What’s your personal opinion on including discrimination in fantasy novels? I know a lot of books do the elves hate everyone and think they’re terrible and so on but what about the real world kind? Like stories that include racism, homophobia, sexism and so on?

thecaffeinebookwarrior:

My personal opinion?  It’s not my cup of tea.  

The beauty of high fantasy is that it isn’t limited to the specific biases of our contemporary culture.  Why do elves, dwarves, and dragons need a gender binary?  Whose to say their societies aren’t matriarchal?  Why can’t same-gender relationships commonplace?  Why can’t dark skin and afro-style hair be considered an epitome of beauty?  

My favorite type of high fantasy is the kind that flips our culture on its head and demonstrates that our constructs and prejudices aren’t universal or necessary.  This also gives you the opportunity to come up with biases of your own, apart from the “elves hate everyone” cliche.  Maybe dwarves are really prejudiced towards redheads, or elves think people who can’t curl their tongues are inferior.  Maybe it’s the satirist in me talking, but I love the idea of a high fantasy novel showing the inherent absurdity of unjustified prejudice.

I haven’t written a high fantasy yet;  at the moment, I’m more of an urban fantasy kind of gal.  But when I do, I intend to make Terry Pratchett’s ghost proud.