Many times while reading literary agent blogs, I've seen comments that comparing your novel to other established authors out there is a good idea. "My novel is a cross between XXX and YYY" etc. But agents always make the exception that, say, claiming that your novel is "The DaVinci code meets Harry Potter" is useless, and makes the agent think less of you. You can't compare you novel to a mega-blockbuster in a query if you're a first time unpublished author. You just can't. You don't have the right to make such a claim and you end up looking deluded and amateurish.
One problem I have is that most of the fantasy books I get into are these mega-blockbuster series. Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Harry Potter. Song of Ice and Fire by Martin. You get my drift. I can't very well use these examples in a query letter to define how my fantasy novel/series fits in, now can I?
Another thing I once heard an agent mention on a blog (a paraphrase): "Have you ever browsed a bookstore and picked up a first time author's book, without getting a recommendation from a friend or anyone else, just because the back cover / first pages looked good? Because if you don't do that, how do you expect anyone else to do that for YOU?"
Given that I enjoy the styles of the above three series, and character-driven fantasy in general, does anyone have suggested reading of good fantasy novels/series from a NON-megablockbuster author, or even first time authors? Some mid-list, overlooked fantasy author who is making a living but not a superstar, but writes very good fantasy?
If I haven't defined my question enough, please ask for clarification. Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer some suggestions.
Posted by llknighte (Member # 7622) on :
Well, this is my pure opinion, but there are a number of authors that I haven't really heard mainstream that I think are quite good. You can determine if they're well-known enough and steer clear if you'd like.
Lawrence Watt-Evans is an author I haven't heard much about from others, but he has been rather established for a while. My favorite book of his is "With a Single Spell."
Then there's Christopher Stasheff and his Warlock series, but that is a combination of Fantasy and Sci-fi.
Those two are classic authors in my mind, but not huge hits in the community so far as I've been told. Don't mock me if they are.
Posted by AstroStewart (Member # 2597) on :
I've never really heard of either of them, so sounds like exactly what I was asking for. Thanks for the suggestion. Any/all further suggestions by anyone are most welcome Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
I read mostly SFF books because frankly other stuff bores me to death. I picked up a SFF book (in a library, not bought it) by an author I had never heard before. I believe it was his first or one of the first novels. It had some good elements but overall the author tried to be too spectacular for his own good so I stopped reading before I finished it. Which I really hate doing.
Often I read stories by authors published by the same publisher that got my first novel out. I was disappointed more that once - I even read a story that had a line copied directly from the Matrix ("Good. Adaptation. Improvisation. But your weakness is not your technique.") I just can't believe this guy actually thought he could get away with it. But you must understand that in my country there are very very few good SFF writers. The best work comes from a guy who writes SF pornography. His stories are quite good even without the sex part. Others mostly imitate block-buster work and try to hide it rather unsuccessfully. I guess it's up to me to do better... ;-)
Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :
Slightly obscure names that'll earn you a bit of literary cred and some historical cred too.
Guy Gavriel Kay Dorothy Dunnett
Jayson Merryfield
Posted by AstroStewart (Member # 2597) on :
Do you have any suggestions what books to start with for each of those authors, Wolfe_Boy? Or are they all essentially "single series" type of authors, where you obviously begin with "Book 1" of the series?
Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :
Well, GGK would be a good study of how an author can transform and evolve over a career, starting with High Fantasy in the vein of LOTR with his debut The Fionavar Tapestry, and slowly transforming into historical fantasy through his next 7 books. My personal favorite is The Lions of Al-Rassan, but Tapestry is excellent as well, and much more solidly in the fantasy genre than Lions.
As for Dorothy Dunnett, she personally advocated starting at the beginning of her Lymond Chronicles, then moving to The House of Niccolo series, and finally finishing with King Hereafter. 15 books all told, and I suppose King Hereafter doesn't fit with the rest of them, but starting with Lymond is probably the best suggestion.
Jayson Merryfield
Posted by thedorkygirl (Member # 2639) on :
I'm not sure if she's considered non-megablockbuster or what, but I know that my Grandad and I both enjoy Jennifer Fallon's Demon Child & Hythrun trilogies. I started with Wolfblade, which is actually the prequel trilogy, but I liked it better than the Hythrun one.
It's actually got a very intricate sex slave system that was interesting, amusing, and still sad. The first part almost lost me with whole dwarf thing, but it gets going quickly. Seriously, when you come across the term "dwarf", it is not magical -- it's a short man! It cracked me up when I realized that, but he's one of the most devious & delightful characters.
Everybody has an agenda in Fallon's work.
Posted by sholar (Member # 3280) on :
I am currently enjoying Carol Berg. I picked a book from her up at a used bookstore without knowing anything about her. Her stories are a bit less complex and less viewpoints than Martin. I have read the Avonar series and Transformation. Both are medieval fantasy with magic, involving members of the royal family. My husband and I do make a practice of buying random books and the used bookstore. If it sucks, I use it as an opportunity to learn and if it is good, I have found a new author to read. We also buy short story anthonlogies, trying to keep short stories alive.
Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :
It isn't necessary to say your book is the same as a mega-best seller. For one thing, why would you compare it to a book that that particular agent didn't sell? And if you want to make a comparison you can do it a tad more gracefully. Something like "You sold XXXX by XXXX, and my novel would appeal to the same readers" seems better wording to me. But I would do enough research to know what the agent has sold and whether or not it is in fact somewhat similar to yours.
