# Why don't I read about Dwarves more often in Fantasy?



## Elvenswordsman (Apr 16, 2013)

I had a brilliant idea for a novel, or series, but the problem lies in that my main character is a dwarf. Now, before I get comments about being prejudiced, I literally mean dwarf of the fantasy variety. So how come I don't read more "dwarf" oriented content?

I know part of the process is ensuring the audience is able to relate to the characters, so I suppose the problem is that I feel my characters are too unlike humans to be relative. Perhaps someone with a greater understanding of available books in the fantasy genre can push me towards something that has been written exclusively in dwarven lands? Or perhaps the main character is a dwarf?

So should the objective be to create a character alongside which the dwarven (no auto-correct, not ovenware) tale can play out? Someone through whom I can explain how dwarven society works because the human is also unaware of the inner workings and politics of dwarven courts?


----------



## popsprocket (Apr 16, 2013)

I think the reason you don't see them much is just a popularity issue. Elves and Dwarves were a popular thing in fantasy a few decades ago, but the recent shift has been away from the Tolkienan fantasy and towards new, original ideas.

So that means that you can very well write a great story about Dwarves that (if you want to be able to sell it) caters towards what people want from their fantasy now. To answer that last question, you'd probably be better off just dropping the reader into the fray. The popular stuff that's around now seems to be doing just that, rather than giving the reader a self-insert who is as ignorant as they are.

The only books I know about Dwarves is a possible series by Markus Heitz. I say possible series because I really don't know, it's just something I've seen on the bookstore shelves recently.


----------



## Leyline (Apr 17, 2013)

Because, though leading all the demi-human races in mining, weapon-making, and the art of war, the dwarves were always dead last in the public relations industry? 

Can't think of any dwarf-centric fiction off the top of my head and only getting a vague memory of a story or two in those Lin Carter _Flashing Blades!_ anthologies. Hmm!

It's a good thing, really, finding a low-population niche. If nothing else, it'll give you room to impress with your take. 

I don't think you have a lot to worry about when it comes to character relatability -- so long as your MC shows emotion, forms relations, seeks goals and (the most important quality) is _interesting_, you can get people to relate. If you want a hedge, especially for expository reasons, you've got plenty of options: the human prisoner/friend/etc. as you mentioned, who has to learn about dwarfland through your MC as guide. Or, you could have your MC _returning_ to dwarfland after an extended absence (perhaps as a prisoner himself), and realizing his own customs now feel strange to him. Etc. Lots of pleasant-for-the-reader ways to get exposition and background.

Best of luck!


----------



## Cran (Apr 17, 2013)

I think Leyline is on the right track with the PR challenge. Dwarves can be tough, inventive, honourable, funny ... but it's a hard sell to make them sexy. And many, if not most, readers like to identify with sexy.


----------



## Lewdog (Apr 17, 2013)

They keep getting over looked.  8-[


----------



## Rustgold (Apr 17, 2013)

Leyline said:


> Because, though leading all the demi-human races in mining, weapon-making, and the art of war, the dwarves were always dead last in the public relations industry?



This.  You'll never find dwarves (or the correct Scandinavian version) in any type of romance novel, and the only 'friendship' is in war.  Then they're villians, but again they lose out to the full-blown 'evil' creatures (zombies, undead, etc) in the evilness factor.  It's a case of there's always something able to play a role better than the dwarves.


----------



## Leyline (Apr 17, 2013)

Ha. That was just a goofy joke, guys. 

Rustgold and Cran both have points, but it's also a golden opportunity to make your own rules. Maybe dwarves can be sexy -- sexiness is more than fine bone structure and delicate features, after all. And dwarven society/traits are not things set in stone, either. Elven's dwarves might inhabit a world where those things are vastly different.


----------



## Elvenswordsman (Apr 17, 2013)

I guess I'll push through and write it because I like the story, and forget about what others glean from it. Perhaps the brilliance I see in it will be recognized by others.

Cheers for the comments everyone, certainly all beneficial. Haha overlooked...


----------



## alanmt (Apr 17, 2013)

Elvenswordsman said:


> So should the objective be to create a character alongside which the dwarven (no auto-correct, not ovenware) tale can play out?



Like _The Hobbit_?

People like dwarves.  But people want to be elves: attractive, graceful, intelligent, wise, immortal, magical, noble, wood-ninjas able to kill from a distance but not above falling in love with humans. It's like the difference between blue collar and nobility. 

