What I Like in a Fantasy Story

For me, there are five things that I like to see in fantasy stories. The presence of the five things pretty much decides what I would rate the book. These are also things that I hope to accomplish with my own writing.

1. The world can be the stereotypical forest-and-field type, although it has to be imaginative, and not just a direct copy of Middle-Earth. Made-up animals earn brownie points. It also has to make geographical and ecological sense. For example, barren wastelands inhabited only by large terrifying carnivores make me want to throw dung at the author.

2. The heroes should be people I can root for and want to win, while still disagreeing with some of their actions. The villains should be people that I can relate to. I should be able to understand where they're coming from and why they do what they do, but still want them to die a slow, painful death.

3. The story must have original elements, and decent-sized ones at that. Simply making your elves vegetarian atheists doesn't cut it.

4. The prose should be snappy, concise, and to the point. The imagery should let me know what everything looks like without being too purple.

5. It must be paced well. If something does not deserve a paragraph of text, it should not get a paragraph of text. Nor a page. Nor a chapter, god forbid.