Is Classic Fantasy still relevant?
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Erys
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Depend on the site. The readers of Smuthub prefer Smut, Isekai, and GL. If your story has no such things, it's harder to find readers in this site.
Maybe ask @SailusGebel to give feedback to your story? He know how to make readers enjoy stories without the three elements from above.
LilRora
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The thing is, you've got to have something interesting in your story that will keep reader's attention. You can use classic fantasy, but you need to add something original to make it interesting. As for what it would be, that's your call.
If you decide to go with classic fantasy without any significant twists, many people will still enjoy it, but they will be able to guess the races and potentially the plot points. This will make some of them drop the story.
If you decide to go with classic fantasy without any significant twists, many people will still enjoy it, but they will be able to guess the races and potentially the plot points. This will make some of them drop the story.
They are still very much relevant, but there is not much audience, on SH at least, for fantasy without isekai and/or LitRPG.
For example, those two finished stories have similar length and both are very well written in my opinion. The LitRPG one with some Isekai in it got over 2M views, while the one without either is struggling to get 50k.
Blue Core
The Eagle’s Flight
For example, those two finished stories have similar length and both are very well written in my opinion. The LitRPG one with some Isekai in it got over 2M views, while the one without either is struggling to get 50k.
Blue Core
The Eagle’s Flight
CupcakeNinja
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thats like asking if people still enjoy jerking off. Of course we do.
All that means is the story wasnt well written enough to win without gimmicks. That said, its also about preference and trends. But a writer who can pull you into a story the way Tolkien and Sanderson do has no need to use things like those. They could branch out to those genres, but they'd be supplementary only.
I feel most LitRpgs forget that. I give fuck all about the game aspects if the story itself is shit. The way they TELL the story. Sometimes it's just not very appealing, either the prose is awkward or the characters fall flat.
Authors like those two, however, have no such weaknesses.
I have no such weaknesses!
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Erys
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SailusGebel
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Yes.
skribe
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Why?
SailusGebel
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Because no one has created anything better yet. Isekai isn't a new genre, but more of a plot device\trope. Btw, Isekais have elves; dwarves; wizards with poiinty hats; and dark lords etc.
greyblob
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because they're a familiar concept that's been around for centuries. if you say goblin, elf, dwarf, etc, everyone will know what you mean. it's convenient for the reader and author
LostLibrarian
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The thing with isekai and fantasy is that both of them aren't "content genre" but part of the setting. You can take any story and write it in classic fantasy, isekai, LitRPG, Sci-Fi or just our normal world. Those things can help attract readers because they are shiny (which is why a lot of people use isekai as a selling point).
But the "enjoyment" comes out of the story. And for that, it really doesn't matter what the setting is. (In fact, you could take 90% of isekai and rewrite them as classic fantasies without any problems. It's just a little bit less self-insert.)
The problem with "classic fantasy" and "webnovels" is that they are often slower paced. With a lot of worldbuilding and lore the authors have to put in there. That's something that often sells great in traditional publishing as the reader gets a lot more detail for their money. But the webnovel target audience often prefers faster paced stories for the immediate reward.
Both the target audience and the way they consume their story will change what type of story structure is more successful. And you could write fantasy in the same way as isekai... but that takes a lot more skill and planning. That's a high bar for new writers who publish their first ever story for free...
But overall... fantasy is just doing fine.
To look at it a bit differently: The first season of the Lord of the Rings series might cost Amazon half a billion dollars.
That's the grandfather of old fantasy with all the tired tropes and copied a million times.
And the target audience is still so invested that Amazon would pay that much money...
But the "enjoyment" comes out of the story. And for that, it really doesn't matter what the setting is. (In fact, you could take 90% of isekai and rewrite them as classic fantasies without any problems. It's just a little bit less self-insert.)
The problem with "classic fantasy" and "webnovels" is that they are often slower paced. With a lot of worldbuilding and lore the authors have to put in there. That's something that often sells great in traditional publishing as the reader gets a lot more detail for their money. But the webnovel target audience often prefers faster paced stories for the immediate reward.