But I say go for it. And forget about the relatable human visitor. Let the reader experience the full dwarven culture through the eyes of one dwarf.


----------



## NewStartsman (Apr 17, 2013)

Personally, I find them quite boring and one dimensional characters - Short(tempered), gold loving, beer swilling miners - perhaps there is a general consensus pertaining to that? Though, I don't really like high-fantasy much as a genre either.


----------



## Rustgold (Apr 17, 2013)

NewStartsman said:


> Personally, I find them quite boring and one dimensional characters - Short(tempered), gold loving, beer swilling miners - perhaps there is a general consensus pertaining to that? Though, I don't really like high-fantasy much as a genre either.



Maybe you should read about the pre-Christianized Scandinavian version.


----------



## JosephB (Apr 17, 2013)

Put a bunch of them, say 7 or so, in a cabin out in the woods with a pale but hot looking chick and see what develops.


----------



## s.altybayev (Apr 17, 2013)

I believe it's possible to write attracting and exciting book about dwarves.
At the time I was writing this post one crazy idea came to my mind - a story about the last dwarf growned by human family. So teenagers, being taller and wider, laugh on him every time they meet him, well, it's obvious that adults harass, kick him and so on. He is small, he was brought up by farmers: he is good shepherd, but very bad fighter, so he cannot resist this evil people. Make him underdog, and show us how he will grow up and find his place in this unfair life. I would read this book!

In my opinion, because of "The Hobbit" dwarves will be attracting people for near future.
One more example is Tyrion Lannister, character from "The Game of Thrones" - although he is not a dwarf, but I consider him as dwarf. His brother laughs on him, his sister tries to kill me, his father hates him, but anyway Tyrion never gives up - he falls, he stands up. I LOVE this character!


----------



## Nickleby (Apr 17, 2013)

NewStartsman said:


> Personally, I find them quite boring and one dimensional characters - Short(tempered), gold loving, beer swilling miners - perhaps there is a general consensus pertaining to that? Though, I don't really like high-fantasy much as a genre either.



How about samurai cowboy dwarves? Would that be interesting?


----------



## Leyline (Apr 17, 2013)

NewStartsman said:


> Personally, I find them quite boring and one dimensional characters - Short(tempered), gold loving, beer swilling miners - perhaps there is a general consensus pertaining to that? Though, I don't really like high-fantasy much as a genre either.



Well, that's just the human and/or elven stereotype of 'em, since those are the POVs most fantasy writing uses.  As the OP points out, dwarves are almost always supporting characters. Say you take the familiar formula but have a young dwarven man set out on a perilous quest, who runs into humans and elves. He might compare their character and social customs quite negatively to his own. Perhaps he's quite shocked by the fact that humans/elves have servants, since in Dwarvish society, to not do your own work is a sign of sickness, laziness, or insanity. He finds them fairly boring and ridiculously vain. The allies he eventually chooses are all ambitious characters he meets among the servant classes.

The writer gets to decide. It's nice to dream of money or fame, but controlling the universe is the only reward you get every time you sit down to write. Don't waste it.


----------



## Lewdog (Apr 17, 2013)

Historically dwarves have been typecast to be the comedic relief.  They are almost always presented as drunken, warmonger, headcases, that often have some kind of inferiority complex.


----------



## Morkonan (Apr 17, 2013)

Elvenswordsman said:


> I had a brilliant idea for a novel, or series, but the problem lies in that my main character is a dwarf. Now, before I get comments about being prejudiced, I literally mean dwarf of the fantasy variety. So how come I don't read more "dwarf" oriented content?...



Where do "Dwarves" live? Does your story have a lot to do with Mountains or underground warrens? Well, there ya go!

Plus, dwarves have a stereotypical appeal that makes it difficult to morph them to something you can easily use, racially speaking. So, what are their "qualities?" Well, they're short, have a love of gold and take that to extremes and are generally irascible and bad tempered. Oh, and they have beards, including some, if not all, the females. They usually disdain the use of magic, but often have a sort of magic of their own in their works.

Now, take them out of their mountains and cut off their beards and you have leprechauns. Put them in gently rolling hills and substitute their love of gold for a love of food and comfort and you have hobbits. In fact, by that standard, there are dwarves all over the place in fantasy!

