Dark fantasy

[Izumi_Kenshu]

What is current state of Dark Fantasy genre in any other webnovel site? Is it still popular?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Good question. I haven't seen many examples, but haven't looked very hard either, which is odd, as it is a genre I tend to gravitate towards both as a reader and a writer in physical novels.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Depends on how you define dark fantasy.

 

[Izumi_Kenshu]

Good question. I haven't seen many examples, but haven't looked very hard either, which is odd, as it is a genre I tend to gravitate towards both as a reader and a writer in physical novels.

Oof, it's hard to get notice, I always think that Genre had died.

 

[BearlyAlive]

If by "dark" you mean grimdarkedgydarsoulslikekoreagrindlitrpg then they're still going stronk on RR. Otherwise there's sometimes one or two that get popular for a few minutes before disappearing from the radar again.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Dark fantasy is still popular but it's mostly in the trad and indie publishing scene. Most webnovel sites either only use it as a subgenre or it just isn't the main focus of the novel.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

It tends to be used more as a subgenre than on it's own in webnovel fiction. Even when I was in Wattpad back in the 2010s, webnovels tended to be more like dark romantasy (werewolf/vampire romances) than actual dark fantasy. There were still many dark fantasy stories being written at the time, just not as much a dark romantasy, but there were three kinds being written. One was dark romantasy (the most popular at the time), another one was more fantasy-based dark fantasy (more popular but not as popular as dark romantasy), and a third kind was more supernatural horror-based (the least popular kind). I wrote the third kind (the least popular kind) back then, so my stories never really got off the ground there. Even when I slowly shifted towards a more fantasy-based version of dark fantasy with a dark-magical-girl story in 2017-2018, it got the same reception. By then, dark fantasy as its own genre was being phased out amidst the bandfiction/bad-boy romance craze. So unless you were genre savvy or just plain lucky at the time, most dark fantasy stories never left the ground.

 

[beast_regards]

The Dark Fantasy is ever so popular since the Game of Thrones (and was popular even before)

Only problem is that no one could agree on what the terms "dark fantasy" and "low fantasy" mean, and tend to be confused with one another.

If you have a strong opinion on what either of those terms mean, feel free to argue, but you couldn't change the fact we live in the time of buzzwords.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The Dark Fantasy is ever so popular since the Game of Thrones (and was popular even before)

Only problem is that no one could agree on what the terms "dark fantasy" and "low fantasy" mean, and tend to be confused with one another.

If you have a strong opinion on what either of those terms mean, feel free to argue, but you couldn't change the fact we live in the time of buzzwords.

In my opinion - and I do not know if these are the current or former definitions or if it is JUST my opinion:

Low Fantasy - fantasy were magic probably exists, but is minor or has little impact on the story; if there is a monster or a fantastic beast of some sort, it either appears human, is undead, or is the sole focus of the story; magic is either clumsy ritual stuff, or embedded in weapons and locations and used very rarely by the characters. Characters may perform superhuman feats (most of RE Howard's Conan stories are "low fantasy"; some of the later authors, and a few of his own stories, wander more in the High Fantasy realm though - and at least a few are more solidly in Dark Fantasy).

Dark Fantasy: Either 1. A horror story with fantasy elements; usually where the heroes only have a chance BECAUSE of magic (often this is also High Fantasy) OR 2. A Fantasy (High or Low) story with horror elements (say the main villain is a vampire OR the HERO is a vampire or werewolf). It may look more like low or high fantasy depending on the trappings (most of the old TSR Ravenloft line falls into this category). This genre also frequently but not always deals with psychological issues, either those of the hero, the villain, or of society itself. Robert E Howard's Solomon Kane stories fall pretty heavily into Dark Fantasy, usually of the first type.

Game of Thrones pretty much blurred the distinctions, being MOSTLY Low Fantasy but with both horror and high fantasy elements - and this unusual mix may be why it did so well. Assuming my definitions are even close, that is.

 

[John_Owl]

Low Fantasy - fantasy were magic probably exists, but is minor or has little impact on the story; if there is a monster or a fantastic beast of some sort, it either appears human, is undead, or is the sole focus of the story; magic is either clumsy ritual stuff, or embedded in weapons and locations and used very rarely by the characters. Characters may perform superhuman feats (most of RE Howard's Conan stories are "low fantasy"; some of the later authors, and a few of his own stories, wander more in the High Fantasy realm though - and at least a few are more solidly in Dark Fantasy).

Dark Fantasy: Either 1. A horror story with fantasy elements; usually where the heroes only have a chance BECAUSE of magic (often this is also High Fantasy) OR 2. A Fantasy (High or Low) story with horror elements (say the main villain is a vampire OR the HERO is a vampire or werewolf). It may look more like low or high fantasy depending on the trappings (most of the old TSR Ravenloft line falls into this category). This genre also frequently but not always deals with psychological issues, either those of the hero, the villain, or of society itself. Robert E Howard's Solomon Kane stories fall pretty heavily into Dark Fantasy, usually of the first type.

For low fantasy, I look to The Ranger's Apprentice, where the MC is told "7 times out of 10, magic is just peasant superstition. 2 times it's some trickster calling himself a wizard." "What about the remaining 1?" "Pray." (obviously this is all paraphrased).

For dark fantasy, I tend to think of it as fantasy with horror/mystery/grimdark elements. a decent (though admittedly, it's not intended to be dark fantasy) would be my series A Succubus' Love, since there are horror and gore elements.