Both the target audience and the way they consume their story will change what type of story structure is more successful. And you could write fantasy in the same way as isekai... but that takes a lot more skill and planning. That's a high bar for new writers who publish their first ever story for free...
But overall... fantasy is just doing fine.
To look at it a bit differently: The first season of the Lord of the Rings series might cost Amazon half a billion dollars.
That's the grandfather of old fantasy with all the tired tropes and copied a million times.
And the target audience is still so invested that Amazon would pay that much money...
Thatonedude1235
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Honestly I can relate to this, my story may not be exactly classical dwarves and elves and whatnot, it has my own rules and species. But when it comes to reading a webnovel I strictly avoid Isekai's, harems, litrpg/game mechanics, and other anime-esque things. Kind of makes it hard to find a story I enjoy, but there are some out there.
SakeVision
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of course it is, look how popular are warhammer fantasy games
skribe
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How many of these examples have every facet of classic fantasy? Many current works use one or some of them (eg. dwarves, wizards, and elves), but how common is it to use all of them?
Is that because it's not popular enough, both with readers and writers? Or is it a problem with the search engine?
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SakeVision
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What's every facet of classic fantasy, according to you?
skribe
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As I stated initially: with elves; dwarves; wizards with poiinty hats; and dark lords.
SakeVision
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so warhammer has all that, and it spawned many popular games and novels, in addition to tabletop games
same with dungeons and dragons and pathfinder
and of course, the never ending popularity of tv shows like game of thrones....
even Japanese light novels, the sekai litrpg type, usually have our heroes spirited away to a world of what you consider is classic fantasy
Proctor
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Traditional Fantasy alone is a harder sell in web novel spheres, there are a couple of reasons why in my opinion:
- You're up against people like Brandon Sanderson, lol. Web Novel readers don't tend to read fast food exclusively; there are plenty who still read traditional books too. So it's easy to imagine that someone who might like your work could just as easily read 'Way of Kings', 'Six of Crows', or 'The Name of the Wind' instead. It's not a coincidence WN authors that want to dabble in traditional fantasy elements tend to add trendy tropes to catch easier fish in multiple different ponds instead of only competing in the titan of an ocean that is Traditional Fantasy.
- Online readers tend to prefer a specific spice or two in their fast food. Going vanilla or experimental without the addictive substances like tables with arbitrary numbers, some loser getting splattered by a truck, or a line-up of waifus puts even more stress on the fact that your characters, prose, and plot have to outperform the competition who will gladly give people all the numbers, truck drive-bys, and boobies they want.
In conclusion, the online WN sphere is a niche climate. Traditional Fantasy readers have food for years, a massive smorgasbord of whatever they want by professional chefs. However, stuff like LitRPG and Harem tend to only be found on the web for the English side of the globe, either by online shopping or, well, finding it on a web novel site like here. Put simply, the target audience tends to be readers who already have specific preferences in mind. Going astray from this obviously implies risk on your part.
- You're up against people like Brandon Sanderson, lol. Web Novel readers don't tend to read fast food exclusively; there are plenty who still read traditional books too. So it's easy to imagine that someone who might like your work could just as easily read 'Way of Kings', 'Six of Crows', or 'The Name of the Wind' instead. It's not a coincidence WN authors that want to dabble in traditional fantasy elements tend to add trendy tropes to catch easier fish in multiple different ponds instead of only competing in the titan of an ocean that is Traditional Fantasy.
- Online readers tend to prefer a specific spice or two in their fast food. Going vanilla or experimental without the addictive substances like tables with arbitrary numbers, some loser getting splattered by a truck, or a line-up of waifus puts even more stress on the fact that your characters, prose, and plot have to outperform the competition who will gladly give people all the numbers, truck drive-bys, and boobies they want.
In conclusion, the online WN sphere is a niche climate. Traditional Fantasy readers have food for years, a massive smorgasbord of whatever they want by professional chefs. However, stuff like LitRPG and Harem tend to only be found on the web for the English side of the globe, either by online shopping or, well, finding it on a web novel site like here. Put simply, the target audience tends to be readers who already have specific preferences in mind. Going astray from this obviously implies risk on your part.