I've read several books, recently, that had dwarves in them. So, I'm not sure that they're all that rare. But, when you include a standard "Dwarf" as imagined by Tolkien, you are limited in what you can do with them. If you don't have lots of mountains and scenes involving them, when are your dwarfs going to show up? If you're not squeezing through subterranean passages, why do you need a dwarf? And, if you just have a race of short people, even if they have beards, they're not going to be "Real Dwarfs" unless they have all the attributes of Tolkien's dwarves. At least, to some readers.


----------



## Elvenswordsman (Apr 18, 2013)

So I don't know how great of a place this is to post my thoughts, but I suppose before entering this journey, maybe others who enjoy high fantasy can critique my plot for the first bit?

A king has two sons who live in the greatest of the Dwarven provinces (yes, the dwarves mainly live below ground, although it is not exclusively so). His brother (the boys' uncle) rules another province that borders the first, that is significantly less established. This came about through politics, which in the Dwarven world is a huge game of building alliances, loyalty, and manipulating events to ones benefit. This means that the King won the battle in the courts, and the brother lost (side note: age is not a symbol of leadership in the Dwarven political system).

The King is assassinated by a man hired by - of course - the uncle of our MC, brother of the King. The youngest son wins support in the wealthier province, and the eldest son is forced to withdraw to the second province. 

The eldest son appears in the other province and immediately wins support of most minor houses, but finds great resistance from some of the greater houses, including the uncle.

The eldest son recognizes an opportunity to gain full support, and leads a quest to accomplish - insert difficult Hercules-esque task. When this task is accomplished the uncle is unseated and the eldest son gains majority support in the province.

Upon losing, the uncle doesn't go down without a fight, and attempts to kill the eldest son, of course ensuring his own demise and the loss of any opportunity of discovering that the uncle had been related to the death of his father (but of course we all know it doesn't end there).

This bit gets choppy as several events happen in rapid succession.

It turns out the uncle had built a great personal debt to a dwarf who is greatly feared in the Dwarven provinces (the feared one - for now).

A thief is caught and given a death sentence, but requests the presence of the eldest brother (MC if you haven't caught on by this point). The thief provides a token of his fathers, implicating the uncle in the assassination plot.

Eldest brother sends word to the youngest, but the youngest claims that it was the eldest brother trying to cover his tracks. He declares that the eldest brother is guilty of the murder of the King, and further pushes the eldest brother out of the wealthy province.

The eldest brother is informed that the underground roads between the cities will be closed off, and heavily patrolled to prevent passage from the poor province to the wealthy, crippling trade in the poorer province. Different Dwarven provinces take different sides, and it seems war is on the horizon.

Eldest brother must find proof of the plot in order to reunite the Dwarven empire.

Of course this proof must appear now - in the form of the feared one. Eldest brother is approached by the feared one in person (also part of the noble community, highly ranked but not in a position for the throne). Claims to have proof of the plot, but will only deliver it once the eldest brother marries their daughter (still not sure if the feared one is a man or a woman to add a different dimension).

Eldest son has a love interest.

Eldest brother marries the feared ones daughter, gets the information he was promised.

The youngest brother was involved in the plot, among other nobles from the wealthier province.

A choice must be made, at this point (not part of the plot, my thoughts now) as to whether war is waged, some other form of vengeance is taken, or a choice to be content and improve the province and its economy.

Any thoughts about the plot? Is it an interesting enough read? Am I headed in the right direction?


----------



## Morkonan (Apr 18, 2013)

Elvenswordsman said:


> ...Any thoughts about the plot? Is it an  interesting enough read? Am I headed in the right direction?



It's a plot. Whether it turns out to be interesting or not depends on how you write it.

Seriously... I'm being serious. 

Examine  any plot you care to name. Go ahead, think of some of your favorite  stories. Now, write out a plot synopsis. What does it say? I bet it's a  lot more boring than the story actually was.

_Orphaned boy is  being raised by his uncle. He befriends a hermit. The hermit receives a  message that a Princess is being held captive by an evil sorcerer. The  hermit is actually a mighty wizard. He tells the orphan boy that he,  too, is a wizard, but he's also a Prince! The boy, is enthralled by the  tale and the beauty of this mysterious princess, but he denies himself,  accepting that he must fulfill his humble role as an orphan, since his  family depends upon him. But, his family is murdered by The Evil Empire  which is controlled by the evil sorcerer. Now, with not only revenge but  a new sense of destiny, he takes up the quest to rescue the princess._

That's pretty cut and dry, but it's Star Wars. Is it interesting? No more than Lord of the Rings..

