anotheranonymousquill

[anotheranonymousquill]

Cozy Fantasy and Why It Doesn't Work

I think I am among many who feel like they should love cozy fantasy and have found it an incredibly lacking genre.

This newly branded "cozy fantasy" genre that has taken readers by storm since 2020 and while it is new that books are now marketed as cozy, the genre itself isn't new. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a great example of the genre before it was labeled and also how to make it work.

Cozy fantasy is defined by many as fantasy with low stakes. Fantasy aesthetic but less sword fights. On paper, it sounds great. But the execution has been less than stellar for readers like me. The lack of physical stakes has also impacted the emotional stakes of these books, creating forgettable characters with boring problems. As a romance reader, I find this frustrating. Romance is known for being a predictable and formulaic genre, the now defunct Romance Writers of America defined romances as needing happy endings, a term romances have continued to follow. Yet these romance texts manage to have low physical stakes (how to date your neighbor, how to confront your toxic friends, etc) while still maintaining high personal stakes that keep readers invested and begging for more. So I was initially confused why cozy fantasy authors struggle to write texts that connect to readers like me.

I think I have found the answer which is the genre is just here for vibes. It is all about aesthetic, not even worldbuilding that fantasy is known for as most cozy fantasy I read have so many problems as soon as you ask one question. It is hard to acknowledge that a genre that is pitched to work for readers like me doesn't work for many of us. Especially because occasionally there is one that works beautifully to my taste.

I often say my favorite cozy fantasies that are more contemporary are short and visual, which I plays into the idea of the genre being an aesthetic. The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz is a good example because it is a simple story that is given the perfect amount of pages and gorgeous visuals without dragging on when the message is very clear and easy to understand. Books like The Phoenix Keeper and Legends and Lattes have absolutely nothing for me, their very clear message hitting the reader over and over so the readers don't miss it and focusing on the aesthetic of worldbuilding rather than the reality of the fantastic elements within the world.

I guess my point is. . . I realize this genre isn't for me since I have realized it is more of an aesthetic than anything. .. .but I want it to be. Should I let it go and put my efforts elsewhere? Or should I keep exploring this new trend and find the hidden gems?

[anotheranonymousquill]

Leonid Pasternak  (Ukrainian, 1862–1945) - The Torments of Creative Work

[anotheranonymousquill]

every chosen one story is like: “you’re the only one who can save the world.” okay but what if i’m busy?

[anotheranonymousquill]

if anyone needs me. i will be in the corner. contemplating the characters

[anotheranonymousquill]

I teach honourable fencing and chivalrous combat.

Yet somehow, I raised a dagger fighting rogue, that can beat swordsmen with her dagger.

[anotheranonymousquill]

Something I don’t think we talk about enough is that Prim dies trying to save and comfort Capitol children and bystanders … Collins really painted us a people saturated in consumption, desensitized to violence, superficial and silly, so easy to hate for their complicity or to brush aside as colorful, disposable window dressing for the dystopian system they benefit from … and then looked us right in the eye and said, “Go ahead. Dehumanize them. I dare you. Primrose Everdeen dares you.” Stay winning, Suzanne.

[anotheranonymousquill]

Sorry to break it to you, but it's not going to write itself. So you might as well get to work.

[anotheranonymousquill]

I always love thinking about Katniss and Peeta having friends post war.

Like not only do they both sorely need it, I love the ideas of them showing off their friends to one another and the other being so supportive.

Peeta makes friends with the lead builder working on the bakery, and they bond over both having less than great, complicated feelings about their family whose gone but that they still miss somehow. He comes over for dinner and Katniss is protective but warms up to him. She ends up sending him home with dired herbs, and later regularly sets aside some of the better fish she catches for him.

Katniss slowly gets closer to the lady running the orphanage. She helps Katniss comes to terms with the side of herself that really wants to love an care for others, the part of her maybe in another life would love to have children. She encourages Katniss to become a familiar face at the orphanage. Peeta brings her random cookies and pies.

It's so important to me that these two not only have one another, but they give one another a safe place to build themselves into a wider support network post war.

[anotheranonymousquill]

The batkids play the version of “get down Mr president” with Bruce accept it’s “get down Batman!” And all of his kids will tackle him to ground. It’s quite fun when there is a gala party going on or when Bruce is walking down the hall of Wayne Enterprise talking to important CEOS. The kids love it so much.

[anotheranonymousquill]

Do not punish the behaviour you want to see

I mean, it seems pretty obvious when you put it like that, right?

