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7.
AOTW: In talking to readers about what kinds of books they like, we often hear: "I'll read anything...except fantasy and sci-fiction". Why do you think readers are so reluctant to read fantasy? By the same token, do you think that fantasy is for everyone, or just a select few?
Teresa Edgerton: Many people have a very specific and not altogether accurate idea of what these genres are all about --- they think that all fantasy is sword and sorcery, and naked barbarian girls, and that all science fiction is space ships, or rampaging mutant monsters. They have no idea of the range and the diversity of these two fields. They may even occasionally read and enjoy something that qualifies as science fiction or fantasy in the broadest sense, and not even realize it. So sometimes this distaste for fantastic literature is a matter of --- I won't say ignorance, because that sounds judgmental --- it's merely a case of misinformation.
That said, some people really do seem to find a fantastic or a speculative element troubling. Anything unfamiliar, anything outside their ordinary everyday experience strikes them as threatening --- or, at the very least, unpleasantly confusing. When it comes to appreciating fantasy, I think that curiosity and an open mind are important. I hope these aren't characteristics of a select few. I would prefer to think that the other sort of reader was in the minority --- although those who are capable of enjoying fantasy and science fiction may choose to seek their pleasures elsewhere.
Robin Hobb: In most other genres, the reader steps into the story on familiar ground. Even if it takes place in a foreign country or long ago, the reader can be certain that rain will be wet, that horses are animals you can ride, and that climbing stairs will take you up. The readers of SF and fantasy are willing to suspend all that the moment they open the cover of the book. A tornado isn't the prelude to a disaster novel; it carries you to Oz. It may be a few pages or even a few chapters before the reader figures out precisely what is going on. Think of the opening line of the Hobbit. "In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit." From the very first sentence, you know you aren't in Kansas anymore. You are going to have to invest time and thought to enjoy this story. So, I think some readers go, "Oh, no. I'm only on page one, and already I don't know what is going on." So they retreat from it. I think you have to go into fantasy and SF ready to play the game.
Is it only for a select few? Naw. Most of those who claim never to have read any of it, will, when pushed, recall a few experiments at least. Just as people usually try the roller coaster or the fun house at least once. But SF and fantasy do require the initial agreement of 'okay, take me, I'm yours.' I think it's one reason why we are all so excited when we get together at conventions. We recognize one another as people who want life to be interesting and surprising. We are willing to engage, even if at first we don't understand what's going on. Especially in the books we read.
Terri Windling: Fantasy is such a broad, broad field (ranging from highly literary works to light-weight entertainment) that I think there's something for just about everyone within it. What people usually mean when they say they don't like fantasy is that they're not interested in the stereotypical fantasy book: a Tolkien clone with a dragon on the cover and singing elves within. The same person will sit down with a magical realist novel by Stephen Millhauser or Alice Hoffman, an adult fairy tale by A.S. Byatt or Angela Carter, and not realize that they are reading fantasy. It doesn't help that publishers often put dragons and such on the covers of literary fantasy novels, making them identical to the fluff. Charles de Lint has started calling works from the literary end of the field "mythic fiction," to distinguish them from the adventure-fantasy books.
I happen to like both kinds of fantasy --- books that are literary and books that are just fun (provided the latter is well written). I think it's a combination of ignorance and prejudice that causes people to snub the whole fantasy field just because some lesser examples of the form end up on bestsellers lists. That's precisely like snubbing American literature as a whole because Tom Clancy in on the bestsellers lists. There's a little more to it than that...
Elizabeth Haydon: At least some of the forms of fantasy are for everyone. We all grow up with fairy and folktales, reading the great adventure stories like The Odyssey, the tales of King Arthur or Paul Bunyan .
Perhaps one reason there is a reluctance to embrace fantasy is the very fact that it derives from those fairy tales, that folklore. There is an association with childhood there, and so perhaps the adult strain of fantasy may seem somewhat adolescent, somewhat immature to people who haven't tried it. In addition, both science fiction and fantasy require intellectual work to read. You have to embrace a different reality, perhaps one that has not even had a chance to occur yet, unfamiliar technology, languages, races. It's complicated reading, and though it may be the ultimate in escapism, it is not "escapist" easy reading.