_Orphaned  young hobbit, a reclusive and quaint race, befriends a wizard. A wizard  that is noted for being somewhat troublesome, in a pleasant way... The  young hobbit's uncle, his benefactor, leaves to go on a journey. A  mysterious talisman is bequethed to the young hobbit by his uncle. The  wizard learns it is a tool of an evil sorcerer and it must be taken to a  place of strength where wise minds will determine its fate. But, there  will be much danger on such a journey. The hobbit, freed of his  responsibilities to his uncle, agrees to take the ring to the castle of a  good wizard. He braves many dangers, but arrives with his companions,  sound and ready to give up the ring and fulfill his quest. But, the ring  is so powerful that none can be trusted. Reluctantly, he agrees to bear  the ring to its final doom, to the lands of the evil sorcerer and his  ultimate destruction._

From those brief outlines, could you  tell that either story was going to be the blockbuster of its age in its  genre? When you think of those stories, what is it that you think  about? Do you remember the stories in an "outline" form, where the  memory is organized according to plots, subplots, epic timelines and  scene progressions? Heck, half the time I read a great story, I don't  care what's going on! I'm just glad to be there experiencing it!

Your plot outline could work, but what if it doesn't? The answer is simple - Make it work.

For instance, you say that _"This means that the King won the battle in the courts, and the brother  lost (side note: age is not a symbol of leadership in the Dwarven  political system)._ What does that mean? Should I think that this is  interesting? No. In fact, it's sort of strange and off-putting - A King  wins his throne by the strength of his own hand, by personal honor and  family duty or through conniving backstabbing of his opponents while he  mercilessly stomps on the heads of kittens... He doesn't get "elected."  But, it's your story! You can make this Dwarven political system just as  dynamic and thrilling as any battlefield. *You* can make  it mean so much more than just a blurb in a plot outline. If you engage  the reader and make that political system in your setting sing with  intrigue, skullduggery, suspense, delicious irony and plenty of action  and political maneuvering, it'll be better than watching a thousand  dragons battle an army of giant alien pandas with laser-beams on their  heads!

Make your plot work. If an element isn't exciting or  intriguing enough, then make it so. Heck, tell the reader how intriguing  it is if you have to: _"Ah, my foolish loyal squire, this court is a  den of cutthroats and thieves, merciless harlots, the lot of them! They  would soon as flay you alive for a name-day celebration for their  favored child as they would speak a kind word to you. If it weren't for  greed, I would have been beheaded and my body cast to the dogs, long  ago. Gold, my boy, that's what this court runs on. Not strength, not  loyalty, no precious honor guides the act of men, here."_ Now, if I  throw a poor orphan, the illegitimate son of the previous king, into  this court, what are his chances? Slim? None? What does he have to do in  order to survive? I don't have to explain how things work nor craft out  intricately demonstrative plot pieces, I just had to tell the reader  how ruthless court life is. Now, when the plot threatens the young boy  because a rich merchant doesn't like him, that is a very credible  threat. The reader doesn't have to wait for fifteen chapters of court  intrigue in order to get to the meat of the story. (That's not always a  good thing, especially in complicated settings, though.) The court runs  on gold and the rich merchant can buy a lot of court nobles. But, the  plot doesn't read any differently : Young orphan boy is actually the son  of the dead king, but must contend the throne against the intrigues of  the court. Meh, big deal, it's a snoozer.. until it's written.



> ...Eldest brother must find proof of the plot in order to reunite the Dwarven empire...



If there was one fault, I'd say it was this one. Only Sherlock Holmes generated excitement while discovering the "_proof of the plot_."  Even then, he did it like every single other character in the history  of good reads has done it - By surviving tremendous challenges and  overcoming death. Along the way, amidst all the threats, they gradually  reveal the plot behind the "murder." But, it's not the murder plot that  usually grabs the reader - It's what's going on as the characters face  all the challenges along the way to solving it. Picture this - Your  character solves the murder plot and runs into the throne room,  proclaiming the proof that will free him. /golfclap Not particularly  exciting, is it? But, if he battles his way through five armies, defeats  a dragon and banishes demonic spirits in order to cleans the throne and  the kingdom with it, revealing the final solution to the murder is a  nice capstone. But, it's just a capstone. The meat is in the story.

You  can never go wrong with "Scooby Doo."  If you're familiar with that  old television cartoon, not the new junk, then you'll know that there  was always a mystery to be solved and Scooby and The Gang always solved  it, in the end. But, in order to solve it, they had to brave death and  overcome their fears. They had to fight against terrible foes and not  through strength of arms, but only by using their wits and their ability  to.. run. Scooby fought his foes by outrunning them and out-thinking  them and that was the most exciting part of any of those stories, not  the plot. Ah Scooby, such a wonderful and canny trickster. 

