves. Modern versions may include dungeon crawls, character statistics on magical screens, and other video game and RPG elements.
Part of the reason for this ubiquitous setting is actual medival fantasy that remains popular, like Aurthurian legends. Another huge influence is J.R.R. Tolkien and his MIddle Earth drenched in medival British lore. Many many authors followed in his footsteps and for good reason.
World building is hard. Middle Earth is rich in detail. Dusting off elements like epic quests, wise elves, or artifacts of power, and giving them a new coat of paint is much easier than starting something new from scratch. It's relatively easy to fing books and other research on medival Europe, and Tolkien-ish worlds are so common, it's easy to find inspiration.
However, I like fantasy because it represents possibilities. I don't want to retread well worn paths, but try new things.
To keep this post from getting too long, I'll finish my thoughts next week.
Comments