Lynn Flewelling: I think fantasy is for people with a sense of wonder and fun, and a wish to experience real world issues through a different lens. I don't think any book is right for every reader. I can't read lawyer mysteries or political thrillers, myself. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them; they just don't entertain me.
I think fantasy gets a bad rap on two main accounts. First, many people assume that it's written for children. Second, a lot of fantasy is derivative and not very well written. I'm sorry if that sounds arrogant or harsh, but it's true. But it's also true of any other genre you care to name, and much of what sees print in the literary market.
L.E. Modesitt: For many people, fantasy has an unfavorable stereotype --- of witless magic escapism, of being so unworldly as to be totally inapplicable and unrealistic. There are some people who mentally cannot accept the fantasy "canons," but my experience has been that, given the range of what is now written in fantasy, you can find some fantasy book that will appeal to almost any individual reader. It's not so much that fantasy doesn't or can't appeal as that too many people don't believe that it can.
Michael Stackpole: I recall, when a freshman in high school, having a Robert Howard novel on my desk. A nun picked it up, flipped it over (Lancer, edition, wonderful Frazetta cover) and read aloud 'Epic fantasy's mightiest hero... in a demonic adventure at the edge of the world!' Others in the class laughed, because fantasy sounds like something for children. I do think, with the advent of Harry Potter (I loved those books), this attitude will change, but the idea of fairies and magicians is one that most adults find uncomfortable. I also think a lot of them think they won't understand the work, since it is not based in reality. Third, and unfortunately, there is a lot of poorly written fantasy out there, so folks who might have been encouraged get something dreadful and never touch it again.
I do think well-written fantasy can be for everyone. Harry Potter's success really points this out (as well as the appeal of LOTR, the Redwall novels and so on). Authors just need to remember that they have to invite readers into their worlds and that this novel might be the first taste of fantasy, therefore has to be accessible to those who don't read fantasy.
Sean Russell: We all have different books and different kinds of books that speak to us. A lot of non-fantasy readers identify the genre with young adult books, or think it isn't for the mature reader. The truth is fantasy isn't for everyone, though I think that some readers who resist it would be surprised if they actually gave the genre a chance. There are some amazing writers working in the field. John Crowley, Sean Stewart, Jeff Ford, Patricia Macillup, Stephen R. Donaldson, Tim Powers, Steven Erickson, Patrick O'Leary. The genre is a lot more sophisticated than most readers realize.
Lois McMaster Bujold: Sometimes that sort of thing is just an expression of taste, and one can't argue taste. Other times, it seems to be some weird scramble for social positioning; some people seem to have picked up the odd idea that reading certain books marks one as higher or lower on some status totem pole. This seems very confused thinking, to me. In my experience, the best readers are also the widest readers. Nothing can be for everyone, but given the range of subjects and styles in the fantasy genre as a whole, I would hope the total readership could be large indeed!
Martha Wells: Since most of my friends and the readers I run into all like SF and Fantasy, I really don't know why. I don't think the genre is just for a select few since movies like Star Wars and books like Harry Potter have been fantastically popular and not just among the core fans. I think for the most part it's just a matter of taste. Everyone has a type of book or movie they just can't get into. And probably in a few cases people who don't have much imagination or much ability to understand or accept things that are outside their direct experience don't like it because they don't understand it and it makes them uncomfortable. But people like that have far more problems than just disliking fantasy.
Juliet McKenna: The main stumbling block is often the notion that story using princes and dragons must be somehow infantile because those are things people remember from fairytales they heard as a kid. I personally think fantasy is a genre for inquiring minds and it's only people who can't think outside their own particular box who refuse to read it --- and miss out as a result.
Margaret Weis: I love mystery novels and I don't read fantasy. I like potato chips and I don't like chocolate. It's what makes the world go round.
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