But how many families, when an introvert sibling or child makes an effort to socialize,  snarkily say, “So, you’ve decided to join us”?

Or when someone does something they’ve had trouble doing, say, “Why can’t you do that all the time?” (Happened to me, too often.)

Or any sentence containing the word “finally”. 

If someone makes a step, a small step, in a direction you want to encourage, encourage it. Don’t complain about how it’s not enough. Don’t bring up previous stuff. Encourage it.

Because I swear to fucking god there is nothing more soul-killing, more motivation-crushing, than struggling to succeed and finding out that success and failure are both punished.

[anotheranonymousquill]

Something you can do if you’re trying to write an expert in their field but aren’t an expert yourself is to force them into a situation where they have to be resourceful. You still need to research, but for example in Tell Me How Long, half my characters are marine biologists.

I’m not one myself but I’ve taken marine science classes and consider myself more knowledgeable than average on the subject.

But these biologists have to administer life-saving medication to a sick merperson, in a triage environment where the lead doctor is incredibly limited in the tools at his disposal. From my standpoint as a writer, I don’t have to research exact, professional equipment and procedure that would be present in a proper medical facility and for the layman reader, they won’t get overwhelmed by all the medical jargon (in tools, procedure, and environment) that now doesn’t need to exist.

My characters are on a fishing boat forced to use makeshift equipment that you could buy at a department store, familiar objects that most anyone is reasonably familiar with. The doctor does have his own equipment to a degree, but he can't pack an entire laboratory up in a suitcase.

And, if you set a precedent of the expert going “This is not perfect but it’s what we got and I’m doing my best” instead of “I’m the expert and this is the exact and only way to handle this situation” you get more wiggle room a la “well it’s not great but in these circumstances, I believe it and he gets a pass”.

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is LOST, and in it the protagonist is a spinal surgeon, but also the catch-all doctor as the only one qualified in the group of survivors to do any kind of medical treatment. All he has to work with are whatever supplies they crashed with and tools in the environment. I’m not a spinal surgeon, but it certainly looks legit when you’re watching and when it gets jank, well, he has no other options, it’s gonna be jank.

Still consult how it should be done in your research! A broken bone still needs to be set a specific way, whether you have a proper splint or have to build one out of sticks.

I have to know things like nitrates and nitrites and how those levels impact biological systems. I have to know the mechanics of a reef and how global warming is killing them en masse. I have to know marine biology at its basest level and how a medical professional would prioritize care in an emergency situation. But I don't need to be a marine veterinarain with a degree to write this specific scenario.

I also got some wiggle room because there is no proper documentation for how to treat mythological creatures versus if the plot was about bottlenose dolphins, but I set out to write realistic marine scientists, and that demands on some level knowing what I’m talking about.

[anotheranonymousquill]

few things more humbling than the realization that you really do write the same fic(s) over and over again

[anotheranonymousquill]

Writerblrs: It doesn't have to be your magnum opus to deserve publication

When I was 17/18, I wrote my first, orignal, full-length novel, that, after many, many years and a few revisions, it is very far from perfect, but 9 years later and I'm finally tossing it up online for free so somebody sees it. It'll probably never be officially published for profit, at least not for a good long while.

Why? It's book 1 of a planned 5, and I have 2.5 books written... and then got stuck. 9 years trying to make this thing perfect. I adore these characters and the world I built, it's just not coming together.

So.

I took a break, and last year, I was watching Game of Thrones for the very first time and I texted my mom, hey I have a book idea. You know how most vampire stories rely on humans for food? Well what if there was a world where humans relied on vampires as food?

And la-di-da, seven months after that idea, I had a book on the shelves. It was supposed to be a one-off, then a trilogy, and now it'll be a four-book saga. That was August 2024.

Enter November 2024. During a bout of writer's block two years ago, I pulled some of my characters from the aforementioned 9-year-WIP and tossed them into a modern sci-fi story about merfolk. It was supposed to be this big epic thing, but ADHD brain got 5 chapters done and then I completely lost interest and never went back.

Over time I'd go back and reread what I'd written, specifically the collision between the human and mer world, and it always put a smile on my face.

Well, this last time I went back to reread it, I changed some names around and realized—you know what? This might actually work as is as a novella. So I put out the call for beta readers and got that exact feedback (mostly, they'd received only a portion that I had edited, and after some finagling I managed to fit both what needed to happen for the story to feel complete without drawing it out much longer).

