Former Star Wars Author Chuck Wendig Attacks Epic Fantasy: “Your World is Too White and Male and Straight”
Former Star Wars author Chuck Wendig recently took to Twitter to attack an entire genre of fiction in epic fantasy and decided to throw in J.R.R. Tolkien’s [easyazon_link identifier=”0345538374″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Lord of the Rings[/easyazon_link] trilogy for good measure.
Wendig, who was fired by Marvel, ruthlessly attacked epic fantasy. He would take to Twitter and write, “Tried to read LOTR a bunch and couldn’t get through it. Worldbuilding is not plot. Your book shouldn’t read like an RPG manual but should also make me wish someone made your book in an RPG. The Chosen One is a tiiiiired narcissistic trope.”
*loads unpopular opinion shotgun*
Tried to read LOTR a bunch and couldn’t get through it.
Worldbuilding is not plot.
Your book shouldn’t read like an RPG manual but should also make me wish someone made your book into an RPG.
The Chosen One is a tiiiiired narcissistic trope. https://t.co/1oF8tVFuvK
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 26, 2019
He would continue adding, “Your world is too white and male and straight — and ironically not fantastic enough. What happened in Medieval England is not relevant to IMMAGICKA THE DRÆGOONLANDS.”
Let’s see. Your feast scene is too long. Your world is too white and male and straight — and ironically not fantastic enough. What happened in Medieval England is not relevant to IMMAGICKA THE DRÆGOONLANDS.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 26, 2019
Wendig would then write, “I don’t write or read the genre very often? So I’m kinda trampling someone else’s territory.”
Some are saying BUT THESE ARE NOT UNPOPULAR OPINIONS and I’d posit that to some they are. And I shouldn’t be commenting much — I don’t write or read the genre very often? So I’m kinda trampling someone else’s territory.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 26, 2019
He would conclude by attacking epic fantasy even further, “The bigger the series, the likelier it is that it unspools into minutiae and footnotes and chaos. Killing characters is a cheap way of building emotional effect.”
And while we are at it, here are some more unpopular opinions about epic fantasy:
The bigger the series, the likelier it is that it unspools into minutiae and footnotes and chaos.
Killing characters is a cheap way of building emotional effect.
Read THE EXPANSE instead
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 26, 2019
Wendig would then take offense when he was criticized when a person assumed his entire thread was about Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, an assumption pretty much everyone on the thread was making.
I think it’s less your assumption about the tweet and more talking to me like I don’t both write genre books and didn’t work in the RPG industry for over a decade.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 26, 2019
However, Wendig would clarify saying he was attacking epic fantasy and not specifically Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I wasn’t! Read the thread. I was making a list is unpopular opinions about epic fantasy. ONE of those opinions was that I didn’t much care for LOTR. Christ on a cookie. https://t.co/OPDr6onVpF
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 28, 2019
Wendig has a history of going on bizarre Twitter rants. He’s called for violence against supporters of Donald Trump, called Star Wars fans white supremacists, and went on a profanity-laced rant about Star Wars fans claiming they come from a “poisoned, septic well-spring.”
Wendig isn’t alone in his criticism of J.R.R. Tolkien. Last November, science-fiction author Andy Duncan decried Tolkien’s famous Lord of the Rings claiming it promoted racism because of the way it portrayed the orcs.
Another science-fiction author Fonda Lee decried Barnes & Nobles for stocking J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy complaining his works take up too much shelf space and make it hard for her to compete.
What do you make of Wendig’s comments about epic fantasy? Do you think he was specifically referring to Tolkien?
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