McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Your Pet Urban Fantasy Cliche Peeves
LizW65:
I'd like to see more good standalone novels. Not everything has to be a trilogy or an open-ended series (or in the case of movies, a franchise.)
A few plot-related things I could do with a lot less of:
-protagonists, male or female, who get to behave like assholes with no consequences whatsoever
-a protagonist who turns out to be the Chosen One, or indeed particularly "special" for any reason
-power creep to the point of absurdity (especially when powered up by sex, as many of you have already mentioned)
Ziggelly:
I, for one, would seriously like to see an Urban Fantasy heroine who doesn't have multiple guys fighting over her. Unless you're trying to be a romance novel, what the hell is wrong with stable, healthy, long-term, relatively drama-free relationships?
... Also, what's up with there being no heroes in the world who have good families? In any genre? If there's a hero, their family is either dead or seriously messed up. Why?
LizW65:
--- Quote ---Also, what's up with there being no heroes in the world who have good families? In any genre? If there's a hero, their family is either dead or seriously messed up. Why?
--- End quote ---
Insta-angst. Just add trauma and stir!
(I'm not crazy about this particular trope either, and am subverting it in my mystery series: both protagonists had reasonably happy childhoods, and still have living parents and lots of relatives with whom they have good relationships.)
Snowleopard:
Tired of vampires.
Really don't like modern braaaiiinnnns type zombies.
Quantus:
I dont mind using existing mythos, but I am starting to get a little tired of the Norse tie-in. I understand that it is mostly my perspective as part of the Western, English speaking audience, but there are so many other mythologies to draw from besides the ever-present Norse and Greek. When was the last time you saw one that drew heavily from the Persian pantheon, for example. I understand the perspective of avoiding the more active religions like the Hindu or drawing from some of the more fantastic elements from the Koran (though that consideration doesnt seem to stop anyone away from the judeochristian side of things, oddly enough). But there are tons of rich, fascinating, and in this day and age relatively obscure pantheons and mythologies that rarely seem to ever pop up, unless they are footnotes in larger "everything exists" stories.
ok, weekend musings over :)
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