Cliches

5 Adjectives That Sell a Book to Me

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 9 Comments
Bookman’s Corner window sign, Chicago. Photo by Matt Stratton (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

My last post was about adjectives that turn me off books in promotional material, so this week I thought I’d turn it around and look at some common book-selling adjectives that might make me more likely to read a novel. Of course, no one word alone is going to sell me something, but there are a few that would help pique my interest if other signs are good.

I’ve ruled out obvious genre-markers like “fantasy” and “science fiction” (from the title of this blog it’s already pretty obvious I like those kinds of books), and narrowed it down to five that are most likely to catch my eye or appeal to my personal tastes: Continue reading →

5 Adjectives That Don’t Sell a Book to Me

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 34 Comments
Photo by Steve Johnson (CC BY 2.0)

Whether it’s in a blurb, a social media post, an email from an author or publicist, or an advertisement, I often see adjectives used to promote books… and while some of those adjectives do their job well, I’ve noticed others immediately rub me up the wrong way. These seemingly innocuous little words provoke grimaces or eye-rolls, instead of doing what they’re presumably meant to do: make me want to read the book.

Of course, these are specific to me and my personal tastes, but I thought for some fun, and in case it helps anyone know how not to promote a book to someone like me, I’d list a few that stand out. Continue reading →

The Four Elements in Magic

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 7 Comments
Medieval illustration of the four elements, seasons, solstices, zodiac signs and ages of man. Image from Wikimedia

This week I’m excited to bring you a guest post from urban fantasy author Ken Hughes, who’s taking a closer look at the four elements and the use of elemental magic systems. Ken is the author of the Whisperers Series and the Spellkeeper Flight Series, and has recently released his latest book, Freefall:

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“Water. Earth. Fire. Air.” Those are the first words in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but we’ve seen the same four-elements structure of magic and worldbuilding in so many other fantasy stories that the dreaded word “cliché” is never far away.

Still, the difference between a cliché and a classic might just be how long it’s been since we’ve seen that idea handled well (which Avatar does, yes). And fantasy does love its classics.  Continue reading →

Knocking People Out: Easier in Fiction Than in Real Life

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments
Image by Beyond My Ken (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During some recent TV viewing I noticed a few characters getting a little too conveniently knocked out, which got me wondering how many of the ways writers commonly use to render characters unconscious are actually plausible. To try and answer that, I did a little researching and wrote an article for Fantasy Faction about how true to life these fictional “fade to blacks” might be. Here’s the link in case the topic is of interest to anyone following along here:  Continue reading →

Platonic Protagonists: Can Heroes and Heroines Just Be Friends?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 44 Comments
Harry and Hermione, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, 2010

So I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately, but I thought I’d get back into the swing of things this week with an examination of some more Uncharted Territory in Fantasy. Full credit for this post’s topic goes to Kumquat Absurdium, whose comment from earlier this year has inspired me to take a closer look at platonic male-female relationships in fantasy stories:

“Why can’t you have a male and female protagonist combo that remain completely platonic throughout the book? We need a movement for this – support #PlatonicProtagonists! It’s not strictly a fantasy problem but it is a problem in fantasy as much as anywhere else.”

Now to be honest, I love a good romance, and I’m not at all averse to sexual relationships in the fantasy I read and watch. That said, I think it would be refreshing to see more platonic friendships between men and women in fiction, because the different dynamic that these relationships offer can be satisfying and rewarding in its own unique way. It might also better reflect the fact that men and women can be friends in real life.

I do, however, think there are reasons we don’t see a lot of male and female protagonists in such friendships:  Continue reading →

A streak of white hair: fantasy or reality?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 43 Comments
Rogue from the X‑Men films gazes toward the camera, her long dark windswept hair framing a white front streak

Article originally published on Fantasy Faction, April 2018. Last updated May 2026.

Several years ago, I wrote an article on Fantasy Faction about characters who have “skunk stripes” in their hair. I wanted to find out why these occur both in fiction and in real life, and how plausible “natural” white highlights really are. My investigation led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, and while there is a lot of uncertainty and myth surrounding the topic, I emerged with some interesting answers.

All of this came about because I was reading a romantasy novel, Master of Crows by Grace Draven, where one of the characters pushes himself to the limits of his magical abilities and nearly dies. Afterward, he’s left with a streak of white in his long black hair.

I’d seen these “skunk stripes” before in fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories. The X-Men character Rogue is the first that comes to mind, but other film characters such as Sweeney Todd, Bellatrix Lestrange and The Bride of Frankenstein also had white patches of hair, as do quite a few characters from manga, comics, and books.

This got me thinking, is all of this pure invention, or do real people get these? And if they do, do they ever appear suddenly, or for the same reasons they do in stories?

Continue reading →

Tough Travels: Mothers

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 27 Comments

It’s Tough Travelling time again! Tough Travels was originally created by Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn, revived on Fantasy Faction, and is now hosted by the team at The Fantasy Hive. Inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s humorous classic The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, every month it highlights a particular fantasy trope, theme or cliché, and invites bloggers to list stand-out books related to that week’s theme.

This month’s theme is mothers. 

Now this is a tough topic, because as I already mentioned in a post last year about absent parents, it’s often hard to find mothers or fathers who aren’t dead or otherwise absent in fantasy narratives. However, there are definitely some out there, so I’ve picked five I found particularly memorable:  Continue reading →

Tough Travels: Apprentices

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 33 Comments

Well crazily enough another month has gone by, which means it’s time to go Tough Travelling again – this time with a look at the much-loved role of the apprentice.

Tough Travels was originally created by Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn, revived on Fantasy Faction, and is now hosted by the team at The Fantasy Hive. Inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s humorous classic The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, every month it highlights a particular fantasy trope, theme or cliché, and invites bloggers to list stand-out books related to that week’s theme.

Here’s what the Tough Guide has to say about apprentices:  Continue reading →

Tough Travels: Shapeshifters

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 47 Comments

It’s Tough Travelling time again, and this month’s theme puts the spotlight on a kind of fantasy character that I  have a particular fondness for: the shapeshifter.

Tough Travels was originally created by Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn, revived on Fantasy Faction, and is now hosted by the team at The Fantasy Hive. Inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s humorous classic The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, every month it highlights a particular fantasy trope, theme or cliché, and invites bloggers to list stand-out books related to that week’s theme.

Here’s what the Tough Guide has to say about shapeshifters:  Continue reading →

Uncertain Destiny: Why It’s Time for More Un-Prophesied Heroes with Humble Origins

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 66 Comments

Photo by Klimkin (CC0)

This week I thought I’d get back to exploring some Uncharted Territory in Fantasy and spotlight a type of character that I wish I encountered more often in the stories I read and watch: a hero or heroine that doesn’t have a royal birthright, a noteworthy lineage, or a reassuring prophecy to prop them up.

I admit, this isn’t completely ‘Uncharted Territory’ as there are examples out there of characters with more uncertain destinies. However, it’s still something I think we could afford to see more of, not only because royal heirs and chosen ones can get a little tiresome, but because I find they can sometimes rob the story of a tension or devalue a character’s achievements  (e.g. when a special bloodline or inheritance is unveiled in a late surprise reveal I find it especially disappointing). Here are three reasons why: Continue reading →