So I tossed it out to more people willing to beta for me, and only one said it was too short, but the reasons why were fixable.

Enter this week, where I message my editor I used for Eternal Night asking if she's available. She is.

By February 2025, Tell Me How Long will be on the virtual shelves as an ebook novella.

—

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to publish the story of your dreams. But if, in doing so, you watch years go by trying to make it perfect that you never publish anything at all, is that worth the potential of maybe getting the "perfect" book out?

I'm going to have two titles out together within 6 months. I never would have done that if I kept a draconian dedication to my 9-year-book-baby. If nothing else, that WIP was all practice leading up to these two, and those characters, the foundations of what they are, actually live on in the casts of both Eternal Night and Tell Me How Long.

I do have the ability to afford to publish both these books that I know many others don't. Editors and cover art and formatting are expensive. I recognize this (but also make $20/hr, I'm not rich) I just am able to prioritize my hobbies witthout many other big-ticket items on my checkbook. But there are people out there who do quality work on a budget, if it is money holding you back.

You never know what might blow up in popularity if you just put yourself out there and give it a go.

[anotheranonymousquill]

heya, happy STS! What can you tell me about your undercover-and-spy shenanigans?

Ahhhhhh, pass? I've been putting off answering this for ages because every time I go to reply I stare into space and wonder how on earth to condense my dystopian wip into an elevator pitch.

But I have to try so here goes something; basically the world has a massive class divide where the king has his rich city built on weath and glamor and showing off how prosperous his country it.

However outside the king's yet-unnamed city everything has fallen into a mix of ruin and dog eats dog lawlessness where the law enforcement has no power and the economy is in shables. So the city has its sparkle and cutthroat high society, while the rest of the country runs on gangs looking out for their own and little communities trying to help each other stay alive with quite a few loners floating between both.

My undercover spy shenanigans come in when Tess, a 19 year old who acts her part in high society flawlessly, goes on some type of assignment to find out why one of the military's civilian informats stopped sending as detailed reports on local gang activity as he used to. Tess goes undercover to watch and work with the guy and slowly learns a whole heap about the depth of corruption in their country and everything she's been taught about what's important in life.

So ah, that's my rambles on premise. Ethan, they guy she is investigating/shadowing/eventually kinda working alongside, has a whole heap of connections and problems to work through, all of which are made worse my Tess digging up his secrets. So I've been debating making him a second pov. We'll see.

[anotheranonymousquill]

Poor Halleil having a sword and wings and yet not getting to wreck the havoc she seems inclined to, even when under stress. I feel she should get a little bit of effective fighting, as a treat? Or perhaps excused due to grief?

Idk how it would work but surely she can get a cool fighter moment with a bit of that feral side I sense hiding under the surface. What are your thoughts on this Author?

d'you know what yeah I put Halliel through Some Shit that is largely beaurocratic in nature so yeah

she deserves some good sword fighting moments and I will definitely give her that!! There are some places it can be stuck in, I assure you

[anotheranonymousquill]

heya, happy STS! What can you tell me about your undercover-and-spy shenanigans?

Ahhhhhh, pass? I've been putting off answering this for ages because every time I go to reply I stare into space and wonder how on earth to condense my dystopian wip into an elevator pitch.

But I have to try so here goes something; basically the world has a massive class divide where the king has his rich city built on weath and glamor and showing off how prosperous his country it.

However outside the king's yet-unnamed city everything has fallen into a mix of ruin and dog eats dog lawlessness where the law enforcement has no power and the economy is in shables. So the city has its sparkle and cutthroat high society, while the rest of the country runs on gangs looking out for their own and little communities trying to help each other stay alive with quite a few loners floating between both.

My undercover spy shenanigans come in when Tess, a 19 year old who acts her part in high society flawlessly, goes on some type of assignment to find out why one of the military's civilian informats stopped sending as detailed reports on local gang activity as he used to. Tess goes undercover to watch and work with the guy and slowly learns a whole heap about the depth of corruption in their country and everything she's been taught about what's important in life.

So ah, that's my rambles on premise. Ethan, they guy she is investigating/shadowing/eventually kinda working alongside, has a whole heap of connections and problems to work through, all of which are made worse my Tess digging up his secrets. So I've been debating making him a second pov. We'll see.

[anotheranonymousquill]

This is so real

If you ever send me a writing ask and I take a really long time to respond I promise I’m not ignoring you I’m just exhausted