/lit/ - Literature

>write novel
>re-read it years later
>it's basically BotNS but with elves
In hindsight there are worse criticism but I feel like I'm way too influenced by Gene Wolfe and every time I write something, I see a little of BotNS in it. Is this thing common among writers? I often heard about "my biggest influence was X, Y, Z" and I never quite figured out what they meant until now. I feel like I don't have a voice. Every dialogue sounds like Severian talking in my head.

>>13460753
Fantasy books but not real fantasy are boring as fuck. At that point you'd rather just read real history.
Let fantasy be all that it implies. Magic and evil guys and races and whatnot. Human x Human political fantasy is as boring as it could ever get without being downright a poorly written history schoolbook filled with dates and facts to memorize.

Plebs will disagree

>>13221894
Well shit, l I am forced to agree with you. I do enjoy balls to the wall magic and obvious fantasy elements.
It's a shame that most modern writers shy away from these elements of the story and seem to always ground the problems in "reality". The villain is a guy, not a monster. The world problems are racism and oppression and poverty, never a bunch of powerful wizards experimenting, threading too close to powers that would end the world. The solution to problems is always diplomacy or physical violence or friendship or unity, never a battle of pure sorcery. The protagonist is always an everyman or rooted into a real character, never an actual magician or fantastic creature in his prime.

Which is why I'm working hard as fuck at my own unapologetically fantasy novel. Already about 100k words in, fuck.