*TLDR Version: *So,  I'm gabbing on, as usual, and probably boring everyone to death. Here's  the TLDR version: Nobody can tell you how good your story is going to  be just from reading a plot synopsis. It's up to you to make it good and  it's up to you to make the plot elements you have constructed be  meaningful to the reader and an enjoyable addition to the story. But,  the story is often much more than just a plot.

PS - In an effort to keep this "On Topic", a word on dwarves:

For the same reasons that you can take any old plot and make it exciting, you can turn any old literary meme around and make it exciting as well. Dwarves don't have to be money-grubbing brawlers who live in caves. They could be businessmen, captains of industry, wizards, aliens, whatever... You could take any story and spice it up with some dwarves, if you wanted to. The problem is dealing with conventions and the expectations of your genres readers. How about dwarves who are seafarers? That'd be interesting, for the novelty alone, wouldn't it? Stephen R. Donaldson's Giants were seafarers, great singers and tellers of tales and gentle and good folk, not your average fantasy giants who run around trying to eat everybody...


----------



## Elvenswordsman (Apr 18, 2013)

Thanks a lot for your response Morkonan, it definitely had very valid points that I'll certainly take benefit from.

A note on Stephen R. Donaldson - I love his use of adjectives as names, and I've attempted to use this in my own writing. I suppose it speeds up the understanding of the character that's being written of. Foul is certainly a great name for such a loathsome being.

Just so it's clear, the plot summary is more just that - a summary. The points aren't explicitly meant to be the whole story told to the reader.

I certainly agree on the "proof of plot" bit. It has seemed flat to me since I wrote it, but wasn't sure how to get around it.

How does "Falls in love with the daughter of the feared one, and the feared one turns to him on his wedding day and says 'Since you're family and all, I thought you should have this.' and walks off." Perhaps the information could be falsified, and the feared one profits off of any war that may come of the information.

I know, it's how I write it. I just wanted to see if writers who see plots every day thought it wasn't just my own perspective that made me feel it was a valid plot.

Cheers for the reply.

P.S. Don't start talking too much about seafaring dwarves, I don't need you to ruin all of the surprises in the novel


----------



## Morkonan (Apr 18, 2013)

Elvenswordsman said:


> Thanks a lot for your response Morkonan, it definitely had very valid points that I'll certainly take benefit from.
> 
> A note on Stephen R. Donaldson - I love his use of adjectives as names, and I've attempted to use this in my own writing. I suppose it speeds up the understanding of the character that's being written of. Foul is certainly a great name for such a loathsome being.



Lord Foul the Despiser.... If you needed a name for an evil Dark Lord, you'd be hard-pressed to find better. The beautiful thing about it is that "Lord Foul" sounds like a childish fairytale boogeyman. But, if you add "Despiser" to it and then all the terrible things he did in the story, it's a name that perfectly invokes the imagery that is being created.

Just so it's clear, the plot summary is more just that - a summary. The points aren't explicitly meant to be the whole story told to the reader.



> //How does "Falls in love with the daughter of the feared one, and the feared one turns to him on his wedding day and says 'Since you're family and all, I thought you should have this.' and walks off." Perhaps the information could be falsified, and the feared one profits off of any war that may come of the information.



One word: Anti-climactic. (Well, sort of one word..  )

In other words, don't be anti-climactic. Instead of being given the proof from his new father-in-law, his new relationship with the family and the necessary familiarity with the father-in-law enables him to discover the truth, a truth that he confronts the father-in-law with and has confirmed. In the anti-climactic example, he does nothing except manage to breath long enough to get married and for his father-in-law to give him a present. In this one, he is active and is the master of his discovery, but uses his new relationship to achieve it.



> P.S. Don't start talking too much about seafaring dwarves, I don't need you to ruin all of the surprises in the novel



Put some Elves in it that don't live in the woods and aren't terminally "Emo", while you're at it.


----------



## Skodt (Apr 18, 2013)

There is an entire series on dwarfs that I know of, by Markus Heitz; simply called the Dwarfs.


