Problems in Urban Fantasy

[the-mome-wrath.livejournal.com]

I found this three part article on the urban fantasy genre and the second part covered many of the cliches and annoyances of the genre. Sadly it seems the genre really is becoming formulaic. It doesn't name any series as examples, but as I was reading down the list I found that unsurprisingly LKH is in violation of many of them. The only thing I really noticed on the list that we haven't seen in the books yet is the lower back tattoo. Anita should get a tattoo, but it should say something like 'run while you still have a personality.'

For your reading enjoyment, here's the articles:

Urban Fantasy Part 1: The Formula
Urban Fantasy Part 2: When Things Go Wrong
Urban Fantasy Part 3: Deconstructing Urban Fantasy

Comments

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

*cough* Charity Carpenter *cough* Molly Weasley *cough*

Yeah not enough of those women IMO but I don't think they are glamorous enough for most people *eyroll* Don't know about you but I don't wanna mess with EITHER of them.

I have a heroine who is a martial artist...so is her SO but they fight very differently, she's strong...but relies on speed and agility in fights, while he relies on strength and power. Both hightly effective but very different.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

If the characters really are fighting for their lives in a book, throw out the rules about where you hit. I learned about certain pressure points and weak points in the body. There are places you don't have to hit very hard to make someone go down. For a few of them, people won't be getting back up again.

You don't need a specialized weapon to hurt someone badly. Sometimes all you need is a set of keys.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, improv weapons and fighting with what you got is such fun to script. I enjoy tossing stuff in there that is so different from the classic martial arts face off.

Though I haven't found the topper to Jim's Frozen Turkey bit....granted not what you are talking about, but DUDE...how often can you work a Frozen Turkey into a fight scene...and make it work?

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

Next trick, anvils.

I like to read about the odd, million to one occurrences that actually happen. There is truth out there stranger than fiction.

[clover-elf-kin.livejournal.com]

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm a HOUSEWIFE!"

...Izumi Curtis rocks. That is all. XD

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Hows about Chi Chi from Dragonball Z? (not the greatest show I know) but you KNOW you have a strong and tough woman when beings that can destroy planets tremble before her wrath. *eeps*

[easol.livejournal.com]

That scene was full of awesome. "I'M A HOUSEWIFE!"

[subtle-shades.livejournal.com]

I agree with the overall "man and women are different - embrace it!" theme but... Molly Weasley aggravates me deeply. I liked her right up until I realized that she wasn't EVER going to take Dumbledore to task over Harry. (And that slapping Hermione bit w/ a lame gift was crap. If you're going to adopt kids then by God adopt them. No treating them differently when you read a rag!) In fact, I found her determined blindness disturbing.

Maybe Minerva McGonagall as a stong woman? She never has a date, isn't gorgous, is past her prime, and is a teacher. A really stern bad-ass teacher. (Although her blind moments irk me too.)

Hmmmm.... I'm totally behind FMA's Izumi as strong-woman of the year. Her, in the AB world = priceless

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

IMO if a character doesnt have some traits that annoy the crap out of you depite your love for them...then there is something wrong with the char!

Molly's blind moments annoy me too, but damn you had to be an idiot not to fear for your life if you were between her and somebody who hurt her kids, and the fact she survived raising Fred and George and was willing to have kids after those two clasifies her as a Strong Woman.

Heck I was ready to punt Charity though a wall for her first few appearances then she grew on me, Jim articulated her reasoning (before the reveal) better than JKR did for Molly...locked into Harry's POV might have hurt Rowling's ability to pull this off thou.

[subtle-shades.livejournal.com]

*shudders at the thought of raising Fred and George - a hundred Strong Woman points for even making it through their first words*

Good points!

I never understood why JKR was so locked into Harry's POV since she obviously needed to step out of it from time to time to make the story work at all. (Setting Snape & DADA teacher on fire, Pettigrew offing the groundskeeper at the Riddle estate, etc.) With that in mind, just suck it up and write multiple POVs.

To be fair, even if I loathe a character's reasoning/logic/knee jerk reaction, I'm always more sympathetic if it either comes from their POV or have had enough of a taste of their POV to have some clue about where they're coming from. Since there is no insight into Molly, she can irritate me more than she probably should. (The exception to this is in drek. Wheel of Time? Lan's the only character who never gets a POV and therefore he is my favorite.)

Charity by Jim --> Jim Butcher? (*shamefully admits to be unsure as to who or where this character originates from as she eyes the two Butcher-books from Christmas.*)

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Yes Charity is a char in the Dresden Files, she's the wife of a close friend of Harry's. You first meet in her in Book 3 (Grave Peril) and she doesn't really come into her own until Book 8 (Proven Guilty) and Book 10 (Small Favor).

I highly recommend the Dresden Files, Jim can get a bit repetive with some things but overall the world and the chars are well thought out and engaging.