Hahah, pretty funny, although I have to ask if it's possible to write a novel that doesn't have ANY of that stuff and still classify it as a fantasy? Maybe, but it would be difficult to think of a story...

Actually, I find the beginning of the Lord of the Rings one of the must interesting parts, though admittedly not for the right reasons. When Tolkien started to write the Lord of the Rings, he was intending to write another Hobbit - it was to be another children's book. As he carried on, it changed in scope. The fat hobbit he had initially called 'Trotter', became a man called 'Strider'. The relatively harmless, jovial exploits of the hobbits expanded hugely in scope. The Ringwraiths are, initially, scary but not enormously dangerous. Fast forward a few hundred pages, and suddenly they're far far more powerful. I find this transformation fascinating: and it's not just the change in plot but that there's a marked change in the narration style. At the beginning (though Tolkien edited several of them out, and later wrote that he wished he had removed more) there are addresses to the audience/reader, very much in the style of the Hobbit: he creates a kindly narrative persona, who elucidates difficulties and chats to the reader - this is, of course, entirely out of keeping with the rest of the book - similarly, you can catch him writing a constant quasi-archaic prose later on, which has no business mixing with the kindly old man who is the narrator... and I could carry on writing on this topic for some time, but I should be doing other things so I won't. I've also basically forgotten why I was writing this post in the first place.. when it comes back to me, I'll edit it in.

Identical characters in every book... take David Eddings for example. Every book is EXACTLY the same from the point of view of the characters and the way the characters interact.

Are you aware that Tolkien spent almost his entire adult life working on the entirety of the LotR world?

I think it would be better to say that LotR starts out jovial, etc, because JRR Tolkien didn't want everyone to say "I saw all of this coming a mile away!"

Someone has a new signature!

Actually, many of these could apply to a number of genres. I just happen to notice them more in fantasy novels.

5) Using a special "fantasy word" for things for which there is a perfectly good English word when there is no reason to do so. Every fantasy author has their own neat word for tobacco, for instance. Why can't Grud the mercenary make a sandwich with ham and rye instead of making a sandwichiae with hamon and slorp?

Well, in a medieval based setting, tobacco aint around...

Well, in a medieval based setting, tobacco aint around...

That's I quit reading Jordan, eventually. Somewhere around book six or so, it seemed to me like he had no idea where he was going, and he was just going to keep elaborating, expanding, and complicating things until he died. When Robert Jordan dies, he'll be on the 38th Wheel of Time book which will be 10,000 pages long, involve 860ish characters, and nothing will be resolved. You can bet there will be plenty of braid tugging and such, though.

It's true, science fiction writers have obtained a form of literary perfection unbeknownst to the writers of any other genre.

I'm just going to be a fanboy and bring up R. A. Salvatore.

Kthxbi.

I still think Terry Pratchett is the best fantasy writer and Douglas Adams the best SF one.