----------



## Gargh (Apr 18, 2013)

I think most people here have got it right - people just don't want to be Dwarfs. Most fantasy and SF works so well because the characters are aspirational in some way or provide a catharsis... Dwarfs don't. That is to say, that with the popular coverage they have had they don't. That is not to say that you could not alter that - try to find some way of making people want to be your Dwarfs. It's difficult to think of something because I, like a lot of other people, just think ugly, boring, war and gold-obsessed when I think of Dwarfs because that's how I've always known them to be written. However, if you write good characters then you may be able to alter those stereotypes but it will be more difficult than writing the same story about a type of being people already engage with. That said, if you just like it and that's what you know you want to write then I doubt anything will stop you from doing it! Zombies, Vampires and even elves have all had several image overhauls over the years to suit their creators. I think someone else mentioned the idea of researching Dwarfs in European folklore - this is probably your best place to start to make your Dwarfs more interesting beings than the stereotype. I trawl folklore a lot anyway for pleasure so I'll keep an eye out for anything specific.


----------



## Motley (Apr 18, 2013)

Not enough women.

I like dwarves. I think the stereotypical variety of them is a great jumping off place for almost any type of story you could imagine. I remember reading a short story once where dwarves were elementalists. They could do some earthy type of magic with stones and metals.

In my first novel, many dwarves are drug-dealers and organize in family clans very similar to the mafia.


----------



## jayelle_cochran (Apr 19, 2013)

Elvenswordsman said:


> I had a brilliant idea for a novel, or series, but the problem lies in that my main character is a dwarf. Now, before I get comments about being prejudiced, I literally mean dwarf of the fantasy variety. So how come I don't read more "dwarf" oriented content?



I actually would LOVE to read a fantasy novel that had a lot of focus on Dwarven culture and even history.  The Dwarves have usually been used as a side character and not in the forefront the way other races tend to be.  Though, they're not hidden either.  There are a lot of works that have Dwarves in them, though I haven't read one that was mostly about them.  Does that make sense?  Still waking up...



> So should the objective be to create a character alongside which the dwarven (no auto-correct, not ovenware) tale can play  out? Someone through whom I can explain how dwarven society works  because the human is also unaware of the inner workings and politics of  dwarven courts?



I think that you should write it and have explanations about their society come through naturally.  Rather than have a human or whatnot there that needs things to be explained to them, have stuff happen.  The way things come about in the story can tell the reader a great deal.  It's a little more difficult but can also be very enriching for the story.  Remember, one thing that is universal about Dwarves are their rich history and complex society.  Showing that in your story would be very entertaining and something I would love to read.

*hugs*
Jayelle


----------



## VoidMoon (Apr 24, 2013)

I personally believe it's because nobody wants to be a short bearded scott in real life


----------



## Staff Deployment (Apr 24, 2013)

Hey Elvenswordsman, one thing that might make a strong dwarf story is a focus on dwarven culture and day-to-day life, with lots of detail and reference to their own mythology. If you can present them as a realistic culture filled with relatable characters then not only will a story naturally develop on its own but the intrigue of learning about new rules and customs and ways-of-life would make it interesting on its own merit.

One aspect of your plot that Morkonan hasn't touched on, and that I think is the major issue that inhibits the piece so far, is that it's less about the dwarves and more about classic human drama, e.g. "War is Waged, Vengeance is Taken." In my humble opinion I think a tighter, more self-contained story about a select few interesting dwarves would be incredibly compelling.


----------



## Jared77 (Apr 28, 2013)

A Dwarf book is not bad idea - Just be sure your story is not too much like The Hobbit : short person goes on adventure and meets elves and people along the way.

Also don't forget about the movie, 'Willow'.  Ron Howard's "Hobbit" movie


----------



## Caragula (Apr 30, 2013)

Do something new with Dwarves.


----------



## GonneLights (May 1, 2013)

I have a friend who writes almost exclusively about dwarves. But he's the only one I know. I really haven't heard of any dwarf-heavy fantasy. Probably because they're short and hairy. Elves are our ideal beauty standards, right? Dwarves are the negative of that. So, I dunno, it doesn't make aesthetic reading, I guess. They'e the Tracy Emin of the fantasy world. Anyway uh... Write it, man. You can appeal to human emotion easily, humanistic or not. Orwell did a good job with Animal Farm, about animals, right?


----------



## Nickleby (May 1, 2013)

I was serious about the samurai cowboy dwarves (post #14). Well, mostly serious. None of the characters in the first book of the series are samurais or cowboys, not exactly, but there are samurai dwarves and cowboy dwarves elsewhere in the setting, so the possibility is there.


----------

