Forlaget Tyrs gode råd om at undgå fantasy-genrens fejltagelser og klicheer

Denne gang handler Tyrs Tirsdag om fejltagelser og klicheer i fantasy.

Fantasygenren er rig på faste elementer, men mange af disse er blevet så ofte brugt, at de er blevet til klichéer, der kan svække en fortælling. Her er en oversigt over de mest almindelige klichéer og typiske fejl, forfattere begår, baseret på Quora, Thoughtsonfantasy.com og andre kilder.

Klassiske fantasy-klichéer (tropes)

• Den udvalgte (The Chosen One): En bondeknold, der viser sig at være profeteret til at redde verden.
• Mørkets Herre (Dark Lord): En ondskabsfuld skurk, der bor i et øde tårn og kun ønsker ødelæggelse uden dybere motivation.
• Den vise gamle troldmand: En Gandalf-type mentor, der guider helten.
• Alfer, dværge og orker: Standardracer, der ofte følger stereotyper (alfer er overlegne, dværge er gnavne).
• Middelalderlig Europa-setting: En verden, der ligner det middelalderlige England med slotte, riddere og kroer.
• Propofier: Plottet drives frem af en ældgammel forudsigelse.
• Den magiske genstand: Et sværd eller en amulet, som helten skal finde for at besejre det onde.

Typiske fejl i Fantasy-skrivning

• Infodumping: Forfatteren forklarer hele verdens historie og magisystem i de første kapitler i stedet for at vise det gennem handling.
• For mange karakterer: Introduktion af for mange karakterer på én gang, så læseren mister overblikket.
• Dårlig dialog: Dialoger, der lyder som lærebøger eller er for melodramatiske.
• Manglende logik (Narrative Logic): Karakterer træffer usandsynlige valg, eller magien fungerer vilkårligt for at løse plottets problemer.
• Langsom start: Historien bruger for lang tid på at komme i gang, ofte med en meget detaljeret beskrivelse af heltens barndom.
• Sproglige klichéer: Overdreven brug af arkaiske ord eller blomstrende adjektiver (læs om purple prose her), der gør teksten tung.
• Manglende konsekvens: Store slag uden økonomiske eller politiske konsekvenser, eller karakterer, der sjældent lider af PTSD eller sygdom.

Hvordan undgår du dem?

For at skabe en frisk fantasyfortælling anbefales det at vende klichéerne på hovedet:

• Gør skurken relaterbar med komplekse motiver.
• Skab en ny type magisystem eller verden, der ikke er baseret på europæisk middelalder.
• Fokuser på karakterudvikling frem for kun action.
• Lad “den udvalgte” fejle eller slet ikke være den rette.

Klichéer er ikke altid dårlige, da de kan skabe en følelse af tryghed, men de bør bruges bevidst og gerne med et tvist.

En liste over klicheer fundet på Quora på engelsk kommer her:

1. Good vs. Evil is overdone and simplistic. There’s always a motive, people aren’t purely driven by ‘giddiness’ or ‘darkness’.
2. Chosen one. Just no.
3. Bad guy is a dark wizard.
4. The bad guy’s minions are always fuck ugly.
5. The good guys are represented by light and nature.
6. The big battle solves everything. No economic deficit or collapse, no power vacuum or feud, everything just carries on. Crisis averted guys!
7. The hero has to carry or find an artifact of power that may possibly corrupt his mind when carried…
8. Prophecies…
9. The wizard is always old and incredibly wise.
10. Dwarves and orcs and elves
11. Characters who seemingly no remorse for killing the ‘bad guys’. Do those enemy soldiers have families too? Does the hero not have an internal conflict of morals?
12. Men dominate the story. (C’mon it’s fantasy!)
13. Good guys survive, bad guys die.
14. “I thought that was just a myth…”, “No, the legends are true!” (Why do the myths have to ‘come true’ at the last minute? Surely someone in this world must have noticed the ruins were inhabited by mysterious beings right?)
15. Religion is surprisingly never touched on. Why are protagonists never devout? (Think of a cool religion that the hero could have.)
16. Bad guy lives in a tower or a wasteland and enjoys decorating with cobwebs, spikes and booby traps.
17. Secret passages hidden behind bookcases or activated by a stone bust which the hero conveniently leans against.
18. The bumbling oaf exposes the group after knocking over an object and making an extremely loud noise.
19. Eurocentric world and folklore. (Think outside the box.)
20. Monarchies everywhere! (Be creative! Anarchist societies perhaps? Merchant societies…)
21. Elves are always superior. Dwarves are always gruff. Orcs are always stupid. (Why can’t orcs be intelligent and civilized?)
22. Hero escapes execution with convenient timing and coincidences.
23. The old wizard who agrees to go a long journey across the lands despite being old, slow and decrepit, and requires the support of his staff to walk…
24. Why do none of the characters have any illnesses? Surely the older people might have arthritis right? Flu? Battle wounds seem to patch up fairly easily too…
25. The heroes must walk…ALL THE WAY. (Are there no carriages for hire? Boats? Why do they have to supply their own horses and boats?)
26. A fortune teller that can foretell ‘terrible events’ but can’t tell you who dies or if they succeed?
27. The good kings are never even the slightly dictatorial. How do we know this king is good? Perhaps he’s a real douchebag to his citizens… (They’re also always loved by their citizens for some reason. Why can’t we have a good king with a complex history?)
28. Love triangles… (This is very overdone in any genre.)
29. Bad guy’s lair has a convenient unguarded escape passage for when the hero break out of their cells. Or…
30. Guards are incompetent. (Only when convenient for the plot…)
31. The bounty hunter on a secret mission looks very conspicuous…
32. Seemingly uninhabited ruins are surprisingly inhabited… (Also, why is it always the bad guys who live in dark decrepit ruins?)
33. Mythical beasts like caves and mountains.
34. The woman always has the bow or daggers. The man has the huge sword. Compensating for something?
35. No one suffers from PTSD. (Why is this never a recurring theme? Characters seem to only ever be shocked for a chapter or two and then become miraculously impervious to nay future death or gore.)
36. The hero is very healthy and good looking.
37. Suddenly this good looking, seemingly normal hero, has a tortured past.
38. The vampires always want to get in bed with the main character.
39. The wizards never seem to trim their beard hair or wear nice comfortable clothes.
40. Villain wants to keep the hero alive for longer.
41. Villains are conveniently terrible marksmen.
42. The hero has perfect manoeuvrability even in a giant whopping suit of armour.
43. Everyone believes in magic, not technology.